Osteopontin: an early innate immune marker of Escherichia coli mastitis harbors genetic polymorphisms with possible links with resistance to mastitis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mastitis is the most important disease in dairy cows and it causes significant lost of profit to producers. Identification of the genes, and their variants, involved in innate immune responses is essential for the understanding of this inflammatory disease and to identify potential genetic markers for resistance to mastitis. The progeny of dairy cows would benefit from receiving favourable alleles that support greater resistance to infection, thus reducing antibiotic use. This study aims to identify a key gene in the innate immune response to mastitis, led us to evaluate its genetic association with somatic cell score (SCS), which is an indicator of clinical mastitis, and to evaluate its impact on other traits related to milk production.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The osteopontin transcript (<it>SPP1</it>) was identified in the somatic cells from cows experimentally infected with <it>Escherichia coli</it>. By selecting bulls with extreme estimated breeding values (EBVs) for SCS, which is an indicator of mammary gland health, four DNA polymorphisms in the <it>SPP1 </it>genomic sequence were found. Statistical analysis revealed that the SNP <it>SPP1c.-1301G>A </it>has an impact on EBV for SCS (<it>P </it>< 0.001) Using an allele substitution model, <it>SPP1c.-1251C>T</it>, <it>SPP1c.-430G>A</it>, and <it>SPP1c.*40A>C </it>have an impact on SCS whereas <it>SPP1c.-1301G>A </it>has an effect on the EBVs for milk yield (second and third lactations), fat and protein percentages (all three lactations). Analysis revealed statistically significant differences between haplotype groups at a comparison-wise level with sire EBVS for SCS for the first (<it>P </it>= 0.012), second (<it>P </it>< 0.001), and third (<it>P </it>< 0.001) lactations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study reports the link between DNA polymorphisms of <it>SPP1</it>, the number of milk immune cells and, potentially, the susceptibility to mastitis. These SNPs were identified by <it>in silico </it>search to be located in transcription factor recognition sites which factors are presumably involved in the Th1 immune response and in the Th2 regulation pathway. Indeed, one SNP abolished the SP1 recognition site, whereas another SNP affected the transcription binding factor IKAROS. All together, these findings support the genetic potential of these variants in terms of selection for the improvement of mastitis resistance in dairy cows.</p

Emergencia del pensamiento algebraico en preescolar: estrategias de alumnos en relación con el concepto de equivalencia matemática

En este artículo presentaremos los resultados de un estudio de investigación colaborativa realizado en Ontario, Canadá. El objetivo era caracterizar las estrategias de los alumnos de preescolar asociadas a un pensamiento algebraico con respecto a la noción de equivalencia matemática. Para esto, propusimos dos tareas a 36 estudiantes de tres clases y analizamos sus estrategias. Nuestros resultados destacan 14 estrategias utilizadas por los estudiantes para trabajar con el concepto de equivalencia; entre estas, tres facilitarían el establecimiento de un razonamiento asociado con un pensamiento algebraico. Nuestra investigación muestra que los niños pueden razonar sobre la noción de equivalencia en un sentido relacional, y esto desde el preescolar, mucho antes de que se introduzca el álgebra formal

Emergencia del pensamiento algebraico en preescolar: estrategias de alumnos en relación con el concepto de equivalencia matemática

En este artículo presentaremos los resultados de un estudio de investigación colaborativa realizado en Ontario, Canadá. El objetivo era caracterizar las estrategias de los alumnos de preescolar asociadas a un pensamiento algebraico con respecto a la noción de equivalencia matemática. Para esto, propusimos dos tareas a 36 estudiantes de tres clases y analizamos sus estrategias. Nuestros resultados destacan 14 estrategias utilizadas por los estudiantes para trabajar con el concepto de equivalencia; entre estas, tres facilitarían el establecimiento de un razonamiento asociado con un pensamiento algebraico. Nuestra investigación muestra que los niños pueden razonar sobre la noción de equivalencia en un sentido relacional, y esto desde el preescolar, mucho antes de que se introduzca el álgebra formal

Emergencia del pensamiento algebraico en preescolar: estrategias de alumnos en relación con el concepto de equivalencia matemática

