Attentional WM is not necessarily specifically related with fluid intelligence: the case of smart children with ADHD symptoms.

Executive functions and, in particular, Attentional (active) Working Memory (WM) have been associated with fluid intelligence. The association contrasts with the hypothesis that children with ADHD exhibit problems with WM tasks requiring controlled attention and may have a good fluid intelligence. This paper examines whether children who are intelligent but present ADHD symptoms fail in attentional WM tasks. The latter result would be problematic for theories assuming the generality of a strict relationship between intelligence and WM. To study these issues, a battery of tests was administered to a group of 58 children who all displayed symptoms of ADHD. All children were between the age of 8 and 11 years, and were described by their teachers as smart. Children were compared to a control group matched for age, schooling, and gender. The battery included a test of fluid intelligence (Raven's Coloured Matrices), and a series of visuospatial WM tasks. Results showed that children with ADHD were high in intelligence but significantly lower than the controls in WM tasks requiring high attentional control, whereas there was no difference in WM tasks requiring low attentional control. Furthermore, only high attentional control WM tasks were significantly related to Raven's performance in the control group, whereas all WM tasks were similarly related in the ADHD group. It is concluded that performance in high attentional control WM tasks may be related to fluid intelligence, but also to a specific control component that is independent of intelligence and is poor in children with ADHD

Systems-wide analysis of manganese deficiency-induced changes in gene activity of Arabidopsis roots

Manganese (Mn) is pivotal for plant growth and development, but little information is available regarding the strategies that evolved to improve Mn acquisition and cellular homeostasis of Mn. Using an integrated RNA-based transcriptomic and high-throughput shotgun proteomics approach, we generated a comprehensive inventory of transcripts and proteins that showed altered abundance in response to Mn deficiency in roots of the model plant Arabidopsis. A suite of 22,385 transcripts was consistently detected in three RNA-seq runs; LC-MS/MS-based iTRAQ proteomics allowed the unambiguous determination of 11,606 proteins. While high concordance between mRNA and protein expression (R = 0.87) was observed for transcript/protein pairs in which both gene products accumulated differentially upon Mn deficiency, only approximately 10% of the total alterations in the abundance of proteins could be attributed to transcription, indicating a large impact of protein-level regulation. Differentially expressed genes spanned a wide range of biological functions, including the maturation, translation, and transport of mRNAs, as well as primary and secondary metabolic processes. Metabolic analysis by UPLC-qTOF-MS revealed that the steady-state levels of several major glucosinolates were significantly altered upon Mn deficiency in both roots and leaves, possibly as a compensation for increased pathogen susceptibility under conditions of Mn deficiency

Dengue Virus Infection of Aedes aegypti Requires a Putative Cysteine Rich Venom Protein

Citation: Londono-Renteria, B., Troupin, A., Conway, M. J., Vesely, D., Ledizet, M., Roundy, C. M., . . . Colpitts, T. M. (2015). Dengue Virus Infection of Aedes aegypti Requires a Putative Cysteine Rich Venom Protein. Plos Pathogens, 11(10), 23. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1005202Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes serious human disease and mortality worldwide. There is no specific antiviral therapy or vaccine for DENV infection. Alterations in gene expression during DENV infection of the mosquito and the impact of these changes on virus infection are important events to investigate in hopes of creating new treatments and vaccines. We previously identified 203 genes that were >= 5-fold differentially upregulated during flavivirus infection of the mosquito. Here, we examined the impact of silencing 100 of the most highly upregulated gene targets on DENV infection in its mosquito vector. We identified 20 genes that reduced DENV infection by at least 60% when silenced. We focused on one gene, a putative cysteine rich venom protein (SeqID AAEL000379; CRVP379), whose silencing significantly reduced DENV infection in Aedes aegypti cells. Here, we examine the requirement for CRVP379 during DENV infection of the mosquito and investigate the mechanisms surrounding this phenomenon. We also show that blocking CRVP379 protein with either RNAi or specific antisera inhibits DENV infection in Aedes aegypti. This work identifies a novel mosquito gene target for controlling DENV infection in mosquitoes that may also be used to develop broad preventative and therapeutic measures for multiple flaviviruses

NOD2, RIP2 and IRF5 Play a Critical Role in the Type I Interferon Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

While the recognition of microbial infection often occurs at the cell surface via Toll-like receptors, the cytosol of the cell is also under surveillance for microbial products that breach the cell membrane. An important outcome of cytosolic recognition is the induction of IFNα and IFNβ, which are critical mediators of immunity against both bacteria and viruses. Like many intracellular pathogens, a significant fraction of the transcriptional response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection depends on these type I interferons, but the recognition pathways responsible remain elusive. In this work, we demonstrate that intraphagosomal M. tuberculosis stimulates the cytosolic Nod2 pathway that responds to bacterial peptidoglycan, and this event requires membrane damage that is actively inflicted by the bacterium. Unexpectedly, this recognition triggers the expression of type I interferons in a Tbk1- and Irf5-dependent manner. This response is only partially impaired by the loss of Irf3 and therefore, differs fundamentally from those stimulated by bacterial DNA, which depend entirely on this transcription factor. This difference appears to result from the unusual peptidoglycan produced by mycobacteria, which we show is a uniquely potent agonist of the Nod2/Rip2/Irf5 pathway. Thus, the Nod2 system is specialized to recognize bacteria that actively perturb host membranes and is remarkably sensitive to mycobacteria, perhaps reflecting the strong evolutionary pressure exerted by these pathogens on the mammalian immune system

Unraveling the forcings controlling the vegetation and climate of the best orbital analogues for the present interglacial in SW Europe

The suitability of MIS 11c and MIS 19c as analogues of our present interglacial and its natural evolution is still debated. Here we examine the regional expression of the Holocene and its orbital analogues over SW Iberia using a model-data comparison approach. Regional tree fraction and climate based on snapshot and transient experiments using the LOVECLIM model are evaluated against the terrestrial-marine profiles from Site U1385 documenting the regional vegetation and climatic changes. The pollen-based reconstructions show a larger forest optimum during the Holocene compared to MIS 11c and MIS 19c, putting into question their analogy in SW Europe. Pollen-based and model results indicate reduced MIS 11c forest cover compared to the Holocene primarily driven by lower winter precipitation, which is critical for Mediterranean forest development. Decreased precipitation was possibly induced by the amplified MIS 11c latitudinal insolation and temperature gradient that shifted the westerlies northwards. In contrast, the reconstructed lower forest optimum at MIS 19c is not reproduced by the simulations probably due to the lack of Eurasian ice sheets and its related feedbacks in the model. Transient experiments with time-varying insolation and CO2 reveal that the SW Iberian forest dynamics over the interglacials are mostly coupled to changes in winter precipitation mainly controlled by precession, CO2 playing a negligible role. Model simulations reproduce the observed persistent vegetation changes at millennial time scales in SW Iberia and the strong forest reductions marking the end of the interglacial "optimum".SFRH/BD/9079/2012, SFRH/BPD/108712/2015, SFRH/BPD/108600/2015info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio