The global significance of Scleractinian corals without photoendosymbiosis.

Globally tropical Scleractinian corals have been a focal point for discussions on the impact of a changing climate on marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Research into tropical Scleractinian corals, particularly the role and breakdown of photoendosymbiosis in response to warming, has been prolific in recent decades. However, research into their subtropical, temperate, cold- and deep-water counterparts, whose number is dominated by corals without photoendosymbiosis, has not been as prolific. Approximately 50% of Scleractinian corals (> 700 species) do not maintain photoendosymbiosis and as such, do not rely upon the products of photosynthesis for homeostasis. Some species also have variable partnerships with photendosymbionts depending on life history and ecological niche. Here we undertake a systematic map of literature on Scleractinian corals without, or with variable, photoendosymbiosis. In doing so we identify 482 publications spanning 5 decades. In mapping research effort, we find publications have been sporadic over time, predominately focusing on a limited number of species, with greater research effort directed towards deep-water species. We find only 141 species have been studied, with approximately 30% of the total identified research effort directed toward a single species, Desmophyllum pertusum, highlighting significant knowledge gaps into Scleractinian diversity. We find similar limitations to studied locations, with 78 identified from the global data, of which only few represent most research outputs. We also identified inconsistencies with terminology used to describe Scleractinia without photoendosymbiosis, likely contributing to difficulties in accounting for their role and contribution to marine ecosystems. We propose that the terminology requires re-evaluation to allow further systematic assessment of literature, and to ensure it's consistent with changes implemented for photoendosymbiotic corals. Finally, we find that knowledge gaps identified over 20 years ago are still present for most aphotoendosymbiotic Scleractinian species, and we show data deficiencies remain regarding their function, biodiversity and the impacts of anthropogenic stressors.

Pharmacist Interventions for Adverse Drug Reactions in Palliative Care: A Multicentre Pilot Study.

This study aimed to investigate adverse reactions to medications administered during palliative care and compare the responses of Board-Certified Pharmacists in Palliative Pharmacy (BCPPP) and non-BCPPP professionals. Methods: This multicentre prospective survey included hospital and community pharmacists who are members of the Japanese Society for Pharmaceutical Palliative Care and Sciences. Study participants included patients who experienced new drug reactions during the study period and responded to the requested survey items. The follow-up period for each eligible patient began on the day the pharmacists initiated the intervention and ended at discharge, death, or after one month of intervention. The primary endpoint was the impact of pharmacist intervention on adverse drug reactions. The pharmacists included in the study evaluated the severity of adverse drug reactions to assess the effect of their intervention using an integrated palliative care outcome scale before and after the intervention. Key findings: During the survey period, 79 adverse drug reaction intervention reports from 69 patients were obtained from 54 pharmacists (28 certified and 26 non-certified). The response rate was 1.62% (54/3,343). The management of palliative pharmacotherapy side effects by BCPPP and non-BCPPP significantly improved the patients' activities of daily living (P < 0.001). The BCPPP group intervened for significantly more patients with adverse drug reactions and overall adverse drug reactions than the non-BCPPP group (P < 0.023 and P < 0.013, respectively). Conclusion: BCPPP interventions can improve symptom management.

SELNET clinical practice guidelines for bone sarcoma.

Bone sarcoma are infrequent diseases, representing < 0.2% of all adult neoplasms. A multidisciplinary management within reference centers for sarcoma, with discussion of the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies within an expert multidisciplinary tumour board, is essential for these patients, given its heterogeneity and low frequency. This approach leads to an improvement in patient's outcome, as demonstrated in several studies. The Sarcoma European Latin-American Network (SELNET), aims to improve clinical outcome in sarcoma care, with a special focus in Latin-American countries. These Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) have been developed and agreed by a multidisciplinary expert group (including medical and radiation oncologist, surgical oncologist, orthopaedic surgeons, radiologist, pathologist, molecular biologist and representatives of patients advocacy groups) of the SELNET consortium, and are conceived to provide the standard approach to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of bone sarcoma patients in the Latin-American context.

Accuracy in Facial Trustworthiness Impressions: Kernel of Truth or Modern Physiognomy? A Meta-Analysis.

Being able to identify trustworthy strangers is a critical social skill. However, whether such impressions are accurate is debatable. Critically, the field currently lacks a quantitative summary of the evidence. To address this gap, we conducted two meta-analyses. We tested whether there is a correlation between perceived and actual trustworthiness across faces, and whether perceivers show above-chance accuracy at assessing trustworthiness. Both meta-analyses revealed significant, modest accuracy (face level, r = .14; perceiver level, r = .27). Perceiver-level effects depended on domain, with aggressiveness and sexual unfaithfulness having stronger effects than agreeableness, criminality, financial reciprocity, and honesty. We also applied research weaving to map the literature, revealing potential biases, including a preponderance of Western studies, a lack of "cross-talk" between research groups, and clarity issues. Overall, this modest accuracy is unlikely to be of practical utility. Moreover, we strongly urge the field to improve reporting standards and generalizability of the results.

