Comparing Allelochemicals of ​English Ivy and Native Georgia Plants​

English Ivy (Hedera helix L.) is a common invasive plant causing biodiversity losses across the southeast and parts of the northwestern US. The mechanisms by which Ivy invades native ecosystems are not well understood but may include allelopathy, a process through which one species produces biochemicals that disrupt competitors. These biochemicals are often produced and exuded by roots into soil, making them difficult to isolate. This study used a soil-less hydroponic system and gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy to examine differences in the chemicals produced by roots of native Georgia plants and English Ivy. Our results suggest there are differences in the diversity and abundance of root exudates produced by English Ivy compared to the exudates produced by the natives of Georgia’s forests

Distribution And Abundance Of Glucocorticoid And Mineralocorticoid Receptors Throughout The Brain Of The Great Tit (Parus Major)

The glucocorticoid stress response, regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, enables individuals to cope with stressors through transcriptional effects in cells expressing the appropriate receptors. The two receptors that bind glucocorticoids—the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR)—are present in a variety of vertebrate tissues, but their expression in the brain is especially important. Neural receptor patterns have the potential to integrate multiple behavioral and physiological traits simultaneously, including self-regulation of glucocorticoid secretion through negative feedback processes. In the present work, we quantified the expression of GR and MR mRNA throughout the brain of a female great tit (Parus major), creating a distribution map encompassing 48 regions. This map, the first of its kind for P. major, demonstrated a widespread but not ubiquitous distribution of both receptor types. In the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and the hippocampus (HP)—the two brain regions that we sampled from a total of 25 birds, we found high GR mRNA expression in the former and, unexpectedly, low MR mRNA in the latter. We examined the covariation of MR and GR levels in these two regions and found a strong, positive relationship between MR in the PVN and MR in the HP and a similar trend for GR across these two regions. This correlation supports the idea that hormone pleiotropy may constrain an individual’s behavioral and physiological phenotype. In the female song system, we found moderate GR in hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis (HVC), and moderate MR in robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA). Understanding intra- and interspecific patterns of glucocorticoid receptor expression can inform us about the behavioral processes (e.g. song learning) that may be sensitive to stress and stimulate future hypotheses concerning the relationships between receptor expression, circulating hormone concentrations and performance traits under selection, including behavior

Teaching Ourselves: A Model to Improve, Assess and Spread the Word

This paper presents a model for small, interdisciplinary groups of faculty to work together to improve their teaching while engaging in research that provides evidence of improved student learning. In doing so, we have developed a four-step process of faculty-driven scholarship of teaching and learning: Genesis, Organization, Implementation and Dissemination. We illustrate this model by describing our use of Fink’s (2003) concepts of course design to reshape our courses and assess the effectiveness of these changes through examination of student learning. We describe how others may follow this approach with a variety of applications

CellProfiler plugins -- an easy image analysis platform integration for containers and Python tools

CellProfiler is a widely used software for creating reproducible, reusable image analysis workflows without needing to code. In addition to the >90 modules that make up the main CellProfiler program, CellProfiler has a plugins system that allows for creation of new modules which integrate with other Python tools or tools that are packaged in software containers. The CellProfiler-plugins repository contains a number of these CellProfiler modules, especially modules that are experimental and/or dependency-heavy. Here, we present an upgraded CellProfiler-plugins repository with examples of accessing containerized tools, improved documentation, and added citation/reference tools to facilitate the use and contribution of the community.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

A biologist’s guide to planning and performing quantitative bioimaging experiments

Technological advancements in biology and microscopy have empowered a transition from bioimaging as an observational method to a quantitative one. However, as biologists are adopting quantitative bioimaging and these experiments become more complex, researchers need additional expertise to carry out this work in a rigorous and reproducible manner. This Essay provides a navigational guide for experimental biologists to aid understanding of quantitative bioimaging from sample preparation through to image acquisition, image analysis, and data interpretation. We discuss the interconnectedness of these steps, and for each, we provide general recommendations, key questions to consider, and links to high-quality open-access resources for further learning. This synthesis of information will empower biologists to plan and execute rigorous quantitative bioimaging experiments efficiently

Attitudes toward Precision Treatment of Smoking in the Southern Community Cohort Study

Background: Precision interventions using biological data may enhance smoking treatment, yet are understudied among smokers who are disproportionately burdened by smoking-related disease. Methods: We surveyed smokers in the NCI-sponsored Southern Community Cohort Study, consisting primarily of African-American, low-income adults. Seven items assessed attitudes toward aspects of precision smoking treatment, from undergoing tests to acting on results. Items were dichotomized as favorable (5 = strongly agree/4 = agree) versus less favorable (1 = strongly disagree/2 = disagree/3 = neutral); a summary score reflecting generalized attitudes was also computed. Multivariable logistic regression tested independent associations of motivation (precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation) and confidence in quitting (low, medium, and high) with generalized attitudes, controlling for sociodemographic factors and nicotine dependence. Results: More than 70% of respondents endorsed favorable generalized attitudes toward precision medicine, with individual item favorability ranging from 64% to 83%. Smokers holding favorable generalized attitudes reported higher income and education (P \u3c 0.05). Predicted probabilities of favorable generalized attitudes ranged from 63% to 75% across motivation levels [contemplation vs. precontemplation: adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.10, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.36–3.25, P = 0.001; preparation vs. precontemplation: AOR = 1.83, 95% CI, 1.20–2.78, P = 0.005; contemplation vs. preparation: AOR = 1.15, 95% CI, 0.75–1.77, P = 0.52] and from 59% to 78% across confidence (medium vs. low: AOR = 1.91, 95% CI, 1.19–3.07, P = 0.007; high vs. low: AOR = 2.62, 95% CI, 1.68–4.10, P \u3c 0.001; medium vs. high: AOR = 0.73, 95% CI, 0.48–1.11, P = 0.14). Conclusions: Among disproportionately burdened community smokers, most hold favorable attitudes toward precision smoking treatment. Individuals with lower motivation and confidence to quit may benefit from additional intervention to engage with precision smoking treatment. Impact: Predominantly favorable attitudes toward precision smoking treatment suggest promise for future research testing their effectiveness and implementation

