Dietary Intake and Micronutrient Adequacy among Adults in Rural Sri Lanka: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Baseline Survey.

Objective: To characterize food group consumption, assess the contribution of food groups to energy and micronutrient intake, and estimate usual nutrient intake among adults in rural Sri Lanka.

Design: A baseline survey (Dec 2020-Feb 2021) was conducted as part of an agriculture-based, nutrition-sensitive resilience program evaluation. Dietary intake was assessed using telephone-based 24-hour recalls (n=1283), with repeat recalls from 769 participants.

Precession modulates the poleward expansion of atmospheric circulation to the Arctic Ocean.

Under sustained global warming, Arctic climate is projected to become more responsive to changes in North Pacific meridional heat transport as a result of teleconnections between low and high latitudes, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we reconstruct subarctic humidity changes over the past 400 kyr to investigate the role of low-to-high latitude interactions in regulating Arctic hydroclimate. Our reconstruction is based on precipitation-driven sediment input variations in the Subarctic North Pacific (SANP), which reveal a strong precessional cycle in subarctic humidity under the relatively low eccentricity variations that dominated the past four glacial-interglacial cycles.

Disorders of Muscle Mass and Tone.

Muscle disease has various clinical manifestations that range from exertional and non-exertional rhabdomyolysis, fasciculations, weakness, rigidity, stiffness, gait abnormalities, poor performance, and alterations in muscle mass and tone. Neurogenic disorders and non-neurogenic disorders such as primary muscle disease can cause muscle atrophy and changes in muscle tone. Myotonic disorders can have a genetic (eg, inherited channelopathies) or acquired (eg, electrolyte derangements) origin.

Genetics of Muscle Disease.

In the field of equine muscle disorders, many conditions have a genetic basis. Therefore, genetic testing is an important part of the diagnostic evaluation. Validated genetic tests are currently available for 5 equine muscle disorders: hyperkalemic periodic paralysis, malignant hyperthermia, glycogen branching enzyme disease, type 1 polysaccharide storage myopathy, and myosin heavy chain myopathy.

A novel Cu-coordinated fluorescent sensing system for specific detection of glyphosate and its applications in environmental and biological systems.

Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide widely used in agriculture, and its overexposure poses significant health and environmental risks. Herein, a novel Cu-coordinated fluorescent sensing system (HYBC-Cu system) based on acylhydrazone groups was designed, capable of glyphosate-specific recognition. The HYBC-Cu system was constructed with simple steps, with the advantages of short recognition time (< 1 min), good specificity, anti-interference, and excellent sensitivity (LOD = 95 nM).

α-Copaene is a potent repellent against the Asian Citrus Psyllid Diaphorina citri.

The Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, severely threatens citrus production worldwide by transmitting the greening (= Huanglongbing)-causing bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. There is growing evidence that the push-pull strategy is suitable to partially mitigate HLB by repelling ACP with transgenic plants engineered to produce repellents and attracting the vector to plants with a minimal disease transmission rate. Species that pull ACP away from commercial citrus plants have been identified, and transgenic plants that repel ACP have been developed.

Analysis of TEM micrographs with deep learning reveals APOE genotype-specific associations between HDL particle diameter and Alzheimer's dementia.

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) particle diameter distribution is informative in the diagnosis of many conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, obtaining an accurate HDL size measurement is challenging. We demonstrated the utility of measuring the diameter of more than 1,800,000 HDL particles with the deep learning model YOLOv7 (you only look once) from micrographs of 183 HDL samples, including patients with dementia or normal cognition (controls).

No gender differences in attraction to young partners: A study of 4500 blind dates.

In mixed-gender couples, men are older than women on average. Scholars and laypeople presume that this arrangement reflects mirrored preferences such that men desire younger partners and women desire older partners. Nevertheless, relevant published data on in-person romantic evaluations-that is, studies where adults interact in person and report their initial attraction to each other-are nearly nonexistent.

