Exploring discrete space-time models for information transfer: Analogies from mycelial networks to the cosmic web.

Fungal mycelium networks are large scale biological networks along which nutrients, metabolites flow. Recently, we discovered a rich spectrum of electrical activity in mycelium networks, including action-potential spikes and trains of spikes. Reasoning by analogy with animals and plants, where travelling patterns of electrical activity perform integrative and communicative mechanisms, we speculated that waves of electrical activity transfer information in mycelium networks.

Multiscalar electrical spiking in Schizophyllum commune.

Growing colonies of the split-gill fungus Schizophyllum commune show action potential-like spikes of extracellular electrical potential. We analysed several days of electrical activity recording of the fungus and discovered three families of oscillatory patterns. Very slow activity at a scale of hours, slow activity at a scale of 10 min and very fast activity at scale of half-minute.

Approaches to decolonising forensic curricula.

Forensic science in UK Higher Education involves a constellation of subdisciplines, each with a biography shaped by a colonial past. Deeper examinations of the structures of curriculum design allow educators to address where colonial assumptions may reside and the impact of these legacies on the present. One process to assist this endeavour is Decolonising the Curriculum (DtC), which seeks to question and dismantle colonial structures of knowledge and support contextualisation to broaden, rather than narrow, the curricula.

Investigating the role of hand perspective in learning from procedural animations.

Background: Research indicates that animations presenting procedural instructions lead to better learning if the animation displays the procedural task from a first-person perspective (over-the-shoulder) compared to a third-person perspective (face-to-face).

Aims: This study extends view-perspective research by investigating whether the observation of human hands completing manipulative tasks in an animation are necessary or not.

Sample: Sixty university students participated in the study.

Facial Aging Improvement Case Study Using a Novel Combination of Retinol, Niacinamide, and Terminalia Chebula.

For decades, retinoids have been considered the gold standard of treatment for a variety of skin conditions.1,2 As the bioavailable form of vitamin A, retinoic acid has demonstrated the ability to reduce skin discoloration, stimulate collagen production, reduce rhytids, improve acne, and uneven skin texture.3,4 Retinoic acid is a potent drug with high bioavailability.

Effect of Composition Strategies on Mycelium-Based Composites Flexural Behaviour.

Mycelium-based composites (MBC) are a promising class of relatively novel materials that leverage mycelium colonisation of substrates. Being predicated on biological growth, rather than extraction based material sourcing from the geosphere, MBC are garnering attention as potential alternatives for certain fossil-based materials. In addition, their protocols of production point towards more sustainable and circular practices.

Compressive behaviour of anisotropic mycelium-based composites.

Mycelium based composites (MBC) exhibit many properties that make them promising alternatives for less sustainable materials. However, there is no unified approach to their testing. We hypothesise that the two-phase particulate composite model and use of ASTM D1037 could provide a basis for systematisation.

The Validity of Physiological Measures to Identify Differences in Intrinsic Cognitive Load.

A sample of 33 experiments was extracted from the Web-of-Science database over a 5-year period (2016-2020) that used physiological measures to measure intrinsic cognitive load. Only studies that required participants to solve tasks of varying complexities using a within-subjects design were included. The sample identified a number of different physiological measures obtained by recording signals from four main body categories (heart and lungs, eyes, skin, and brain), as well as subjective measures.

On electrical gates on fungal colony.

Mycelium networks are promising substrates for designing unconventional computing devices providing rich topologies and geometries where signals propagate and interact. Fulfilling our long-term objectives of prototyping electrical analog computers from living mycelium networks, including networks hybridised with nanoparticles, we explore the possibility of implementing Boolean logical gates based on electrical properties of fungal colonies. We converted a 3D image-data stack of Aspergillus niger fungal colony to an Euclidean graph and modelled the colony as resistive and capacitive (RC) networks, where electrical parameters of edges were functions of the edges' lengths.

Impact of a respiratory ICU rotation on resident knowledge and confidence in managing mechanical ventilation.

Objective: To develop and apply a competency-based test to assess learning among internal medicine residents during a respiratory ICU rotation at a university hospital.

Methods: We developed a test comprising 19 multiple-choice questions regarding knowledge of mechanical ventilation (MV) and 4 self-assessment questions regarding the degree of confidence in the management of MV. The test was applied on the first and last day of a 30-day respiratory ICU rotation (pre-rotation and post-rotation, respectively).

Multiclass, Multiresidue Method for the Quantification and Confirmation of 112 Veterinary Drugs in Game Meat (Bison, Deer, Elk, and Rabbit) by Rapid Polarity Switching Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

An analytical program for multiclass, multiresidue residue analysis to qualitatively and quantitatively determine veterinary drug compounds in game meats by LC-MS/MS has been developed and validated. The method was validated for the analysis of muscle from bison, deer, elk, and rabbit to test for 112 veterinary drug residues from the following drug classes: β-agonists, anthelmintics, anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, fluoroquinolones, β-lactams, macrolides, nitroimidazoles, phenicols, polypeptides, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, thyreostats, and tranquilizers. Muscle was extracted using a simple and quick procedure based on a solvent extraction with 80% ACN/water and sample cleanup with dispersive solid-phase extraction.

Constructing living buildings: a review of relevant technologies for a novel application of biohybrid robotics.

Biohybrid robotics takes an engineering approach to the expansion and exploitation of biological behaviours for application to automated tasks. Here, we identify the construction of living buildings and infrastructure as a high-potential application domain for biohybrid robotics, and review technological advances relevant to its future development. Construction, civil infrastructure maintenance and building occupancy in the last decades have comprised a major portion of economic production, energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth.

