Variation in honey bee gut microbial diversity affected by ontogenetic stage, age and geographic location

Social honey bees, Apis mellifera, host a set of distinct microbiota, which is similar across the continents and various honey bee species. Some of these bacteria, such as lactobacilli, have been linked to immunity and defence against pathogens. Pathogen defence is crucial, particularly in larval stages, as many pathogens affect the brood. However, information on larval microbiota is conflicting. Seven developmental stages and drones were sampled from 3 colonies at each of the 4 geographic locations of A. mellifera carnica, and the samples were maintained separately for analysis. We analysed the variation and abundance of important bacterial groups and taxa in the collected bees. Major bacterial groups were evaluated over the entire life of honey bee individuals, where digestive tracts of same aged bees were sampled in the course of time. The results showed that the microbial tract of 6-day-old 5th instar larvae were nearly equally rich in total microbial counts per total digestive tract weight as foraging bees, showing a high percentage of various lactobacilli (Firmicutes) and Gilliamella apicola (Gammaproteobacteria 1). However, during pupation, microbial counts were significantly reduced but recovered quickly by 6 days post-emergence. Between emergence and day 6, imago reached the highest counts of Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria, which then gradually declined with bee age. Redundancy analysis conducted using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis identified bacterial species that were characteristic of each developmental stage. The results suggest that 3-day 4th instar larvae contain low microbial counts that increase 2-fold by day 6 and then decrease during pupation. Microbial succession of the imago begins soon after emergence. We found that bacterial counts do not show only yearly cycles within a colony, but vary on the individual level. Sampling and pooling adult bees or 6th day larvae may lead to high errors and variability, as both of these stages may be undergoing dynamic succession

The coastal marine mollusks from northern Macanao Peninsula, Margarita Island, Venezuela

En este estudio se analiza la composición y distribución de los moluscos marinos litorales del norte de la península de Macanao, Isla de Margarita, recolectados entre febrero y mayo de 2007 en trece localidades. Las colectas se hicieron manualmente y con equipo ligero de submarinismo. Se estudiaron 2270 ejemplares, distribuidos en 68 familias, 106 géneros y 152 especies, representantes de las clases Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758, Gastropoda Cuvier, 1797 y Polyplacophora Gray, 1821. Los gasterópodos fueron la clase dominante con 89 especies, siendo las especies con mayor distribución Lottia antillarum (Sowerby, 1831) y Purpura patula (Linnaeus, 1758) con 84,6%. En bivalvos (55) las especies con mayor distribución fueron Isognomom bicolor (C.B. Adams, 1845) con una presencia de 76,9% y Arca zebra (Swainson, 1833) con 69,2%; y en los polyplacophoros Chiton marmoratus Gmelin, 1791 y Chiton tuberculatus Linné, 1758 con 69,2% y Acanthopleura granulata (Gmelin, 1791) con 53,8%. Los valores más altos de diversidad, equidad y riqueza se obtuvieron en la localidad VII de El Faro de Punta Tigre II con un H´ de 3,8 bits/ind, J´ 0,80 y una riqueza específica de 83; y los más bajos en la localidad VIII de La Auyama con un H´ de 2,17 bits/ind J` 0,95 y 10 especies. De los gasterópodos, 40,4% fueron carnívoros y el resto 59,6% herbívoros. En la clase Bivalvia, 49 especies (89,7%) fueron filtradores suspensívoros y solo 6 (11,3%) colectores de materia orgánica depositada. En general esta elevada riqueza es producto de la heterogeneidad de ambientes y sustratos, la elevada productividad de sus aguas y el bajo grado de intervención antrópica en la mayoría de sus localidades.The composition and distribution of littoral marine molluscs from northern Macanao Peninsula, Margarita’s Island are studied. The samples were collected in thirteen sites between February and May 2007. The captures were performed manually and with the aid of snorkeling. Overall, 2270 individuals were studied. They were distributed among 68 families, 106 genera and 152 species, belonging to Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758, Gastropoda Cuvier, 1797 and Polyplacophora Gray, 1821 classes. The Gastropods were the dominant class with 89 species, being Lottia antillarum (Sowerby,1931) and Purpura patula (Linnaeus,1758 ) the two species with greater distribution, present in 84.6% of the samples. Among the 55 bivalve species identified the ones with higher distribution were Isognomom bicolor (C.B. Adams, 1845) present in 76.9% and Arca zebra in 69.2% of the samples. For the Polyplacophora, Chiton marmoratus Gmelin, 1791 and C. Tuberculatus Linne, 1758 were present in 69.2% of the samples and Acanthopleura granulata (Gmelin, 1791) in 53.8%. The highest value in diversity, evenness and richness were obtained at the locality VII of El Faro de Punta Tigre II with (H`) 3.80 bits/ind, (J`) 0.80 and specific richness of 83. The lowest values were found at the locality VIII of La Auyama with (H`) 2.2 bits/ind (J`) 0, 95 and 10 species. Among the gastropods, 40.4% were carnivores and the rest (59.6%) were herbivores. In the class Bivalvia, 49 species (89.7%) were suspension feeders and only 6 (11.3%) were surface deposit feeders. All the species of Polyplacophora were herbivores. In general, this high specific richness is the result of the heterogeneity of environments and substrates, the richness of macroalgae, the high productivity of the waters and the low degree of anthropic intervention in most of the sites.Fil: Capelo, Juan Carlos. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales; VenezuelaFil: Rada, Martin. Universidad de Oriente; VenezuelaFil: Sole, Maria. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales; VenezuelaFil: Buitrago, Joaquin. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales; VenezuelaFil: Grune Loffler, Sylvia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Narvaez, Jose. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales; Venezuel

