Datasets of whole cell and mitochondrial oxysterols derived from THP-1, SH-SY5Y and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells using targeted metabolomics

The raw datasets of oxysterol quantifications from whole cell and mitochondrial fractions of THP-1 monocytes and macrophages, neuronal-like SH-SH5Y cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells are presented. Oxysterols were quantified using a new liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and multiple reaction monitoring analysis published in the article “A quantitative LC-MS/MS method for analysis of mitochondrial-specific oxysterol metabolism” in Redox Biology [1]. This method showed improved extraction efficiency and recovery of mono and dihydroxycholesterols from cellular matrix. The datasets derived from the three cell lines are included in the appendix. These datasets provide new information about the oxysterol distribution in THP-1 monocytes and macrophages, SH-SY5Y cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These datasets can be used as a guide for oxysterol distribution in the three cell lines for future studies, and can used for future method optimization, and for comparison of oxysterol recovery with other analytical techniques

Media literacy's role in the mitigation of disinformation effects on substance misuse

Objective: Misinformation and substance use both increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined potential links between misinformation beliefs and substance use among adults, along with the potential for media literacy to mitigate misinformation's influences on problematic use of widely available substances of misuse.Method: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test a theoretical model of media literacy's effects on substance use, fully mediated by disinformation beliefs, with a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults recruited through a Qualtrics panel of adults using census-based quotas for geographic region, population density, ethnic diversity and gender (N = 1264). The sample was 51.5% male (N = 651); 46.7% female (N = 591); 1.1% nonbinary (N = 13); and 0.7% (N = 9) not reporting.Results: Media literacy for source of news positively associated with media literacy for content of news (b = 0.814, p < 0.001). Media literacy for content of news then positively associated with science media literacy (b = 0.192, p < 0.001). Science media literacy then negatively associated with disinformation beliefs (b = -0.586, p < 0.001), and COVID-19 disinformation beliefs associated with an increase in substance use (b = 0.466, p < 0.001). Disinformation beliefs also associated with alcohol and sleep medication co-use (odds = 1.956, p < 0.05).Conclusions: Results demonstrate media literacy's value for substance misuse prevention and effective public health messaging

Thermal stress impaired expression of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in pigs

This study aimed to investigate the correlation of IGFs, IGFBPs, and IGFBPRs of grower pigs with change in temperature humidity index (THI). THI was calculated to know the months of the year when pigs feel discomfort and samples of feed offered were analyzed to know the nutritional availability/deficit. The calculated average THI was above thermal comfort zone for seven months in a year. It was observed that crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy (ME) availability to pigs were deficient. Gilts of two months age and similar body weight were randomly divided into two groups (n=6); viz. Con-fed animals (feed offered by the farmer) and For-fed animals (formulated feed supplement + Con-fed). The composition of formulated feed supplement was dried leaf of Moringa oleifera, soybean meal, rice mill waste, and mineral mixture. The plasma cortisol level increased in the experimental animals with accelerated THI as evidenced by the strong positive correlation of THI with HSP70 and HSP90. The level of leptin and ghrelin did not have significant relation with the expression level of HSPs in the present study, however, in the control animals, a low level of leptin was observed. The correlation between the growth factors and HSPs was not significant. During the season, where the THI was above the thermal comfort zone, the IGFBPR and IGFBP concentrations were non-significantly increased along with the increased THI

Empowerment or Engagement? Digital Health Technologies for Mental Healthcare

We argue that while digital health technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, smartphones, and virtual reality) present significant opportunities for improving the delivery of healthcare, key concepts that are used to evaluate and understand their impact can obscure significant ethical issues related to patient engagement and experience. Specifically, we focus on the concept of empowerment and ask whether it is adequate for addressing some significant ethical concerns that relate to digital health technologies for mental healthcare. We frame these concerns using five key ethical principles for AI ethics (i.e. autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and explicability), which have their roots in the bioethical literature, in order to critically evaluate the role that digital health technologies will have in the future of digital healthcare

STEREOSELECTIVE INTRAMOLECULAR HETERO-DIELS-ALDER REACTIONS OF 1-OXA-1,3-BUTADIENES - SYNTHESIS OF NOVEL ANNELATED PYRROLO[1,2-A]INDOLES

14Novelclassesofpyrano-1,3-dioxane-,pyranopyrimidine-andpyranopyrazole-fusedpyrrolo[1,2-a]indolesaresynthesised via stereoselective intramolecular 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene hetero Diels 13Alder reaction

