Torpor on Demand: Heterothermy in the Non-Lemur Primate Galago moholi

Hibernation and daily torpor are energy- and water-saving adaptations employed to survive unfavourable periods mostly in temperate and arctic environments, but also in tropical and arid climates. Heterothermy has been found in a number of mammalian orders, but within the primates so far it seems to be restricted to one family of Malagasy lemurs. As currently there is no evidence of heterothermy of a primate outside of Madagascar, the aim of our study was to investigate whether small primates from mainland Africa are indeed always homeothermic despite pronounced seasonal changes in weather and food availability., which inhabits a highly seasonal habitat with a hot wet-season and a cold dry-season with lower food abundance, was investigated to determine whether it is capable of heterothermy. We measured skin temperature of free-ranging individuals throughout the cool dry season using temperature-sensitive collars as well as metabolic rate in captured individuals. Torpor was employed by 15% of 20 animals. Only one of these animals displayed heterothermy in response to natural availability of food and water, whereas the other animals became torpid without access to food and water. are physiologically capable of employing torpor. However they do not use it as a routine behaviour, but only under adverse conditions. This reluctance is presumably a result of conflicting selective pressures for energy savings versus other ecological and evolutionary forces, such as reproduction or territory defence. Our results support the view that heterothermy in primates evolved before the division of African and Malagasy Strepsirhini, with the possible implication that more primate species than previously thought might still have the potential to call upon this possibility, if the situation necessitates it

Specificity of Transmembrane Protein Palmitoylation in Yeast

Many proteins are modified after their synthesis, by the addition of a lipid molecule to one or more cysteine residues, through a thioester bond. This modification is called S-acylation, and more commonly palmitoylation. This reaction is carried out by a family of enzymes, called palmitoyltransferases (PATs), characterized by the presence of a conserved 50- aminoacids domain called “Asp-His-His-Cys- Cysteine Rich Domain” (DHHC-CRD). There are 7 members of this family in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and each of these proteins is thought to be responsible for the palmitoylation of a subset of substrates. Substrate specificity of PATs, however, is not yet fully understood. Several yeast PATs seem to have overlapping specificity, and it has been proposed that the machinery responsible for palmitoylating peripheral membrane proteins in mammalian cells, lacks specificity altogether

Prophylactic Mastectomy in BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers and Women at Risk of Hereditary Breast Cancer: Long-Term Experiences at the Rotterdam Family Cancer Clinic

Background BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and women from a hereditary breast(/ovarian) cancer family have a highly increased risk of developing breast cancer (BC). Prophylactic mastectomy (PM) results in the greatest BC risk reduction. Long-term data on the efficacy and sequels of PM are scarce. Methods From 358 high-risk women (including 236 BRCA1/2 carriers) undergoing PM between 1994 and 2004, relevant data on the occurrence of BC in relation to PM, complications in relation to breast reconstruction (BR), mutation status, age at PM and preoperative imaging examination results were extracted from the medical records, and analyzed separately for women without (unaffected, n = 177) and with a BC history (affected, n = 181). Results No primary BCs occurred after PM (median follow-up 4.5 years). In one previously unaffected woman, metastatic BC was detected almost 4 years after PM (primary BC not found). Median age at PM was younger in unaffected women (P < .001), affected women more frequently were 50% risk carriers (P < .001). Unexpected (pre)malignant changes at PM were found in 3% of the patients (in 5 affected, and 5 unaffected women, respectively). In 49.6% of the women opting for BR one or more complications were registered, totaling 215 complications, leading to 153 surgical interventions (71%). Complications were mainly related to cosmetic outcome (36%) and capsular formation (24%). Conclusions The risk of developing a primary BC after PM remains low after longer follow-up. Preoperative imaging and careful histological examination is warranted because of potential unexpected (pre)malignant findings. The high complication rate after breast reconstruction mainly concerns cosmetic issues

