Molecular Characterization of the Onset and Progression of Colitis in Inoculated Interleukin-10 Gene-Deficient Mice: A Role for PPARα

The interleukin-10 gene-deficient (Il10−/−) mouse is a model of human inflammatory bowel disease and Ppara has been identified as one of the key genes involved in regulation of colitis in the bacterially inoculated Il10−/− model. The aims were to (1) characterize colitis onset and progression using a histopathological, transcriptomic, and proteomic approach and (2) investigate links between PPARα and IL10 using gene network analysis. Bacterial inoculation resulted in severe colitis in Il10−/− mice from 10 to 12 weeks of age. Innate and adaptive immune responses showed differences in gene expression relating to colitis severity. Actin cytoskeleton dynamics, innate immunity, and apoptosis-linked gene and protein expression data suggested a delayed remodeling process in 12-week-old Il10−/− mice. Gene expression changes in 12-week-old Il10−/− mice were related to PPARα signaling likely to control colitis, but how PPARα activation might regulate intestinal IL10 production remains to be determined

Trends in suicide in Scotland 1981 – 1999: age, method and geography

BACKGROUND: Male suicide rates continued to increase in Scotland when rates in England and Wales declined. Female rates decreased, but at a slower rate than in England and Wales. Previous work has suggested higher than average rates in some rural areas of Scotland. This paper describes trends in suicide and undetermined death in Scotland by age, gender, geographical area and method for 1981 – 1999. METHODS: Deaths from suicide and undetermined cause in Scotland from 1981 – 1999 were identified using the records of the General Registrar Office. The deaths of people not resident in Scotland were excluded from the analysis. Death rates were calculated by area of residence, age group, gender, and method. Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for rates by geographical area. RESULTS: Male rates of death by suicide and undetermined death increased by 35% between 1981 – 1985 and 1996 – 1999. The largest increases were in the youngest age groups. All age female rates decreased by 7% in the same period, although there were increases in younger female age groups. The commonest methods of suicide in men were hanging, self-poisoning and car exhaust fumes. Hanging in males increased by 96.8% from 45 per million to 89 per million, compared to a 30.7% increase for self-poisoning deaths. In females, the commonest method of suicide was self-poisoning. Female hanging death rates increased in the time period. Male SMRs for 1981 – 1999 were significantly elevated in Western Isles (SMR 138, 95% CI 112 – 171), Highland (135, CI 125 – 147), and Greater Glasgow (120, CI 115 – 125). The female SMR was significantly high only in Greater Glasgow (120, CI 112 – 128). CONCLUSION: All age suicide rates increased in men and decreased in women in Scotland in 1981 – 1999. Previous findings of higher than expected male rates in some rural areas were supported. Rates were also high in Greater Glasgow, one of the most deprived areas of Scotland. There were changes in the methods used, with an increase in hanging deaths in men, and a smaller increase in hanging in women. Altered choice of method may have contributed to the increased male deaths

Species Interactions Alter Evolutionary Responses to a Novel Environment

Adaptation to a novel environment is altered by the presence of co-occurring species. Species in diverse communities evolved complementary resource use, which altered the functioning of the experimental ecosystems

Willingness to communicate: A cross-cultural investigation

This study examined the means of and correlations between perceptions of willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and communication competence of college students in the United States and Australia. Comparisons indicated a high degree of similarity in the relationships between communication orientations in the two cultures but substantial differences between the cultures in terms of mean scores on willingness to communicate and self-perceived communication competence. Results of the study suggest similarities between people of two different cultures on one communication orientation do not necessarily indicate similarities on other communication orientations. However, relationships between orientations may have some generalizability across cultures

no allelopathy model data

Species abundance and resource use data from model runs with various levels of gamma

Data from: The effect of immigration on the adaptation of microbial communities to warming

Theory predicts that immigration can either enhance or impair the rate at which species and whole communities adapt to environmental change, depending on the traits of genotypes and species in the source pool relative to local conditions. These responses in turn will determine how well whole communities function in changing environments. We tested the effects of immigration and experimental warming on microbial communities during an 81 day field experiment. The effects of immigration depended on the warming treatment. In warmed communities immigration was detrimental to community growth whereas in ambient communities it was beneficial. This result is explained if colonists came from a local species pool pre-adapted to ambient conditions. Loss of metabolic diversity, however, was buffered by immigration in both environments. Communities showed increasing local adaptation to temperature conditions during the experiment and this was independent of whether or not they received immigration. Genotypes that comprised the communities were not locally adapted, however, indicating that community local adaptation can be independent of adaptation of component genotypes. Our results are consistent with a greater role for species interactions rather than adaptation of constituent species in determining local adaptation of whole communities, and confirm that immigration can either enhance or impair community responses to environmental change depending on the environmental context

script for both models with annotation

R script for models

allelopathy model data

Species abundance, resource use and antimicrobial production data from model runs with various levels of gamma

biolog metabolism data during evolution experiment

Community carbohydrate use during experimental evolution. Carbohydrate use (with threshold of OD600 > 0.2) for starting community and across sampling days 27, 54 and 81 and change in carbohydrate use. Column, biologcarb, refers to the carbohydrate at that well position on biolog GN2 microplate