Search results for "Commentary"

Throwing down a genomic gauntlet on fisheries-induced evolution

2021

Beginning with studies on crypsis and camouflage, the hypothesis that predators can generate evolutionary change in their prey has a long and rich history (1). Few predators, however, rival humans in their potential to generate selection responses and concomitant phenotypic change on contemporary timescales. In the 1930s, J. B. S. Haldane (2) mused that fishing would be an ideal candidate for such “observable evolution” within a human lifetime, proceeding “with extreme and abnormal speed.” However, it was not until the late 1970s that research on fisheries-induced evolution (FIE) gained a substantive scientific foothold, beginning with thought-provoking work on Canadian whitefish ( Coregonu…

Analysis of heteroplasmy in bank voles inhabiting the Chernobyl exclusion zone : A commentary on Baker et al. (2017) "Elevated mitochondrial genome v…

2018

What is science without replication?

2016

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Clinical implications of serum neurofilament in newly diagnosed MS patients: a longitudinal multicentre cohort study

2020

Abstract Background We aim to evaluate serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL), indicating neuroaxonal damage, as a biomarker at diagnosis in a large cohort of early multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Methods In a multicentre prospective longitudinal observational cohort, patients with newly diagnosed relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) or clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) were recruited between August 2010 and November 2015 in 22 centers. Clinical parameters, MRI, and sNfL levels (measured by single molecule array) were assessed at baseline and up to four-year follow-up. Findings Of 814 patients, 54.7% (445) were diagnosed with RRMS and 45.3% (369) with CIS when applying 2010 McDonald criteria (R…

On-demand autophagic network adaptations upon limited lipid availability

2020

The de novo synthesis of autophagic vesicles is strongly dependent on sufficient lipid supply. Recently, the RAB GTPase RAB18 was shown to affect autophagy by mediating fatty acid release from lipid droplets, which are lipid sources for autophagosome formation. The stable loss of RAB18 interfered with fatty acid release from the lipid reservoirs and provoked autophagy network adaptations aiming to maintain autophagic activity under lipid limiting conditions.

Ticket to Ride: Targeting Proteins to Exosomes for Brain Delivery.

2017

Exosomes represent an attractive vehicle for the delivery of biomolecules. However, mechanisms for loading functional molecules into exosomes are relatively unexplored. Here we report the use of the evolutionarily conserved late-domain (L-domain) pathway as a mechanism for loading exogenous proteins into exosomes. We demonstrate that labeling of a target protein, Cre recombinase, with a WW tag leads to recognition by the L-domain-containing protein Ndfip1, resulting in ubiquitination and loading into exosomes. Our results show that Ndfip1 expression acts as a molecular switch for exosomal packaging of WW-Cre that can be suppressed using the exosome inhibitor GW4869. When taken up by floxed …

The route to solve the interplay between inflammation, angiogenesis and anti-cancer immune response.

2016

Even though the crucial role played by inflammation in cancer development and progression was first hypothesized by Rudolf Virchow at the beginning of the nineteenth century, only recently inflammation has been recognized as a hallmark of cancer. At present, the biology underlying the humoral and cellular immune-suppressive cancer-associated inflammatory microenvironment is an active area of preclinical and clinical investigation.1, 2 Indeed, the possibility to modulate the inflammatory/immune microenvironment, by either antagonizing the tumor-associated immune-suppression or by enhancing the pre-existing anti-cancer immune response in tumor tissues, is a promising therapeutic option for ca…

Molecular pathway activation – New type of biomarkers for tumor morphology and personalized selection of target drugs

2018

Anticancer target drugs (ATDs) specifically bind and inhibit molecular targets that play important roles in cancer development and progression, being deeply implicated in intracellular signaling pathways. To date, hundreds of different ATDs were approved for clinical use in the different countries. Compared to previous chemotherapy treatments, ATDs often demonstrate reduced side effects and increased efficiency, but also have higher costs. However, the efficiency of ATDs for the advanced stage tumors is still insufficient. Different ATDs have different mechanisms of action and are effective in different cohorts of patients. Personalized approaches are therefore needed to select the best ATD…

The Problem of Mental Action: Predictive Control Without Sensory Sheets by Metzinger, T. (2017). In Philosophy and Predictive Processing, eds T. Metz…

2018

A growing number of studies on the acquisition of lexical tone by adult learners have revealed that factors such as language background, musical experience, cognitive abilities, and neuroanatomy all play a role in determining tone learning success. On the basis of these findings, it has been argued that the effectiveness of tone learning in adulthood depends on individual differences in these factors. However, it is not clear whether similar individual differences play an analogous role in tone learning in childhood. Indeed, relatively few studies have made comparisons between how adults and children learn lexical tones. Here, we review recent developments for tone learning in both adults a…

Early cave art and ancient DNA record the origin of European bison

2016

The two living species of bison (European and American) are among the few terrestrial megafauna to have survived the late Pleistocene extinctions. Despite the extensive bovid fossil record in Eurasia, the evolutionary history of the European bison (or wisent, Bison bonasus) before the Holocene (<11.7 thousand years ago (kya)) remains a mystery. We use complete ancient mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide nuclear DNA surveys to reveal that the wisent is the product of hybridization between the extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus) and ancestors of modern cattle (aurochs, Bos primigenius) before 120 kya, and contains up to 10% aurochs genomic ancestry. Although undetected within the fossil re…