Evaluation of Pax6 Mutant Rat as a Model for Autism

Autism is a highly variable brain developmental disorder and has a strong genetic basis. Pax6 is a pivotal player in brain development and maintenance. It is expressed in embryonic and adult neural stem cells, in astrocytes in the entire central nervous system, and in neurons in the olfactory bulb, amygdala, thalamus, and cerebellum, functioning in highly context-dependent manners. We have recently reported that Pax6 heterozygous mutant (rSey2/+) rats with a spontaneous mutation in the Pax6 gene, show impaired prepulse inhibition (PPI). In the present study, we further examined behaviors of rSey2/+ rats and revealed that they exhibited abnormality in social interaction (more aggression and withdrawal) in addition to impairment in rearing activity and in fear-conditioned memory. Ultrasonic vocalization (USV) in rSey2+ rat pups was normal in male but abnormal in female. Moreover, treatment with clozapine successfully recovered the defects in sensorimotor gating function, but not in fear-conditioned memory. Taken together with our prior human genetic data and results in other literatures, rSey2/+ rats likely have some phenotypic components of autism

mammals_45spp

A phylogenetic tree of the focal mammals (45 species) in Newick format

DataSource

List of the 103 publications from which we extracted mean seed retention times (SRTs) of animals for our analysis

SeedRetentionTime

Data of mean seed retention time (mean SRT) of animals, obtained from 103 publications. Basically, each row correspponds to SRT data of an animal for a plant species. A few studies measured SRT of an animal for single plant species repeatedly with different conditions. In that case, we present each mesurement separately. When mean SRT data were pooled for several plants, they are shown in round brakets in the column "Plant Nomenclature" (e.g. "(5 Piper species)"), and when pseudo-seeds were used, it is shown in square brakets in the column (e.g. "[plastic marker]"). Data extracted from figures were indicated in "Note"

birds_50spp

A phylogenetic tree of the focal birds (50 species) in Newick format

A Study on Extraction of Minority Groups in Questionnaire Data based on Spectral Clustering

In the field of marketing, a questionnaire is one of the most important approaches in order to research the market or to design a marketing strategy. On the other hand, people have a variety of individuality recently, then respondents have various impressions on evaluation objects. In the analysis of collected questionnaire data, it is important not only to analyze overall trends but also to discover minority groups which have strong impressions but are different from general groups. It is, however, difficult to extract minority groups by conventional cluster analysis applied to questionnaire data, because they generally aim at extracting majority groups or making a rough clustering. In this paper, we propose the extraction method of minority groups in questionnaire data using the spectral clustering method which considers local similarity and extracts the clusters having less connection to general groups.2014 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2014), July 6-11, 2014, Beijing International Convention Center, Beijing, China (WCCI 2014

Adrenomedullin stimulates cyclic AMP production in the airway epithelial cells of guinea-pigs and in the human epithelial cell line

This study was designed to examine the effects of adrenomedullin (AM) on airway epithelial cells. Primary cultures of guinea-pig tracheal epithelial cells and the human bronchiolar epithelial cell line NCI-H441 were used. Intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and stable end-products of nitric oxide were assayed. Adrenomedullin (10−6 mol/L) stimulated cAMP production in guinea-pig epithelial cells. Indomethacin (10−5 mol/L) significantly decreased the basal level of intracellular cAMP in guinea-pig epithelial cells, but not in NCI-H441 cells. However, AM did not stimulate production of PGE2, a major product that can increase cAMP formation. In the case of NCI-H441 cells, AM (10−8 – 10−6 mol/L) did not significantly affect intracellular cGMP levels or nitrite content in conditioned medium. Adrenomedullin and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) each stimulated cAMP production in NCI-H441 cells, but AM-stimulated cAMP production was antagonized by the CGRP fragment CGRP8–37. These findings suggest that AM stimulates cAMP production and functionally competes with CGRP for binding sites in airway epithelial cells, at least in human epithelial cells, but that it does not stimulate the release of PGE2 and nitric oxide. Though cyclooxygenase products contribute to some extent to cAMP formation in guinea-pigs, AM independently stimulates intracellular cAMP formation in airway epithelial cells