Thin-Slice Measurement of Wisdom.

Objective Measurement of Wisdom within a short period of time is vital for both the public interest (e.g., understanding a presidential election) and research (e.

Phylogenetic and Molecular Evolutionary Analysis of Mitophagy Receptors under Hypoxic Conditions.

As animals evolved to use oxygen as the main strategy to produce ATP through the process of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, the ability to adapt to fluctuating oxygen concentrations is a crucial component of evolutionary pressure. Three mitophagy receptors, FUNDC1, BNIP3 and NIX, induce the removal of dysfunctional mitochondria (mitophagy) under prolonged hypoxic conditions in mammalian cells, to maintain oxygen homeostasis and prevent cell death. However, the evolutionary origins and structure-function relationships of these receptors remain poorly understood.

Evolution of : International Clone II, More Resistance to Ceftazidime, Mutation in .

is an important nosocomial pathogen worldwide. A more comprehensive understanding of the within-host genomic evolution of would provide a molecule basis for improving treatment of infection. To understand the evolutionary mechanism facilitating survived in human body, we here reported the genomic analysis of isolated sampled from Chinese patients.

A Novel Derivative of (-)mycousnine Produced by the Endophytic Fungus , Exhibits High and Selective Immunosuppressive Activity on T Cells.

An endophytic fungus, ZJLQ129, was isolated from the leaves of the traditional Chinese medicine Smilax china. From the fermentation broth and mycelium, a dibenzofurane compound (-)mycousnine (1) was isolated. Chemical modification of it to the amide derivative (-)mycousnine enamine (2), which is new to science, was found to have high and selective immunosuppressive activity: similar to cyclosporin A, (-)mycousnine enamine (2) selectively inhibited T cell proliferation, suppressed the expression of the surface activation antigens CD25 and CD69 and the formation and expression of the cytokines interleukin-2 as well as interferon γ in activated T cells, but did not show any effect on the proliferation of B cells and cancer cells (PANC-1 and A549) and the activation of macrophages.

Transcriptome Analysis of Al-Induced Genes in Buckwheat ( Moench) Root Apex: New Insight into Al Toxicity and Resistance Mechanisms in an Al Accumulating Species.

Relying on Al-activated root oxalate secretion, and internal detoxification and accumulation of Al, buckwheat is highly Al resistant. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for these processes are still poorly understood. It is well-known that root apex is the critical region of Al toxicity that rapidly impairs a series of events, thus, resulting in inhibition of root elongation.

NaCl Induces Flavonoid Biosynthesis through a Putative Novel Pathway in Post-harvest Ginkgo Leaves.

The flavonoids in the extracts of Ginkgo leaves have been shown to have great medical value: thus, a method to increase the flavonoid contents in these extracts is of significant importance for human health. In the present study, we investigated the changes in flavonoid contents and the corresponding gene expression levels in post-harvest Ginkgo leaves after various treatments. We found that both ultraviolet-B and NaCl treatment induced flavonoid accumulation.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Cue-Related Processing in a Gambling Task: Early Outcome Evaluation or Outcome Expectation?

Several recent studies have suggested that cues that predict outcomes elicit a feedback-related-like negativity (FRN-like negativity) reflecting initial appraisals of whether desired outcomes are probable. Some other studies, however, have found that the cues that predict outcomes elicited event-related potentials (ERPs) that reflect the expectation to outcomes (e.g.

Neuritin Inhibits Notch Signaling through Interacted with Neuralized to Promote the Neurite Growth.

Neuritin plays a key role in neural development and regeneration by promoting neurite outgrowth and synapse maturation. However, the mechanism of neuritin in modulating neurite growth has not been elucidated. Here, using yeast two-hybrid we screened and discovered the interaction of neuritin and neuralized (NEURL1), which is an important regulator that can activate Notch signaling through promoting endocytosis of Notch ligand.

Inconsistency in Abnormal Brain Activity across Cohorts of ADHD-200 in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Many papers have shown results from the multi-site dataset of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a data-sharing project named ADHD-200. However, few studies have illustrated that to what extent the pooled findings were consistent across cohorts. The present study analyzed three voxel-wise whole-brain metrics, i.

Analysis of EF-Hand Proteins in Soybean Genome Suggests Their Potential Roles in Environmental and Nutritional Stress Signaling.

Calcium ion (Ca) is a universal second messenger that plays a critical role in plant responses to diverse physiological and environmental stimuli. The stimulus-specific signals are perceived and decoded by a series of Ca binding proteins serving as Ca sensors. The majority of Ca sensors possess the EF-hand motif, a helix-loop-helix structure which forms a turn-loop structure.

Molecular and Evolutionary Mechanisms of Cuticular Wax for Plant Drought Tolerance.

Cuticular wax, the first protective layer of above ground tissues of many plant species, is a key evolutionary innovation in plants. Cuticular wax safeguards the evolution from certain green algae to flowering plants and the diversification of plant taxa during the eras of dry and adverse terrestrial living conditions and global climate changes. Cuticular wax plays significant roles in plant abiotic and biotic stress tolerance and has been implicated in defense mechanisms against excessive ultraviolet radiation, high temperature, bacterial and fungal pathogens, insects, high salinity, and low temperature.

Comparative Proteomic Analysis of the Graft Unions in Hickory () Provides Insights into Response Mechanisms to Grafting Process.

