scholarly journals On the Gestural Origin of Language Lateralisation: Manual Communication reflects Broca’s Asymmetry in Monkeys

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Becker ◽  
Konstantina Margiotoudi ◽  
Damien Marie ◽  
Muriel Roth ◽  
Bruno Nazarian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Hemispheric Asymmetry ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Old World Monkeys ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
Anatomical Mri

Manual gestures and speech recruit a common neural network, involving Broca area in the left hemisphere. Evolutionary questions about this language organization led to a renewed attention for comparative research on gestural communication in our closer primate relatives and its potential language-like features. Here, using in vivo anatomical MRI in 80 baboons, we found that communicative gesturing’s lateralisation – but not handedness for manipulation - is related to Broca homologue’s marker in monkeys, namely contralateral depth hemispheric asymmetry of the ventral portion of the inferior arcuate sulcus. This finding provides strong support for the gestural evolutionary continuities with language-related frontal specialization, dating back not only to Homo sapiens evolution, but rather to a much older common ancestor shared with old-world monkeys, 25-35 million years ago.

scholarly journals Palaeoneurology and the Emergence of Language

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mounier ◽  
C. Noûs ◽  
A. Balzeau
Keyword(s):  
Basic Property ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Phenotypic Data ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Main Ideas

The origin of language has been much debated over the years. Recent research has centred the controversies on two main ideas. Language, as defined by the Basic Property formulated by Chomsky, is a characteristic unique to Homo sapiens that developed in our species in the past 300,000 years. Other scientists argue that the Basic Property is a derived characteristic shared with other hominin species, such as H. neanderthalensis and the last common ancestor of both modern humans and Neandertals, which evolved over a long period of time, perhaps as long as two million years. Palaeoneurology, which studies the phenotype of the brain in past populations, may have left this complex topic aside because of the difficulty of deducing brain morphology from endocasts (imprints of the neurocranium) and inferring function from brain morphology. In this article, we review the various hypotheses on the evolution of language, highlighting the potential of palaeoneurology to help understand this complex aspect of human evolution, and provide an updated interpretation of previously published endocranial phenotypic data from fossil populations. This brings additional support to a long chronology framework for the origin of language in the hominin lineage: the basic property for modern language may have been in place from the last common ancestor of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.

scholarly journals Region-specific elevations of glutamate + glutamine correlate with the sensory symptoms of autism spectrum disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason L. He ◽  
Georg Oeltzschner ◽  
Mark Mikkelsen ◽  
Alyssa Deronda ◽  
Ashley D. Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Primary Sensorimotor Cortex ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Inhibitory Signaling

AbstractIndividuals on the autism spectrum are often reported as being hyper- and/or hyporeactive to sensory input. These sensory symptoms were one of the key observations that led to the development of the altered excitation-inhibition (E-I) model of autism, which posits that an increase ratio of excitatory to inhibitory signaling may explain certain phenotypical expressions of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). While there has been strong support for the altered E-I model of autism, much of the evidence has come from animal models. With regard to in-vivo human studies, evidence for altered E-I balance in ASD come from studies adopting magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Spectral-edited MRS can be used to provide measures of the levels of GABA + (GABA + macromolecules) and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) in specific brain regions as proxy markers of inhibition and excitation respectively. In the current study, we found region-specific elevations of Glx in the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) in ASD. There were no group differences of GABA+ in either the SM1 or thalamus. Higher levels of Glx were associated with more parent reported difficulties of sensory hyper- and hyporeactivity, as well as reduced feed-forward inhibition during tactile perception in children with ASD. Critically, the finding of elevated Glx provides strong empirical support for increased excitation in ASD. Our results also provide a clear link between Glx and the sensory symptoms of ASD at both behavioral and perceptual levels.

scholarly journals Characterization and selective inhibition of myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase from Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania major

2006 ◽  
Vol 396 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrysoula Panethymitaki ◽  
Paul W. Bowyer ◽  
Helen P. Price ◽  
Robin J. Leatherbarrow ◽  
Katherine A. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trypanosoma Brucei ◽  
Leishmania Major ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Selective Inhibition ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Chemotherapeutic Agents ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Ic50 Values

