A GABAergic Maf-expressing interneuron subset regulates the speed of locomotion in Drosophila

This work was funded by grants from INSERM and a 3-year Ph.D. funding from the Association Française contre les Myopathies (AFM) for H.B (Doctoral funding n°19408) and from ANR (17-CE37-0019) for T.J.Interneurons (INs) coordinate motoneuron activity to generate appropriate patterns of muscle contractions, providing animals with the ability to adjust their body posture and to move over a range of speeds. In Drosophila larvae several IN subtypes have been morphologically described and their function well documented. However, the general lack of molecular characterization of those INs prevents the identification of evolutionary counterparts in other animals, limiting our understanding of the principles underlying neuronal circuit organization and function. Here we characterize a restricted subset of neurons in the nerve cord expressing the Maf transcription factor Traffic Jam (TJ). We found that TJ+ neurons are highly diverse and selective activation of these different subtypes disrupts larval body posture and induces specific locomotor behaviors. Finally, we show that a small subset of TJ+ GABAergic INs, singled out by the expression of a unique transcription factors code, controls larval crawling speed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Optical spectroscopy of nanocrystalline Gd3Ga5O12 doped with Eu3+ and high pressures

This study considers the effects of hydrostatic pressure on the line position and fluorescence lifetime tau for D-5(0) -> F-7(2) transitions in Ga3Ga5O12 doped with Eu3+ nanoparticles. The results indicate that the pressure induced lines red shift towards longer wavelengths for all considered lines with different rate. The fluorescence lifetime tau rapidly decreases with pressure from an ambient pressure up to about 20 kbar and after that it is essentially unchanged up to the end of the considered pressure range. High pressure induced red-shift and fluorescence lifetime T can be explained by a simple model. A satisfactory agreement between measured and theoretical predicted lines position and tau was obtaine

High pressure optical studies of LMA : Mn2+ Nd3+ and LMA : Mn2+

This study considers effects of pressure of up to 110 kbar on line position and fluorescence lifetime T for T-4(1) - GT (6)A(1) transition in LMA:Mn2+ and LMA:Mn2+, Nd3+. Energy transfer between Mn2+ and Nd3+ in LMA:Mn2+, Nd3+ has also been considered. Results indicate pressure induced line shift towards longer wavelengths, a red-shift in both crystals with the same rate of 0.182 nm kbar(-1). Pressure influences fluorescence lifetime T in the considered crystals differently; whereas for LMA:Mn2+ increasing pressure causes slow linear decrease Of T, and for LMA:Mn2+, Nd3+ T increases linearly as pressure raises. Energy transfer efficiencies decrease with pressure. High pressure induced red-shift can be explained by a simple model. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.1st International Conference on Physics of Optical Materials and Devices, Aug 31-Sep 02, 2006, Herceg Novi, Montenegr

concentration of pahs in forest ecosystems of the protected natural resource "Avala"

Belgrade is one of the greenest capitals in Europe. The protected natural area, "Avala" (i.e. a separate part of unit that is declared as a landscape of outstanding features) is located on the territory of Belgrade and attracts the attention of all profiles of researchers. It should be noted also that the area of Avala was bombed in 1999 and the Avala Tower was destroyed. Researches aiming to determine the pollutant loading of the area are of particular importance. The aim of this research is to determine the content of 16 types of PAHs in three different locations on Avala sites 1, 2 and 3, with sampling of soil at two different depths (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm). One of the most frequent streets in downtown Belgrade (locality 4) was chosen as control site. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the soil of Avala is well preserved, which is in line with the declaration that Avala is a protected area

In-vitro activation of natural killer cells from regional lymph nodes of melanoma patients with interleukin-2 and interleukin-15

Regional lymph nodes (LNs) represent the first barrier in lymphogenic tumor dissemination in melanoma. Natural killer (NK) cells, the effector cell subpopulation of the innate immune system, are in the first line of antitumor immune defense. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-15, two cytokines with similar immune-enhancing effects, on antitumor cytotoxic function and immunophenotype of NK cells from regional LNs of melanoma patients. Mononuclear cells purified from regional LNs of 50 melanoma patients in clinical stage II-IV were treated in vitro for 72 h and 7 days with 200 IU/ml rhIL-2 and 25 ng/ml IL-15 at 37 degrees C in 5\% CO2. Both cytokines significantly augmented NK cell cytotoxic activity, transcription of the cytotoxic molecule perforin, and the level of functionally mature perforin in both nonmetastatic and metastatic regional LNs. IL-2 treatment increased the percentage of CD3(-)CD56(+) NK cells by increasing the CD56(bright) NK cell subset in both nonmetastatic and metastatic LNs, whereas IL-15 treatment did not affect the percentage of NK cells and their subsets. Both cytokines increased on NK cells from nonmetastatic and metastatic LNs the expression of CD69 early activation antigen, the NKG2D activating receptor, as well as CD16 and inhibitory killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor CD158b, both inherent to the mature and the cytotoxic NK cell phenotype. In conclusion, our data may indicate the therapeutic potential of the NK cell population from regional LNs either as immunotherapeutic targets or as adoptively transferred after activation with IL-2 or IL-15.Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Serbia {[}41031, 175056