Inter and Intra Varietal Variation in Textural Characteristics of Carrots: a Standard Food in Chewing Studies

Carrots have been widely used as a model food in chewing studies yet inter and intra varietal variation have not been considered, treating them as a standard material whose rheological and breakdown characteristics are constant. Using a texture analyzer, we determined small strain compression (Young’s) moduli of carrot cores. We also undertook high speed, high strain compression tests to mimic the type of forces involved in chewing studies. Results suggest that for fresh carrots there is no significant difference between the textural characteristics of carrot varieties studied. Moreover, no difference exists in textural characteristics of sample cores obtained from different locations within the same carrot. As carrots are stored at temperatures between 10 and 30 °C the Young’s modulus declines exponentially with time, while the breaking stress gradually increases. Our data does suggest that the many researchers who have used carrots as consistent model food is justified in doing so as long as the produce is fresh

The California Legacy Survey IV. Lonely, Poor, and Eccentric: A Comparison Between Solitary and Neighborly Gas Giants

We compare systems with single giant planets to systems with multiple giant planets using a catalog of planets from a high-precision radial velocity survey of FGKM stars. Our comparison focuses on orbital properties, planet masses, and host star properties. We use hierarchical methods to model the orbital eccentricity distributions of giant singles and giant multis, and find that the distributions are distinct. The multiple giant planets typically have moderate eccentricities and their eccentricity distribution extends to $e=0.47$ (90th percentile), while the single giant planets have a pile-up of nearly circular orbits and a long tail that extends to $e=0.77$. We determine that stellar hosts of multiple giants are distinctly more metal-rich than hosts of solitary giants, with respective mean metallicities $0.228\pm0.027$ vs. $0.129\pm0.019$ dex. We measure the distinct occurrence distributions of single and multiple giants with respect to orbital separation, and find that single gas giants have a $\sim$2.3$\sigma$ significant hot ($a<0.06$) Jupiter pile-up not seen among multi giant systems. We find that the median mass (\msini ) of giants in multiples is nearly double that of single giants (1.71 \mjup vs. 0.92 \mjup ). We find that giant planets in the same system have correlated masses, analogous to the `peas in a pod' effect seen among less massive planets

What is cohesiveness?—A linguistic exploration of the food texture testing literature

Cohesiveness is a widely used term in the food texture literature. Authors of this literature employ divergent methodologies, and can be divided into those who assess texture through sensory evaluation and those who use instrumental techniques. Within each of these disciplines, there are some specialized uses of the word, creating discipline specific terms such as “cohesiveness of mass.” The fact that many researchers attempt to (re)define cohesiveness, does suggest that the term is not universally understood. This blurring arises partly from the abstract nature of what it describes and also from ill matching measurements being used to quantify it. A widely agreed definition is that cohesiveness is “the strength of the internal bonds making up the body of the product,” yet a challenge continues to be how we can measure it.Using the Sketch Engine corpus analysis interface to examine a corpus of articles from the food texture literature in the periods 2002–2017, the contexts in which the word stem “cohes*” is used were explored. Collocation analysis suggests that in addition to considerable commonality in the way that “cohesiveness” combines with other terms, differences reflect the foci of the disciplines with the instrumental community predominantly dealing with physical measurement while the sensory community relate “cohesiveness” more to oral processing and texture perception

Identification of the Adult Hematopoietic Liver as the Primary Reservoir for the Recruitment of Pro-regenerative Macrophages Required for Salamander Limb Regeneration.

