Cell Cycle- and Cancer-Associated Gene Networks Activated by Dsg2: Evidence of Cystatin A Deregulation and a Potential Role in Cell-Cell Adhesion

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (Mahoney, R01AR056067; Riobo, RO1 GM088256). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Social Cognition.

The traditional view on the cerebellum is that it controls motor behavior. Although recent work has revealed that the cerebellum supports also nonmotor functions such as cognition and affect, only during the last 5 years it has become evident that the cerebellum also plays an important social role. This role is evident in social cognition based on interpreting goal-directed actions through the movements of individuals (social "mirroring") which is very close to its original role in motor learning, as well as in social understanding of other individuals' mental state, such as their intentions, beliefs, past behaviors, future aspirations, and personality traits (social "mentalizing"). Most of this mentalizing role is supported by the posterior cerebellum (e.g., Crus I and II). The most dominant hypothesis is that the cerebellum assists in learning and understanding social action sequences, and so facilitates social cognition by supporting optimal predictions about imminent or future social interaction and cooperation. This consensus paper brings together experts from different fields to discuss recent efforts in understanding the role of the cerebellum in social cognition, and the understanding of social behaviors and mental states by others, its effect on clinical impairments such as cerebellar ataxia and autism spectrum disorder, and how the cerebellum can become a potential target for noninvasive brain stimulation as a therapeutic intervention. We report on the most recent empirical findings and techniques for understanding and manipulating cerebellar circuits in humans. Cerebellar circuitry appears now as a key structure to elucidate social interactions

Mitochondrial respiratory states and rate

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to human health expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminologyconcerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. Thechemiosmotic theoryestablishes the mechanism of energy transformationandcoupling in oxidative phosphorylation. Theunifying concept of the protonmotive force providestheframeworkfordeveloping a consistent theoretical foundation ofmitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics.We followguidelines of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry(IUPAC)onterminology inphysical chemistry, extended by considerationsofopen systems and thermodynamicsof irreversible processes.Theconcept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and alignsconcepts and symbols withthe nomenclature of classicalbioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view ofmitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes.Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimatelycontribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thussupport the development of databases of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells.Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

The emergence of core eudicots: new floral evidence from the earliest Late Cretaceous

Eudicots, the most diverse of the three major clades of living angiosperms, are first recognized in the latest Barremian–earliest Aptian. All Early Cretaceous forms appear to be related to species-poor lineages that diverged before the rise of core eudicots, which today comprise more than 70% of angiosperm species. Here, we report the discovery of a well-preserved flower, Caliciflora mauldinensis, from the earliest Late Cretaceous, with unequivocal core eudicot features, including five sepals, five petals and two whorls of stamens borne on the rim of a floral cup containing three free carpels. Pollen is tricolporate. Carpels mature into follicular fruitlets. This character combination suggests a phylogenetic position among rosids, but more specific assignment is precluded by complex patterns of character evolution among the very large number of potentially relevant extant taxa. The whorled floral organization is consistent with ideas that this stable pattern evolved early and was a prerequisite for more integrated patterns of floral architecture that evolved later. However, limited floral synorganization in Caliciflora and all earlier eudicot flowers recognized so far, calls into question hypotheses that substantial diversification of core eudicots had already occurred by the end of the Early Cretaceous.VR 2014-5228: Blomväxternas tidiga historia och vegetationsutveckling under krittide

New approaches for estimating risk from exposure to diethylstilbestrol.

A subgroup from a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, workshop concerned with characterizing the effects of endocrine disruptors on human health at environmental exposure levels considered the question, If diethylstilbestrol (DES) were introduced into the market for human use today and likely to result in low-dose exposure of the human fetus, what would be required to assess risk? On the basis of an analysis of the quality of data on human DES exposure, the critical times and doses for inducing genital tract malformations and cancer must be determined. This would be facilitated through analysis of the ontogeny of estrogen receptor expression in the developing human genital tract. Models of low-dose estrogenic effects will have to be developed for human and rodent genital tract development. Mouse models offer many advantages over other potential animal models because of the wealth of the earlier literature, the availability of sensitive end points, the availability of mutant lines, and the possibility of generating genetically engineered model systems. Through multidisciplinary approaches, it should be possible to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of endocrine disruption elicited by estrogens during development and facilitate an assessment of risk to humans

Sea Ice Modelling

Peer reviewe