The lactation cycle of the fur seal

The fur seal is a mammal with an unusual ability to turn its milk production on and off without significantly altering the gross morphology of the mammary gland. This atypical lactation cycle is due to the fact that maternal foraging and infant nursing are spatially and temporally separate (Bonner, 1984). Maternal care involves the suckling of offspring over a period of at least 4 months, but lactation can extend to more than 12 months. Following a perinatal fast of approximately 1 week, females depart the breeding colony to forage at sea and, for the remainder of lactation, alternate between short periods ashore suckling their young with longer periods of up to 4 weeks foraging at sea. Whilst foraging at sea, milk production in the fur seal mammary gland either ceases or is reduced (Arnould &amp; Boyd, 1995b).<br /

Evaluation of bioelectrical impedance analysis methods for use on Channel Catfish

Assessment of body composition is an accurate measure of condition. This study evaluates bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) methods for Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus. BIA shows promise as a quick, inexpensive, and non-lethal technique to estimate body composition. Models were developed by correlating BIA measures to total body water (TBW). The seven anatomical locations where measures were taken had a significant influence on predictive ability of models. Dorsal-lateral measurements were highly correlated with volumetric resistance in series and had the highest predictive ability for TBW (R2=0.9651 and 0.9816). TBW converted to percent dry mass (%DM) was used as a proxy for fat and protein. Significant relations were found between %DM and percent fat (R2=0.8319) as well as percent protein (R2=0.7033). Temperature had a significant negative effect on BIA measures. Measures of wet weight and total length also had significant relations to TBW, therefore, further analysis of BIA models is necessary

MammoSapiens: eResearch of the lactation program. Building online facilities for collaborative molecular and evolutionary analysis of lactation and other biological systems from gene sequences and gene expression data.

Delivering bioinformatics power to life science researchers inevitably runs into problems of limited computing resources in the context of exponentially increasing data sources, access time, costs, lack of skills and, rapidly evolving technology and software tools with poorly defined standards. In this context the development of online facilities to best enable collaborative research often needs to be customized to specific project applications in close cooperation with the experimentalist users and, to be concerned with the storage and management of results to allow more consistency and traceability of results on a broad access data mining platform. Here we showcase an Internet based research platform using the PHP/MySQL paradigm for the collaborative, integrative and comparative analysis of lactation related gene sequences and gene expression experiments to support lactation research. We also illustrate how these resources are used, how they enable research by allowing meta-analysis of data and results and, how the bottom-up development of customized eResearch components can lead to the production of more generic functional software tools and eResearch environments for deployment to a larger number of biological researchers working on other bio-systems

Origin and Biology of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in Wild-Living Western Gorillas

Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are infected with a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVgor) that is closely related to chimpanzee and human immunodeficiency viruses (SIVcpz and HIV-1, respectively) in west central Africa. Although existing data suggest a chimpanzee origin for SIVgor, a paucity of available sequences has precluded definitive conclusions. Here, we report the molecular characterization of one partial (BQ664) and three full-length (CP684, CP2135, and CP2139) SIVgor genomes amplified from fecal RNAs of wild-living gorillas at two field sites in Cameroon. Phylogenetic analyses showed that all SIVgor strains clustered together, forming a monophyletic lineage throughout their genomes. Interestingly, the closest relatives of SIVgor were not SIVcpzPtt strains from west central African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) but human viruses belonging to HIV-1 group O. In trees derived from most genomic regions, SIVgor and HIV-1 group O formed a sister clade to the SIVcpzPtt lineage. However, in a tree derived from 5' pol sequences (similar to 900 bp), SIVgor and HIV-1 group O fell within the SIVcpzPtt radiation. The latter was due to two SIVcpzPtt strains that contained mosaic pol sequences, pointing to the existence of a divergent SIVcpzPtt lineage that gave rise to SIVgor and HIV-1 group O. Gorillas appear to have acquired this lineage at least 100 to 200 years ago. To examine the biological properties of SIVgor, we synthesized a full-length provirus from fecal consensus sequences. Transfection of the resulting clone (CP2139.287) into 293T cells yielded infectious virus that replicated efficiently in both human and chimpanzee CD4(+) T cells and used CCR5 as the coreceptor for viral entry. Together, these results provide strong evidence that P. t. troglodytes apes were the source of SIVgor. These same apes may also have spawned the group O epidemic; however, the possibility that gorillas served as an intermediary host cannot be excluded

