Extension of retinofugal projections in an assembled model of human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids

The development of the visual system involves the coordination of spatial and temporal events to specify the organization of varied cell types, including the elongation of axons from retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to post-synaptic targets in the brain. Retinal organoids recapitulate many features of retinal development, yet have lacked downstream targets into which RGC axons extend, limiting the ability to model projections of the human visual system. To address these issues, retinal organoids were generated and organized into an in vitro assembloid model of the visual system with cortical and thalamic organoids. RGCs responded to environmental cues and extended axons deep into assembloids, modeling the projections of the visual system. In addition, RGC survival was enhanced in long-term assembloids, overcoming prior limitations of retinal organoids in which RGCs are lost. Overall, these approaches will facilitate studies of human visual system development, as well as diseases or injuries to this critical pathway

Variation in the Male Pheromones and Mating Success of Wild Caught Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster males express two primary cuticular hydrocarbons (male-predominant hydrocarbons). These act as sex pheromones by influencing female receptivity to mating. The relative quantities of these hydrocarbons vary widely among natural populations and can contribute to variation in mating success. We tested four isofemale lines collected from a wild population to assess the effect of intrapopulation variation in male-predominant hydrocarbons on mating success. The receptivity of laboratory females to males of the four wild-caught lines varied significantly, but not consistently in the direction predicted by variation in male-predominant hydrocarbons. Receptivity of the wild-caught females to laboratory males also varied significantly, but females from lines with male-predominant hydrocarbon profiles closer to a more cosmopolitan one did not show a correspondingly strong mating bias toward a cosmopolitan male. Among wild-caught lines, the male-specific ejaculatory bulb lipid, cis-vaccenyl acetate, varied more than two-fold, but was not associated with variation in male mating success. We observed a strong inverse relationship between the receptivity of wild-caught females and the mating success of males from their own lines, when tested with laboratory flies of the opposite sex

Freedom in mundane mobilities: caravanning in Denmark

Freedom is a widely discussed and highly elusive concept, and has long been represented in exoticised, masculinised and individualised discourses. Freedom is often exemplified through the image of a solitary male explorer leaving the female space of home and familiarity and going to remote places of the world. Through in-situ interviews with families caravanning in Denmark, the primary aim of this study is to challenge existing dominant discourses surrounding the subject of freedom within leisure and tourism studies. Secondly, we shed further light on an under-researched medium of mobility, that of domestic caravanning. This serves to not only disrupt representations of freedom as occurring through exoticised, masculinised and individualised practices, but to give attention to the domestic, banal contexts where the everyday and tourism intersect, which are often overlooked. This novel repositioning opens up new avenues in tourism studies for critical research into the geographies of freedom in mundane, everyday contexts

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

Two-way ANOVA testing interactions with Canton-S male/SC female and SC male/Canton-S female pairings shown in Table 4 and Table 5, Panel 1.

<p>Two-way ANOVA testing interactions with Canton-S male/SC female and SC male/Canton-S female pairings shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0023645#pone-0023645-t004" target="_blank">Table 4</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0023645#pone-0023645-t005" target="_blank">Table 5</a>, Panel 1.</p

Mating index, mating speed, and percent mating for pairings involving Canton-S or Tai-Y males with SC line females.

<p>Mating index and mating speed (in min) are presented as mean ± SE. Mating index and mating speed were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with Games-Howell <i>post hoc</i> tests. Only within-male comparisons (Tai-Y or Canton-S) are shown. Means that differed at the 0.05 significance level were designated with different letters. Means that did not differ from any of the others were designated with <i>nsd</i>. The two-way table is shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0023645#pone-0023645-t006" target="_blank">Table 6</a>. Mating percentages were analyzed with a contingency chi-square test.</p

Mating index, mating speed, and percent mating for pairings involving SC line males and Canton-S females.

<p>Mating index and mating speed are presented as mean ± SE. Mating speeds are given in min. <i>N</i>  =  number of pairs mated within 30 min. Within columns, means followed by different letters differ from each other at the 0.05 level by one-way ANOVA with Tukey <i>post hoc</i> tests. Those that were not different from any of the others are designated by <i>nsd</i>.</p

Mating Speed and Mating Index (± SEM) for homogametic pairings using Canton-S and Tai-Y males stored singly or in groups of two.

<p>ANOVA Mating Speed: No significant main effects for Strain or Storage, for the interaction <i>F_1,238</i> = 8.14, <i>P</i> = 0.005.</p><p>ANOVA Mating Index: No significant main effects for Strain or Storage, for the interaction <i>F_1,238</i> = 6.88, <i>P</i> = 0.009.</p

Mating index, mating speed, and percent mating for homogametic pairings involving Canton-S (CS), Tai-Y (TY) and SC line flies.

<p>Mating index and mating speed are presented as mean ± SE. Mating speeds are given in min. <i>N</i>  =  number of pairs mated within 30 minutes. SC lines were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey <i>post hoc</i> tests. CS and TY pairings are shown for comparison and were not included in the ANOVA.</p

Three-Dimensional Retinal Organoids Facilitate the Investigation of Retinal Ganglion Cell Development, Organization and Neurite Outgrowth from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Abstract Retinal organoids are three-dimensional structures derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) which recapitulate the spatial and temporal differentiation of the retina, serving as effective in vitro models of retinal development. However, a lack of emphasis has been placed upon the development and organization of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) within retinal organoids. Thus, initial efforts were made to characterize RGC differentiation throughout early stages of organoid development, with a clearly defined RGC layer developing in a temporally-appropriate manner expressing a complement of RGC-associated markers. Beyond studies of RGC development, retinal organoids may also prove useful for cellular replacement in which extensive axonal outgrowth is necessary to reach post-synaptic targets. Organoid-derived RGCs could help to elucidate factors promoting axonal outgrowth, thereby identifying approaches to circumvent a formidable obstacle to RGC replacement. As such, additional efforts demonstrated significant enhancement of neurite outgrowth through modulation of both substrate composition and growth factor signaling. Additionally, organoid-derived RGCs exhibited diverse phenotypes, extending elaborate growth cones and expressing numerous guidance receptors. Collectively, these results establish retinal organoids as a valuable tool for studies of RGC development, and demonstrate the utility of organoid-derived RGCs as an effective platform to study factors influencing neurite outgrowth from organoid-derived RGCs