Some like it hot: Seed thermal threshold variation in obligate seeding Acacia pulchella along a climate gradient.

Dormancy in seeds is a key persistence mechanism for many flowering plants. Physically dormant (PY) seeds have water impermeable seed coats, and in fire-prone systems a common mechanism for dormancy release is fire-induced soil heating. However, the thermal thresholds innate to seeds with PY may be influenced by vegetation, climate, and fire regimes, varying substantially between populations of the same species. To investigate intraspecific variation of thermal thresholds in PY seeds, we sampled obligate seeding Acacia pulchella (Fabaceae) which produces PY seeds. Sampling was undertaken from 13 populations across a climate gradient of rainfall and temperature, and between two vegetation communities in fire-prone Mediterranean-type ecosystems of south-west Western Australia. To test a range of weather and fire-induced soil heating dormancy-break scenarios, we conducted dry heat shock experiments between 40 and 140 °C for 10 min and scored germination for 16 weeks. We created population-specific thermal performance curves and extracted the dormancy release temperature at which 50 % of the seeds had germinated (DRT50), the optimum dormancy-breaking temperature to stimulate maximum germination (T0), and the lethal temperature at which 50 % of the seeds were killed (LT50). Generalised linear models were used to examine relationships between thermal thresholds and possible vegetation, climate, and fire regime drivers of intraspecific variation in seed traits. We found that thermal thresholds differed between vegetation communities, with thresholds consistently higher in forest-type ecosystems compared to open woodland, and the influence of climate varied significantly between the two communities. Seeds from Jarrah Forest populations had a DRT50 16.0 °C higher, a T0 9.7 °C higher, and LT50 7.8 °C higher than seeds from Banksia woodlands. A high rate of non-dormancy was identified in one population that had lost fire in its system and displayed significant germination after both summer and fire-related temperatures. The PY thermal thresholds modelled here provide insight into the strong influence of variable soil heating as a function of vegetation and fuel dynamics in fire-prone environments. Our findings highlight the significant intraspecific variation for this species and suggest that fire-induced soil heating generated by vegetation characteristics may be an overlooked element of fire regimes shaping seed traits.

Lipidomics of homeoviscous adaptation to low temperatures in Staphylococcus aureus utilizing exogenous straight-chain unsaturated fatty acids.

It is well established that Staphylococcus aureus can incorporate exogenous straight-chain unsaturated fatty acids (SCUFAs) into membrane phospho- and glyco-lipids from various sources in supplemented culture media and when growing in vivo during infection. Given the enhancement of membrane fluidity when oleic acid (C18:1Δ9) is incorporated into lipids, we were prompted to examine the effect of medium supplementation with C18:1Δ9 on growth at low temperatures. C18:1Δ9 supported the growth of a cold-sensitive, branched-chain fatty acid (BCFA)-deficient mutant at 12°C. Interestingly, we found similar results in the BCFA-sufficient parental strain, supported by the fact that the incorporation of C18:1Δ9 into the membrane increased membrane fluidity in both strains. We show that the incorporation of C18:1Δ9 and its elongation product C20:1Δ11 into membrane lipids was required for growth stimulation and relied on a functional FakAB incorporation system. Lipidomics analysis of the phosphatidylglycerol and diglycosyldiacylglycerol lipid classes revealed major impacts of C18:1Δ9 and temperature on lipid species. Growth at 12°C in the presence of C18:1Δ9 also led to increased production of the carotenoid pigment staphyloxanthin. The enhancement of growth by C18:1Δ9 is an example of homeoviscous adaptation to low temperatures utilizing an exogenous fatty acid. This may be significant in the growth of S. aureus at low temperatures in foods that commonly contain C18:1Δ9 and other SCUFAs in various forms. IMPORTANCE: We show that Staphylococcus aureus can use its known ability to incorporate exogenous fatty acids to enhance its growth at low temperatures. Individual species of phosphatidylglycerols and diglycosyldiacylglycerols bearing one or two degrees of unsaturation derived from the incorporation of C18:1Δ9 at 12°C are described for the first time. In addition, enhanced production of the carotenoid staphyloxanthin occurs at low temperatures. The studies describe a biochemical reality underlying membrane biophysics. This is an example of homeoviscous adaptation to low temperatures utilizing exogenous fatty acids over the regulation of the biosynthesis of endogenous fatty acids. The studies have likely relevance to food safety in that unsaturated fatty acids may enhance the growth of S. aureus in the food environment.

