The p110α and p110β Isoforms of Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Are Involved in Toll-Like Receptor 5 Signaling in Epithelial Cells

Background. Bacterial flagellin triggers inflammation in mammalian cells via Toll-like receptor (TLR) 5. Release of the chemokine IL-8 in response to flagellin involves NF-κB, p38 MAP kinase, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). However, PI3K has been reported to be either pro- or anti-inflammatory in different model systems. We hypothesized that this could be due to different activities of the p110α and β isoforms of PI3K. Results. PI3K and Akt were rapidly activated in Caco-2 colon carcinoma cells by flagellin. Using a plasmid-based shRNA delivery system and novel p110 isoform-specific inhibitors, we found that flagellin-induced IL-8 production was dependent on both p110α and p110β. However in the mouse, inhibition of p110β but not p110α reduced the increase of serum IL-6 levels induced by intraperitoneal injection of flagellin. Conclusions. These data demonstrate that the p110α and β isoforms of class IA PI3K are both required for the proinflammatory response to flagellin

EARSHOT:A minimal network model of human speech recognition that operates on real speech

Despite the lack of invariance problem (the many-to-manymapping between acoustics and percepts), we experiencephonetic constancy and typically perceive what a speakerintends. Models of human speech recognition have side-stepped this problem, working with abstract, idealized inputsand deferring the challenge of working with real speech. Incontrast, automatic speech recognition powered by deeplearning networks have allowed robust, real-world speechrecognition. However, the complexities of deep learningarchitectures and training regimens make it difficult to usethem to provide direct insights into mechanisms that maysupport human speech recognition. We developed a simplenetwork that borrows one element from automatic speechrecognition (long short-term memory nodes, which providedynamic memory for short and long spans). This allows thenetwork to learn to map real speech from multiple talkers tosemantic targets with high accuracy. Internal representationsemerge that resemble phonetically-organized responses inhuman superior temporal gyrus, suggesting that the modeldevelops a distributed phonological code despite no explicittraining on phonetic or phonemic targets. The ability to workwith real speech is a major advance for cognitive models ofhuman speech recognition

Randomized placebo controlled clinical trial of an enteric coated micro-pelleted formulation of a pancreatic enzyme supplement in dogs with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

BACKGROUND : Pancreatic enzyme supplements for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in dogs can be uncoated or enteric coated. Enteric coated supplements might be advantageous. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES : Enteric coated enzyme supplements are superior to uncoated supplements in dogs with clinical EPI. ANIMALS : Eleven dogs with naturally occurring EPI that were apparently free from other diseases. METHODS : Randomized, blinded, controlled cross-over clinical trial comparing a novel microencapsulated enteric coated enzyme supplement to a commercially available uncoated product in dogs with clinical EPI. Search of serum canine serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity concentration ≤ 2.5 μg/L in the Gastrointestinal Laboratory database was used to identify dogs with EPI. RESULTS : There was no difference −4.46% (95% CI: −7.97%-–0.96%; P = .15) in the % acid hydrolysis fecal fat (primary outcome) between the enteric coated formulation (median: 11.8%; range 6.4%-17.0%) and the uncoated pancreatic enzyme replacement product (median: 17.5%; range: 5.2%-24.9%) in the 11 dogs that completed the study. Other variables did not differ between treatments. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE : This study, which had low statistical power, did not detect a difference between formulations.Eurovet Animal Health BV, Grant/Award Number: 11.001http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jvimam2019Production Animal Studie

Short- and long-term effects of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid or doxycycline on the gastrointestinal microbiome of growing cats

