•Social behaviors are fundamental for the survival and propagation.•The main pillars of social behaviors in males involve mating and aggression.•The hypothalamus and limbic areas are crucial for ...mating and fighting.•Constructing circuit logic to orchestrate social behaviors is the challenging topic.
Surviving in the animal kingdom hinges on the ability to fight competitors and to mate with partners. Dedicated neural circuits in the brain allow animals to mate and attack without any prior experience. Classical lesioning and stimulation studies demonstrated that medial hypothalamic and limbic areas are crucial for male sexual and aggressive behaviors. Moreover, recent functional manipulation tools have uncovered neural circuits critical for mating and aggression, and optical and electrophysiological recordings have revealed how socially relevant information (e.g. sex-specific sensory signals, action commands for specific behaviors, mating- and aggression-specific motivational states) is encoded in these circuits. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms of innate social behaviors will provide critical insights to how complex behavioral outputs are coordinated at the circuit level. In this paper, I review these recent studies and discuss the potential circuit logic of male sexual and aggressive behaviors in mice.
Arterial stiffness is recognized mainly as an indicator of arteriosclerosis and a predictor of cardiovascular events. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), which reflects arterial stiffness from the ...origin of the aorta to the ankle, was developed in 2004. An important feature of this index is the independency from blood pressure at the time of measurement. A large volume of clinical evidence obtained using CAVI has been reported. CAVI is high in patients with various atherosclerotic diseases including coronary artery disease and chronic kidney disease. Most coronary risk factors increase CAVI and their improvement reduces CAVI. Many prospective studies have investigated the association between CAVI and future cardiovascular disease (CVD), and proposed CAVI of 9 as the optimal cut-off value for predicting CVD. Research also shows that CAVI reflects afterload and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with heart failure. Furthermore, relatively acute changes in CAVI are observed under various pathophysiological conditions including mental stress, septic shock and congestive heart failure, and in pharmacological studies. CAVI seems to reflect not only structural stiffness but also functional stiffness involved in acute vascular functions. In 2016, Spronck and colleagues proposed a variant index CAVI0, and claimed that CAVI0 was truly independent of blood pressure while CAVI was not. This argument was settled, and the independence of CAVI from blood pressure was reaffirmed. In this review, we summarize the recently accumulated evidence of CAVI, focusing on the proposed cut-off values for CVD events, and suggest the development of new horizons of vascular function index using CAVI.
Maternal behaviors are essential for the survival of the young. Previous studies implicated the medial preoptic area (MPOA) as an important region for maternal behaviors, but details of the maternal ...circuit remain incompletely understood. Here we identify estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1)-expressing cells in the MPOA as key mediators of pup approach and retrieval. Reversible inactivation of MPOAEsr1+ cells impairs those behaviors, whereas optogenetic activation induces immediate pup retrieval. In vivo recordings demonstrate preferential activation of MPOAEsr1+ cells during maternal behaviors and changes in MPOA cell responses across reproductive states. Furthermore, channelrhodopsin-assisted circuit mapping reveals a strong inhibitory projection from MPOAEsr1+ cells to ventral tegmental area (VTA) non-dopaminergic cells. Pathway-specific manipulations reveal that this projection is essential for driving pup approach and retrieval and that VTA dopaminergic cells are reliably activated during those behaviors. Altogether, this study provides new insight into the neural circuit that generates maternal behaviors.
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•MPOAEsr1+ cells are necessary and sufficient for driving pup approach and retrieval•MPOAEsr1+ cells are naturally and preferentially activated during pup retrieval•MPOA cells decrease baseline firing and increase response to pups during lactation•MPOAEsr1+ provides strong inhibitory inputs to VTA non-DA cells to drive retrieval
Maternal behavior is mediated by a hardwired neural circuit that remains poorly understood. Fang et al. find that medial preoptic Esr1+ cells (MPOAESR1+) are highly active during maternal behaviors. Activation of MPOAESR1+ projection to ventral tegmental area drives immediate pup retrieval.