In this article, we present the results of a collaborative research conducted in Ontario. The objective of the study was to characterize preschool students’ algebraic thinking strategies concerning the notion of mathematical equivalence. To do so, we proposed two tasks to 36 students from three different classes and analyzed their strategies. Our results highlight 14 strategies used by students to work with the concept of equivalence; within these, three facilitated reasoning associated to algebraic thinking. Our research demonstrates that preschool children can reason on the notion of equivalence in a relational manner well before algebra is formally introduced.En este artículo presentaremos los resultados de un estudio de investigación colaborativa realizado en Ontario, Canadá. El objetivo era caracterizar las estrategias de los alumnos de preescolar asociadas a un pensamiento algebraico con respecto a la noción de equivalencia matemática. Para esto, propusimos dos tareas a 36 estudiantes de tres clases y analizamos sus estrategias. Nuestros resultados destacan 14 estrategias utilizadas por los estudiantes para trabajar con el concepto de equivalencia; entre estas, tres facilitarían el establecimiento de un razonamiento asociado con un pensamiento algebraico. Nuestra investigación muestra que los niños pueden razonar sobre la noción de equivalencia en un sentido relacional, y esto desde el preescolar, mucho antes de que se introduzca el álgebra formal

Administration of probiotics influences F4 (K88)-positive enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli attachment and intestinal cytokine expression in weaned pigs

This study evaluated the effect of the probiotics Pediococcus acidilactici and Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii on the intestinal colonization of O149 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli harbouring the F4 (K88) fimbriae (ETEC F4) and on the expression of ileal cytokines in weaned pigs. At birth, different litters of pigs were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: 1) control without antibiotics or probiotics (CTRL); 2) reference group in which chlortetracycline and tiamulin were added to weanling feed (ATB); 3) P. acidilactici; 4) S. cerevisiae boulardii; or 5) P. acidilactici + S. cerevisiae boulardii. Probiotics were administered daily (1 × 109 CFU per pig) during the lactation period and after weaning (day 21). At 28 days of age, all pigs were orally challenged with an ETEC F4 strain, and a necropsy was performed 24 h later. Intestinal segments were collected to evaluate bacterial colonization in the small intestine and ileal cytokine expressions. Attachment of ETEC F4 to the intestinal mucosa was significantly reduced in pigs treated with P. acidilactici or S. cerevisiae boulardii in comparison with the ATB group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively). In addition, proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, were upregulated in ETEC F4 challenged pigs treated with P. acidilactici alone or in combination with S. cerevisiae boulardii compared with the CTRL group. In conclusion, the administration of P. acidilactici or S. cerevisiae boulardii was effective in reducing ETEC F4 attachment to the ileal mucosa, whereas the presence of P. acidilactici was required to modulate the expression of intestinal inflammatory cytokines in pigs challenged with ETEC F4

Grid of analysis supporting the participative design methodology

PALETTE deliverable - report number D.PAR.01This deliverable presents the participatory design methodology of the PALETTE project and some first results of the implementation of this process. Some principles of the Actor Network Theory and of the Agile Methodology are embedded in the different stages of this methodology whose twelve stages (described in details in the last section) will be the basis of the participative development of services and scenarios of use

Androgen-Regulated Expression of Arginase 1, Arginase 2 and Interleukin-8 in Human Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in North American men. Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) accentuates the infiltration of immune cells within the prostate. However, the immunosuppressive pathways regulated by androgens in PCa are not well characterized. Arginase 2 (ARG2) expression by PCa cells leads to a reduced activation of tumor-specific T cells. Our hypothesis was that androgens could regulate the expression of ARG2 by PCa cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this report, we demonstrate that both ARG1 and ARG2 are expressed by hormone-sensitive (HS) and hormone-refractory (HR) PCa cell lines, with the LNCaP cells having the highest arginase activity. In prostate tissue samples, ARG2 was more expressed in normal and non-malignant prostatic tissues compared to tumor tissues. Following androgen stimulation of LNCaP cells with 10 nM R1881, both ARG1 and ARG2 were overexpressed. The regulation of arginase expression following androgen stimulation was dependent on the androgen receptor (AR), as a siRNA treatment targeting the AR inhibited both ARG1 and ARG2 overexpression. This observation was correlated in vivo in patients by immunohistochemistry. Patients treated by ADT prior to surgery had lower ARG2 expression in both non-malignant and malignant tissues. Furthermore, ARG1 and ARG2 were enzymatically active and their decreased expression by siRNA resulted in reduced overall arginase activity and l-arginine metabolism. The decreased ARG1 and ARG2 expression also translated with diminished LNCaP cells cell growth and increased PBMC activation following exposure to LNCaP cells conditioned media. Finally, we found that interleukin-8 (IL-8) was also upregulated following androgen stimulation and that it directly increased the expression of ARG1 and ARG2 in the absence of androgens. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data provides the first detailed in vitro and in vivo account of an androgen-regulated immunosuppressive pathway in human PCa through the expression of ARG1, ARG2 and IL-8

