Loneliness and Isolation Versus Wisdom and Compassion During the Pandemic

Our studies of US national-level samples across adult lifespan as well as older adults in California and in Italy’s Cilento region have found a consistently strong inverse correlation between loneliness and wisdom, especially its compassion component. Loneliness and social isolation are associated with worse physical and mental health while the reverse is true for wisdom and compassion. Follow-up of older adults in San Diego during the Covid-19 pandemic showed no change in this pattern. While the effects of the pandemic and the necessary social distancing were heterogeneous, older adults generally handled these stresses better than younger adults, with less loneliness and greater compassion. Our recent studies assessing EEG responses to emotional stimuli as well as alpha and beta diversity in gut microbiome showed opposing biological patterns characterizing loneliness and wisdom. I will also present preliminary data from a compassion training intervention to reduce loneliness among older adults.

The Saliency of Snake Scales and Leopard Rosettes to Infants: Its Relevance to Graphical Patterns Portrayed in Prehistoric Art

Geometrically arranged spots and crosshatched incised lines are frequently portrayed in prehistoric cave and mobiliary art. Two experiments examined the saliency of snake scales and leopard rosettes to infants that are perceptually analogous to these patterns. Experiment 1 examined the investigative behavior of 23 infants at three daycare facilities. Four plastic jars (15×14.5cm) with snake scales, leopard rosettes, geometric plaid, and plain patterns printed on yellowish-orange paper inside were placed individually on the floor on separate days during playtime. Fourteen 7–15-month-old infants approached each jar hesitantly and poked it before handling it for five times, the criterion selected for statistical analyses of poking frequency. The jars with snake scales and leopard rosettes yielded reliably higher poking frequencies than the geometric plaid and plain jars. The second experiment examined the gaze and grasping behavior of 15 infants (spanning 5months of age) seated on the laps of their mothers in front of a table. For paired comparisons, the experimenter pushed two of four upright plastic cylinders (13.5×5.5cm) with virtually the same colored patterns simultaneously toward each infant for 6s. Video recordings indicated that infants gazed significantly longer at the cylinders with snake scales and leopard rosettes than the geometric plaid and plain cylinders prior to grasping them. Logistic regression of gaze duration predicting cylinder choice for grasping indicated that seven of 24 paired comparisons were not significant, all of which involved choices of cylinders with snake scales and leopard rosettes that diverted attention before reaching. Evidence that these biological patterns are salient to infants during an early period of brain development might characterize the integration of subcortical and neocortical visual processes known to be involved in snake recognition. In older individuals, memorable encounters with snakes and leopards coupled with the saliency of snake scales and leopard rosettes possibly biased artistic renditions of similar patterns during prehistoric times.

Impact of Adiposity and Fat Distribution, Rather Than Obesity, on Antibodies as an Illustration of Weight-Loss-Independent Exercise Benefits

Obesity represents a risk factor for a variety of diseases because of its inflammatory component, among other biological patterns. Recently, with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, a special focus has been put on obesity as a status in which antibody production, among other immune functions, is impaired, which would impact both disease pathogenesis and vaccine efficacy. Within this piece of writing, we illustrate that such patterns would be due to the increased adiposity and fat distribution pattern rather than obesity (as defined by the body mass index) itself. Within this context, we also highlight the importance of the weight-loss-independent effects of exercise.

The Specious Art of Single-Cell Genomics

Dimensionality reduction is standard practice for filtering noise and identifying relevant dimensions in large-scale data analyses. In biology, single-cell expression studies almost always begin with reduction to two or three dimensions to produce 'all-in-one' visuals of the data that are amenable to the human eye, and these are subsequently used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of cell relationships. However, there is little theoretical support for this practice. We examine the theoretical and practical implications of low-dimensional embedding of single-cell data, and find extensive distortions incurred on the global and local properties of biological patterns relative to the high-dimensional, ambient space. In lieu of this, we propose semi-supervised dimension reduction to higher dimension, and show that such targeted reduction guided by the metadata associated with single-cell experiments provides useful latent space representations for hypothesis-driven biological discovery.

BIOINSPIRED COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN: A CASE STUDY ON A 3D-PRINTED LAMP BASED ON THE PHYSALIS ALKEKENGI

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for designers and engineers, through the imitation of biological patterns and structures. This emulating and creative process is nowadays supported by technologies and tools as additive manufacturing and computational design. This paper describes the design and prototyping of a lamp inspired by a plant called Physalis Alkekengi, known as Chinese Lantern. We present the development of an algorithm, based on a computational model from literature, to realize the 2D pattern and leaves. They were then 3D printed to create the structure of the lamp and obtain an aesthetical and symbolic shading effect.

