The Influence of Custodial, Maintenance, and Residence Life Services on Student Satisfaction in Residence Halls

This study is important because it examines the relationship between students\u27 overall satisfaction with their residence hall living experience and students\u27 satisfaction with various custodial, maintenance, and residence life services. The study, conducted in university residence halls at a Midwestern Carnegie Classification Research extensive university, used a backward step-wise multiple linear regression model with data from a 57-item survey to predict students\u27 satisfaction with their overall residence hall experiences. The strongest predictors were students\u27 comfort and socializing within the living unit. Only one maintenance or custodial item, students\u27 satisfaction with exterior landscape maintenance, v^as a significant predictor of the dependent variable

Homologous haplotypes, expression, genetic effects and geographic distribution of the wheat yield gene TaGW2

BACKGROUND: TaGW2-6A, cloned in earlier research, strongly influences wheat grain width and TKW. Here, we mainly analyzed haplotypes of TaGW2-6B and their effects on TKW and interaction with haplotypes at TaGW2-6A. RESULTS: About 2.9 kb of the promoter sequences of TaGW2-6B and TaGW2-6D were cloned in 34 bread wheat cultivars. Eleven SNPs were detected in the promoter region of TaGW2-6B, forming 4 haplotypes, but no divergence was detected in the TaGW2-6D promoter or coding region. Three molecular markers including CAPS, dCAPS and ACAS, were developed to distinguish the TaGW2-6B haplotypes. Haplotype association analysis indicated that TaGW2-6B has a stronger influence than TaGW2-6A on TKW, and Hap-6B-1 was a favored haplotype increasing grain width and weight that had undergone strong positive selection in global wheat breeding. However, clear geographic distribution differences for TaGW2-6A haplotypes were found; Hap-6A-A was favored in Chinese, Australian and Russian cultivars, whereas Hap-6A-G was preferred in European, American and CIMMYT cultivars. This difference might be caused by a flowering and maturity time difference between the two haplotypes. Hap-6A-A is the earlier type. Haplotype interaction analysis between TaGW2-6A and TaGW2-6B showed additive effects between the favored haplotypes. Hap-6A-A/Hap-6B-1 was the best combination to increase TKW. Relative expression analysis of the three TaGW2 homoeologous genes in 22 cultivars revealed that TaGW2-6A underwent the highest expression. TaGW2-6D was the least expressed during grain development and TaGW2-6B was intermediate. Diversity of the three genes was negatively correlated with their effect on TKW. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic effects, expression patterns and historic changes of haplotypes at three homoeologous genes of TaGW2 influencing yield were dissected in wheat cultivars. Strong and constant selection to favored haplotypes has been found in global wheat breeding during the past century. This research also provides a valuable case for understanding interaction of genes that control complex traits in polyploid species

Super-Resolution Based Patch-Free 3D Image Segmentation with High-Frequency Guidance

High resolution (HR) 3D images are widely used nowadays, such as medical images like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT). However, segmentation of these 3D images remains a challenge due to their high spatial resolution and dimensionality in contrast to currently limited GPU memory. Therefore, most existing 3D image segmentation methods use patch-based models, which have low inference efficiency and ignore global contextual information. To address these problems, we propose a super-resolution (SR) based patch-free 3D image segmentation framework that can realize HR segmentation from a global-wise low-resolution (LR) input. The framework contains two sub-tasks, of which semantic segmentation is the main task and super resolution is an auxiliary task aiding in rebuilding the high frequency information from the LR input. To furthermore balance the information loss with the LR input, we propose a High-Frequency Guidance Module (HGM), and design an efficient selective cropping algorithm to crop an HR patch from the original image as restoration guidance for it. In addition, we also propose a Task-Fusion Module (TFM) to exploit the inter connections between segmentation and SR task, realizing joint optimization of the two tasks. When predicting, only the main segmentation task is needed, while other modules can be removed for acceleration. The experimental results on two different datasets show that our framework has a four times higher inference speed compared to traditional patch-based methods, while its performance also surpasses other patch-based and patch-free models.Comment: Version #2 uploaded in Jul 10, 202

DNA binding mechanism revealed by high resolution crystal structure of Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY1 protein

