Effect of the photoperiod on the glutamate level in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of pregnant and non-pregnant rabbits

[EN] Microdialysis sampling was used to measure the glutamate level (GLU) contained in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in 10 pregnant and 10 non-pregnant, subjected to either a 16:8 h light-dark cycle or a 12 h advanced photoperiod. Results revealed that GLU levels were significantly greater in samples taken for 2 h (15 min intervals), ¿60, ¿45 and ¿30 min before parturition (P<0.009, P<0.04, P<0.02), and +45 and +60 min after birth (P<0.009, P<0.05) respectively, in pregnant rabbits subjects to a 16:8 LD photoperiod (with light from 6:00-22:00 h). Parturition in these animals occurred at day 31 of gestation. Pregnant rabbits exposed to 12 h advanced photoperiod showed lower GLU levels in the SCN, and a longer gestation period and parturition process. In non-pregnant rabbits the GLU levels in the SCN were also significantly higher (P<0.009, in all samples) in comparison with rabbits subjected to the 12 h shifted photoperiod. It is possible that the photoperiod may have influenced GLU levels, and consequently, the length of gestation, the number of young and the time of birth. However, further studies involving new biotechnologies and a greater number of animals are needed to confirm these results.Reyes-Guerrero, G.; Vázquez-García, M.; Calderón-Guzmán, D.; Donatti-Albarrán, O.; Guevara-Guzmán, R. (2008). Effect of the photoperiod on the glutamate level in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of pregnant and non-pregnant rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 16(3). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.62316

Potencial atrativo de Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl) A. Gray e Tithonia rotundifolia (Mill) S. F. Blake (Asteraceae) para utilização em controle biológico conservativo.

Objetivou-se identificar o potencial atrativo de Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl) A. Gray e T. rotundifolia (Mill) S.F. Blake para inimigos naturais, em duas diferentes condições edafoclimáticas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. O experimento foi conduzido nos campos experimentais da UFRRJ, em Seropédica e da Pesagro-Rio, em Paty do Alferes, entre outubro de 2015 e julho de 2016, com coletas quinzenais de artrópodes. Em Paty do Alferes foram coletados 97 e 486 artrópodes, em Seropédica 195 e 182, em T. diversifolia e T. rotundifolia respectivamente. Foram encontradas 36 famílias de artrópodes em T. diversifolia e 30 em T. rotundifolia; destas, 20 e 13 famílias eram de inimigos naturais, nessa ordem. As famílias com maior frequência para as duas plantas estudas foram Coccinellidae, Dolichopodidae, Carabidae. Entre os fitófagos, destacou-se a presença de Cicadellidae para as duas plantas. Estas culturas tem potencial atrativo, podendo ser utilizada na diversificação de agroecossistemasANAIS CONGRESSO LATINO-AMERICANO DE AGROECOLOGIA, 6.; CONGRESSO BRASILEIRO DE AGROECOLOGIA, 10.; SEMINÁRIO DE AGROECOLOGIA DO DISTRITO FEDERAL E ENTORNO, 5., 2017, Brasília, DF. Agroecologia na transformação dos sistemas agroalimentares na América Latina: memórias, saberes e caminhos para o bem viver: anais. Brasília, DF: Associação Brasileira de Agroecologia, 2017

Global and regional ecological boundaries explain abrupt spatial discontinuities in avian frugivory interactions

Species interactions can propagate disturbances across space via direct and indirect effects, potentially connecting species at a global scale. However, ecological and biogeographic boundaries may mitigate this spread by demarcating the limits of ecological networks. We tested whether large-scale ecological boundaries (ecoregions and biomes) and human disturbance gradients increase dissimilarity among plant-frugivore networks, while accounting for background spatial and elevational gradients and differences in network sampling. We assessed network dissimilarity patterns over a broad spatial scale, using 196 quantitative avian frugivory networks (encompassing 1496 plant and 1004 bird species) distributed across 67 ecoregions, 11 biomes, and 6 continents. We show that dissimilarities in species and interaction composition, but not network structure, are greater across ecoregion and biome boundaries and along different levels of human disturbance. Our findings indicate that biogeographic boundaries delineate the world’s biodiversity of interactions and likely contribute to mitigating the propagation of disturbances at large spatial scales.The authors acknowledge the following funding: University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship (L.P.M.); The Marsden Fund grant UOC1705 (J.M.T., L.P.M.); The São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP 2014/01986-0 (M.G., C.E.), 2015/15172-7 and 2016/18355-8 (C.E.), 2004/00810-3 and 2008/10154-7 (C.I.D., M.G., M.A.P.); Earthwatch Institute and Conservation International for financial support (C.I.D., M.G., M.A.P.); Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Supporting Research in the Rio de Janeiro State – FAPERJ grant E-26/200.610/2022 (C.E.); Brazilian Research Council grants 540481/01-7 and 304742/2019-8 (M.A.P.) and 300970/2015-3 (M.G.); Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation No. 22426–1 (J.C.M., I.M.), No. 9163-1 (G.B.J.) and No. 11042-1 (MCM); Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (Propp-UESC; No. 00220.1100.1644/10-2018) (J.C.M., I.M.); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPESB (No. 0525/2016) (J.C.M., I.M.); European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant 787638) and The Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 173342), both awarded to C. Graham (D.M.D.); ARC SRIEAS grant SR200100005 Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (D.M.D.); German Science Foundation—Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft PAK 825/1 and FOR 2730 (K.B.G., E.L.N., M.Q., V.S., M.S.), FOR 1246 (K.B.G., M.S., M.G.R.V.) and HE2041/20-1 (F.S., M.S.); Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT/MCTES contract CEECIND/00135/2017 and grant UID/BIA/04004/2020 (S.T.) and contract CEECIND/02064/2017 (L.P.S.); National Scientific and Technical Research Council, PIP 592 (P.G.B.); Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas - Project 898 (V.S.D.)

Stimulation of lymphocyte anti-melanoma activity by co-cultured macrophages activated by complex homeopathic medication

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and the most rapidly expanding cancer in terms of worldwide incidence. Chemotherapeutic approaches to treat melanoma have been uniformly disappointing. A Brazilian complex homeopathic medication (CHM), used as an immune modulator, has been recommended for patients with depressed immune systems. Previous studies in mice have demonstrated that the CHM activates macrophages, induces an increase in the number of leukocytes and improves the murine response against Sarcoma-180.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Here we studied the interaction of mouse lymph node lymphocytes, co-cultured <it>in vitro </it>with macrophages in the presence or absence of the CHM, with B16F10 melanoma cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Lymphocytes co-cultured with macrophages in the presence of the CHM had greater anti-melanoma activity, reducing melanoma cell density and increasing the number of lysed tumor cells. There was also a higher proportion of activated (CD25⁺) lymphocytes with increased viability. Overall, lymphocytes activated by treatment destroyed growing cancer cells more effectively than control lymphocytes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Co-culture of macrophages with lymphocytes in the presence of the CHM enhanced the anti-cancer performance of lymphocytes against a very aggressive lineage of melanoma cells. These results suggest that non-toxic therapies using CHMs are a promising alternative approach to the treatment of melanomas. In addition, they are attractive combination-therapy candidates, which may enhance the efficacy of conventional medicines by improving the immune response against tumor cells.</p

MRI Radiomic Signature of White Matter Hyperintensities Is Associated With Clinical Phenotypes

Objective: Neuroimaging measurements of brain structural integrity are thought to be surrogates for brain health, but precise assessments require dedicated advanced image acquisitions. By means of quantitatively describing conventional images, radiomic analyses hold potential for evaluating brain health. We sought to: (1) evaluate radiomics to assess brain structural integrity by predicting white matter hyperintensities burdens (WMH) and (2) uncover associations between predictive radiomic features and clinical phenotypes. Methods: We analyzed a multi-site cohort of 4,163 acute ischemic strokes (AIS) patients with T2-FLAIR MR images with total brain and WMH segmentations. Radiomic features were extracted from normal-appearing brain tissue (brain mask–WMH mask). Radiomics-based prediction of personalized WMH burden was done using ElasticNet linear regression. We built a radiomic signature of WMH with stable selected features predictive of WMH burden and then related this signature to clinical variables using canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Results: Radiomic features were predictive of WMH burden (R2 = 0.855 ± 0.011). Seven pairs of canonical variates (CV) significantly correlated the radiomics signature of WMH and clinical traits with respective canonical correlations of 0.81, 0.65, 0.42, 0.24, 0.20, 0.15, and 0.15 (FDR-corrected p-valuesCV1–6 < 0.001, p-valueCV7 = 0.012). The clinical CV1 was mainly influenced by age, CV2 by sex, CV3 by history of smoking and diabetes, CV4 by hypertension, CV5 by atrial fibrillation (AF) and diabetes, CV6 by coronary artery disease (CAD), and CV7 by CAD and diabetes. Conclusion: Radiomics extracted from T2-FLAIR images of AIS patients capture microstructural damage of the cerebral parenchyma and correlate with clinical phenotypes, suggesting different radiographical textural abnormalities per cardiovascular risk profile. Further research could evaluate radiomics to predict the progression of WMH and for the follow-up of stroke patients’ brain health

The relevance of rich club regions for functional outcome post-stroke is enhanced in women

This study aimed to investigate the influence of stroke lesions in predefined highly interconnected (rich-club) brain regions on functional outcome post-stroke, determine their spatial specificity and explore the effects of biological sex on their relevance. We analyzed MRI data recorded at index stroke and similar to 3-months modified Rankin Scale (mRS) data from patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the multisite MRI-GENIE study. Spatially normalized structural stroke lesions were parcellated into 108 atlas-defined bilateral (sub)cortical brain regions. Unfavorable outcome (mRS > 2) was modeled in a Bayesian logistic regression framework. Effects of individual brain regions were captured as two compound effects for (i) six bilateral rich club and (ii) all further non-rich club regions. In spatial specificity analyses, we randomized the split into "rich club" and "non-rich club" regions and compared the effect of the actual rich club regions to the distribution of effects from 1000 combinations of six random regions. In sex-specific analyses, we introduced an additional hierarchical level in our model structure to compare male and female-specific rich club effects. A total of 822 patients (age: 64.7[15.0], 39% women) were analyzed. Rich club regions had substantial relevance in explaining unfavorable functional outcome (mean of posterior distribution: 0.08, area under the curve: 0.8). In particular, the rich club-combination had a higher relevance than 98.4% of random constellations. Rich club regions were substantially more important in explaining long-term outcome in women than in men. All in all, lesions in rich dub regions were associated with increased odds of unfavorable outcome. These effects were spatially specific and more pronounced in women.Peer reviewe