Predator-induced maternal effects determine adaptive antipredator behaviors via egg composition.

In high-risk environments with frequent predator encounters, efficient antipredator behavior is key to survival. Parental effects are a powerful mechanism to prepare offspring for coping with such environments, yet clear evidence for adaptive parental effects on offspring antipredator behaviors is missing. Rapid escape reflexes, or "C-start reflexes," are a key adaptation in fish and amphibians to escape predator strikes. We hypothesized that mothers living in high-risk environments might induce faster C-start reflexes in offspring by modifying egg composition. Here, we show that offspring of the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher developed faster C-start reflexes and were more risk averse if their parents had been exposed to cues of their most dangerous natural predator during egg production. This effect was mediated by differences in egg composition. Eggs of predator-exposed mothers were heavier with higher net protein content, and the resulting offspring were heavier and had lower igf-1 gene expression than control offspring shortly after hatching. Thus, changes in egg composition can relay multiple putative pathways by which mothers can influence adaptive antipredator behaviors such as faster escape reflexes

An injectable bone marrow-like scaffold enhances T cell immunity after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative treatment for multiple disorders, but deficiency and dysregulation of T cells limit its utility. Here we report a biomaterial-based scaffold that mimics features of T cell lymphopoiesis in the bone marrow. The bone marrow cryogel (BMC) releases bone morphogenetic protein-2 to recruit stromal cells and presents the Notch ligand Delta-like ligand-4 to facilitate T cell lineage specification of mouse and human hematopoietic progenitor cells. BMCs subcutaneously injected in mice at the time of HSCT enhanced T cell progenitor seeding of the thymus, T cell neogenesis and diversification of the T cell receptor repertoire. Peripheral T cell reconstitution increased ~6-fold in mouse HSCT and ~2-fold in human xenogeneic HSCT. Furthermore, BMCs promoted donor CD4+ regulatory T cell generation and improved survival after allogeneic HSCT. In comparison to adoptive transfer of T cell progenitors, BMCs increased donor chimerism, T cell generation and antigen-specific T cell responses to vaccination. BMCs may provide an off-the-shelf approach for enhancing T cell regeneration and mitigating graft-versus-host disease in HSCT

Early Prediction of Movie Box Office Success based on Wikipedia Activity Big Data

Use of socially generated "big data" to access information about collective states of the minds in human societies has become a new paradigm in the emerging field of computational social science. A natural application of this would be the prediction of the society's reaction to a new product in the sense of popularity and adoption rate. However, bridging the gap between "real time monitoring" and "early predicting" remains a big challenge. Here we report on an endeavor to build a minimalistic predictive model for the financial success of movies based on collective activity data of online users. We show that the popularity of a movie can be predicted much before its release by measuring and analyzing the activity level of editors and viewers of the corresponding entry to the movie in Wikipedia, the well-known online encyclopedia.Comment: 13 pages, Including Supporting Information, 7 Figures, Download the dataset from: http://wwm.phy.bme.hu/SupplementaryDataS1.zi

Semiautomated Glasgow-Blatchford Bleeding Score helps direct bed placement for patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

OBJECTIVE: The Glasgow-Blatchford Bleeding Score (GBS) was designed to identify patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) who do not require hospitalisation. It may also help stratify patients unlikely to benefit from intensive care. DESIGN: We reviewed patients assigned a GBS in the emergency room (ER) via a semiautomated calculator. Patients with a score ≤7 (low risk) were directed to an unmonitored bed (UMB), while those with a score of ≥8 (high risk) were considered for MB placement. Conformity with guidelines and subsequent transfers to MB were reviewed, along with transfusion requirement, rebleeding, length of stay, need for intervention and death. RESULTS: Over 34 months, 1037 patients received a GBS in the ER. 745 had an UGIB. 235 (32%) of these patients had a GBS ≤7. 29 (12%) low-risk patients were admitted to MBs. Four low-risk patients admitted to UMB required transfer to MB within the first 48 hours. Low-risk patients admitted to UMBs were no more likely to die, rebleed, need transfusion or require more endoscopic, radiographic or surgical procedures than those admitted to MBs. No low-risk patient died from GIB. Patients with GBS ≥8 were more likely to rebleed, require transfusion and interventions to control bleeding but not to die. CONCLUSION: A semiautomated GBS calculator can be incorporated into an ER workflow. Patients with a GBS ≤7 are unlikely to need MB care for UGIB. Further studies are warranted to determine an ideal scoring system for MB admission

Convenient tools and social norms: Measuring the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce household food waste

Halving food loss and waste is the target of the UN’s Sustainability Development Goal 12.3, and household food waste constitutes a substantial part of global food waste. Effective interventions that decrease household food waste are urgently needed, and these could target various underlying behaviours such as planning, storing, preparing and consuming. There is a lack of studies that develop interventions based on theory and that compare different intervention options. Moreover, in testing the effectiveness of such interventions, possible influences caused by the measurement method need to be assessed. The current study explores two interventions, based on the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability framework, to test if combining a tool package (containing various waste-reducing tools such as a measuring cup, stickers, leaflets, recipes) with a motivational message based on social norms is more effective than the tool package alone. Additionally, it examines the effects of using a self-reported survey measurement for household food waste, to ensure that results are not caused by increased consumer awareness of food waste due to measurement alone. Findings show that the tool package significantly improves waste-preventing behaviours, and decreases self-reported food waste by 39.2% (experiment 1) and 23.0% (experiment 2). Effects on waste-preventing behaviours are stronger when social norm elements are added in the intervention. Results of the second experiment indicate that effects of self-reported measurement are minimal, which provides initial support for the use of self-reported food waste measurement in intervention testing albeit that underreporting remains an issue and more research is needed

