The PCA-seq method applied to analyze of the dynamics of COVID-19 epidemic indicators

In time series analysis using the SSA method, a univariate series is converted into the multivariate one by shifts. The resulting trajectory matrix is subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). However, the principal components can also be computed using the PCA-Seq method if segments of the original series are selected as objects. The matrix of Euclidean distances between the objects can be obtained using any method, which offers additional opportunities for time series analysis compared to the conventional SSA. In this study, the PCA-Seq method was used to analyze the dynamics of COVID-19 epidemic indicators

COMPARATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF COGNITIVE FACTORS AND SELF-ATTITUDE TO SOCIAL PERCEPTION OF OUTGROUPS OF DIFFERENT TYPES

The research introduces the idea of the integrative approach to the social perception, which is regarded, firstly, from the point of cognitive and motivational approaches, and secondly, as the result of internal and external factors interaction. The contributions of cognitive styles, divergent thinking, and self-attitude to outgroup stereotyping and ingroup bias are studied. These contributions are compared in conditions of different artificial groups perception. The discriminant models of stereotyping and bias are constructed and analyzed in terms of cognitive variables and self-attitude. 155 students of the Perm State University from 17 to 22 years old (M = 18.90, SD = 0.96), including 113 females (72.9%) and 42 males (27.1%), participated in the research. The description of social groups was presented in specially constructed texts. The measuring of social perception was implemented with verbal procedures based on the understanding of bias as ingroup prototypicality and stereotyping - as a tendency to describe the Other through generalized features, rather than actual behavior. The selfattitude and cognitive variables were measured using standardized methods. It was found that the predominant contribution to stereotyping belonged to cognitive styles and, first of all, to the fielddependence. On the contrary, cognitive styles did not play the decisive role in the formation of ingroup bias (favoritism), while the indicators of self-attitude facilitated its manifestations. The divergent thinking significantly contributed to both stereotyping and bias. Its influence varied depending on the group type. These results could be useful in the development of psychological corrective programs aimed at reducing the negative manifestations of intergroup interaction

Zonal Patterns of Changes in the Taxonomic Composition of Culturable Microfungi Isolated from Permafrost Peatlands of the European Northeast

This paper provides the results of a study on fungal species diversity in the active and permafrost layers of peatlands within frozen peatbogs in the flatland areas of the cryolitozone, European Northeast of Russia (forest-tundra zone, southern and northern tundra subzones). Fungal taxonomic list includes eighty-three species from seventeen genera and two forms of Mycelia sterilia. The phylum Mucoromycota is represented by fifteen species (18% of total isolate number), and these species exhibit the following distribution by genus: Mucor (four), Mortierella (seven), Umbelopsis (three), Podila (one). Ascomycota is represented by sixty-eight species from thirteen genera. The genus Penicillium dominates the species saturation (thirty-seven species, 44%). Soil microfungal complex is represented by rare species (51%), random species (32%), frequent species (15%), and dominant species (2%). In peat soils, dominant species are Penicillium canescens (72%) and non-pigmented (albino) Mycelia sterilia (61%); abundant species are Talaromyces funiculosus (41%), Pseudogymnoascus pannorum (36%), albino Mycelia sterilia (29%), Umbelopsis vinacea (25%), Mortierella alpina (17%), Penicillium decumbens (21%), P. spinulosum (20%), and P. canescens (17%). In active layers of peat soils, abundant species are Penicillium thomii (14%), Mycelia sterilia (13%), Penicillium spinulosum (13%), Penicillium simplicissimum (13%) in forest-tundra; Talaromyces funiculosus (21%), albino Mycelia sterilia (15%), Umbelopsis vinacea (14%) in southern tundra; Penicillium decumbens (23%), P. canescens (17%), P. thomii (13%) in northern tundra. In permafrost peat layers, abundant species are Penicillium spinulosum (17%), Talaromyces funiculosus (34%), and Umbelopsis vinacea (15%) in forest-tundra; Pseudogymnoascus pannorum (30%) and Mortierella alpina (28%) in southern tundra; Pseudogymnoascus pannorum (80%) in northern tundra

Antidepressant drugs act by directly binding to TRKB neurotrophin receptors

It is unclear how binding of antidepressant drugs to their targets gives rise to the clinical antidepressant effect. We discovered that the transmembrane domain of tyrosine kinase receptor 2 (TRKB), the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) receptor that promotes neuronal plasticity and antidepressant responses, has a cholesterol-sensing function that mediates synaptic effects of cholesterol. We then found that both typical and fast-acting antidepressants directly bind to TRKB, thereby facilitating synaptic localization of TRKB and its activation by BDNF. Extensive computational approaches including atomistic molecular dynamics simulations revealed a binding site at the transmembrane region of TRKB dimers. Mutation of the TRKB antidepressant-binding motif impaired cellular, behavioral, and plasticity-promoting responses to antidepressants in vitro and in vivo. We suggest that binding to TRKB and allosteric facilitation of BDNF signaling is the common mechanism for antidepressant action, which may explain why typical antidepressants act slowly and how molecular effects of antidepressants are translated into clinical mood recovery.Peer reviewe

Psychedelics promote plasticity by directly binding to BDNF receptor TrkB

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