Drosophila T-Box Transcription Factor Midline Functions in the Notch-Delta Signaling Pathway to Regulate Sensory Organ Precursor Cell Fate and Cell Survival and Embryonic Development Profile of Midline, Senseless, and Achaete in the CNS and PNS

The gene mid of Drosophila is a highly conserved gene that codes for a T-box transcription factor with similar functionality to its vertebrate homolog Tbx20. Mid and Tbx20 are important for their roles in heart and CNS development. Additionally, these transcription factors aid in proper eye development but this area of research is vastly understudied. This study uses the eye of Drosophila to report that mid and its paralog H15 expression aid in the specification of sensory organ precursor (SOP) cell fates and cell survival in the pupal eye imaginal disc. Using RNAi interference to reduce mid expression resulted in the loss of interommatidial bristles as well as cell death due to the misspecification of SOP cells during pupal development. We completed genetic studies to place mid in the Notch-Delta genetic pathway because it is known to specify SOP cell fates and were able to determine that Mid functions downstream of Notch, upstream of the Enhancer of Split (E(Spl)) gene complex, and tentatively parallel with Suppressor of Hairless (Su(H)) in the pathway. Additionally, mid interactions with extramacrochaete (emc) and Senseless (sens) play a role in cell survival. These studies suggest that Mid functions within the Notch-Delta signaling pathway with a dual role of cell-fate specification and cell survival. Another aspect of this research study was to evaluate the role of Mid in the developing central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) of Drosophila embryos. Mid expression was compared to the expression of Sens and Achaete (Ac), SOP cell markers during various stages of embryonic development. Our results show a coordinated co-expression pattern of Sens and Ac with Mid. Sens is highly expressed in the PNS of stages prior to stage 12 and then fades. Ac is expressed in the neurons of the CNS and PNS in early stages and continues after stage 12, which is when Mid expression begins. Ac is co-expressed with Mid beginning in stage 12. Further experiments will be performed using mid-RNAi embryos to evaluate if reducing mid expression affects the expression patterns of Sens and Ac. This research has clinical applications to further the understanding of developmental and neurodegenerative diseases of the CNS, PNS, and eye. Additionally, Mid may have a link to the development of cancer, an area of research that will be studied in the Leal lab in the future

Looking Good With Flickr Faves: Gaussian Processes for Finding Difference Makers in Personality Impressions

Flickr allows its users to generate galleries of "faves", i.e., pictures that they have tagged as favourite. According to recent studies, the faves are predictive of the personality traits that people attribute to Flickr users. This article investigates the phenomenon and shows that faves allow one to predict whether a Flickr user is perceived to be above median or not with respect to each of the Big-Five Traits (accuracy up to 79\% depending on the trait). The classifier - based on Gaussian Processes with a new kernel designed for this work - allows one to identify the visual characteristics of faves that better account for the prediction outcome

Variables associées aux préférences relatives au sexe des enfants chez des femmes enceintes primipares

Les données des deux dernières décennies montrent que les femmes enceintes attendant un premier enfant désirent plus souvent une fille qu’un garçon. L’objectif de cette étude est de déterminer les variables associées aux préférences relatives au sexe des enfants chez des femmes enceintes primipares dont l’âge varie entre 18 et 49 ans. Les analyses portent sur 226 femmes qui ont déclaré une préférence, soit pour une fille (n = 88), soit pour un garçon (n = 49), ou qui n’ont déclaré aucune préférence (n = 89). Des variables socio-démographiques, développementales et psychologiques ont été comparées entre les trois groupes de femmes. Les résultats ne révèlent aucune différence au plan statistique pour les variables étudiées. Certaines explications de ces résultats sont avancées.Data from the past two decades show that pregnant women expecting their first child more often want to have a girl than a boy. The aim of this study is to identify variables associated with preferences regarding the child’s gender among primiparous pregnant women from 18 to 49 years of age. The analyses focus on 226 women who stated a preference for either a girl (n = 88) or a boy (n = 49) or who did not state a preference (n = 89). Socio-demographic, developmental and psychological variables were compared for the three groups of women. The results do not show any statistically significant differences for the variables studied. The article offers some possible explanations for these results

