2,649 research outputs found
Large-scale gene expression study in the ophiuroid Amphiura filiformis provides insights into evolution of gene regulatory networks
BACKGROUND: The evolutionary mechanisms involved in shaping complex gene regulatory networks (GRN) that encode for morphologically similar structures in distantly related animals remain elusive. In this context, echinoderm larval skeletons found in brittle stars and sea urchins provide an ideal system. Here, we characterize for the first time the development of the larval skeleton in the ophiuroid Amphiura filiformis and compare it systematically with its counterpart in sea urchin. RESULTS: We show that ophiuroids and euechinoids, that split at least 480 Million years ago (Mya), have remarkable similarities in tempo and mode of skeletal development. Despite morphological and ontological similarities, our high-resolution study of the dynamics of genetic regulatory states in A. filiformis highlights numerous differences in the architecture of their underlying GRNs. Importantly, the A.filiformis pplx, the closest gene to the sea urchin double negative gate (DNG) repressor pmar1, fails to drive the skeletogenic program in sea urchin, showing important evolutionary differences in protein function. hesC, the second repressor of the DNG, is co-expressed with most of the genes that are repressed in sea urchin, indicating the absence of direct repression of tbr, ets1/2, and delta in A. filiformis. Furthermore, the absence of expression in later stages of brittle star skeleton development of key regulatory genes, such as foxb and dri, shows significantly different regulatory states. CONCLUSION: Our data fill up an important gap in the picture of larval mesoderm in echinoderms and allows us to explore the evolutionary implications relative to the recently established phylogeny of echinoderm classes. In light of recent studies on other echinoderms, our data highlight a high evolutionary plasticity of the same nodes throughout evolution of echinoderm skeletogenesis. Finally, gene duplication, protein function diversification, and cis-regulatory element evolution all contributed to shape the regulatory program for larval skeletogenesis in different branches of echinoderms
Looking for evidence of high-mass star formation at core scale in a massive molecular clump
We present a comprehensive physical and chemical study of the fragmentation
and star formation activity towards the massive clump AGAL G338.9188+0.5494
harbouring the extended green object EGO 338.92+0.55(b). The presence of an EGO
embedded in a massive clump, suggests, at clump scale, that high-mass star
formation is occurring. The main goal of this work is to find evidence of such
high-mass star formation, but at core scale. Using mm observations of continuum
and lines obtained from the ALMA database at Bands 6 and 7, we study the
substructure of the massive clump. The angular resolution of the data is about
0.5'', which allow us to resolve structures of about 0.01pc ( 2000 au) at
the distance of 4.4 kpc. The continuum emission at 340 GHz reveals that the
molecular clump is fragmented in five cores, labeled from C1 to C5. The
CO J=3--2 emission shows the presence of molecular outflows related to
three of them. The analysis of the CHCN and CHCCH emissions suggests
temperatures of about 340 and 72~K, respectively, for C1, showing that the
methyl cyanide would trace a gas layer closer to the protostar than the methyl
acetylene. The obtained mass of core C1 ranges from 3 to 10 M. We
found that the discovered molecular outflow arising from core C1 should be the
main responsible for the 4.5 m extended emission. The average mass and
energy of such a molecular outflow is about 0.5 M~and ~erg,
respectively, which suggest that 10 M is the most likely mass value
for core C1. Additionally we found that the region is chemically very rich with
several complex molecular species. Particularly, from the analysis of the CN
emission we found strong evidence that such a radical is indirectly tracing the
molecular outflows, more precisely the border of the cavity walls carved out by
such outflows.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (July 5, 2023
Energy metabolism and regeneration impaired by seawater acidification in the infaunal brittlestar, Amphiura filiformis
