Macroecological inferences on soil fauna through comparative niche modeling: The case of Hormogastridae (Annelida, Oligochaeta)

Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM) through MaxEnt and quantitative comparison techniques using ENMtools could facilitate ecological inferences in problematic soil dwelling taxa. Despite its ecological relevance in the Western Mediterranean basin, the ecology of the endemic family Hormogastridae (Annelida, Oligochaeta) is poorly known. Applying this comparative approach to the main clades of Hormogastridae would allow a better understanding of their ecological preferences and differences. One hundred twenty-four occurrence data belonging to four clades within this earthworm family were used as input to infer separate MaxEnt models, including seven predictor variables. Niche breadth, niche overlap and identity tests were calculated in ENMtools; a spatial Principal Components Analysis (sPCA) was performed to contrast with the realized niches. The highly suitable predicted ranges varied in their ability to reflect the known distribution of the clades. The different analyses pointed towards different ecological preferences and significant ecological divergence in the four above-mentioned clades. These results are an example of wide-scale ecological inferences for soil fauna made possible by this promising methodology, and show how ecological characterization of relevant taxonomic units could be a useful support for systematic revisions

Anti-Advanced glycation end-product and free radical scavenging activity of plants from the yucatecan flora

Background: Formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is recognized as a major pathogenic process in diabetic complications, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, reactive oxygen species and free radicals have also been reported to participate in AGE formation and in cell damage. Natural products with antioxidant and antiAGE activity have great therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetes, hypertension and related complications. Objective: to test ethanolic extracts and aqueous-traditional preparations of plants used to treat diabetes, hypertension and obesity in Yucatecan traditional medicine for their anti-AGE and free radical scavenging activities. Materials and Methods: ethanolic extracts of leaves, stems and roots of nine medicinal plants, together with their traditional preparations, were prepared and tested for their anti-AGE and antioxidant activities using the inhibition of advanced glycation end products and DPPH radical scavenging assays, respectively. Results: the root extract of C. fistula (IC50= 0.1 mg/mL) and the leaf extract of P. auritum (IC50= 0.35 mg/mL) presented significant activity against vesperlysine and pentosidine-like AGE. Although none of the aqueous traditional preparations showed significant activity in the anti-AGE assay, both the traditional preparations and the ethanolic extracts of E. tinifolia, M. zapota, O. campechianum and P. auritum showed significant activity in the DPPH reduction assay. <65Conclusions: the results suggest that the metabolites responsible for the detected radical-scavenging activity are different to those involved in inhibiting AGE formation; however, the extracts with antioxidant activity may contain other metabolites which are able to prevent AGE formation through a different mechanism

Anosognosia in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment is Related to Diminished Hippocampal Volume Comparable to Alzheimer's Disease Dementia:Preliminary MRI Findings

Although the presence of anosognosia in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) may be predictive of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), little is known about its neural correlates in AD and aMCI. Four different groups were compared using volumetric and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging metrics in regions of interest (hippocampus and cingulum cortex gray matter, cingulum bundle white matter): aMCI subjects with anosognosia (n = 6), aMCI subjects without anosognosia (n = 12), AD subjects with anosognosia (n = 6), and AD subjects without anosognosia (n = 9). aMCI subjects with anosognosia displayed a significantly lower gray matter density (GMD) in the bilateral hippocampus than aMCI subjects without anosognosia, which was accounted for by bilateral hippocampal differences. Furthermore, we identified that the mean hippocampal gray matter density of aMCI subjects with anosognosia was not statistically different than that of AD subjects. The groups of aMCI and AD subjects with anosognosia also displayed a lower GMD in the bilateral cingulum cortex compared to subjects without anosognosia, but these differences were not statistically significant. No statistically significant differences were found in the fractional anisotropy or mean diffusivity of the hippocampus or cingulum between subjects with and without anosognosia in aMCI or AD groups. While these findings are derived from a small population of subjects and are in need of replication, they suggest that anosognosia in aMCI might be a useful clinical marker to suspect brain changes associated with AD neuropathology

The AVuPUR project (Assessing the Vulnerabiliy of Peri-Urbans Rivers): experimental set up, modelling strategy and first results

International audienceLe projet AVuPUR a pour objectif de progresser sur la compréhension et la modélisation des flux d'eau dans les bassins versants péri-urbains. Il s'agit plus particulièrement de fournir des outils permettant de quantifier l'impact d'objets anthropiques tels que zones urbaines, routes, fossés sur les régimes hydrologiques des cours d'eau dans ces bassins. Cet article présente la stratégie expérimentale et de collecte de données mise en ½uvre dans le projet et les pistes proposées pour l'amélioration des outils de modélisation existants et le développement d'outils novateurs. Enfin, nous présentons comment ces outils seront utilisés pour simuler et quantifier l'impact des modifications d'occupation des sols et/ou du climat sur les régimes hydrologiques des bassins étudiés. / The aim of the AVuPUR project is to enhance our understanding and modelling capacity of water fluxes within suburban watersheds. In particular, the objective is to deliver tools allowing to quantify the impact of anthropogenic elements such as urban areas, roads, ditches on the hydrological regime of suburban rivers. This paper presents the observation and data collection strategy set up by the project, and the directions for improving existing modelling tools or proposing innovative ones. Finally, we present how these tools will be used to simulate and quantify the impact of land use and climate changes on the hydrological regimes of the studied catchments

