Broad lipidomic and transcriptional changes of prophylactic PEA administration in adult mice

Beside diverse therapeutic properties of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) including: neuroprotection neuroprotection, inflammation and pain alleviation, prophylactic effects have also been reported in animal animal models of infections, inflammation, neurological diseases, etc. The availability of PEA as (ultra)micronized nutraceutical formulations with reportedly no side effects, renders it accordingly accordingly an appealing candidate in human preventive care, such as in population at high risk of disease disease development or for healthy aging. PEA’s mode of action is multi-faceted. Consensus exists that that PEA’s effects are primarily modulated by the peroxime proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) and that PEA-activated PPARα has a pleiotropic effect on lipid metabolism, inflammation gene gene networks, host defense mechanisms, etc. Yet, an exhaustive view of how the prophylactic PEA administration administration changes the lipid signaling in brain and periphery so as to elicit a beneficial response response to various negative stimuli remains still elusive. We therefore, undertook a broad lipidomic lipidomic and transcriptomic study in brain and spleen of control mice to unravel the positive molecular molecular phenotype rendered by prophylactic PEA. We applied a tissue lipidomic and transcriptomic approach approach based on simultaneous extraction and subsequent targeted liquid chromatography multiple reaction reaction monitoring (LC-MRM) and mRNA analysis by qPCR, respectively. We targeted lipids of COX-2 and LOX-pathways, membrane phospholipids, lipid products of cPLA2, and free fatty acids, along with various various genes involved in their biosynthesis and function. Additionally, plasma lipidomics was applied applied to reveal circulatory consequences and/or reflection of PEA’s action. We found broad, distinct distinct, and several previously unknown tissue transcriptional regulation of inflammatory pathways pathways. In hippocampus also transcriptional regulation by PEA of neuronal activity and excitability excitability was evidenced. A massive downregulation of membrane lipid levels in the splenic tissue of of the immune system with a consequent shift toward pro-resolving lipid environment was also detected detected. Plasma lipid pattern reflected to a large extent the hippocampal and splenic lipidome changes changes, highlighting the value of plasma lipidomics to monitor effects of nutraceutical PEA administration administration. Altogether, these findings contribute new insights into PEA’s molecular mechanism and helps answering the question: how PEA prepares the body for insults and what are the “good lipids lipids” that underlie this action

Four-dimensional trapped ion mobility spectrometry lipidomics for high throughput clinical profiling of human blood samples

Lipidomics encompassing automated lipid extraction, a four-dimensional (4D) feature selection strategy for confident lipid annotation as well as reproducible and cross-validated quantification can expedite clinical profiling. Here, we determine 4D descriptors (mass to charge, retention time, collision cross section, and fragmentation spectra) of 200 lipid standards and 493 lipids from reference plasma via trapped ion mobility mass spectrometry to enable the implementation of stringent criteria for lipid annotation. We use 4D lipidomics to confidently annotate 370 lipids in reference plasma samples and 364 lipids in serum samples, and reproducibly quantify 359 lipids using level-3 internal standards. We show the utility of our 4D lipidomics workflow for high-throughput applications by reliable profiling of intra-individual lipidome phenotypes in plasma, serum, whole blood, venous and finger-prick dried blood spots

Appraisals and coping mediate the relationship between resilience and distress among significant others of persons with spinal cord injury or acquired brain injury: a cross-sectional study

Background: Many significant others of persons with serious conditions like spinal cord injury (SCI) and acquired brain injury (ABI) report high levels of psychological distress. In line with the stress-coping model, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personal resource resilience and psychological distress, and whether appraisals of threat and loss, and passive coping mediate this relationship. Methods: Significant others (n = 228) of persons with SCI or ABI completed questionnaires shortly after admission to first inpatient rehabilitation after onset of the condition. The questionnaire included measures to assess psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10), appraisals (Appraisals of Life Events scale, threat and loss) and passive coping (Utrecht Coping List). The PROCESS tool was used to test the presence of mediation. Confounding and differences between SCI and ABI were investigated. Results: High levels of psychological distress among significant others were found (34-41%). Fifty-five percent of the variance in psychological distress was explained by the relationship between resilience and psychological distress. This relationship was mediated by appraisals of threat and loss, and passive coping. The relationship between resilience and psychological distress was similar in the SCI and ABI groups. Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that appraisals of threat and loss and passive coping are mediating factors in the relationship between resilience and psychological distress. It seems useful to investigate if interventions focussing on psychological factors like resilience, appraisal and coping are effective to prevent or reduce psychological distress among significant others of persons with SCI or ABI

Microbial rhodopsins on leaf surfaces of terrestrial plants

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Microbiology 14 (2012): 140-146, doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02554.x.The above-ground surfaces of terrestrial plants, the phyllosphere, comprise the main interface between the terrestrial biosphere and solar radiation. It is estimated to host up to 1026 microbial cells that may intercept part of the photon flux impinging on the leaves. Based on 454- pyrosequencing generated metagenome data, we report on the existence of diverse microbial rhodopsins in five distinct phyllospheres from tamarisk (Tamarix nilotica), soybean (Glycine max), Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), clover (Trifolium repens) and rice (Oryza sativa). Our findings, for the first time describing microbial rhodopsins from non-aquatic habitats, point toward the potential coexistence of microbial rhodopsin-based phototrophy and plant chlorophyll-based photosynthesis, with the different pigments absorbing non-overlapping fractions of the light spectrum.This work was supported in part by a grant from Bridging the Rift Foundation (O.B. & S.B.), Israel Science Foundation grant 1203/06 (O.B.), the Gruss-Lipper Family Foundation at MBL (O.M.F., S.B. & A.F.P.), a US-Israel Binational Science Foundation grant 2006324 (S.B.), and DOE National Institutes of Health Grant R37GM27750, Department of Energy Grant DE-FG02-07ER15867, and endowed chair AU-0009 from the Robert A. Welch Foundation (J.L.S.)

Appraisals and coping mediate the relationship between resilience and distress among significant others of persons with spinal cord injury or acquired brain injury: A cross-sectional study

Background: Many significant others of persons with serious conditions like spinal cord injury (SCI) and acquired brain injury (ABI) report high levels of psychological distress. In line with the stress-coping model, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personal resource resilience and psychological distress, and whether appraisals of threat and loss, and passive coping mediate this relationship. Methods: Significant others (n = 228) of persons with SCI or ABI completed questionnaires shortly after admission to first inpatient rehabilitation after onset of the condition. The questionnaire included measures to assess psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10), appraisals (Appraisals of Life Events scale, threat and loss) and passive coping (Utrecht Coping List). The PROCESS tool was used to test the presence of mediation. Confounding and differences between SCI and ABI were investigated. Results: High levels of psychological distress among significant others were found (34-41%). Fifty-five percent of the variance in psychological distress was explained by the relationship between resilience and psychological distress. This relationship was mediated by appraisals of threat and loss, and passive coping. The relationship between resilience and psychological distress was similar in the SCI and ABI groups. Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that appraisals of threat and loss and passive coping are mediating factors in the relationship between resilience and psychological distress. It seems useful to investigate if interventions focussing on psychological factors like resilience, appraisal and coping are effective to prevent or reduce psychological distress among significant others of persons with SCI or ABI

Moving Forward: Refinement of the INTELLIGENT RIVER, A Basin-Scale Monitoring Instrument

2012 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Exploring Opportunities for Collaborative Water Research, Policy and Managemen

Effects of Increasing Soybean Meal in Corn-Wheat Midds-Based Diets on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Late Finishing Pigs

A total of 786 pigs (PIC TR4 × (Fast LW × PIC L02); initially 213.2 lb ± 2.37 lb) were used to evaluate the effects of increasing soybean meal (SBM) in corn-wheat middsbased diets on growth performance of late finishing pigs. Pens of pigs were blocked by BW and randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments with 9 replications per treatment. Experimental diets were corn-based with 30% wheat midds. Soybean meal levels increased from 0 to 16% replacing added feed grade AA. Pens of pigs were weighed to evaluate ADG, ADFI, and F/G. Data were analyzed with the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS and pen was considered as the experimental unit. The statistical model considered fixed effects of dietary treatment, linear, quadratic, and cubic contrasts, and random effects of block. Overall, final BW of pigs increased (linear, P \u3c 0.05) as dietary SBM increased. Additionally, overall ADG and F/G improved as SBM increased (linear and cubic; P \u3c 0.05) with no differences in overall ADFI. Although diets were formulated to exceed minimum NRC nutrient requirement estimates, we suspect that the increased Trp:Lys ratio in the 16% SBM diet may explain the cubic responses observed. These results suggest that corn-soybean meal-based diets with 30% wheat midds for late finishing pigs should contain at least 4% SBM