The eukaryotic enzyme NMT (myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase) has been characterized in a range of species from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Homo sapiens. NMT is essential for viability in a number of human pathogens, including the fungi Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, and the parasitic protozoa Leishmania major and Trypanosoma brucei. We have purified the Leishmania and T. brucei NMTs as active recombinant proteins and carried out kinetic analyses with their essential fatty acid donor, myristoyl-CoA and specific peptide substrates. A number of inhibitory compounds that target NMT in fungal species have been tested against the parasite enzymes in vitro and against live parasites in vivo. Two of these compounds inhibit TbNMT with IC50 values of <1 μM and are also active against mammalian parasite stages, with ED50 (the effective dose that allows 50% cell growth) values of 16–66 μM and low toxicity to murine macrophages. These results suggest that targeting NMT could be a valid approach for the development of chemotherapeutic agents against infectious diseases including African sleeping sickness and Nagana.

Synthetic Riboswitches for the Analysis of tRNA Processing by eukaryotic RNase P Enzymes

RNA ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. rna.078814.121
Author(s):  
Anna Ender ◽  
Nadine Grafl ◽  
Tim Kolberg ◽  
Sven Findeiss ◽  
Peter F. Stadler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Rnase P ◽  
Single Stranded Region ◽  
Domains Of Life ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Enzyme ◽  
Trna Precursor

Removal of the 5' leader region is an essential step in the maturation of tRNA molecules in all domains of life. This reaction is catalyzed by various RNase P activities, ranging from ribonucleoproteins with ribozyme activity to protein-only forms. In Escherichia coli, the efficiency of RNase P mediated cleavage can be controlled by computationally designed riboswitch elements in a ligand-dependent way, where the 5' leader sequence of a tRNA precursor is either sequestered in a hairpin structure or presented as a single-stranded region accessible for maturation. In the presented work, the regulatory potential of such artificial constructs is tested on different forms of eukaryotic RNase P enzymes – two protein-only RNase P enzymes (PRORP1 and PRORP2) from Arabidopsis thaliana and the ribonucleoprotein of Homo sapiens. The PRORP enzymes were analyzed in vitro as well as in vivo in a bacterial RNase P complementation system. We also tested in HEK293T cells whether the riboswitches remain functional with human nuclear RNase P. While the regulatory principle of the synthetic riboswitches applies for all tested RNase P enzymes, the results also show differences in the substrate requirements of the individual enzyme versions. Hence, such designed RNase P riboswitches represent a novel tool to investigate the impact of the structural composition of the 5'-leader on substrate recognition by different types of RNase P enzymes.

scholarly journals Warfare, Ethics, Ethology: evolutionary fundamentals for conflict and cooperation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Barreiros
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Tree ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
African Apes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cognitive Capability ◽  
The Social

The aim of this article is to set a macro-historical narrative concerning the emergence of warfare and social ethics as symplesiomorphic features in the lineage of Homo sapiens. This means that these two behavioral aspects, representative of a very selected branch in the phylogenetic tree of the Primate order, are shared by the two lineages of great African apes that diverged from a common ancestor around six million years in the past, leading to extant humans and chimpanzees. Therefore, this article proposes an ethological understanding of warfare and social ethics, as both are innate to the social high-specialized modular mind present in the species of genera Pan and Homo. However behavioral restraints to intersocietal coalitionary violence seems to be an exclusive aspect of the transdominial modular cognition that characterizes modern humans. Thus, if in the evolutionary long durée, warfare and restrictions to intrasocial violence both appear to be ethologically common to humans and chimpanzees to a certain extent, an ethics of warfare - and, of course, the cognitive capability for intersocietal peace - seems to be distinctly human.

scholarly journals BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE PEPTIDES IN METABOLISM REGULATION. PEPTONS, PEPTIDES, AMINO ACIDS, FATTY ACIDS, LIPOPROTEINS, LIPIDS, AND THE EFFECT OF NUTRICEUTICALS

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Aripovsky ◽  
V. N. Titov
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Functional Difference ◽  
Small Molecular Weight ◽  
Active Peptides ◽  
Metabolism Regulation ◽  
General Pathology ◽  
Biologically Active Peptides

