The Role of Mesotocin on Social Bonding in Pinyon Jays

The neuropeptide oxytocin influences mammalian social bonding by facilitating the building and maintenance of parental, sexual, and same‐sex social relationships. However, we do not know whether the function of the avian homologue mesotocin is evolutionarily conserved across birds. While it does influence avian prosocial behavior, mesotocin\u27s role in avian social bonding remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether mesotocin regulates the formation and maintenance of same‐sex social bonding in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a member of the crow family. We formed squads of four individually housed birds. In the first, “pair‐formation” phase of the experiment, we repeatedly placed pairs of birds from within the squad together in a cage for short periods of time. Prior to entering the cage, we intranasally administered one of three hormone solutions to both members of the pair: mesotocin, oxytocin antagonist, or saline. Pairs received repeated sessions with administration of the same hormone. In the second, “pair‐maintenance” phase of the experiment, all four members of the squad were placed together in a large cage, and no hormones were administered. For both phases, we measured the physical proximity between pairs as our proxy for social bonding. We found that, compared with saline, administering mesotocin or oxytocin antagonist did not result in different proximities in either the pair‐formation or pair‐maintenance phase of the experiment. Therefore, at the dosages and time frames used here, exogenously introduced mesotocin did not influence same‐sex social bond formation or maintenance. Like oxytocin in mammals, mesotocin regulates avian prosocial behavior; however, unlike oxytocin, we do not have evidence that mesotocin regulates social bonds in birds

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Population Structure Revisited

At present there are strong indications that Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits an epidemic population structure; clinical isolates are indistinguishable from environmental isolates, and they do not exhibit a specific (disease) habitat selection. However, some important issues, such as the worldwide emergence of highly transmissible P. aeruginosa clones among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and the spread and persistence of multidrug resistant (MDR) strains in hospital wards with high antibiotic pressure, remain contentious. To further investigate the population structure of P. aeruginosa, eight parameters were analyzed and combined for 328 unrelated isolates, collected over the last 125 years from 69 localities in 30 countries on five continents, from diverse clinical (human and animal) and environmental habitats. The analysed parameters were: i) O serotype, ii) Fluorescent Amplified-Fragment Length Polymorphism (FALFP) pattern, nucleotide sequences of outer membrane protein genes, iii) oprI, iv) oprL, v) oprD, vi) pyoverdine receptor gene profile (fpvA type and fpvB prevalence), and prevalence of vii) exoenzyme genes exoS and exoU and viii) group I pilin glycosyltransferase gene tfpO. These traits were combined and analysed using biological data analysis software and visualized in the form of a minimum spanning tree (MST). We revealed a network of relationships between all analyzed parameters and non-congruence between experiments. At the same time we observed several conserved clones, characterized by an almost identical data set. These observations confirm the nonclonal epidemic population structure of P. aeruginosa, a superficially clonal structure with frequent recombinations, in which occasionally highly successful epidemic clones arise. One of these clones is the renown and widespread MDR serotype O12 clone. On the other hand, we found no evidence for a widespread CF transmissible clone. All but one of the 43 analysed CF strains belonged to a ubiquitous P. aeruginosa “core lineage” and typically exhibited the exoS+/exoU− genotype and group B oprL and oprD alleles. This is to our knowledge the first report of an MST analysis conducted on a polyphasic data set

A multiscale systems perspective on cancer, immunotherapy, and Interleukin-12

Monoclonal antibodies represent some of the most promising molecular targeted immunotherapies. However, understanding mechanisms by which tumors evade elimination by the immune system of the host presents a significant challenge for developing effective cancer immunotherapies. The interaction of cancer cells with the host is a complex process that is distributed across a variety of time and length scales. The time scales range from the dynamics of protein refolding (i.e., microseconds) to the dynamics of disease progression (i.e., years). The length scales span the farthest reaches of the human body (i.e., meters) down to the range of molecular interactions (i.e., nanometers). Limited ranges of time and length scales are used experimentally to observe and quantify changes in physiology due to cancer. Translating knowledge obtained from the limited scales observed experimentally to predict patient response is an essential prerequisite for the rational design of cancer immunotherapies that improve clinical outcomes. In studying multiscale systems, engineers use systems analysis and design to identify important components in a complex system and to test conceptual understanding of the integrated system behavior using simulation. The objective of this review is to summarize interactions between the tumor and cell-mediated immunity from a multiscale perspective. Interleukin-12 and its role in coordinating antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity is used illustrate the different time and length scale that underpin cancer immunoediting. An underlying theme in this review is the potential role that simulation can play in translating knowledge across scales

