Early Investments Yield Long-Term Health and Community Returns.

As leaders in the healthcare and business sectors, members of the Delaware Board of Directors for the American Heart Association, and advocates for cardiovascular health and well-being, we know that supporting Delaware's youngest children promotes public health and thriving communities.

The need for high-resolution gut microbiome characterization to design efficient strategies for sustainable aquaculture production.

Microbiome-directed dietary interventions such as microbiota-directed fibers (MDFs) have a proven track record in eliciting responses in beneficial gut microbes and are increasingly being promoted as an effective strategy to improve animal production systems. Here we used initial metataxonomic data on fish gut microbiomes as well as a wealth of a priori mammalian microbiome knowledge on α-mannooligosaccharides (MOS) and β-mannan-derived MDFs to study effects of such feed supplements in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and their impact on its gut microbiome composition and functionalities. Our multi-omic analysis revealed that the investigated MDFs (two α-mannans and an acetylated β-galactoglucomannan), at a dose of 0.

Comparison of Surgical Techniques for Correction of Mandibular Asymmetry in TMJ Ankylosis Patients.

Background: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis frequently results in mandibular asymmetry, which impairs an affected person's ability to function and look good. Because of the intricacy of TMJ ankylosis and the variety of surgical procedures available, correcting mandibular asymmetry surgically can be difficult.

Methods: Patients with mandibular asymmetry and TMJ ankylosis who had surgery at a tertiary care facility between certain periods were the subject of a retrospective investigation.

Exploring the Use of Alternative Promoters for Enhanced Transgene and sgRNA Expression in Atlantic Salmon Cells.

This study facilitates design of expression vectors and lentivirus tools for gene editing of Atlantic salmon. We have characterized widely used heterologous promoters and novel endogenous promoters in Atlantic salmon cells. We used qPCR to evaluate the activity of several U6 promoters for sgRNA expression, including human U6 (hU6), tilapia U6 (tU6), mouse U6 (mU6), zebrafish U6 (zU6), Atlantic salmon U6 (sU6), medaka U6 (medU6), and fugu U6 (fU6) promoters.

The genome regulatory landscape of Atlantic salmon liver through smoltification.

The anadromous Atlantic salmon undergo a preparatory physiological transformation before seawater entry, referred to as smoltification. Key molecular developmental processes involved in this life stage transition, such as remodeling of gill functions, are known to be synchronized and modulated by environmental cues like photoperiod. However, little is known about the photoperiod influence and genome regulatory processes driving other canonical aspects of smoltification such as the large-scale changes in lipid metabolism and energy homeostasis in the developing smolt liver.

Colonial green algae in the Cambrian plankton.

The fossil record indicates a major turnover in marine phytoplankton across the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, coincident with the rise of animal-rich ecosystems. However, the diversity, affinities and ecologies of Cambrian phytoplankton are poorly understood, leaving unclear the role of animal interactions and the drivers of diversification. New exceptionally preserved acritarchs (problematic organic-walled microfossils) from the late early Cambrian (around 510 Ma) reveal colonial organization characterized by rings and plates of interconnected, geometrically arranged cells.

Efficient transfection of Atlantic salmon primary hepatocyte cells for functional assays and gene editing.

The expansion of genomic resources for Atlantic salmon over the past half decade has enabled efficient interrogation of genetic traits by large-scale correlation of genotype to phenotype. Moving from correlation to causation will require genotype-phenotype relationships to be tested experimentally in a cost-efficient and cell context-relevant manner. To enable such future experiments, we have developed a method for the isolation and genetic manipulation of primary hepatocytes from Atlantic salmon for use in heterologous expression, reporter assay, and gene editing experiments.

(St)aging in place: Information and communication technologies for a health-centered agile dwelling unit.

As the number of older adults is growing rapidly in the U.S., the need for personalized, innovative, and sustainable Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) solutions is critical to support individuals' social, emotional, and physical health.

Ostracods had colonized estuaries by the late Silurian.

The fossil record of terrestrialization documents notable shifts in the environmental and physiological tolerances of many animal and plant groups. However, for certain significant components of modern freshwater and terrestrial environments, the transition out of marine settings remains largely unconstrained. Ostracod crustaceans occupy an exceptional range of modern aquatic environments and are invaluable palaeoenvironmental indicators in the fossil record.

Quantitative comparison of geological data and model simulations constrains early Cambrian geography and climate.

Marine ecosystems with a diverse range of animal groups became established during the early Cambrian (~541 to ~509 Ma). However, Earth's environmental parameters and palaeogeography in this interval of major macro-evolutionary change remain poorly constrained. Here, we test contrasting hypotheses of continental configuration and climate that have profound implications for interpreting Cambrian environmental proxies.

Diet and Life Stage-Associated Lipidome Remodeling in Atlantic Salmon.

Salmon is an important source of long-chain highly unsaturated fatty acids (LC-HUFAs) such as 22:6-3 [docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)]. In the present study, we conducted two identical experiments on salmon in freshwater (FW) and seawater (SW) stages, with a diet switch from fish oil (high in LC-HUFA) to vegetable oil (low in LC-HUFA) and vice versa. Our aim was to investigate the diet and life stage-specific features of lipid uptake (gut), processing (liver), and deposition (muscle).

