bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A horizontal view of primary metabolomes in vegetative desiccation tolerance
Authors: Dace Halford J. W. , Reus Robbin , Ricco Celeste Righi , Hall Robert , Farrant Jill M. , Hilhorst Henk W. M. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractVegetative desiccation tolerance (VDT), the ability of such tissues to survive the near complete loss of cellular water, is a rare but polyphyletic phenotype. It is a complex multifactorial trait, typified by universal (core) factors but with many and varied adaptations due to plant architecture, biochemistry and biotic/abiotic dynamics of particular ecological niches. The ability to enter into a quiescent biophysically stable state is what ultimately determines desiccation tolerance. Thus, understanding the metabolomic complement of plants with VDT gives insight into the nature of survival as well as evolutionary aspects of VDT. In this study, we measured the soluble carbohydrate profiles and the polar, TMS‐derivatisable metabolomes of 7 phylogenetically diverse species with VDT, in contrast with two desiccation sensitive (DS) species, under conditions of full hydration, severe water deficit stress, and desiccation. Our study confirmed the existence of core mechanisms of VDT systems associated with either constitutively abundant trehalose or the accumulation of raffinose family oligosaccharides and sucrose, with threshold ratios conditioned by other features of the metabolome. DS systems did not meet these ratios. Considerable chemical variations among VDT species suggest that co‐occurring but distinct stresses (e.g., photooxidative stress) are dealt with using different chemical regimes. Furthermore, differences in the timing of metabolic shifts suggest there is not a single “desiccation programme” but that subprocesses are coordinated differently at different drying phases. There are likely to be constraints on the composition of a viable dry state and how different adaptive strategies interact with the biophysical constraints of VDT.
Omission as a modern form of bias against Native Peoples: Implications for policies and practices
Authors: Fryberg Stephanie A. , Dai J. Doris , Eason Arianne E. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe omission of Native Peoples’ existence, experiences, and perspectives is systematic and widespread across numerous societal domains, referred to asNative omission. In mainstream media, for example, less than 0.5% of representations are of contemporary Native Peoples. We theorize that Native omission is a tool furthering settler colonial goals to oppress and eventually erase Native Peoples. To make this case, we will review both experimental and national survey studies that unpack how Native omission shapes psychological processes among non‐Native and Native individuals and contribute to discrimination, oppression, and disparities facing Native Peoples. We then discuss ways in which Native Peoples are actively resisting Native omission. Finally, we provide a series of policy recommendations to address Native omission and promote Native equity. By making visible the pernicious consequences of omission for Native Peoples, we chart a path for creating a more equitable future.
Analysis of Sprint Ski Mountaineering Performance
Authors: Fornasiero Alessandro , Fornoni Simone , Callovini Alexa , Todesco Beatrice , Savoldelli Aldo , Schena Federico , Holmberg Hans-Christer , Pellegrini Barbara , Bortolan Lorenzo 
Published: December 2023

Ski mountaineering sprint competitions are short individual races involving 3 uphill sections (U), 3 transitions (T), and a final descent. To date, relatively little is known about this novel Olympic discipline, and here we examined (1) the contribution of the time spent on U, T, and final descent to overall finishing time and (2) the potential relationships with final ranking. During the different rounds of 2 International Ski Mountaineering Federation World Cup sprint competitions, male and female ski mountaineers were video recorded. Correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the impact of U, T, and final descent on the best overall finishing time. Linear-mixed model analysis was applied to explore potential interactions between section times, rounds, and final ranking. Overall, U (r = .90–.97) and T (r = .57–.89) were closely correlated with the best overall finishing time (all P < .05). U explained approximately 80% to 90% of the variation in the best finishing time for both sexes, with U + T explaining approximately 95% to 98% of this variation. In each successive round, the ski mountaineers eliminated were all slower on U than the Top 3 (all P < .05). The fastest skiers increased their performance on U in the later rounds of the competitions, while those eliminated showed a tendency toward a decrease. Our findings reveal that world-class sprint ski mountaineers conduct transitions optimally and perform effectively uphill. Training for such competitions should aim to improve short supramaximal uphill performance (∼1.5–2.5 min), ensuring that this does not decline with multiple efforts. These insights into ski mountaineering sprint performance are of considerable value in connection with training for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
A Methodological Comparison of Protocols and Analytical Techniques to Assess the Outcome Measures of Submaximal Fitness Tests
Authors: Shushan Tzlil , Lovell Ric , McLaren Shaun J. , Barrett Steve , Buchheit Martin , Scott Tannath J. , Norris Dean 
Published: December 2023

