Social functioning questionnaires of adolescents born preterm show average profiles and attenuated sex differences

Aim Prematurity has been shown to affect social competence in children and adults. Our aim was to evaluate profiles of self-reported social behaviours and loneliness in preterm- and term-born adolescents. Methods Preterm ( Results A total of 172 preterm-born and 134 term-born adolescents returned the questionnaires. Most frequently, preterm adolescents reported a profile of average social competence and average levels of loneliness. Preterm-born boys reported a profile of low social functioning less often (preterm-born 36% vs. term-born 54%), and preterm-born girls reported a profile of high social functioning less frequently (preterm-born 26% vs. term-born 37%) than same-sex controls. Sex differences in social functioning profiles were smaller in preterm than term-born adolescents. Conclusion The majority of young adolescents born preterm reported a high or average social functioning profile irrespective of sex. Prematurity seems to level out differences between the sexes.Peer reviewe

Gestational exposure to metformin programs improved glucose tolerance and insulin secretion in adult male mouse offspring

Abstract Pancreatic β-cells are exquisitely sensitive to developmental nutrient stressors, and alterations in nutrient sensing pathways may underlie changes observed in these models. Here we developed a mouse model of in utero exposure to the anti-diabetic agent metformin. We have previously shown that this exposure increases offspring pancreatic β-cell mass at birth. We hypothesized that adult offspring would have improved metabolic parameters as a long-term outcome of metformin exposure. Virgin dams were given 5 mg/mL metformin in their water from E0.5 to delivery at E18.5. Body weight, glucose tolerance, insulin tolerance and glucose stimulated insulin secretion were analyzed in the offspring. When male offspring of dams given metformin during gestation were tested as adults they had improved glucose tolerance and enhanced insulin secretion in vivo as did their islets in vitro. Enhanced insulin secretion was accompanied by changes in intracellular free calcium responses to glucose and potassium chloride, possibly mediated by increased L channel expression. Female offspring exhibited improved glucose tolerance at advanced ages. In conclusion, in this model in utero metformin exposure leads to improved offspring metabolism in a gender-specific manner. These findings suggest that metformin applied during gestation may be an option for reprogramming metabolism in at risk groups

PhyloFisher : A phylogenomic package for resolving eukaryotic relationships

Phylogenomic analyses of hundreds of protein-coding genes aimed at resolving phylogenetic relationships is now a common practice. However, no software currently exists that includes tools for dataset construction and subsequent analysis with diverse validation strategies to assess robustness. Furthermore, there are no publicly available high-quality curated databases designed to assess deep (>100 million years) relationships in the tree of eukaryotes. To address these issues, we developed an easy-to-use software package, PhyloFisher (https://github.com/TheBrownLab/PhyloFisher), written in Python 3. PhyloFisher includes a manually curated database of 240 protein-coding genes from 304 eukaryotic taxa covering known eukaryotic diversity, a novel tool for ortholog selection, and utilities that will perform diverse analyses required by state-of-the-art phylogenomic investigations. Through phylogenetic reconstructions of the tree of eukaryotes and of the Saccharomycetaceae clade of budding yeasts, we demonstrate the utility of the PhyloFisher workflow and the provided starting database to address phylogenetic questions across a large range of evolutionary time points for diverse groups of organisms. We also demonstrate that undetected paralogy can remain in phylogenomic "single-copy orthogroup" datasets constructed using widely accepted methods such as all vs. all BLAST searches followed by Markov Cluster Algorithm (MCL) clustering and application of automated tree pruning algorithms. Finally, we show how the PhyloFisher workflow helps detect inadvertent paralog inclusions, allowing the user to make more informed decisions regarding orthology assignments, leading to a more accurate final dataset