The study of genetic diversity and population structure of the Korean fleshy shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis, using newly developed microsatellite markers

The fleshy shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis, is the family of Penaeidae and one of the most economically important marine culture species in Korea. However, its genetic characteristics have never been studied. In this study, a total of 240 wild F. chinensis individuals were collected from four locations as follows: Narodo (NRD, n = 60), Beopseongpo (BSP, n = 60), Chaesukpo (CSP, n = 60), and Cheonsuman (CSM, n = 60). Genetic variability and the relationships among four wild F. chinensis populations were analyzed using 13 newly developed microsatellite loci. Relatively high levels of genetic variability (mean allelic richness = 16.87; mean heterozygosity = 0.845) were found among localities. Among the 52 population loci, 13 showed significant deviation from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Neighbor-joining, principal coordinate, and molecular variance analyses revealed the presence of three subpopulations (NRD, CSM, BSP and CSP), which was consistent with clustering based on genetic distance. The mean observed heterozygosity values of the NRD, CSM, BSP, and CSP populations were 0.724, 0.821, 0.814, and 0.785 over all loci, respectively. These genetic variability and differentiation results of the four wild populations can be applied for future genetic improvement using selective breeding and to design suitable management guidelines for Korean F. chinensis culture.

Discourse on the centennial of Neve Shalome, Surinam, by Judah A. Devries

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Critical Discourse Analysis research methods for the English classroom

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an approach to analysing the discourses that operate in social contexts, such as classrooms in schools, and their material effects on people, such as teachers and learners. CDA offers a range of ways of engaging with the relationship between texts in context and the power they exercise. In this article, I overview key approaches and provide detail of Fairclough’s (1992, 2003) textually-oriented, linguistic method of CDA, with an example from my own research. I offer a challenge for English teachers, as researchers, to ‘make strange’ the familiar world of their classroom work, and in so doing, identify possibilities for productive change.

With the best of intentions: A critical discourse analysis of HPE curriculum materials

Much of physical education curriculum in the developed world and specifically in Australia tends to be guided in principle by syllabus documents that represent, in varying degrees, some form of government education priorities. Through the use of critical discourse analysis we analyze one such syllabus example (an official syllabus document of one of the Australian States) to explore the relationships between the emancipatory/social justice expectations presented in the rubric of and introduction to the official syllabus document, and the language details of learning outcomes that indicate how the expectations might be satisfied. Given the complexity and multilevel pathways of message systems/ideologies we question the efficacy of such documents oriented around social justice principles to genuinely deliver more radical agendas which promote social change and encourage a preparedness to engage in social action leading to a betterment of society.

Understanding teachers: The potential and possibility of discourse analysis

Understanding the ways in which teachers make sense of what they do and why is critical to a broader understanding of pedagogy. Historically, teachers have been understood through the thematic and content analysis of their beliefs or philosophies. In this paper, we argue that discourse analysis (DA) involves a much finer-grained analysis of the ‘lifeworlds’ of teachers and, in our view, provides a more detailed canvas from which inferences can be made. Our argument is structured in four parts. We begin by locating DA within the physical education (PE) literature and discuss what others have referred to as its relatively modest use. Following our location of DA, we outline a conceptual framework that we regard as useful, which contains six interrelated principles. We then introduce the idea of interpretive repertoires, which we consider to have particular explanatory power as well as being a sophisticated way to represent the subjectivities of PE teachers. Finally, we discuss the methodological strengths of interpretive repertoires. The paper concludes with a discussion on the theoretical and practical merits of adopting DA to analyse problems within PE.

ERAP2 functional knockout in humans does not alter surface heavy chains or HLA-B27, inflammatory cytokines or endoplasmic reticulum stress markers

Introduction Single nucleotide polymorphisms in ERAP2 are strongly associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). One AS-associated single nucleotide polymorphism, rs2248374, causes a truncated ERAP2 protein that is degraded by nonsense-mediated decay. Approximately 25% of the populations of European ancestry are therefore natural ERAP2 knockouts. We investigated the effect of this associated variant on HLA class I allele presentation, surface heavy chains, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress markers and cytokine gene transcription in AS. Methods Patients with AS and healthy controls with either AA or GG homozygous status for rs2248374 were studied. Antibodies to CD14, CD19-ECD, HLA-A-B-C, Valpha7.2, CD161, anti-HC10 and anti-HLA-B27 were used to analyse peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Expression levels of ER stress markers (GRP78 and CHOP) and proinflammatory genes (tumour necrosis factor (TNF), IL6, IL17 and IL22) were assessed by qPCR. Results There was no significant difference in HLAclass I allele presentation or major histocompatibility class I heavy chains or ER stress markers GRP78 and CHOP or proinflammatory gene expression between genotypes for rs2248374 either between cases, between cases and controls, and between controls. Discussion Large differences were not seen in HLAB27 expression or cytokine levels between subjects with and without ERAP2 in AS cases and controls. This suggests that ERAP2 is more likely to influence AS risk through other mechanisms.