Putative DHHC-Cysteine-Rich Domain S-Acyltransferase in Plants

Protein S-acyltransferases (PATs) containing Asp-His-His-Cys within a Cys-rich domain (DHHC-CRD) are polytopic transmembrane proteins that are found in eukaryotic cells and mediate the S-acylation of target proteins. S-acylation is an important secondary and reversible modification that regulates the membrane association, trafficking and function of target proteins. However, little is known about the characteristics of PATs in plants. Here, we identified 804 PATs from 31 species with complete genomes. The analysis of the phylogenetic relationships suggested that all of the PATs fell into 8 groups. In addition, we analysed the phylogeny, genomic organization, chromosome localisation and expression pattern of PATs in Arabidopsis, Oryza sative, Zea mays and Glycine max. The microarray data revealed that PATs genes were expressed in different tissues and during different life stages. The preferential expression of the ZmPATs in specific tissues and the response of Zea mays to treatments with phytohormones and abiotic stress demonstrated that the PATs play roles in plant growth and development as well as in stress responses. Our data provide a useful reference for the identification and functional analysis of the members of this protein family

Population Structure of a Hybrid Clonal Group of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, ST239-MRSA-III

The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clonal group known as ST239-MRSA-III is notable for its hybrid origin and for causing sustained hospital epidemics worldwide since the late 1970s. We studied the population structure of this MRSA clonal group using a sample of 111 isolates that were collected over 34 years from 29 countries. Genetic variation was assessed using typing methods and novel ascertainment methods, resulting in approximately 15 kb of sequence from 32 loci for all isolates. A single most parsimonious tree, free of homoplasy, partitioned 28 haplotypes into geographically-associated clades, including prominent European, Asian, and South American clades. The rate of evolution was estimated to be approximately 100× faster than standard estimates for bacteria, and dated the most recent common ancestor of these isolates to the mid-20th century. Associations were discovered between the ST239 phylogeny and the ccrB and dru loci of the methicillin resistance genetic element, SCCmec type III, but not with the accessory components of the element that are targeted by multiplex PCR subtyping tools. In summary, the evolutionary history of ST239 can be characterized by rapid clonal diversification that has left strong evidence of geographic and temporal population structure. SCCmec type III has remained linked to the ST239 chromosome during clonal diversification, but it has undergone homoplasious losses of accessory components. These results provide a population genetics framework for the precise identification of emerging ST239 variants, and invite a re-evaluation of the markers used for subtyping SCCmec

Measurement of the tt¯tt¯ production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of four-top-quark production using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 is presented. Events are selected if they contain a single lepton (electron or muon) or an opposite-sign lepton pair, in association with multiple jets. The events are categorised according to the number of jets and how likely these are to contain b-hadrons. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. The measured four-top-quark production cross section is found to be 26+17−15 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) significance of 1.9 (1.0) standard deviations over the background-only hypothesis. The result is combined with the previous measurement performed by the ATLAS Collaboration in the multilepton final state. The combined four-top-quark production cross section is measured to be 24+7−6 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) signal significance of 4.7 (2.6) standard deviations over the background-only predictions. It is consistent within 2.0 standard deviations with the Standard Model expectation of 12.0 ± 2.4 fb

Measurements of Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quarks from vector boson fusion production with the ATLAS experiment at √=13TeV

The paper presents a measurement of the Standard Model Higgs Boson decaying to b-quark pairs in the vector boson fusion (VBF) production mode. A sample corresponding to 126 fb−1 of s√=13TeV proton–proton collision data, collected with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, is analyzed utilizing an adversarial neural network for event classification. The signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured signal yield to that predicted by the Standard Model for VBF Higgs production, is measured to be 0.95+0.38−0.36 , corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.6 (2.8) standard deviations from the background only hypothesis. The results are additionally combined with an analysis of Higgs bosons decaying to b-quarks, produced via VBF in association with a photon

Muon reconstruction and identification efficiency in ATLAS using the full Run 2 pp collision data set at \sqrt{s}=13 TeV

This article documents the muon reconstruction and identification efficiency obtained by the ATLAS experiment for 139 \hbox {fb}^{-1} of pp collision data at \sqrt{s}=13 TeV collected between 2015 and 2018 during Run 2 of the LHC. The increased instantaneous luminosity delivered by the LHC over this period required a reoptimisation of the criteria for the identification of prompt muons. Improved and newly developed algorithms were deployed to preserve high muon identification efficiency with a low misidentification rate and good momentum resolution. The availability of large samples of Z\rightarrow \mu \mu and J/\psi \rightarrow \mu \mu decays, and the minimisation of systematic uncertainties, allows the efficiencies of criteria for muon identification, primary vertex association, and isolation to be measured with an accuracy at the per-mille level in the bulk of the phase space, and up to the percent level in complex kinematic configurations. Excellent performance is achieved over a range of transverse momenta from 3 GeV to several hundred GeV, and across the full muon detector acceptance of |\eta |<2.7