bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dietary taurine supplementation improves breast meat quality in chronic heat‐stressed broilers via activating the Nrf2 pathway and protecting mitochondria from oxidative attack
Authors: Lu Zhuang , He Xiaofang , Ma Bingbing , Zhang Lin , Li Jiaolong , Jiang Yun , Zhou Guanghong , Gao Feng
Published: July 2018

Background

Chronic heat stress can induce oxidative impairment and decrease breast meat quality in broilers. Taurine is a β‐amino acid with antioxidant properties. To investigate the alleviative effects and molecular mechanisms of taurine supplementation on breast meat quality in broilers exposed to chronic heat stress, 144 28‐day‐old chickens (Arbor Acres) were randomly distributed to thermoneutral (TN, 22 °C, basal diet), heat stress (HS, consistent 32 °C, basal diet), or heat stress plus taurine (HS + T, consistent 32 °C, basal diet + 5.00 g kg−1 taurine) groups for a 14‐day trial.

Results

Chronic heat stress did not affect the contents of moisture, crude protein and crude fat in breast muscle, but impaired breast meat quality in broilers. Taurine supplementation significantly alleviated the increase in lightness and drip loss and the decrease in pH45 min and shear force of breast meat in chronic heat‐stressed broilers. Compared with the HS group, taurine supplementation significantly decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species and malonaldehyde and increased the messenger RNA expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2), NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 and heme oxygenase 1 in the HS + T group. Meanwhile, taurine supplementation effectively alleviated mitochondrial damage caused by chronic heat exposure.

Conclusion

Dietary taurine supplementation can effectively improve the quality of breast meat in chronic heat‐stressed broilers via activating the Nrf2 pathway and protecting mitochondria from oxidative attack. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Simultaneous high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and time‐of‐flight mass spectrometric confirmation of the ten bioactive compounds in Semen Sojae Preparatum
Authors: Qiu Feng , Shi Linyi , Wang Siqi , Wu Sha , Wang Manyuan
Published: July 2018

Semen Sojae Preparatum is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines. A reliable and accurate high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection method has been developed and validated for the quantitative determination of the ten bioactive compounds contained in Semen Sojae Preparatum. The samples were first extracted by pressurized liquid extraction using 80% ethanol at 100°C for 15 min and three static extraction cycles. Chromatographic separation was conducted on a C18 column using a mobile phase consisting of water and acetonitrile under gradient elution, and the detection wavelength was set at 210 nm. The samples were further analyzed on a high‐performance liquid chromatography with time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry system to confirm the determination results. All the ten analytes were well separated, and the calibration curves showed good linearity. The intra‐ and interday precisions were evaluated in terms of relative standard deviation values within the ranges of 0.20–1.43% and 0.40–4.78%, respectively. The recoveries for the ten analytes were all in the ranges of 96.2–104.3%, with relative standard deviation values < 3.85%. The established high‐performance liquid chromatography method could serve as a reliable and accurate method for the quality evaluation of Semen Sojae Preparatum from different origins.
Distinct developmental trajectories of endometriotic epithelium and stroma: implications for the origins of endometriosis
Authors: Lac Vivian , Huntsman David G
Published: July 2018

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease characterized by the ectopic growth of endometrium‐like tissue. Despite the widespread prevalence of endometriosis, its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. A recent study by Noë et al provides evidence that the epithelium and stroma within the same endometriotic lesions follow distinct and independent developmental trajectories. They used droplet digital polymerase chain reaction analysis of laser‐captured epithelium‐enriched and stroma‐enriched endometriosis tissue, and found that all 19 somatic passenger mutations analyzed were enriched exclusively in the epithelial compartment. These findings are consistent with the clonal expansion of epithelial cells, whereas stromal cells may be continuously regenerated or recruited over the course of disease. Further findings of differing allelic frequencies among passenger mutations within the epithelium of the same endometriotic lesions are suggestive of subclonality or the existence of multiple clones in some cases. Overall, the authors' observations of clonally dominant somatic passenger mutations in the epithelium and not the stroma of endometriosis add to the recent description of cancer‐associated mutations in such lesions, and provide clues to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Further studies to determine where and when these mutations occur and whether they can be used to develop the first biologically informed classification system for endometriosis are warranted. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Assimilation of semi‐qualitative observations with a stochastic ensemble Kalman filter
Authors: Shah Abhishek , Gharamti Mohamad El , Bertino Laurent
Published: July 2018

The ensemble Kalman filter assumes observations to be Gaussian random variables with a pre‐specified mean and variance. In practice, observations may also have detection limits, for instance when a gauge has a minimum or maximum value. In such cases, most data assimilation schemes discard out‐of‐range values, treating them as “not a number,” with the loss of possibly useful qualitative information.

The current work focuses on the development of a data assimilation scheme that tackles observations with a detection limit. We present the Ensemble Kalman Filter Semi‐Qualitative (EnKF‐SQ) and test its performance against the Partial Deterministic Ensemble Kalman Filter (PDEnKF) of Borup et al.
Both are designed to assimilate out‐of‐range observations explicitly: the out‐of‐range values are qualitative by nature (inequalities), but one can postulate a probability distribution for them and then update the ensemble members accordingly. The EnKF‐SQ is tested within the framework of twin experiments, using both linear and nonlinear toy models. Different sensitivity experiments are conducted to assess the influence of the ensemble size, observation detection limit and number of observations on the performance of the filter. Our numerical results show that assimilating qualitative observations using the proposed scheme improves the overall forecast mean, making it viable for testing on more realistic applications such as sea‐ice models.
Fostering high school students’ conceptual understanding and argumentation performance in science through Quality Talk discussions
Authors: Murphy P. Karen , Greene Jeffrey A. , Allen Elizabeth , Baszczewski Sara , Swearingen Amanda , Wei Liwei , Butler Ana M.
Published: July 2018

Flourishing in today's global society requires citizens that are both intelligent consumers and producers of scientific understanding. Indeed, the modern world is facing ever‐more complex problems that require innovative ways of thinking about, around, and with science. As numerous educational stakeholders have suggested, such skills and abilities are not innate and must, therefore, be taught (e.g., McNeill & Krajcik, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(1), 53–78. 2008). However, such instruction requires a fundamental shift in science pedagogy so as to foster knowledge and practices like deep, conceptual understanding, model‐based reasoning, and oral and written argumentation where scientific evidence is evaluated (National Research Council, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, by States, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2013). The purpose of our quasi‐experimental study was to examine the effectiveness of Quality Talk Science, a professional development model and intervention, in fostering changes in teachers’ and students’ discourse practices as well as their conceptual understanding and scientific argumentation. Findings revealed treatment teachers’ and students’ discourse practices better reflected critical‐analytic thinking and argumentation at posttest relative to comparison classrooms. Similarly, at posttest treatment students produced stronger written scientific arguments than comparison students. Students’ growth in conceptual understanding was nonsignificant. These findings suggest discourse interventions such as Quality Talk Science can improve high‐school students’ ability to engage in scientific argumentation.
11‐1: Bright Organic—Inorganic Perovskite Quantum Dots Fabricated With Simple Ultrasonic Treatment
Authors: Yang Kaiyu , Li Fushan , Lu Peimin , Liu Yang , Hu Hailong , Lin Jintang , Guo Tailiang
Published: July 2018

Perovskite quantum dots have recently attracted intense interest owing to their good luminance properties, such as narrow emission linewidth and tunable emission wavelength. In this work, we exhibit a simple one step method with ultrasonic treatment to fabricate color tunable perovskite quantum dots with bright luminance.
Role of red blood cells “annexin V” and platelets “P-selectin” in patients with thalassemia
Authors: Mahdi Zahraa Najah , Al-Mudallal Subh S. , Hameed Bassam M.
Published: July 2018

Objective/Background:

Certain hemostatic anomalies found in patients with thalassemia suggest the existence of a chronic hypercoagulable state. Several etiologic factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of the hypercoagulable state in those patients. One of these factors is abnormal thalassemic red blood cells (RBCs), which may provide a procoagulant. To substantiate these findings, we measured the ability of RBCs from thalassemia patients to bind annexin V with increased fraction of platelets carrying the activation marker CD62P (P-selectin). To study the expression of RBC annexin V and platelets P-selectin in study patients (those with thalassemia major, thalassemia intermedia, thalassemia minor) and control group, four-color flow cytometry was performed and the correlation between these two markers was evaluated.

Methods:

A case–control study was conducted on 50 β-thalassemia patients (10 patients with thalassemia minor, 30 patients with thalassemia major, and 10 patients with thalassemia intermedia, with 10 normal adult volunteers as a control) from June 2016 to March 2017. Flow cytometry was used to study the expression of anionic phospholipids (Annexin V) on the RBCs and CD62P (P-selectin) on the activated platelet.

Results:

The mean expression of annexin V in patients with thalassemia major and intermedia was significantly higher than that in the control group and patients with thalassemia minor. Although the mean expression was higher in patients with thalassemia intermedia than in those with thalassemia major, it was not statistically significant.

Conclusion:

The mean expression of platelets P-selectin in patients with thalassemia major and thalassemia intermedia was significantly higher than that in controls and patients with thalassemia minor. However, its expression was significantly higher in patients with thalassemia intermedia than in those with thalassemia major. Annexin V also showed a positive correlation with P-selectin, and both markers positively correlated with regularity of blood transfusion.
IGNORING PSYCHOMETRIC PROBLEMS IN THE STUDY OF GROUP DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE TEST PERFORMANCE
Authors: Wicherts Jelte M.
Published: July 2018

In a recent study, te Nijenhuis et al. (2017) used a version of Jensen’s method of correlated vectors to study the nature of ethnic group differences on Raven’s Progressive Matrices test. In this comment, the author points out that this method has been shown to be psychometrically inappropriate in studying group differences in performance on dichotomous (correctly or incorrectly scored) items. Specifically, the method uses item statistics like the item-total correlation that necessarily differ across groups differing in ability and employs a linear model to test inherent non-linear relations. Wicherts (2017) showed that this method can provide correlations far exceeding r=0.44 in cases where the group differences cannot possibly be on g because the items measure different traits across the groups. The psychometric problems with their method cast serious doubts on te Nijenhuis et al.’s conclusions concerning the role of g in the studied group difference in cognitive test performance.
THIS (METHOD) IS (NOT) FINE
Authors: Wicherts Jelte M.
Published: July 2018

