Experience-driven competition in neural reorganization after stroke.

Behavioural experiences interact with regenerative responses to shape patterns of neural reorganization after stroke. This review is focused on the competitive nature of these behavioural experience effects. Interactions between learning-related plasticity and regenerative reactions have been found to underlie the establishment of new compensatory behaviours and the efficacy of motor rehabilitative training in rodent stroke models.

The effects of artificial light at night on spider brains.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasingly pervasive pollutant that alters animal behaviour and physiology, with cascading impacts on development and survival. Recent evidence links exposure to ALAN with neural damage, potentially due to its action on melatonin synthesis, a powerful antioxidant. However, these data are scarce and taxonomically limited.

Microvascular plasticity in mouse stroke model recovery: Anatomy statistics, dynamics measured by longitudinal two-photon angiography, network vectorization.

This manuscript quantitatively investigates remodeling dynamics of the cortical microvascular network (thousands of connected capillaries) following photothrombotic ischemia (cubic millimeter volume, imaged weekly) using a novel two-photon angiography and high throughput vascular vectorization method. The results suggest distinct temporal patterns of cerebrovascular plasticity, with acute remodeling peaking at one week post-stroke. The network architecture then gradually stabilizes, returning to a new steady state after four weeks.

Long-term exposure to experimental light affects the ground-dwelling invertebrate community, independent of light spectra.

Our planet endures a progressive increase in artificial light at night (ALAN), which affects virtually all species, and thereby biodiversity. Mitigation strategies include reducing its intensity and duration, and the adjustment of light spectrum using modern light emitting diode (LED) light sources. Here, we studied ground-dwelling invertebrate (predominantly insects, arachnids, molluscs, millipedes, woodlice and worms) diversity and community composition after 3 or 4 years of continued nightly exposure (every night from sunset to sunrise) to experimental ALAN with three different spectra (white-, and green- and red-dominated light), as well as for a dark control, in natural forest-edge habitat.

Subventricular zone cytogenesis provides trophic support for neural repair in a mouse model of stroke.

Stroke enhances proliferation of neural precursor cells within the subventricular zone (SVZ) and induces ectopic migration of newborn cells towards the site of injury. Here, we characterize the identity of cells arising from the SVZ after stroke and uncover a mechanism through which they facilitate neural repair and functional recovery. With genetic lineage tracing, we show that SVZ-derived cells that migrate towards cortical photothrombotic stroke in mice are predominantly undifferentiated precursors.

Ecological light pollution.

Therésa M Jones and Kathryn B McNamara introduce the ecological effects of artificial light at night.

Light pollution: a landscape-scale issue requiring cross-realm consideration.

Terrestrial, marine and freshwater realms are inherently linked through ecological, biogeochemical and/or physical processes. An understanding of these connections is critical to optimise management strategies and ensure the ongoing resilience of ecosystems. Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a global stressor that can profoundly affect a wide range of organisms and habitats and impact multiple realms.

Age, but not an immune challenge, triggers terminal investment in the Pacific field cricket, .

The terminal investment hypothesis proposes that, when individuals are faced with a threat to survival, they will increase investment in current reproduction. The level of the threat necessary to elicit terminal investment (the dynamic terminal investment threshold) may vary based on other factors that also influence future reproduction. Here, we tested whether there is an interactive effect of age and an immune challenge on the dynamic terminal investment threshold in the Pacific field cricket, .

Trans-generational immune priming is not mediated by the sex of the parent primed: a meta-analysis of invertebrate data.

Traditionally, only vertebrates were thought capable of acquired immune responses, such as the ability to transfer immunological experience vertically to their offspring (known as trans-generational immune priming, TGIP). Increasing evidence challenges this belief and it is now clear that invertebrates also have the ability to exhibit functionally equivalent TGIP. This has led to a surge in papers exploring invertebrate TGIP, with most focusing on the costs, benefits or factors that affect the evolution of this trait.

Advancing and translating knowledge: a systematic inquiry into the 2010-2020 mental health and psychosocial support intervention research evidence base.

Background And Study Objectives: MHPSS is increasingly seen as a critical component to effective and responsible humanitarian programming. This review examines the extent to which MHPSS research generated since 2010 has contributed to the public health evidence base and how this has influenced and impacted programming and policy in humanitarian settings.

Methods: This mixed-method study included a scoping literature review ( = 50) and a consultation process with qualitative key informant interviews ( = 19) and online survey responses ( = 52) to identify the facilitating and inhibiting factors for the two areas of inquiry and to understand the broader context in which knowledge is generated and taken up.

Changing gear: Experiences of how existing qualitative research can adapt to an unfolding health emergency.

Long-term research projects are not always able to adapt to a new crisis and incorporate characteristics and approaches of rapid research to produce useful data quickly. Project AViD was a programme of research that ran between 2018 and 2022 to examine factors that shape vaccine confidence. The project initially focused on five country case studies looking at vaccines for Ebola, Measles, Rift Valley Fever and Zika.

Artificial light at night promotes bottom-up changes in a woodland food chain.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a recognised disruptor of biological function and ecological communities. Despite increasing research effort, we know little regarding the effect of ALAN on woody plants, including trees, or its indirect effects on their colonising invertebrates. These effects have the potential to disrupt woodland food webs by decreasing the productivity of invertebrates and their secretions, including honeydew and lerps, with cascading effects on other fauna.

Diamond Raman laser and Yb fiber amplifier for multiphoton fluorescence microscopy.