The posterior septum consisting of the triangular septum (TS) and the bed nucleus of the anterior commissure (BAC) is predominantly linked with the medial habenula (MHb) and has been implicated in ...the control of anxiety and fear responses. However, its anatomical and functional linkage has largely remained elusive. We established a transgenic mouse model in which the TS and BAC projection neurons were visualized by GFP fluorescence and selectively eliminated by immunotoxin-mediated cell targeting. The linkage between the TS/BAC and the MHb constitutes two parallel pathways composed of the TS-ventral MHb, the core part of the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), and the BAC-dorsal MHb, the peripheral part of the IPN. Ablation of the TS and BAC projection neurons selectively impaired anxiety and enhanced fear responses and learning, respectively. Inputs from the TS and BAC to the MHb are thus segregated by two parallel pathways and play specialized roles in controlling emotional behaviors.
► The septo-habenular linkage and function were explored by transgenic techniques ► This linkage constitutes the parallel septo-habenulo-interpeduncular pathways ► Neuronal cell ablation of each pathway distinctly impairs anxiety and fear ► Two segregated septo-habenular inputs control emotional behaviors
Yamaguchi et al. show that the triangular septum and the bed nucleus of the anterior commissure project to separate subregions of the medial habenula via two parallel pathways being selectively involved in the control of anxiety and fear behavior.
The origin of eukaryotes remains unclear
. Current data suggest that eukaryotes may have emerged from an archaeal lineage known as 'Asgard' archaea
. Despite the eukaryote-like genomic features that ...are found in these archaea, the evolutionary transition from archaea to eukaryotes remains unclear, owing to the lack of cultured representatives and corresponding physiological insights. Here we report the decade-long isolation of an Asgard archaeon related to Lokiarchaeota from deep marine sediment. The archaeon-'Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum' strain MK-D1-is an anaerobic, extremely slow-growing, small coccus (around 550 nm in diameter) that degrades amino acids through syntrophy. Although eukaryote-like intracellular complexes have been proposed for Asgard archaea
, the isolate has no visible organelle-like structure. Instead, Ca. P. syntrophicum is morphologically complex and has unique protrusions that are long and often branching. On the basis of the available data obtained from cultivation and genomics, and reasoned interpretations of the existing literature, we propose a hypothetical model for eukaryogenesis, termed the entangle-engulf-endogenize (also known as E
) model.
Fear is induced by innate and learned mechanisms involving separate pathways. Here, we used an olfactory-mediated innate-fear versus learned-fear paradigm to investigate how these pathways are ...integrated. Notably, prior presentation of innate-fear stimuli inhibited learned-freezing response, but not vice versa. Whole-brain mapping and pharmacological screening indicated that serotonin-2A receptor (Htr2a)-expressing cells in the central amygdala (CeA) control both innate and learned freezing, but in opposing directions. In vivo fiber photometry analyses in freely moving mice indicated that innate but not learned-fear stimuli suppressed the activity of Htr2a-expressing CeA cells. Artificial inactivation of these cells upregulated innate-freezing response and downregulated learned-freezing response. Thus, Htr2a-expressing CeA cells serve as a hierarchy generator, prioritizing innate fear over learned fear.
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•A hierarchical relationship exists between innate- and learned-fear responses•Innate but not learned-fear stimuli suppress the activity of CeA Htr2a+ cells•CeA Htr2a+ cell inhibition up/downregulates innate/learned freezing, respectively•CeA Htr2a+ cells act as a hierarchy generator prioritizing innate over learned fear
The integration of innate and learned information processing is fundamental to controlling behavior. A population of serotonin 2A receptor-expressing cells in the central amygdala acts as a hierarchy generator by prioritizing innate over learned fear.
