Nutrition for the ageing brain: towards evidence for an optimal diet

As people age they become increasingly susceptible to chronic and extremely debilitating brain diseases. The precise cause of the neuronal degeneration underlying these disorders, and indeed normal brain ageing remains however elusive. Considering the limits of existing preventive methods, there is a desire to develop effective and safe strategies. Growing preclinical and clinical research in healthy individuals or at the early stage of cognitive decline has demonstrated the beneficial impact of nutrition on cognitive functions. The present review is the most recent in a series produced by the Nutrition and Mental Performance Task Force under the auspice of the International Life Sciences Institute Europe (ILSI Europe). The latest scientific advances specific to how dietary nutrients and non-nutrient may affect cognitive ageing are presented. Furthermore, several key points related to mechanisms contributing to brain ageing, pathological conditions affecting brain function, and brain biomarkers are also discussed. Overall, findings are inconsistent and fragmented and more research is warranted to determine the underlying mechanisms and to establish dose-response relationships for optimal brain maintenance in different population subgroups. Such approaches are likely to provide the necessary evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform about new dietary recommendations on how to prevent cognitive decline

Sublime travel: Allegory in three Central Australian travel texts

Central Australia plays an important role in a range of myths about modern Australian national identity, as well as global ideologies concerning the relationship between 'modern' societies and their 'pre -modern others'. This thesis examines three travel texts about Central Australia and analyses the manner in which they work as 'allegories of appropriation'. The texts selected (the fourth journal of John McDouall Stuart, 1860; C.T. Madigan's Central Australia, 1936; and, Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines, 1987) represent three different stages in the European colonisation of this region. This thesis looks at the manner in which these texts are related in various ways. These include the splitting of 'visual' and 'temporal' codes, their commitment to the discourses of primitivism, and their reliance on the rhetoric of the sublime. These shared elements, it is argued, explaining the ways these are consistent with the ideologies and epistemologies which legitimized the European appropriation of the territory. It also provides a model for analysing the way contemporary texts continue to reflect a range of discourses and ideologies that are associated with the colonial past. At the same time the thesis argues that the texts suggest alternative stories through which one can be read the ideological failure of colonial imperial enterprise. Drawing on deconstructive and post -colonial theory, as well focusing on traditional literary concepts such as allegory and the sublime, this thesis argues that not only is it possible to read in these texts a range of contradictions but that it is possible to chart alternative allegories, ones which resist the essentialising and oppressive rhetorics of the past.</div

Finding meaning, locating hope

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Direct Unequal Cleavages: Embryo Developmental Competence, Genetic Constitution and Clinical Outcome

<div><p>Objective</p><p>To investigate the prevalence, developmental potential, chromosomal constitution and clinical outcome of embryos with direct unequal cleavages (DUC).</p><p>Design</p><p>A retrospective observational study.</p><p>Setting</p><p>Academic Institution.</p><p>Participant</p><p>21,261 embryos from 3,155 cycles cultured in EmbryoScope^®.</p><p>Results</p><p>The total incidence of DUCs per embryo occupying the first three cleavages were 26.1%. Depending of the cell stage, DUC rate was 9.8% at first cleavage (DUC-1), 9.1% at second cleavage (DUC-2), and 3.7% at third cleavage (DUC-3) with 3.6% of embryos exhibiting multiple DUCs (DUC-Plus). The occurrence of DUCs was not correlated with female gamete age or source. The incidence of DUC-1 was significantly higher in embryos fertilized by epididymal and testicular sperm (13.6% and 11.4%, respectively) compared to ejaculated sperm (9.1%, all p<0.05). The total incidences of DUCs were strongly correlated with the onset of blastomere multinucleation (MNB) during the first three divisions. In MNB embryos, DUCs incidence are two to three times more likely to develop when compared to non-MNB embryos (OR = 3.11, 95% CI [2.64, 3.67] at 1-cell stage, OR = 2.64, 95% CI [2.39, 2.91] at 2-cell stage and OR = 2.51, 95% CI [1.84, 3.43] at 4-cell stage). The blastocyst formation rates gradually decreased from 61.0% in non-DUC to 40.2% in DUC-3, 18.8% in DUC-2, 8.2% in DUC-1 and 5.6% in multiple DUC embryos (DUC-Plus). The known implantation rates (FH) for day 3 (D3) transfers were 12.42% (n = 3172) in Non-DUC embryos, 6.3% (n = 127) in DUC-3, and 2.7% (n = 260) in DUC-2 embryos. No live births resulted from either DUC-1 (n = 225) or DUC-Plus (n = 100) embryo transfers. For blastocyst transfers, lower implantation rates (33.3%) but similar live birth (LB) rates (40%) were observed if DUC blastocysts were transferred. Comparatively rates in Non-DUC blastocyst were 45.2% and 34.8%, respectively. The euploid rate gradually increased from DUC-1, -2, -3 to Non-DUC (13.3%, 19.5%, 33.3%, 45.6%, p<0.001) for D3 biopsied embryos. Interestingly, the trend of decreased euploidy disappeared in DUC D5/6 biopsied embryos and similar rates were exemplified in DUC (D5 56.3%, D6 35.6%) vs. non-DUC (D5 51.4%, D6 33.8%) embryos.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Blastocyst formation, implantation potential and euploid rate were significantly reduced in DUC embryos. DUC embryos should be deselected for D3 transfers, but should be culture to blastocyst stage for possible ET.</p></div

CyNetSVM: A Cytoscape App for Cancer Biomarker Identification Using Network Constrained Support Vector Machines

<div><p>One of the important tasks in cancer research is to identify biomarkers and build classification models for clinical outcome prediction. In this paper, we develop a CyNetSVM software package, implemented in Java and integrated with Cytoscape as an app, to identify network biomarkers using network-constrained support vector machines (NetSVM). The Cytoscape app of NetSVM is specifically designed to improve the usability of NetSVM with the following enhancements: (1) user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI), (2) computationally efficient core program and (3) convenient network visualization capability. The CyNetSVM app has been used to analyze breast cancer data to identify network genes associated with breast cancer recurrence. The biological function of these network genes is enriched in signaling pathways associated with breast cancer progression, showing the effectiveness of CyNetSVM for cancer biomarker identification. The CyNetSVM package is available at Cytoscape App Store and <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/netsvmjava" target="_blank">http://sourceforge.net/projects/netsvmjava</a>; a sample data set is also provided at sourceforge.net.</p></div

Functional enrichment of genes identified from Loi <i>et al</i>. data in signaling pathways and associated p-values.

<p>Functional enrichment of genes identified from Loi <i>et al</i>. data in signaling pathways and associated p-values.</p

DUCs incidence: gamete age, gamete source and oxygen concentration.

<p>DUCs incidence: gamete age, gamete source and oxygen concentration.</p

Summary of preimplantation genetic screen results in day 3/5/6 biopsied DUC embryos (DUCs combined).

<p>Summary of preimplantation genetic screen results in day 3/5/6 biopsied DUC embryos (DUCs combined).</p

Network identified from METABRIC discovery data.

<p>Network identified from METABRIC discovery data.</p

Incidence of DUCs per embryo and multinucleation.

<p>Incidence of DUCs per embryo and multinucleation.</p