Neurotranscriptome profiles of multiple zebrafish strains

Behavioral displays or physiological responses are often influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms in the context of the organism\u27s evolutionary history. Understanding differences in transcriptome profiles can give insight into adaptive or pathological responses.We utilize high throughput sequencing (RNA-sequencing) to characterize the neurotranscriptome profiles in both males and females across four strains of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Strains varied by previously documented differences in stress and anxiety-like behavioral responses, and generations removed from wild-caught individuals. Here we describe detailed methodologies and quality controls in generating the rawRNA-sequencing reads that are publically available in NCBI\u27s Gene Expression Omnibus database (GSE61108)

The Impact of Flooding on the Social Determinants of Health in Nigeria: A Case for North-South Institutional Collaboration to Address Climate Issues

Nigeria witnessed unprecedented flooding in recent times. This paper examines the impact of the flood disasters on critical social factors related to health and wellbeing ( income, housing, education, health care, safety and mental health). The authors sought information from newspapers and other sources (NEMA, WHO reports). The reports revealed massive loss of human lives and livestock, homes, property and livelihood especially in the coastal states along the bank of River Niger and Benue. Some of the states worst hit include Benue, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Kogi, Edo, Bayesa, Delta, Niger, Taraba, and Kano. The devastation caused by the floods could not be adequately contained due to infrastructural (shelters, health centers, classrooms, etc) and logistic deficiencies (inadequate personnel and  facilities) Micro and macro level interventions such as development and enforcement of land use policies; construction of mobile clinics in affected areas; mobilization/recruitment and training of multi disciplinary response teams (social workers, public health professionals, physicians, nurses, psychologists, clergy; etc.) Aside from current local responses, a well-coordinated sustainable international collaborations/partnerships among schools of social work and public health to address the social needs arising from flooding and other climate change issues in Nigeria are needed, in the spirit of North-South cooperation. Keywords: Nigeria, Climate change, social determinants, health

INFLUENCE OF ETHICAL AND PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PRACTICING COUNSELLORS ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADAMAWA STATE TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELLOR EDUCATION PROGRAMMES AND CERTIFICATION

This study attempted to investigate the influence of ethical and personality characteristics of counselling practitioners on the growth and development of the counselling profession in Nigeria. Research questions were raised to identify the major ethical and personality characteristics exhibited by practicing counsellors in Adamawa state tertiary institutions of learning, while the hypotheses sought to find out if the respondents differ in their possession of the desirable ethical and personality characteristics. All students and Counsellors from Adamawa state citadel of higher learning constituted the population for the study. The sample comprised of 109 students and 25 practicing Counsellors in Adamawa state tertiary institutions. A modified four point Likert type scale instrument was used to collect data from the respondents. The instrument was validated and found to be reliable at 0.71 reliability coefficients. The data collected were analyzed using means, standard deviation, independent t-test, and two sample Kolmogorov Smirnov tests. The findings revealed that counselling practitioners in Adamawa state tertiary institutions possess the expected personality characteristics, but lack the basic knowledge and skills to effectively service students’ cases. The study also revealed that the counsellor education curriculum of most universities was defective. The products of such institutions may not possess the minimum requirement to be certificated as professional practicing Counsellors. It was therefore recommended among other things that the counsellor education curriculum be overhauled and new courses on current issues such as multi-culturalism in counselling be integrated into the curriculum in order to meet the minimum conditions for certification and licensure.  Article visualizations

Limited sex-biased neural gene expression patterns across strains in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Background: Male and female vertebrates typically differ in a range of characteristics, from morphology to physiology to behavior, which are influenced by factors such as the social environment and the internal hormonal and genetic milieu. However, sex differences in gene expression profiles in the brains of vertebrates are only beginning to be understood. Fishes provide a unique complement to studies of sex differences in mammals and birds given that fish show extreme plasticity and lability of sexually dimorphic characters and behaviors during development and even adulthood. Hence, teleost models can give additional insight into sexual differentiation. The goal of this study is to identify neurotranscriptomic mechanisms for sex differences in the brain. Results: In this study we examined whole-brain sex-biased gene expression through RNA-sequencing across four strains of zebrafish. We subsequently conducted systems level analyses by examining gene network dynamics between the sexes using weighted gene coexpression network analysis. Surprisingly, only 61 genes (approximately 0.4% of genes analyzed) showed a significant sex effect across all four strains, and 48 of these differences were male-biased. Several of these genes are associated with steroid hormone biosynthesis. Despite sex differences in a display of stress-related behaviors, basal transcript levels did not predict the intensity of the behavioral display. WGCNA revealed only one module that was significantly associated with sex. Intriguingly, comparing intermodule dynamics between the sexes revealed only moderate preservation. Further we identify sex-specific gene modules. Conclusions: Despite differences in morphology, physiology, and behavior, there is limited sex-biased neural gene expression in zebrafish. Further, genes found to be sex-biased are associated with hormone biosynthesis, suggesting that sex steroid hormones may be key contributors to sexual behavioral plasticity seen in teleosts. A possible mechanism is through regulating specific brain gene networks

Characterizing the neurotranscriptomic states in alternative stress coping styles

