Expansion of human activities into large carnivore habitats and of large carnivore ranges into anthropogenic settings increase the potential for human-wildlife conflicts. Future carnivore survival ...and recovery depend on both their ability to adapt to human-modified landscapes and the application of adequate conservation strategies. We review human-related factors that negatively affect brown bears inhabiting human-modified landscapes, aiming to improve human-bear coexistence. Brown bears have triggered much research and a review on this model species should be useful for the conservation-oriented management of many large carnivores. In human-modified landscapes, main threats to bear populations are human settlements, habituation and availability of anthropogenic food, density and traffic load of roads and railways, and recreational and industrial activities. Main effects of coexistence with humans for bears are: increased disturbance, human-bear conflicts and human-caused mortality; behavioural alterations; reduced fitness and genetic diversity; and physiological alterations. To promote bear-human coexistence in human-modified landscapes, we identified nine key elements: reduction of human-induced mortality and use of scientific information for better assessment of new infrastructures; improve education on waste management and bear deterrence methods; safeguard and restore habitat connectivity; mitigate road effects and restrict motorized trail use; adjust viewing activity practices to local conservation status of bear populations and food availability; implement mitigation measures to minimize risk of human-bear encounters; quantify empirically the effects of recreational activities on the energetics and fitness of bears; better dissemination of scientific results and management guidelines; and further research on behavioural reactions of bears to different management regimes and persecution histories.
•Human expansion into bear ranges and viceversa can cause human-wildlife conflict.•Human activities cause multiple negative effects on brown bears worldwide.•Human-caused disturbance and mortality occur all around the globe.•Detected effects of human-bear coexistence should enlighten conservation strategies.•Conservation strategies must adapt locally to large carnivore population dynamics.
Summary
DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mechanism for controlling innate immunity against microbial pathogens in plants. Little is known, however, about the manner in which viral ...infections interact with DNA methylation pathways. Here we investigate the crosstalk between epigenetic silencing and viral infections in Arabidopsis inflorescences. We found that tobacco rattle virus (TRV) causes changes in the expression of key transcriptional gene silencing factors with RNA‐directed DNA methylation activities that coincide with changes in methylation at the whole genome level. Viral susceptibility/resistance was altered in DNA (de)methylation‐deficient mutants, suggesting that DNA methylation is an important regulatory system controlling TRV proliferation. We further show that several transposable elements (TEs) underwent transcriptional activation during TRV infection, and that TE regulation likely involved both DNA methylation‐dependent and ‐independent mechanisms. We identified a cluster of disease resistance genes regulated by DNA methylation in infected plants that were enriched for TEs in their promoters. Interestingly, TEs and nearby resistance genes were co‐regulated in TRV‐infected DNA (de)methylation mutants. Our study shows that DNA methylation contributes to modulate the outcome of viral infections in Arabidopsis, and opens up new possibilities for exploring the role of TE regulation in antiviral defence.
Abstract Background The extent to which socio-demographic, clinical, and premorbid adjustment variables contribute to cognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders remains to ...be ascertained. Aims To examine the pattern and magnitude of cognitive impairment in first-episode psychosis patients, the profile of impairment across psychosis subtypes and the associations with premorbid adjustment. Methods 226 first-episode psychosis patients and 225 healthy controls were assessed in the PEPsCog study, as part of the PEPs study. Results Patients showed slight to moderate cognitive impairment, verbal memory being the domain most impaired compared to controls. Broad affective spectrum patients had better premorbid IQ and outperformed the schizophrenia and other psychosis groups in executive function, and had better global cognitive function than the schizophrenia group. Adolescent premorbid adjustment together with age, gender, parental socio-economic status, and mean daily antipsychotic doses were the factors that best explained patients' cognitive performance. General and adolescent premorbid adjustment, age and parental socio-economic status were the best predictors of cognitive performance in controls. Conclusions Poorer premorbid adjustment together with socio-demographic factors and higher daily antipsychotic doses were related to a generalized cognitive impairment and to a lower premorbid intellectual reserve, suggesting that neurodevelopmental impairment was present before illness onset.
OBJECTIVETo report a case of a patient infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS–CoV-2) who acutely developed a hypokinetic-rigid syndrome.