In their response to my criticism of their recent article in Journal of Biosocial Science (te Nijenhuis et al., 2017), te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek (2018) raise four points none of which concerns my main point that the method of correlated vectors (MCV) applied to item-level data represents a flawed method. Here, I discuss te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek’s four points. First, I argue that my previous application of MCV to item-level data showed that the method can yield nonsensical results. Second, I note that meta-analytic corrections for sampling error, imperfect measures, restriction of range and unreliability of the vectors are futile and cannot help fix the method. Third, I note that even with perfect data, the method can yield negative correlations. Fourth, I highlight the irrelevance of te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek (2018)’s point that my comment had not been published in a peerreviewed journal by referring to my articles in 2009 and 2017 on MCV in peer-reviewed journals.
Dynamic transmission modelling to address infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule modifications in the UK
Authors: Wasserman M. , Lucas A. , Jones D. , Wilson M. , Hilton B. , Vyse A. , Madhava H. , Brogan A. , Slack M. , Farkouh R.
Published: July 2018

The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has been part of routine immunisation in a 2 + 1 schedule (two primary infant doses and one booster during the second year of life) in the UK since 2010. Recently, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended changing to a 1 + 1 schedule while conceding that this will increase disease burden; however, uncertainty remains on how much pneumococcal burden – including invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and non-invasive disease – will increase. We built a dynamic transmission model to investigate this question. The model predicted that a 1 + 1 schedule would incur 8777–27 807 additional cases of disease and 241–743 more deaths over 5 years. Serotype 19A caused 55–71% of incremental IPD cases. Scenario analyses showed that booster dose adherence, effectiveness against carriage and waning in a 1 + 1 schedule had the most influence on resurgence of disease. Based on the model assumptions, switching to a 1 + 1 schedule will substantially increase disease burden. The results likely are conservative since they are based on relatively low vaccine-type pneumococcal transmission, a paradigm that has been called into question by data demonstrating an increase of IPD due to several vaccine serotypes during the last surveillance year available.
The Philippines fromc.14,000 to 4,000 cal.bpin Regional Context
Authors: Pawlik Alfred F. , Piper Philip J.
Published: July 2018

In this paper, we review the current Philippine archaeological record between c. 14,000 and 4000 cal.bpin the context of our developing understanding of human adaptation to post-glacial environments at the end of the Pleistocene, and the cultural and technological changes that were occurring across Southeast Asia during this period. Due to their location at the northwestern fringes of Wallacea, close proximity to Borneo and Taiwan, and the long Palawan coastline bordering the southern margins of the South China Sea, the Philippines have likely acted as a conduit for the movements of people, material culture and ideas between the islands of Southeast Asia throughout prehistory. Current research suggests that the Philippines were possibly embedded in larger maritime networks from the Late Pleistocene onwards. This appears to have been a period of significant social change and technological innovation, as illustrated by the appearance of new organic and inorganic technologies and the emergence of diverse burial traditions across Southeast Asia. These included sophisticated fishing strategies, techniques of hafting and composite tool production, and long-distance interaction across the Philippine archipelago and Island Southeast Asia perhaps as far as Near Oceania.
‘A century homework,’: how fertilisation causes elevation of respiration in the sea urchin egg
Authors: Asami Kouichi
Published: July 2018

The lecture given by Dr Yasumasu should be considered from two points of view, namely its significance in the field of developmental biology and his own personal history as a developmental biologist.

In 1908 Otto Warburg published a paper entitled ‘Beobachtungen üeber die Oxydationsprozesse im Seeigelei’ (Warburg, 1908). This is one of his earliest works, where he measured respiration of eggs with Winkler's method not with his manometer. This was the first paper describing the fact that the respiration in unfertilised eggs was considerably lower than that in fertilised ones. Many researchers confirmed his experiments and extended them. Borei (1948) measured oxygen consumption of oocytes and unfertilised and fertilised eggs and compared his results with those of other researchers. He observed that the respiration of eggs declined after they were removed from the ovary and placed into seawater and that it increased at fertilisation. He observed an exponential increase in respiration of fertilised eggs or embryos from the cleavage stage to the hatching blastula. He also observed an initial burst of respiration but failed to record it exactly. Ohnishi & Sugiyama (1963) measured the initial burst of respiration quantitatively with the oxygen electrode method. Thus, respiration of sea urchin eggs and early embryos was divided into three phases: respiration of unfertilised eggs, the initial burst of respiration at fertilisation and the respiration of fertilised eggs. The respiration of fertilised eggs increased exponentially with progression of development until hatching.
Specification of endoderm and mesoderm in the sea urchin
Authors: McClay David R.
Published: July 2018