A Research and Development (R&D) roadmap for influenza vaccines: Looking toward the future

Improved influenza vaccines are urgently needed to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and to ensure a rapid and effective public-health response to future influenza pandemics. The Influenza Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap (IVR) was created, through an extensive international stakeholder engagement process, to promote influenza vaccine R&D. The roadmap covers a 10-year timeframe and is organized into six sections: virology; immunology; vaccinology for seasonal influenza vaccines; vaccinology for universal influenza vaccines; animal and human influenza virus infection models; and policy, finance, and regulation. Each section identifies barriers, gaps, strategic goals, milestones, and additional R&D priorities germane to that area. The roadmap includes 113 specific R&D milestones, 37 of which have been designated high priority by the IVR expert taskforce. This report summarizes the major issues and priority areas of research outlined in the IVR. By identifying the key issues and steps to address them, the roadmap not only encourages research aimed at new solutions, but also provides guidance on the use of innovative tools to drive breakthroughs in influenza vaccine R&D.publishedVersio

The Effect of Climate Fluctuation on Chimpanzee Birth Sex Ratio

Climate and weather conditions, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, precipitation and temperature influence the birth sex ratio (BSR) of various higher latitude species, including deer, elephant seals or northern human populations. Although, tropical regions show only little variation in temperature, climate and weather conditions can fluctuate with consequences for phenology and food resource availability. Here, we evaluate, whether the BSR of chimpanzees, inhabiting African tropical forests, is affected by climate fluctuations as well. Additionally, we evaluate, if variation in consumption of a key food resource with high nutritional value, Coula edulis nuts, is linked to both climate fluctuations and variation in BSR. We use long-term data from two study groups located in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire to assess the influence of local weather conditions and the global climate driver El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on offspring sex. Côte d'Ivoire has experienced considerable climate variation over the last decades, with increasing temperature and declining precipitation. For both groups we find very similar time windows around the month of conception, in which offspring sex is well predicted by ENSO, with more males following low ENSO values, corresponding to periods of high rainfall. Furthermore, we find that the time spent cracking and feeding on Coula nuts is strongly influenced by climate conditions. Although, some of our analysis suggest that a higher proportion of males is born after periods with higher nut consumption frequency, we cannot conclude decisively at this point that nut consumption may influence shifts in BSR. All results combined suggest that also chimpanzees may experience climate related shifts in offspring sex ratios as response to climate fluctuation

Circum-Arctic distribution of chemical anti-herbivore compounds suggests biome-wide trade-off in defence strategies in Arctic shrubs

Spatial variation in plant chemical defence towards herbivores can help us understand variation in herbivore top-down control of shrubs in the Arctic and possibly also shrub responses to global warming. Less defended, non-resinous shrubs could be more influenced by herbivores than more defended, resinous shrubs. However, sparse field measurements limit our current understanding of how much of the circum-Arctic variation in defence compounds is explained by taxa or defence functional groups (resinous/non-resinous). We measured circum-Arctic chemical defence and leaf digestibility in resinous (Betula glandulosa, B. nana ssp. exilis) and non-resinous (B. nana ssp. nana, B. pumila) shrub birches to see how they vary among and within taxa and functional groups. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomic analyses and in vitro leaf digestibility via incubation in cattle rumen fluid, we analysed defence composition and leaf digestibility in 128 samples from 44 tundra locations. We found biogeographical patterns in anti-herbivore defence where mean leaf triterpene concentrations and twig resin gland density were greater in resinous taxa and mean concentrations of condensing tannins were greater in non-resinous taxa. This indicates a biome-wide trade-off between triterpene- or tannin-dominated defences. However, we also found variations in chemical defence composition and resin gland density both within and among functional groups (resinous/non-resinous) and taxa, suggesting these categorisations only partly predict chemical herbivore defence. Complex tannins were the only defence compounds negatively related to in vitro digestibility, identifying this previously neglected tannin group as having a potential key role in birch anti-herbivore defence. We conclude that circum-Arctic variation in birch anti-herbivore defence can be partly derived from biogeographical distributions of birch taxa, although our detailed mapping of plant defence provides more information on this variation and can be used for better predictions of herbivore effects on Arctic vegetation