Activity shapes the structure of neurons and their circuits. Two-photon imaging of CA1 neurons expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein in developing hippocampal slices from rat brains was used ...to characterize dendritic morphogenesis in response to synaptic activity. High-frequency focal synaptic stimulation induced a period (longer than 30 minutes) of enhanced growth of small filopodia-like protrusions (typically less than 5 micrometers long). Synaptically evoked growth was long-lasting and localized to dendritic regions close (less than 50 micrometers) to the stimulating electrode and was prevented by blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Thus, synaptic activation can produce rapid input-specific changes in dendritic structure. Such persistent structural changes could contribute to the development of neural circuitry.
Mastitis is the most common and the most expensive disease of dairy cows. It is followed by a large number of direct and indirect costs that burden the farm's budget and lead to major economic and ...health losses. The veterinarian at the farm plays a key role in implementing a protocol of biosecurity measures, a protocol of control, therapy, and the suppression of clinical and subclinical mastitis. In order to successfully implement these measures, a good communication between a veterinarian and a farm staff who performs milking procedures is necessary in order to detect and treat all cases of mastitis in time.
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Foetal sex determination using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in mammals is based on the amplification of gender‐specific foetal DNA sequences circulating in maternal blood. The bovine ...synepitheliochorial placenta does not allow a direct contact between the trophoblast and the maternal blood, resulting in difficult passage of foetal DNA and, consequently, its very small amounts in maternal bloodstream. Circulating cell‐free foetal DNA (ccffDNA) encompasses short nucleotide fragments (300–600 bp) in maternal circulation. The aim of this study was to assess this non‐invasive method in accurate prenatal sexing in early and late gestational periods in comparison with ultrasound diagnostics. As various DNA isolation and amplification methods were tested, their success in obtaining reliable results was evaluated. Two groups were tested, each consisting of 20 pregnant cows. Blood of a bull and a non‐pregnant heifer was the controls. Extraction of foetal DNA was accomplished by three different methods: using tubes with silicone membranes, a single‐tube extraction without silicone membranes and phenol–chloroform extraction. Following each extraction method, foetal DNA was amplified using PCR and real‐time PCR with both bAML and TSPY primers in a separate reaction. Positive results were obtained only after amplification of foetal DNA extracted with a single‐tube extraction kit. In comparison with ultrasound examination results and foetal gender recorded at birth, the sensitivity of the PCR test was 90% in Group I, but the technique failed to detect male foetuses in Group II. The real‐time PCR test sensitivity in Group I was 90% and in Group II 91.6%.
Multivariate classification and regression analysis of multiple
meteorological variables and indoor radon activity concentration in Ground
Level Laboratory in the Institute of Physics Belgrade, was ...performed and
discussed. Meteorological variables used in this analysis were from radon
active device, nearby meteorological station and finally from Global Data
Assimilation System. Single variate analysis has identified variables with
greatest value of Pearson's correlation coefficient with radon activity
concentration and also, variables with greatest separation of events with
increased radon activity concentration of over 200 Bqm-3 and of events with
radon level below this value. This initial analysis is showing the expected
behavior of radon concentration with meteorological variables, with
emphasis on data periods with or without air conditioning and with emphasis
on indoor water vapor pressure, which was, in our previous research,
identified as important variable in analysis of radon variability. This
single variate analysis, including all data, proved that Global Data
Assimilation System data could be used as a good enough approximate
replacement for meteorological data from nearby meteorological station for
multivariate analysis. Variable importance of Boosted Decision Trees with
Gradient boosting multivariate analysis method are shown for all three periods and most important variables were discussed. Multivariate regression
analysis gave good results, and can be useful to better tune the
multivariate analysis methods.
The indoor radon behavior has complex dynamics due to the influence of the
large number of different parameters: the state of indoor atmosphere
(temperature, pressure, and relative humidity), aerosol ...concentration, the
exchange rate between indoor and outdoor air, construction materials, and
living habits. As a result, indoor radon concentration shows variation, with
the usual periodicity of one day and one year. It is well-known that
seasonal variation of the radon concentration exists. It is particularly
interesting to investigate indoor radon variation at the same measuring
location and time period, each year, due to estimation of individual annual
dose from radon exposure. The long-term indoor radon measurements, in a
typical family house in Serbia, were performed. Measurements were taken
during 2014, 2015, and 2016, in February and July, each year. The following
measuring techniques were used: active and charcoal canisters methods.
