Life Inside an Acorn: How Microclimate and Microbes Influence Nest Organization in Temnothorax Ants

Nests provide a buffer against environmental variation, but conditions may also vary at different locations within a nest. Conditions can vary based on abiotic factors, such as moisture and temperature, as well as biotic factors, such as the presence of microbes and potential pathogens. Therefore, characterizing how animals adjust their position inside their nests to track microclimate preferences while at the same time preventing pathogen exposure is necessary to understand the benefits nests provide. Here we studied how colonies of the acornânesting ant Temnothorax curvispinosus responded to experimental manipulation of moisture, temperature, and microbial growth inside their nests. Colonies showed no response to differences in moisture and moved to the bottom of the acorn regardless of moisture treatment. When nests were heated from the top to simulate warming by the sun, workers preferentially moved brood to the warm, upper half of the acorn, which would stimulate brood development. Finally, the strongest factor that influenced colony position was the presence of microbes inside the nestâcolonies avoided the bottom of the nest when it was inoculated with microbes, and colonies in new acorns shifted to the top of the acorn over time as mold and other microbes had time to grow. The relatively strong response of T. curvispinosus to microbial growth inside their nests suggests that pathogen pressuresâin addition to microclimateâhave a significan

The chicken type III GnRH receptor homologue is predominantly expressed in the pituitary, and exhibits similar ligand selectivity to the type I receptor

Two GnRH isoforms (cGnRH-I and GnRH-II) and two GnRH receptor subtypes (cGnRH-R-I and cGnRH-R-III) occur in chickens. Differential roles for these molecules in regulating gonadotrophin secretion or other functions are unclear. To investigate this we cloned cGnRH-R-III from a broiler chicken and compared its structure, expression and pharmacological properties with cGnRH-R-I. The broiler cGnRH-R-III cDNA was 100% identical to the sequence reported in the red jungle fowl and white leghorn breed. Pituitary cGnRH-R-III mRNA was ∼1400-fold more abundant than cGnRH-R-I mRNA. Northern analysis indicated a single cGnRH-R-III transcript. A pronounced sex and age difference existed, with higher pituitary transcript levels in sexually mature females versus juvenile females. In contrast, higher expression levels occurred in juvenile males versus sexually mature males. Functional studies in COS-7 cells indicated that cGnRH-R-III has a higher binding affinity for GnRH-II than cGnRH-I (Kd: 0·57 vs 19·8 nM) with more potent stimulation of inositol phosphate production (ED50: 0·8 vs 4·38 nM). Similar results were found for cGnRH-R-I, (Kd: 0·51 vs 10·8 nM) and (ED50: 0·7 vs 2·8 nM). The initial rate of internalisation was faster for cGnRH-R-III than cGnRH-R-I (26 vs 15·8%/min). Effects of GnRH antagonists were compared at the two receptors. Antagonist #27 distinguished between cGnRH-R-I and cGnRH-R-III (IC50: 2·3 vs 351 nM). These results suggest that cGnRH-R-III is probably the major mediator of pituitary gonadotroph function, that antagonist #27 may allow delineation of receptor subtype function in vitro and in vivo and that tissue-specific recruitment of cGnRH-R isoforms has occurred during evolution

Contact Sports as a Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Systematic Review.

Study Design: Systematic review. Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, ultimately resulting in paralysis and death. The condition is considered to be caused by a complex interaction between environmental and genetic factors. Although vast genetic research has deciphered many of the molecular factors in ALS pathogenesis, the environmental factors have remained largely unknown. Recent evidence suggests that participation in certain types of sporting activities are associated with increased risk for ALS. Objective: To test the hypothesis that competitive sports at the highest level that involve repetitive concussive head and cervical spinal trauma result in an increased risk of ALS compared with the general population or nonsport controls. Methods: Electronic databases from inception to November 22, 2017 and reference lists of key articles were searched to identify studies meeting inclusion criteria. Results: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Sports assessed (professional or nonprofessional) included soccer (n = 5), American football (n = 2), basketball (n = 1), cycling (n = 1), marathon or triathlon (n = 1), skating (n = 1), and general sports not specified (n = 11). Soccer and American football were considered sports involving repetitive concussive head and cervical spinal trauma. Professional sports prone to repetitive concussive head and cervical spinal trauma were associated with substantially greater effects (pooled rate ratio [RR] 8.52, 95% CI 5.18-14.0) compared with ( Conclusions: Our review suggests that increased susceptibility to ALS is significantly and independently associated with 2 factors: professional sports and sports prone to repetitive concussive head and cervical spinal trauma. Their combination resulted in an additive effect, further increasing this association to ALS

Rapidly-Dissolvable Microneedle Patches Via a Highly Scalable and Reproducible Soft Lithography Approach

Microneedle devices for transdermal drug delivery have recently become an attractive method to overcome the diffusion-limiting epidermis and effectively transport therapeutics to the body. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of highly reproducible and completely dissolvable polymer microneedles on flexible water-soluble substrates. These biocompatible microneedles (made by using a soft lithography process known as PRINT) showed efficacy in piercing both murine and human skin samples and delivering a fluorescent drug surrogate to the tissue

Human Rights in the Context of Environmental Conservation on the US-Mexico Border

At Cabeza Priesta National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness area on the US-Mexico border in Arizona, conflicting policies permit the provision of supplementary water for wildlife but not for undocumented immigrants passing through the area. Federal refuge environmental policy prioritizes active management of endangered and threatened species. Vast systems of water resources have been developed to support wildlife conservation in this extremely hot and dry environment. At the same time, humanitarian groups are not allowed to supply water to undocumented border crossers in the park. Human border-crossers must utilize non-potable wildlife water guzzlers for survival and face risk of illness or death by dehydration. This article analyzes human rights via an ethnographic lens. From this perspective, water policy at the wildlife refuge brings into question the value of human life in a border conservation context, especially for those entering the site illegally

A three gene DNA methylation biomarker accurately classifies early stage prostate cancer

Background: We identify and validate accurate diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer through a systematic evaluation of DNA methylation alterations. Materials and methods: We assembled three early prostate cancer cohorts (total patients = 699) from which we collected and processed over 1300 prostatectomy tissue samples for DNA extraction. Using real-time methylation-specific PCR, we measured normalized methylation levels at 15 frequently methylated loci. After partitioning sample sets into independent training and validation cohorts, classifiers were developed using logistic regression, analyzed, and validated. Results: In the training dataset, DNA methylation levels at 7 of 15 genomic loci (glutathione S-transferase Pi 1 [GSTP1], CCDC181, hyaluronan, and proteoglycan link protein 3 [HAPLN3], GSTM2, growth arrest-specific 6 [GAS6], RASSF1, and APC) showed large differences between cancer and benign samples. The best binary classifier was the GAS6/GSTP1/HAPLN3 logistic regression model, with an area under these curves of 0.97, which showed a sensitivity of 94%, and a specificity of 93% after external validation. Conclusion: We created and validated a multigene model for the classification of benign and malignant prostate tissue. With false positive and negative rates below 7%, this three-gene biomarker represents a promising basis for more accurate prostate cancer diagnosis

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy