Are heterotrophic and silica-rich eukaryotic microbes an important part of the lichen symbiosis?

We speculate that heterotrophic and/or silica-rich eukaryotic microorganisms maybe an important part of the lichen symbiosis. None of the very few studies of heterotrophic protists associated with lichens have considered the possibility that they may be of functional significance in the lichen symbiosis. Here we start to develop, currently speculative, theoretical ideas about their potential significance. For example, all the protist taxa identified in lichens we sampled in Ohio USA depend on silica for growth and construction of their cell walls, this could suggest that silica-rich lichen symbionts may be significant in the biogeochemistry of the lichen symbiosis. We also present arguments suggesting a role for protists in nitrogen cycling within lichen thalli and a potential role in controlling bacterial populations associated with lichens. In this necessarily speculative paper we highlight areas for future research and how newer technologies may be useful for understanding the full suite of organisms involved in the lichen symbiosis. Keywords: lichens; protists; symbiosis; testate amoebae; diatom; chrysophyt

Infections in recipients of liver homografts.

Seventeen patients received liver homografts between 1963 and May, 1968. The eight treated before July, 1967, died within 34 days; seven had progressive infections with gram-negative bacilli, Candida albicans and cytomegalovirus. The infections were similar to but more fulminating than those after renal homotransplantation. In nine later cases, there was more discriminating donor selection, improved immunosuppression, and better organ preservation. In the first five of these nine patients, all infants, lobar hepatic gangrene apparently secondary to delayed right hepatic arterial thrombosis developed. Two died within a few days, two and three and a half months after transplantation. The three who did not die immediately subsequently had multiple bacteremias, fungemias and cytomegalovirus pulmonary infections. One of these children is alive twelve months after transplantation; the others died after four and a half and six months. In contrast, the last four patients, in whom septic liver infarctions were avoided, have been free of serious infections for two to five and a half months

Censorship and the configuration of cinematic classicism

Practically from its origins, and especially once it had been consolidated as a spectacle for mass consumption, American cinema had to deal with censorship by different authorities at local, state and federal levels. The industry responded to the problems arising from such censorship by introducing self-regulation, expressed in the Motion Picture Production Code, popularly known as the Hays Code. In addition to their influence on the subjects chosen and how these were treated, these mechanisms of censorship and self-regulation had a highly significant influence on the filmic form. What role did censorship play in the transition from the cinema of attractions to a more narrative model? Was it a determining factor in the establishment of the Institutional Mode of Representation? How did the Production Code interact with other systems and formulas associated with classical cinema, such as the star system or the different film genres? How did the progressive relaxation and subsequent abandonment of the Code affect the mise-en-scène of films? How did classical cinema handle problematic elements related to filmic form resulting from the restrictions of the Code? In this section, six internationally renowned scholars address these questions and offer their views on the subject

Naked mole-rats have distinctive cardiometabolic and genetic adaptations to their underground low-oxygen lifestyles.

The naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber is a eusocial mammal exhibiting extreme longevity (37-year lifespan), extraordinary resistance to hypoxia and absence of cardiovascular disease. To identify the mechanisms behind these exceptional traits, metabolomics and RNAseq of cardiac tissue from naked mole-rats was compared to other African mole-rat genera (Cape, Cape dune, Common, Natal, Mahali, Highveld and Damaraland mole-rats) and evolutionarily divergent mammals (Hottentot golden mole and C57/BL6 mouse). We identify metabolic and genetic adaptations unique to naked mole-rats including elevated glycogen, thus enabling glycolytic ATP generation during cardiac ischemia. Elevated normoxic expression of HIF-1α is observed while downstream hypoxia responsive-genes are down-regulated, suggesting adaptation to low oxygen environments. Naked mole-rat hearts show reduced succinate levels during ischemia compared to C57/BL6 mouse and negligible tissue damage following ischemia-reperfusion injury. These evolutionary traits reflect adaptation to a unique hypoxic and eusocial lifestyle that collectively may contribute to their longevity and health span

Augmented Lung Inflammation Protects against Influenza A Pneumonia

Influenza pneumonia causes high mortality every year, and pandemic episodes kill millions of people. Influenza-related mortality has been variously ascribed to an ineffective host response that fails to limit viral replication, an excessive host inflammatory response that results in lung injury and impairment of gas exchange, or to bacterial superinfection. We sought to determine whether lung inflammation promoted or impaired host survival in influenza pneumonia.To distinguish among these possible causes of influenza-related death, we induced robust lung inflammation by exposing mice to an aerosolized bacterial lysate prior to challenge with live virus. The treatment induced expression of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid 8- and 40-fold greater, respectively, than that caused by lethal influenza infection. Yet, this augmented inflammation was associated with striking resistance to host mortality (0% vs 90% survival, p = 0.0001) and reduced viral titers (p = 0.004). Bacterial superinfection of virus infected lungs was not observed. When mice were repeatedly exposed to the bacterial lysate, as would be clinically desirable during an influenza epidemic, there was no tachyphylaxis of the induced viral resistance. When the bacterial lysate was administered after the viral challenge, there was still some mortality benefit, and when ribavirin was added to the aerosolized bacterial lysate, host survival was synergistically improved (0% vs 93.3% survival, p<0.0001).Together, these data indicate that innate immune resistance to influenza can be effectively stimulated, and suggest that ineffective rather than excessive inflammation is the major cause of mortality in influenza pneumonia

Organism-sediment interactions govern post-hypoxia recovery of ecosystem functioning

Hypoxia represents one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning loss for coastal waters. Since eutrophication-induced hypoxic events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, understanding the response of ecosystems to hypoxia is of primary importance to understand and predict the stability of ecosystem functioning. Such ecological stability may greatly depend on the recovery patterns of communities and the return time of the system properties associated to these patterns. Here, we have examined how the reassembly of a benthic community contributed to the recovery of ecosystem functioning following experimentally-induced hypoxia in a tidal flat. We demonstrate that organism-sediment interactions that depend on organism size and relate to mobility traits and sediment reworking capacities are generally more important than recovering species richness to set the return time of the measured sediment processes and properties. Specifically, increasing macrofauna bioturbation potential during community reassembly significantly contributed to the recovery of sediment processes and properties such as denitrification, bedload sediment transport, primary production and deep pore water ammonium concentration. Such bioturbation potential was due to the replacement of the small-sized organisms that recolonised at early stages by large-sized bioturbating organisms, which had a disproportionately stronger influence on sediment. This study suggests that the complete recovery of organism-sediment interactions is a necessary condition for ecosystem functioning recovery, and that such process requires long periods after disturbance due to the slow growth of juveniles into adult stages involved in these interactions. Consequently, repeated episodes of disturbance at intervals smaller than the time needed for the system to fully recover organism-sediment interactions may greatly impair the resilience of ecosystem functioning.

Positive psychology of Malaysian students: impacts of engagement, motivation, self-compassion and wellbeing on mental health

Malaysia plays a key role in education of the Asia Pacific, expanding its scholarly output rapidly. However, mental health of Malaysian students is challenging, and their help-seeking is low because of stigma. This study explored the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs (academic engagement, motivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing), and evaluated the relative contribution of each positive psychological construct to mental health in Malaysian students. An opportunity sample of 153 students completed the measures regarding these constructs. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Engagement, amotivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing were associated with, and predicted large variance in mental health. Self-compassion was the strongest independent predictor of mental health among all the positive psychological constructs. Findings can imply the strong links between mental health and positive psychology, especially selfcompassion. Moreover, intervention studies to examine the effects of self-compassion training on mental health of Malaysian students appear to be warranted.N/

Synergistic TLR2/6 and TLR9 Activation Protects Mice against Lethal Influenza Pneumonia

Lower respiratory tract infections caused by influenza A continue to exact unacceptable worldwide mortality, and recent epidemics have emphasized the importance of preventative and containment strategies. We have previously reported that induction of the lungs' intrinsic defenses by aerosolized treatments can protect mice against otherwise lethal challenges with influenza A virus. More recently, we identified a combination of Toll like receptor (TLR) agonists that can be aerosolized to protect mice against bacterial pneumonia. Here, we tested whether this combination of synthetic TLR agonists could enhance the survival of mice infected with influenza A/HK/8/68 (H3N2) or A/California/04/2009 (H1N1) influenza A viruses. We report that the TLR treatment enhanced survival whether given before or after the infectious challenge, and that protection tended to correlate with reductions in viral titer 4 d after infection. Surprisingly, protection was not associated with induction of interferon gene expression. Together, these studies suggest that synergistic TLR interactions can protect against influenza virus infections by mechanisms that may provide the basis for novel therapeutics