PAR-3 defines a central subdomain of the cortical actin cap in mouse eggs

AbstractThe evolutionarily conserved partitioning defective (PAR) protein PAR-3 is pivotal for establishing and maintaining cell polarity. During mammalian oocyte maturation, the radially symmetric oocyte is transformed into a highly polarized metaphase II (MII)-arrested egg. We therefore examined several aspects of PAR-3 expression during oocyte maturation. We cloned two novel PAR-3 transcripts from an oocyte library that likely encode proteins of Mr = 73 K and 133 K that are phosphorylated during maturation. PAR-3, which is found throughout the GV-intact oocyte, becomes asymmetrically localized during meiosis. Following germinal vesicle breakdown, PAR-3 surrounds the condensing chromosomes and associates with the meiotic spindles. Prior to emission of the first and second polar bodies, PAR-3 is located within a central subdomain of the polarized actin cap, which overlies the spindle. This cortical PAR-3 localization depends on intact microfilaments. These results suggest a role for PAR-3 in establishing asymmetry in the egg and in defining the future site of polar body emission

Hyaluronan and Collagen Are Prominent Extracellular Matrix Components in Bovine and Porcine Ovaries

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a major component of the ovarian stroma. Collagen and hyaluronan (HA) are critical ovarian stromal ECM molecules that undergo age-dependent changes in the mouse and human. How these matrix components are regulated and organized in other mammalian species with reproductive characteristics similar to women such as cows and pigs, has not been systematically investigated. Therefore, we performed histological, molecular, and biochemical analyses to characterize collagen and HA in these animals. Bovine ovaries had more collagen than porcine ovaries when assessed biochemically, and this was associated with species-specific differences in collagen gene transcripts: Col3a1 was predominant in cow ovaries while Col1a1 was predominant in pig ovaries. We also observed more HA in the porcine vs. bovine ovary. HA was distributed across three molecular weight ranges (300 kDa) in ovarian tissue and follicular fluid, with tissue having more >300 kDa HA than the other two ranges. Transcripts for HA synthesis and degradation enzymes, Has3 and Hyal2, respectively, were predominant in cow ovaries, whereas Has2, Kiaa1199, and Tmem2 tended to be predominant in pig ovaries. Together, our findings have implications for the composition, organization, and regulation of the ovarian ECM in large mammalian species, including humans

Organization of the pronephric kidney revealed by large-scale gene expression mapping

Gene expression mapping reveals 8 functionally distinct domains in the Xenopus pronephros. Interestingly, no structure equivalent to the mammalian collecting duct is identified

Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study (MAPS): protocol of a prospective study of mental health admissions to paediatric wards in England using surveillance and qualitative methods

INTRODUCTION: Children and young people (CYP) presenting with a mental health (MH) crisis are frequently admitted to general acute paediatric wards as a place of safety. Prior to the pandemic, a survey in England showed that CYP occupied 6% of general paediatric inpatient beds due to an MH crisis, and there have been longstanding concerns about the quality of care to support these patients in this setting. MAPS aims to generate a Theory of Change (ToC) model to improve the quality of care for CYP admitted to acute paediatric services after presenting with an MH crisis. Here, we describe work packages (WPs) 2 and 3 of the study, which have been granted ethics approval. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will undertake a national (England), sequential, mixed-methods study to inform a ToC framework alongside a stakeholder group consisting of patients, families/carers and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Our study consists of four WPs undertaken over 30 months. WP2 is limited to working with stakeholders to develop a data collection instrument and then use this in a prospective study of MH admissions over 6 months in 15 purposively recruited acute paediatric wards across England. WP3 consists of gathering the views of CYP, their families/carers and HCPs during admissions using semistructured interviews. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: WP2 and WP3 received ethical approval (ref: 23/LO/0349). We will publish the overall synthesis of data and the final ToC to improve care of CYP with MH crisis admitted to general acute paediatric settings. As co-producers of the ToC, we will work with our stakeholder group to ensure wide dissemination of findings. Potential impacts will be upon service development, new models of care, training and workforce planning. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022350655

Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study (MAPS): a protocol for the analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data

INTRODUCTION: Children and young people (CYP) presenting with a mental health (MH) crisis are frequently admitted to general acute paediatric wards as a place of safety. Prior to the pandemic, a survey in England showed that CYP occupied 6% of general paediatric inpatient beds due to an MH crisis, and there have been longstanding concerns about the quality of care to support these patients in this setting. Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study aims to generate a theory of change (ToC) model to improve the quality of care for CYP admitted to acute paediatric services after presenting in a MH crisis. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will undertake a national (England), sequential, mixed methods study to inform a ToC framework alongside a stakeholder group consisting of patients, families/carers and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Our study consists of four work packages (WP) undertaken over 30 months. WP1 is limited to using national routine administrative data to identify and characterise trends in MH admissions in acute paediatric wards in England between 2015- 2022. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: WP1 received ethical approval (Ref 23/NW/0192). We will publish the overall synthesis of data and the final ToC to improve care of CYP with MH crisis admitted to general acute paediatric settings. As coproducers of the ToC, we will work with our stakeholder group to ensure wide dissemination of findings. Potential impacts will be on service development, new models of care, training and workforce planning

Mitochondrial humanin peptide acts as a cytoprotective factor in granulosa cell survival

Humanin (HN) is a short peptide involved in many biological processes such as apoptosis, cell survival, inflammatory response, and reaction to stressors like oxidative stress, between others. In the ovary, a correct balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic factors is crucial for folliculogenesis. In the follicular atresia, survival or death of granulosa cells is a critical process. The goal of this study was to evaluate the action of HN on granulosa cell fate. To explore endogenous HN function in the ovary, we used a recombinant baculovirus (BV) encoding a short-hairpin RNA targeted to silence HN (shHN). HN downregulation modified ovarian histoarchitecture and increased apoptosis of granulosa cells. HN was also detected in a granulosa tumor cell line (KGN). Transduction of KGN cells with BV-shHN resulted in HN downregulation and increased apoptosis. On the other hand, treatment of KGN cells with exogenous HN increased cell viability and decreased apoptosis. In summary, these findings indicate that HN is a cytoprotective factor in granulosa cells of antral follicles, suggesting that this peptide would be involved in the regulation of folliculogenesis. Also, this peptide is a cytoprotective factor in KGN cells, and therefore, it could be involved in granulosa tumor cell behavior.Fil: Marvaldi, Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Conte, Julia Gaetana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Gottardo, María Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaFil: Pidre, Matias Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Imsen, Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Irizarri, Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Manuel, Sharron L.. Northwestern University; Estados UnidosFil: Duncan, Francesca E.. Northwestern University; Estados UnidosFil: Romanowski, Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Seilicovich, Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Jaita, Gabriela Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentin

"If we use the strength of diversity among researchers we can only improve the quality and impact of our research": Issues of equality, diversity, inclusion, and transparency in the process of applying for research funding

This paper sets out the recommendations that have emerged from a six-month-long exploration and discussion of the processes that take place before research is submitted for funding: the ‘pre-award’ environment. Our work concentrated on how this environment is experienced by researchers at all career stages and from a variety of backgrounds, demographics, and disciplines, as well as by research managers and research support professionals. In the later stages of our exploration, representatives from research funders were also involved in the discussions. The primary component of this project was an analysis of pre-award activities and processes at UK universities, using information collated from workshops with researchers and research management and support staff. The findings of this analysis were presented as a workflow diagram, which was then used to surface issues relating to equality, diversity, inclusion, and transparency in context. The workflow diagram and the issues highlighted by it were used to structure discussions at a symposium for a range of research stakeholders, held in Bristol, UK, in January 2023. The recommendations set out in this paper are drawn from discussions that took place at that event. This paper is not an exhaustive landscape analysis, nor a review of existing research and practice in the area of pre-award processes or of recent thinking on the topics of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Instead, it aims to summarise and encapsulate the suggestions put forward by the stakeholders during the symposium. These recommendations, from experienced professionals working in the field, are based on their encounters with the issues raised in the project. They do not solely relate to those working on pre-award processes, but may also apply to funders, policymakers, university leaders, and professional associations, since many of the challenges flagged in our research are systemic and cultural, and reach far beyond the research office

Galaxy Counts at 24 Microns in the SWIRE Fields

This paper presents galaxy source counts at 24 microns in the six Spitzer Wide-field InfraRed Extragalactic (SWIRE) fields. The source counts are compared to counts in other fields, and to model predictions that have been updated since the launch of Spitzer. This analysis confirms a very steep rise in the Euclidean-normalized differential number counts between 2 mJy and 0.3 mJy. Variations in the counts between fields show the effects of sample variance in the flux range 0.5-10 mJy, up to 100% larger than Poisson errors. Nonetheless, a "shoulder" in the normalized counts persists at around 3 mJy. The peak of the normalized counts at 0.3 mJy is higher and narrower than most models predict. In the ELAIS N1 field, the 24 micron data are combined with Spitzer-IRAC data and five-band optical imaging, and these bandmerged data are fit with photometric redshift templates. Above 1 mJy the counts are dominated by galaxies at z less than 0.3. By 300 microJy, about 25% are between z ~ 0.3-0.8, and a significant fraction are at z ~ 1.3-2. At low redshifts the counts are dominated by spirals, and starbursts rise in number density to outnumber the spirals' contribution to the counts below 1 mJy.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted 3 November 2007 for publication in The Astronomical Journal, formatted with emulateapj styl

