How consistent are the transcriptome changes associated with cold acclimation in two species of the Drosophila virilis group?

This work was financially support by a Marie Curie Initial Training Network grant, “Understanding the evolutionary origin of biological diversity” (ITN-2008–213780 SPECIATION), grants from the Academy of Finland to A.H. (project 132619) and M.K. (projects 268214 and 272927), a grant from NERC, UK to M.G.R. (grant NE/J020818/1), and NERC, UK PhD studentship to D.J.P. (NE/I528634/1).For many organisms the ability to cold acclimate with the onset of seasonal cold has major implications for their fitness. In insects, where this ability is widespread, the physiological changes associated with increased cold tolerance have been well studied. Despite this, little work has been done to trace changes in gene expression during cold acclimation that lead to an increase in cold tolerance. We used an RNA-Seq approach to investigate this in two species of the Drosophila virilis group. We found that the majority of genes that are differentially expressed during cold acclimation differ between the two species. Despite this, the biological processes associated with the differentially expressed genes were broadly similar in the two species. These included: metabolism, cell membrane composition, and circadian rhythms, which are largely consistent with previous work on cold acclimation/cold tolerance. In addition, we also found evidence of the involvement of the rhodopsin pathway in cold acclimation, a pathway that has been recently linked to thermotaxis. Interestingly, we found no evidence of differential expression of stress genes implying that long-term cold acclimation and short-term stress response may have a different physiological basis.PostprintPeer reviewe

Crayfish Recognize the Faces of Fight Opponents

The capacity to associate stimuli underlies many cognitive abilities, including recognition, in humans and other animals. Vertebrates process different categories of information separately and then reassemble the distilled information for unique identification, storage and recall. Invertebrates have fewer neural networks and fewer neural processing options so study of their behavior may reveal underlying mechanisms still not fully understood for any animal. Some invertebrates form complex social colonies and are capable of visual memory–bees and wasps, for example. This ability would not be predicted in species that interact in random pairs without strong social cohesion; for example, crayfish. They have chemical memory but the extent to which they remember visual features is unknown. Here we demonstrate that the crayfish Cherax destructor is capable of visual recognition of individuals. The simplicity of their interactions allowed us to examine the behavior and some characteristics of the visual features involved. We showed that facial features are learned during face-to-face fights, that highly variable cues are used, that the type of variability is important, and that the learning is context-dependent. We also tested whether it is possible to engineer false identifications and for animals to distinguish between twin opponents

The do's, don't and don't knows of supporting transition to more independent practice

Introduction: Transitions are traditionally viewed as challenging for clinicians. Throughout medical career pathways, clinicians need to successfully navigate successive transitions as they become progressively more independent practitioners. In these guidelines, we aim to synthesize the evidence from the literature to provide guidance for supporting clinicians in their development of independence, and highlight areas for further research. Methods: Drawing upon D3 method guidance, four key themes universal to medical career transitions and progressive independence were identified by all authors through discussion and consensus from our own experience and expertise: workplace learning, independence and responsibility, mentoring and coaching, and patient perspectives. A scoping review of the literature was conducted using Medline database searches in addition to the authors’ personal archives and reference snowballing searches. Results: 387 articles were identified and screened. 210 were excluded as not relevant to medical transitions (50 at title screen; 160 at abstract screen). 177 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility; a further 107 were rejected (97 did not include career transitions in their study design; 10 were review articles; the primary references of these were screened for inclusion). 70 articles were included of which 60 provided extractable data for the final qualitative synthesis. Across the four key themes, seven do’s, two don’ts and seven don’t knows were identified, and the strength of evidence was graded for each of these recommendations. Conclusion: The two strongest messages arising from current literature are first, transitions should not be viewed as one moment in time: career trajectories are a continuum with valuable opportunities for personal and professional development throughout. Second, learning needs to be embedded in practice and learners provided with authentic and meaningful learning opportunities. In this paper, we propose evidence-based guidelines aimed at facilitating such transitions through the fostering of progressive independence

Modular Approach to Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems in outpatient child and adolescent mental health services in New Zealand: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Mental health disorders are common and disabling for young people because of the potential to disrupt key developmental tasks. Implementation of evidence-based psychosocial therapies in New Zealand is limited, owing to the inaccessibility, length, and cost of training in these therapies. Furthermore, most therapies address one problem area at a time, although comorbidity and changing clinical needs commonly occur in practice. A more flexible approach is needed. The Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) is designed to overcome these challenges; it provides a range of treatment modules addressing different problems, within a single training program. A clinical trial of MATCH-ADTC in the USA showed that MATCH-ADTC outperformed usual care and standard evidence-based treatment on several clinical measures. We aim to replicate these findings and evaluate the impact of providing training and supervision in MATCH-ADTC to: (1) improve clinical outcomes for youth attending mental health services; (2) increase the amount of evidence-based therapy content; (3) increase the efficiency of service delivery. Methods: This is an assessor-blinded multi-site effectiveness randomized controlled trial. Randomization occurs at two levels: (1) clinicians (≥60) are randomized to intervention or usual care; (2) youth participants (7–14 years old) accepted for treatment in child and adolescent mental health services (with a primary disorder that includes anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, or disruptive behavior) are randomly allocated to receive MATCH-ADTC or usual care. Youth participants are recruited from ‘mainstream’, Māori-specific, and Pacific-specific child and adolescent mental health services. We originally planned to recruit 400 youth participants, but this has been revised to 200 participants. Centralized computer randomization ensures allocation concealment. The primary outcome measures are: (i) the difference in trajectory of change of clinical severity between groups (using the parent-rated Brief Problem Monitor); (ii) clinicians’ use of evidence-based treatment procedures during therapy sessions; (iii) total time spent by clinicians delivering therapy. Discussion: If MATCH-ADTC demonstrates effectiveness it could offer a practical efficient method to increase access to evidence-based therapies, and improve outcomes for youth attending secondary care services

Mesenchymal stem cells: from experiment to clinic

There is currently much interest in adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their ability to differentiate into other cell types, and to partake in the anatomy and physiology of remote organs. It is now clear these cells may be purified from several organs in the body besides bone marrow. MSCs take part in wound healing by contributing to myofibroblast and possibly fibroblast populations, and may be involved in epithelial tissue regeneration in certain organs, although this remains more controversial. In this review, we examine the ability of MSCs to modulate liver, kidney, heart and intestinal repair, and we update their opposing qualities of being less immunogenic and therefore tolerated in a transplant situation, yet being able to contribute to xenograft models of human tumour formation in other contexts. However, such observations have not been replicated in the clinic. Recent studies showing the clinical safety of MSC in several pathologies are discussed. The possible opposing powers of MSC need careful understanding and control if their clinical potential is to be realised with long-term safety for patients