Nanoinformatics: developing new computing applications for nanomedicine

Nanoinformatics has recently emerged to address the need of computing applications at the nano level. In this regard, the authors have participated in various initiatives to identify its concepts, foundations and challenges. While nanomaterials open up the possibility for developing new devices in many industrial and scientific areas, they also offer breakthrough perspectives for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we analyze the different aspects of nanoinformatics and suggest five research topics to help catalyze new research and development in the area, particularly focused on nanomedicine. We also encompass the use of informatics to further the biological and clinical applications of basic research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and the related concept of an extended ?nanotype? to coalesce information related to nanoparticles. We suggest how nanoinformatics could accelerate developments in nanomedicine, similarly to what happened with the Human Genome and other -omics projects, on issues like exchanging modeling and simulation methods and tools, linking toxicity information to clinical and personal databases or developing new approaches for scientific ontologies, among many others

RNA Binding to CBP Stimulates Histone Acetylation and Transcription

CBP/p300 are transcription co-activators whose binding is a signature of enhancers, cis-regulatory elements that control patterns of gene expression in multicellular organisms. Active enhancers produce bi-directional enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) and display CBP/p300-dependent histone acetylation. Here, we demonstrate that CBP binds directly to RNAs in vivo and in vitro. RNAs bound to CBP in vivo include a large number of eRNAs. Using steady-state histone acetyltransferase (HAT) assays, we show that an RNA binding region in the HAT domain of CBP—a regulatory motif unique to CBP/p300—allows RNA to stimulate CBP’s HAT activity. At enhancers where CBP interacts with eRNAs, stimulation manifests in RNA-dependent changes in the histone acetylation mediated by CBP, such as H3K27ac, and by corresponding changes in gene expression. By interacting directly with CBP, eRNAs contribute to the unique chromatin structure at active enhancers, which, in turn, is required for regulation of target genes

Modelling the Health Impact of an English Sugary Drinks Duty at National and Local Levels

Increasing evidence associates excess refined sugar intakes with obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Worryingly, the estimated volume of sugary drinks purchased in the UK has more than doubled between 1975 and 2007, from 510ml to 1140ml per person per week. We aimed to estimate the potential impact of a duty on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) at a local level in England, hypothesising that a duty could reduce obesity and related diseases. Methods and Findings We modelled the potential impact of a 20% sugary drinks duty on local authorities in England between 2010 and 2030. We synthesised data obtained from the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), drinks manufacturers, Office for National Statistics, and from previous studies. This produced a modelled population of 41 million adults in 326 lower tier local authorities in England. This analysis suggests that a 20% SSB duty could result in approximately 2,400 fewer diabetes cases, 1,700 fewer stroke and coronary heart disease cases, 400 fewer cancer cases, and gain some 41,000 Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) per year across England. The duty might have the biggest impact in urban areas with young populations. Conclusions This study adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting health benefits for a duty on sugary drinks. It might also usefully provide results at an area level to inform local price interventions in England

