Intestinal Microbiota and Host Cooperate for Adaptation as a Hologenome

The hologenome concept has broadened our perspectives for studying host-microbe coevolution. The multiomic analyses reported here involved two lines of chickens, from a common founder population, that had undergone long-term selection for high (HWS) or low (LWS) 56-day body weight.

Experience in the management of infants with multifocal atrial tachycardia

Purpose. To study the clinical course of multifocal atrial tachycardia (MAT) and to evaluate the effectiveness of antiarrhythmic therapy (AAT) in patients with onset of arrhythmia before the age of 1 year.Methods. The study included 15 children with primary registration of MAT at the age of 2.04±2.27 months, 4 of them - in utero. The follow-up period was 35.9±26.9 months (Me 29 months). All patients underwent laboratory monitoring, 12-lead ECG recording, 24-hour ECG monitoring, echocardiography at baseline and during time of observation.Results. Tachycardia was persistent in 80% of patients. Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) was present in 7 (46%) patients. Structural heart disease was detected in 6 patients. The average heart rate at the onset of the disease was 157.9±23.78 bpm, the maximum - 256.7±35.84 bpm. Fourteen (93.3%) children received AAT. Seven patients were prescribed propranolol first, 6 - amiodarone, 1 - digoxin. Monotherapy was effective in 2 patients. Combined AAT was used in 12 patients, including three children with three drugs combination. No benefits were found for any of the drugs combinations. Stable sinus rhythm at the time of discharge was observed in 4 (28,6%) patients, sinus rhythm with atrial ectopic activity was registered in 2 of them; criteria for normosystole were achieved in 7 patients; in one child with TIC daytime tachysystole persisted despite three-component AAT, but echocardiography parameters improved. Arrhythmia was disappeared in 13 (86.6%) patients; the duration of arrhythmia in them from 1 to 15 months, duration of AAT - 1 ±7.5 months (Me 9.5 months). MAT persists in two patients with structural heart disease. One patient underwent radiofrequency ablation at the age of 5, with no effect. One patient had side effects from therapy that required correction. There were no lethal outcomes.Conclusion. MAT with a debut at the age of 1 year with timely prescribed treatment has a favorable course and a good prognosis, but the probability of AAT resistance is high. These cases require a long-term selection of therapy using various combinations of antiarrhythmic drugs. Heart rate control strategy can be sufficient to prevent the development of TIC.

Mutant alleles differentially shape fitness and other complex traits in cattle

Mutant alleles (MAs) that have been classically recognised have large effects on phenotype and tend to be deleterious to traits and fitness. Is this the case for mutations with small effects? We infer MAs for 8 million sequence variants in 113k cattle and quantify the effects of MA on 37 complex traits. Heterozygosity for variants at genomic sites conserved across 100 vertebrate species increase fertility, stature, and milk production, positively associating these traits with fitness. MAs decrease stature and fat and protein concentration in milk, but increase gestation length and somatic cell count in milk (the latter indicative of mastitis). However, the frequency of MAs decreasing stature and fat and protein concentration, increasing gestation length and somatic cell count were lower than the frequency of MAs with the opposite effect. These results suggest bias in the mutations direction of effect (e.g. towards reduced protein in milk), but selection operating to reduce the frequency of these MAs. Taken together, our results imply two classes of genomic sites subject to long-term selection: sites conserved across vertebrates show hybrid vigour while sites subject to less long-term selection show a bias in mutation towards undesirable alleles.

Adaptation Mechanisms of Yak (Bos grunniens) to High-Altitude Environmental Stress

Living at a high altitude involves many environmental challenges. The combined effects of hypoxia and cold stress impose severe physiological challenges on endothermic animals. The yak is integral to the livelihood of the people occupying the vast, inhospitable Qinghai–Tibetan plateau and the surrounding mountainous region. Due to long-term selection, the yak exhibits stable and unique genetic characteristics which enable physiological, biochemical, and morphological adaptations to a high altitude. Thus, the yak is a representative model for mammalian plateau-adaptability studies. Understanding coping mechanisms provides unique insights into adaptive evolution, thus informing the breeding of domestic yaks. This review provides an overview of genetic adaptations in Bos grunniens to high-altitude environmental stress. Combined genomics and theoretical advances have informed the genetic basis of high-altitude adaptations.

