Sensory Plasticity in Human Motor Learning.

There is accumulating evidence from behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging studies that the acquisition of motor skills involves both perceptual and motor learning. Perceptual learning alters movements, motor learning, and motor networks of the brain. Motor learning changes perceptual function and the sensory circuits of the brain. Here, we review studies of both human limb movement and speech that indicate that plasticity in sensory and motor systems is reciprocally linked. Taken together, this points to an approach to motor learning in which perceptual learning and sensory plasticity have a fundamental role

Sikap Masyarakat Jakarta Pengguna Aplikasi Grab Terhadap Brand Baru Grab

Grab adalah sebuah brand baru yang merupakan hasil rebranding dari GrabTaxi. Dengan adanya brand baru ini, Grab berharap masyarakat Jakarta dapat mengetahui, menyukai dan kemudian mau menggunakan layanan Grab.Brand baru Grab ini diikuti dengan memperbaharui elemen brand yang terdiri dari brand name, URL, logo, slogan dan packaging. Selama ini, Grab telah mempromosikan informasi brand barunya melalui berbagai media komunikasi. Komponen-komponen yang ada dalam sikap masyarakat Jakarta pengguna aplikasi Grab turut berperan dalam menentukan penilaian terhadap brand baru Grab. Maka, penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui sikap masyarakat Jakarta pengguna aplikasi Grab terhadap brand baru Grab. Jenis penelitian ini adalah kuantitatif deskriptif dengan menggunakan metode survei untuk mendeskripsikan sikap masyarakat Jakarta pengguna aplikasi Grab terhadap brand baru Grab. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan sikap masyarakat Jakarta pengguna aplikasi Grab positif terhadap brand baru Grab

The mate recognition protein gene mediates reproductive isolation and speciation in the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in BMC Evolutionary Biology 12 (2012): 134, doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-134.Chemically mediated prezygotic barriers to reproduction likely play an important role in speciation. In facultatively sexual monogonont rotifers from the Brachionus plicatilis cryptic species complex, mate recognition of females by males is mediated by the Mate Recognition Protein (MRP), a globular glycoprotein on the surface of females, encoded by the mmr-b gene family. In this study, we sequenced mmr-b copies from 27 isolates representing 11 phylotypes of the B. plicatilis species complex, examined the mode of evolution and selection of mmr-b, and determined the relationship between mmr-b genetic distance and mate recognition among isolates. Isolates of the B. plicatilis species complex have 1–4 copies of mmr-b, each composed of 2–9 nearly identical tandem repeats. The repeats within a gene copy are generally more similar than are gene copies among phylotypes, suggesting concerted evolution. Compared to housekeeping genes from the same isolates, mmr-b has accumulated only half as many synonymous differences but twice as many non-synonymous differences. Most of the amino acid differences between repeats appear to occur on the outer face of the protein, and these often result in changes in predicted patterns of phosphorylation. However, we found no evidence of positive selection driving these differences. Isolates with the most divergent copies were unable to mate with other isolates and rarely self-crossed. Overall the degree of mate recognition was significantly correlated with the genetic distance of mmr-b. Discrimination of compatible mates in the B. plicatilis species complex is determined by proteins encoded by closely related copies of a single gene, mmr-b. While concerted evolution of the tandem repeats in mmr-b may function to maintain identity, it can also lead to the rapid spread of a mutation through all copies in the genome and thus to reproductive isolation. The mmr-b gene is evolving rapidly, and novel alleles may be maintained and increase in frequency via asexual reproduction. Our analyses indicate that mate recognition, controlled by MMR-B, may drive reproductive isolation and allow saltational sympatric speciation within the B. plicatilis cryptic species complex, and that this process may be largely neutral.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation grant BE/GenEn MCG- 0412647

Genome-wide transcriptomics of aging in the rotifer Brachionus manjavacas, an emerging model system

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in BMC Genomics 18 (2017): 217, doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3540-x.Understanding gene expression changes over lifespan in diverse animal species will lead to insights to conserved processes in the biology of aging and allow development of interventions to improve health. Rotifers are small aquatic invertebrates that have been used in aging studies for nearly 100 years and are now re-emerging as a modern model system. To provide a baseline to evaluate genetic responses to interventions that change health throughout lifespan and a framework for new hypotheses about the molecular genetic mechanisms of aging, we examined the transcriptome of an asexual female lineage of the rotifer Brachionus manjavacas at five life stages: eggs, neonates, and early-, late-, and post-reproductive adults. There are widespread shifts in gene expression over the lifespan of B. manjavacas; the largest change occurs between neonates and early reproductive adults and is characterized by down-regulation of developmental genes and up-regulation of genes involved in reproduction. The expression profile of post-reproductive adults was distinct from that of other life stages. While few genes were significantly differentially expressed in the late- to post-reproductive transition, gene set enrichment analysis revealed multiple down-regulated pathways in metabolism, maintenance and repair, and proteostasis, united by genes involved in mitochondrial function and oxidative phosphorylation. This study provides the first examination of changes in gene expression over lifespan in rotifers. We detected differential expression of many genes with human orthologs that are absent in Drosophila and C. elegans, highlighting the potential of the rotifer model in aging studies. Our findings suggest that small but coordinated changes in expression of many genes in pathways that integrate diverse functions drive the aging process. The observation of simultaneous declines in expression of genes in multiple pathways may have consequences for health and longevity not detected by single- or multi-gene knockdown in otherwise healthy animals. Investigation of subtle but genome-wide change in these pathways during aging is an important area for future study.Funding for this project was provided by R01 AG037960-01, the American Federation for Aging Research, and the Bay and Paul Foundations

Development Of A Line List For Automation Of Stellar Abundance Analysis

By looking at abundances of elements in stars and clusters, we can draw conclusions about the histories of those clusters and of the stars within them. And by looking at stars that may not match our current theories of stellar evolution, we can close some of the gaps in our understanding of the evolution and lifecycles of stars. As surveys get increasingly larger and generate progressively more data, having tools that facilitate the automatic processing of these large data sets becomes ever more desirable. In this paper, we develop a “line list” of 428 transitions necessary for detailed abundance analyses of high-resolution spectra, and then present a semi-automated method for determining abundances from equivalent width measurements through the use of the line list with the spectral-line fitting software DAOSpec, the MARCS grid of model atmospheres, and the spectral-line analysis software MOOG. We demonstrate our line list and abundance analysis tools on two different stars, NGC 6940 101 and IC 4756 14. We present our derived stellar atmosphere parameters for those stars and give detailed abundance analyses. We then compare these results to those found in other studies to demonstrate the quality and reliability of our tools

Assessment of the Barramundi Fishery in Queensland - 2002

The barramundi, Lates calcarifer, is an important target species of commercial, recreational and indigenous fishers across northern Australia. In Queensland stocks from the Gulf of Carpentaria and the east coast are managed separately. An assessment of both the Gulf and East Coast stocks are reported here

Maternal caloric restriction partially rescues the deleterious effects of advanced maternal age on offspring

© The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Aging Cell 13 (2014): 623–630, doi:10.1111/acel.12217.While many studies have focused on the detrimental effects of advanced maternal age and harmful prenatal environments on progeny, little is known about the role of beneficial non-Mendelian maternal inheritance on aging. Here, we report the effects of maternal age and maternal caloric restriction (CR) on the life span and health span of offspring for a clonal culture of the monogonont rotifer Brachionus manjavacas. Mothers on regimens of chronic CR (CCR) or intermittent fasting (IF) had increased life span compared with mothers fed ad libitum (AL). With increasing maternal age, life span and fecundity of female offspring of AL-fed mothers decreased significantly and life span of male offspring was unchanged, whereas body size of both male and female offspring increased. Maternal CR partially rescued these effects, increasing the mean life span of AL-fed female offspring but not male offspring and increasing the fecundity of AL-fed female offspring compared with offspring of mothers of the same age. Both maternal CR regimens decreased male offspring body size, but only maternal IF decreased body size of female offspring, whereas maternal CCR caused a slight increase. Understanding the genetic and biochemical basis of these different maternal effects on aging may guide effective interventions to improve health span and life span.This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging Division of Aging Biology (R01 AG037960-01), the Ellison Medical Foundation/ American Federation for Aging Research Postdoctoral Fellows in Aging Research Program and a Neil Cornell Career Development Award

Rotifers as experimental tools for investigating aging

© 2014 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article. The definitive version was published in Invertebrate Reproduction & Development 59, Supple. 1 (2015): 5-10, doi:10.1080/07924259.2014.925516.Comparative biogerontology has much to contribute to the study of aging. A broad range of aging rates have evolved to meet environmental challenges, and understanding these adaptations can produce valuable insights into aging. The supra Phylum Lophotrochozoa is particularly understudied and has several groups that have intriguing patterns of aging. Members of the Lophotrochozoan phylum Rotifera are particularly useful for aging studies because cohort life tables can be conducted with them easily, and biochemical and genomic tools are available for examining aging mechanisms. This paper reviews a variety of caloric restriction (CR) regimens, small molecule inhibitors, and dietary supplements that extend rotifer lifespan, as well as important interactions between CR and genotype, antioxidant supplements, and TOR and jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathways, and the use of RNAi to identify key genes involved in modulating the aging response. Examples of how rapamycin and JNK inhibitor exposure keeps mortality rates low during the reproductive phase of the life cycle are presented, and the ease of conducting life table experiments to screen natural products from red algae for life extending effects is illustrated. Finally, experimental evolution to produce longer-lived rotifer individuals is demonstrated, and future directions to determine the genetic basis of aging are discussed.We are grateful for the support of the National Institute of Aging, [grant number R01 AG037960-02] for this work and for a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Ellison Medical Foundation/ American Federation for Aging Research to K. Gribble

Bacterial metabolite indole modulates incretin secretion from intestinal enteroendocrine L cells.

It has long been speculated that metabolites, produced by gut microbiota, influence host metabolism in health and diseases. Here, we reveal that indole, a metabolite produced from the dissimilation of tryptophan, is able to modulate the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) from immortalized and primary mouse colonic L cells. Indole increased GLP-1 release during short exposures, but it reduced secretion over longer periods. These effects were attributed to the ability of indole to affect two key molecular mechanisms in L cells. On the one hand, indole inhibited voltage-gated K(+) channels, increased the temporal width of action potentials fired by L cells, and led to enhanced Ca(2+) entry, thereby acutely stimulating GLP-1 secretion. On the other hand, indole slowed ATP production by blocking NADH dehydrogenase, thus leading to a prolonged reduction of GLP-1 secretion. Our results identify indole as a signaling molecule by which gut microbiota communicate with L cells and influence host metabolism.This is the final version. It was first published by Elsevier at http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247%2814%2900901-2