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Rodríguez Laboccetta C, Briceño Fernández VJ, Videla Garrido A, Posse GB, Cuestas ML, Nusblat AD. Histoplasma antigens as novel players for the development of new enzyme immunoassays for the serodiagnosis of histoplasmosis: A comparative study of their analytical performance. Med Mycol 2024; 62:myae023. [PMID: 38479779 DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myae023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2024] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Definitive diagnosis of histoplasmosis relies on culture and/or cytology/histopathology; however, these procedures have limited sensitivity and cultures are time-consuming. Antibodies detection by immunodiffusion has low sensitivity in immunocompromised individuals and uses histoplasmin (HMN), a crude antigenic extract, as reagent. Novel protein antigen candidates have been recently identified and produced by DNA-recombinant techniques to obtain standardized and specific reagents for diagnosing histoplasmosis. To compare the analytical performance of novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for antibodies testing for diagnosing histoplasmosis using different Histoplasma capsulatum antigens as reagents. The H. capsulatum 100 kDa protein (Hcp100), the M antigen and its immunoreactive fragment F1 were produced by DNA-recombinant techniques. Galactomannan was purified from both the yeast and mycelial cell walls (yGM and mGM, respectively). The analytical performance of the ELISA tests for the serological detection of antibodies against these antigens was evaluated and compared with those obtained using HMN as reagent. Antibodies detection by the Hcp100 ELISA demonstrated 90.0% sensitivity and 92.0% specificity, versus 43.3% sensitivity and 95.0% specificity of the M ELISA, 33.3% sensitivity and 84.0% specificity of the F1 ELISA, 96.7% sensitivity and 94.0% specificity of the yGM ELISA, 83.3% sensitivity and 88.0% specificity of the mGM ELISA, and 70.0% sensitivity and 86.0% specificity for the HMN ELISA. In summary, Hcp100 is proposed as the most promising candidate for the serodiagnosis of histoplasmosis. The primary immunoreactive element in HMN proved to be GM rather than the M antigen. Nevertheless, a higher incidence of cross-reactions was noted with GM compared to M.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Rodríguez Laboccetta
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología (NANOBIOTEC). Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. CONICET. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM). Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Víctor J Briceño Fernández
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología (NANOBIOTEC). Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. CONICET. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM). Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustín Videla Garrido
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. CONICET. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM). Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gladys B Posse
- Laboratorio de Micología. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas. Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María L Cuestas
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. CONICET. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM). Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alejandro D Nusblat
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología (NANOBIOTEC). Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Trujillo D, Mastrangelo T, Estevez de Jensen C, Verle Rodrigues JC, Lawrie R, Massey SE. Accurate identification of Helicoverpa armigera-Helicoverpa zea hybrids using genome admixture analysis: implications for genomic surveillance. Front Insect Sci 2024; 4:1339143. [PMID: 38469344 PMCID: PMC10926370 DOI: 10.3389/finsc.2024.1339143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Helicoverpa armigera, the cotton bollworm moth, is one of the world's most important crop pests, and is spreading throughout the New World from its original range in the Old World. In Brazil, invasive H. armigera has been reported to hybridize with local populations of Helicoverpa zea. The correct identification of H. armigera-H. zea hybrids is important in understanding the origin, spread and future outlook for New World regions that are affected by outbreaks, given that hybridization can potentially facilitate H. zea pesticide resistance and host plant range via introgression of H. armigera genes. Here, we present a genome admixture analysis of high quality genome sequences generated from two H. armigera-H. zea F1 hybrids generated in two different labs. Our admixture pipeline predicts 48.8% and 48.9% H. armigera for the two F1 hybrids, confirming its accuracy. Genome sequences from five H. zea and one H. armigera that were generated as part of the study show no evidence of hybridization. Interestingly, we show that four H. zea genomes generated from a previous study are predicted to possess a proportion of H. armigera genetic material. Using unsupervised clustering to identify non-hybridized H. armigera and H. zea genomes, 8511 ancestry informative markers (AIMs) were identified. Their relative frequencies are consistent with a minor H. armigera component in the four genomes, however its origin remains to be established. We show that the size and quality of genomic reference datasets are critical for accurate hybridization prediction. Consequently, we discuss potential pitfalls in genome admixture analysis of H. armigera-H. zea hybrids, and suggest measures that will improve such analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dario Trujillo
- Department of Agro-Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
| | - Thiago Mastrangelo
- Universidade de São Paulo, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
| | | | | | - Roger Lawrie
- Center for Excellence in Quarantine and Invasive Species (CEQUIS), Estacion Experimental Agricola, San Juan, Puerto Rico
| | - Steven E. Massey
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Dong B, Liang J, Liu C. Cue Weighting in Perception of the Retroflex and Non-Retroflex Laterals in the Zibo Dialect of Chinese. Behav Sci (Basel) 2023; 13:469. [PMID: 37366720 DOI: 10.3390/bs13060469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
This study investigated cue weighting in the perception of the retroflex and non-retroflex lateral contrast in the monosyllabic words /ɭə/ and /lə/ in the Zibo dialect of Chinese. A binary forced-choice identification task was carried out among 32 natives, using computer-modified natural speech situated in a two-dimensional acoustic space. The results showed that both acoustic cues had a significant main effect on lateral identification, with F1 of the following schwa being the primary cue and the consonant-tos-vowel (C/V) duration ratio as a secondary cue. No interaction effect was found between these two acoustic cues. Moreover, the results indicated that acoustic cues were not equally weighted in production and perception of the syllables /ɭə/ and /lə/ in the Zibo dialect. Future studies are suggested involving other acoustic cues (e.g., the F1 of laterals) or adding noise in the identification task to better understand listeners' listening strategies in their perception of the two laterals in the Zibo dialect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Dong
- Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Jie Liang
- Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Chang Liu
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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Shinda CA, Nthakanio PN, Gitari JN, Runo S, Mukono S, Maina S. Nutrient content of sorghum hybrid lines between Gadam and hard coat tannin sorghum cultivars. Food Sci Nutr 2022; 10:2202-2212. [PMID: 35844921 PMCID: PMC9281938 DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.2830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Sorghum is an important food crop in the world that exhibits a predominant role in fulfilling the nutritional requirements, particularly in low-income group populations of marginal areas in Kenya. It is a principal source of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and crude fibers (CFs), which are important nutrients necessary for human development and health. Reduced tannin in sorghum grains is desirable since it affects the availability of nutrients. This study aimed at assessing the nutrient content in filial generation one (F1) developed between Gadam (sorghum), which is low in tannin and hard coat tannin (sorghum) cultivars. The nutrient content analyses were carried out from samples collected in a completely randomized design experiment. Crude protein (CP) and tannin content were analyzed using the modified Kjeldahl method and vanillin-HCl methanol method, respectively, whereas moisture, fat, CF, ash, and carbohydrate contents were determined using Association of Official Analytical Chemists methods. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance using R statistical software. Among the F1s, Kari/Mtama-1 x Gadam recorded the highest CP value of 10.390%. This differed significantly from Gadam x Kari/Mtama-1 which recorded CP content of 9.770%. Kari/Mtama-1 x Gadam recorded the highest fat and moisture contents of 2.299% and 8.600%, respectively. The highest CF content of 3.433% was recorded in Gadam x Serena. Gadam x Kari/Mtama-1 recorded the highest ash content of 1.619%, whereas the highest carbohydrate (84.503%) and tannin content (0.771 mg/g) means were recorded in Seredo x Gadam. Results demonstrated that the choice of maternal and paternal parent influence CP, CF, and carbohydrate contents. Among the F1s, tannin content ranged from 0.106 to 0.771 mg/g compared to 0.953 to 1.763 mg/g recorded in Serena and Seredo (hard coat seeded cultivars). This is an indication that tannin can be downregulated through hybridization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia A. Shinda
- Department of Water and Agricultural Resource ManagementUniversity of EmbuEmbuKenya
| | - Paul N. Nthakanio
- Department of Water and Agricultural Resource ManagementUniversity of EmbuEmbuKenya
| | - Josiah N. Gitari
- Department of Water and Agricultural Resource ManagementUniversity of EmbuEmbuKenya
| | - Steven Runo
- Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and BiotechnologyKenyatta UniversityNairobiKenya
| | - Simon Mukono
- Department of Physical SciencesUniversity of EmbuEmbuKenya
| | - Samuel Maina
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of EmbuEmbuKenya
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Nkosi LS, Ntuli NR, Mavengahama S. Morpho-Agronomic Evaluation of Lagenaria siceraria Landraces and Their F 1 Populations. Plants (Basel) 2022; 11:1558. [PMID: 35736709 PMCID: PMC9229447 DOI: 10.3390/plants11121558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Lagenaria siceraria is one of the most important cucurbitaceous vegetables due to its prolific bearing habit, its edibility as a cooked vegetable, and its low cost of cultivation. The objective of this study was to evaluate variation in the morpho-agronomic traits among selected landraces and their F1 populations. The landraces were crossed based on the North Carolina II genetic design to develop F1 populations. The twelve F1 populations along with seven parental landraces were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed among quantitative traits suggesting considerable genetic variability. The genotypes displayed significant variation in most qualitative traits of fruits and seeds. The first five principal components of quantitative traits among the evaluated 19 genotypes contributed 74.84% of the variability. The biplot and dendrogram clustered the genotypes into five clusters according to their vegetative, fruit, and seed traits. The highest value for the broad-sense heritability estimate was recorded for days to edible harvest maturity trait. The F1 progenies were more variable than the landraces and can therefore be used for further Lagenaria siceraria genetic improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lungani Siyabonga Nkosi
- Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho 2745, South Africa;
| | | | - Sydney Mavengahama
- Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho 2745, South Africa;
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Mechaly A, Vitner EB, Levy Y, Gur D, Barlev-Gross M, Sittner A, Koren M, Levy H, Mamroud E, Fisher M. Epitope Binning of Novel Monoclonal Anti F1 and Anti LcrV Antibodies and Their Application in a Simple, Short, HTRF Test for Clinical Plague Detection. Pathogens 2021; 10:285. [PMID: 33801490 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10030285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mouse monoclonal antibodies were raised against plague disease biomarkers: the bacterial capsular protein fraction 1 (F1) and the low-calcium response—LcrV virulence factor (Vag). A novel tandem assay, employing BioLayer Interferometry (BLI), enabled the isolation of antibodies against four different epitopes on Vag. The tandem assay was carried out with hybridoma supernatants, circumventing the need for antibody purification. The BioLayer assay was further adopted for characterization of epitope-repetitive antigens, enabling the discovery of two unique epitopes on F1. The selected antibodies were purified and applied as “oligo-clonal” reagents for the immuno-detection of both biomarkers. The developed Homogenous Time Resolved Fluorescence (HTRF) tests were short (10 min) and simple (no washing steps), allowing for detection of 10 ng/mL F1 and 2.5 ng/mL Vag. The tests were successfully applied for detection of disease biomarkers produced by various Y. pestis strains during growth in blood culture vials.
