Decadal changes of the Western Arabian sea ecosystem

Historical data from oceanographic expeditions and remotely sensed data on outgoing longwave radiation, temperature, wind speed and ocean color in the western Arabian Sea (1950–2010) were used to investigate decadal trends in the physical and biochemical properties of the upper 300 m. 72 % of the 29,043 vertical profiles retrieved originated from USA and UK expeditions. Increasing outgoing longwave radiation, surface air temperatures and sea surface temperature were identified on decadal timescales. These were well correlated with decreasing wind speeds associated with a reduced Siberian High atmospheric anomaly. Shoaling of the oxycline and nitracline was observed as well as acidification of the upper 300 m. These physical and chemical changes were accompanied by declining chlorophyll-a concentrations, vertical macrofaunal habitat compression, declining sardine landings and an increase of fish kill incidents along the Omani coast

Identity, race and faith: The role of faith in post-Apartheid South Africa

South Africa has experienced an unprecedented influx of migrants in the 21st century. Immigration and race have contributed to the raising of important questions of identity and social inclusion. Immigration and race are two crucial phenomena for the church in South Africa because the overwhelming majority of immigrants to South Africa are affiliated to Christianity and active participants in worshipping communities. This article is an attempt to critically engage with the complex phenomena of immigration and race for the role of Christianity in identity. I will attempt to show how mainstream Christianity as an open-ended narrative and can provide the space for creative tension between the ‘host’ and ‘stranger’ for identity formation. I will use the theoretical framework of Don Browning’s correlational approach to demonstrate how the experience of immigrants and minority race groups creates identity of self and the constructive other.DHE

Effective Rheology of Bubbles Moving in a Capillary Tube

We calculate the average volumetric flux versus pressure drop of bubbles moving in a single capillary tube with varying diameter, finding a square-root relation from mapping the flow equations onto that of a driven overdamped pendulum. The calculation is based on a derivation of the equation of motion of a bubble train from considering the capillary forces and the entropy production associated with the viscous flow. We also calculate the configurational probability of the positions of the bubbles.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Region-Specific Microstructure in the Neonatal Ventricles of a Porcine Model

© 2018, Biomedical Engineering Society. The neonate transitions from placenta-derived oxygen, to supply from the pulmonary system, moments after birth. This requires a series of structural developments to divert more blood through the right heart and onto the lungs, with the tissue quickly remodelling to the changing ventricular workload. In some cases, however, the heart structure does not fully develop causing poor circulation and inefficient oxygenation, which is associated with an increase in mortality and morbidity. This study focuses on developing an enhanced knowledge of the 1-day old heart, quantifying the region-specific microstructural parameters of the tissue. This will enable more accurate mathematical and computational simulations of the young heart. Hearts were dissected from 12, 1-day-old deceased Yorkshire piglets (mass: 2.1–2.4kg, length: 0.38–0.51m), acquired from a breeding farm. Evans blue dye was used to label the heart equator and to demarcate the left and right ventricle free walls. Two hearts were used for three-dimensional diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging, to quantify the fractional anisotropy (FA). The remaining hearts were used for two-photon excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation microscopy, to quantify the cardiomyocyte and collagen fibril structures within the anterior and posterior aspects of the right and left ventricles. FA varied significantly across both ventricles, with the greatest in the equatorial region, followed by the base and apex. The FA in each right ventricular region was statistically greater than that in the left. Cardiomyocyte and collagen fibre rotation was greatest in the anterior wall of both ventricles, with less dispersion when compared to the posterior walls. In defining these key parameters, this study provides a valuable insight into the 1-day-old heart that will provide a valuable platform for further investigation the normal and abnormal heart using mathematical and computational models

Impact of rapid antigen detection testing on antibiotic prescription in acute pharyngitis in adults. FARINGOCAT STUDY: a multicentric randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Acute pharyngitis is one of the most frequent consultations to the general practitioner and in most of the cases an antibiotic is prescribed in primary care in Spain. Bacterial etiology, mainly by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS), accounts for 10-20% of all these infections in adults. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to identify GABHS in acute pharyngitis on the utilization of antibiotics in primary care. METHODS/DESIGN: Multicentric randomized controlled trial in which antibiotic prescription between two groups of patients with acute pharyngitis will be compared. The trial will include two arms, a control and an intervention group in which RADT will be performed. The primary outcome measure will be the proportion of inappropriate antibiotic prescription in each group. Two hundred seventy-six patients are required to detect a reduction in antibiotic prescription from 85% in the control group to 75% in the intervention group with a power of 90% and a level of significance of 5%. Secondary outcome measures will be specific antibiotic treatment, antibiotic resistance rates, secondary effects, days without working, medical visits during the first month and patient satisfaction. DISCUSSION: The implementation of RADT would allow a more rational use of antibiotics and would prevent adverse effects of antibiotics, emergence of antibiotic resistance and the growth of inefficient health expenses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN2358777

