Cellular RNA is asymmetrically distributed in cells and the regulation of RNA localization is crucial for proper cellular functions. However, limited chemical tools are available to capture dynamic ...RNA localization in complex biological systems with high spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we developed a new method for RNA proximity labeling activated by near-infrared (NIR) light, which holds the potential for deep penetration. Our method, termed FAP-seq, utilizes a genetically encoded fluorogen activating protein (FAP) that selectively binds to a set of substrates known as malachite green (MG). FAP binding restricts the rotation of MG and rapidly activates its fluorescence in a wash-free manner. By introducing a monoiodo modification to MG, we created a photosensitizer (MG-HI) with the highest singlet oxygen generation ability among various MG derivatives, enabling both protein and RNA proximity labeling in live cells. New insights are provided in the transcriptome analysis with FAP-seq, while a deeper understanding of the symmetry-breaking structural arrangement of FAP-MG-HI was obtained through molecular dynamics simulations. Overall, our wash-free and NIR light-inducible RNA proximity labeling method (FAP-seq) offers a powerful and versatile approach for investigating complex mechanisms underlying RNA-related biological processes.
•We estimate the aggregated demand and supply functions of airfreight in Hong Kong.•Air cargo transport demand in Hong Kong is inelastic in price.•Air cargo traffic is pro-cyclical with respect to ...the overall economy.•Airfreight demand elasticities increased after the 2008 global financial crisis.
This paper estimates the price and income elasticities of air cargo demand and examines how they may change after the 2008 financial crisis. Using a set of time series data, we simultaneously estimate the aggregated demand and supply functions of air cargo at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). We find that during the entire sampling period of 2001–2013, the price elasticity for air cargo transport demand at HKIA ranges from −0.74 to −0.29, suggesting that air cargo demand in Hong Kong reacts negatively to price (as expected) but does not appear to be very sensitive to price. The income elasticity ranges from 0.29 to 1.47 and appears sensitive to seasonality adjustment approaches. However, in terms of the speed of changes, air cargo demand changes much faster than overall economy, indicating the presence of a pro-cyclical pattern of air cargo traffic with respect to the overall economy. Our analysis shows that air cargo demand becomes more sensitive to changes in both price and income after 2008.
Testing has been found to facilitate students' long-term retention of information. However, the learning performance of highly test-anxious students can be impaired by tests. Thus, these students may ...learn ineffectively in a testing context. By contrast, summary writing may not trigger test anxiety and is therefore another learning strategy to enhance students' retention. This study compared the effectiveness of tests and summary writing tasks in enhancing the long-term retention of students with different levels of test anxiety. The participants included 133 students (aged 12–14) at a college in Hong Kong. The participants completed the test anxiety inventory (Spielberger in Test anxiety inventory: preliminary professional manual, 1980) to measure their level of test anxiety. They were then randomly assigned into three training groups: testing, summarizing and control groups. At the end of the training sessions, we assessed the effectiveness of the testing and summary writing tasks for participants with different levels of test anxiety. The results indicated that the less test-anxious participants in the testing condition performed better in the posttest than those in the summarizing condition, whereas the highly test anxious participants in the testing condition did not outperform the participants in the summarizing condition. Moreover, both highly test-anxious participants and less test anxious participants in the summarizing condition outperformed those in the control condition. The participants in the control condition demonstrated the lowest performance regardless of their test anxiety level.
Recent loss-of-function studies in tissue-specific as well as global Tspo (Translocator Protein 18 kDa) knockout mice have not confirmed its long assumed indispensability for the translocation of ...cholesterol across the mitochondrial inter-membrane space, a rate-limiting step in steroid biosynthesis. Instead, recent studies in global Tspo knockout mice indicate that TSPO may play a more fundamental role in cellular bioenergetics, which may include the indirect down-stream regulation of transport or metabolic functions. To examine whether overexpression of the TSPO protein alters the cellular bioenergetic profile, Jurkat cells with low to absent endogenous expression were transfected with a TSPO construct to create a stable cell line with de novo expression of exogenous TSPO protein. Expression of TSPO was confirmed by RT-qPCR, radioligand binding with 3HPK11195 and immunocytochemistry with a TSPO antibody. We demonstrate that TSPO gene insertion causes increased transcription of genes involved in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Furthermore, TSPO insertion increased mitochondrial ATP production as well as cell excitability, reflected in a decrease in patch clamp recorded rectified K channel currents. These functional changes were accompanied by an increase in cell proliferation and motility, which were inhibited by PK11195, a selective ligand for TSPO. We suggest that TSPO may serve a range of functions that can be viewed as downstream regulatory effects of its primary, evolutionary conserved role in cell metabolism and energy production.
Few data are available about the effectiveness of nonpharmaceutical interventions for preventing influenza virus transmission.
To investigate whether hand hygiene and use of facemasks prevents ...household transmission of influenza.
Cluster randomized, controlled trial. Randomization was computer generated; allocation was concealed from treating physicians and clinics and implemented by study nurses at the time of the initial household visit. Participants and personnel administering the interventions were not blinded to group assignment. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT00425893)
Households in Hong Kong.
407 people presenting to outpatient clinics with influenza-like illness who were positive for influenza A or B virus by rapid testing (index patients) and 794 household members (contacts) in 259 households.
Lifestyle education (control) (134 households), hand hygiene (136 households), or surgical facemasks plus hand hygiene (137 households) for all household members.
