Comparative transcriptomics of choroid plexus in Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and Huntington's disease: implications for CSF homeostasis.

Background: In Alzheimer's disease, there are striking changes in CSF composition that relate to altered choroid plexus (CP) function. Studying CP tissue gene expression at the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier could provide further insight into the epithelial and stromal responses to neurodegenerative disease states.

Methods: Transcriptome-wide Affymetrix microarrays were used to determine disease-related changes in gene expression in human CP.

Nonsynonymous Polymorphism in Guanine Monophosphate Synthetase Is a Risk Factor for Unfavorable Thiopurine Metabolite Ratios in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: Up to 20% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who are refractory to thiopurine therapy preferentially produce 6-methylmercaptopurine (6-MMP) at the expense of 6-thioguanine nucleotides (6-TGN), resulting in a high 6-MMP:6-TGN ratio (>20). The objective of this study was to evaluate whether genetic variability in guanine monophosphate synthetase (GMPS) contributes to preferential 6-MMP metabolizer phenotype.

Methods: Exome sequencing was performed in a cohort of IBD patients with 6-MMP:6-TGN ratios of >100 to identify nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs).

Osteoblast differentiation of equine induced pluripotent stem cells.

Bone fractures occur in horses following traumatic and non-traumatic (bone overloading) events. They can be difficult to treat due to the need for the horse to bear weight on all legs during the healing period. Regenerative medicine to improve fracture union and recovery could significantly improve horse welfare.

Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages.

Global warming is rapidly emerging as a universal threat to ecological integrity and function, highlighting the urgent need for a better understanding of the impact of heat exposure on the resilience of ecosystems and the people who depend on them . Here we show that in the aftermath of the record-breaking marine heatwave on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 , corals began to die immediately on reefs where the accumulated heat exposure exceeded a critical threshold of degree heating weeks, which was 3-4 °C-weeks. After eight months, an exposure of 6 °C-weeks or more drove an unprecedented, regional-scale shift in the composition of coral assemblages, reflecting markedly divergent responses to heat stress by different taxa.

Negligible effect of competition on coral colony growth.

Competition is an important determinant of assemblage structure and population regulation, often resulting in decreased growth, fecundity or survival. In corals, most studies testing for an effect of competition on demographic traits, such as growth, have been experimental and often impose very high levels of competition upon colonies. To more realistically assess the role of competition on coral traits, multispecies studies in the wild are required.

A Decade of Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease Research: An Evolving Field, Improving Study Designs, and the Challenge of Replication.

Blood-based biomarkers represent a less invasive and potentially cheaper approach for aiding Alzheimer's disease (AD) detection compared with cerebrospinal fluid and some neuroimaging biomarkers. Acknowledging that many in the field have made great progress, here we review some of the work that our group has pursued to identify and validate blood-based proteomic biomarkers through both case control and AD pathology endophenotype-based approaches. Our focus is primarily to identify a minimally invasive and hopefully cost-effective blood-based biomarker to reduce screen failure in clinical trials where participants have prodromal or even pre-clinical disease.

Clinical signs and outcomes of beef cattle undergoing cesarean section because of dystocia.

OBJECTIVE To characterize signalment, clinical signs, reproductive history, surgical management, and outcomes of beef cattle undergoing cesarean section because of dystocia at a veterinary teaching hospital. DESIGN Retrospective case series with nested cohort study. ANIMALS 173 beef cattle admitted to a veterinary teaching hospital from 2001 through 2010 that underwent cesarean section because of dystocia.

Palliative care for people with advanced liver disease: A feasibility trial of a supportive care liver nurse specialist.

Background: Liver disease is an increasing cause of death worldwide but palliative care is largely absent for these patients.

Aim: We conducted a feasibility trial of a complex intervention delivered by a supportive care liver nurse specialist to improve care coordination, anticipatory care planning and quality of life for people with advanced liver disease and their carers.

Design: Patients received a 6-month intervention (alongside usual care) from a specially trained liver nurse specialist.

Biogeographical disparity in the functional diversity and redundancy of corals.

Corals are major contributors to a range of key ecosystem functions on tropical reefs, including calcification, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, and the provision of habitat structure. The abundance of corals is declining at multiple scales, and the species composition of assemblages is responding to escalating human pressures, including anthropogenic global warming. An urgent challenge is to understand the functional consequences of these shifts in abundance and composition in different biogeographical contexts.

Novel cognitive insights from the first year after bi-thalamic infarct.

Neuropsychological consequences of bi-thalamic damage are scarcely known. This case study documents cognitive (in particular memory and executive) functioning in a man with a medial bi-thalamic infarct in the first year (8 and 12 months) post injury. NG showed persistent memory (including autobiographical) impairment, but improved executive functions at one year post injury.

Optimized computed tomography protocol for assessment of dentition in alpacas.

OBJECTIVE To determine the optimal protocol for acquisition of CT images of the dentition in alpacas. ANIMALS 3 healthy adult male alpacas. PROCEDURES Each alpaca was anesthetized with an IM injection of a combination of ketamine, xylazine, and butorphanol and positioned in sternal recumbency on the CT couch with its legs folded in a natural cush position and its head positioned within the isocenter of the gantry of a 64-slice CT scanner.

