Dynamic protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation play an essential role in cell cycle progression. Kinases and phosphatases are generally highly conserved across eukaryotes, underlining their importance for post-translational regulation of substrate proteins. In recent years, advances in phospho-proteomics have shed light on protein phosphorylation dynamics throughout the cell cycle, and ongoing progress in bioinformatics has significantly improved annotation of specific phosphorylation events to a given kinase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Compatibility between plant parasites and their hosts is genetically determined {Citation}both interacting organisms. For example, plants may carry resistance (R) genes or deploy chemical defences. Aphid saliva contains many proteins that are secreted into host tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: (Ct) and (Ng) infections are often asymptomatic; screening increases early detection and prevents disease, sequelae and further spread. To increase Ct and Ng testing, several countries have implemented specimen self-collection outside a clinical setting. While specimen self-collection at home is highly acceptable to patients and as accurate as specimens collected by healthcare providers, this strategy is new or not being used in some countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTheory predicts that compensatory genetic changes reduce negative indirect effects of selected variants during adaptive evolution, but evidence is scarce. Here, we test this in a wild population of Hawaiian crickets using temporal genomics and a high-quality chromosome-level cricket genome. In this population, a mutation, flatwing, silences males and rapidly spread due to an acoustically-orienting parasitoid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the phylogeographic history of a group and identifying the factors contributing to speciation is an important challenge in evolutionary biology. The Goodeinae are a group of live-bearing fishes endemic to Mexico. Here, we develop genomic resources for species within the Goodeinae and use phylogenomic approaches to characterise their evolutionary history.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogens are engaged in a fierce evolutionary arms race with their host. The genes at the forefront of the engagement between kingdoms are often part of diverse and highly mutable gene families. Even in this context, we discovered unprecedented variation in the hyper-variable (HYP) effectors of plant-parasitic nematodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) are fundamental public health efforts widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate transmission. This study investigated how state, local, and tribal public health departments used CI/CT during the COVID-19 pandemic, including CI/CT methodology, staffing models, training and support, and efforts to identify or prioritize populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Methods: During March and April 2022, we conducted key informant interviews with up to 3 public health officials from 43 state, local, and tribal public health departments.
Objectives: We sought to (1) document how health departments (HDs) developed COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) interview scripts and the topics covered, and (2) understand how and why HDs modified those scripts.
Design: Qualitative analysis of CI/CT interview scripts and in-depth key informant interviews with public health officials in 14 HDs. Collected scripts represent 3 distinct points (initial, the majority of which were time stamped May 2020; interim, spanning from September 2020 to August 2021; and current, as of April 2022).
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third leading cause of cardiovascular death and the main cause of preventable in-hospital death in the world. The PERT® (Pulmonary Embolism Response Team) concept involves multidisciplinary diagnosis and immediate treatment. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is the initial cause of most cases of PE and is responsible for complications such as chronic thromboembolic recurrence, postthrombotic syndrome, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncogene-induced replication stress is a crucial driver of genomic instability and one of the key events contributing to the onset and evolution of cancer. Despite its critical role in cancer, the mechanisms that generate oncogene-induced replication stress remain not fully understood. Here, we report that an oncogenic c-Myc-dependent increase in cohesins on DNA contributes to the induction of replication stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Scoliosis is a lateral curvature of the spine with associated rotation, often causing distress due to appearance. For some curves, there is good evidence to support the use of a spinal brace, worn for 20 to 24 hours a day to minimize the curve, making it as straight as possible during growth, preventing progression. Compliance can be poor due to appearance and comfort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Methoxyflurane has excellent analgesic properties and is approved for use in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 2015. It is currently used in emergency departments for analgesia during fracture reductions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with theatre access severely restricted, Penthrox® had the potential to provide adequate pain relief to aid frame and wire removal in the clinic setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpert Rev Anti Infect Ther
November 2023
