Spermatogenesis and sertoli cell activity in mice lacking Sertoli cell receptors for follicle stimulating hormone and androgen

Spermatogenesis in the adult male depends on the action of FSH and androgen. Ablation of either hormone has deleterious effects on Sertoli cell function and the progression of germ cells through spermatogenesis. In this study we generated mice lacking both FSH receptors (FSHRKO) and androgen receptors on the Sertoli cell (SCARKO) to examine how FSH and androgen combine to regulate Sertoli cell function and spermatogenesis. Sertoli cell number in FSHRKO-SCARKO mice was reduced by about 50% but was not significantly different from FSHRKO mice. In contrast, total germ cell number in FSHRKO-SCARKO mice was reduced to 2% of control mice (and 20% of SCARKO mice) due to a failure to progress beyond early meiosis. Measurement of Sertoli cell-specific transcript levels showed that about a third were independent of hormonal action on the Sertoli cell, whereas others were predominantly androgen dependent or showed redundant control by FSH and androgen. Results show that FSH and androgen act through redundant, additive, and synergistic regulation of spermatogenesis and Sertoli cell activity. In addition, the Sertoli cell retains a significant capacity for activity, which is independent of direct hormonal regulation

Keinot edistää sää- ja ilmastoriskien hallintaa

ELASTINEN-tutkimushankkeessa selvitettiin sää- ja ilmastoriskien hallinnan tilaa Suomessa ja arvioitiin riskienhallintakeinoja sekä eri toimijoiden roolia. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin, miten riskienhallinnan kustannuksia ja hyötyjä arvioidaan sekä miten riskienhallinta voidaan kääntää liiketoiminnaksi. Yhteiskunnan toimivuuden ja turvallisuuden ylläpitäminen edellyttää aktiivista varautumista sään ääriilmiöihin. Hankkeen tulosten mukaan suomalaiset organisaatiot eivät usein arvioi sää- ja ilmastoriskejä systemaattisesti. Varautumisessa tulee ottaa huomioon, että ilmastonmuutos voi muuttaa sään ääri-ilmiöitä, niiden esiintymistiheyttä ja voimakkuutta. Näin varautuminen sään ääri ilmiöihin on myös osa sopeutumista ilmastonmuutokseen. ELASTINEN-hanke esittää kolme suositusta, joilla sää- ja ilmastoriskien hallintaa voitaisiin parantaa ja sopeutumistyötä tukea: 1) monipuolistetaan tiedon tuottoa ja käyttöä, 2) vahvistetaan yhteistyötä ja kehitetään toimintatapoja sekä 3) kehitetään palveluita ja liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia. Suositusten toteuttamiseksi esitetään toimenpide-ehdotuksia, minkä lisäksi on tunnistettu toimien toteuttajatahoja. Nykyistä monipuolisempi ja helpommin saatavilla oleva tieto parantaisi mahdollisuuksia arvioida ja hallita sää- ja ilmastoriskejä sekä kykyä sopeutua ilmastonmuutoksen vaikutuksiin. Suomessa tulisi myös arvioida säännöllisesti Suomen ulkopuolella tapahtuvia ilmastonmuutoksen vaikutuksia, jotka voivat heijastua Suomeen. Sää- ja ilmastoriskien hallintatoimia tulisi valita ja arvioida myös taloudellisen tehokkuuden näkökulmasta

Detecting parent of origin and dominant QTL in a two-generation commercial poultry pedigree using variance component methodology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Variance component QTL methodology was used to analyse three candidate regions on chicken chromosomes 1, 4 and 5 for dominant and parent-of-origin QTL effects. Data were available for bodyweight and conformation score measured at 40 days from a two-generation commercial broiler dam line. One hundred dams were nested in 46 sires with phenotypes and genotypes on 2708 offspring. Linear models were constructed to simultaneously estimate fixed, polygenic and QTL effects. Different genetic models were compared using likelihood ratio test statistics derived from the comparison of full with reduced or null models. Empirical thresholds were derived by permutation analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Dominant QTL were found for bodyweight on chicken chromosome 4 and for bodyweight and conformation score on chicken chromosome 5. Suggestive evidence for a maternally expressed QTL for bodyweight and conformation score was found on chromosome 1 in a region corresponding to orthologous imprinted regions in the human and mouse.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Initial results suggest that variance component analysis can be applied within commercial populations for the direct detection of segregating dominant and parent of origin effects.</p

Mediation and the Best Interests of the Child from the Child Law Perspective

What is the best interests of the child in family mediation and is mediation in the best interests of the child? In this article, I use child law and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child combined with mediation theory to discuss these questions. Both mediation and the best interests of the child are open for multiple interpretations. Using facilitative and evaluative mediation theory and the legal concept ‘the best interests of the child’, I explore and compare the understandings of these concepts as they apply to family mediation. This includes a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of facilitative as well as evaluative mediation orientations in terms of protecting the best interests of the child. Finnish court-connected family mediation is a combination of both mediation orientations, and the mediator is obliged to secure the best interests of the child. From a theoretical point of view, this seems to be a challenging combination.Peer reviewe

Proposed Role for COUP-TFII in Regulating Fetal Leydig Cell Steroidogenesis, Perturbation of Which Leads to Masculinization Disorders in Rodents

Reproductive disorders that are common/increasing in prevalence in human males may arise because of deficient androgen production/action during a fetal ‘masculinization programming window’. We identify a potentially important role for Chicken Ovalbumin Upstream Promoter-Transcription Factor II (COUP-TFII) in Leydig cell (LC) steroidogenesis that may partly explain this. In rats, fetal LC size and intratesticular testosterone (ITT) increased ∼3-fold between e15.5-e21.5 which associated with a progressive decrease in the percentage of LC expressing COUP-TFII. Exposure of fetuses to dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which induces masculinization disorders, dose-dependently prevented the age-related decrease in LC COUP-TFII expression and the normal increases in LC size and ITT. We show that nuclear COUP-TFII expression in fetal rat LC relates inversely to LC expression of steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1)-dependent genes (StAR, Cyp11a1, Cyp17a1) with overlapping binding sites for SF-1 and COUP-TFII in their promoter regions, but does not affect an SF-1 dependent LC gene (3β-HSD) without overlapping sites. We also show that once COUP-TFII expression in LC has switched off, it is re-induced by DBP exposure, coincident with suppression of ITT. Furthermore, other treatments that reduce fetal ITT in rats (dexamethasone, diethylstilbestrol (DES)) also maintain/induce LC nuclear expression of COUP-TFII. In contrast to rats, in mice DBP neither causes persistence of fetal LC COUP-TFII nor reduces ITT, whereas DES-exposure of mice maintains COUP-TFII expression in fetal LC and decreases ITT, as in rats. These findings suggest that lifting of repression by COUP-TFII may be an important mechanism that promotes increased testosterone production by fetal LC to drive masculinization. As we also show an age-related decline in expression of COUP-TFII in human fetal LC, this mechanism may also be functional in humans, and its susceptibility to disruption by environmental chemicals, stress and pregnancy hormones could explain the origin of some human male reproductive disorders

Sää- ja ilmastoriskit Suomessa - Kansallinen arvio

Tähän raporttiin on koottu ajantasainen arvio sään ja ilmaston aiheuttamista riskeistä eri toimialoille Suomessa. Arviossa otettiin huomioon sekä muuttuvan ilmaston että yhteiskunnallisen kehityksen vaikutus riskin muodostumiseen nykyhetkessä ja tulevaisuudessa. Sää- ja ilmastoriskejä pyrittiin hahmottamaan vaaratekijän (riskiä aiheuttava sääilmiö), altistumisen (riskin kohteen sijainti) ja haavoittuvuuden (riskin kohteen ominaisuudet) yhdistelmänä. Sääilmiöt aiheuttavat Suomessa riskejä jo nykyilmastossa. Muun muassa rajuilmat, helleaallot ja rankkasateet aiheuttavat taloudellisia ja terveydellisiä vaikutuksia sekä yleistä haittaa. Tulevaisuudessa riskit muuttuvat ilmastonmuutoksen muuttaessa haitallisia sääilmiöitä. Ilmastonmuutos tuo vähitellen kasvavia riskejä erityisesti ekosysteemeille ja infrastruktuurille. Muualla maailmalla tapahtuvat ilmastonmuutoksen vaikutukset voivat heijastua epäsuorasti Suomeen globaalien tavara-, energia-, raha- ja ihmisvirtojen kautta. Näiden riskien systemaattinen arviointi on vasta aloitettu. Raportin tavoitteena on tukea yhteiskunnan riskeihin varautumista ja ilmastonmuutokseen sopeutumista eri hallinnon tasoilla ja toimialoilla. Arvio perustuu pääosin kirjallisuudesta löytyviin tutkimuksiin ja selvityksiin sekä asiantuntija-arvioihin. Työ tehtiin “Sää- ja ilmastoriskien arviointi ja toimintamallit” (SIETO)- hankkeessa vuosina 2017–2018

The GTPase Activating Rap/RanGAP Domain-Like 1 Gene Is Associated with Chicken Reproductive Traits

BACKGROUND: Abundant evidence indicates that chicken reproduction is strictly regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad (HPG) axis, and the genes included in the HPG axis have been studied extensively. However, the question remains as to whether any other genes outside of the HPG system are involved in regulating chicken reproduction. The present study was aimed to identify, on a genome-wide level, novel genes associated with chicken reproductive traits. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: Suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH), genome-wide association study (GWAS), and gene-centric GWAS were used to identify novel genes underlying chicken reproduction. Single marker-trait association analysis with a large population and allelic frequency spectrum analysis were used to confirm the effects of candidate genes. Using two full-sib Ningdu Sanhuang (NDH) chickens, GARNL1 was identified as a candidate gene involved in chicken broodiness by SSH analysis. Its expression levels in the hypothalamus and pituitary were significantly higher in brooding chickens than in non-brooding chickens. GWAS analysis with a NDH two tail sample showed that 2802 SNPs were significantly associated with egg number at 300 d of age (EN300). Among the 2802 SNPs, 2 SNPs composed a block overlapping the GARNL1 gene. The gene-centric GWAS analysis with another two tail sample of NDH showed that GARNL1 was strongly associated with EN300 and age at first egg (AFE). Single marker-trait association analysis in 1301 female NDH chickens confirmed that variation in this gene was related to EN300 and AFE. The allelic frequency spectrum of the SNP rs15700989 among 5 different populations supported the above associations. Western blotting, RT-PCR, and qPCR were used to analyze alternative splicing of the GARNL1 gene. RT-PCR detected 5 transcripts and revealed that the transcript, which has a 141 bp insertion, was expressed in a tissue-specific manner. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings demonstrate that the GARNL1 gene contributes to chicken reproductive traits