Amyloid Plaques Beyond Aβ: A Survey of the Diverse Modulators of Amyloid Aggregation

Aggregation of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide is strongly correlated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent research has improved our understanding of the kinetics of amyloid fibril assembly and revealed new details regarding different stages in plaque formation. Presently, interest is turning toward studying this process in a holistic context, focusing on cellular components which interact with the Aβ peptide at various junctures during aggregation, from monomer to cross-β amyloid fibrils. However, even in isolation, a multitude of factors including protein purity, pH, salt content, and agitation affect Aβ fibril formation and deposition, often producing complicated and conflicting results. The failure of numerous inhibitors in clinical trials for AD suggests that a detailed examination of the complex interactions that occur during plaque formation, including binding of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and metal ions, is important for understanding the diversity of manifestations of the disease. Unraveling how a variety of key macromolecular modulators interact with the Aβ peptide and change its aggregation properties may provide opportunities for developing therapies. Since no protein acts in isolation, the interplay of these diverse molecules may differentiate disease onset, progression, and severity, and thus are worth careful consideration

Wetlands for wastewater treatment and subsequent recycling of treated effluent : a review

Due to water scarcity challenges around the world, it is essential to think about non-conventional water resources to address the increased demand in clean freshwater. Environmental and public health problems may result from insufficient provision of sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities. Because of this, wastewater treatment and recycling methods will be vital to provide sufficient freshwater in the coming decades, since water resources are limited and more than 70% of water are consumed for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has much potential, especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are essential for plant production. Among the current treatment technologies applied in urban wastewater reuse for irrigation, wetlands were concluded to be the one of the most suitable ones in terms of pollutant removal and have advantages due to both low maintenance costs and required energy. Wetland behavior and efficiency concerning wastewater treatment is mainly linked to macrophyte composition, substrate, hydrology, surface loading rate, influent feeding mode, microorganism availability, and temperature. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids, whereas the removal of nitrogen is relatively low, but could be improved by using a combination of various types of constructed wetlands meeting the irrigation reuse standards. The removal of phosphorus is usually low, unless special media with high sorption capacity are used. Pathogen removal from wetland effluent to meet irrigation reuse standards is a challenge unless supplementary lagoons or hybrid wetland systems are used

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention

Measurement of the branching fraction for B−→D0K∗−B^- \to D^0 K^{*-}

We present a measurement of the branching fraction for the decay B- --> D0 K*- using a sample of approximately 86 million BBbar pairs collected by the BaBar detector from e+e- collisions near the Y(4S) resonance. The D0 is detected through its decays to K- pi+, K- pi+ pi0 and K- pi+ pi- pi+, and the K*- through its decay to K0S pi-. We measure the branching fraction to be B.F.(B- --> D0 K*-)= (6.3 +/- 0.7(stat.) +/- 0.5(syst.)) x 10^{-4}

Observation of a significant excess of π0π0\pi^{0}\pi^{0} events in B meson decays

We present an observation of the decay $B^{0} \to \pi^{0} \pi^{0}$ based on a sample of 124 million $B\bar{B}$ pairs recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ Factory at SLAC. We observe $46 \pm 13 \pm 3$ events, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic, corresponding to a significance of 4.2 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. We measure the branching fraction \BR(B^{0} \to \pi^{0} \pi^{0}) = (2.1 \pm 0.6 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-6}, averaged over $B^{0}$ and $\bar{B}^{0}$ decays

Transcriptional Shift Identifies a Set of Genes Driving Breast Cancer Chemoresistance

