Placental restriction in multi-fetal pregnancies increases spontaneous ambulatory activity during daylight hours in young adult female sheep

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) has adverse effects on metabolic health and early life, whereas physical activity is protective against later development of metabolic disease. Relationships between birth weight and physical activity in humans, and effects of IUGR on voluntary activity in rodents, are mixed and few studies have measured physical activity in a free-ranging environment. We hypothesized that induced restriction of placental growth and function (PR) in sheep would decrease spontaneous ambulatory activity (SAA) in free-ranging adolescent and young adult progeny from multi-fetal pregnancies. To test this hypothesis, we used Global Positioning System watches to continuously record SAA between 1800 and 1200 h the following day, twice during a 16-day recording period, in progeny of control (CON, n=5 males, 9 females) and PR pregnancies (n=9 males, 10 females) as adolescents (30 weeks) and as young adults (43 weeks). PR reduced size at birth overall, but not in survivors included in SAA studies. In adolescents, SAA did not differ between treatments and females were more active than males overall and during the day (each P&lt;0.001). In adults, daytime SAA was greater in PR than CON females (P=0.020), with a similar trend in males (P=0.053) and was greater in females than males (P=0.016). Adult SAA was negatively correlated with birth weight in females only. Contrary to our hypothesis, restricted placental function and small size at birth did not reduce progeny SAA. The mechanisms for increased daytime SAA in adult female PR and low birth weight sheep require further investigation.</jats:p

Cytauxzoonosis in Indiana, USA: a case series of cats infected with Cytauxzoon felis (2018-2022)

CASE SERIES SUMMARY: This case series describes six cases involving seven cats naturally infected with Cytauxzoon felis in Indiana, USA. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed and all available information on signalment, history, clinical and diagnostic findings, treatment, outcome and pathology was reported. Cats infected with C felis were domestic shorthairs, were aged between 2 and 9 years and all but one of the cats were male. The seven infected cats originated from five counties in southwestern Indiana. Six of seven cats were found to have acute cytauxzoonosis based on clinical signs, gross pathologic lesions, observation of C felis in tissues and/or detection of C felis DNA. One cat was identified as a subclinical survivor cat with no known clinical history of cytauxzoonosis. RELEVANCE AND NOVEL INFORMATION: The reported cases are the first confirmed reports of acute and chronic cytauxzoonosis in cats from Indiana and document an expansion in the range of C felis. Veterinary practitioners in Indiana should consider infection with C felis as a differential diagnosis for cats that present with fever, inappetence, lethargy, depression, dehydration, dyspnea, hemolytic crisis, anorexia or icterus. Administration of approved acaricides to cats currently offers the best protection and control against C felis infection

4-Meth­oxy­anilinium nitrate

The title compound, C7H10NO+·NO3 −, crystallized with two p-ansidinium cations and two nitrate anions in the asymmetric unit. As well as Columbic and van der Waals forces, moleucles inter­act via multiple bifurcated N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds that help consolidate the crystal packing, resulting in a three-dimensional network

Whole-genome characterization of myoepithelial carcinomas of the soft tissue

Myoepithelial carcinomas (MECs) of soft tissue are rare and aggressive tumors affecting young adults and children, but their molecular landscape has not been comprehensively explored through genome sequencing. Here, we present the whole-exome sequencing (WES), whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and RNA sequencing findings of two MECs. Patients 1 and 2 (P1, P2), both male, were diagnosed at 27 and 37 yr of age, respectively, with shoulder (P1) and inguinal (P2) soft tissue tumors. Both patients developed metastatic disease, and P2 died of disease. P1 tumor showed a rhabdoid cytomorphology and a complete loss of INI1 (SMARCB1) expression, associated with a homozygous SMARCB1 deletion. The tumor from P2 showed a clear cell/small cell morphology, retained INI1 expression and strong S100 positivity. By WES and WGS, tumors from both patients displayed low tumor mutation burdens, and no targetable alterations in cancer genes were detected. P2's tumor harbored an EWSR1::KLF15 rearrangement, whereas the tumor from P1 showed a novel ASCC2::GGNBP2 fusion. WGS evidenced a complex genomic event involving mainly Chromosomes 17 and 22 in the tumor from P1, which was consistent with chromoplexy. These findings are consistent with previous reports of EWSR1 rearrangements (50% of cases) in MECs and provide a genetic basis for the loss of SMARCB1 protein expression observed through immunohistochemistry in 10% of 40% of MEC cases. The lack of additional driver mutations in these tumors supports the hypothesis that these alterations are the key molecular events in MEC evolution. Furthermore, the presence of complex structural variant patterns, invisible to WES, highlights the novel biological insights that can be gained through the application of WGS to rare cancers

The Genomic Signature of Crop-Wild Introgression in Maize

The evolutionary significance of hybridization and subsequent introgression has long been appreciated, but evaluation of the genome-wide effects of these phenomena has only recently become possible. Crop-wild study systems represent ideal opportunities to examine evolution through hybridization. For example, maize and the conspecific wild teosinte Zea mays ssp. mexicana, (hereafter, mexicana) are known to hybridize in the fields of highland Mexico. Despite widespread evidence of gene flow, maize and mexicana maintain distinct morphologies and have done so in sympatry for thousands of years. Neither the genomic extent nor the evolutionary importance of introgression between these taxa is understood. In this study we assessed patterns of genome-wide introgression based on 39,029 single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in 189 individuals from nine sympatric maize-mexicana populations and reference allopatric populations. While portions of the maize and mexicana genomes were particularly resistant to introgression (notably near known cross-incompatibility and domestication loci), we detected widespread evidence for introgression in both directions of gene flow. Through further characterization of these regions and preliminary growth chamber experiments, we found evidence suggestive of the incorporation of adaptive mexicana alleles into maize during its expansion to the highlands of central Mexico. In contrast, very little evidence was found for adaptive introgression from maize to mexicana. The methods we have applied here can be replicated widely, and such analyses have the potential to greatly informing our understanding of evolution through introgressive hybridization. Crop species, due to their exceptional genomic resources and frequent histories of spread into sympatry with relatives, should be particularly influential in these studies

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

Microbially mediated reduction of FeIII and AsV in Cambodian sediments amended with 13C-labelled hexadecane and kerogen

Microbial activity is generally accepted to play a critical role, with the aid of suitable organic carbon substrates, in the mobilisation of arsenic from sediments into shallow reducing groundwaters. The nature of the organic matter in natural aquifers driving the reduction of AsV to AsIII is of particular importance but is poorly understood. In this study, sediments from an arsenic rich aquifer in Cambodia were amended with two 13C-labelled organic substrates. 13C-hexadecane was used as a model for potentially bioavailable long chain n-alkanes and a 13C-kerogen analogue as a proxy for non-extractable organic matter. During anaerobic incubation for 8 weeks, significant FeIII reduction and AsIII mobilisation were observed in the biotic microcosms only, suggesting that these processes were microbially driven. Microcosms amended with 13C-hexadecane exhibited a similar extent of FeIII reduction to the non-amended microcosms, but marginally higher AsIII release. Moreover, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis showed that 65 % of the added 13C-hexadecane was degraded during the 8-week incubation. The degradation of 13C-hexadecane was microbially driven, as confirmed by DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP). Amendment with 13C-kerogen did not enhance FeIII reduction or AsIII mobilisation, and microbial degradation of kerogen could not be confirmed conclusively by DNA-SIP fractionation or 13C incorporation in the phospholipid fatty acids. These data are, therefore, consistent with the utilisation of long chain n-alkanes (but not kerogen) as electron donors for anaerobic processes, potentially including FeIII and AsV reduction in the subsurface

X-ray Absorption and Reflection in Active Galactic Nuclei

X-ray spectroscopy offers an opportunity to study the complex mixture of emitting and absorbing components in the circumnuclear regions of active galactic nuclei, and to learn about the accretion process that fuels AGN and the feedback of material to their host galaxies. We describe the spectral signatures that may be studied and review the X-ray spectra and spectral variability of active galaxies, concentrating on progress from recent Chandra, XMM-Newton and Suzaku data for local type 1 AGN. We describe the evidence for absorption covering a wide range of column densities, ionization and dynamics, and discuss the growing evidence for partial-covering absorption from data at energies > 10 keV. Such absorption can also explain the observed X-ray spectral curvature and variability in AGN at lower energies and is likely an important factor in shaping the observed properties of this class of source. Consideration of self-consistent models for local AGN indicates that X-ray spectra likely comprise a combination of absorption and reflection effects from material originating within a few light days of the black hole as well as on larger scales. It is likely that AGN X-ray spectra may be strongly affected by the presence of disk-wind outflows that are expected in systems with high accretion rates, and we describe models that attempt to predict the effects of radiative transfer through such winds, and discuss the prospects for new data to test and address these ideas.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 58 pages, 9 figures. V2 has fixed an error in footnote

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy