Genotyping of Avasirkhva, an indigenous Abkhasian grapevine variety

Molecular genotyping of native varieties of Vitis vinifera L. from different winegrowing areas is a current trend in the grapevine genetic diversity research. Abkhazia is among the world cradles of tamed grape, and its indigenous gene pool is of particular interest. Avasirkhva is a native Abkhasian grapevine variety mainly grown in the Gudauta District. Te research aimed to obtaining a genetic passport of Avasirkhva grapevine using microsatellite polymorphism data. Te study sampled grape plants from private farmsteads of the Gudauta District. Te plant phenotype corresponded to the variety’s ampelographic description. DNA was isolated from young shoot tip leaves with a CTAB-based protocol. Genotyping was performed with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by capillary fragment separation. High-polymorphic SSR loci (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD25, VVMD27, VVMD28, VVMD32, VrZAG62, VrZAG79) recommended for grapevine varietal identification were used as markers. Te amplicon size was estimated with an ABI Prism 3130 automated genetic analyser using the GeneMapper and PeakScanner soſtware and Pinot Noir as a reference variety genotype. Four samples exhibited an identical microsatellite profile. Te microsatellite assay-based genetic passport of the Avasirkhva variety is as follows: VVS2141-145 VVMD5234-242 VVMD7239- 249, VVMD25239-249, VVMD27184-190, VVMD28234-248, VVMD32248- 262, VrZAG62200-204, VrZAG79251-257. Te obtained passport is unique with respect to the known genotypes in the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC). A Principal Coordinate Analysis of microsatellite data was used to infer the genetic relationships between Avasirkhva and the Abkhasian varieties Kachich and Azhizhkvakva genotyped in our earlier studies, as well as nine native grapevines of Georgia, the nearest viticultural area. Te Avasirkhva genetic passport can be used in grapevine genotyping studies to clarify the varietal identity.

Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)

Climate warming in Svalbard, starting in the 1920s, caused a signifcant reduction in the mountain glaciation of the Nordenskjold Land. Te most extensive changes took place in the Western part of this territory due to the influence of the warm Spitsbergen current creating here the high temperature background. In addition, due to elevation of the level of the climatic snow line, many glaciers have actually lost the area of accumulation. From 1936 to 2017, the area of glaciers in the Western part of this region decreased by 169.5 km2 or 49.5%. Large valley glaciers and numerous small glaciers have lost the greatest area. Te relative losses of the area of glaciers were revealed to be proportional to sizes of them. In average over the past 80 years, glaciers with areas smaller 0.5 km² reduced by 76%, while big glaciers with areas larger 5 km2 – by only 34%. At present, there are 152 glaciers with a total area of 172.73±9.31 km2 in the Western territory of the Land of Nordenskjold (West of the Bolterdalen valley). According to the aerial photography of 2008–2009, the total area of glaciation of the Land of Nordenskjold covers 428 km2. High present-day rates of the retreating of local glaciers are apparently caused by extreme thinning of glacial tongues. At the same time, shrinking of glaciers located in the West of the Peninsula turned out to be more intensive than that of glaciers in its center. Although the Eastern territories receive less precipitation than glaciers near the coast of the Greenland Sea, the Eastern glaciers were found to be more resistant to reduction due to higher locations of them.

Perceptual processing in the ventral visual stream requires area TE but not rhinal cortex

There is an on-going debate over whether area TE, or the anatomically adjacent rhinal cortex, is the final stage of visual object processing. Both regions have been implicated in visual perception, but their involvement in non-perceptual functions, such as short-term memory, hinders clear-cut interpretation. Here, using a two-interval forced choice task without a short-term memory demand, we find that after bilateral removal of area TE, monkeys trained to categorize images based on perceptual similarity (morphs between dogs and cats), are, on the initial viewing, badly impaired when given a new set of images. They improve markedly with a small amount of practice but nonetheless remain moderately impaired indefinitely. The monkeys with bilateral removal of rhinal cortex are, under all conditions, indistinguishable from unoperated controls. We conclude that the final stage of the integration of visual perceptual information into object percepts in the ventral visual stream occurs in area TE.

Mechanisms for shaping receptive field in monkey area TE

Visual object information is conveyed from V1 to area TE along the ventral visual pathway with increasing receptive field (RF) sizes. The RFs of TE neurons are known to be large, but it is largely unknown how large RFs are shaped along the ventral visual pathway. In this study, we addressed this question in two aspects, static and dynamic mechanisms, by recording neural responses from macaque area TE and V4 to object stimuli presented at various locations in the visual field. As a component related to static mechanisms, we found that in area TE, but not in V4, response latency to objects presented at fovea were different from objects in periphery. As a component of the dynamic mechanisms, we examined effects of spatial attention on the RFs of TE neurons. Spatial attention did not affect response latency but modulated response magnitudes depending on attended location, shifting of the longitudinal axis of RFs toward the attended locations. In standard models of large RF formation, downstream neurons pool information from nearby RFs, and this process is repeated across the visual field and at each step along the ventral visual pathway. The present study revealed that this mechanism is not that simple: 1) different circuit mechanisms for foveal and peripheral visual fields may be situated between V4 and area TE, and 2) spatial attention dynamically changes the shape of RFs. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Receptive fields (RFs) of neurons are progressively increased along the ventral visual pathway so that an RF at the final stage, area TE, covers a large area of the visual field. We explored the mechanism and suggested involvement of parallel circuit mechanisms between V4 and TE for foveal and peripheral parts of visual field. We also found a dynamic component of RF shape formation through attentional modulation of responses in a location-dependent manner.

Prediction suppression and surprise enhancement in monkey inferotemporal cortex

Exposing monkeys, over the course of days and weeks, to pairs of images presented in fixed sequence, so that each leading image becomes a predictor for the corresponding trailing image, affects neuronal visual responsiveness in area TE. At the end of the training period, neurons respond relatively weakly to a trailing image when it appears in a trained sequence and, thus, confirms prediction, whereas they respond relatively strongly to the same image when it appears in an untrained sequence and, thus, violates prediction. This effect could arise from prediction suppression (reduced firing in response to the occurrence of a probable event) or surprise enhancement (elevated firing in response to the omission of a probable event). To identify its cause, we compared firing under the prediction-confirming and prediction-violating conditions to firing under a prediction-neutral condition. The results provide strong evidence for prediction suppression and limited evidence for surprise enhancement. NEW & NOTEWORTHY In predictive coding models of the visual system, neurons carry signed prediction error signals. We show here that monkey inferotemporal neurons exhibit prediction-modulated firing, as posited by these models, but that the signal is unsigned. The response to a prediction-confirming image is suppressed, and the response to a prediction-violating image may be enhanced. These results are better explained by a model in which the visual system emphasizes unpredicted events than by a predictive coding model.

Prediction suppression in monkey inferotemporal cortex depends on the conditional probability between images

When monkeys view two images in fixed sequence repeatedly over days and weeks, neurons in area TE of the inferotemporal cortex come to exhibit prediction suppression. The trailing image elicits only a weak response when presented following the leading image that preceded it during training. Induction of prediction suppression might depend either on the contiguity of the images, as determined by their co-occurrence and captured in the measure of joint probability P( A, B), or on their contingency, as determined by their correlation and as captured in the measures of conditional probability P( A| B) and P( B| A). To distinguish between these possibilities, we measured prediction suppression after imposing training regimens that held P( A, B) constant but varied P( A| B) and P( B| A). We found that reducing either P( A| B) or P( B| A) during training attenuated prediction suppression as measured during subsequent testing. We conclude that prediction suppression depends on contingency, as embodied in the predictive relations between the images, and not just on contiguity, as embodied in their co-occurrence.

CONHECIMENTO NUTRICIONAL E ESTADO ANTROPOMÉTRICO DE ATLETAS UNIVERSITÁRIOS

Introdução O estudo do consumo alimentar fornece informações específicas sobre a ingestão de energia e nutrientes, podendo estar associado com o conhecimento sobre nutrição e alimentação. Nesse contexto, a entrada dos estudantes na universidade envolve uma tendência de transição nutricional e mudanças negativas no nível de atividade física, resultando em alterações importantes na sua composição corporal. Objetivo Analisar a relação entre perfil antropométrico e o conhecimento nutricional de atletas universitários de futebol. Métodos Participaram da pesquisa 37 universitários, jogadores de futebol, do sexo masculino, entre 18 e 28 anos, estudantes das áreas de Saúde e Biológica (SB), Tecnológica e Exatas (TE) e Humanas e Sociais (HS). Foram aferidas a massa corporal, estatura e dobras cutâneas (tricipital, subescapular, supra-ilíaca, abdominal e coxa medial). A fim de mensurar o conhecimento nutricional dos atletas, foi aplicado um questionário de conhecimento nutricional (QCN), traduzido, adaptado e validado para o Brasil. Para análise estatística foi utilizada correlação de Pearson e ANOVA one-way com post-hoc de Games-Howell. Resultados Foi observada diferença na massa corporal, estatura e massa livre de gordura (MLG) entre os atletas. Na comparação entre as áreas, verificou-se que não houve diferença significativa entre os estudantes da área SB em relação aos demais. Também foi observado que não houve diferenças significativas para a parte I, parte II ou total de acertos. Ainda houve correlação positiva, forte e significativa da área HS com a MLG. Observando-se as demais variáveis na área TE, foi encontrada correlação negativa e moderada. No restante das variáveis, as correlações entre a pontuação obtida no QCN e as variáveis de composição corporal foram fracas. Conclusão A amostra avaliada apresentou conhecimento nutricional moderado, verificando-se baixa associação deste com o perfil antropométrico. Os resultados também sugerem que o conhecimento nutricional, isoladamente, não é capaz de influenciar o comportamento alimentar.