Analysis of large-scale gene expression post vaccination can provide an overview of immune responses. We used transcriptional approaches to comprehensively analyze the innate immune response signatures elicited by protein subunit (PS) vaccine ZF2001 and a mRNA vaccine named RRV. A fine-grained time-dependent dissection of large-scale gene expression post immunization revealed that ZF001 induced MHC class II-related genes, including cd74 and H2-Aa, more expeditiously than RRV. Notably, RRV induced MHC class I-related genes like Tap1/2, B2m...

Purpose of Review:Magnesium is an essential mineral for bone metabolism, but little is known about how magnesium intake alters fracture risk. We conducted a narrative review to better understand how magnesium intake, through supplementation, diet, or altering the concentration of dialysate magnesium, affects mineral bone disease and the risk of fracture in individuals across the spectrum of kidney disease.Sources of Information:Peer-reviewed clinical trials and observational studies.Methods:We searched for relevant articles in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases....

Although research has shown that parenting an adolescent with a visual impairment may present unique challenges, a few studies have examined how parents negotiate such challenges and the meanings they derive from their parenting experiences. Using a constructivist narrative inquiry approach, this study explored how four parents of adolescents with visual impairments storied their psychosocial and occupational experiences of childrearing. A holistic-content analysis and thematic analysis of participants’ narrative accounts was conducted, resulting in the...

Although research has shown that parenting an adolescent with a visual impairment may present unique challenges, a few studies have examined how parents negotiate such challenges and the meanings they derive from their parenting experiences. Using a constructivist narrative inquiry approach, this study explored how four parents of adolescents with visual impairments storied their psychosocial and occupational experiences of childrearing. A holistic-content analysis and thematic analysis of participants’ narrative accounts was conducted, resulting in the...

The astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle hypothesis posits that glial-generated lactate is transported to neurons to fuel metabolic processes required for long-term memory. Although studies in vertebrates have revealed that lactate shuttling is important for cognitive function, it is uncertain if this form of metabolic coupling is conserved in invertebrates or is influenced by age. Lactate dehydrogenase (Ldh) is a rate-limiting enzyme that interconverts lactate and pyruvate. Here we genetically manipulated expression of Drosophila melanogaster lactate dehydrogenase...

Determining the probability of fixation of beneficial mutations is critically important for building predictive models of adaptive evolution. Despite considerable theoretical work, models of fixation probability have stood untested for nearly a century. However, recent advances in experimental and theoretical techniques permit the development of models with testable predictions. We developed a new model for the probability of surviving genetic drift, a major component of fixation probability, for novel beneficial mutations in the fungus Aspergillus...

Despite much discussion of the importance of quantifying and reporting genotyping error in molecular studies, it is still not standard practice in the literature. This is particularly a concern for amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) studies, where differences in laboratory, peak-calling and locus-selection protocols can generate data sets varying widely in genotyping error rate, the number of loci used and potentially estimates of genetic diversity or differentiation. In our experience, papers rarely provide adequate information...

Omnivory enables animals to fill more than one trophic niche, providing access to a wider variety of food resources with potentially higher nutrient value, particularly when resources become scarce. Animals can achieve omnivory using different strategies, for example opportunistic foraging, or switching between multiple trophic niches. The Neotropical bat Glossophaga soricina (Pallas, 1766) is a common and widespread species known for nectar-feeding, but it also eats fruit and insects. Approaching stationary objects (flowers and fruits)...

The search for predictions of species diversity across environmental gradients has challenged ecologists for decades. The humped-back model (HBM) suggests that plant diversity peaks at intermediate productivity; at low productivity few species can tolerate the environmental stresses, and at high productivity a few highly competitive species dominate. Over time the HBM has become increasingly controversial, and recent studies claim to have refuted it. Here, by using data from coordinated surveys conducted throughout grasslands worldwide and...

The acquisition of physiological strategies to tolerate novel thermal conditions allows organisms to exploit new environments. As a result, thermal tolerance is a key determinant of the global distribution of biodiversity, yet the constraints on its evolution are not well understood. Here we investigate parallel evolution of cold tolerance in New Zealand stick insects, an endemic radiation containing three montane-occurring species. Using a phylogeny constructed from 274 orthologous genes, we show that stick insects have...

In birds, song divergence often precedes and facilitates divergence of other traits. We assessed the relative roles of cultural drift, innovation and acoustic adaptation in divergence of island bird dialects, using silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis). In recently colonized populations, syllable diversity was not significantly lower than source populations, shared syllables between populations decreased with increasing number of founder events and dialect variation displayed contributions from both habitat features and drift. The breadth of multivariate space occupied...

Pollen-mediated gene flow is a major driver of spatial genetic structure in plant populations. Both individual plant characteristics and site-specific features of the landscape can modify the perceived attractiveness of plants to their pollinators and thus play an important role in shaping spatial genetic variation. Most studies of landscape-level genetic connectivity in plants have focused on the effects of inter-individual distance using spatial and increasingly ecological separation; yet have not incorporated individual plant characteristics or...

Large carnivores' fear of the human ‘super predator’ has the potential to alter their feeding behaviour and result in human-induced trophic cascades. However, it has yet to be experimentally tested if large carnivores perceive humans as predators and react strongly enough to have cascading effects on their prey. We conducted a predator playback experiment exposing pumas to predator (human) and non-predator control (frog) sounds at puma feeding sites to measure immediate fear responses to humans...

A Late Ordovician brachiopod fauna from the Black River quadrangle (D-1 1:63,360 scale) of east-central Alaska comprises taxa typical of the Late Ordovician brachiopod fauna in the pericratonic epeiric seas of Laurentia, including Hesperorthis pyramidalis, Plaesiomys occidentalis, Eoplectodonta sp., Holtehdalina sp., Leptaena sp., Brevilamnulella minuta n. sp., Tcherskidium tenuicostatum n. sp., Rhynchotrema iowense, and Whitfieldella sp. The presence of Plaesiomys occidentalis and Tcherskidium tenuicostata n. sp. indicates a latest Katian age by correlation with similar...

Appropriate response to others is necessary for social interactions. Yet little is known about how neurotransmitters regulate attractive and repulsive social cues. Using genetic and pharmacological manipulations in Drosophila melanogaster, we show that dopamine is contributing the response to others in a social group, specifically, social spacing, but not the avoidance of odours released by stressed flies (dSO). Interestingly, this dopamine-mediated behaviour is prominent only in the day-time, and its effect varies depending on tissue,...

Sequencing of bacterial genomes has revealed an abundance of prophage sequences in many bacterial species. Since these sequences are accessible, through recombination, to infecting phages, bacteria carry an arsenal of genetic material that can be used by these viruses. We develop a mathematical model to isolate the effects of this phenomenon on the coevolution of temperate phage and bacteria. The model predicts that prophage sequences may play a key role in maintaining the phage population...

Variable, changing, climates may affect each participant in a biotic interaction differently. We explored the effects of temperature and plasticity on the outcome of a host-pathogen interaction to try to predict the outcomes of infection under fluctuating temperatures. We infected Gryllus veletis crickets with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum under constant (6 °C, 12 °C, 18 °C or 25 °C) or fluctuating temperatures (6 °C to 18 °C or 6 °C to 25 °C). We...

Entrainment of neural oscillations on multiple time scales is important for the perception of speech. Musical rhythms, and in particular the perception of a regular beat in musical rhythms, is also likely to rely on entrainment of neural oscillations. One recently proposed approach to studying beat perception in the context of neural entrainment and resonance (the “frequency-tagging” approach) has received an enthusiastic response from the scientific community. A specific version of the approach involves comparing...

Understanding connections between breeding, stopover and wintering grounds for long-distance migratory birds can provide important insight into factors influencing demography and the strength of carry-over effects among various periods of the annual cycle. Using previously described, multi-isotope (δ13C, δ15N, δ2H) feather isoscapes for Africa, we identified the most probable wintering areas for house martins (Delichon urbica) breeding at Badajoz in southwestern Spain. We identified two most-probable wintering areas differing in latitude in West Africa. We...

In jawed vertebrates, genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play a key role in immunity by encoding cell-surface proteins that recognize and bind non-self antigens. High variability at MHC suggests that these loci may also function in social signalling such as mate choice and kin recognition. This requires that MHC genotype covaries with some perceptible phenotypic trait. In mammals and fish, MHC is signalled chemically through volatile and non-volatile peptide odour cues, facilitating MHC-dependent...

Many birds undertake long migrations when they are only a few months of age. Although they are typically of adult body size, their performance and survival are often poor compared to adults. This differential performance could be due to lack of experience, selection against poor-performing cohort members, or inherent constraints of continuing physiological and morphological maturation of juveniles. Limited evidence suggests that digestive and muscle physiology of juveniles during their first migration may differ from...

Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) are one of the classic systems for studying male alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) in teleost fishes. In this species, there are two distinct life histories: parental and cuckolder, encompassing three reproductive tactics, parental, satellite, and sneaker. The parental life history is fixed, whereas individuals who enter the cuckolder life history transition from sneaker to satellite tactic as they grow. For this study, we used RNAseq to characterize the brain transcriptome of...

There are numerous observational studies on intra-specific variation in avian nest building and a single experimental manipulation. The general consensus is that birds build nests in response to environmental conditions, but it is not clear whether such flexibility in nest building is reproductively advantageous. To test the relationship between building flexibility and reproductive success, we allowed captive zebra finches to build their first nest, using string, and to breed in temperature-controlled rooms held at 14oC...

Objectives: To investigate the hypothesis that strokes occurring in patients with COVID-19 have distinctive features, we investigated stroke risk, clinical phenotypes, and outcomes in this population. Methods: We performed a systematic search resulting in 10 studies reporting stroke frequency among COVID-19 patients, which were pooled with one unpublished series from Canada. We applied random-effects meta-analyses to estimate the proportion of stroke among COVID-19. We performed an additional systematic search for cases series of stroke in...

The length of time songbirds remain at a migratory stopover site is likely regulated by a daily stay/go decision informed by fat stores and weather conditions, but the finer-scale timing of this decision and associated pre-departure behaviours are still poorly understood. Using automated radiotelemetry of free-living songbirds captured at a migratory stopover site in spring, we tested whether individuals change their locomotor activity near sunset on their migratory departure day compared to their non-departure days....