Stable Engraftment of Bifidobacterium longum AH1206 in the Human Gut Depends on Individualized Features of the Resident Microbiome

Live bacteria (such as probiotics) have long been used to modulate gut microbiota and human physiology, but their colonization is mostly transient. Conceptual understanding of the ecological principles as they apply to exogenously introduced microbes in gut ecosystems is lacking. We find that, when orally administered to humans, Bifidobacterium longum AH1206 stably persists in the gut of 30% of individuals for at least 6 months without causing gastrointestinal symptoms or impacting the composition of the resident gut microbiota. AH1206 engraftment was associated with low abundance of resident B. longum and underrepresentation of specific carbohydrate utilization genes in the pre-treatment microbiome. Thus, phylogenetic limiting and resource availability are two factors that control the niche opportunity for AH1206 colonization. These findings suggest that bacterial species and functional genes absent in the gut microbiome of individual humans can be reestablished, providing opportunities for precise and personalized microbiome reconstitution

Are lay people good at recognising the symptoms of schizophrenia?

©2013 Erritty, Wydell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the general public’s perception of schizophrenia symptoms and the need to seekhelp for symptoms. The recognition (or ‘labelling’) of schizophrenia symptoms, help-seeking behaviours and public awareness of schizophrenia have been suggested as potentially important factors relating to untreated psychosis. Method: Participants were asked to rate to what extent they believe vignettes describing classic symptoms (positive and negative) of schizophrenia indicate mental illness. They were also asked if the individuals depicted in the vignettes required help or treatment and asked to suggest what kind of help or treatment. Results: Only three positive symptoms (i.e., Hallucinatory behaviour, Unusual thought content and Suspiciousness) of schizophrenia were reasonably well perceived (above 70%) as indicating mental illness more than the other positive or negative symptoms. Even when the participants recognised that the symptoms indicated mental illness, not everyone recommended professional help. Conclusion: There may be a need to improve public awareness of schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms, particularly regarding an awareness of the importance of early intervention for psychosis

Quantification of the Temporal Evolution of Collagen Orientation in Mechanically Conditioned Engineered Cardiovascular Tissues

Load-bearing soft tissues predominantly consist of collagen and exhibit anisotropic, non-linear visco-elastic behavior, coupled to the organization of the collagen fibers. Mimicking native mechanical behavior forms a major goal in cardiovascular tissue engineering. Engineered tissues often lack properly organized collagen and consequently do not meet in vivo mechanical demands. To improve collagen architecture and mechanical properties, mechanical stimulation of the tissue during in vitro tissue growth is crucial. This study describes the evolution of collagen fiber orientation with culture time in engineered tissue constructs in response to mechanical loading. To achieve this, a novel technique for the quantification of collagen fiber orientation is used, based on 3D vital imaging using multiphoton microscopy combined with image analysis. The engineered tissue constructs consisted of cell-seeded biodegradable rectangular scaffolds, which were either constrained or intermittently strained in longitudinal direction. Collagen fiber orientation analyses revealed that mechanical loading induced collagen alignment. The alignment shifted from oblique at the surface of the construct towards parallel to the straining direction in deeper tissue layers. Most importantly, intermittent straining improved and accelerated the alignment of the collagen fibers, as compared to constraining the constructs. Both the method and the results are relevant to create and monitor load-bearing tissues with an organized anisotropic collagen network

Automated Analysis in Feature Modelling and Product Configuration

The automated analysis of feature models is one of the thriving topics of research in the software product line and variability management communities that has attracted more attention in the last years. A recent literature review reported that more than 30 analysis operations have been identi ed and di erent analysis mechanisms have been proposed. Product con guration is a well established research eld with more than 30 years of successful applications in di erent industrial domains. Our hypothesis, that is not really new, is that these two independent areas of research have interesting synergies that have not been fully explored. To try to explore the potential synergies systematically, in this paper we provide a rapid review to bring together these previously disparate streams of work. We de ne a set of research questions and give a preliminary answer to some of them. We conclude that there are many research opportunities in the synergy of these independent areas.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009- 07366Junta de Andalucía TIC-590

Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex supports context-dependent prioritisation of off-task thought

When environments lack compelling goals, humans often let their minds wander to thoughts with greater personal relevance; however, we currently do not understand how this context-dependent prioritisation process operates. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) maintains goal representations in a context-dependent manner. Here, we show this region is involved in prioritising off-task thought in an analogous way. In a whole brain analysis we established that neural activity in DLPFC is high both when ‘on-task’ under demanding conditions and ‘off-task’ in a non-demanding task. Furthermore, individuals who increase off-task thought when external demands decrease, show lower correlation between neural signals linked to external tasks and lateral regions of the DMN within DLPFC, as well as less cortical grey matter in regions sensitive to these external task relevant signals. We conclude humans prioritise daydreaming when environmental demands decrease by aligning cognition with their personal goals using DLPFC

Double-Stranded RNA Attenuates the Barrier Function of Human Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells

Circulating RNA may result from excessive cell damage or acute viral infection and can interact with vascular endothelial cells. Despite the obvious clinical implications associated with the presence of circulating RNA, its pathological effects on endothelial cells and the governing molecular mechanisms are still not fully elucidated. We analyzed the effects of double stranded RNA on primary human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (hPAECs). The effect of natural and synthetic double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) on hPAECs was investigated using trans-endothelial electric resistance, molecule trafficking, calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis, gene expression and proliferation studies. Furthermore, the morphology and mechanical changes of the cells caused by synthetic dsRNA was followed by in-situ atomic force microscopy, by vascular-endothelial cadherin and F-actin staining. Our results indicated that exposure of hPAECs to synthetic dsRNA led to functional deficits. This was reflected by morphological and mechanical changes and an increase in the permeability of the endothelial monolayer. hPAECs treated with synthetic dsRNA accumulated in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Additionally, the proliferation rate of the cells in the presence of synthetic dsRNA was significantly decreased. Furthermore, we found that natural and synthetic dsRNA modulated Ca2+ signaling in hPAECs by inhibiting the sarco-endoplasmic Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) which is involved in the regulation of the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and thus cell growth. Even upon synthetic dsRNA stimulation silencing of SERCA3 preserved the endothelial monolayer integrity. Our data identify novel mechanisms by which dsRNA can disrupt endothelial barrier function and these may be relevant in inflammatory processes

The role of potential vorticity anomalies in the Somali Jet on Indian summer monsoon intraseasonal variability

The climate of the Indian subcontinent is dominated by rainfall arising from the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) during the summer season (June to September). Intraseasonal variability during the monsoon is characterized by periods of heavy rainfall interspersed by drier periods, known as active and break events respectively. Understanding and predicting such events is of vital importance for forecasting human impacts such as water resources. The Somali Jet is a key regional feature of this circulation. In the present study, we find that the spatial structure of Somali Jet potential vorticity (PV) anomalies varies considerably during active and break periods. Analysis of these anomalies shows a mechanism whereby sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies propagate north/northwestwards through the Arabian Sea, caused by a positive feedback loop joining anomalies in SST, convection, modification of PV by diabatic heating and mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer, wind stress curl, and upwelling processes. The feedback mechanism is consistent with observed coupled ocean-atmosphere system variability timescales of approximately 20 days. This research suggests that better understanding and prediction of monsoon subseasonal variability in the South Asian monsoon may be gained by analysis of the day-to-day dynamical evolution of PV in the Somali Jet