Hydrodynamic properties of cyclodextrin molecules in dilute solutions

Three well-known representatives of the cyclodextrin family were completely characterized by molecular hydrodynamics methods in three different solvents. For the first time the possibility of an estimation of velocity sedimentation coefficients s between 0.15 and 0.5 S by the numerical solution of the Lamm equation is shown. Comparison of the experimental hydrodynamic characteristics of the cyclodextrins with theoretical calculations for toroidal molecules allows an estimation of the thickness of the solvent layers on the surface of cyclodextrin molecules

The range of the golden-mantle tamarin, Saguinus tripartitus (Milne Edwards, 1878): distributions and sympatry of four tamarin species in Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru

A detailed understanding of the range of the golden-mantle tamarin, Saguinus tripartitus (Milne Edwards, 1878), in Amazonian Peru and Ecuador is of particular relevance, not only because it is poorly known but also because it was on the basis of its supposed sympatry with the saddleback tamarin (S. fuscicollis lagonotus) that Thorington (Am J Primatol 15:367–371, 1988) argued that it is a distinct species rather than a saddleback tamarin subspecies, as was believed by Hershkovitz (Living new world monkeys, vol I. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977). A number of surveys have been carried out since 1988 in the supposed range of S. tripartitus, in both Ecuador and Peru. Here we summarize and discuss these issues and provide a new suggestion for the geographic range of this species; that is, between the ríos Napo and Curaray in Peru and extending east into Ecuador. We also review current evidence for the distributions of Spix’s black-mantle tamarin (S. nigricollis nigricollis), Graells’ black-mantle tamarin (S. n. graellsi), and the saddleback tamarin (S. fuscicollis lagonotus), which are also poorly known, and examine the evidence regarding sympatry between them. We conclude that despite the existence of a number of specimens with collecting localities that indicate overlap in their geographic ranges, the fact that the four tamarin species are of similar size and undoubtedly very similar in their feeding habits militates strongly against the occurrence of sympatry among them

Scar-like lesion on dorsal nose (cellular neurothekeoma)

Neurothekeomas are tumors of neural differentiation and of unknown origin that occur in females at the 2nd and 3rd decades of life. They usually affect the face with an unspecific clinical aspect. The histological features include cellular or mixoid differentiation and immunohistochemistry can be positive for protein s-100, vimentin and epithelilal membrane antigen (EMA)

Repeat-sequence turnover shifts fundamentally in species with large genomes

Given the 2,400-fold range of genome sizes (0.06–148.9 Gbp (gigabase pair)) of seed plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) with a broadly similar gene content (amounting to approximately 0.03 Gbp), the repeat-sequence content of the genome might be expected to increase with genome size, resulting in the largest genomes consisting almost entirely of repetitive sequences. Here we test this prediction, using the same bioinformatic approach for 101 species to ensure consistency in what constitutes a repeat. We reveal a fundamental change in repeat turnover in genomes above around 10 Gbp, such that species with the largest genomes are only about 55% repetitive. Given that genome size influences many plant traits, habits and life strategies, this fundamental shift in repeat dynamics is likely to affect the evolutionary trajectory of species lineages.We thank Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G020256/1), the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO:60077344) and Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (RYC-2017-2274) funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Gobierno de España) for support. We also thank Natural Environment Research Council for funding a studentship to S.D. and the China Scholarship Council for funding W.W.Abstract Main Methods Data availability Code availability References Acknowledgements Author information Ethics declarations Additional information Extended data Supplementary information Rights and permissions About this article Further readin

A genome for gnetophytes and early evolution of seed plants

Genome sequencing, assembly and annotation were conducted by the Novogene Bioinformatics Institute, Beijing, China; mutual contracts were No. NHT140016 and NVT140016004. This work was supported by funding from the Scientific Project of Shenzhen Urban Administration (201519) and a Major Technical Research Project of the Innovation of Science and Technology Commission of Shenzhen (JSGG20140515164852417). Additional funding was provided in particular by the Scientific Research Program of Sino-Africa Joint Research Center (SAJL201607). We thank X.Q. Wang, G.W. Hu, Z.D. Chen and Y.H. Guo for comments on gnetophyte phylogenetic relationships and ecological issues; H. Wu and X.P. Ning for discussion of related organ development; K.K. Wan and S. Sun for additional help on the analysis of repeats. We also thank X.Y. for support of funding coordination. Y.V.d.P. acknowledges the Multidisciplinary Research Partnership ‘Bioinformatics: from nucleotides to networks’ Project (no. 01MR0310W) of Ghent University, and funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under European Research Council Advanced Grant Agreement 322739-DOUBLEUP

Acute neuropsychological effects of MDMA and ethanol (co-)administration in healthy volunteers

