Learning the Optimal Control of Coordinated Eye and Head Movements

Various optimality principles have been proposed to explain the characteristics of coordinated eye and head movements during visual orienting behavior. At the same time, researchers have suggested several neural models to underly the generation of saccades, but these do not include online learning as a mechanism of optimization. Here, we suggest an open-loop neural controller with a local adaptation mechanism that minimizes a proposed cost function. Simulations show that the characteristics of coordinated eye and head movements generated by this model match the experimental data in many aspects, including the relationship between amplitude, duration and peak velocity in head-restrained and the relative contribution of eye and head to the total gaze shift in head-free conditions. Our model is a first step towards bringing together an optimality principle and an incremental local learning mechanism into a unified control scheme for coordinated eye and head movements

Climate change patterns in Amazonia and biodiversity

Precise characterization of hydroclimate variability in Amazonia on various timescales is critical to understanding the link between climate change and biodiversity. Here we present absolute-dated speleothem oxygen isotope records that characterize hydroclimate variation in western and eastern Amazonia over the past 250 and 20 ka, respectively. Although our records demonstrate the coherent millennial-scale precipitation variability across tropical-subtropical South America, the orbital-scale precipitation variability between western and eastern Amazonia exhibits a quasi-dipole pattern. During the last glacial period, our records imply a modest increase in precipitation amount in western Amazonia but a significant drying in eastern Amazonia, suggesting that higher biodiversity in western Amazonia, contrary to 'Refugia Hypothesis', is maintained under relatively stable climatic conditions. In contrast, the glacial-interglacial climatic perturbations might have been instances of loss rather than gain in biodiversity in eastern Amazonia, where forests may have been more susceptible to fragmentation in response to larger swings in hydroclimate. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Beyond Refugia: New insights on Quaternary climate variation and the evolution of biotic diversity in tropical South America

Haffer’s (Science 165: 131–137, 1969) Pleistocene refuge theory has provided motivation for 50 years of investigation into the connections between climate, biome dynamics, and neotropical speciation, although aspects of the orig- inal theory are not supported by subsequent studies. Recent advances in paleocli- matology suggest the need for reevaluating the role of Quaternary climate on evolutionary history in tropical South America. In addition to the many repeated large-amplitude climate changes associated with Pleistocene glacial-interglacial stages (~40 kyr and 100 kyr cyclicity), we highlight two aspects of Quaternary climate change in tropical South America: (1) an east-west precipitation dipole, induced by solar radiation changes associated with Earth’s precessional variations (~20 kyr cyclicity); and (2) periods of anomalously high precipitation that persisted for centuries-to-millennia (return frequencies ~1500 years) congruent with cold “Heinrich events” and cold Dansgaard-Oeschger “stadials” of the North Atlantic region. The spatial footprint of precipitation increase due to this North Atlantic forcing extended across almost all of tropical South America south of the equator. Combined, these three climate modes present a picture of climate change with different spatial and temporal patterns than envisioned in the original Pleistocene refuge theory. Responding to these climate changes, biomes expanded and contracted and became respectively connected and disjunct. Biome change undoubtedly influenced biotic diversification, but the nature of diversification likely was more complex than envisioned by the original Pleistocene refuge theory. In the lowlands, intermittent forest expansion and contraction led to species dispersal and subsequent isolation, promoting lineage diversification. These pulses of climate-driven biotic interchange profoundly altered the composition of regional species pools and triggered new evolutionary radiations. In the special case of the tropical Andean forests adjacent to the Amazon lowlands, new phylogenetic data provide abundant evidence for rapid biotic diversification during the Pleistocene. During warm interglacials and intersta- dials, lowland taxa dispersed upslope. Isolation in these disjunct climate refugia led to extinction for some taxa and speciation for others.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155561/1/Baker2020.pdfDescription of Baker2020.pdf : Main articl

ADPedKD: A global online platform on the management of children with ADPKD

Methods: Global ADPedKD is an international multicenter observational study focusing on childhood-diagnosed ADPKD. This collaborative project is based on interoperable Web-based databases, comprising 7 regional and independent but uniformly organized chapters, namely Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, and the United Kingdom. In the database, a detailed basic data questionnaire, including genetics, is used in combination with data entry from follow-up visits, to provide both retrospective and prospective longitudinal data on clinical, radiologic, and laboratory findings, as well as therapeutic interventions.[Bockenhauer, Detlef] UCL Ctr Nephrol, London, England.[Dusan, P.; Spasojevic, B.; Stabouli, S.] Aristotle Univ Thessaloniki, Dept Pediat, Thessaloniki, Greece.[Ghuysen, Ms] CHU Liege, Liege, Belgium.[Mallett, Andrew J.] Royal Brisbane ; Womens Hosp, Kidney Hlth Serv, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.[Mallett, Andrew J.] Royal Brisbane ; Womens Hosp, Conjoint Renal Res Lab, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.[Mallett, Andrew J.] Univ Queensland, Fac Med, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.[Mallett, Andrew J.] Univ Queensland, Inst Mol Biosci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.[Hansen, P.] CHU Tivoli, La Louviere, Belgium.Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common monogenic cause of renal failure. For several decades, ADPKD was regarded as an adult-onset disease. In the past decade, it has become more widely appreciated that the disease course begins in childhood. However, evidence-based guidelines on how to manage and approach children diagnosed with or at risk of ADPKD are lacking. Also, scoring systems to stratify patients into risk categories have been established only for adults. Overall, there are insufficient data on the clinical course during childhood. We therefore initiated the global ADPedKD project to establish a large international pediatric ADPKD cohort for deep characterization.Discussion: The global ADPedKD initiative aims to characterize in detail the most extensive international pediatric ADPKD cohort reported to date, providing evidence for the development of unified diagnostic, follow-up, and treatment recommendations regarding modifiable disease factors. Moreover, this registry will serve as a platform for the development of clinical and/or biochemical markers predicting the risk of early and progressive disease.C1 [De Rechter, Stephanie; Mekahli, Djalila] Univ Hosp Leuven, Dept Pediat Nephrol, Herestr 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.[De Rechter, Stephanie; Mekahli, Djalila] Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Dev ; Regenerat, PKD Res Grp, Leuven, Belgium.[Bockenhauer, Detlef] Great Ormond St Hosp NHS Fdn Trust, London, England.[Guay-Woodford, Lisa M.] Childrens Natl Hlth Syst, Ctr Translat Sci, Washington, DC USA.[Liu, Isaac] Natl Univ Hlth Syst, Khoo Teck Puat Natl Univ, Childrens Med Inst, Singapore, Singapore.[Mallett, Andrew J.] KidGen Collaborat ; Australian Genom Hlth Allianc, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.[Soliman, Neveen A.] Cairo Univ, Ctr Pediat Nephrol ; Transplantat, Kasr Al Ainy Sch Med, Dept Pediat, Cairo, Egypt.[Sylvestre, Lucimary C.] Hosp Pequeno Principe, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil.[Schaefer, Franz] Heidelberg Univ, Ctr Pediat ; Adolescent Med, Div Pediat Nephrol, Med Ctr, Heidelberg, Germany.[Liebau, Max C.] Univ Hosp Cologne, Dept Pediat, Cologne, Germany.[Liebau, Max C.] Univ Hosp Cologne, Ctr Mol Med, Cologne, Germany.[Adamczyk, P.; Bjanid, O.; Brylka, A.; Morawiec-Knysak, A.; Szczepanska, M.] Dept Pediat, Zabrze, Poland.[Akinci, N.] Sariyer SISLI Hamidiye Etfal Res ; Educ Hosp, Istanbul, Turkey.[Alpay, H.; Cicek, N.; Gokce, I] Marmara Univ, Sch Med, Div Pediat Nephrol, Istanbul, Turkey.[Ardelean, C.; Chirita, A.; Gafencu, M.; Stroescu, R.] Timisoara Children Hosp, Timisoara, Romania.[Ayasreh, N.; Furlano, M.; Torra, R.] Fundacio Puigvert, Barcelona, Spain.[Aydin, Z.; Bayrakci, U. S.] Ankara Univ Hlth Sci, Child Hlth ; Dis, Ankara, Turkey.[Bael, A.; Docx, M.; Segers, N.] Koningin Paola Kinderziekenhuis Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium.[Baudouin, V; Cambier, A.; Couderc, A.; Dossier, C.; Kwon, V] Hop Robert Debre, AP HP, Paris, France.