Symbiotic fouling of Vetulicola, an early Cambrian nektonic animal.

Here, we report the earliest fossil record to our knowledge of surface fouling by aggregates of small vermiform, encrusting and annulated tubular organisms associated with a mobile, nektonic host, the enigmatic Cambrian animal Vetulicola. Our material is from the exceptionally preserved early Cambrian (Epoch 2, Age 3), Chengjiang biota of Yunnan Province, southwest China, a circa 518 million-year old marine deposit. Our data show that symbiotic fouling relationships between species formed a component of the diversification of animal-rich ecosystems near the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon, suggesting an early escalation of intimate ecologies as part of the Cambrian animal radiation.

Enhanced stimulated raman scattering of solvent due to anharmonic energy transfer from resonance raman solute molecules.

A new nonlinear optical process, named enhanced stimulated Raman scattering (ESRS), is reported for the first time from resonance Raman in β-carotene-methanol solution. It is well known that absorption decreases the efficiency of the nonlinear optical and laser processes; however, we observed enhanced stimulated Raman peaks at the first and second Stokes from methanol solvent at 2834 cm with the addition of β-carotene solutes. This enhanced SRS effect in methanol is attributed to the resonance Raman (RR) process in β-carotene, which creates a significant number of vibrations from RR and the excess vibrations are transferred to methanol from anharmonic vibrational interactions between the β-carotene solutes and the methanol solvent, and consequently leads to the increased Raman gain.

Assessment of Fatty Acid Desaturase (Fads2) Structure-Function Properties in Fish in the Context of Environmental Adaptations and as a Target for Genetic Engineering.

Fatty acid desaturase 2 (Fads2) is the key enzyme of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) biosynthesis. Endogenous production of these biomolecules in vertebrates, if present, is insufficient to meet demand. Hence, LC-PUFA are considered as conditionally essential.

Comparative proteomic analysis of different stages of breast cancer tissues using ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer.

Background: Breast cancer is the fifth most prevalent cause of death among women worldwide. It is also one of the most common types of cancer among Malaysian women. This study aimed to characterize and differentiate the proteomics profiles of different stages of breast cancer and its matched adjacent normal tissues in Malaysian breast cancer patients.

Liver slice culture as a model for lipid metabolism in fish.

Hepatic lipid metabolism is traditionally investigated in vitro using hepatocyte monocultures lacking the complex three-dimensional structure and interacting cell types essential liver function. Precision cut liver slice (PCLS) culture represents an alternative in vitro system, which benefits from retention of tissue architecture. Here, we present the first comprehensive evaluation of the PCLS method in fish (Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.

Variation in appendages in early Cambrian bradoriids reveals a wide range of body plans in stem-euarthropods.

Traditionally, the origin and evolution of modern arthropod body plans has been revealed through increasing levels of appendage specialisation exhibited by Cambrian euarthropods. Here we show significant variation in limb morphologies and patterns of limb-tagmosis among three early Cambrian arthropod species conventionally assigned to the Bradoriida. These arthropods are recovered as a monophyletic stem-euarthropod group (and sister taxon to crown-group euarthropods, i.

Changes in blood-brain barrier permeability and ultrastructure, and protein expression in a rat model of cerebral hypoperfusion.

Cerebral hypoperfusion involved a reduction in cerebral blood flow, leading to neuronal dysfunction, microglial activation and white matter degeneration. The effects on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) however, have not been well-documented. Here, two-vessel occlusion model was adopted to mimic the condition of cerebral hypoperfusion in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Triglyceride profiling in adipose tissues from obese insulin sensitive, insulin resistant and type 2 diabetes mellitus individuals.

Background: Lipid intermediates produced during triacylglycerols (TAGs) synthesis and lipolysis in adipocytes interfere with the intracellular insulin signaling pathway and development of insulin resistance. This study aims to compare TAG species and their fatty acid composition in adipose tissues from insulin sensitive (IS), insulin resistant (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) obese individuals.

Methods: Human subcutaneous and omental adipose tissue biopsies were obtained from 64 clinically characterized obese individuals during weight reduction surgery.

Naked chancelloriids from the lower Cambrian of China show evidence for sponge-type growth.

Chancelloriids are an extinct group of spiny Cambrian animals of uncertain phylogenetic position. Despite their sponge-like body plan, their spines are unlike modern sponge spicules, but share several features with the sclerites of certain Cambrian bilaterians, notably halkieriids. However, a proposed homology of these 'coelosclerites' implies complex transitions in body plan evolution.

An early Cambrian greenhouse climate.

The oceans of the early Cambrian (~541 to 509 million years ago) were the setting for a marked diversification of animal life. However, sea temperatures-a key component of the early Cambrian marine environment-remain unconstrained, in part because of a substantial time gap in the stable oxygen isotope (δO) record before the evolution of euconodonts. We show that previously overlooked sources of fossil biogenic phosphate have the potential to fill this gap.

Life-stage-associated remodelling of lipid metabolism regulation in Atlantic salmon.

Atlantic salmon migrates from rivers to sea to feed, grow and develop gonads before returning to spawn in freshwater. The transition to marine habitats is associated with dramatic changes in the environment, including water salinity, exposure to pathogens and shift in dietary lipid availability. Many changes in physiology and metabolism occur across this life-stage transition, but little is known about the molecular nature of these changes.