Orai, RyR, and IPR channels cooperatively regulate calcium signaling in brain mid-capillary pericytes.

Pericytes are multifunctional cells of the vasculature that are vital to brain homeostasis, yet many of their fundamental physiological properties, such as Ca signaling pathways, remain unexplored. We performed pharmacological and ion substitution experiments to investigate the mechanisms underlying pericyte Ca signaling in acute cortical brain slices of PDGFRβ-Cre::GCaMP6f mice. We report that mid-capillary pericyte Ca signalling differs from ensheathing type pericytes in that it is largely independent of L- and T-type voltage-gated calcium channels.

Resisting-accepting-directing sea level rise on the Chesapeake Bay: Agricultural producers' motivations and actions.

As relative rates of sea level rise accelerate in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, the frequency of flooding and saltwater intrusion on coastal lands also increases, prompting ecological transformation which can conflict with existing coastal land use such as agriculture. We performed an exploratory study of coastal farmers and woodlot managers in Maryland and Virginia to understand how these producers make land management decisions within the context of sea level rise. Specifically, we used a mixed-methods approach to identify and understand 1) the producer-observed impacts of sea level rise and flooding on coastal lands; 2) the range of actions producers may take in response to sea level rise and flooding; 3) producers' intentions for managing their land in the short- and long-term; 4) producers' motivations for selecting a particular response; and 5) the additional support coastal producers need to successfully adapt to sea level rise.

Thoughts and beliefs of healthcare workers regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine and which messaging themes might affect vaccine confidence and recommendation of the vaccine.

We surveyed healthcare workers within the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network (DASON) to describe beliefs regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and their decision-making process behind vaccination recommendations. In contrast to the type of messaging that appealed most on a personal level to the healthcare workers, they preferred a more generic message emphasizing safety and efficacy when making vaccination recommendations.

Use and Effect of Embodied Conversational Agents for Improving Eating Behavior and Decreasing Loneliness Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) have been proposed as a promising interaction modality for the delivery of programs focused on promoting lifestyle changes. However, it is not understood what factors influence the health effects of ECAs or their use.

Objective: We aimed to (1) identify whether ECAs could persuade community-dwelling older adults to change their dietary behavior and whether ECA use could decrease loneliness, (2) test the pathways to these effects, and (3) understand factors influencing the use of ECAs.

Relationships between social withdrawal and facial emotion recognition in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Background: Emotion recognition constitutes a pivotal process of social cognition. It involves decoding social cues (e.g.

Narrative warmth and quantitative competence: Message type affects impressions of a speaker.

Persuasion research often focuses on how source characteristics affect attitude change in response to a message; however, message characteristics may also alter perceptions of the source. The Message-Based Impression Formation effect (M-BIF) suggests that perceivers use features of messages to infer characteristics of the source, and that such inferences may have a variety of consequential outcomes. In particular, the choice of narrative versus statistical evidence may have implications for the perceived warmth and competence of a source.

Scalable, hydrophobic and highly-stretchable poly(isocyanurate-urethane) aerogels.

Scalable, low-density and flexible aerogels offer a unique combination of excellent mechanical properties and scalable manufacturability. Herein, we report the fabrication of a family of low-density, ambient-dried and hydrophobic poly(isocyanurate-urethane) aerogels derived from a triisocyanate precursor. The bulk densities ranged from 0.

Loudness perception and speech intensity control in Parkinson's disease.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to examine loudness perception in individuals with hypophonia and Parkinson's disease. The participants included 17 individuals with hypophonia related to Parkinson's disease (PD) and 25 age-equivalent controls. The three loudness perception tasks included a magnitude estimation procedure involving a sentence spoken at 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80 dB SPL, an imitation task involving a sentence spoken at 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80 dB SPL, and a magnitude production procedure involving the production of a sentence at five different loudness levels (habitual, two and four times louder and two and four times quieter).

Broad 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitor herbicide tolerance in soybean with an optimized enzyme and expression cassette.

With an optimized expression cassette consisting of the soybean (Glycine max) native promoter modified for enhanced expression driving a chimeric gene coding for the soybean native amino-terminal 86 amino acids fused to an insensitive shuffled variant of maize (Zea mays) 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), we achieved field tolerance in transgenic soybean plants to the HPPD-inhibiting herbicides mesotrione, isoxaflutole, and tembotrione. Directed evolution of maize HPPD was accomplished by progressively incorporating amino acids from naturally occurring diversity and novel substitutions identified by saturation mutagenesis, combined at random through shuffling. Localization of heterologously expressed HPPD mimicked that of the native enzyme, which was shown to be dually targeted to chloroplasts and the cytosol.

Transportation into narrative worlds: implications for entertainment media influences on tobacco use.

Aims: A growing body of research suggests that smoking portrayals in movies influence adolescent tobacco use. However, the mechanism for this influence remains unclear. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of research on narrative transportation theory, particularly as applied to movies and smoking.