ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

Variações espaço-temporais no estoque de sementes do solo na floresta amazônica

A dispersão eficiente, a longevidade e a capacidade das sementes de permanecer em estado latente a espera de condições adequadas de germinação no banco de sementes do solo da floresta garantem a presença de espécies arbóreas pioneiras nas áreas perturbadas. As variações estacionais e espaciais na densidade e na composição florística do banco de sementes em Florestas Tropicais Úmidas são assuntos ainda pouco compreendidos. Este trabalho verificou a existência de modificações espaço-temporais do banco de sementes presente em áreas de Floresta Tropical úmida localizadas próximas a Manaus, AM. Em cada uma das seis áreas estudadas, foram coletadas 40 amostras circulares de solo superficial (10 cm de diâmetro e 2 cm de profundidade) ao acaso. Essas amostras foram coletadas a cada dois meses, entre agosto/2004 e junho/2005,. As amostras de solo foram distribuídas em bandejas em casa de vegetação e a emergência das sementes presentes no solo foi acompanhada por 4 meses. Houve uma redução significativa (H: 14,09, p < 0,05) na densidade média de sementes no solo em junho (início da estação seca) em relação a fevereiro (meio da estação chuvosa). Houve também diferença significativa (H: 188,72, p < 0,05) na densidade média de sementes do solo presente nas diferentes áreas amostradas. Assim como para outras áreas de florestas tropicais, o banco de sementes permanente da floresta foi dominado por espécies pioneiras, principalmente da família Melastomataceae, enquanto as espécies típicas da Floresta Tropical madura foram raras no solo florestal

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

The Function of Guard Cells Does Not Require an Intact Array Of Cortical Microtubules

The development of stomatal guard cells is known to require cortical microtubules; however, it is not known if microtubules are also required by mature guard cells for stomatal function. To study the role of microtubules in guard cell function, epidermal peels of Vicia faba were subjected to conditions known to open or close stomata in the presence or absence of microtubule inhibitors. To verify the action of the inhibitors, microtubules in appropriately treated epidermal peels were localized by cryofixation followed by freeze substitution and embedding in butyl-methyl methacrylate. Mature guard cells had a radial array of microtubules, focused toward the thick cell wall of the pore, and the appearance of this array was the same for stomata remaining closed in darkness or induced to open by light. Treatment of epidermal peels with 1 mM colchicine for 1 h depolymerized nearly all cortical microtubules. Measurements of stomatal aperture showed that neither 1 µM colchicine nor 20 µM taxol affected any of the responses tested: remaining closed in the dark, opening in response to light or fusicoccin, and closing in response to calcium and darkness. We conclude that intact microtubule arrays are not invariably required for guard cell function

Restructuring the South African labour market : report of the Presidential Commission to Investigate Labour Market Policy

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Effectiveness of Saccharomyces boulardii in a rat model of colitis

AIM: To investigate the effects of Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii in an experimental rat model of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis. METHODS: Thirty-two Wistar albino female rats were categorized into five groups. On the first day of the study, 50 mg TNBS was administered via a rectal catheter in order to induce colitis in all rats, except those in the control group. For 14 d, the rats were fed a standard diet, without the administration of any additional supplements to either the control or TNBS groups, in addition to 1 mg/kg per day S. boulardii to the S. boulardii group, 1 mg/kg per day methyl prednisolone (MP) to the MP group. The animals in the S. boulardii + MP group were coadministered these doses of S. boulardii and MP. During the study, weight loss, stool consistency, and the presence of obvious blood in the stool were evaluated, and the disease activity index (DAI) for colitis was recorded. The intestines were examined and colitis was macro- and microscopically scored. The serum and tissue levels of tumor necrosis factor-? (TNF-?) and nitric oxide (NO) were determined, and fungemia was evaluated in the blood samples. RESULTS: The mean DAI scores for the MP and S. boulardii + MP groups was significantly lower than the TNBS group (3.69 ± 0.61 vs 4.46 ± 0.34, P = 0.018 and 3.77 ± 0.73 vs 4.46 ± 0.34, P = 0.025, respectively). While no significant differences between the TNBS and the S. boulardii or MP groups could be determined in terms of serum NO levels, the level of serum NO in the S. boulardii + MP group was significantly higher than in the TNBS and S. boulardii groups (8.12 ± 4.25 µmol/L vs 3.18 ± 1.19 µmol/L, P = 0.013; 8.12 ± 4.25 µmol/L vs 3.47 ± 1.66 µmol/L, P = 0.012, respectively). The tissue NO levels in the S. boulardii, MP and S. boulardii + MP groups were significantly lower than the TNBS group (16.62 ± 2.27 µmol/L vs 29.72 ± 6.10 µmol/L, P = 0.002; 14.66 ± 5.18 µmol/L vs 29.72 ± 6.10 µmol/L, P = 0.003; 11.95 ± 2.34 µmol/L vs 29.72 ± 6.10 µmol/L, P = 0.002, respectively). The tissue NO levels in the S. boulardii, MP and S. boulardii + MP groups were similar. The mean serum and tissue TNF-? levels were determined to be 12.97 ± 18.90 pg/mL and 21.75 ± 15.04 pg/mL in the control group, 18.25 ± 15.44 pg/mL and 25.27 ± 11.95 pg/mL in the TNBS group, 20.59 ± 16.15 pg/mL and 24.39 ± 13.06 pg/mL in the S. boulardii group, 9.05 ± 5.13 pg/mL and 24.46 ± 10.85 pg/mL in the MP group, and 13.95 ± 10.17 pg/mL and 24.26 ± 10.37 pg/mL in the S. boulardii + MP group. Significant differences in terms of the levels of serum and tissue TNF-? and the macroscopic and microscopic scores were not found between the groups. S. boulardii fungemia was not observed in any of the rats. However, Candida fungemia was detected in one rat (14%) in the TNBS group, two rats (28%) in the S. boulardii group, three rats (50%) in the MP group, and three rats (42%) in S. boulardii + MP group. CONCLUSION: S. boulardii does not demonstrate considerable effects on the DAI, pathological scores, or cytokine levels but does decrease the tissue NO levels. © 2012 Baishideng. All rights reserved