windows of opportunity
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2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushboo Gurung ◽  
Katie Field ◽  
Sarah Batterman ◽  
Yves Godderis ◽  
Yannick Donnadieu ◽  
...  

Abstract Plants are likely to have had a profound influence on Earth’s long-term climate through their role in drawing down CO2 and emitting O2 into the atmosphere and their interactions with soils and minerals. Local climatic factors, including water availability, light, and temperature, play a key role in plant physiology and growth and have fluctuated substantially over geological time. However, the impact of these key climate variables on global plant biomass across the Phanerozoic have not yet been established.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 157-157
Author(s):  
Alexandra Badea ◽  
Jacques Stout ◽  
Simon Davis ◽  
Jie Zhuang ◽  
David Madden ◽  
...  

Abstract Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss in older Americans, is associated with cognitive decline and, particularly, worse performance on verbal fluency tasks. To determine whether AMD is associated with changes in brain structure that may underlie decline in cognition, we conducted a longitudinal, observational study of 39 visually impaired AMD patients and 33 age-matched peers with healthy eyes. Participants (mean age 74.3) underwent cognitive assessments and 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline and two years. At baseline, AMD patients exhibited lower cortical volume and worse white matter tract integrity, especially in inter-hemispheric connections (FDR <0.05). Principal components analyses revealed faster white matter decline in the AMD group, especially in visual cortex and left hemisphere, which is implicated in language tasks. Understanding patterns of regional brain atrophy in AMD sheds light on mechanisms for the AMD-cognition link and opens windows of opportunity for intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Lawlor ◽  
Weihuan Cao ◽  
Christopher E. Ellison

AbstractTransposable elements (TEs) must replicate in germline cells to pass novel insertions to offspring. In Drosophila melanogaster ovaries, TEs can exploit specific developmental windows of opportunity to evade host silencing and increase their copy numbers. However, TE activity and host silencing in the distinct cell types of Drosophila testis are not well understood. Here, we reanalyze publicly available single-cell RNA-seq datasets to quantify TE expression in the distinct cell types of the Drosophila testis. We develop a method for identification of TE and host gene expression modules and find that a distinct population of early spermatocytes expresses a large number of TEs at much higher levels than other germline and somatic components of the testes. This burst of TE expression coincides with the activation of Y chromosome fertility factors and spermatocyte-specific transcriptional regulators, as well as downregulation of many components of the piRNA pathway. The TEs expressed by this cell population are specifically enriched on the Y chromosome and depleted on the X chromosome, relative to other active TEs. These data suggest that some TEs may achieve high insertional activity in males by exploiting a window of opportunity for mobilization created by the activation of spermatocyte-specific and Y chromosome-specific transcriptional programs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 30-63
Author(s):  
Marina Yue Zhang ◽  
Mark Dodgson ◽  
David M. Gann

This chapter shows how much China caught up in the global innovation race, using international indices of innovation performance, and data on R&D expenditures, higher education, scientific outputs, and patents. Frameworks such as ‘windows of opportunity’ are used to explore how China catches up in innovation and is changing policies from importing innovation to developing ‘indigenous innovation’. The bottlenecks confronting China’s catch-up and leadership are examined using the case of semiconductors, Huawei, and 5G, and the chapter poses the question whether the country can overcome such bottlenecks in core technologies. To do so, it is argued that greater investment is needed in basic research, especially by enterprises.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
G. M. Gomes ◽  
N. Moreira ◽  
D. R. Iritani ◽  
W. A. Amaral ◽  
A. R. Ometto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Janoš ◽  
Jana Aupič ◽  
Sharon Ruthstein ◽  
Alessandra Magistrato

Copper is a trace element vital to many cellular functions. Yet its abnormal levels are toxic to cells, provoking a variety of severe diseases. The high affinity Copper Transporter 1 (CTR1), being the main in-cell copper (Cu(I)) entry route, tightly regulates its cellular uptake via a still elusive mechanism. Here, all-atoms simulations unlock the molecular terms of Cu(I) transport in eukaryotes disclosing that the two Methionine triads, forming the selectivity filter, play an unprecedented dual role both enabling selective Cu(I) transport and regulating its uptake-rate thanks to an intimate coupling between the conformational plasticity of their bulky side chains and the number of bound Cu(I) ions. Namely, the Met residues act as a gate reducing the Cu(I) import-rate when two ions simultaneously bind to CTR1. This may represent an elegant autoregulatory mechanism through which CTR1 protects the cells from excessively high, and hence toxic, in-cell Cu(I) levels. Overall, these outcomes resolve fundamental questions in CTR1 biology and open new windows of opportunity to tackle diseases associated with an imbalanced copper uptake.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susheel Bhanu Busi ◽  
Massimo Bourquin ◽  
Stilianos Fodelianakis ◽  
Grégoire Michoud ◽  
Tyler J. Kohler ◽  
...  

AbstractMicroorganisms dominate life in cryospheric ecosystems. In glacier-fed streams (GFSs), ecological windows of opportunities allow complex microbial biofilms to develop and transiently form the basis of the food web, thereby controlling key ecosystem processes. Here, using high-resolution metagenomics, we unravel strategies that allow biofilms to seize this opportunity in an ecosystem otherwise characterized by harsh environmental conditions. We found a diverse microbiome spanning the entire tree of life and including a rich virome. Various and co-existing energy acquisition pathways point to diverse niches and the simultaneous exploitation of available resources, likely fostering the establishment of complex biofilms in GFSs during windows of opportunity. The wide occurrence of rhodopsins across metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), besides chlorophyll, highlights the role of solar energy capture in these biofilms. Concomitantly, internal carbon and nutrient cycling between photoautotrophs and heterotrophs may help overcome constraints imposed by the high oligotrophy in GFSs. MAGs also revealed mechanisms potentially protecting bacteria against low temperatures and high UV-radiation. The selective pressure of the GFS environment is further highlighted by the phylogenomic analysis, differentiating the representatives of the genus Polaromonas, an important component of the GFS microbiome, from those found in other ecosystems. Our findings reveal key genomic underpinnings of adaptive traits that contribute to the success of complex biofilms to exploit environmental opportunities in GFSs, now rapidly changing owing to global warming.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (05) ◽  
pp. 349-357
Author(s):  
Toni Hospach ◽  
Gerd Horneff

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGDie systemische juvenile idiopathische Arthritis nimmt unter den Kategorien der JIA eine Sonderstellung ein, klinisch aufgrund der obligat extraartikulären, systemischen Beteiligung, aber auch aufgrund der der vital bedrohlichen Komplikationen, Makrophagenaktivierungssyndrom und Lungenbeteiligung. Untersuchungen legen ein biphasisches Krankheitsgeschehen mit konsekutiven Eigenschaften einer autoinflammatorischen mit denen einer Autoimmunerkrankung nahe. Diese Erkenntnisse führten zu Therapieoptionen wie der IL-1- und IL-6-Blockade mit Biologika und zu Therapiealgorithmen, die zwischen früher Erkrankung und später Erkrankung unterscheiden, letztlich mit dem Ziel, der Nutzung eines „windows of opportunity“ zur Erreichung des Therapieziels der Remission.


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