Biological Action at a Distance: Correlated pattern formation in adjacent tessellation domains without communication

Tessellations emerge in many natural systems, and the constituent domains often contain regular patterns, raising the intriguing possibility that pattern formation within adjacent domains might be correlated by the geometry, without the direct exchange of information between parts comprising either domain. We confirm this paradoxical effect, by simulating pattern formation via reaction-diffusion in domains whose boundary shapes tessellate, and showing that correlations between adjacent patterns are strong compared to controls that self-organise in domains with equivalent sizes but unrelated shapes. The effect holds in systems with linear and non-linear diffusive terms, and for boundary shapes derived from regular and irregular tessellations. Based on the prediction that correlations between adjacent patterns should be bimodally distributed, we develop methods for testing whether a given set of domain boundaries constrained pattern formation within those domains. We then confirm such a prediction by analysing the development of `subbarrel' patterns, which are thought to emerge via reaction-diffusion, and whose enclosing borders form a Voronoi tessellation on the surface of the rodent somatosensory cortex. In more general terms, this result demonstrates how causal links can be established between the dynamical processes through which biological patterns emerge and the constraints that shape them.

Features of construction of training microcycles in the competitive period at preparation of student's teams in football

As the results of this study show, the activity of football players is mostly dynamic, where periods of significant work alternate with periods of relative relaxation. Functional training of football players of student teams should be considered as an important element of a comprehensive approach to improving the sports and technical skills of players. In this regard, the control system for special physical training can be considered as one of the components of management technology for training football teams of student teams, and its further improvement should be associated with in-depth study of biological patterns of human age and features of adaptive changes in specific conditions training and competitive loads. At the present stage of football development, a significant amount of research has been performed to study the motor activity of football players in the conditions of competitions, as a result of which data on the nature and scope of players' actions with and without the ball were obtained. The article considers the characteristic features of the construction of training microcycles in the competitive period in the preparation of student teams in football. The dynamics of special working capacity and functional state of NUFVSU football players in the competitive period of training is investigated. It is determined that in the construction of rational variants of competitive microcycles of different duration it is necessary to proceed from a differentiated approach, which provides a different structure of microcycles for the training of attackers, midfielders and defenders. The need to take into account the duration of recovery of the most significant indicators of special performance and functional status of players of different roles has been proved. Based on the study and identified patterns of changes in individual indicators of special performance of football players of the NUFVSU team after competitive loads, depending on their game role, models of competitive microcycles of different duration were developed: short (3 days); medium (5 days); optimal (7 days).

Publisher Correction: Spatial modeling of biological patterns shows multiscale organization of Arabidopsis thaliana heterochromatin

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Disaccahrides-Based Cryo-Formulant Effect on Modulating Phospho/Mitochondrial Lipids and Biological Profiles of Human Leukaemia Cells

Background/Aims: The use of novel cryo-additive agents to increase cell viability post-cryopreservation is paramount to improve future cell based-therapy treatments. We aimed to establish the Human Leukemia (HL-60) cells lipidomic and biological patterns when cryo-preserved in DMSO alone and with 300 µM Nigerose (Nig), 200 µM Salidroside (Sal) or a combination of Nig (150 µM) and Sal (100 µM). Methods: HL-60 cells were pre-incubated with Nig/Sal prior, during and post cryopreservation, and subjected to global lipidomic analysis. Malondialdeyhde (MDA), released lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and reactive oxygen scavenger (ROS) measurements were also carried out to evaluate levels of lipid peroxidation and cytotoxicity. Results: Cryopreserving HL-60 cells in DMSO with Nig and Sal provided optimal protection against unsaturated fatty acid oxidation. Post-thaw, cellular phospholipids and mitochondrial cardiolipins were increased by Nig/Sal as the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids 2.08 +/- 0.03 and 0.95 +/- 0.09 folds respectively in comparison to cells cryopreserved in DMSO alone (0.49 +/- 0.05 and 0.86 +/- 0.10 folds). HL-60 lipid peroxidation levels in the presence of DMSO + Nig and Sal combined were significantly reduced relative to pre-cryopreservation levels (10.91 +/- 2.13 nmole) compared to DMSO (17.1 +/- 3.96 nmole). DMSO + Nig/Sal combined also significantly reduced cell cytotoxicity post-thaw (0.0128 +/- 0.00182 mU/mL) in comparison to DMSO (0.0164 +/- 0.00126 mU/mL). The combination of Nig/Sal also reduced significantly ROS levels to the levels of prior cryopreservation of HL-60. Conclusion: Overall, the establishment of the cryopreserved HL-60 cells lipidomic and the corresponding biological profiles showed an improved cryo-formulation in the presence of DMSO with the Nig/Sal combination by protecting the, mitochondrial inner membrane, unsaturated fatty acid components (i. e. Cardiolipins) and total phospholipids.