[Bensman, A.; Biebuyck, A.; Boyer, O.; Charbit, M.; Heidet, L.; Krid, S.; Krug, P.; Salomon, R.] Pediat Nephrol Necker Hosp, Paris, France.[Bialkevich, H.; Kazyra, I] 2nd City Childrens Clin Hosp, Natl Ctr Pediat Nephrol ; RRT, Minsk, BELARUS.[Caliskan, S.; Ozcan, S.; Saygili, S. K.] Istanbul Cerrahpasa Fac Med, Istanbul, Turkey.[Camelio, A.; Nobili, F.; Vieux, R.] CHU Besancon, Besancon, France.[Carbone, V; Diomeda, F.; Torres, D.] Pediat Nephrol Unit Bari, Bari, Italy.[Chiodini, B.] HUDERF, Brussels, Belgium.[Collard, L.] CHR La Citadelle, Liege, Belgium.[Conceicao, M.; Teixeira, A.] Ctr Hosp Porto, Ctr Materno Infantil Norte, Porto, Portugal.[Constantinescu, I; Lungu, A. C.; Marin, A.; Negru, I; Stroescu, R.] Fundeni Clin Inst, Bucharest, Romania.[Crapella, B.; Giani, M.; Mastrangelo, A.; Montini, G.] Fdn IRCCS Ca Granda, Pediat Nephrol Dialysis ; Transplant Unit, Milan, Italy.[Cvetkovic, M.; Gojkovic, I] Univ Childrens Hosp, Belgrade, Serbia.[Dima, B.] Clin Europe Hop St Elisabeth, Brussels, Belgium.[Dolan, N.] Our Ladys Childrens Hosp, Dublin, Ireland.[Drozdz, D.; Miklaszewska, M.; Zachwieja, K.] Jagiellonian Univ, Med Coll Cracow, Pediat Nephrol ; Hypertens, Krakow, Poland.[Drube, J.; Pape, L.] Hannover Med Sch, Hannover, Germany.[Dunand, O.; Leroy, V] Pediat Nephrol Unit St Denis, St Denis, Reunion, France.[Eid, L. A.] Dubai Hosp, Pediat Nephrol Dept, Dubai, U Arab Emirates.[Emma, F.; Massella, L.] Bambino Gesu Pediat Hosp, Rome, Italy.[Espino Hernandez, M.] Hosp Infantil 12 Octubre Madrid, Madrid, Spain.[Fila, M.; Hemery, F.; Morin, D.] CHU Arnaud Villeneuve, Montpellier, France.[Giordano, M.] Pediat Nephrol Unit, Bari, Italy.[Girisgen, I; Yuksel, S.] Pamukkale Univ, Med Fac, Dept Pediat Nephrol, Denizli, Turkey.[Godefroid, N.; Ranguelov, N.] Clin Univ St Luc, Brussels, Belgium.[Godron-Dubrasquet, A.; Harambat, J.; Ilanas, B.] Bordeaux Univ Childrens Hosp, Bordeaux, France.[Gonzalez, E.] Childrens Univ Hosp, Geneva, Switzerland.[Groothoff, J. W.] Emma Childrens Hosp, Amsterdam, Netherlands.[Guarino, S.; La Manna, A.; Marzuillo, P.] Univ Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.[Guffens, A.] CHC Clin Esperence, Montegnee, Belgium.[Haumann, S.] Univ Klinikum Koln, Cologne, Germany.[He, G.] Foshan Women ; Children Hosp, Foshan, Peoples R China.[Helmy, R.] Cairo Univ, Kasr Al Ainy Sch Med, Cairo, Egypt.[Hooman, N.; Otoukesh, H.] Iran Univ Med Sci, Aliasghar Clin Res Dev Unit, Tehran, Iran.[Janssens, P.] Univ Hosp Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.[Karamaria, S.; Prytula, A.; Raes, A.; Snauwaert, E.; Vande Walle, J.] UZ Gent, Ghent, Belgium.[Koenig, J.] Univ Hosp Muenster, Munster, Germany.[Litwin, M.; Obrycki, L.] Childrens Mem Hlth Inst, Warsaw, Poland.[Lombet, J.] CHR Citadelle, Liege, Belgium.[Longo, G.; Murer, L.] Hosp Univ Padova, Pediat Nephrol Dialysis ; Transplant Unit, Padua, Italy.[Mallawaarachchi, A.] Garvan Inst, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.[Mallawaarachchi, A.] Royal Prince Alfred Hosp, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.[Mallawaarachchi, A.; McCarthy, H.; Quinlan, C.] KidGen, Sydney, NSW, Australia.[McCarthy, H.] Childrens Hosp Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia.[McCarthy, H.] Sydney Childrens Hosp, Sydney, NSW, Australia.[Papizh, S.; Prikhodina, L.] Pirogov Russian Nat Res Med Uni, Res ; Clin Inst Pediat, Moscow, Russia.[Parvex, P.; Wilhelm-Bals, A.] Childrens Univ Hosp Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.[Pawlak-Bratkowska, M.; Szczepanik, E.; Tkaczyk, M.] Polish Mothers Mem Hosp, Res Inst, Lodz, Poland.[Quinlan, C.] RCH Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.[Ranchin, B.] Hop Femme Mere Enfant, Bron, France.[Ronit, C.] Ctr Hosp Luxembourg, Clin Pediat, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.[Schaefer, S.; Wuehl, E.] Ctr Pediat ; Adolescent, Div Pediat Nephrol, Heidelberg, Germany.[Schreuder, M.] Radboudumc Amalia Childrens Hosp, Nijmegen, Netherlands.[Schurmans, T.; Tram, N.] CHU Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium.[Seeman, T.] Charles Univ Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.[Seeman, T.] Motol Univ Hosp, Prague, Czech Republic.[Sinha, M.] Evelina London Childrens Hosp, London, England.[Taranta-Janusz, K.] Dept Pediat ; Nephrol, Bialystok, Poland.[Thumfart, J.] Berlin Charite Univ Med, Berlin, Germany.[Utsch, B.] Herford Hosp, Dept Paediat, Herford, Germany.[Yildirim, Z. Y.] Istanbul Univ, Fac Med, Pediat Nephrol Dept, Istanbul, Turkey

