Serial optical coherence microscopy for label-free volumetric histopathology

The observation of histopathology using optical microscope is an essential procedure for examination of tissue biopsies or surgically excised specimens in biological and clinical laboratories. However, slide-based microscopic pathology is not suitable for visualizing the large-scale tissue and native 3D organ structure due to its sampling limitation and shallow imaging depth. Here, we demonstrate serial optical coherence microscopy (SOCM) technique that offers label-free, high-throughput, and large-volume imaging of ex vivo mouse organs. A 3D histopathology of whole mouse brain and kidney including blood vessel structure is reconstructed by deep tissue optical imaging in serial sectioning techniques. Our results demonstrate that SOCM has unique advantages as it can visualize both native 3D structures and quantitative regional volume without introduction of any contrast agents

La Mar de Formas

The ongoing research with choreographer Juan Carlos Garcia and his company Lanonima Imperial is based on a continual dialogue about the body in space and its dialogue with electronic time-based media. In each iteration or new production we work to extend and advance this relational knowledge set building. Most productions are shown between 10 and 20 venues across Europe allowing for further refinement within the production cycle. Projects are extensively workshopped and previewed in small theatres before opening. Innovative ideas, new techniques and combinations of custom software solutions, interactive systems, robotics and new display technologies allow us to create new mediated spaces. Through the refinement and re-interpretation of existing technologies and a reflective approach to an eleven-year collaboration, we have made significant conceptual advances in the use of media on stage and the use of the body as machine interface. "The pure forms of knowledge are science, art and revelation, or rather, beliefs. The scientific method is used to deal with ideas but not to have new ideas. That is why the scientist has to be aware of art, of its capacity for intuition." (Prof. Wagensberg) In collaboration with Jorge Wagensberg, Professor for Theory of Irreversible Processes (University of Barcelona), the work engaged in a dialogue between mediated representation, dance and scientific thought in order to both advance and give meaning to the production, but also to provoke new ideas about the science of forms

De los afectos

The ongoing research with choreographer Juan Carlos Garcia and his company, Lanonima Imperial, is based Oil a continual dialogue about the body in space and its dialogue with electronic timebased media. In each iteration or new production we work to extend and advance this relational knowledge set building. Most productions arc shown between 10 and 20 venues across Europe, allowing for further refinement within the production cycle. Projects are extensively workshopped and previewed in small theatres before opening. Innovative ideas, new techniques and combinations of custom software solutions, interactive systems, robotics and new display technologies allow us to create new mediated spaces. Through the refinement and re-Interpretation of existing technologies and a reflective approach to an eleven year collaboration, we have made significant conceptual advances in the use of media on stage and the usc of the body as machine interface. In this work the research focused on the framing of nature through video and technical solutions regarding the kinetic movements of display systems, based on content and spatial location. 5 channels x 80 minutes video

Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes

Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world’s tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha?yr–$637/ha?yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha?yr-$-65/ha?yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes

Bioavailability in soils

The consumption of locally-produced vegetables by humans may be an important exposure pathway for soil contaminants in many urban settings and for agricultural land use. Hence, prediction of metal and metalloid uptake by vegetables from contaminated soils is an important part of the Human Health Risk Assessment procedure. The behaviour of metals (cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead and zinc) and metalloids (arsenic, boron and selenium) in contaminated soils depends to a large extent on the intrinsic charge, valence and speciation of the contaminant ion, and soil properties such as pH, redox status and contents of clay and/or organic matter. However, chemistry and behaviour of the contaminant in soil alone cannot predict soil-to-plant transfer. Root uptake, root selectivity, ion interactions, rhizosphere processes, leaf uptake from the atmosphere, and plant partitioning are important processes that ultimately govern the accumulation ofmetals and metalloids in edible vegetable tissues. Mechanistic models to accurately describe all these processes have not yet been developed, let alone validated under field conditions. Hence, to estimate risks by vegetable consumption, empirical models have been used to correlate concentrations of metals and metalloids in contaminated soils, soil physico-chemical characteristics, and concentrations of elements in vegetable tissues. These models should only be used within the bounds of their calibration, and often need to be re-calibrated or validated using local soil and environmental conditions on a regional or site-specific basis.Mike J. McLaughlin, Erik Smolders, Fien Degryse, and Rene Rietr

Cognitive impairment induced by delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol occurs through heteromers between cannabinoid CB1 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound of marijuana, induces numerous undesirable effects, including memory impairments, anxiety, and dependence. Conversely, THC also has potentially therapeutic effects, including analgesia, muscle relaxation, and neuroprotection. However, the mechanisms that dissociate these responses are still not known. Using mice lacking the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, we revealed that the analgesic and amnesic effects of THC are independent of each other: while amnesia induced by THC disappears in the mutant mice, THC can still promote analgesia in these animals. In subsequent molecular studies, we showed that in specific brain regions involved in memory formation, the receptors for THC and the 5-HT2A receptors work together by physically interacting with each other. Experimentally interfering with this interaction prevented the memory deficits induced by THC, but not its analgesic properties. Our results highlight a novel mechanism by which the beneficial analgesic properties of THC can be dissociated from its cognitive side effects

Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cumulative effects of bullying and racial discrimination on adolescent health in Australia

This study examined how cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization influences the health of Australian adolescents (n=2802) aged 10-11 years (19.3% visible ethnic minorities (non-White, non-Indigenous); 2.6% Indigenous) using data from 3 waves (2010-2014) of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization had incremental negative effects on socioemotional difficulties. Higher accumulated exposure to both stressors across time was associated with increased BMI z-scores, and risk of overweight/obesity. Studies that examine exposure to single risk factors such as bullying victimization or racial discrimination at 1 time point only are likely to miss key determinants of health for adolescents from stigmatized racial/ethnic backgrounds and under-estimate their stressor burden

Differential Regulation of the Period Genes in Striatal Regions following Cocaine Exposure

Several studies have suggested that disruptions in circadian rhythms contribute to the pathophysiology of multiple psychiatric diseases, including drug addiction. In fact, a number of the genes involved in the regulation of circadian rhythms are also involved in modulating the reward value for drugs of abuse, like cocaine. Thus, we wanted to determine the effects of chronic cocaine on the expression of several circadian genes in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) and Caudate Putamen (CP), regions of the brain known to be involved in the behavioral responses to drugs of abuse. Moreover, we wanted to explore the mechanism by which these genes are regulated following cocaine exposure. Here we find that after repeated cocaine exposure, expression of the Period (Per) genes and Neuronal PAS Domain Protein 2 (Npas2) are elevated, in a somewhat regionally selective fashion. Moreover, NPAS2 (but not CLOCK (Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput)) protein binding at Per gene promoters was enhanced following cocaine treatment. Mice lacking a functional Npas2 gene failed to exhibit any induction of Per gene expression after cocaine, suggesting that NPAS2 is necessary for this cocaine-induced regulation. Examination of Per gene and Npas2 expression over twenty-four hours identified changes in diurnal rhythmicity of these genes following chronic cocaine, which were regionally specific. Taken together, these studies point to selective disruptions in Per gene rhythmicity in striatial regions following chronic cocaine treatment, which are mediated primarily by NPAS2. © 2013 Falcon et al

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives