Vision, cognition, and walking stability in young adults

Downward gazing is often observed when walking requires guidance. This gaze behavior is thought to promote walking stability through anticipatory stepping control. This study is part of an ongoing effort to investigate whether downward gazing also serves to enhance postural control, which can promote walking stability through a feedback/reactive mechanism. Since gaze behavior alone gives no indication as to what information is gathered and the functions it serves, we aimed to investigate the cognitive demands associated with downward gazing, as they are likely to differ between anticipatory and feedback use of visual input. To do so, we used a novel methodology to compromise walking stability in a manner that could not be resolved through modulation of stepping. Then, using interference methodology and neuroimaging, we tested for (1) interference related to dual tasking, and (2) changes in prefrontal activity. The novel methodology resulted in an increase in the time spent looking at the walking surface. Further, while some dual-task interference was observed, indicating that this gaze behavior is cognitively demanding, several gaze parameters pertaining to downward gazing and prefrontal activity correlated. These correlations revealed that a greater tendency to gaze onto the walking surface was associated with lower PFC activity, as is expected when sensory information is used through highly automatic, and useful, neural circuitry. These results, while not conclusive, do suggest that gazing onto the walking surface can be used for purposes other than anticipatory stepping control, bearing important motor-control and clinical implications.

Exploring historic changes in musical communication: Deconstructing emotional cues in preludes by Bach and Chopin

A growing body of research analyzing musical scores suggests mode’s relationship with other expressive cues has changed over time. However, to the best of our knowledge, the perceptual implications of these changes have not been formally assessed. Here, we explore how compositional choices of 17th- and 19th-century composers (J. S. Bach and F. Chopin, respectively) differentially affect emotional communication. This novel exploration builds on our team’s previous techniques using commonality analysis to decompose intercorrelated cues in unaltered excerpts of influential compositions. In doing so, we offer an important naturalistic complement to traditional experimental work—often involving tightly controlled stimuli constructed to avoid the intercorrelations inherent to naturalistic music. Our data indicate intriguing changes in cues’ effects between Bach and Chopin, consistent with score-based research suggesting mode’s “meaning” changed across historical eras. For example, mode’s unique effect accounts for the most variance in valence ratings of Chopin’s preludes, whereas its shared use with attack rate plays a more prominent role in Bach’s. We discuss the implications of these findings as part of our field’s ongoing effort to understand the complexity of musical communication—addressing issues only visible when moving beyond stimuli created for scientific, rather than artistic, goals.

Compton-thick AGN in the NuSTAR Era VI: The Observed Compton-thick Fraction in the Local Universe

We present the analysis of simultaneous Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and XMM-Newton data of eight Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (CT-AGN) candidates selected in the Swift-BAT 100 month catalog. This work is part of an ongoing effort to find and characterize all CT-AGN in the Local (z ≤ 0.05) Universe. We used two physically motivated models, MYTorus and borus02, to characterize the sources in the sample, finding five of them to be confirmed CT-AGN. These results represent an increase of ∼19% over the previous NuSTAR-confirmed, BAT-selected CT-AGN at z ≤ 0.05, bringing the total number to 32. This corresponds to an observed fraction of ∼8% of all AGN within this volume-limited sample, although it increases to 20% ± 5% when limiting the sample to z ≤ 0.01. Out of a sample of 48 CT-AGN candidates, selected using BAT and soft (0.3−10 keV) X-ray data, only 24 are confirmed as CT-AGN with the addition of the NuSTAR data. This highlights the importance of NuSTAR when classifying local obscured AGN. We also note that most of the sources in our full sample of 48 Seyfert 2 galaxies with NuSTAR data have significantly different lines of sight and average torus column densities, favoring a patchy torus scenario.

INCULCATION OF SOFT SKILLS THROUGH CREDITED CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AMONG STUDENTS

Education in Malaysia is an ongoing effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. This aspiration will not be successful if the emphasis is only given to academic excellence alone. Therefore, the co-curricular activities should also be embedded towards Higher Education Institutions (HEI) students in cultivating soft skill. Various co-curricular activities have been implemented at the university to offer valuable soft skills to students. But it is still a question how these soft skills are implemented, and how are the students' acceptance and understanding of the soft skills applied. Therefore, this study has been conducted to identify the effectiveness of students' soft skills after completing co-curricular activities. A questionnaire involving a total of 669 students was analysed. The result indicated the effectiveness of soft skills embedded within the co-curricular activities is high, with an average value of 5 (Likert Scale 1-7). However, some improvements are required to increase the effectiveness of soft skills to students. Co-curricular instructors/trainers need to have proper training on integrating soft skill in their courses. Providing good guidelines is vital to help the instructors/trainers develop suitable co-curricular activities for teaching delivery and evaluation. The instructors/trainers need to explain to students what soft skills they can obtain for each activity implemented. Additionally, to ensure students acquire the soft skill, they need to reflect on what they have learned and practices during co-curricular activities.

