The best COVID-19 predictor is recent smell loss: a cross-sectional study.

Background: COVID-19 has heterogeneous manifestations, though one of the most common symptoms is a sudden loss of smell (anosmia or hyposmia). We investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19.

Methods: This preregistered, cross-sectional study used a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness.

A new look at early exposure to the flavors of the available vegetables as foundational mechanism of vegetable consumption habits and recipes of vegetables-based dishes.

The flavor of the maternal diet is transferred to women's amniotic fluid and breast milk, so that the amniotic fluid and breast milk become natural transmitters of flavor-related information developing babies are exposed to at early stages of development. We aimed to review the available evidence regarding the impact of early exposure to flavor on child vegetable intake, and to discuss for the first time possible effects of availability or unavailability of particular vegetables because of geographic reasons on these exposures, a variable that has been forgotten in the literature. We have focused on studies that have examined the association of prenatal and early postnatal -at breastfeeding- exposures to vegetable-related flavors with vegetable consumption in children.

The study of postnatal and later development of the taste and olfactory systems using the human brain mapping approach: an update.

Gustatory and olfactory functions are already present at birth, although the full development of both systems takes place postnatally. The existence of early postnatal sensitive periods throughout the developmental course of sensory systems, including the taste and olfactory, has been well documented. The normal postnatal and later development of any sensory function parallels development of the central nervous system.

Centrosome dysfunction in Drosophila neural stem cells causes tumors that are not due to genome instability.

Genome instability (GI) and centrosomal alterations are common traits in human cancer [1, 2]. It is suspected that centrosome dysfunction may cause tumors by bringing about GI, but direct experimental proof is still lacking [3]. To explore the possible functional link between centrosome function and overgrowth, we have assayed the tumorigenic potential of a series of mutants that affect different centrosomal proteins in Drosophila.

Spermatocyte cytokinesis requires rapid membrane addition mediated by ARF6 on central spindle recycling endosomes.

The dramatic cell shape changes during cytokinesis require the interplay between microtubules and the actomyosin contractile ring, and addition of membrane to the plasma membrane. Numerous membrane-trafficking components localize to the central spindle during cytokinesis, but it is still unclear how this machinery is targeted there and how membrane trafficking is coordinated with cleavage furrow ingression. Here we use an arf6 null mutant to show that the endosomal GTPase ARF6 is required for cytokinesis in Drosophila spermatocytes.