According to phylogenetic theory of general pathology, formation of multicellular organisms started when each cell (a unicellular organism) reached the first level of relative biological perfection. By that time the stimuli for perfection of the unicellular exhausted, and formation of the multicellular became a biological necessity. All cells, being associated, formed the second level of relative biological perfection within the principle of biological succession. The association included highly organized unicellular organisms with their specific autocrine biological functions and reactions. At the second level of relative biological perfection all humoral mediators in paracrine regulated cell communities (PC) and organs were predominantly hydrophilic and short living. They had a small molecular weight and were probably biologically active peptides (BAP). We believe that functional difference of PC and later of organs is based on differentiation of lysosomal function and production of various enzymes involved in proteolysis of dietary proteins. This allowed various PC and organs to form chemically and functionally different BAP pools from one protein upon proteolysis. Individual peptide pools in PC created the basis for morphologically and functionally different cells and organs. Cell that produces peptides can modify their concentration, chemical parameters and ratios by varying the selectivity of its proteases. In vivo regulation of metabolism by BAP has a common root in bacteria, plants and vertebrates, including Homo sapiens. The third level of relative biological perfection in the organism has formed in close association with cognitive biological function.

scholarly journals DualSeqDB: the host–pathogen dual RNA sequencing database for infection processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (D1) ◽  
pp. D687-D693
Author(s):  
Javier Macho Rendón ◽  
Benjamin Lang ◽  
Marc Ramos Llorens ◽  
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia ◽  
Marc Torrent Burgas
Keyword(s):  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Natural Hosts ◽  
Host Infection ◽  
Infection Processes ◽  
Different Strains

Abstract Despite antibiotic resistance being a matter of growing concern worldwide, the bacterial mechanisms of pathogenesis remain underexplored, restraining our ability to develop new antimicrobials. The rise of high-throughput sequencing technology has made available a massive amount of transcriptomic data that could help elucidate the mechanisms underlying bacterial infection. Here, we introduce the DualSeqDB database, a resource that helps the identification of gene transcriptional changes in both pathogenic bacteria and their natural hosts upon infection. DualSeqDB comprises nearly 300 000 entries from eight different studies, with information on bacterial and host differential gene expression under in vivo and in vitro conditions. Expression data values were calculated entirely from raw data and analyzed through a standardized pipeline to ensure consistency between different studies. It includes information on seven different strains of pathogenic bacteria and a variety of cell types and tissues in Homo sapiens, Mus musculus and Macaca fascicularis at different time points. We envisage that DualSeqDB can help the research community in the systematic characterization of genes involved in host infection and help the development and tailoring of new molecules against infectious diseases. DualSeqDB is freely available at http://www.tartaglialab.com/dualseq.

scholarly journals Differentiation-related expression of a major 64K corneal keratin in vivo and in culture suggests limbal location of corneal epithelial stem cells.

1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Schermer ◽  
S Galvin ◽  
T T Sun
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Basal Cells ◽  
Epithelial Stem Cells ◽  
Corneal Epithelial ◽  
Differentiated Cells ◽  
Limbal Epithelium ◽  
Cell Layers

In this paper we present keratin expression data that lend strong support to a model of corneal epithelial maturation in which the stem cells are located in the limbus, the transitional zone between cornea and conjunctiva. Using a new monoclonal antibody, AE5, which is highly specific for a 64,000-mol-wt corneal keratin, designated RK3, we demonstrate that this keratin is localized in all cell layers of rabbit corneal epithelium, but only in the suprabasal layers of the limbal epithelium. Analysis of cultured corneal keratinocytes showed that they express sequentially three major keratin pairs. Early cultures consisting of a monolayer of "basal" cells express mainly the 50/58K keratins, exponentially growing cells synthesize additional 48/56K keratins, and postconfluent, heavily stratified cultures begin to express the 55/64K corneal keratins. Cell separation experiments showed that basal cells isolated from postconfluent cultures contain predominantly the 50/58K pair, whereas suprabasal cells contain additional 55/64K and 48/56K pairs. Basal cells of the older, postconfluent cultures, however, can become AE5 positive, indicating that suprabasal location is not a prerequisite for the expression of the 64K keratin. Taken together, these results suggest that the acidic 55K and basic 64K keratins represent markers for an advanced stage of corneal epithelial differentiation. The fact that epithelial basal cells of central cornea but not those of the limbus possess the 64K keratin therefore indicates that corneal basal cells are in a more differentiated state than limbal basal cells. These findings, coupled with the known centripetal migration of corneal epithelial cells, strongly suggest that corneal epithelial stem cells are located in the limbus, and that corneal basal cells correspond to "transient amplifying cells" in the scheme of "stem cells----transient amplifying cells----terminally differentiated cells."

