Fractions: Perspective in Place

Madeleine Adams is from Walker, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University on March 6th, 2020, with her Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in literature. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in English with concentration in post-1660s British literature. Madeleine is interested in modern retellings of myths/folklore and the effects of storytelling on literature. She is the current dual enrollment Graduate Assistant, and she tutors at the writing center. She likes to paint, read, sew, and write poetry when she gets the chance. She wants to go into publishing/editing books after graduating

Jenny

Madeleine Adams is from Walker, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University on March 6th, 2020, with her Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in literature. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in English with concentration in post-1660s British literature. Madeleine is interested in modern retellings of myths/folklore and the effects of storytelling on literature. She is the current dual enrollment Graduate Assistant, and she tutors at the writing center. She likes to paint, read, sew, and write poetry when she gets the chance. She wants to go into publishing/editing books after graduating

Growth and Nutritional Quality of Lemnaceae Viewed Comparatively in an Ecological and Evolutionary Context

This review focuses on recently characterized traits of the aquatic floating plant Lemna with an emphasis on its capacity to combine rapid growth with the accumulation of high levels of the essential human micronutrient zeaxanthin due to an unusual pigment composition not seen in other fast-growing plants. In addition, Lemna’s response to elevated CO2 was evaluated in the context of the source–sink balance between plant sugar production and consumption. These and other traits of Lemnaceae are compared with those of other floating aquatic plants as well as terrestrial plants adapted to different environments. It was concluded that the unique features of aquatic plants reflect adaptations to the freshwater environment, including rapid growth, high productivity, and exceptionally strong accumulation of high-quality vegetative storage protein and human antioxidant micronutrients. It was further concluded that the insensitivity of growth rate to environmental conditions and plant source–sink imbalance may allow duckweeds to take advantage of elevated atmospheric CO2 levels via particularly strong stimulation of biomass production and only minor declines in the growth of new tissue. It is proposed that declines in nutritional quality under elevated CO2 (due to regulatory adjustments in photosynthetic metabolism) may be mitigated by plant–microbe interaction, for which duckweeds have a high propensity.This work was funded by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health through Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A, the National Science Foundation award number IOS-1907338, and the University of Colorado

Quantitative diffusion-weighted MRI response assessment in rhabdomyosarcoma: an international retrospective study on behalf of the European paediatric Soft tissue sarcoma Study Group Imaging Committee

Biomarker; Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging; RhabdomyosarcomaBiomarcador; Imatge de ressonància magnètica de difusió; RabdomiosarcomaBiomarcador; Imágenes por resonancia magnética de difusión; RabdomiosarcomaObjective To investigate the feasibility of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) as a predictive imaging marker after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with rhabdomyosarcoma. Material and methods We performed a multicenter retrospective study including pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with rhabdomyosarcoma, Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study group III/IV, treated according to the European paediatric Soft tissue sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG) RMS2005 or MTS2008 studies. DW-MRI was performed according to institutional protocols. We performed two-dimensional single-slice tumor delineation. Areas of necrosis or hemorrhage were delineated to be excluded in the primary analysis. Mean, median and 5th and 95th apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were extracted. Results Of 134 included patients, 82 had measurable tumor at diagnosis and response and DW-MRI scans of adequate quality and were included in the analysis. Technical heterogeneity in scan acquisition protocols and scanners was observed. Mean ADC at diagnosis was 1.1 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1–1.2) (all ADC expressed in * 10−3 mm2/s), versus 1.6 (1.5–1.6) at response assessment. The 5th percentile ADC was 0.8 (0.7–0.9) at diagnosis and 1.1 (1.0–1.2) at response. Absolute change in mean ADC after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was 0.4 (0.3–0.5). Exploratory analyses for association between ADC and clinical parameters showed a significant difference in mean ADC at diagnosis for alveolar versus embryonal histology. Landmark analysis at nine weeks after the date of diagnosis showed no significant association (hazard ratio 1.3 [0.6–3.2]) between the mean ADC change and event-free survival. Conclusion A significant change in the 5th percentile and the mean ADC after chemotherapy was observed. Strong heterogeneity was identified in DW-MRI acquisition protocols between centers and in individual patients.R.E. and C.C. are funded by the KIKA Foundation (Children Cancer-free, number 357). H.M. acknowledges NHS funding from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research

Where’s that wine? A pre-registered study assessing the utility of visual search to measure alcohol-related attentional bias.