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Du XH, Wu D, Kang H, Wang H, Xu N, Li T, Chen K. Heterothallism and potential hybridization events inferred for twenty-two yellow morel species. IMA Fungus 2020; 11:4. [PMID: 32617256 PMCID: PMC7325075 DOI: 10.1186/s43008-020-0027-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Mating-type genes are central to sexual reproduction in ascomycete fungi and result in the establishment of reproductive barriers. Together with hybridization, they both play important roles in the evolution of fungi. Recently, potential hybridization events and MAT genes were separately found in the Elata Clade of Morchella. Herein, we characterized the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 genes of twenty-two species in the Esculenta Clade, another main group in the genus Morchella, and proved heterothallism to be the predominant mating strategy among the twenty-two species tested. Ascospores of these species were multi-nuclear and had many mitochondrial nucleoids. The number of ascospore nuclei might be positively related with the species distribution range. Phylogenetic analyses of MAT1-1-1, MAT1-2-1, intergenic spacer (IGS), and partial histone acetyltransferase ELP3 (F1) were performed and compared with the species phylogeny framework derived from the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-a) to evaluate their species delimitation ability and investigate potential hybridization events. Conflicting topologies among these genes genealogies and the species phylogeny were revealed and hybridization events were detected between several species. Different evolutionary patterns were suggested for MAT genes between the Esculenta and the Elata Clades. Complex evolutionary trajectories of MAT1-1-1, MAT1-2-1, F1 and IGS in the Esculenta Clade were highlighted. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the importance of hybridization and gene transfer in Morchella and especially for the appearance of reproductive modes during its evolutionary process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi-Hui Du
- College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331 China
| | - Dongmei Wu
- Biotechnology Research Institute, Xinjiang Academy Agricultural Reclamation of Sciences, Shihezi, 832000 China
| | - Heng Kang
- Institute of Applied Mycology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 Hubei China
| | - Hanchen Wang
- College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331 China
| | - Nan Xu
- College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331 China
| | - Tingting Li
- College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331 China
| | - Keliang Chen
- College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331 China
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Rodríguez ME, Lauff D, Cortizo S, Luquez VMC. Variability in flooding tolerance, growth and leaf traits in a Populus deltoides intraspecific progeny. Tree Physiol 2020; 40:19-29. [PMID: 31860714 DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpz128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Revised: 11/22/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Climate change will increase the risk of flooding in several areas of the world where Populus deltoides Marshall (eastern cottonwood) is planted, so it would be desirable for this species to select for flooding tolerance. The aims of this work were to explore the variability in growth, leaf traits and flooding tolerance in an F1 full-sib intraspecific progeny of P. deltoides, to analyze the correlations of leaf and growth traits with flooding tolerance and to assess their suitability for use in breeding programs. Two-month-old parental clones and their progeny of 30 full-sib F1 genotypes were grown in pots and subjected to two treatments: (i) plants watered to field capacity (control) and (ii) plants flooded up to 10 cm above soil level for 35 days. Growth (height, diameter and biomass partition) and leaf traits (leaf size and number, specific leaf area, leaf senescence, abscission, stomatal conductance, carbon isotope discrimination, stomatal index) were measured. Flooding tolerance for each genotype was estimated as the ratio of the biomass of stressed plants to the biomass of control plants. Results showed segregation in terms of flooding tolerance in the F1 progeny. A significant genotype effect was found for leaf size and number, carbon isotopic discrimination and stomatal conductance, but it did not correlate with flooding tolerance. Height, diameter and root-to-shoot ratio had a positive phenotypic correlation with flooding tolerance, and there was a positive genetic correlation of height and diameter with biomass on both treatments. The narrow sense heritability values for the traits analyzed ranged from 0 to 0.56. We conclude that growth traits are more adequate than leaf traits for selection to increase flooding tolerance. A vigorous initial growth would increase flooding tolerance in young poplar plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- María E Rodríguez
- Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal (INFIVE), UNLP - CONICET, FCAyF UNLP, CC 327, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
| | - Diana Lauff
- Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal (INFIVE), UNLP - CONICET, FCAyF UNLP, CC 327, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
| | - Silvia Cortizo
- INTA Delta, Río Paraná de Las Palmas y Canal Laurentino Comas, 2804 Campana, Argentina
| | - Virginia M C Luquez
- Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal (INFIVE), UNLP - CONICET, FCAyF UNLP, CC 327, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
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Zhang Y, Wan J, He L, Lan H, Li L. Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Plant Height Using the Maize F1 Population. Plants (Basel) 2019; 8:plants8100432. [PMID: 31640296 PMCID: PMC6843250 DOI: 10.3390/plants8100432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2019] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Drastic changes in plant height (PH) are observed when maize adapt to a higher plant density. Most importantly, PH is an important factor affecting maize yield. Although the genetic basis of PH has been extensively studied using different populations during the past decades, genetic basis remains unclear in the F1 population, which was a widely used population in production. In this study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using an F1 population consisting of 300 maize hybrids with 17,652 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) makers to identify candidate genes for controlling PH. A total of nine significant SNPs makers and two candidate genes were identified for PH. The candidate genes, Zm00001d018617 and Zm00001d023659, were the genes most probable to be involved in the development of PH. Our results provide new insights into the genetic basis of PH in maize.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Zhang
- Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.