Antibiotic treatment in early life influences gastrointestinal (GI) microbial composition and function. In humans, the resultant intestinal dysbiosis is associated with an increased risk for certain diseases later in life. The objective of this study was to determine the temporal effects of antibiotic treatment on the GI microbiome of young cats. Fecal samples were collected from cats randomly allocated to receive either amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (20 mg/kg q12h) for 20 days (AMC group; 15 cats) or doxycycline (10 mg/kg q24h) for 28 days (DOX group;15 cats) as part of the standard treatment of upper respiratory tract infection. In addition, feces were collected from healthy control cats (CON group;15 cats). All cats were approximately two months of age at enrolment. Samples were collected on days 0 (baseline), 20 or 28 (AMC and DOX, respectively; last day of treatment), 60, 120, and 300. DNA was extracted and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and qPCR assays were performed. Fecal microbial composition was different on the last day of treatment for AMC cats, and 1 month after the end of antibiotic treatment for DOX cats, compared to CON cats. Species richness was significantly greater in DOX cats compared to CON cats on the last day of treatment. Abundance of Enterobacteriales was increased, and that of Erysipelotrichi was decreased in cats of the AMC group on the last day of treatment compared to CON cats. The abundance of the phylum Proteobacteria was increased in cats of the DOX group on days 60 and 120 compared to cats of the CON group. Only minor differences in abundances between the treatment groups and the control group were present on day 300. Both antibiotics appear to delay the developmental progression of the microbiome, and this effect is more profound during treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and one month after treatment with doxycycline. Future studies are required to determine if these changes influence microbiome function and whether they have possible effects on disease susceptibility in cats.S1 Fig. Beta diversity indices among groups. A) Principal Coordinate Analysis of unweighted UniFrac distances of 16S rRNA genes representing the difference in microbial communities among cats treated with amoxicillin clavulanic acid (blue circles), cats treated with doxycycline (yellow circles), and healthy control cats (red circles) on days 20/28 (last day of treatment), 60, 120, and 300. B) Principal Coordinate Analysis of weighted UniFrac distances of 16S rRNA genes representing the difference in microbial communities among cats treated with amoxicillin clavulanic acid (blue circles), cats treated with doxycycline (yellow circles), and healthy control cats (red circles) on days 20/28 (last day of treatment), 60, 120, and 300.S2 Fig. Rarefaction curves for A) Chao1, B) Observed ASVs, and C) Shannon Index.S1 Table. Clinical data of cats participating to the study.S2 Table. Alpha diversity metrics (mean ± standard deviation) with summary statistics; CON, healthy cats that did not receive antibiotics; AMC, cats treated with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid for 20 days; DOX, cats treated with doxycycline for 28 days.S3 Table. Beta diversity differences based on ANOSIM analysis. CON, healthy cats that did not receive antibiotics; AMC, cats treated with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid for 20 days; DOX, cats treated with doxycycline for 28 days.S4 Table. Beta diversity differences based on PERMANOVA analysis. CON, healthy cats that did not receive antibiotics; AMC, cats treated with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid for 20 days; DOX, cats treated with doxycycline for 28 days.S5 Table. Summary statistics of sequencing data describing the mean percent and standard deviation of sequences belonging to antibiotic-treated (AMC and DOX groups) and healthy (CON group) cats.S6 Table. Summary statistics of qPCR data describing the mean log abundance and standard deviation of bacterial groups belonging to antibiotic-treated (AMC and DOX groups) and healthy (CON group) cats.The Miller Trust Award of the Winn Feline Foundation.http://www.plosone.orgam2022Production Animal Studie

HPRT Deficiency Coordinately Dysregulates Canonical Wnt and Presenilin-1 Signaling: A Neuro-Developmental Regulatory Role for a Housekeeping Gene?

We have used microarray-based methods of global gene expression together with quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis to identify dysregulation of genes and aberrant cellular processes in human fibroblasts and in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells made HPRT-deficient by transduction with a retrovirus stably expressing an shRNA targeted against HPRT. Analysis of the microarray expression data by Gene ontology (GO) and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) as well as significant pathway analysis by GeneSpring GX10 and Panther Classification System reveal that HPRT deficiency is accompanied by aberrations in a variety of pathways known to regulate neurogenesis or to be implicated in neurodegenerative disease, including the canonical Wnt/β-catenin and the Alzheimer's disease/presenilin signaling pathways. Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is confirmed by Western blot demonstration of cytosolic sequestration of β-catenin during in vitro differentiation of the SH-SY5Y cells toward the neuronal phenotype. We also demonstrate that two key transcription factor genes known to be regulated by Wnt signaling and to be vital for the generation and function of dopaminergic neurons; i.e., Lmx1a and Engrailed 1, are down-regulated in the HPRT knockdown SH-SY5Y cells. In addition to the Wnt signaling aberration, we found that expression of presenilin-1 shows severely aberrant expression in HPRT-deficient SH-SY5Y cells, reflected by marked deficiency of the 23 kDa C-terminal fragment of presenilin-1 in knockdown cells. Western blot analysis of primary fibroblast cultures from two LND patients also shows dysregulated presenilin-1 expression, including aberrant proteolytic processing of presenilin-1. These demonstrations of dysregulated Wnt signaling and presenilin-1 expression together with impaired expression of dopaminergic transcription factors reveal broad pleitropic neuro-regulatory defects played by HPRT expression and suggest new directions for investigating mechanisms of aberrant neurogenesis and neuropathology in LND and potential new targets for restoration of effective signaling in this neuro-developmental defect

An analysis of some conditions for representing N state Markov processes as general all or none models

Recently Markov learning models with two unidentifiable presolution success states, an error state, and an absorbing learned state, have been suggested to handle certain aspects of data better than the three state Markov models of the General All or None model type. In attempting to interpret psychologically, and evaluate statistically the adequacy of various classes of Markov models, a knowledge of the relationship between the classes of models would be helpful. This paper considers some aspects of the relationship between the class of General All or None models and the class of Stationary Absorbing Markov models with N error states, and M presolution success states.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45728/1/11336_2005_Article_BF02290602.pd

Enhanced growth rate of atmospheric particles from sulfuric acid

In the present-day atmosphere, sulfuric acid is the most important vapour for aerosol particle formation and initial growth. However, the growth rates of nanoparticles (<10 nm) from sulfuric acid remain poorly measured. Therefore, the effect of stabilizing bases, the contribution of ions and the impact of attractive forces on molecular collisions are under debate. Here, we present precise growth rate measurements of uncharged sulfuric acid particles from 1.8 to 10 nm, performed under atmospheric conditions in the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) CLOUD chamber. Our results show that the evaporation of sulfuric acid particles above 2 nm is negligible, and growth proceeds kinetically even at low ammonia concentrations. The experimental growth rates exceed the hard-sphere kinetic limit for the condensation of sulfuric acid. We demonstrate that this results from van der Waals forces between the vapour molecules and particles and disentangle it from charge–dipole interactions. The magnitude of the enhancement depends on the assumed particle hydration and collision kinetics but is increasingly important at smaller sizes, resulting in a steep rise in the observed growth rates with decreasing size. Including the experimental results in a global model, we find that the enhanced growth rate of sulfuric acid particles increases the predicted particle number concentrations in the upper free troposphere by more than 50 %

Enhanced growth rate of atmospheric particles from sulfuric acid

In the present-day atmosphere, sulfuric acid is the most important vapour for aerosol particle formation and initial growth. However, the growth rates of nanoparticles (<10 nm) from sulfuric acid remain poorly measured. Therefore, the effect of stabilizing bases, the contribution of ions and the impact of attractive forces on molecular collisions are under debate. Here, we present precise growth rate measurements of uncharged sulfuric acid particles from 1.8 to 10 nm, performed under atmospheric conditions in the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) CLOUD chamber. Our results show that the evaporation of sulfuric acid particles above 2 nm is negligible, and growth proceeds kinetically even at low ammonia concentrations. The experimental growth rates exceed the hard-sphere kinetic limit for the condensation of sulfuric acid. We demonstrate that this results from van derWaals forces between the vapour molecules and particles and disentangle it from charge-dipole interactions. The magnitude of the enhancement depends on the assumed particle hydration and collision kinetics but is increasingly important at smaller sizes, resulting in a steep rise in the observed growth rates with decreasing size. Including the experimental results in a global model, we find that the enhanced growth rate of sulfuric acid particles increases the predicted particle number concentrations in the upper free troposphere by more than 50 %.Peer reviewe