Molecular Characterization of Sclerospora graminicola, the Incitant of Pearl Millet Downy Mildew Using ISSR Markers

The DNA polymorphism among 22 isolates of Sclerospora graminicola, the causal agent of downy mildew disease of pearl millet was assessed using 20 inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers. The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of using ISSR markers for unravelling the extent and pattern of genetic diversity in 22 S. graminicola isolates collected from different host cultivars in different states of India. The 19 functional ISSR primers generated 410 polymorphic bands and revealed 89% polymorphism and were able to distinguish all the 22 isolates. Polymorphic bands used to construct an unweighted pair group method of averages (UPGMA) dendrogram based on Jaccard's co-efficient of similarity and principal coordinate analysis resulted in the formation of four major clusters of 22 isolates. The standardized Nei genetic distance among the 22 isolates ranged from 0.0050 to 0.0206. The UPGMA clustering using the standardized genetic distance matrix resulted in the identification of four clusters of the 22 isolates with bootstrap values ranging from 15 to 100. The 3D-scale data supported the UPGMA results, which resulted into four clusters amounting to 70% variation among each other. However, comparing the two methods show that sub clustering by dendrogram and multi dimensional scaling plot is slightly different. All the S. graminicola isolates had distinct ISSR genotypes and cluster analysis origin. The results of ISSR fingerprints revealed significant level of genetic diversity among the isolates and that ISSR markers could be a powerful tool for fingerprinting and diversity analysis in fungal pathogens.

Cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans as novel markers of human neural stem cell fate determination

Multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs) provide a model to investigate neurogenesis and develop mechanisms of cell transplantation. In order to define improved markers of stemness and lineage specificity, we examined self-renewal and multi-lineage markers during long-term expansion and under neuronal and astrocyte differentiating conditions in human ESC-derived NSCs (hNSC H9 cells). In addition, with proteoglycans ubiquitous to the neural niche, we also examined heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) and their regulatory enzymes. Our results demonstrate that hNSC H9 cells maintain self-renewal and multipotent capacity during extended culture and express HS biosynthesis enzymes and several HSPG core protein syndecans (SDCs) and glypicans (GPCs) at a high level. In addition, hNSC H9 cells exhibit high neuronal and a restricted glial differentiative potential with lineage differentiation significantly increasing expression of many HS biosynthesis enzymes. Furthermore, neuronal differentiation of the cells upregulated SDC4, GPC1, GPC2, GPC3 and GPC6 expression with increased GPC4 expression observed under astrocyte culture conditions. Finally, downregulation of selected HSPG core proteins altered hNSC H9 cell lineage potential. These findings demonstrate an involvement for HSPGs in mediating hNSC maintenance and lineage commitment and their potential use as novel markers of hNSC and neural cell lineage specification.

A discourse of ‘abnormality’: Exploring discussions of people living in Australia with a deafness or hearing loss

Adopting a social constructionist framework, the authors conducted a synthetic discourse analysis to explore how people living in Australia with deafness construct their experience of deafness. An online forum facilitated access and communication between the lead author and 24 widely dispersed and linguistically diverse forum contributors. The authors discuss the productive and restrictive effects of the emergent discourse of deafness as abnormal and the rhetorical strategies mobilized in people’s accounts: fitting in, acceptance as permission to be different, and the need to prove normality. Using these strategies was productive in that the forum respondents were enabled to reposition deafness as a positive, socially valued identity position. However, the need to manage deafness was reproduced as an individual concern, disallowing any exploration of how deafness could be reconstructed as socially valued. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the deafness as abnormal discourse.

Ibuprofen ingestion does not affect markers of post-exercise muscle inflammation

Purpose: We investigated if oral ingestion of ibuprofen influenced leucocyte recruitment and infiltration following an acute bout of traditional resistance exercise Methods: Sixteen male subjects were divided into two groups that received the maximum over-the-counter dose of ibuprofen (1200mg d−1) or a similarly administered placebo following lower body resistance exercise. Muscle biopsies were taken from m.vastus lateralis and blood serum samples were obtained before and immediately after exercise, and at 3 and 24 h after exercise. Muscle cross-sections were stained with antibodies against neutrophils (CD66b and MPO) and macrophages (CD68). Muscle damage was assessed via creatine kinase and myoglobin in blood serum samples, and muscle soreness was rated on a ten-point pain scale. Results: The resistance exercise protocol stimulated a significant increase in the number of CD66b+ and MPO+ cells when measured 3 h post exercise. Serum creatine kinase, myoglobin and subjective muscle soreness all increased post-exercise. Muscle leucocyte infiltration, creatine kinase, myoglobin and subjective muscle soreness were unaffected by ibuprofen treatment when compared to placebo. There was also no association between increases in inflammatory leucocytes and any other marker of cellular muscle damage. Conclusion: Ibuprofen administration had no effect on the accumulation of neutrophils, markers of muscle damage or muscle soreness during the first 24 h of post-exercise muscle recovery.

Mitochondrial and nuclear markers suggest Hanuman langur (Primates: Colobinae) polyphyly: Implications for their species status

Recent molecular studies on langurs of the Indian subcontinent suggest that the widely-distributed and morphologically variable Hanuman langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) are polyphyletic with respect to Nilgiri and urple-faced langurs. To further investigate this scenario, we have analyzed additional sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b as well as nuclear protamine P1 genes from these species. The results confirm Hanuman langur polyphyly in the mitochondrial tree and the nuclear markers suggest that the Hanuman langurs share protamine P1 alleles with Nilgiri and purple-faced langurs. We recommend provisional splitting of the so-called Hanuman langurs into three species such that the taxonomy is consistent with their evolutionary relationships.