Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutations in the Pectin Methyltransferase QUASIMODO2 Influence Cellulose Biosynthesis and Wall Integrity in Arabidopsis[OPEN]

Physical and functional interactions between pectin and cellulose are required for normal wall assembly and plant growth, as revealed in analyses of mutants for a pectin methyltransferase. Pectins are abundant in the cell walls of dicotyledonous plants, but how they interact with other wall polymers and influence wall integrity and cell growth has remained mysterious. Here, we verified that QUASIMODO2 (QUA2) is a pectin methyltransferase and determined that QUA2 is required for normal pectin biosynthesis. To gain further insight into how pectin affects wall assembly and integrity maintenance, we investigated cellulose biosynthesis, cellulose organization, cortical microtubules, and wall integrity signaling in two mutant alleles of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) QUA2, qua2 and tsd2. In both mutants, crystalline cellulose content is reduced, cellulose synthase particles move more slowly, and cellulose organization is aberrant. NMR analysis shows higher mobility of cellulose and matrix polysaccharides in the mutants. Microtubules in mutant hypocotyls have aberrant organization and depolymerize more readily upon treatment with oryzalin or external force. The expression of genes related to wall integrity, wall biosynthesis, and microtubule stability is dysregulated in both mutants. These data provide insights into how homogalacturonan is methylesterified upon its synthesis, the mechanisms by which pectin functionally interacts with cellulose, and how these interactions are translated into intracellular regulation to maintain the structural integrity of the cell wall during plant growth and development.
Dynamic Stabilization Surgery in Patients with Spinal Stenosis

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text In the lumbar spinal stenosis group, all radiographic parameters (disc height, segmental lordosis, segmental range of motion [ROM], global lordosis, and global ROM) were maintained well until the last follow-up. In the spondylolisthesis group, global lordosis and global ROM decreased at the last follow-up (P = 0.039 and 0.012, respectively). Study Design. Retrospective cohort study. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to analyze the long-term results for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) treated with dynamic stabilization (DS) and to consider how we can improve the results. Summary of Background Data. Few studies have reported long-term outcomes of DS surgery for LSS with or without spondylolisthesis. Methods. A single-center, single-surgeon consecutive series of LSS patients who underwent DS surgery with at least 5 years of follow-up were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty-seven patients were included in the LSS group and 38 patients in the spondylolisthesis group. Patient characteristics, operative data, radiographic parameters, clinical outcomes, and complications were analyzed at baseline and follow-up. Results. In the LSS group, all radiographic parameters (e.g., disc height, segmental lordosis, segmental range of motion [ROM] at the index level and proximal adjacent level, global lordosis, and global ROM) were maintained well until the last follow-up. In the spondylolisthesis group, global lordosis decreased from 36.5° ± 8.2° to 32.6° ± 6.0° at the last follow-up (P = 0.039), and global ROM decreased from 22.1° ± 6.9° to 18.8° ± 7.1° at the last follow-up (P = 0.012). In both groups, back pain, leg pain, and Oswestry Disability Index scores showed significant and sustained improvements. Screw loosening occurred in three patients (11.1%) in the LSS group and five patients (13.2%) in the spondylolisthesis group. Symptomatic adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) occurred in two patients (7.4%) in the LSS group and three patients (7.9%) in the spondylolisthesis group. Conclusion. Decompression and DS surgery for LSS with or without spondylolisthesis showed favorable long-term surgical outcomes with an acceptable rate of complications and ASD. However, an improved physiological DS system should be developed. Level of Evidence: 4
Avian red blood cell mitochondria produce more heat in winter than in autumn

Endotherms in cold regions improve heat‐producing capacity when preparing for winter. We know comparatively little about how this change is fueled by seasonal adaptation in cellular respiration. Thus, we studied the changes of mitochondrial function in red blood cells in sympatric Coal (Periparus ater), Blue (Cyanistes caeruleus), and Great (Parus major) tits between autumn and winter. These species differ more than twofold in body mass and in several aspects of their foraging ecology and social dominance, which could require differential seasonal adaptation of energy expenditure. Coal and Great tits in particular upregulated the mitochondrial respiration rate and mitochondrial volume in winter. This was not directed toward ATP synthesis, instead reflecting increased uncoupling of electron transport from ATP production. Because uncoupling is exothermic, this increased heat‐producing capacity at the sub‐cellular level in winter. This previously unexplored the route of thermogenesis in birds should be addressed in future work.
The relationship between childhood stress and distinct stages of dynamic behavior monitoring in adults: neural and behavioral correlates

