Cleaning behaviors in four scorpion species

Scorpions rely predominantly on mechanosensory and chemosensory organs to guide their orientation behaviors. Once sensory organs are affected by the presence of dirt such as clay or prey bodily fluid, scorpions may display a cleaning behavior to reduce or eliminate its influence on their sensory capabilities. In the laboratory, cleaning behaviors of two buthid species, Mesobuthus eupeus (Koch, 1839) and Mesobuthus caucasicus (Nordmann, 1840), and one euscorpiid species, Scorpiops luridus Zhu Lourenço & Qi, 2005 from China, were observed before and after feeding. Moreover, two distinct cleaning behaviors in Scorpiops luridus and three in Heterometrus petersii (Thorell, 1876) (Scorpionidae) were noted for several times during daily activities. Based on these observations, we were able to conclude that different tools and the same tool with diverse applications are used for cleaning the same object in numerous scorpion species

The Virasoro vertex algebra and factorization algebras on Riemann surfaces

This paper focuses on the connection of holomorphic two-dimensional factorization algebras and vertex algebras which has been made precise in the forthcoming book of Costello-Gwilliam. We provide a construction of the Virasoro vertex algebra starting from a local Lie algebra on the complex plane. Moreover, we discuss an extension of this factorization algebra to a factorization algebra on the category of Riemann surfaces. The factorization homology of this factorization algebra is computed as are the correlation functions. We provide an example of how the Virasoro factorization algebra implements conformal symmetry of the beta-gamma system using the method of effective BV quantization

Regulation of mammary gland branching morphogenesis by the extracellular matrix and its remodeling enzymes.

A considerable body of research indicates that mammary gland branching morphogenesis is dependent, in part, on the extracellular matrix (ECM), ECM-receptors, such as integrins and other ECM receptors, and ECM-degrading enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). There is some evidence that these ECM cues affect one or more of the following processes: cell survival, polarity, proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Both three-dimensional culture models and genetic manipulations of the mouse mammary gland have been used to study the signaling pathways that affect these processes. However, the precise mechanisms of ECM-directed mammary morphogenesis are not well understood. Mammary morphogenesis involves epithelial 'invasion' of adipose tissue, a process akin to invasion by breast cancer cells, although the former is a highly regulated developmental process. How these morphogenic pathways are integrated in the normal gland and how they become dysregulated and subverted in the progression of breast cancer also remain largely unanswered questions

The effect of gold nanoparticles on the impedance of microcapsules visualized by scanning photo-induced impedance microscopy

Polyelectrolyte microcapsules have attracted great interest in drug delivery applications, and microcapsules modified with gold nanoparticles have been used in this way with triggered release when a laser can be used to remotely open shells through light-induced local heating. The electrical impedance of unmodified microcapsules has been studied due to its implications for their permeability, however, the impedance of functionalised microcapsules has not yet been investigated. Herein, the impedance of microcapsules modified with gold nanoparticles was studied for the first time. It was shown that the modification of microcapsules with gold nanoparticles leads to a much greater impedance than would be expected from the increase in the thickness caused by the presence of a layer of gold nanoparticles alone. The impedance of gold nanoparticle modified capsules was measured using scanning photo-induced impedance microscopy (SPIM), which is based on photocurrent measurements at an electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) field-effect structure. High resolution and good sensitivity were achieved using a two-photon effect for charge carrier excitation and organic monolayer modified silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) as the SPIM substrate. SPIM allowed impedance imaging of collapsed microcapsules with unprecedented detail. SPIM images of capsules labelled with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) showed a good agreement with the corresponding optical images, including the creases resulting from the collapse of the hollow shells. The significant increase in impedance caused by the impregnation with AuNPs was also verified by conductive Atomic Force Microscopy (C-AFM) measurements in the dry state

REDSHIFT MEASUREMENT and SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION for eBOSS GALAXIES with the REDMONSTER SOFTWARE

We describe the redmonster automated redshift measurement and spectral classification software designed for the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). We describe the algorithms, the template standard and requirements, and the newly developed galaxy templates to be used on eBOSS spectra. We present results from testing on early data from eBOSS, where we have found a 90.5% automated redshift and spectral classification success rate for the luminous red galaxy sample (redshifts 0.6 ≲ z ≲ 1.0). The redmonster performance meets the eBOSS cosmology requirements for redshift classification and catastrophic failures and represents a significant improvement over the previous pipeline. We describe the empirical processes used to determine the optimum number of additive polynomial terms in our models and an acceptable δX2rthreshold for declaring statistical confidence. Statistical errors on redshift measurement due to photon shot noise are assessed, and we find typical values of a few tens of km s-1. An investigation of redshift differences in repeat observations scaled by error estimates yields a distribution with a Gaussian mean and standard deviation of μ ∼ 0.01 and σ ∼ 0.65, respectively, suggesting the reported statistical redshift uncertainties are over-estimated by ∼54%. We assess the effects of object magnitude, signal-to-noise ratio, fiber number, and fiber head location on the pipeline's redshift success rate. Finally, we describe directions of ongoing development

