Parental investment and immune dynamics in sex-role reversed pipefishes

Parental care elevates reproductive success by allocating resources into the upbringing of the offspring. However, it also imposes strong costs for the care-giving parent and can foster sexual dimorphism. Trade-offs between the reproductive system and the immune system may result in differential immunological capacities between the care-providing and the non-care-providing parent. Usually, providing care is restricted to the female sex making it impossible to study a sex-independent influence of parental investment on sexual immune dimorphism. The decoupling of sex-dependent parental investment and their influences on the parental immunological capacity, however, is possible in syngnathids, which evolved the unique male pregnancy on a gradient ranging from a simple carrying of eggs on the trunk (Nerophinae, low paternal investment) to full internal pregnancy (Syngnathus, high paternal investment). In this study, we compared candidate gene expression between females and males of different gravity stages in three species of syngnathids (Syngnathus typhle, Syngnathus rostellatus and Nerophis ophidion) with different male pregnancy intensities to determine how parental investment influences sexual immune dimorphism. While our data failed to detect sexual immune dimorphism in the subset of candidate genes assessed, we show a parental care specific resource-allocation trade-off between investment into pregnancy and immune defense when parental care is provided

Parental investment matters for maternal and offspring immune defense in the mouthbrooding cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni

Background: Parental care, while increasing parental fitness through offspring survival, also bears cost to the care-giving parent. Consequentially, trade offs between parental care and other vitally important traits, such as the immune system seem evident. In co-occurring phases of parental care and immunological challenges negative consequences through a resource allocation trade off on both the parental and the offspring conditions can be predicted. While the immune system reflects parental stress conditions, parental immunological investments also boost offspring survival via the transfer of immunological substances (trans-generational immune priming). We investigated this relationship in the mouthbrooding East African cichlid Astotatilapia burtoni. Prior to mating, females were exposed to an immunological activation, while others remained immunologically naïve. Correspondingly, the immunological status of females was either examined directly after reproduction or after mouthbrooding had ceased. Offspring from both groups were exposed to immunological challenges to assess the extent of trans-generational immune priming. As proxy for immune status, cellular immunological activity and gene expression were determined. Results: Both reproducing and mouthbrooding females allocate their resources towards reproduction. While upon reproduction the innate immune system was impeded, mouthbrooding females showed an attenuation of inflammatory components. Juveniles from immune challenged mouthbrooding females showed downregulation of immune and life history candidate genes, implying a limitation of trans-generational plasticity when parents experience stress during the costly reproductive phase. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that both parental investment via mouthbrooding and the rise of the immunological activity upon an immune challenge are costly traits. If applied simultaneously, not only mothers seem to be impacted in their performance, but also offspring are impeded in their ability to react upon a potentially virulent pathogen exposure

Parental Investment and sexual immune dimorphism in cichlids ans syngnathids

I investigated how the interrelationship between parental investment and sexual immune dimorphism shape the evolution of parental care strategies within the cichlids and syngnathids. To understand why parental investment is displayed in such diversity in the animal kingdom, I assessed evolutionary and provisioning costs of parental investment in male pregnancy, biparental and maternal mouthbrooding. Additionally, to address the importance of parental investment, I tested for maternal effects transferred via mouthbrooding, focusing on the transferofimmunologicalinformation. Icouldidentifydifferentialallocationof resources between the two parental care strategies, mouthbrooding and male pregnancy, in both provisioning and evolutionary costs of parental care. Further, my data suggest that both parental care and mating system influence sexual dimorphism. I was not able to detect transfer of immunological information via mouthbrooding; rather, my data imply that stressed mothers are impeded in their resources that can be allocated to boost their offspring survival

O homem da frente de expansão: permanência, mudança e conflito

As frentes de expansão (1) foram objeto do interesse de estudiososde diversos campos: historiadores, geógrafos (2), políticos, economistase, mais recentemente, sociólogos e antropólogos. E a figurado homem da frente de expansão, o pioneiro, o homem da fronteiranos Estados Unidos, o bandeirante no caso brasileiro, é uma categoriaque faz parte do repertório nacional e se tem prestado a manipulaçõesas mais variadas