Cloning and characterization of an immunoglobulin A Fc receptor from cattle

Here, we describe the cloning, sequencing and characterization of an immunoglobulin A (IgA) Fc receptor from cattle (bFcαR). By screening a translated EST database with the protein sequence of the human IgA Fc receptor (CD89) we identified a putative bovine homologue. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification confirmed that the identified full-length cDNA was expressed in bovine cells. COS-1 cells transfected with a plasmid containing the cloned cDNA bound to beads coated with either bovine or human IgA, but not to beads coated with bovine IgG2 or human IgG. The bFcαR cDNA is 873 nucleotides long and is predicted to encode a 269 amino-acid transmembrane glycoprotein composed of two immunoglobulin-like extracellular domains, a transmembrane region and a short cytoplasmic tail devoid of known signalling motifs. Genetically, bFcαR is more closely related to CD89, bFcγ2R, NKp46, and the KIR and LILR gene families than to other FcRs. Moreover, the bFcαR gene maps to the bovine leucocyte receptor complex on chromosome 18. Identification of the bFcαR will aid in the understanding of IgA–FcαR interactions, and may facilitate the isolation of FcαR from other species

Thermal acclimation to 10 or 4°C imparts minimal benefit on swimming performance in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.)

Thermal acclimation is frequently cited as a means by which ectothermic animals improve their Darwinian fitness, i.e. the beneficial acclimation hypothesis. As the critical swimming speed (U (crit)) test is often used as a proxy measure of fitness, we acclimated Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to 4 and 10 degrees C and then assessed their U (crit) swimming performance at their respective acclimation temperatures and during acute temperature reversal. Because phenotypic differences exist between different populations of cod, we undertook these experiments in two different populations, North Sea cod and North East Arctic cod. Acclimation to 4 or 10 degrees C had a minimal effect on swimming performance or U (crit), however test temperature did, with all groups having a 10-17% higher U (crit) at 10 degrees C. The swimming efficiency was significantly lower in all groups at 4 degrees C arguably due to the compression of the muscle fibre recruitment order. This also led to a reduction in the duration of "kick and glide" swimming at 4 degrees C. No significant differences were seen between the two populations in any of the measured parameters, due possibly to the extended acclimation period. Our data indicate that acclimation imparts little benefit on U (crit) swimming test in Atlantic cod. Further efforts need to identify the functional consequences of the long-term thermal acclimation process