Recruiting the host's immune system to target Helicobacter pylori's surface glycans.

Due to the increased prevalence of bacterial strains that are resistant to existing antibiotics, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial strategies. Bacterial glycans are an attractive target for new treatments, as they are frequently linked to pathogenesis and contain distinctive structures that are absent in humans. We set out to develop a novel targeting strategy based on surface glycans present on the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori (Hp).

The homemade alternative: teaching human neurophysiology with instrumentation made (almost) from scratch.

Recording human neurophysiological data in the teaching laboratory generally requires expensive instrumentation. From our experience in developing inexpensive equipment used in teaching neurophysiology laboratory exercises, we offer a strategy for the development of affordable and safe recording of human neurophysiological parameters. There are many resources available to guide the design and construction of electronic equipment that will record human biopotentials.

Manipulation of Fgf and Bmp signaling in teleost fishes suggests potential pathways for the evolutionary origin of multicuspid teeth.

Teeth with two or more cusps have arisen independently from an ancestral unicuspid condition in a variety of vertebrate lineages, including sharks, teleost fishes, amphibians, lizards, and mammals. One potential explanation for the repeated origins of multicuspid teeth is the existence of multiple adaptive pathways leading to them, as suggested by their different uses in these lineages. Another is that the addition of cusps required only minor changes in genetic pathways regulating tooth development.

Animal-to-animal variability in the phasing of the crustacean cardiac motor pattern: an experimental and computational analysis.

The cardiac ganglion (CG) of Homarus americanus is a central pattern generator that consists of two oscillatory groups of neurons: "small cells" (SCs) and "large cells" (LCs). We have shown that SCs and LCs begin their bursts nearly simultaneously but end their bursts at variable phases. This variability contrasts with many other central pattern generator systems in which phase is well maintained.

Coordination of distinct but interacting rhythmic motor programs by a modulatory projection neuron using different co-transmitters in different ganglia.

While many neurons are known to contain multiple neurotransmitters, the specific roles played by each co-transmitter within a neuron are often poorly understood. Here, we investigated the roles of the co-transmitters of the pyloric suppressor (PS) neurons, which are located in the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) of the lobster Homarus americanus. The PS neurons are known to contain histamine; using RT-PCR, we identified a second co-transmitter as the FMRFamide-like peptide crustacean myosuppressin (Crust-MS).

SR-like RNA-binding protein Slr1 affects Candida albicans filamentation and virulence.

Candida albicans causes both mucosal and disseminated infections, and its capacity to grow as both yeast and hyphae is a key virulence factor. Hyphal formation is a type of polarized growth, and members of the SR (serine-arginine) family of RNA-binding proteins influence polarized growth of both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus nidulans. Therefore, we investigated whether SR-like proteins affect filamentous growth and virulence of C.

Energetics and dynamics of the low-lying electronic states of constrained polyenes: implications for infinite polyenes.

Steady-state and ultrafast transient absorption spectra were obtained for a series of conformationally constrained, isomerically pure polyenes with 5-23 conjugated double bonds (N). These data and fluorescence spectra of the shorter polyenes reveal the N dependence of the energies of six (1)B(u)(+) and two (1)A(g)(-) excited states. The (1)B(u)(+) states converge to a common infinite polyene limit of 15,900 ± 100 cm(-1).

Deciphering the bacterial glycocode: recent advances in bacterial glycoproteomics.

Bacterial glycoproteins represent an attractive target for new antibacterial treatments, as they are frequently linked to pathogenesis and contain distinctive glycans that are absent in humans. Despite their potential therapeutic importance, many bacterial glycoproteins remain uncharacterized. This review focuses on recent advances in deciphering the bacterial glycocode, including metabolic glycan labeling to discover and characterize bacterial glycoproteins, lectin-based microarrays to monitor bacterial glycoprotein dynamics, crosslinking sugars to assess the roles of bacterial glycoproteins, and harnessing bacterial glycosylation systems for the efficient production of industrially important glycoproteins.

Promise of, problems with, and potential refinement of the "extremely short form of the CBQ": a comment on Sleddens, et al. (2012).

The extremely short (one item, three response options)temperament scale introduced by Sleddens, Hughes, O'Connor, Beltran, Baranowski, Nicklas, et al. (2012) is a valuable contribution that can be useful for future research and applications of temperament. Requiring parents to classify children as high on Effortful Control, Negative Affectivity, or Surgency/Extraversion, however, is counter to the dimensional approach through which these temperament factors were derived.

How to make a villain: Rachel Carson and the politics of anti-environmentalism.

This article explores the evolution of anti-Carson rhetoric. It argues that this rhetoric has evolved significantly over the past fifty years. Early critics of Silent Spring were primarily concerned with defending their vision of science from what they perceived as the threat embodied in Carson's ecological perspective.

Captured segment exchange: a strategy for custom engineering large genomic regions in Drosophila melanogaster.

Site-specific recombinases (SSRs) are valuable tools for manipulating genomes. In Drosophila, thousands of transgenic insertions carrying SSR recognition sites have been distributed throughout the genome by several large-scale projects. Here we describe a method with the potential to use these insertions to make custom alterations to the Drosophila genome in vivo.

Retinoic acid expands the evolutionarily reduced dentition of zebrafish.

Zebrafish lost anterior teeth during evolution but retain a posterior pharyngeal dentition that requires retinoic acid (RA) cell-cell signaling for its development. The purposes of this study were to test the sufficiency of RA to induce tooth development and to assess its role in evolution. We found that exposure of embryos to exogenous RA induces a dramatic anterior expansion of the number of pharyngeal teeth that later form and shifts anteriorly the expression patterns of genes normally expressed in the posterior tooth-forming region, such as pitx2 and dlx2b.

Maximising return on conservation investment in the conterminous USA.

Efficient conservation planning requires knowledge about conservation targets, threats to those targets, costs of conservation and the marginal return to additional conservation efforts. Systematic conservation planning typically only takes a small piece of this complex puzzle into account. Here, we use a return-on-investment (ROI) approach to prioritise lands for conservation at the county level in the conterminous USA.

Impact of eastern dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) on host white spruce (Picea glauca) development, growth and performance across multiple scales.

Infection by eastern dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) modifies needle and branch morphology and hastens white spruce (Picea glauca) mortality. We examined potential causal mechanisms and assessed the impacts of infection-induced alterations to host development and performance across scales ranging from needle hormone contents to bole expansion. Needles on infected branches (IBs) possessed higher total cytokinin (CK) and lower abscisic acid contents than needles on uninfected branches (UBs).

A genome-wide screen identifies genes that affect somatic homolog pairing in Drosophila.

In Drosophila and other Dipterans, homologous chromosomes are in close contact in virtually all nuclei, a phenomenon known as somatic homolog pairing. Although homolog pairing has been recognized for over a century, relatively little is known about its regulation. We performed a genome-wide RNAi-based screen that monitored the X-specific localization of the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex, and we identified 59 candidate genes whose knockdown via RNAi causes a change in the pattern of MSL staining that is consistent with a disruption of X-chromosomal homolog pairing.

Leaf size in three generations of a dioecious tropical tree, Ocotea tenera (Lauraceae): Sexual dimorphism and changes with age.

Premise Of The Study: In dioecious species, selection should favor different leaf sizes in males and females whenever the sexes experience distinct environments or constraints such as different costs of reproduction. We took advantage of a long-term experimental study of Ocotea tenera (Lauraceae), a dioecious understory tree in Monteverde, Costa Rica, to explore leaf size differences between genders and age classes across generations.

Methods: We measured leaf size in adult trees in a natural population, in their adult F(1) offspring in two experimental populations, and in their F(2) offspring at the seedling stage.

The relative cost of using luminescence for sex and defense: light budgets in cypridinid ostracods.

Luminescent signals can be used by animals for a number of purposes, including courtship and defense, sometimes by the same individual. However, the relative costs of producing these different behaviors are largely unknown. In the marine ostracod Photeros annecohenae, males utilize extracellular luminescence for complex courtship displays, and both males and females luminesce as a predation defense.

Inter-animal variability in the effects of C-type allatostatin on the cardiac neuromuscular system in the lobster Homarus americanus.

Although the global effects of many modulators on pattern generators are relatively consistent among preparations, modulators can induce different alterations in different preparations. We examined the mechanisms that underlie such variability in the modulatory effects of the peptide C-type allatostatin (C-AST; pQIRYHQCYFNPISCF) on the cardiac neuromuscular system of the lobster Homarus americanus. Perfusion of C-AST through the semi-intact heart consistently decreased the frequency of ongoing contractions.

Comparing enhancer action in cis and in trans.

Studies from diverse systems have shown that distinct interchromosomal interactions are a central component of nuclear organization. In some cases, these interactions allow an enhancer to act in trans, modulating the expression of a gene encoded on a separate chromosome held in close proximity. Despite recent advances in uncovering such phenomena, our understanding of how a regulatory element acts on another chromosome remains incomplete.

The cell wall-associated kinases, WAKs, as pectin receptors.

The wall-associated kinases, WAKs, are encoded by five highly similar genes clustered in a 30-kb locus in Arabidopsis. These receptor-like proteins contain a cytoplasmic serine threonine kinase, a transmembrane domain, and a less conserved region that is bound to the cell wall and contains a series of epidermal growth factor repeats. Evidence is emerging that WAKs serve as pectin receptors, for both short oligogalacturonic acid fragments generated during pathogen exposure or wounding, and for longer pectins resident in native cell walls.

Medicalization and pharmaceuticalization at the intersections: Looking backward, sideways and forward.

Medicalization studies have changed dramatically in the past decade in part due to the increased attention to the role of pharmaceuticals and the pharmaceutical industry in modern life. This review paper explores the relationship between the concepts of medicalization and the newly developed terms of pharmaceuticalization and the pharmaceuticalization of public health. We show how and why modernist thinking limits the terms' utility to explain a world in which both modern and postmodern objects and people interact with each other.

Testosterone rapidly increases ejaculate volume and sperm density in competitively breeding goldfish through an estrogenic membrane receptor mechanism.

The social environment can have dramatic influences on reproductive behavior and physiology in many vertebrate species. In males, interactions with conspecifics affect physiological processes that increase an individual's ability to compete for mates. For example, in some species, males rapidly adjust the number of sperm they ejaculate in response to sociosexual cues from male and female conspecifics, however, little is known about the physiological mechanisms mediating this behavior.

Cross-cultural temperamental differences in infants, children, and adults in the United States of America and Finland.

Cross-cultural differences in temperament were investigated between infants (n = 131, 84 Finns), children (n = 653, 427 Finns), and adults (n = 759, 538 Finns) from the United States of America and Finland. Participants from both cultures completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Across all ages, Americans received higher ratings on temperamental fearfulness than Finnish individuals, and also demonstrated higher levels of other negative affects at several time points.

125 years of the American Journal of Psychology: a historical overview.

The American journal of Psychology celebrates 125 years of publication this year. From its inception, the Journal has attempted to record and communicate the results of research conducted in laboratories of psychology. It has also provided its readers with laboratory plans and designs for apparatus for research and demonstrations and described experimental procedures to facilitate the conduct of research.

Biological network motif detection: principles and practice.

Network motifs are statistically overrepresented sub-structures (sub-graphs) in a network, and have been recognized as 'the simple building blocks of complex networks'. Study of biological network motifs may reveal answers to many important biological questions. The main difficulty in detecting larger network motifs in biological networks lies in the facts that the number of possible sub-graphs increases exponentially with the network or motif size (node counts, in general), and that no known polynomial-time algorithm exists in deciding if two graphs are topologically equivalent.