Seawater acidification due to anthropogenic release of CO2 as well as the potential leakage of pure CO2 from sub-seabed carbon capture storage sites (CCS) may impose a serious threat to marine organisms. Although infaunal organisms can be expected to be particularly impacted by decreases in seawater pH, due to naturally acidified conditions in benthic habitats, information regarding physiological and behavioral responses is still scarce. Determination of pO2 and pCO2 gradients within the burrows of the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis during environmental hypercapnia demonstrated that besides hypoxic conditions, increases of environmental pCO2 are additive to the already high pCO2 (up to 0.08 kPa) within the burrows. In response to up to 4 weeks exposure to pH 7.3 (0.3 kPa pCO2) and pH 7.0 (0.6 kPa pCO2), metabolic rates of A.filiformis were significantly reduced in pH 7.0 treatments accompanied by increased ammonium excretion rates. Gene expression analyses demonstrated significant reductions of acid-base (NBCe and AQP9) and metabolic (G6PDH, LDH) genes. Determination of extracellular acid-base status indicated an uncompensated acidosis in CO2 treated animals, which could explain depressed metabolic rates. Metabolic depression is associated with a retraction of filter feeding arms into sediment burrows. Regeneration of lost arm tissues following traumatic amputation is associated with significant increases in metabolic rate, and hypercapnic conditions (pH 7.0, 0.6 KPa) dramatically reduce the metabolic scope for regeneration reflected in 80% reductions in regeneration rate. Thus, the present work demonstrates that elevated seawater pCO2 significantly affects the environment and the physiology of infaunal organisms like A. filiformis
The Sound of Topology in the AdS/CFT Correspondence
Using the gauge/gravity correspondence, we study the properties of 2-point
correlation functions of finite-temperature strongly coupled gauge field
theories, defined on a curved space of general spatial topology with a dual
black hole description. We derive approximate asymptotic expressions for the
correlation functions and their poles, supported by exact numerical
calculations, and study their dependence on the dimension of spacetime and the
spatial topology. The asymptotic structure of the correlation functions depends
on the relation between the spatial curvature and the temperature, and is
noticeable when they are of the same order. In the case of a hyperbolic
topology, a specific temperature is identified for which exact analytical
solutions exist for all types of perturbations. The asymptotic structure of the
correlation functions poles is found to behave in a non-smooth manner when
approaching this temperature.Comment: 65 pages, LaTeX, 21 figures, 1 table; fixed a small error in
subsection 3.
RESULTADOS PRELIMINARES EN LOS ESTUDIOS DE IMPLANTACIÓN DE ENERGÍAS RENOVABLES EN EL REGADÍO DEL PROYECTO I+D+i OPTIREG: GESTIÓN EFICIENTE DE REGADÍOS
[ES] OPTIREG, tiene el objetivo de alcanzar nuevas posibilidades de ahorro a partir de una
buena gestión en toda la cadena de valor. Para ello trabaja en cuatro bloques
interrelacionados: 1) implantación de energías renovables, 2) mercados eléctricos y compraventa
de energía, 3) eficiencia hídrica y 4) eficiencia energética.
En el presente Trabajo Técnico se presentan los resultados obtenidos, hasta el momento, en
el bloque 1) implantación de energías renovables, mediante el cual se busca una
disminución del coste energético del regadío, así como una mayor independencia de los
proveedores de electricidad. Se ha investigado el uso y rentabilidad de la energía
fotovoltaica, eólica y minihidráulica para su integración en una red de regadío actual.Fernández, K.; Ortega, A.; Carpio, F.; Mayordomo, A.; Martinez, M.; Iglesias, S. (2015). RESULTADOS PRELIMINARES EN LOS ESTUDIOS DE IMPLANTACIÓN DE ENERGÍAS RENOVABLES EN EL REGADÍO DEL PROYECTO I+D+i OPTIREG: GESTIÓN EFICIENTE DE REGADÍOS. En XXXIII CONGRESO NACIONAL DE RIEGOS. Valencia 16-18 junio de 2015. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CNRiegos.2015.1469OC
Experiencia clínica del tratamiento con onabotulinumtoxin A en pacientes con migraña refractaria
To analyse our experience in the treatment of refractory chronic migraine,
episodic frequent refractory migraine (>= 10 days/month), with onabotulinumtoxin
A (OnabotA). PATIENTS AND METHODS. Retrospective analysis of patients with
refractory migraine who underwent, at least two sessions of OnabotA pericranial
injections following the PREEMPT protocol between 2008 and 2012. The efficacy of
OnabotA was evaluated comparing the basal situation with 12-16 weeks after the
second session. We analysed the subjective improvement of the patients, number of
days with headache, preventive and abortive drugs consumption, and adverse
effects. RESULTS. Forty-one patients (37 women, 4 male) were identified. 65.8%
patients experienced subjective improvement after OnabotA treatment. 36.58%
responded (reduction of > 50% in headache days). Differences between days with
headache before the first session (24.5 +/- 7.3), and 12-16 weeks after the
second session (17.4 +/- 11.6), as well as the differences between the number of
abortive drugs taken before the first session (26.8 +/- 23.1) and 12-16 weeks
after the second session (16.7 +/- 19.3), were statistically significant (p <
0.001). Subgroups analysis showed that all differences were significant, except
for the reduction of the number of days with headache in patients with episodic
frequent refractory migraine. CONCLUSION. Our work shows that treatment with
OnabotA is safe and useful in patients with episodic and chronic refractory
migraine, including those patients with medication overuse headache
A Highly Potent and Broadly Neutralizing H1 Influenza-Specific Human Monoclonal Antibody
Influenza's propensity for antigenic drift and shift, and to elicit predominantly strain specific antibodies (Abs) leaves humanity susceptible to waves of new strains with pandemic potential for which limited or no immunity may exist. Subsequently new clinical interventions are needed. To identify hemagglutinin (HA) epitopes that if targeted may confer universally protective humoral immunity, we examined plasmablasts from a subject that was immunized with the seasonal influenza inactivated vaccine, and isolated a human monoclonal Ab (mAb), KPF1. KPF1 has broad and potent neutralizing activity against H1 influenza viruses, and recognized 83% of all H1 isolates tested, including the pandemic 1918 H1. Prophylactically, KPF1 treatment resulted in 100% survival of mice from lethal challenge with multiple H1 influenza strains and when given as late as 72 h after challenge with A/California/04/2009 H1N1, resulted in 80% survival. KPF1 recognizes a novel epitope in the HA globular head, which includes a highly conserved amino acid, between the Ca and Cb antigenic sites. Although recent HA stalk-specific mAbs have broader reactivity, their potency is substantially limited, suggesting that cocktails of broadly reactive and highly potent HA globular head-specific mAbs, like KPF1, may have greater clinical feasibility for the treatment of influenza infections.Peer reviewe
Rapid Climate Changes in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Alboran Sea) Over the Last 35 kyr: New Insights From Four Lipid Paleothermometers (UK'37, TEXH86, RI-OH', and LDI)
The westernmost Mediterranean is one of the most sensitive areas to global climate change and high sedimentation rates allow recording high frequency variability. We present a high-resolution paleotemperature reconstruction over the last 35 kyr using, for the first time, four independent organic sea surface temperature (SST) proxies (U-37(K'), TEX86H, RI-OH' and LDI) based on alkenones, (hydroxy) isoprenoid GDGTs, and long-chain diols. We also generated a delta O-18 of planktonic foraminifera G. bulloides record together with records of bulk parameters (total organic carbon content, delta C-13(org)) and the accumulation rates of different biomarkers to provide insights into terrestrial input and primary producers. All derived-SST records showed similar trends over the last 35 kyr, revealing abrupt temperature variations during the last seven Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) cycles, the three Heinrich (H) events, the Last Glacial Maximum, and the Younger Dryas. H3 is recognized as the coldest event, while H1 was recorded by all SST proxies as the most abrupt one. In general, TEX86H-, RI-OH'- and LDI-SST estimates were lower than those obtained from U-37(K'). The LDI paleothermometer recorded the largest range of absolute SSTs over the whole period (ca. 20 degrees C) followed by RI-OH' (ca. 16 degrees C). TEX86H, RI-OH' and LDI proxies reflected sudden SST changes during the D/O 6 and 5 particularly well. Low BIT values and the abundance of C-32 1,15-diol in range with typical marine values indicated only minor input of continental organic matter. Accumulation rates of different lipid biomarkers were generally modulated by D/O cycles, suggesting enhanced productivity during D/O interstadials and the Bolling-Allerod period
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