scholarly journals Thyroid Hormone Signalling in Human Evolution and Disease: A Novel Hypothesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Polyxeni Mantzouratou ◽  
Angelo Michele Lavecchia ◽  
Christodoulos Xinaris
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Early Hominids ◽  
Promising Therapeutic Target ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pleiotropic Actions ◽  
Hormone Signalling

Thyroid hormone (TH) signalling is a universally conserved pathway with pleiotropic actions that is able to control the development, metabolism, and homeostasis of organisms. Using evidence from paleoecology/palaeoanthropology and data from the physiology of modern humans, we try to assess the natural history of TH signalling and its role in human evolution. Our net thesis is that TH signalling has likely played a critical role in human evolution by facilitating the adaptive responses of early hominids to unprecedently challenging and continuously changing environments. These ancient roles have been conserved in modern humans, in whom TH signalling still responds to and regulates adaptations to present-day environmental and pathophysiological stresses, thus making it a promising therapeutic target.

scholarly journals The Most Recent Common Ancestor of Modern Humans was Born in Eurasia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
vicente cabrera
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Recent Common Ancestor ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Most Recent Common Ancestor ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Vision

Ancient DNA has given a new vision to the recent history of human evolution. However, by always relying on the information provided by whole genome sequencing, some relevant relationships between modern humans and its archaic relatives have been misinterpreted by hybridization and recombination causes. In contrast, the congruent phylogeny, obtained from non-recombinant uniparental markers, indicates that humans and Neanderthals are sister subspecies, and that the most recent common ancestor of modern humans was not of African origin but Eurasian.

2. Finding our place

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Bernard Wood
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

When did the process of using reason to try and understand human origins begin, and how did it develop? When was the scientific method first applied to the study of human evolution? ‘Finding our place’ begins by reviewing the history of how first philosophers and then scientists came to realize that modern humans are part of the natural world. It then explains why, using advances in molecular biology, scientists think chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related to modern humans than they are to gorillas, and why they think the common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo and modern human clades lived between six and eight million years ago.

Chips with Everything

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Segal
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Computing ◽  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Moore’S Law ◽  
Moore's Law ◽  
Silicon Chips ◽  
History Of ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Digital Computers ◽  
Dna Computer

Chapter 3 highlights the critical role materials have in the development of digital computers. It traces developments from the cat’s whisker to valves through to relays and transistors. Accounts are given for transistors and the manufacture of integrated circuits (silicon chips) by use of photolithography. Future potential computing techniques, namely quantum computing and the DNA computer, are covered. The history of computability and Moore’s Law are discussed.

scholarly journals Molecular evolutionary analysis of human primary microcephaly genes

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nashaiman Pervaiz ◽  
Hongen Kang ◽  
Yiming Bao ◽  
Amir Ali Abbasi
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Evolutionary Analysis ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Primary Microcephaly ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background There has been a rapid increase in the brain size relative to body size during mammalian evolutionary history. In particular, the enlarged and globular brain is the most distinctive anatomical feature of modern humans that set us apart from other extinct and extant primate species. Genetic basis of large brain size in modern humans has largely remained enigmatic. Genes associated with the pathological reduction of brain size (primary microcephaly-MCPH) have the characteristics and functions to be considered ideal candidates to unravel the genetic basis of evolutionary enlargement of human brain size. For instance, the brain size of microcephaly patients is similar to the brain size of Pan troglodyte and the very early hominids like the Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus afarensis. Results The present study investigates the molecular evolutionary history of subset of autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) genes; CEP135, ZNF335, PHC1, SASS6, CDK6, MFSD2A, CIT, and KIF14 across 48 mammalian species. Codon based substitutions site analysis indicated that ZNF335, SASS6, CIT, and KIF14 have experienced positive selection in eutherian evolutionary history. Estimation of divergent selection pressure revealed that almost all of the MCPH genes analyzed in the present study have maintained their functions throughout the history of placental mammals. Contrary to our expectations, human-specific adoptive evolution was not detected for any of the MCPH genes analyzed in the present study. Conclusion Based on these data it can be inferred that protein-coding sequence of MCPH genes might not be the sole determinant of increase in relative brain size during primate evolutionary history.

scholarly journals Pregnancy outcomes in women with preexisting thyroid diseases: a French cohort study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Marion Lecorguillé ◽  
Juliane Léger ◽  
Anne Forhan ◽  
Marie Cheminat ◽  
Marie-Noëlle Dufourg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Gestational Diabetes ◽  
Head Circumference ◽  
Thyroid Diseases ◽  
Premature Rupture Of Membranes ◽  
Premature Rupture ◽  
Fetal Head ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multivariable Regression ◽  
Multivariable Regression Models

