Molecular imaging with engineered physiology

In vivo imaging techniques are powerful tools for evaluating biological systems. Relating image signals to precise molecular phenomena can be challenging, however, due to limitations of the existing optical, magnetic and radioactive imaging probe mechanisms. Here we demonstrate a concept for molecular imaging which bypasses the need for conventional imaging agents by perturbing the endogenous multimodal contrast provided by the vasculature. Variants of the calcitonin gene-related peptide artificially activate vasodilation pathways in rat brain and induce contrast changes that are readily measured by optical and magnetic resonance imaging. CGRP-based agents induce effects at nanomolar concentrations in deep tissue and can be engineered into switchable analyte-dependent forms and genetically encoded reporters suitable for molecular imaging or cell tracking. Such artificially engineered physiological changes, therefore, provide a highly versatile means for sensitive analysis of molecular events in living organisms.National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (R01-MH103160)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (R01-NS076462)BRAIN Initiative (award R24-MH109081)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Simons Center for the Social BrainBoehringer Ingelheim Fonds (predoctoral fellowships)McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MI

The fables of pity: Rousseau, Mandeville and the animal-fable

Copyright @ 2012 Edinburgh University PressPrompted by Derrida’s work on the animal-fable in eighteenth-century debates about political power, this article examines the role played by the fiction of the animal in thinking of pity as either a natural virtue (in Rousseau’s Second Discourse) or as a natural passion (in Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees). The war of fables between Rousseau and Mandeville – and their hostile reception by Samuel Johnson and Adam Smith – reinforce that the animal-fable illustrates not so much the proper of man as the possibilities and limitations of a moral philosophy that is unable to address the political realities of the state

Physiological Correlates of Volunteering

We review research on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising research field. Some of these correlates seem to be causal factors influencing volunteering. Volunteers tend to have better physical health, both self-reported and expert-assessed, better mental health, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has rarely examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal, and genetic correlates of volunteering to any significant extent, especially controlling for other factors as potential confounds. Evolutionary theory and behavioral genetic research suggest the importance of such physiological factors in humans. Basically, many aspects of social relationships and social activities have effects on health (e.g., Newman and Roberts 2013; Uchino 2004), as the widely used biopsychosocial (BPS) model suggests (Institute of Medicine 2001). Studies of formal volunteering (FV), charitable giving, and altruistic behavior suggest that physiological characteristics are related to volunteering, including specific genes (such as oxytocin receptor [OXTR] genes, Arginine vasopressin receptor [AVPR] genes, dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4] genes, and 5-HTTLPR). We recommend that future research on physiological factors be extended to non-Western populations, focusing specifically on volunteering, and differentiating between different forms and types of volunteering and civic participation

Extragenital Infections Caused by Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae: A Review of the Literature

In the United States, sexually transmitted diseases due to Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae continue to be a major public health burden. Screening of extragenital sites including the oropharynx and rectum is an emerging practice based on recent studies highlighting the prevalence of infection at these sites. We reviewed studies reporting the prevalence of extragenital infections in women, men who have sex with men (MSM), and men who have sex only with women (MSW), including distribution by anatomical site. Among women, prevalence was found to be 0.6–35.8% for rectal gonorrhea (median reported prevalence 1.9%), 0–29.6% for pharyngeal gonorrhea (median 2.1%), 2.0–77.3% for rectal chlamydia (median 8.7%), and 0.2–3.2% for pharyngeal chlamydia (median 1.7%). Among MSM, prevalence was found to be 0.2–24.0% for rectal gonorrhea (median 5.9%), 0.5–16.5% for pharyngeal gonorrhea (median 4.6%), 2.1–23.0% for rectal chlamydia (median 8.9%), and 0–3.6% for pharyngeal chlamydia (median 1.7%). Among MSW, the prevalence was found to be 0–5.7% for rectal gonorrhea (median 3.4%), 0.4–15.5% for pharyngeal gonorrhea (median 2.2%), 0–11.8% for rectal chlamydia (median 7.7%), and 0–22.0% for pharyngeal chlamydia (median 1.6%). Extragenital infections are often asymptomatic and found in the absence of reported risk behaviors, such as receptive anal and oral intercourse. We discuss current clinical recommendations and future directions for research

