Publications by authors named "Rona Aviram"

Rapid developments and methodological divides hinder the study of how scientific knowledge accumulates, consolidates and transfers to the public sphere. Our work proposes using Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, as a historiographical source for contemporary science. We chose the high-profile field of gene editing as our test case, performing a historical analysis of the English-language Wikipedia articles on CRISPR.

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During embryonic development, mutually antagonistic signaling cascades determine gonadal fate toward a testicular or ovarian identity. Errors in this process result in disorders of sex development (DSDs), characterized by discordance between chromosomal, gonadal, and anatomical sex. The absence of an appropriate, accessible in vitro system is a major obstacle in understanding mechanisms of sex-determination/DSDs.

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Background: With the COVID-19 pandemic's outbreak, millions flocked to Wikipedia for updated information. Amid growing concerns regarding an "infodemic," ensuring the quality of information is a crucial vector of public health. Investigating whether and how Wikipedia remained up to date and in line with science is key to formulating strategies to counter misinformation.

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Rhythmicity of biological processes can be elicited either in response to environmental cycles or driven by endogenous oscillators. In mammals, the circadian clock drives about 24-hour rhythms of multitude metabolic and physiological processes in anticipation to environmental daily oscillations. Also at the intersection of environment and metabolism is the protein kinase-AKT.

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Circadian clocks are self-sustained and cell-autonomous oscillators. They respond to various extracellular cues depending on the time-of-day and the signal intensity. Phase Transition Curves (PTCs) are instrumental in uncovering the full repertoire of responses to a given signal.

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Circadian clocks have evolved in most light-sensitive organisms, from unicellular organisms to mammals. Consequently, a myriad of biological functions exhibits circadian rhythmicity, from behavior to physiology, through tissue and cellular functions to subcellular processes. Circadian rhythms in intracellular organelles are an emerging and exciting research arena.

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The mammalian circadian system consists of a central clock in the brain that synchronizes clocks in the peripheral tissues. Although the hierarchy between central and peripheral clocks is established, little is known regarding the specificity and functional organization of peripheral clocks. Here, we employ altered feeding paradigms in conjunction with liver-clock mutant mice to map disparities and interactions between peripheral rhythms.

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Lipidomics approaches provide quantitative characterization of hundreds of lipid species from biological samples. Recent studies highlight the value of these methods in studying circadian biology, and their potential goes far beyond studying lipid metabolism per se. For example, lipidomics analyses of subcellular compartments can be used to determine daily rhythmicity of different organelles and their intracellular dynamics.

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The occurrence and sequelae of disorders that lead to hypoxic spells such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) exhibit daily variance. This prompted us to examine the interaction between the hypoxic response and the circadian clock in vivo. We found that the global transcriptional response to acute hypoxia is tissue-specific and time-of-day-dependent.

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While research has shown that scientists use Wikipedia and that scientific content on Wikipedia ramifies back into scientific literature, many questions remain on how the two sides interact and through what paradigm this dynamic may be best understood. Using the circadian clock field as a case study, we discuss this scientific field's representation on Wikipedia. We traced the changes made to the articles for "Circadian clock" and "Circadian rhythm" and reviewed the debates that informed them over a span of a decade, using Wikipedia's native and third-party tools.

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Cells have evolved mechanisms to handle incompatible processes through temporal organization by circadian clocks and by spatial compartmentalization within organelles defined by lipid bilayers. Recent advances in lipidomics have led to identification of plentiful lipid species, yet our knowledge regarding their spatiotemporal organization is lagging behind. In this study, we quantitatively characterized the nuclear and mitochondrial lipidome in mouse liver throughout the day, upon different feeding regimens, and in clock-disrupted mice.

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Mitochondria are major suppliers of cellular energy through nutrients oxidation. Little is known about the mechanisms that enable mitochondria to cope with changes in nutrient supply and energy demand that naturally occur throughout the day. To address this question, we applied MS-based quantitative proteomics on isolated mitochondria from mice killed throughout the day and identified extensive oscillations in the mitochondrial proteome.

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Polyamines are essential polycations present in all living cells. Polyamine levels are maintained from the diet and de novo synthesis, and their decline with age is associated with various pathologies. Here we show that polyamine levels oscillate in a daily manner.

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One of the major challenges that developing organs face is scaling, that is, the adjustment of physical proportions during the massive increase in size. Although organ scaling is fundamental for development and function, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate it. Bone superstructures are projections that typically serve for tendon and ligament insertion or articulation and, therefore, their position along the bone is crucial for musculoskeletal functionality.

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Lipids play vital roles in a wide variety of cellular functions. They act as structural components in cell membranes, serve as a major form of energy storage, and function as key signaling molecules. Mounting evidence points towards a tight interplay between lipids and circadian clocks.

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The circadian core clock circuitry relies on interlocked transcription-translation feedback loops that largely count on multiple protein interactions. The molecular mechanisms implicated in the assembly of these protein complexes are relatively unknown. Our bioinformatics analysis of short linear motifs, implicated in protein interactions, reveals an enrichment of the Pro-X-Asp-Leu-Ser (PXDLS) motif within circadian transcripts.

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