Characterization of shed medicinal leech mucus reveals a diverse microbiota.

Microbial transmission through mucosal-mediated mechanisms is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. One example of this occurs with Hirudo verbana, the medicinal leech, where host attraction to shed conspecific mucus facilitates horizontal transmission of a predominant gut symbiont, the Gammaproteobacterium Aeromonas veronii. However, whether this mucus may harbor other bacteria has not been examined.

Vernalization and the chilling requirement to exit bud dormancy: shared or separate regulation?

Similarities have long been recognized between vernalization, the prolonged exposure to cold temperatures that promotes the floral transition in many plants, and the chilling requirement to release bud dormancy in woody plants of temperate climates. In both cases the extended chilling period occurring during winter is used to coordinate developmental events to the appropriate seasonal time. However, whether or not these processes share common regulatory components and molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Altering endoplasmic reticulum stress in a model of blast-induced traumatic brain injury controls cellular fate and ameliorates neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Neuronal injury following blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) increases the risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, yet the pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and apoptosis have all been implicated in bTBI. Microvessel compromise is a primary effect of bTBI and is postulated to cause subcellular secondary effects such as ER stress.

Characterization of the rainbow trout spleen transcriptome and identification of immune-related genes.

Resistance against diseases affects profitability of rainbow trout. Limited information is available about functions and mechanisms of teleost immune pathways. Immunogenomics provides powerful tools to determine disease resistance genes/gene pathways and develop genetic markers for genomic selection.

G protein signaling modulator-3: a leukocyte regulator of inflammation in health and disease.

G protein signaling modulator-3 (GPSM3), also known as G18 or AGS4, is a member of a family of proteins containing one or more copies of a small regulatory motif known as the GoLoco (or GPR) motif. GPSM3 interacts directly with Gα and Gβ subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins to regulate downstream intracellular signals initiated by G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are activated via binding to their cognate ligands. GPSM3 has a selective tissue distribution and is highly expressed in immune system cells; genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently revealed that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GPSM3 are associated with chronic inflammatory diseases.

Teaching and learning curriculum programs: recommendations for postgraduate pharmacy experiences in education.

Purpose: Recommendations for the development and support of teaching and learning curriculum (TLC) experiences within postgraduate pharmacy training programs are discussed.

Summary: Recent attention has turned toward meeting teaching- and learning-related educational outcomes through a programmatic process during the first or second year of postgraduate education. These programs are usually coordinated by schools and colleges of pharmacy and often referred to as "teaching certificate programs," though no national standards or regulation of these programs currently exists.

Role of H-Ras/ERK signaling in carbon nanotube-induced neoplastic-like transformation of human mesothelial cells.

Rapid development and deployment of engineered nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in various commercial and biomedical applications have raised concerns about their potential adverse health effects, especially their long-term effects which have not been well addressed. We demonstrated here that prolonged exposure of human mesothelial cells to single-walled CNT (SWCNT) induced neoplastic-like transformation as indicated by anchorage-independent cell growth and increased cell invasiveness. Such transformation was associated with an up-regulation of H-Ras and activation of ERK1/2.

Antennal lobe representations are optimized when olfactory stimuli are periodically structured to simulate natural wing beat effects.

Animals use behaviors to actively sample the environment across a broad spectrum of sensory domains. These behaviors discretize the sensory experience into unique spatiotemporal moments, minimize sensory adaptation, and enhance perception. In olfaction, behaviors such as sniffing, antennal flicking, and wing beating all act to periodically expose olfactory epithelium.

Integrated miRNA and mRNA Analysis of Time Series Microarray Data.

The dynamic temporal regulatory effects of microRNA are not well known. We introduce a technique for integrating miRNA and mRNA time series microarray data with known disease pathology. The integrated analysis includes identifying both mRNA and miRNA that are signi cantly similar to the quantitative pathology.

Effect of sexual maturation on muscle gene expression of rainbow trout: RNA-Seq approach.

Muscle degradation occurs as a response to various physiological states that are regulated by specific molecular mechanisms. Previously, we characterized the metabolic changes of muscle deterioration of the female rainbow trout at full sexual maturity and spawning (Salem et al., Physiol.

Pancytopenia related to dental adhesive in a young patient.

Copper deficiency resulting in hypocupremia is a rare cause of pancytopenia associated with a neurological syndrome. Hypocupremia may also occur as a consequence of excessive oral zinc consumption as described by Brewer et al and several other groups. Dental fixatives have been described as a potential source of hyperzincemia in patients.

Multiple faces elicit augmented neural activity.