Here we introduce a fiber amplifier and a diamond Raman laser that output high powers (6.5 W, 1.3 W) at valuable wavelengths (1060 nm, 1250 nm) for two-photon excitation of red-shifted fluorophores.

Beyond the prey: male spiders highly invest in silk when producing worthless gifts.

In the spider , males have two gift-giving mating tactics, offering either a nutritive (prey) or a worthless (prey leftovers) silk wrapped gift to females. Both gift types confer similar mating success and duration and afford males a higher success rate than when they offer no gift. If this lack of difference in the reproductive benefits is true, we would expect all males to offer a gift but some males to offer a worthless gift even if prey are available.

The effect of natural and artificial light at night on nocturnal song in the diurnal willie wagtail.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has rapidly and drastically changed the global nocturnal environment. Evidence for the effect of ALAN on animal behaviour is mounting and animals are exposed to both point sources of light (street and other surrounding light sources) and broadscale illuminance in the form of skyglow. Research has typically taken a simplified approach to assessing the presence of ALAN, yet to fully understand the ecological impact requires consideration of the different scales and sources of light concurrently.

Segmentation-Less, Automated, Vascular Vectorization.

Recent advances in two-photon fluorescence microscopy (2PM) have allowed large scale imaging and analysis of blood vessel networks in living mice. However, extracting network graphs and vector representations for the dense capillary bed remains a bottleneck in many applications. Vascular vectorization is algorithmically difficult because blood vessels have many shapes and sizes, the samples are often unevenly illuminated, and large image volumes are required to achieve good statistical power.

Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of alleles.

The () allele found in distorts Mendelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non- spermatids, such that greater than 90% of the surviving sperm carry . This within-individual advantage should cause to fix, and yet is typically rare in wild populations. Here, we explore whether this paradox can be resolved by sexual selection, by testing if males carrying three different variants of suffer reduced pre- or post-copulatory reproductive success.

Reactive astrocytes facilitate vascular repair and remodeling after stroke.

Brain injury causes astrocytes to assume a reactive state that is essential for early tissue protection, but how reactive astrocytes affect later reparative processes is incompletely understood. In this study, we show that reactive astrocytes are crucial for vascular repair and remodeling after ischemic stroke in mice. Analysis of astrocytic gene expression data reveals substantial activation of transcriptional programs related to vascular remodeling after stroke.

A First Step Toward the Operationalization of the Learned Non-Use Phenomenon: A Delphi Study.

Background: The negative discrepancy between residual functional capacity and reduced use of the contralesional hand, frequently observed after a brain lesion, has been termed (LNU) and is thought to depend on the interaction of neuronal mechanisms during recovery and learning-dependent mechanisms.

Objective: Albeit the LNU phenomenon is generally accepted to exist, currently, no transdisciplinary definition exists. Furthermore, although therapeutic approaches are implemented in clinical practice targeting LNU, no standardized diagnostic routine is described in the available literature.

Perceived Parameters of Christian Pharmacy Students' Faith-Sharing in Clinical Settings.

Our interdisciplinary team (which included professionals from nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and psychology) conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with pharmacy students (n = 14) who were presently in a clinical rotation. When conducting the phenomenological, qualitative research study, we explored how students framed their respective experiences of incorporating spirituality into their clinical work. Three themes emerged from the interviews: (1) The students reportedly viewed their main role as being more of a support person than an evangelist, (2) They framed their influence from the perspective of so-called faith flags, and (3) They perceived more opportunities for influence with their coworkers than with patients.

Training in a cooperative bimanual skilled reaching task, the popcorn retrieval task, improves unimanual function after motor cortical infarcts in rats.

Disuse of the paretic hand after stroke is encouraged by compensatory reliance on the nonparetic hand, to exacerbate impairment and potentially constrain motor rehabilitation efficacy. Rodent stroke model findings support that learning new unimanual skills with the nonparetic forelimb diminishes functional improvements that can be driven by rehabilitative training of the paretic forelimb. The influence of learning new ways of skillfully using the two hands together on paretic side function is much less clear.

A Window of Vascular Plasticity Coupled to Behavioral Recovery after Stroke.

Stroke causes remodeling of vasculature surrounding the infarct, but whether and how vascular remodeling contributes to recovery are unclear. We established an approach to monitor and compare changes in vascular structure and blood flow with high spatiotemporal precision after photothrombotic infarcts in motor cortex using longitudinal 2-photon and multiexposure speckle imaging in mice of both sexes. A spatially graded pattern of vascular structural remodeling in peri-infarct cortex unfolded over the first 2 weeks after stroke, characterized by vessel loss and formation, and selective stabilization of a subset of new vessels.

White and Amber Light at Night Disrupt Sleep Physiology in Birds.

Artificial light at night can disrupt sleep in humans [1-4] and other animals [5-10]. A key mechanism for light to affect sleep is via non-visual photoreceptors that are most sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light [11]. To minimize effects of artificial light on sleep, many electronic devices shift from white (blue-rich) to amber (blue-reduced) light in the evening.

Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria?

Assuming that fathers never transmit mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, mitochondrial mutations that affect male fitness are invisible to direct selection on males, leading to an accumulation of male-harming alleles in the mitochondrial genome (mother's curse). However, male phenotypes encoded by mtDNA can still undergo adaptation via kin selection provided that males interact with females carrying related mtDNA, such as their sisters. Here, using experiments with carrying standardized nuclear DNA but distinct mitochondrial DNA, we test whether the mitochondrial haplotype carried by interacting pairs of larvae affects survival to adulthood, as well as the fitness of the adults.