| | - Jiyu Wan
- Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.
| | - Lian He
- Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.
| | - Hai Lan
- Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.
| | - Lujiang Li
- Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.
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Demeure CE, Derbise A, Guillas C, Gerke C, Cauchemez S, Carniel E, Pizarro-Cerdá J. Humoral and cellular immune correlates of protection against bubonic plague by a live Yersinia pseudotuberculosis vaccine. Vaccine 2018; 37:123-129. [PMID: 30467064 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.11.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2018] [Revised: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Immunization with the live-attenuated Yersinia pseudotuberculosis VTnF1 strain producing a Yersinia pestis F1 pseudocapsule efficiently protects mice against bubonic and pneumonic plague. In clinical trials, demonstration of a plague vaccine's efficacy in humans will not be feasible, and correlates of protection will be needed to bridge the immune response of protected animals to that of vaccinated humans. Using serum transfer and vaccination of antibody-deficient µMT mice, we established that both humoral and cellular responses elicited by VTnF1 independently conferred protection against bubonic plague. Thus, correlates were searched for in both responses, using blood only. Mice were vaccinated with increasing doses of VTnF1 to provide a range of immune responses and survival outcomes. The cellular response was evaluated using an in vitro IFNγ release assay, and IFNγ levels were significantly associated with protection, although some survivors were negative for IFNγ, so that IFNγ release is not a fully satisfactory correlate. Abundant serum IgG against the F1 capsule, Yop injectable toxins, and also non-F1 Y.pestis antigens were found, but none against the LcrV antigen. All readouts correlated to survival and to each other, confirming that vaccination triggered multiple protective mechanisms developing in parallel. Anti-F1 IgG was the most stringent correlate of protection, in both inbred BALB/c mice and outbred OF1 mice. This indicates that antibodies (Ab) to F1 play a dominant role for protection even in the presence of Ab to many other targets. Easy to measure, the anti-F1 IgG titer will be useful to evaluate the immune response in other animal species and in clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian E Demeure
- Unité de Recherche Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Anne Derbise
- Unité de Recherche Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Chloé Guillas
- Unité de Recherche Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Christiane Gerke
- Vaccine Programs, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Simon Cauchemez
- Unité de Modélisation Mathématique des Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, URA3012, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France; Center of Bioinformatics, Biostatistics and Integrative Biology, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Elisabeth Carniel
- Unité de Recherche Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
| | - Javier Pizarro-Cerdá
- Unité de Recherche Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to analyze the acoustic characteristics associated with alternation deformation of the vocal tract due to large epiglottic cyst, and to confirm the relation between the anatomical change and resonant function of the vocal tract. METHODS Eight men with epiglottic cyst were enrolled in this study. The jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and first two formants were analyzed in vowels /a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, and /u:/. These values were analyzed before and after laryngeal microsurgery. RESULTS The F1 value of /a:/ was significantly raised after surgery. Significant differences of formant frequencies in other vowels, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio were not presented. CONCLUSION The results of this study could be used to analyze changes in the resonance of vocal tracts due to the epiglottic cysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- YeonWoo Lee
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, South Korea
| | - GeunHyo Kim
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, South Korea
| | - SooGeun Wang
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, South Korea
| | - JeonYeob Jang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Wonjae Cha
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, South Korea
| | - HongSik Choi
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Institute of Logopedics & Phoniatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
| | - HyangHee Kim
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Research Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
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Peralta-Torres JA, Aké-López JR, Centurión-Castro FG, Segura-Correa JC. Effect of season and breed group on the follicular population and cyclicity of heifers under tropical conditions. Trop Anim Health Prod 2017; 49:207-11. [PMID: 27815668 DOI: 10.1007/s11250-016-1182-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2016] [Accepted: 10/24/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The aim was to determine the effect of season and breed group on follicular population, and presence and size of CL of heifers under tropical conditions. The seasons were hot-dry (March-June), hot-humid (July-October), and fresh-humid (November-February). Thirty Zebu (Brahman) and 38 F1 (Simmental × Brahman) heifers were used. Five evaluations were made in each season, at intervals of 7 days, to assess ovarian activity by ultrasound. Follicles were classified as small (≤4 mm), middle (4.1-8 mm), and large (≥8.1 mm) sizes, and also the size of CL, when present, was measured. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and logistic regression procedures. Mean number of small follicles was 11.6 ± 2.3 with no effect of season, breed group, or their interaction (P > 0.05). Mean number of middle follicles was influenced by season and breed group; the highest average was found in the fresh-humid season (4.0 ± 0.2) and in F1 heifers (3.6 ± 0.2; P < 0.05). The highest mean number of large follicles was in the hot-humid season (1.4 ± 0.1; P < 0.05). The highest maximum follicle diameter (MFD) mean was registered in the hot-humid season (1.3 mm; P < 0.05) and the lowest proportion of heifers with CL occurred in fresh-humid season (33.3%; P < 0.05). No effect of season, breed group, and interaction on the maximum diameter of the CL was found. In conclusion, season was a very important source of variation. Heifers in the hot-humid season had the largest follicles and MFD, and better cyclicity.