Analysis of the obtained results, using multivariate analysis methods, is
presented.
The selectivity of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) is greatly impacted by the zinc binding groups. In an effort to search for novel zinc binding groups, we applied a parallel medicinal ...chemistry (PMC) strategy to quickly synthesize substituted benzamide libraries. We discovered a series containing 2-substituted benzamides as the zinc binding group which afforded highly selective and potent HDAC3 inhibitors, exemplified by compound 16 with a 2-methylthiobenzamide. Compound 16 inhibited HDAC3 with an IC50 of 30 nM and with unprecedented selectivity of >300-fold over all other HDAC isoforms. Interestingly, a subtle change of the 2-methylthio to a 2-hydroxy benzamide in 20 retains HDAC3 potency but loses all selectivity over HDAC 1 and 2. This significant difference in selectivity was rationalized by X-ray crystal structures of HDACis 16 and 20 bound to HDAC2, revealing different binding modes to the catalytic zinc ion. This series of HDAC3 selective inhibitors served as tool compounds for investigating the minimal set of HDAC isoforms that must be inhibited for the HIV latency activation in a Jurkat 2C4 cell model and potentially as leads for selective HDAC3 inhibitors for other indications.
Brain Functional Connectivity (FC) quantifies statistical dependencies between areas of the brain. FC has been widely used to address altered function of brain circuits in control conditions compared ...to different pathological states, including epilepsy, a major neurological disorder. However, FC also has the as yet unexplored potential to help us understand the pathological transformation of the brain circuitry. Our hypothesis is that FC can differentiate global brain interactions across a time-scale of days. To this end, we present a case report study based on a mouse model for epilepsy and analyze longitudinal intracranial electroencephalography data of epilepsy to calculate FC changes from the initial insult (status epilepticus) and over the latent period, when epileptogenic networks emerge, and at chronic epilepsy, when unprovoked seizures occur as spontaneous events. We found that the overall network FC at low frequency bands decreased immediately after status epilepticus was provoked, and increased monotonously later on during the latent period. Overall, our results demonstrate the capacity of FC to address longitudinal variations of brain connectivity across the establishment of pathological states.
An integrated workflow has been established that enables the synthesis, purification, and subsequent biological testing of compound libraries on a microgram scale. This approach utilizes mass ...directed preparative HPLC in conjunction with charged aerosol detection (CAD) to generate solutions of investigational compounds at high purity and standardized concentrations, facilitating high fidelity biological testing. This new workflow successfully delivered libraries of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that afforded biological data consistent with that obtained from standard scale parallel medicinal chemistry techniques. The advantages of this new approach to library synthesis include greatly reduced material requirements and amenability to high-throughput experimentation.
Eleven microsatellite loci (TGLA227, BM2113, TGLA53, ETH10, SPS115, TGLA126, TGLA122, INRA023, ETH3, ETH225, BM1824) were evaluated for their use in paternity testing in the Yugoslav Pied cattle (YU ...Simmental cattle) population in Serbia. A total of 40 animals were tested. At the 11 tested loci, a total of 91 alleles were detected. The mean number of alleles per locus was 8.273. Polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 with the mean value of 0.72. The most informative loci were: TGLA53 (14 alleles, PIC = 0.88), TGLA227 (11 alleles, PIC = 0.82), INRA023 (11 alleles, PIC = 0.86), BM2113 (9 alleles, PIC = 0.80). Combined power of discrimination for the 11 microsatellite loci was 0.999. The results of the present study confirm that the analysed set of 11 microsatellite markers recommended by ISAG is suitable for paternity testing in Yugoslav Pied cattle in Serbia.
The results of analysis using correlative and multivariate methods, as developed for data analysis in high-energy physics and implemented in the Toolkit for Multivariate Analysis software package, of ...the relations of the variation of increased radon concentration with climate variables in shallow underground laboratory is presented. Multivariate regression analysis identified a number of multivariate methods which can give a good evaluation of increased radon concentrations based on climate variables. The use of the multivariate regression methods will enable the investigation of the relations of specific climate variable with increased radon concentrations by analysis of regression methods resulting in 'mapped' underlying functional behaviour of radon concentrations depending on a wide spectrum of climate variables.
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