A scalable bubble-free membrane aerator for biosurfactant production

The bioeconomy is a paramount pillar in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Still, the industrialization of bioprocesses is limited by economical and technical obstacles. The synthesis of biosurfactants as advanced substitutes for crude-oil-based surfactants is often restrained by excessive foaming. We present the synergistic combination of simulations and experiments towards a reactor design of a submerged membrane module for the efficient bubble-free aeration of bioreactors. A digital twin of the combined bioreactor and membrane aeration module was created and the membrane arrangement was optimized in computational fluid dynamics studies with respect to fluid mixing. The optimized design was prototyped and tested in whole-cell biocatalysis to produce rhamnolipid biosurfactants from sugars. Without any foam formation, the new design enables a considerable higher space-time yield compared to previous studies with membrane modules. The design approach of this study is of generic nature beyond rhamnolipid production

Depth-dependent abundance of Midas Cichlid fish ( Amphilophus spp: ) in two Nicaraguan crater lakes

The Midas Cichlid species complex (Amphilophus spp.) in Central America serves as a prominent model system to study sympatric speciation and parallel adaptive radiation, since small arrays of equivalent ecotype morphs have evolved independently in different crater lakes. While the taxonomy and evolutionary history of the different species are well resolved, little is known about basic ecological parameters of Midas Cichlid assemblages. Here, we use a line transect survey to investigate the depth-dependent abundance of Amphilophus spp. along the shores of two Nicaraguan crater lakes, Apoyo and Xiloá. We find a considerable higher density of Midas cichlids in Lake Xiloá as compared to Lake Apoyo, especially at the shallowest depth level. This might be due to the higher eutrophication level of Lake Xiloá and associated differences in food availability, and/or the presence of a greater diversity of niches in that lake. In any case, convergent forms evolved despite noticeable differences in size, age, eutrophication level, and carrying capacity. Further, our data provide abundance and density estimates for Midas Cichlid fish, which serve as baseline for future surveys of these ecosystems and are also relevant to past and future modeling of ecological speciatio

The effect of osteopathic medicine on pain in musicians with nonspecific chronic neck pain: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Nonspecific chronic neck pain (cNP) is common in adult violinists and violists and is often treated with osteopathic medicine (OM), although the effectiveness of this treatment has not been determined to date. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of OM in adult violinists and violists with cNP. Methods: In a two-armed randomized controlled single-center open trial, adult violinists and violists, including music students, with cNP (⩾12 weeks) were randomized to either five individualized OM sessions (OM group) or to no intervention (control group, CG) in the outpatient clinic for integrative medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. All patients received a musicians’ medicine consultation and paracetamol on demand. The primary outcome parameter was the neck pain intensity on a visual analog scale (VAS, 0– 100 mm, 0 = no pain, 100 = worst imaginable pain) after 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included neck pain disability (Neck Disability Index, NDI, 0–100%) after 12 weeks. The last follow-up visit was after 52 weeks. Statistical analysis included analysis of covariance adjusted for respective baseline value. Results: Altogether, 62 outpatients were included [OM group (n = 28), CG (n = 34); 81% female; mean age, 41.6 ± 11.1 years; mean baseline neck pain, 55.9 ± 11.6 mm]. After 12 weeks, OM was associated with an improvement in the OM group versus the CG in neck pain on the VAS [14.6 mm (95% confidence interval 8.0; 21.2) versus 40.8 mm (34.7; 46.9), p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.4], and neck pain disability as determined by the NDI [8.8% (6.7; 10.8) versus 17.2% (15.3; 19.1), p < 0.001]. Some improvements were maintained until 52 weeks of follow-up. No serious adverse events were observed. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that OM might be effective in reducing pain intensity in adult violinists and violists with nonspecific cNP. Further studies should investigate the efficacy of OM in comparison with a sham procedure and with other effective therapy methods in high-quality multicenter trials. Trial registration: WHO Trial Registration https://apps.who.int/trialsearch/NoAccess.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/trialsearch/Trial2.aspx by German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00009258, Universal Trial Number (UTN): U1111-1173- 5943