14-3-3 promotes sarcolemmal expression of cardiac Ca1.2 and nucleates isoproterenol-triggered channel superclustering.

The L-type Ca channel (Ca1.2) is essential for cardiac excitation-contraction coupling. To contribute to the inward Ca flux that drives Ca-induced-Ca-release, Ca1.

Strain-release trifluoromethoxylation and pentafluorosulfanoxylation of [1.1.0]bicyclobutanes: expanded access to fluorinated cyclobutane hybrid bioisosteres.

Methods for formal bromo-trifluoromethoxylation and bromo-pentafluorosulfanoxylation of [1.1.0]bicyclobutanes using AgOCF or AgOSF and 1,3-dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin are disclosed.

Sympathetic innervation of interscapular brown adipose tissue is not a predominant mediator of Oxytocin (OT)-elicited reductions of body weight gain and adiposity in male diet-induced obese rats.

Recent studies indicate that central administration of oxytocin (OT) reduces body weight (BW) in high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) rodents by reducing energy intake and increasing energy expenditure (EE). Previous studies in our lab have shown that administration of OT into the fourth ventricle (4V; hindbrain) elicits weight loss and stimulates interscapular brown adipose tissue temperature (T) in DIO rats. We hypothesized that OT-elicited stimulation of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation of IBAT contributes to its ability to activate BAT and reduce BW in DIO rats.

Evaluating solar power plant sites using integrated GIS and MCDM methods: a case study in Kermanshah Province.

This study utilizes an integrated Geographic Information System (GIS)-based Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach to perform Solar Power Plant Site Selection (SPPSS) in Kermanshah Province, Iran. It introduces a novel group weighting method, the Dempster-based Best-Worst Method (DBWM), which combines weights vectors derived from experts' opinions. The study also conducts a comprehensive sensitivity analysis comparing four GIS-based models for SPPSS.

Centrality of Hygienic Honey Bee Workers in Colony Social Networks.

Many social and environmental variables can affect the interactions among individuals in an insect colony that fundamentally structure its social organization. Along with important attributes such as age and caste, immunity-related factors such as the performance of sanitary tasks or exposure to a pathogen can also influence an individual's social interactions and their place in the resulting social network. Most work on this subject has supported the hypothesis that health-compromised individuals will exhibit altered social or spatial behavior that presumably limits the spread of infection.

Proximal remote sensing: an essential tool for bridging the gap between high-resolution ecosystem monitoring and global ecology.

A new proliferation of optical instruments that can be attached to towers over or within ecosystems, or 'proximal' remote sensing, enables a comprehensive characterization of terrestrial ecosystem structure, function, and fluxes of energy, water, and carbon. Proximal remote sensing can bridge the gap between individual plants, site-level eddy-covariance fluxes, and airborne and spaceborne remote sensing by providing continuous data at a high-spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we review recent advances in proximal remote sensing for improving our mechanistic understanding of plant and ecosystem processes, model development, and validation of current and upcoming satellite missions.

An Enigmatic Wild Passerine Mortality Event in the Eastern United States.

The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations.

Species and Their Associations with Chaparral and Oak Woodland Vegetation in Southern California.

Evidence of unintended introductions of species into native habitats has become increasingly prevalent in California. If not managed adequately, species can become devastating agricultural and forest plant pathogens. Additionally, California's natural areas, characterized by a Mediterranean climate and dominated by chaparral (evergreen, drought-tolerant shrubs) and oak woodlands, lack sufficient baseline knowledge on biology and ecology, hindering effective management efforts.

Evaluating Metabolic Profiling of Human Milk Using Biocrates MxP QUANT 500 Assay.