The lack of scar-free healing and regeneration in many adult human tissues imposes severe limitations on the recovery of function after injury. In stark contrast, salamanders can functionally repair a range of clinically relevant tissues throughout adult life. The impressive ability to regenerate whole limbs after amputation, or regenerate following cardiac injury, is critically dependent on the recruitment of (myeloid) macrophage white blood cells to the site of injury. Amputation in the absence of macrophages results in regeneration failure and scar tissue induction. Identifying the exact hematopoietic source or reservoir of myeloid cells supporting regeneration is a necessary step in characterizing differences in macrophage phenotypes regulating scarring or regeneration across species. Mammalian wounds are dominated by splenic-derived monocytes that originate in the bone marrow and differentiate into macrophages within the wound. Unlike mammals, adult axolotls do not have functional bone marrow but instead utilize liver and spleen tissues as major sites for adult hematopoiesis. To interrogate leukocyte identity, tissue origins, and modes of recruitment, we established several transgenic axolotl hematopoietic tissue transplant models and flow cytometry protocols to study cell migration and identify the source of pro-regenerative macrophages. We identified that although bidirectional trafficking of leukocytes can occur between spleen and liver tissues, the liver is the major source of leukocytes recruited to regenerating limbs. Recruitment of leukocytes and limb regeneration occurs in the absence of the spleen, thus confirming the dependence of liver-derived myeloid cells in regeneration and that splenic maturation is dispensable for the education of pro-regenerative macrophages. This work provides an important foundation for understanding the hematopoietic origins and education of myeloid cells recruited to, and essential for, adult tissue regeneration

Phenotypic and genetic integration of personality and growth under competition in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Competition for resources including food, physical space, and potential mates is a fundamental ecological process shaping variation in individual phenotype and fitness. The evolution of competitive ability, in particular social dominance, depends on genetic (co)variation among traits causal (e.g., behaviour) or consequent (e.g. growth) to competitive outcomes. If dominance is heritable, it will generate both direct and indirect genetic effects (IGE) on resource dependent traits. The latter are expected to impose evolutionary constraint because winners necessarily gain resources at the expense of losers. We varied competition in a population of sheepshead swordtails, Xiphophorus birchmanni, to investigate effects on behaviour, size, growth, and survival. We then applied quantitative genetic analyses to determine (i) whether competition leads to phenotypic and/or genetic integration of behaviour with life history and (ii) the potential for IGE to constrain life history evolution. Size, growth and survival were reduced at high competition. Male dominance was repeatable and dominant individuals show higher growth and survival. Additive genetic contributions to phenotypic covariance were significant, with the G matrix largely recapitulating phenotypic relationships. Social dominance has a low but significant heritability and is strongly genetically correlated with size and growth. Assuming causal dependence of growth on dominance, hidden IGE will therefore reduce evolutionary potential.This work was supported by an EPSRC Studentship to KB, a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to AJW and a BBSRC grant (BB/L022656/1). CAW was funded by a NERC post-doctoral Research Fellowship (NE/I020245/1) and a University of Edinburgh Chancellor’s Fellowship. GGR was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundatio

In silico and in vitro drug screening identifies new therapeutic approaches for Ewing sarcoma.

The long-term overall survival of Ewing sarcoma (EWS) patients remains poor; less than 30% of patients with metastatic or recurrent disease survive despite aggressive combinations of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. To identify new therapeutic options, we employed a multi-pronged approach using in silico predictions of drug activity via an integrated bioinformatics approach in parallel with an in vitro screen of FDA-approved drugs. Twenty-seven drugs and forty-six drugs were identified, respectively, to have anti-proliferative effects for EWS, including several classes of drugs in both screening approaches. Among these drugs, 30 were extensively validated as mono-therapeutic agents and 9 in 14 various combinations in vitro. Two drugs, auranofin, a thioredoxin reductase inhibitor, and ganetespib, an HSP90 inhibitor, were predicted to have anti-cancer activities in silico and were confirmed active across a panel of genetically diverse EWS cells. When given in combination, the survival rate in vivo was superior compared to auranofin or ganetespib alone. Importantly, extensive formulations, dose tolerance, and pharmacokinetics studies demonstrated that auranofin requires alternative delivery routes to achieve therapeutically effective levels of the gold compound. These combined screening approaches provide a rapid means to identify new treatment options for patients with a rare and often-fatal disease