Motivations and personality characteristics of candidate sperm and oocyte donors according to parenthood status: a national study from the French CECOS network.

Study Question: In a non-commercial national gamete donation programme, do the motivations and personality characteristics of candidate sperm and oocyte donors differ according to their parenthood status?

Summary Answer: Moderate differences exist between non-parent and parent candidate donors in motivations for gamete donation and representations as well as in personality characteristics.

What Is Known Already: Several studies have analysed the motivations and experiences of oocyte or sperm donors, but mainly in countries where gamete donation is a commercial transaction, and very few studies have reported results of personality traits using personality inventory tests. No study has specifically investigated the motivations and personality characteristics of candidate gamete donors according to parenthood status.

Ponatinib Inhibits Multiple Signaling Pathways Involved in STAT3 Signaling and Attenuates Colorectal Tumor Growth.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling is a major driver of colorectal cancer (CRC) growth, however therapeutics, which can effectively target this pathway, have so far remained elusive. Here, we performed an extensive screen for STAT3 inhibitors among a library of 1167 FDA-approved agents, identifying Ponatinib as a lead candidate. We found that Ponatinib inhibits STAT3 activity driven by EGF/EGFR, IL-6/IL-6R and IL-11/IL-11R, three major ligand/receptor systems involved in CRC development and progression.

Microtubule polyglutamylation and acetylation drive microtubule dynamics critical for platelet formation.

Background: Upon maturation in the bone marrow, polyploid megakaryocytes elongate very long and thin cytoplasmic branches called proplatelets. Proplatelets enter the sinusoids blood vessels in which platelets are ultimately released. Microtubule dynamics, bundling, sliding, and coiling, drive these dramatic morphological changes whose regulation remains poorly understood.

A gated relaxation oscillator mediated by FrzX controls morphogenetic movements in Myxococcus xanthus.

Dynamic control of cell polarity is of critical importance for many aspects of cellular development and motility. In Myxococcus xanthus, MglA, a G protein, and MglB, its cognate GTPase-activating protein, establish a polarity axis that defines the direction of movement of the cell and that can be rapidly inverted by the Frz chemosensory system. Although vital for collective cell behaviours, how Frz triggers this switch has remained unknown.

Image Processing for Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer Measurement-.

A growing number of tools now allow live recordings of various signaling pathways and protein-protein interaction dynamics in time and space by ratiometric measurements, such as Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) Imaging. Accurate and reproducible analysis of ratiometric measurements has thus become mandatory to interpret quantitative imaging. In order to fulfill this necessity, we have developed an open source toolset for Fiji--allowing a systematic analysis, from image processing to ratio quantification.

Measles virus envelope pseudotyped lentiviral vectors transduce quiescent human HSCs at an efficiency without precedent.

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-based gene therapy trials are now moving toward the use of lentiviral vectors (LVs) with success. However, one challenge in the field remains: efficient transduction of HSCs without compromising their stem cell potential. Here we showed that measles virus glycoprotein-displaying LVs (hemagglutinin and fusion protein LVs [H/F-LVs]) were capable of transducing 100% of early-acting cytokine-stimulated human CD34 (hCD34) progenitor cells upon a single application.

Comparative Genomics of and to Reveal Gene Orthologs Involved in Infection by .

Blood-feeding (Gpg) fly transmits the single-celled eukaryotic parasite (Tbg), the second fly African trypanosome pair being /.brucei rhodesiense. Whatever the subspecies, whereas the onset of their developmental program in the zoo-anthropophilic blood feeding flies does unfold in the fly midgut, its completion is taking place in the fly salivary gland where does emerge a low size metacyclic trypomastigote population displaying features that account for its establishment in mammals-human individuals included.

Heterogeneity in sarcoma cell lines reveals enhanced motility of tetraploid versus diploid cells.

Soft tissue sarcomas with complex genomics are very heterogeneous tumors lacking simple prognosis markers or targeted therapies. Overexpression of a subset of mitotic genes from a signature called CINSARC is of bad prognosis, but the significance of this signature remains elusive. Here we precisely measure the cell cycle and mitosis duration of sarcoma cell lines and we found that the mitotic gene products overexpression does not reflect variation in the time spent during mitosis or G2/M.

The A adenosine receptor antagonist PSB-603 promotes oxidative phosphorylation and ROS production in colorectal cancer cells via adenosine receptor-independent mechanism.

Purpose: Adenosine is a multifaceted regulator of tumor progression. It modulates immune cell activity as well as acting directly on tumor cells. The A adenosine receptor (A-AR) is thought to be an important mediator of these effects.

Dopamine D2 receptors gate generalization of conditioned threat responses through mTORC1 signaling in the extended amygdala.

Overgeneralization of conditioned threat responses is a robust clinical marker of anxiety disorders. In overgeneralization, responses that are appropriate to threat-predicting cues are evoked by perceptually similar safety-predicting cues. Inappropriate learning of conditioned threat responses may thus form an etiological basis for anxiety disorders.

Volume of Hsp90 Protein-Ligand Binding Determined by Fluorescent Pressure Shift Assay, Densitometry, and NMR.

Human heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a key player in the homeostasis of the proteome and plays a role in numerous diseases, such as cancer. For the design of Hsp90 ATPase activity inhibitors, it is important to understand the relationship between an inhibitor structure and its inhibition potential. The volume of inhibitor binding is one of the most important such parameters that are rarely being studied.

Fast and high resolution single-cell BRET imaging.

Resonance Energy Transfer (RET)-based technologies are used to report protein-protein interactions in living cells. Among them, Bioluminescence-initiated RET (BRET) provides excellent sensitivity but the low light intensity intrinsic to the bioluminescent process hampers its use for the localization of protein complexes at the sub-cellular level. Herein we have characterized the methodological conditions required to reliably perform single-cell BRET imaging using an extremely bright luciferase, Nanoluciferase (Nluc).

Predicting global invasion risks: a management tool to prevent future introductions.

Predicting regions at risk from introductions of non-native species and the subsequent invasions is a fundamental aspect of horizon scanning activities that enable the development of more effective preventative actions and planning of management measures. The Asian cyprinid fish topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva has proved highly invasive across Europe since its introduction in the 1960s. In addition to direct negative impacts on native fish populations, P.

Autocrine Secretion of Progastrin Promotes the Survival and Self-Renewal of Colon Cancer Stem-like Cells.

Subpopulations of cancer stem-like cells (CSC) are thought to drive tumor progression and posttreatment recurrence in multiple solid tumors. However, the mechanisms that maintain stable proportions of self-renewing CSC within heterogeneous tumors under homeostatic conditions remain poorly understood. Progastrin is a secreted peptide that exhibits tumor-forming potential in colorectal cancer, where it regulates pathways known to modulate colon CSC behaviors.

Molecular Species Delimitation and Morphology of Aquatic and Sub-Aquatic Bugs (Heteroptera) in Cameroon.

Aquatic and semi-aquatic bugs (Heteroptera) represent a remarkable diversity and a resurging interest has been given to documenting at the species level these insects inhabiting Cameroon in Central Africa due to their potential implication in the transmission of the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causal agent of Buruli ulcer, an emerging human disease. A survey was carried out over two years in Cameroon. Morphological analyses were done in two steps.

Anatomical and functional gonadotrope networks in the teleost pituitary.

Mammalian pituitaries exhibit a high degree of intercellular coordination; this enables them to mount large-scale coordinated responses to various physiological stimuli. This type of communication has not been adequately demonstrated in teleost pituitaries, which exhibit direct hypothalamic innervation and expression of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in distinct cell types. We found that in two fish species, namely tilapia and zebrafish, LH cells exhibit close cell-cell contacts and form a continuous network throughout the gland.

Agonist-Specific Recruitment of Arrestin Isoforms Differentially Modify Delta Opioid Receptor Function.

Unlabelled: Ligand-specific recruitment of arrestins facilitates functional selectivity of G-protein-coupled receptor signaling. Here, we describe agonist-selective recruitment of different arrestin isoforms to the delta opioid receptor in mice. A high-internalizing delta opioid receptor agonist (SNC80) preferentially recruited arrestin 2 and, in arrestin 2 knock-outs (KOs), we observed a significant increase in the potency of SNC80 to inhibit mechanical hyperalgesia and decreased acute tolerance.

The outer membrane porin OmpW of Acinetobacter baumannii is involved in iron uptake and colistin binding.

This study was undertaken to characterize functions of the outer membrane protein OmpW, which potentially contributes to the development of colistin- and imipenem-resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii. Reconstitution of OmpW in artificial lipid bilayers showed that it forms small channels (23 pS in 1 m KCl) and markedly interacts with iron and colistin, but not with imipenem. In vivo, (55) Fe uptake assays comparing the behaviours of ΔompW mutant and wild-type strains confirmed a role for OmpW in A.

Elevated CaMKIIα and Hyperphosphorylation of Homer Mediate Circuit Dysfunction in a Fragile X Syndrome Mouse Model.

Abnormal metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) function, as a result of disrupted scaffolding with its binding partner Homer, contributes to the pathophysiology of fragile X syndrome, a common inherited form of intellectual disability and autism caused by mutations in Fmr1. How loss of Fmr1 disrupts mGluR5-Homer scaffolds is unknown, and little is known about the dynamic regulation of mGluR5-Homer scaffolds in wild-type neurons. Here, we demonstrate that brief (minutes-long) elevations in neural activity cause CaMKIIα-mediated phosphorylation of long Homer proteins and dissociation from mGluR5 at synapses.

RNA-seq de novo Assembly Reveals Differential Gene Expression in Glossina palpalis gambiensis Infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense vs. Non-Infected and Self-Cured Flies.

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (Tbg), causing the sleeping sickness chronic form, completes its developmental cycle within the tsetse fly vector Glossina palpalis gambiensis (Gpg) before its transmission to humans. Within the framework of an anti-vector disease control strategy, a global gene expression profiling of trypanosome infected (susceptible), non-infected, and self-cured (refractory) tsetse flies was performed, on their midguts, to determine differential genes expression resulting from in vivo trypanosomes, tsetse flies (and their microbiome) interactions. An RNAseq de novo assembly was achieved.