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Baba M, Iwamoto K, Iino R, Ueno H, Hara M, Nakanishi A, Kishikawa JI, Noji H, Yokoyama K. Rotation of artificial rotor axles in rotary molecular motors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:11214-9. [PMID: 27647891 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1605640113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
F1- and V1-ATPase are rotary molecular motors that convert chemical energy released upon ATP hydrolysis into torque to rotate a central rotor axle against the surrounding catalytic stator cylinder with high efficiency. How conformational change occurring in the stator is coupled to the rotary motion of the axle is the key unknown in the mechanism of rotary motors. Here, we generated chimeric motor proteins by inserting an exogenous rod protein, FliJ, into the stator ring of F1 or of V1 and tested the rotation properties of these chimeric motors. Both motors showed unidirectional and continuous rotation, despite no obvious homology in amino acid sequence between FliJ and the intrinsic rotor subunit of F1 or V1 These results showed that any residue-specific interactions between the stator and rotor are not a prerequisite for unidirectional rotation of both F1 and V1 The torque of chimeric motors estimated from viscous friction of the rotation probe against medium revealed that whereas the F1-FliJ chimera generates only 10% of WT F1, the V1-FliJ chimera generates torque comparable to that of V1 with the native axle protein that is structurally more similar to FliJ than the native rotor of F1 This suggests that the gross structural mismatch hinders smooth rotation of FliJ accompanied with the stator ring of F1.
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Guo J, Chan EWC, Chen S. Comparative characterization of botulinum neurotoxin subtypes F1 and F7 featuring differential substrate recognition and cleavage mechanisms. Toxicon 2016; 111:77-85. [PMID: 26748154 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2015.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2015] [Revised: 12/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
BoNT/F7, one of the seven subtypes of botulinum neurotoxin type F (F1 to F7), is the second-most divergent subtype of this group. Despite sharing >60% identity with BoNT/F1 at both holotoxin and enzymatic domain levels, it requires an N-terminal extended peptide substrate for efficient substrate cleavage, suggesting its unique substrate recognition and specificity mechanism. Substrate mapping and saturation mutagenesis analysis revealed that VAMP2 (20-65) was likely a minimally effective substrate for LC/F7 (light chain of BoNT/F7), and in addition, LC/F7 recognized VAMP2 in a unique way, which differed significantly from that of LC/F1, although both of them share similar substrate binding and hydrolysis mode. LC/F7 utilizes distinct pockets for specific substrate binding and recognition in particular for the B1, B2 and S2 sites recognitions. Our findings provide insights into the distinct substrate recognition features of BoNT subtypes and useful information for therapy development for BoNT/F.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiubiao Guo
- Shenzhen Key Lab for Food Biological Safety Control, Food Safety and Technology Research Center, Hong Kong PolyU Shen Zhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, PR China; State Key Lab of Chirosciences, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Edward Wai Chi Chan
- Shenzhen Key Lab for Food Biological Safety Control, Food Safety and Technology Research Center, Hong Kong PolyU Shen Zhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, PR China; State Key Lab of Chirosciences, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Sheng Chen
- Shenzhen Key Lab for Food Biological Safety Control, Food Safety and Technology Research Center, Hong Kong PolyU Shen Zhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, PR China; State Key Lab of Chirosciences, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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15
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Sun W, Sanapala S, Rahav H, Curtiss R. Oral administration of a recombinant attenuated Yersinia pseudotuberculosis strain elicits protective immunity against plague. Vaccine 2015; 33:6727-35. [PMID: 26514425 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.10.074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2015] [Revised: 09/16/2015] [Accepted: 10/14/2015] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
A Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PB1+ (Yptb PB1+) mutant strain combined with chromosome insertion of the caf1R-caf1A-caf1M-caf1 operon and deletions of yopJ and yopK, χ10068 [pYV-ω2 (ΔyopJ315 ΔyopK108) ΔlacZ044::caf1R-caf1M-caf1A-caf1] was constructed. Results indicated that gene insertion and deletion did not affect the growth rate of χ10068 compared to wild-type Yptb cultured at 26 °C. In addition, the F1 antigen in χ10068 was synthesized and secreted on the surface of bacteria at 37 °C (mammalian body temperature), not at ambient culture temperature (26 °C). Immunization with χ10068 primed antibody responses and specific T-cell responses to F1 and YpL (Y. pestis whole cell lysate). Oral immunization with a single dose of χ10068 provided 70% protection against a subcutaneous (s.c.) challenge with ∼ 2.6 × 10(5) LD50 of Y. pestis KIM6+ (pCD1Ap) (KIM6+Ap) and 90% protection against an intranasal (i.n.) challenge with ∼ 500 LD50 of KIM6+Ap in mice. Our results suggest that χ10068 can be used as an effective precursor to make a safe vaccine to prevent plague in humans and to eliminate plague circulation among humans and animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Sun
- Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
| | - Shilpa Sanapala
- Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Hannah Rahav
- Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Roy Curtiss
- Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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Mirimin L, Roodt-Wilding R. Testing and validating a modified CTAB DNA extraction method to enable molecular parentage analysis of fertilized eggs and larvae of an emerging South African aquaculture species, the dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus. J Fish Biol 2015; 86:1218-1223. [PMID: 25683971 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2014] [Accepted: 12/29/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
This study describes the successful implementation of a modified cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol to isolate genomic DNA and amplify 14 microsatellite markers from fertilized eggs and larvae of an emerging South African farmed marine fish species, the dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus. To test and validate the efficiency of this method, genetic data were utilized to resolve parentage and kinship of first-generation (F1) offspring produced in mass-spawning events of wild broodstock fish in a commercial hatchery.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Mirimin
- Molecular Breeding and Biodiversity Research Group, Department of Genetics, Stellenbosch University, JC Smuts Building, van der Bijl Street, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa; Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland
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17
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Luo H, Deng Z, Liu L, Shen L, Kou H, He Z, Ping J, Xu D, Ma L, Chen L, Wang H. Prenatal caffeine ingestion induces transgenerational neuroendocrine metabolic programming alteration in second generation rats. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2013; 274:383-92. [PMID: 24321341 DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2013.11.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2013] [Revised: 11/19/2013] [Accepted: 11/26/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Our previous studies have demonstrated that prenatal caffeine ingestion induces an increased susceptibility to metabolic syndrome with alterations of glucose and lipid metabolic phenotypes in adult first generation (F1) of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) rats, and the underlying mechanism is originated from a hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis-associated neuroendocrine metabolic programming alteration in utero. This study aims to investigate the transgenerational effects of this programming alteration in adult second generation (F2). Pregnant Wistar rats were administered with caffeine (120mg/kg·d) from gestational day 11 until delivery. Four groups in F2 were set according to the cross-mating between control and caffeine-induced IUGR rats. F2 were subjected to a fortnight ice water swimming stimulus on postnatal month 4, and blood samples were collected before and after stress. Results showed that the majority of the activities of HPA axis and phenotypes of glucose and lipid metabolism were altered in F2. Particularly, comparing with the control group, caffeine groups had an enhanced corticosterone levels after chronic stress. Compared with before stress, the serum glucose levels were increased in some groups whereas the triglyceride levels were decreased. Furthermore, total cholesterol gain rates were enhanced but the high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol gain rates were decreased in most caffeine groups after stress. These transgenerational effects were characterized partially with gender and parental differences. Taken together, these results indicate that the reproductive and developmental toxicities and the neuroendocrine metabolic programming mechanism by prenatal caffeine ingestion have transgenerational effects in rats, which may help to explain the susceptibility to metabolic syndrome and associated diseases in F2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanwen Luo
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Zixin Deng
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Lian Liu
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Lang Shen
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Hao Kou
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Zheng He
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Jie Ping
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; Research Center of Food and Drug Evaluation, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Dan Xu
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; Research Center of Food and Drug Evaluation, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Lu Ma
- Department of Epidemiology & Health Statistics, Public Health School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Liaobin Chen
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
| | - Hui Wang
- Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; Research Center of Food and Drug Evaluation, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
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18
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Jafari Z, Malayeri S. Effects of congenital blindness on the subcortical representation of speech cues. Neuroscience 2013; 258:401-9. [PMID: 24291729 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.11.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2013] [Revised: 10/28/2013] [Accepted: 11/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Human modalities play a vital role in the way the brain produces mental representations of the world around us. Although congenital blindness limits the understanding of the environment in some aspects, blind individuals may have other superior capabilities from long-term experience and neural plasticity. This study investigated the effects of congenital blindness on temporal and spectral neural encoding of speech at the subcortical level. The study included 26 congenitally blind individuals and 24 normal-sighted individuals with normal hearing. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) was recorded with both click and speech synthetic 40-ms /da/ stimuli. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in wave latencies or amplitudes of click ABR. Latencies of speech ABR D (p=0.012) and O (p=0.014) waves were significantly shorter in blind individuals than in normal-sighted individuals. Amplitudes of the A (p<0.001) and E (p=0.001) speech ABR (sABR) waves were also significantly higher in blind subjects. Blind individuals had significantly better results for duration (p<0.001) amplitude (p=0.015) and slope of the V-A complex (p=0.004), signal-to-noise ratio (p<0.001), and amplitude of the stimulus fundamental frequency (F0) (p=0.009), first formant (F1) (p<0.001) and higher-frequency region (HF) (p<0.001) ranges. Results indicate that congenitally blind subjects have improved hearing function in response to the /da/ syllable in both source and filter classes of sABR. It is possible that these subjects have enhanced neural representation of vocal cord vibrations and improved neural synchronization in temporal encoding of the onset and offset parts of speech stimuli at the brainstem level. This may result from the compensatory mechanism of neural reorganization in blind subjects influenced from top-down corticofugal connections with the auditory cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z Jafari
- Rehabilitation Research Center (RRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran; Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran.
| | - S Malayeri
- Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (USWR), Tehran, Iran; NEWSHA Hearing Institute, Tehran, Iran.