WRKY proteins, defined by the conserved WRKYGQK sequence, are comprised of a large superfamily of transcription factors identified specifically from the plant kingdom. This superfamily plays important roles in plant disease resistance, abiotic stress, senescence as well as in some developmental processes. In this study, the Arabidopsis WRKY1 was shown to be involved in the salicylic acid signaling pathway and partially dependent on NPR1; a C-terminal domain of WRKY1, AtWRKY1-C, was constructed for structural studies. Previous investigations showed that DNA binding of the WRKY proteins was localized at the WRKY domains and these domains may define novel zinc-binding motifs. The crystal structure of the AtWRKY1-C determined at 1.6 Å resolution has revealed that this domain is composed of a globular structure with five β strands, forming an antiparallel β-sheet. A novel zinc-binding site is situated at one end of the β-sheet, between strands β4 and β5. Based on this high-resolution crystal structure and site-directed mutagenesis, we have defined and confirmed that the DNA-binding residues of AtWRKY1-C are located at β2 and β3 strands. These results provided us with structural information to understand the mechanism of transcriptional control and signal transduction events of the WRKY proteins

The transcriptional coactivator TAZ regulates reciprocal differentiation of T(h)17 cells and T(reg) cells

自身免疫性疾病是一类机体对自身抗原发生免疫反应而导致自身多器官、组织受累的慢性炎症性疾病。目前大量研究表明机体内促炎症的TH17细胞和抑制炎症Treg细胞在类群数量和活化状态的失衡是造成自身免疫疾病的主要致病因素。陈兰芬教授和周大旺教授团队的前期研究发现小鼠中Hippo信号通路中激酶Mst1/2缺失导致免疫缺陷，机体易受病原体感染并伴随着严重自身免疫疾病。该研究揭示了Hippo 信号通路转录共激活因子TAZ在决定CD4+初始T细胞分化为促进炎症的TH17效应细胞和抑制免疫反应的Treg调节性细胞过程中发挥着关键作用，拓展了当前对于Hippo信号通路的相关研究内容。 陈兰芬，博士，厦门大学生命科学学院教授。【Abstraact】An imbalance in the lineages of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Treg cells) and the inflammatory TH17 subset of helper T cells leads to the development of autoimmune and/or inflammatory disease. Here we found that TAZ, a coactivator of TEAD transcription factors of Hippo signaling, was expressed under T H17 cell–inducing conditions and was required for TH17 differentiation and TH17 cell–mediated inflammatory diseases. TAZ was a critical co-activator of the TH17-defining transcription factor RORγt. In addition, TAZ attenuated Treg cell development by decreasing acetylation of the Treg cell master regulator Foxp3 mediated by the histone acetyltransferase Tip60, which targeted Foxp3 for proteasomal degradation. In contrast, under T regcell–skewing conditions, TEAD1 expression and sequestration of TAZ from the transcription factors RORγt and Foxp3 promoted Treg cell differentiation. Furthermore, deficiency in TAZ or overexpression of TEAD1 induced Treg cell differentiation, whereas expression of a transgene encoding TAZ or activation of TAZ directed TH17 cell differentiation. Our results demonstrate a pivotal role for TAZ in regulating the differentiation of Treg cells and TH17 cells.J. Avruch for comments on the manuscript.Supported by the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (2015CB910502 to L.C.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81422018 to L.C.; 31625010 and U1505224 to D.Z.; U1405225 and 81372617 to L.C.; J1310027 to D.Z.; 81472229 to L.H.; and 31600698 to J. Geng), the 111 Projects (B12001 and B06016), China's 1000 Young Talents Program (D.Z., and L.C.), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China-Xiamen University (20720160071 to D.Z. and 20720160054 to L.H.) and Major disease research projects of Xiamen (3502Z20149029 to L.C.)

