Glucocorticoid Receptor β Isoform Predominates in the Human Dysplastic Brain Region and Is Modulated by Age, Sex, and Antiseizure Medication

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) at the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is involved in the pathogenesis of drug-resistant epilepsy with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD); however, the roles of GR isoforms GRα and GRβ in the dysplastic brain have not been revealed. We utilized dysplastic/epileptic and non-dysplastic brain tissue from patients who underwent resective epilepsy surgery to identify the GRα and GRβ levels, subcellular localization, and cellular specificity. BBB endothelial cells isolated from the dysplastic brain tissue (EPI-ECs) were used to decipher the key BBB proteins related to drug regulation and BBB integrity compared to control and transfected GRβ-overexpressed BBB endothelial cells. GRβ was upregulated in dysplastic compared to non-dysplastic tissues, and an imbalance of the GRα/GRβ ratio was significant in females vs. males and in patients > 45 years old. In EPI-ECs, the subcellular localization and expression patterns of GRβ, Hsp90, CYP3A4, and CYP2C9 were consistent with GRβ+ brain endothelial cells. Active matrix metalloproteinase levels and activity increased, whereas claudin-5 levels decreased in both EPI-ECs and GRβ+ endothelial cells. In conclusion, the GRβ has a major effect on dysplastic BBB functional proteins and is age and gender-dependent, suggesting a critical role of brain GRβ in dysplasia as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in epilepsy

Veterans Affairs Oral HIV Surveillance Program: Understanding the Disease

HIV gingivitis, periodontitis and oral candidiasis rank as the key oral signs of HIV infection, according to the VA Surveillance Program

Adaptive community-based biodiversity conservation in Australia's tropical rainforests

In the globally significant Australian tropical\ud rainforests, poor performance of community-based\ud natural resource management (CBNRM) approaches\ud mandated by national policy highlights the importance\ud of the global search for better models. This paper\ud reports on co-research to develop, apply and test\ud the transferability and effectiveness of a new model\ud and tools for CBNRM in biodiversity conservation.\ud Adaptive co-management, designed with specific communities\ud and natural resources, recognized as linked\ud multi-scalar phenomena, is the new face of CBNRM.\ud New tools used to achieve adaptive co-management\ud include a collaborative focal species approach focused\ud on the iconic southern cassowary, scenario analysis,\ud science brokering partnerships, a collaborative habitat\ud investment atlas and institutional brokering. An\ud intermediate-complexity analytical framework was\ud used to test the robustness of these tools and therefore\ud likely transferability. The tools meet multiple\ud relevant standards across three dimensions, namely\ud empowering institutions and individuals, ongoing\ud systematic scientific assessment and securing effective\ud on-ground action. Evaluation of effectiveness using\ud a performance criteria framework identified achievement\ud of many social and environmental outcomes.\ud Effective CBNRM requires multi-scale multi-actor\ud collaborative design, not simply devolution to localscale\ud governance. Bridging/boundary organizations\ud are important to facilitate the process. Further research\ud into collaborative design of CBNRM structures,\ud functions, tools and processes for biodiversity\ud conservation is recommended

Ecological dynamics of emerging bat virus spillover

Viruses that originate in bats may be the most notorious emerging zoonoses that spill over from wildlife into domestic animals and humans. Understanding how these infections filter through ecological systems to cause disease in humans is of profound importance to public health. Transmission of viruses from bats to humans requires a hierarchy of enabling conditions that connect the distribution of reservoir hosts, viral infection within these hosts, and exposure and susceptibility of recipient hosts. For many emerging bat viruses, spillover also requires viral shedding from bats, and survival of the virus in the environment. Focusing on Hendra virus, but also addressing Nipah virus, Ebola virus, Marburg virus and coronaviruses, we delineate this cross-species spillover dynamic from the within-host processes that drive virus excretion to land-use changes that increase interaction among species. We describe how land-use changes may affect co-occurrence and contact between bats and recipient hosts. Two hypotheses may explain temporal and spatial pulses of virus shedding in bat populations: episodic shedding from persistently infected bats or transient epidemics that occur as virus is transmitted among bat populations. Management of livestock also may affect the probability of exposure and disease. Interventions to decrease the probability of virus spillover can be implemented at multiple levels from targeting the reservoir host to managing recipient host exposure and susceptibility

Key messages extracted from the Synthesis of Climate Change Issues and Impacts in the Wet Tropics NRM Cluster Region

This "Key messages" document accompanies the Hilbert et al. (2014) report Synthesis of climate change issues and impacts in the Wet Tropics Cluster NRM region (hereafter 'Science Synthesis report'). The Science Synthesis report was drafted in response to specific information needs articulated by the Regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups in the Wet Tropics Cluster region1. The Science synthesis report is framed by the topics and issues defined by the NRM groups, reflecting their planning processes and priorities as well as the characteristics of their regional communities. The report is based on the synthesis of current knowledge and expert opinion relevant to the topics and issues identified by NRM groups. This document presents the Topics and Key messages extracted from each chapter of the Science Synthesis report

Climate change issues and impacts in the Wet Tropics NRM cluster region

{Extract] Rationale and scope: Stream 2 of the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund supports the project "Knowledge to manage land and sea: A framework for the future" run by a consortium of scientists from James Cook University (JCU) and CSIRO. This report is the first major product of the consortium project. It is not an in-depth review of the literature that already exists for some NRM sectors. Rather, it is syntheses of current knowledge through expert opinion about the threats and potential impacts of climate change in the Wet Tropics Cluster (WTC) region across all sectors. This report focuses on four geographically distinct NRM regions grouped in the WTC: Mackay-Whitsunday, Wet Tropics, Cape York, and the Torres Strait regions, which are managed by Reef Catchments NRM, Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM, and the Torres Strait Regional Authority respectively. The report is framed by the specific topics and issues defined by the NRM groups in the WTC region, reflecting their planning processes and priorities of these groups as well as the characteristics of their regional communities. The focus of this report is on possible impacts and threats, not adaptation options that will be discussed in a future report. Chapter 9 discusses the science of adaptation in a general sense and mitigation opportunities relating to carbon storage are discussed in a section of Chapter 6. The report presents key messages around each topic and issue in bold type in each chapter. Key messages for NRM groups are also summarised at the beginning of each chapter. These key messages represent our syntheses of expected threats and impacts based on expert opinion but also substantiated by published sources. Each key message is followed by a brief explanation of the underlying scientific support with a small number of key citations to the relevant literature. In most cases there is a fair amount of uncertainty associated with the key messages and they should be understood as best estimates based on expert opinion. Much of the uncertainty about potential impacts is due to the climate model uncertainty about changes in rainfall amount and timing that are critical variables that will influence many sectors in the WTC region. Another source of uncertainty for some topics and issues is limited or lack of direct research on climate change impacts across several of the key NRM sectors in the WTC region. The main conclusions and summaries for each synthesis chapter (by NRM sector) are presented below with a final chapter on adaptation science