Ecological understanding of the role of consumer–resource interactions in natural food webs is limited by the difficulty of accurately and efficiently determining the complex variety of food types ...animals have eaten in the field. We developed a method based on DNA metabarcoding multiplexing and next‐generation sequencing to uncover different taxonomic groups of organisms from complex diet samples. We validated this approach on 91 faeces of a large omnivorous mammal, the brown bear, using DNA metabarcoding markers targeting the plant, vertebrate and invertebrate components of the diet. We included internal controls in the experiments and performed PCR replication for accuracy validation in postsequencing data analysis. Using our multiplexing strategy, we significantly simplified the experimental procedure and accurately and concurrently identified different prey DNA corresponding to the targeted taxonomic groups, with ≥60% of taxa of all diet components identified to genus/species level. The systematic application of internal controls and replication was a useful and simple way to evaluate the performance of our experimental procedure, standardize the selection of sequence filtering parameters for each marker data and validate the accuracy of the results. Our general approach can be adapted to the analysis of dietary samples of various predator species in different ecosystems, for a number of conservation and ecological applications entailing large‐scale population level diet assessment through cost‐effective screening of multiple DNA metabarcodes, and the detection of fine dietary variation among samples or individuals and of rare food items.
Mixed-phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) is a heterogeneous category in the World Health Organization classification that comprises acute leukemias with discrete admixed populations of myeloid and ...lymphoid blasts ("bilineal") or with extensive coexpression of lymphoid and myeloid markers in a single blast population ("biphenotypic"). Flow cytometric findings suggestive of MPAL are often met with consternation by pathologists and oncologists alike, owing to unfamiliarity with the disease and uncertainty about how MPAL fits into established paradigms for treatment of acute leukemia. The purpose of this review is to explain the diagnostic criteria for MPAL, summarize its biological and clinical features, and address common diagnostic pitfalls of these unusual leukemias.
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) seropositivity has been associated with higher inflammation during rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, no data are available on the impact of HCMV seropositivity on bone ...erosion progression during RA.
We selected 487 individuals of ESPOIR cohort who fulfilled the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria for RA. HCMV serology for these patients was determined using Architect CMV IgG assay. Baseline and 1-year central X-ray reading using modified Total Sharp Score (mTSS), Erosion Sharp Score, and joint space narrowing Sharp score were used to quantify structural damage progression. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses to investigate the association between HCMV status and bone erosion progression.
We analyzed 273 HCMV seropositive (HCMV+) and 214 HCMV seronegative (HCMV-) RA patients. At inclusion, HCMV+ patients were less frequently ACPA+ (49.8% versus 58.9%, p < 0.0465) and had a higher DAS28-ESR (5.55 ± 1.24 versus 5.20 ± 1.14, p < 0.0013) in comparison with HCMV-. At 1 year, bone erosion progression (delta erosion Sharp score > 1 point) was lower in HCMV+ patients (16.1% versus 25.2%, p = 0.0128) in comparison with HCMV-. HCMV+ status remained independently associated with lower bone erosion progression in multivariate analysis.
Our findings suggest that, independently of other confounding factors, HCMV seropositivity is associated with a lower progression of bone erosion during RA.
BACKGROUND The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shifted policy away from using ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and toward using ventilator-associated conditions (VACs) as a marker ...of ICU quality. To date, limited prospective data regarding the incidence of VAC among medical and surgical ICU patients, the ability of VAC criteria to capture patients with VAP, and the potential clinical preventability of VACs are available. METHODS This study was a prospective 12-month cohort study (January 2013 to December 2013). RESULTS We prospectively surveyed 1,209 patients ventilated for ≥ 2 calendar days. Sixty-seven VACs were identified (5.5%), of which 34 (50.7%) were classified as an infection-related VAC (IVAC) with corresponding rates of 7.0 and 3.6 per 1,000 ventilator days, respectively. The mortality rate of patients having a VAC was significantly greater than that of patients without a VAC (65.7% vs 14.4%, P < .001). The most common causes of VACs included IVACs (50.7%), ARDS (16.4%), pulmonary edema (14.9%), and atelectasis (9.0%). Among IVACs, 44.1% were probable VAP and 17.6% were possible VAP. Twenty-five VACs (37.3%) were adjudicated to represent potentially preventable events. Eighty-six episodes of VAP occurred in 84 patients (10.0 of 1,000 ventilator days) during the study period. The sensitivity of the VAC criteria for the detection of VAP was 25.9% (95% CI, 16.7%-34.5%). CONCLUSIONS Although relatively uncommon, VACs are associated with greater mortality and morbidity when they occur. Most VACs represent nonpreventable events, and the VAC criteria capture a minority of VAP episodes.
The systematic generation of neurons from patients with neurological disorders can provide important insights into disease pathology, progression and mechanism. This review will discuss recent ...progress in modeling neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and highlight some of the current challenges in the field. Combined with other technologies previously used to study brain disease, iPSC modeling has the promise to influence modern medicine on several fronts: early diagnosis, drug development and effective treatment.
Methylation greatly influences the bacterial genome by guiding DNA repair and regulating pathogenic and stress-response phenotypes. But, the rate of epigenetic changes and their consequences on ...molecular phenotypes are underexplored. Through a detailed characterization of genome-wide adenine methylation in a commonly used laboratory strain of
, we reveal that mismatch repair deficient populations experience an increase in epimutations resulting in a genome-wide reduction of 6mA methylation in a manner consistent with genetic drift. Our findings highlight how methylation patterns evolve and the constraints on epigenetic evolution due to post-replicative DNA repair, contributing to a deeper understanding of bacterial genome evolution and how epimutations may introduce semi-permanent variation that can influence adaptation.
Dyspnea assessment in myotonic dystrophy type 1 Delbarre, B.; Rapin, A.; Boyer, FC ...
Neuromuscular disorders : NMD,
February 2023, 2023-02-00, 20230201, 2023-02, Letnik:
33, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
•Dyspnea scores are low in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) patients.•A mMRC score ≥ 2 (dyspnea in daily living) is associated with lower vital capacity.•A mMRC score ≥ 2 is associated with a lower ...six-minute walking test distance.•A mMRC score ≥ 2 is associated with more severe motor handicap.•The mMRC scale might be an useful tool to assess dyspnea in daily living in DM1.
In myotonic mystrophy type 1 (DM1), combining respiratory symptom screening and respiratory function testing, is crucial to identify the appropriate time for ventilatory support initiation. Dyspnea has been little investigated in DM1. To provide a multidimensional description of dyspnea, questionnaires assessing dyspnea were administered to 34 consecutive adult patients with DM1 (median (25th-75th centile) age of 36 (28–49), Vital Capacity (VC) of 74 (64–87)% of predicted value). Dyspnea scores were low whatever the questionnaire used: Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile score of 2(0–4.7)/50 for dyspnea sensory descriptor and of 0 (0–4.7)/60 for the emotional descriptor, Visual Analogue Scale score of 0 (0–0)/10 in sitting and supine position and Borg score after six-minute walk test (6MWT) of 2.2 (1.8–4.2)/10. Eleven patients (32%) reported disabling dyspnea in daily living (modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) score ≥ 2). In comparison with patients with mMRC score < 2, patients with mMRC score ≥ 2 had a more severe motor handicap (Muscular Impairment Rating score of 4.0 (4.0–4.0) vs 3.0 (2.0–3.5), p<0.01), a lower 6MWT distance (373 (260–424) vs 436 (346–499)m, p = 0.03) and a lower VC (64 (48–74)% vs 75 (69–89)%, p = 0.02). These data suggest that the mMRC scale might be an easy-to-use and useful tool to assess dyspnea in daily living in DM1 patients. However, the interest of integrating the mMRC dyspnea scale in clinical practice to guide therapeutic management of DM1 patients remains to be assessed in further studies.
Colorful sexual traits are shaped by the opposing pressures of natural and sexual selection. Although increased conspicuousness improves mating success, an individual bearing brighter sexual traits ...may pay direct costs in terms of detectability to predators. While it is well established that the mere presence of non-aposematic, conspicuous sexual traits influences predation risk, little empirical work has examined how within-sex variability in sexual trait coloration affects attack rates; of these studies, results are equivocal. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that, within a single sex, brighter sexually selected traits impose a greater survival risk. We created clay models resembling male water anoles (
Anolis aquaticus
) and manipulated the coloration (bright red vs. brown-orange) of their colorful sexual ornament, the dewlap. Models were placed and monitored within
A. aquaticus
habitat. Our results suggest that a more conspicuous dewlap coloration is a cause of increased attack: redder models were attacked more than twice as often as less red models. Although previous studies have found correlational relationships between conspicuous coloration and predation, or have demonstrated long-term evolutionary changes in sexual dichromatism caused by a change in predator regime, our results show direct, within-lifetime costs of conspicuous sexual coloration among individuals of the same sex. These findings correspond well with a contemporary understanding of the drivers of female choice for costly male traits. These results also suggest the need for additional study on the effects of predation on the evolution of intrasexual variation in colorful sexual traits.
Biotherapies have revolutionized the treatment of RA. However, much work is needed to understand all the mechanisms of these biotherapies, and alternatives are needed to circumvent adverse effects ...and the high cost of these long-lasting treatments. In this article we outline some of the approaches we have used to target monocytes/macrophages as major components of inflammation and bone homeostasis. We also discuss how anti-TNF-α antibodies target monocytes/macrophages in the complex mechanisms contributing to inhibition of inflammation.
Ecotypic diversification and its associated cooperative behaviors are frequently observed in natural microbial populations whose access to resources is often sporadic. However, the extent to which ...fluctuations in resource availability influence the emergence of cooperative ecotypes is not fully understood. To determine how exposure to repeated resource limitation affects the establishment and long-term maintenance of ecotypes in a structured environment, we followed 32 populations of Escherichia coli evolving to either 1-day or 10-day feast/famine cycles for 900 days. Population-level analysis revealed that compared to populations evolving to 1-day cycles, 10-day populations evolved increased biofilm density, higher parallelism in mutational targets, and increased mutation rates. As previous investigations of evolution in structured environments have identified biofilm formation as the earliest observable phenotype associated with diversification of ecotypes, we revived cultures midway through the evolutionary process and conducted additional genomic, transcriptional, and phenotypic analyses of clones isolated from these evolving populations. We found not only that 10-day feast/famine cycles support multiple ecotypes but also that these ecotypes exhibit cooperative behavior. Consistent with the black queen hypothesis, or evolution of cooperation by gene loss, transcriptomic evidence suggests the evolution of bidirectional cross-feeding behaviors based on essential resources. These results provide insight into how analogous cooperative relationships may emerge in natural microbial communities.
Despite regular feast and famine conditions representing an environmental pressure that is commonly encountered by microbial communities, the evolutionary outcomes of repeated cycles of feast and famine have been less studied. By experimentally evolving initially isogenic Escherichia coli populations to 10-day feast/famine cycles, we observed rapid diversification into ecotypes with evidence of bidirectional cross-feeding on costly resources and frequency-dependent fitness. Although unidirectional cross-feeding has been repeatedly observed to evolve in laboratory culture, most investigations of bidirectional cooperative behaviors in microbial populations have been conducted in engineered communities. This work demonstrates the
evolution of black queen relationships in a microbial population originating from a single ancestor, providing a model for investigation of the eco-evolutionary processes leading to mutualistic cooperation.
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