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Zäske R, Skuk VG, Kaufmann JM, Schweinberger SR. Perceiving vocal age and gender: an adaptation approach. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2013; 144:583-93. [PMID: 24140826 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2013] [Revised: 08/20/2013] [Accepted: 09/20/2013] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Aftereffects of adaptation have revealed both independent and interactive coding of facial signals including identity and expression or gender and age. By contrast, interactive processing of non-linguistic features in voices has rarely been investigated. Here we studied bidirectional cross-categorical aftereffects of adaptation to vocal age and gender. Prolonged exposure to young (~20yrs) or old (~70yrs) male or female voices biased perception of subsequent test voices away from the adapting age (Exp. 1) and the adapting gender (Exp. 2). Relative to gender-congruent adaptor-test pairings, vocal age aftereffects (VAAEs) were reduced but remained significant when voice gender changed between adaptation and test. This suggests that the VAAE relies on both gender-specific and gender-independent age representations for male and female voices. By contrast, voice gender aftereffects (VGAEs) were not modulated by age-congruency of adaptor and test voices (Exp. 2). Instead, young voice adaptors generally induced larger VGAEs than old voice adaptors. This suggests that young voices are particularly efficient gender adaptors, likely reflecting more pronounced sexual dimorphism in these voices. In sum, our findings demonstrate how high-level processing of vocal age and gender is partially intertwined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romi Zäske
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany; DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
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20
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Van Zyl M, Hanekom JJ. Perception of vowels and prosody by cochlear implant recipients in noise. J Commun Disord 2013; 46:449-464. [PMID: 24157128 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2013.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2012] [Revised: 09/13/2013] [Accepted: 09/16/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The aim of the present study was to compare the ability of cochlear implant (CI) recipients to recognise speech prosody in the presence of speech-weighted noise to their ability to recognise vowels in the same test paradigm and listening condition. All test materials were recorded from four different speakers (two male, two female). Two prosody recognition tasks were developed, both using single words as stimuli. The first task involved a question/statement distinction, while the second task required listeners to make a judgement about the speaker's attitude. Vowel recognition tests were conducted using vowel pairs selected on the basis of specific acoustic cues (frequencies of the first two formants and duration). Ten CI users and ten normal-hearing controls were tested in both quiet and an adaptive noise condition, using a two-alternative forced-choice test paradigm for all the tests. Results indicated that vowel recognition was significantly better than prosody recognition in both listener groups in both quiet and noise, and that question/statement discrimination was the most difficult task for CI listeners in noise. Data from acoustic analyses were used to interpret differences in performance on different tasks and with different speakers. LEARNING OUTCOMES As a result of this activity, readers will be able to (1) describe suitable methods for comparing vowel and prosody perception in noise, (2) compare performance on vowel and prosody perception tasks in quiet in normal-hearing listeners and cochlear implant recipients, (3) compare performance on vowel and prosody perception tasks in noise in normal-hearing listeners and cochlear implant recipients and (4) relate performance on prosody tasks in quiet to performance on these tasks in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Van Zyl
- Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
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21
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Zrimec J, Kopinč R, Rijavec T, Zrimec T, Lapanje A. Band smearing of PCR amplified bacterial 16S rRNA genes: dependence on initial PCR target diversity. J Microbiol Methods 2013; 95:186-94. [PMID: 23954706 DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2013.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2013] [Revised: 08/05/2013] [Accepted: 08/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Band smearing in agarose gels of PCR amplified bacterial 16S rRNA genes is understood to comprise amplicons of varying sizes arising from PCR errors, and requires elimination. We consider that with amplified heterogeneous DNA, delayed electro-migration is caused not by PCR errors but by dsDNA structures that arise from imperfect strand pairing. The extent of band smearing was found to be proportional to the sequence heterogeneity in 16S rRNA variable regions. Denaturing alkaline gels showed that all amplified DNA was of the correct size. A novel bioinformatic approach was used to reveal that band smearing occurred due to imperfectly paired strands of the amplified DNA. Since the smear is a structural fraction of the correct size PCR product, it carries important information on richness and diversity of the target DNA. For accurate analysis, the origin of the smear must first be identified before it is eliminated by examining the amplified DNA in denaturing alkaline gels.
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Ranasinghe KG, Vrana WA, Matney CJ, Kilgard MP. Increasing diversity of neural responses to speech sounds across the central auditory pathway. Neuroscience 2013; 252:80-97. [PMID: 23954862 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Revised: 07/24/2013] [Accepted: 08/03/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Neurons at higher stations of each sensory system are responsive to feature combinations not present at lower levels. As a result, the activity of these neurons becomes less redundant than lower levels. We recorded responses to speech sounds from the inferior colliculus and the primary auditory cortex neurons of rats, and tested the hypothesis that primary auditory cortex neurons are more sensitive to combinations of multiple acoustic parameters compared to inferior colliculus neurons. We independently eliminated periodicity information, spectral information and temporal information in each consonant and vowel sound using a noise vocoder. This technique made it possible to test several key hypotheses about speech sound processing. Our results demonstrate that inferior colliculus responses are spatially arranged and primarily determined by the spectral energy and the fundamental frequency of speech, whereas primary auditory cortex neurons generate widely distributed responses to multiple acoustic parameters, and are not strongly influenced by the fundamental frequency of speech. We found no evidence that inferior colliculus or primary auditory cortex was specialized for speech features such as voice onset time or formants. The greater diversity of responses in primary auditory cortex compared to inferior colliculus may help explain how the auditory system can identify a wide range of speech sounds across a wide range of conditions without relying on any single acoustic cue.
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Affiliation(s)
- K G Ranasinghe
- The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, United States.
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Boisen AMZ, Shipley T, Jackson P, Wallin H, Nellemann C, Vogel U, Yauk CL, Hougaard KS. In utero exposure to nanosized carbon black (Printex90) does not induce tandem repeat mutations in female murine germ cells. Reprod Toxicol 2013; 41:45-8. [PMID: 23871697 DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2013.06.068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2013] [Revised: 06/04/2013] [Accepted: 06/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Inhalation of particles has been shown to induce mutations in the male germline in mice following both prenatal and adult exposures in several experiments. In contrast, the effects of particles on female germ cell mutagenesis are not well established. Germline mutations are induced during active cell division, which occurs during fetal development in females. We investigated the effects of prenatal exposure to carbon black nanoparticles (CB) on induction of mutations in the female mouse germline during fetal development, spanning the critical developmental stages of oogenesis. Pregnant C57BL/6J mice were exposed four times during gestation by intratracheal instillation of 67μg/animal of nanosized carbon black Printex90 or vehicle (gestation days 7, 10, 15 and 18). Female offspring were raised to maturity and mated with unexposed CBA males. Expanded simple tandem repeat (ESTR) germline mutation rates in the resulting F2 generation were determined from full pedigrees (mother, father, offspring) of F1 female mice (178 CB-exposed and 258 control F2 offspring). ESTR mutation rates in CB-exposed F2 female offspring were not statistically different from those of F2 female control offspring.
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Valo H, Arola S, Laaksonen P, Torkkeli M, Peltonen L, Linder MB, Serimaa R, Kuga S, Hirvonen J, Laaksonen T. Drug release from nanoparticles embedded in four different nanofibrillar cellulose aerogels. Eur J Pharm Sci 2013; 50:69-77. [PMID: 23500041 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2013.02.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 179] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2012] [Revised: 12/20/2012] [Accepted: 02/27/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Highly porous nanocellulose aerogels prepared by freeze-drying from various nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) hydrogels are introduced as nanoparticle reservoirs for oral drug delivery systems. Here we show that beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) nanoparticles coated with amphiphilic hydrophobin proteins can be well integrated into the NFC aerogels. NFCs from four different origins are introduced and compared to microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). The nanocellulose aerogel scaffolds made from red pepper (RC) and MCC release the drug immediately, while bacterial cellulose (BC), quince seed (QC) and TEMPO-oxidized birch cellulose-based (TC) aerogels show sustained drug release. Since the release of the drug is controlled by the structure and interactions between the nanoparticles and the cellulose matrix, modulation of the matrix formers enable a control of the drug release rate. These nanocomposite structures can be very useful in many pharmaceutical nanoparticle applications and open up new possibilities as carriers for controlled drug delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Valo
- Division of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, PO Box 56, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
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Fraser DJ, Cook AM, Eddington JD, Bentzen P, Hutchings JA. Mixed evidence for reduced local adaptation in wild salmon resulting from interbreeding with escaped farmed salmon: complexities in hybrid fitness. Evol Appl 2008; 1:501-12. [PMID: 25567731 PMCID: PMC3352379 DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-4571.2008.00037.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2008] [Accepted: 04/28/2008] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Interbreeding between artificially-selected and wild organisms can have negative fitness consequences for the latter. In the Northwest Atlantic, farmed Atlantic salmon recurrently escape into the wild and enter rivers where small, declining populations of wild salmon breed. Most farmed salmon in the region derive from an ancestral source population that occupies a nonacidified river (pH 6.0–6.5). Yet many wild populations with which escaped farmed salmon might interbreed inhabit acidified rivers (pH 4.6–5.2). Using common garden experimentation, and examining two early-life history stages across two generations of interbreeding, we showed that wild salmon populations inhabiting acidified rivers had higher survival at acidified pH than farmed salmon or F1 farmed-wild hybrids. In contrast, however, there was limited evidence for reduced performance in backcrosses, and F2 farmed-wild hybrids performed better or equally well to wild salmon. Wild salmon also survived or grew better at nonacidified than acidified pH, and wild and farmed salmon survived equally well at nonacidified pH. Thus, for acid tolerance and the stages examined, we found some evidence both for and against the theory that repeated farmed-wild interbreeding may reduce adaptive genetic variation in the wild and thereby negatively affect the persistence of depleted wild populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan J Fraser
- Department of Biology, Dalhousie University Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - Adam M Cook
- Department of Biology, Dalhousie University Halifax, NS, Canada
| | | | - Paul Bentzen
- Department of Biology, Dalhousie University Halifax, NS, Canada
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