Should prenatal screening be seen as ‘selective reproduction’? Four reasons to reframe the ethical debate

There are a number of problems with the classification of prenatal screening as a form of ‘selective reproduction’ that has become an increasingly dominant classification scheme in the last decade. (1) Since the term ‘selection’ implies choosing one out of several (at least two), it misdescribes the decision to terminate a pregnancy. (2) Deciding whether to have this child is a decision taken within the relationships that constitute the pregnancy. (3) ‘Selection’ is a loaded term, connecting prenatal diagnosis to negative eugenics or to population genetics. (4) Deciding against the birth of a child who would suffer or would not be able to flourish is a decision taken within a negotiation of personal responsibilities and social constraints. The characterization of prenatal screening as selective reproduction is, in a very narrow way, defensible to reconstruct why prenatal screening is permissible in a liberal state and should not be banned, but it needs to be rejected as a general frame for understanding the substance of the ethical issues around prenatal diagnosis and screening. Ethics should rather attempt to create a respectful space of mutual understandings and reflect how women and couples, who are ultimately responsible for these decisions, perceive their responsibilities in care.

SYNONYMY IN TERMINOLOGY SYSTEM OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SCIENTIFIC TEXTS IN THE FIELD OF ECONOMICS

The purpose is to identify the specificity of synonyms in the terminology system of the English language texts on economics and determine the most widespread patterns for the formation of synonymous pairs on the basis of the analyzed material.Methods. The following methods were employed in the research: general scientific (generalization, induction and deduction) and empirical-theoretical (analysis, synthesis) methods. The process of term-selection was performed with the method of continuous sampling. The descriptive method and the method of semantic-component analysis were used to distribute the synonymous terms into groups and identify the specificity of synonymous relationships. Results. Understanding the phenomenon of synonymy is an important precondition for improving language skills, since it implies the ability to choose the most accurate synonymous equivalent among a few variants of a certain concept and ensure the success of communication in this way. In spite of undesirability of terminological synonymy in scientific discourse, this phenomenon is especially widespread in the texts of economic orientation, since terms in this field of knowledge go beyond scientific use, enter social life and become a part of common vocabulary. Therefore, the emergence of variants and parallel functioning of several duplicates is caused by openness of this terminology system and its enlargement with common words. Since the area of economics covers a large number of participants, interacting at different levels, it is reflected –in a language dimension – in the scope of vocabulary designating the key concepts of this field and linguistic processes of the formation of terminology system. The most typical consequence of using the terminological apparatus by a large number of the native language speakers is a parallel functioning of a term and a common word (word combinations). Conclusions. The widespread synonymy in the terminology system of the English language texts on economics is explained by the specificity of this field of knowledge: the adjacency of economic concepts to everyday life that is reflected in the possibility of interaction between common and scientific vocabularies. The analyzed cases of synonymy show the pairs whose components have different stylistic marking: one of the components mainly belongs to bookish words, whereas the other one – to common vocabulary. Moreover, in the terminology system of the English language texts of professional orientation there are quasi-synonyms and relative synonyms. The most widespread ways of the formation of synonymous pairs is a combination of a common verb and a specifically economic term. The examples of syntactical synonyms represent the pattern with one verb component and the combination of a verb and a noun.Key words: scientific terminology, common words, synonymous pair, quasi-synonyms, relative synonyms, stylistic marking. Мета статті – виявити особливості синонімів у терміносистемі англомовних текстів економічного спрямування й визна-чити найбільш поширені моделі утворення синонімічних пар на основі проаналізованого матеріалу.Методи. У дослідженні було використано загальнонаукові (узагальнення, індукція і дедукція) та емпірико-теоретичні методи (аналіз, синтез). Процес відбору термінів проводився методом суцільної вибірки. Дескриптивний метод і методика семантико-компонентного аналізу використовувалися для інвентаризації і розподілу досліджуваних синонімічних термінів у групи та виявлення специфіки синонімічних відносин. Результати. Розуміння явища синонімії є важливою передумовою удосконалення мовленнєвих умінь, оскільки передбачає здатність добирати якомога точніший семантичний еквівалент з-поміж кількох варіантів відповідного поняття й забезпечувати в такий спосіб максимальну успішність комунікації. Попри небажаність явища термінологічної синонімії в науковому дискурсі, особливо поширеним воно є в текстах економічного спрямування, оскільки терміни цієї галузі виходять за межі суто наукового використання через проникнення у соціально-побутову сферу й частково стають загальновживаними. Відтак поява варіантів і паралельного існування кількох дублетів обумовлюється відкритістю даної терміносистеми та її поповнення загаль-новживаною лексикою. Оскільки сфера економіки охоплює величезну кількість учасників, що взаємодіють на різних рівнях, у мовному вимірі це відображається на масштабах функціонування лексики на позначення ключових понять цієї галузі й лінгвістичних процесах формування терміносистеми. Найбільш типовим наслідком активного використання термінологічного апарату значною кількістю носіїв мови є паралельне функціонування терміна та загальновживаного слова (словосполучення). Висновки. Поширеність явища синонімії в терміносистемі англомовних текстів економічного спрямування пояснюється специфікою галузі, а саме: дотичністю економічних реалій до побутової сфери, що на мовному рівні відображається в можливості взаємодії загальновживаної лексики з науковою. Проаналізовані випадки синонімії засвідчують наявність пар, складові частини яких мають різне стилістичне маркування: переважно один із компонентів належить до книжної лексики, тоді як другий – до загальновживаної. Крім того, в терміносистемі англомовних текстів фахового спрямування трапляються квазі-синоніми й умовні синоніми. Доволі поширеними способами утворення синонімічних пар, як показує опрацьований матеріал, є поєднання загальновживаного дієслова з вузькогалузевим економічним терміном. Випадки синтаксичної синонімії репрезен-тують модель з одним дієслівним елементом і сполученням дієслова та іменника.Ключові слова: наукова термінологія, загальновживана лексика, синонімічна пара, квазісиноніми, умовні синоніми, стилістичне маркування.