Abstract Women with thyroid diseases at the beginning of pregnancy may have suboptimal thyroid hormone levels because of potential difficulties in compensating for the physiological thyroid hormone changes occurring in pregnancy. Our objective was to study the association between preexisting thyroid diseases, pregnancy complications, and neonatal anthropometry. In total, 16,395 women from the ELFE French longitudinal birth cohort were included, and 273 declared pre-pregnancy thyroid diseases. Associations were investigated with multivariable regression models, with adjustment for relevant potential confounders. Body mass index (BMI) was additionally adjusted for in a second stage. As compared with other women, women with pre-pregnancy thyroid diseases were more frequently obese (19.6% vs. 9.8%) and had greater odds of gestational diabetes development (odds ratio [OR] = 1.58 [95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08, 2.30]) or had undergone treatment for infertility (OR = 1.57 [95% CI 1.07, 2.31]). After adjustment for BMI, the association with gestational diabetes was no longer significant (OR = 1.27 [95% CI 0.86, 1.88]). After excluding women with another medical history, those with pre-pregnancy thyroid diseases had increased odds of premature rupture of membranes (OR = 1.51 [95% CI 1.01, 2.25]). Children born from mothers with hypothyroidism before conception due to a disease or as a potential side effect of treatment had a smaller head circumference at birth than other children (β = −0.23 [95% CI −0.44, −0.01] cm). In conclusion, pre-pregnancy thyroid diseases were associated with risk of infertility treatment, gestational diabetes, and premature rupture of membranes. The association between history of hypothyroidism and moderate adverse effects on fetal head circumference growth needs replication.

Friends of Rose Canyon

2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Wiese
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
First Century ◽  
Grassroots Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
University City ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
The Rose

Place-based activism has played a critical role in the history of urban and environmental politics in California. This article explores the continuing significance of environmental place making to grassroots politics through a case study of Friends of Rose Canyon, an environmental group in San Diego. Based in the fast-growing University City neighborhood, Friends of Rose Canyon waged a long, successful campaign between 2002 and 2018 to prevent construction of a bridge in the Rose Canyon Open Space Park in their community. Using historical and participant observer methodologies, this study reveals how twenty-first-century California urbanites claimed and created meaningful local places and mobilized effective politics around them. It illuminates the critical role of individual activists; suggests practical, replicable strategies for community mobilization; and demonstrates the significant impact of local activism at the urban and metropolitan scales.

Thyroid hormones regulate phosphate homoeostasis through transcriptional control of the renal type IIa sodium-dependent phosphate co-transporter (Npt2a) gene

2010 ◽  
Vol 427 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariko Ishiguro ◽  
Hironori Yamamoto ◽  
Masashi Masuda ◽  
Mina Kozai ◽  
Yuichiro Takei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Thyroid Hormones ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Hormone Receptors ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Serum Phosphate ◽  
Luciferase Assay ◽  
Mobility Shift ◽  
Intron 1 ◽  
Sodium Dependent

The type IIa renal sodium-dependent phosphate (Na/Pi) co-transporter Npt2a is implicated in the control of serum phosphate levels. It has been demonstrated previously that renal Npt2a protein and its mRNA expression are both up-regulated by the thyroid hormone T3 (3,3′,5-tri-iodothyronine) in rats. However, it has never been established whether the induction was mediated by a direct effect of thyroid hormones on the Npt2a promoter. To address the role of Npt2a in T3-dependent regulation of phosphate homoeostasis and to identify the molecular mechanisms by which thyroid hormones modulate Npt2a gene expression, mice were rendered pharmacologically hypo- and hyper-thyroid. Hypothyroid mice showed low levels of serum phosphate and a marked decrease in renal Npt2a protein abundance. Importantly, we also showed that Npt2a-deficient mice had impaired serum phosphate responsiveness to T3 compared with wild-type mice. Promoter analysis with a luciferase assay revealed that the transcriptional activity of a reporter gene containing the Npt2a promoter and intron 1 was dependent upon TRs (thyroid hormone receptors) and specifically increased by T3 in renal cells. Deletion analysis and EMSAs (electrophoretic mobility-shift assays) determined that there were unique TREs (thyroid-hormone-responsive elements) within intron 1 of the Npt2a gene. These results suggest that Npt2a plays a critical role as a T3-target gene, to control phosphate homoeostasis, and that T3 transcriptionally activates the Npt2a gene via TRs in a renal cell-specific manner.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document