The influence of fission-fusion dynamics, i.e., temporal variation in group size and composition, on social complexity has been studied in large-brained mammals that rely on social bonds. Little is ...known about birds, even though some species like ravens have recently received attention for their socio-cognitive skills and use of social bonds. While raven breeders defend territories year-round, non-breeders roam through large areas and form groups at food sources or night roosts. We here examined the fission-fusion patterns of non-breeding ravens over years, investigating whether birds meet repeatedly either at the same or at different locations. We combined four large datasets: presence-absence observations from two study sites (Austria, Italy) and GPS-tracking of ravens across two study areas (Austria, France). As expected, we found a highly dynamic system in which individuals with long phases of temporary settlement had a high probability of meeting others. Although GPS-tagged ravens spread out over thousands of square kilometres, we found repeated associations between almost half of the possible combinations at different locations. Such a system makes repeated interactions between individuals at different sites possible and likely. High fission-fusion dynamics may thus not hinder but shape the social complexity of ravens and, possibly, other long-term bonded birds.
Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a critical target for anticancer and anti-fungal-infection therapies due to its central role as a molecular chaperone involved in protein folding and activation. In ...this study, we developed
Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) assays to characterize the binding of
HSP90 to its co-chaperone Sba1, as well as that of the homologous
HSP90α to p23. The assay for
HSP90α binding to p23 enables selectivity assessment for compounds aimed to inhibit the binding of
HSP90 to Sba1 without affecting the physiological activity of
HSP90α. The combination of the two assays is important for antifungal drug development, while the assay for
HSP90α can potentially be used on its own for anticancer drug discovery. Since ATP binding of HSP90 is a prerequisite for HSP90-Sba1/p23 binding, ATP-competitive inhibitors can be identified with the assays. The specificity of binding of fusion protein constructs-HSP90-mNeonGreen (donor) and Sba1-mScarlet-I (acceptor)-to each other in our assay was confirmed via competitive inhibition by both non-labeled Sba1 and known ATP-competitive inhibitors. We utilized the developed assays to characterize the stability of both HSP90-Sba1 and HSP90α-p23 affinity complexes quantitatively.
values were determined and assessed for their precision and accuracy using the 95.5% confidence level. For HSP90-Sba1, the precision confidence interval (PCI) was found to be 70-120 (100 ± 20) nM while the accuracy confidence interval (ACI) was 100-130 nM. For HSP90α-p23, PCI was 180-260 (220 ± 40) nM and ACI was 200-270 nM. The developed assays were used to screen a nucleoside-mimetics library of 320 compounds for inhibitory activity against both
HSP90-Sba1 and
HSP90α-p23 binding. No novel active compounds were identified. Overall, the developed assays exhibited low data variability and robust signal separation, achieving
factors > 0.5.
Hunting can be used as a tool for wildlife management, through limitation of population densities and dissuading game from using sensitive areas. The success of these approaches requires in depth ...knowledge of prey movement. Indeed, movement decisions of game during hunting may affect the killing success of hunters as well as the subsequent location of surviving animals. We thus investigated red deer movement responses to drive hunts and their causal factors. We studied 34 hunting events in the National Estate of Chambord (France) and thereby provided a fine-scale characterization of the immediate and delayed movement responses of red deer to drive hunts. Red deer responded to drive hunts either by immediately fleeing the hunted area, or by initially remaining before ultimately fleeing after the hunters had departed. A few hours after the hunt, all individuals were located in distant areas (> 2 kilometres) from the hunted area. Immediate flight responses were less common when drive hunts occurred in areas with dense understorey. However, neither beater/dog densities nor site familiarity influenced the immediate flight decision. Following a drive hunt, red deer remained outside the hunted areas for periods twice as long compared to periods when no hunting occurred (34 hours vs. 17 hours). Such knowledge of game movement rates in response to drive hunts may help the development of informed management policy for hunted red deer populations.
Abstract
The management of infectious diseases in wildlife reservoirs is challenging and faces several limitations. However, detailed knowledge of host–pathogen systems often reveal heterogeneity ...among the hosts’ contribution to transmission. Management strategies targeting specific classes of individuals and/or areas, having a particular role in transmission, could be more effective and more acceptable than population-wide interventions. In the wild population of Alpine ibex (
Capra ibex
—a protected species) of the Bargy massif (French Alps), females transmit brucellosis (
Brucella melitensis
) infection in ~90% of cases, and most transmissions occur in the central spatial units (“core area”). Therefore, we expanded an individual-based model, developed in a previous study, to test whether strategies targeting females or the core area, or both, would be more effective. We simulated the relative efficacy of realistic strategies for the studied population, combining test-and-remove (euthanasia of captured animals with seropositive test results) and partial culling of unmarked animals. Targeting females or the core area was more effective than untargeted management options, and strategies targeting both were even more effective. Interestingly, the number of ibex euthanized and culled in targeted strategies were lower than in untargeted ones, thus decreasing the conservation costs while increasing the sanitary benefits. Although there was no silver bullet for the management of brucellosis in the studied population, targeted strategies offered a wide range of promising refinements to classical sanitary measures. We therefore encourage to look for heterogeneity in other wildlife diseases and to evaluate potential strategies for improving management in terms of efficacy but also acceptability.
Ukrainian territory was drawed on the map in 1945, in an area of immemorial conflicts. This territory is gathering regions with very different history and memory. Geographical situation and soviet ...technological connections still ties russian en Ukrainian economies. In the future, EU and NATO will play a leading role in relations between the two countries.
