Individuals with monoallelic pathogenic variants in the histone lysine methyltransferase DOT1L display global developmental delay and varying congenital anomalies. However, the impact of monoallelic loss of remains unclear. Here, we present a largely female cohort of 11 individuals with variants with developmental delays and dysmorphic facial features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral RGC intrinsic signaling pathways have been shown to enhance RGC survival and RGC axonal growth after optic nerve injury. Yet an unresolved challenge for regenerating RGC axons is to properly navigate the optic chiasm located at the Central Nervous System midline. Here, we use live-cell imaging in larval zebrafish to show that regrowing RGC axons initiate growth toward the midline and extend along a trajectory similar to their original projection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the developing brain, groups of neurons organize into functional circuits that direct diverse behaviors. One such behavior is the evolutionarily conserved acoustic startle response, which in zebrafish is mediated by a well-defined hindbrain circuit. While numerous molecular pathways that guide neurons to their synaptic partners have been identified, it is unclear if and to what extent distinct neuron populations in the startle circuit utilize shared molecular pathways to ensure coordinated development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a rising global burden, affecting one in four adults. Despite the increasing prevalence of NAFLD, the exact cellular and molecular mechanisms remain unclear, and effective therapeutic strategies are still limited. In vitro models of NAFLD are critical to understanding the pathogenesis and searching for effective therapies; thus, we evaluated the effects of free fatty acids (FFAs) on NAFLD hallmarks and their association with the modulation of Annexin A2 (ANXA2) and Keratin 17 (KRT17) in HepG2 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiac remodeling is an adverse phenomenon linked to heart failure (HF) progression. Cardiac remodeling could represent the real therapeutic goal in the treatment of patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), being potentially reversed through different pharmacotherapies. Currently, there are well-established drugs such as ACEi/ARBs and β-blockers with anti-remodeling effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptic nerve (ON) regeneration in mammalian systems is limited by an overshadowing dominance of inhibitory factors. This has severely hampered the identification of pro-regenerative pathways. Here, we take advantage of the regenerative capacity of larval zebrafish to identify pathways that promote ON regeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo manage the transition from school to work, young people need to learn about occupations, explore their own (professional) interests, skills and values, and make career-related decisions. According to Gottfredson's Career Construction (CC) theory (1981), young people - influenced by their need for social approval - have already narrowed down their spectrum of acceptable occupations by the time they participate in school-based career orientation programs. Therefore, we focus on career guidance interventions that take into account their need for social approval.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpaired pulmonary circulation hemodynamics are characteristic of pulmonary hypertension (PH). We therefore sought to evaluate possible correlations between endothelial function noninvasively assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and hemodynamic parameters at right-sided cardiac catheterization in patients with clinically suspected PH. Consecutive outpatients with suspected PH were enrolled in the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), an intricate autoimmune disease causing tissue fibrosis, introduces cardiovascular complexities, notably pulmonary hypertension (PH), affecting both survival and quality of life. This study centers on evaluating echocardiographic parameters and endothelial function using flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in SSc patients, aiming to differentiate those with and without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The emphasis lies in early detection, given the heightened vulnerability of the right ventricle (RV) in the presence of PH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRotenone is a pesticide used in research for its ability to induce changes similar, in vivo and in vitro, to those observed in Parkinson's disease (PD). This includes a selective death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Nonetheless, the precise mechanism through which rotenone modifies structure and function of neurons remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehavioral thresholds define the lowest stimulus intensities sufficient to elicit a behavioral response. Establishment of baseline behavioral thresholds during development is critical for proper responses throughout the animal's life. Despite the relevance of such innate thresholds, the molecular mechanisms critical to establishing behavioral thresholds during development are not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the developing brain, groups of neurons organize into functional circuits that direct diverse behaviors. One such behavior is the evolutionarily conserved acoustic startle response, which in zebrafish is mediated by a well-defined hindbrain circuit. While numerous molecular pathways that guide neurons to their synaptic partners have been identified, it is unclear if and to what extent distinct neuron populations in the startle circuit utilize shared molecular pathways to ensure coordinated development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHabituation allows animals to learn to ignore persistent but inconsequential stimuli. Despite being the most basic form of learning, a consensus model on the underlying mechanisms has yet to emerge. To probe relevant mechanisms, we took advantage of a visual habituation paradigm in larval zebrafish, where larvae reduce their reactions to abrupt global dimming (a dark flash).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrodeletion of a 3Mb region encompassing 45 protein-coding genes at chromosome 22q11.2 (22q11.2DS) predisposes individuals to multiple neurodevelopmental disorders and is one of the greatest genetic risk factors for schizophrenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehavioral thresholds define the lowest stimulus intensities sufficient to elicit a behavioral response. Establishment of baseline behavioral thresholds during development is critical for proper responses throughout the animal's life. Despite the relevance of such innate thresholds, the molecular mechanisms critical to establishing behavioral thresholds during development are not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA critical step for functional recovery from peripheral nerve injury is for regenerating axons to connect with their pre-injury targets. Reestablishing pre-injury target specificity is particularly challenging for limb-innervating axons as they encounter a plexus, a network where peripheral nerves converge, axons from different nerves intermingle, and then re-sort into target-specific bundles. Here, we examine this process at a plexus located at the base of the zebrafish pectoral fin, equivalent to tetrapod forelimbs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study provides a microanalytical characterization of pigment fragments from the painting "Allegory to the Arts" and two portraits, "Rubens" and "Tintoretto," by Léon Pallière. The fragments were surface-analyzed using several near-surface methods to acquire information on the materials and determine the painting techniques utilized before the restoration. Scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDS), Raman spectroscopy coupled to an optical microscope (Raman microprobe), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed organic materials, hydrocerussite (Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2), cerussite (PbCO3), zincite (ZnO), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), nepheline (K(Na,K)3AlSi4O16), calcite (CaCO3), brookite (TiO2), kinoshitalite (Ba3(Si2Al2)O10(OH)2), hematite (Fe2O3), barium magnesium silicate (Ba2Mg(Si2O7)), and aluminosilicates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHabituation is a foundational learning process critical for animals to adapt their behavior to changes in their sensory environment. Although habituation is considered a simple form of learning, the identification of a multitude of molecular pathways including several neurotransmitter systems that regulate this process suggests an unexpected level of complexity. How the vertebrate brain integrates these various pathways to accomplish habituation learning, whether they act independently or intersect with one another, and whether they act via divergent or overlapping neural circuits has remained unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZebrafish have a remarkable capacity for spontaneously regenerating their central nervous system. Larval zebrafish are optically transparent and therefore are widely used to dynamically visualize cellular processes in vivo, such as nerve regeneration. Regeneration of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons within the optic nerve has been previously studied in adult zebrafish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehavioral screens in model organisms have greatly facilitated the identification of genes and genetic pathways that regulate defined behaviors. Identifying the neural circuitry via which specific genes function to modify behavior remains a significant challenge in the field. Tissue- and cell type-specific knockout, knockdown, and rescue experiments serve this purpose, yet in zebrafish screening through dozens of candidate cell-type-specific and brain-region specific driver lines for their ability to rescue a mutant phenotype remains a bottleneck.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA critical step for functional recovery from peripheral nerve injury is for regenerating axons to connect with their pre-injury targets. Reestablishing pre-injury target specificity is particularly challenging for limb-innervating axons as they encounter a plexus, a network where peripheral nerves converge, axons from different nerves intermingle, and then re-sort into target-specific bundles. Here, we examine this process at a plexus located at the base of the zebrafish pectoral fin, equivalent to tetrapod forelimbs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrodeletion of a 3Mbp region encompassing 45 protein-coding genes at chromosome 22q11.2 (22q11.2DS) predisposes to multiple neurodevelopmental disorders and is one of the greatest genetic risk factors for schizophrenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDecision making is a fundamental nervous system function that ranges widely in complexity and speed of execution. We previously established larval zebrafish as a model for sensorimotor decision making and identified the G-protein-coupled calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) to be critical for this process. Here, we report that CaSR functions in neurons to dynamically regulate the bias between two behavioral outcomes: escapes and reorientations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with chromoblastomycosis (CBM) suffer chronic tissue lesions that are hard to treat. Considering that biofilm is the main growth lifestyle of several pathogens and it is involved with both virulence and resistance to antimicrobial drugs, we have investigated the ability of CBM fungi to produce this complex, organized and multicellular structure. and conidial cells were able to adhere on a polystyrene abiotic substrate, differentiate into hyphae and produce a robust viable biomass containing extracellular matrix.
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