Engage the Sages: A Model for Offering Professional Development to Faculty and Graduate Students in Teaching

Even at large, state research universities, teaching is the institution’s core mission. Accordingly, we designed, publicized, and offered a professional development series to enhance the teaching skills and excellence of our faculty and graduate students at our large, state research university. Our professional development series consisted of 18 voluntary events, seminars, and workshops over the course of the academic year. Participants who completed a specified number of event surveys and an overall reflection earned a professional development certificate in teaching. Data indicated that our series was personally valuable to our participants, and they believed it promoted teaching at our university

Taxonomy and structure of the Romanian personality lexicon

We identified 1746 personality-relevant trait-adjectives in a Romanian dictionary, of which 412 were classified as descriptors of dispositions by 10 judges. Self-ratings were collected from 515 participants on those 412 adjectives, and the ratings were factored using principal components analysis. Solutions with different numbers of factors were analysed. The two- and three-factor solutions, respectively, confirmed the Big Two and Big Three of personality traits. A five-factor solution reflected the Big Five model with a fifth factor emphasising Rebelliousness versus Conventionality. The five-factor solution was related to the International Personality Item Pool-Big Five scales, and the highest correlations were indeed between the corresponding factors and scales. A six-factor solution was indicative of the six-factor model as expressed in the HEXACO model, yet with a weak Honesty-Humility factor. Additional analysis with self-ratings from 218 participants on marker-scales for the six-factor solution and on the six scales of the HEXACO did not produce a clear one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of scales, confirming indeed that the six-factor model was only partially found

The \u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e T-box Transcription Factor Midline Functions Within the Notch-Delta Signaling Pathway To Specify Sensory Organ Precursor Cell Fates and Regulates Cell Survival Within the Eye Imaginal Disc

We report that the T-box transcription factor Midline (Mid), an evolutionary conserved homolog of the vertebrate Tbx20 protein, functions within the Notch-Delta signaling pathway essential for specifying the fates of sensory organ precursor (SOP) cells. These findings complement an established history of research showing that Mid regulates the cell-fate specification of diverse cell types within the developing heart, epidermis and central nervous system. Tbx20 has been detected in unique neuronal and epithelial cells of embryonic eye tissues in both mice and humans. However, the mechanisms by which either Mid or Tbx20 function to regulate cell-fate specification or other critical aspects of eye development including cell survival have not yet been elucidated. We have also gathered preliminary evidence suggesting that Mid may play an indirect, but vital role in selecting SOP cells within the third-instar larval eye disc by regulating the expression of the proneural gene atonal. During subsequent pupal stages, Mid specifies SOP cell fates as a member of the Notch-Delta signaling hierarchy and is essential for maintaining cell viability by inhibiting apoptotic pathways. We present several new hypotheses that seek to understand the role of Mid in regulating developmental processes downstream of the Notch receptor that are critical for specifying unique cell fates, patterning the adult eye and maintaining cellular homeostasis during eye disc morphogenesis. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

Expressing one’s feelings and listening to others increases emotional intelligence: a pilot study of Asian medical students

