Do You Approach Positive Events or Do They Approach You? Linking Event Valence and Time Representations in a Dutch Sample

In order to think and talk about time, people often use the ego- or time-moving representation. In the ego-moving representation, the self travels through a temporal landscape, leaving past events behind and approaching future events; in the time-moving representation, the self is stationary and temporal events pass by. Several studies contest to the psychological ramifications of these two representations by, inter alia, demonstrating a link between them and event valence. These studies have, however, been limited to English speakers, even though language has been found to affect time representation. The present study therefore replicated Margolies and Crawford’s (2008) experiment on event valence and time representation amongst speakers of Dutch. Unlike Margolies and Crawford (2008), we do not find that positive valence leads to the endorsement of an ego-moving statement. Future studies will need to determine the ways through which language might moderate the relation between event valence and time representation

Interactive analysis of SDN-driven defence against Distributed Denial of Service attacks

The Secure Autonomous Response Networks (SARNET) framework introduces a mechanism to respond autonomously to security attacks in Software Defined Networks (SDN). Still the range of responses possible and their effectiveness need to be properly evaluated such that the decision making process and the self-learning capability of such systems are optimized. To this purpose we developed a touch-table driven interactive SARNET prototype, named VNET, and we demonstrated its use through real-time monitoring and control of real and virtualised networks. By observing users interacting with the system at SC15 in Austin, we concluded that in a SDN it is possible to achieve high effectiveness of responses by carefully choosing a relatively minor number of actions

An improved and highly sensitive microfluorimetric method for assessing susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum to antimalarial drugs in vitro

BACKGROUND: The standard in vitro protocol currently in use for drug testing against Plasmodium falciparum, based on the incorporation of the purine [(3)H]-hypoxanthine, has two serious drawbacks. Firstly it is unsuitable for the testing of drugs that directly or indirectly impact on purine salvage or metabolism. Secondly, it relies on the use of expensive radiolabelled material, with added issues concerning detection, storage and waste disposal that make it unsuitable for use in many disease-endemic areas. Recently, the use of fluorochromes has been suggested as an alternative, but quenching of the fluorescence signal by the haemoglobin present in cultures of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes severely limits the usefulness of this approach. METHODS: In order to resolve this problem, a new PicoGreen(®)-based procedure has been developed which incorporates additional steps to remove the interfering haemoglobin. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of chloroquine and pyrimethamine against P. falciparum laboratory lines 3D7 and K1 were determined using the new protocol. RESULTS: The IC(50 )values of chloroquine and pyrimethamine against P. falciparum laboratory lines 3D7 and K1 determined with the new fluorescence-based protocol were statistically identical to those obtained using the traditional (3)H-hypoxanthine incorporation method, and consistent with literature values. CONCLUSION: The new method proved to be accurate, reproducible and sensitive, and has the advantage of being non-radioactive. The improved PicoGreen(® )method has the potential to replace traditional in vitro drug resistance assay techniques

The fatty acid composition of excreta of broiler chickens fed different dietary fatty acids

Published: October 15, 2017Background and Objective: Excreted fatty acids represent the net result of fat digestion, absorbtion and bioconversion by chickens or their intestinal microbiome and thus provide information on the capacity of the birds to utilize different fat types. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between the fatty acid profile of diet and excreta in broiler chickens. Materials and Methods: Male Cobb 500 broilers (n = 240) were fed (ad libitum) one of 6 different diets supplemented with 4% (w/w) beef tallow, flaxseed, corn, macadamia, canola or coconut oils (4 replicate pens/treatment) from hatching day. At day-40 post-hatch, excreta samples were collected for fatty acids analysis. Results: Significant positive linear correlations (R = 0.82-0.99) were found in the fatty acid content of diets and excreta for all fatty acid groups in all treatments. Comparing the individual fatty acid content of diet and excreta suggested that the broilers preferentially utilized (in decending order, if present) omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-9 and omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acids and most saturated fatty acids (except C16:0 and C18:0), but the omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids were under utilized even when they were the most abundant. Conclusion: Fat sources which are high in the C16:0, C18:0 and omega-6 fatty acids may not be ideal for broiler feed formulations for nutritional and economical reasons.Khaled Kanakri, John Carragher, Robert Hughes, Beverly Muhlhausler, Carolyn de Koning and Robert Gibso

Pyrimidine biosynthesis is not an essential function for trypanosoma brucei bloodstream forms

