Transcriptome profiling of rabbit parthenogenetic blastocysts developed under in vivo conditions

Parthenogenetic embryos are one attractive alternative as a source of embryonic stem cells, although many aspects related to the biology of parthenogenetic embryos and parthenogenetically derived cell lines still need to be elucidated. The present work was conducted to investigate the gene expression profile of rabbit parthenote embryos cultured under in vivo conditions using microarray analysis. Transcriptomic profiles indicate 2541 differentially expressed genes between parthenotes and normal in vivo fertilised blastocysts, of which 76 genes were upregulated and 16 genes downregulated in in vivo cultured parthenote blastocyst, using 3 fold-changes as a cut-off. While differentially upregulated expressed genes are related to transport and protein metabolic process, downregulated expressed genes are related to DNA and RNA binding. Using microarray data, 6 imprinted genes were identified as conserved among rabbits, humans and mice: GRB10, ATP10A, ZNF215, NDN, IMPACT and SFMBT2. We also found that 26 putative genes have at least one member of that gene family imprinted in other species. These data strengthen the view that a large fraction of genes is differentially expressed between parthenogenetic and normal embryos cultured under the same conditions and offer a new approach to the identification of imprinted genes in rabbit. © 2012 Naturil-Alfonso et al.This work was supported by Generalitat Valenciana research programme (Prometeo 2009/125). Carmen Naturil was supported by Generalitat Valenciana research programme (Prometeo 2009/125). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Naturil Alfonso, C.; Saenz De Juano Ribes, MDLD.; Peñaranda, D.; Vicente Antón, JS.; Marco Jiménez, F. (2012). Transcriptome profiling of rabbit parthenogenetic blastocysts developed under in vivo conditions. PLoS ONE. 7(12):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051271S111712Harness, J. 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Genital Herpes Has Played a More Important Role than Any Other Sexually Transmitted Infection in Driving HIV Prevalence in Africa

Extensive evidence from observational studies suggests a role for genital herpes in the HIV epidemic. A number of herpes vaccines are under development and several trials of the efficacy of HSV-2 treatment with acyclovir in reducing HIV acquisition, transmission, and disease progression have just reported their results or will report their results in the next year. The potential impact of these interventions requires a quantitative assessment of the magnitude of the synergy between HIV and HSV-2 at the population level.A deterministic compartmental model of HIV and HSV-2 dynamics and interactions was constructed. The nature of the epidemiologic synergy was explored qualitatively and quantitatively and compared to other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The results suggest a more substantial role for HSV-2 in fueling HIV spread in sub-Saharan Africa than other STIs. We estimate that in settings of high HSV-2 prevalence, such as Kisumu, Kenya, more than a quarter of incident HIV infections may have been attributed directly to HSV-2. HSV-2 has also contributed considerably to the onward transmission of HIV by increasing the pool of HIV positive persons in the population and may explain one-third of the differential HIV prevalence among the cities of the Four City study. Conversely, we estimate that HIV had only a small net impact on HSV-2 prevalence.HSV-2 role as a biological cofactor in HIV acquisition and transmission may have contributed substantially to HIV particularly by facilitating HIV spread among the low-risk population with stable long-term sexual partnerships. This finding suggests that prevention of HSV-2 infection through a prophylactic vaccine may be an effective intervention both in nascent epidemics with high HIV incidence in the high risk groups, and in established epidemics where a large portion of HIV transmission occurs in stable partnerships

Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies

Methodological progress in on-farm regional agronomic diagnosis. A review

The development of sustainable cropping systems is a key priority for agronomists and crop scientists. A first step involves understanding the relationship between cropping system performance and farmers' practices. To complete this step, a methodological framework entitled Regional Agronomic Diagnosis (RAD) has been developed. During the last ten years, the scope of the regional agronomic diagnosis has been enlarged to include several factors describing crop quality and the environmental impact of cropping systems. Regional agronomic diagnosis has led to several major advances such as ( 1) the assessment of the effect of preceding crop and soil structure on malting barley quality in France and ( 2) the assessment of the effects of ploughing, nematicide use and fertilisers on soil properties in intensive banana plantations in the West Indies. Improvements have also been gained in methodology, particularly by the selection of indicators for assessing the effects of crop management, soil and weather conditions, and data analysis. Finally, regional agronomic diagnosis has been integrated into more general approaches of agricultural development. We review here this methodological progress

Type, typography and the typographer

This chapter considers the changing role of typography and the evolving practices of the typographer across six centuries. It charts the effect of technology, trade, and training on the profession as typographic responsibility passed from printer to compositor, to designer, and finally to Everyman. This chapter also considers the changing visual appearance of typographic books and their journey to free themselves from the conventions of the manuscript book and their influence on the e‐book

A practical guide to laboratory investigations at diagnosis and follow up in Waldenström macroglobulinaemia: recommendations from the Medical and Scientific Advisory Group, Myeloma Australia, the Pathology Sub-committee of the Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry and the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists Monoclonal Gammopathy Working Group

Waldenström macroglobulinaemia (WM) is an indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma which usually presents with symptoms related to infiltration of bone marrow or other tissues like lymph nodes, liver or spleen and has certain unusual clinical manifestations, e.g., renal and central nervous system (CNS) involvement. It also has an array of laboratory features including hypersecretion of IgM, cryoglobulinaemia, increased plasma viscosity and identification of mutated MYD88 in more than 90% of cases. In this review, we aim to provide a guide to the laboratory investigations recommended for WM at initial diagnosis and at follow-up. A discussion on the nuances of diagnosis and differential diagnoses is followed by bone marrow (BM) assessment, measurement of paraprotein and other ancillary investigations. Recommendations are provided on laboratory work-up at diagnosis, in the asymptomatic follow-up phase, and during and post-treatment. Finally, we briefly discuss the implications of laboratory diagnosis in regard to recruitment and monitoring on clinical trials