Hippo Signaling Suppresses Cell Ploidy and Tumorigenesis through Skp2

大多数真核生物的体细胞是二倍体，即仅含有两组染色体，分别遗传自父本和母本。而一些特定组织如心脏、肝脏等就含有多倍体细胞，特别是肝脏组织含有较高比例的四、八倍体等多倍体细胞。肝脏是人体的重要解毒器官，同时酒精、肝炎病毒等毒性物质或毒性代谢物容易诱发肝细胞的基因突变，多倍体被认为有利于提供代偿性的正常基因来维持肝脏稳态。然而肝脏受损后，多倍体细胞将会受胁迫进行增殖，再生修复受损的肝组织。因此研究机体调控多倍体细胞产生及多倍体细胞进行细胞分裂的调控机理对于理解肝癌的发病机理和肝癌的治疗至关重要。Hippo信号通路在调节组织成体干细胞的分化和增殖，调控器官再生与尺寸大小中具有重要作用。深入研究发现, Hippo信号通路下游效应分子YAP通过AKT-SKP2信号促进二倍体细胞向多倍体转化及多倍体细胞的生长增殖。本项研究阐明了Hippo缺失及YAP激活促进多倍体细胞产生及增殖作为肝癌发生发展中的一个重要机制，为肝癌诊疗提供了新的策略。 周大旺，博士，厦门大学生命科学学院教授、副院长、国家杰出青年基金获得者。【Abstract】Polyploidy can lead to aneuploidy and tumorigenesis. Here, we report that the Hippo pathway effector Yap promotes the diploid-polyploid conversion and polyploid cell growth through the Akt-Skp2 axis. Yap strongly induces the acetyltransferase p300-mediated acetylation of the E3 ligase Skp2 via Akt signaling. Acetylated Skp2 is exclusively localized to the cytosol, which causes hyper-accumulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27, leading to mitotic arrest and subsequently cell polyploidy. In addition, the pro-apoptotic factors FoxO1/3 are overly degraded by acetylated Skp2, resulting in polyploid cell division, genomic instability, and oncogenesis. importantly, the depletion or inactivation of Akt or Skp2 abrogated Hippo signal deficiency-induced liver tumorigenesis, indicating their epistatic interaction. Thus, we conclude that Hippo-Yap signaling suppresses cell polyploidy and oncogenesis through Skp2.该研究工作获得了国家自然科学基金委、国家重点基础研究发展计划(973)项目、青年千人计划和中央高校基本科研基金的资助。 The Yap (S127A) transgenic mice were kindly provided by Dr. Fernando Camargo from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. D.Z. and L.C. were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31625010,U1505224, and J1310027 to D.Z.; 81422018, U1405225, and 81372617 to L.C.; 81472229 to L.H.), the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (2015CB910502 to L.C.), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China-Xiamen University (20720140551 to L.C. and 2013121034 and 20720140537 to D.Z.)

Childhood Sexual Abuse and the Development of Recurrent Major Depression in Chinese Women

Background Our prior study in Han Chinese women has shown that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at increased risk for developing major depression (MD). Would this relationship be found in our whole data set? Method Three levels of CSA (non-genital, genital, and intercourse) were assessed by self-report in two groups of Han Chinese women: 6017 clinically ascertained with recurrent MD and 5983 matched controls. Diagnostic and other risk factor information was assessed at personal interview. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated by logistic regression. Results We confirmed earlier results by replicating prior analyses in 3,950 new recurrent MD cases. There were no significant differences between the two data sets. Any form of CSA was significantly associated with recurrent MD (OR 4.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) [3.19–5.24]). This association strengthened with increasing CSA severity: non-genital (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.58–3.15), genital (OR 5.24, 95% CI 3.52–8.15) and intercourse (OR 10.65, 95% CI 5.56–23.71). Among the depressed women, those with CSA had an earlier age of onset, longer depressive episodes. Recurrent MD patients those with CSA had an increased risk for dysthymia (OR 1.60, 95%CI 1.11–2.27) and phobia (OR 1.41, 95%CI 1.09–1.80). Any form of CSA was significantly associated with suicidal ideation or attempt (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.20–1.89) and feelings of worthlessness or guilt (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.02–2.02). Intercourse (OR 3.47, 95%CI 1.66–8.22), use of force and threats (OR 1.95, 95%CI 1.05–3.82) and how strongly the victims were affected at the time (OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.20–1.64) were significantly associated with recurrent MD

Associations of Educational Attainment, Occupation, Social Class and Major Depressive Disorder among Han Chinese Women

Background The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in those with low levels of educational attainment, the unemployed and those with low social status. However the extent to which these factors cause MDD is unclear. Most of the available data comes from studies in developed countries, and these findings may not extrapolate to developing countries. Examining the relationship between MDD and socio economic status in China is likely to add to the debate because of the radical economic and social changes occurring in China over the last 30 years. Principal findings We report results from 3,639 Chinese women with recurrent MDD and 3,800 controls. Highly significant odds ratios (ORs) were observed between MDD and full time employment (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.25–0.46, logP = 78), social status (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.77–0.87, logP = 13.3) and education attainment (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.86–0.90, logP = 6.8). We found a monotonic relationship between increasing age and increasing levels of educational attainment. Those with only primary school education have significantly more episodes of MDD (mean 6.5, P-value = 0.009) and have a clinically more severe disorder, while those with higher educational attainment are likely to manifest more comorbid anxiety disorders. Conclusions In China lower socioeconomic position is associated with increased rates of MDD, as it is elsewhere in the world. Significantly more episodes of MDD occur among those with lower educational attainment (rather than longer episodes of disease), consistent with the hypothesis that the lower socioeconomic position increases the likelihood of developing MDD. The phenomenology of MDD varies according to the degree of educational attainment: higher educational attainment not only appears to protect against MDD but alters its presentation, to a more anxious phenotype