Robot systems are actively researched for manipulation of natural plants, typically restricted to agricultural automation activities such as harvest, irrigation, and mechanical weed control. Extending this research, we introduce here a novel methodology to manipulate the directional growth of plants via their natural mechanisms for signaling and hormone distribution. An effective methodology of robotic stimuli provision can open up possibilities for new experimentation with later developmental phases in plants, or for new biotechnology applications such as shaping plants for green walls.

Should we be moving to a national standardized non-gadolinium MR imaging protocol for the surveillance of vestibular schwannomas?

Objectives:: To examine whether the model of Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) could be relevant to the surveillance of non-operated vestibular schwannomas (vs) by testing the following hypotheses: (1) in the UK there is a great variation in the imaging protocol for the follow-up of vs; (2) high-resolution, T weighted MRI (HRT W-MRI) has an equivalent accuracy to gadolinium-enhanced T weighted MRI (Gd-MRI) in the assessment of vs size and; (3) imaging with HRT W-MRI rather than Gd-MRI could offer financial savings.

Methods:: Two neuroradiologists independently performed measurements of 50 vs imaged with HRT W-MRI and Gd-MRI. Differences in mean tumour measurements between HRT W-MRI and Gd-MRI were determined, as were intra- and interobserver concordance.

Autonomously shaping natural climbing plants: a bio-hybrid approach.

Plant growth is a self-organized process incorporating distributed sensing, internal communication and morphology dynamics. We develop a distributed mechatronic system that autonomously interacts with natural climbing plants, steering their behaviours to grow user-defined shapes and patterns. Investigating this bio-hybrid system paves the way towards the development of living adaptive structures and grown building components.

The role of extragroup encounters in a Neotropical, cooperative breeding primate, the common marmoset: a field playback experiment.

In cooperatively breeding species, encounters with intruders may serve multiple functions ranging from reaffirming group territory ranges to facilitating assessments for additional breeding opportunities. While these distinctive events offer the opportunity to investigate the delicate balance of these social dimensions within animal societies, their unpredictable occurrence makes witnessing and controlling these events in the wild particularly challenging. Here we used a field playback approach to simulate conspecific territorial incursions in cooperatively breeding common marmosets () to distinguish between the three following non-mutually exclusive functions of intergroup encounters in this species of New World primate: territorial defense, mate defense, and assessment of breeding opportunities.

Toxicological evaluation of smokeless tobacco: 2-year chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity feeding study in Wistar Han rats.

Unlabelled: A comprehensive 2-year oral chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity study was conducted with smokeless tobacco using modern toxicological test methods and well-accepted standards. The study included a 1-year interim subgroup to assess toxicity at that intermediate time point. Test groups consisted of a tobacco blend (B) used in snus, and an aqueous tobacco extract of that tobacco blend (E) administered at 0.

Cognitive Load Theory for the Design of Medical Simulations.

Simulation-based education (SBE) has emerged as an effective and important tool for medical educators, but research about how to optimize training with simulators is in its infancy. It is often difficult to generalize results from experiments on instructional design issues in simulation because of the heterogeneity of learner groups, teaching methods, and rapidly changing technologies. We have found that cognitive load theory is highly relevant to teaching in the simulation laboratory and a useful conceptual framework to reference when designing or researching simulation-based education.

Analysis of sulfonamides, trimethoprim, fluoroquinolones, quinolones, triphenylmethane dyes and methyltestosterone in fish and shrimp using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) screening method is described for the detection and identification of 26 veterinary drugs in fish and other aquaculture products. The analytes include: 13 sulfonamides, trimethoprim, 3 fluoroquinolones, 3 quinolones, 3 triphenylmethane dyes, 2 leuco dye metabolites, and 1 hormone. In this method, tissue is mixed with EDTA-McIlvaine buffer, double-extracted with acetonitrile, p-toluenesulfonic (p-TSA) acid and N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (TMPD), and analyzed using LC-MS/MS.

Using a general problem-solving strategy to promote transfer.

Cognitive load theory was used to hypothesize that a general problem-solving strategy based on a make-as-many-moves-as-possible heuristic could facilitate problem solutions for transfer problems. In four experiments, school students were required to learn about a topic through practice with a general problem-solving strategy, through a conventional problem solving strategy or by studying worked examples. In Experiments 1 and 2 using junior high school students learning geometry, low knowledge students in the general problem-solving group scored significantly higher on near or far transfer tests than the conventional problem-solving group.

Toxicological evaluation of smokeless tobacco: 90-day rodent feeding studies.

This manuscript presents data from 90-day toxicology studies designed to characterize the subchronic effects of a smokeless tobacco blend and an aqueous extract of that blend when administered to rodents in NTP-2000 feed. Positive control (nicotine tartrate) and treatment groups were matched for a range of nicotine levels. The doses evaluated were 0.

A Bayesian statistical analysis of mouse dermal tumor promotion assay data for evaluating cigarette smoke condensate.

The mouse dermal assay has long been used to assess the dermal tumorigenicity of cigarette smoke condensate (CSC). This mouse skin model has been developed for use in carcinogenicity testing utilizing the SENCAR mouse as the standard strain. Though the model has limitations, it remains as the most relevant method available to study the dermal tumor promoting potential of mainstream cigarette smoke.

Establishment and characterization of human bladder cancer cell lines BexBra1, BexBra2, and BexBra4.

Bladder cancer (BC) is the fourth most common cancer in the USA. In Brazil, BC represents 3% of the total existing carcinomas in the population and represents the second highest incidence among urological tumors. The majority of bladder cancer cell lines available were derived from Caucasians and established in the seventies or eighties.