How do anxiety and stress affect soccer referees? An ERPs study

The decision-making of soccer referees is one of the typical forms influenced by factors such as environmental pressure and individual emotions. While previous studies have explored how common factors like personal anxiety and on-field pressure affect the decisions of soccer referees, the mechanisms by which anxiety influences decision-making under pressure remain unclear. This study developed a penalty task based on real soccer match scenarios and recruited 76 experienced soccer referees. These referees were divided into two groups, high anxiety and low anxiety, based on their anxiety levels, to perform decision-making tasks under different pressure environments simulated to mimic real matches. Additionally, this research employed Event-Related Potential (ERP) technology to compare the brain signals of soccer referees with different levels of anxiety when facing foul play under various pressure environments. It was found that referees with high levels of anxiety displayed larger P300 and N400 amplitudes in a low-pressure environment (p = 0.0059, t = 2.9437). However, no significant differences in P300 and N400 amplitudes were observed between referees with high and low levels of anxiety under high-pressure conditions (p = 0.1890, t = 1.3411). This study not only reveals the complex mechanisms of anxiety in the decision-making process of referees but also emphasizes the importance of understanding and managing the psychological state of referees in competitive sports to improve the quality of their decisions. Our findings provide an empirical basis for future efforts to mitigate the impact of anxiety and optimize the decision-making process in similar high-pressure environments

The garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) mitochondrial genome revealed rich sequence variation throughout whole sequencing data

Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) is a horticultural crop with high nutritional and medical value, considered an ideal plant for sex determination research among many dioecious plants, whose genomic information can support genetic analysis and breeding programs. In this research, the entire mitochondrial genome of A. officinalis was sequenced, annotated and assembled using a mixed Illumina and PacBio data. The garden asparagus circular mitochondrial genome measures 492,062 bp with a GC value of 45.9%. Thirty-six protein-coding genes, 17 tRNA and 6 rRNA genes were annotated, among which 8 protein-coding genes contained 16 introns. In addition, 254 SSRs with 10 complete tandem repeats and 293 non-tandem repeats were identified. It was found that the codons of edited sites located in the amino acids showed a leucine-formation trend, and RNA editing sites mainly caused the mutual transformation of amino acids with the same properties. Furthermore, 72 sequence fragments accounting for 20,240 bp, presentating 4.11% of the whole mitochondrial genome, were observed to migrate from chloroplast to mitochondrial genome of A. officinalis. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the closest genetic relationship between A. officinalis with onion (Allium cepa) inside the Liliaceae family. Our results demonstrated that high percentage of protein-coding genes had evolutionary conservative properties, with Ka/Ks values less than 1. Therefore, this study provides a high-quality garden asparagus mitochondrial genome, useful to promote better understanding of gene exchange between organelle genomes

Mycobiota of silk-faced ancient Mogao Grottoes manuscripts belonging to the Stein collection in the British library

Silking, a conservation technique which involved gluing silk gauze over the face of a manuscript was popular in the mid-20th Century, especially for treating early Chinese documents. The method is now little used, and the question as to whether silking interventions should be reversed is controversial, given the high economic cost of active intervention, and there are few scientific studies as to the long-term consequences of the technique. Silk-facing materials from documents of the Stein collection were analysed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The mycobiota diversity was unravelled through the combination of culture dependent methods and amplicon sequencing analyses. The SEM micrographs showed smooth regular nodules of ca. 3–5 μm diameter on both silk threads and glue paste. This morphology differs from the irregular and the crystalline morphologies of glue paste and inorganic crystallites, respectively, but it is consistent with that of small-sized conidia (asexual spores of fungi) or yeasts. Glue paste demonstrated three fungal strains: Aspergillus tubingensis, Penicillium crustosum and Chrysonilia sitophila which display cellulolytic activity, except for the last one. Amplicon sequencing revealed that silk threads and glue paste host distinct mycobiota. Here, we preliminary show that the silking method may be affecting the overall integrity of the silk-faced manuscripts, principally due to contamination with cellulolytic fungal strains. Unless the silk facing is removed, irreversible damage to the documents is highly probable

Cuproptosis-related lncRNA signatures: Predicting prognosis and evaluating the tumor immune microenvironment in lung adenocarcinoma

BackgroundCuproptosis, a unique kind of cell death, has implications for cancer therapy, particularly lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to influence cancer cell activity by binding to a wide variety of targets, including DNA, RNA, and proteins.MethodsCuproptosis-related lncRNAs (CRlncRNAs) were utilized to build a risk model that classified patients into high-and low-risk groups. Based on the CRlncRNAs in the model, Consensus clustering analysis was used to classify LUAD patients into different subtypes. Next, we explored the differences in overall survival (OS), the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and the mutation landscape between different risk groups and molecular subtypes. Finally, the functions of LINC00592 were verified through in vitro experiments.ResultsPatients in various risk categories and molecular subtypes showed statistically significant variations in terms of OS, immune cell infiltration, pathway activity, and mutation patterns. Cell experiments revealed that LINC00592 knockdown significantly reduced LUAD cell proliferation, invasion, and migration ability.ConclusionThe development of a trustworthy prediction model based on CRlncRNAs may significantly aid in the assessment of patient prognosis, molecular features, and therapeutic modalities and may eventually be used in clinical applications

High-Precision, Whole-Genome Sequencing of Laboratory Strains Facilitates Genetic Studies

Whole-genome sequencing is a powerful technique for obtaining the reference sequence information of multiple organisms. Its use can be dramatically expanded to rapidly identify genomic variations, which can be linked with phenotypes to obtain biological insights. We explored these potential applications using the emerging next-generation sequencing platform Solexa Genome Analyzer, and the well-characterized model bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Combining sequencing with experimental verification, we first improved the accuracy of the published sequence of the B. subtilis reference strain 168, then obtained sequences of multiple related laboratory strains and different isolates of each strain. This provides a framework for comparing the divergence between different laboratory strains and between their individual isolates. We also demonstrated the power of Solexa sequencing by using its results to predict a defect in the citrate signal transduction pathway of a common laboratory strain, which we verified experimentally. Finally, we examined the molecular nature of spontaneously generated mutations that suppress the growth defect caused by deletion of the stringent response mediator relA. Using whole-genome sequencing, we rapidly mapped these suppressor mutations to two small homologs of relA. Interestingly, stable suppressor strains had mutations in both genes, with each mutation alone partially relieving the relA growth defect. This supports an intriguing three-locus interaction module that is not easily identifiable through traditional suppressor mapping. We conclude that whole-genome sequencing can drastically accelerate the identification of suppressor mutations and complex genetic interactions, and it can be applied as a standard tool to investigate the genetic traits of model organisms