Pair compatibility affects the success of a pair; however, its causes and mechanisms are not fully understood. Vocal exchange may be very important for pair formation, coordinating pair activities, ...maintaining the pair bond and mate guarding. To investigate the role of vocal exchange in pair formation and pair maintenance, we explored whether new and established pairs of zebra finches differed in their calling relationships. We used individualised backpack microphones to examine the entire daily vocal emission of pairs, with parallel video recording of behaviour.
We found that in non-breeding, isolated pairs, a specific type of call, the "stack call", was the most common. Furthermore, all pairs used the stack call for precisely timed antiphonal exchange. We confirmed a difference between new and established pairs in social behaviour, with the former spending less time in physical contact. Notably, we found that this was mirrored by a difference in calling behaviour: members of new pairs converged over time on a more symmetric calling relationship. Additionally, we observed different response rates to partners among individuals, but a repeatable relationship of answering within pairs, which may reflect different degrees of motivation to answer the partner.
Our findings show that there is plasticity in calling behaviour and that it changes during pair formation, resulting in a coordinated stack call exchange with a similar number of answers between partners once the pair is established. It is possible that some of the calling relationship measurements that we present reflect pair compatibility.
Background
Hereditary cranial hyperostosis is a rare disease never described in Italy, so the neurological manifestations in patients and carriers of the disease have been little studied.
Methods
We ...describe the neurological and neuroimaging features of patients and carriers of the gene from a large Italian family with sclerosteosis.
Results
In this family, genetic testing detected the homozygous p.Gln24X (c.70C > T) mutation of the SOST gene in the proband and a heterozygous mutation in 9 siblings. In homozygous adults, severe craniofacial hyperostosis was manifested by cranial neuropathy in childhood, chronic headache secondary to intracranial hypertension, and an obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in adults. In one of the adult patients, there was a compressible subcutaneous swelling in the occipital region caused by transosseous intracranial-extracranial occipital venous drainage, a compensation mechanism of obstructed venous drainage secondary to cranial hyperostosis. Mild cranial hyperostosis causing frequent headache and snoring was evident in the nine heterozygous subjects.
Conclusions
Multiple cranial neuropathies and headache in children, while severe chronic headache and sleep disturbances in adults, are the neurological manifestations of the first Italian family with osteosclerosis. It is reasonable to extend neurological and neuroimaging evaluation to gene carriers as well.
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an international collaboration led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) that will operate nine telescopes to perform Cherenkov and optical stellar ...intensity interferometry (SII) observations. At the focal plane of these telescopes, we are planning to install a stellar intensity interferometry instrument. Here we present the selected design, based on Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) detectors matching the telescope point spread function together with dedicated front-end electronics.
Human apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a 299-amino acid secreted glycoprotein that binds cholesterol and phospholipids. ApoE exists as three common isoforms (ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4) and heterozygous ...carriers of the ε4 allele of the gene encoding ApoE (APOE) have a fourfold greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The enzymes thrombin, cathepsin D, α-chymotrypsin-like serine protease, and high-temperature requirement serine protease A1 are responsible for ApoE proteolytic processing resulting in bioactive C-terminal-truncated fragments that vary depending on ApoE isoforms, brain region, aging, and neural injury. The objectives of the present narrative review were to describe ApoE processing, discussing current hypotheses about the potential role of various ApoE fragments in AD pathophysiology, and reviewing the current development status of different anti-ApoE drugs. The exact mechanism by which APOE gene variants increase/decrease AD risk and the role of ApoE fragments in the deposition are not fully understood, but APOE is known to directly affect tau-mediated neurodegeneration. ApoE fragments co-localize with neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid β (Aβ) plaques, and may cause neurodegeneration. Among anti-ApoE approaches, a fascinating strategy may be to therapeutically overexpress ApoE2 in APOE ε4/ε4 carriers through vector administration or liposomal delivery systems. Another approach involves reducing ApoE4 expression by intracerebroventricular antisense oligonucleotides that significantly decreased Aβ pathology in transgenic mice. Differences in the proteolytic processing of distinct ApoE isoforms and the use of ApoE fragments as mimetic peptides in AD treatment are also under investigation. Treatment with peptides that mimic the structural and biological properties of native ApoE may reduce Aβ deposition, tau hyperphosphorylation, and glial activation in mouse models of Aβ pathology. Alternative strategies involve the use of ApoE4 structure correctors, passive immunization to target a certain form of ApoE, conversion of the ApoE4 aminoacid sequence into that of ApoE3 or ApoE2, and inhibition of the ApoE-Aβ interaction.
Cryptococcosis is a common opportunistic infection in patients with advanced HIV infection and may also affect immunocompetent patients. The available antifungal agents are few and other options are ...needed for the cryptococcosis treatment. In this work, we first analyzed the virulence of twelve
C. neoformans
and
C. gattii
strains assessing capsule thickness, biofilms formation, and survival and morbidity in the invertebrate model of
Galleria mellonella
and then we evaluated the antifungal activity of voriconazole (VRC) in vitro and in vivo also using
G. mellonella.
Our results showed that all
Cryptococcus
spp. isolates were able to produce capsule and biofilms, and were virulent using
G. mellonella
model. The VRC has inhibitory activity on planktonic cells with MIC values ranging from 0.03 to 0.25 μg/mL on
Cryptococcus
spp.; and these isolates were more tolerant to fluconazole (ranging from 0.25 to 16 μg/mL), the triazol agent often recommended alone or in combination with amphotericin B in the cryptococcosis therapy. In contrast, mature biofilms were less susceptible to the VRC treatment. The VRC (10 or 20 mg/kg) treatment of infected
G. mellonella
larvae significantly increased the larval survival when compared to the untreated group for the both
Cryptococcus
species and significantly decreased the fungal burden and dissemination in the larval tissue. Our findings corroborate with the literature data, supporting the potential use of VRC as an alternative for cryptococcosis treatment. Here, we emphasize the use of
G. mellonella
larval model as an alternative animal model for studies of antifungal efficacy on mycosis, including cryptococcosis.
•An acidic pH-induced large conformational change affects the amyloidogenic I84S TTR.•CHF5074 and diflunisal bind to T4 sites of TTR, inhibiting fibrillogenesis.•The binding of fibrillogenesis ...inhibitors prevents structural alterations of I84S TTR.•Long-range stabilizing effects occur upon binding of ligands to T4 sites of I84S TTR.•TTR ligands appear to preserve the TTR native state by rigidifying the whole tetramer.
Several classes of chemicals are able to bind to the thyroxine binding sites of transthyretin (TTR), stabilizing its native state and inhibiting in vitro the amyloidogenic process. The amyloidogenic I84S TTR variant undergoes a large conformational change at moderately acidic pH. Structural evidence has been obtained by X-ray analysis for the native state stabilization of I84S TTR by two chemically distinct fibrillogenesis inhibitors. In fact, they fully prevent the acidic pH-induced protein conformational change as a result of a long-range stabilizing effect. This study provides further support to the therapeutic strategy based on the use of TTR stabilizers as anti-amyloidogenic drugs.
TTR and TTRbind by x-ray crystallography (View interaction)
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