Intensive culture of sea bass, Lates calcarifer Bloch, in brackishwater earthen ponds

An extension manual describing criteria for site selection, monoculture and polyculture operations including feeds and feeding, harvest, common diseases, economic analysis

A Microplate-Based Approach to Map Interactions between TDP-43 and α-Synuclein

Trans-active response DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) is a multifunctional regulatory protein, whose abnormal deposition in neurons was linked to debilitating neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, and Alzheimer’s disease with a secondary pathology. Several reports showed that TDP-43 proteinopathy as a comorbidity can form aggregates with other pathological proteins. The co-deposition of alpha synuclein and TDP-43 inclusions was previously reported in glial cells and by observing TDP-43 proteinopathy in Lewy body disease. In this study, it was hypothesized that alpha synuclein and TDP-43 may co-aggregate, resulting in comorbid synucleinopathy and TDP-43 proteinopathy. A solid-phase microplate-based immunoassay was used to map out the epitopes of anti-TDP-43 antibodies and locate the interaction of TDP-43 with α-synuclein. A region of the low complexity domain of TDP-43 (aa 311–314) was shown to interact with full-length α-synuclein. Conversely, full-length TDP-43 was shown to bind to the non-amyloid beta component of α-synuclein. Using in silico sequence-based prediction, the affinity and dissociation constant of full-length TDP-43 and α-synuclein were calculated to be −10.83 kcal/mol and 1.13 × 10−8, respectively. Taken together, this microplate-based method is convenient, economical, and rapid in locating antibody epitopes as well as interaction sites of two proteins

Intensive culture of milkfish Chanos chanos in polyculture with white shrimp Penaeus indicus or mud crab Scylla serrata in brackishwater earthen ponds

A 30-page extension manual describing the biology, site selection, pond management and harvest & post-harvest of milkfish intensive polyculture in earthen pond

Diagnostic and Treatment Approaches Involving Transthyretin in Amyloidogenic Diseases

Transthyretin (TTR) is a thyroid hormone-binding protein which transports thyroxine from the bloodstream to the brain. The structural stability of TTR in tetrameric form is crucial for maintaining its original functions in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The altered structure of TTR due to genetic mutations or its deposits due to aggregation could cause several deadly diseases such as cardiomyopathy and neuropathy in autonomic, motor, and sensory systems. The early diagnoses for hereditary amyloid TTR with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) and wild-type amyloid TTR (ATTRwt) amyloidosis, which result from amyloid TTR (ATTR) deposition, are difficult to distinguish due to the close similarities of symptoms. Thus, many researchers investigated the role of ATTR as a biomarker, especially its potential for differential diagnosis due to its varying pathogenic involvement in hereditary ATTR-CM and ATTRwt amyloidosis. As a result, the detection of ATTR became valuable in the diagnosis and determination of the best course of treatment for ATTR amyloidoses. Assessing the extent of ATTR deposition and genetic analysis could help in determining disease progression, and thus survival rate could be improved following the determination of the appropriate course of treatment for the patient. Here, the perspectives of ATTR in various diseases were presented

Mating systems and multiple paternity in the estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

Microsatellite markers were used to investigate the mating system of the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). Three-hundred and eighty-six hatchlings from 13 clutches from a wild Northern Territory population, and 364 hatchlings from 21 clutches from a captive North Queensland population, were sampled. All samples were genotyped across five microsatellite loci. Multiple paternity was found in 69% of clutches in the wild population compared to 38% of clutches in the captive population. Up to three possible fathers were indicated in some clutches. Shared paternity was suggested by the presence of a common paternal genotype within two clutches in the wild population and among up to three clutches from a large shared pen in the captive population. The probability of detecting multiple paternity at all loci was high; 95% in the wild population and 98% in the captive population. There was no evidence of increased hatching success in the clutches that indicated multiple paternity compared to single paternity clutches in either population (P = 0.43 to P = 0.67). It is unknown whether the occurrence of multiple paternity in C. porosus is a result of multiple mating within the same breeding season or of sperm stored from matings in a previous season. These results suggest the genetic mating system for C. porosus is not polygynous but more likely promiscuous, and there is no evidence of dominant alpha males who control paternity in large areas. Copyright 2013 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

Gut Microbiota and Their Neuroinflammatory Implications in Alzheimer’s Disease

The bidirectional communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in human health. Increasing numbers of studies suggest that the gut microbiota can influence the brain and behavior of patients. Various metabolites secreted by the gut microbiota can affect the cognitive ability of patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases. Nearly one in every ten Korean senior citizens suffers from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. This review highlights the impact of metabolites from the gut microbiota on communication pathways between the brain and gut, as well as the neuroinflammatory roles they may have in AD patients. The objectives of this review are as follows: (1) to examine the role of the intestinal microbiota in homeostatic communication between the gut microbiota and the brain, termed the microbiota–gut–brain (MGB) axis; (2) to determine the underlying mechanisms of signal dysfunction; and (3) to assess the impact of signal dysfunction induced by the microbiota on AD. This review will aid in understanding the microbiota of elderly people and the neuroinflammatory roles they may have in AD

Increased oligomeric TDP-43 in the plasma of Korean frontotemporal dementia patients with semantic dementia

INTRODUCTION: Semantic dementia (SD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with impaired vocabulary that progresses to memory impairment. Post-mortem immunohistochemical analysis is the current reliable method of differentiating TDP-43 deposits in cortical tissue; no means of antemortem diagnosis exists in biofluids, let alone in plasma. METHODS: Here the multimer detection system (MDS) was used to quantify the oligomeric TDP-43 (o-TDP-43) concentrations in plasma of Korean SD patients (n = 16, 6 male, 10 female, ages 59–87). The o-TDP-43 concentrations were compared with the total TDP-43 (t-TDP-43) concentrations quantified through conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Only MDS showed a significant increase in o-TDP-43 concentrations in the plasma of patients with SD compared to other neurodegenerative disorders and normal controls (p < 0.05). Based on these results, o-TDP-43 concentrations through the application of MDS may be a useful plasma biomarker in SD-FTD (frontotemporal dementia) diagnosis