ALBERT

Description: The reinforcing and rewarding properties of cocaine are attributed to its ability to increase dopaminergic transmission in nucleus accumbens (NAc). This action reinforces drug taking and seeking and leads to potent and long-lasting associations between the rewarding effects of the drug and the cues associated with its availability. The inability...

Description: The development of targeted anti-cancer therapies through the study of cancer genomes is intended to increase survival rates and decrease treatment-related toxicity. We treated a transposon-driven, functional genomic mouse model of medulloblastoma with 'humanized' in vivo therapy (microneurosurgical tumour resection followed by multi-fractionated, image-guided radiotherapy). Genetic events in recurrent murine medulloblastoma exhibit a very poor overlap with those in matched murine diagnostic samples (〈5%). Whole-genome sequencing of 33 pairs of human diagnostic and post-therapy medulloblastomas demonstrated substantial genetic divergence of the dominant clone after therapy (〈12% diagnostic events were retained at recurrence). In both mice and humans, the dominant clone at recurrence arose through clonal selection of a pre-existing minor clone present at diagnosis. Targeted therapy is unlikely to be effective in the absence of the target, therefore our results offer a simple, proximal, and remediable explanation for the failure of prior clinical trials of targeted therapy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Morrissy, A Sorana -- Garzia, Livia -- Shih, David J H -- Zuyderduyn, Scott -- Huang, Xi -- Skowron, Patryk -- Remke, Marc -- Cavalli, Florence M G -- Ramaswamy, Vijay -- Lindsay, Patricia E -- Jelveh, Salomeh -- Donovan, Laura K -- Wang, Xin -- Luu, Betty -- Zayne, Kory -- Li, Yisu -- Mayoh, Chelsea -- Thiessen, Nina -- Mercier, Eloi -- Mungall, Karen L -- Ma, Yusanne -- Tse, Kane -- Zeng, Thomas -- Shumansky, Karey -- Roth, Andrew J L -- Shah, Sohrab -- Farooq, Hamza -- Kijima, Noriyuki -- Holgado, Borja L -- Lee, John J Y -- Matan-Lithwick, Stuart -- Liu, Jessica -- Mack, Stephen C -- Manno, Alex -- Michealraj, K A -- Nor, Carolina -- Peacock, John -- Qin, Lei -- Reimand, Juri -- Rolider, Adi -- Thompson, Yuan Y -- Wu, Xiaochong -- Pugh, Trevor -- Ally, Adrian -- Bilenky, Mikhail -- Butterfield, Yaron S N -- Carlsen, Rebecca -- Cheng, Young -- Chuah, Eric -- Corbett, Richard D -- Dhalla, Noreen -- He, An -- Lee, Darlene -- Li, Haiyan I -- Long, William -- Mayo, Michael -- Plettner, Patrick -- Qian, Jenny Q -- Schein, Jacqueline E -- Tam, Angela -- Wong, Tina -- Birol, Inanc -- Zhao, Yongjun -- Faria, Claudia C -- Pimentel, Jose -- Nunes, Sofia -- Shalaby, Tarek -- Grotzer, Michael -- Pollack, Ian F -- Hamilton, Ronald L -- Li, Xiao-Nan -- Bendel, Anne E -- Fults, Daniel W -- Walter, Andrew W -- Kumabe, Toshihiro -- Tominaga, Teiji -- Collins, V Peter -- Cho, Yoon-Jae -- Hoffman, Caitlin -- Lyden, David -- Wisoff, Jeffrey H -- Garvin, James H Jr -- Stearns, Duncan S -- Massimi, Luca -- Schuller, Ulrich -- Sterba, Jaroslav -- Zitterbart, Karel -- Puget, Stephanie -- Ayrault, Olivier -- Dunn, Sandra E -- Tirapelli, Daniela P C -- Carlotti, Carlos G -- Wheeler, Helen -- Hallahan, Andrew R -- Ingram, Wendy -- MacDonald, Tobey J -- Olson, Jeffrey J -- Van Meir, Erwin G -- Lee, Ji-Yeoun -- Wang, Kyu-Chang -- Kim, Seung-Ki -- Cho, Byung-Kyu -- Pietsch, Torsten -- Fleischhack, Gudrun -- Tippelt, Stephan -- Ra, Young Shin -- Bailey, Simon -- Lindsey, Janet C -- Clifford, Steven C -- Eberhart, Charles G -- Cooper, Michael K -- Packer, Roger J -- Massimino, Maura -- Garre, Maria Luisa -- Bartels, Ute -- Tabori, Uri -- Hawkins, Cynthia E -- Dirks, Peter -- Bouffet, Eric -- Rutka, James T -- Wechsler-Reya, Robert J -- Weiss, William A -- Collier, Lara S -- Dupuy, Adam J -- Korshunov, Andrey -- Jones, David T W -- Kool, Marcel -- Northcott, Paul A -- Pfister, Stefan M -- Largaespada, David A -- Mungall, Andrew J -- Moore, Richard A -- Jabado, Nada -- Bader, Gary D -- Jones, Steven J M -- Malkin, David -- Marra, Marco A -- Taylor, Michael D -- R01 CA163722/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS096236/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01CA148699/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01CA159859/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada -- England -- Nature. 2016 Jan 21;529(7586):351-7. doi: 10.1038/nature16478. Epub 2016 Jan 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Developmental &Stem Cell Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A4, Canada. ; The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A4, Canada. ; The Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology, and Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Dusseldorf, M5S 3E1, Germany. ; Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada. ; Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada. ; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada. ; Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4S6, Canada. ; Department of Molecular Oncology, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. ; Center for Stem Cell &Regenerative Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA. ; Clinical Genomics Research Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario 44195, Canada. ; Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada. ; School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Division of Neurosurgery, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon 1649-035, Portugal. ; Divison of Pathology, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon 1649-035, Portugal. ; Unidade de Neuro-Oncologia Pediatrica, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, Lisbon 1099-023, Portugal. ; Departments of Oncology and Neuro-Oncology, University Children's Hospital of Zurich, Zurich 8032, Switzerland. ; Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224, USA. ; Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. ; Brain Tumor Program, Children's Cancer Center and Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84132, USA. ; A I duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware 19803, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8574, Japan. ; Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QP, UK. ; Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Departments of Pediatrics, Cell &Developmental Biology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, New York 10016, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics-Hematology and Oncology, Rainbow Babies &Children's Hospital and Department of Pediatrics-Hematology and Oncology, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. ; Pediatric Neurosurgery, Catholic University Medical School, Rome 00198, Italy. ; Center for Neuropathology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich 81377, Germany. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, School of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno 625 00, Czech Republic. ; AP-HP, Department of Neurosurgery, Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Universite Rene Descartes, Paris 75743, France. ; Signaling in Development and Brain Tumors, CNRS UMR 3347 / INSERM U1021, Institut Curie, Paris Cedex 5 91405, France. ; Division of Hematology/Oncology, British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3V4, Canada. ; Department of Surgery and Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, Rebeirao Preto, Sao Paulo 14049-900, Brazil. ; Kolling Institute of Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2065, Australia. ; Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, Children's Health Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. ; Division of Oncology, Children's Health Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. ; UQ Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4029, Australia. ; Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Program, School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30307, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. ; Department of Hematology &Medical Oncology, School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Seoul 30322, South Korea. ; Institute for Neuropathology, University of Bonn D-53105, Germany. ; Children's University Hospital of Essen D-45147, Germany. ; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Center, Seoul 05505, South Korea. ; Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK. ; Departments of Pathology, Ophthalmology and Oncology, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-8550, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Children's National Medical Center, Washington DC 20010-2970, USA. ; Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan 20133, Italy. ; U.O. Neurochirurgia, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova 16147, Italy. ; Department of Haematology &Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. ; Division of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. ; Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. ; Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, USA. ; School of Pharmacology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53715, USA. ; Molecular &Cellular Biology Program, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. ; Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuropathology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg 69120, Germany. ; Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg 69120, Germany. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69120, Germany. ; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. ; Division of Hematology/Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H2W 1S6., Canada. ; McLaughlin Centre and Department of Molecular Genetics, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research and Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada. ; Department of Molecular Biology &Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia M5G 1L7, Canada. ; Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26760213" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Approximately two thirds of migratory songbirds in eastern North America negotiate the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), where inclement weather coupled with no refueling or resting opportunities can be lethal. However, decisions made when navigating such features and their consequences remain largely unknown due to technological limitations of tracking small animals...