High-throughput sequence-based epigenomic analysis of Alu repeats in human cerebellum

DNA methylation, the only known covalent modification of mammalian DNA, occurs primarily in CpG dinucleotides. 51% of CpGs in the human genome reside within repeats, and 25% within Alu elements. Despite that, no method has been reported for large-scale ascertainment of CpG methylation in repeats. Here we describe a sequencing-based strategy for parallel determination of the CpG-methylation status of thousands of Alu repeats, and a computation algorithm to design primers that enable their specific amplification from bisulfite converted genomic DNA. Using a single primer pair, we generated amplicons of high sequence complexity, and derived CpG-methylation data from 31 178 Alu elements and their 5′ flanking sequences, altogether representing over 4 Mb of a human cerebellum epigenome. The analysis of the Alu methylome revealed that the methylation level of Alu elements is high in the intronic and intergenic regions, but low in the regions close to transcription start sites. Several hypomethylated Alu elements were identified and their hypomethylated status verified by pyrosequencing. Interestingly, some Alu elements exhibited a strikingly tissue-specific pattern of methylation. We anticipate the amplicons herein described to prove invaluable as epigenome representations, to monitor epigenomic alterations during normal development, in aging and in diseases such as cancer

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Reporting on the Seminar - Risk interpretation and action (RIA): Decision making under conditions of uncertainty

The paper reports on the World Social Science (WSS) Fellows seminar on Risk Interpretation and Action (RIA), undertaken in New Zealand in December, 2013. This seminar was coordinated by the WSS Fellows program of the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the RIA working group of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) program, the IRDR International Center of Excellence Taipei, the International START Secretariat and the Royal Society of New Zealand. Twenty-five early career researchers from around the world were selected to review the RIA framework under the theme of \u27decision-making under conditions of uncertainty\u27, and develop novel theoretical approaches to respond to and improve this framework. Six working groups emerged during the seminar: 1. the assessment of water-related risks in megacities; 2. rethinking risk communication; 3. the embodiment of uncertainty; 4. communication in resettlement and reconstruction phases; 5. the integration of indigenous knowledge in disaster risk reduction; and 6. multi-scale policy implementation for natural hazard risk reduction. This article documents the seminar and initial outcomes from the six groups organized; and concludes with the collective views of the participants on the RIA framework

Phrase Frequency Effects in Language Production

A classic debate in the psychology of language concerns the question of the grain-size of the linguistic information that is stored in memory. One view is that only morphologically simple forms are stored (e.g., ‘car’, ‘red’), and that more complex forms of language such as multi-word phrases (e.g., ‘red car’) are generated on-line from the simple forms. In two experiments we tested this view. In Experiment 1, participants produced noun+adjective and noun+noun phrases that were elicited by experimental displays consisting of colored line drawings and two superimposed line drawings. In Experiment 2, participants produced noun+adjective and determiner+noun+adjective utterances elicited by colored line drawings. In both experiments, naming latencies decreased with increasing frequency of the multi-word phrase, and were unaffected by the frequency of the object name in the utterance. These results suggest that the language system is sensitive to the distribution of linguistic information at grain-sizes beyond individual words

MIF homologues from a filarial nematode parasite synergize with IL-4 to induce alternative activation of host macrophages

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a highly conserved cytokine considered to exert wide-ranging, proinflammatory effects on the immune system. Recently, members of this gene family have been discovered in a number of invertebrate species, including parasitic helminths. However, chronic helminth infections are typically associated with a Th2-dominated, counter-inflammatory phenotype, in which alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs) are prominent. To resolve this apparent paradox, we have analyzed the activity of two helminth MIF homologues from the filarial nematode Brugia malayi, in comparison with the canonical MIF from the mouse. We report that murine MIF (mMIF) and Brugia MIF proteins induce broadly similar effects on bone marrow-derived mouse macrophages, eliciting a measured release of proinflammatory cytokines. In parallel, MIF was found to induce up-regulation of IL-4R on macrophages, which when treated in vitro with MIF in combination with IL-4, expressed markers of alternative activation [arginase, resistin-like molecule α (RELM-α) or found in inflammatory zone 1, Ym-1, murine macrophage mannose receptor] and differentiated into functional AAMs with in vitro-suppressive ability. Consistent with this finding, repeated in vivo administration of Brugia MIF induced expression of alternative macrophage activation markers. As mMIF did not induce RELM-α or Ym-1 in vivo, alternative activation may require components of the adaptive immune response to Brugia MIF, such as the production of IL-4. Hence, MIF may accentuate macrophage activation according to the polarity of the environment, thus promoting AAM differentiation in the presence of IL-4-inducing parasitic helminths