A novel series of 3-methyl-1-benzofuran derivatives were synthesized and screened in vitro for their antiproliferative activity against two human NSCLC cell lines (NSCLC-N6 mutant p53 and A549 wild ...type p53). Most promising compounds presented a structural analogy with the west part of cercosporamide, a natural product of biological interest. In particular, compounds 10, 12 and 31 showed cytotoxic activities at micromolar concentrations (IC50 < 9.3 μM) and compounds 13, 18 and 32 displayed moderate IC50 values (25–40 μM).
Display omitted The access to 3-methyl-1-benzofurans derived from cercosporamide and the corresponding antiproliferative activity against NSCLC cell lines are described.
•3-Methyl-1-benzofurans derived from cercosporamide were synthesized.•Antiproliferative activity against human NSCLC cell lines was investigated.•Some 3-methyl-1-benzofuran-7-carboxamide derivatives exhibited cytotoxic activities.
The Group for the Promotion of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in Academia (GP2A) held its 31st annual conference in August 2023 at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France. ...There were 8 keynote presentations, 10 early career researcher oral presentations and 23 poster presentations. Among them, four awards were delivered, two for best oral communications and two for the best poster presentations.
As a joint meeting, the 26th Medicinal Chemistry Conference of GP2A and 32nd Journées Franco-Belges de Pharmacochimie took place between 13th and 15th June at Asnelles sur Mer (Normandie, France), ...providing a unique opportunity for a wide group of European medicinal chemists to engage. Topics included chemical tools for medicinal chemistry, protein-protein interactions, epigenetics, natural product-inspired molecules, computer-aided drug design, and new strategies for the design and development of drugs. Abstracts of invited lectures, proffered young researcher communications, flash communications and posters presented during the meeting are collected in this report.
Display omitted
Thiazol and thiazolidinedione derivatives are known in the literature for presenting several biological activities, such as anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, antifungal ...and antimicrobial activity. With this in mind, this study reports on the synthesis and antibacterial activity of thiazole (NJ) and thiazolidinedione (NW) derivatives, as well as their effects in association with norfloxacin, against NorA efflux pumps in the Staphylococcus aureus 1199B (SA-1199B) strain. Among the 14 compounds evaluated, 9 were found to potentiate norfloxacin activity, with 4 compounds from the NJ series promoting a threefold norfloxacin MIC reduction. Molecular docking assays were used to confirm the binding mode of most active compounds. In the in silico study, the efficiency of the interaction of NJ series compounds with the NorA pump were evaluated. Derivatives from both series did not show considerable intrinsic antibacterial activity (MIC > 1024 μg/mL) against any of the tested strains. However, the NJ16 and NJ17 compounds, when associated with norfloxacin, reduced the MIC of this drug threefold and inhibited NorA pumps in the 1199B strain. Moreover, some NW (05, 10, 18, 19 and 21) and NJ compounds (16, 17, 18 and 20) presented low to moderate cytotoxicity against normal cells. Molecular docking studies supported the potent in vitro inhibitory activity of NJ16 and NJ17, which showed NJ16 and NJ17 possessed more favorable binding energies of −9.03 Kcal/mol and −9.34 Kcal/mol, respectively. In addition, NJ16 showed different types of interactions involved in complex stabilization. In conclusion, NJ16 and NJ17, in combination with norfloxacin, were able to completely restore the antibacterial activity of norfloxacin against S. aureus SA-1199B, the norA-overexpressing strain, with low cytotoxicity in normal cells.
In wildlife, epidemiological data are often collected using cross-sectional surveys and antibody tests, and seroprevalence is the most common measure used to monitor the transmission dynamics of ...infectious diseases. On the contrary, the force of infection, a measure of transmission intensity that can help understand epidemiological dynamics and monitor management interventions, remains rarely used. The force of infection can be derived from age-stratified cross-sectional serological data, or from longitudinal data (although less frequently available in wildlife populations). Here, we combined seroprevalence and capture-mark-recapture data to estimate the force of infection of brucellosis in an Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) population monitored from 2012 to 2018. Because the seroprevalence of brucellosis was 38% in this population in 2012, managers conducted two culling operations in 2013 and 2015, as well as captures every year since 2012, where seronegative individuals were marked and released, and seropositive individuals were removed. We obtained two estimates of the force of infection and its changes across time, by fitting (i) a catalytic model to age-seroprevalence data obtained from unmarked animals (cross-sectional), and (ii) a survival model to event time data obtained from recaptures of marked animals (longitudinal). Using both types of data allowed us to make robust inference about the temporal dynamics of the force of infection: indeed, there was evidence for a decrease in the force of infection between mid-2014 and late 2015 in both datasets. The force of infection was estimated to be reduced from 0.115 year-1 0.074–0.160 to 0.016 year-1 0.001–0.057. These results confirm that transmission intensity decreased during the study period, probably due to management interventions and natural changes in infection dynamics. Estimating the force of infection could therefore be a valuable complement to classical seroprevalence analyses to monitor the dynamics of wildlife diseases, especially in the context of ongoing disease management interventions.
•Force of infection is useful to inform transmission dynamics of wildlife diseases.•It is estimated from cross-sectional and/or longitudinal serological data.•We evidenced temporal variations of the force of infection of brucellosis in ibex.•Estimates supported a decrease of the force of infection in both types of datasets.
PDF
