Polydendrocytes Display Large Lineage Plasticity following Focal Cerebral Ischemia

Polydendrocytes (also known as NG2 glial cells) constitute a fourth major glial cell type in the adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS) that is distinct from other cell types. Although much evidence suggests that these cells are multipotent in vitro, their differentiation potential in vivo under physiological or pathophysiological conditions is still controversial

A practical guide to single-cell RNA-sequencing for biomedical research and clinical applications.

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is a genomic approach for the detection and quantitative analysis of messenger RNA molecules in a biological sample and is useful for studying cellular responses. RNA-seq has fueled much discovery and innovation in medicine over recent years. For practical reasons, the technique is usually conducted on samples comprising thousands to millions of cells. However, this has hindered direct assessment of the fundamental unit of biology-the cell. Since the first single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) study was published in 2009, many more have been conducted, mostly by specialist laboratories with unique skills in wet-lab single-cell genomics, bioinformatics, and computation. However, with the increasing commercial availability of scRNA-seq platforms, and the rapid ongoing maturation of bioinformatics approaches, a point has been reached where any biomedical researcher or clinician can use scRNA-seq to make exciting discoveries. In this review, we present a practical guide to help researchers design their first scRNA-seq studies, including introductory information on experimental hardware, protocol choice, quality control, data analysis and biological interpretation

The effectiveness of green advertising: An Australian empirical study

http://www.affiniscape.com/associations/213/files/conferences/2005%20wmc%20program.pd

Use of hyperspectral reflectance for discrimination between grape varieties

Visible-near infrared reflectance characteristics were examined for four varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Semillon and Shiraz) of grape vine grape (Vitis vinifera) in a southern Australian vineyard. Reflectance measurements over the range 400-900 nm were acquired in the field under solar illumination using a Lastek VNIR spectroradiometer. Both reflectance and first derivative spectra were tested at 2 nm intervals for differences between the four varieties and pairs of varieties showing greatest significance were established using a Tukey post hoc test. The field reflectance spectra showed greatest difference at the red edge (~720 nm), followed by the green reflectance peak and its wings in the visible. Cabernet Sauvignon and Semillon were the most significantly different pair throughout the visible region, while the differences at the red edge were mainly attributed to Semillon. In the derivative spectra regions of significant difference were narrower and potentially attributable to chlorophyll content, leaf structure or water content. Cabernet Sauvignon differed most from the other varieties at approximately 512 nm and 580 nm. The wavelengths that showed the greatest potential for discrimination between all four varieties were 512 nm, 580 nm, 611 nm, 649 nm, 690 nm and 763 nm.F.M. Lacar, M.M. Lewis and I.T. Grierso

Use of hyperspectral imagery for mapping grape varieties in the Barossa Valley, South Australia

The wine industry is important to Australia's economy. With the advances in remote sensing there has been increasing interest in its potential application for vineyard varietal, condition and health mapping. CASI (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager) data was obtained over a vineyard in the Barossa Valley, South Australia in an attempt to discriminate between the grape cultivars (Vitis vinifera) , Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Statistical analysis of sample spectra from the two varieties in the CASI imagery showed that the significant differences in the visible region. Maximum likelihood classification was employed to map the two grape varieties present on the site. Classification was performed using 12 visible and near infrared CASI bands and repeated using a spectral subset of seven bands shown to be most significant in separating the varieties. Discrimination between Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz was successful with 91.5% of vine rows correctly classified. Spectral subsetting did not improve classification and led to under classification of vine pixels.F.M. Lacar, M.M. Lewis and I.T. Grierso

Are cells from a snowman realistic? Cryopreserved tissues as a source for single-cell RNA-sequencing experiments

A recently published study in Genome Biology shows that cells isolated from cryopreserved tissues are a reliable source of genetic material for single-cell RNA-sequencing experiments.Please see related Method article: http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1171-9

Comparison of approaches to control for intracranial volume in research on the association of brain volumes with cognitive outcomes

Most neuroimaging studies linking regional brain volumes with cognition correct for total intracranial volume (ICV), but methods used for this correction differ across studies. It is unknown whether different ICV correction methods yield consistent results. Using a brain-wide association approach in the MRI substudy of UK Biobank (N = 41,964; mean age = 64.5 years), we used regression models to estimate the associations of 58 regional brain volumetric measures with eight cognitive outcomes, comparing no correction and four ICV correction approaches. Approaches evaluated included: no correction; dividing regional volumes by ICV (proportional approach); including ICV as a covariate in the regression (adjustment approach); and regressing the regional volumes against ICV in different normative samples and using calculated residuals to determine associations (residual approach). We used Spearman-rank correlations and two consistency measures to quantify the extent to which associations were inconsistent across ICV correction approaches for each possible brain region and cognitive outcome pair across 2320 regression models. When the association between brain volume and cognitive performance was close to null, all approaches produced similar estimates close to the null. When associations between a regional volume and cognitive test were not null, the adjustment and residual approaches typically produced similar estimates, but these estimates were inconsistent with results from the crude and proportional approaches. For example, when using the crude approach, an increase of 0.114 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.103-0.125) in fluid intelligence was associated with each unit increase in hippocampal volume. However, when using the adjustment approach, the increase was 0.055 (95% CI: 0.043-0.068), while the proportional approach showed a decrease of -0.025 (95% CI: -0.035 to -0.014). Different commonly used methods to correct for ICV yielded inconsistent results. The proportional method diverges notably from other methods and results were sometimes biologically implausible. A simple regression adjustment for ICV produced biologically plausible associations