Project description:The aim of this experiment was to test whether the social setting changed neural transcriptomic responses to an endotoxin challenge in zebra finches
Project description:PurposeInfections due to severe neutropenia are the most common therapy-associated causes of mortality in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). New strategies to lessen the severity and duration of neutropenia are needed.MethodsCytarabine is commonly used for AML consolidation therapy; we compared high- and intermediate-dose cytarabine administration on days 1, 2, and 3 (AC-123) versus days 1, 3, and 5 (AC-135) in consolidation therapy of AML. Recently, clinical trials demonstrated that high-dose AC-123 resulted in a shortened white blood cell (WBC) recovery time compared with high-dose AC-135. Our main hypothesis is that this is also the case for different cytarabine dosage, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration, and cycle lengths. We analyzed 334 treatment schedules on virtual cohorts of digital twins.ResultsComparison of 32,565 simulated consolidation cycles resulted in a reduction in the WBC recovery time for AC-123 in 99.6% of the considered cycles (median reduction 3.5 days) without an increase in the number of leukemic blasts (lower value in 94.2% of all cycles), compared to AC-135.ConclusionOur numerical study supports the use of AC-123 plus G-CSF as standard conventional AML consolidation therapy to reduce the risk for life-threatening infectious complications.
Project description:DNA replication is initiated at multiple sites or origins enriched with AT-rich sequences at various times during the S-phase. While current studies of genome-wide DNA replication profiles have focused on the timing of replication and the location of origins, the efficiency of replication/firing at various origins remains unclear. In this study, we show different efficiencies of DNA replication at various loci by using ORF-specific DNA microarrays. DNA copy-number increases as a function of time at individual loci are approximated to near-sigmoidal models for estimation of replication initiation and completion timings in HU-challenged cells. Duplicating times (from initiation to completion) vary from loci to loci, partly contributing to various firing efficiencies at origins. DNA replication timing profiles are strikingly similar to the reported patterns of enriched ssDNA, suggesting that majority stalled forks are restored for resumption of DNA replication. Although the DNA replication timing profiles are disrupted in HU-challenged cds1? cells, ~85% of potential origins overlapped with those found in wild type cells, significantly, most of which represents inefficiently fired origins in wild type cells. Together, our result indicates that replication checkpoint plays a role in monitoring efficient origins and thus maintaining global DNA replication patterns in HU-challenged cells. Keywords: WT or Cds1 HU synchronized cells released in HU free media and harvested at different time points vs WT or Cds1 synchronized with HU for 3 hrs. We analyzed 32 arrays for WT and 38 arrays for Cds1 cells which were synchronized with HU and released in HU free media and harvested at different time points. At least two biological repeats were done for each time points.
Project description:Reward timing, that is, the delay after which reward is delivered following an action is known to strongly influence reinforcement learning. Here, we asked if reward timing could also modulate how people learn and consolidate new motor skills. In 60 healthy participants, we found that delaying reward delivery by a few seconds influenced motor learning. Indeed, training with a short reward delay (1 s) induced continuous improvements in performance, whereas a long reward delay (6 s) led to initially high learning rates that were followed by an early plateau in the learning curve and a lower performance at the end of training. Participants who learned the skill with a long reward delay also exhibited reduced overnight memory consolidation. Overall, our data show that reward timing affects the dynamics and consolidation of motor learning, a finding that could be exploited in future rehabilitation programs.
Project description:Countering misinformation can reduce belief in the moment, but corrective messages quickly fade from memory. We tested whether the longer-term impact of fact-checks depends on when people receive them. In two experiments (total N = 2,683), participants read true and false headlines taken from social media. In the treatment conditions, "true" and "false" tags appeared before, during, or after participants read each headline. Participants in a control condition received no information about veracity. One week later, participants in all conditions rated the same headlines' accuracy. Providing fact-checks after headlines (debunking) improved subsequent truth discernment more than providing the same information during (labeling) or before (prebunking) exposure. This finding informs the cognitive science of belief revision and has practical implications for social media platform designers.
Project description:DNA replication is initiated at multiple sites or origins enriched with AT-rich sequences at various times during the S-phase. While current studies of genome-wide DNA replication profiles have focused on the timing of replication and the location of origins, the efficiency of replication/firing at various origins remains unclear. In this study, we show different efficiencies of DNA replication at various loci by using ORF-specific DNA microarrays. DNA copy-number increases as a function of time at individual loci are approximated to near-sigmoidal models for estimation of replication initiation and completion timings in HU-challenged cells. Duplicating times (from initiation to completion) vary from loci to loci, partly contributing to various firing efficiencies at origins. DNA replication timing profiles are strikingly similar to the reported patterns of enriched ssDNA, suggesting that majority stalled forks are restored for resumption of DNA replication. Although the DNA replication timing profiles are disrupted in HU-challenged cds1? cells, ~85% of potential origins overlapped with those found in wild type cells, significantly, most of which represents inefficiently fired origins in wild type cells. Together, our result indicates that replication checkpoint plays a role in monitoring efficient origins and thus maintaining global DNA replication patterns in HU-challenged cells. Keywords: WT or Cds1 HU synchronized cells released in HU free media and harvested at different time points vs WT or Cds1 synchronized with HU for 3 hrs.