<p>Background: African trypanosomes are capable of both pyrimidine biosynthesis and salvage of preformed pyrimidines from the host, but it is unknown whether either process is essential to the parasite.</p> <p>Methodology/Principal Findings: Pyrimidine requirements for growth were investigated using strictly pyrimidine-free media, with or without single added pyrimidine sources. Growth rates of wild-type bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei brucei were unchanged in pyrimidine-free medium. The essentiality of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway was studied by knocking out the PYR6-5 locus that produces a fusion product of orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) and Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase (OMPDCase). The pyrimidine auxotroph was dependent on a suitable extracellular pyrimidine source. Pyrimidine starvation was rapidly lethal and non-reversible, causing incomplete DNA content in new cells. The phenotype could be rescued by addition of uracil; supplementation with uridine, 2′deoxyuridine, and cytidine allowed a diminished growth rate and density. PYR6-5−/− trypanosomes were more sensitive to pyrimidine antimetabolites and displayed increased uracil transport rates and uridine phosphorylase activity. Pyrimidine auxotrophs were able to infect mice although the infection developed much more slowly than infection with the parental, prototrophic trypanosome line.</p> <p>Conclusions/Significance: Pyrimidine salvage was not an essential function for bloodstream T. b. brucei. However, trypanosomes lacking de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis are completely dependent on an extracellular pyrimidine source, strongly preferring uracil, and display reduced infectivity. As T. brucei are able to salvage sufficient pyrimidines from the host environment, the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway is not a viable drug target, although any interruption of pyrimidine supply was lethal.</p&gt

Research avenues supporting embodied cognition in learning and instruction

Research on embodied cognition acknowledges that cognitive processing is tightly coupled with bodily activities and the environment. An important implication for education is that learning can be enhanced when the brain, body, and environment mutually influence each other, such as when making or observing human actions, especially those involving hand gestures and manipulation of objects. In this narrative review article, we describe the evidence from six research avenues that can help explain why embodied cognition can enhance learning and instruction. Through the exploration of these six interconnected research pathways, we aim to make a significant contribution by proposing innovative directions for learning and instruction research, all rooted in the principles of embodied cognition. We establish a direct link between the six research pathways and embodied phenomena, both in the contexts of making and observing human movements. When making human movements, the research avenues explaining the learning benefits due to these movements are physical activity, generative learning, and offloaded cognition. When observing human movements, the avenues researching these phenomena are specialized processor and signaling. Lastly, the research avenue social cognition is integral to both making and observing human movements. With originality in focus, we also include research that has not been traditionally associated with embodied cognition or embodiment. This article offers comprehensive discussions, substantiated with evidence and influencing features, for each of these research avenues. We conclude by outlining the implications of these findings for instruction and charting potential directions for future investigation

Heritability of cortisol response to confinement stress in European sea bass dicentrarchus labrax

Background: In fish, the most studied production traits in terms of heritability are body weight or growth, stress or disease resistance, while heritability of cortisol levels, widely used as a measure of response to stress, is less studied. In this study, we have estimated heritabilities of two growth traits (body weight and length) and of cortisol response to confinement stress in the European sea bass. Findings: The F1 progeny analysed (n = 922) belonged to a small effective breeding population with contributions from an unbalanced family structure of just 10 males and 2 females. Heritability values ranged from 0.54 (+/- 0.21) for body weight to 0.65 (+/- 0.22) for standard body length and were low for cortisol response i.e. 0.08 (+/- 0.06). Genetic correlations were positive (0.94) between standard body length and body weight and negative between cortisol and body weight and between cortisol and standard body length (-0.60 and -0.55, respectively). Conclusion: This study confirms that in European sea bass, heritability of growth-related traits is high and that selection on such traits has potential. However, heritability of cortisol response to stress is low in European sea bass and since it is known to vary greatly among species, further studies are necessary to understand the reasons for these differences

Agency and time representation in English and Dutch speakers

Research reveals that the ego- and time-moving representations, two divergent ways to talk and think about time, are psychologically meaningful: they are, for example, linked to agency. This research has, however, mainly been correlational in nature and only been conducted amongst English speakers, even though cross-linguistic differences are readily observed in research on time representation. The present research addresses these limitations. In the first study, we explore the causal relation amongst English speakers and show that feelings of personal agency lead to the adoption of the ego-moving representation. In the second and third study, we replicate the first study and conduct a correlational study amongst Dutch speakers. We find no proof for a similar relation between agency and time representation amongst Dutch speakers. In discussing the findings, the role language plays in shaping preferences is considered as well as the methodological issues that need to be addressed by future research

Quantitative trait loci for bone traits segregating independently of those for growth in an F-2 broiler X layer cross

An F broiler-layer cross was phenotyped for 18 skeletal traits at 6, 7 and 9 weeks of age and genotyped with 120 microsatellite markers. Interval mapping identified 61 suggestive and significant QTL on 16 of the 25 linkage groups for 16 traits. Thirty-six additional QTL were identified when the assumption that QTL were fixed in the grandparent lines was relaxed. QTL with large effects on the lengths of the tarsometatarsus, tibia and femur, and the weights of the tibia and femur were identified on GGA4 between 217 and 249 cM. Six QTL for skeletal traits were identified that did not co-locate with genome wide significant QTL for body weight and two body weight QTL did not coincide with skeletal trait QTL. Significant evidence of imprinting was found in ten of the QTL and QTL x sex interactions were identified for 22 traits. Six alleles from the broiler line for weight- and size-related skeletal QTL were positive. Negative alleles for bone quality traits such as tibial dyschondroplasia, leg bowing and tibia twisting generally originated from the layer line suggesting that the allele inherited from the broiler is more protective than the allele originating from the layer