Hepatic Transcriptomic and Metabolic Responses of Hybrid Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis × Morone chrysops) to Acute and Chronic Hypoxic Insult

Striped bass (Morone saxatilis), white bass (Morone chrysops), and their hybrid are an important group of fish prized for recreational angling in the United States, and there and abroad as a high-value farmed fish. Regardless of habitat, it is not uncommon for fish of the genus Morone to encounter and cope with conditions of scarce oxygen availability. Previously, we determined that hybrid striped bass reared under conditions of chronic hypoxia exhibited reduced feed intake, lower lipid and nutrient retention, and poor growth. To better understand the molecular mechanisms governing these phenotypes, in the present study, we examined the transcriptomic profiles of hepatic tissue in hybrid striped bass exposed to chronic hypoxia (90 days at 25% oxygen saturation) and acute hypoxia (6 h at 25% oxygen saturation). Using high-throughput RNA-seq, we found that over 1400 genes were differentially expressed under disparate oxygen conditions, with the vast majority of transcriptional changes occurring in the acute hypoxia treatment. Gene pathway and bioenergetics analyses revealed hypoxia-mediated perturbation of genes and gene networks related to lipid metabolism, cell death, and changes in hepatic mitochondrial content and cellular respiration. This study offers a more comprehensive view of the temporal and tissue-specific transcriptional changes that occur during hypoxia, and reveals new and shared mechanisms of hypoxia tolerance in teleosts

Molecular cloning and preliminary function study of iron responsive element binding protein 1 gene from cypermethrin-resistant Culex pipiens pallens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insecticide resistance jeopardizes the control of mosquito populations and mosquito-borne disease control, which creates a major public health concern. Two-dimensional electrophoresis identified one protein segment with high sequence homology to part of <it>Aedes aegypti </it>iron-responsive element binding protein (IRE-BP).</p> <p>Method</p> <p>RT-PCR and RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA end) were used to clone a cDNA encoding full length IRE-BP 1. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to evaluate the transcriptional level changes in the Cr-IRE strain <it>Aedes aegypti </it>compared to the susceptible strain of <it>Cx. pipiens pallens</it>. The expression profile of the gene was established in the mosquito life cycle. Methyl tritiated thymidine (³H-TdR) was used to observe the cypermethrin resistance changes in C6/36 cells containing the stably transfected IRE-BP 1 gene of <it>Cx. pipiens pallens</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The complete sequence of iron responsive element binding protein 1 (IRE-BP 1) has been cloned from the cypermethrin-resistant strain of <it>Culex pipiens pallens </it>(Cr-IRE strain). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that the IRE-BP 1 transcription level was 6.7 times higher in the Cr-IRE strain than in the susceptible strain of 4th instar larvae. The IRE-BP 1 expression was also found to be consistently higher throughout the life cycle of the Cr-IRE strain. A protein of predicted size 109.4 kDa has been detected by Western blotting in IRE-BP 1-transfected mosquito C6/36 cells. These IRE-BP 1-transfected cells also showed enhanced cypermethrin resistance compared to null-transfected or plasmid vector-transfected cells as determined by ³H-TdR incorporation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>IRE-BP 1 is expressed at higher levels in the Cr-IRE strain, and may confer some insecticide resistance in <it>Cx. pipiens pallens</it>.</p

Anthropological Contributions to Conflict Resolution

Anthropological Contributions to Conflict Resolution consists of ten essays that make vividly apparent the variety of ways that anthropological approaches and perspectives can be of practical worth in the resolution of conflicts. The essays represent various subdisciplines in anthropology, including legal and political anthropology, economic anthropology, cross-cultural studies, interpretive approaches, and social network approaches. Conflicts and potential conflicts at many levels are the subjects of the essays. One contributor uses an ethnographic account of Sikh separatists in Punjab, India, to explore fighting resulting from the intertwining of religion and politics. Another essay discusses the role that anthropology played in conceptualizing the legal reforms on an island in the remote western Pacific in relation to the recent emergence of alternative dispute resolution. Conflicts over the commons in an American suburb are examined, as are harmony ideology and adversarial ideology as they are used for both freedom and control at a manufacturing plant. The introductory essay includes a discussion of network models in regard to conflict resolution, and the epilogue cites an agenda for applied research in the area.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_facbooks/1013/thumbnail.jp

A New Mining Method to Detect Real Time Substance Use Events from Wearable Biosensor Data Stream

Detecting real time substance use is a critical step for optimizing behavioral interventions to prevent drug abuse. Traditional methods based on self-reporting or urine screening are inefficient or intrusive for drug use detection, and inappropriate for timely interventions. For example, self-report suffers from distortion or recall bias; while urine screening often detects drug use that occurred only within the previous 72 hours. Methods for real-time substance use detection are severely underdeveloped, partly due to the novelty of wearable biosensor technique and the lack of substantive clinical data for evaluation. We propose a new real-time drug use event detection method using data obtained from wearable biosensors. Specifically, this method is built upon the slide window technique to process the data stream, and a distance-based outlier detection method to identify substance use events. This novel method is designed to examine how to detect and set up the thresholds of parameters in real-time drug use event detection for wearable biosensor data streams. Our numerical analyses empirically identified the thresholds of parameters used to detect the cocaine use and showed that this proposed method could be adapted to detect other substance use events