Early-stage reciprocity in sustainable scientific collaboration

Scientific collaboration is of significant importance in tackling grand challenges and breeding innovations. Despite the increasing interest in investigating and promoting scientific collaborations, we know little about the collaboration sustainability as well as mechanisms behind it. In this paper, we set out to study the relationships between early-stage reciprocity and collaboration sustainability. By proposing and defining h-index reciprocity, we give a comprehensive statistical analysis on how reciprocity influences scientific collaboration sustainability, and find that scholars are not altruism and the key to sustainable collaboration is fairness. The unfair h-index reciprocity has an obvious negative impact on collaboration sustainability. The bigger the reciprocity difference, the less sustainable in collaboration. This work facilitates understanding sustainable collaborations and thus will benefit both individual scholar in optimizing collaboration strategies and the whole academic society in improving teamwork efficiency. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd.The authors extend their appreciation to the International Scientific Partnership Program ISPP at King Saud University for funding this research work through ISPP-78. This work is partially supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation ( 2019M651115 )

Maternal and infantile gut mycobiome during the weaning period in free ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana)

Abstract Gut microbiome is critical to the health of mammals. Many previous studies have revealed the gut bacterial microbiomes of mother and infant changed significantly during the weaning period. However, little is known concerning the gut mycobiome of wild primates. Here, we examined the variations on gut mycobiome between weaning and post‐weaning for both mother and infant in wild‐living Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). Our results showed that the gut mycobiomes of mother and infant were dominated by two phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. For both mother and infant, the ASV richness of gut mycobiome remained relatively steady from weaning to post‐weaning periods, while the Shannon indexes increased significant in weaning compared to post‐weaning periods. However, no significant difference between mother and infant ASV richness and Shannon indexes during weaning and post‐weaning periods respectively. Compared to mothers, we found that much more known taxa of gut fungi were enriched in weaning or post‐weaning periods of infants. In particular, we found that the dominant genus Aspergillus was enriched in infants during weaning period. Furthermore, we found that the relative abundance of plant pathogens were significantly higher in the post‐weaning period than in the weaning period for infants. Our results indicated that weaning events could affect the gut mycobiome significantly for both mothers and infant in Tibetan macaques, which had a stronger effect on the gut mycobiome of infant monkeys than on their mothers

Daily variation in global and local DNA methylation in mouse livers.

DNA methylation is one of the best-characterized epigenetic modifications and has an important biological relevance. Here we showed that global DNA methylation level in mouse livers displayed a daily variation where the peak phases occurred during the end of the day and the lowest level at the beginning of the day in the light-dark or dark-dark cycles. Typical repeat sequence long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) had a similar methylation rhythm to global DNA. DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) and ratio of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) brought a relative forward daily variation to global DNA methylation, and the temporary change in ratio of SAM to SAH had no influence on the DNA methylation level. The rhythm of global DNA methylation was lost and DNA methylation level was increased in Per1-/-Per2-/- double knockout mice, which were in accordance with changes of Dnmt3a mRNA levels and its rhythm. Our results suggest that the daily variation in global DNA methylation was associated with the change of Dnmt3a expression rather than ratio of SAM to SAH

Data_Sheet_1_Gut microbiome is associated with personality traits of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana).PDF

Recent studies have emphasized that there is a strong link between the gut microbiome and the brain that affects social behavior and personality in animals. However, the interface between personality and the gut microbiome in wild primates remains poorly understood. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing and ethological methods in primate behavioral ecology to investigate the relationship between gut microbiome and personality in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). The behavioral assessment results indicated three personality dimensions including socialization, shyness, and anxiety. There was significant variation in alpha diversity only for shyness, with a significantly lower alpha diversity indices (including Shannon, Chao1, and PD) for bold individuals than for shy individuals. Using regression models to control for possible confounding factors, we found that the relative abundance of three genera, Akkermansia, Dialister, and Asteroleplasma, was significantly and positively correlated with the sociability scores in the macaques. In addition, Oscillospiraceae exhibited a positive correlation with scores for Shy Dimension. Furthermore, we found that the predicted functional genes for propionate and pyruvate, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolic pathways related to animal behavior, were significant enriched in shyness group. We propose that the gut microbiome may play an important role in the formation of personality of Tibetan macaques.</p

Warburg effect enhanced by AKR1B10 promotes acquired resistance to pemetrexed in lung cancer-derived brain metastasis

