Bedeutung verschiedener Infektionserreger bei der chronischen Gingivostomatitis der Katze

Die Ätiologie der chronischen Gingivostomatitis bei der Katze konnte bislang nicht vollständig geklärt werden, obwohl dieses Krankheitsbild häufig in der Kleintierpraxis auftritt. Die Ätiologie scheint multifaktoriell zu sein, und verschiedenen Infektionserregern wird eine Bedeutung zugeschrieben. Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Prävalenz von felinen Caliciviren (FCV), felinen Herpesviren (FHV), felinen Immunschwächeviren (FIV), felinen Leukämieviren (FeLV) sowie Bartonella henselae bei Katzen mit chronischer Gingivostomatitis und bei gesunden, altersgematchten Kontrolltieren zu untersuchen. Zusätzlich wurden weitere Faktoren, wie zum Beispiel Umweltfaktoren, untersucht. Bei 52 Katzen mit chronischer Gingivostomatitis und 50 altersgematchten gesunden Kontrolltieren wurde die Prävalenz von FCV (RNA) und FHV (DNA) mittels Polymerase-Kettenreaktion (PCR) aus Maulhöhlentupfern und die Prävalenz von Bartonella henselae (DNA) mittels PCR aus Maulhöhlentupfern und Blut bestimmt. Zudem wurde das Vorhandensein von Antikörpern gegen FCV, Bartonella henselae und FIV, sowie FeLV-Antigen im Serum untersucht. FCV-RNA wurde signifikant häufiger bei Katzen mit chronischer Gingivostomatitis nachgewiesen (53,8 %, p < 0.001) als bei den gesunden Kontrolltieren (14,0 %); eine Katze mit einer FCV-Infektion hat ein siebenfach erhöhtes Risiko, eine Gingivostomatitis zu entwickeln (ODDs-Ratio 7,17). Auch Antikörper gegen FCV waren statistisch signifikant häufiger bei den Katzen mit chronischer Gingivostomatitis vorhanden (78,8 %, p = 0,023). Für alle anderen Erreger wurde kein Unterschied in der Prävalenz bei den Katzen mit chronischer Gingivostomatitis und den Kontrolltieren nachgewiesen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie lassen den Schluss zu, dass die chronische Gingivostomatitis der Katze häufig mit FCV-Infektionen assoziiert ist, andere Erreger aber eine untergeordnete Rolle spielen

Incorporating genre based writing tasks in EFL classrooms: Linking teacher written feedback to pedagogy and assessment

iii Abstract This project attempts to identify how written corrective feedback (WCF) provided by the teacher might be an important learning tool in the writing development of novice Korean EFL university students. Due to the inexperienced background of these learners, the teacher decided to look beyond conventional process-based pedagogies and implemented genre-based writing tasks. These tasks were based in the school of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) that sees language as a resource for making meaning in a particular context (Halliday, 1994) and encourages learning to take place gradually through interaction with more advanced users of the language (Vygotsky, 1978). In this approach WCF can then serve as one of many scaffolding activities that support students throughout the period of learning. Over the course of the fifteen-week semester, Korean students (N=69) engaged in four carefully designed writing activities focusing on the genre of email. Three sets of qualitative and quantitative data were collected that examined the students response to genre-based writing instruction and the role of WCF as a scaffolding activity: revisions of drafts, questionnaires and interviews. Results showed that participants responded positively to genre-based writing tasks and identified a variety of components they found helpful. Highlighting the supportive nature of scaffolding activities, this study discusses how these students may actually benefit more from direct WCF on their errors rather than indirect WCF through the use of a code. The data also indicates that direct WCF on the contextual and linguistic features can serve as a link between pedagogy and assessment in genre-based writing

Identification of region-specific astrocyte subtypes at single cell resolution

Astrocytes, a major cell type found throughout the central nervous system, have general roles in the modulation of synapse formation and synaptic transmission, blood-brain barrier formation, and regulation of blood flow, as well as metabolic support of other brain resident cells. Crucially, emerging evidence shows specific adaptations and astrocyte-encoded functions in regions, such as the spinal cord and cerebellum. To investigate the true extent of astrocyte molecular diversity across forebrain regions, we used single-cell RNA sequencing. Our analysis identifies five transcriptomically distinct astrocyte subtypes in adult mouse cortex and hippocampus. Validation of our data in situ reveals distinct spatial positioning of defined subtypes, reflecting the distribution of morphologically and physiologically distinct astrocyte populations. Our findings are evidence for specialized astrocyte subtypes between and within brain regions. The data are available through an online database (https://holt-sc.glialab.org/), providing a resource on which to base explorations of local astrocyte diversity and function in the brain.status: publishe

From sauropsids to mammals and back:New approaches to comparative cortical development

Evolution of the mammalian neocortex (isocortex) has been a persisting problem in neurobiology. While recent studies have attempted to understand the evolutionary expansion of the human neocortex from rodents, similar approaches have been used to study the changes between reptiles, birds, and mammals. We review here findings from the past decades on the development, organization, and gene expression patterns in various extant species. This review aims to compare cortical cell numbers and neuronal cell types to the elaboration of progenitor populations and their proliferation in these species. Several progenitors, such as the ventricular radial glia, the subventricular intermediate progenitors, and the subventricular (outer) radial glia, have been identified but the contribution of each to cortical layers and cell types through specific lineages, their possible roles in determining brain size or cortical folding, are not yet understood. Across species, larger, more diverse progenitors relate to cortical size and cell diversity. The challenge is to relate the radial and tangential expansion of the neocortex to the changes in the proliferative compartments during mammalian evolution and with the changes in gene expression and lineages evident in various sectors of the developing brain. We also review the use of recent lineage tracing and transcriptomic approaches to revisit theories and to provide novel understanding of molecular processes involved in specification of cortical regions. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:630–645, 2016. © 2015 The Authors. The Journal of Comparative Neurology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Significant transcriptional changes in 15q duplication but not Angelman syndrome deletion stem cell-derived neurons

