9 research outputs found
Range-wide variation in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) skull morphology
The large interspecific variation in marine mammal skull and dental morphology reflects ecological specialisa-tions to foraging and communication. At the intraspecific level, the drivers of skull shape variation are less well understood, having implications for identifying putative local foraging adaptations and delineating populations and subspecies for taxonomy, systematics, management and conservation. Here, we assess the range-wide intraspecific variation in 71 grey seal skulls by 3D surface scanning, collection of cranial landmarks and geo-metric morphometric analysis. We find that skull shape differs slightly between populations in the Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea. However, there was a large shape overlap between populations and variation was substantially larger among animals within populations than between. We hypothesize that this pattern of intraspecific variation in grey seal skull shape results from balancing selection or phenotypic plasticity allowing for a remarkably generalist foraging behaviour. Moreover, the large overlap in skull shape between populations implies that the separate subspecies status of Atlantic and Baltic Sea grey seals is questionable from a morphological point of view.Peer reviewe
Trends in brain research : a bibliometric analysis
Background:
Bibliometrics methods have allowed researchers to assess the popularity of brain research through the ever-growing number of brain-related research papers. While many topics of brain research have been covered by previous studies, there is no comprehensive overview of the evolution of brain research and its various specialties and funding practices over a long period of time.
Objective:
This paper aims to (1) determine how brain research has evolved over time in terms of number of papers, (2) countries' relative and absolute positioning in terms of papers and impact, and (3) how those various trends vary by area.
Methods:
Using a list of validated keywords, we extracted brain-related articles and journals indexed in the Web of Science over the 1991â2020 period, for a total of 2,467,708 papers. We used three indicators to perform: number of papers, specialization, and research impact.
Results:
Our results show that over the past 30 years, the number of brain-related papers has grown at a faster pace than science in general, with China being at the forefront of this growth. Different patterns of specialization among countries and funders were also underlined. Finally, the NIH, the European Commission, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the UK Medical Research Council, and the German Research Foundation were found to be among the top funders.
Conclusion:
Despite data-related limitations, our findings provide a large-scope snapshot of the evolution of brain research and its funding, which may be used as a baseline for future studies on these topics.Les mĂ©thodes dâanalyse bibliomĂ©trique ont permis aux chercheurs dâĂ©valuer lâintĂ©rĂȘt que suscite la recherche sur le cerveau Ă lâaide du nombre sans cesse croissant de documents dans le domaine. Certes, de nombreux sujets de recherche se rapportant au cerveau ont dĂ©jĂ fait lâobjet dâĂ©tudes, mais il nâexiste pas de portrait global de lâĂ©volution de la recherche sur le cerveau ni des divers champs de spĂ©cialitĂ©, pas plus que des pratiques de financement sur une longue pĂ©riode de temps.
Lâarticle visait Ă dĂ©terminer : 1) la maniĂšre dont la recherche sur le cerveau avait Ă©voluĂ© au fil du temps quant au nombre dâarticles; 2) la position relative et absolue des pays en ce qui concerne les articles et leur portĂ©e; 3) les diffĂ©rentes tendances selon les champs de recherche.
Lâextraction dâarticles et de revues sur le cerveau, indexĂ©s dans la plateforme Web of Science, de 1991 Ă 2020, a Ă©tĂ© effectuĂ©e Ă lâaide dâune liste de mots clĂ©s validĂ©s; le nombre total de documents ainsi tirĂ©s sâĂ©levait Ă 2 467 708. La performance a Ă©tĂ© Ă©tablie Ă lâaide de trois indicateurs, soit le nombre dâarticles, les champs de spĂ©cialitĂ© et la portĂ©e de la recherche.
DâaprĂšs les rĂ©sultats de lâĂ©tude, le nombre dâarticles portant sur le cerveau a connu une croissance supĂ©rieure Ă celle liĂ©e Ă la science en gĂ©nĂ©ral au cours des 30 derniĂšres annĂ©es, et câest la Chine qui se trouve Ă lâavant-garde de cette croissance. Les pays et les bailleurs de fonds se distinguent Ă©galement par les diffĂ©rents champs de spĂ©cialitĂ©. Enfin, les NIH, la Commission europĂ©enne, la fondation National Natural Science Foundation of China, le Conseil de recherches mĂ©dicales du Royaume-Uni et la fondation German Research Foundation figurent parmi les plus grands bailleurs de fonds.
MalgrĂ© les restrictions liĂ©es aux donnĂ©es, lâĂ©tude a permis de donner un bon aperçu de lâĂ©volution de la recherche sur le cerveau et des moyens de financement, aperçu qui pourrait servir dâĂ©lĂ©ment de rĂ©fĂ©rence aux Ă©tudes Ă venir sur ces mĂȘmes sujets
An opportunistic survey reveals an unexpected coronavirus diversity hotspot in North America
In summer 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected on mink farms in Utah. An interagency One Health response was initiated to assess the extent of the outbreak and included sampling animals from on or near affected mink farms and testing them for SARS-CoV-2 and non-SARS coronaviruses. Among the 365 animals sampled, including domestic cats, mink, rodents, raccoons, and skunks, 261 (72%) of the animals harbored at least one coronavirus. Among the samples that could be further characterized, 127 alphacoronaviruses and 88 betacoronaviruses (including 74 detections of SARS-CoV-2 in mink) were identified. Moreover, at least 10% (n = 27) of the coronavirus-positive animals were found to be co-infected with more than one coronavirus. Our findings indicate an unexpectedly high prevalence of coronavirus among the domestic and wild free-roaming animals tested on mink farms. These results raise the possibility that mink farms could be potential hot spots for future trans-species viral spillover and the emergence of new pandemic coronaviruses
Regional Deprivation Index and Socioeconomic Inequalities Related to Infant Deaths in Korea
Reliability and validity of the Arabic Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a clinical sample
Perspectives on ENCODE
The Encylopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project launched in 2003 with the long-term goal of developing a comprehensive map of functional elements in the human genome. These included genes, biochemical regions associated with gene regulation (for example, transcription factor binding sites, open chromatin, and histone marks) and transcript isoforms. The marks serve as sites for candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) that may serve functional roles in regulating gene expression1. The project has been extended to model organisms, particularly the mouse. In the third phase of ENCODE, nearly a million and more than 300,000 cCRE annotations have been generated for human and mouse, respectively, and these have provided a valuable resource for the scientific community.11Nsciescopu
Expanded encyclopaedias of DNA elements in the human and mouse genomes
AbstractThe human and mouse genomes contain instructions that specify RNAs and proteins and govern the timing, magnitude, and cellular context of their production. To better delineate these elements, phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project has expanded analysis of the cell and tissue repertoires of RNA transcription, chromatin structure and modification, DNA methylation, chromatin looping, and occupancy by transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Here we summarize these efforts, which have produced 5,992 new experimental datasets, including systematic determinations across mouse fetal development. All data are available through the ENCODE data portal (https://www.encodeproject.org), including phase II ENCODE1 and Roadmap Epigenomics2 data. We have developed a registry of 926,535 human and 339,815 mouse candidate cis-regulatory elements, covering 7.9 and 3.4% of their respective genomes, by integrating selected datatypes associated with gene regulation, and constructed a web-based server (SCREEN; http://screen.encodeproject.org) to provide flexible, user-defined access to this resource. Collectively, the ENCODE data and registry provide an expansive resource for the scientific community to build a better understanding of the organization and function of the human and mouse genomes.11Nsciescopu