Nocturnin Expression Is Induced by Fasting in the White Adipose Tissue of Restricted Fed Mice

The relationship between circadian clocks and metabolism is intimate and complex and a number of recent studies have begun to reveal previously unknown effects of food and its temporal availability on the clock and the rhythmic transcriptome of peripheral tissues. Nocturnin, a circadian deadenylase, is expressed rhythmically in a wide variety of tissues, but we report here that Nocturnin expression is arrhythmic in epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) of mice housed in 12∶12 LD with ad libitum access to food. However, Nocturnin expression becomes rhythmic in eWAT of mice placed on restricted feeding. We show here that Nocturnin's rhythmic expression pattern is not dependent upon feeding, nor is it acutely induced by feeding in the liver or eWAT of ad libitum fed mice. However, Nocturnin is acutely induced by the absence of the expected meal in eWAT of restricted fed mice. A rise in cAMP levels also induces Nocturnin expression, suggesting that Nocturnin's induction in eWAT by fasting is likely mediated through the same pathways that activate lipolysis. Therefore, this suggests that Nocturnin plays a role in linking nutrient sensing by the circadian clock to lipid mobilization in the adipocytes

The Circadian Deadenylase Nocturnin Is Necessary for Stabilization of the iNOS mRNA in Mice

Nocturnin is a member of the CCR4 deadenylase family, and its expression is under circadian control with peak levels at night. Because it can remove poly(A) tails from mRNAs, it is presumed to play a role in post-transcriptional control of circadian gene expression, but its target mRNAs are not known. Here we demonstrate that Nocturnin expression is acutely induced by the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) lacking Nocturnin exhibit normal patterns of acute induction of TNFα and iNOS mRNAs during the first three hours following LPS treatment, but by 24 hours, while TNFα mRNA levels are indistinguishable from WT cells, iNOS message is significantly reduced 20-fold. Accordingly, analysis of the stability of the mRNAs showed that loss of Nocturnin causes a significant decrease in the half-life of the iNOS mRNA (t1/2 = 3.3 hours in Nocturnin knockout MEFs vs. 12.4 hours in wild type MEFs), while having no effect on the TNFα message. Furthermore, mice lacking Nocturnin lose the normal nighttime peak of hepatic iNOS mRNA, and have improved survival following LPS injection. These data suggest that Nocturnin has a novel stabilizing activity that plays an important role in the circadian response to inflammatory signals

Better Together: Expanding Rural Partnerships to Support Families

Chronic shortages of health, social service, and mental health professionals in rural areas necessitate creative partnerships in support of families. Cooperative extension professionals in Family and Consumer Sciences and community health nurses are introduced as trusted professionals in rural communities who can bring critical skills to human services teams. Multidisciplinary prevention programs offer particularly good contexts for county extension educators and community health nurses to work in collaboration with social workers. The case of grandparents raising grandchildren illustrates the critical roles that can be filled by professionals in these two fields to extend the reach of family support programs

Testing the “Learning Journey” of MSW Students in a Rural Program

Using a quasi-experimental one-group, pretest–posttest design with non-random convenience sampling, the researchers assessed 61 advanced standing MSW students who matriculated at a rural intermountain Northwest school of social work. Changes in students\u27 knowledge and attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people were measured using subscales of the LGB-KASH scale and include knowledge of LGB history, religious conflict, internalized affirmation of LGB people and issues, hatred and violence toward LGB people, and knowledge and attitudes toward extension and exclusion of civil rights for LGB people. Completion of required, highly experiential bridge course content regarding LGB history and experience appears to be significant in reducing religious conflict, increasing knowledge of LGB issues, and enhancing internalized affirmation of LGB individuals

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Examining the relationship between pet ownership and human health

Previous research has established that pet ownership is related to psychological (Parslow et. al, 2005) and physical health (Siegel, 1990) in adulthood. However, no research to date has examined the relationship between pet ownership in childhood and psychological and physical health later in life. This study examined the relationship between pet ownership in childhood and physical and psychological functioning in young adulthood. Fifty undergraduate students at Washington State University provided information related to demographics, pet attachment, pet anthropomorphism, and physical and psychological functioning. Regression analysis was used to determine if pet ownership (i.e. pet attachment, pet anthropomorphism) significantly predicted psychological and physical functioning. Results indicated that pet ownership was significantly related to physical functioning, but not psychological functioning. Although the results from the current investigation are promising, further research is necessary to better understand the relationship between pet ownership and human health

The circadian deadenylase nocturnin is necessary for stabilization of the iNOS mRNA in mice

Nocturnin is a member of the CCR4 deadenylase family, and its expression is under circadian control with peak levels at night. Because it can remove poly(A) tails from mRNAs, it is presumed to play a role in post-transcriptional control of circadian gene expression, but its target mRNAs are not known. Here we demonstrate that Nocturnin expression is acutely induced by the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) lacking Nocturnin exhibit normal patterns of acute induction of TNFa and iNOS mRNAs during the first three hours following LPS treatment, but by 24 hours, while TNFa mRNA levels are indistinguishable from WT cells, iNOS message is significantly reduced 20-fold. Accordingly,analysis of the stability of the mRNAs showed that loss of Nocturnin causes a significant decrease in the half-life of the iNOS mRNA (t1/2 = 3.3 hours in Nocturnin knockout MEFs vs. 12.4 hours in wild type MEFs), while having no effect on the TNFa message. Furthermore, mice lacking Nocturnin lose the normal nighttime peak of hepatic iNOS mRNA, and have improved survival following LPS injection. These data suggest that Nocturnin has a novel stabilizing activity that plays an important role in the circadian response to inflammatory signals.Fil: Niu, Shuang. University of Virginia; Estados UnidosFil: Shingle, Danielle L.. University of Virginia; Estados Unidos. University of Texas; Estados UnidosFil: Garbarino Pico, Eduardo. University of Virginia; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Kojima, Shihoko. University of Virginia; Estados Unidos. University of Texas; Estados UnidosFil: Gilbert, Misty. University of Virginia; Estados UnidosFil: Green, Carla B.. University of Virginia; Estados Unidos. University of Texas; Estados Unido

<i>Nocturnin</i> is induced by LPS in MEFs.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Putative NF-κB enhancer sites located in conserved regions in the <i>Nocturnin</i> gene and flanking sequence. Human and mouse genomic sequences spanning 10 Kb upstream of the <i>Nocturnin</i> gene were aligned and analyzed by Matlnspector <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0026954#pone.0026954-Quandt1" target="_blank">[48]</a>. Shown are relative positions of predicted conserved NF-κB binding sites (black boxes) near the mouse <i>Nocturnin</i> gene. +1 denotes transcription start site and negative and positive numbers denote nucleotide position within the mouse sequence relative to that site. (<b>B,C</b>) MEFs treated with LPS for indicated times were collected for total RNA isolation and protein extraction. <i>iNOS</i> mRNA levels were determined by quantitative RT-PCR and normalized to <i>Gapdh</i> mRNA level. Data represent mean (±SEM) of three independent MEF lines. (B). NOC protein levels were determined by Western blotting and normalized to Tubulin. The fold changes of NOC protein at different time points are indicated (C).</p

Accumulation of <i>iNOS</i> protein following LPS requires Nocturnin.

<p>(<b>A</b>) iNOS protein is reduced in <i>Noc</i> KO MEFs following LPS treatment. WT and <i>Noc</i> KO MEFs treated with LPS for twenty-four hours were collected for protein extraction. Proteins were analyzed by Western blotting with α-iNOS antibody (a representative blot is shown in top panel) and protein levels were determined (normalized to β-tubulin levels) and plotted as mean (±SEM) of three independent MEF lines (bottom panel). (<b>B</b>) Expression of Nocturnin in <i>Noc</i> KO MEFs rescues the LPS induction of iNOS protein. <i>Noc</i> KO MEFs were electroporated with either empty FLAG vector (control) or a vector expressing a FLAG-Nocturnin fusion protein (NOC-FLAG). Forty-eight hours after electroporation, MEFs were treated for 24 hours with LPS and were then collected for protein extraction. Proteins were analyzed by Western blotting with α-iNOS and α-FLAG antibodies. Shown are extracts expressing two different levels of NOC-FLAG (compare lanes 3 and 4, top blot), which correlate with the level of rescued iNOS protein (compare lanes 3 and 4, bottom blot). The arrowhead marks a non-specific band (this band is not iNOS, as it is still present in samples from iNOS knockout mice, data not shown). The data shown are from two independently-derived WT and two independently-derived KO MEF lines (one per lane). This experiment was also repeated in a third independent MEF line for each genotype with similar results (data not shown).</p