It has long been recognized that micromeres have special significance in early specification events in the sea urchin embryo. Micromeres have the ability to induce a secondary axis if transferred to the animal pole at the 16-cell stage of sea urchin embryos (Hörstadius, 1939). Without micromeres an isolated animal hemisphere develops into an ectodermal ball called a dauer blastula. Addition of micromeres to an animal half rescues a normal pluteus larva, including endoderm (Hörstadius, 1939). Despite these well-known experiments, however, neither the molecular basis of that induction nor the endogenous inductive role of micromeres in development was known. In recent experiments we learned that if one eliminates micromeres from the vegetal pole at the 16-cell stage the resulting embryo makes no secondary mesenchyme. Earlier it had been found that β-catenin is crucial for specification events that lead to mesoderm and endoderm (Wikra-manayakeet al., 1998; Emily-Fenouilet al., 1998; Loganet al., 1999). We noticed that at the 16-cell stage β-catenin enters the nuclei of micromeres, then enters the nuclei of macromeres at the 32-cell stage (Loganet al., 1999). Since nuclear entry of β-catenin is known to be important for its signalling function in the Wnt pathway, we asked whether β-catenin functions in the micromere induction pathway.
Adult rudiment formation in brachiolaria larvae after disturbances in their bilateral asymmetry during the earlier stages
Authors: Kuraishi Ritsu
Published: July 2018

In echinoderm development, conversion of the oral-aboral axis takes place during metamorphosis, and the left and right sides of larvae become the oral and aboral sides of juveniles, respectively. Since the rudiments of the adult organs are formed before metamorphosis, late brachiolaria larvae of Asterina pectinifera show distinct bilateral asymmetry. On the other hand, early bipinnaria larvae look almost symmetric bilaterally, except for hydropore and posterior coelomic pouch formation which take place only on the left side. The relationship between the axis of the adult rudiment and the bilateral asymmetry in the coeloms of early stage larvae was examined by (1) bisecting larvae, (2) discarding left or right anterior coeloms (lac, rac) and/or left posterior coelom (1pc) and (3) replacing lac or rac with the counterpart.

In normal brachiolaria larvae, adult organs such as hydrolobes and adult spicules are formed in the posterior part of the larval body. In the left half of the adult rudiment, a row of five adult arm-type spicules are aligned along the median plane. Hydrolobes, which form the hydrovascular system in the juvenile, were observed on the left of the arm-type spicules. The right half of the rudiment was covered with adult disc-type spicules (Fig. 1). The left half derived from larvae older than 40 h (mouth formation stage) lacked adult disctype spicules, and two rows of arm-type spicules existed on both side of the median plane (L-type; Fig. 2a).
Thyroid hormones and metamorphosis of sea urchin larvae
Authors: Suyemitsu Takashi
Published: July 2018

Algae were supplied continuously to four-armed pluteus larvae of the sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus until the adult rudiment reached stage g, which is the initial stage of rudiment formation (Chino et al., 1994) After stage g, one group of larvae was reared without the addition of algae for comparison of the development of the adult rudiment with that in larvae given algae. Three days later, only 9.1 ± 0.3% of larvae without algae had reached stage j, while 76.8 ± 0.6% of larvae with algae had reached a stage beyond j, which indicates the formation of the complete adult rudiment.

When larvae at rudiment stage g were reared in a medium supplemented with T4 or its derivatives, such as T3, 3,3′,5′-L-triiodothyronine (rT3) or triiodothyropropionine (Tp3), in place of algae, the adult rudiment developed in a dose-dependent manner. T4 was the most effective and induced formation of the adult rudiment in more than 70% of specimens at 1 nM and in almost 100% at 100 nM. T3 was one-tenth as effective as T4. Other derivatives were still less effective. On the other hand, casein, ovalbumin, tyrosine and a mixture of 20 amino acids had no effect on the development of larvae and adult rudiments, suggesting that they were not available as nutrients and sources of thyroid hormones.
Three new components contained in the vitelline coat of Tegula pfeifferi
Authors: Haino-Fukushima Kazu , Fan Xuxi , Nakamura Shouka
Published: July 2018

The vitelline coat (VC) lysin of Tegula, a marine molluscan genus, is released from the acrosome of sperm during fertilisation and can lyse the VC of only the same species. The lytic action of this lysin against the VC is not an enzymatic reaction, but a stoichiometric and irreversible one (Haino-Fukushima, 1974).

The VC of Tegula pfeifferi consists of glycoproteins containing sulphated polysaccharides, which account for roughly two-thirds of the entire weight of the VC. The presence of a large quantity of polysaccharides in the VC had prevented rapid progress in the analysis of its protein components. Last year, we succeeded in a complete solubilisation of the VC by boiling for a long time in 1% SDS solution, and determined the cDNA sequence coding for a mature 41 kDa glycoprotein, which appears to be the major component of the VC from the results of SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The cDNA, referred to as vcp41, comprises 1072 base pairs and contains one open reading frame with a sequence for 319 amino acids containing 19 amino acids of a signal peptide. The deduced amino acid sequence has five N-glycosylation sites and ten cysteine residues. It seems that almost 7 kDa in this 41kDa glycoprotein is polysaccharide constituents (Fan & Haino-Fukushima, 1998).
Species-specificity of the acrosome reaction in starfish
Authors: Matsumoto Midori , Ikeda Masako , Hoshi Motonori
Published: July 2018