Background: Submaximal fitness test (SMFT) outcome measures are frequently collected with a wide array of technologies and methodological approaches. Purpose: To examine the test–retest reliability of various SMFT outcome measures derived from different protocols and analytical techniques. Methods: Twenty-six semiprofessional adult soccer players performed 3 SMFT protocols, including 2 continuous (3 min, 11 and 12.8 km·h−1) and 1 intermittent (4 × 50 m, 18 km·h−1) twice, each separated by 7 days. Heart-rate (HR) indices (exercise HR, HR recovery) and scapula-mounted (PlayerLoad vector magnitude) and foot-mounted (flight time and contact time, stride length) microelectrical mechanical system–derived variables were collected using different time frames and analytical approaches adopted in the literature and practice. Absolute reliability was quantified as the group mean difference, typical error of measurement, also expressed as the coefficient of variation (where appropriate) and standardized units (ie, d). Intraclass correlation coefficient was used to quantify relative reliability. Results: The highest degrees of reliability were evident for exercise HR (typical error: 1.0%–1.6% points), the vertical component of PlayerLoad (expressed in arbitrary units; coefficient of variation: 5.5%–7.0%), and contact time (coefficient of variation: 1.5%–3.0%). These estimates were not influenced by SMFT protocol or analytical approach. All other measures displayed poorer reliability and/or were different between protocols and analytical methods. Conclusions: SMFT protocols impact the test–retest reliability of various outcome measures; however, exercise HR, vertical PlayerLoad, and contact time (derived from foot-mounted micro-electrical mechanical systems) appear to have stable measurement properties to assist the assessment of aerobic capacity and lower-limb neuromuscular status, respectively.
Ability of Adjusting Grip Strength From Childhood to Adulthood
Authors: Ohtaka Chiaki , Fujiwara Motoko 
Published: December 2023

Purpose: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the ability to adjust grip strength by comparing the characteristics of force generation and relaxation from childhood to adulthood. Method: This study included 225 participants aged 6, 11, 17, and 19–23 years (adults) who performed isometric hand-grip force as follows: maximum, half generation, and half relaxation. The force was recorded, and relative values and errors were calculated for half tasks. Results: The maximum task values increased with age, but there was no significant age difference between 17-year-olds and adults. The difference between sexes was significant; males were stronger than females in both 17-year-olds and adults. Both sexes in all age groups had greater errors in half relaxation than in half generation tasks. Females had negatively greater constant error than males in half tasks. The errors of 6-year-olds were greater than the other age groups in half tasks. Conclusion: There is a developmental trend for producing maximal strength that is similar across sexes until adolescence when males are stronger and females plateau. The ability of force relaxation was more difficult to accurately control than force generation for all age groups and was adult-like by middle childhood.
Does Knowledge of Results Affect Motor Skill Learning and Adaptation in Interception-Like Tasks?
Authors: Leite Cláudio Manoel Ferreira , Ugrinowitsch Herbert , Couto Crislaine Rangel 
Published: December 2023

Knowledge of results (KR), particularly its informational role, has often been regarded as redundant for learning interception-like tasks, such as coincidence–anticipation timing tasks. However, it is possible that the KR’s guiding effect might be detrimental to motor adaptation, instead of only redundant, leading to a dependency on KR and steering the sensorimotor system away from relevant information of the task. In this study, we aimed to investigate KR’s effect on learning a coincidence–anticipation timing tasks and on the adaptation to unpredictable perturbations. Two groups of participants practiced a coincidence–anticipation timing tasks with or without KR on 1 day and underwent testing the next day for learning (Retention test) and for adaptation to unpredictable perturbations (Exposure phase). Both groups exhibited similar learning results but failed to adapt to the perturbations, contradicting the assumption of negative guidance effects of KR and the positive effects of relying solely on intrinsic information (no KR). These findings suggest that motor adaptation may require specific information during the acquisition process, highlighting for more systematic analyses to understand this phenomenon better. Such insights could have practical implications in contexts like sports and rehabilitation, by providing learners with appropriate information for acquiring adaptive internal representations of tasks.
A Systematic Review of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Patterns in an Osteoarthritic Population
Authors: Dawson Zoe E. , Beaumont Alexander J. , Carter Sophie E. 
Published: December 2023

Objective: To explore physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) in individuals with lower limb (LL) Osteoarthritis (OA) and the influence of age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) on these behaviors. Design: Systematic review search: PubMed, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, and CINAHL databases were searched from inception until July 2023. Study criteria: Studies that reported quantifiable device-based or self-reported data for PA and SB variables in adults clinically diagnosed with LL OA were included. Data synthesis: A synthesis of PA and SB levels for those diagnosed with LL OA and the influence age, sex, and BMI have on these behaviors. Results: From the 1930 studies identified through the electronic search process, 48 met the inclusion criteria. PA guidelines were met by 33% of the sample population that measured moderate and moderate to vigorous PA. No studies reported 75 minutes per week or more of vigorous PA. Additionally, 58% of the population reporting SB were sedentary for 8 hours per day or more. Also, increasing age, BMI, and the female sex were identified as negative influences on PA levels. There were numerous methodological inconsistencies in how data were collected and reported, such as various activity monitor cut points for PA and SB bout duration. Conclusion: Adults with LL OA may be at an increased risk of noncommunicable diseases due to low PA and high SB levels. It is important to consider age, sex, and BMI when investigating behavior patterns in those with LL OA.
Divergent genetic landscapes drive lower levels of AmpC induction and stable de-repression in
Serratia marcescens
compared to
Enterobacter cloacae
Authors: Lazarus Jacob E. , Wang Yin , Waldor Matthew K. , Hooper David C. 
Published: December 2023

ABSTRACT

The chromosomally encoded AmpC beta-lactamase is widely distributed throughout the Enterobacterales. When expressed at high levels through transient induction or stable de-repression, resistance to ceftriaxone, a commonly used antibiotic, can develop. Recent clinical guidance suggests, based on limited evidence, that resistance may be less likely to develop in
Serratia marcescens
compared to the better-studied
Enterobacter cloacae
and recommends that ceftriaxone may be used if the clinical isolate tests susceptible. We sought to generate additional data relevant to this recommendation. AmpC de-repression occurs predominantly because of mutation in the
ampD
peptidoglycan amidohydrolase. We find that, in contrast to
E. cloacae
, where deletion of
ampD
results in high-level ceftriaxone resistance (with ceftriaxone MIC = 96 µg/mL), in
S. marcescens
deletion of two amidohydrolases (
ampD
and
amiD2
) is necessary for AmpC de-repression, and the resulting ceftriaxone MIC is 1 µg/mL. Two mechanisms for this difference were identified. We find both a higher relative increase in
ampC
transcript level in
E. cloacae
Δ
ampD
compared to
S. marcescens ΔampDΔamiD2
, as well as higher
in vivo
efficiency of ceftriaxone hydrolysis by the
E. cloacae
AmpC enzyme compared to the
S. marcescens
AmpC enzyme. We also observed higher relative levels of transient AmpC induction in
E. cloacae
vs
S. marcescens
when exposed to ceftriaxone. In time-kill curves, this difference translates into the survival of
E. cloacae
but not
S. marcescens
at clinically relevant ceftriaxone concentrations. In summary, our findings can explain the decreased propensity for on-treatment ceftriaxone resistance development in
S. marcescens
, thereby supporting recently issued clinical guidance.
Genetic and enzymatic characterization of Amy13E from
Cellvibrio japonicus
reclassifies it as a cyclodextrinase also capable of α-diglucoside degradation
Authors: Mascelli Giulia M. , Garcia Cecelia A. , Gardner Jeffrey G. 
Published: December 2023

ABSTRACT

Cyclodextrinases are carbohydrate-active enzymes involved in the linearization of circular amylose oligosaccharides. Primarily thought to function as part of starch metabolism, there have been previous reports of bacterial cyclodextrinases also having additional enzymatic activities on linear malto-oligosaccharides. This substrate class also includes environmentally rare α-diglucosides such as kojibiose (α−1,2), nigerose (α−1,3), and isomaltose (α−1,6), all of which have valuable properties as prebiotics or low-glycemic index sweeteners. Previous genome sequencing of three
Cellvibrio japonicus
strains adapted to utilize these α-diglucosides identified multiple, but uncharacterized, mutations in each strain. One of the mutations identified was in the
amy13E
gene, which was annotated to encode a neopullulanase. In this report, we functionally characterized this gene and determined that it in fact encodes a cyclodextrinase with additional activities on α-diglucosides. Deletion analysis of
amy13E
found that this gene was essential for kojibiose and isomaltose metabolism in
C. japonicus
. Interestingly, a Δ
amy13E
mutant was not deficient for cyclodextrin or pullulan utilization in
C. japonicus
; however, heterologous expression of the gene in
E. coli
was sufficient for cyclodextrin-dependent growth. Biochemical analyses found that
Cj
Amy13E cleaved multiple substrates but preferred cyclodextrins and maltose, but had no activity on pullulan. Our characterization of the
Cj
Amy13E cyclodextrinase is useful for refining functional enzyme predictions in related bacteria and for engineering enzymes for biotechnology or biomedical applications.

IMPORTANCE
Understanding the bacterial metabolism of cyclodextrins and rare α-diglucosides is increasingly important, as these sugars are becoming prevalent in the foods, supplements, and medicines humans consume that subsequently feed the human gut microbiome. Our analysis of a cyclomaltodextrinase with an expanded substrate range is significant because it broadens the potential applications of the GH13 family of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) in biotechnology and biomedicine. Specifically, this study provides a workflow for the discovery and characterization of novel activities in bacteria that possess a high number of CAZymes that otherwise would be missed due to complications with functional redundancy. Furthermore, this study provides a model from which predictions can be made why certain bacteria in crowded niches are able to robustly utilize rare carbon sources, possibly to gain a competitive growth advantage.
Maximizing the
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
confirmatory rate and the genotypic detection of ciprofloxacin resistance for samples screened with cobas CT/NG
Authors: Pryce Todd M. , Foti Olivia R. , Haygarth Erin J. , Whiley David M. 
Published: December 2023

