Maternal allocation of carotenoids increases tolerance to bacterial infection in brown trout.

Life-history theory predicts that iteroparous females allocate their resources differently among different breeding seasons depending on their residual reproductive value. In iteroparous salmonids there is typically much variation in egg size, egg number, and in the compounds that females allocate to their clutch. These compounds include various carotenoids whose functions are not sufficiently understood yet. We sampled 37 female and 35 male brown trout from natural streams, collected their gametes for in vitro fertilizations, experimentally produced 185 families in 7 full-factorial breeding blocks, raised the developing embryos singly (n = 2960), and either sham-treated or infected them with Pseudomonas fluorescens. We used female redness (as a measure of carotenoids stored in the skin) and their allocation of carotenoids to clutches to infer maternal strategies. Astaxanthin contents largely determined egg colour. Neither egg weight nor female size was correlated with the content of this carotenoid. However, astaxanthin content was positively correlated with larval growth and with tolerance against P. fluorescens. There was a negative correlation between female skin redness and the carotenoid content of their eggs. Although higher astaxanthin contents in the eggs were associated with an improvement of early fitness-related traits, some females appeared not to maximally support their current offspring as revealed by the negative correlation between female red skin colouration and egg carotenoid content. This correlation was not explained by female size and supports the prediction of a maternal trade-off between current and future reproduction

Location of chlorogenic acid biosynthesis pathway and polyphenol oxidase genes in a new interspecific anchored linkage map of eggplant

© Gramazio et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant

3-D SURVEY APPLIED TO INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY BY TLS METHODOLOGY

This work describes the three-dimensional survey of "Ex Stazione Frigorifera Specializzata": initially used for agricultural storage, during the years it was allocated to different uses until the complete neglect. The historical relevance and the architectural heritage that this building represents has brought the start of a recent renovation project and functional restoration. In this regard it was necessary a global 3-D survey that was based on the application and integration of different geomatic methodologies (mainly terrestrial laser scanner, classical topography, and GNSS). The acquisitions of point clouds was performed using different laser scanners: with time of flight (TOF) and phase shift technologies for the distance measurements. The topographic reference network, needed for scans alignment in the same system, was measured with a total station. For the complete survey of the building, 122 scans were acquired and 346 targets were measured from 79 vertices of the reference network. Moreover, 3 vertices were measured with GNSS methodology in order to georeference the network. For the detail survey of machine room were executed 14 scans with 23 targets. The 3-D global model of the building have less than one centimeter of error in the alignment (for the machine room the error in alignment is not greater than 6 mm) and was used to extract products such as longitudinal and transversal sections, plans, architectural perspectives, virtual scans. A complete spatial knowledge of the building is obtained from the processed data, providing basic information for restoration project, structural analysis, industrial and architectural heritage valorization

God’s gifts: destiny, poverty, and temporality in the mines of Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, many artisanal miners share the view that every human act and every event is the realisation of an inscrutable divine plan. Even though notions of fate and destiny are part of the vocabulary of Krio, the country’s lingua franca, miners prefer to use expressions that evoke God and stress His immanent presence and influence in their everyday lives. In order to understand the religious vocabulary of contingency and the cosmology underlying the ways in which miners interpret, reproduce, and imaginatively prepare the conditions to change their lives, this article focuses on the ritual practices connected to artisanal diamond mining. It considers these rituals as attempts to resolve the ever-present temporal and moral tensions between actual conditions of suffering and poverty, and the realisation of the well-being that miners associate with their desired futures

Notes on the diet of seven terrestrial frogs in three agroecosystems and forest remnants in Northwestern São Paulo State, Brazil.

Anurans are predators of a great diversity of invertebrates, but studies on agroecosystems are very scarce. Herein we described the diet composition of seven species of terrestrial anurans captured in three different agroecosystems (corn, soybean and rubber tree) and in forest remnants of the Northwestern region of São Paulo state, Brazil. Ten prey categories were identified in the stomachs of 80 specimens belonging to the families Bufonidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae. Hymenoptera (Formicidae) was consumed by all species. Coleoptera was the most frequent item, consumed by six of the even species followed by Araneae and Isoptera. Isoptera was the most abundant item followed by Formicidae, Coleoptera and Araneae. Adults and juveniles of Physalaemus nattereri, the most abundant species in our study, consumed Formicidae and Isoptera more than other food items and there is not a significant difference in the abundance of consumed prey items between the age categories. In summary, the majority of the studied species can be considered generalists predators and, probably, consumed the prey items available in the environment. The most abundant species found in our study can be considered here as having a specialized diet, by consuming social insects in great frequency.Published online on 12 August 2015

Management of Vesicouterine fistulae during fistulae surgical caravan in Cote d'Ivoire

Background: The urogenital fistula (UGF) which designate a solution of continuity between the urinary and genital tracts in women, are divided into several entities of variable gravity. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of patients treated for vesicouterine fistula during ‘fistulas surgical caravans’.Methods: This was a prospective and descriptive study on a cohort of 34 patients treated for Vesico-uterine fistulae during ‘‘fistulas surgical caravans '' from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2016.Results: Vesico uterine fistulae represented 2.1% of all urogenital fistulae treated. At the time of occurrence of fistulas, the average age of the patients stay was 33.3 years, and the majority was not educated (88.2%), lived in rural areas without occupations (73.5%). All the fistulae were secondary to childbirth, the majority of which took place on a scarred uterus (67.6%). And this childbirth responsible for the fistula was done by caesarean section in 97.7% of cases. Then the average duration of the fistula before management was 6 years. Finally, all the patients were operated by the same surgical technique, made by abdominal extra peritoneal transvesical way. The cure rate after this surgical technique was 97.1% (33 patients). The only case of failure required a second operation by another technique which permitted the healing of the patient.Conclusions: The vesicouterine fistulae were rare and the satisfactory results of their management invite us to sustain these surgical caravans and ensure their widespread