METHODSPatient data were obtained ...from medical records from the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, Spain. I-ioflupane dopamine transporter (DaT) SPECT images were acquired 4 hours after a single dose of 185 MBq of I-FP-CIT. Quantitative analysis was performed with DaTQUANT software providing the specific binding ratio and z score values of the striatum.
RESULTSWe report a previously healthy 58-year-old man who developed hyposmia, generalized myoclonus, fluctuating and transient changes in level of consciousness, opsoclonus, and an asymmetric hypokinetic-rigid syndrome with ocular abnormalities after a severe SARS–CoV-2 infection. DaT-SPECT confirmed a bilateral decrease in presynaptic dopamine uptake asymmetrically involving both putamina. Significant improvement in the parkinsonian symptoms was observed without any specific treatment.
CONCLUSIONThis case study provides clinical and functional neuroimaging evidence to support that SARS–CoV-2 can gain access to the CNS, affecting midbrain structures and leading to neurologic signs and symptoms.
Key message
We provide evidence that nucleotide sequence and methylation status changes occur in the
Arabidopsis
genome during
in vitro
tissue culture at a frequency high enough to represent an ...important source of variation.
Somaclonal variation is a general consequence of the tissue culture process that has to be analyzed specifically when regenerated plants are obtained in any plant species. Currently, there are few studies about the variability comprising sequence changes and methylation status at the DNA level, generated by the culture of
A. thaliana
cells and tissues. In this work, two types of highly reproducible molecular markers, modified methylation sensitive AFLP (metAFLP) and transposon methylation display (TMD) have been used for the first time in this species to analyze the nucleotide and cytosine methylation changes induced by transformation and tissue culture protocols. We found significantly higher average methylation values (7.5%) in regenerated and transgenic plants when compared to values obtained from seed derived plants (3.2%) and that the main component of the somaclonal variation present in
Arabidopsis
clonal plants is genetic rather than epigenetic. However, we have found that the
Arabidopsis
regenerated and transgenic plants had a higher number of non-fully methylated sites flanking transposable elements than the control plants, and therefore, their mobilization can be facilitated. These data provide further evidence that changes in nucleotide sequence and methylation status occur in the
Arabidopsis
genome during in vitro tissue culture frequently enough to be an important source of variation in this species.
A new coronavirus known as SARS‐CoV‐2 emerged in Wuhan in 2019 and spread rapidly to the rest of the world causing the pandemic disease named coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID‐19). Little ...information is known about the impact this virus can cause upon domestic and stray animals. The potential impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 has become of great interest in cats due to transmission among domestic cats and the severe phenotypes described recently in a domestic cat. In this context, there is a public health warning that needs to be investigated in relation with the epidemiological role of this virus in stray cats. Consequently, in order to know the impact of the possible transmission chain, blood samples were obtained from 114 stray cats in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) and tested for SARS‐CoV‐2 and other selected pathogens susceptible to immunosuppression including Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania infantum, feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) from January to October 2020. Four cats (3.51%), based on enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike antigen, were seroreactive to SARS‐CoV‐2. T. gondii, L. infantum, FeLV and FIV seroprevalence was 12.28%, 16.67%, 4.39% and 19.30%, respectively. Among seropositive cats to SARS‐CoV‐2, three cats were also seropositive to other pathogens including antibodies detected against T. gondii and FIV (n = 1); T. gondii (n = 1); and FIV and L. infantum (n = 1). The subjects giving positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 were captured in urban areas of the city in different months: January 2020 (2/4), February 2020 (1/4) and July 2020 (1/4). This study revealed, for the first time, the exposure of stray cats to SARS‐CoV‐2 in Spain and the existence of concomitant infections with other pathogens including T. gondii, L. infantum and FIV, suggesting that immunosuppressed animals might be especially susceptible to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.
