The relationship between the early life gastrointestinal microbiome and childhood nocturnal cough.

Background: Nocturnal cough affects approximately 1 in 3 children, can negatively impact child health, and is often attributable to asthma. The association of the gut microbiome with nocturnal cough has not been investigated.

Objective: To investigate the association between early-life gut microbiome composition and nocturnal cough overall and in the context of asthma.

Illuminating the multidimensional contributions of small-scale fisheries.

Sustainable development aspires to "leave no one behind". Even so, limited attention has been paid to small-scale fisheries (SSF) and their importance in eradicating poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Through a collaborative and multidimensional data-driven approach, we have estimated that SSF provide at least 40% (37.

Patient-Centered mHealth Intervention to Improve Self-Care in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure: Phase 1 Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common causes of hospital readmission in the United States. These hospitalizations are often driven by insufficient self-care. Commercial mobile health (mHealth) technologies, such as consumer-grade apps and wearable devices, offer opportunities for improving HF self-care, but their efficacy remains largely underexplored.

Testing the kinetic tradeoff between bicarbonate versus phosphoenolpyruvate affinity and glucose-6 phosphate response of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from two C grasses.

Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase (PEPC) has an anaplerotic role in central plant metabolism but also initiates the carbon concentrating mechanism during C photosynthesis. The C PEPC has different binding affinities (K) for PEP (K) and HCO (K), and allosteric regulation by glucose-6-phosphate (G6-P) compared to non-photosynthetic isoforms. These differences are linked to specific changes in amino acids within PEPC.

Developing an artificial diet for rearing (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) on spotted-wing drosophila.

(Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a global invasive pest attacking soft-skinned fruit. The specialist larval parasitoid wasp, (Ihering), was recently approved in Europe and the United States for classical biological control releases against . Rearing methods are essential for supporting innundative releases but current methods using fresh fruit are costly and susceptible to variation in host quality.

Honoring Hartmut Karl Lichtenthaler, innovative pioneer of photosynthesis, on his 90 birthday.

We honor Professor Hartmut Karl Lichtenthaler, a versatile pioneer of photosynthesis research, plant physiology, isoprenoid biochemistry, and stress physiology of plants, for his groundbreaking and creative contributions to plant science. His innovative research on the chemical composition, ultrastructure, and function of chloroplasts and his detection of the major methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in plants is key to our current understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of photosynthesis systems. His ingenious use of the powerful laser-induced chlorophyll fluorescence imaging has helped us better understand the stress response processes in plant leaves.

Domestication During Restoration: Unintentional Selection During Eight Generations of Wild Seed Propagation Reduces Herkogamy, Dichogamy and Heterozygosity in Clarkia pulchella.

Seed production on native seed farms has increased to meet the rising demand for plant material for restoration. Although these propagation efforts are necessary for restoration, cultivating wild populations may also result in unintentional selection and elicit evolutionary changes that mimic crop domestication, essentially turning these efforts into artificial domestication experiments. Here, we investigated whether phenotypic and genomic changes associated with domestication occurred in the wildflower Clarkia pulchella Pursh (Onagraceae) by comparing the wild source populations to the farmed population after eight generations of cultivation.

AmelOBP4: an antenna-specific odor-binding protein gene required for olfactory behavior in the honey bee (Apis mellifera).

Background: Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) initiate the process of odorant perception. Numerous investigations have demonstrated that OBPs bind a broad variety of chemicals and are more likely to carry pheromones or odor molecules with high binding affinities. However, few studies have investigated its effects on insect behavior.

Ultrasound-assessed thigh fat thickness is valid for estimating body fat percentage in Division I collegiate female athletes.

Objectives: Monitoring body composition can help to optimize performance in female athletes. This study aimed to create a conversion equation between dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-measured body fat percentage and ultrasound-measured subcutaneous thigh fat thickness in Division I female athletes as a more accessible, cost-effective alternative.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Quantitative Measurement of Molecular Permeability to a Synthetic Bacterial Microcompartment Shell System.

Naturally evolved and synthetically designed forms of compartmentalization benefit encapsulated function by increasing local concentrations of substrates and protecting cargo from destabilizing environments and inhibitors. Crucial to understanding the fundamental principles of compartmentalization are experimental systems enabling the measurement of the permeability rates of small molecules. Here, we report the experimental measurement of the small-molecule permeability of a 40 nm icosahedral bacterial microcompartment shell.

Racial/Ethnic inequality & contemporary disparities in mortgage lending.

Research over the past two decades has noted significant racial/ethnic wealth inequalities-inequalities with important implications for life chances and institutional access. Home ownership is as a foundational element of such inequality with broad consequences for exposure to crime, quality of public safety services, and access to healthcare, education, and employment. Building on earlier scholarship that has tended to focus on specific forms of mortgages, we draw in this article on over 1.

Determining the intention of receiving the influenza vaccine: a cross-sectional survey among international and domestic college students in the USA.

Objective: Vaccination is the most effective strategy for preventing infectious diseases, yet it is underused in young adults. College students are important targets for the influenza vaccine given this population's low vaccination rates; however, limited research has focused on international college students' vaccination status. This study examined the relationships between the theory of planned behaviour (TPB; attitudes, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and subjective norms) and students' intention of receiving an influenza vaccine.

The diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in assessing anterior cruciate ligament tears: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Advances in technology and affordability of ultrasound (US) have expanded its use in the evaluation of musculoskeletal injuries. However, US accuracy for diagnosing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries remains inconsistently reported in the literature.

Hypothesis/purpose: Systematically review the literature and perform a meta-analysis to statistically evaluate the accuracy of US in diagnosing ACL tears.

Language style (mis)matching: Consuming entertainment media from someone unlike you is linked to positive attitudes.

Prior work suggests people often match with conversational partners by using a common rate of style words (e.g., articles, pronouns).

Probabilistic nested model selection in pharmacokinetic analysis of DCE-MRI data in animal model of cerebral tumor.

Best current practice in the analysis of dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI is to employ a voxel-by-voxel model selection from a hierarchy of nested models. This nested model selection (NMS) assumes that the observed time-trace of contrast-agent (CA) concentration within a voxel, corresponds to a singular physiologically nested model. However, admixtures of different models may exist within a voxel's CA time-trace.

The supply of branched-chain amino acids and branched-chain keto acids alter lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in primary bovine hepatocytes.

Fatty liver impairs liver function and reduces productivity in dairy cows. Our previous in vivo findings demonstrated that branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) or branched-chain ketoacid (BCKA) improved liver function and lactation performance in dairy cows; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the impact of BCAA or BCKA supplementation on intracellular triglyceride (TG) accumulation, lipid metabolism, antioxidant response, and apoptosis in hepatocytes.

Anomalous pumping in the non-Hermitian Rice-Mele model.

We study topological charge pumping (TCP) in the Rice-Mele (RM) model with irreciprocal hopping. The non-Hermiticity gives rise to interesting pumping physics, owing to the presence of skin effect and exceptional points. In the static one-dimensional (1D) RM model, we find two independent tuning knobs that can drive the topological transition, namely, non-Hermitian parameter $\gamma$ and system size $N$.

Effects of Recording Condition and Number of Monitored Days on the Discriminative Power of the Daily Phonotrauma Index.

Purpose: The Daily Phonotrauma Index (DPI) can quantify pathophysiological mechanisms associated with daily voice use in individuals with phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction (PVH). Since DPI was developed based on weeklong ambulatory voice monitoring, this study investigated if DPI can achieve comparable performance using (a) short laboratory speech tasks and (b) fewer than 7 days of ambulatory data.

Method: An ambulatory voice monitoring system recorded the vocal function/behavior of 134 females with PVH and vocally healthy matched controls in two different conditions.

Long-term climate establishes functional legacies by altering microbial traits.

Long-term climate history can influence rates of soil carbon cycling but the microbial traits underlying these legacy effects are not well understood. Legacies may result if historical climate differences alter the traits of soil microbial communities, particularly those associated with carbon cycling and stress tolerance. However, it is also possible that contemporary conditions can overcome the influence of historical climate, particularly under extreme conditions.

Whole-genome sequences of six strains obtained via PacBio sequencing.

Provided are whole-genome sequences of six strains that had been earlier isolated from louse-borne relapsing fever patients. The sequences of each genome presented here included one linear chromosome and 5 linear plasmids, whose average size was 1,284,895 bp with the mean GC content being 27.5%.

Assembly and Quantification of Co-Cultures Combining Heterotrophic Yeast with Phototrophic Sugar-Secreting Cyanobacteria.

With the increasing demand for sustainable biotechnologies, mixed consortia containing a phototrophic microbe and heterotrophic partner species are being explored as a method for solar-driven bioproduction. One approach involves the use of CO2-fixing cyanobacteria that secrete organic carbon to support the metabolism of a co-cultivated heterotroph, which in turn transforms the carbon into higher-value goods or services. In this protocol, a technical description to assist the experimentalist in the establishment of a co-culture combining a sucrose-secreting cyanobacterial strain with a fungal partner(s), as represented by model yeast species, is provided.

Consensus on Symptom Selection for Endometriosis Questionnaires: A Modified e-Delphi Study.

Objective: To build consensus on most important symptoms and related consequences for use in questionnaires to characterise individuals with suspected and confirmed endometriosis in the general population.

Design: A questionnaire of 107 symptoms and related consequences of endometriosis was collaboratively developed by patients, medical doctors and researchers and further assessed in a two-round e-Delphi study. Participants assessed the relevance of the symptoms, and a priori it was decided that 70% was the threshold for inclusion of a symptom.

Comparison of the Degree of Chest CT Scan Abnormalities in COVID-19 and Influenza Patients.

Introduction In the emergency department (ED), COVID-19 and influenza are two common viral diseases. They cause similar symptoms in the respiratory system, and most patients' symptoms are relatively mild. We have reported previously that COVID-19 and influenza infections cause similar abnormalities in chest X-ray readings in the ED.

Evaluating the Paucity of Female Surgeons in Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Systemic Barriers to Entry and Success.

The percentage of practicing female plastic surgeons in the United States is notably low. This narrative review sought to identify prominent barriers affecting women's entry and success in plastic surgery. A literature search was conducted using the National Library of Medicine from 2013 to 2023, using MeSH terms of gender disparity and plastic surgery.