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In this paper, I will analyze the circumstances of pointing by apes and humans and develop an alternative theoretical model of pointing that does not rely upon non-physical constructs. According to the view espoused, here, pointing develops as a solution to a particular kind of developmental problem, characterized by (a) a developing capacity for tool use, (b) barriers to direct action, and (c) a history of caregiver responsiveness. Pointing by both apes and humans is explicable without invoking imaginary, mental causes. This article is categorized under Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Psychology > Comparative Psychology.Recombinant proteins have emerged as promising building blocks for vesicle self-assembly because of their versatility through genetic manipulation and biocompatibility. Vesicles composed of thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) fusion proteins encapsulate cargo during assembly. However, vesicle stability in physiological environments remains a significant challenge for biofunctional applications. Here, incorporation of an unnatural amino acid, para-azido phenylalanine, into the ELP domain is reported to enable photocrosslinking of protein vesicles and tuning of vesicle size and swelling. The size of the vesicles can be tuned by changing ELP hydrophobicity and ionic strength. learn more Protein vesicles are assessed for their ability to encapsulate doxorubicin and dually deliver doxorubicin and fluorescent protein in vitro as a proof of concept. The resulting photocrosslinkable vesicles made from full-sized, functional proteins show high potential in drug delivery applications, especially for small molecule/protein combination therapies or targeted therapies.The objective of this study was to compare the potential of mono-rhamnolipids (mono-RML) and di-rhamnolipids (di-RML) against biofilm formation on carbon steel coupons submitted to oil produced water for 14 days. The antibiofilm effect of the RML on the coupons was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by epifluorescence microscopy, and the contact angle was measured using a goniometer. SEM analysis results showed that all RML congeners had effective antibiofilm action, as well as preliminary anticorrosion evaluation confirmed that all RML congeners prevented the metal deterioration. In more detail, epifluorescence microscopy showed that mono-RML were the most efficient congeners in preventing microorganism's adherence on the carbon steel metal. Image analyses indicate the presence of 15.9%, 3.4%, and less then 0.1% of viable particles in di-RML, mono/di-RML and mono-RML pretreatments, respectively, in comparison to control samples. Contact angle results showed that the crude carbon steel coupon presented hydrophobic character favoring hydrophobic molecules adhesion. We calculated the theoretical polarity of the RML congeners and verified that mono-RML (log P = 3.63) presented the most hydrophobic character. This had perfect correspondence to contact angle results, since mono-RML conditioning (58.2°) more significantly changed the contact angle compared with the conditioning with one of the most common surfactants used on oil industry (29.4°). Based on the results, it was concluded that rhamnolipids are efficient molecules to be used to avoid biofilm on carbon steel metal when submitted to oil produced water and that a higher proportion of mono-rhamnolipids is more indicated for this application.Gradients in mechanical properties, physical architecture and biochemical composition exist in a variety of complex tissues, yet 3D in vitro models that enable investigation of these cues on cellular processes, especially those contributing to vascularization of engineered tissues are limited. Here, a photopolymerization approach to create cell-laden hydrogel biomaterials with decoupled and combined gradients in modulus, immobilized cell adhesive peptide (RGD) concentration, and proteolytic degradation enabling spatial encapsulation of vascular spheroids is reported to elucidate their impact on vascular sprouting in 3D culture. Vascular spheroids encapsulated in these gradient scaffolds exhibit spatial variations in total sprout length. Scaffolds presenting an immobilized RGD gradient promote biased vascular sprouting toward increasing RGD concentration. Importantly, biased sprouting is found to be dependent on immobilized RGD gradient characteristics, including magnitude and slope, with increases in these factors contributing to significant enhancements in biased sprouting responses. Conversely, reduction in biased sprouting responses is observed in combined gradient scaffolds possessing opposing gradients in RGD and modulus. The presented work is the first to demonstrate the use of a cell-laden biomaterial platform to systematically investigate the role of multiple scaffold gradients as well as gradient slope, magnitude and orientation on vascular sprouting responses in 3D culture.Rapid life-history changes caused by size-selective harvesting are often interpreted as a response to direct harvest selection against a large body size. However, similar trait changes may result from a harvest-induced relaxation of natural selection for a large body size via density-dependent selection. Here, we show evidence of such density-dependent selection favouring large-bodied individuals at high population densities, in replicated pond populations of medaka fish. Harvesting, in contrast, selected medaka directly against a large body size and, in parallel, decreased medaka population densities. Five years of harvesting were enough for harvested and unharvested medaka populations to inherit the classically predicted trait differences, whereby harvested medaka grew slower and matured earlier than unharvested medaka. We show that this life-history divergence was not driven by direct harvest selection for a smaller body size in harvested populations, but by density-dependent natural selection for a larger body size in unharvested populations.

The risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias (LTVA) has been reported to be lower in Takotsubo syndrome (TS) compared with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, the extent to which these differences relate to the fact that most patients with TS are women (who have a lower risk of LTVA) and a relatively larger proportion of patients with STEMI are men is incompletely understood. We aimed to investigate the risk of LTVA or death in sex-matched and age-matched patients with TS, anterior STEMI, and non-anterior STEMI.

We systematically reviewed the charts of all patients with TS who were treated at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Gothenburg, Sweden) between 2008 and 2019. A total of 155 patients with confirmed TS (according to the European Society of Cardiology diagnostic criteria for TS) were sex-matched and age-matched 111 to patients with anterior and non-anterior STEMI. Baseline characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were recorded directly from the patient charts for all patients, and all admission electrocardiographs were analysed.