Wasted Efforts Impair Random Search Efficiency and Reduce Choosiness in Mate-Pairing Termites.

AbstractRandom search theories predict that animals employ movement patterns that optimize encounter rates with target resources. However, animals are not always able to achieve the best search strategy. Energy depletion, for example, limits searchers' movement activities, forcing them to adjust their behaviors before and after encounters.

Development and evaluation of an automated breathing-synchronized chest wall vibration stimulation system.

[Purpose] Vibratory stimulation of the upper intercostal region enhances inspiratory movement, whereas stimulation of the lower intercostal region enhances expiratory movement and ventilation. Previous vibration stimulation devices for intercostal muscles required manual stimulation, causing a time lag between breathing and vibration stimulation. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of an automatic vibration stimulation system with manual vibration stimulation in a group of individuals and to verify whether there was an increase in upper and lower chest wall displacement and respiratory flow.

Stage IV gastric cancer with microsatellite instability-high achieving long-term survival by gastrectomy after nivolumab as third-line therapy: a case report and literature review.

Background: The prognosis for stage IV gastric cancer remains poor; however, the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as nivolumab has increased the number of patients with long-term survival. Patients with microsatellite instability (MSI)-high gastric cancer have been recognized as a highly effective population for ICIs. Herein, we report a patient with MSI-high advanced gastric cancer treated with gastrectomy after the administration of nivolumab as third-line therapy.

Usefulness of the Reborn Soup for the Reduction of Salt Intake.

Aims: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of reborn soup on the perceptions of saltiness and palatability.

Methods: Subjects comprised 103 staff working at Kokura Daiichi Hospital (22 males, 81 females, and mean age: 35 ± 12 years old). They tested soups (commercially available soup with 0.

Flavonifractor plautii Bacteremia With Generalized Peritonitis: A Case Report and Literature Review.

is an obligate anaerobic rod bacterium that is part of the human gut microbiota. We describe a case of bacteremia caused by in a mildly immunocompromised patient with acute generalized peritonitis. The patient is an 83-year-old male, with a history of stage III hepatocellular carcinoma 11 months prior, stage I gastric cancer, and cerebral infarction three months prior.

Decreased serum creatinine to cystatin C ratio is associated with low tongue pressure.

Aim: Tongue strength plays an important role in the process of food intake, and low tongue pressure has been associated with aspiration pneumonia, cognitive decline, and mortality. However, special equipment for tongue pressure measurement is uncommon in general practice. Recently, the serum creatinine-to-cystatin C (Cr/CysC) ratio has been validated as a marker of muscle volume mass.

DONSON is required for CMG helicase assembly in the mammalian cell cycle.

DONSON is one of 13 genes mutated in a form of primordial microcephalic dwarfism known as Meier-Gorlin syndrome. The other 12 encode components of the CDC45-MCM-GINS helicase, around which the eukaryotic replisome forms, or are factors required for helicase assembly during DNA replication initiation. A role for DONSON in CDC45-MCM-GINS assembly was unanticipated, since DNA replication initiation can be reconstituted in vitro with purified proteins from budding yeast, which lacks DONSON.

Influence of blood pressure variations during hemodialysis on the prognosis of dialysis patients.

The prognosis of dialysis patients is poorer than that of the general population. The relationship between dialysis patients' blood pressure (BP) and mortality is controversial. We investigated the relationships between mortality and () pre-dialysis BP and () BP variation during hemodialysis in maintenance dialysis patients.

Loss of CAPS2/Cadps2 leads to exocrine pancreatic cell injury and intracellular accumulation of secretory granules in mice.

The type 2 Ca-dependent activator protein for secretion (CAPS2/CADPS2) regulates dense-core vesicle trafficking and exocytosis and is involved in the regulated release of catecholamines, peptidergic hormones, and neuromodulators. CAPS2 is expressed in the pancreatic exocrine acinar cells that produce and secrete digestive enzymes. However, the functional role of CAPS2 in vesicular trafficking and/or exocytosis of non-regulatory proteins in the exocrine pancreas remains to be determined.

Decreased cognitive function is associated with preceding severe hypoglycemia and impaired blood glucose control in the elderly individuals with type 1 diabetes.

Aim/introduction: This investigation aimed to clarify the relationship between cognitive function and blood glucose control in the elderly individuals with type 1 diabetes.

Materials And Methods: In total, 45 patients with type 1 diabetes, age 74.9 ± 6.

Multiple UBX proteins reduce the ubiquitin threshold of the mammalian p97-UFD1-NPL4 unfoldase.

The p97/Cdc48 ATPase and its ubiquitin receptors Ufd1-Npl4 are essential to unfold ubiquitylated proteins in many areas of eukaryotic cell biology. In yeast, Cdc48-Ufd1-Npl4 is controlled by a quality control mechanism, whereby substrates must be conjugated to at least five ubiquitins. Here, we show that mammalian p97-UFD1-NPL4 is governed by a complex interplay between additional p97 cofactors and the number of conjugated ubiquitins.

Comparison of utility of deep learning reconstruction on 3D MRCPs obtained with three different k-space data acquisitions in patients with IPMN.

Objective: To compare the utility of deep learning reconstruction (DLR) for improving acquisition time, image quality, and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) evaluation for 3D MRCP obtained with parallel imaging (PI), multiple k-space data acquisition for each repetition time (TR) technique (Fast 3D mode multiple: Fast 3Dm) and compressed sensing (CS) with PI.