Animal eggs are generally encased in extracellular investments. These structures are not simply a protective barrier against infectious microbes, parasites and various small predators: in starfish, three components of the egg jelly, the outermost egg investment, are responsible for triggering the acrosome reaction. These components are a highly sulphated glycoprotein of an extremely large molecular size named acrosome reaction-inducing substance (ARIS), a steroid saponin named Co-ARIS, and asteroidal sperm-activating peptides (asterosaps) (Matsui et al., 1986a, b; Nishigaki et al., 1996). ARIS can induce the acrosome reaction in homologous spermatozoa with asterosaps or Co-ARIS in normal seawater. Specificity at the genus or order level was found for sperm activation by asterosaps, whereas the acrosome reaction by jelly components was species-specific. The main sugar saccharide chain of ARIS, composed of the pentasaccharide repeating units [Xyl-Gal-Fuc(SO3−)-Fuc(3−)-Fuc-], has been observed to induce the acrosome reaction in starfish sperm at high calcium concentrations (Koyota et al., 1997). Recently, we cloned cDNAs encoding asterosaps and elucidated their nucleotide sequences (Matsumoto et al., 1999). The mRNA encoding asterosaps was transcribed only in the oocytes but not in the follicle cells, and the length was 3.7 kb. The cDNA clones contained multiple isoforms of asterosaps. We assume that asterosap
cursors are large prepolypeptide chains with an unusual ‘rosary-type’ structure composed of 10 successive similar stretches of 51–55 residues. Each stretch ends with a ‘spacer’ of 17–21 residues immediately followed by the sequence of one asterosap isoform. The amino terminal of this precursor has 19–21 successive glutamine-rich repeating units.
Changes in the activities of protein phosphatase type 1 and type 2A in sea urchin embryos during early development
Authors: Kawamoto Manabu , Fujiwara Akiko , Kuno Shin-ichi , Yasumasu Ikuo
Published: July 2018

Serine/threonine protein phosphatases expected to participate in the process of signal transduction, cell movement such as cell division and gene expression (Kinoshita et al., 1990; Healy et al., 1991; Mayer-Jaekel et al., 1993; Mumby & Walter, 1993), are classified into type 1 (PP1), type 2A (PP2A), type 2B and type 2C in mammalian cells. PP1 and PP2A are known to be strongly inhibited by okadaic acid (OA) (Tachibana et al., 1981; Bialojan Takai, 1988), a polyether fatty acid isolated from the marine sponge Halicondria okadai (Haystead et al., 1989). OA is also known to inhibit PP2A at lower concentrations than that to block PP1 in mammalian cells, but does not inhibit the activities of other phosphatase species (Ishihara et al., 1989).

The p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) splitting activity in the extract obtained from eggs of the sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus was found to be inhibited by OA and calyculin A (CLA), potent inhibitors of PP1 and PP2A. OA-sensitive phosphatases are known to catalyse pNPP splitting (Takai & Mieskes, 1991), in the same manner as other OA-insensitive phosphatases.

Four peaks of the pNPP splitting activity were obtained by QAE-Toyopearl chromatography in the extract of sea urchin eggs. In two of these four peaks, pNPP splitting reactions were strongly inhibited by OA and CLA at quite low concentration. High sensitivities of the pNPP splitting reaction to OA and CLA in these two peaks suggest that pNPP splitting results from the reaction catalysed by PP2A. The molecular masses of proteins exhibiting OA-sensitive pNPP splitting activities in these two peaks were found to be about 160 kDa by Superdex 200HR, and were similar to that of mammalian PP2A trimeric holoenzyme. By immunoblot analyses with anti-human PP2A catalytic subunit antibody, an immunoreactive 36 kDa protein was found by SDS-PAGE in a peak of OA-sensitive pNPP splitting activity obtained by QAE-Toyopearl chromatography. Sea urchin eggs have at least two PP2A-like enzymes with similar molecular masses to that of mammalian PP2A, and one of them contains human-type catalytic subunit.
A comparative study of repeated sequences in the SM50 gene of some sea urchins
Authors: Goto Masayuki , Matsumoto Masahiro , Kitajima Takashi , Hino Akiya
Published: July 2018

Spicule matrix proteins of sea urchin embryo are the specific products of the micromere / primary mesenchyme cell (PMC) lineage, and are considered to be involved in spicule formation (Wilt, 1999). One of these proteins, SM50, has been described for three species: Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (SP), Lytechinus pictus (Lp) and Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus (Hp) (for references see Wilt, 1999). The nucleotide and amino acid sequences are well conserved in these species. SM50 proteins of these species have repetitive amino acid sequences in the carboxyl-terminal half of the proteins. Therefore, examination of SM50 sequences, especially the repetitive sequence region, in various species will help an understanding of the process of sea urchin ontogeny and evolution. In this study we tried to amplify, by PCR, the SM50 sequences of species for which no sequence data are reported.

Total DNA was extracted from the sperm of sea urchins by standard procedures. The purified DNA was subjected to PCR to amplify the repetitive amino acid region and its upstream region. The primers were designed based on the highly conserved sequences in the reported SM50 as Consensus-Degenerate Hybrid Oligonucleotide Primers (Rose et al., 1997). The amplified products were gel-purified, and sequenced using ABI PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer using PCR primers. The determined nucleotide sequences were translated into amino acid sequences and compared among species with a phylogenetic tree constructed by the neighbour-joining method. For indirect immunofluorescent staining, embryos were fixed with 70% methanol and reacted with rabbit antiserum against recombinant SM50 protein.
Distribution of apoptosis-like cells in sea urchin early embryogenesis
Authors: Mizoguchi Hazime , Kudo Dai , Shimizu Yumi , Hirota Keiko , Kawai Shinobu , Hino Akiya
Published: July 2018

It has been reported that the number of cells per embryo increases from the cleavage stage to the pluteus stage. Also, it has been reported that the number of cells per embryo from the early gastrula stage to the mid-gastrula stage increases very slightly (Mizoguchi, 1999). A detailed analysis of cell proliferation during this period would thus seem to be necessary.

On the other hand, Roccheri et al. (1997) reported spontaneous apoptosis at the early pluteus stage, especially in the regions of arm and intestine. However, it is unknown whether apoptosis occurs before the pluteus stage.

Using the Tumor, Neuro and/or Cardio TACS in situ apoptosis detection kit (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labelling: TUNEL method, Trevigen, USA), the Comet assay kit (Trevigen, USA) and DAPI (4,6-diamidino-2-phenylinodole dihydrochloride) staining, we investigated the distribution of apoptosis-like cells in sea urchins during early embryogenesis to clarify the relationship between cell death and morphogenesis.

The embryos of the sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus were used in the present study. Three methods of detection of apoptosis signals in the embryos were performed: (1) defects in chromosomes and punctured nuclear envelopes of cells were detected by DAPI staining; (2) apoptosis-like cells were stained a brown colour by the TUNEL method; (3) some clear tails which detected the fragmentation of DNA were found by the Comet assay. These signals indicate apoptosis-like cells.
Geographic divergence of gamete recognition systems in two species in the sea urchin genus Strongylocentrotus
Authors: Biermann Christiane H. , Marks Jessica A.
Published: July 2018

Two closely related species in the camarodont sea urchin family Strongylocentrotidae, Strongylocentrotus pallidus and Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, have circumarctic ranges with overlapping depth distributions and spawning seasons. Both species show genetic differences between Europe and the Pacific in the nuclear sperm bindin gene, and S. droebachiensis also differs in mitochondrial DNA. Gamete recognition systems of allopatric populations may or may not have drifted apart, but are unlikely to have diverged by reinforcing selection. Geographic divergence in gamete compatibility may illustrate mutational biases and variability and hence possible initial stages of reproductive isolation.

We carried out fertilisation experiments with both species' gametes from Norway and from the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Serially diluted sperm were added to egg suspensions in factorial designs, and fertilisation success was assessed by counting the proportion of cleaving embryos. To separate the specificity of the acrosome reaction from subsequent sperm–egg binding steps, a subsample of sperm was pre-activated by performing the last dilution step in diluted egg jelly from conspecific females. Fertilisation successes were compared by logistic regression ANCOVAs over five, 4-fold sperm dilutions for each cross. The graphs shown here illustrate fertilisation success for one sperm concentration only.
Utilization of Mobile Integrated Health Providers During a Flood Disaster in South Carolina (USA)
Authors: Gainey Christopher E. , Brown Heather A. , Gerard William C.
Published: July 2018

As health care systems in the United States have become pressured to provide greater value, they have embraced the adoption of innovative population health solutions. One of these initiatives utilizes prehospital personnel in the community as an extension of the traditional health care system. These programs have been labeled as Community Paramedicine (CP) and Mobile Integrated Health (MIH). While variation exists amongst these programs, generally efforts are targeted at individuals with high rates of health care utilization. By assisting with chronic disease management and addressing the social determinants of health care, these programs have been effective in decreasing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) utilization, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions for enrolled patients.

The actual training, roles, and structure of these programs vary according to state oversight and community needs, and while numerous reports describe the novel role these teams play in population health, their utilization during a disaster response has not been previously described. This report describes a major flooding event in October 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina (USA). While typical disaster mitigation and response efforts were employed, it became clear during the response that the MIH providers were well-equipped to assist with unique patient and public health needs. Given their already well-established connections with various community health providers and social assistance resources, the MIH team was able to reconnect patients with lost medications and durable medical equipment, connect patients with alternative housing options, and arrange access to outpatient resources for management of chronic illness.

Mobile integrated health teams are a potentially effective resource in a disaster response, given their connections with a variety of community resources along with a unique combination of training in both disease management and social determinants of health. As roles for these providers are more clearly defined and training curricula become more developed, there appears to be a unique role for these providers in mitigating morbidity and decreasing costs in the post-disaster response. Training in basic disaster response needs should be incorporated into the curricula and community disaster planning should identify how these providers may be able to benefit their local communities.

