Von Economo neurons (VENs) are specialized projection neurons with a characteristic spindle-shaped soma and thick basal and apical dendrites. VENs have been described in restricted cortical regions, ...with their most frequent appearance in layers III and V of the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and frontopolar cortex of humans, great apes, macaque monkeys, elephants, and some cetaceans. Recently, a ubiquitous distribution of VENs was reported in various cortical areas in the pygmy hippopotamus, one of the closest living relatives of cetaceans. That finding suggested that VENs might not be unique to only a few species that possess enlarged brains. In the present analysis, we assessed the phylogenetic distribution of VENs within species representative of the superordinal clade that includes cetartiodactyls and perissodactyls, as well as afrotherians. In addition, the distribution of fork cells that are often found in close proximity to VENs was also assessed. Nissl-stained sections from the frontal pole, anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and occipital pole of bowhead whale, cow, sheep, deer, horse, pig, rock hyrax, and human were examined using stereologic methods to quantify VENs and fork cells within layer V of all four cortical regions. VENs and fork cells were found in each of the species examined here with species-specific differences in distributions and densities. The present results demonstrated that VENs and fork cells were not restricted to highly encephalized or socially complex species, and their repeated emergence among distantly related species seems to represent convergent evolution of specialized pyramidal neurons. The widespread phylogenetic presence of VENs and fork cells indicates that these neuron morphologies readily emerged in response to selective forces,whose variety and nature are yet to be identified.
Synopsis
What are the implications of misunderstanding sex as a binary, and why is it essential for scientists to incorporate a more expansive view of biological sex in our teaching and research? ...This roundtable will include many of our symposium speakers, including biologists and intersex advocates, to discuss these topics and visibilize the link between ongoing reification of dyadic sex within scientific communities and the social, political, and medical oppression faced by queer, transgender, and especially intersex communities. As with the symposium as a whole, this conversation is designed to bring together empirical research and implementation of equity, inclusion, and justice principles, which are often siloed into separate rooms and conversations at academic conferences. Given the local and national attacks on the rights of intersex individuals and access to medical care and bodily autonomy, this interdisciplinary discussion is both timely and urgent.
Beni Haroun Dam is a vital water resource for both potable water and irrigation in eastern Algeria. This study assessed water quality at the dam and investigated the impacts of this water on some ...soil characteristics of irrigated lands. The physicochemical parameters of the water were measured monthly at eight sites and related to soil characteristics sampled from six irrigated areas, which were compared to non-irrigated soils. The chemical facies of the water were chloride sulfate and calcium magnesium. The water had low levels of cadmium (8.9 μg/L) and lead (4.55 μg/L), excessive contents of chloride and bicarbonate, while pH ranged between 6.5 and 8.4. High levels of electrical conductivity were measured in 39% of samples that exceeded standard for irrigation use. Richard diagram identified four classes of water: (i) C3S1 with 61.5% of samples having moderate or poor quality, (ii) C4S1 (30.2%) having poor or bad quality, (iii) C4S2 (5.2%) having very bad quality, and (iv) C5S3 (3.1%) determined unsuitable for irrigation. A Wilcox diagram revealed that 58% of samples had good quality while 42% were inappropriate for irrigation. Soil pH, EC and OM increased in irrigated soils, particularly in the surface horizon, compared to the control sites; whereas total CaCO3 decreased at all soil depths measured. High levels of bioavailable lead (35.82 μg/g) and cadmium (0.22 μg/g) were recorded in the surface soil. The study suggests that adequate protection measures with appropriate guidelines for various water and soil parameters are needed to minimize the detrimental effects of irrigation water on agricultural lands.
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•A comprehensive assessment of water quality of Beni Haroun Dam was carried out.•Water type is chloride sulfate calcium magnesium, with cation order: Ca > Na > Mg > K, and anions: Cl > SO4>HCO3>NO3.•Water measurements indicated normal pH, high EC, chloride and bicarbonate levels and low contents of nitrate, Cd and Pb.•Water quality testing indicated measurements suitable for irrigation based on MH, PI, KR and RSC indices.•39% of samples exceeded standard for irrigation use based on SAR and EC values.
Plants deploy cell-surface and intracellular leucine rich-repeat domain (LRR) immune receptors to detect pathogens
. LRR receptor kinases and LRR receptor proteins at the plasma membrane recognize ...microorganism-derived molecules to elicit pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), whereas nucleotide-binding LRR proteins detect microbial effectors inside cells to confer effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Although PTI and ETI are initiated in different host cell compartments, they rely on the transcriptional activation of similar sets of genes
, suggesting pathway convergence upstream of nuclear events. Here we report that PTI triggered by the Arabidopsis LRR receptor protein RLP23 requires signalling-competent dimers of the lipase-like proteins EDS1 and PAD4, and of ADR1 family helper nucleotide-binding LRRs, which are all components of ETI. The cell-surface LRR receptor kinase SOBIR1 links RLP23 with EDS1, PAD4 and ADR1 proteins, suggesting the formation of supramolecular complexes containing PTI receptors and transducers at the inner side of the plasma membrane. We detected similar evolutionary patterns in LRR receptor protein and nucleotide-binding LRR genes across Arabidopsis accessions; overall higher levels of variation in LRR receptor proteins than in LRR receptor kinases are consistent with distinct roles of these two receptor families in plant immunity. We propose that the EDS1-PAD4-ADR1 node is a convergence point for defence signalling cascades, activated by both surface-resident and intracellular LRR receptors, in conferring pathogen immunity.
Health care providers and popular press articles frequently advise women that nausea and vomiting of early pregnancy (NVP) portends a favorable fetal outcome.
To investigate the claim that NVP ...protects against adverse fetal outcomes and improves placental and fetal growth.
Data were collected on a prospective cohort of 849 Ecuadorian prenatal patients beginning in early gestation until postpartum. A questionnaire collected information on NVP and other maternal characteristics. Fetal outcomes and placental characteristics were examined using anthropometry and physical examination. Multivariate statistical methods controlled for potential confounders.
Women with nausea only (AOR = 0.45; 95% CI = 0.22-0.94) or nausea with vomiting (AOR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.46-0.99) had significantly decreased miscarriage risk although the strength of the protection appeared less than that reported for other populations. NVP was not associated with low birth weight, preterm delivery, congenital anomaly, or other outcomes excepting slightly increased mean infant thigh skinfold (P = 0.024), mid-upper arm circumference (P = 0.049), and placental weight (P = 0.034).
The data did not support the common belief that NVP protects against multiple adverse outcomes. Placental weight was slightly increased in women with NVP but this difference was not reflected in higher birth weights or other types of fetal growth except of marginally increased limb fat.
COLDDIAG: A Cold Vacuum Chamber for Diagnostics Casalbuoni, S; Baumbach, T; Gerstl, S ...
IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity,
06/2011, Volume:
21, Issue:
3
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Peer reviewed
Open access
One of the still open issues for the development of superconducting insertion devices is the understanding of the heat load induced by the beam passage. With the aim of measuring the beam heat load ...to a cold bore and in order to gain a deeper understanding in the beam heat load mechanisms, a cold vacuum chamber for diagnostics is under construction. We plan to have access with the same set-up to a number of different diagnostics, so we are implementing: i) retarding field analysers to measure the electron flux, ii) temperature sensors to measure the total heat load, iii) pressure gauges, iv) and mass spectrometers to measure the gas content. The inner vacuum chamber will be removable in order to test different geometries and materials. COLDDIAG is built to fit in a short straight section at ANKA, but we are proposing its installation in different synchrotron light sources with different energies and beam characteristics. A first installation in DIAMOND is planned in June 2011. Here we describe the technical design report of this device and the planned measurements with beam.
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