Complex patterns of gene fission in the eukaryotic folate biosynthesis pathway

This is the final version. Available on open access from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this recordShared derived genomic characters can be useful for polarizing phylogenetic relationships, for example, gene fusions have been used to identify deep-branching relationships in the eukaryotes. Here, we report the evolutionary analysis of a three-gene fusion of folB, folK, and folP, which encode enzymes that catalyze consecutive steps in de novo folate biosynthesis. The folK-folP fusion was found across the eukaryotes and a sparse collection of prokaryotes. This suggests an ancient derivation with a number of gene losses in the eukaryotes potentially as a consequence of adaptation to heterotrophic lifestyles. In contrast, the folB-folK-folP gene is specific to a mosaic collection of Amorphea taxa (a group encompassing: Amoebozoa, Apusomonadida, Breviatea, and Opisthokonta).Next, we investigated the stability of this character.We identified numerous gene losses and a total of nine gene fission events, either by break up of an open reading frame (four events identified) or loss of a component domain (five events identified). This indicates that this three gene fusion is highly labile. These data are consistent with a growing body of data indicating gene fission events occur at high relative rates. Accounting for these sources of homoplasy, our data suggest that the folB-folK-folP gene fusion was present in the last common an castor of Amoebozoa and Opisthokonta but absent inthe Metazoa including the human genome. Comparative genomic data of these genes provides an important resource for designing therapeutic strategies targeting the de novo folate biosynthesis pathway of a variety of eukaryotic pathogens such as Acanthamoeba castellanii.Society of General MicrobiologyTula Foundation (The Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics at Dalhousie University)Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationLeverhulme TrustRoyal SocietyNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC

Impact of medical specialists' locus of control on communication skills in oncological interviews

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The regulation of television sports broadcasting: a comparative analysis

Based on seven different sports broadcasting markets (Australia, Brazil, Italy, India, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States), this article provides a comparative analysis of the regulation of television sports broadcasting. The article examines how contrasting perspectives on television and sport – economic and sociocultural – have been reflected in two main approaches to the regulation of sports broadcasting, namely competition law and major events legislation. The results of this analysis suggest that in many cases, the balance between commerce and culture in sports broadcasting has shifted too far in favour of the commercial interests of dominant pay-TV operators and sports organisations. Here, the case is made for the pursuit of an approach to sports broadcasting regulation that seeks to balance the commercial priorities of broadcasters and sports organisations with the wider sociocultural benefits citizens gain from freeto- air sports broadcasting

Learning to Learn: Theta Oscillations Predict New Learning, which Enhances Related Learning and Neurogenesis

Animals in the natural world continuously encounter learning experiences of varying degrees of novelty. New neurons in the hippocampus are especially responsive to learning associations between novel events and more cells survive if a novel and challenging task is learned. One might wonder whether new neurons would be rescued from death upon each new learning experience or whether there is an internal control system that limits the number of cells that are retained as a function of learning. In this experiment, it was hypothesized that learning a task that was similar in content to one already learned previously would not increase cell survival. We further hypothesized that in situations in which the cells are rescued hippocampal theta oscillations (3–12 Hz) would be involved and perhaps necessary for increasing cell survival. Both hypotheses were disproved. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on two similar hippocampus-dependent tasks, trace and very-long delay eyeblink conditioning, while recording hippocampal local-field potentials. Cells that were generated after training on the first task were labeled with bromodeoxyuridine and quantified after training on both tasks had ceased. Spontaneous theta activity predicted performance on the first task and the conditioned stimulus induced a theta-band response early in learning the first task. As expected, performance on the first task correlated with performance on the second task. However, theta activity did not increase during training on the second task, even though more cells were present in animals that had learned. Therefore, as long as learning occurs, relatively small changes in the environment are sufficient to increase the number of surviving neurons in the adult hippocampus and they can do so in the absence of an increase in theta activity. In conclusion, these data argue against an upper limit on the number of neurons that can be rescued from death by learning

Children’s perceptions of dissimilarity in parenting styles are associated with internalizing and externalizing behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between children’s perception of dissimilarity in parenting styles, and internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Children from the general population (n = 658) reported on the level of emotional warmth, rejection, and overprotection of both parents by filling out the child version of the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU-C) and mothers completed the child behavior checklist (CBCL). Intraclass correlations were computed as measures of dissimilarity between parenting styles of mothers and fathers. Children’s perceived dissimilarity in parental emotional warmth is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems (β = 0.092, p < 0.05; β = 0.091, p < 0.05). Perceived dissimilarity between parents’ overprotection is associated with externalizing problems (β = 0.097, p < 0.05). Perceived dissimilarity between parenting styles is associated with externalizing and internalizing problems, over and above the effects of the level of the parenting styles. The results highlight the negative consequences of perceived dissimilarity between parents. To conclude, children have more internalizing and externalizing problems when they perceive their parents as more dissimilar in parenting styles

A network linking scene perception and spatial memory systems in posterior cerebral cortex

The neural systems supporting scene-perception and spatial-memory systems of the human brain are well-described. But how do these neural systems interact? Here, using fine-grained individual-subject fMRI, we report three cortical areas of the human brain, each lying immediately anterior to a region of the scene perception network in posterior cerebral cortex, that selectively activate when recalling familiar real-world locations. Despite their close proximity to the scene-perception areas, network analyses show that these regions constitute a distinct functional network that interfaces with spatial memory systems during naturalistic scene understanding. These “place-memory areas” offer a new framework for understanding how the brain implements memory-guided visual behaviors, including navigation

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty