Synthesis and crystal structure of sodium (ethane-1,2-di-yl)bis-[(3-meth-oxy-prop-yl)phosphinodi-thiol-ate] octa-hydrate.

The title compound, -poly[[tri-aqua-sodium]-di-μ-aqua-[tri-aqua-sodium]-μ-(ethane-1,2-di-yl)bis-[(3-meth-oxy-prop-yl)phosphinodi-thiol-ato]], [Na(CHOPS)(HO)] , crystallizes in the triclinic space group 1. The dianionic [CHO(CH)P(=S)(S-)CHCHP(=S)(S-)(CH)OCH] ligand fragments are joined by a dicationic [Na(HO)] cluster that includes the oxygen of the meth-oxy-propyl unit of the ligand to form infinite chains.

Key to sessile gnesiotrochan rotifers: Floscularia (Monogononta; Flosculariidae).

Correct identification of species is necessary if we are to understand their biology, ecology, and evolutionary history, as well as to catalog their global biodiversity. This is acutely critical for many micrometazoans like rotifers, which are often difficult to identify because of their small size and complicated morphologies. Rotifers are ubiquitous micrometazoans that are found worldwide in fresh, brackish, and some marine waters.

Biocatalytic asymmetric aldol addition into unactivated ketones.

Enzymes are renowned for their catalytic efficiency and selectivity, but many classical transformations in organic synthesis have no biocatalytic counterpart. Aldolases are prodigious C-C bond-forming enzymes, but their reactivity has only been extended past activated carbonyl electrophiles in special cases. To probe the mechanistic origins of this limitation, we use a pair of aldolases whose activity is dependent on pyridoxal phosphate.

Ultrastructure of the extraordinary pedal gland in Asplanchna aff. herricki (Rotifera: Monogononta).

Rotifers possess complex morphologies despite their microscopic size and simple appearance. Part of this complexity is hidden in the structure of their organs, which may be cellular or syncytial. Surprisingly, organs that are cellular in one taxon can be syncytial in another.

Beware of Strangers: Dogs' Empathetic Response to Unknown Humans.

Empathy is a complex cognitive ability that has been studied in many social animals, including dogs. Previous studies have found that dogs would rescue their distressed owner more quickly than a calm owner and that dogs respond physiologically and behaviorally to the sound of crying strangers. However, no studies have explored the empathetic and emotional contagion capabilities of dogs towards strangers in rescue paradigms.

To what extent are ephippia of Mexican Anomopoda (Crustacea, Cladocera) identifiable?

Diapausing embryos encased within cladoceran ephippia result from sexual reproduction and increase genetic diversity. They are also important means by which species bypass harsh environmental conditions and disperse in space and time. Once released, ephippia usually sink to the benthos and remain there until hatching.

Teaching Fin Regeneration Using a Dominant Negative Receptor.

Rising in popularity as a model organism in the classroom, zebrafish have numerous characteristics that make them ideal for teaching. In this study, we describe an experiment that helps students better understand the concept of tissue regeneration and the genes that control it. This experiment utilizes a dominant negative transgene for and allows students to observe the consequences of its activation.

Sex Differences and Physical Activity Status on the Hamstring: Quadriceps Ratio, Activities of Daily Living, and Functional Movement in Older Adults.

The study aimed to investigate sex differences and the effect of physical activity on the hamstring:quadriceps (H:Q) ratio, activities of daily living (ADLs), and the unctional Movement Screen (MS) in older adults. Thirty older adults (72.56 + 6.

Key to sessile gnesiotrochan rotifers: Families, monospecific species in Flosculariidae, species of Atrochidae, Conochilidae, and Limnias.

Accurate identification of species is key to understanding their ecological roles and evolutionary history. It is also essential in cataloging biodiversity for comparisons among habitat types, responses to climate change, effective management practices, and more. The paucity of taxonomic expertise is increasing and with it the ability to competently identify species, this is particularly true for small taxa including rotifers.

Nitrene C-H Bond Insertion Approach to Carbazolones and Indolones, and a Reactivity Departure for 7-Membered Analogues.

A modular platform for facile access to 1,2,3,9-tetrahydro-4H-carbazol-4-ones (H -carbazolones) and 3,4-dihydrocyclopenta[b]indol-1(2H)-ones (H -indolones) is described. The requisite 6- and 5-membered 2-arylcycloalkane-1,3-dione precursors were readily obtained through a Cu-catalyzed arylation of 1,3-cyclohexanediones or by a ring expansion of aryl succinoin derivatives. Enolization of one carbonyl group in the diones, conversion to a leaving group, and subsequent azidation gave 2-aryl-3-azidocycloalk-2-en-1-ones.

Decrease in ERɑ within the BNST of sexually naïve male rats following an encounter with a novel female.

Testosterone and its metabolites facilitate male-typical social behaviors in sexually experienced animals. The metabolite estradiol acts on estrogen receptors (ERs) within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) to facilitate socio-sexual behaviors. While circulating testosterone does not increase in naïve males, aromatase-expressing neurons within the BNST of naïve males are necessary for sex recognition, suggesting that local estradiol production may be responsible.

Ultrastructural characterization of the putative defensive glands (warts) in the sessile, colonial rotifer (Gnesiotrocha; Flosculariidae).

Female are freshwater, sessile, colonial rotifers that possess two pairs of distinctive glands (warts) located below the corona. Previous studies demonstrated that colonies are unpalatable to many invertebrate and vertebrate predators; those authors suggested that the warts were a possible source of a chemical deterrent to predation. Here we explore wart ultrastructure and cytochemisty to determine whether the warts function as exocrine glands and if their contents display any allomone-like chemistry, respectively.

Efficient chemoenzymatic synthesis of α-aryl aldehydes as intermediates in C-C bond forming biocatalytic cascades.

Multi-enzyme biocatalytic cascades are emerging as practical routes for the synthesis of complex bioactive molecules. However, the relative sparsity of water-stable carbon electrophiles limits the synthetic complexity of molecules made from such cascades. Here, we develop a chemoenzymatic platform that leverages styrene oxide isomerase (SOI) to covert readily accessible aryl epoxides into α-aryl aldehydes through a Meinwald rearrangement.

Cross-dehydrogenative coupling of ethers and amides with tautomerizable quinazolinones and mechanistic studies.

Cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions have been utilized to alkylate 4(3)-quinazolinones with ethers and amides, using catalytic -BuNI and -BuOOH as oxidants. The reactions with amides represent the first examples under such conditions. Studies inter- and intramolecular competitive experiments with protio and deuterio reactants, as well as radical inhibition experiments, provided mechanistic insight.

Inconsistent flanker congruency effects across stimulus types and age groups: A cautionary tale.

The flanker task is a common measure of selective attention and response competition across populations, age groups, and experiential contexts. Adapting it for different uses often involves changing methodological features that are rarely empirically compared with the previous design. This paper presents an example of how typical methodological changes can differentially elicit congruency effects across age groups.

Conformational Consequences for Compatible Osmolytes on Thermal Denaturation.

Compatible osmolytes are a broad class of small organic molecules employed by living systems to combat environmental stress by enhancing the native protein structure. The molecular features that make for a superior biopreservation remain elusive. Through the use of time-resolved and steady-state spectroscopic techniques, in combination with molecular simulation, insight into what makes one molecule a more effective compatible osmolyte can be gained.

Sex-specific effects of neonatal progestin receptor antagonism on juvenile social play behavior in rats.

Developing mammals are exposed to progesterone through several sources; however, the role of progesterone in early development is not well understood. Males express more progestin receptors (PRs) than females within several brain regions during early postnatal life, suggesting that PRs may be important for the organization of the sex differences in the brain and behavior. Indeed, previous studies showed cognitive impairments in male rats treated neonatally with a PR antagonist.

Scalable and Selective β-Hydroxy-α-Amino Acid Synthesis Catalyzed by Promiscuous l-Threonine Transaldolase ObiH.

Enzymes from secondary metabolic pathways possess broad potential for the selective synthesis of complex bioactive molecules. However, the practical application of these enzymes for organic synthesis is dependent on the development of efficient, economical, operationally simple, and well-characterized systems for preparative scale reactions. We sought to bridge this knowledge gap for the selective biocatalytic synthesis of β-hydroxy-α-amino acids, which are important synthetic building blocks.

The Aryne-Abramov Reaction as a 1,2-Benzdiyne Platform for the Generation and Solvent-Dependent Trapping of 3-Phosphonyl Benzynes.

Synthetic methodology utilizing two aryne intermediates (i.e., a formal benzdiyne) enables the rapid generation of structurally complex molecules with diverse functionality.

Cuttlefish exert self-control in a delay of gratification task.

The ability to exert self-control varies within and across taxa. Some species can exert self-control for several seconds whereas others, such as large-brained vertebrates, can tolerate delays of up to several minutes. Advanced self-control has been linked to better performance in cognitive tasks and has been hypothesized to evolve in response to specific socio-ecological pressures.

The Importance of 1,5-Oxygen⋅⋅⋅Chalcogen Interactions in Enantioselective Isochalcogenourea Catalysis.

The importance of 1,5-O⋅⋅⋅chalcogen (Ch) interactions in isochalcogenourea catalysis (Ch=O, S, Se) is investigated. Conformational analyses of N-acyl isochalcogenouronium species and comparison with kinetic data demonstrate the significance of 1,5-O⋅⋅⋅Ch interactions in enantioselective catalysis. Importantly, the selenium analogue demonstrates enhanced rate and selectivity profiles across a range of reaction processes including nitronate conjugate addition and formal [4+2] cycloadditions.

The Oligomerization of Glucose Under Plausible Prebiotic Conditions.

The prebiotic origin of polysaccharides, the largest class of biopolymers by mass in extant biology, has seldom been investigated experimentally. Herein, we report on the acid-catalyzed condensation of aqueous solutions of glucose, a model monosaccharide, under plausible prebiotic conditions employing a wet-dry (night-day) protocol with 0.01 M HCl at 50 °C.

Anemochory of diapausing stages of microinvertebrates in North American drylands.

1. Dry, ephemeral, desert wetlands are major sources of windblown sediment, as well as repositories for diapausing stages (propagules) of aquatic invertebrates. Zooplankton propagules are of the same size range as sand and dust grains.

Fine structure of the subitaneous eggshell of the sessile rotifer (Monogononta) with observations on vesicle trafficking in the integument during ontogeny.

Rotifers that engage in cyclical parthenogenesis produce two types of eggs: subitaneous eggs that hatch as clonal females and meiotic eggs that hatch as haploid males, or if fertilized, as females after a period of diapause (resting eggs). The ultrastructure of resting eggshells is known for some motile species, but there are limited data on subitaneous eggshells, and no data on any eggshells of sessile rotifers. Here, we investigated the ultrastructure of the subitaneous eggshell of the sessile rotifer and its potential origins of secretion, the maternal vitellarium and embryonic integument.

Hydration Dynamics in Solutions of Cyclic Polyhydroxyl Osmolytes.

Simple sugars are remarkably effective at preserving protein and enzymatic structures against thermal and hydrostatic stress. Here, we investigate the hydrodynamic and biopreservative properties of three small cyclic molecules: glucose, -inositol, and methyl-α-d-glucopyranoside using circular dichroism spectroscopy and isothermal calorimetry. Using ultrafast fluorescence frequency upconversion spectroscopy, we measure the dynamical retardation of hydration dynamics in cosolute solutions.