Origin and development of the germ line in sea stars

This review summarizes and integrates our current understanding of how sea stars make gametes. Although little is known of the mechanism of germ line formation in these animals, recent results point to specific cells and to cohorts of molecules in the embryos and larvae that may lay the ground work for future research efforts. A coelomic outpocketing forms in the posterior of the gut in larvae, referred to as the posterior enterocoel (PE), that when removed, significantly reduces the number of germ cell later in larval growth. This same PE structure also selectively accumulates several germ‐line associated factors—vasa, nanos, piwi—and excludes factors involved in somatic cell fate. Since its formation is relatively late in development, these germ cells may form by inductive mechanisms. When integrated into the morphological observations of germ cells and gonad development in larvae, juveniles, and adults, the field of germ line determination appears to have a good model system to study inductive germ line determination to complement the recent work on the molecular mechanisms in mice. We hope this review will also guide investigators interested in germ line determination and regulation of the germ line into how these animals can help in this research field. The review is not intended to be comprehensive—sea star reproduction has been studied for over 100 years and many reviews are comprehensive in their coverage of, for example, seasonal growth of the gonads in response to light, nutrient, and temperature. Rather the intent of this review is to help the reader focus on new experimental results attached to the historical underpinnings of how the germ cell functions in sea stars with particular emphasis to clarify the important areas of priority for future research. genesis 52:367–377, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sleep- and non-sleep-related hallucinations—Relationship to ghost tales and their classifications.

To categorize four types of sleep- and non-sleep-related hallucinations experienced by normal people and classify ghost or ghost-like stories by these categories. A total of 183 reliable tales of ghosts [41 from “Tohno Monogatari” (Tohno Folktales) and 142 from “Nihon Kaidan Shu” (Ghosts Tales of Japan)] are classified into hallucinations that are sleep-related hallucinations [hypnagogic hallucination-like (HyH) and REM sleep behavior disorder or somnambulism-like (RBDS) tales] and sleep-unrelated [vivid hallucination-like (VH) and highway hypnosis-like (HHy) tales] according to the criteria. Sixty to 70% of these tales can be classified into these four types of hallucinations. Further, sleep-related hallucinations increased from 17.0% to 36.6% in about 40 years. Our criteria will be useful to classify hallucinations experienced by normal people and to elucidate the mechanisms of these kinds of hallucinations experienced in neurodegenerative or psychological disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Case–Control Studies of Gene–Environment Interaction: Bayesian Design and Analysis

Summary With increasing frequency, epidemiologic studies are addressing hypotheses regarding gene‐environment interaction. In many well‐studied candidate genes and for standard dietary and behavioral epidemiologic exposures, there is often substantial prior information available that may be used to analyze current data as well as for designing a new study. In this article, first, we propose a proper full Bayesian approach for analyzing studies of gene–environment interaction. The Bayesian approach provides a natural way to incorporate uncertainties around the assumption of gene–environment independence, often used in such an analysis. We then consider Bayesian sample size determination criteria for both estimation and hypothesis testing regarding the multiplicative gene–environment interaction parameter. We illustrate our proposed methods using data from a large ongoing case–control study of colorectal cancer investigating the interaction of N‐acetyl transferase type 2 (NAT2) with smoking and red meat consumption. We use the existing data to elicit a design prior and show how to use this information in allocating cases and controls in planning a future study that investigates the same interaction parameters. The Bayesian design and analysis strategies are compared with their corresponding frequentist counterparts.     

Bayesian Analysis of Growth Curves Using Mixed Models Defined by Stochastic Differential Equations

Summary Growth curve data consist of repeated measurements of a continuous growth process over time in a population of individuals. These data are classically analyzed by nonlinear mixed models. However, the standard growth functions used in this context prescribe monotone increasing growth and can fail to model unexpected changes in growth rates. We propose to model these variations using stochastic differential equations (SDEs) that are deduced from the standard deterministic growth function by adding random variations to the growth dynamics. A Bayesian inference of the parameters of these SDE mixed models is developed. In the case when the SDE has an explicit solution, we describe an easily implemented Gibbs algorithm. When the conditional distribution of the diffusion process has no explicit form, we propose to approximate it using the Euler–Maruyama scheme. Finally, we suggest validating the SDE approach via criteria based on the predictive posterior distribution. We illustrate the efficiency of our method using the Gompertz function to model data on chicken growth, the modeling being improved by the SDE approach.     

