Ferrellclarke3292

Our knowledge about the gut microbiota of pigs is still scarce, despite the importance of these animals for biomedical research and agriculture. Here, we present a collection of cultured bacteria from the pig gut, including 110 species across 40 families and nine phyla. We provide taxonomic descriptions for 22 novel species and 16 genera. Meta-analysis of 16S rRNA amplicon sequence data and metagenome-assembled genomes reveal prevalent and pig-specific species within Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Clostridium, Desulfovibrio, Enterococcus, Fusobacterium, and several new genera described in this study. Potentially interesting functions discovered in these organisms include a fucosyltransferase encoded in the genome of the novel species Clostridium porci, and prevalent gene clusters for biosynthesis of sactipeptide-like peptides. Many strains deconjugate primary bile acids in in vitro assays, and a Clostridium scindens strain produces secondary bile acids via dehydroxylation. In addition, cells of the novel species Bullifex porci are coccoidal or spherical under the culture conditions tested, in contrast with the usual helical shape of other members of the family Spirochaetaceae. The strain collection, called 'Pig intestinal bacterial collection' (PiBAC), is publicly available at www.dsmz.de/pibac and opens new avenues for functional studies of the pig gut microbiota.Evergreen conifers in boreal forests can survive extremely cold (freezing) temperatures during long dark winter and fully recover during summer. A phenomenon called "sustained quenching" putatively provides photoprotection and enables their survival, but its precise molecular and physiological mechanisms are not understood. To unveil them, here we have analyzed seasonal adjustment of the photosynthetic machinery of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees by monitoring multi-year changes in weather, chlorophyll fluorescence, chloroplast ultrastructure, and changes in pigment-protein composition. Analysis of Photosystem II and Photosystem I performance parameters indicate that highly dynamic structural and functional seasonal rearrangements of the photosynthetic apparatus occur. Although several mechanisms might contribute to 'sustained quenching' of winter/early spring pine needles, time-resolved fluorescence analysis shows that extreme down-regulation of photosystem II activity along with direct energy transfer from photosystem II to photosystem I play a major role. NSC 178886 mw This mechanism is enabled by extensive thylakoid destacking allowing for the mixing of PSII with PSI complexes. These two linked phenomena play crucial roles in winter acclimation and protection.Gender inequalities are reflected in differential vulnerability, and exposure to the hazards posed by climate change and addressing them is key to increase the adaptive capacities of societies. We provide trajectories of the Gender Inequality Index (GII) alongside the Shared-Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), a scenario framework widely used in climate science. Here we find that rapid improvements in gender inequality are possible under a sustainable development scenario already in the near-term. The share of girls growing up in countries with the highest gender inequality could be reduced to about 24% in 2030 compared to about 70% today. Largely overcoming gender inequality as assessed in the GII would be within reach by mid-century. Under less optimistic scenarios, gender inequality may persist throughout the 21st century. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating gender in scenarios assessing future climate impacts and underscore the relevance of addressing gender inequalities in policies aiming to foster climate resilient development.Receptive field (RF) size and preferred spatial frequency (SF) vary greatly across the primary visual cortex (V1), increasing in a scale invariant fashion with eccentricity. Recent studies reveal that preferred SF also forms a fine-scale periodic map. A fundamental open question is how local variability in preferred SF is tied to the overall spatial RF. Here, we use two-photon imaging to simultaneously measure maps of RF size, phase selectivity, SF bandwidth, and orientation bandwidth-all of which were found to be topographically organized and correlate with preferred SF. Each of these newly characterized inter-map relationships strongly deviate from scale invariance, yet reveal a common motif-they are all accounted for by a model with uniform spatial pooling from scale invariant inputs. Our results and model provide novel and quantitative understanding of the output from V1 to downstream circuits.Ketamine is increasingly being used as a therapeutic for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), yet the effects of ketamine on the human brain remain largely unknown. This pilot study employed diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) to examine relationships between ketamine treatment and white matter (WM) microstructure, with the aim of increasing the current understanding of ketamine's neural mechanisms of action in humans. Longitudinal dMRI data were acquired from 13 individuals with TRD two hours prior to (pre-infusion), and four hours following (post-infusion), an intravenous ketamine infusion. Free-water imaging was employed to quantify cerebrospinal fluid-corrected mean fractional anisotropy (FA) in 15 WM bundles pre- and post-infusion. Analyses revealed that higher pre-infusion FA in the left cingulum bundle and the left superior longitudinal fasciculus was associated with greater depression symptom improvement 24 h post-ketamine. Moreover, four hours after intravenous administration of ketamine, FA rapidly increased in numerous WM bundles in the brain; this increase was significantly associated with 24 h symptom improvement in select bundles. Overall, the results of this preliminary study suggest that WM properties, as measured by dMRI, may have a potential impact on clinical improvement following ketamine. Ketamine administration additionally appears to be associated with rapid WM diffusivity changes, suggestive of rapid changes in WM microstructure. This study thus points to pre-treatment WM structure as a potential factor associated with ketamine's clinical efficacy, and to post-treatment microstructural changes as a candidate neuroimaging marker of ketamine's cellular mechanisms.