Short-Term Selection to Diflubenzuron and Bacillus thuringiensis Var. Israelensis Differentially Affects the Winter Survival of Culex pipiens f. Pipiens and Culex pipiens f. Molestus (Diptera: Culicidae)

The Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquito is of high medical importance as it is considered the prime vector of West Nile virus. In Europe, this species consists of two forms, named pipiens and molestus, that exhibit substantial differences in their overwintering biology. Diflubenzuron (DFB) and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) are two of the most used larvicides in mosquito control, including that of Culex pipiens. The high dependency on these two larvicides poses major concerns for resistance development. The evolution and stability of resistance to insecticides has been associated with fitness costs that may be manifested under stressful conditions, such as the winter period. This study investigated how short-term selection of pipiens and molestus forms to both larvicides affect their overwintering success. Larvae from each form were subjected to the same selective pressure (80% mortality) for three successive generations with DFB and Bti. At the end of this process, the winter survival between the selected populations and the controls (colonies without selection) was determined for each form. Selection to both larvicides significantly reduced the winter survival rates of molestus but not of pipiens form, indicating potential differences in the persistence of the selected individuals from year to year between the two forms.

Semantic expansion of search queries

One of the major challenges in Web search pertains to the correct interpretation of users' intent. Query Expansion is one of the well-known approaches for determining the intent of the user by addressing the vocabulary mismatch problem. A limitation of the current query expansion approaches is that the relations between the query words and the expanded words is limited. In this thesis, we capture users' intent through query expansion. We build on earlier work in the area by adopting a pseudo-relevance feedback approach; however, we advance the state of the art by proposing an approach for feature learning within the process of query expansion. In our work, we specifically consider the Wikipedia corpus as the feedback collection space and identify the best features within this context for term selection in two supervised and unsupervised models. We compare our work with state of the art query expansion techniques, the results of which show promising robustness and improved precision.