Deconvoluting the Molecular Control of Binding and Signaling at the Amylin 3 Receptor: RAMP3 Alters Signal Propagation through Extracellular Loops of the Calcitonin Receptor

Amylin is coexpressed with insulin in pancreatic islet β-cells and has potent effects on gastric emptying and food intake. The effect of amylin on satiation has been postulated to involve AMY3 receptors (AMY3R) that are heteromers of the calcitonin receptor (CTR) and receptor activity-modifying protein 3 (RAMP3). Understanding the molecular control of signaling through the AMY3R is thus important for peptide drug targeting of this receptor. We have previously used alanine scanning mutagenesis to study the contribution of the extracellular surface of the CTR to binding and signaling initiated by calcitonin (CT) and related peptides (Dal Maso, E., et al. (2019) The molecular control of calcitonin receptor signaling. ACS Pharmacol. Transl. Sci.2, 31–51). That work revealed ligand- and pathway-specific effects of mutation, with extracellular loops (ECLs) 2 and 3 particularly important in the distinct propagation of signaling mediated by individual peptides. In the current study, we have used equivalent alanine scanning of ECL2 and ECL3 of the CTR in the context of coexpression with RAMP3 to form AMY3Rs, to examine functional affinity and efficacy of peptides in cAMP accumulation and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation (pERK). The effect of mutation was determined on representatives of the three major distinct classes of CT peptide, salmon CT (sCT), human CT (hCT), and porcine CT (pCT), as well as rat amylin (rAmy) or human α-CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide, hCGRP) whose potency is enhanced by RAMP interaction. We demonstrate that the dynamic nature of CTR ECL2 and ECL3 in propagation of signaling is fundamentally altered when complexed with RAMP3 to form the AMY3R, despite only having predicted direct interactions with ECL2. Moreover, the work shows that the role of these loops in receptor signaling is highly peptide dependent, illustrating that even subtle changes to peptide sequence may change signaling output downstream of the receptor

Bis(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-benzodifuran-dione-based D-A polymers for high-performance n-channel transistors

Conjugated polymers based on a bis(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-benzodifuran-dione (BIBDF) unit displayed promising performances for their application in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Herein, three new BIBDF-based donor-acceptor (D-A) polymers, containing thieno[3,2-b] thiophene (TT), (E)-2-(2-(thiophen- 2-yl)vinyl)thiophene (TVT) and (2-(thiophene-2-yl)alkynyl)thiophene (TAT) as donors, were synthesized and characterized. The results indicated that the donor unit plays important roles in affecting the absorption bands, HOMO levels, lamellar packing and pi-pi stacking distances of the BIBDF-based polymers. The OTFT devices based on the three polymers were fabricated, and their field-effect performance and environmental stability were also characterized. All three BIBDF based polymers showed good n-type field-effect characteristics. The PBIBDF-TT showed the highest electron mobility of 0.65 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and the best environmental stability, while the PBIBDF-TAT showed the lowest electron mobility of 0.13 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). The corresponding crystalline structures and morphologies revealed that the PBIBDF-TT and PBIBDF-TVT showed close pi-pi distances and long-range ordered, lamellar crystalline structures both of which contributed to the high charge carrier mobility. The PBIBDF-TAT with close pi-pi distances but poor crystalline structures showed miserable performance. Overall, this work showed the correlation of the microstructures and properties of BIBDF-based polymers, and the field-effect performances can be effectively optimized by introducing different donor units.open112320sciescopu

Viral integration drives multifocal HCC during the occult HBV infection

© 2019 The Author(s). Background & Aims: Although the prognosis of patients with occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is usually benign, a small portion may undergo cirrhosis and subsequently hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We studied the mechanism of life-long Integration of virus DNA into OBI host's genome, of which may induce hepatocyte transformation. Methods: We applied HBV capture sequencing on single cells from an OBI patient who, developed multiple HCC tumors and underwent liver resection in May 2013 at Tongji Hospital in China. Despite with the undetectable virus DNA in serum, we determined the pattern of viral integration in tumor cells and adjacent non-tumor cells and obtained the details of the viral arrangement in host genome, and furthermore the HBV integrated region in cancer genome. Results: HBV captured sequencing of tissues and individual cells revealed that samples from multiple tumors shared two viral integration sites that could affect three host genes, including CSMD2 on chr1 and MED30/EXT1 on chr8. Whole genome sequencing further indicated one hybrid chromosome formed by HBV integrations between chr1 and chr8 that was shared by multiple tumors. Additional 50 poorly differentiated liver tumors and the paired adjacent non-tumors were evaluated and functional studies suggested up-regulated EXT1 expression promoted HCC growth. We further observed that the most somatic mutations within the tumor cell genome were common among the multiple tumors, suggesting that HBV associated, multifocal HCC is monoclonal in origin. Conclusion: Through analyzing the HBV integration sites in multifocal HCC, our data suggested that the tumor cells were monoclonal in origin and formed in the absence of active viral replication, whereas the affected host genes may subsequently contribute to carcinogenesis