Background Distant recurrences after antineoplastic treatment remain a serious problem for breast cancer clinical management, which threats patients’ life. Systemic therapy is administered to eradicate cancer cells from the organism, both at the site of the primary tumor and at any other potential location. Despite this intervention, a significant proportion of breast cancer patients relapse even many years after their primary tumor has been successfully treated according to current clinical standards, evidencing the existence of a chemoresistant cell subpopulation originating from the primary tumor.Methods/Findings To identify key molecules and signaling pathways which drive breast cancer chemoresistance we performed gene expression analysis before and after anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy and compared the results between different histopathological response groups (good-, mid- and bad-response), established according to the Miller & Payne grading system. Two cohorts of 33 and 73 breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were recruited for whole-genome expression analysis and validation assay, respectively. Identified genes were subjected to a bioinformatic analysis in order to ascertain the molecular function of the proteins they encode and the signaling in which they participate. High throughput technologies identified 65 gene sequences which were over-expressed in all groups (P ≤ 0·05 Bonferroni test). Notably we found that, after chemotherapy, a significant proportion of these genes were over-expressed in the good responders group, making their tumors indistinguishable from those of the bad responders in their expression profile (P ≤ 0.05 Benjamini-Hochgerg`s method).Conclusions These data identify a set of key molecular pathways selectively up-regulated in post-chemotherapy cancer cells, which may become appropriate targets for the development of future directed therapies against breast cancer.Thanks are due to the Consejería de Economia, Innovación y Ciencia (CEIC) from the Junta de Andalucía and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)/Fondo de Cohesión Europeo (FSE) to financial support through the Programa Operativo FEDER/FSE de Andalucía 2007-2013 and the research project CTS-5350. The authors also acknowledge financial support by the PN de I+D+i 2006-2009/ISCIII/Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad (Spain) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) from the European Union, through the research project PI06/90388

Expression profile analysis of the inflammatory response regulated by hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α), a liver-specific transcription factor, plays a significant role in liver-specific functions. However, its functions are poorly understood in the regulation of the inflammatory response. In order to obtain a genomic view of HNF4α in this context, microarray analysis was used to probe the expression profile of an inflammatory response induced by cytokine stimulation in a model of HNF4α knock-down in HepG2 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The expression of over five thousand genes in HepG2 cells is significantly changed with the dramatic reduction of HNF4α concentration compared to the cells with native levels of HNF4α. Over two thirds (71%) of genes that exhibit differential expression in response to cytokine treatment also reveal differential expression in response to HNF4α knock-down. In addition, we found that a number of HNF4α target genes may be indirectly mediated by an ETS-domain transcription factor ELK1, a nuclear target of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicate that HNF4α has an extensive impact on the regulation of a large number of the liver-specific genes. HNF4α may play a role in regulating the cytokine-induced inflammatory response. This study presents a novel function for HNF4α, acting not only as a global player in many cellular processes, but also as one of the components of inflammatory response in the liver.</p

Author response: Affimer proteins are versatile and renewable affinity reagents

Molecular recognition reagents are key tools for understanding biological processes and are used universally by scientists to study protein expression, localisation and interactions. Antibodies remain the most widely used of such reagents and many show excellent performance, although some are poorly characterised or have stability or batch variability issues, supporting the use of alternative binding proteins as complementary reagents for many applications. Here we report on the use of Affimer proteins as research reagents. We selected 12 diverse molecular targets for Affimer selection to exemplify their use in common molecular and cellular applications including the (a) selection against various target molecules; (b) modulation of protein function in vitro and in vivo; (c) labelling of tumour antigens in mouse models; and (d) use in affinity fluorescence and super-resolution microscopy. This work shows that Affimer proteins, as is the case for other alternative binding scaffolds, represent complementary affinity reagents to antibodies for various molecular and cell biology applications

Variation of selfing rate and inbreeding depression among individuals and across generations within an admixed Cedrus population

