By hook or by crook? Morphometry, competition and cooperation in rodent sperm

Background Sperm design varies enormously across species and sperm competition is thought to be a major factor influencing this variation. However, the functional significance of many sperm traits is still poorly understood. The sperm of most murid rodents are characterised by an apical hook of the sperm head that varies markedly in extent across species. In the European woodmouse Apodemus sylvaticus (Muridae), the highly reflected apical hook of sperm is used to form sperm groups, or “trains,” which exhibited increased swimming velocity and thrusting force compared to individual sperm. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we use a comparative study of murine rodent sperm and demonstrate that the apical hook and sperm cooperation are likely to be general adaptations to sperm competition in rodents. We found that species with relatively larger testes, and therefore more intense sperm competition, have a longer, more reflected apical sperm hook. In addition, we show that sperm groups also occur in rodents other than the European woodmouse. Conclusions Our results suggest that in rodents sperm cooperation is more widespread than assumed so far and highlight the importance of diploid versus haploid selection in the evolution of sperm design and function

Report on ISCTM consensus meeting on clinical assessment of response to treatment of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

Funding for this manuscript was provided by the International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology.Dr Keefe currently or in the past 3 years has received investigator-initiated research funding support from the Department of Veteran's Affair, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, GlaxoSmithKline, National Institute of Mental Health, Novartis, Psychogenics, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc., and the Singapore National Medical Research Council. He currently or in the past 3 years has received honoraria, served as a consultant, or advisory board member for Abbvie, Akebia, Amgen, Asubio, AviNeuro/ChemRar, BiolineRx, Biogen Idec, Biomarin, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, EnVivo/FORUM, GW Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lundbeck, Merck, Minerva Neurosciences, Inc., Mitsubishi, Novartis, NY State Office of Mental Health, Otsuka, Pfizer, Reviva, Roche, Sanofi/Aventis, Shire, Sunovion, Takeda, Targacept, and the University of Texas South West Medical Center. Dr Keefe receives royalties from the BACS testing battery, the MATRICS battery (BACS Symbol Coding), and the Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool. He is also a shareholder in NeuroCog Trials, Inc. and Sengenix. Dr Haig is a full-time employee of Abbvie. Dr Marder has received consulting fees from Abbvie, Genentech, Roche, Lundbeck, Pfizer, Otsuka, Takeda, and Boeringer Ingelheim. He has received research support from Amgen, Sunovion, and Synchroneuron. Dr Harvey has received consulting fees from Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Forest Labs, Forum Pharma, Genentech, Otsuka America, Roche Pharma, Sunovion Pharma, and Takeda Pharma during the past year. He also received contract research support from Genentech. Dr Dunayevich for the past 3 years has been a full-time employee and stockholder of Amgen. Dr Medalia in the past 3 years has received research funding support from Sunovion. Dr Medalia has also currently or in the past 3 years received honoraria or served as consultant for Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., Otsuka, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. Dr Davidson has received research grant support and/or travel support and/or speaker fees and/or consultancy fees from Lundbeck, Eli Lilly, Servier, Abbott, Minerva and holds stocks in CTR and BiolineRx. Dr Lombardo is a full-time employee of FORUM Pharmaceuticals. Dr Bowie reports receiving grant support from Pfizer. He has also been a consultant for Lundbeck, Otsuka, Abbvie, and Takeda. Dr Buchanan reports: Advisory Board: Abbvie, Amgen, EnVivo, Roche; Consultant: Abbvie, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, EnVivo, Omeros; DSMB member: Pfizer. Dr Bugarski -Kirola is a full-time employee of Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Dr Carpenter in the past 2 years has been a consultant to Roche/Genetech. Dr Dago in the last 3 years has received honoraria from Lundbeck, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Otsuka, Pam Labs, and Astra Zeneca for lectures given in promotion of their psychotropic medications. Dr Durand in the past year has been a consultant and received honoraria from Teva Pharmaceuticals. Dr Gold receives royalty payments from the BACS. He also has served as a consultant for Amgen, Hoffman LaRoche, and Lundbeck. Dr Hooker has served as a consultant and is currently a Co-Investigator on an NIH SBIR grant with PositScience Corporation. Dr Loebel is an employee of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals. Dr McGurk reports receiving consulting fees from Abbvie and EnVivo Pharmaceuticals. Dr Pinkham in the past year has received consulting fees from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.The following authors have declared that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of this study: Drs Csernansky, Frese, Goff, Kopelowic, Opler, and Stern. (International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology; Department of Veteran's Affair; Feinstein Institute for Medical Research; GlaxoSmithKline; National Institute of Mental Health; Novartis; Psychogenics; Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.; Singapore National Medical Research Council; Abbvie; Genentech; Roche; Lundbeck; Pfizer; Otsuka; Takeda; Boeringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Sunovion; Synchroneuron; Boehringer Ingelheim; Forest Labs; Forum Pharma; Otsuka America; Roche Pharma; Sunovion Pharma; Takeda Pharma; Eli Lilly; Servier; Abbott; Minerva; BACS; EnVivo Pharmaceuticals; Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.)Published versio

Computer system for the recording of intestinal pressure

Intestinal complaints involving abnormalities of gut muscular contraction affect a large portion of the community. Studies of these disorders in the past have been hampered by the problem of observing gut motility over long periods. This paper describes a machine designed by the authors to collect and analyse intestinal pressure data. The device is primarily for use in the study of motility disorder but the techniques used are readily applied for other recording systems. It is capable of directly recording and storing it on floppy disks. This data can be analysed to graph features of interest such as motility index and mean duration of activity over specified periods of time. Such analyses have in the past been impossible or have been manually extremely laborious

A field vaccine trial in Tanzania demonstrates partial protection against malignant catarrhal fever in cattle

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal lymphoproliferative disease of cattle that, in East Africa, results from transmission of the causative virus, alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), from wildebeest. A vaccine field trial involving an attenuated AlHV-1 virus vaccine was performed over two wildebeest calving seasons on the Simanjiro Plain of northern Tanzania. Each of the two phases of the field trial consisted of groups of 50 vaccinated and unvaccinated cattle, which were subsequently exposed to AlHV-1 challenge by herding toward wildebeest. Vaccination resulted in the induction of virus-specific and virus-neutralizing antibodies. Some cattle in the unvaccinated groups also developed virus-specific antibody responses but only after the start of the challenge phase of the trial. PCR of DNA from blood samples detected AlHV-1 infection in both groups of cattle but the frequency of infection was significantly lower in the vaccinated groups. Some infected animals showed clinical signs suggestive of MCF but few animals went on to develop fatal MCF, with similar numbers in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. This study demonstrated a baseline level of MCF-seropositivity among cattle in northern Tanzania of 1% and showed that AlHV-1 virus-neutralizing antibodies could be induced in Tanzanian zebu shorthorn cross cattle by our attenuated vaccine, a correlate of protection in previous experimental trials. The vaccine reduced infection rates by 56% in cattle exposed to wildebeest but protection from fatal MCF could not be determined due to the low number of fatal cases