New ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs from the European lower cretaceous demonstrate extensive ichthyosaur survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary

Background Ichthyosauria is a diverse clade of marine amniotes that spanned most of the Mesozoic. Until recently, most authors interpreted the fossil record as showing that three major extinction events affected this group during its history: one during the latest Triassic, one at the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary (JCB), and one (resulting in total extinction) at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary. The JCB was believed to eradicate most of the peculiar morphotypes found in the Late Jurassic, in favor of apparently less specialized forms in the Cretaceous. However, the record of ichthyosaurs from the Berriasian–Barremian interval is extremely limited, and the effects of the end-Jurassic extinction event on ichthyosaurs remains poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings Based on new material from the Hauterivian of England and Germany and on abundant material from the Cambridge Greensand Formation, we name a new ophthalmosaurid, Acamptonectes densus gen. et sp. nov. This taxon shares numerous features with Ophthalmosaurus, a genus now restricted to the Callovian–Berriasian interval. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that Ophthalmosauridae diverged early in its history into two markedly distinct clades, Ophthalmosaurinae and Platypterygiinae, both of which cross the JCB and persist to the late Albian at least. To evaluate the effect of the JCB extinction event on ichthyosaurs, we calculated cladogenesis, extinction, and survival rates for each stage of the Oxfordian–Barremian interval, under different scenarios. The extinction rate during the JCB never surpasses the background extinction rate for the Oxfordian–Barremian interval and the JCB records one of the highest survival rates of the interval. Conclusions/Significance There is currently no evidence that ichthyosaurs were affected by the JCB extinction event, in contrast to many other marine groups. Ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs remained diverse from their rapid radiation in the Middle Jurassic to their total extinction at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous

Dyskinesias after neural transplantation in Parkinson's disease: what do we know and what is next?

Since the 1980 s, when cell transplantation into the brain as a cure for Parkinson's disease hit the headlines, several patients with Parkinson's disease have received transplantation of cells from aborted fetuses with the aim of replacing the dopamine cells destroyed by the disease. The results in human studies were unpredictable and raised controversy. Some patients showed remarkable improvement, but many of the patients who underwent transplantation experienced serious disabling adverse reactions, putting an end to human trials since the late 1990 s. These side effects consisted of patients' developing troublesome involuntary, uncontrolled movements in the absence of dopaminergic medication, so-called off-phase, graft-induced dyskinesias. Notwithstanding the several mechanisms having been proposed, the pathogenesis of this type of dyskinesias remained unclear and there was no effective treatment. It has been suggested that graft-induced dyskinesias could be related to fiber outgrowth from the graft causing increased dopamine release, that could be related to the failure of grafts to restore a precise distribution of dopaminergic synaptic contacts on host neurons or may also be induced by inflammatory and immune responses around the graft. A recent study, however, hypothesized that an important factor for the development of graft-induced dyskinesias could include the composition of the cell suspension and specifically that a high proportion of serotonergic neurons cografted in these transplants engage in nonphysiological properties such as false transmitter release. The findings from this study showed serotonergic hyperinnervation in the grafted striatum of two patients with Parkinson's disease who exhibited major motor recovery after transplantation with fetal mesencephalic tissue but later developed graft-induced dyskinesias. Moreover, the dyskinesias were significantly attenuated by administration of a serotonin agonist, which activates the inhibitory serotonin autoreceptors and attenuates transmitter release from serotonergic neurons, indicating that graft-induced dyskinesias were caused by the dense serotonergic innervation engaging in false transmitter release. Here the implications of the recent findings for the development of new human trials testing the safety and efficacy of cell transplantation in patients with Parkinson's disease are discussed

UtpA and UtpB chaperone nascent pre-ribosomal RNA and U3 snoRNA to initiate eukaryotic ribosome assembly

Early eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis involves large multi-protein complexes, which co-transcriptionally associate with pre-ribosomal RNA to form the small subunit processome. The precise mechanisms by which two of the largest multi-protein complexes—UtpA and UtpB—interact with nascent pre-ribosomal RNA are poorly understood. Here, we combined biochemical and structural biology approaches with ensembles of RNA–protein cross-linking data to elucidate the essential functions of both complexes. We show that UtpA contains a large composite RNA-binding site and captures the 5′ end of pre-ribosomal RNA. UtpB forms an extended structure that binds early pre-ribosomal intermediates in close proximity to architectural sites such as an RNA duplex formed by the 5′ ETS and U3 snoRNA as well as the 3′ boundary of the 18S rRNA. Both complexes therefore act as vital RNA chaperones to initiate eukaryotic ribosome assembly

A more fine-grained measure towards animal welfare: a study with regards to gender differences in Spanish students

The environmental issue is nowadays taking more importance in the environmental awareness all around the world, and in this field, animal consideration is more and more spread. A highlighted part in globalisation is the animal welfare awareness. This article presents a study comparing attitudes towards animals among secondary and university students in reference to gender. It was carried out on 1394 Spanish participants from 11 to 26 years. The instrument used in the study is the reviewed version of the Animal Welfare Attitude Scale which was renamed as “Animal Welfare Attitude-Revised Scale” (AWA-R Scale), with a Cronbach a reliability value of 0.85. It is subdivided into four components namely C1: animal abuse for pleasure or due to ignorance; C2: leisure with animals; C3: farm animals; and C4: animal abandonment. These components have been deeply detailed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which highly contributes to define the position of participants for the different dimensions of animal welfare. It is concluded that significant differences exist between males’ and females’ attitudes in all components of the AWA-R Scale. It is also suggested that two social characteristics—people’s attitudes towards animals and towards environmental protection—are, at the very least, coexistent and may indeed be interdependent. These differences between gender in matters of socialisation could thus be reflected in environmental attitudes, and also in others related to them, i.e. animal welfare attitudes

Using Barkhausen Noise to Measure Coating Depth of Coated High-Speed Steel

Coated high-speed steel tools are widely used in machining processes as they offer an excellent tool life to cost ratio, but they quickly need replacing once the coated layer is worn away. It would be therefore useful to be able to measure the tool life remaining non-destructively and cheaply. To achieve this, the work presented here aims to measure the thickness of the coated layer of high-speed cutting tools by using Barkhausen noise (BHN) techniques. Coated high-speed steel specimens coated with two different materials (chromium nitride (CrN), titanium nitride (TiN)) were tested using a cost-effective measuring system developed for this study. Sensory features were extracted from the signal received from a pick-up coil and the signal features, Root mean square, peak count, and signal energy, were successfully correlated with the thickness of the coating layer on high-speed steel (HSS) specimens. The results suggest that the Barkhausen noise measuring system developed in this study can successfully indicate the different thickness of the coating layer on CrN/TiN coated HSS specimens

Approaches to link RNA secondary structures with splicing regulation

In higher eukaryotes, alternative splicing is usually regulated by protein factors, which bind to the pre-mRNA and affect the recognition of splicing signals. There is recent evidence that the secondary structure of the pre-mRNA may also play an important role in this process, either by facilitating or by hindering the interaction with factors and small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) that regulate splicing. Moreover, the secondary structure could play a fundamental role in the splicing of yeast species, which lack many of the regulatory splicing factors present in metazoans. This review describes the steps in the analysis of the secondary structure of the pre-mRNA and its possible relation to splicing. As a working example, we use the case of yeast and the problem of the recognition of the 3-prime splice site.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Th17-Related Genes and Celiac Disease Susceptibility

Th17 cells are known to be involved in several autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. In celiac disease (CD), recent studies suggest an implication of those cells in disease pathogenesis. We aimed at studying the role of genes relevant for the Th17 immune response in CD susceptibility. A total of 101 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mainly selected to cover most of the variability present in 16 Th17-related genes (IL23R, RORC, IL6R, IL17A, IL17F, CCR6, IL6, JAK2, TNFSF15, IL23A, IL22, STAT3, TBX21, SOCS3, IL12RB1 and IL17RA), were genotyped in 735 CD patients and 549 ethnically matched healthy controls. Case-control comparisons for each SNP and for the haplotypes resulting from the SNPs studied in each gene were performed using chi-square tests. Gene-gene interactions were also evaluated following different methodological approaches. No significant results emerged after performing the appropriate statistical corrections. Our results seem to discard a relevant role of Th17 cells on CD risk

α-Synuclein Genetic Variants Predict Faster Motor Symptom Progression in Idiopathic Parkinson Disease

Currently, there are no reported genetic predictors of motor symptom progression in Parkinson’s disease (PD). In familial PD, disease severity is associated with higher α-synuclein (SNCA) expression levels, and in postmortem studies expression varies with SNCA genetic variants. Furthermore, SNCA is a well-known risk factor for PD occurrence. We recruited Parkinson’s patients from the communities of three central California counties to investigate the influence of SNCA genetic variants on motor symptom progression in idiopathic PD. We repeatedly assessed this cohort of patients over an average of 5.1 years for motor symptom changes employing the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Of 363 population-based incident PD cases diagnosed less than 3 years from baseline assessment, 242 cases were successfully re-contacted and 233 were re-examined at least once. Of subjects lost to follow-up, 69% were due to death. Adjusting for covariates, risk of faster decline of motor function as measured by annual increase in motor UPDRS exam score was increased 4-fold in carriers of the REP1 263bp promoter variant (OR 4.03, 95%CI:1.57–10.4). Our data also suggest a contribution to increased risk by the G-allele for rs356165 (OR 1.66; 95%CI:0.96–2.88), and we observed a strong trend across categories when both genetic variants were considered (p for trend  = 0.002). Our population-based study has demonstrated that SNCA variants are strong predictors of faster motor decline in idiopathic PD. SNCA may be a promising target for therapies and may help identify patients who will benefit most from early interventions. This is the first study to link SNCA to motor symptom decline in a longitudinal progression study