We report 5 studies examining the unique role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. In intergroup terms, felt understanding is the belief that members of an outgroup understand and accept ...the perspectives of ingroup members, including ingroup members' beliefs, values, experiences, and self-definition/identity. In Studies 1 (Scotland-U.K. relations; N = 5,033) and 2 (U.K.-EU relations; N = 861) felt understanding consistently and strongly predicted outcomes such as trust, action intentions, and political separatism, including participants' actual "Brexit" referendum vote in Study 2. These effects were apparent even when controlling for outgroup stereotypes and metastereotypes. Felt understanding was a unique predictor of outgroup trust and forgiveness in Study 3 (Catholic-Protestant relations in Northern Ireland; N = 1,162), and was a powerful predictor of political separatism even when controlling for specific, relational appraisals including negative interdependence and identity threat in Study 4 (Basque-Spanish relations; N = 205). Study 5 (N = 190) included a direct manipulation of felt understanding, which had predicted effects on evaluation of the outgroup and of ingroup-outgroup relations. Overall, the findings provide converging evidence for the critical role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. We discuss future research possibilities, including the emotional correlates of felt understanding, and its role in intergroup interactions.
Since their discovery, bacteriophages have been traditionally regarded as the natural enemies of bacteria. However, recent advances in molecular biology techniques, especially data from "omics" ...analyses, have revealed that the interplay between bacterial viruses and their hosts is far more intricate than initially thought. On the one hand, we have become more aware of the impact of viral predation on the composition and genetic makeup of microbial communities thanks to genomic and metagenomic approaches. Moreover, data obtained from transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies have shown that responses to phage predation are complex and diverse, varying greatly depending on the bacterial host, phage, and multiplicity of infection. Interestingly, phage exposure may alter different phenotypes, including virulence and biofilm formation. The complexity of the interactions between microbes and their viral predators is also evidenced by the link between quorum-sensing signaling pathways and bacteriophage resistance. Overall, new data increasingly suggests that both temperate and virulent phages have a positive effect on the evolution and adaptation of microbial populations. From this perspective, further research is still necessary to fully understand the interactions between phage and host under conditions that allow co-existence of both populations, reflecting more accurately the dynamics in natural microbial communities.
To describe a case report of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) due to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. Respiratory system ...manifestations are dominant in this new disease. However, numerous case series and reviews have been published on the neurological manifestations, highlighting the potential neurotropism of the new coronavirus.
We describe a clinical case of TN during COVID-19 and we discuss the differential diagnosis and the potential pathogenic mechanism according to the literature.
A 65-year-old man with general malaise and typical respiratory symptoms of COVID-19, who presented with paroxysmal lancinating pain in the right V1 trigeminal territory without other neurological symptoms. General blood test and neuroimaging study were normal. A rapid test showed positive IgG and IgM serologies for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The patient was diagnosed with TN secondary to a viral infection by SARS-CoV-2. Facial pain resolved with the improvement of COVID-19.
The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is a possible etiology of secondary TN. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to elucidate the neuropathology of this viral infection.
El desarrollo de nuevas técnicas quirúrgicas y el aumento del número de cirugías anuales han influido en la actualización de los protocolos sobre los cuidados perioperatorios con el fin de disminuir ...el riesgo de complicaciones The development of new surgical techniques and the increase in the number of annual surgeries have influenced the updating of protocols on perioperative care in order to reduce the risk of complications
The aim of this study is to develop a process to produce high-performance cement-based composites reinforced with flax nonwoven fabrics, analyzing the influence of the fabric structure-thickness and ...entanglement-on mechanical behavior under flexural and tensile loadings. For this purpose, composite with flax nonwoven fabrics with different thicknesses were first prepared and their cement infiltration was evaluated with backscattered electron (BSE) images. The nonwoven fabrics with the optimized thickness were then subjected to a water treatment to improve their stability to humid environments and the fiber-matrix adhesion. For a fixed thickness, the effect of the nonwoven entanglement on the mechanical behavior was evaluated under flexural and direct tension tests. The obtained results indicate that the flax nonwoven fabric reinforcement leads to cement composites with substantial enhancement of ductility.
Previous work had shown that, in some Staphylococcus aureus strains, low concentrations of the virulent phage vB_SauM_phiIPLA-RODI (phiIPLA-RODI) promoted the formation of DNA-rich biofilms, whose ...cells exhibited significant transcriptional differences compared to an uninfected control. This study aimed to dissect the sequence of events leading to these changes. Analysis of phage propagation throughout biofilm development revealed that the number of phage particles increased steadily up to a certain point and then declined. This partial phage inactivation seemed to be a consequence of medium acidification due to glucose fermentation by the bacterium. Computer simulation of phage-host dynamics during biofilm development showed how even small differences in pH evolution can affect the outcome of phage infection. An acidic pH, together with successful phage propagation, was also necessary to observe the phage-associated changes in biofilm architecture and in the transcriptional profile of the bacterial population. Altogether, this study shows how the dynamics between phage and host can be tightly coordinated through an environmental cue, even in the context of a complex biofilm population.
The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is a route that can work in parallel to glycolysis in glucose degradation in most living cells. It has a unidirectional oxidative part with glucose-6-phosphate ...dehydrogenase as a key enzyme generating NADPH, and a non-oxidative part involving the reversible transketolase and transaldolase reactions, which interchange PPP metabolites with glycolysis. While the oxidative branch is vital to cope with oxidative stress, the non-oxidative branch provides precursors for the synthesis of nucleic, fatty and aromatic amino acids. For glucose catabolism in the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where its components were first discovered and extensively studied, the PPP plays only a minor role. In contrast, PPP and glycolysis contribute almost equally to glucose degradation in other yeasts. We here summarize the data available for the PPP enzymes focusing on S. cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis, and describe the phenotypes of gene deletions and the benefits of their overproduction and modification. Reference to other yeasts and to the importance of the PPP in their biotechnological and medical applications is briefly being included. We propose future studies on the PPP in K. lactis to be of special interest for basic science and as a host for the expression of human disease genes.
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