Introduction: The reemergence of syphilis, especially congenital syphilis, presents a significant public health threat. Accurate diagnosis of syphilis depends on recognition of a constellation of symptoms, review of medical and sexual history, and multiple laboratory tests. While reliable, current tests for syphilis can be difficult to interpret, which can lead to delays in treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe transition from oviparity to viviparity has occurred independently over 150 times across vertebrates, presenting one of the most compelling cases of phenotypic convergence. However, whether the repeated, independent evolution of viviparity is driven by redeployment of similar genetic mechanisms and whether these leave a common signature in genomic divergence remains largely unknown. Although recent investigations into the evolution of viviparity have demonstrated striking similarity among the genes and molecular pathways involved across disparate vertebrate groups, quantitative tests for genome-wide convergent have provided ambivalent answers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Patients with cauda equina syndrome (CES) require emergency imaging and surgical decompression. The severity and type of symptoms may influence the timing of imaging and surgery, and help predict the patient's prognosis. Categories of CES attempt to group patients for management and prognostication purposes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTHAPBI PICT is an open source software pipeline for metabarcoding analysis of Illumina paired-end reads, including cases of multiplexing where more than one amplicon is amplified per DNA sample. Initially a ITS1 Classification Tool (PICT), we demonstrate using worked examples with our own and public data sets how, with appropriate primer settings and a custom database, it can be applied to other amplicons and organisms, and used for reanalysis of existing datasets. The core dataflow of the implementation is (i) data reduction to unique marker sequences, often called amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), (ii) dynamic thresholds for discarding low abundance sequences to remove noise and artifacts (rather than error correction by default), before (iii) classification using a curated reference database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing a nationally representative panel survey, we examined isolation behaviors among persons in the United States who had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results during January 2021-March 2022. Compared with persons who received provider-administered results, persons with home-based results had 29% (95% CI 5%-47%) lower odds of following isolation recommendations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentromere () identity is specified epigenetically by specialized nucleosomes containing evolutionarily conserved -specific histone H3 variant CENP-A (Cse4 in , CENP-A in humans), which is essential for faithful chromosome segregation. However, the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate Cse4 function have not been fully defined. In this study, we show that cell cycle-dependent methylation of Cse4-R37 regulates kinetochore function and high-fidelity chromosome segregation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The present study aims to evaluate the association between the degree of iliac venous outflow obstruction (IVOO) identified by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and venous reflux presentation in the lower limbs on duplex ultrasound (DU).
Methods: Patients with bilateral chronic venous insufficiency, CEAP (clinical-etiology-anatomy-pathophysiology) C3 to C6, and a visual analog scale score for pain >5 underwent DU for reflux evaluation of the deep venous system (reflux ≥1 second); superficial system, great saphenous vein, and small saphenous vein (reflux ≥0.5 second); and perforator system (reflux ≥0.
Case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) is a critical part of the public health response to COVID-19. Individuals' experiences with CI/CT for COVID-19 varied based on geographic location, changes in knowledge and guidelines, access to testing and vaccination, as well as demographic characteristics including age, race, ethnicity, income, and political ideology. In this paper, we explore the experiences and behaviors of adults with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, or who were exposed to a person with COVID-19, to understand their knowledge, motivations, and facilitators and barriers to their actions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cauda equina syndrome (CES) results from nerve root compression in the lumbosacral spine, usually due to a prolapsed intervertebral disc. Evidence for management of CES is limited by its infrequent occurrence and lack of standardised clinical definitions and outcome measures.
Methods: This is a prospective multi-centre observational cohort study of adults with CES in the UK.
Hsp70 interactions are critical for cellular viability and the response to stress. Previous attempts to characterize Hsp70 interactions have been limited by their transient nature and the inability of current technologies to distinguish direct versus bridged interactions. We report the novel use of cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) to comprehensively characterize the Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) Hsp70 protein interactome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant-parasitic nematodes are a major threat to crop production in all agricultural systems. The scarcity of classical resistance genes highlights a pressing need to find new ways to develop nematode-resistant germplasm. Here, we sequence and assemble a high-quality phased genome of the model cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii to provide a platform for the first system-wide dual analysis of host and parasite gene expression over time, covering all major parasitism stages.
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