[EN] We investigated the variation and short-term evolution of the selfing rate and inbreeding depression (ID) across three generations within a cedar forest that was established from admixture ca 1860. The mean selfing rate was 9.5%, ranging from 0 to 48% among 20 seed trees (estimated from paternally inherited chloroplast DNA). We computed the probability of selfing for each seed and we investigated ID by comparing selfed and outcrossed seeds within progenies, thus avoiding maternal effects. In all progenies, the germination rate was high (88-100%) and seedling mortality was low (0-12%). The germination dynamics differed significantly between selfed and outcrossed seeds within progenies in the founder gene pool but not in the following generations. This transient effect of selfing could be attributed to epistatic interactions in the original admixture. Regarding the seedling growth traits, the ID was low but significant: 8 and 6% for height and diameter growth, respectively. These rates did not vary among generations, suggesting minor gene effects. At this early stage, outcrossed seedlings outcompeted their selfed relatives, but not necessarily other selfed seedlings from other progenies. Thus, purging these slightly deleterious genes may only occur through within-family selection. Processes that maintain a high level of genetic diversity for fitness-related traits among progenies also reduce the efficiency of purging this part of the genetic load. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved. Guardar / Salir Siguiente >This work has been partially supported by Grant PPI-00-04 from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain). We thank B Fady and E Klein as well as two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on a previous version of the paper. We acknowledge B Jouaud, W Brunetto, F Jean and H Picot for seed collection and processing and laboratory assistance, as well as P Brahic and staff from the Experimental Nursery of Aix-Les Milles for nursery cares.Ferriol Molina, M.; Pichot, C.; Lefevre, F. (2011). Variation of selfing rate and inbreeding depression among individuals and across generations within an admixed Cedrus population. Heredity. 106(1):146-157. https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2010.451461571061Barret SH, Eckert CG (1990). Variation and evolution of mating systems in seed plants. In: Kawano S (ed). Biological Approaches and Evolutionary Trends in Plants. Academic Press: London. pp 230–254.Benton TG, Plaistow SJ, Coulson TN (2006). Complex population dynamics and complex causation: devils, details and demography. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 273: 1173–1181.Bower AD, Aitken SN (2007). Mating system and inbreeding depression in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.). Tree Genet Genomes 3: 379–388.Byers DL, Waller DM (1999). Do plant populations purge their genetic load? Effects of population size and mating history on inbreeding depression. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 30: 479–513.Cointat M (1996). Le roman du cèdre. Revue Forestière Française 48: 503–526.Collevatti RG, Grattapaglia D, Duvall J (2001). High resolution microsatellite based analysis of the mating system allows the detection of significant biparental inbreeding in Caryocar brasiliense, an endangered tropical tree species. Heredity 86: 60–67.Cottrell JE, White IMS (1995). The use of isozyme genetic markers to estimate the rate of outcrossing in a Sitka pruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) seed orchard in Scotland. New Forests 10: 111–122.Coulson T, Benton TG, Lundberg P, Dall SRX, Kendall BE (2006). Putting evolutionary biology back in the ecological theatre: a demographic framework mapping genes to communities. Evol Ecol Res 8: 1155–1171.Durel CE, Bertin P, Kremer A (1996). Relationship between inbreeding depression and inbreeding coefficient in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). Theor Appl Genet 92: 347–356.Eriksson E (2006). Thinning operations and their impact on biomass production in stands of Norway spruce and Scots pine. Biomass Bioenergy 30: 848–854.Fady B, Lefèvre F, Reynaud M, Vendramin GG, Bou Dagher-Karrat M, Anzidei M et al. (2003). Gene flow among different taxonomic units: evidence from nuclear and cytoplasmic markers in Cedrus plantation forests. Theor Appl Genet 107: 1132–1138.Farris MA, Mitton JB (1984). Population density, outcrossing rate, and heterozygote superiority in ponderosa pine. Evolution 38: 1151–1154.Favre-Duchartre M (1970). Des Ovules Aux Graines. Monographie 8. Masson et Cie.: Paris.Franklin EC (1969). Inbreeding Depression in Metrical Traits of Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda L.) as a Result of Self-pollination. North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC. Technical report No 40, School of Forest Resources.Gregorius HR, Ziehe M, Ross MD (1987). Selection caused by self-fertilization I. Four measures of self-fertilization and