La experiencia religiosa desde el proceso formativo en ciencias religiosas virtual: en el caso de Karollay Carreño Colina

La técnica del relato autobiográfico permite que la experiencia religiosa al ser relatada y compartida no se pierda, ya que esta experiencia humana se adquiere a través de los hechos y vivencias que suceden en la vida del sujeto, en donde la experiencia religiosa se va estructurando como la posibilidad de hacer consiente y manifiesto ese vínculo correlacional con el ser transcendente que es Dios. Tomando el enfoque cualitativo, cuyo estudio es necesariamente la persona y su contexto y la narrativa autobiográfica, lo que se busca en este trabajo, es entrever cómo se vive la experiencia religiosa en el proceso formativo en las aulas virtuales de aprendizaje y cómo ésta se hace consciente en cada persona desde su propio proceso de fe en los AVA De esta manera se inicia la interpretación hermenéutica teológica del relato autobiográfico de la experiencia religiosa en el proceso formativo en la Licenciatura en Ciencias Religiosas Virtual, describiendo los momentos existenciales y formativos que han favorecido el acontecer de dicha experiencia, evidenciando que ésta es una realidad que se vive dentro de la virtualidad, ya que en muchos momentos se piensa que los ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje AVA, son lugares fríos, mediados por las tecnologías, en donde la experiencia religiosa no puede llegar a trasmitirse, pero estos son lugares en donde realmente se pueden tener experiencias religiosas realmente significativas, requiriendo una atención muy especial para comprender que tras el ambiente virtual, hay y se pueden dar nuevas formas de vivir la religión y la espiritualidad, por ello tan importante el relato autobiográfico. Conforme a lo anterior, se puede evidenciar la experiencia humana como lugar donde acontece la experiencia de Dios, convirtiéndose así el relato autobiográfico en una técnica o camino donde se expresa dicha experiencia y donde los ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje AVA, se articulan como nuevos contextos donde dicha experiencia debe hacerse actual, para contribuir a procesos de formación integral permanente de estudiantes y docentes en la licenciatura en Ciencias Religiosas. Ahora bien, todas las personas tienen historias que contar, que al biografiarlas, se convierten en autores de su propio relato, en donde ponen de manifiesto no solo sus vidas, sino también aquello que los caracteriza, al tiempo que se convierte en un medio para transmitir la experiencia religiosa. Autorelatarse supone entonces compartir la vida y es que la experiencia humana nace en lo profundo del ser, en esa la relación de encuentro con quien le trasciende.An autobiographical storytelling technique allows a religious experience to be told and shared, Keeping it alive since, this human experience is achieved through personal life lessons that every human being has. So, this religious experience is put together to build up the possibility to be conscious about the correlational tie with God and put it forth. From a qualitative approach, which necessary focuses on the person and his/her context and the autobiographical narrative, what this paper looks for is to see how the religious experience is lived in Virtual Training Rooms learning processes, how every person, from their personal procedure, gets conscious about their own faith process. This way, the theological hermeneutics interpretation of religious autobiographical experiences in the Virtual Religious Science Degree is introduced, describing existential and educational moments that have favored these experiences, showing the reality lived from virtuality, considering that these virtual learning environment (VLE) are indifferent and influenced by technologies, where religious experiences cannot be transmitted, although these places are where you can really have a significant religious experience, it is required a special attention to understand that, behind a virtual circle there are new ways to experience religion and spirituality, that is why autobiographical stories are so relevant. In agreement on what is expressed above, it is evident that the human experience, as a space to experience God, has turned the autobiographical storytelling into a technique or way to express it, where virtual learning environment (VLE) are assembled like new context where that experience must be current to contribute on students and Religious Science teachers comprehensive and permanent training process. Having said that, everyone of us has stories to tell so, who write them turn into their own storytellers, where their lives express not only what they have gone through but what typifies them, at the same time these expressions become the means to share religious experiences. To tell your own story supposes that sharing life is a human experience that was boom at the bottom of your inner self, stemming from convergence and transcendence.Licenciado (a) en Ciencias ReligiosasPregrad