Effects of early life trauma are dependent on genetic predisposition: a rat study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Trauma experienced early in life increases the risk of developing a number of psychological and/or behavioural disorders. It is unclear, however, how genetic predisposition to a behavioural disorder, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), modifies the long-term effects of early life trauma. There is substantial evidence from family and twin studies for susceptibility to ADHD being inherited, implying a strong genetic component to the disorder. In the present study we used an inbred animal model of ADHD, the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), to investigate the long-term consequences of early life trauma on emotional behaviour in individuals predisposed to developing ADHD-like behaviour.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We applied a rodent model of early life trauma, maternal separation, to SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), the normotensive control strain from which SHR were originally derived. The effects of maternal separation (removal of pups from dam for 3 h/day during the first 2 weeks of life) on anxiety-like behaviour (elevated-plus maze) and depressive-like behaviour (forced swim test) were assessed in prepubescent rats (postnatal day 28 and 31). Basal levels of plasma corticosterone were measured using radioimmunoassay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The effect of maternal separation on SHR and WKY differed in a number of behavioural measures. Similar to its reported effect in other rat strains, maternal separation increased the anxiety-like behaviour of WKY (decreased open arm entries) but not SHR. Maternal separation increased the activity of SHR in the novel environment of the elevated plus-maze, while it decreased that of WKY. Overall, SHR showed a more active response in the elevated plus-maze and forced swim test than WKY, regardless of treatment, and were also found to have higher basal plasma corticosterone compared to WKY. Maternal separation increased basal levels of plasma corticosterone in SHR females only, possibly through adaptive mechanisms involved in maintaining their active response in behavioural tests. Basal plasma corticosterone was found to correlate positively with an active response to a novel environment and inescapable stress across all rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>SHR are resilient to the anxiogenic effects of maternal separation, and develop a non-anxious, active response to a novel environment following chronic mild stress during the early stages of development. Our findings highlight the importance of genetic predisposition in determining the outcome of early life adversity. SHR may provide a model of early life trauma leading to the development of hyperactivity rather than anxiety and depression. Basal levels of corticosterone correlate with the behavioural response to early life trauma, and may therefore provide a useful marker for susceptibility to a certain behavioural temperament.</p

Coagulation Profiles in Humans Exposed to Exertional Hypobaric Decompression Stress Determined by Calibrated Automated Thrombogram

Citation: Madden, L.A.; Vince, R.V.; Edwards, V.C.; Lee, V.M.; Connolly, D.M. Coagulation Profiles in Humans Abstract: The blood coagulation response to decompression stress in humans has yet to be fully investigated. Here we utilised calibrated automated thrombogram (CAT) on samples from healthy volunteers exposed to decompression stress to investigate real-time thrombin generation. To induce decompression stress, fifteen apparently healthy males (age 20-50 yr) were exposed to two consecutive ascents to 25,000 ft for 60 min (1st ascent) and then 90 min (2nd ascent) while breathing 100% oxygen. Citrated blood samples were taken prior to exposure (T0), following the 2nd ascent (T8) and at 24 h (T24). Thrombin generation curves were obtained using Thrombinoscope TM. Parameters determined were lag time (LAG), time to peak (TTP), peak thrombin (PEAK), endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) and velocity index (VEL). Of the 15 subjects, 12 had validated coagulation profiles. TTP and ETP showed no significant differences. However, there was a significant increase in VEL from T0 to T8 (p = 0.025) and from T8 to T24 (p = 0.043). A non-significant trend of an overall increase in PEAK was also observed from T0 to T8 (p = 0.069) and from T8 to T24 (p = 0.098). PEAK and VEL were found to be correlated. Taken together, these two parameters suggest an overall shift towards a more procoagulant profile following hypobaric stress

Genetic diversity and origin of captive lion (Panthera leo) in South Africa : an assessment and comparison to wild populations

DATA AVAILABILITY : All data used in this manuscript are included in the supplementary materials. The supplementary materials are archived here: https://DOI.org/10.25375/uct.23174729.South Africa has a large captive lion (Panthera leo) sector, but detailed knowledge on the origin of individuals and any potential genetic value to conservation targets is lacking. In 2021, the South African government committed to closing the sector and have since appointed a Ministerial Lion Task Team (2022) to initiate this process. Some have suggested that captive lions could be integrated into wild populations as part of the process but information on the genetic origins and diversity of captive lions is critical if this is to be explored further. Both the Biodiversity Management Plan for lions in South Africa (2015) and a High-Level Ministerial report for the South African government (2021) have called for more information on the genetic composition of captive lions. To determine the probable origin of captive lions in South Africa we summarised existing survey responses from captive facilities (collected 2017–2018) and CITES permit data (issued 1991–2019). Survey data suggest that most lions were sourced from within the South African captive sector. However, many CITES permits were also issued for the import of lions from across Africa and beyond, indicating possible mixed origins within the sector. To evaluate genetic relationships between captive and wild lions in South Africa we standardised existing microsatellite marker data from three laboratories and analysed genotypes of captive lions from 31 properties. A comparison of captive and wild lion genotypes revealed that the genetic composition of captive lions is currently comparable to existing wild South African lions. Captive lions cluster with similar probabilities to three of four regional reference populations of wild lions included in the study and no major signatures of inbreeding were identified. However, captive lions are highly genetically interconnected across properties and represent a smaller effective population size compared to Kruger National Park, the largest population of wild lions in South Africa, suggesting some risk of future inbreeding. There were also signatures of genetic drift which should be investigated further as it will likely compromise any potential conservation genetic value of captive lions in the future. The findings of this study should be considered when planning the fate of individuals within South Africa’s captive lion sector and within the broader context of African lion conservation.Open access funding provided by University of Cape Town.http://link.springer.com/journal/10592am2024Microbiology and Plant PathologySDG-15:Life on lan

Protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of independent pharmacist prescribing in care home: the CHIPPS study

Background: Prescribing, monitoring and administration of medicines in care homes could be improved. Research has identified the need for one person to assume overall responsibility for the management of medicines within each care home. and shown that a pharmacist independent prescriber service is feasible in this context. Aims and objectives: To conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a pharmacist-independent prescribing service in care homes compared to usual general practitioner (GP)-led care. Objectives: To perform a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) with an internal pilot to determine the intervention’s effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and enable modelling beyond the end of the trial. Methods: This protocol is for a cluster RCT with a 3-month internal pilot to confirm that recruitment is achievable, and there are no safety concerns. The unit of randomisation is a triad comprising a pharmacist-independent prescriber (PIP) based in a GP practice with sufficient registered patients resident in one or more care homes to allow recruitment of an average of 20 participants. In the intervention group, the PIP will, in collaboration with the GP: assume responsibility for prescribing and managing residents’ medicines including medication review and pharmaceutical care planning; support systematic ordering and administration in the care home, GP practice and supplying pharmacy; train care home and GP practice staff; communicate with GP practice, care home, supplying community pharmacy and study team. The intervention will last 6 months. The primary outcome will be resident falls at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include resident health-related quality of life, falls at 3 months, medication burden, medication appropriateness, mortality and hospitalisations. A full health economic analysis will be undertaken. The target sample size is 880 residents (440) in each arm) from 44 triads. This number is sufficient to detect a decrease in fall rate from 1.5 per individual to 1.178 (relative reduction of 21%) with 80% power and an ICC of 0.05 or less. Discussion: Recruitment is on-going and the trial should complete in early 2020. The trial results will have implications for the future management of residents in care homes and the ongoing implementation of independent pharmacist prescribing. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ID: 17847169. Registered on 15 December 2017

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics

This paper describes the Hubble Space Telescope imaging data products and data reduction procedures for the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). This survey is designed to document the evolution of galaxies and black holes at $z\sim1.5-8$, and to study Type Ia SNe beyond $z>1.5$. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive multiwavelength observations. The primary CANDELS data consist of imaging obtained in the Wide Field Camera 3 / infrared channel (WFC3/IR) and UVIS channel, along with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The CANDELS/Deep survey covers \sim125 square arcminutes within GOODS-N and GOODS-S, while the remainder consists of the CANDELS/Wide survey, achieving a total of \sim800 square arcminutes across GOODS and three additional fields (EGS, COSMOS, and UDS). We summarize the observational aspects of the survey as motivated by the scientific goals and present a detailed description of the data reduction procedures and products from the survey. Our data reduction methods utilize the most up to date calibration files and image combination procedures. We have paid special attention to correcting a range of instrumental effects, including CTE degradation for ACS, removal of electronic bias-striping present in ACS data after SM4, and persistence effects and other artifacts in WFC3/IR. For each field, we release mosaics for individual epochs and eventual mosaics containing data from all epochs combined, to facilitate photometric variability studies and the deepest possible photometry. A more detailed overview of the science goals and observational design of the survey are presented in a companion paper.Comment: 39 pages, 25 figure

CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey

The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) is designed to document the first third of galactic evolution, over the approximate redshift (z) range 8--1.5. It will image >250,000 distant galaxies using three separate cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope, from the mid-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, and will find and measure Type Ia supernovae at z>1.5 to test their accuracy as standardizable candles for cosmology. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive ancillary data. The use of five widely separated fields mitigates cosmic variance and yields statistically robust and complete samples of galaxies down to a stellar mass of 10^9 M_\odot to z \approx 2, reaching the knee of the ultraviolet luminosity function (UVLF) of galaxies to z \approx 8. The survey covers approximately 800 arcmin^2 and is divided into two parts. The CANDELS/Deep survey (5\sigma\ point-source limit H=27.7 mag) covers \sim 125 arcmin^2 within GOODS-N and GOODS-S. The CANDELS/Wide survey includes GOODS and three additional fields (EGS, COSMOS, and UDS) and covers the full area to a 5\sigma\ point-source limit of H \gtrsim 27.0 mag. Together with the Hubble Ultra Deep Fields, the strategy creates a three-tiered "wedding cake" approach that has proven efficient for extragalactic surveys. Data from the survey are nonproprietary and are useful for a wide variety of science investigations. In this paper, we describe the basic motivations for the survey, the CANDELS team science goals and the resulting observational requirements, the field selection and geometry, and the observing design. The Hubble data processing and products are described in a companion paper.Comment: Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series; Revised version, subsequent to referee repor

Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe

We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median $z\sim 0.03$). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between $z\sim 0.6$ and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July

Influenza vaccination for immunocompromised patients: systematic review and meta-analysis from a public health policy perspective.

Immunocompromised patients are vulnerable to severe or complicated influenza infection. Vaccination is widely recommended for this group. This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses influenza vaccination for immunocompromised patients in terms of preventing influenza-like illness and laboratory confirmed influenza, serological response and adverse events