Communicative and Integrative Biology最新文献

We consider the effect of non-constant parameters on the human-forest interaction logistic model coupled with human technological growth introduced in [1]. In recent years in fact, a decrease in human population growth rate has emerged which can be measured to about 1.7% drop per year since 1960 value, which coincides with latest UN projections for next decades up to year 2100 [2]. We therefore consider here the effect of decreasing human population growth-rate on the aforementioned model and we evaluate its effect on the probability of survival of human civilization without going through a catastrophic population collapse. We find that for realistic values of the human population carrying capacity of the earth (measured by the parameter β) this decrease would not affect previous results, leading to a low probability of avoiding a catastrophic collapse. For larger more optimistic values of β instead, a decrease in growth-rate would tilt the probability in favor of a positive outcome, i.e. from 10-20% up to even 95% likelihood of avoiding collapse.

The fields of developmental biology, biomedicine, and artificial life are being revolutionized by advances in synthetic morphology. The next phase of synthetic biology and bioengineering is resulting in the construction of novel organisms (biobots), which exhibit not only morphogenesis and physiology but functional behavior. It is now essential to begin to characterize the behavioral capacity of novel living constructs in terms of their ability to make decisions, form memories, learn from experience, and anticipate future stimuli. These synthetic organisms are highly diverse, and often do not resemble familiar model systems used in behavioral science. Thus, they represent an important context in which to begin to unify and standardize vocabulary and techniques across developmental biology, behavioral ecology, and neuroscience. To facilitate the study of behavior in novel living systems, we present a primer on techniques from the behaviorist tradition that can be used to probe the functions of any organism - natural, chimeric, or synthetic - regardless of the details of their construction or origin. These techniques provide a rich toolkit for advancing the fields of synthetic bioengineering, evolutionary developmental biology, basal cognition, exobiology, and robotics.

The Yuanjiang dry-hot valley features hot and dry climate, low vegetation and soil degradation. It had lush vegetation in the past, but has become degraded in recent decades. Understanding the interrelationship between species and the habitat is necessary to explain this change. In this study, a link between fern and fern allies - a group that is hypersensitive to environmental factors and their circumstances is constructed. Intensive transects and plots were designed to be proxies for extant fern and fern allies, and their habitats. Fifty years of meteorological records of precipitation and temperature along altitude and river running direction (latitudinal) were employed. Alpha and beta diversity are used to access diversity. Species_estimated, Singletons, Uniques, ACE, ICE, and Chao2, which associate to abundance and rarity, are subscribed to the correlation between fern and fern allies, and their ecosystem. Eight species, Selaginella pseudopaleifera, Aleuritopteris squamosa, Adiantum malesianum, Pteris vittata, Davallia trichomanoides, Sinephropteris delavayi, Selaginella jugorum, and Lygodium japonicum are used as indicators of a typical xeric and sun-drying habitat. The results indicate (1) accompanied by dramatically shrinking habitats, fern and fern allies are in very low diversity and abundance, whereas the rarity is relatively high; (2) for fern and fern allies, environmental factors are positive when altitude goes up; and (3) eight indicator species are latitudinally correlated with fern and fern allies along the river running direction.

In this paper, we argue that Bohm's unbroken and undivided totality he called the holomovement, the title he gave to the concept of the self-organizing universe, is more coherently understood when viewed as universal consciousness. Bohm's understanding of consciousness oscillates around being a quality of local minds and the interconnected totality of the holomovement. We suggest such equivocations impose limitations on Bohm's general holistic framework because they import into his model the limiting restrictions of Cartesian separation and are, therefore, incongruous for use within his holistic model of the holomovement. We also argue that the term 'meaning' has a structural and functional agency appropriate to Bohm's model of the holomovement, while also reflecting the living characteristics of this organic totality that is full of meaning.

The leading cause of mortality from COVID-19 infection is respiratory distress due to an exaggerated host immune response, resulting in hyper-inflammation and ensuing cytokine storms in the lungs. Current drug-based therapies are of limited efficacy, costly, and have potential negative side effects. By contrast, photobiomodulation therapy, which involves periodic brief exposure to red or infrared light, is a noninvasive, safe, and affordable method that is currently being used to treat a wide range of diseases with underlying inflammatory conditions. Here, we show that exposure to two 10-min, high-intensity periods per day of infrared light causes a marked reduction in the TLR-4 dependent inflammatory response pathway, which has been implicated in the onset of cytokine storms in COVID-19 patients. Infrared light exposure resulted in a significant decline in NFkB and AP1 activity as measured by the reporter gene assay; decreased expression of inflammatory marker genes IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, INF-alpha, and INF-beta as determined by qPCR gene expression assay; and an 80% decline in secreted cytokine IL6 as measured by ELISA assay in cultured human cells. All of these changes occurred after only 48 hours of treatment. We suggest that an underlying cellular mechanism involving modulation of ROS may downregulate the host immune response after Infrared Light exposure, leading to decrease in inflammation. We further discuss technical considerations involving light sources and exposure conditions to put these observations into potential clinical use to treat COVID-19 induced mortality.