Influenza virus infection in contacts, as confirmed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or diagnosed clinically after 7 days.
Sixty (8%) contacts in the 259 households had RT-PCR-confirmed influenza virus infection in the 7 days after intervention. Hand hygiene with or without facemasks seemed to reduce influenza transmission, but the differences compared with the control group were not significant. In 154 households in which interventions were implemented within 36 hours of symptom onset in the index patient, transmission of RT-PCR-confirmed infection seemed reduced, an effect attributable to fewer infections among participants using facemasks plus hand hygiene (adjusted odds ratio, 0.33 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.87). Adherence to interventions varied.
The delay from index patient symptom onset to intervention and variable adherence may have mitigated intervention effectiveness.
Hand hygiene and facemasks seemed to prevent household transmission of influenza virus when implemented within 36 hours of index patient symptom onset. These findings suggest that nonpharmaceutical interventions are important for mitigation of pandemic and interpandemic influenza.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This study explored whether kindergarteners who had yet to learn about multi-digit numbers at school could automatically process the underlying magnitudes, i.e., place-values, represented by the ...digits in a multi-digit number. A place-value Stroop task showed a pair of price tags in each trial. Each price tag contained a three-digit number, of which only one digit was visible. Children were asked to decide which price tag contained the physically larger digit. Results showed that both accuracy and reaction time were affected by place-values of the digits when the digits were sufficiently far apart in terms of decimal distance. Our findings suggest that young children are capable of activating and comparing place-values automatically, even before being formally introduced to the place-value concept.
Basal cells are by definition located on the basolateral side of several epithelia, and they have never been observed reaching the lumen. Using high-resolution 3D confocal imaging, we report that ...basal cells extend long and slender cytoplasmic projections that not only reach toward the lumen but can cross the tight junction barrier in some epithelia of the male reproductive and respiratory tracts. In this way, the basal cell plasma membrane is exposed to the luminal environment. In the epididymis, in which luminal acidification is crucial for sperm maturation and storage, these projections contain the angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AGTR2). Activation of AGTR2 by luminal angiotensin II, increases proton secretion by adjacent clear cells, which are devoid of AGTR2. We propose a paradigm in which basal cells scan and sense the luminal environment of pseudostratified epithelia and modulate epithelial function by a mechanism involving crosstalk with other epithelial cells.
This article synthesizes findings from an international virtual conference, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), focused on the home mathematics environment (HME). In light of ...inconsistencies and gaps in research investigating relations between the HME and children's outcomes, the purpose of the conference was to discuss actionable steps and considerations for future work. The conference was composed of international researchers with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds. Presentations and discussions during the conference centered broadly on the need to better operationalize and measure the HME as a construct - focusing on issues related to child, family, and community factors, country and cultural factors, and the cognitive and affective characteristics of caregivers and children. Results of the conference and a subsequent writing workshop include a synthesis of core questions and key considerations for the field of research on the HME. Findings highlight the need for the field at large to use multi-method measurement approaches to capture nuances in the HME, and to do so with increased international and interdisciplinary collaboration, open science practices, and communication among scholars.
This study examined the relations between majority/minority group membership and cross-cultural acceptance, and their linkage to school adjustment. A total of 2,016 students (ethnic minority EM: 51%; ...boys: 50%) at Grades 2, 5, 8, and 11 from 15 schools in Hong Kong participated in the study. These schools were either of low (below 30%) or high EM concentrations (over 70%). EM students at low-EM-concentration schools and Chinese students at high-EM-concentration schools both belonged to the minority groups in their respective schools. Moderated mediation analyses showed that being the numerical minority in school predicted higher school engagement and more positive affect. The associations between numerical group membership and adjustment outcomes were each mediated by the intention to accept outgroup members. In other words, higher cross-cultural acceptance was found among students who were themselves the minority in school, and stronger outgroup acceptance, in turn, predicted better adjustment.
Background. The relationship between seasonal influenza vaccine and susceptibility to 2009 pandemic A/H1N1 virus infection is not fully understood. Methods. One child 6–15 years of age from each of ...119 households was randomized to receive 1 dose of inactivated trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine (TIV) or saline placebo in November 2008. Serum samples were collected from study subjects and their household contacts before and 1 month after vaccination (December 2008), after winter (April 2009) and summer influenza (September–October 2009) seasons. Seasonal and pandemic influenza were confirmed by serum hemagglutinination inhibition, viral neutralization titers, and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction performed on nasal and throat swab samples collected during illness episodes. Results. TIV recipients had lower rates of serologically confirmed seasonal A/H1N1 infection (TIV group, 8%; placebo group, 21%; P = .10) and A/H3N2 infection (7% vs 12%; P = .49), but higher rates of pandemic A/H1N1 infection (32% vs 17%; P = .09). In multivariable analysis, those infected with seasonal influenza A during the study had a lower risk of laboratory-confirmed pandemic A/H1N1 infection (adjusted odds ratio OR, 0.35; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.14–0.87), and receipt of seasonal TIV was unassociated with risk of pandemic A/H1N1 infection (adjusted OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.54–2.26). Conclusions. TIV protected against strain-matched infection in children. Seasonal influenza infection appeared to confer cross-protection against pandemic influenza. Whether prior seasonal influenza vaccination affects the risk of infection with the pandemic strain requires additional study. Clinical trials registration. ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00792051.
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