Publications by authors named "Alastair Aiken"
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates whether metabolic traits from obese parents can affect their offspring across generations, even when the later generations aren't directly exposed to obesity.
- - Researchers found that F1 male mice, whose fathers were obese, showed metabolic issues which they then passed on to their F2 male offspring, despite F2 not being exposed to obesity.
- - The findings suggest that these inherited traits could be linked to changes in sperm RNA, indicating that non-genetic factors can influence metabolic health for multiple generations.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how maternal obesity and Western-style diets impact heart-related microRNAs (miRNAs) in offspring, suggesting a link between these factors and cardiovascular disease risk.
- Researchers used small RNA sequencing to analyze the heart tissue of young adult mice, discovering that maternal obesity affects 8 specific cardiac miRNAs, but only when paired with a high-fat Western diet.
- Findings indicate that postnatal diet plays a more significant role in altering miRNA expression than the prenatal programming from maternal obesity, emphasizing how lifestyle choices can influence heart health.
To better understand the relative contributions of mesenchymal and endothelial progenitor cells to rhBMP-2 induced bone formation, we examined the distribution of lineage-labeled cells in Tie2-Cre:Ai9 and αSMA-creERT2:Col2.3-GFP:Ai9 reporter mice. Established orthopedic models of ectopic bone formation in the hind limb and spine fusion were employed.
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- The steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-E) negatively affects honeybees' ability to learn aversive odors associated with punishment, although it doesn't hinder their learning of scents linked to food rewards.
- 20-E influences the expression of certain amine-receptor genes in the honeybee brain, particularly affecting dopamine receptor genes linked to memory formation.
- The study suggests a crucial role of the putative dopamine/ecdysone receptor, AmGPCR19, in the hormonal regulation of associative olfactory learning in honeybees, especially during their early development stages.