their effects on fitness. Theor Popul Biol 31: 91–115.Hamrick JL, Godt MJ (1989). Allozyme diversity in plant species. In: Brown AHD, Al Kahler MC, Weir BS (eds). Plant Population Genetics, Breeding, and Genetic Resources. Sinauer: Sunderland, MA. pp 43–63.Holsinger KE (1991). Mass-action models of plant mating systems—the evolutionary stability of mixed mating systems. Am Nat 138: 606–622.Husband BC, Schemske DW (1996). Evolution of the magnitude and timing of inbreeding depression in plants. Evolution 50: 54–70.Jones FA, Hamrick JL, Peterson CJ, Squiers ER (2006). Inferring colonization history from analyses of spatial genetic structure within populations of Pinus strobus and Quercus rubra. Mol Ecol 15: 851–861.Kärkkäinen K, Savolainen O (1993). The degree of early inbreeding depression determines the selfing rate at the seed stage: model and results from Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine). Heredity 71: 160–166.Keller LF, Waller DM (2002). Inbreeding effects in wild populations. Trends Ecol Evol 17: 230–241.Klein EK, Lavigne C, Gouyon PH (2006). Mixing of propagules from discrete sources at long distance: comparing an exponential tail to an exponential. BMC Ecol 6: 3.Knowles P, Furnier GR, Aleksiuk MK, Perry DJ (1987). Significant levels of self-fertilization in natural populations of tamarack. Can J Bot 65: 1087–1091.Koelewijn HP, Koski V, Savolainen O (1999). Magnitude and timing of inbreeding depression in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). Evolution 53: 758–768.Kremer A (1994). Genetic diversity and phenotypic variability of forest trees. Genet Sel Evol 26: s105–s123.Krouchi F, Derridj A, Lefèvre F (2004). Year and tree effect on reproductive organisation of Cedrus atlantica in a natural forest. For Ecol Manage 197: 181–189.Lande R (1988). Genetics and demography in biological conservation. Science 241: 1455–1460.Ledig FT (1986). Heterozygosity, heterosis, and fitness in outbreeding plants. In: Soulé ME (ed). Conservation Biology: the Science of Scarcity and Diversity. Sinauer Ass: Sunderland. pp 77–104.Lee JK, Nordheim EV, Kang H (1996). Inference for lethal gene estimation with application in plants. Biometrics 52: 451–462.Lefèvre F, Fady B, Fallour-Rubio D, Ghosn D, Bariteau M (2004). Impact of founder population, drift and selection on the genetic diversity of a recently translocated tree population. Heredity 93: 542–550.Marquardt PE, Epperson BK (2004). Spatial and population genetic structure of microsatellites in white pine. Mol Ecol 13: 3305–3315.Morgante M, Vendramin GG, Rossi P (1991). Effects of stand density on outcrossing rate in two Norway spruce (Picea abies) populations. Can J Bot 69: 2704–2708.Mosseler A, Major JE, Simpson JD, Daigle B, Lange K, Park YS et al. (2000). Indicators of population viability in red spruce, Picea rubens. I. Reproductive traits and fecundity. Can J Bot 78: 928–940.Naydenov KD, Tremblay FM, Alexandrov A, Fenton NJ (2005). Structure of Pinus sylvestris L. populations in Bulgaria revealed by chloroplast microsatellites and terpenes analysis : provenance tests. Biochem Syst Ecol 33: 1226–1245.Neale DB, Adams WT (1985). The mating system in natural and shelterwood stands of Douglas-fir. Theor Appl Genet 71: 201–207.Notivol E, Garcia-Gil MR, Alia R, Savolainen O (2007). Genetic variation of growth rhythm traits in the limits of a latitudinal cline in Scots pine. Can J For Res 37: 540–551.O’Connell LM, Russell J, Ritland K (2004). Fine-scale estimation of outcrossing in western redcedar with microsatellite assay of bulked DNA. Heredity 93: 443–449.Parducci L, Szmidt AE, Madaghiele A, Anzidei M, Vendramin GG (2001). Genetic variation at chloroplast microsatellites (CpSSRs) in Abies nebrodensis (Lojac.) Mattei and three neighboring Abies species. Theor Appl Genet 102: 733–740.Parraguirre-Lezama C, Vargas-Hernández JJ, Ramirez-Vallejo P, Ramirez Herrera C (2004). Mating system in four natural populations of Pinus greggii Engelm. Agrociencia 38: 107–119.Petit RJ, Hampe A (2006). Some evolutionary consequences of being a tree. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 37: 187–214.Pichot C, Bastien C, Courbet F, Demesure-Musch B, Dreyfus P, Fady B et al. (2006). Déterminants et conséquences de la qualité génétique des graines et semis lors de la phase initiale de régénération naturelle des peuplements forestiers. In: 6e Colloque National du BRG ; La Rochelle 2006/10/02-04. Les Actes du Bureau des Ressources Génétiques 6: 277–297.Remington DL, O’Malley DM (2000a). Whole-genome characterization of embryonic stage inbreeding depression in a selfed loblolly pine family. Genetics 155: 337–348.Remington DL, O’Malley DM (2000b). Evaluation of major genetic loci contributing to inbreeding depression for survival and early growth in a selfed family of Pinus taeda. Evolution 54: 1580–1589.Restoux G, Silva DE, Sagnard F, Torre F, Klein E, Fady B (2008). Life at the margin: the mating system of Mediterranean conifers. Web Ecol 8: 94–102.Ribeiro MM, Mariette