Word Alignment for Languages with Scarce Resources

This paper presents the task definition, resources, participating systems, and comparative results for the shared task on word alignment which was organized as part of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) 2005 Workshop on Building and Using Parallel Texts. The shared task included English-Inuktitut, Romanian-English, and English-Hindi sub-tasks, and drew the participation of ten teams from around the world with a total of 50 systems

Acute periodontal lesions

This is a review and update on acute conditions affecting the gingival tissues, including abscesses in the periodontium, necrotizing periodontal diseases, and other acute conditions that cause gingival lesions with acute presentation, such as infectious process not associated with oral bacterial biofilms, muco-cutanenous disorders, and traumatic and allergic lesions. A periodontal abscess is clinically important since it is a relatively frequent dental emergency, it can compromise the periodontal prognosis of the affected tooth, and because bacteria within the abscess have been identified, mainly by the type of etiology, and there are clear diffrences between those affecting a previously existing periodontal pocket ahd those affecting healthy sites. Therapy for this acute condition consists of drainage and tissue debridement, with individual evaluation of the need for systemic antimicrobial therapy. the definitive treatment of the pre-existing condition should be accomplished after the acute phase is controlled. Necrotizing periodontal disease (NPD) present three typical clinical features : papilla necrosis, gingival bleeding, and pain. Although the prevalence of these diseases is not high, their importance is clear, since they represent the most severe conditions associated with dental biofilm, with very rapid tissue destruction. In adittion to bacteria, the etiology of NPD includes numerous factors that alter the host response and predispose to these diseases, including HIV infection, malnutrition, stress, and tobacco smoking. The treatment consists of superficial debridement, careful mechanical oral hygiene, rinsing with chlorhexidine, and daily re-evaluation. Systemic antimicrobials may be used adjunctively in severe cases or in non-responding conditions and the best option is metronidazole.Once the acute disease is under control, definitive treatment should be provided, including the adequate therapy for the pre-existing gingivitis or periodontitis. Among other acute conditions affecting the periodontal tissues, but not caused by the microorganisms present in oral biofilms , are infectious diseases, muco-cutaneous diseases and traumatic or allergic lesions. In most cases, the gingival envolvement is not severe, though they are common and may prompt a dental emergency visit. These conditions may the direct result of a trauma or the consequence of the breaking of vesicles and bullae. A proper differential diagnosis is important for an adequate management of the case

Active nuclear import and cytoplasmic retention of activation-induced deaminase

The enzyme activation-induced deaminase (AID) triggers antibody diversification in B cells by catalyzing deamination and consequently mutation of immunoglobulin genes. To minimize off-target deamination, AID is restrained by several regulatory mechanisms including nuclear exclusion, thought to be mediated exclusively by active nuclear export. Here we identify two other mechanisms involved in controlling AID subcellular localization. AID is unable to passively diffuse into the nucleus, despite its small size, and its nuclear entry requires active import mediated by a conformational nuclear localization signal. We also identify in its C terminus a determinant for AID cytoplasmic retention, which hampers diffusion to the nucleus, competes with nuclear import and is crucial for maintaining the predominantly cytoplasmic localization of AID in steady-state conditions. Blocking nuclear import alters the balance between these processes in favor of cytoplasmic retention, resulting in reduced isotype class switching.This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 84543) and a Canada Research Chair (to J.M.D.). A.O. was supported by a fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Cancer Training Program at the IRCM. V.A.C. was supported in part by a Michel Saucier fellowship from the Louis-Pasteur Canadian Fund through the University of Montreal

Polζ ablation in B cells impairs the germinal center reaction, class switch recombination, DNA break repair, and genome stability

Polζ is an error-prone DNA polymerase that is critical for embryonic development and maintenance of genome stability. To analyze its suggested role in somatic hypermutation (SHM) and possible contribution to DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair in class switch recombination (CSR), we ablated Rev3, the catalytic subunit of Polζ, selectively in mature B cells in vivo. The frequency of somatic mutation was reduced in the mutant cells but the pattern of SHM was unaffected. Rev3-deficient B cells also exhibited pronounced chromosomal instability and impaired proliferation capacity. Although the data thus argue against a direct role of Polζ in SHM, Polζ deficiency directly interfered with CSR in that activated Rev3-deficient B cells exhibited a reduced efficiency of CSR and an increased frequency of DNA breaks in the immunoglobulin H locus. Based on our results, we suggest a nonredundant role of Polζ in DNA DSB repair through nonhomologous end joining