What scans we will read: imaging instrumentation trends in clinical oncology

Oncological diseases account for a significant portion of the burden on public healthcare systems with associated costs driven primarily by complex and long-lasting therapies. Through the visualization of patient-specific morphology and functional-molecular pathways, cancerous tissue can be detected and characterized non- invasively, so as to provide referring oncologists with essential information to support therapy management decisions. Following the onset of stand-alone anatomical and functional imaging, we witness a push towards integrating molecular image information through various methods, including anato-metabolic imaging (e.g., PET/ CT), advanced MRI, optical or ultrasound imaging. This perspective paper highlights a number of key technological and methodological advances in imaging instrumentation related to anatomical, functional, molecular medicine and hybrid imaging, that is understood as the hardware-based combination of complementary anatomical and molecular imaging. These include novel detector technologies for ionizing radiation used in CT and nuclear medicine imaging, and novel system developments in MRI and optical as well as opto-acoustic imaging. We will also highlight new data processing methods for improved non-invasive tissue characterization. Following a general introduction to the role of imaging in oncology patient management we introduce imaging methods with well-defined clinical applications and potential for clinical translation. For each modality, we report first on the status quo and point to perceived technological and methodological advances in a subsequent status go section. Considering the breadth and dynamics of these developments, this perspective ends with a critical reflection on where the authors, with the majority of them being imaging experts with a background in physics and engineering, believe imaging methods will be in a few years from now. Overall, methodological and technological medical imaging advances are geared towards increased image contrast, the derivation of reproducible quantitative parameters, an increase in volume sensitivity and a reduction in overall examination time. To ensure full translation to the clinic, this progress in technologies and instrumentation is complemented by progress in relevant acquisition and image-processing protocols and improved data analysis. To this end, we should accept diagnostic images as “data”, and – through the wider adoption of advanced analysis, including machine learning approaches and a “big data” concept – move to the next stage of non-invasive tumor phenotyping. The scans we will be reading in 10 years from now will likely be composed of highly diverse multi- dimensional data from multiple sources, which mandate the use of advanced and interactive visualization and analysis platforms powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) for real-time data handling by cross-specialty clinical experts with a domain knowledge that will need to go beyond that of plain imaging

2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales.

In March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV

Temperature stress and redox homeostasis: The synergistic network of redox and chaperone system in response to stress in plants

A remarkable number of strategies has been developed by living organisms to mitigate conflict with environmental changes. The global environment rising with ambient temperature has a wide range of effects on plant growth, and therefore activation of various molecular defenses before the appearance of heat damage. Evidence revealed key components of stress that trigger enhanced tolerance, and some determinants for plant tolerance have been identified. The interplay between heat shock proteins (HSP) and redox proteins is supposed to be vital for the survival under extreme stress conditions. Any circumstance in which cellular redox homeostasis is disrupted can lead to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are continuously generated in cells as an unavoidable consequence of aerobic life. Integrative network analysis of synthetic genetic interactions, protein-protein interactions, and functional annotations revealed many new functional processes linked to heat stress (HS) and oxidative stress (OS) tolerance, implicated upstream regulators activated by the either HS or OS, and revealed new connections between them. We present different models of acquired stress resistance to interpret the condition-specific involvement of genes. Considering the basic concepts and the recent advances, the following subsections provide an overview of calcium ion (Ca2+) and ROS interplay in abiotic signaling pathways; further we introduce several examples of chaperone and redox proteins that respond the change of cellular redox status under environmental circumstances. Thus, the involvement or contribution of redox proteins through the functional switching in conjunction with the HSP that prevent heat- and oxidative-induced protein aggregation in plants