Abstract Childhood adversity is a major risk factor for emotional and cognitive disorders later in adulthood. Behavior monitoring, one of the most important components of cognitive control, plays a crucial role in flexible interaction with the environment. Here, we test a novel conceptual model discriminating between two distinct dimensions of childhood adversity (i.e. deprivation and threat) and examine their relations to dynamic stages of behavior monitoring. Sixty young healthy adults participated in this study using event-related potentials and the dynamic stages of behavior monitoring including response inhibition, error detection and post-error adjustments were investigated in a classical Go/NoGo task. Multiple regression analyses revealed that participants with higher severity of childhood adversity recruited more controlled attention, as indicated by larger (more negative) conflict detection–related NoGo-N2 amplitudes and larger (more negative) error detection–related error-related negativity amplitudes. Higher severity of childhood abuse (an indicator of threat) was related to smaller (less positive) error appraisal–related error positivity amplitudes on the neural level and subsequently lower post-error accuracy on the behavioral level. These results suggested that prefrontal-supported controlled attention is influenced by universal adversity in childhood while the error-related behavioral adjustment is mainly affected by childhood abuse, indicating the dimensions of deprivation and threat are at least partially distinct.
Differences in COVID-19 Testing and Test Positivity Among Veterans, United States, 2020

Objective COVID-19 disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States. We evaluated characteristics associated with obtaining a COVID-19 test from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and receiving a positive test result for COVID-19. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of 6 292 800 veterans in VHA care at 130 VHA medical facilities. We assessed the number of tests for SARS-CoV-2 administered by the VHA (n = 822 934) and the number of positive test results (n = 82 094) from February 8 through December 28, 2020. We evaluated associations of COVID-19 testing and test positivity with demographic characteristics of veterans, adjusting for facility characteristics, comorbidities, and county-level area-based socioeconomic measures using nested generalized linear models. Results In fully adjusted models, veterans who were female, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, urban, and low income and had a disability had an increased likelihood of obtaining a COVID-19 test, and veterans who were Asian had a decreased likelihood of obtaining a COVID-19 test. Compared with veterans who were White, veterans who were Black/African American (risk ratio [RR] = 1.23; 95% CI, 1.19-1.27) and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (RR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.05-1.21) had an increased likelihood of receiving a positive test result. Hispanic/Latino veterans had a 43% higher likelihood of receiving a positive test result than non-Hispanic/Latino veterans did. Conclusions Although veterans have access to subsidized health care at the VHA, the increased risk of receiving a positive test result for COVID-19 among Black and Hispanic/Latino veterans, despite receiving more tests than White and non-Hispanic/Latino veterans, suggests that other factors (eg, social inequities) are driving disparities in COVID-19 prevalence.
Towards refining World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research cancer prevention recommendations for red and processed meat intake: insights from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project cohort

Abstract Current cancer prevention recommendations advise limiting red meat intake to <500 g/week and avoiding consumption of processed meat, but do not differentiate the source of processed meat. We examined the associations of processed meat derived from red v. non-red meats with cancer risk in a prospective cohort of 26 218 adults who reported dietary intake using the Canadian Diet History Questionnaire. Incidence of cancer was obtained through data linkage with Alberta Cancer Registry with median follow-up of 13·3 (interquartile range (IQR) 5·1) years. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were adjusted for covariates and stratified by age and sex. The median consumption (g/week) of red meat, processed meat from red meat and processed meat from non-red meat was 267·9 (IQR 269·9), 53·6 (IQR 83·3) and 11·9 (IQR 31·8), respectively. High intakes (4th Quartile) of processed meat from red meat were associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer adjusted hazard ratio (AHR): 1·68 (95 % CI 1·09, 2·57) and colorectal cancers AHR: 1·90 (95 % CI 1·12, 3·22), respectively, in women. No statistically significant associations were observed for intakes of red meat or processed meat from non-red meat. Results suggest that the carcinogenic effect associated with processed meat intake may be limited to processed meat derived from red meats. The findings provide preliminary evidence towards refining cancer prevention recommendations for red and processed meat intake.
Pulmonary hypertension is attenuated and ventilation-perfusion matching is maintained during chronic hypoxia in deer mice native to high altitude.

