Abstract The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) Report Committee on “Bioeffect Modeling and Biologically Equivalent Dose Concepts in Radiation Therapy” is currently ...developing a comprehensive and consistent framework for radiobiological effect modeling based on the equieffective dose, EQD Xα/β , a concept encompassing BED and EQD2 as special cases.
Relying on undergraduates from developed nations as research subjects creates a false picture of human behavior, some psychologists argue.
Although undergraduates from wealthy nations are numerous ...and willing research subjects, psychologists are beginning to realize that they have a drawback: They are WEIRDos. That is, they are people from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic cultures. In a provocative review paper published last week, a pair of researchers argues that WEIRDos aren't representative of humans as a whole and that psychologists routinely use them to make broad, and quite likely false, claims about what drives human behavior.
There is mounting evidence that the microbiome has potent immunoregulatory functions. We assessed the effects of intestinal dysbiosis in a model of Sjögren syndrome (SS) by subjecting mice to ...desiccating stress (DS) and antibiotics (ABX). We characterized the conjunctival, tongue and fecal microbiome profiles of patients with SS. Severity of ocular surface and systemic disease was graded. 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing characterized the microbiota. ABX + DS mice had a significantly worse dry eye phenotype compared to controls, a decrease in Clostridium and an increase in Enterobacter, Escherichia/Shigella, and Pseudomonas in stool after ABX + DS for 10 days. Goblet cell density was significantly lower in ABX treated groups compared to controls. Stool from SS subjects had greater relative abundances of Pseudobutyrivibrio, Escherichia/Shigella, Blautia, and Streptococcus, while relative abundance of Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Prevotella was reduced compared to controls. The severity of SS ocular and systemic disease was inversely correlated with microbial diversity. These findings suggest that SS is marked by a dysbiotic intestinal microbiome driven by low relative abundance of commensal bacteria and high relative abundance of potentially pathogenic genera that is associated with worse ocular mucosal disease in a mouse model of SS and in SS patients.
•Moderate-to-vigorous and total physical activity are significantly positively associated with fundamental motor skills in the early years.•Only 1 longitudinal study has explored mediation and found ...that perceived motor competence did not mediate the association between motor competence and total or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.•There is limited evidence from longitudinal studies to support or disprove the Stodden conceptual model that physical activity drives motor competence in early years and vice versa in later childhood.
Physical activity (PA) in the early years is associated with a range of positive health outcomes. Fundamental motor skill (FMS) competence is associated with PA and is theorized to be driven by PA in the early years and vice versa in mid to late childhood. However, to date, no studies have meta-analyzed the association between PA and FMS in the early years.
Six electronic databases were searched for articles published up to April 2019. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were included if they targeted children (ages 3–6 year) as the population of the study and assessed the association between objectively measured PA and FMS. Total FMS, total physical activity (TPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) data were meta-analyzed using a random effects model.
We identified 24,815 titles and abstracts. In total, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria, including 14 cross-sectional and 4 longitudinal studies, as well as 1 study with cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. There was a significant but small positive association between FMS and MVPA (r = 0.20, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.13–0.26) and TPA (r = 0.20, 95%CI: 0.12–0.28). Findings from longitudinal studies revealed that PA drives FMS in early childhood. Mediation was explored in 1 study, which found that perceived motor competence did not mediate the association between FMS and PA.
Using a meta-analysis, this study is the first to show a positive association between FMS, MVPA, and TPA in the early years of childhood, suggesting that the association begins at an early age. Limited evidence from longitudinal studies supports the theory that PA drives FMS in the early years of childhood. More evidence is needed from large studies to track PA and FMS until mid to late childhood and to explore the mediators of this association.
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Brief Behavioural Activation (Brief BA) is a time limited psychological therapy for the treatment of depression symptoms in adolescents. Research on clients' experiences of the helpful and unhelpful ...aspects of psychological therapies is important for developing an understanding of the therapeutic process, and for helping to improve interventions and therapists' skills. The aim of this study was to explore 12-19 year old's experiences of the helpful and unhelpful aspects of Brief BA.
Thematic analysis of one-to-one interviews with nine adolescents who had completed Brief BA at school was conducted.
Three main themes relating to the helpful aspects were identified: "self-discovery"; "given the tools to cope and make progress"; "having someone to talk to." One main theme relating to the unhelpful aspects of Brief BA, "discontinuation and maintenance," was also identified.
