259 research outputs found
A study of wrist-worn activity measurement as a potential real-world biomarker for late-life depression.
BACKGROUND: Late-life depression (LLD) is associated with a decline in physical activity. Typically this is assessed by self-report questionnaires and, more recently, with actigraphy. We sought to explore the utility of a bespoke activity monitor to characterize activity profiles in LLD more precisely. METHOD: The activity monitor was worn for 7 days by 29 adults with LLD and 30 healthy controls. Subjects underwent neuropsychological assessment and quality of life (QoL) (36-item Short-Form Health Survey) and activities of daily living (ADL) scales (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale) were administered. RESULTS: Physical activity was significantly reduced in LLD compared with controls (t = 3.63, p < 0.001), primarily in the morning. LLD subjects showed slower fine motor movements (t = 3.49, p < 0.001). In LLD patients, activity reductions were related to reduced ADL (r = 0.61, p < 0.001), lower QoL (r = 0.65, p < 0.001), associative learning (r = 0.40, p = 0.036), and higher Montgomery-Ã…sberg Depression Rating Scale score (r = -0.37, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with LLD had a significant reduction in general physical activity compared with healthy controls. Assessment of specific activity parameters further revealed the correlates of impairments associated with LLD. Our study suggests that novel wearable technology has the potential to provide an objective way of monitoring real-world function.This study was funded by an award from the UK
Medical Research Council (G1001828/1)
The TANAMI Program
TANAMI (Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond
Interferometry) is a monitoring program to study the parsec-scale structures
and dynamics of relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) of the
Southern Hemisphere with the Long Baseline Array and associated telescopes.
Extragalactic jets south of -30 degrees declination are observed at 8.4 GHz and
22 GHz every two months at milliarcsecond resolution. The initial TANAMI sample
is a hybrid radio and gamma-ray selected sample since the combination of VLBI
and gamma-ray observations is crucial to understand the broadband emission
characteristics of AGN.Comment: Confernce Proceedings for "X-ray Astronomy 2009" (Bologna), 3 pages,
3 figures, needs cls-fil
Climate change impacts on banana yields around the world
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this r4ecordData availability:
All data used are publicly available and open access. All banana production data
sources are listed in Supplementary Table 1. All climatic and topographic data
sources are listed in the Methods.Nutritional diversity is a key element of food security1,2,3. However, research on the effects of climate change on food security has, thus far, focused on the main food grains4,5,6,7,8, while the responses of other crops, particularly those that play an important role in the developing world, are poorly understood. Bananas are a staple food and a major export commodity for many tropical nations9. Here, we show that for 27 countries—accounting for 86% of global dessert banana production—a changing climate since 1961 has increased annual yields by an average of 1.37 t ha−1. Past gains have been largely ubiquitous across the countries assessed and African producers will continue to see yield increases in the future. However, global yield gains could be dampened or disappear, reducing to 0.59 t ha−1 and 0.19 t ha−1 by 2050 under the climate scenarios for Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, driven by declining yields in the largest producers and exporters. By quantifying climate-driven and technology-driven influences on yield, we also identify countries at risk from climate change and those capable of mitigating its effects or capitalizing on its benefits.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)European Union Horizon 202
Human in vitro reporter model of neuronal development and early differentiation processes
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During developmental and adult neurogenesis, doublecortin is an early neuronal marker expressed when neural stem cells assume a neuronal cell fate. To understand mechanisms involved in early processes of neuronal fate decision, we investigated cell lines for their capacity to induce expression of doublecortin upon neuronal differentiation and develop <it>in vitro </it>reporter models using doublecortin promoter sequences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among various cell lines investigated, the human teratocarcinoma cell line NTERA-2 was found to fulfill our criteria. Following induction of differentiation using retinoic acid treatment, we observed a 16-fold increase in doublecortin mRNA expression, as well as strong induction of doublecortin polypeptide expression. The acquisition of a neuronal precursor phenotype was also substantiated by the establishment of a multipolar neuronal morphology and expression of additional neuronal markers, such as Map2, βIII-tubulin and neuron-specific enolase. Moreover, stable transfection in NTERA-2 cells of reporter constructs encoding fluorescent or luminescent genes under the control of the doublecortin promoter allowed us to directly detect induction of neuronal differentiation in cell culture, such as following retinoic acid treatment or mouse Ngn2 transient overexpression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Induction of doublecortin expression in differentiating NTERA-2 cells suggests that these cells accurately recapitulate some of the very early events of neuronal determination. Hence, the use of reporter genes under the control of the doublecortin promoter in NTERA-2 cells will help us to investigate factors involved early in the course of neuronal differentiation processes. Moreover the ease to detect the induction of a neuronal program in this model will permit to perform high throughput screening for compounds acting on the early neuronal differentiation mechanisms.</p
Petunia Floral Defensins with Unique Prodomains as Novel Candidates for Development of Fusarium Wilt Resistance in Transgenic Banana Plants
Antimicrobial peptides are a potent group of defense active molecules that have been utilized in developing resistance against a multitude of plant pathogens. Floral defensins constitute a group of cysteine-rich peptides showing potent growth inhibition of pathogenic filamentous fungi especially Fusarium oxysporum in vitro. Full length genes coding for two Petunia floral defensins, PhDef1 and PhDef2 having unique C- terminal 31 and 27 amino acid long predicted prodomains, were overexpressed in transgenic banana plants using embryogenic cells as explants for Agrobacterium–mediated genetic transformation. High level constitutive expression of these defensins in elite banana cv. Rasthali led to significant resistance against infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense as shown by in vitro and ex vivo bioassay studies. Transgenic banana lines expressing either of the two defensins were clearly less chlorotic and had significantly less infestation and discoloration in the vital corm region of the plant as compared to untransformed controls. Transgenic banana plants expressing high level of full-length PhDef1 and PhDef2 were phenotypically normal and no stunting was observed. In conclusion, our results suggest that high-level constitutive expression of floral defensins having distinctive prodomains is an efficient strategy for development of fungal resistance in economically important fruit crops like banana
Recent advances in understanding the roles of whole genome duplications in evolution
Ancient whole-genome duplications (WGDs)—paleopolyploidy events—are key to solving Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’ of how flowering plants evolved and radiated into a rich variety of species. The vertebrates also emerged from their invertebrate ancestors via two WGDs, and genomes of diverse gymnosperm trees, unicellular eukaryotes, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians and even a rodent carry evidence of lineage-specific WGDs. Modern polyploidy is common in eukaryotes, and it can be induced, enabling mechanisms and short-term cost-benefit assessments of polyploidy to be studied experimentally. However, the ancient WGDs can be reconstructed only by comparative genomics: these studies are difficult because the DNA duplicates have been through tens or hundreds of millions of years of gene losses, mutations, and chromosomal rearrangements that culminate in resolution of the polyploid genomes back into diploid ones (rediploidisation). Intriguing asymmetries in patterns of post-WGD gene loss and retention between duplicated sets of chromosomes have been discovered recently, and elaborations of signal transduction systems are lasting legacies from several WGDs. The data imply that simpler signalling pathways in the pre-WGD ancestors were converted via WGDs into multi-stranded parallelised networks. Genetic and biochemical studies in plants, yeasts and vertebrates suggest a paradigm in which different combinations of sister paralogues in the post-WGD regulatory networks are co-regulated under different conditions. In principle, such networks can respond to a wide array of environmental, sensory and hormonal stimuli and integrate them to generate phenotypic variety in cell types and behaviours. Patterns are also being discerned in how the post-WGD signalling networks are reconfigured in human cancers and neurological conditions. It is fascinating to unpick how ancient genomic events impact on complexity, variety and disease in modern life
Noncovalent Interactions of Hydrated DNA and RNA Mapped by 2D-IR Spectroscopy
Biomolecules couple to their aqueous environment through a variety of
noncovalent interactions. Local structures at the surface of DNA and RNA are
frequently determined by hydrogen bonds with water molecules, complemented by
non-specific electrostatic and many-body interactions. Structural fluctuations
of the water shell result in fluctuating Coulomb forces on polar and/or ionic
groups of the biomolecular structure and in a breaking and reformation of
hydrogen bonds. Two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy of vibrational
modes of DNA and RNA gives insight into local hydration geometries, elementary
molecular dynamics, and the mechanisms behind them. In this chapter, recent
results from 2D-IR spectroscopy of native and artificial DNA and RNA are
presented, together with theoretical calculations of molecular couplings and
molecular dynamics simulations. Backbone vibrations of DNA and RNA are
established as sensitive noninvasive probes of the complex behavior of hydrated
helices. The results reveal the femtosecond fluctuation dynamics of the water
shell, the short-range character of Coulomb interactions, and the strength and
fluctuation amplitudes of interfacial electric fields.Comment: To appear as Chapter 8 of Springer Series in Optical Sciences:
Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy -- Editors: Cho, Minhaeng (Ed.), 201
Cadophora margaritata sp. nov. and other fungi associated with the longhorn beetles Anoplophora glabripennis and Saperda carcharias in Finland
Symbiosis with microbes is crucial for survival and development of wood-inhabiting longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Thus, knowledge of the endemic fungal associates of insects would facilitate risk assessment in cases where a new invasive pest occupies the same ecological niche. However, the diversity of fungi associated with insects remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate fungi associated with the native large poplar longhorn beetle (Saperda carcharias) and the recently introduced Asian longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) infesting hardwood trees in Finland. We studied the cultivable fungal associates obtained from Populus tremula colonised by S. carcharias, and Betula pendula and Salix caprea infested by A. glabripennis, and compared these to the samples collected from intact wood material. This study detected a number of plant pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, and species with known potential for enzymatic degradation of wood components. Phylogenetic analyses of the most commonly encountered fungi isolated from the longhorn beetles revealed an association with fungi residing in the Cadophora-Mollisia species complex. A commonly encountered fungus was Cadophora spadicis, a recently described fungus associated with wood-decay. In addition, a novel species of Cadophora, for which the name Cadophora margaritata sp. nov. is provided, was isolated from the colonised wood.Peer reviewe
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