Hypoxia at high altitude can constrain metabolism and performance, and can elicit physiological adjustments that are deleterious to health and fitness. Hypoxic pulmonary hypertension is a particularly serious and maladaptive response to chronic hypoxia, which results from vasoconstriction and pathological remodeling of pulmonary arteries, and can lead to pulmonary edema and right ventricle hypertrophy. We investigated whether deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) native to high altitude have attenuated this maladaptive response to chronic hypoxia, and whether evolved changes or hypoxia-induced plasticity in pulmonary vasculature might impact ventilation-perfusion (V-Q) matching in chronic hypoxia. Deer mouse populations from both high and low altitudes were born and raised to adulthood in captivity at sea level, and various aspects of lung function were measured before and after exposure to chronic hypoxia (12 kPa O2, simulating the O2 pressure at 4300 m) for 6-8 weeks. In lowlanders, chronic hypoxia increased right ventricle systolic pressure (RVSP) from 14 to 19 mmHg (P = 0.001), in association with thickening of smooth muscle in pulmonary arteries and right ventricle hypertrophy. Chronic hypoxia also impaired V-Q matching in lowlanders (measured at rest using SPECT-CT imaging), as reflected by increased log SD of the perfusion distribution (log SDQ) from 0.55 to 0.86 (P = 0.031). In highlanders, chronic hypoxia had attenuated effects on RVSP and no effects on smooth muscle thickness, right ventricle mass, or V-Q matching. Therefore, evolved changes in lung function help attenuate maladaptive plasticity and contribute to hypoxia tolerance in high-altitude deer mice.
System justification in communication: a study of imagined dialogue receptivity

ABSTRACT According to system justification theory, system-threatening messages decrease the legitimacy of the status quo. Thus, individuals who endorse system justice beliefs will employ a variety of system justification behaviors when encountering such messages. In this study, we hypothesized that such behaviors include resisting dialogue with an interlocuter who propounds a system-threatening message. To test this, a sample of MTurk respondents was randomly assigned to listen to one genuine testimony of an African-American male (either system-threatening or neutral in content) and then completed a nine-item measure of imagined dialogue receptivity. Results demonstrated that participants with above-average justice beliefs reported less dialogue receptivity toward the speaker with system-threatening, compared to neutral, testimony. We interpret these findings to indicate that system justification does indeed play a significant role in people’s attitudes toward communication.
Restructured Fish Cooked Ham: Effects of the Use of Carrageenan and Transglutaminase on Textural Properties

ABSTRACT The application of texturing agents is of great relevance to fish processing technology. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the use of different levels of carrageenan hydrocolloid and transglutaminase enzyme on the physical properties of restructured fish cooked ham. A central composite rotatable design was adopted for the optimization of the effects in terms of the textural properties (hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness, springiness, chewiness, and tensile strength), weight loss (cooking and exudation), and color. Transglutaminase addition favorably reduced the cooking loss, increased the hardness, cohesiveness, and chewiness, and improved the tensile strength of the product. Carrageenan addition produced increased adhesiveness, springiness, and tensile strength. In general, the interaction between agents caused a slight but significant color change in the product, making it redder. The results indicate the potential for using transglutaminase and carrageenan to improve or modify the textural properties of restructured fish products.
Bacterial Count and Proximate Composition of an Indian sub-continental Freshwater Barb, Punti (Puntius sophore) and a Gangetic Catfish, Gulsha (Mystus cavasius) during Drying-up Process

ABSTRACT The study was conducted to evaluate the changes in aerobic plate count (APC) and proximate composition with the aim to establish the relationship between APC and different components (such as moisture, crude protein, lipid, and ash) of proximate composition at different time intervals during the drying process of fish. Two small indigenous species (SIS) of fish, such as an Indian sub-continental freshwater barb, punti (Puntius sophore), and a Gangetic catfish, gulsha (Mystus cavasius) were dried using both traditional and improved techniques. The APCs of studied fishes gradually decreased regardless of species and drying techniques. However, the counts were slightly higher in traditional drying as compared to the improved technique for both species. A strong positive correlation was observed between APC and moisture content, while there was a strong negative correlation between APC and protein, lipid, and ash. Thus, among different components of proximate composition, moisture content ultimately determines the rate of reduction of bacterial number.
Stopping Out and its Impact on College Graduation Among a Sample of Foster Care Alumni: A Joint Scale-Change Accelerated Failure Time Analysis

Purpose: This study examines whether former foster youth are more likely to stop out of a 4-year university than low-income, first-generation students who did not experience out-of-home care. Method: Data were from a stratified random sample of 803 students enrolled at a large, public 4-year university in the Midwest over a 10-year period, including 438 former wards of the court who were identified on the Federal Application for Student Aid and a comparison group of 365 low-income, first-generation college students who did not identify as court wards. We calculated a series of statistics, including univariate (i.e., means), bivariate (i.e., crosstabs), and multivariate (i.e., joint-scale accelerated failure time) analyses. Results: Findings indicate that foster youth are more likely to transfer to another college/university, stop out, experience stop outs earlier in their academic career, and are less likely to graduate than their low-income, first-generation peers. Foster youth also took longer to graduate than the comparison group. Conclusion: Although federal policies have increased college access for foster care youth, increasing college access does not always lead to degree attainment. Our findings underscore the need to amend financial aid and related policies to better align with the needs of former foster youth.
Diatomic molecules’ enigmatic constancy as the product of their dissociation energy and interatomic distance