Affective computing in virtual reality: emotion recognition from brain and heartbeat dynamics using wearable sensors

[EN] Affective Computing has emerged as an important field of study that aims to develop systems that can automatically recognize emotions. Up to the present, elicitation has been carried out with nonimmersive stimuli. This study, on the other hand, aims to develop an emotion recognition system for affective states evoked through Immersive Virtual Environments. Four alternative virtual rooms were designed to elicit four possible arousal-valence combinations, as described in each quadrant of the Circumplex Model of Affects. An experiment involving the recording of the electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) of sixty participants was carried out. A set of features was extracted from these signals using various state-of-the-art metrics that quantify brain and cardiovascular linear and nonlinear dynamics, which were input into a Support Vector Machine classifier to predict the subject's arousal and valence perception. The model's accuracy was 75.00% along the arousal dimension and 71.21% along the valence dimension. Our findings validate the use of Immersive Virtual Environments to elicit and automatically recognize different emotional states from neural and cardiac dynamics; this development could have novel applications in fields as diverse as Architecture, Health, Education and Videogames.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. Spain (Project TIN2013-45736-R).Marín-Morales, J.; Higuera-Trujillo, JL.; Greco, A.; Guixeres Provinciale, J.; Llinares Millán, MDC.; Scilingo, EP.; Alcañiz Raya, ML.... (2018). Affective computing in virtual reality: emotion recognition from brain and heartbeat dynamics using wearable sensors. Scientific Reports. 8:1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32063-4S1158Picard, R. W. Affective computing. (MIT press, 1997).Picard, R. W. Affective Computing: Challenges. Int. J. Hum. Comput. 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Population Structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Five Mediterranean Countries: Evidence for Frequent Recombination and Epidemic Occurrence of CC235

Several studies in recent years have provided evidence that Pseudomonas aeruginosa has a non-clonal population structure punctuated by highly successful epidemic clones or clonal complexes. The role of recombination in the diversification of P. aeruginosa clones has been suggested, but not yet demonstrated using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Isolates of P. aeruginosa from five Mediterranean countries (n = 141) were subjected to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), serotyping and PCR targeting the virulence genes exoS and exoU. The occurrence of multi-resistance (≥3 antipseudomonal drugs) was analyzed with disk diffusion according to EUCAST. MLST was performed on a subset of strains (n = 110) most of them had a distinct PFGE variant. MLST data were analyzed with Bionumerics 6.0, using minimal spanning tree (MST) as well as eBURST. Measurement of clonality was assessed by the standardized index of association (IAS). Evidence of recombination was estimated by ClonalFrame as well as SplitsTree4.0. The MST analysis connected 70 sequence types, among which ST235 was by far the most common. ST235 was very frequently associated with the O11 serotype, and frequently displayed multi-resistance and the virulence genotype exoS−/exoU+. ClonalFrame linked several groups previously identified by eBURST and MST, and provided insight to the evolutionary events occurring in the population; the recombination/mutation ratio was found to be 8.4. A Neighbor-Net analysis based on the concatenated sequences revealed a complex network, providing evidence of frequent recombination. The index of association when all the strains were considered indicated a freely recombining population. P. aeruginosa isolates from the Mediterranean countries display an epidemic population structure, particularly dominated by ST235-O11, which has earlier also been coupled to the spread of ß-lactamases in many countries

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Characterization of microsatellite loci in two closely related Lissotriton newt species

We have developed eight di- and tetranucleotide Lissotriton microsatellite markers. Eight loci were polymorphic in the palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus and six were polymorphic in the smooth newt L. vulgaris. Polymorphism detected in 33 and 37 individuals per species ranged from 3 to 15 alleles. These markers are suitable for the investigation of population structure, genetic variation and taxonomic identification in the two focal species, and may also be of use in other Lissotriton–Triturus species

Characterization of microsatellite loci in two closely related Lissotriton newt species

We have developed eight di- and tetranucleotide Lissotriton microsatellite markers. Eight loci were polymorphic in the palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus and six were polymorphic in the smooth newt L. vulgaris. Polymorphism detected in 33 and 37 individuals per species ranged from 3 to 15 alleles. These markers are suitable for the investigation of population structure, genetic variation and taxonomic identification in the two focal species, and may also be of use in other Lissotriton–Triturus species