939 research outputs found
Cytomegalovirus Infection of the Cervix Detected By Cytology and Histology: A Report of Five Cases
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72846/1/j.1365-2303.1993.tb00094.x.pd
Transgenic Rescue of the LARGEmyd Mouse: A LARGE Therapeutic Window?
LARGE is a glycosyltransferase involved in glycosylation of α-dystroglycan (α-DG). Absence of this protein in the LARGEmyd mouse results in α-DG hypoglycosylation, and is associated with central nervous system abnormalities and progressive muscular dystrophy. Up-regulation of LARGE has previously been proposed as a therapy for the secondary dystroglycanopathies: overexpression in cells compensates for defects in multiple dystroglycanopathy genes. Counterintuitively, LARGE overexpression in an FKRP-deficient mouse exacerbates pathology, suggesting that modulation of α-DG glycosylation requires further investigation. Here we demonstrate that transgenic expression of human LARGE (LARGE-LV5) in the LARGEmyd mouse restores α-DG glycosylation (with marked hyperglycosylation in muscle) and that this corrects both the muscle pathology and brain architecture. By quantitative analyses of LARGE transcripts we also here show that levels of transgenic and endogenous LARGE in the brains of transgenic animals are comparable, but that the transgene is markedly overexpressed in heart and particularly skeletal muscle (20–100 fold over endogenous). Our data suggest LARGE overexpression may only be deleterious under a forced regenerative context, such as that resulting from a reduction in FKRP: in the absence of such a defect we show that systemic expression of LARGE can indeed act therapeutically, and that even dramatic LARGE overexpression is well-tolerated in heart and skeletal muscle. Moreover, correction of LARGEmyd brain pathology with only moderate, near-physiological LARGE expression suggests a generous therapeutic window
Deep forecasting of translational impact in medical research
The value of biomedical research--a $1.7 trillion annual investment--is
ultimately determined by its downstream, real-world impact. Current objective
predictors of impact rest on proxy, reductive metrics of dissemination, such as
paper citation rates, whose relation to real-world translation remains
unquantified. Here we sought to determine the comparative predictability of
future real-world translation--as indexed by inclusion in patents, guidelines
or policy documents--from complex models of the abstract-level content of
biomedical publications versus citations and publication meta-data alone. We
develop a suite of representational and discriminative mathematical models of
multi-scale publication data, quantifying predictive performance out-of-sample,
ahead-of-time, across major biomedical domains, using the entire corpus of
biomedical research captured by Microsoft Academic Graph from 1990 to 2019,
encompassing 43.3 million papers across all domains. We show that citations are
only moderately predictive of translational impact as judged by inclusion in
patents, guidelines, or policy documents. By contrast, high-dimensional models
of publication titles, abstracts and metadata exhibit high fidelity (AUROC >
0.9), generalise across time and thematic domain, and transfer to the task of
recognising papers of Nobel Laureates. The translational impact of a paper
indexed by inclusion in patents, guidelines, or policy documents can be
predicted--out-of-sample and ahead-of-time--with substantially higher fidelity
from complex models of its abstract-level content than from models of
publication meta-data or citation metrics. We argue that content-based models
of impact are superior in performance to conventional, citation-based measures,
and sustain a stronger evidence-based claim to the objective measurement of
translational potential
Wheat-barley hybridization – the last forty years
Abstract Several useful alien gene transfers have
been reported from related species into wheat (Triticum
aestivum), but very few publications have dealt
with the development of wheat/barley (Hordeum
vulgare) introgression lines. An overview is given
here of wheat 9 barley hybridization over the last
forty years, including the development of
wheat 9 barley hybrids, and of addition and translocation
lines with various barley cultivars. A short
summary is also given of the wheat 9 barley hybrids
produced with other Hordeum species. The meiotic
pairing behaviour of wheat 9 barley hybrids is presented,
with special regard to the detection of wheat–
barley homoeologous pairing using the molecular
cytogenetic technique GISH. The effect of in vitro
multiplication on the genome composition of intergeneric
hybrids is discussed, and the production and
characterization of the latest wheat/barley translocation
lines are presented. An overview of the agronomical
traits (b-glucan content, earliness, salt tolerance,
sprouting resistance, etc.) of the newly developed
introgression lines is given. The exploitation and
possible use of wheat/barley introgression lines for
the most up-to-date molecular genetic studies
(transcriptome analysis, sequencing of flow-sorted
chromosomes) are also discussed
Adult-Young Ratio, a Major Factor Regulating Social Behaviour of Young: A Horse Study
Adults play an important role in regulating the social behaviour of young individuals. However, a few pioneer studies suggest that, more than the mere presence of adults, their proportions in social groups affect the social development of young. Here, we hypothesized that aggression rates and social cohesion were correlated to adult-young ratios. Our biological model was naturally-formed groups of Przewalski horses, Equus f. przewalskii, varying in composition.We investigated the social interactions and spatial relationships of 12 one- and two-year-old Przewalski horses belonging to five families with adult-young ratios (AYR) ranging from 0.67 to 1.33. We found striking variations of aggression rates and spatial relationships related to the adult-young ratio: the lower this ratio, the more the young were aggressive, the more young and adults segregated and the tighter the young bonded to other young.This is the first study demonstrating a correlation between adult-young ratios and aggression rates and social cohesion of young individuals in a naturalistic setting. The increase of aggression and the emergence of social segregation in groups with lower proportions of adults could reflect a related decrease of the influence of adults as regulators of the behaviour of young. This social regulation has both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the modalities of the influence of adults during ontogeny and for recommending optimal settings, as for instance, for schooling or animal group management
Impact of insecticide-treated nets on wild pyrethroid resistant Anopheles epiroticus population from southern Vietnam tested in experimental huts