Contains fulltext : 73592.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)RATIONALE: In Western societies, a considerable percentage of young people expose themselves to 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy"). Commonly, ecstasy is used in combination with other substances, in particular alcohol (ethanol). MDMA induces both arousing as well as hallucinogenic effects, whereas ethanol is a general central nervous system depressant. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to assess the acute effects of single and co-administration of MDMA and ethanol on executive, memory, psychomotor, visuomotor, visuospatial and attention function, as well as on subjective experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a four-way, double-blind, randomised, crossover, placebo-controlled study in 16 healthy volunteers (nine male, seven female) between the ages of 18-29. MDMA was given orally (100 mg) and blood alcohol concentration was maintained at 0.6 per thousand by an ethanol infusion regime. RESULTS: Co-administration of MDMA and ethanol was well tolerated and did not show greater impairment of performance compared to the single-drug conditions. Impaired memory function was consistently observed after all drug conditions, whereas impairment of psychomotor function and attention was less consistent across drug conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Co-administration of MDMA and ethanol did not exacerbate the effects of either drug alone. Although the impairment of performance by all drug conditions was relatively moderate, all induced significant impairment of cognitive function

Cognitive impairment induced by delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol occurs through heteromers between cannabinoid CB1 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound of marijuana, induces numerous undesirable effects, including memory impairments, anxiety, and dependence. Conversely, THC also has potentially therapeutic effects, including analgesia, muscle relaxation, and neuroprotection. However, the mechanisms that dissociate these responses are still not known. Using mice lacking the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, we revealed that the analgesic and amnesic effects of THC are independent of each other: while amnesia induced by THC disappears in the mutant mice, THC can still promote analgesia in these animals. In subsequent molecular studies, we showed that in specific brain regions involved in memory formation, the receptors for THC and the 5-HT2A receptors work together by physically interacting with each other. Experimentally interfering with this interaction prevented the memory deficits induced by THC, but not its analgesic properties. Our results highlight a novel mechanism by which the beneficial analgesic properties of THC can be dissociated from its cognitive side effects

Inferring viral quasispecies spectra from 454 pyrosequencing reads

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>RNA viruses infecting a host usually exist as a set of closely related sequences, referred to as quasispecies. The genomic diversity of viral quasispecies is a subject of great interest, particularly for chronic infections, since it can lead to resistance to existing therapies. High-throughput sequencing is a promising approach to characterizing viral diversity, but unfortunately standard assembly software was originally designed for single genome assembly and cannot be used to simultaneously assemble and estimate the abundance of multiple closely related quasispecies sequences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we introduce a new <b>Vi</b>ral <b>Sp</b>ectrum <b>A</b>ssembler (ViSpA) method for quasispecies spectrum reconstruction and compare it with the state-of-the-art ShoRAH tool on both simulated and real 454 pyrosequencing shotgun reads from HCV and HIV quasispecies. Experimental results show that ViSpA outperforms ShoRAH on simulated error-free reads, correctly assembling 10 out of 10 quasispecies and 29 sequences out of 40 quasispecies. While ShoRAH has a significant advantage over ViSpA on reads simulated with sequencing errors due to its advanced error correction algorithm, ViSpA is better at assembling the simulated reads after they have been corrected by ShoRAH. ViSpA also outperforms ShoRAH on real 454 reads. Indeed, 7 most frequent sequences reconstructed by ViSpA from a real HCV dataset are viable (do not contain internal stop codons), and the most frequent sequence was within 1% of the actual open reading frame obtained by cloning and Sanger sequencing. In contrast, only one of the sequences reconstructed by ShoRAH is viable. On a real HIV dataset, ShoRAH correctly inferred only 2 quasispecies sequences with at most 4 mismatches whereas ViSpA correctly reconstructed 5 quasispecies with at most 2 mismatches, and 2 out of 5 sequences were inferred without any mismatches. ViSpA source code is available at <url>http://alla.cs.gsu.edu/~software/VISPA/vispa.html</url>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>ViSpA enables accurate viral quasispecies spectrum reconstruction from 454 pyrosequencing reads. We are currently exploring extensions applicable to the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data from bacterial metagenomic samples and ecological samples of eukaryote populations.</p

Comparison of intravascular ultrasound guided versus angiography guided drug eluting stent implantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) can be a useful tool during drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation as it allows accurate assessment of lesion severity and optimal treatment planning. However, numerous reports have shown that IVUS guided percutaneous coronary intervention is not associated with improved clinical outcomes, especially in non-complex patients and lesions. METHODS: We searched the literature in Medline, the Cochrane Library, and other internet sources to identify studies that compare clinical outcomes between IVUS-guided and angiography-guided DES implantation. Random-effects model was used to assess treatment effect. RESULTS: Twenty eligible studies with a total of 29,068 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The use of IVUS was associated with significant reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, odds ratios [OR] 0.77, 95 % confidence intervals [CI] 0.71-0.83, P < 0.001), death (OR 0.62, 95 % CI 0.54-0.71, p < 0.001), and stent thrombosis (OR 0.59, 95 % CI: 0.47-0.73, P < 0.001). The benefit was also seen in the repeated analysis of matched and randomized studies. In stratified analysis, IVUS guidance appeared to be beneficial not only in patients with complex lesions or acute coronary syndromes (ACS) but also patients with mixed lesions or presentations (MACE: OR 0.69, 95 % CI: 0.60-0.79, p < 0.001, OR 0.81, 95 % CI 0.74-0.90, p < 0.001, respectively). By employing meta-regression analysis, the benefit of IVUS is significantly pronounced in patients with complex lesions or ACS with respect to death (p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: IVUS guidance was associated with improved clinical outcomes, especially in patients with complex lesions admitted with ACS. Large, randomized clinical trials are warranted to identify populations and lesion characteristics where IVUS guidance would be associated with better outcomes