Materials And Methods: A total of 32 IPMN patients who had undergone 3D MRCPs obtained with PI, Fast 3Dm, and CS with PI and reconstructed with and without DLR were retrospectively included in this study. Acquisition time, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) obtained with all protocols were compared using Tukey's HSD test.

Brainstem Venous Congestion Due to Transverse-sigmoid Sinus Dural Arteriovenous Fistula: Case Report and Literature Review.

Brainstem venous congestion due to dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) can mimic brainstem glioma and infarction. We report a case of a 56-year-old woman with a transverse-sigmoid sinus (TS) dAVF. On MRI, she presented with brainstem edema that was difficult to distinguish from brainstem glioma and infarction.

Prognostic value of an echocardiographic index reflecting right ventricular operating stiffness in patients with heart failure.

Purpose: We recently reported a noninvasive method for the assessment of right ventricular (RV) operating stiffness that is obtained by dividing the atrial-systolic descent of the pulmonary artery-RV pressure gradient (PRPGD) derived from the pulmonary regurgitant velocity by the tricuspid annular plane movement during atrial contraction (TAPM). Here, we investigated whether this parameter of RV operating stiffness, PRPGD/TAPM, is useful for predicting the prognosis of patients with heart failure (HF).

Methods: We retrospectively included 127 hospitalized patients with HF who underwent an echocardiographic examination immediately pre-discharge.

Early dynamics of circulating tumor DNA predict chemotherapy responses for patients with esophageal cancer.

We investigated whether early circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) changes, measured using digital PCR (dPCR), can predict later chemotherapy responses in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). We compared the dynamics of ctDNA and tumor volumes during chemotherapy in 42 ESCC. The accuracy of predictions of later chemotherapy responses was evaluated by the ratio of the variant allele frequency of ctDNA (post-/pre-ctDNA) and the total tumor volume (post-/pre-volume) before and after an initial chemotherapy cycle using a receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis.

Optimal Pore Size of Honeycomb Polylactic Acid Films for In Vitro Cartilage Formation by Synovial Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Background: Tissue engineering of cartilage requires the selection of an appropriate artificial scaffold. Polylactic acid (PLA) honeycomb films are expected to be highly biodegradable and cell adhesive due to their high porosity. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal pore size of honeycomb PLA films for in vitro cartilage formation using synovial mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

TIMELESS-TIPIN and UBXN-3 promote replisome disassembly during DNA replication termination in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The eukaryotic replisome is rapidly disassembled during DNA replication termination. In metazoa, the cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase CUL-2 drives ubiquitylation of the CMG helicase, leading to replisome disassembly by the p97/CDC-48 "unfoldase". Here, we combine in vitro reconstitution with in vivo studies in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, to show that the replisome-associated TIMELESS-TIPIN complex is required for CUL-2 recruitment and efficient CMG helicase ubiquitylation.

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 antiviral compounds by screening for small molecule inhibitors of Nsp14 RNA cap methyltransferase.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented itself as one of the most critical public health challenges of the century, with SARS-CoV-2 being the third member of the Coronaviridae family to cause a fatal disease in humans. There is currently only one antiviral compound, remdesivir, that can be used for the treatment of COVID-19. To identify additional potential therapeutics, we investigated the enzymatic proteins encoded in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 antiviral compounds by screening for small molecule inhibitors of Nsp5 main protease.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spread around the world with unprecedented health and socio-economic effects for the global population. While different vaccines are now being made available, very few antiviral drugs have been approved. The main viral protease (nsp5) of SARS-CoV-2 provides an excellent target for antivirals, due to its essential and conserved function in the viral replication cycle.

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 antiviral compounds by screening for small molecule inhibitors of nsp14/nsp10 exoribonuclease.

SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that emerged in 2019 and rapidly spread across the world causing a deadly pandemic with tremendous social and economic costs. Healthcare systems worldwide are under great pressure, and there is an urgent need for effective antiviral treatments. The only currently approved antiviral treatment for COVID-19 is remdesivir, an inhibitor of viral genome replication.

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 antiviral compounds by screening for small molecule inhibitors of nsp15 endoribonuclease.

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for COVID-19, a human disease that has caused over 2 million deaths, stretched health systems to near-breaking point and endangered economies of countries and families around the world. Antiviral treatments to combat COVID-19 are currently lacking. Remdesivir, the only antiviral drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19, can affect disease severity, but better treatments are needed.

Ant foragers might present variation and universal property in their movements.

Investigating the locomotion mechanisms of animals improves our understanding of both their inherent movements and responses to external stimuli. Moreover, identifying the movement patterns of animals reveals their foraging search efficiency. The navigational mechanisms of foraging ants have been well studied; they present typical search strategies for pinpointing their goal.

CUL2 , TRAIP and p97 control CMG helicase disassembly in the mammalian cell cycle.

The eukaryotic replisome is disassembled in each cell cycle, dependent upon ubiquitylation of the CMG helicase. Studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans and Xenopus laevis have revealed surprising evolutionary diversity in the ubiquitin ligases that control CMG ubiquitylation, but regulated disassembly of the mammalian replisome has yet to be explored. Here, we describe a model system for studying the ubiquitylation and chromatin extraction of the mammalian CMG replisome, based on mouse embryonic stem cells.