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Upchurch Bonner posted an update 2 days, 15 hours ago
This challenges existing release models and provides further evidence that neocortical synapses operate with multivesicular release4-6, suggesting that they are more complex computational devices than thought, and therefore expanding the computational power of the canonical cortical microcircuitry.Up to 20% of people worldwide develop gastrointestinal symptoms following a meal1, leading to decreased quality of life, substantial morbidity and high medical costs. Although the interest of both the scientific and lay communities in this issue has increased markedly in recent years, with the worldwide introduction of gluten-free and other diets, the underlying mechanisms of food-induced abdominal complaints remain largely unknown. Here we show that a bacterial infection and bacterial toxins can trigger an immune response that leads to the production of dietary-antigen-specific IgE antibodies in mice, which are limited to the intestine. Following subsequent oral ingestion of the respective dietary antigen, an IgE- and mast-cell-dependent mechanism induced increased visceral pain. This aberrant pain signalling resulted from histamine receptor H1-mediated sensitization of visceral afferents. Moreover, injection of food antigens (gluten, wheat, soy and milk) into the rectosigmoid mucosa of patients with irritable bowel syndrome induced local oedema and mast cell activation. Our results identify and characterize a peripheral mechanism that underlies food-induced abdominal pain, thereby creating new possibilities for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and related abdominal pain disorders.Cultivating native bacteria from roots of plants grown in a given environment is essential for dissecting the functions of the root microbiota for plant growth and health with strain-specific resolution. In this study, we established a straightforward protocol for high-throughput bacterial isolation from fresh root samples using limiting dilution to ensure that most cultured bacteria originated from only one microorganism. This is followed by strain characterization using a two-sided barcode polymerase chain reaction system to identify pure and heterogeneous bacterial cultures. Our approach overcomes multiple difficulties of traditional bacterial isolation and identification methods, such as obtaining bacteria with diverse growth rates while greatly increasing throughput. To facilitate data processing, we developed an easy-to-use bioinformatic pipeline called ‘Culturome’ ( https//github.com/YongxinLiu/Culturome ) and a graphical user interface web server ( http//bailab.genetics.ac.cn/culturome/ ). This protocol allows any research group (two or three lab members without expertise in bioinformatics) to systematically cultivate root-associated bacteria within 8-9 weeks.The ability to monitor DNA replication fork directionality at the genome-wide scale is paramount for a greater understanding of how genetic and environmental perturbations can impact replication dynamics in human cells. Here we describe a detailed protocol for isolating and sequencing Okazaki fragments from asynchronously growing mammalian cells, termed Okazaki fragment sequencing (Ok-seq), for the purpose of quantitatively determining replication initiation and termination frequencies around specific genomic loci by meta-analyses. Briefly, cells are pulsed with 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) to label newly synthesized DNA, and collected for DNA extraction. After size fractionation on a sucrose gradient, Okazaki fragments are concentrated and purified before click chemistry is used to tag the EdU label with a biotin conjugate that is cleavable under mild conditions. Biotinylated Okazaki fragments are then captured on streptavidin beads and ligated to Illumina adapters before library preparation for Illumina sequencing. The use of Ok-seq to interrogate genome-wide replication fork initiation and termination efficiencies can be applied to all unperturbed, asynchronously growing mammalian cells or under conditions of replication stress, and the assay can be performed in less than 2 weeks.For a long time, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) has been employed to study complex biomolecular systems at the detailed chemical, structural, or dynamic level. Recent progress in high-resolution and high-sensitivity ssNMR, in combination with innovative sample preparation and labeling schemes, offers novel opportunities to study proteins in their native setting irrespective of the molecular tumbling rate. This protocol describes biochemical preparation schemes to obtain cellular samples of both soluble as well as insoluble or membrane-associated proteins in bacteria. To this end, the protocol is suitable for studying a protein of interest in both whole cells and in cell envelope or isolated membrane preparations. In the first stage of the procedure, an appropriate strain of Escherichia coli (DE3) is transformed with a plasmid of interest harboring the protein of interest under the control of an inducible T7 promoter. PT2385 Next, the cells are adapted to grow in minimal (M9) medium. Before the growth enters stationary phase, protein expression is induced, and shortly thereafter, the native E. coli RNA polymerase is inhibited using rifampicin for targeted labeling of the protein of interest. The cells are harvested after expression and prepared for ssNMR rotor filling. In addition to conventional 13C/15N-detected ssNMR, we also outline how these preparations can be readily subjected to multidimensional ssNMR experiments using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) or proton (1H) detection schemes. We estimate that the entire preparative procedure until NMR experiments can be started takes 3-5 days.Premature ejaculation (PE) and poor ejaculatory control are multidimensional sexual symptoms estimated to affect almost one-third of men, severely impairing the overall quality of life of patients and their partners. However, patients who do not completely fulfil the definition criteria for PE rarely receive a diagnosis or adequate treatment, with the risk of subsequent progression from initial, subclinical symptoms to clinically overt PE, frequently with other sexual comorbidities. Thus, the current definitions of PE warrant review, in order to consider and propose a new taxonomy encompassing other unaddressed, crucial clinical aspects of PE. These newly proposed criteria include the recommendation for a primary screening for erectile dysfunction (ED), as PE and ED can be comorbid in up to 50% of patients but have never before been considered as a unified clinical entity. In order to facilitate clinical practice and improve clinical management of men with PE and comorbid conditions, we propose and define the new taxonomic clinical entities of subclinical PE (SPE) and loss of control of erection and ejaculation (LCEE).