Description: Controlling the molecular structure of amorphous cross-linked polymeric materials is a longstanding challenge. Herein, we disclose a general strategy for precise tuning of loop defects in covalent polymer gel networks. This “loop control” is achieved through a simple semibatch monomer addition protocol that can be applied to a broad range of network-forming reactions. By controlling loop defects, we demonstrate that with the same set of material precursors it is possible to tune and in several cases substantially improve network connectivity and mechanical properties (e.g., ∼600% increase in shear storage modulus). We believe that the concept of loop control via continuous reagent addition could find broad application in the synthesis of academically and industrially important cross-linked polymeric materials, such as resins and gels.

Description: The French Revolution brought principles of “liberty, equality, fraternity” to bear on the day-to-day challenges of governing what was then the largest country in Europe. Its experiments provided a model for future revolutions and democracies across the globe, but this first modern revolution had no model to follow. Using reconstructed transcripts of debates held in the Revolution’s first parliament, we present a quantitative analysis of how this body managed innovation. We use information theory to track the creation, transmission, and destruction of word-use patterns across over 40,000 speeches and a thousand speakers. The parliament as a whole was biased toward the adoption of new patterns, but speakers’ individual qualities could break these overall trends. Speakers on the left innovated at higher rates, while speakers on the right acted to preserve prior patterns. Key players such as Robespierre (on the left) and Abbé Maury (on the right) played information-processing roles emblematic of their politics. Newly created organizational functions—such as the Assembly president and committee chairs—had significant effects on debate outcomes, and a distinct transition appears midway through the parliament when committees, external to the debate process, gained new powers to “propose and dispose.” Taken together, these quantitative results align with existing qualitative interpretations, but also reveal crucial information-processing dynamics that have hitherto been overlooked. Great orators had the public’s attention, but deputies (mostly on the political left) who mastered the committee system gained new powers to shape revolutionary legislation.

Description: Specific structures in mRNA can stimulate programmed ribosomal frameshifting (PRF). PRF efficiency can vary enormously between different stimulatory structures, but the features that lead to efficient PRF stimulation remain uncertain. To address this question, we studied the structural dynamics of the frameshift signal from West Nile virus (WNV), which stimulates −1 PRF at very high levels and has been proposed to form several different structures, including mutually incompatible pseudoknots and a double hairpin. Using optical tweezers to apply tension to single mRNA molecules, mimicking the tension applied by the ribosome during PRF, we found that the WNV frameshift signal formed an unusually large number of different metastable structures, including all of those previously proposed. From force-extension curve measurements, we mapped 2 mutually exclusive pathways for the folding, each encompassing multiple intermediates. We identified the intermediates in each pathway from length changes and the effects of antisense oligomers blocking formation of specific contacts. Intriguingly, the number of transitions between the different conformers of the WNV frameshift signal was maximal in the range of forces applied by the ribosome during −1 PRF. Furthermore, the occupancy of the pseudoknotted conformations was far too low for static pseudoknots to account for the high levels of −1 PRF. These results support the hypothesis that conformational heterogeneity plays a key role in frameshifting and suggest that transitions between different conformers under tension are linked to efficient PRF stimulation.

Description: For many cancer types, incidence rises rapidly with age as an apparent power law, supporting the idea that cancer is caused by a gradual accumulation of genetic mutations. Similarly, the incidence of many infectious diseases strongly increases with age. Here, combining data from immunology and epidemiology, we show that many of these dramatic age-related increases in incidence can be modeled based on immune system decline, rather than mutation accumulation. In humans, the thymus atrophies from infancy, resulting in an exponential decline in T cell production with a half-life of ∼16 years, which we use as the basis for a minimal mathematical model of disease incidence. Our model outperforms the power law model with the same number of fitting parameters in describing cancer incidence data across a wide spectrum of different cancers, and provides excellent fits to infectious disease data. This framework provides mechanistic insight into cancer emergence, suggesting that age-related decline in T cell output is a major risk factor.