Endosomal membrane budding patterns in plants.

Multivesicular endosomes (MVEs) sequester membrane proteins destined for degradation within intralumenal vesicles (ILVs), a process mediated by the membrane-remodeling action of Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) proteins. In , endosomal membrane constriction and scission are uncoupled, resulting in the formation of extensive concatenated ILV networks and enhancing cargo sequestration efficiency. Here, we used a combination of electron tomography, computer simulations, and mathematical modeling to address the questions of when concatenated ILV networks evolved in plants and what drives their formation.

Positive Autism Screening Rates in Toddlers Born During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: Stress and viral illness during pregnancy are associated with neurodevelopmental conditions in offspring. Autism screening positivity for children born during the pandemic remains unknown.

Objective: To examine associations between prenatal exposure to the pandemic milieu and maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection with rates of positive Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised (M-CHAT-R) screenings.

Disentangling social, environmental, and zoonotic transmission pathways of a gastrointestinal protozoan (Blastocystis spp.) in northeast Madagascar.

Objectives: Understanding disease transmission is a fundamental challenge in ecology. We used transmission potential networks to investigate whether a gastrointestinal protozoan (Blastocystis spp.) is spread through social, environmental, and/or zoonotic pathways in rural northeast Madagascar.

Outcomes After Implantation of a Trifocal Toric Intraocular Lens Using Intraoperative Aberrometry, Digital Image Tracking, and Femtosecond Laser.

Purpose: To evaluate the refractive and visual acuity outcomes when using trifocal toric intraocular lenses (IOLs), femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery (FLACS), swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) biometry, digital image tracking (DT) and intraoperative aberrometry (IA).

Methods: This prospective, single-arm, observational study of refractive and visual outcomes included 40 eyes of 34 subjects. Preoperative biometry was performed with the Argos, FLACS and digital marking with LenSx, and IA and DT with ORA.

Long-Term Results of 2-Stage Turnbull-Cutait Pull-Through Coloanal Anastomosis for Low Rectal Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: In patients operated on for low rectal cancer, 2-stage Turnbull-Cutait pull-through hand-sewn coloanal anastomosis provides benefits in terms of postoperative morbidity compared with standard hand-sewn coloanal anastomosis associated with diverting ileostomy and further ileostomy reversal.

Objective: To compare long-term results of these 2 techniques after ultralow rectal resection for rectal cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this randomized multicenter clinical trial, neither patients nor surgeons were blinded for technique.

Direct Somatic Embryogenesis in Carica papaya L. Genotypes for Genetic Modification Purposes.

This chapter presents an efficient protocol for regenerating Carica papaya plants via somatic embryogenesis from immature zygotic embryos from economically important papaya genotypes. To achieve regenerated plants from somatic embryos, in the present protocol, four induction cycles are required, followed by one multiplication cycle and one regeneration cycle. With this optimized protocol, 80% of somatic embryos can be obtained in only 3.

New World dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) colonization of a recent Miocene insular territory: The case of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica emerged from the seas as a new geological territory during the Miocene as an insular archipelago. It later became part of a continental area once it became a segment of Central America. Two dung beetle genera that colonized this new territory from South and North America, and (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), are here studied, in the first analysis of a volcanic paleo-archipelago, colonized from its emergence, and then later becoming .

Long-term climate and hydrologic regimes shape stream invertebrate community responses to a hurricane disturbance.

Disturbances can produce a spectrum of short- and long-term ecological consequences that depend on complex interactions of the characteristics of the event, antecedent environmental conditions, and the intrinsic properties of resistance and resilience of the affected biological system. We used Hurricane Harvey's impact on coastal rivers of Texas to examine the roles of storm-related changes in hydrology and long-term precipitation regime on the response of stream invertebrate communities to hurricane disturbance. We detected declines in richness, diversity and total abundance following the storm, but responses were strongly tied to direct and indirect effects of long-term aridity and short-term changes in stream hydrology.

The Association among Hypothalamic Subnits, Gonadotropic and Sex Hormone Plasmas Levels in Alzheimer's Disease.

This study investigates the sex-specific role of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal axis in Alzheimer's disease progression, utilizing ADNI1 data for 493 individuals, analyzing plasma levels of gonadotropic and sex hormones, and examining neurodegeneration-related brain structures. We assessed plasma levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), progesterone (P4), and testosterone (T), along with volumetric measures of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and hypothalamic subunits, to explore their correlation with Alzheimer's disease markers across different cognitive statuses and sexes. Significant cognitive status effects were observed for all volumetric measures, with a distinct sex-by-cognitive status interaction for hypothalamic volume, indicating a decrease in males but not in females across cognitive impairment stages.

Gene editing improves endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial contacts and unfolded protein response in Friedreich's ataxia iPSC-derived neurons.

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a multisystemic, autosomal recessive disorder caused by homozygous GAA expansion mutation in the first intron of frataxin () gene. FXN is a mitochondrial protein critical for iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis and deficiency impairs mitochondrial electron transport chain functions and iron homeostasis within the organelle. Currently, there is no effective treatment for FRDA.

Reciprocal activity of AgRP and POMC neurons governs coordinated control of feeding and metabolism.

Agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-expressing and proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-expressing neurons reciprocally regulate food intake. Here, we combine non-interacting recombinases to simultaneously express functionally opposing chemogenetic receptors in AgRP and POMC neurons for comparing metabolic responses in male and female mice with simultaneous activation of AgRP and inhibition of POMC neurons with isolated activation of AgRP neurons or isolated inhibition of POMC neurons. We show that food intake is regulated by the additive effect of AgRP neuron activation and POMC neuron inhibition, while systemic insulin sensitivity and gluconeogenesis are differentially modulated by isolated-versus-simultaneous regulation of AgRP and POMC neurons.

Self-reported bruxism in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the association between self-reported awake/sleep bruxism, and orofacial pain with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Methods: A case-control study with a convenience sample was designed. Participants were recruited from a university-based Trauma Ambulatory.

Measurement of IFN-γ and IL-2 for the assessment of the cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2.

The study of specific T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 is important for understanding long-term immunity and infection management. The aim of this study was to assess the dual IFN-γ and IL-2 detection, using a SARS-CoV-2 specific fluorescence ELISPOT, in patients undergoing acute disease, during convalescence, and after vaccination. We also evaluated humoral response and compared with T-cells with the aim of correlating both types of responses, and increase the number of specific response detection.

Quantitative Dynamic Analysis of Sphingolipid Biosynthesis in .

Sphingolipids are pivotal for plant development and stress responses. Growing interest has been directed towards fully comprehending the regulatory mechanisms of the sphingolipid pathway. We explore its biosynthesis and homeostasis in cell cultures, shedding light on fundamental metabolic mechanisms.

Getting it right: Teaching undergraduate biology to undermine racial essentialism.

How we teach human genetics matters for social equity. The biology curriculum appears to be a crucial locus of intervention for either reinforcing or undermining students' racial essentialist views. The Mendelian genetic models dominating textbooks, particularly in combination with racially inflected language sometimes used when teaching about monogenic disorders, can increase middle and high school students' racial essentialism and opposition to policies to increase equity.

Point-of-Care Ultrasonography in the Critical Care Setting: Abdominal POCUS.

Point-of-care ultrasonography is becoming standard practice for diagnosis and management of patients in the critical care setting. When using point-of-care ultrasonography for evaluation of the abdomen, most providers will immediately think of the Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma examination. However, there are a number of important abdominal applications for the nontrauma patient, including evaluation of the function of abdominal organs, differentiation of shock states, and identification of sources of sepsis.

Case report: malignant hypertension associated with catecholamine excess in a patient with Leigh syndrome.

Background: Leigh syndrome is a progressive neurodegenerative mitochondrial disorder caused by multiple genetic etiologies with multisystemic involvement that mostly affecting the central nervous system with high rate of premature mortality.

Case Presentation: We present a 3-year, 10 month-old female patient with Leigh syndrome complicated by renal tubular acidosis, hypertension, gross motor delay, who presented with hypertensive emergency, persistent tachycardia, insomnia and irritability. Her previous genetic workup revealed a pathogenic variant in the MT-ND5 gene designated as m.

Noncontiguous Multifocal Spondylodiscitis in 3 Regions of the Spine.

Spondylodiscitis is an uncommon infectious disease of the spine, usually presenting in 1 or 2 contiguous levels, associated with risk factors such as diabetes, intravenous drugs, corticosteroids, and invasive procedures. The most common presentation is pain with nonspecific systemic manifestations. Diagnosis relies on clinical suspicion, laboratories, and imaging studies.

Dopamine-inhibited POMCDrd2+ neurons in the ARC acutely regulate feeding and body temperature.

Dopamine acts on neurons in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus, which controls homeostatic feeding responses. Here we demonstrate a differential enrichment of dopamine receptor 1 (Drd1) expression in food intake-promoting agouti related peptide (AgRP)/neuropeptide Y (NPY) neurons and a large proportion of Drd2-expressing anorexigenic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons. Owing to the nature of these receptors, this translates into a predominant activation of AgRP/NPY neurons upon dopamine stimulation and a larger proportion of dopamine-inhibited POMC neurons.

Human neutrophil development and functionality are enabled in a humanized mouse model.

Mice with a functional human immune system serve as an invaluable tool to study the development and function of the human immune system in vivo. A major technological limitation of all current humanized mouse models is the lack of mature and functional human neutrophils in circulation and tissues. To overcome this, we generated a humanized mouse model named MISTRGGR, in which the mouse granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was replaced with human G-CSF and the mouse G-CSF receptor gene was deleted in existing MISTRG mice.

HypoMap-a unified single-cell gene expression atlas of the murine hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus plays a key role in coordinating fundamental body functions. Despite recent progress in single-cell technologies, a unified catalog and molecular characterization of the heterogeneous cell types and, specifically, neuronal subtypes in this brain region are still lacking. Here, we present an integrated reference atlas, 'HypoMap,' of the murine hypothalamus, consisting of 384,925 cells, with the ability to incorporate new additional experiments.