S, Vendramin GG, Szmidt AE, Plomion C, Kremer A (2002). Comparison of genetic diversity estimates within and among populations of maritime pine using chloroplast simple-sequence repeat and amplified fragment length polymorphism data. Mol Ecol 11: 869–877.Ritland K, El-Kassaby YA (1985). The nature of inbreeding in a seed orchard of Douglas fir as shown by an efficient multi-locus model. Theor Appl Genet 71: 375–384.Ritland K, Travis S (2004). Inferences involving individual coefficients of relatedness and inbreeding in natural populations of Abies. For Ecol Manage 197: 171–180.Robledo-Arnuncio JJ, Alia R, Gil L (2004). Increased selfing and correlated paternity in a small population of a predominantly outcrossing conifer, Pinus sylvestris. Mol Ecol 13: 2567–2577.Rouault G, Turgeon J, Candau JN, Roques A, Aderkas P (2004). Oviposition strategies of conifer seed chalcids in relation to host phenology. Naturwissenschaften 91: 472–480.Savolainen O, Kärkkäinen K, Kuittinen H (1992). Estimating numbers of embryonic lethals in conifers. Heredity 69: 308–314.Scofield DG, Schultz ST (2006). Mitosis, stature and evolution of plant mating systems: low-Phi and high-Phi plants. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 273: 275–282.Shaw DV, Allard RW (1982). Estimation of outcrossing rates in douglas-fir using isoenzyme markers. Theor Appl Genet 62: 113–120.Skrøppa T (1996). Diallel crosses in Picea abies. II. Performance and inbreeding depression of selfed families. For Genet 3: 69–79.Sorensen FC (1997). Effects of sib mating and wind pollination on nursery seedling size, growth components, and phenology of Douglas-fir seed-orchard progenies. Can J For Res 27: 557–566.Sorensen FC (1999). Relationship between self-fertility, allocation of growth, and inbreeding depression in three coniferous species. Evolution 53: 417–425.Sorensen FC (2001). Effect of population outcrossing rate on inbreeding depression in Pinus contorta var. murrayana seedlings. Scand J For Res 16: 391–403.Sorensen FC, Adams WT (1993). Self fertility and natural selfing in three Oregon Cascade populations of lodgepole pine. In: Lindgren D (ed). Pinus contorta—From Untamed Forest to Domesticated Crop. Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Sweden University of Agricultural Science: Umea, Sweden. Report 11, pp 358–374.Sorensen FC, Miles RS (1974). Self-pollination effects on Douglas fir and ponderosa pine seeds and seedlings. Silvae Genet 23: 135–138.Sorensen FC, Miles RS (1982). Inbreeding depression in height, height growth, and survival of Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and noble fir to 10 years of age. For Sci 28: 283–292.Terrab A, Paun O, Talavera S, Tremetsberger K, Arista M, Stuessy TF (2006). Genetic diversity and population structure in natural populations of Moroccan Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica; Pinaceae) determined with cpSSR markers. Am J Bot 93: 1274–1280.Vendramin GG, Lelli L, Rossi P, Morgante M (1996). A set of primers for the amplification of 20 chloroplast microsatellites in Pinaceae. Mol Ecol 5: 595–598.White TL, Adams WT, Neale DB (2007). Forest Genetics. CABI Publisher: Cambridge, MA. pp 149–186.Wilcox MD (1983). Inbreeding depression and genetic variances estimated from self- and cross- pollinated families of Pinus radiata. Silvae Genet 32: 89–96.Williams CG (2007). Re-thinking the embryo lethal system within the Pinaceae. Can J Bot 85: 667–677.Williams CG (2008). Selfed embryo death in Pinus taeda: a phenotypic profile. New Phytol 178: 210–222.Williams CG, Auckland LD, Reynolds MM, Leach KA (2003). Overdominant lethals as part of the conifer embryo lethal system. Heredity 91: 584–592.Wilson R (1923). Life history of Cedrus atlantica. Bot Gaz 75: 203–208.Yazdani R, Muona O, Rudin D, Szmidt AE (1985). Genetic structure of a Pinus sylvestris L. seed-tree stand and naturally regenerated understory. For Sci 31: 430–436

Aerobic training protects cardiac function during advancing age: a meta-analysis of four decades of controlled studies

In contrast to younger athletes, there is comparatively less literature examining cardiac structure and function in older athletes. However, a progressive accumulation of studies during the past four decades offers a body of literature worthy of systematic scrutiny. We conducted a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of controlled echocardiography studies comparing left ventricular (LV) structure and function in aerobically trained older athletes (> 45 years) with age-matched untrained controls, in addition to investigating the influence of chronological age. statistic. , 95% CI 0.05-1.86, p = 0.04). Meta-regression for chronological age identified that athlete-control differences, in the main, are maintained during advancing age. Athletic older men have larger cardiac dimensions and enjoy more favourable cardiac function than healthy, non-athletic counterparts. Notably, the athlete groups maintain these effects during chronological ageing