A Morpho-molecular Perspective on the Diversity and Evolution of Spumellaria (Radiolaria)

Spumellaria (Radiolaria, Rhizaria) are holoplanktonic amoeboid protists, ubiquitous and abundant in the global ocean. Their silicified skeleton preserves very well in sediments, displaying an excellent fossil record extremely valuable for paleo-environmental reconstruction studies, from where most of their extant diversity and ecology have been inferred. This study represents a comprehensive classification of Spumellaria based on the combination of ribosomal taxonomic marker genes (rDNA) and morphological characteristics. In contrast to established taxonomic knowledge, we demonstrate that symmetry of the skeleton takes more importance than internal structures at high classification ranks. Such reconsideration allows gathering different morphologies with concentric structure and spherical or radial symmetry believed to belong to other Radiolaria orders from the fossil record, as for some Entactinaria families. Our calibrated molecular clock dates the origin of Spumellaria in the middle Cambrian (ca. 515 Ma), among the first radiolarian representatives in the fossil record. This study allows a direct connection between living specimens and extinct morphologies from the Cambrian, bringing both a standpoint for future molecular environmental surveys and a better understanding for paleo-environmental reconstruction analysis. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbHThis work was supported by the IMPEKAB ANR 15-CE02-0011 grant and the Brittany Region ARED C16 1520A01, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant No. K16K0-74750 for N. Suzuki and "the Cooperative Research Project with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France) "Morphomolecular Diversity Assessment of Ecologically, Evolutionary, and Geo-logically Relevant Marine Plankton (Radiolaria) ". We are grateful to the CNRS-Sorbonne University ABiMS bioinformatics platform (http://abims.sbroscoff.fr) for providing computational resources. The authors are grateful to the MOOSE observation national network (funded by CNRS-INSU and Research Infrastructure ILICO) which sustain the annual ship-based hydrographic sections in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea (MOOSEGE) , as well as John Dolan for hosting us multiple times at the Laboratoire d'Oceanographie of Villefranche sur Mer. We are greatly thankful to Cedric Berney for the phylogenetic advice and the valuable help on the interpretation of the "symbiotic" clade, as well as Vasily Zlatogursky for his contributions and feed-back on the heliozoan-like organism

Inteligencia computacional y TIC: estrategias para facilitar el aprendizaje en la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Este proyecto abarca dos grandes líneas aplicadas en asignaturas masivas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. La primera implementa procesos de Inteligencia Computacional con el objetivo de mejorar el conocimiento que se tiene del estudiante, protagonista principal del escenario de la Educación Superior. Tanto la detección de patrones de comportamientos cognitivos como el descubrimiento de relaciones entre las características socioeconómicas y el desempeño académico, resultan de suma utilidad para facilitar la apropiación del conocimiento. En esta propuesta se desarrollan procesos de Descubrimiento de Conocimiento basado en Datos (KDD) en dos Unidades Académicas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC). La segunda se aboca a incorporar Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en los procesos de aprendizaje y evaluación de estudiantes de carreras de Ingeniería, que a continuación se enumeran: 1° Para asignaturas de Programación, desarrollo y mejora de los procesos de evaluación mediante la realimentación semántica en plataforma Moodle y puesta en funcionamientos de Test Adaptativos Informatizados (TAI) que aplican la Teoría de Respuesta al Item en el Sistema Tutor Inteligente (SIETTE). 2° Para la enseñanza de la Matemática, desarrollo de un modelo educativo, centrado en competencias bajo la plataforma Moodle. 3°Formación de Docentes, Investigadores y Estudiantes.Eje: Tecnología Informática Aplicada en EducaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Inteligencia computacional y TIC: estrategias para facilitar el aprendizaje en la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Este proyecto abarca dos grandes líneas aplicadas en asignaturas masivas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. La primera implementa procesos de Inteligencia Computacional con el objetivo de mejorar el conocimiento que se tiene del estudiante, protagonista principal del escenario de la Educación Superior. Tanto la detección de patrones de comportamientos cognitivos como el descubrimiento de relaciones entre las características socioeconómicas y el desempeño académico, resultan de suma utilidad para facilitar la apropiación del conocimiento. En esta propuesta se desarrollan procesos de Descubrimiento de Conocimiento basado en Datos (KDD) en dos Unidades Académicas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC). La segunda se aboca a incorporar Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en los procesos de aprendizaje y evaluación de estudiantes de carreras de Ingeniería, que a continuación se enumeran: 1° Para asignaturas de Programación, desarrollo y mejora de los procesos de evaluación mediante la realimentación semántica en plataforma Moodle y puesta en funcionamientos de Test Adaptativos Informatizados (TAI) que aplican la Teoría de Respuesta al Item en el Sistema Tutor Inteligente (SIETTE). 2° Para la enseñanza de la Matemática, desarrollo de un modelo educativo, centrado en competencias bajo la plataforma Moodle. 3° Formación de Docentes, Investigadores y Estudiantes.Fil: Díaz, Laura Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Bartó, Carlos A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Las Heras, José María. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Algorry, Aldo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Marangunic, Rodolfo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Azpilicueta, Jorge. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Galoppo, José. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Sandin, Daniel L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Vignoli, Adolfo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Martino, Agustín. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Laluf, Andrea. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Saavedra, Leandro. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Morales, Pablo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina

Abrolhos Bank Reef Health Evaluated by Means of Water Quality, Microbial Diversity, Benthic Cover, and Fish Biomass Data

The health of the coral reefs of the Abrolhos Bank (southwestern Atlantic) was characterized with a holistic approach using measurements of four ecosystem components: (i) inorganic and organic nutrient concentrations, [1] fish biomass, [1] macroalgal and coral cover and (iv) microbial community composition and abundance. The possible benefits of protection from fishing were particularly evaluated by comparing sites with varying levels of protection. Two reefs within the well-enforced no-take area of the National Marine Park of Abrolhos (Parcel dos Abrolhos and California) were compared with two unprotected coastal reefs (Sebastião Gomes and Pedra de Leste) and one legally protected but poorly enforced coastal reef (the “paper park” of Timbebas Reef). The fish biomass was lower and the fleshy macroalgal cover was higher in the unprotected reefs compared with the protected areas. The unprotected and protected reefs had similar seawater chemistry. Lower vibrio CFU counts were observed in the fully protected area of California Reef. Metagenome analysis showed that the unprotected reefs had a higher abundance of archaeal and viral sequences and more bacterial pathogens, while the protected reefs had a higher abundance of genes related to photosynthesis. Similar to other reef systems in the world, there was evidence that reductions in the biomass of herbivorous fishes and the consequent increase in macroalgal cover in the Abrolhos Bank may be affecting microbial diversity and abundance. Through the integration of different types of ecological data, the present study showed that protection from fishing may lead to greater reef health. The data presented herein suggest that protected coral reefs have higher microbial diversity, with the most degraded reef (Sebastião Gomes) showing a marked reduction in microbial species richness. It is concluded that ecological conditions in unprotected reefs may promote the growth and rapid evolution of opportunistic microbial pathogens

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe