Identification of gene co-expression modules from zebrafish brain data: Applications in psychiatry illustrated through alcohol-related traits.

Cumulative evidence suggests that zebrafish is a useful model in psychiatric research. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) enables the reduction of genome-wide expression data to modules of highly co-expressed genes, which are hypothesized to interact within molecular networks. In this study, we first applied WGCNA to zebrafish brain expression data across different experimental conditions. Then, we characterized the different co-expression modules by gene-set enrichment analysis and hub gene-phenotype association. Finally, we analyzed association of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) based on genes of some interesting co-expression modules with alcohol dependence in 524 patients and 729 controls from Galicia, using competitive tests. Our approach revealed 34 co-expression modules in the zebrafish brain, with some showing enrichment in human synaptic genes, brain tissues, or brain developmental stages. Moreover, certain co-expression modules were enriched in psychiatry-related GWAS and comprised hub genes associated with psychiatry-related traits in both human GWAS and zebrafish models. Expression patterns of some co-expression modules were associated with the tested experimental conditions, mainly with substance withdrawal and cold stress. Notably, a PRS based on genes from co-expression modules exclusively associated with substance withdrawal in zebrafish showed a stronger association with human alcohol dependence than PRSs based on randomly selected brain-expressed genes. In conclusion, our analysis led to the identification of co-expressed gene modules that may model human brain gene networks involved in psychiatry-related traits. Specifically, we detected a cluster of co-expressed genes whose expression was exclusively associated with substance withdrawal in zebrafish, which significantly contributed to alcohol dependence susceptibility in humans.

A continuous in silico learning strategy to identify safety liabilities in compounds used in the leather and textile industry.

There is a widely recognized need to reduce human activity's impact on the environment. Many industries of the leather and textile sector (LTI), being aware of producing a significant amount of residues (Keßler et al. 2021; Liu et al. 2021), are adopting measures to reduce the impact of their processes on the environment, starting with a more comprehensive characterization of the chemical risk associated with the substances commonly used in LTI. The present work contributes to these efforts by compiling and toxicologically annotating the substances used in LTI, supporting a continuous learning strategy for characterizing their chemical safety. This strategy combines data collection from public sources, experimental methods and in silico predictions for characterizing four different endpoints: CMR, ED, PBT, and vPvB. We present the results of a prospective validation exercise in which we confirm that in silico methods can produce reasonably good hazard estimations and fill knowledge gaps in the LTI chemical space. The proposed protocol can speed the process and optimize the use of resources including the lives of experimental animals, contributing to identifying potentially harmful substances and their possible replacement by safer alternatives, thus reducing the environmental footprint and impact on human health.

Exploring the Interpersonal Level of Music Performance Anxiety: Online Listener's Accuracy in Detecting Performer Anxiety.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects musicians at various stages of a performance, from its preparation until the aftermath of its delivery. Given the commonality and potentially grave consequences of MPA, it is understandable that much attention has been paid to the musician experiencing it. Consequently, we have learned a great deal about the intrapersonal level of MPA: how to measure it, treatments, experimental manipulations, and subjective experiences. However, MPA may also manifest at an interpersonal level by influencing how the performance is perceived. Yet, this has not yet been measured. This exploratory online study focuses on the listener's perception of anxiety and compares it to the musician's actual experienced anxiety. Forty-eight participants rated the amount of perceived anxiety of a pianist performing two pieces of contrasting difficulty in online-recital and practice conditions. Participants were presented with two stimulus modality conditions of the performance: audiovisual and audio-only. The listener's perception of anxiety and its similarity to the musician's experienced anxiety varies depending on variables such as the piece performed, the stimulus modality, as well as interactions between these variables and the listener's musical background. We discuss the implications for performance and future research on the interpersonal level of MPA.