Activation of catalase by apelin prevents oxidative stress-linked cardiac hypertrophy

Adipose tissue secretes a variety of bioactive factors, which can regulate cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via reactive oxygen species (ROS). In the present study we investigated whether apelin affects ROS-dependent cardiac hypertrophy. In cardiomyocytes apelin inhibited the hypertrophic response to 5-HT and oxidative stress induced by 5-HT- or H₂O₂ in a dose-dependent manner. These effects were concomitant to the increase in mRNA expression and activity of catalase. Chronic treatment of mice with apelin attenuated pressure-overload-induced left ventricular hypertrophy. The prevention of hypertrophy by apelin was associated with increased myocardial catalase activity and decreased plasma lipid hydroperoxide, as an index of oxidative stress. These results show that apelin behaves as a catalase activator and prevents cardiac ROS-dependent hypertrophy.     

Is there a star tree paradox?

Concerns have been raised that posterior probabilities on phylogenetic trees can be unreliable when the true tree is unresolved or has very short internal branches, because existing methods for Bayesian phylogenetic analysis do not explicitly evaluate unresolved trees. Two recent papers have proposed that evaluating only resolved trees results in a "star tree paradox": when the true tree is unresolved or close to it, posterior probabilities were predicted to become increasingly unpredictable as sequence length grows, resulting in inflated confidence in one resolved tree or another and an increasing risk of false-positive inferences. Here we show that this is not the case; existing Bayesian methods do not lead to an inflation of statistical confidence, provided the evolutionary model is correct and uninformative priors are assumed. Posterior probabilities do not become increasingly unpredictable with increasing sequence length, and they exhibit conservative type I error rates, leading to a low rate of false-positive inferences. With infinite data, posterior probabilities give equal support for all resolved trees, and the rate of false inferences falls to zero. We conclude that there is no star tree paradox caused by not sampling unresolved trees.     

三种手术入路显露男性后尿道的比较（英文）

目的：评价经耻骨上、耻骨下及会阴三种手术入路暴露尿道膜部的优劣。方法：对35具成年男性尸体标本解剖,测量并比较耻骨上缘中点（A）、耻骨下缘中点（B）及会阴部两坐骨结节连线中点（c）分男11到尿道球膜部连接处（D）、前列腺尖（E）及膀胱颈（F）的距离及相关角度;对另20具成年男性尸体标本分别经3种手术入路显露后尿道,标记可能损伤的组织器官并评分。结果：AD=（6．5±0．5）cm,BD=（2．2±0．5）cm,CD=（3．4±0．6）cm,其中BD〈CD〈AD（P〈0．05,SNK法）;AE=（6．6±0．5）cm,BE=（3．0±0．5）cm,CE=（4．4±0．7）cm,其中BE〈CE〈AE（P〈0．05,SNK法）;AF=（5．7±0．6）cm,BF=（4．5±0．5）cm,CF=（6．5±0．6）cm,其中BF〈AF〈CF（P〈0．05,SNK法）。各点连线所成角度中,ZEAD（仅。）=（9．3±2．0）。∠EBD（α2）=（17．4±3．8）°,ZECD（α3）=（9．2±1．6）°,其中α1与α2有显著性差异（P〈0．05,t=11．1）,α3与α2有显著性差异（P〈0．05,t=-12．1）,α1与α3无显著性差异（P〉O．05,t=-0．13）;∠FAE（β1）=（22．7±2．6）°,∠FBE（β2）=（32．9±6．4）°,∠FCE（β3）=（15．0±3．2）°,其中β2〉β1〉β3（P〈0．05,SNK法）。经耻骨上入路损伤评分为13分,经耻骨下为18分,经会阴为15分。结论：暴露从优到劣依次为经耻骨下、经耻骨上、经会阴;损伤从大到小依次为经耻骨下、经会阴、经耻骨上部分。     

Pleiotropic roles of calumenin (calu-1), a calcium-binding ER luminal protein, in Caenorhabditis elegans

Calumenin is a Ca²⁺ binding protein localizing at the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Although it has been implicated in various diseases, the in vivo functions of calumenin are largely unknown. Here, we report that calumenin has pleiotropic roles in muscle and cuticle function in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutant analysis revealed that the calu-1 is required for regulating fertility, locomotion and body size. In addition, calu-1 is important for two behaviors, defecation and pharyngeal pumping, consistent with its ability to bind Ca²⁺. The genetic analysis further suggested the possibility that calu-1 regulates the pharyngeal pumping together with the inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP₃) receptor encoded by itr-1. Taken together, our data suggest that calumenin is important for calcium signaling pathways in C. elegans.