Abstract Background The inability to analyze gene expression in living neurons from Angelman (AS) and Duplication 15q (Dup15q) syndrome subjects has limited our understanding of these disorders at the molecular level. Method Here, we use dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) from AS deletion, 15q Duplication, and neurotypical control subjects for whole transcriptome analysis. We identified 20 genes unique to AS neurons, 120 genes unique to 15q duplication, and 3 shared transcripts that were differentially expressed in DPSC neurons vs controls. Results Copy number correlated with gene expression for most genes across the 15q11.2-q13.1 critical region. Two thirds of the genes differentially expressed in 15q duplication neurons were downregulated compared to controls including several transcription factors, while in AS differential expression was restricted primarily to the 15q region. Here, we show significant downregulation of the transcription factors FOXO1 and HAND2 in neurons from 15q duplication, but not AS deletion subjects suggesting that disruptions in transcriptional regulation may be a driving factor in the autism phenotype in Dup15q syndrome. Downstream analysis revealed downregulation of the ASD associated genes EHPB2 and RORA, both genes with FOXO1 binding sites. Genes upregulated in either Dup15q cortex or idiopathic ASD cortex both overlapped significantly with the most upregulated genes in Dup15q DPSC-derived neurons. Conclusions Finding a significant increase in both HERC2 and UBE3A in Dup15q neurons and significant decrease in these two genes in AS deletion neurons may explain differences between AS deletion class and UBE3A specific classes of AS mutation where HERC2 is expressed at normal levels. Also, we identified an enrichment for FOXO1-regulated transcripts in Dup15q neurons including ASD-associated genes EHPB2 and RORA indicating a possible connection between this syndromic form of ASD and idiopathic cases.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140784/1/13229_2018_Article_191.pd

Differential Functional Constraints on the Evolution of Postsynaptic Density Proteins in Neocortical Laminae

The postsynaptic density (PSD) is a protein dense complex on the postsynaptic membrane of excitatory synapses that is implicated in normal nervous system functions such as synaptic plasticity, and also contains an enrichment of proteins involved in neuropsychiatric disorders. It has recently been reported that the genes encoding PSD proteins evolved more slowly than other genes in the human brain, but the underlying evolutionary advantage for this is not clear. Here, we show that cortical gene expression levels could explain most of this effect, indicating that expression level is a primary contributor to the evolution of these genes in the brain. Furthermore, we identify a positive correlation between the expression of PSD genes and cortical layers, with PSD genes being more highly expressed in deep layers, likely as a result of layer-enriched transcription factors. As the cortical layers of the mammalian brain have distinct functions and anatomical projections, our results indicate that the emergence of the unique six-layered mammalian cortex may have provided differential functional constraints on the evolution of PSD genes. More superficial cortical layers contain PSD genes with less constraint and these layers are primarily involved in intracortical projections, connections that may be particularly important for evolved cognitive functions. Therefore, the differential expression and evolutionary constraint of PSD genes in neocortical laminae may be critical not only for neocortical architecture but the cognitive functions that are dependent on this structure

Genome Biol

BACKGROUND: Transposable element (TE)-derived sequence dominates the landscape of mammalian genomes and can modulate gene function by dysregulating transcription and translation. Our current knowledge of TEs in laboratory mouse strains is limited primarily to those present in the C57BL/6J reference genome, with most mouse TEs being drawn from three distinct classes, namely short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs), long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and the endogenous retrovirus (ERV) superfamily. Despite their high prevalence, the different genomic and gene properties controlling whether TEs are preferentially purged from, or are retained by, genetic drift or positive selection in mammalian genomes remain poorly defined. RESULTS: Using whole genome sequencing data from 13 classical laboratory and 4 wild-derived mouse inbred strains, we developed a comprehensive catalogue of 103,798 polymorphic TE variants. We employ this extensive data set to characterize TE variants across the Mus lineage, and to infer neutral and selective processes that have acted over 2 million years. Our results indicate that the majority of TE variants are introduced though the male germline and that only a minority of TE variants exert detectable changes in gene expression. However, among genes with differential expression across the strains there are twice as many TE variants identified as being putative causal variants as expected. CONCLUSIONS: Most TE variants that cause gene expression changes appear to be purged rapidly by purifying selection. Our findings demonstrate that past TE insertions have often been highly deleterious, and help to prioritize TE variants according to their likely contribution to gene expression or phenotype variation

European molecular epidemiology and strain diversity of feline calicivirus

Feline calicivirus (FCV) causes a variable syndrome of upper respiratory tract disease, mouth ulcers and lameness. A convenience-based prospective sample of oropharyngeal swabs (n=426) was obtained from five countries (France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and the UK). The prevalence of FCV by virus isolation was 22.2 per cent. Multivariable analysis found that animals presenting with lymphoplasmacytic gingivitis stomatitis complex were more likely to test positive for FCV infection. Furthermore, vaccinated cats up to 48 months of age were significantly less likely to be infected with FCV than unvaccinated animals of similar ages. Phylogenetic analysis based on consensus sequences for the immunodominant region of the capsid gene from 72 FCV isolates identified 46 strains. Thirteen of the 14 strains with more than one sequence were restricted to individual regions or sites in individual countries; the exception was a strain present in two sites close to each other in France. Four strains were present in more than one household. Five colonies, four of which were rescue shelters, had multiple strains within them. Polymerase sequence suggested possible rare recombination events. These locally, nationally and internationally diverse FCV populations maintain a continuous challenge to the control of FCV infection and disease