The mutation causing the black-and-tan pigmentation phenotype of Mangalitza pigs maps to the porcine ASIP locus but does not affect its coding sequence

The gene for agouti signaling protein (ASIP) is centrally involved in the expression of coat color traits in animals. The Mangalitza pig breed is characterized by a black-and-tan phenotype with black dorsal pigmentation and yellow or white ventral pigmentation. We investigated a Mangalitza x Piétrain cross and observed a coat color segregation pattern in the F2 generation that can be explained by virtue of two alleles at the MC1R locus and two alleles at the ASIP locus. Complete linkage of the black-and-tan phenotype to microsatellite alleles at the ASIP locus on SSC 17q21 was observed. Corroborated by the knowledge of similar mouse coat color mutants, it seems therefore conceivable that the black-and-tan pigmentation of Mangalitza pigs is caused by an ASIP allele a(t), which is recessive to the wild-type allele A. Toward positional cloning of the a(t) mutation, a 200-kb genomic BAC/PAC contig of this chromosomal region has been constructed and subsequently sequenced. Full-length ASIP cDNAs obtained by RACE differed in their 5' untranslated regions, whereas they shared a common open reading frame. Comparative sequencing of all ASIP exons and ASIP cDNAs between Mangalitza and Piétrain pigs did not reveal any differences associated with the coat color phenotype. Relative qRT-PCR analyses showed different dorsoventral skin expression intensities of the five ASIP transcripts in black-and-tan Mangalitza. The a(t) mutation is therefore probably a regulatory ASIP mutation that alters its dorsoventral expression pattern.

Distribution of mRNA coding for 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor subtypes in the intestines of healthy dairy cows and dairy cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of mRNA coding for 7 subtypes of 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors (5-HTRs) in the intestines of healthy dairy cows and dairy cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation (CDD). SAMPLE POPULATION: Full-thickness intestinal wall biopsy specimens were obtained from the ileum, cecum, proximal loop of the ascending colon, and external loop of the spiral colon (ELSC) of 15 cows with CDD (group 1) and 15 healthy dairy cows allocated to 2 control groups (specimens collected during routine laparotomy [group 2] or after cows were slaughtered [group 3]). PROCEDURE: Amounts of mRNA coding for 7 subtypes of 5-HTRs (5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, 5-HT1F, 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT4) were measured by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR assay. Results were expressed as the percentage of mRNA expression of a housekeeping gene. RESULTS: Expression of mRNA coding for 5-HTR1B, 5-HTR2B, and 5-HTR4 was significantly lower in cows with CDD than in healthy cows. For 5-HTR2B and 5-HTR4, significant differences between cows with CDD and control cows were most pronounced for the ELSC. Expression of mRNA for 5-HTR1D, 5-HTR1F, and 5-HTR2A was extremely low in all groups, and mRNA for 5-HTR1A was not detected. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Relative concentrations of mRNA coding for 5-HTR1B, 5-HT2B, and 5-HTR4 were significantly lower in the intestines of cows with CDD than in the intestines of healthy dairy cows, especially for 5-HT2B and 5-HTR4 in the ELSC. This supports the hypothesis that serotonergic mechanisms, primarily in the spiral colon, are implicated in the pathogenesis of CDD.

Endothelium-specific replacement of the connexin43 coding region by a lacZ reporter gene

The murine gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) is expressed in blood vessels, with vastly different contribution by endothelial and smooth muscle cells. We have used the Cre recombinase under control of TIE2 transcriptional elements to inactivate a floxed Cx43 gene specifically in endothelial cells. Cre-mediated deletion led to replacement of the Cx43 coding region by a lacZ reporter gene. This allowed us to monitor the extent of deletion and to visualize the endothelial expression pattern of Cx43. We found widespread endothelial expression of the Cx43 gene during embryonic development, which became restricted largely to capillaries and small vessels in all adult organs examined. Mice lacking Cx43 in endothelium did not exhibit altered blood pressure, in contrast to mice deficient in Cx40. Our results show that lacZ activation after deletion of the target gene allows us to determine the extent of cell type-specific deletion after phenotypical investigation of the same animal.

Comparison of musical activities of cochlear implant users with different speech-coding strategies

Speech coding might have an impact on music perception of cochlear implant users. This questionnaire study compares the musical activities and perception of postlingually deafened cochlear implant users with three different coding strategies (CIS, ACE, SPEAK) using the Munich Music Questionnaire. Overall, the self-reported perception of music of CIS, SPEAK, and ACE users did not differ by very much.

The end1 gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe coding for a DNase is identical with the pnu1 gene coding for an RNase

The DNA nuclease activity encoded by the end1 gene, and its inactivation by mutation, was described in connection with the characterization of DNA topoisomerases in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Uemura and Yanagida, 1984). Subsequently, end1 mutant strains were used for the preparation of cell extracts for the study of enzymes and intermediates involved in DNA metabolism. The molecular identification of the end1 gene and its identity with the pnu1 gene is presented. The end1-458 mutation alters glycine to glutamate in the conserved motif TGPYLP. The pnu1 gene codes for an RNase that is induced by nitrogen starvation (Nakashima et al., 2002b). Thus, the End1/Pnu1 protein, like related mitochondrial proteins in other organisms, is an example of a sugar-non-specific nuclease. The analysis of strains carrying a pnu1 deletion revealed no defects in meiotic recombination and spore viability.

Learning for sustainability - LforS: Simulation games - a creative tool for interactive learning

Description of simulation and training games as tool for awareness and capacity development in multi steakeholder processes

Predictive-DCT Coding for 3D Mesh Sequences Compression

This paper proposes a new compression algorithm for dynamic 3d meshes. In such a sequence of meshes, neighboring vertices have a strong tendency to behave similarly and the degree of dependencies between their locations in two successive frames is very large which can be efficiently exploited using a combination of Predictive and DCT coders (PDCT). Our strategy gathers mesh vertices of similar motions into clusters, establish a local coordinate frame (LCF) for each cluster and encodes frame by frame and each cluster separately. The vertices of each cluster have small variation over a time relative to the LCF. Therefore, the location of each new vertex is well predicted from its location in the previous frame relative to the LCF of its cluster. The difference between the original and the predicted local coordinates are then transformed into frequency domain using DCT. The resulting DCT coefficients are quantized and compressed with entropy coding. The original sequence of meshes can be reconstructed from only a few non-zero DCT coefficients without significant loss in visual quality. Experimental results show that our strategy outperforms or comes close to other coders.

Creative Commons International The International License Porting Project

When Creative Commons (CC) was founded in 2001, the core Creative Commons licenses were drafted according to United States Copyright Law. Since their first introduction in December 2002, Creative Commons licenses have been enthusiastically adopted by many creators, authors, and other content producers – not only in the United States, but in many other jurisdictions as well. Global interest in the CC licenses prompted a discussion about the need for national versions of the CC licenses. To best address this need, the international license porting project (“Creative Commons International” – formerly known as “International Commons”) was launched in 2003. Creative Commons International works to port the core Creative Commons licenses to different copyright legislations around the world. The porting process includes both linguistically translating the licenses and legally adapting the licenses to a particular jurisdiction such that they are comprehensible in the local jurisdiction and legally enforceable but concurrently retain the same key elements. Since its inception, Creative Commons International has found many supporters all over the world. With Finland, Brazil, and Japan as the first completed jurisdiction projects, experts around the globe have followed their lead and joined the international collaboration with Creative Commons to adapt the licenses to their local copyright. This article aims to present an overview of the international porting process, explain and clarify the international license architecture, its legal and promotional aspects, as well as its most recent challenges.