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this study, the efficacy of insecticide-treated nets was evaluated in terms of deterrence, blood-feeding inhibition, induced exophily and mortality on a wild resistant population of <it>Anopheles epiroticus </it>in southern Vietnam, in order to gain insight into the operational consequences of the insecticide resistance observed in this malaria vector in the Mekong delta.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>An experimental station, based on the model of West Africa and adapted to the behaviour of the target species, was built in southern Vietnam. The study design was adapted from the WHO phase 2 guidelines. The study arms included a conventionally treated polyester net (CTN) with deltamethrin washed just before exhaustion, the WHO recommended long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) PermaNet 2.0<sup>® </sup>unwashed and 20 times washed and PermaNet 3.0<sup>®</sup>, designed for the control of pyrethroid resistant vectors, unwashed and 20 times washed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The nets still provided personal protection against the resistant <it>An. epiroticus </it>population. The personal protection ranged from 67% for deltamethrin CTN to 85% for unwashed PermaNet 3.0. Insecticide resistance in the <it>An. epiroticus </it>mosquitoes did not seem to alter the deterrent effect of pyrethroids. A significant higher mortality was still observed among the treatment arms despite the fact that the <it>An. epiroticus </it>population is resistant against the tested insecticides.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows that CTN and LLINs still protect individuals against a pyrethroid resistant malaria vector from the Mekong region, where insecticide resistance is caused by a metabolic mechanism. In the light of a possible elimination of malaria from the Mekong region these insights in operational consequences of the insecticide resistance on control tools is of upmost importance.</p
Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations at large transverse momenta in and Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
Results on high transverse momentum charged particle emission with respect to
the reaction plane are presented for Au+Au collisions at =
200 GeV. Two- and four-particle correlations results are presented as well as a
comparison of azimuthal correlations in Au+Au collisions to those in at
the same energy. Elliptic anisotropy, , is found to reach its maximum at
GeV/c, then decrease slowly and remain significant up to
-- 10 GeV/c. Stronger suppression is found in the back-to-back
high- particle correlations for particles emitted out-of-plane compared to
those emitted in-plane. The centrality dependence of at intermediate
is compared to simple models based on jet quenching.Comment: 4 figures. Published version as PRL 93, 252301 (2004
Azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV
The results from the STAR Collaboration on directed flow (v_1), elliptic flow
(v_2), and the fourth harmonic (v_4) in the anisotropic azimuthal distribution
of particles from Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV are summarized and
compared with results from other experiments and theoretical models. Results
for identified particles are presented and fit with a Blast Wave model.
Different anisotropic flow analysis methods are compared and nonflow effects
are extracted from the data. For v_2, scaling with the number of constituent
quarks and parton coalescence is discussed. For v_4, scaling with v_2^2 and
quark coalescence is discussed.Comment: 26 pages. As accepted by Phys. Rev. C. Text rearranged, figures
modified, but data the same. However, in Fig. 35 the hydro calculations are
corrected in this version. The data tables are available at
http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications/ by searching for "flow" and
then this pape
Estrogen aggravates inflammation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia in cystic fibrosis mice
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Among patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), females have worse pulmonary function and survival than males, primarily due to chronic lung inflammation and infection with <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>(<it>P. aeruginosa</it>). A role for gender hormones in the causation of the CF "gender gap" has been proposed. The female gender hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) plays a complex immunomodulatory role in humans and in animal models of disease, suppressing inflammation in some situations while enhancing it in others. Helper T-cells were long thought to belong exclusively to either T helper type 1 (Th1) or type 2 (Th2) lineages. However, a distinct lineage named Th17 is now recognized that is induced by interleukin (IL)-23 to produce IL-17 and other pro-inflammatory Th17 effector molecules. Recent evidence suggests a central role for the IL-23/IL-17 pathway in the pathogenesis of CF lung inflammation. We used a mouse model to test the hypothesis that E2 aggravates the CF lung inflammation that occurs in response to airway infection with <it>P. aeruginosa </it>by a Th17-mediated mechanism.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Exogenous E2 caused adult male CF mice with pneumonia due to a mucoid CF clinical isolate, the <it>P. aeruginosa </it>strain PA508 (PA508), to develop more severe manifestations of inflammation in both lung tissue and in bronchial alveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, with increased total white blood cell counts and differential and absolute cell counts of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (neutrophils). Inflammatory infiltrates and mucin production were increased on histology. Increased lung tissue mRNA levels for IL-23 and IL-17 were accompanied by elevated protein levels of Th17-associated pro-inflammatory mediators in BAL fluid. The burden of PA508 bacteria was increased in lung tissue homogenate and in BAL fluid, and there was a virtual elimination in lung tissue of mRNA for lactoferrin, an antimicrobial peptide active against <it>P. aeruginosa </it>in vitro.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data show that E2 increases the severity of PA508 pneumonia in adult CF male mice, and suggest two potential mechanisms: enhancement of Th17-regulated inflammation and suppression of innate antibacterial defences. Although this animal model does not recapitulate all aspects of human CF lung disease, our present findings argue for further investigation of the effects of E2 on inflammation and infection with <it>P. aeruginosa </it>in the CF lung.</p
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