Automated Analysis of Risk Factors for Postictal Generalized EEG Suppression

Rationale: Currently, there is some ambiguity over the role of postictal generalized electro-encephalographic suppression (PGES) as a biomarker in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Visual analysis of PGES, known to be subjective, may account for this. In this study, we set out to perform an analysis of PGES presence and duration using a validated signal processing tool, specifically to examine the association between PGES and seizure features previously reported to be associated with visually analyzed PGES. Methods: This is a prospective, multicenter epilepsy monitoring study of autonomic and breathing biomarkers of SUDEP in adult patients with intractable epilepsy. We studied videoelectroencephalogram (vEEG) recordings of generalized convulsive seizures (GCS) in a cohort of patients in whom respiratory and vEEG recording were carried out during the evaluation in the epilepsy monitoring unit. A validated automated EEG suppression detection tool was used to determine presence and duration of PGES. Results: We studied 148 GCS in 87 patients. PGES occurred in 106/148 (71.6%) seizures in 70/87 (80.5%) of patients. PGES mean duration was 38.7 ± 23.7 (37; 1–169) seconds. Presence of tonic phase during GCS, including decerebration, decortication and hemi-decerebration, were 8.29 (CI 2.6–26.39, p = 0.0003), 7.17 (CI 1.29–39.76, p = 0.02), and 4.77 (CI 1.25–18.20, p = 0.02) times more likely to have PGES, respectively. In addition, presence of decerebration (p = 0.004) and decortication (p = 0.02), older age (p = 0.009), and hypoxemia duration (p = 0.03) were associated with longer PGES durations. Conclusions: In this study, we confirmed observations made with visual analysis, that presence of tonic phase during GCS, longer hypoxemia, and older age are reliably associated with PGES. We found that of the different types of tonic phase posturing, decerebration has the strongest association with PGES, followed by decortication, followed by hemi-decerebration. This suggests that these factors are likely indicative of seizure severity and may or may not be associated with SUDEP. An automated signal processing tool enables objective metrics, and may resolve apparent ambiguities in the role of PGES in SUDEP and seizure severity studies

Anatomical Network Comparison of Human Upper and Lower, Newborn and Adult, and Normal and Abnormal Limbs, with Notes on Development, Pathology and Limb Serial Homology vs. Homoplasy

How do the various anatomical parts (modules) of the animal body evolve into very different integrated forms (integration) yet still function properly without decreasing the individual's survival? This long-standing question remains unanswered for multiple reasons, including lack of consensus about conceptual definitions and approaches, as well as a reasonable bias toward the study of hard tissues over soft tissues. A major difficulty concerns the non-trivial technical hurdles of addressing this problem, specifically the lack of quantitative tools to quantify and compare variation across multiple disparate anatomical parts and tissue types. In this paper we apply for the first time a powerful new quantitative tool, Anatomical Network Analysis (AnNA), to examine and compare in detail the musculoskeletal modularity and integration of normal and abnormal human upper and lower limbs. In contrast to other morphological methods, the strength of AnNA is that it allows efficient and direct empirical comparisons among body parts with even vastly different architectures (e.g. upper and lower limbs) and diverse or complex tissue composition (e.g. bones, cartilages and muscles), by quantifying the spatial organization of these parts-their topological patterns relative to each other-using tools borrowed from network theory. Our results reveal similarities between the skeletal networks of the normal newborn/adult upper limb vs. lower limb, with exception to the shoulder vs. pelvis. However, when muscles are included, the overall musculoskeletal network organization of the upper limb is strikingly different from that of the lower limb, particularly that of the more proximal structures of each limb. Importantly, the obtained data provide further evidence to be added to the vast amount of paleontological, gross anatomical, developmental, molecular and embryological data recently obtained that contradicts the long-standing dogma that the upper and lower limbs are serial homologues. In addition, the AnNA of the limbs of a trisomy 18 human fetus strongly supports Pere Alberch's ill-named "logic of monsters" hypothesis, and contradicts the commonly accepted idea that birth defects often lead to lower integration (i.e. more parcellation) of anatomical structures