Predicting the future of our oceans-Evaluating genomic forecasting approaches in marine species.

Climate change is restructuring biodiversity on multiple scales and there is a pressing need to understand the downstream ecological and genomic consequences of this change. Recent advancements in the field of eco-evolutionary genomics have sought to include evolutionary processes in forecasting species' responses to climate change (e.g., genomic offset), but to date, much of this work has focused on terrestrial species. Coastal and offshore species, and the fisheries they support, may be even more vulnerable to climate change than their terrestrial counterparts, warranting a critical appraisal of these approaches in marine systems. First, we synthesize knowledge about the genomic basis of adaptation in marine species, and then we discuss the few examples where genomic forecasting has been applied in marine systems. Next, we identify the key challenges in validating genomic offset estimates in marine species, and we advocate for the inclusion of historical sampling data and hindcasting in the validation phase. Lastly, we describe a workflow to guide marine managers in incorporating these predictions into the decision-making process.

Semantics guide infants' vowel learning: Computational and experimental evidence.

In their first year, infants' perceptual abilities zoom in on only those speech sound contrasts that are relevant for their language. Infants' lexicons do not yet contain sufficient minimal pairs to explain this phonetic categorization process. Therefore, researchers suggested a bottom-up learning mechanism: infants create categories aligned with the frequency distributions of sounds in their input. Recent evidence shows that this bottom-up mechanism may be complemented by the semantic context in which speech sounds occur, such as simultaneously present objects. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether discrimination of a non-native vowel contrast improves when sounds from the contrast were paired consistently or randomly with two distinct visually presented objects, while the distribution of speech tokens suggested a single broad category. This was assessed in two ways: computationally, namely in a neural network simulation, and experimentally, namely in a group of 8-month-old infants. The neural network, trained with a large set of sound-meaning pairs, revealed that two categories emerge only if sounds are consistently paired with objects. A group of 49 real 8-month-old infants did not immediately show sensitivity to the pairing condition; a later test at 18 months with some of the same infants, however, showed that this sensitivity at 8 months interacted with their vocabulary size at 18 months. This interaction can be explained by the idea that infants with larger future vocabularies are more positively influenced by consistent training (and/or more negatively influenced by inconsistent training) than infants with smaller future vocabularies. This suggests that consistent pairing with distinct visual objects can help infants to discriminate speech sounds even when the auditory information does not signal a distinction. Together our results give computational as well as experimental support for the idea that semantic context plays a role in disambiguating phonetic auditory input.

Northernmost record of the little gulper shark Centrophorus uyato in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, with taxonomical notes on Centrophorus zeehaani.

A specimen of the little gulper shark Centrophorus uyato was collected in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of northern Norway, marking the northernmost record of the species in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Morphological characteristics collected from the specimen indicate a close relationship to the Australian species Centrophorus zeehaani. DNA barcoding analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (coI) gene for species of Centrophorus suggests conspecificity of C. uyato and C. zeehaani.

Bottle microresonator with actively stabilized evanescent coupling.

The evanescent coupling of light between a whispering-gallery-mode bottle microresonator and a subwavelength-diameter coupling fiber is actively stabilized by means of the Pound-Drever-Hall technique. We demonstrate the stabilization of a critically coupled resonator with a control bandwidth of 0.1 Hz, yielding a residual transmission of (9±3)×10(-3) for more than an hour. Simultaneously, the frequency of the resonator mode is actively stabilized.

Strong gene flow and lack of stable population structure in the face of rapid adaptation to local temperature in a spring-spawning salmonid, the European grayling (Thymallus thymallus).

Gene flow has the potential to both constrain and facilitate adaptation to local environmental conditions. The early stages of population divergence can be unstable because of fluctuating levels of gene flow. Investigating temporal variation in gene flow during the initial stages of population divergence can therefore provide insights to the role of gene flow in adaptive evolution. Since the recent colonization of Lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Norway by European grayling (Thymallus thymallus), local populations have been established in over 20 tributaries. Multiple founder events appear to have resulted in reduced neutral variation. Nevertheless, there is evidence for local adaptation in early life-history traits to different temperature regimes. In this study, microsatellite data from almost a decade of sampling were assessed to infer population structuring and its temporal stability. Several alternative analyses indicated that spatial variation explained 2-3 times more of the divergence in the system than temporal variation. Over all samples and years, there was a significant correlation between genetic and geographic distance. However, decomposed pairwise regression analysis revealed differing patterns of genetic structure among local populations and indicated that migration outweighs genetic drift in the majority of populations. In addition, isolation by distance was observable in only three of the six years, and signals of population bottlenecks were observed in the majority of samples. Combined, the results suggest that habitat-specific adaptation in this system has preceded the development of consistent population substructuring in the face of high levels of gene flow from divergent environments.

Alcohol consumption and expectations of its effects in the border region of Pomerania: comparison of German and Polish adolescents.

The study focused on expectations of alcohol effects and patterns of consumption in German and Polish adolescents in the border region of Pomerania. In 2005/2006 a cross-sectional study was conducted in various schools. Adolescents with an average age of 14 from one German town (Greifswald) and two Polish towns (Szczecin and Kolobrzeg) were assessed using the ESPAD (European School Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) questionnaire. Altogether 757 (444 Polish and 313 German) students in their 7th and 8th grades were assessed. Differences between alcohol consumption patterns and expectations between Germany and Poland, and relationships between alcohol consumption and anticipated alcohol effects were tested. There is a difference in patterns of consumption between the two countries. Among all adolescents, expectations of positive alcohol effects dominated, and the negative effects were estimated to be less likely. In a country-specific comparison, German students estimated the occurrence of positive as well as negative effects to be likely. Adolescents who consumed a lot of alcohol in both countries estimated the positive effects to be stronger. Adolescents are more focused on short-term experiences than the long-term consequences of alcohol consumption. The results show potential targets for prevention and intervention of future risky consumption and alcohol use disorders.

Potentiation of NMDA receptor function by the serine protease thrombin.

Although serine proteases and their receptors are best known for their role in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, the CNS expresses many components of an extracellular protease signaling system including the protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1), for which thrombin is the most effective activator. In this report we show that activation of PAR1 potentiates hippocampal NMDA receptor responses in CA1 pyramidal cells by 2.07 +/- 0.27-fold (mean +/- SEM). Potentiation of neuronal NMDA receptor responses by thrombin can be blocked by thrombin and a protein kinase inhibitor, and the effects of thrombin can be mimicked by a peptide agonist (SFLLRN) that activates PAR1. Potentiation of the NMDA receptor by thrombin in hippocampal neurons is significantly attenuated in mice lacking PAR1. Although high concentrations of thrombin can directly cleave both native and recombinant NR1 subunits, the thrombin-induced potentiation we observe is independent of NMDA receptor cleavage. Activation of recombinant PAR1 also potentiates recombinant NR1/NR2A (1.7 +/- 0.06-fold) and NR1/NR2B (1.41 +/- 0.11-fold) receptor function but not NR1/NR2C or NR1/NR2D receptor responses. PAR1-mediated potentiation of recombinant NR1/NR2A receptors occurred after activation with as little as 300 pm thrombin. These data raise the intriguing possibility that potentiation of neuronal NMDA receptor function after entry of thrombin or other serine proteases into brain parenchyma during intracerebral hemorrhage or extravasation of plasma proteins during blood-brain barrier breakdown may exacerbate glutamate-mediated cell death and possibly participate in post-traumatic seizure. Furthermore, the ability of neuronal protease signaling to control NMDA receptor function may also have roles in normal brain development.

Phenotypes of the CHE2 locus of serum cholinesterase and adult weight in a sample from Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Uma amostra de 689 doadores de sangue foi examinada com o objetivo de se avaliar a relaçäo entre o loco CHE2 da colinesterase do soro e o peso do adulto. Foi observada uma feqüência de 6,82% do fenótipo CH2 C5+. Os dados mostraram que a distribuiçäo do peso está positivamente correlacionada com a da atividade da colinesterase do soro em um dos fenótipos (CH2C5-), mostrando-se independente desta no outro (CHE2C5+)

[The accessory soleus muscle: 2 cases]. / El musculo soleo accessorio: 2 casos.

The accessory soleus muscle is infrequently found; no reports of it are available in South American literature. It is found between the tibia and the soleus muscle in the distal leg. It may be misdiagnosed as a hemangioma, lipoma or sarcoma. It may be the cause of functional disorder such as varus or equino-varus. Among 254 dissections performed in young adults of both sexes and different ethnic origin we found only 2 accessory soleus muscles, both in males. One originated from the soleus muscle and was inserted in the superior aspect of the "calcaneo", in front of the "tendon calcaneo". The other originated from the anterior fascia of the soleus muscle and was inserted on the medial aspect of the "calcaneo". The clinical significance of the accessory soleus muscle is related to the presence of pain or functional disorders.

T-cell hybrids. IV. One of parental cell lines is dominant in determining membrane characteristics of hybrid cells.

Membrane characteristics of parental thymic lymphoma cells (BW5147, EL-4R) and their hybrids (BH2) derived by PEG-promoted cell fusion were compared. Isoelectric focusing of the cell populations, titration of membrane proton binding groups and quantitative examination of cell-substrate adhesiveness indicated that the BW5147 cells behaved as dominant in determining cell membrane characteristics of the BH2 hybrids.

[Rationalized lithium adjustment by load-test (author's transl)]. / Vereinfachte Lithiumeinstellung durch Belastungstest

The lithium blood level 24 hrs after a priming dose of lithium is a prognosticator for the therapeutic dosage required. Exactly 24 hrs following the intake of 24 mval lithium (lithium carbonate, retard form) venous blood serum is analyzed for lithium content. The necessary therapeutic dose can be inferred from a regression line which shows the negative interrelation between the 24 hr value and the therapeutic quantity of lithium necessary to achieve a blood level of 0.9 mval/1 under steady state conditions. Low 24 hr levels require high maintenance doses and vice versa. This procedure shortens the time of dose adjustment and avoids undesirable side-effects in the beginning of treatment which otherwise are not seldom the cause for the cessation of lithium intake.