Early Warning Scores do not accurately predict mortality in sepsis: A meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature.

Objectives: Early Warning Scores are used to evaluate patients in many hospital settings. It is not clear if these are accurate in predicting mortality in sepsis. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of multiple studies in sepsis.

The Impact of Music on the Self in Dementia.

In this review, we consider how the onset and progression of dementia can disrupt one's sense of self, and propose that music is an ideal tool for alleviating this distressing symptom. Various aspects of the self can be impaired in people with dementia, depending on how the self is defined. There are anecdotal reports that music can 'bring people back to themselves' in the face of dementia, but there have been scarce empirical investigations of this topic.

Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene.

Tropical reef systems are transitioning to a new era in which the interval between recurrent bouts of coral bleaching is too short for a full recovery of mature assemblages. We analyzed bleaching records at 100 globally distributed reef locations from 1980 to 2016. The median return time between pairs of severe bleaching events has diminished steadily since 1980 and is now only 6 years.

Impact of noncardiac findings in patients undergoing CT coronary angiography: a substudy of the Scottish computed tomography of the heart (SCOT-HEART) trial.

Objectives: Noncardiac findings are common on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). We assessed the clinical impact of noncardiac findings, and potential changes to surveillance scans with the application of new lung nodule guidelines.

Methods: This substudy of the SCOT-HEART randomized controlled trial assessed noncardiac findings identified on CCTA.

Effects of a novel peptide Ac-SDKP in radiation-induced coronary endothelial damage and resting myocardial blood flow.

Background: Cancer survivors treated with thoracic ionizing radiation are at higher risk of premature death due to myocardial ischemia. No therapy is currently available to prevent or mitigate these effects. We tested the hypothesis that an endogenous tetrapeptide N-acetyl-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (Ac-SDKP) counteracts radiation-induced coronary vascular fibrosis and endothelial cell loss and preserves myocardial blood flow.

Corrigendum: The Coral Trait Database, a curated database of trait information for coral species from the global oceans.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2016.

Gut epithelial cell-derived exosomes trigger posttrauma immune dysfunction.

Background: Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that act as endogenous mediators of the immune response. We have previously shown that exosomes released into mesenteric lymph (ML) following trauma (T)/hemorrhagic shock (HS) induce proinflammatory cytokine production in macrophages and are involved in the pathogenesis of postshock acute lung injury. However, the cellular origin of ML exosomes and their role in the posttrauma immune response remains unclear.

The Paradox of Environmental Symbiont Acquisition in Obligate Mutualisms.

Mutually beneficial interactions between species (mutualisms) shaped the evolution of eukaryotes and remain critical to the survival of species globally [1, 2]. Theory predicts that hosts should pass mutualist symbionts to their offspring (vertical transmission) [3-8]. However, offspring acquire symbionts from the environment in a surprising number of species (horizontal acquisition) [9-12].

Comparison of omentopexy versus pyloro-omentopexy for treatment of left abomasal displacement in dairy cows: 87 cases (2001-2005).

OBJECTIVE To evaluate reproductive performance and productive longevity of dairy cows treated for left displaced abomasum (LDA) with 1 of 2 surgical techniques (omentopexy vs pyloro-omentopexy). DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 87 Holstein cows that underwent omentopexy or pyloro-omentopexy for LDA during a 5-year period.

Active learning for bird sound classification via a kernel-based extreme learning machine.

In recent years, research fields, including ecology, bioacoustics, signal processing, and machine learning, have made bird sound recognition a part of their focus. This has led to significant advancements within the field of ornithology, such as improved understanding of evolution, local biodiversity, mating rituals, and even the implications and realities associated to climate change. The volume of unlabeled bird sound data is now overwhelming, and comparatively little exploration is being made into methods for how best to handle them.

Nuclear and mtDNA phylogenetic analyses clarify the evolutionary history of two species of native Hawaiian bats and the taxonomy of Lasiurini (Mammalia: Chiroptera).

Previous studies on genetics of hoary bats produced differing conclusions on the timing of their colonization of the Hawaiian Islands and whether or not North American (Aeorestes cinereus) and Hawaiian (A. semotus) hoary bats are distinct species. One study, using mtDNA COI and nuclear Rag2 and CMA1, concluded that hoary bats colonized the Hawaiian Islands no more than 10,000 years ago based on indications of population expansion at that time using Extended Bayesian Skyline Plots.

Counter regulation of ECRG4 gene expression by hypermethylation-dependent inhibition and the Sp1 transcription factor-dependent stimulation of the c2orf40 promoter.

The human cytokine precursor ECRG4 has been associated with multiple physiological, developmental and pathophysiological processes involving cell proliferation, cell migration, innate immunity, inflammation, cancer progression and metastases. Although down-regulation of ECRG4 gene expression has been largely attributed to hypermethylation of CpG islands in the 5'untranslated region of the ECRG4 promoter, the mechanisms that underlie the dynamics of its regulation have never been systematically described. Here we show that the ECRG4 gene is widely expressed in human tissues and report that its core promoter lies between the -780 to +420 base pairs relative to the ATG start codon of the ECRG4 open reading frame.