Factors Influencing Farmers\u27 Utilization of Auto-Guidance Technology in Northern Utah

The purpose of this descriptive-correlation study was to examine the variables associated with Northern Utah farmers’ adoption of auto-guidance technologies in alfalfa and corn silage production and determine training preferences. Participants in this study engaged in an experiential training session utilizing an auto-guidance system comparable to those available for use on their own farm. A survey was administered to identify autoguidance technology adoption and farmers’ preferences for related training. The majority of participants reported being male (f = 56, 98.2%). Half of the participants in this study (50.8%) indicated using auto-guidance technology in some form in their farming practices. Most attendees used auto-guidance technology with tractors (36.1%) and self-propelled windrowers (32.8%). Agricultural equipment businesses and Extension agents should help non-users to embrace new technology by using implementation statistics that include peer usage and management benefits

Guidelines for Conducting Research Studies with the Autism Community

There has been growing awareness of the concern expressed by autism communities that the majority of research conducted reflects neither the priorities of autistic people and their families or their needs. Further, many autistic people report that they feel unable to influence research and desire greater involvement in the research process. The aim of our current work is to provide practical guidelines for researchers to consider when conducting autism research in order to increase involvement, collaboration and trust between researchers and the autism community. These guidelines are based on the output of focus groups and interview discussions with 22 autistic adults and 8 parents of autistic children, conducted during a series of workshops carried out as collaboration between the research network, Autism@Manchester and Salfordautism, an autism support group led and run by autistic professionals. The guidelines are organised into four sections: (1) Pre-study considerations (2) Recruitment of Participants (3) Study visit Considerations (4) Post-study Considerations. These sections are structured to reflect the research pathway and allow researchers to understand more easily how to incorporate the recommendations into their research. The recommendations promote effective communication and equal partnerships between the autism and research communities so that the needs of participants pre-, during and post- research are taken into account and that they are supported to become involved in research at the level they choose. It is hoped that by implementing transparent and participatory approaches to their work, researchers might be able to reduce some of the dissatisfaction that the autistic community feel towards research and lead to higher standards in autism research

High susceptibility, viral dynamics and persistence of South American Zika virus in New World monkey species.

South American Zika virus (ZIKV) recently emerged as a novel human pathogen, linked with neurological disorders. However, comparative ZIKV infectivity studies in New World primates are lacking. Two members of the Callitrichidae family, common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and red-bellied tamarins (Saguinus labiatus), were highly susceptible to sub-cutaneous challenge with the Puerto Rico-origin ZIKVPRVABC59 strain. Both exhibited rapid, high, acute viraemia with early neuroinvasion (3 days) in peripheral and central nervous tissue. ZIKV RNA levels in blood and tissues were significantly higher in New World hosts compared to Old World species (Macaca mulatta, Macaca fascicularis). Tamarins and rhesus macaques exhibited loss of zonal occludens-1 (ZO-1) staining, indicative of a compromised blood-brain barrier 3 days post-ZIKV exposure. Early, widespread dissemination across multiple anatomical sites distant to the inoculation site preceded extensive ZIKV persistence after 100 days in New and Old World lineages, especially lymphoid, neurological and reproductive sites. Prolonged persistence in brain tissue has implications for otherwise resolved human ZIKV infection. High susceptibility of distinct New World species underscores possible establishment of ZIKV sylvatic cycles in primates indigenous to ZIKV endemic regions. Tamarins and marmosets represent viable New World models for ZIKV pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention studies, including vaccines, with contemporary strains

Three-Dimensional Human Alveolar Stem Cell Culture Models Reveal Infection Response to SARS-CoV-2.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the cause of a present pandemic, infects human lung alveolar type 2 (hAT2) cells. Characterizing pathogenesis is crucial for developing vaccines and therapeutics. However, the lack of models mirroring the cellular physiology and pathology of hAT2 cells limits the study. Here, we develop a feeder-free, long-term, three-dimensional (3D) culture technique for hAT2 cells derived from primary human lung tissue and investigate infection response to SARS-CoV-2. By imaging-based analysis and single-cell transcriptome profiling, we reveal rapid viral replication and the increased expression of interferon-associated genes and proinflammatory genes in infected hAT2 cells, indicating a robust endogenous innate immune response. Further tracing of viral mutations acquired during transmission identifies full infection of individual cells effectively from a single viral entry. Our study provides deep insights into the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and the application of defined 3D hAT2 cultures as models for respiratory diseases

Bias in microRNA functional enrichment analysis

Motivation: Many studies have investigated the differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in disease states and between different treatments, tissues and developmental stages. Given a list of perturbed miRNAs, it is common to predict the shared pathways on which they act. The standard test for functional enrichment typically yields dozens of significantly enriched functional categories, many of which appear frequently in the analysis of apparently unrelated diseases and conditions. Results: We show that the most commonly used functional enrichment test is inappropriate for the analysis of sets of genes targeted by miRNAs. The hypergeometric distribution used by the standard method consistently results in significant P-values for functional enrichment for targets of randomly selected miRNAs, reflecting an underlying bias in the predicted gene targets of miRNAs as a whole. We developed an algorithm to measure enrichment using an empirical sampling approach, and applied this in a reanalysis of the gene ontology classes of targets of miRNA lists from 44 published studies. The vast majority of the miRNA target sets were not significantly enriched in any functional category after correction for bias. We therefore argue against continued use of the standard functional enrichment method for miRNA targets. Availability and implementation: A Python script implementing the empirical algorithm is freely available at http://sgjlab.org/empirical-go/. Contact: [email protected] or [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

A customised target capture sequencing tool for molecular identification of <i>Aloe vera</i> and relatives

Plant molecular identification studies have, until recently, been limited to the use of highly conserved markers from plastid and other organellar genomes, compromising resolution in highly diverse plant clades. Due to their higher evolutionary rates and reduced paralogy, low-copy nuclear genes overcome this limitation but are difficult to sequence with conventional methods and require high-quality input DNA. Aloe vera and its relatives in the Alooideae clade (Asphodelaceae, subfamily Asphodeloideae) are of economic interest for food and health products and have horticultural value. However, pressing conservation issues are increasing the need for a molecular identification tool to regulate the trade. With > 600 species and an origin of ± 15 million years ago, this predominantly African succulent plant clade is a diverse and taxonomically complex group for which low-copy nuclear genes would be desirable for accurate species discrimination. Unfortunately, with an average genome size of 16.76 pg, obtaining high coverage sequencing data for these genes would be prohibitively costly and computationally demanding. We used newly generated transcriptome data to design a customised RNA-bait panel targeting 189 low-copy nuclear genes in Alooideae. We demonstrate its efficacy in obtaining high-coverage sequence data for the target loci on Illumina sequencing platforms, including degraded DNA samples from museum specimens, with considerably improved phylogenetic resolution. This customised target capture sequencing protocol has the potential to confidently indicate phylogenetic relationships of Aloe vera and related species, as well as aid molecular identification applications