The Ecology And Biology Of Aedes Aegypti (L.) And Aedes Albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) And The Resistance Status Of Aedes Albopictus (Field Strain) Against Organophosphates In Penang, Malaysia

Penyampelan populasi telur (luar kediaman) dijalankan di dua lokasi pinggir kota di Pulau Pinang iaitu di Paya Terubong Outdoor Ovitrap surveys were carried out in two suburban locations in Penang; Paya Terubong (Air Itam) and Bagan Dalam (Butterworth)

When the appeal of a dominant leader is greater than a prestige leader

Across the globe we witness the rise of populist authoritarian leaders who are overbearing in their narrative, aggressive in behavior, and often exhibit questionable moral character. Drawing on evolutionary theory of leadership emergence, in which dominance and prestige are seen as dual routes to leadership, we provide a situational and psychological account for when and why dominant leaders are preferred over other respected and admired candidates. We test our hypothesis using three studies, encompassing more than 140,000 participants, across 69 countries and spanning the past two decades. We find robust support for our hypothesis that under a situational threat of economic uncertainty (as exemplified by the poverty rate, the housing vacancy rate, and the unemployment rate) people escalate their support for dominant leaders. Further, we find that this phenomenon is mediated by participants’ psychological sense of a lack of personal control. Together, these results provide large-scale, globally representative evidence for the structural and psychological antecedents that increase the preference for dominant leaders over their prestigious counterparts

Brain–computer interface game applications for combined neurofeedback and biofeedback treatment for children on the autism spectrum

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show deficits in social and communicative skills, including imitation, empathy, and shared attention, as well as restricted interests and repetitive patterns of behaviors. Evidence for and against the idea that dysfunctions in the mirror neuron system are involved in imitation and could be one underlying cause for ASD is discussed in this review. Neurofeedback interventions have reduced symptoms in children with ASD by self-regulation of brain rhythms. However, cortical deficiencies are not the only cause of these symptoms. Peripheral physiological activity, such as the heart rate, is closely linked to neurophysiological signals and associated with social engagement. Therefore, a combined approach targeting the interplay between brain, body and behavior could be more effective. Brain-computer interface applications for combined neurofeedback and biofeedback treatment for children with ASD are currently nonexistent. To facilitate their use, we have designed an innovative game that includes social interactions and provides neural- and body-based feedback that corresponds directly to the underlying significance of the trained signals as well as to the behavior that is reinforced

Immunodepletion and hypoxia preconditioning of mouse vompact bone cells as a novel protocol to isolate highly immunosuppressive mesenchymal stem cells

Prepublished on Liebert Instant Online December 21, 2016Compact bones (CB) are major reservoirs of mouse mesenchymal stem cells (mMSC). Here, we established a protocol to isolate MSC from CB and tested their immunosuppressive potential. Collagenase type II digestion of BM-flushed CB from C57B/6 mice was performed to liberate mMSC precursors from bone surfaces to establish nondepleted mMSC. CB cells were also immunodepleted based on the expression of CD45 (leukocytes) and TER119 (erythroid cells) to eliminate hematopoietic cells. CD45-TER119- CB cells were subsequently used to generate depleted mMSC. CB nondepleted and depleted mMSC progenitors were cultured under hypoxic conditions to establish primary mMSC cultures. CB depleted mMSC compared to nondepleted mMSC showed greater cell numbers at subculturing and had increased functional ability to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts. CB depleted mMSC had high purity and expressed key mMSC markers (>85% Sca-1, CD29, CD90) with no mature hematopoietic contaminating cells (<5% CD45, CD11b) when subcultured to passage 5 (P5). Nondepleted mMSC cultures, however, were less pure and heterogenous with <72% Sca-1+, CD29+, and CD90+ cells at early passages (P1 or P2), along with high percentages of contaminating CD11b+ (35.6%) and CD45+ (39.2%) cells that persisted in culture long term. Depleted and nondepleted mMSC nevertheless exhibited similar potency to suppress total (CD3+), CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation, in a dendritic cell allostimulatory one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction. CB depleted mMSC, pretreated with proinflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17A, showed superior suppression of CD8+ T cell, but not CD4+ T cell proliferation, relative to untreated-mMSC. In conclusion, CB depleted mMSC established under hypoxic conditions and treated with selective cytokines represent a novel source of potent immunosuppressive MSC. As these cells have enhanced immune modulatory function, they may represent a superior product for use in clinical allotransplantation.Kisha Nandini Sivanathan, Stan Gronthos, Shane T. Grey, Darling Rojas-Canales, and Patrick T. Coate

Mesenchymal stem cells for kidney transplantation

Published online: July 24, 2014The long term consequence of immunosuppressive therapy in kidney transplantation has prompted investigation of alternative means to modify the immune response to the allograft. Cell based therapies are potentially attractive as they may provide a long lasting immunomodulatory effect, may repair tissues and reduce the necessity to take immunosuppressive drug therapy. Of the current cell therapies, mesenchymal stem cells have now been trialled in small numbers of human kidney transplantation with apparent safety and potential efficacy. Many issues however need to be resolved before these cells will become mainstays of transplant immunosuppression including ex vivo modification to enhance immunomodulatory properties, cell number, route and frequency of administration as well as cellular source of origin.Bron Lett, Kisha N Sivanathan, P Toby Coate

Transcriptome profiling of IL-17A preactivated mesenchymal stem cells: a comparative study to unmodified and IFN-gamma modified mesenchymal stem cells

Published 15 February 2017Human mesenchymal stem cells pretreatment with IL-17A (MSC-17) potently enhances T cell immunosuppression but not their immunogenicity, in addition to avidly promoting the induction of suppressive regulatory T cells. The aim of this study was to identify potential mechanisms by which human MSC-17 mediate their superior immunomodulatory function. Untreated-MSC (UT-MSC), IFN-γ treated MSC (MSC-γ), and MSC-17 were assessed for their gene expression profile by microarray. Significantly regulated genes were identified for their biological functions (Database for Annotation, Visualisation and Integrated Discovery, DAVID). Microarray analyses identified 1278 differentially regulated genes between MSC-γ and UT-MSC and 67 genes between MSC-17 and UT-MSC. MSC-γ were enriched for genes involved in immune response, antigen processing and presentation, humoral response, and complement activation, consistent with increased MSC-γ immunogenicity. MSC-17 genes were associated with chemotaxis response, which may be involved in T cell recruitment for MSC-17 immunosuppression. MMP1, MMP13, and CXCL6 were highly and specifically expressed in MSC-17, which was further validated by real-time PCR. Thus, MMPs and chemokines may play a key role in mediating MSC-17 superior immunomodulatory function. MSC-17 represent a potential cellular therapy to suppress immunological T cell responses mediated by expression of an array of immunoregulatory molecules.Kisha Nandini Sivanathan, Darling Rojas-Canales, Shane T. Grey, Stan Gronthos, and Patrick T. Coate

Immunomodulatory properties of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal cells

Abstract not availableJia Ng, Kim Hynes, Gregory White, Kisha Nandini Sivanathan, Kate Vandyke, Peter Mark Bartold and Stan Grontho