The cost of promiscuity: sexual transmission of Nosema microsporidian parasites in polyandrous honey bees

Multiple mating (and insemination) by females with different males, polyandry, is widespread across animals, due to material and/or genetic benefits for females. It reaches particularly high levels in some social insects, in which queens can produce significantly fitter colonies by being polyandrous. It is therefore a paradox that two thirds of eusocial hymenopteran insects appear to be exclusively monandrous, in spite of the fitness benefits that polyandry could provide. One possible cost of polyandry could be sexually transmitted parasites, but evidence for these in social insects is extremely limited. Here we show that two different species of Nosema microsporidian parasites can transmit sexually in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bee males that are infected by the parasite have Nosema spores in their semen, and queens artificially inseminated with either Nosema spores or the semen of Nosema-infected males became infected by the parasite. The emergent and more virulent N. ceranae achieved much higher rates of infection following insemination than did N. apis. The results provide the first quantitative evidence of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in social insects, indicating that STDs may represent a potential cost of polyandry in social insects

Organic synthesis on Mars by electrochemical reduction of CO₂

The sources and nature of organic carbon on Mars have been a subject of intense research. Steele et al. (2012) showed that 10 martian meteorites contain macromolecular carbon phases contained within pyroxene- and olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Here, we show that martian meteorites Tissint, Nakhla, and NWA 1950 have an inventory of organic carbon species associated with fluid-mineral reactions that are remarkably consistent with those detected by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. We advance the hypothesis that interactions among spinel-group minerals, sulfides, and a brine enable the electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO₂ to organic molecules. Although documented here in martian samples, a similar process likely occurs wherever igneous rocks containing spinel-group minerals and/or sulfides encounter brines

A Global Fireball Observatory

The world's meteorite collections contain a very rich picture of what the early Solar System would have been made of, however the lack of spatial context with respect to their parent population for these samples is an issue. The asteroid population is equally as rich in surface mineralogies, and mapping these two populations (meteorites and asteroids) together is a major challenge for planetary science. Directly probing asteroids achieves this at a high cost. Observing meteorite falls and calculating their pre-atmospheric orbit on the other hand, is a cheaper way to approach the problem. The Global Fireball Observatory (GFO) collaboration was established in 2017 and brings together multiple institutions (from Australia, USA, Canada, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Argentina) to maximise the area for fireball observation time and therefore meteorite recoveries. The members have a choice to operate independently, but they can also choose to work in a fully collaborative manner with other GFO partners. This efficient approach leverages the experience gained from the Desert Fireball Network (DFN) pathfinder project in Australia. The state-of-the art technology (DFN camera systems and data reduction) and experience of the support teams is shared between all partners, freeing up time for science investigations and meteorite searching. With all networks combined together, the GFO collaboration already covers 0.6% of the Earth's surface for meteorite recovery as of mid-2019, and aims to reach 2% in the early 2020s. We estimate that after 5 years of operation, the GFO will have observed a fireball from virtually every meteorite type. This combined effort will bring new, fresh, extra-terrestrial material to the labs, yielding new insights about the formation of the Solar System.Comment: Accepted in PSS. 19 pages, 9 figure

Characterization and Comparison of the Leukocyte Transcriptomes of Three Cattle Breeds

In this study, mRNA-Seq was used to characterize and compare the leukocyte transcriptomes from two taurine breeds (Holstein and Jersey), and one indicine breed (Cholistani). At the genomic level, we identified breed-specific base changes in protein coding regions. Among 7,793,425 coding bases, only 165 differed between Holstein and Jersey, and 3,383 (0.04%) differed between Holstein and Cholistani, 817 (25%) of which resulted in amino acid changes in 627 genes. At the transcriptional level, we assembled transcripts and estimated their abundances including those from more than 3,000 unannotated intergeneic regions. Differential gene expression analysis showed a high similarity between Holstein and Jersey, and a much greater difference between the taurine breeds and the indicine breed. We identified gene ontology pathways that were systematically altered, including the electron transport chain and immune response pathways that may contribute to different levels of heat tolerance and disease resistance in taurine and indicine breeds. At the post-transcriptional level, sequencing mRNA allowed us to identify a number of genes undergoing differential alternative splicing among different breeds. This study provided a high-resolution survey of the variation between bovine transcriptomes at different levels and may provide important biological insights into the phenotypic differentiation among cattle breeds

Age-related changes in neural functional connectivity and its behavioral relevance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Resting-state recordings are characterized by widely distributed networks of coherent brain activations. Disturbances of the default network - a set of regions that are deactivated by cognitive tasks and activated during passive states - have been detected in age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease but alterations in the course of healthy aging still need to be explored.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), the present study investigated how age-related functional resting-state brain connectivity links to cognitive performance in healthy aging in fifty-three participants ranging in age from 18 to 89 years. A beamforming technique was used to reconstruct the brain activity in source space and the interregional coupling was investigated using partial directed coherence (PDC). We found significant age-related alterations of functional resting-state connectivity. These are mainly characterized by reduced information input into the posterior cingulum/precuneus region together with an enhanced information flow to the medial temporal lobe. Furthermore, higher inflow in the medial temporal lobe subsystem was associated with weaker cognitive performance whereas stronger inflow in the posterior cluster was related to better cognitive performance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study to show age-related alterations in subsystems of the resting state network that are furthermore associated with cognitive performance.</p