Abstract Background Resistance to pemetrexed (PEM), a rare chemotherapeutic agent that can efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier, limits the therapeutic efficacy for patients with lung cancer brain metastasis (BM). Aldo-keto reductase family 1 B10 (AKR1B10) was recently found to be elevated in lung cancer BM. The link between AKR1B10 and BM-acquired PEM is unknown. Methods PEM drug-sensitivity was assessed in the preclinical BM model of PC9 lung adenocarcinoma cells and the BM cells with or without AKR1B10 interference in vitro and in vivo. Metabolic reprogramming of BM attributed to AKR1B10 was identified by chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics, and the mechanism of how AKR1B10 mediates PEM chemoresistance via a way of modified metabolism was revealed by RNA sequencing as well as further molecular biology experimental approaches. Results The lung cancer brain metastatic subpopulation cells (PC9-BrM3) exhibited significant resistance to PEM and silencing AKR1B10 in PC9-BrM3 increased the PEM sensitivity in vitro and in vivo. Metabolic profiling revealed that AKR1B10 prominently facilitated the Warburg metabolism characterized by the overproduction of lactate. Glycolysis regulated by AKR1B10 is vital for the resistance to PEM. In mechanism, AKR1B10 promoted glycolysis by regulating the expression of lactate dehydrogenase (LDHA) and the increased lactate, acts as a precursor that stimulates histone lactylation (H4K12la), activated the transcription of CCNB1 and accelerated the DNA replication and cell cycle. Conclusions Our finding demonstrates that AKR1B10/glycolysis/H4K12la/CCNB1 promotes acquired PEM chemoresistance in lung cancer BM, providing novel strategies to sensitize PEM response in the treatment of lung cancer patients suffering from BM

Primer sequences for real-time RT-PCR analysis.

<p>Primer sequences for real-time RT-PCR analysis.</p

Circadian rhythmic parameters of 5-methylcytosine content, SAH concentration, SAM/SAH ratio and DNMT gene transcriptions in livers of WT and <i>Per1^-/-Per2^-/-</i> DKO mice.

<p>Data represent means ± S.E.M. (n = 3–4).</p><p>*<i>p</i> < 0.05,</p><p>**<i>p</i> < 0.01 compared with WT.</p><p>Circadian rhythmic parameters of 5-methylcytosine content, SAH concentration, SAM/SAH ratio and DNMT gene transcriptions in livers of WT and <i>Per1^-/-Per2^-/-</i> DKO mice.</p

Daily changes of SAH concentration and SAM/SAH ratio in WT liver.

<p>One-way ANOVA showed that both (A) SAH and (B) SAM/SAH ratio displayed a clear diurnal variation (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Data represent means ± S.E.M. (n = 4). *<i>p</i> < 0.05, **<i>p</i> < 0.01 for LSD post hoc test compared with ZT17.</p

Effect of administration of 5′-AMP on global DNA methylation.

<p>HPLC analysis for the level of (A) adenosine, (B) SAH, (C) SAM/SAH ratio at 1 h after i.p. injection of 5′-AMP (0.5μmol/g and 1μmol/g body weight). (D) Genomic 5-mC content at 1 h and 4 h after 5′-AMP treatment. Data represent means ± S.E.M. (n = 4). *<i>p</i> < 0.05, **<i>p</i> < 0.01 compared with saline control.</p

Causal associations between Helicobacter pylori infection and pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundObservational studies have reported that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is associated with a series of pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. However, the results have been inconsistent, and the causal effect is unknown.MethodsA two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed using summary-level statistics for anti-H. pylori IgG levels from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort. Outcome data for pregnancy (miscarriage, preeclampsia-eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, placental abruption, premature rupture of membranes, postpartum hemorrhage) and neonates (birthweight, gestational age, and preterm birth) were sourced from genome-wide association meta-analysis as well as the FinnGen and Early Growth Genetics Consortium. Causal estimates were calculated by five methods including inverse variance weighted (IVW). The heterogeneity of instrumental variables was quantified by Cochran’s Q test, while sensitivity analyses were performed via MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO, and leave-one-out tests.ResultsIVW estimates suggested that genetically predicted anti-H. pylori IgG levels were significantly associated with increased risks of preeclampsia-eclampsia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.24, P = 0.026) and premature rupture of membranes (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.05–1.30, P = 0.004). Similar results were obtained for preeclampsia-eclampsia from the MR-Egger method (OR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.06–1.64, P = 0.027) and for premature rupture of membranes from the weighted median method (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.06–1.41, P = 0.006). No significant causal effects were found for other outcomes. There was no obvious heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy across the MR analysis.ConclusionOur two-sample MR study demonstrated a causal relationship of H. pylori infection with preeclampsia-eclampsia and premature rupture of membranes. The findings confirm the epidemiological evidence on the adverse impact of H. pylori in pregnancy. Further studies are needed to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms and assess the effectiveness of pre-pregnancy screening and preventive eradication