Our results demonstrate that multiple brain regions are involved in the development of the sense of agency and that these show specific preferences for different levels of information. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.BACKGROUND AND AIMS Complex modifications of angiosperm flowers often function for precise pollen placement on pollinators and to promote cross-pollination. We explore the functional significance of the unusually elaborate morphology of Gloriosa superba flowers which are divided into five male and one hermaphrodite meranthia (functional pollination units of a single flower). METHODS We used controlled pollination experiments, floral measurements, pollen load analyses and visitor observations in four populations of G. superba in South Africa to determine the breeding system, mechanism of pollination and role of flower orientation in promotion of cross-pollination. KEY RESULTS We established that G. superba is self-compatible, but reliant on pollinators for seed production. Butterflies, in particular the pierid Eronia cleodora, were the primary pollinators (>90% of visitors). Butterflies brush against the anthers and stigma during nectar feeding and pollen is carried on their ventral wing surfaces. Butterfly scales were positively correlated with the number of pollen grains on stigmas. We demonstrate that the styles were orientated toward clearings in the vegetation and we confirm that the highest proportion of initial visits was to hermaphrodite meranthia pointing towards clearings. CONCLUSION The flower morphology of G. superba results in effective pollen transfer on the wings of butterfly visitors. The style-bearing hermaphrodite meranthium of the flowers orientates towards open spaces in the vegetation thus increasing the probability that butterflies land first on the hermaphrodite meranthium. This novel aspect of flower orientation is interpreted as a mechanism that promotes cross-pollination. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.Sleep plays an important role in the establishment of long-term memory; as such, lack of sleep severely impacts domains of our health including cognitive function. Epigenetic mechanisms regulate gene transcription and protein synthesis, playing a critical role in the modulation of long-term synaptic plasticity and memory. Recent evidences indicate that transcriptional dysregulation as a result of sleep deprivation (SD) may contribute to deficits in plasticity and memory function. The histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), also known as Vorinostat, a clinically approved drug for human use, has been shown to ameliorate cognitive deficits in several neurological disease models. To further explore the therapeutic effect of SAHA, we have examined its potential role in improving the SD-mediated impairments in long-term plasticity, associative plasticity, and associative memory. Here we show that SAHA preserves long-term plasticity, associative plasticity, and associative memory in SD hippocampus. Furthermore, we find that SAHA prevents SD-mediated epigenetic changes by upregulating histone acetylation, hence preserving the ERK-cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB)/CREB-binding protein-brain-derived neurotrophic factor pathway in the hippocampus. These data demonstrate that modifying epigenetic mechanisms via SAHA can prevent or reverse impairments in long-term plasticity and memory that result from sleep loss. Thus, SAHA could be a potential therapeutic agent in improving SD-related memory deficits. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permission@oup.com.OBJECTIVE With the rising burden of dementia globally, there is a need to harmonize dementia research across diverse populations. The Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III) is a well-established cognitive screening tool to diagnose dementia. But there have been few efforts to standardize the use of ACE-III across cohorts speaking different languages. The present study aimed to standardize and validate ACE-III across seven Indian languages and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the test to detect dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the context of language heterogeneity. METHODS The original ACE-III was adapted to Indian languages Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, and Indian English by a multidisciplinary expert group. The ACE-III was standardized for use across all seven languages. In total, 757 controls, 242 dementia, and 204 MCI patients were recruited across five cities in India for the validation study. Psychometric properties of adapted versions were examined and their sensitivity and specificity were established.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/abc294640.html  RESULTS The sensitivity and specificity of ACE-III in identifying dementia ranged from 0.90 to 1, sensitivity for MCI ranged from 0.86 to 1, and specificity from 0.83 to 0.93. Education but not language was found to have an independent effect on ACE-III scores. Optimum cut-off scores were established separately for low education (≤10 years of education) and high education (>10 years of education) groups. CONCLUSIONS The adapted versions of ACE-III have been standardized and validated for use across seven Indian languages, with high diagnostic accuracy in identifying dementia and MCI in a linguistically diverse context. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permission@oup.com.The anaerobic digestion of wastes is globally important in the production of methane (CH4) as a biofuel. When sulfate is present, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are stimulated, competing with methanogens for common substrates which decreases CH4 production and results in the formation of corrosive, odorous hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). Here we show that a population of SRB within a methanogenic bioreactor fed only butyrate for years immediately (within hours) responded to sulfate availability and shifted the microbial community dynamics within the bioreactor. By mapping shotgun metatranscriptomes to metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), we shed light on the transcriptomic responses of key community members in response to increased sulfate provision. We link these short-term transcriptional responses to long-term niche partitioning using comparative metagenomic analyses. Our results suggest that sulfate provision supports a syntrophic butyrate oxidation community that disfavors poly-β-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) storage and that hydrogenotrophic SRB populations effectively exclude obligately hydrogenotrophic, but not aceticlastic, methanogens when sulfate is readily available.