Gainey CE, Brown HA, Gerard WC. Utilization of mobile integrated health providers during a flood disaster in South Carolina (USA). Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(4):432–435
The central processing bottleneck during word production: Comparing simultaneous interpreters, bilinguals and monolinguals
Authors: SUI LONGJIAO , KRUGER HAIDEE , SLATYER HELEN
Published: July 2018

Are simultaneous interpreters subject to the central processing bottleneck, which can postpone the reaction time and impair the performance of another concurrent task, during word production? Moreover, is there any difference between interpreters, bilinguals and monolinguals in the word production bottleneck? In this study, professional simultaneous interpreters, proficient bilinguals and monolinguals performed a dual task consisting of a picture naming task in sentence context (Task 1) and a pitch tone discrimination task (Task 2). The results show that interpreters are also subject to the central processing bottleneck during word production, and there is no significant difference between the three groups in the duration of the word production bottleneck. Unexpected differences in performance were found between English–Asian language and English–European language pairs within the interpreter group, but not within the bilingual group, showing that European-language interpreters were as fast as monolinguals in lexical access, and faster than Asian-language interpreters and bilinguals.
TROUBLE AT SEA IN JUVENAL 12, PERSIUS 6 AND THE PROEM TO LUCRETIUS,DE RERUM NATURA2
Authors: Gellar-Goad T. H. M.
Published: July 2018

This paper argues that the shipwreck scene in Juvenal 12 should be read as another exploration of the satiric ‘sketch’ offered in the proem to Lucretius,De rerum natura2: a thematic response to and exploration of the scene of troubles at sea in the Lucretian proem. The beleaguered sea-merchant Catullus should not have gone sailing at all – but he responds to trouble as an Epicurean would recommend. Juvenal 12 displays Epicurean conceptions of friendship and sacrifice, and an allusion to a storm scene in Persius 6 (itself intertextually connected to Lucretius’ proem) confirms the satiric importance of Lucretius in Juvenal's passage.
Is Mars Not So Earthlike After All?
Authors: Underwood Emily
Published: July 2018

Light-colored Gale crater rocks could have formed from intraplate volcanoes, not continental crust, new study finds.
Tectonic History of the Kaapvaal Craton: Constraints From Rheological Modeling
Authors: Kgaswane Eldridge M. , Rathod Ganesh W. , Saunders Ian
Published: July 2018

In this study, the lithospheric strength of the Kaapvaal Craton is determined using deformation laws describing the failure of rocks at lithospheric depths. Shear wave velocity results from a previous study were used to constrain the rheological profiles associated with each of the 64 broadband seismic stations deployed across the craton. The other constraint, are the geotherms estimated assuming steady state conditions. In order to address the random and complex nature of uncertainties inherent in geotherms at lithospheric depths, a Monte Carlo simulation approach is used to find well‐constrained geotherms for each of the terrains within the craton. The optimized geotherms were subsequently used to determine the rheological profiles associated with each of the 64 localities. The resultant rheological profiles show seismogenic depths of 5–16 km for the craton and further show that the craton can basically be delineated into three strength domains. Most parts of the Kimberley terrain and minor parts elsewhere in the craton show a mechanically weak crust with a strength ratio less than 0.5, a substantial portion of the Witwatersrand terrain shows moderate strength ratios between 0.5 and 1.0, and the rest of the craton shows a mechanically strong crust corresponding to strength ratios greater than 1.0. Strength ratio is an indication of the extent of lower crustal to mantle strength. Low strength ratio regions correlate with parts of the craton that had a significant deformation history while high strength ratio regions correlate with a stable lithosphere that had minor or no deformation history.
The Vertical Structure of a Loop Current Eddy
Authors: Meunier T. , Pallás‐Sanz E. , Tenreiro M. , Portela E. , Ochoa J. , Ruiz‐Angulo A. , Cusí S.
Published: July 2018

The vertical structure of a recently detached Loop Current Eddy (LCE) is studied using in situ data collected with an underwater glider from August to November 2016. Altimetry and Argo data are analyzed to discuss the context of the eddy shedding and evolution as well as the origin and transformation of its thermohaline properties. The LCE appeared as a large body of nearly homogeneous water between 50 and 250 m confined between the seasonal and main thermoclines. A temperature anomaly relative to surrounding Gulf's water of up to 9.7∘ C was observed within the eddy core. The salinity structure had a double core pattern. The subsurface fresh core had a negative anomaly of 0.27 practical salinity unit, while the deeper saline core's positive anomaly reached 1.22 practical salinity unit. Both temperature and salinity maxima were stronger than previously reported. The saline core, of Caribbean origin, was well conserved during its journey from the Yucatan Basin to the Loop Current and at least 7 months after eddy detachment. The fresher homogeneous core resulted from surface diabatic transformations including surface heat fluxes and mixing within the top 200 m during the winter preceding eddy detachment. Heat and salt excess carried by the LCE were large and require important negative heat fluxes and positive fresh water input to be balanced. The geostrophic velocity structure had the form of a subsurface intensified vortex ring.
Signatures of transient Wannier-Stark localization in bulk gallium arsenide
Authors: Schmidt C. , Bühler J. , Heinrich A.-C. , Allerbeck J. , Podzimski R. , Berghoff D. , Meier T. , Schmidt W. G. , Reichl C. , Wegscheider W. , Brida D. , Leitenstorfer A.
Published: July 2018

Many properties of solids result from the fact that in a periodic crystal structure, electronic wave functions are delocalized over many lattice sites. Electrons should become increasingly localized when a strong electric field is applied. So far, this Wannier–Stark regime has been reached only in artificial superlattices. Here we show that extremely transient bias over the few-femtosecond period of phase-stable mid-infrared pulses may localize electrons even in a bulk semiconductor like GaAs. The complicated band structure of a three-dimensional crystal leads to a strong blurring of field-dependent steps in the Wannier–Stark ladder. Only the central step emerges strongly in interband electro-absorption because its energetic position is dictated by the electronic structure at an atomic level and therefore insensitive to the external bias. In this way, we demonstrate an extreme state of matter with potential applications due to e.g., its giant optical non-linearity or extremely high chemical reactivity.
Improving the mechanical properties of a high density carbon block from mesocarbon microbeads according to oxidative stabilization
Authors: Im Ui-Su , Kim Jiyoung , Lee Byung-Rok , Peck Dong-Hyun , Jung Doo-Hwan
Published: July 2018

In this study, a high density carbon block without binder was manufactured by mesocarbon microbeads (MCMB) from coal tar pitch. To develop the high density carbon block without a binder, MCMBs were oxidized at different levels of temperature. To verify the effect of oxygen content in the carbonized carbon block (CCB), an elementary analysis (EA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were performed. The morphological and mechanical properties of the CCBs were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a shore hardness test, and a flexural strength evaluation. The results revealed that the oxygen content increased with stabilization temperature and the physical properties of the CCBs were considerably improved via oxidative stabilization. Small cracks between MCMB particles were observed in the CCBs that were stabilized over 250 °C. From the results of this study, the CCB from MCMBs stabilized at 200 °C for 1 h showed optimum mechanical properties and high density.
Shorter-lived neural taste representations in obese compared to lean individuals
Authors: Hardikar Samyogita , Wallroth Raphael , Villringer Arno , Ohla Kathrin
Published: July 2018

Previous attempts to uncover a relation between taste processing and weight status have yielded inconclusive results leaving it unclear whether lean and obese individuals process taste differently, and whether group differences reflect differential sensory encoding or evaluative and reward processing. Here, we present the first comparison of dynamic neural processing as assessed by gustatory evoked potentials in obese and lean individuals. Two supra-threshold concentrations of sweet and salty tastants as well as two sizes of blue and green squares were presented to 30 lean (BMI 18.5–25) and 25 obese (BMI > 30) individuals while recording head-surface electroencephalogram (EEG). Multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA) revealed differential taste quality representations from 130 ms until after stimulus offset. Notably, taste representations faded earlier and exhibited a reduced strength in the obese compared to the lean group; temporal generalization analysis indicated otherwise similar taste processing. Differences in later gustatory response patterns even allowed decoding of group membership. Importantly, group differences were absent for visual processing thereby excluding confounding effects from anatomy or signal-to-noise ratio alone. The latency of observed effects is consistent with memory maintenance rather than sensory encoding of taste, thereby suggesting that later evaluative aspects of taste processing are altered in obesity.
Hippocampal metabolism of amino acids by L-amino acid oxidase is involved in fear learning and memory
Authors: Usuda Kento , Kawase Takahiro , Shigeno Yuko , Fukuzawa Susumu , Fujii Kazuki , Zhang Haolin , Tsukahara Takamitsu , Tomonaga Shozo , Watanabe Gen , Jin Wanzhu , Nagaoka Kentaro
Published: July 2018

Amino acids participate directly and indirectly in many important biochemical functions in the brain. We focused on one amino acid metabolic enzyme, L-amino acid oxidase (LAO), and investigated the importance of LAO in brain function using LAO1 knockout (KO) mice. Compared to wild-type mice, LAO1 KO mice exhibited impaired fear learning and memory function in a passive avoidance test. This impairment in LAO1 KO mice coincided with significantly reduced hippocampal acetylcholine levels compared to wild-type mice, while treatment with donepezil, a reversible acetylcholine esterase inhibitor, inhibited this reduction. Metabolomic analysis revealed that knocking out LAO1 affected amino acid metabolism (mainly of phenylalanine [Phe]) in the hippocampus. Specifically, Phe levels were elevated in LAO1 KO mice, while phenylpyruvic acid (metabolite of Phe produced largely by LAO) levels were reduced. Moreover, knocking out LAO1 decreased hippocampal mRNA levels of pyruvate kinase, the enzymatic activity of which is known to be inhibited by Phe. Based on our findings, we propose that LAO1 KO mice exhibited impaired fear learning and memory owing to low hippocampal acetylcholine levels. Furthermore, we speculate that hippocampal Phe metabolism is an important physiological mechanism related to glycolysis and may underlie cognitive impairments, including those observed in Alzheimer’s disease.
Author Correction: The interplay of social group biases in social threat learning
Authors: Golkar Armita , Olsson Andreas
Published: July 2018

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.