The curious case of blended learning: an evaluation of a curriculum innovation in the global mental health Master’s programme

Background: This study aimed to evaluate students’ satisfaction, perceived utility and engagement with a range of Blended Learning (BL) resources, in the context of the staged introduction of BL within the MSc Global Mental Health Programme. Methods: A descriptive mixed methods design was employed. An electronic questionnaire was completed by 18 (90%) of the enrolled on-campus students. Eight of them opted to participate in a collaborative workshop aiming to corroborate and expand upon the questionnaire findings, and generate ideas for optimising the BL components. Results: Overall, students were satisfied with the quantity and usefulness of the BL materials. Specifically, the easy access to, and diversity of, learning activities were recognised as instrumental in stimulating innovative ways of thinking, in addition to improving subject-specific knowledge. Students starkly diverged according to their reported use of materials as the foundation of independent study as well as perceptions of the difficulty level of the modules. Students reported lacking the confidence and knowledge regarding integrating the breadth of learning resources effectively to support their learning. Collaboratively, the students helped generate actionable programmatic changes aimed at improving the curriculum cohesion and enhancing learner engagement. Conclusion: Systematic evaluation of the initial stages of BL is critical. This study demonstrated the complexities of the staged introduction of BL in terms of ensuring learning efficiency, student satisfaction, learner development and programme cohesion. This study enabled the identification of strategic and feasible high-impact areas for optimising BL, and transforming them into stages of change

Staged Introduction of Blended Learning – To Blend or Not to Blend?

The Master’s Degree in Global Mental Health (GMH) is in its sixth year as an on-campus course and in its second year as an online distance learning (ODL) course. A significant review of ILOs, course content, Moodle resource, the role of graduate attributes and assessment types was undertaken prior to the 2017/18 launch. The optimisation of agility and cohesion between Programmes has provided an opportunity to introduce blended learning materials for the on-campus students as a means of supporting learning. With the introduction of blended learning into the on-campus course we wish to ensure that it is embedded robustly, efficiently and effectively

Bronchial thermoplasty versus mepolizumab : comparison of outcomes in a severe asthma clinic

Background and objective: BT and interleukin-blocking monoclonal antibodies are both effective therapies for severe asthma, but there have been no direct comparisons between the two treatments. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of BT and mepolizumab, in a real-world setting. Methods: Patients with severe asthma despite optimized inhaler therapy were drawn from a severe asthma clinic in a tertiary hospital. Every patient commencing therapy with BT or mepolizumab was prospectively included in a national registry. At predetermined assessment points over a 12-month period, assessments were made of ACQ, spirometry, oral corticosteroid requiring exacerbations, reliever medication and maintenance oral corticosteroid use. Results: A total of 91 patients with severe asthma participated: mean ACQ score 3.5 ± 1.0, FEV1 51.4 ± 17.7%, maintenance oral steroids 48.3% and 11.5 ± 10.0 inhalations/day reliever therapy. Forty-seven patients received mepolizumab and 44 received BT. Baseline characteristics were similar except significantly higher blood eosinophil count in the mepolizumab group. At 12 months, there were no differences between treatment outcomes for ACQ (1.9 ± 1.3 mepolizumab vs 1.7 ± 1.3 BT), exacerbation rate (0.9 ± 1.1 vs 0.9 ± 1.5), reduction in reliever use (−6.3 ± 10.5 vs −5.0 ± 8.8 puffs/day) or reduction in oral corticosteroids (−3.3 ± 7.5 vs − 5.8 ± 6.7 mg/day). The FEV1 improved equally (160 ± 290 vs 150 ± 460 mL). Readmission or prolonged admission was observed in 18.2% of BT patients, whilst 25.5% of mepolizumab patients had discontinued treatment at 12 months, 14.9% due to an adverse event or non-compliance. Conclusion: The results suggest that BT is as efficacious as mepolizumab for the treatment of severe asthma. © 2020 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology. *Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Virginia Plummer” is provided in this record*

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts