Current phylogenomic data sets highlight the need for species tree methods able to deal with several sources of gene tree/species tree incongruence. At the same time, we need to make most use of all available data. Most species tree methods deal with single processes of phylogenetic discordance, namely, gene duplication and loss, incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) or horizontal gene transfer. In this manuscript, we address the problem of species tree inference from multilocus, genome-wide data sets regardless of the presence of gene duplication and loss and ILS therefore without the need to identify orthologs or to use a single individual per species. We do this by extending the idea of Maximum Likelihood (ML) supertrees to a hierarchical Bayesian model where several sources of gene tree/species tree disagreement can be accounted for in a modular manner. We implemented this model in a computer program called guenomu whose inputs are posterior distributions of unrooted gene tree topologies for multiple gene families, and whose output is the posterior distribution of rooted species tree topologies. We conducted extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of our approach in comparison with other species tree approaches able to deal with more than one leaf from the same species. Our method ranked best under simulated data sets, in spite of ignoring branch lengths, and performed well on empirical data, as well as being fast enough to analyze relatively large data sets. Our Bayesian supertree method was also very successful in obtaining better estimates of gene trees, by reducing the uncertainty in their distributions. In addition, our results show that under complex simulation scenarios, gene tree parsimony is also a competitive approach once we consider its speed, in contrast to more sophisticated models.
The response of gold nanorods to both thermal and ultrafast laser-induced heating has been examined. The thermal heating experiments show structural changes that occur on timescales ranging from hours to days. At the highest temperature examined (250 degrees C) the nanorods are transformed into spheres within an hour. On the other hand, no structural changes are observed in the laser-induced heating experiments up to temperatures of 700 +/- 50 degrees C. This is attributed to thermal diffusion in the laser experiments. Measurements of the period of the extensional mode of the nanorods using time-resolved spectroscopy show a significant softening at high pump laser powers. However, the decrease in the period is less than expected from bulk Young's modulus vs. temperature data.
Summary Fixation probabilities and mean times to fixation of new mutant alleles in an isogenic population having an effect on a quantitative trait under truncation selection were computed using stochastic simulation. A variety of population structures and breeding systems were studied in order to find an optimal design for maximizing the fixation probability for recessive genes without impairing that for non-recessives or delaying times to fixation. Circular mating or cycles with repeated generations of close inbreeding alternating with combination of the families proved to be very inefficient. The most successful scheme found, considering fixation probabilities and times to fixation jointly, was to practise individual selection and mate full sibs whenever possible, otherwise mate at random. The benefit was directly proportional to the number of full-sib matings performed, which, in turn, almost exclusively depended on the number of selected individuals with very little effect of selection intensity or magnitude of gene effects. Fixation rates could be well approximated by diffusion methods. When selection was practised in only one sex and, therefore, the proportion of full-sib matings could be varied from zero to one, maximizing the amount of full-sib mating was found to maximize fixation probability, at least for single mutants.
Ovarian cancer is a serious threat to women's life and health, with a high mortality rate. Therefore, in addition to improving surgery for ovarian cancer, it is particularly important to develop novel drug treatments. In the present study, the anticancer effects of cucurbitacin I, a natural product, were investigated. Cucurbitacin I impaired the viability of SKVO3 cells in a concentration‑ and time‑dependent manner. Apoptosis was involved in the process of cucurbitacin I‑induced cell death, with an increase observed in cleaved‑caspase 3 and BAX, and a decrease in Bcl‑2. Cucurbitacin I caused a notable increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species, and regulated Kelch‑like ECH‑associated protein 1 and nuclear factor erythroid‑derived 2‑like 2 to decrease the expression of antioxidant‑related genes. In addition, Cucurbitacin I induced cell shrinkage by regulating the p190BRhoGAP (p190B)‑Rac1 signaling axis related to the cytoskeleton. In brief, these results suggested that cucurbitacin I induced cell death through oxidative stress and the p190B‑Rac1 signaling axis in SKVO3 cells. The results may provide novel evidence for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
On behalf of the editorial board, we are proud to announce the launching of the open access journal Sustainable Food Production (SFP) published and owned by the Publishing house SciPress Ltd, Switzerland.
El desarrollo de instrumentacion automatica para la monitorizacion ambulatoria de la presion arterial ha hecho posible el seguimiento de las variaciones temporales de la presion arterial a lo largo de 24 horas o mas en grandes grupos de individuos. Si disponemos de datos de un grupo de sujetos de referencia, podremos construir un intervalo de prediccion (aquel que incluye una futura observacion de la poblacion de referencia con una determinada confianza) o bien un intervalo de tolerancia (aquel que incluira al menos una determinada proporcion de la poblacion con una determinada confianza). Hemos utilizado datos muestreados a lo largo de 48 horas en 148 hombres y mujeres normotensas para calcular y comparar intervalos de tolerancia y prediccion especificados en funcion del tiempo de muestreo. Los resultados sugieren la utilizacion de los intervalos de tolerancia como umbral apropiado para la variabilidad circadiana de la presion arterial, principalmente porque la utilizacion practica de los intervalos de prediccion esta restringida por las suposiciones de normalidad y simetria. Ademas, los intervalos de prediccion no pueden ser utilizados cuando se calculan en base a una reducida muestra de referencia. Una vez establecido el umbral de referencia para la presion arterial (dado por el limite superior del intervalo de tolerancia), la medida de exceso de presion arterial puede definirse a partir del indice hiperbarico. Este indice, como medida de la carga total ejercida sobre la pared arterial, se puede calcular mediante integracion numerica como el area total de exceso de la presion arterial de un paciente dado por encima del umbral. El indice hiperbarico, asi como la duracion del exceso, pueden ser utilizados en el diagnostico de hipertension. En concreto, hemos examinado prospectivamente esta prueba combinada, el tolerance-hyperbaric test, en la identificacion precoz de hipertension gestacional y preeclampsia. Para ello analizamos 1494 series de presion arterial muestreadas durante 48 horas en diversas ocasiones a lo largo de la gestacion de 124 mujeres sanas y 78 mujeres que desarrollan hipertension gestacional o preeclampsia. La sensibilidad del tolerance-hyperbaric test fue del 93% en el primer trimestre, incrementandose hasta el 99% en el tercer trimestre de gestacion. Los resultados indicaron menor sensibilidad y especificidad en el diagnostico basado en otros parametros tambien calculados a partir de la serie de presion arterial incluyendo la carga de presion y valores medios diarios y nocturnos. A pesar de las limitaciones de la monitorizacion ambulatoria de la presion arterial, el tolerance-hyperbaric test representa una prueba reproducible, no invasiva y de alta sensibilidad para diagnostico de hipertension que ha sido tambien validada prospectivamente en la identificacion precoz de aquellas gestantes que desarrollaran hipertension gestacional y preeclampsia, que puede ser tambien utilizada para indicar la necesidad de establecer medidas profilacticas.