Some stem cell types not only release molecules that reduce viral replication, but also reduce the hypercytokinemia and inflammation induced by the immune system, and have been found to be part of the innate and adaptive immune systems. An important component of the stem cell's ability to ameliorate viral diseases, especially the complications post-clearance of the pathogen, is the ability of adult stem cells to reset the innate and adaptive immune systems from an inflammatory state to a repair state. Thus, the molecules released from certain stem cell types found to be safe and efficacious, may be an important new means for therapeutic development in Covid-19, especially for late-stage inflammation and tissue damage once the virus has cleared, particularly in the aged population.

Red blood cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum secrete extracellular vesicles in order to facilitate the survival and infection of human cells. Various researchers have studied the composition of these extracellular vesicles and identified the proteins contained inside. In this work, we used that information to detect potential P. falciparum molecules that could be imitating host proteins. We carried out several searches to detect sequences and structural similarities between the parasite and host. Additionally, the possibility of functional mimicry was explored in line with the potential role that each candidate can perform for the parasite inside the host. Lastly, we determined a set of eight sequences (mainly moonlighting proteins) with a remarkable resemblance to human proteins. Due to the resemblance observed, this study proposes the possibility that certain P. falciparum molecules carried by extracellular vesicles could be imitating human proteins to manipulate the host cell's physiology.

The linguistic behavior of humans is usually considered the point of reference for studying the origin and evolution of language. As commonly defined, language is a form of communication between human beings; many have argued that it is unique to humans as there is no apparent equivalent for it in non-human organisms. How language is used as a means of communication is examined in this essay from a biological perspective positing that it is effectively and meaningfully used by non-human organisms and, more specifically, by plants. We set out to draw parallels between some aspects characterizing human language and the chemical communication that occurs between plants. The essay examines the similarities in ways of communicating linked to three properties of language: its combinatorial structure, meaning-making activities and the existence of dialects. In accordance with the findings of researchers who have demonstrated that plants do indeed communicate with one another and with organisms in their environment, the essay concludes with the appeal for an interdisciplinary approach conceptualizing a broader ecological definition of language and a constructive dialogue between the biological sciences and the humanities.

All living organisms are gravitationally bound to earth's surface and spun through three major gravitational potentials at nearly Mach 88. Along this pathway, organisms are subjected to non-isotropic strains that are repetitive in their geometry and their periodicity. Because of the relative smallness of this bias and the slow rate at which such strain accumulates, it typically goes undetected or treated stochastically as a variance from 'best-fit' models and woven into our empirical data. Far from being purely isotropic, equilibrium in systems co-moving with the earth possesses a dynamic component with bias defined by our orbital motion. Interestingly, biologists identify a similar bias in living organisms expressed in the chiral nature of key metabolic molecules and the periodicities of their metabolic cycles. Biologists have also identified a mean mass-specific metabolic rate that correlates well with the daily change in gravitational potential energy experienced by an organism. The evidence is only correlative, but it raises the intriguing question of whether 3 billion years of exposure to gravitational strain cycles might have led to a metabolic strategy that coupled to them. Because the subject of gravity has been omitted from most biology textbooks and, with only a few notable exceptions, relegated to the far corners of biology conferences, this paper is written with two goals in mind. The first goal is to summarize the extensive experimental record produced by biologists, botanists, and zoologists, identifying the strong correlation between metabolic processes and orbital periodicities. The second goal is to suggest experiments that might provide insight into how metabolic processes and gravitation might be so coupled.

Membrane-bound organelles provide physical and functional compartmentalization of biological processes in eukaryotic cells. The characteristic shape and internal organization of these organelles is determined by a combination of multiple internal and external factors. The maintenance of the shape of nucleus, which houses the genetic material within a double membrane bilayer, is crucial for a seamless spatio-temporal control over nuclear and cellular functions. Dynamic morphological changes in the shape of nucleus facilitate various biological processes. Chromatin packaging, nuclear and cytosolic protein organization, and nuclear membrane lipid homeostasis are critical determinants of overall nuclear morphology. As such, a multitude of molecular players and pathways act together to regulate the nuclear shape. Here, we review the known mechanisms governing nuclear shape in various unicellular and multicellular organisms, including the non-spherical nuclei and non-lamin-related structural determinants. The review also touches upon cellular consequences of aberrant nuclear morphologies.