Anatomical MRI findings in mood and anxiety disorders

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Brambilla ◽  
Francesco Barale ◽  
Edgardo Caverzasi ◽  
Jair Constante Soares
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Risonanza Magnetica ◽  
Mri Findings ◽  
Sono Stati ◽  
Mood And Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Anatomical Mri

RIASSUNTOScopo – Gli studi con Risonanza Magnetica Nucleare (RMN) hanno permesso la valutazione in vivo dell'anatomia cerebrale di vari disturbi psichiatrici e l'approfondimento degli ipotetici circuiti cerebrali disfunzionali coinvolti nella patofisiologia di queste malattie. In questo articolo abbiamo revisionato la letteratura comprendente gli studi con RMN condotti nei disturbi dell'umore e d'ansia. Metodi – Tutti gli studi in Inglese con RMN condotti in pazienti con disturbo dell'umore o d'ansia pubblicati tra il 1966 ed il gennaio 2002 sono stati identificati attraverso una ricerca Medline, completata dall'analisi manuale delle referenze bibliografiche. Risultati – Differenti aree anatomiche cerebrali sembrano essere coinvolte nei diversi sottotipi di disturbo dell'umore. Infatti, l'ippocampo ed i gangli della base sembrano essere anormali nei disturbo unipolare, mentre l'amigdala ed il cervelletto in quello bipolare. Questo suggerisce che le due malattie abbiano un substrata biologico distinto. Per quanto riguarda i disturbi d'ansia, le regioni orbito-frontali ed i gangli della base sembrano avere un'anatomia anormale nei disturbo ossessivo-compulsivo, i lobi temporali nei disturbo da attacchi di panico e l'ippocampo nei disturbo post-traumatico da stress. Conclusioni – I dati della letteratura riassunti in questo articolo suggeriscono che specifiche aree cerebrali siano coinvolte nella patofisiologia dei disturbi dell'umore e d'ansia. Tuttavia, gli studi a tutt'oggi a disposizione sono stati condotti su campioni relativamente piccoli di soggetti, spesso sottoposti a medicamenti psicotropi, e sono in gran parte studi trasversali. Per tale motivo gli studi con RMN in futuro dovranno avere un disegno di tipo longitudinale ed arruolare campioni più ampi di soggetti, possibilmente senza trattamento psicofarmacologico, al primo episodio di malattia o ad alto rischio di sviluppare un disturbo dell'umore o d'ansia. Inoltre, l'associazione di questo tipo di ricerche con studi di tipo genetico potranno essere estremamente utili per separare anomalie anatomiche cerebrali di stato da quelle di tratto e per ulteriormente caratterizzare la patofisiologia di questi disturbi.

scholarly journals Morphine paradoxically prolongs neuropathic pain in rats by amplifying spinal NLRP3 inflammasome activation

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (24) ◽  
pp. E3441-E3450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Grace ◽  
Keith A. Strand ◽  
Erika L. Galer ◽  
Daniel J. Urban ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Neuropathic Pain ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Designer Drugs ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Receptor Protein ◽  
Inflammasome Activation ◽  
Opioid Use ◽  
Nlrp3 Inflammasomes

Opioid use for pain management has dramatically increased, with little assessment of potential pathophysiological consequences for the primary pain condition. Here, a short course of morphine, starting 10 d after injury in male rats, paradoxically and remarkably doubled the duration of chronic constriction injury (CCI)-allodynia, months after morphine ceased. No such effect of opioids on neuropathic pain has previously been reported. Using pharmacologic and genetic approaches, we discovered that the initiation and maintenance of this multimonth prolongation of neuropathic pain was mediated by a previously unidentified mechanism for spinal cord and pain—namely, morphine-induced spinal NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes and associated release of interleukin-1β (IL-1β). As spinal dorsal horn microglia expressed this signaling platform, these cells were selectively inhibited in vivo after transfection with a novel Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD). Multiday treatment with the DREADD-specific ligand clozapine-N-oxide prevented and enduringly reversed morphine-induced persistent sensitization for weeks to months after cessation of clozapine-N-oxide. These data demonstrate both the critical importance of microglia and that maintenance of chronic pain created by early exposure to opioids can be disrupted, resetting pain to normal. These data also provide strong support for the recent “two-hit hypothesis” of microglial priming, leading to exaggerated reactivity after the second challenge, documented here in the context of nerve injury followed by morphine. This study predicts that prolonged pain is an unrealized and clinically concerning consequence of the abundant use of opioids in chronic pain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document