Findings indicated that the participants found behavioural activation strategies, identifying values and valued activities, and therapist support to be helpful. The duration of therapy and difficulties in maintaining improvements were identified as unhelpful aspects. Future research is needed to investigate the impact of the timing of the end of therapy and how improvements can be more easily maintained after the end of Brief BA.
Shoot branching of flowering plants exhibits phenotypic plasticity and variability. This plasticity is determined by the activity of axillary meristems, which in turn is influenced by endogenous and ...exogenous cues such as nutrients and light. In many species, not all buds on the main shoot develop into branches despite favorable growing conditions. In petunia, basal axillary buds (buds 1-3) typically do not grow out to form branches, while more apical axillary buds (buds 6 and 7) are competent to grow. The genetic regulation of buds was explored using transcriptome analyses of petunia axillary buds at different positions on the main stem. To suppress or promote bud outgrowth, we grew the plants in media with differing phosphate (P) levels. Using RNA-seq, we found many (> 5000) differentially expressed genes between bud 6 or 7, and bud 2. In addition, more genes were differentially expressed when we transferred the plants from low P to high P medium, compared with shifting from high P to low P medium. Buds 6 and 7 had increased transcript abundance of cytokinin and auxin-related genes, whereas the basal non-growing buds (bud 2 and to a lesser extent bud 3) had higher expression of strigolactone, abscisic acid, and dormancy-related genes, suggesting the outgrowth of these basal buds was actively suppressed. Consistent with this, the expression of ABA associated genes decreased significantly in apical buds after stimulating growth by switching the medium from low P to high P. Furthermore, comparisons between our data and transcriptome data from other species suggest that the suppression of outgrowth of bud 2 was correlated with a limited supply of carbon to these axillary buds. Candidate genes that might repress bud outgrowth were identified by co-expression analysis. Plants need to balance growth of axillary buds into branches to fit with available resources while allowing some buds to remain dormant to grow after the loss of plant parts or in response to a change in environmental conditions. Here we demonstrate that different buds on the same plant with different developmental potentials have quite different transcriptome profiles.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Our understanding of human biology and disease is ultimately dependent on a complete understanding of the genome and its functions. The recent application of microarray and sequencing technologies to ...transcriptomics has changed the simplistic view of transcriptomes to a more complicated view of genome-wide transcription where a large fraction of transcripts emanates from unannotated parts of genomes, and underlined our limited knowledge of the dynamic state of transcription. Most of this broad body of knowledge was obtained indirectly because current transcriptome analysis methods typically require RNA to be converted to complementary DNA (cDNA) before measurements, even though the cDNA synthesis step introduces multiple biases and artefacts that interfere with both the proper characterization and quantification of transcripts. Furthermore, cDNA synthesis is not particularly suitable for the analysis of short, degraded and/or small quantity RNA samples. Here we report direct single molecule RNA sequencing without prior conversion of RNA to cDNA. We applied this technology to sequence femtomole quantities of poly(A)+ Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA using a surface coated with poly(dT) oligonucleotides to capture the RNAs at their natural poly(A) tails and initiate sequencing by synthesis. We observed transcript 3′ end heterogeneity and polyadenylated small nucleolar RNAs. This study provides a path to high-throughput and low-cost direct RNA sequencing and achieving the ultimate goal of a comprehensive and bias-free understanding of transcriptomes.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent complication of cardiac surgery and usually occurs in patients with preexisting chronic kidney disease (CKD). Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) may ...mitigate the renal ischemia–reperfusion injury associated with cardiac surgery and may be a preventive strategy for postsurgical AKI. We undertook a randomized controlled trial of RIPC to prevent AKI in 86 patients with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate under 60ml/min per 1.73m2) undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Forty-three patients each were randomized to receive standard care with or without RIPC consisting of three 5-minute cycles of forearm ischemia followed by reperfusion. The primary end point was the development of AKI defined as an increase in serum creatinine concentration over 0.3mg/dl within 48h of surgery. Secondary end points included a comparison between the study and control groups of several serum biomarkers of renal injury including cystatin-C, neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL), and interleukin-18 (IL-18), and urinary biomarkers including NGAL, IL-18, and kidney injury molecule-1 measured at 6, 12, and 24h after CABG, and the 72-h serum troponin T concentration area under the curve as a marker of myocardial injury. Clinical and operative characteristics were similar between the preconditioned and control groups. AKI developed in 12 patients in both groups within 48h of CABG. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the concentrations of any of the serum or urinary biomarkers of renal or cardiac injury after CABG. Thus, RIPC induced by forearm ischemia–reperfusion had no effect on the frequency of AKI after CABG in patients with CKD.
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