Metabolic profiling of human milk (HM) is indispensable for elucidating mother-milk-infant relationships. We evaluated the Biocrates MxP Quant 500 assay for HM-targeted metabolomics (106 small molecules, 524 lipids) and analyzed in a feasibility test HM from apparently healthy Brazilian mothers (A: 2-8, B: 28-50, C: 88-119 days postpartum, n = 25). Of the 630 possible signatures detectable with this assay, 506 were above the limits of detection in an HM-pool (10 µL) used for assay evaluation, 12 of them above the upper limit of quantitation.

Fluorogenic Biosensing with Tunable Polydiacetylene Vesicles.

Polydiacetylenes (PDAs) are conjugated polymers that are well known for their colorimetric transition from blue to red with the application of energetic stimulus. Sensing platforms based on polymerized diacetylene surfactant vesicles and other structures have been widely demonstrated for various colorimetric biosensing applications. Although less studied and utilized, the transition also results in a change from a non-fluorescent to a highly fluorescent state, making polydiacetylenes useful for both colorimetric and fluorogenic sensing applications.

Brain Stimulation Techniques in Research and Clinical Practice: A Comprehensive Review of Applications and Therapeutic Potential in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a range of motor and non-motor symptoms (NMSs) that significantly impact patients' quality of life. This review aims to synthesize the current literature on the application of brain stimulation techniques, including non-invasive methods such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS), and transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), as well as invasive approaches like deep brain stimulation (DBS). We explore the efficacy and safety profiles of these techniques in alleviating both motor impairments, such as bradykinesia and rigidity, and non-motor symptoms, including cognitive decline, depression, and impulse control disorders.

Secrets of the Goo: the Genome assembly of the Pacific Banana Slug, Ariolimax columbianus.

The Pacific banana slug, Ariolimax columbianus, is endemic to the forests of the Pacific Northern West. Found throughout coastal foothills and mountains of California, the hermaphroditic molluscs Ariolimax spp. are niche-constrained, hyper-localized, and phenotypically diverse.

Deep learning enabled rapid classification of yeast species in food by imaging of yeast microcolonies.

Diverse species of yeasts are commonly associated with food and food production environments. The contamination of food products by spoilage yeasts poses significant challenges, leading to quality degradation and food loss. Similarly, the introduction of undesirable strains during fermentation can cause considerable challenges with the quality and progress of the fermentation process.

Fecal microbiota changes associated with pathogenic and non-pathogenic diarrheas in foals.

Objectives: Diarrhea is a common disease that could threaten the welfare of newborn foals. While there are several forms of foal diarrhea, the etiologies can be considered known pathogenic or non-pathogenic in nature. Moreover, there are likely differences in the composition of microbial populations in the gastrointestinal tracts of foals depending upon the etiology of diarrhea.

RNA Metabolism and the Role of Small RNAs in Regulating Multiple Aspects of RNA Metabolism.

RNA metabolism is focused on RNA molecules and encompasses all the crucial processes an RNA molecule may or will undergo throughout its life cycle. It is an essential cellular process that allows all cells to function effectively. The transcriptomic landscape of a cell is shaped by the processes such as RNA biosynthesis, maturation (RNA processing, folding, and modification), intra- and inter-cellular transport, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, modification, catabolic decay, and retrograde signaling, all of which are interconnected and are essential for cellular RNA homeostasis.

CRMP/UNC-33 maintains neuronal microtubule arrays by promoting individual microtubule rescue.

Microtubules (MTs) are intrinsically dynamic polymers. In neurons, staggered individual microtubules form stable, polarized acentrosomal MT arrays spanning the axon and dendrite to support long-distance intracellular transport. How the stability and polarity of these arrays are maintained when individual MTs remain highly dynamic is still an open question.

Evidence of Rapid Infection of Four Sweetpotato Potyviruses in a Commercial Field in California.

Sweetpotato ( Lam.) is grown worldwide and is a staple food in many countries. One of the main constraints for sweetpotato production is cultivar decline, caused by the accumulation of viruses and subsequent losses of storage root yield and quality over years of vegetative propagation.