Background & Aims: Experimental research consistently shows that individuals who regularly consume alcohol prioritise their attention towards alcohol-related cues. Many tasks that measure alcohol-related attentional bias (AB), however, are limited by their low internal reliability and the artificial manner in which stimuli are shown. In a bid to overcome these limitations, the current study employed a visual search paradigm to examine whether heavy social drinkers exhibit AB towards alcoholic relative to non-alcoholic stimuli. It also assessed whether self-reported alcohol consumption, drinking motives or subjective craving predicted alcohol-related AB. Method: Ninety-nine participants (Mage = 20.77, MAUDIT= 12.89) completed a Visual Conjunction Search Task in which they were instructed to identify alcoholic (wine, beer) or non-alcoholic (lemonade, cola) targets in an array of matching and mismatching distractors. They also completed questionnaires probing their alcohol consumption behaviours. Findings: Participants were significantly faster to detect alcoholic relative to non-alcoholic targets, which was predicted by self-reported alcohol consumption and related behaviours (AUDIT scores). Subjective craving and drinking motives did not significantly account for additional explained variance. Conclusions: Alcohol-related stimuli capture heavy social drinker’s attention, which may present as a risk factor for continued (mis)use. Visual search paradigms appear to offer a highly reliable assessment of alcohol-related AB over other experimental paradigms in alcohol research

Pre-emptive detection and evolution of relapse in acute myeloid leukemia by flow cytometric measurable residual disease surveillance

Measurable residual disease (MRD) surveillance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may identify patients destined for relapse and thus provide the option of pre-emptive therapy to improve their outcome. Whilst flow cytometric MRD (Flow-MRD) can be applied to high-risk AML/ myelodysplasia patients, its diagnostic performance for detecting impending relapse is unknown. We evaluated this in a cohort comprising 136 true positives (bone marrows preceding relapse by a median of 2.45 months) and 155 true negatives (bone marrows during sustained remission). At an optimal Flow-MRD threshold of 0.040%, clinical sensitivity and specificity for relapse was 74% and 87% respectively (51% and 98% for Flow-MRD ≥ 0.1%) by ‘different-from-normal’ analysis. Median relapse kinetics were 0.78 log10/month but significantly higher at 0.92 log10/month for FLT3-mutated AML. Computational (unsupervised) Flow-MRD (C-Flow-MRD) generated optimal MRD thresholds of 0.036% and 0.082% with equivalent clinical sensitivity to standard analysis. C-Flow-MRD-identified aberrancies in HLADRlow or CD34+CD38low (LSC-type) subpopulations contributed the greatest clinical accuracy (56% sensitivity, 90% specificity) and notably, by longitudinal profiling expanded rapidly within blasts in &gt; 40% of 86 paired MRD and relapse samples. In conclusion, flow MRD surveillance can detect MRD relapse in high risk AML and its evaluation may be enhanced by computational analysis.<br/

Productivity and Nutrient Quality of Lemna minor as Affected by Microbiome, CO2 Level, and Nutrient Supply

&nbsp; Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels can impact plant photosynthesis and productivity and threaten food security, especially when combined with additional environmental stressors. This study addresses the effects of elevated CO2 in combination with low nutrient supply on Lemna minor (common duckweed). We quantified plant growth rate and nutritional quality (protein content) and evaluated whether any adverse effects of elevated CO2, low nutrients, or the combination of the two could be mitigated by plant-microbe interaction. Plants were grown under controlled conditions and were either uninoculated or inoculated with microorganisms from a local pond that supported L. minor populations. Under low nutrients in combination with high CO2, growth (plant area expansion rate) decreased and biomass accumulation increased, albeit with lower nutritional quality (lower percentage of protein per plant biomass). Inoculation with plant-associated microorganisms restored area expansion rate and further stimulated biomass accumulation while supporting a high protein-to-biomass ratio and, thus, a high nutritional quality. These findings indicate that plant-microbe interaction can support a higher nutritional quality of plant biomass under elevated atmospheric CO2 levels, an important finding for both human and non-human consumers during a time of rapid environmental change.</div