When nerves hit: The effect of trait anxiety, situational stress, and task mastery on the perception and interpersonal accuracy of musical expressiveness.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a prevalent phenomenon with potentially serious consequences to a musician's wellbeing and professional career. Yet, MPA does not always affect performance quality. It is hypothesized that trait anxiety, situational stress, and task mastery can exacerbate the effects of MPA and affect performance quality. Furthermore, it is unclear whether these effects are noticeable to both listeners and performing musicians. We measure performance quality as the expressiveness scores assigned by musicians and listeners to a set of pre-recorded performances. We selected three pianists with low, mid, and high MPA. Each pianist performed two pieces of their choice, familiar and unfamiliar, which were performed in rehearsal and recital conditions. The performances were videoed and edited into shorter clips for being presented to the performing pianists and to a set of online raters. Listeners and pianists will be asked to rate the expressiveness of all clips. We will determine the difference between the listeners' perceived expressiveness and the pianists' own expressiveness scores to estimate how well did listeners understand the pianists' expressive intentions. We investigate (1) what is the effect of trait anxiety, situational stress, and task mastery on the listener's perception of expressiveness and (2) what is the effect of these same variables on the listeners' understanding of expressiveness.

A comprehensive structural, lectin and immunohistochemical characterization of the zebrafish olfactory system.

Fish chemosensory olfactory receptors allow them to detect a wide range of water-soluble chemicals, that mediate fundamental behaviours. Zebrafish possess a well-developed sense of smell which governs reproduction, appetite, and fear responses. The spatial organization of functional properties within the olfactory epithelium and bulb are comparable to those of mammals, making this species suitable for studies of olfactory differentiation and regeneration and neuronal representation of olfactory information. The advent of genomic techniques has been decisive for the discovery of specific olfactory cell types and the identification of cell populations expressing vomeronasal receptors. These advances have marched ahead of morphological and neurochemical studies. This study aims to fill the existing gap in specific histological, lectin-histochemical and immunohistochemical studies on the olfactory rosette and the olfactory bulb of the zebrafish. Tissue dissection and microdissection techniques were employed, followed by histological staining techniques, lectin-histochemical labelling (UEA, LEA, BSI-B4) and immunohistochemistry using antibodies against G proteins subunits αo and αi2, growth-associated protein-43, calbindin, calretinin, glial-fibrillary-acidic-protein and luteinizing-hormone-releasing-hormone. The results obtained enrich the available information on the neurochemical patterns of the zebrafish olfactory system, pointing to a greater complexity than the one currently considered, especially when taking into account the peculiarities of the nonsensory epithelium.

Cacao breeding in Colombia, past, present and future.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is considered a key crop in Colombian social programs aiming at alleviating rural poverty, promoting peace in post-conflict regions and, replacing crops used for illicit purposes. Colombia is thought to be part of the center of origin of cacao; several germplasm collecting expeditions have been implemented, dating back to the 1940s. Despite that history, the first breeding program based on creating, selecting, and releasing full-sib progenies made extensive use of accessions introduced from other countries as parents. A new breeding strategy was adopted in the 1990s, based on mass selection of promising trees (high-yield and disease-resistant) in farmers' fields, resulting in the selection of clones released to farmers as planting material. In 2012, a new strategy, Recurrent Selection, was adopted by the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research, Agrosavia, based on the development of improved populations and allowing the selection of clones at the end of each cycle of recombination. The use of molecular markers is being integrated into this program in order to assist breeders in selecting material. This review provides details about the history and perspectives of the cacao breeding program in Colombia.

Tétanos en pediatría: actualización y presentación de casos

El tétanos es una enfermedad infectocontagiosa de gran impacto, no solo para el paciente sino tambien para la comunidad y para los servicios de salud. Por ser inmunoprevenible, su presencia en una región determinada es un reto para estos últimos y es un indicador de la calidad de los mismos. Su erradicación es un propósito que debe cumplirse en los albores del próximo milenio; en los años recientes se ha avanzado en la comprensión de sus aspectos fisiopatológicos y se han refinado las medidas terapéuticas. En este artículo se presenta una actualización suscinta y general de este importante problema de salud pública, especialmente en lo que se refiere a sus aspectos patogénicos y terapéuticos. Al mismo tiempo se presentan los casos de esta enfermedad atendidos durante un período de diez años en un hospital pediátrico de tercer nivel de la ciudad de Medellíin, como una contribución a la comprensión del problema