<p>Background: There has been considerable interest in Emotional Intelligence (EI) in undergraduate medical education, with respect to student selection and admissions, health and well-being and academic performance. EI is a significant component of the physician-patient relationship. The emotional well-being of the physician is, therefore, a significant component in patient care. The aim is to examine the measurement of TEIQue-SF in Asian medical students and to explore how the practice of listening to the feelings of others and expressing one’s own feelings influences an individual’s EI, set in the context of the emotional well-being of a medical practitioner.</p> <p>Methods: A group of 183 international undergraduate medical students attended a half-day workshop (WS) about mental-health and well-being. They completed a self-reported measure of EI on three occasions, pre- and post-workshop, and a 1-year follow-up.</p> <p>Result: The reliability of TEIQue-SF was high and the reliabilities of its four factors were acceptable. There were strong correlations between the TEIQue-SF and personality traits. A paired t-test indicated significant positive changes after the WS for all students (n=181, p= .014), male students (n=78, p= .015) and non-Japanese students (n=112, p= .007), but a repeated measures analysis showed that one year post-workshop there were significant positive changes for all students (n=55, p= .034), female students (n=31, p= .007), especially Japanese female students (n=13, p= .023). Moreover, 80% of the students reported that they were more attentive listeners, and 60% agreed that they were more confident in dealing with emotional issues, both within themselves and in others, as a result of the workshop.</p> <p>Conclusion: This study found the measurement of TEIQue-SF is appropriate and reliable to use for Asian medical students. The mental health workshop was helpful to develop medical students’ EI but showed different results for gender and nationality. The immediate impact on the emotional awareness of individuals was particularly significant for male students and the non-Japanese group. The impact over the long term was notable for the significant increase in EI for females and Japanese. Japanese female students were more conscious about emotionality. Emotion-driven communication exercises might strongly influence the development of students’ EI over a year.</p&gt

Effects of plant extracts and essential oils as feed supplements on quality and microbial traits of rabbit meat

[EN] The effects of dietary supplementation of onion, cranberry,  strawberry and essentials oils on meat quality were analysed. Five groups of 48 Grimaud female weaned rabbits received the supplemented or the control ration; the experimental unit was a cage of 6 rabbits. Each experimental diet contained 10 ppm of added active ingredients.  Rabbits were fed with the experimental diets for 4 wk before determining slaughter and carcass traits and determining the pH at 1 and 24 h post mortem (pHu) of the Longissimus dorsi (LD) and the Biceps femoris (BF) muscle, left and right, respectively. Cooking loss, drip loss and L*, a* and b* color parameters were obtained of the right LD and for ground meat and antioxidant status (TBARS, DNPH, Folin Ciocalteu). Only the pHu of the LD muscle for the strawberry supplemented group was significantly lower when compared to the control group (P=0.04). However, we note that for the pH of the LD, the average was less than 6 for the meat of animals who received a diet enriched in polyphenols, compared to the control group. Plant extract supplementation did not influence meat quality traits, growth performance or oxidative stability. But under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, our results indicate that diet supplementation with extracts rich in polyphenols, especially with essential oils, had a small bot sporadic positive effect in reducing bacterial microflora compared to the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, plant extracts and essential oils can be used in a rabbit diet without adverse effects on performance and meat quality traits. This effect could be optimized by investigating higher doses.Kone, AP.; Cinq-Mars, D.; Desjardins, Y.; Guay, F.; Gosselin, A.; Saucier, L. (2016). Effects of plant extracts and essential oils as feed supplements on quality and microbial traits of rabbit meat. 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Effect of acute copper sulfate exposure on olfactory responses to amino acids and pheromones in goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Exposure of olfactory epithelium to environmentally relevant concentrations of copper disrupts olfaction in fish. To examine the dynamics of recovery at both functional and morphological levels after acute copper exposure, unilateral exposure of goldfish olfactory epithelia to 100 μM CuSO4 (10 min) was followed by electro-olfactogram (EOG) recording and scanning electron microscopy. Sensitivity to amino acids (L-arginine and L-serine), generally considered food-related odorants, recovered most rapidly (three days), followed by that to catecholamines(3-O-methoxytyramine),bileacids(taurolithocholic acid) and the steroid pheromone, 17,20 -dihydroxy-4-pregnen- 3-one 20-sulfate, which took 28 days to reach full recovery. Sensitivity to the postovulatory pheromone prostaglandin F2R had not fully recovered even at 28 days. These changes in sensitivity were correlated with changes in the recovery of ciliated and microvillous receptor cell types. Microvillous cells appeared largely unaffected by CuSO4 treatment. Cilia in ciliated receptor neurones, however, appeared damaged one day post-treatment and were virtually absent after three days but had begun to recover after 14 days. Together, these results support the hypothesis that microvillous receptor neurones detect amino acids whereas ciliated receptor neurones were not functional and are responsible for detection of social stimuli (bile acidsandpheromones).Furthermore, differences in sensitivity to copper may be due to different transduction pathways in the different cell types