More efficient adaptation of cardiovascular response to repeated restraint in spontaneously hypertensive rats: the role of autonomic nervous system.

We hypothesized that sympathetic hyperactivity and parasympathetic insuficiency in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) underlie their exaggerated cardiovascular response to acute stress and impaired adaptation to repeated restraint stress exposure compared to Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Cardiovascular responses to single (120 min) or repeated (daily 120 min for 1 week) restraint were measured by radiotelemetry and autonomic balance was evaluated by power spectral analysis of systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) and heart rate variability (HRV). Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) was measured by the pharmacological Oxford technique. Stress-induced pressor response and vascular sympathetic activity (low-frequency component of SBPV) were enhanced in SHR subjected to single restraint compared to WKY, whereas stress-induced tachycardia was similar in both strains. SHR exhibited attenuated cardiac parasympathetic activity (high-frequency component of HRV) and blunted BRS compared to WKY. Repeated restraint did not affect the stress-induced increase in blood pressure. However, cardiovascular response during the post-stress recovery period of the 7th restraint was reduced in both strains. The repeatedly restrained SHR showed lower basal heart rate during the dark (active) phase and slightly decreased basal blood pressure during the light phase compared to stress-naive SHR. SHR subjected to repeated restraint also exhibited attenuated stress-induced tachycardia, augmented cardiac parasympathetic activity, attenuated vascular sympathetic activity and improved BRS during the last seventh restraint compared to single-stressed SHR. Thus, SHR exhibited enhanced cardiovascular and sympathetic responsiveness to novel stressor exposure (single restraint) compared to WKY. Unexpectedly, the adaptation of cardiovascular and autonomic responses to repeated restraint was more effective in SHR.

Isolation by environment and its consequences for range shifts with global change: Landscape genomics of the invasive plant common tansy.

Invasive species are a growing global economic and ecological problem. However, it is not well understood how environmental factors mediate invasive range expansion. In this study, we investigated the recent and rapid range expansion of common tansy across environmental gradients in Minnesota, USA. We densely sampled individuals across the expanding range and performed reduced representation sequencing to generate a dataset of 3071 polymorphic loci for 176 individuals. We used non-spatial and spatially explicit analyses to determine the relative influences of geographic distance and environmental variation on patterns of genomic variation. We found no evidence for isolation by distance but strong evidence for isolation by environment, indicating that environmental factors may have modulated patterns of range expansion. Land use classification and soils were particularly important variables related to population structure although they operated on different spatial scales; land use classification was related to broad-scale patterns and soils were related to fine-scale patterns. All analyses indicated a distinctive genetic cluster in the most recently invaded portion of the range. Individuals from the far northwestern range margin were separated from the remainder of the range by reduced migration, which was associated with environmental resistance. This portion of the range was invaded primarily in the last 15 years. Ecological niche models also indicated that this cluster was associated with the expansion of the niche. While invasion is often assumed to be primarily influenced by dispersal limitation, our results suggest that ongoing invasion and range shifts with climate change may be strongly affected by environmental heterogeneity.

Spatial variation in genomic signatures of local adaptation during the cane toad invasion of Australia.

Adaptive evolution can facilitate species' range expansions across environmentally heterogeneous landscapes. However, serial founder effects can limit the efficacy of selection, and the evolution of increased dispersal during range expansions may result in gene flow swamping local adaptation. Here, we study how genetic drift, gene flow and selection interact during the cane toad's (Rhinella marina) invasion across the heterogeneous landscape of Australia. Following its introduction in 1935, the cane toad colonised eastern Australia and established several stable range edges. The ongoing, more rapid range expansion in north-central Australia has occurred concomitant with an evolved increase in dispersal capacity. Using reduced representation genomic data of Australian cane toads from the expansion front and from two areas of their established range, we test the hypothesis that high gene flow constrains local adaptation at the expansion front relative to established areas. Genetic analyses indicate the three study areas are genetically distinct but show similar levels of allelic richness, heterozygosity and inbreeding. Markedly higher gene flow or recency of colonisation at the expansion front have likely hindered local adaptation at the time of sampling, as indicated by reduced slopes of genetic-environment associations (GEAs) estimated using a novel application of geographically weighted regression that accounts for allele surfing; GEA slopes are significantly steeper in established parts of the range. Our work bolsters evidence supporting adaptation of invasive species post-introduction and adds novel evidence for differing strengths of evolutionary forces among geographic areas with different invasion histories.

Domain Adaptation for Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on SimAM and Adaptive Weighting Strategy.

Domain adaptation techniques are crucial for addressing the discrepancies between training and testing data distributions caused by varying operational conditions in practical bearing fault diagnosis. However, transfer fault diagnosis faces significant challenges under complex conditions with dispersed data and distinct distribution differences. Hence, this paper proposes CWT-SimAM-DAMS, a domain adaptation method for bearing fault diagnosis based on SimAM and an adaptive weighting strategy. The proposed scheme first uses Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and Unsharp Masking (USM) for data preprocessing, and then feature extraction is performed using the Residual Network (ResNet) integrated with the SimAM module. This is combined with the proposed adaptive weighting strategy based on Joint Maximum Mean Discrepancy (JMMD) and Conditional Adversarial Domain Adaption Network (CDAN) domain adaptation algorithms, which minimizes the distribution differences between the source and target domains more effectively, thus enhancing domain adaptability. The proposed method is validated on two datasets, and experimental results show that it improves the accuracy of bearing fault diagnosis.

[The Hungarian adaptation of the Mental Health Quality of Life Questionnaire (MHQoL)]. / A Mentális Egészséggel Összefüggo Életminoség Kérdoív (MHQoL) magyar adaptációjának bemutatása.

Our study presents the Hungarian adaptation of the Mental Health Quality of Life Questionnaire (MHQoL). BACKGROUND: In recent decades, there has been a shift in the field of healthcare, with a notable change in the ultimate goal of health interventions. Rather than merely reducing symptoms and prolonging life, the objective of health interventions is now to improve quality of life. A number of measures of quality of life have been developed, but the majority of these focus exclusively on physical health and do not fully cover the dimensions that are relevant to the quality of life of people with mental health problems. Van Krugten et al. have developed the Mental Health Quality of Life (MHQoL) questionnaire, which covers the seven most important dimensions of mental health-related quality of life. OBJECTIVES: Our research had the following two main aims. Firstly, it aimed to develop and test a Hungarian adaptation of the Mental Health Quality of Life (MHQoL) questionnaire. Secondly, it aimed to compare the results of healthy individuals and those with diagnosed psychiatric disorders. METHODS: A total of 189 individuals participated in the survey, with 157 classified as psychiatrically healthy and 32 diagnosed with a mental disorder, of which 20 were in acute psychiatric care and 12 were in outpatient care. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis and independent samples t-test. RESULTS: Our confirmatoriy factor analysis indicated that all items show a good fit with the model. The factor weights for each item were observed to range from 0.45 to 0.79. The Cronbach's α index obtained in our reliability analysis of the MHQoL demonstrated exceptional internal reliability: an index value of 0.81, with individual item- specific reliability coefficients ranging from 0.7 to 0.81. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to assess the statistical significance of differences in mean scores between respondents with and without a psychiatric diagnosis. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the means of the two groups for items pertaining to future vision, mood, relationships and physical health, as well as when comparing the mean scores of the MHQoL total score and the mean scores of psychological well-being. The majority of variables exhibited statistically significant differences from each other, with medium effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: The results thus far indicate that the Hungarian version of the MHQoL is an effective instrument for differentiating between individuals with and without mental illness, based on psychometric indicators. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights into the domains in which psychiatric illnesses have the greatest impact on patients' quality of life. The objective of our future research is to further validate the MHQoL questionnaire in order to contribute to the concept of healthcare that focuses not only on eliminating symptoms but also on improving quality of life.

KKL-35 inhibits growth of Staphylococcus aureus by systematically changing bacterial phenotypes.

KKL-35 is a new oxadiazole compound with potent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against a number of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. However, its influences on bacterial growth are unclear. This study is to investigate phenotypic changes of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) caused by KKL-35 and evaluate antibacterial activity of combinations of KKL-35 with 7 class of antibiotics available in medical facilities. KKL-35-treated SA showed significantly lower survival under stresses of NaCl and H2O2 than DMSO (21.03 ± 2.60% vs. 68.21 ± 5.31% for NaCl, 4.91 ± 3.14% vs. 74.78 ± 2.88% for H2O2). UV exposure significantly decreased survival of SA treated with KKL-35 than DMSO-treated ones (23.91 ± 0.71% vs. 55.45 ± 4.70% for 4.2 J/m2, 12.80 ± 1.03% vs. 31.99 ± 5.99% for 7.0 J/m2, 1.52 ± 0.63% vs. 6.49 ± 0.51% for 14.0 J/m2). KKL-35 significantly decreased biofilm formation (0.47 ± 0.12 vs. 1.45 ± 0.21) and bacterial survival in the serum resistance assay (42.27 ± 2.77% vs. 78.31 ± 5.64%) than DMSO. KKL-35 significantly decreased ethidium bromide uptake and efflux, as well as the cell membrane integrity. KKL-35 had low cytotoxicity and low propensity for resistance. KKL-35 inhibited SA growth in concentration-independent and time-dependent manners, and showed additivity when combined with the majority class of available antibiotics. Antibiotic combinations of KKL-35 with ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, or linezolid significantly decreased bacterial loads than the most active antibiotic in the corresponding combination. Thus, KKL-35 inhibits growth of SA by decreasing bacterial environmental adaptations, biofilm formation, membrane uptake and efflux, as well as increasing antibiotic sensitivity. Its potent antibacterial activity, low cytotoxicity, low propensity for resistance, and wide choices in antibiotic combinations make KKL-35 a promising leading compound to design new antibiotics in monotherapies and combination therapies to treat bacterial infections.

Unsupervised heterogeneous domain adaptation for EEG classification.

Objective.Domain adaptation has been recognized as a potent solution to the challenge of limited training data for electroencephalography (EEG) classification tasks. Existing studies primarily focus on homogeneous environments, however, the heterogeneous properties of EEG data arising from device diversity cannot be overlooked. This motivates the development of heterogeneous domain adaptation methods that can fully exploit the knowledge from an auxiliary heterogeneous domain for EEG classification.Approach.In this article, we propose a novel model named informative representation fusion (IRF) to tackle the problem of unsupervised heterogeneous domain adaptation in the context of EEG data. In IRF, we consider different perspectives of data, i.e. independent identically distributed (iid) and non-iid, to learn different representations. Specifically, from the non-iid perspective, IRF models high-order correlations among data by hypergraphs and develops hypergraph encoders to obtain data representations of each domain. From the non-iid perspective, by applying multi-layer perceptron networks to the source and target domain data, we achieve another type of representation for both domains. Subsequently, an attention mechanism is used to fuse these two types of representations to yield informative features. To learn transferable representations, the maximum mean discrepancy is utilized to align the distributions of the source and target domains based on the fused features.Main results.Experimental results on several real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.Significance.This article handles an EEG classification situation where the source and target EEG data lie in different spaces, and what's more, under an unsupervised learning setting. This situation is practical in the real world but barely studied in the literature. The proposed model achieves high classification accuracy, and this study is important for the commercial applications of EEG-based BCIs.

From real to virtual prism adaptation therapy: a systematic review on benefits and challenges of a new potential rehabilitation approach.

Prism adaptation (PA) is a sensorimotor technique that has been shown to alleviate neglect symptoms. Due to its demonstrated functional effectiveness, PA has recently been implemented in virtual reality environments. However, research on virtual prism adaptation (VPA) is limited and it lacks a standardized methodological approach. It is crucial to investigate whether VPA can be effective in inducing traditional effect of PA and to have potential utility in a rehabilitation context. Clarifying this aspect would allow the use of VPA in a wider range of contexts and neurological disorders, with the additional opportunity to overcome PA traditional limits. The aim of the present study is to revise current literature on VPA in both healthy individuals and patients highlighting also its advantages and limitations. Studies performed between 2013 and 2023 and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were searched on three electronic databases, by combining the terms "Virtual prism adaptation" and "Virtual prism adaptation therapy. Out of 123 articles, only 16 met the inclusion criteria. The current literature review suggests that VPA may serve as a potentially useful tool for inducing visuomotor adaptation, with most studies conducted in healthy individuals. The high variability in the methodologies observed among studies suggests that more standardized approaches are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptation and aftereffects when PA is administered in a virtual environment. Future studies should also address practical applications and clinical efficacy of VPA, particularly in patients with spatial neglect.

Cognitive simulation along with neural adaptation explain effects of suggestions: a novel theoretical framework.

Hypnosis is an effective intervention with proven efficacy that is employed in clinical settings and for investigating various cognitive processes. Despite their practical success, no consensus exists regarding the mechanisms underlying well-established hypnotic phenomena. Here, we suggest a new framework called the Simulation-Adaptation Theory of Hypnosis (SATH). SATH expands the predictive coding framework by focusing on (a) redundancy elimination in generative models using intrinsically generated prediction errors, (b) adaptation due to amplified or prolonged neural activity, and (c) using internally generated predictions as a venue for learning new associations. The core of our treatise is that simulating proprioceptive, interoceptive, and exteroceptive signals, along with the top-down attenuation of the precision of sensory prediction errors due to neural adaptation, can explain objective and subjective hypnotic phenomena. Based on these postulations, we offer mechanistic explanations for critical categories of direct verbal suggestions, including (1) direct-ideomotor, (2) challenge-ideomotor, (3) perceptual, and (4) cognitive suggestions. Notably, we argue that besides explaining objective responses, SATH accounts for the subjective effects of suggestions, i.e., the change in the sense of agency and reality. Finally, we discuss individual differences in hypnotizability and how SATH accommodates them. We believe that SATH is exhaustive and parsimonious in its scope, can explain a wide range of hypnotic phenomena without contradiction, and provides a host of testable predictions for future research.

Unveiling the persistent threat: recent insights into Listeria monocytogenes adaptation, biofilm formation, and pathogenicity in foodborne infections.

Listeriosis is a severe disease caused by the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, posing a significant risk to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, pregnant women, and newborns. While relatively uncommon, it has a high global mortality rate of 20-30%. Recent research indicates that smaller outbreaks of the more severe, invasive form of the disease occur more frequently than previously thought, despite the overall stable infection rates of L. monocytogenes over the past 10 years. The ability of L. monocytogenes to form biofilm structures on various surfaces in food production environments contributes to its persistence and challenges in eradication, potentially leading to contamination of food and food production facilities. To address these concerns, this review focuses on recent developments in epidemiology, risk evaluations, and molecular mechanisms of L. monocytogenes survival in adverse conditions and environmental adaptation. Additionally, it covers new insights into strain variability, pathogenicity, mutations, and host vulnerability, emphasizing the important events framework that elucidates the biochemical pathways from ingestion to infection. Understanding the adaptation approaches of L. monocytogenes to environmental stress factors is crucial for the development of effective and affordable pathogen control techniques in the food industry, ensuring the safety of food production.

A current insight into Salmonella's inducible acid resistance.

Salmonella is a diverse and ubiquitous group of bacteria and a major zoonotic pathogen implicated in several foodborne disease outbreaks worldwide. With more than 2500 distinct serotypes, this pathogen has evolved to survive in a wide spectrum of environments and across multiple hosts. The primary and most common source of transmission is through contaminated food or water. Although the main sources have been primarily linked to animal-related food products, outbreaks due to the consumption of contaminated plant-related food products have increased in the last few years. The perceived ability of Salmonella to trigger defensive mechanisms following pre-exposure to sublethal acid conditions, namely acid adaptation, has renewed a decade-long attention. The impact of acid adaptation on the subsequent resistance against lethal factors of the same or multiple stresses has been underscored by multiple studies. Α plethora of studies have been published, aiming to outline the factors that- alone or in combination- can impact this phenomenon and to unravel the complex networking mechanisms underlying its induction. This review aims to provide a current and updated insight into the factors and mechanisms that rule this phenomenon.

Translation to Portuguese and cross-cultural adaptation of the epilepsy transition readiness checklist for use in Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: Planning for the child and adolescent to have a safe handling in the epilepsy transition process is essential. In this work, the authors translated the "Readiness Checklists" and applied them to a group of patients and their respective caregivers in the transition process to assess the possibility of using them as a monitoring and instructional instrument. METHODS: The "Readiness Checklists" were applied to thirty adolescents with epilepsy and their caregivers. The original English version of this instrument underwent a process of translation and cultural adaptation by a translator with knowledge of English and epilepsy. Subsequently, it was carried out the back-translation and the Portuguese version was compared to the original, analyzing discrepancies, thus obtaining the final version for the Brazilian population. RESULTS: Participants were able to answer the questions. In four questions there was an association between the teenagers' educational level and the response pattern to the questionnaires. The authors found a strong positive correlation between the responses of adolescents and caregivers (RhoSpearman = 0.837; p < 0.001). The application of the questionnaire by the health team was feasible for all interviewed patients and their respective caregivers. CONCLUSION: The translation and application of the "Readiness Checklists" is feasible in Portuguese. Patients with lower educational levels felt less prepared for the transition than patients with higher educational levels, independently of age. Adolescents and caregivers showed similar perceptions regarding patients' abilities. The lists can be very useful tools to assess and plan the follow-up of the population of patients with epilepsy in the process of transition.

Genetic-environment associations explain genetic differentiation and variation between western and eastern North Pacific rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) breeding colonies.

Animals are strongly connected to the environments they live in and may become adapted to local environments. Examining genetic-environment associations of key indicator species, like seabirds, provides greater insights into the forces that drive evolution in marine systems. Here we examined a RADseq dataset of 19,213 SNPs for 99 rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) from five western Pacific and 10 eastern Pacific breeding colonies. We used partial redundancy analyses to identify candidate adaptive loci and to quantify the effects of environmental variation on population genetic structure. We identified 262 candidate adaptive loci, which accounted for 3.0% of the observed genetic variation among western Pacific and eastern Pacific breeding colonies. Genetic variation was more strongly associated with pH and maximum current velocity, than maximum sea surface temperature. Genetic-environment associations explain genetic differences between western and eastern Pacific populations; however, genetic variation within the western and eastern Pacific Ocean populations appears to follow a pattern of isolation-by-distance. This study represents a first to quantify the relationship between environmental and genetic variation for this widely distributed marine species and provides greater insights into the evolutionary forces that act on marine species.

On the cost-effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions for reducing disaster risk.

The potential of ecosystem-based interventions, also known as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is now recognized by major national policies and international framework agreements. However, there is limited scientific evidence about their economic viability and equity impacts. We examined English-language peer-reviewed studies, published between 2000 and 2021, which undertook economic evaluations of NbS for DRR and CCA. Based on our results, 71 % of studies indicated that NbS have consistently proven to be a cost-effective approach to mitigating hazards and 24 % of studies found NbS cost-effective under certain conditions. The ecosystem-based interventions most frequently found effective in mitigating hazards are associated with mangroves (80 %), forests (77 %), and coastal ecosystems (73 %). Studies comparing the cost-effectiveness of NbS and engineering-based solutions for mitigating certain hazards showed that NbS are no less effective than engineering-based solutions. Among these studies, 65 % found that NbS are always more effective in attenuating hazards compared to engineering-based solutions and 26 % found that NbS are partially more effective. Our findings illustrate a range of factors, including the geographic locations of the NbS analyzed, their contribution to the restoration and increase of biodiversity, their property rights structure, their source of financing, and the economic methodologies employed to assess cost-effectiveness and distributional effects. The geographic location of the NbS observations included in this analysis was examined considering global projected temperature and precipitation changes.

Skeletal muscle feature of different populations in large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea): from an epigenetic point of view.

Fish skeletal muscle is composed of well-defined fiber types. In order to identify potential candidate genes affecting muscle growth and development under epigenetic regulation. Bisulfite sequencing was utilized to analyze and compare the muscle DNA methylation profiles of Larimichthys crocea inhabiting different environments. The results revealed that DNA methylation in L. crocea was predominantly CG methylation, with 2,396 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) identified through comparisons among different populations. The largest difference in methylation was observed between the ZhouShan and JinMen wild populations, suggesting that L. crocea may have undergone selection and domestication. Additionally, GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of differentially methylated genes (DMGs) revealed 626 enriched GO functional categories, including various muscle-related genes such as myh10, myf5, myf6, ndufv1, klhl31, map3k4, syn2b, sostdc1a, bag4, and hsp90ab. However, significant enrichment in KEGG pathways was observed only in the JinMen and XiangShan populations of L. crocea. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical foundation for a better understanding of the epigenetic regulation of skeletal muscle growth and development in L. crocea under different environmental conditions.

ALFREDO: Active Learning with FeatuRe disEntangelement and DOmain adaptation for medical image classification.

State-of-the-art deep learning models often fail to generalize in the presence of distribution shifts between training (source) data and test (target) data. Domain adaptation methods are designed to address this issue using labeled samples (supervised domain adaptation) or unlabeled samples (unsupervised domain adaptation). Active learning is a method to select informative samples to obtain maximum performance from minimum annotations. Selecting informative target domain samples can improve model performance and robustness, and reduce data demands. This paper proposes a novel pipeline called ALFREDO (Active Learning with FeatuRe disEntangelement and DOmain adaptation) that performs active learning under domain shift. We propose a novel feature disentanglement approach to decompose image features into domain specific and task specific components. Domain specific components refer to those features that provide source specific information, e.g., scanners, vendors or hospitals. Task specific components are discriminative features for classification, segmentation or other tasks. Thereafter we define multiple novel cost functions that identify informative samples under domain shift. We test our proposed method for medical image classification using one histopathology dataset and two chest X-ray datasets. Experiments show our method achieves state-of-the-art results compared to other domain adaptation methods, as well as state of the art active domain adaptation methods.

Intersections of climate change with food systems, nutrition, and health: an overview and evidence map.

Scientific research linking climate change to food systems, nutrition and nutrition-related health (FSNH) has proliferated, showing bidirectional and compounding dependencies that create cascading risks for human and planetary health. Within this proliferation, it is unclear which evidence to prioritise for action, and which research gaps, if filled, would catalyse most impact. We systematically searched for synthesis literature (i.e. reviews) related to FSNH, published after January 1, 2018. We screened and extracted characteristics of these reviews and mapped them in an interactive Evidence and Gap Map (EGM), supplemented by expert consultation. 844 synthesis reports met inclusion criteria (from 2,739 records) and were included in the EGM. The largest clusters of reports were those describing climate impacts on crop and animal source food (ASF) production, and emissions from such (86%). Comparatively few reports assessed climate change impacts on nutrition-related health, or food manufacture, processing, storage, and transportation. Reports focused on strategies of climate adaptation (40%), mitigation (29%), both (19%) or none (12%). Only one quarter of reports critically evaluated equity (25%), and fewer reports suggested that changes to equity and equitable practices would alter climate-FSNH dynamics (6%). The expert consultation mirrored the results of the EGM, and contextualised findings further. This novel map describes a wide research landscape linking climate change to FSNH. We identified four key research gaps, including 1) Research on whole food systems or post-harvest elements 2) Research evaluating relationships between climate change and nutrition-related health outcomes, especially among vulnerable populations; 3) Promising methods (and additional data required) that can a) identify inflection points or levers for intervention, b) incorporate complex dynamics and characterize trade-offs, c) be understood and applied in context-specific, localised ways for decision-making; and 4) Research undertaken through interdisciplinary collaborations that enables producing and translating evidence to action, especially those that inherently consider co-production and fairness.