The Meaning of the English Adverbial Suffix-ly

In Modern English, adverbs are generally derived from an adjectival root to which the suffix -ly is added. However, -ly is also found in other kinds of words such as adjectives and even a few substantives. Therefore, the problem of the English suffix ?ly lies in the fact that it is generally considered an adverbial suffix even though it is used to form other types of words. The suffix apparently has many uses which would endow it with many functions and meanings. To complicate matters further, some -ty adjectives and adverbs have bare counterparts, and they form adjectival and adverbial pairs. The adverbial pairs are made up of two adverbs derived from the same adjectival root, and one adverb is characterized by the -ly suffix, whereas the other adverb is bare, meaning that it is identical in form to the root. Here is an example: He thought deeply about religious matters, and He plunged deep into the ocean. An example of an adjectival pair would be a kind man and a kindly heart. Interestingly, in a good number of adverbial pairs, the -ly adverb and the bare adverb are not interchangeable, as is the case for deep and deeply, mentioned above. This suggests that there is a semantic difference between the two types of adverbs, and that this difference would probably be explained by the presence of the suffix. Since the -ly suffixes, be they adverbial, adjectival, or substantival, are morphologically identical and since they have a common etymological root, the question of whether a definition exists that could be generalized to all uses of the suffix can be raised. If such a semantic link existed, this would mean that -ly does far more than, as many grammars claim, simply generate adverbs. The goal of this thesis is to show that -ly is a consistently meaningful suffix that tells us something about the nature of the genesis of the lexical content of whatever part of speech the word may belong to. In other words, it will be proposed that there exists a unique semantic value of the suffix in tongue which would explain all of its uses in discourse

Facteurs déterminants du traitement comptable des frais de recherche et de développement

Comme les résultats obtenus relativement à la relation entre l'utilisation de la capitalisation et le niveau d'endettement de l'entreprise sont difficiles à généraliser, ils ne permettent pas de conclure à l'existence d'une telle relation. Or, il a été démontré dans la littérature comptable, qu'en absence de normalisation, les entreprises endettées favorisent la méthode de capitalisation. Cela suggère donc que les critères énoncés par l'ICCA limitent le recours à la capitalisation. Les résultats obtenus relativement à la proportion des frais de développement capitalisés suggèrent qu'aucune relation n'existe entre la proportion capitalisée et le niveau d'endettement de l'entreprise. Cela suggère que les critères énoncés limitent le montant des frais de développement capitalisés. Par ailleurs, une association négative a été observée entre le recours à l'imputation et la taille des entreprises. Ce résultat est surprenant car les grandes entreprises sont vraisemblablement fructueuses et ont de bonnes chances de satisfaire les critères énoncés par l'ICCA. Cela suggère que les grandes entreprises se soustraient à l'obligation de capitaliser leurs frais de développement et que cela est vraisemblablement toléré par l'ICCA

Facteurs déterminants du traitement comptable des frais de recherche et de développement

Comme les résultats obtenus relativement à la relation entre l'utilisation de la capitalisation et le niveau d'endettement de l'entreprise sont difficiles à généraliser, ils ne permettent pas de conclure à l'existence d'une telle relation. Or, il a été démontré dans la littérature comptable, qu'en absence de normalisation, les entreprises endettées favorisent la méthode de capitalisation. Cela suggère donc que les critères énoncés par l'ICCA limitent le recours à la capitalisation. Les résultats obtenus relativement à la proportion des frais de développement capitalisés suggèrent qu'aucune relation n'existe entre la proportion capitalisée et le niveau d'endettement de l'entreprise. Cela suggère que les critères énoncés limitent le montant des frais de développement capitalisés. Par ailleurs, une association négative a été observée entre le recours à l'imputation et la taille des entreprises. Ce résultat est surprenant car les grandes entreprises sont vraisemblablement fructueuses et ont de bonnes chances de satisfaire les critères énoncés par l'ICCA. Cela suggère que les grandes entreprises se soustraient à l'obligation de capitaliser leurs frais de développement et que cela est vraisemblablement toléré par l'ICCA