Coke-oven wastewater discharged from the steel-manufacturing process is phenol and thiocyanate (SCN)-rich wastewater, which inhibits microbial activities in biological wastewater treatment processes. ...In the present study, synergistic inhibition of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) activity by phenol and SCN was examined by batch incubation and continuous operation of an anammox reactor. The comparison of anammox activities determined in the batch incubation, in which the anammox biomass was anoxically incubated with 10–250 mg L−1 of i) phenol, ii) SCN, or iii) both phenol and SCN, showed that synergistic inhibition by phenol and SCN was greater than the inhibitions by phenol or SCN alone. The synergistic inhibition by phenol and SCN was further investigated by operating an up-flow column anammox reactor for 262 d. The removal efficiencies of NH4+ and NO2− deteriorated when phenol and SCN concentrations in the influent increased to 16 and 32 mg L−1, respectively, and the inhibition of anammox activity was further investigated by a15NO2− tracer experiment. Addition of phenol and SCN resulted in a population shift of anammox bacteria, and the dominant species changed from “Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis” to “Ca. Brocadia sinica”. The relative abundance of Azoarcus and Thiobacillus 16S rRNA gene reads increased during the operation, suggesting that they were responsible for the anaerobic phenol and SCN degradation. The present study is the first to document the synergistic inhibition of anammox activity by phenol and SCN and the microbial consortia involved in the nitrogen removal as well as the phenol and SCN degradations.
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•For the first time, anammox reactor fed with phenol and SCN was operated.•Phenol and SCN at 100 mg L−1 decreased >90% of anammox activity for short term.•Phenol and SCN at 16–32 mg L−1 deteriorated N-removal performance for long term.•Shift in anammox population from Ca. Kuenenia to Ca. Brocadia were observed.•Azoarcus and Thiobacillus bacteria are the potential phenol and SCN degraders.
Abstract Context End-of-life discussions are crucial for providing appropriate care to patients with advanced cancer at the end of their lives. Objectives To explore associations between end-of-life ...discussions and bereaved families’ depression and complicated grief, as well as the quality of patient death and end-of-life care . Methods A nationwide questionnaire survey of bereaved family members was conducted between May and July 2014. A total of 13,711 bereaved family members of cancer patients who were cared for by specialist palliative care services at 75 institutions throughout Japan and died before January 2014 participated. We evaluated the prevalence of depression (defined as the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 ≥10) and complicated grief (defined as the Brief Grief Questionnaire ≥8) in bereaved family members. Moreover, we evaluated the quality of death and end-of-life care withthe Good Death Inventory (GDI) and the Care Evaluation Scale (CES), respectively. Results A total of 9123 questionnaires were returned (response rate 67%), and 80.6% of the respondents reported that they had end-of-life discussions. After propensity-score weighted adjustment, the results showed that bereaved family members who had end-of-life discussions had a lower frequently of depression (17.3% vs. 21.6%; P < 0.001) and complicated grief (13.7% vs. 15.9%; P = 0.03). End-of-life discussions were associated with better quality of death (The GDI score, 47.2 ± 8.5 vs. 46.1 ± 9.4; P < 0.001) and end-of-life care (the CES score, 84.1 ± 11.4 vs. 78.9 ± 14.3; P < 0.001). Conclusions End-of-life discussions may contribute to reducing depression and complicated grief in bereaved family members, and enable patients to experience quality end-of-life care and a good death.
Measurement of arterial stiffness in routine medical practice is important to assess the progression of arteriosclerosis. So far, many parameters have been proposed to quantitatively represent ...arterial stiffness. Among these, pulse wave velocity (PWV) has been most frequently applied to clinical medicine because those could be measured simply and non-invasively. PWV had established the usefulness of measuring arterial wall stiffness. However, PWV essentially depends on blood pressure at the time of measurement. Therefore, PWV is not appropriate as a parameter for the evaluation of arterial stiffness, particularly for the studies involving blood pressure changes. On the other hand, stiffness parameter β is an index reflecting arterial stiffness without the influence of blood pressure. Recently, this parameter has been applied to develop a new arterial stiffness index called cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). Therefore, CAVI does not depend on blood pressure changes during the measurements; CAVI could represent the stiffness of the arterial tree from the origin of the aorta to the ankle. Many clinical studies obtained from CAVI are being accumulated. CAVI showed high value in arteriosclerotic diseases, such as coronary artery diseases, cerebral infarction, and chronic kidney diseases, and also in majority of people with various coronary risk factors. The improvement of those risk factors decreased CAVI. Furthermore, the role of CAVI as a predictor of cardio-vascular events was reported recently. We review the clinical studies on CAVI and discuss the clinical usefulness of CAVI as a candidate surrogate end-point marker for cardiovascular disease.
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