A Counseling Student’s Experiences with Vision Impairment: A narrative Inquiry

This article explores a female counseling student’s experience with vision impairment in a counselor education program. By using narrative inquiry, three main themes (perceptions, received supports, and challenges for a visually impaired student) and seven subthemes (perceptions of herself, perceptions of others, daily commute, attitudinal barriers, barriers to access, practicum experiences, and disability services) emerged from the analysis. Recommendations for counselor preparation and research are provided

The Role of Counterions in the Assembly of Charged Virus-Like Shells

Synthetic virus-like particles (VLP), designed from simplified building blocks, can reduce the complexity of native viral proteins and be tailored for specific applications. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the role of counterions (H2PO4 –, PO4 3–, Cl–, and F–) in stabilizing a preassembled virus-like shell formed by cationic peptides exemplified by synthetic cyclopeptide (sequence: cyc-Gln-DLeu-Arg-DLeu-Arg-DLeu-Arg-DLeu) VLP shells. Our findings reveal that polyatomic anions (H2PO4 – and PO4 3–) facilitate stable assemblies by condensing on the VLP shell to higher degrees, thereby neutralizing Coulombic repulsion among the peptide building blocks. Cohesion is largely promoted through the multidentate hydrogen bonds with arginine: Substituting arginine by lysine in the system with H2PO4 – leads to destabilization of the structure. H2PO4 – additionally engages in hydrophobic interactions with leucine side chains. By contrast, monatomic anions (Cl– and F–) show insufficient coordination to the peptides and fail to stabilize the assembly, while supplementing F– with excess 1 M NaCl can recover the structural integrity by screening electrostatic interactions. This study provides important insights into the role of counterions in molecular self-assembly and the nature of their interactions with amino-acid side chains involved in the cooperative formation and stabilization of synthetic virus-like shells

A Diamond-Photonics Platform Based on Silicon-Vacancy Centers in a Single Crystal Diamond Membrane and a Fiber-Cavity

We realize a potential platform for an efficient spin-photon interface, namely negatively-charged silicon-vacancy centers in a diamond membrane coupled to the mode of a fully-tunable, fiber-based, optical resonator. We demonstrate that introducing the thin ($\sim 200 \, \text{nm}$), single crystal diamond membrane into the mode of the resonator does not change the cavity properties, which is one of the crucial points for an efficient spin-photon interface. In particular, we observe constantly high Finesse values of up to $3000$ and a linear dispersion in the presence of the membrane. We observe cavity-coupled fluorescence froman ensemble of SiV$^{-}$ centers with an enhancement factor of $\sim 1.9$. Furthermore from our investigations we extract the ensemble absorption and extrapolate an absorption cross section of $(2.9 \, \pm \, 2) \, \cdot \, 10^{-12} \, \text{cm}^{2}$ for a single SiV$^{-}$ center, much higher than previously reported.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Preharvest Quarantine Treatments of Chlorantraniliprole, Clothianidin, and Imidacloprid-Based Insecticides for Control of Japanese Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Other Scarab Larvae in the Root Zone of Field-Grown Nursery Trees

Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is an important quarantine pest of nurseries. Nursery plant movement from P. japonica-infested regions is regulated by the U.S. Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan (DJHP), which classifies states by risk categories. Treatments for category 2 states include preharvest soil surface treatment of nursery plants grown in field soil using Discus SC, Marathon (1G or 60 WP), or Flagship (0.22G or 25 WG). In this study, Discus, Marathon 60 WP, or Flagship 0.22G DJHP standards were compared with labeled rates of non–DJHP-approved insecticides, including neonicotinoids clothianidin (Arena 50WDG), generic imidacloprid (Quali-Pro Imidacloprid 2 F T&O Insecticide, Mallet 2 F T&O Insecticide, and Lada 2 F Insecticide), and imidacloprid + bifenthrin (Allectus SC), as well as the anthranilic diamide, chlorantraniliprole (Acelepryn Insecticide). Arena provided 100% P. japonica control in May, June, and July over four test years, but had one larva recovered during August in two of those 4 yr. Acelepryn did not provide DJHP-acceptable P. japonica control. During July, Allectus provided 100% P. japonica control in three of four test years, but had four larvae in one test year. Other treatments tested only during July, which provided 100% P. japonica control, included Discus (five tests); Marathon, Quali-Pro, and Mallet (two tests); and Lada and Flagship (one test). Generic imidacloprid 2 F formulations were equivalent in P. japonica control to DJHP-approved insecticides. Insecticides generally performed poorly on other scarabs or curculionid larvae. The study supports Arena, Allectus, and generic imidacloprid 2 F products as suitable candidates for the DJHP