The value of shifting cultivation for biodiversity in Northeast India

Aim: Shifting cultivation is a widespread land-use in many tropical countries that also harbours significant levels of biodiversity. Increasing frequency of cultivation cycles and expansion into old-growth forests have intensified the impacts of shifting cultivation on biodiversity and carbon sequestration. We assessed how bird diversity responds to shifting cultivation and the potential for co-benefits for both biodiversity and carbon in such landscapes to inform carbon-based payments for ecosystem service (PES) schemes. Location: Nagaland, Northeast India. Methods: We surveyed above-ground carbon stocks and bird communities across various stages of a shifting cultivation system and old-growth forest using composite carbon sampling plots and repeated point counts directly overlaying the carbon plots in both summer and winter. We assessed species diversity using species accumulation and rarefaction curves based on Hill numbers. We fitted a linear mixed-effect model to assess the relationship between species richness and fallow age. We also examined possible co-benefits between carbon and biodiversity from fallow regeneration in terms of relative community similarity to old-growth forest across carbons stocks. Results: Farmland and secondary forests regenerating on fallowed land had similar bird species richness to old-growth forests in summer and relatively higher species richness in winter. Within regenerating fallows, we did not find any strong evidence that fallow age influenced bird species richness. Bird community resemblance to old-growth forest increased with secondary forest maturity, correlating also with carbon stocks in summer. However, bird community assemblage did not show a strong association with habitat types and carbon stocks during winter. Main conclusions: This study underscores the important role of traditional non-intensive shifting cultivation in providing refuges for biodiversity within heterogeneous habitat mosaics. Effectively managing these landscapes is crucial for both biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in the subtropics

Retrieval of snow water equivalent from dual-frequency radar measurements: using time series to overcome the need for accurate a priori information

Measurements of radar backscatter are sensitive to snow water equivalent (SWE) across a wide range of frequencies, motivating proposals for satellite missions to measure global distributions of SWE. However, radar backscatter measurements are also sensitive to snow stratigraphy, to microstructure, and to ground surface roughness, complicating SWE retrieval. A number of recent advances have created new tools and datasets with which to address the retrieval problem, including a parameterized relationship between SWE, microstructure, and radar backscatter, and methods to characterize ground surface scattering. Although many algorithms also introduce external (prior) information on SWE or snow microstructure, the precision of the prior datasets used must be high in some cases in order to achieve accurate SWE retrieval. We hypothesize that a time series of radar measurements can be used to solve this problem and demonstrate that SWE retrieval with acceptable error characteristics is achievable by using previous retrievals as priors for subsequent retrievals. We demonstrate the accuracy of three configurations of prior information: using a global SWE model, using the previously retrieved SWE, and using a weighted average of the model and the previous retrieval. We assess the robustness of the approach by quantifying the sensitivity of the SWE retrieval accuracy to SWE biases artificially introduced in the prior. We find that the retrieval with the weighted averaged prior demonstrates SWE accuracy better than 20 % and an error increase of only 3 % relative RMSE per 10 % change in prior bias; the algorithm is thus both accurate and robust. This finding strengthens the case for future radar-based satellite missions to map SWE globally.</p

Synthesis of Nio-nanoparticles on nanoporous clay matrix and catalytic transfer hydrogenation reaction

Ni°-nanoparticles of 0–8 nm were prepared in situ by impregnation of Ni(CH3COO)2 into the nanopores of modifiedmontmorillonite(Mt)followedbypolyolreduction.TheMtwasactivatedwithHClundercontrolled condition for generating desired pore sizes. The porous materials were characterized by XRD, TEM, SEM, UV–visible spectroscopy, FTIR and XPS analysis. N2 adsorption data revealed specific surface areas (BET) in the range of 296–548 m2/g, specific pore volumes of 0.4–0.6 cm3/g and pore diameters of 0–6.8 nm. XRD pattern of Ni°-nanoparticles revealed the formation of face centered cubic (fcc) lattice. These supported Nio-nanoparticles show efficient catalytic activity in transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone to 1phenylethanol with about 98% conversion, having nearly 100% selectivi

Isolation and characterization of Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli of animal and bird origin by multiplex polymerase chain reaction

Abstract Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the virulence genes and serotype of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from animals and birds. Materials and Methods: A total of 226 different samples viz., fecal, intestinal content, rectal swab and heart blood were collected from different clinically affected/healthy animals and birds and were streaked on McConkeys&apos; lactose agar and eosin methylene blue agar for isolation of E. coli, confirmed by staining characteristics and biochemical tests. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) all the E. coli isolates were screened for certain virulence genes, viz., Shiga toxin 1 (stx1), stx2 and eae and enterohemolytic (Ehly) phenotype was observed in washed sheep blood agar plate. All the isolated E. coli strains were forwarded to the National Salmonella and Escherichia Centre, Central Research Institute, Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) for serotyping. Results: Out of 226 samples 138 yielded E. coli. All the isolates were screened for molecular detection of different virulent genes, viz. stx1, stx2 and eae, based on which 36 (26.08%) were identified as STEC. Among those STEC isolates, 15 (41.67%), 14 (38.89%), 1 (2.78%) exhibited eae, stx2, stx1 alone, respectively, whereas 4 (11.11%) and 2 (5.56%) carried both stx1 and stx2, stx2 and eae, respectively. Among the STEC isolates 22 were belonged to 15 different sero-groups, viz., O2, O20, O22, O25, O43, O60, O69, O90, O91, O95, O106, O118, O130, O162 and O170 and others were untypable. Ehly phenotype was observed in 10 (27.78%) the STEC isolates. Conclusion: The present study concluded that STEC could be isolated from both clinically affected as well as healthy animals and birds. Regular monitoring of more samples from animal and bird origin is important to identify natural reservoir of STEC to prevent zoonotic infection