Residual Stress Measurement on a MEMS Structure With High-Spatial Resolution

A new approach to the local measurement of residual stress in microstructures is described in this paper. The presented technique takes advantage of the combined milling-imaging features of a focused ion beam (FIB) equipment to scale down the widely known hole drilling method. This method consists of drilling a small hole in a solid with inherent residual stresses and measuring the strains/displacements caused by the local stress release, that takes place around the hole. In the presented case, the displacements caused by the milling are determined by applying digital image correlation (DIC) techniques to high resolution micrographs taken before and after the milling process. The residual stress value is then obtained by fitting the measured displacements to the analytical solution of the displacement fields. The feasibility of this approach has been demonstrated on a micromachined silicon nitride membrane showing that this method has high potential for applications in the field of mechanical characterization of micro/nanoelectromechanical systems

Neonatal Vitamin D Status and Risk of Asthma in Childhood:Results from the D-Tect Study

Background: low vitamin D status in pregnancy can influence the offspring&rsquo;s lung function and contribute to childhood asthma development. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of neonatal vitamin D status on the development of asthma among children age 3&ndash;9 years in a large population sample. Method: in a case-cohort study utilizing a Danish biobank and register data we examined the association between neonatal 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentrations and incidence of asthma among children aged 3&ndash;9 years. Cases of asthma (n = 911) were randomly selected among all cases of asthma in the Danish National Patient Register from children born between 1992 and 2002. The sub-cohort (n = 1423) was randomly selected among all children born in the same period. We used a weighted Cox proportional hazard model assessing the hazard of first asthma diagnoses by quintiles of 25(OH)D3. Results: the median 25(OH)D3 (interquartile range) for asthma cases was 23 nmol/L (14&ndash;35) and the sub-cohort 25 nmol/L (14&ndash;40). The hazard ratio for developing asthma between ages 3 and 9 years was lower for children in the fifth quintile of neonatal 25(OH)D3 compared to children in the first quintile, both in the unadjusted (0.61 95% CI: 0.46&ndash;0.80) and adjusted (0.55 95% CI: 0.39&ndash;0.77) analyses. Conclusion: the results from our study suggest that higher neonatal vitamin D concentration may reduce the risk of developing childhood asthma at ages 3&ndash;9 years, indicating that neonatal vitamin D status as a proxy of vitamin D status during the prenatal period is important for normal immune- and lung development

How target‑orientated is the use of homeopathy in dairy farming?—A survey in France, Germany and Spain

Background: Veterinary remedies are intended to support animals in their recovery from diseases. Treatment outcome depends not only on the general effectiveness of the remedies themselves, but also on other prerequisites. This is true for antibiotics, but even more so for treatments with homeopathic products which are characterised by their individualised approach. While the effectiveness of homeopathy has been addressed in various clinical control trials, the practical conditions under which homeopathic products are used on dairy farms have not yet been investigated. This study provides an initial insight into the existing prerequisites on dairy farms for the use of homeopathy (i.e. the consideration of homeopathic principles) and on homeopathic treatment procedures (including anamnesis, clinical examination, diagnosis, selection of a remedy, follow-up checks, and documentation) on 64 dairy farms in France, Germany and Spain. The use of homeopathy was assessed via a standardised questionnaire during face-to-face interviews. Results: The study revealed that homeopathic treatment procedures were applied very heterogeneously and differed considerably between farms and countries. Farmers also use human products without veterinary prescription as well as other prohibited substances. Conclusions: The subjective treatment approach using the farmers’ own criteria, together with their neglecting to check the outcome of the treatment and the lack of appropriate documentation is presumed to substantially reduce the potential for a successful recovery of the animals from diseases. There is, thus, a need to verify the effectiveness of homeopathic treatments in farm practices based on a lege artis treatment procedure and homeopathic principles which can be achieved by the regular monitoring of treatment outcomes and the prevailing rate of the disease at herd level. Furthermore, there is a potential risk to food safety due to the use of non-veterinary drugs without veterinary prescription and the use of other prohibited substances. Keywords: Dairy cattle, lege artis treatment, Monitoring treatment outcome, Use of homeopathyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio