Exploring cross-cultural variations in visual attention patterns inside and outside national borders using immersive virtual reality.

We examined theories of cross-cultural differences in cognitive style on a sample of 242 participants representing five cultural groups (Czechia, Ghana, eastern and western Turkey, and Taiwan). The experiment involved immersive virtual environments consisting of two salient focal objects and a complex background as stimuli, which were presented using virtual reality headsets with integrated eye-tracking devices. The oculomotor patterns confirmed previous general conclusions that Eastern cultures have a more holistic cognitive style, while Western cultures predominantly have an analytic cognitive style.

EGFR inhibitors: clinical aspects, risk factors and biomarkers for acneiform eruptions and other mucosal and cutaneous adverse effects.

The frequency of the use of drugs that act on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is increasing, with the consequent onset of cutaneous toxicity, specifically acneiform eruption. The authors extensively review the topic, focusing on describing how these drugs can affect the skin and its appendages, that is, the pathophysiology that encompasses the cutaneous toxicity related to the use of EGFR inhibitors. In addition, it was possible to list the risk factors that may be associated with adverse effects of these drugs.

A de novo transcription-dependent TAD boundary underpins critical multiway interactions during antibody class switch recombination.

Interactions between transcription and cohesin-mediated loop extrusion can influence 3D chromatin architecture. However, their relevance in biology is unclear. Here, we report a direct role for such interactions in the mechanism of antibody class switch recombination (CSR) at the murine immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (Igh).

Influence of baseline parameters on one-year physical, mental, and health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: To identify baseline parameters longitudinally influencing overall health-related quality of life (HRQoL), physical function and mental health 1 year later in patients with chronic heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: We performed post hoc analyses of the randomized aldosterone in diastolic heart failure (Aldo-DHF) trial, including 422 patients with HFpEF and NYHA class II or III. Overall HRQoL, measured by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), physical functioning and mental health, both measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36), after 12 months were predicted in correlation analyses and multivariate regression analyses with continuous values and worst versus three better HRQoL quartiles as dependent variables.

Hepatic thermal injury promotes colorectal cancer engraftment in C57/black 6 mice.

Treatment options for liver metastases (primarily colorectal cancer) are limited by high recurrence rates and persistent tumor progression. Surgical approaches to management of these metastases typically use heat energy including electrocautery, argon beam coagulation, thermal ablation of surgical margins for hemostasis, and preemptive thermal ablation to prevent bleeding or to effect tumor destruction. Based on high rates of local recurrence, these studies assess whether local effects of hepatic thermal injury (HTI) might contribute to poor outcomes by promoting a hepatic microenvironment favorable for tumor engraftment or progression due to induction of procancer cytokines and deleterious immune infiltrates at the site of thermal injury.

Spt5-mediated enhancer transcription directly couples enhancer activation with physical promoter interaction.

Active enhancers are frequently transcribed, yet the regulatory role of enhancer transcription remains debated. Here, we depleted the RNA polymerase II pausing and elongation factor Spt5 in activated mouse B cells and found that approximately 50% of enhancer-gene pairs showed co-regulated transcription, consistent with a potential functional requirement for enhancer transcription. In particular, Spt5 depletion led to loss of super-enhancer-promoter physical interaction and gene expression at the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus (Igh), abrogating antibody class switch recombination.

Computerised emotional well-being and substance use questionnaires in young Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults.

Background: Mental health disorders rank among the most substantial causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Almost half of Australian adults experience mental illness at some point in their lifetime, with Indigenous Australians disproportionally affected. Thus, it is imperative that effective, acceptable screening tools are used, which are tailored to the target population.

Spectroscopic study of the pH dependence of the optical properties of a water-soluble molecular photo-switch.

In this report we present a UV-Vis spectroscopic study of the pH dependent optical properties of 4,4'-azobenzene dicarboxylic acid in aqueous solution. A combination of chemical (acid-base) and light stimuli is combined to demonstrate that the system undergoes two types of optical switching cycles. At neutral pH the azobenzene undergoes photo-induced cis-trans isomerisation.

An efficient CRISPR vector toolbox for engineering large deletions in .

Background: Our knowledge of natural genetic variation is increasing at an extremely rapid pace, affording an opportunity to come to a much richer understanding of how effects of specific genes are dependent on the genetic background. To achieve a systematic understanding of such GxG interactions, it is desirable to develop genome editing tools that can be rapidly deployed across many different genetic varieties.

Results: We present an efficient CRISPR/Cas9 toolbox of super module (SM) vectors.

Regulation of RNA polymerase II processivity by Spt5 is restricted to a narrow window during elongation.

Spt5 is a highly conserved RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-associated pausing and elongation factor. However, its impact on global elongation and Pol II processivity in mammalian cells has not been clarified. Here, we show that depleting Spt5 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) does not cause global elongation defects or decreased elongation rates.

The AraGWAS Catalog: a curated and standardized Arabidopsis thaliana GWAS catalog.

The abundance of high-quality genotype and phenotype data for the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana enables scientists to study the genetic architecture of many complex traits at an unprecedented level of detail using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS have been a great success in A. thaliana and many SNP-trait associations have been published.

AraPheno: a public database for Arabidopsis thaliana phenotypes.

Natural genetic variation makes it possible to discover evolutionary changes that have been maintained in a population because they are advantageous. To understand genotype-phenotype relationships and to investigate trait architecture, the existence of both high-resolution genotypic and phenotypic data is necessary. Arabidopsis thaliana is a prime model for these purposes.