Doctor–patient relationships are a perceived barrier to chiropractic use by non-Hispanic Black Americans

Despite decades of targeted effort, the disparity in access to and utilization of health care remains high in minority populations. Not excluded is the field of chiropractic, where there is an ongoing effort to increase both non-Hispanic black (NHB) practitioners and patients in the United States. In this study, we sought to identify which barriers prevent NHB access to chiropractic care. We utilized Qualtrics© (Qualtrics, Provo, UT) and MTurk© (Amazon Mechanical Turk, Inc.) to administer an online survey to 3814 U.S. respondents. Among non-Hispanic blacks, and compared with whites, participants were more likely to consider chiropractic care if the doctor shares their racial identity (37.6% vs. 17.1%) or if referred by a family member or friend (83.1% vs. 72.2%). NHB respondents were more likely to report barriers such as communication, transportation, or not being understood by their care provider compared with their white counterparts. Interestingly, there were no significant differences between NHB and white respondents on cost-related barriers (e.g., too expensive, insurance does not cover chiropractic). These findings highlight a need for increasing the number of practicing NHB chiropractors, through improved minority recruitment to chiropractic colleges. Further, chiropractor-driven community outreach may also begin to address the disparities in access to care for the non-Hispanic black population.

Restoration of Citropsis articulata, a Species at Risk from Medicinal Overharvesting in a Ugandan Rainforest Reserve

Citropsis articulata, the African cherry orange, is considered to be threatened in Ugandan forests as a result of its purported aphrodisiac properties. This study, part of an ongoing effort to address restoration needs of Mabira Central Forest Reserve in Uganda, demonstrates the feasibility of restoring depleted C. articulata populations using seedlings transplanted from nursery-grown seeds. Phenology of 20 Mabira forest plants was monitored with the aim of collecting seeds. One hundred and fifty-six ripe fruits were collected, and 233 of the extracted seeds were planted in pots in a nursery during January–March 2019. During November-December 2019, seedlings were planted near the sites from which fruits were collected. Seed germination success rate was 89%, and fifteen months after transplanting, in situ survival was 100%. These results suggest that depleted C. articulata populations may be restored in situ using nursery-grown seeds.

Current approaches to fate mapping and lineage tracing using image data

ABSTRACT Visualizing, tracking and reconstructing cell lineages in developing embryos has been an ongoing effort for well over a century. Recent advances in light microscopy, labelling strategies and computational methods to analyse complex image datasets have enabled detailed investigations into the fates of cells. Combined with powerful new advances in genomics and single-cell transcriptomics, the field of developmental biology is able to describe the formation of the embryo like never before. In this Review, we discuss some of the different strategies and applications to lineage tracing in live-imaging data and outline software methodologies that can be applied to various cell-tracking challenges.

Review and comparative analysis of machine learning-based predictors for predicting and analyzing of anti-angiogenic peptides

: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and underlying this is angiogenesis that represents one of the hallmarks of cancer. Ongoing effort is already under way in the discovery of anti-angiogenic peptides (AAPs) as a promising therapeutic route by tackling the formation of new blood vessels. As such, the identification of AAPs constitutes a viable path for understanding their mechanistic properties pertinent for the discovery of new anti-cancer drugs. In spite of the abundance of peptide sequences in public databases, experimental efforts in the identification of anti-angiogenic peptides have progressed very slowly owing to its high expenditures and laborious nature. Owing to its inherent ability to make sense of large volumes of data, machine learning (ML) represents a lucrative technique that can be harnessed for peptide-based drug discovery. In this review, we conducted a comprehensive and comparative analysis of ML-based AAP predictors in terms of their employed feature descriptors, ML algorithms, cross-validation methods and prediction performance. Moreover, the common framework of these AAP predictors and their inherent weaknesses are also discussed. Particularly, we explore future perspectives for improving the prediction accuracy and model interpretability, which represents an interesting avenue for overcoming some of the inherent weaknesses of existing AAP predictors. We anticipate that this review would assist researchers in the rapid screening and identification of promising AAPs for clinical use.

Astro-Particle Physics at INFN

In Italy, INFN coordinates the research in the field of astro-particle physics. The supported experimental activities include the study of the cosmic radiation, the search of gravitational waves, the study of dark universe, general and quantum physics, and the study of the neutrino properties. A rich program of experiments installed on the earth, in the space, and underground or underwater is being supported to provide a possible answer to some of the most relevant open questions of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. A short overview of the ongoing effort is presented.

Metabolite Profiling of Malaysian Gracilaria edulis Reveals Eplerenone as Novel Antibacterial Compound for Drug Repurposing Against MDR Bacteria

With a continuous threat of antimicrobial resistance on human health worldwide, efforts for new alternatives are ongoing for the management of bacterial infectious diseases. Natural products of land and sea, being conceived to be having fewer side effects, pose themselves as a welcome relief. In this respect, we have taken a scaffolded approach to unearthing the almost unexplored chemical constituents of Malaysian red seaweed, Gracilaria edulis. Essentially, a preliminary evaluation of the ethyl acetate and acetone solvent extracts, among a series of six such, revealed potential antibacterial activity against six MDR species namely, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Streptococcus pyogenes, and Bacillus subtilis. Detailed analyses of the inlying chemical constituents, through LC-MS and GC-MS chromatographic separation, revealed a library of metabolic compounds. These were led for further virtual screening against selected key role playing proteins in the virulence of the aforesaid bacteria. To this end, detailed predictive pharmacological analyses added up to reinforce Eplerenone as a natural alternative from the plethora of plausible bioactives. Our work adds the ongoing effort to re-discover and repurpose biochemical compounds to combat the antimicrobial resistance offered by the Gram-positive and the -negative bacterial species.