Daily Scheduled High Fat Meals Moderately Entrain Behavioral Anticipatory Activity, Body Temperature, and Hypothalamic c-Fos Activation

When fed in restricted amounts, rodents show robust activity in the hours preceding expected meal delivery. This process, termed food anticipatory activity (FAA), is independent of the light-entrained clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, yet beyond this basic observation there is little agreement on the neuronal underpinnings of FAA. One complication in studying FAA using a calorie restriction model is that much of the brain is activated in response to this strong hunger signal. Thus, daily timed access to palatable meals in the presence of continuous access to standard chow has been employed as a model to study FAA in rats. In order to exploit the extensive genetic resources available in the murine system we extended this model to mice, which will anticipate rodent high fat diet but not chocolate or other sweet daily meals (Hsu, Patton, Mistlberger, and Steele; 2010, PLoS ONE e12903). In this study we test additional fatty meals, including peanut butter and cheese, both of which induced modest FAA. Measurement of core body temperature revealed a moderate preprandial increase in temperature in mice fed high fat diet but entrainment due to handling complicated interpretation of these results. Finally, we examined activation patterns of neurons by immunostaining for the immediate early gene c-Fos and observed a modest amount of entrainment of gene expression in the hypothalamus of mice fed a daily fatty palatable meal

Food Anticipatory Activity on Circadian Time Scales Is Not Dependent on Central Serotonin: Evidence From Tryptophan Hydroxylase-2 and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Mice

A number of studies implicate biogenic amines in regulating circadian rhythms. In particular, dopamine and serotonin influence the entrainment of circadian rhythms to daily food availability. To study circadian entrainment to feeding, food availability is typically restricted to a short period within the light cycle daily. This results in a notable increase in pre-meal activity, termed “food anticipatory activity” (FAA), which typically develops within about 1 week of scheduled feeding. Several studies have implicated serotonin as a negative regulator of FAA: (1) aged rats treated with serotonin 5-HT2 and 3 receptor antagonists showed enhanced FAA, (2) mice lacking for the 2C serotonin receptor demonstrate enhanced FAA, and (3) pharmacologically increased serotonin levels suppressed FAA while decreased serotonin levels enhanced FAA in mice. We sought to confirm and extend these findings using genetic models with impairments in central serotonin production or re-uptake, but were surprised to find that both serotonin transporter (Slc6a4) and tryptophan hydroxylase-2 knockout mice demonstrated a normal behavioral response to timed, calorie restricted feeding. Our data suggest that FAA is largely independent of central serotonin and/or serotonin reuptake and that serotonin may not be a robust negative regulator of FAA

Food Anticipatory Activity on Circadian Time Scales Is Not Dependent on Central Serotonin: Evidence From Tryptophan Hydroxylase-2 and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Mice

A number of studies implicate biogenic amines in regulating circadian rhythms. In particular, dopamine and serotonin influence the entrainment of circadian rhythms to daily food availability. To study circadian entrainment to feeding, food availability is typically restricted to a short period within the light cycle daily. This results in a notable increase in pre-meal activity, termed “food anticipatory activity” (FAA), which typically develops within about 1 week of scheduled feeding. Several studies have implicated serotonin as a negative regulator of FAA: (1) aged rats treated with serotonin 5-HT2 and 3 receptor antagonists showed enhanced FAA, (2) mice lacking for the 2C serotonin receptor demonstrate enhanced FAA, and (3) pharmacologically increased serotonin levels suppressed FAA while decreased serotonin levels enhanced FAA in mice. We sought to confirm and extend these findings using genetic models with impairments in central serotonin production or re-uptake, but were surprised to find that both serotonin transporter (Slc6a4) and tryptophan hydroxylase-2 knockout mice demonstrated a normal behavioral response to timed, calorie restricted feeding. Our data suggest that FAA is largely independent of central serotonin and/or serotonin reuptake and that serotonin may not be a robust negative regulator of FAA

Recuperación de agrosistemas degradados en la cuenca del lago de Cuitzeo (Michoagán, México): II. Control de Cárcavas.

II SIMPOSIO NACIONAL SOBRE CONTROL DE LA DEGRADACIÓN DE SUELOS. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.{ESP}Con la participación de instituciones de investigación europeas y mejicanas concurrentes en el Proyecto REVOLSO/INCO (, se evaluó durante 3 años consecutivos, en la cuenca del Lago de Cuitzeo (Michoacán, Méjico), la construcción de pequeñas represas con neumáticos de desecho para la retención de azolves y control de cárcavas, producto del efecto erosivo del escurrimiento del agua de escorrentía producida por la compactación del suelo. La estabilización de taludes se realizó con veza (Vicia villosa), janamargo (V. sativa), pasto llorón (Eragrostis curvula), acacia (Acacia retinoides) y garrapata (Desmodium grahamii). Como resultados de estas medidas (basadas en el conocimiento de procesos de recuperación de suelos) se contribuye al mejoramiento de áreas productivas y se diminuye la erosión de las cárcavas, con lo cual se reduce el aporte de sedimentos a los cuerpos de agua y, en suma, se mejora el ambiente, aportándose soluciones de bajo costo que pueden romper el círculo vicioso erosión-pobreza.{ENG}Different European and Mexican institutions are collaborating in an international Project (named REVOLSO, INCO Program) working at the Cuitzeo Basin (Michoacán, Mexico). During 3 years the efficience of small dams built with tyres for the erosion control of gullies was assessed. Plant species tested for gullies stabilization were: Vicia villosa, V. sativa, Eragrostis curvula, Acacia retinoides, and Desmodium grahamii. Results are promising, because a deacreasing of erosion process was evident to a low cost. In this way, this actions could improve the soil conservation, diminishing the amount of sediments arriving to the big dams and broken the feedback circle soil erosion-poverty.Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Consejería de Economía e Innovación Tecnológic

Single Gene Deletions of Orexin, Leptin, Neuropeptide Y, and Ghrelin Do Not Appreciably Alter Food Anticipatory Activity in Mice

Timing activity to match resource availability is a widely conserved ability in nature. Scheduled feeding of a limited amount of food induces increased activity prior to feeding time in animals as diverse as fish and rodents. Typically, food anticipatory activity (FAA) involves temporally restricting unlimited food access (RF) to several hours in the middle of the light cycle, which is a time of day when rodents are not normally active. We compared this model to calorie restriction (CR), giving the mice 60% of their normal daily calorie intake at the same time each day. Measurement of body temperature and home cage behaviors suggests that the RF and CR models are very similar but CR has the advantage of a clearly defined food intake and more stable mean body temperature. Using the CR model, we then attempted to verify the published result that orexin deletion diminishes food anticipatory activity (FAA) but observed little to no diminution in the response to CR and, surprisingly, that orexin KO mice are refractory to body weight loss on a CR diet. Next we tested the orexigenic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and ghrelin and the anorexigenic hormone, leptin, using mouse mutants. NPY deletion did not alter the behavior or physiological response to CR. Leptin deletion impaired FAA in terms of some activity measures, such as walking and rearing, but did not substantially diminish hanging behavior preceding feeding time, suggesting that leptin knockout mice do anticipate daily meal time but do not manifest the full spectrum of activities that typify FAA. Ghrelin knockout mice do not have impaired FAA on a CR diet. Collectively, these results suggest that the individual hormones and neuropepetides tested do not regulate FAA by acting individually but this does not rule out the possibility of their concerted action in mediating FAA

Food Anticipatory Activity Behavior of Mice across a Wide Range of Circadian and Non-Circadian Intervals

When rodents are fed in a limited amount during the daytime, they rapidly redistribute some of their nocturnal activity to the time preceding the delivery of food. In rats, anticipation of a daily meal has been interpreted as a circadian rhythm controlled by a food-entrained oscillator (FEO) with circadian limits to entrainment. Lesion experiments place this FEO outside of the light-entrainable circadian pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Mice also anticipate a fixed daily meal, but circadian limits to entrainment and anticipation of more than 2 daily meals, have not been assessed. We used a video-based behavior recognition system to quantify food anticipatory activity in mice receiving 2, 3, or 6 daily meals at intervals of 12, 8, or 4-hours (h). Individual mice were able to anticipate as many as 4 of 6 daily meals, and anticipation persisted during meal omission tests. On the 6 meal schedule, pre-prandial activity and body temperature were poorly correlated, suggesting independent regulation. Mice showed a limited ability to anticipate an 18 h feeding schedule. Finally, mice showed concurrent circadian and sub-hourly anticipation when provided with 6 small meals, at 30 minute intervals, at a fixed time of day. These results indicate that mice can anticipate feeding opportunities at a fixed time of day across a wide range of intervals not previously associated with anticipatory behavior in studies of rats. The methods described here can be exploited to determine the extent to which timing of different intervals in mice relies on common or distinct neural and molecular mechanisms

Cluster Headache Genomewide Association Study and Meta-Analysis Identifies Eight Loci and Implicates Smoking as Causal Risk Factor

Objective: The objective of this study was to aggregate data for the first genomewide association study meta-analysis of cluster headache, to identify genetic risk variants, and gain biological insights. Methods: A total of 4,777 cases (3,348 men and 1,429 women) with clinically diagnosed cluster headache were recruited from 10 European and 1 East Asian cohorts. We first performed an inverse-variance genomewide association meta-analysis of 4,043 cases and 21,729 controls of European ancestry. In a secondary trans-ancestry meta-analysis, we included 734 cases and 9,846 controls of East Asian ancestry. Candidate causal genes were prioritized by 5 complementary methods: expression quantitative trait loci, transcriptome-wide association, fine-mapping of causal gene sets, genetically driven DNA methylation, and effects on protein structure. Gene set and tissue enrichment analyses, genetic correlation, genetic risk score analysis, and Mendelian randomization were part of the downstream analyses. Results: The estimated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based heritability of cluster headache was 14.5%. We identified 9 independent signals in 7 genomewide significant loci in the primary meta-analysis, and one additional locus in the trans-ethnic meta-analysis. Five of the loci were previously known. The 20 genes prioritized as potentially causal for cluster headache showed enrichment to artery and brain tissue. Cluster headache was genetically correlated with cigarette smoking, risk-taking behavior, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and musculoskeletal pain. Mendelian randomization analysis indicated a causal effect of cigarette smoking intensity on cluster headache. Three of the identified loci were shared with migraine. Interpretation: This first genomewide association study meta-analysis gives clues to the biological basis of cluster headache and indicates that smoking is a causal risk factor

Model-independent search for the presence of new physics in events including H → γγ with s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV pp data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Abstract A model-independent search for new physics leading to final states containing a Higgs boson, with a mass of 125.09 GeV, decaying to a pair of photons is performed with 139 fb−1 of s $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This search examines 22 final states categorized by the objects that are produced in association with the Higgs boson. These objects include isolated electrons or muons, hadronically decaying τ-leptons, additional photons, missing transverse momentum, and hadronic jets, as well as jets that are tagged as containing a b-hadron. No significant excesses above Standard Model expectations are observed and limits on the production cross section at 95% confidence level are set. Detector efficiencies are reported for all 22 signal regions, which can be used to convert detector-level cross-section limits reported in this paper to particle-level cross-section constraints

Supporting information: The EICAT+ framework enables classification of positive impacts of alien taxa on native biodiversity [dataset]

Supporting information A in S1 File. Glossary of additional key terms. Supporting information B in S1 File. Table reporting contrasting arguments and approaches used to define how alien taxa are considered and should be managed in accordance with different conservation values/motivations. As multiple values/motivations exist and determine which entities we are interested in (see also Supporting information A), distinct conservation targets can be identified. Note that here, we only consider conservation values/motivations that are expressed regardless of any nature’s instrumental (utilitarian) value, i.e., regardless of nature’s contributions to human well-being (see “nature for itself” framing [9]). Also, note that such contrasting arguments and approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive and have been occasionally combined to find a middle ground to achieve broader conservation goals [10–13]. Supporting information C in S1 File. Circumstances under which the prevention/mitigation of a decreasing change is considered as a positive change under EICAT+. In EICAT+, we also consider as positive impacts (i.e., increasing changes) cases in which an alien species prevents/mitigates decreasing changes, e.g., when the performance of a native individual, the size of a native population, or the occupancy of a native species would have decreased, or decreased to a greater extent, if the alien species had not been introduced. Although some of these positive impacts can be inferred, the prevention of a decreasing change should be assessed under EICAT+ only when there is convincing evidence that a certain biodiversity attribute (e.g., population size) would have decreased, or decreased to a greater extent, in the absence of the alien species. In the case of extinction prevention, for instance, it must be clear that (i) the population was locally heading toward extinction before the introduction of the alien; and (ii) the alien taxon prevented, through a specific impact mechanism, an extinction that would have occurred in its absence [41,42] (Fig 2b). Other cases where an alien species may prevent or mitigate decreasing changes are, for instance, those in which the abundance (i.e., a proxy for population size) of a native species declined in the uninvaded (i.e., control) plots but not, or to a lesser extent, in the plots invaded by the alien. Note that positive impacts associated with the prevention/mitigation of a decreasing change will generally be more difficult to study and identify than those associated with actual increasing changes, as the former require extensive data regarding the temporal trend of individual performance, population size, or area of occupancy. Supporting information D in S1 File. EICAT+ mechanisms and submechanisms by which an alien taxon can cause positive impacts on native biodiversity attributes and examples of positive impacts sourced from the literature and assessed under EICAT+ (ML+ = Minimal positive impact, MN+ = Minor positive impact, MO+ = Moderate positive impact, MR+ = Major positive impact, MV+ = Massive positive impact). Rationales behind the formulation of the mechanisms and submechanisms can be found in the main text and in Supporting information G, H, and J. Supporting information E in S1 File. Table reporting examples sourced from the literature and classified as information that cannot be classified under EICAT+, but that contain information about mechanisms and might set the stage for future studies. Although these studies described the existence of mechanisms by which alien taxa may cause positive impacts on native taxa, such literature is considered as nonrelevant, as it did not measure, or provide information on, biodiversity attributes used in EICAT+ (e.g., performance of individuals or population size). Rationales behind the formulation of the mechanisms and submechanisms can be found in the main text and in Supporting information G, H, and J. Supporting information F in S1 File. How to attribute a confidence score in EICAT+. Supporting information G in S1 File. Additional information around the rationale behind the formulation of the EICAT+ mechanisms and submechanisms. Supporting information H in S1 File. Additional information about how alien species can cause positive impacts on native biodiversity through overcompensation. Supporting information J in S1 File. Additional information about how alien species can cause positive impacts on native biodiversity through hybridization. Supporting information K in S1 File. References used in the Supporting information.Peer reviewe