Parallelism in eco-morphology and gene expression despite variable evolutionary and genomic backgrounds in a Holarctic fish

Understanding the extent to which ecological divergence is repeatable is essential for predicting responses of biodiversity to environmental change. Here we test the predictability of evolution, from genotype to phenotype, by studying parallel evolution in a salmonid fish, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), across eleven replicate sympatric ecotype pairs (benthivorous-planktivorous and planktivorous-piscivorous) and two evolutionary lineages. We found considerable variability in eco-morphological divergence, with several traits related to foraging (eye diameter, pectoral fin length) being highly parallel even across lineages. This suggests repeated and predictable adaptation to environment. Consistent with ancestral genetic variation, hundreds of loci were associated with ecotype divergence within lineages of which eight were shared across lineages. This shared genetic variation was maintained despite variation in evolutionary histories, ranging from postglacial divergence in sympatry (ca. 10-15kya) to pre-glacial divergence (ca. 20-40kya) with postglacial secondary contact. Transcriptome-wide gene expression (44,102 genes) was highly parallel across replicates, involved biological processes characteristic of ecotype morphology and physiology, and revealed parallelism at the level of regulatory networks. This expression divergence was not only plastic but in part genetically controlled by parallel cis-eQTL. Lastly, we found that the magnitude of phenotypic divergence was largely correlated with the genetic differentiation and gene expression divergence. In contrast, the direction of phenotypic change was mostly determined by the interplay of adaptive genetic variation, gene expression, and ecosystem size. Ecosystem size further explained variation in putatively adaptive, ecotype-associated genomic patterns within and across lineages, highlighting the role of environmental variation and stochasticity in parallel evolution. Together, our findings demonstrate the parallel evolution of eco-morphology and gene expression within and across evolutionary lineages, which is controlled by the interplay of environmental stochasticity and evolutionary contingencies, largely overcoming variable evolutionary histories and genomic backgrounds

Peptide-mimetic treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a mouse model of respiratory infection

The rise of drug resistance has become a global crisis, with &gt;1 million deaths due to resistant bacterial infections each year. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in particular, remains a serious problem with limited solutions due to complex resistance mechanisms that now lead to more than 32,000 multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections and over 2000 deaths in the U.S. annually. While the emergence of resistant bacteria has become ominously common, identification of useful new drug classes has been limited over the past over 40 years. We found that a potential novel therapeutic, the peptide-mimetic TM5, is effective at killing P. aeruginosa and displays sufficiently low toxicity in mammalian cells to allow for use in treatment of infections. Interestingly, TM5 kills P. aeruginosa more rapidly than traditional antibiotics, within 30–60 min in vitro, and is effective against a range of clinical isolates, including extensively drug resistant strains. In vivo, TM5 significantly reduced bacterial load in the lungs within 24 h compared to untreated mice and demonstrated few adverse effects. Taken together, these observations suggest that TM5 shows promise as an alternative therapy for MDR P. aeruginosa respiratory infections

Peptide-mimetic treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a mouse model of respiratory infection

The rise of drug resistance has become a global crisis, with >1 million deaths due to resistant bacterial infections each year. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in particular, remains a serious problem with limited solutions due to complex resistance mechanisms that now lead to more than 32,000 multidrugresistant (MDR) infections and over 2000 deaths in the U.S. annually. While the emergence of resistant bacteria has become ominously common, identification of useful new drug classes has been limited over the past over 40 years. We found that a potential novel therapeutic, the peptide-mimetic TM5, is effective at killing P. aeruginosa and displays sufficiently low toxicity in mammalian cells to allow for use in treatment of infections. Interestingly, TM5 kills P. aeruginosa more rapidly than traditional antibiotics, within 30–60 min in vitro, and is effective against a range of clinical isolates, including extensively drug resistant strains. In vivo, TM5 significantly reduced bacterial load in the lungs within 24 h compared to untreated mice and demonstrated few adverse effects. Taken together, these observations suggest that TM5 shows promise as an alternative therapy for MDR P. aeruginosa respiratory infections