How do our brains respond when we are being watched by a group of people?Despite the large volume of literature devoted to face processing, this question has received very little attention. Here we measured the effects on the face-sensitive N170 and other ERPs to viewing displays of one, two and three faces in two experiments. In Experiment 1, overall image brightness and contrast were adjusted to be constant, whereas in Experiment 2 local contrast and brightness of individual faces were not manipulated.

Stroke in children: need for increased awareness.

An 11-year old pediatric patient, who suffered a stroke is presented. She experienced a new-onset, severe, and persistent headache. Despite identification of a subacute ischemic lesion on CT scan, a delay in transfer to specialized care occurred.

Biophysical insights into how surfaces, including lipid membranes, modulate protein aggregation related to neurodegeneration.

There are a vast number of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Huntington's disease (HD), associated with the rearrangement of specific proteins to non-native conformations that promotes aggregation and deposition within tissues and/or cellular compartments. These diseases are commonly classified as protein-misfolding or amyloid diseases. The interaction of these proteins with liquid/surface interfaces is a fundamental phenomenon with potential implications for protein-misfolding diseases.

An evolutionary perspective on anti-tumor immunity.

The challenges associated with demonstrating a durable response using molecular-targeted therapies in cancer has sparked a renewed interest in viewing cancer from an evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary processes have three common traits: heterogeneity, dynamics, and a selective fitness landscape. Mutagens randomly alter the genome of host cells creating a population of cells that contain different somatic mutations.

Repetitive traumatic brain injury and development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy: a potential role for biomarkers in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment?

The diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) upon autopsy in a growing number of athletes and soldiers alike has resulted in increased awareness, by both the scientific/medical and lay communities, of the potential for lasting effects of repetitive traumatic brain injury. While the scientific community has come to better understand the clinical presentation and underlying pathophysiology of CTE, the diagnosis of CTE remains autopsy-based, which prevents adequate monitoring and tracking of the disease. The lack of established biomarkers or imaging modalities for diagnostic and prognostic purposes also prevents the development and implementation of therapeutic protocols.

Velocity plateaus in traveling-wave electrophoresis.

One-dimensional models are used to study traveling-wave electrophoresis, a tunable method for separating charged analytes. A traveling-electrode model reveals the mechanism for longitudinal oscillations. A stationary-electrode model explains the origin of mode-locked plateaus in the average velocity, predicts devil's staircases with nested Farey sequences, and reduces to a continuum sinusoidal model in the high electrode-density limit.

Intralobar bronchopulmonary sequestra in adults over age 50: case series and review.

Introduction: Bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS) is a rare congenital lung malformation, comprising only 0.15 to 6.4% of all cases of congenital lung malformation.

New positron emission tomography (PET) radioligand for imaging σ-1 receptors in living subjects.

σ-1 receptor (S1R) radioligands have the potential to detect and monitor various neurological diseases. Herein we report the synthesis, radiofluorination, and evaluation of a new S1R ligand 6-(3-fluoropropyl)-3-(2-(azepan-1-yl)ethyl)benzo[d]thiazol-2(3H)-one ([(18)F]FTC-146, [(18)F]13). [(18)F]13 was synthesized by nucleophilic fluorination, affording a product with >99% radiochemical purity (RCP) and specific activity (SA) of 2.

Arterial-ventricular coupling with aging and disease.

Age is the dominant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the coupling between the left ventricle (LV) and arterial system, termed arterial-ventricular coupling (E(A)/E(LV)), provides important mechanistic insights into the complex cardiovascular system and its changes with aging in the absence and presence of disease. E(A)/E(LV) can be indexed by the ratio of effective arterial elastance (E(A); a measure of the net arterial load exerted on the LV) to left ventricular end-systolic elastance (E(LV); a load-independent measure of left ventricular chamber performance).

Detailed Characterization of Local Field Potential Oscillations and Their Relationship to Spike Timing in the Antennal Lobe of the Moth Manduca sexta.

The transient oscillatory model of odor identity encoding seeks to explain how odorants with spatially overlapped patterns of input into primary olfactory networks can be discriminated. This model provides several testable predictions about the distributed nature of network oscillations and how they control spike timing. To test these predictions, 16 channel electrode arrays were placed within the antennal lobe (AL) of the moth Manduca sexta.

Scedosporium prolificans endocarditis: case report and review of literature.

Scedosporium prolificans is an emerging fungal pathogen. We report a case of Scedosporium prolificans endocarditis in an immunocompetent male together with a literature review.

In the blink of an eye: neural responses elicited to viewing the eye blinks of another individual.

Facial movements have the potential to be powerful social signals. Previous studies have shown that eye gaze changes and simple mouth movements can elicit robust neural responses, which can be altered as a function of potential social significance. Eye blinks are frequent events and are usually not deliberately communicative, yet blink rate is known to influence social perception.