Altered DNA Methylation in Leukocytes with Trisomy 21

The primary abnormality in Down syndrome (DS), trisomy 21, is well known; but how this chromosomal gain produces the complex DS phenotype, including immune system defects, is not well understood. We profiled DNA methylation in total peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) and T-lymphocytes from adults with DS and normal controls and found gene-specific abnormalities of CpG methylation in DS, with many of the differentially methylated genes having known or predicted roles in lymphocyte development and function. Validation of the microarray data by bisulfite sequencing and methylation-sensitive Pyrosequencing (MS-Pyroseq) confirmed strong differences in methylation (p<0.0001) for each of 8 genes tested: TMEM131, TCF7, CD3Z/CD247, SH3BP2, EIF4E, PLD6, SUMO3, and CPT1B, in DS versus control PBL. In addition, we validated differential methylation of NOD2/CARD15 by bisulfite sequencing in DS versus control T-cells. The differentially methylated genes were found on various autosomes, with no enrichment on chromosome 21. Differences in methylation were generally stable in a given individual, remained significant after adjusting for age, and were not due to altered cell counts. Some but not all of the differentially methylated genes showed different mean mRNA expression in DS versus control PBL; and the altered expression of 5 of these genes, TMEM131, TCF7, CD3Z, NOD2, and NPDC1, was recapitulated by exposing normal lymphocytes to the demethylating drug 5-aza-2′deoxycytidine (5aza-dC) plus mitogens. We conclude that altered gene-specific DNA methylation is a recurrent and functionally relevant downstream response to trisomy 21 in human cells

Polycystic ovary syndrome

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5-20% of women of reproductive age worldwide. The condition is characterized by hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM) - with excessive androgen production by the ovaries being a key feature of PCOS. Metabolic dysfunction characterized by insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia is evident in the vast majority of affected individuals. PCOS increases the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes and other pregnancy-related complications, venous thromboembolism, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events and endometrial cancer. PCOS is a diagnosis of exclusion, based primarily on the presence of hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction and PCOM. Treatment should be tailored to the complaints and needs of the patient and involves targeting metabolic abnormalities through lifestyle changes, medication and potentially surgery for the prevention and management of excess weight, androgen suppression and/or blockade, endometrial protection, reproductive therapy and the detection and treatment of psychological features. This Primer summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding the epidemiology, mechanisms and pathophysiology, diagnosis, screening and prevention, management and future investigational directions of the disorder.Robert J Norman, Ruijin Wu and Marcin T Stankiewic

Evolution of sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes: genetic architecture and physiological mechanisms

Sex differences in life history, physiology, and behavior are nearly ubiquitous across taxa, owing to sex-specific selection that arises from different reproductive strategies of the sexes. The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts that most variation in such traits among individuals, populations, and species falls along a slow-fast pace-of-life continuum. As a result of their different reproductive roles and environment, the sexes also commonly differ in pace-of-life, with important consequences for the evolution of POLS. Here, we outline mechanisms for how males and females can evolve differences in POLS traits and in how such traits can covary differently despite constraints resulting from a shared genome. We review the current knowledge of the genetic basis of POLS traits and suggest candidate genes and pathways for future studies. Pleiotropic effects may govern many of the genetic correlations, but little is still known about the mechanisms involved in trade-offs between current and future reproduction and their integration with behavioral variation. We highlight the importance of metabolic and hormonal pathways in mediating sex differences in POLS traits; however, there is still a shortage of studies that test for sex specificity in molecular effects and their evolutionary causes. Considering whether and how sexual dimorphism evolves in POLS traits provides a more holistic framework to understand how behavioral variation is integrated with life histories and physiology, and we call for studies that focus on examining the sex-specific genetic architecture of this integration

Cellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities from Leaf-Cutter Ant (Atta colombica) Refuse Dumps Vary in Taxonomic Composition and Degradation Ability

Deconstruction of the cellulose in plant cell walls is critical for carbon flow through ecosystems and for the production of sustainable cellulosic biofuels. Our understanding of cellulose deconstruction is largely limited to the study of microbes in isolation, but in nature, this process is driven by microbes within complex communities. In Neotropical forests, microbes in leaf-cutter ant refuse dumps are important for carbon turnover. These dumps consist of decaying plant material and a diverse bacterial community, as shown here by electron microscopy. To study the portion of the community capable of cellulose degradation, we performed enrichments on cellulose using material from five Atta colombica refuse dumps. The ability of enriched communities to degrade cellulose varied significantly across refuse dumps. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of enriched samples identified that the community structure correlated with refuse dump and with degradation ability. Overall, samples were dominated by Bacteroidetes, Gammaproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria. Half of abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) across samples were classified within genera containing known cellulose degraders, including Acidovorax, the most abundant OTU detected across samples, which was positively correlated with cellulolytic ability. A representative Acidovorax strain was isolated, but did not grow on cellulose alone. Phenotypic and compositional analyses of enrichment cultures, such as those presented here, help link community composition with cellulolytic ability and provide insight into the complexity of community-based cellulose degradation.Biological and Environmental Research/[DE-FC02-07ER64494]/BER/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DGE-1256259]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DEB-0747002]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[MCB-0702025]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Institutes of Health/[T32 GM07215]/NIH/Estados UnidosUniversidad de Costa Rica/[]/UCR/Costa RicaMinisterio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones/[]/MICITT/Costa RicaUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison's Hilldale Undergraduate Faculty Research Fellowship/[]//Estados UnidosUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Biología Celular y Molecular (CIBCM