Oncologic outcomes among Black and White men with grade group 4 or 5 (Gleason score 8‐10) prostate cancer treated primarily by radical prostatectomy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167476/1/cncr33419_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167476/2/cncr33419.pd

Naphthalene addition to soil surfaces : a feasible method to reduce soil micro-arthropods with negligible direct effects on soil C dynamics

Soil fauna are a key component of soil biodiversity and a driver of soil functioning. While the importance of soil fauna is well recognized, quantitative estimates of the role of soil fauna on soil biogeochemical processes, such as plant litter decomposition, are limited by methodological constraints. The addition of naphthalene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (C10H8), to suppress soil fauna has been used for decades in decomposition experiments, but its efficacy remains questioned. In fact, we lack a rigorous field assessment of the efficacy of naphthalene additions for soil fauna suppression and potential non-target effects on the soil microbial community and carbon cycling. We added naphthalene at a high rate (477 g m−2) monthly for 23 months on the bare soil surface of a tallgrass prairie. We determined the effect of such additions on the abundance of nematodes and micro-arthropods along the soil profile to a depth of 20 cm at 11, 16 and 23 months after initiating naphthalene application. We used the variation in the natural 13C abundance of the naphthalene ( 13C – 25.5‰) as compared to the native soil ( 13C ∼ −17‰) to quantify naphthalene contribution to soil CO2 efflux and microbial biomarkers(PLFA). Naphthalene addition significantly reduced the abundance of oribatid mites (−45%), predatory mites (−52%) and springtails (−49%), but did not affect nematode abundance. The13C abundance of a few Gram-negative (cy17:0, 18:17c, 16:17c), Gram-positive (a15:0, i15:0) and Actinobacteria (10Me-16:0, 10Me-18:0) PLFA markers decreased significantly in naphthalene treated plots, indicating bacterial utilization of naphthalene-derived C. Mixing models showed this contribution to be highly variable, with the highest naphthalene-C incorporation for Gram negative bacteria. Naphthalene-C was not incorporated in fungal PLFAs. This microbial utilization did not affect overall microbial abundance, community structure or activity, estimated as soil respiration. This experiment proves that naphthalene addition is a feasible method to reduce soil micro-arthropods in the field, with negligible direct effects on soil nematodes, microbial abundance and C dynamics

The elephant in the room? Problematizing ‘new’ (neoliberal) biodiversity conservation

As argued recently in Forum for Development Studies, a ‘back to the barriers’ approach to biodiversity conservation is again prevalent, after some two decades of emphasis on ‘community-based’ initiatives. This involves the establishment and expansion of national parks from which people are variously excluded. In this article, however, I suggest that community-based approaches such as Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) remain important, and in many ways simply constitute the other side of the same coin of modern conservation practice under the political and economic, and cultural, value-frame of neoliberalism. My aim is to highlight some shared conceptualisations and rationalisations regarding perceptions of ‘the environment’ and of people–environment relationships that inform both of these two broad-brush policy and practical orientations towards ‘biodiversity conservation’. The article thus draws on a Foucaultian analytics to ‘problematise’ the contemporary and globalising neoliberal episteme within which both these approaches are produced; and to open a space where orientations (towards ‘the environment’) that are ‘othered’ and thereby silenced by this frame might be articulated

Who gains from community conservation? intended and unintended costs and benefits of participative approaches in Peru and Tanzania

Who are the beneficiaries from participative approaches in conservation? The authors compare two protected areas Amarakaeri Communal Reserve in Peru and Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and show how in similar institutional settings local interest groups react very differently to the possibility of participation. The difference, however, does not regard economic benefits. In the case of Peru, local groups defining themselves as indigenous peoples see a political gain in participatory conservation, which seems to offer the possibility for securing land rights in their area. In Tanzania, however, local actors oppose participative conservation strategies or passively resist those forced on them because they cause high-economic costs and no political gains. By comparing both cases based on a new institutionalism analysis, the article reveals how intended and unintended costs and benefits can explain different attitudes of local groups to participative conservation