The transcription factor HSFA7b controls thermomemory at the shoot apical meristem by regulating ethylene biosynthesis and signaling in Arabidopsis.

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) is responsible for overall shoot growth by generating all aboveground structures. Recent research has revealed that the SAM displays an autonomous heat stress (HS) memory of a previous non-lethal HS event. Considering the importance of the SAM for plant growth, it is essential to determine how its thermomemory is mechanistically controlled. Here, we report that HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A7b (HSFA7b) plays a crucial role in this process in Arabidopsis, as the absence of functional HSFA7b results in the temporal suppression of SAM activity after thermopriming. We found that HSFA7b directly regulates ethylene response at the SAM by binding to the promoter of the key ethylene signaling gene ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE 3 to establish thermotolerance. Moreover, we demonstrated that HSFA7b regulates the expression of ETHYLENE OVERPRODUCER 1 (ETO1) and ETO1-LIKE 1, both of which encode ethylene biosynthesis repressors, thereby ensuring ethylene homeostasis at the SAM. Taken together, these results reveal a crucial and tissue-specific role for HSFA7b in thermomemory at the Arabidopsis SAM.

Surveillance and epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile infection using the national health surveillance network criteria: A 7-year study from Mumbai, India.

INTRODUCTION: Clostridioides difficile (CD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. While considerable data is available in the developed world regarding Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), Indian data is sparse especially using the standardized surveillance systems. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: To identify the incidence, risk factors, and mortality rate associated with CDI in a tertiary care hospital based on the Laboratory-Identified (LabID) event criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Health Surveillance Network (NHSN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a 7- year prospective observational study, CDI was diagnosed using CD polymerase chain reaction (PCR). CDI Laboratory-Identified (LabID) events were classified using the CDC NHSN surveillance definition, and CDI incidence was calculated per 10,000 Patient Days (PDs). Clinical details were collected as part of healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) surveillance. Healthcare Facility-Onset (HO) and Community-Onset Healthcare Facility-Associated (CO-HCFA) incident CDI events were analyzed further. RESULTS: Among 898 tested stool samples, 77 CDI LabID events were observed, with 68 being Incident events. Of 68 events, 76.5% (52/68), 19.1% (13/68), and 4.4% (3/68) were HO, Community-Onset (CO), and CO-HCFA CDI events respectively. The overall incidence of CDI events was 1.66 per 10,000 PDs. Risk factors observed were antibiotics exposure (100%), comorbidities (87.3%), antacids exposure (87.3%), age over 60 years (80%), and hospitalization within the past 6 months (67.3%). The crude mortality rate was 25.5% (14/55). CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the predominance of HO-CDI and the need for further investigation into CO-CDI in the Indian context to identify at-risk populations. Utilizing standardized surveillance methods such as NHSN definitions can facilitate accurate disease burden estimation, trend monitoring, and meaningful comparisons with global data.

DIR/Floor Time in Engaging Autism: A Systematic Review.

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder, which affects various multiple areas of a child's development. The objective of this study was to systematically review the available literature and appraise the effect of floortime in engaging autism disorder among children. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was performed using PubMed, PsycINFO, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Medline. The search terms used were DIR/floor time, ASD, floortime and autism, relationship therapy and autism, floortime, and ASDs. The studies, which described floortime in engaging children with ASD, full-text available in English, the sample had no comorbid psychiatric diagnosis, and the articles published in English from 2010 to 2020 were included in the review. Twelve studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the review. Results: The results showed substantial progress in different levels of functioning of autistic children with floortime. Home-based floortime improved emotive functioning, communication, and daily living skills, the parent-child interactions were improved as expressed by mothers, and also certain demographic factors of the parents have significantly influenced the floortime outcome. There were no adverse events to children or parents during floortime. Conclusions: In general, we concluded that floortime is a cost-effective, completely child-led approach, which could be initiated as early as possible. If started early by healthcare professionals, it can be vital in improving social and emotional development among children.

Challenges Experienced by Nurses in Providing Pediatric Palliative Care: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.

Objectives: Pediatric leukemia is the most common cancer among children younger than 14 years of age. Children with leukemia require palliative care as additional support from the health care team. Providing palliative care to children is challenging. Thus, this study explored the challenges experienced by nurses in providing pediatric palliative care to children with leukemia. Methods: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted on a purposive sample of 11 nurses in the hematology-oncology units of a tertiary care hospital in Oman. Results: Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis, which revealed three main themes and seven subthemes related to challenges in providing pediatric palliative care: Personal challenges: Nurses were unable to neutralize their emotions, which burdened them emotionally; due to multitasking, nurses were unable to manage their tasks within the expected time frame; nurses were stressful when they participated in explaining the diagnosis to the parents; and nurses felt powerless when the health condition of some children deteriorated. Educational challenges: Nurses felt unprepared to meet the physical/psychosocial aspects of caring for children with leukemia. Organizational challenges: Nurses stated that families and nurses required rooms to pray, rest, and read Quran, and they needed a private place to speak to families; and nurses mentioned that there are limited number of psychologists to meet the psychological and social needs of children and their families. Conclusion: Prioritizing and implementing strategies for a supportive workplace, guided clinical practice, and maximizing nurses' satisfaction are crucial.

COVID-19 pandemic and remote teaching: transition and transformation in nursing education.

Remote teaching (RT) was the only option left to educators to continue education with public policy of lockdowns and social distancing during COVID-19 pandemic. RT is the online mode of instructional delivery. Globally it has become mandatory for all nurse educators to switch to RT mode. Many factors have been identified for effective implementation of RT, of which the major elements are choice of online teaching mode, pedagogy to choose the platform or technology, faculty preparedness, and the learner motivation and expectations. The dire need to meet the educational objectives demanded sudden transition to online mode. The paradigm shifts to RT brought many challenges and pragmatic guidance for teachers and institutions Remote teaching is flexible, student centered and feasible with opportunities to develop technically empowered faculty and coherent digital education strategies. However, tackling threats like academic integrity, inequity in accessibility and limited faculty preparedness necessitates attention. RT being flexible tool is weakened by low self-motivated students and low connectivity with digital inequity and security issues. The challenges opened opportunity to enhance faculty technical competency and learning management system.

Primary carbohydrate metabolism genes participate in heat-stress memory at the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana.

In plants, the shoot apical meristem (SAM) is essential for the growth of aboveground organs. However, little is known about its molecular responses to abiotic stresses. Here, we show that the SAM of Arabidopsis thaliana displays an autonomous heat-stress (HS) memory of a previous non-lethal HS, allowing the SAM to regain growth after exposure to an otherwise lethal HS several days later. Using RNA sequencing, we identified genes participating in establishing the SAM's HS transcriptional memory, including the stem cell (SC) regulators CLAVATA1 (CLV1) and CLV3, HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 17.6A (HSP17.6A), and the primary carbohydrate metabolism gene FRUCTOSE-BISPHOSPHATE ALDOLASE 6 (FBA6). We demonstrate that sugar availability is essential for survival of plants at high temperature. HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A2 (HSFA2A) directly regulates the expression of HSP17.6A and FBA6 by binding to the heat-shock elements in their promoters, indicating that HSFA2 is required for transcriptional activation of SAM memory genes. Collectively, these findings indicate that plants have evolved a sophisticated protection mechanism to maintain SCs and, hence, their capacity to re-initiate shoot growth after stress release.

Regulation of alternative splicing in response to temperature variation in plants.

Plants have evolved numerous molecular strategies to cope with perturbations in environmental temperature, and to adjust growth and physiology to limit the negative effects of extreme temperature. One of the strategies involves alternative splicing of primary transcripts to encode alternative protein products or transcript variants destined for degradation by nonsense-mediated decay. Here, we review how changes in environmental temperature-cold, heat, and moderate alterations in temperature-affect alternative splicing in plants, including crops. We present examples of the mode of action of various temperature-induced splice variants and discuss how these alternative splicing events enable favourable plant responses to altered temperatures. Finally, we point out unanswered questions that should be addressed to fully utilize the endogenous mechanisms in plants to adjust their growth to environmental temperature. We also indicate how this knowledge might be used to enhance crop productivity in the future.

Development of a Virus-Induced Gene Silencing System for Dioecious Coccinia grandis.

Coccinia grandis is an interesting model system to understand dioecy in Cucurbitaceae family. Recent transcriptomics and proteomics studies carried out to understand the sex expression in C. grandis have resulted in identification of many candidate sex-biased genes. In absence of an efficient genetic transformation protocol for C. grandis, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) would be a powerful tool to enable gene functional analysis. In current study, we explored the apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) for gene knockdown in C. grandis. The viral infection was achieved through mechanical inoculation of ALSV-infected Chenopodium quinoa leaf extract onto the cotyledons of C. grandis. ALSV-VIGS mediated knockdown of CgPDS gene was successfully achieved in C. grandis by mechanical inoculation method resulting in characteristic photobleaching. Subsequently, we developed agroinfiltration compatible vectors for direct infection of C. grandis and shortened the time-frame by skipping viral propagation in C. quinoa. Typical yellow-leaf phenotype was observed in C. grandis plants agroinfiltrated with ALSV-CgSU constructs, indicating robust silencing of CgSU gene. In addition, we improved the infection efficiency of ALSV by co-infiltration of P19 viral silencing suppressor. These results suggest that ALSV-VIGS is suitable for characterization of gene function in dioecious C. grandis and it can help us understand the mechanism of sex expression.