Measuring Clients’ Perception of Functional Limitations Using the Perceived Functioning & Health Questionnaire

Background The Perceived Functioning & Health (PFH) questionnaire was developed to collect, in a standardized manner, which work activities are limited due to health conditions according to the perception of the client. In this study the questionnaire’s reliability and validity are investigated. Methods The PFH questionnaire is comprised of 147 questions, distributed over 33 scales, pertaining to the client’s psychosocial and physical work limitations. The PFH data of 800 respondents were analyzed: 254 healthy employees, 408 workers on sick leave and 138 recipients of a disability pension. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) for the scales was established. The test–retest reliability was examined for the data of 52 recipients of a disability pension who filled out the PFH twice within an interval of 1 month. Validation was established by taking the nature of the limitations as a criterion: mental limitations, physical limitations or a mix of both. To this end, the respondents were divided into groups distinguished on the basis of self-classification, as well as classification on the basis of disease codes given by insurance and occupational health physicians: a “healthy” group, subjects with only physical (“physical” group) or mental limitations (“mental” group) or mixed limitations (“mixed” group). The scale scores of these groups were compared and tested using analyses-of-variance and discriminant analyses. Results The scales were found to have sufficient to good internal consistency (mean Cronbach’s-α = 0.79) and test–retest reliability (mean correlation r = 0.76). Analyses-of-variance demonstrated significant differences between the scores of the mental, physical and healthy groups on most of the expected scales. These results were found both in groups defined by self-classification as well as in groups based on disease codes. Moreover, discriminant analyses revealed that the a priori classification of the respondents into three groups (mental, physical, healthy) for more than 75% of them corresponded with the classification on the basis of scale scores obtained from the questionnaire. Furthermore, limitations due to specific types of complaints (low back pain, fatigue, concentration problems) or diagnosed disorders (musculoskeletal disorders, reactive disorders, endogenous disorders) were clearly reflected in the scores of the related scales of the PFH. Conclusion The psychometric properties of the PFH with respect to reliability and validity were satisfactory. The PFH would appear to be an appropriate instrument for systematically measuring functional limitations in subjects on sick leave and in those receiving disability pensions, and could be used as a starting point in a disability claim procedure

Development of a validated patient-reported symptom metric for pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis: qualitative methods

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous attempts to measure symptoms in pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) have not fully included patients and parents in the item development process. We sought to identify and validate key patient self-reported and parent proxy-reported outcomes (PROs) specific to EoE.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed methodology for focus and cognitive interviews based on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for PROs, the validated generic PedsQL™ guidelines, and the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). Both child (ages 8-12 and 13-18) and parent-proxy (ages 2-4, 5-7, 8-12, and 13-18) interviews were conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We conducted 75 interviews to construct the new instrument. Items were identified and developed from individual focus interviews, followed by cognitive interviews for face and content validation. Initial domains of symptom frequency and severity were developed, and open-ended questions were used to generate specific items during the focus interviews. Once developed, the instrument construct, instructions, timeframe, scoring, and specific items were systematically reviewed with a separate group of patients and their parents during the cognitive interviews.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To capture the full impact of pediatric EoE, both histologic findings and PROs need to be included as equally important outcome measures. We have developed the face and content validated Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis Symptom Score (PEESS™ v2.0). The PEESS™ v2.0 metric is now undergoing multisite national field testing as the next iterative instrument development phase.</p

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug induced acute kidney injury in the community dwelling general population and people with chronic kidney disease:Systematic review and meta-analysis

Complete search strategy. The complete search strategy for the systematic review for both Medline and Embase. (DOCX 22 kb

Degradation of a benzene–toluene mixture by hydrocarbon-adapted bacterial communities

We examined the rate of degradation of a benzene–toluene mixture in aerobic microcosms prepared with samples of an aquifer that lies below a petrochemical plant (SIReN, UK). Five samples exposed to different concentrations of benzene (from 0.6 to 317 mg l−1) were used. Fast degradation (approx. 1–6 mg l−1 day−1) of both contaminants was observed in all groundwater samples and complete degradation was recorded by the seventh day except for one sample. We also identified the microbial community in each of the samples by culture-independent techniques. Two of the less impacted samples harbour the aerobic benzene degrader Pseudomonas fluorescens, while Acidovorax and Arthrobacter spp. were found in the most polluted sample and are consistent with the population observed in situ. Hydrogenophaga was found in the deepest sample while Rhodoferax spp. were recovered in an alkaline sample (pH 8.4) and may also be implicated in benzene degradation. Time series analysis shows that each of the samples has a different community but they remain stable over the degradation period. This study provides new information on a well not previously studied (no. 309s) and confirms that adapted communities have the ability to degrade hydrocarbon mixtures and could be used in further bioaugmentation approaches in contaminated sites