SP742 Camphor Shot Borer: A New Nursery and Landscape Pest in Tennessee

Tennessee State University/UT Extension joint publicatio

BaRTv1.0:an improved barley reference transcript dataset to determine accurate changes in the barley transcriptome using RNA-seq

Background: The time required to analyse RNA-seq data varies considerably, due to discrete steps for computational assembly, quantification of gene expression and splicing analysis. Recent fast non-alignment tools such as Kallisto and Salmon overcome these problems, but these tools require a high quality, comprehensive reference transcripts dataset (RTD), which are rarely available in plants.Results: A high-quality, non-redundant barley gene RTD and database (Barley Reference Transcripts - BaRTv1.0) has been generated. BaRTv1.0, was constructed from a range of tissues, cultivars and abiotic treatments and transcripts assembled and aligned to the barley cv. Morex reference genome (Mascher et al. Nature; 544: 427-433, 2017). Full-length cDNAs from the barley variety Haruna nijo (Matsumoto et al. Plant Physiol; 156: 20-28, 2011) determined transcript coverage, and high-resolution RT-PCR validated alternatively spliced (AS) transcripts of 86 genes in five different organs and tissue. These methods were used as benchmarks to select an optimal barley RTD. BaRTv1.0-Quantification of Alternatively Spliced Isoforms (QUASI) was also made to overcome inaccurate quantification due to variation in 5' and 3' UTR ends of transcripts. BaRTv1.0-QUASI was used for accurate transcript quantification of RNA-seq data of five barley organs/tissues. This analysis identified 20,972 significant differentially expressed genes, 2791 differentially alternatively spliced genes and 2768 transcripts with differential transcript usage.Conclusion: A high confidence barley reference transcript dataset consisting of 60,444 genes with 177,240 transcripts has been generated. Compared to current barley transcripts, BaRTv1.0 transcripts are generally longer, have less fragmentation and improved gene models that are well supported by splice junction reads. Precise transcript quantification using BaRTv1.0 allows routine analysis of gene expression and AS.</p

Relationship between COVID-19 infection and erectile dysfunction; a literature review examining the link and proposed mechanisms behind this phenomenon

It is now only in the wake of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that we are beginning to understand many of the extra-respiratory manifestations of the condition. There is now growing evidence that erectile dysfunction (ED) is closely linked with the disease. We carry out one of the first literature reviews to consolidate the current evidence of the causal link between COVID-19 and ED and explore the proposed mechanisms that underpin this phenomenon. We carried out a literature search of the databases; PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane library. Search time frame was between December 2019 and March 2022. Only studies deemed of acceptable quality were included. Five studies were found highlighting the link between COVID-19 and ED. A further Nineteen studies were utilized to illustrate the proposed biological mechanisms underpinning COVID-19 related ED. Clear evidence has been documented through multiple studies internationally recognizing reduction in erectile scores and reduced sexual activity. It appears there is likely indirect and direct cytopathic effects on endothelial cells, in addition to hormonal and psychosocial factors. The associated ED is likely a result of a multitude of mechanisms including direct and indirect endothelial dysfunction, vasoactive cytokines, endocrine dysregulation, and psychosocial factors. This is the first literature review to delve into the likely underpinning mechanisms of the virus that drive ED