COVID-19's impact on learning processes in Australian university students.

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has accentuated the role and interplay of numerous educational factors, inviting pedagogical research concerning online education. Using self-determination theory's basic psychological needs and fundamental learning theories, identified educational factors were integrated into three pathways: (1) autonomy, technology acceptance, and self-regulation of learning; (2) relatedness, authentic happiness, and a classroom community; and (3) competency, harmonious passion, and trait conscientiousness. This study extends educational research by elucidating the relationships between psychological need fulfilment, educational factors, and students' expectations of their future grades during the impact of COVID-19.

Maternal body mass index and country of birth in relation to the adverse outcomes of large for gestational age and gestational diabetes mellitus in a retrospective cohort of Australian pregnant women.

Background: The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Australia has been rising in line with the increased incidence of maternal overweight and obesity. Women with gestational diabetes mellitus, high body mass index or both are at an elevated risk of birthing a large for gestational age infant. The aim was to explore the relationship between country of birth, maternal body mass index with large for gestational age, and gestational diabetes mellitus.

Transcriptome States Reflect Imaging of Aging States.

In this study, we describe a morphological biomarker that detects multiple discrete subpopulations (or "age-states") at several chronological ages in a population of nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans). We determined the frequencies of three healthy adult states and the timing of the transitions between them across the lifespan. We used short-lived and long-lived strains to confirm the general applicability of the state classifier and to monitor state progression.

Scoping study investigating stakeholder perceptions and use of school canteens in an Australian city.

Aim: To investigate stakeholder perceptions of healthy food availability in school canteens, the promotion of healthy foods and canteen policy compliance.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of Catholic and independent primary and high schools comprising three investigative phases: (i) survey of 39 schools, (ii) survey of canteen managers and parents from 10 schools and (iii) an audit of school menus against National Healthy School Canteen Guidelines.

Results: Total participants included: 6 principals, no canteen mangers and 86 parents from two schools; 24 menus were audited.

Tomatidine enhances lifespan and healthspan in C. elegans through mitophagy induction via the SKN-1/Nrf2 pathway.

Aging is a major international concern that brings formidable socioeconomic and healthcare challenges. Small molecules capable of improving the health of older individuals are being explored. Small molecules that enhance cellular stress resistance are a promising avenue to alleviate declines seen in human aging.

Cockayne syndrome group A and B proteins converge on transcription-linked resolution of non-B DNA.

Cockayne syndrome is a neurodegenerative accelerated aging disorder caused by mutations in the CSA or CSB genes. Although the pathogenesis of Cockayne syndrome has remained elusive, recent work implicates mitochondrial dysfunction in the disease progression. Here, we present evidence that loss of CSA or CSB in a neuroblastoma cell line converges on mitochondrial dysfunction caused by defects in ribosomal DNA transcription and activation of the DNA damage sensor poly-ADP ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1).

Improving class separability using extended pixel planes: a comparative study.

In this work we explored class separability in feature spaces built on extended representations of pixel planes (EPP) produced using scale pyramid, subband pyramid, and image transforms. The image transforms included Chebyshev, Fourier, wavelets, gradient and Laplacian; we also utilized transform combinations, including Fourier, Chebyshev and wavelets of the gradient transform, as well as Fourier of the Laplacian transform. We demonstrate that all three types of EPP promote class separation.

Dynactin's pointed-end complex is a cargo-targeting module.

Dynactin is an essential part of the cytoplasmic dynein motor that enhances motor processivity and serves as an adaptor that allows dynein to bind cargoes. Much is known about dynactin's interaction with dynein and microtubules, but how it associates with its diverse complement of subcellular binding partners remains mysterious. It has been suggested that cargo specification involves a group of subunits referred to as the "pointed-end complex.

Molecular characterization of the transition to mid-life in Caenorhabditis elegans.

We present an initial molecular characterization of a morphological transition between two early aging states. In previous work, an age score reflecting physiological age was developed using a machine classifier trained on images of worm populations at fixed chronological ages throughout their lifespan. The distribution of age scores identified three stable post-developmental states and transitions.

Pattern recognition software and techniques for biological image analysis.

The increasing prevalence of automated image acquisition systems is enabling new types of microscopy experiments that generate large image datasets. However, there is a perceived lack of robust image analysis systems required to process these diverse datasets. Most automated image analysis systems are tailored for specific types of microscopy, contrast methods, probes, and even cell types.

Quiescence and activation of stem and precursor cell populations in the subependymal zone of the mammalian brain are associated with distinct cellular and extracellular matrix signals.

The subependymal zone (SEZ) of the lateral ventricles is one of the areas of the adult brain where new neurons are continuously generated from neural stem cells (NSCs), via rapidly dividing precursors. This neurogenic niche is a complex cellular and extracellular microenvironment, highly vascularized compared to non-neurogenic periventricular areas, within which NSCs and precursors exhibit distinct behavior. Here, we investigate the possible mechanisms by which extracellular matrix molecules and their receptors might regulate this differential behavior.

Automatic classification of lymphoma images with transform-based global features.

We propose a report on automatic classification of three common types of malignant lymphoma: chronic lymphocytic leukemia, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma. The goal was to find patterns indicative of lymphoma malignancies and allowing classifying these malignancies by type. We used a computer vision approach for quantitative characterization of image content.

An Image Informatics Method for Automated Quantitative Analysis of Phenotype Visual Similarities.

The post genomic era introduced the need to define single gene functions within biological pathways. A systems biology approach can be realized by automating image acquisition and phenotype classification. While machinery for automated data acquisition have been developing rapidly in the past years, the main bottleneck remains the effectiveness of the computer vision algorithms.

Knee x-ray image analysis method for automated detection of osteoarthritis.

We describe a method for automated detection of radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) in knee X-ray images. The detection is based on the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) classification grades, which correspond to the different stages of OA severity. The classifier was built using manually classified X-rays, representing the first four KL grades (normal, doubtful, minimal, and moderate).

WND-CHARM: Multi-purpose image classification using compound image transforms.

We describe a multi-purpose image classifier that can be applied to a wide variety of image classification tasks without modifications or fine-tuning, and yet provide classification accuracy comparable to state-of-the-art task-specific image classifiers. The proposed image classifier first extracts a large set of 1025 image features including polynomial decompositions, high contrast features, pixel statistics, and textures. These features are computed on the raw image, transforms of the image, and transforms of transforms of the image.

Wndchrm - an open source utility for biological image analysis.

Background: Biological imaging is an emerging field, covering a wide range of applications in biological and clinical research. However, while machinery for automated experimenting and data acquisition has been developing rapidly in the past years, automated image analysis often introduces a bottleneck in high content screening.

Methods: Wndchrm is an open source utility for biological image analysis.

Do red blood cell-beta-amyloid interactions alter oxygen delivery in Alzheimer's disease?

Oxygen delivery requires that Red Blood Cells (RBCs) must be deformable to pass through the microcirculation. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by abnormal extracellular deposition of beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) and neuronal loss. We have analyzed RBC morphology in blood from subjects with AD and found that > 15% of the RBCs are elongated as compared to 5.

Patterns of laminins and integrins in the embryonic ventricular zone of the CNS.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) provides both a physical framework and a microenvironment that supplies instructive signals from the earliest stages of multicellular development. As a first step toward understanding the role of the ECM in regulating the behavior of neural stem cells (NSCs), here we show the localization of laminins, a heterotrimeric family of ECM molecules expressed in many different stem cell microenvironments, and their corresponding receptors in the embryonic murine ventricular zone (VZ) within which the NSCs undergo symmetrical and asymmetrical divisions required for cortical development. In addition to the presence of laminins containing both the alpha2 and alpha4 chains, we find distinct patterns of ECM receptor expression in the VZ and in the overlying cortex.

Evidence that nucleocytoplasmic Olig2 translocation mediates brain-injury-induced differentiation of glial precursors to astrocytes.

The mechanisms by which neural and glial progenitor cells in the adult brain respond to tissue injury are unknown. We studied the responses of these cells to stab wound injury in rats and in two transgenic mouse models in which Y/GFP is driven either by Sox2 (a neural stem cell marker) or by Talpha-1 (which marks newly born neurons). The response of neural progenitors was low in all nonneurogenic regions, and no neurogenesis occurred at the injury site.

S-phase checkpoint genes safeguard high-fidelity sister chromatid cohesion.

Cohesion establishment and maintenance are carried out by proteins that modify the activity of Cohesin, an essential complex that holds sister chromatids together. Constituents of the replication fork, such as the DNA polymerase alpha-binding protein Ctf4, contribute to cohesion in ways that are poorly understood. To identify additional cohesion components, we analyzed a ctf4Delta synthetic lethal screen performed on microarrays.

Interactions between the evolutionarily conserved, actin-related protein, Arp11, actin, and Arp1.

The dynein activator dynactin is a multiprotein complex with distinct microtubule- and cargo-binding domains. The cargo-binding domain contains a short, actin-like filament of the actin-related protein Arp1, a second actin-related protein, Arp11, and conventional actin. The length of this filament is invariant in dynactin isolated from multiple species and tissues, suggesting that activities that regulate Arp1 polymerization are important for dynactin assembly.

Cytoplasmic dynein as a facilitator of nuclear envelope breakdown.

During prophase in higher cells, centrosomes localize to deep invaginations in the nuclear envelope in a microtubule-dependent process. Loss of nuclear membranes in prometaphase commences in regions of the nuclear envelope that lie outside of these invaginations. Dynein and dynactin complex components concentrate on the nuclear envelope prior to any changes in nuclear envelope organization.

Human INCENP colocalizes with the Aurora-B/AIRK2 kinase on chromosomes and is overexpressed in tumour cells.

The inner centromere protein (INCENP), which has previously been described in chicken, frog and mouse, is required for correct chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. We have identified the human INCENP gene by library screening and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and localized it to chromosomal region 11q12. HsINCENP is a single-copy gene that consists of 17 exons and covers 25 kb of genomic DNA.

Dynactin is required for microtubule anchoring at centrosomes.

The multiprotein complex, dynactin, is an integral part of the cytoplasmic dynein motor and is required for dynein-based motility in vitro and in vivo. In living cells, perturbation of the dynein-dynactin interaction profoundly blocks mitotic spindle assembly, and inhibition or depletion of dynein or dynactin from meiotic or mitotic cell extracts prevents microtubules from focusing into spindles. In interphase cells, perturbation of the dynein-dynactin complex is correlated with an inhibition of ER-to-Golgi movement and reorganization of the Golgi apparatus and the endosome-lysosome system, but the effects on microtubule organization have not previously been defined.

Analysis of dynactin subcomplexes reveals a novel actin-related protein associated with the arp1 minifilament pointed end.

The multisubunit protein, dynactin, is a critical component of the cytoplasmic dynein motor machinery. Dynactin contains two distinct structural domains: a projecting sidearm that interacts with dynein and an actin-like minifilament backbone that is thought to bind cargo. Here, we use biochemical, ultrastructural, and molecular cloning techniques to obtain a comprehensive picture of dynactin composition and structure.