Reproducible image-based profiling with Pycytominer

Technological advances in high-throughput microscopy have facilitated the acquisition of cell images at a rapid pace, and data pipelines can now extract and process thousands of image-based features from microscopy images. These features represent valuable single-cell phenotypes that contain information about cell state and biological processes. The use of these features for biological discovery is known as image-based or morphological profiling. However, these raw features need processing before use and image-based profiling lacks scalable and reproducible open-source software. Inconsistent processing across studies makes it difficult to compare datasets and processing steps, further delaying the development of optimal pipelines, methods, and analyses. To address these issues, we present Pycytominer, an open-source software package with a vibrant community that establishes an image-based profiling standard. Pycytominer has a simple, user-friendly Application Programming Interface (API) that implements image-based profiling functions for processing high-dimensional morphological features extracted from microscopy images of cells. Establishing Pycytominer as a standard image-based profiling toolkit ensures consistent data processing pipelines with data provenance, therefore minimizing potential inconsistencies and enabling researchers to confidently derive accurate conclusions and discover novel insights from their data, thus driving progress in our field.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

A cone on Mercury: analysis of a residual central peak encircled by an explosive volcanic vent

We analyse a seemingly-unique landform on Mercury: a conical structure, encircled by a trough, and surrounded by a 23,000 km2 relatively bright and red anomaly of a type interpreted elsewhere on the planet as a pyroclastic deposit. At first glance, this could be interpreted as a volcanically-constructed cone, but if so, it would be the only example of such a landform on Mercury. We make and test the alternative hypothesis that the cone is the intrinsic central peak of an impact crater, the rim crest of which is visible beyond the cone-encircling trough, and that the trough is a vent formed through explosive volcanism that also produced the surrounding bright, red spectral anomaly. We test this hypothesis by comparing the morphology of the cone and the associated landform assemblage with morphologically-fresh impact craters of the same diameter as the putative host crater, and additionally, by modelling the original morphology of such a crater using a hydrocode model. We show that the present topography can be explained by formation of a vent completely encircling the crater’s central peak and also make the observation that explosive volcanic vents frequently occur circumferential to the central peaks of impact craters on Mercury. This indicates that, although this cone initially appears unique, it is in fact an unusually well-developed example of a common process by which impact-related faults localize magma ascent near the centre of impact craters on Mercury, and represents an extreme end-member of the resulting landforms

Explosive volcanism in complex impact craters on Mercury and the Moon: influence of tectonic regime on depth of magmatic intrusion

Vents and deposits attributed to explosive volcanism occur within numerous impact craters on both the Moon and Mercury. Given the similarities between the two bodies it is probable that similar processes control this spatial association on both. However, the precise morphology and localization of the activity differs on the two bodies, indicating that the nature of structures beneath impact craters and/or volcanic activity may also be different. To explore this, we analyze sites of explosive volcanism within complex impact craters on the Moon and Mercury, comparing the scale and localization of volcanic activity and evidence for post-formation modification of the host crater. We show that the scale of vents and deposits is consistently greater on Mercury than on the Moon, indicating greater eruption energy, powered by a higher concentration of volatiles. Additionally, while the floors of lunar craters hosting explosive volcanism are commonly fractured, those on Mercury are not. The most probable explanation for these differences is that the state of regional compression acting on Mercury's crust through most of the planet's history results in deeper magma storage beneath craters on Mercury than on the Moon. The probable role of the regional stress regime in dictating the depth of intrusion on Mercury suggests that it may also play a role in the depth of sub-crater intrusion on the Moon and on other planetary bodies. Examples on the Moon (and also on Mars) commonly occur at locations where flexural extension may facilitate shallower intrusion than would be driven by the buoyancy of the magma alone

Risk-averse personalities have a systemically potentiated neuroendocrine stress axis: a multilevel experiment in Parus major

Hormonal pleiotropy—the simultaneous influence of a single hormone on multiple traits—has been hypothesized as an important mechanism underlying personality, and circulating glucocorticoids are central to this idea. A major gap in our understanding is the neural basis for this link. Here we examine the stability and structure of behavioral, endocrine and neuroendocrine traits in a population of songbirds (Parus major). Upon identifying stable and covarying behavioral and endocrine traits, we test the hypothesis that risk-averse personalities exhibit a neuroendocrine stress axis that is systemically potentiated—characterized by stronger glucocorticoid reactivity and weaker negative feedback. We show high among-individual variation and covariation (i.e. personality) in risk-taking behaviors and demonstrate that four aspects of glucocorticoid physiology (baseline, stress response, negative feedback strength and adrenal sensitivity) are also repeatable and covary. Further, we establish that high expression of mineralocorticoid and low expression of glucocorticoid receptor in the brain are linked with systemically elevated plasma glucocorticoid levels and more risk-averse personalities. Our findings support the hypothesis that steroid hormones can exert pleiotropic effects that organize behavioral phenotypes and provide novel evidence that neuroendocrine factors robustly explain a large fraction of endocrine and personality variation