Hepatology after Hepatitis C.

The ∼90% probability of curing individual patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)using direct-acting antivirals represents one of the most dramatic medical success stories of the modern era, and the journey from viral discovery to treatment occurred over just ∼25 years. The realities of the global burden of disease (2-3% of the world's population is infected), limited access to care and cost of treatment mean that HCV will continue to be a major problem for the next 25 years. But what if HCV (and hepatitis B) could be eradicated? Since liver transplantation and HCV management have been the mainstays of academic hepatology practice, where do we go from here? Unfortunately, we are in an era where the incidence and prevalence of liver diseases around the globe is increasing, and death from complications of cirrhosis is now among the top 10 causes in most countries; so hepatologists are expected to play a major role in the future.

Research in academic medical centers: two threats to sustainable support.

Reductions in federal support and clinical revenue jeopardize biomedical research and, in turn, clinical medicine.

The nuclear medicine therapy care coordination service: a model for radiologist-driven patient-centered care.

We developed a longitudinal care coordination service to proactively deliver high-quality and family-centered care in patients receiving radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer. In an iterative, multidisciplinary team manner, a pretherapy consultation service, which included scripted interactions, documentation, and checklists for quality control, evolved over time into a robust patient-centered longitudinal care coordination nuclear medicine service. Radiation safety precautions, the rationale for therapy, and management of patient expectations were addressed through the initial consultation, and discharge and posttreatment care were managed during subsequent follow-up.

Century-scale methylome stability in a recently diverged Arabidopsis thaliana lineage.

There has been much excitement about the possibility that exposure to specific environments can induce an ecological memory in the form of whole-sale, genome-wide epigenetic changes that are maintained over many generations. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, numerous heritable DNA methylation differences have been identified in greenhouse-grown isogenic lines, but it remains unknown how natural, highly variable environments affect the rate and spectrum of such changes. Here we present detailed methylome analyses in a geographically dispersed A.

Rapid divergence and high diversity of miRNAs and miRNA targets in the Camelineae.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNAs involved in gene regulation through translational inhibition and transcript cleavage. After processing from imperfect fold-back structures, miRNAs are incorporated into RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs) before targeting transcripts with varying degrees of complementarity. Some miRNAs are evolutionarily deep-rooted, and sequence complementarity with their targets is maintained through purifying selection.

A genomic-scale artificial microRNA library as a tool to investigate the functionally redundant gene space in Arabidopsis.

Traditional forward genetic screens are limited in the identification of homologous genes with overlapping functions. Here, we report the analyses and assembly of genome-wide protein family definitions that comprise the largest estimate for the potentially redundant gene space in Arabidopsis thaliana. On this basis, a computational design of genome-wide family-specific artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) was performed using high-performance computing resources.

Increased phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene expression and steatosis during hepatitis C virus subgenome replication: role of nonstructural component 5A and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection greatly increases the risk for type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; however, the pathogenic mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here we report gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) transcription and associated transcription factors are dramatically up-regulated in Huh.8 cells, which stably express an HCV subgenome replicon.

1001 Proteomes: a functional proteomics portal for the analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions.

Motivation: The sequencing of over a thousand natural strains of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana is producing unparalleled information at the genetic level for plant researchers. To enable the rapid exploitation of these data for functional proteomics studies, we have created a resource for the visualization of protein information and proteomic datasets for sequenced natural strains of A. thaliana.

The recombination landscape in Arabidopsis thaliana F2 populations.

Recombination during meiosis shapes the complement of alleles segregating in the progeny of hybrids, and has important consequences for phenotypic variation. We examined allele frequencies, as well as crossover (XO) locations and frequencies in over 7000 plants from 17 F(2) populations derived from crosses between 18 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. We observed segregation distortion between parental alleles in over half of our populations.

Whole-genome sequencing of multiple Arabidopsis thaliana populations.

The plant Arabidopsis thaliana occurs naturally in many different habitats throughout Eurasia. As a foundation for identifying genetic variation contributing to adaptation to diverse environments, a 1001 Genomes Project to sequence geographically diverse A. thaliana strains has been initiated.

Genome-wide comparison of nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat-encoding genes in Arabidopsis.

Plants, like animals, use several lines of defense against pathogen attack. Prominent among genes that confer disease resistance are those encoding nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) proteins. Likely due to selection pressures caused by pathogens, NB-LRR genes are the most variable gene family in plants, but there appear to be species-specific limits to the number of NB-LRR genes in a genome.

Reference-guided assembly of four diverse Arabidopsis thaliana genomes.

We present whole-genome assemblies of four divergent Arabidopsis thaliana strains that complement the 125-Mb reference genome sequence released a decade ago. Using a newly developed reference-guided approach, we assembled large contigs from 9 to 42 Gb of Illumina short-read data from the Landsberg erecta (Ler-1), C24, Bur-0, and Kro-0 strains, which have been sequenced as part of the 1,001 Genomes Project for this species. Using alignments against the reference sequence, we first reduced the complexity of the de novo assembly and later integrated reads without similarity to the reference sequence.

Wholesale data for surveillance of Australian Aboriginal tobacco consumption in the Northern Territory.

Objectives: Effective monitoring of trends in tobacco use is an essential element of tobacco control policy. Monitoring tobacco consumption using tobacco wholesale data has advantages over other methods of surveillance. In the present work, a research project that monitored tobacco consumption in 25 remote Aboriginal communities and its translation to a policy to implement this monitoring routinely in the entire Northern Territory of Australia is described.