Norepinephrine Controls Both Torpor Initiation and Emergence via Distinct Mechanisms in the Mouse

Some mammals, including laboratory mice, enter torpor in response to food deprivation, and leptin can attenuate these bouts of torpor. We previously showed that dopamine β-hydroxylase knockout (Dbh −/−) mice, which lack norepinephrine (NE), do not reduce circulating leptin upon fasting nor do they enter torpor. To test whether the onset of torpor in mice during a fast requires a NE-mediated reduction in circulating leptin, double mutant mice deficient in both leptin (ob/ob) and DBH (DBL MUT) were generated. Upon fasting, control and ob/ob mice entered torpor as assessed by telemetric core Tb acquisition. While fasting failed to induce torpor in Dbh −/− mice, leptin deficiency bypassed the requirement for NE, as DBL MUT mice readily entered torpor upon fasting. These data indicate that sympathetic activation of white fat and suppression of leptin is required for the onset of torpor in the mouse. Emergence from torpor was severely retarded in DBL MUT mice, revealing a novel, leptin-independent role for NE in torpor recovery. This phenotype was mimicked by administration of a β3 adrenergic receptor antagonist to control mice during a torpor bout. Hence, NE signaling via β3 adrenergic receptors presumably in brown fat is the first neurotransmitter-receptor system identified that is required for normal recovery from torpor

Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the evolution of form and function in the amniote jaw.

The amniote jaw complex is a remarkable amalgamation of derivatives from distinct embryonic cell lineages. During development, the cells in these lineages experience concerted movements, migrations, and signaling interactions that take them from their initial origins to their final destinations and imbue their derivatives with aspects of form including their axial orientation, anatomical identity, size, and shape. Perturbations along the way can produce defects and disease, but also generate the variation necessary for jaw evolution and adaptation. We focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate form in the amniote jaw complex, and that enable structural and functional integration. Special emphasis is placed on the role of cranial neural crest mesenchyme (NCM) during the species-specific patterning of bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle, and other jaw tissues. We also address the effects of biomechanical forces during jaw development and discuss ways in which certain molecular and cellular responses add adaptive and evolutionary plasticity to jaw morphology. Overall, we highlight how variation in molecular and cellular programs can promote the phenomenal diversity and functional morphology achieved during amniote jaw evolution or lead to the range of jaw defects and disease that affect the human condition

The football is medicine plaform-scientific evidence, large-scale implementation of evidence-based concepts and future perspectives

The idea that football can be used as therapy and as a high-intensity and literally breath-taking training regime goes back centuries. To take one prominent example, the French philosopher Voltaire describes in the Book of Fate (1747), how a patient is cured by playing with a sacred football: “… full-blown and carefully covered with the softest Leather. You must kick this Bladder, Sir, once a Day about your Hall for a whole Hour together, with all the Vigour and Activity you possibly can”, “Ogul, upon making the first Experiment, was ready to expire for want of Breath”, “In short, our Doctor in about 8 days Time, performed an absolute Cure. His Patient was as brisk, active and gay, as One in the Bloom of his Youth.”1 Today, Voltaire and his main character, philosopher Zadig, have been proved right: Football is indeed a breath-taking activity and it can be used as therapy. Albeit today's recommendations suggest a lower training frequency, longer training periods and encourage group-based training, and say that any football can be applied

Cervical intramedullary schwannoma: a case report and review of the literature

Intramedullary schwannomas unrelated with neurofibromatosis are uncommon tumors, but if correctly diagnosed and properly treated they may have a good prognosis

Trace Elements and Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in Organisms from a Tropical Coastal Lagoon

Trace elements (Fe, Mn, Al, Zn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Hg, and As) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) were analyzed in sediments, invertebrates, and fishes from a tropical coastal lagoon influenced by iron ore mining and processing activities to assess the differences in trace element accumulation patterns among species and to investigate relations with trophic levels of the organisms involved. Overall significant negative relations between trophic level (given by 15N) and trace element concentrations in gastropods and crustaceans showed differences in internal controls of trace element accumulation among the species of different trophic positions, leading to trace element dilution. Generally, no significant relation between δ15N and trace element concentrations was observed among fish species, probably due to omnivory in a number of species as well as fast growth. Trace element accumulation was observed in the fish tissues, with higher levels of most trace elements found in liver compared with muscle and gill. Levels of Fe, Mn, Al, and Hg in invertebrates, and Fe and Cu in fish livers, were comparable with levels in organisms and tissues from other contaminated areas. Trace element levels in fish muscle were below the international safety baseline standards for human consumption

Horizontal Transfer of a Nitrate Assimilation Gene Cluster and Ecological Transitions in Fungi: A Phylogenetic Study

High affinity nitrate assimilation genes in fungi occur in a cluster (fHANT-AC) that can be coordinately regulated. The clustered genes include nrt2, which codes for a high affinity nitrate transporter; euknr, which codes for nitrate reductase; and NAD(P)H-nir, which codes for nitrite reductase. Homologs of genes in the fHANT-AC occur in other eukaryotes and prokaryotes, but they have only been found clustered in the oomycete Phytophthora (heterokonts). We performed independent and concatenated phylogenetic analyses of homologs of all three genes in the fHANT-AC. Phylogenetic analyses limited to fungal sequences suggest that the fHANT-AC has been transferred horizontally from a basidiomycete (mushrooms and smuts) to an ancestor of the ascomycetous mold Trichoderma reesei. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences from diverse eukaryotes and eubacteria, and cluster structure, are consistent with a hypothesis that the fHANT-AC was assembled in a lineage leading to the oomycetes and was subsequently transferred to the Dikarya (Ascomycota+Basidiomycota), which is a derived fungal clade that includes the vast majority of terrestrial fungi. We propose that the acquisition of high affinity nitrate assimilation contributed to the success of Dikarya on land by allowing exploitation of nitrate in aerobic soils, and the subsequent transfer of a complete assimilation cluster improved the fitness of T. reesei in a new niche. Horizontal transmission of this cluster of functionally integrated genes supports the “selfish operon” hypothesis for maintenance of gene clusters