Background: Animals experience stress in many contexts and often successfully cope. Individuals exhibiting the proactive versus reactive stress coping styles display qualitatively different behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stressors. The predisposition to exhibiting a particular coping style is due to genetic and environmental factors. In this study we explore the neurotranscriptomic and gene network biases that are associated with differences between zebrafish (Danio rerio) lines selected for proactive and reactive coping styles and reared in a common garden environment. Results: Using RNA-sequencing we quantified the basal transcriptomes from the brains of wild-derived zebrafish lines selectively bred to exhibit the proactive or reactive stress coping style. We identified 1953 genes that differed in baseline gene expression levels. Weighted gene coexpression network analyses identified one gene module associated with line differences. Together with our previous pharmacological experiment, we identified a core set of 62 genes associated with line differences. Gene ontology analyses reveal that many of these core genes are implicated in neurometabolism (e.g. organic acid biosynthetic and fatty acid metabolic processes). Conclusions: Our results show that proactive and reactive stress coping individuals display distinct basal neurotranscriptomic states. Differences in baseline expression of select genes or regulation of specific gene modules are linked to the magnitude of the behavioral response and the display of a coping style, respectively. Our results expand the molecular mechanisms of stress coping from one focused on the neurotransmitter systems to a more complex system that involves an organism’s capability to handle neurometabolic loads and allows for comparisons with other animal taxa to uncover potential conserved mechanisms

CAIRNS: The Cluster And Infall Region Nearby Survey III. Environmental Dependence of H-alpha Properties of Galaxies

We investigate the environmental dependence of star formation in cluster virial regions and infall regions as part of CAIRNS (Cluster And Infall Region Nearby Survey), a large spectroscopic survey of the infall regions surrounding nine nearby rich clusters of galaxies. Our long-slit spectroscopy yields estimates of star formation rates in environments from cluster cores to the general large-scale structure. The fraction of galaxies with current star formation in their inner disks as traced by H-alpha emission increases with distance from the cluster and converges to the ``field'' value only at 2-3 virial radii, in agreement with other investigations. However, among galaxies with significant current star formation (EW[Ha]geq2\AA), there is no difference in the distribution of EW[Ha] inside and outside the virial radius. This surprising result, first seen by Carter et al., suggests that (1) star formation is truncated on either very short timescales or only at moderate and high redshifts or (2) that projection effects contaminate the measurement. The number density profiles of star-forming and non-star-forming galaxies indicate that, among galaxies projected inside the virial radius, at least half of the former and 20% of the latter are ``infall interlopers,'' galaxies in the infall region but outside the virial region. The kinematics of star-forming galaxies in the infall region closely match those of absorption-dominated galaxies. This result shows that the star forming galaxies in the infall regions are not interlopers from the field and excludes one model of the backsplash scenario of galaxy transformation. Finally, we quantify systematic uncertainties in estimating the global star formation in galaxies from their inner disks.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in A

Kebencanaan Geologi Kelautan di Bagian Utara Pulau Obi, Maluku

Lokasi penelitian terletak di bagian utara pulau Obi, Maluku. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengkaji aspek kebencanaan geologi kelautan berupa pengumpulan data primer dan sekunder. Data primer meliputi hasil pengukuran kedalaman dan pemetaan karakteristik pantai. Data sekunder berupa energi gelombang yang dihitung melalui pendekatan energi fluks dari data angin di stasiun pengamatan Labuha/Taliabu tahun 2004 – 2013. Hasil penelitian berupa peta karakteristik pantai dan peta batimetri. Kedalaman daerah penelitian berkisar dari 0 sampai 310 meter dan perairan terdalam terletak di antara Pulau Obi dan Pulau Bisa. Kebencanaan geologi di Pulau Obi berupa banjir bandang, abrasi pantai dan tsunami.Kata kunci : kebencanaan geologi, energi fluks, banjir bandang, abrasi pantai dan tsunami, Pulau ObiThe study area is located on northern part of Obi Island, Moluccas. The research objective is to determine the potential of marine geological hazard by primary and secondary data collecting. Primary data consists of bathymetric and coastal characteristic mapping. Secondary data is from calculated wave energy flux by using wind data from Labuha / Taliabu observation stations (2004 – 2013). The result composed of coastal characteristic and bathymetric maps. The water depth range from 0 to 310 metres and the deepest part in between Obi and Bisa islands. The geological hazard on Obi Island consist of flooding,coastal abrasion and tsunami

Biosafety Research for Non-Target Organism Risk Assessment of RNAi-Based GE Plants

RNA interference, or RNAi, refers to a set of biological processes that make use of conserved cellular machinery to silence genes. Although there are several variations in the source and mechanism, they are all triggered by double stranded RNA (dsRNA) which is processed by a protein complex into small, single stranded RNA, referred to as small interfering RNAs (siRNA) with complementarity to sequences in genes targeted for silencing. The use of the RNAi mechanism to develop new traits in plants has fueled a discussion about the environmental safety of the technology for these applications, and this was the subject of a symposium session at the 13th ISBGMO in Cape Town, South Africa. This paper continues that discussion by proposing research areas that may be beneficial for future environmental risk assessments of RNAi-based genetically modified plants, with a particular focus on non-target organism assessment

The Effect of Patient Weight and Provider Training and Experience on Dosing of Rocuronium

Introduction. Maintenance dosing of neuromuscular blocking agents is complex and varies with patient, procedure, and clinical situation. With this in mind, we sought to identify factors impacting the maintenance dosing of neuromuscular blockers as a step toward identifying best practice with respect to minimizing residual neuromuscular blockade. Methods. Cases utilizing rocuronium from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2014, at the sponsoring institution were analyzed. Using a mixed model to account for repeated measures, patients were analyzed by dose and weight category as defined by the World Health Organization (eight categories ranging from very severely underweight to very severely obese) as well as by the administering provider’s level of experience. Results. The study included 12,671 patients with a mean age of 49.7 (SD 16.7). Increasing weight category and higher levels of provider experience were associated with higher doses for rocuronium. There were no differences in initial dose or in frequency of maintenance dosing by weight category after controlling for case length. Discussion. The two dosing patterns identified, higher doses for overweight patients and higher doses administered by experienced providers, are modifiable factors that could enhance patient safety