Human Intrinsic Factor Expression for Bioavailable Vitamin B12 Enrichment in Microalgae

Dietary supplements and functional foods are becoming increasingly popular complements to regular diets. A recurring ingredient is the essential cofactor vitamin B12 (B12). Microalgae are making their way into the dietary supplement and functional food market but do not produce B12, and their B12 content is very variable. In this study, the suitability of using the human B12-binding protein intrinsic factor (IF) to enrich bioavailable B12 using microalgae was tested. The IF protein was successfully expressed from the nuclear genome of the model microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the addition of an N-terminal ARS2 signal peptide resulted in efficient IF secretion to the medium. Co-abundance of B12 and the secreted IF suggests the algal produced IF protein is functional and B12-binding. Utilizing IF expression could be an efficient tool to generate B12-enriched microalgae in a controlled manner that is suitable for vegetarians and, potentially, more bioavailable for humans

Highlights From the Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society 2022

With more than 6000 attendees between in-person and virtual offerings, the American Epilepsy Society Meeting 2022 in Nashville, felt as busy as in prepandemic times. An ever-growing number of physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals gathered to learn a variety of topics about epilepsy. The program was carefully tailored to meet the needs of professionals with different interests and career stages. This article summarizes the different symposia presented at the meeting. Basic science lectures addressed the primary elements of seizure generation and pathophysiology of epilepsy in different disease states. Scientists congregated to learn about anti-seizure medications, mechanisms of action, and new tools to treat epilepsy including surgery and neurostimulation. Some symposia were also dedicated to discuss epilepsy comorbidities and practical issues regarding epilepsy care. An increasing number of patient advocates discussing their stories were intertwined within scientific activities. Many smaller group sessions targeted more specific topics to encourage member participation, including Special Interest Groups, Investigator, and Skills Workshops. Special lectures included the renown Hoyer and Lombroso, an ILAE/IBE joint session, a spotlight on the impact of Dobbs v. Jackson on reproductive health in epilepsy, and a joint session with the NAEC on coding and reimbursement policies. The hot topics symposium was focused on traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy. A balanced collaboration with the industry allowed presentations of the latest pharmaceutical and engineering advances in satellite symposia

The theory of the firm and its critics: a stocktaking and assessment

Includes bibliographical references."Prepared for Jean-Michel Glachant and Eric Brousseau, eds. New Institutional Economics: A Textbook, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.""This version: August 22, 2005."Since its emergence in the 1970s the modern economic or Coasian theory of the firm has been discussed and challenged by sociologists, heterodox economists, management scholars, and other critics. This chapter reviews and assesses these critiques, focusing on behavioral issues (bounded rationality and motivation), process (including path dependence and the selection argument), entrepreneurship, and the challenge from knowledge-based theories of the firm

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio

Vasomotor sympathetic neural control is maintained during sustained upright posture in humans

Vasomotor sympathetic activity plays an important role in arterial pressure maintenance via the baroreflex during acute orthostasis in humans. If orthostasis is prolonged, blood pressure may be supported additionally by humoral factors with a possible reduction in sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity. We tested the hypothesis that baroreflex control of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) decreases during prolonged upright posture. MSNA and haemodynamics were measured supine and during 45 min 60 deg upright tilt in 13 healthy individuals. Sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity was quantified using the slope of the linear correlation between MSNA and diastolic pressure during spontaneous breathing. It was further assessed as the relationship between MSNA and stroke volume, with stroke volume derived from cardiac output (C2H2 rebreathing) and heart rate. Total peripheral resistance was calculated from mean arterial pressure and cardiac output. We found that MSNA increased from supine to upright (17 ± 8 (s.d.) versus 38 ± 12 bursts min−1; P < 0.01), and continued to increase to a smaller degree during sustained tilt (39 ± 11, 41 ± 12, 43 ± 13 and 46 ± 15 bursts min−1 after 10, 20, 30 and 45 min of tilt; between treatments P < 0.01). Sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity increased from supine to upright (−292 ± 180 versus −718 ± 362 units beat−1 mmHg−1; P < 0.01), but remained unchanged as tilting continued (−611 ± 342 and −521 ± 221 units beat−1 mmHg−1 after 20 and 45 min of tilt; P = 0.49). For each subject, changes in MSNA were associated with changes in stroke volume (r = 0.88 ± 0.13, P < 0.05), while total peripheral resistance was related to MSNA during 45 min upright tilt (r = 0.82 ± 0.15, P < 0.05). These results suggest that the vasoconstriction initiated by sympathetic adrenergic nerves is maintained by ongoing sympathetic activation during sustained (i.e. 45 min) orthostasis without obvious changes in vasomotor sympathetic neural control