Hickory (), a tree with high nutritional and economic value, is widely cultivated in China. Grafting greatly reduces the juvenile phase length and makes the large scale cultivation of hickory possible. To reveal the response mechanisms of this species to grafting, we employed a proteomics-based approach to identify differentially expressed proteins in the graft unions during the grafting process.

Multiple Neuroimaging Measures for Examining Exercise-induced Neuroplasticity in Older Adults: A Quasi-experimental Study.

Physical exercise can improve physical and mental health. A number of imaging studies have examined the role of neuroplasticity in improving cognition with physical exercise; however, such neuroplasticity changes are not consistent across the reports partly due to small sample sizes in some studies. We thought to explore the concept that identifying consistent findings across multi-modality imaging measures would provide relatively reliable results.

EGF Enhances Oligodendrogenesis from Glial Progenitor Cells.

Emerging evidence indicates that epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling plays a positive role in myelin development and repair, but little is known about its biological effects on the early generation and differentiation of oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cells. In this study, we investigated the role of EGF in early OL development with isolated glial restricted precursor (GRP) cells. It was found that EGF collaborated with Platelet Derived Growth Factor-AA (PDGFaa) to promote the survival and self-renewal of GRP cells, but predisposed GRP cells to develop into O4 early-stage oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in the absence of or PDGFaa.

Biotic and Abiotic Stresses Activate Different Ca Permeable Channels in .

To survive, plants must respond rapidly and effectively to various stress factors, including biotic and abiotic stresses. Salinity stress triggers the increase of cytosolic free Ca concentration ([Ca]) via Ca influx across the plasma membrane, as well as bacterial flg22 and plant endogenous peptide Pep1. However, the interaction between abiotic stress-induced [Ca] increases and biotic stress-induced [Ca] increases is still not clear.

Evaluating the Influence of Spatial Resampling for Motion Correction in Resting-State Functional MRI.

Head motion is one of major concerns in current resting-state functional MRI studies. Image realignment including motion estimation and spatial resampling is often applied to achieve rigid-body motion correction. While the accurate estimation of motion parameters has been addressed in most studies, spatial resampling could also produce spurious variance, and lead to unexpected errors on the amplitude of BOLD signal.

Globus Pallidus Interna in Tourette Syndrome: Decreased Local Activity and Disrupted Functional Connectivity.

Globus pallidus interna (GPi) is an effective deep brain stimulation site for the treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS), and plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of TS. To investigate the functional network feature of GPi in TS patients, we retrospectively studied 24 boys with 'pure' TS and 32 age-/education-matched healthy boys by resting state functional magnetic resonance images. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and functional connectivity were used to estimate the local activity in GPi and its functional coordinate with the whole brain regions, respectively.

Linking Resting-State Networks in the Prefrontal Cortex to Executive Function: A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Study.

Executive function (EF) plays vital roles in our everyday adaptation to the ever-changing environment. However, limited existing studies have linked EF to the resting-state brain activity. The functional connectivity in the resting state between the sub-regions of the brain can reveal the intrinsic neural mechanisms involved in cognitive processing of EF without disturbance from external stimuli.

A Novel Approach for Amplification and Purification of Mouse Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells.

Although transgenic and knockout mice are widely used to study the specification and differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), mouse primary OPCs are difficult to be purified and maintained, and many in vitro studies have to resort to rat OPCs as substitutes. In this study, we reported that mouse O4 negative early-stage OPCs can be obtained by culturing cortical tissue blocks, and the simultaneous treatment of OPCs with Platelet Derived Growth Factor-AA (PDGFaa), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and epidermal growth factor (EGF) is the key for the propagation of mouse OPCs in culture. EGF was found to be a potent mitogen for OPCs and cooperate with PDGFaa to extend cell division and inhibit their differentiation.

Ecological Consequences of Clonal Integration in Plants.

Clonal plants are widespread throughout the plant kingdom and dominate in diverse habitats. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of environment is pervasive at multiple scales, even at scales relevant to individual plants. Clonal integration refers to resource translocation and information communication among the ramets of clonal plants.

Influences of Head Motion Regression on High-Frequency Oscillation Amplitudes of Resting-State fMRI Signals.

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs, >0.1 Hz) of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) signals have received much attention in recent years. Denoising is critical for HFO studies.

Biomass Allocation of Stoloniferous and Rhizomatous Plant in Response to Resource Availability: A Phylogenetic Meta-Analysis.

Resource allocation to different functions is central in life-history theory. Plasticity of functional traits allows clonal plants to regulate their resource allocation to meet changing environments. In this study, biomass allocation traits of clonal plants were categorized into absolute biomass for vegetative growth vs.

How to Link Brain and Experience? Spatiotemporal Psychopathology of the Lived Body.

The focus of the present article is on sketching a psychopathology of the body in schizophrenia and linking it to brain activity. This is done providing converging data from psychopathological evidence (phenomenal), phenomenological contructs (trans-phenomenal) and neuroscientific measures (pre-phenomenal). The phenomenal level is the detailed documentation of the patients' subjective anomalous experiences.

Development of a self-assessment tool for measuring competences of obstetric nurses in rooming-in wards in China.

Introduction: To provide high-quality nursing care, a reliable and feasible competency assessment tool is critical. Although several questionnaire-based competency assessment tools have been reported, a tool specific for obstetric nurses in rooming-in wards is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to develop a competency assessment tool for obstetric rooming-in ward nurses.