ABSTRACT In this contribution, we show that the product dissociation energy (D) × interatomic distance (R) with regards to a straightforward taxonomy of diatomic molecules comes to assume a relatively high and virtually constant value. It is so much so that the heavier the diatomic molecules at hand, the closer DxR approaches e 2 (where e is the elementary charge intensity in esu). This occurrence is studied herein separately under families arranged from chemically-alike diatomic molecules. Each family (such as the set made of ‘pairs of strictly alkali atoms’, or ‘pairs of strictly halogen atoms’, or ‘pairs of alkali-halogen atoms’, etc), is thus composed of diatomic molecules formed of atoms bearing similar electronic configurations; whereby we initially ended up dealing with 18 families in total. In addition to those, we brought together 10 more families of diatomic molecules each composed of heavy metal atoms belonging respectively to each of the ten columns drawn from the three rows of heavy metals under the Periodic Table, and observed an even better conformance. [Sc2, Y2, La2] is the first family in question; [Ti2, Zr2, Hf2] and [Va2, No2, Ta2] are the next two families; [Zn2, Cd2, Hg2] delineates the last family of heavy metal diatomic molecules of concern. Let us stress that each of these sets embodies diatomic molecules made of heavy metal atoms belonging to the given column of the Periodic Table; thus, bearing alike electronic configurations. We further brought together 5 more families made of heavy metal hydrides, oxides, chlorides, and alkalines. We were motivated to undertake the present research in the light of our insight with regards to (i) the general non-opacity character of neutral bodies vis-à-vis electrical field transmission, and thence (ii) the attractional electric property of neutral bodies – which underlines the disclosed constancy where, particularly for diatomic molecules comprising heavy atoms, the increase in DxR happens to get aligned with the increase in atomic weight 1 (A1) × atomic weight 2 (A2). GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
How did we get here? A framing and source analysis of early COVID-19 media coverage

ABSTRACT This study examines how two major news outlets framed COVID-19 in the months leading up to COVID-19 being declared a pandemic. A combination of computational and manual coding found that the dominant media frames were outbreak, economic consequences, and social consequences. A secondary component of the analysis examined the sources quoted in early media coverage and found that citizens, interest group individuals, and politicians were quoted the most. This suggests that early news coverage of COVID-19 might have contributed to the current politicization of the virus in the United States.
Efficacy of Ten Structurally Related Essential Oil Components on Anti-biofilm and Anti-quorum Sensing against Fish Spoilers Pseudomonas and Aeromonas

ABSTRACT Biofilm formation causes persistent contamination of spoilage microorganisms, leading to serious economic losses in the aquatic processing industry. The antibacterial and anti-biofilm activity of ten carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, and derivatives against two fish spoilers, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Aeromonas salmonicida, were evaluated by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), crystal violet staining, exopolysaccharide, adhesion, swimming, and swarming. Ten essential oils (EOs) tested showed different antibacterial activity, in which carvacrol and thymol exhibited the lowest MIC. Biofilms and exopolysaccharide production were repressed by all EOs at one-fourth MIC without affecting cell viability, as well as, adhesion. Swimming and swarming of two spoilage strains significantly decreased. Carvacrol and eugenol exerted the best anti-biofilm of P. fluorescens (42.2%) and A. salmonicida (62.9%), respectively. All tested EOs components showed that the decrease of acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum sensing (QS) signals of two strains were positively correlated with anti-biofilm based on violacein production. Molecular docking revealed that the most active EO, carvacrol, competed with C4-HSL to bind with receptor LuxR and AsaR by its hydroxyl group, resulting in the repression of biofilm formation. These results indicated that efficacy of antibiofilm for ten EOs was associated with the structure of compounds, and carvacrol exerted the strongest anti-biofilm activity mediated by QS against two spoilage strains.
Draft Genome Sequences of Colistin-Resistant and mcr-1.1-Carrying Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Irrigation Water

Colistin has been classified as a highest priority clinically important antibiotic. However, the emergence of mobile colistin resistance (mcr) genes has threatened the therapeutic uses of colistin. Here, we report the draft genome sequences, antibiotic resistance genes, and sequence types (STs) of two multidrug-resistant and mcr-1.1-positive Escherichia coli strains isolated from irrigation water. ABSTRACT Colistin has been classified as a highest priority critically important antibiotic. However, the emergence of mobile colistin resistance (mcr) genes has threatened the therapeutic uses of colistin. Here, we report the draft genome sequences, antibiotic resistance genes, and sequence types (STs) of two multidrug-resistant and mcr-1.1-positive Escherichia coli strains isolated from irrigation water.