ABSTRACT

Supplementary nucleic acid amplification testing for
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
(NG) is widely used to circumvent specificity problems associated with extragenital sites. Here, we compared different supplementary approaches for confirming NG-positive samples from the cobas 4800 CT/NG (c4800) and cobas 6800 CT/NG (c6800) assays using the
ResistancePlus
GC (RP-GC) assay, which in addition to detecting NG, also predicts ciprofloxacin susceptibility via NG
gyrA
characterization. Two different nucleic acid extraction techniques were investigated for RP-GC detection; extracts from c4800 (c4800-RP-GC) and MagNA Pure 96 (MP96-RP-GC). NG-positive (
n
= 300) and -negative (
n
= 150) samples in cobas PCR media from routine c4800 testing were retrospectively retested with c4800, c6800, c4800-RP-GC, and MP96-RP-GC. Selected samples were also tested with Xpert CT/NG (Xpert) for discrepant analysis. The
gyrA
status was compared to ETEST ciprofloxacin susceptibility or non-susceptibility for recovered isolates (
n
= 63). Extragenital confirmatory rates were higher for MP96-RP-GC (131/140; 93.6%) compared to c4800-RP-GC (126/146; 86.3%), albeit not significantly (
P
= 0.6677). Of 9 samples testing positive by c6800 and negative by MP96-RP-GC, 7/9 (77.8%) were also negative by Xpert. By contrast, the number of samples returning a valid
gyrA
status was significantly (
P
= 0.0003) higher for MP96-RP-GC (270/293; 92.2%) compared to c4800-RP-GC (245/298; 82.2%). The overall MP96-RP-GC
gyrA
status correlated 98.4% (61/62) with the reported ciprofloxacin sensitive (35/36; 97.2%) or non-susceptible (26/26; 100%) phenotype. Improved RP-GC confirmatory rates and reported
gyrA
status were observed using MP96 nucleic acids compared to c4800 extracts. The data further highlight the ongoing need for NG supplemental testing for oropharyngeal samples.
A nanobody inhibiting porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus replication via blocking self-interaction of viral nucleocapsid protein
Authors: Duan Hong , Chen Xu , Zhang Ziwei , Zhang Zhijie , Li Zhihan , Wang Xinjie , Zhao Jiakai , Nan Yuchen , Liu Baoyuan , Zhang Angke , Sun Yani , Zhao Qin 
Published: December 2023

ABSTRACT

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a serious global pig industry disease. Understanding the mechanism of viral replication and developing efficient antiviral strategies are necessary for combating with PRRS virus (PRRSV) infection. Recently, nanobody is considered to be a promising antiviral drug, especially for respiratory viruses. The present study evaluated two nanobodies against PRRSV nucleocapsid (N) protein (PRRSV-N-Nb1 and -Nb2) for their anti-PRRSV activity
in vitro
and
in vivo
. The results showed that intracellularly expressed PRRSV-N-Nb1 significantly inhibited PRRSV-2 replication in MARC-145 cells (approximately 100%). Then, the PRRSV-N-Nb1 fused with porcine IgG Fc (Nb1-pFc) as a delivering tag was produced and used to determine its effect on PRRSV-2 replication in porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) and pigs. The inhibition rate of Nb1-pFc against PRRSV-2 in PAMs could reach >90%, and it can also inhibit viral replication
in vivo
. Epitope mapping showed that the motif Serine 105 (S105) in PRRSV-2 N protein was the key amino acid binding to PRRSV-N-Nb1, which is also pivotal for the self-interaction of N protein via binding to Arginine 97. Moreover, viral particles were not successfully rescued when the S105 motif was mutated to Alanine (S105A). Attachment, entry, genome replication, release, docking model analysis, and blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) indicated that the binding of PRRSV-N-Nb1 to N protein could block its self-binding, which prevents the viral replication of PRRSV. PRRSV-N-Nb1 may be a promising drug to counter PRRSV-2 infection. We also provided some new insights into the molecular basis of PRRSV N protein self-binding and assembly of viral particles.

IMPORTANCE

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes serious economic losses to the swine industry worldwide, and there are no highly effective strategies for prevention. Nanobodies are considered a promising novel approach for treating diseases because of their ease of production and low costing. Here, we showed that PRRSV-N-Nb1 against PRRSV-N protein significantly inhibited PRRSV-2 replication
in vitro
and
in vivo
. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the motif Serine 105 (S105) in PRRSV-N protein was the key amino acid to interact with PRRSV-N-Nb1 and bond to its motif R97, which is important for the self-binding of N protein. The PRRSV-N-Nb1 could block the self-interaction of N protein following viral assembly. These findings not only provide insights into the molecular basis of PRRSV N protein self-binding as a key factor for viral replication for the first time but also highlight a novel target for the development of anti-PRRSV replication drugs.