How the AIS can Improve its Contributions to the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals: Towards A Framework for Scaling Collaborations and Evaluating Impact

In June, 2019, the Association for Information Systems (AIS) adopted a new approach to addressing global sustainability issues by establishing the AIS Sustainability Task Force (AIS STF). This initiative focuses on building on the outcomes from the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG, 2000-2015) and applying them to address the challenges associated with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG, 2016-2030). In this paper, we review the challenges and outcomes from the UN sustainability programs with their potential relevance to IS in general and the AIS in particular to inform and assist increased efforts to achieve the global sustainability goals. The initial event, the AIS Sustainability Summit held at ICIS 2019, provided a forum for AIS groups and communities to share their current interests, plans, activities, and experiences relevant to the MDG and SDG. The event primarily focused on facilitating opportunities to scale the AIS’s sustainability activities through multi-disciplinary collaboration across the AIS and its communities. Members from four AIS special interest groups and the STF’s Education Workgroup presented exemplary projects at the summit that demonstrated how one can apply applied IS and research capabilities to address sustainability challenges. The sustainability summit’s also explored opportunities to achieve positive impact in addressing the SDG’s global challenges through applying AIS members’ knowledge, skills, and capabilities in relevant ways in collaboration with suitable organizations outside the AIS. Potential organizations include business, government, societal groups, and UN bodies. We presented and discussed the AIS STF’s aims, plans, outcomes, and impact. By analyzing details and options for cross-organizational collaboration, the representatives of organizations at the sustainability summit developed a proposed framework for scaling contributions and evaluating impact. Finally, they drew conclusions about the proposed activities, approaches, and framework for the AIS to improve the scope and scale of its contributions in addressing the SDG. Critically, the AIS needs to ensure that its proposed activities, contributions, and impact are examined by an internationally recognized independent process. We propose a model for the AIS to realize this requirement for evaluation in 2021

The MAGPI Survey: Drivers of kinematic asymmetries in the ionised gas of z∼0.3z\sim0.3 star-forming galaxies

Galaxy gas kinematics are sensitive to the physical processes that contribute to a galaxy's evolution. It is expected that external processes will cause more significant kinematic disturbances in the outer regions, while internal processes will cause more disturbances for the inner regions. Using a subsample of 47 galaxies ($0.27<z<0.36$) from the Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral Field Spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey, we conduct a study into the source of kinematic disturbances by measuring the asymmetry present in the ionised gas line-of-sight velocity maps at the $0.5R_e$ (inner regions) and $1.5R_e$ (outer regions) elliptical annuli. By comparing the inner and outer kinematic asymmetries, we aim to better understand what physical processes are driving the asymmetries in galaxies. We find the local environment plays a role in kinematic disturbance, in agreement with other integral field spectroscopy studies of the local universe, with most asymmetric systems being in close proximity to a more massive neighbour. We do not find evidence suggesting that hosting an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) contributes to asymmetry within the inner regions, with some caveats due to emission line modelling. In contrast to previous studies, we do not find evidence that processes leading to asymmetry also enhance star formation in MAGPI galaxies. Finally, we find a weak anti-correlation between stellar mass and asymmetry (ie. high stellar mass galaxies are less asymmetric). We conclude by discussing possible sources driving the asymmetry in the ionised gas, such as disturbances being present in the colder gas phase (either molecular or atomic) prior to the gas being ionised, and non-axisymmetric features (e.g., a bar) being present in the galactic disk. Our results highlight the complex interplay between ionised gas kinematic disturbances and physical processes involved in galaxy evolution.Comment: e.g., 20 pages, 19 figure

The MAGPI Survey -- science goals, design, observing strategy, early results and theoretical framework

© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Australia. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2021.25We present an overview of the Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral Field Spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey, a Large Program on ESO/VLT. MAGPI is designed to study the physical drivers of galaxy transformation at a lookback time of 3-4 Gyr, during which the dynamical, morphological, and chemical properties of galaxies are predicted to evolve significantly. The survey uses new medium-deep adaptive optics aided MUSE observations of fields selected from the GAMA survey, providing a wealth of publicly available ancillary multi-wavelength data. With these data, MAGPI will map the kinematic and chemical properties of stars and ionised gas for a sample of 60 massive (> 7 x 10^10 M_Sun) central galaxies at 0.25 < zPeer reviewe

Characterization of a Human Cell Line Stably Over-Expressing the Candidate Oncogene, Dual Specificity Phosphatase 12

Analysis of chromosomal rearrangements within primary tumors has been influential in the identification of novel oncogenes. Identification of the "driver" gene(s) within cancer-derived amplicons is, however, hampered by the fact that most amplicons contain many gene products. Amplification of 1q21-1q23 is strongly associated with liposarcomas and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization narrowed down the likely candidate oncogenes to two: the activating transcription factor 6 (atf6) and the dual specificity phosphatase 12 (dusp12). While atf6 is an established transcriptional regulator of the unfolded protein response, the potential role of dusp12 in cancer remains uncharacterized.To evaluate the oncogenic potential of dusp12, we established stable cell lines that ectopically over-express dusp12 in isolation and determined whether this cell line acquired properties frequently associated with transformed cells. Here, we demonstrate that cells over-expressing dusp12 display increased cell motility and resistance to apoptosis. Additionally, over-expression of dusp12 promoted increased expression of the c-met proto-oncogene and the collagen and laminin receptor intergrin alpha 1 (itga1) which is implicated in metastasis.Collectively, these results suggest that dusp12 is oncologically relevant and exposes a potential association between dusp12 and established oncogenes that could be therapeutically targeted