Forestry residual biomass from pruning operations is an important, though little studied, potential resource. Residues normally remain in the stand, since tools for their accurate quantification do ...not exist and it has no particular end use. Traditional tree biomass estimation models consider the whole-tree, but estimating pruned biomass requires the development of more specific equations. This work provides a modelling approach for assessing biomass along the stem and the corresponding residual biomass from forest pruning, and quantitative results from different pruning intensities in Pinus pinaster Ait. are presented. Two types of models were considered: allometric biomass equations (whole-tree) and biomass ratio equations (tree by height along the stem), and the 2-parameter Weibull distribution function resulted in the best characterization. Diameter at breast height was the best explanatory variable in all equations, and model accuracy increased when models were combined with total tree height for the tree stem and thicker branches, or with crown ratio for the remaining tree crown components. This study provides a powerful tool to estimate residual pruned biomass, enabling its better management as a valuable source of bioenergy, as well as the importance in nutrient balance and fire risk which it plays in a sustainable forestry production.
•Final models combine allometric equations and Weibull probability density function.•Biomass equations by height along the stem allow accurate estimation of pruned biomass.•Model can be adapted to ascertain residual biomass from different pruning intensities.•Work provides a valuable tool to manage processing of residual pruned biomass.
Biomass tends to accumulate both in overstorey and understorey layers of forests growing in productive areas. The rapid growth of forest plantations established in productive areas can thus also lead ...to the creation of fire-prone landscapes. In this study, we assessed the extent to which overstorey stand density determines current values of the fine shrub fuel load (Wshr_G1) in the understorey and also two major canopy fuel characteristics related to crown fire activity -canopy base height (CBH) and canopy bulk density (CBD)- and the temporal dynamics of these. For this purpose, we developed two types of models for the three fuel complex variables: i) extreme response models, to define the upper limit of Wshr_G1 and CBD and the lower limit of CBH, the values of which may depend on stand density; and ii) dynamic models, to estimate the probability of increasing fuel loads and rate of change when a more hazardous situation is predicted. Data were obtained from 8087 plots, measured in the third, fourth and fifth Spanish National Forest Inventories, in plantations dominated by the major commercial species in northern Spain (Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata, Pinus sylvestris and Eucalyptus globulus). The extreme response models generally explain more than 60% of the observed variability in the three fuel complex variables. According to these models, maximum shrub fuel load and CBD and minimum CBH in stands of the four tree species were limited by stand basal area, with different responses by different species. The dynamics of the fuel complex variables were determined by canopy cover, estimated as a proxy for stand density. The use of a two-step regression approach enabled realistic modelling of the dynamics of the fuel complex variables, allowing for a decrease in the shrub fuel biomass and in CBD between two time points. The dynamic models developed are age-independent and are therefore useful for practical applications because they can be applied to any stand without the need to know the stand age. Overall, the study findings provide insights into the complex relationship between both understorey and overstorey fuels and stand density in commercial plantations. As assessment of forest fuel complex variables is a prerequisite for most fire management activities, the study findings have important implications for forest and fuel management and planning in the region.
•Stand density drives complex fuel variables and associated temporal dynamics.•Basal area limits maximum values for fuel complex variables.•A two-step regression approach allows realistic modelling of the dynamics of the fuel variables.•The dynamics of the fuel complex variables were determined by canopy cover.•National Forest Inventory data are useful for modelling because of their wide spatio-temporal scale.
Inhibitors that prevent the binding of bromodomains to acetylated histones hold therapeutic potential. However, the effects of targeting most of the 60 different bromodomains found in the human ...proteome remain unexplored. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanisms responsible for the antiproliferative properties of CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibition in ER-negative breast cancer cell lines. We show using genetic and chemical approaches that CREBBP/EP300 bromodomains are critical to support the proliferation of the triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-453. Analysis of the transcriptional pathways affected by CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibitors reveals that the expression of genes associated with super-enhancers is downregulated, which in turn are occupied by very high levels of androgen receptor (AR) in MDA-MB-453 cells. Treatment of MDA-MB-453 with CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibitors downregulates the expression of an AR-dependent signature distinctive of breast cancer tumors that express AR and causes a decrease in H3K27ac levels at AR-binding sites. In accordance, in prostate cancer cell lines that express AR CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibitors downregulate the expression of genes bound by AR and associated with super-enhancers. In summary, we report that triple-negative breast cancer cell lines that express AR are particularly sensitive to CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibitors and consequently these inhibitors hold potential to treat this type of cancer. IMPLICATIONS: AR-dependent cancer cell lines are sensitive to CREBBP/EP300 bromodomain inhibitors.
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