Search results for "agricultural and biological sciences"
showing 10 items of 1704 documents
Ancient bacterial genomes reveal a high diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in early Modern Europe
2020
Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15th century. Together with non-venereal treponemal diseases, like bejel and yaws, which are found today in subtropical and tropical regions, it currently poses a substantial health threat worldwide. The origins and spread of treponemal diseases remain unresolved, including syphilis’ potential introduction into Europe from the Americas. Here, we present the first genetic data from archaeological human remains reflecting a high diversity of Treponema pallidum in early modern Europe. Our study demonstrates that a variety of strains related to both venereal syphilis and y…
Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibitors, Type 2 Diabetes and Fibrosis Progression: An Observational Study in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disea…
2016
Background The clinical determinants of fibrosis progression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are still under definition. Aim To assess the clinical determinants of fibrosis progression rate (FPR) in NAFLD patients with baseline and follow-up histological evaluation, with a special focus on the impact of pharmacological therapy. Methods In an observational cohort of 118 Italian patients from tertiary referral centers, liver histology was evaluated according to Kleiner. Independent predictors of FPR were selected by a stepwise regression approach. Results Median follow-up was 36 months (IQR 24–77). Twenty-five patients (18%) showed some amelioration, 63 (53%) had stability, 30 (25…
Identification of plasma biomarkers for discrimination between tuberculosis infection/disease and pulmonary non tuberculosis disease.
2018
We used the Luminex Bead Array Multiplex Immunoassay to measure cytokines, chemokines and growth factors responses to the same antigens used for RD1-based Interferon γ Release Assay (IGRA) test. Seventy-nine individuals, 27 active TB, 32 latent infection subsets, 20 individuals derivative purified protein (PPD) negative (subjects that do not have any indurative cutaneous reaction after 72 hrs of intradermal injection of PPD) and with other pulmonary disease were retrospectively studied. Forty-eight analytes were evaluated by Luminex Assay in plasma obtained from whole blood stimulated cells. The diagnostic accuracies of the markers detected were evaluated by ROC curve analysis and by the co…
Experienced Migratory Bats Integrate the Sun's Position at Dusk for Navigation at Night.
2019
Summary From bats to whales, millions of mammals migrate every year. However, their navigation capacity for accomplishing long-distance movements remains remarkably understudied and lags behind by five decades compared to other animals [ 1 , 2 ]—partly because, unlike for other taxa, such as birds and sea turtles, no small-scale orientation assay has so far been developed. Yet recently, bats became a model to investigate which cues mammals use for long-range navigation, and, surprisingly for nocturnal animals, sunset cues, and particularly polarized-light cues, appear to be crucial for calibration of the magnetic-compass system in non-migratory bats [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. This does not appear to ho…
Oligodendrocytes support axonal transport and maintenance via exosome secretion
2020
Neurons extend long axons that require maintenance and are susceptible to degeneration. Long-term integrity of axons depends on intrinsic mechanisms including axonal transport and extrinsic support from adjacent glial cells. The mechanisms of support provided by myelinating oligodendrocytes to underlying axons are only partly understood. Oligodendrocytes release extracellular vesicles (EVs) with properties of exosomes, which upon delivery to neurons improve neuronal viability in vitro. Here, we show that oligodendroglial exosome secretion is impaired in 2 mouse mutants exhibiting secondary axonal degeneration due to oligodendrocyte-specific gene defects. Wild-type oligodendroglial exosomes …
Vitellogenin-like A–associated shifts in social cue responsiveness regulate behavioral task specialization in an ant
2018
Division of labor and task specialization explain the success of human and insect societies. Social insect colonies are characterized by division of labor, with workers specializing in brood care early and foraging later in life. Theory posits that this task switching requires shifts in responsiveness to task-related cues, yet experimental evidence is weak. Here, we show that a Vitellogenin (Vg) ortholog identified in an RNAseq study on the ant T. longispinosus is involved in this process: using phylogenetic analyses of Vg and Vg-like genes, we firstly show that this candidate gene does not cluster with the intensively studied honey bee Vg but falls into a separate Vg-like A cluster. Second…
Impact of Pre-Analytical Time on the Recovery of Pathogens from Blood Cultures: Results from a Large Retrospective Survey.
2017
Background Prompt identification of bloodstream pathogens is essential for optimal management of patients. Significant changes in analytical methods have improved the turnaround time for laboratory diagnosis. Less attention has been paid to the time elapsing from blood collection to incubation and to its potential effect on recovery of pathogens. We evaluated the performance of blood cultures collected under typical hospital conditions in relation to the length of their pre-analytical time. Methods We carried out a large retrospective study including 50,955 blood cultures collected, over a 30-month period, from 7,035 adult septic patients. Cultures were accepted by the laboratory only durin…
Extended Flight Bouts Require Disinhibition from GABAergic Mushroom Body Neurons
2019
Summary Insect flight is a complex behavior that requires the integration of multiple sensory inputs with flight motor output. Although previous genetic studies identified central brain monoaminergic neurons that modulate Drosophila flight, neuro-modulatory circuits underlying sustained flight bouts remain unexplored. Certain classes of dopaminergic and octopaminergic neurons that project to the mushroom body, a higher integrating center in the insect brain, are known to modify neuronal output based on contextual cues and thereby organismal behavior. This study focuses on how monoaminergic modulation of mushroom body GABAergic output neurons (MBONs) regulates the duration of flight bouts. O…
Behavioral and Cortical Correlates of Self-Suppression, Anticipation, and Ambivalence in Rat Tickling.
2019
The relationship between tickling, sensation, and laughter is complex. Tickling or its mere anticipation makes us laugh, but not when we self-tickle. We previously showed rat somatosensory cortex drives tickling-evoked vocalizations and now investigated self-tickle suppression and tickle anticipation. We recorded somatosensory cortex activity while tickling and touching rats and while rats touched themselves. Allo-touch and tickling evoked somatotopic cortical excitation and vocalizations. Self-touch induced wide-ranging inhibition and vocalization suppression. Self-touch also suppressed vocalizations and cortical responses evoked by allo-touch or cortical microstimulation. We suggest a glo…
Functional Improvement after Photothrombotic Stroke in Rats Is Associated with Different Patterns of Dendritic Plasticity after G-CSF Treatment and G…
2016
We have previously shown that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment alone, or in combination with constraint movement therapy (CIMT) either sequentially or concomitantly, results in significantly improved sensorimotor recovery after photothrombotic stroke in rats in comparison to untreated control animals. CIMT alone did not result in any significant differences compared to the control group (Diederich et al., Stroke, 2012;43:185-192). Using a subset of rat brains from this former experiment the present study was designed to evaluate whether dendritic plasticity would parallel improved functional outcomes. Five treatment groups were analyzed (n = 6 each) (i) ischemic contr…