Tea crude extracts effectively inactivate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

It is well known that black and green tea extracts, particularly polyphenols, have antimicrobial activity against various pathogenic microbes including viruses. However, there is limited data on the antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged rapidly in China in late 2019 and which has been responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic globally. In this study, 20 compounds and three extracts were obtained from black and green tea and found that three tea extracts showed significant antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, whereby the viral titre decreased about 5 logs TCID50 per ml by 1·375 mg ml-1 black tea extract and two-fold diluted tea bag infusion obtained from black tea when incubated at 25°C for 10 s. However, when concentrations of black and green tea extracts were equally adjusted to 344 µg ml-1 , green tea extracts showed more antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. This simple and highly respected beverage may be a cheap and widely acceptable means to reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral burden in the mouth and upper gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts in developed as well as developing countries.

Structural variation of the 3-acetamido-4,5,6-trihydroxyazepane iminosugar through epimerization and C-alkylation leads to low micromolar HexAB and NagZ inhibitors.

We report the synthesis of seven-membered iminosugars derived from a 3S-acetamido-4R,5R,6S-trihydroxyazepane scaffold and their evaluation as inhibitors of functionally related exo-N-acetylhexosaminidases including human O-GlcNAcase (OGA), human lysosomal ß-hexosaminidase (HexAB), and Escherichia coli NagZ. Capitalizing on the flexibility of azepanes and the active site tolerances of hexosaminidases, we explore the effects of epimerization of stereocenters at C-3, C-5 and C-6 and C-alkylation at the C-2 or C-7 positions. Accordingly, epimerization at C-6 (L-ido) and at C-5 (D-galacto) led to selective HexAB inhibitors whereas introduction of a propyl group at C-7 on the C-3 epimer furnished a potent NagZ inhibitor.

Circular dichroism and resonance Raman spectroscopies of bacteriochlorophyll b-containing LH1-RC complexes.

The core light-harvesting complexes (LH1) in bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) b-containing purple phototrophic bacteria are characterized by a near-infrared absorption maximum around 1010 nm. The determinative cause for this ultra-redshift remains unclear. Here, we present results of circular dichroism (CD) and resonance Raman measurements on the purified LH1 complexes in a reaction center-associated form from a mesophilic and a thermophilic Blastochloris species. Both the LH1 complexes displayed purely positive CD signals for their Qy transitions, in contrast to those of BChl a-containing LH1 complexes. This may reflect differences in the conjugation system of the bacteriochlorin between BChl b and BChl a and/or the differences in the pigment organization between the BChl b- and BChl a-containing LH1 complexes. Resonance Raman spectroscopy revealed remarkably large redshifts of the Raman bands for the BChl b C3-acetyl group, indicating unusually strong hydrogen bonds formed with LH1 polypeptides, results that were verified by a published structure. A linear correlation was found between the redshift of the Raman band for the BChl C3-acetyl group and the change in LH1-Qy transition for all native BChl a- and BChl b-containing LH1 complexes examined. The strong hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions between BChl b and nearby aromatic residues in the LH1 polypeptides, along with the CD results, provide crucial insights into the spectral and structural origins for the ultra-redshift of the long-wavelength absorption maximum of BChl b-containing phototrophs.

In-vitro fertilisation-embryo-transfer complicates the antenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum using MRI: a retrospective analysis.

AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the antenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from 95 patients with placenta previa or low-lying placenta who underwent MRI at Osaka University Hospital for the antenatal diagnosis of PAS between January 2013 and December 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. The antenatal MRI signs suggesting PAS were assessed. Patients were divided into two groups depending on whether they were diagnosed with PAS. Factors that affected PAS diagnosis were identified using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of MRI for detecting PAS was as follows: 71.4% sensitivity, 96.4% specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.839 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-0.91). The diagnostic accuracy was lower in patients with in-vitro fertilisation with embryo transfer (IVF-ET): 22.2% sensitivity, 93.3% specificity, and AUC=0.578 (95% CI: 0.417-0.724). On multivariate analysis, only IVF-ET showed a significant association with false-positive or -negative MRI diagnosis of PAS (adjusted odds ratio: 26.5; 95% CI: 2.42-289.4; p=0.007). CONCLUSION: IVF-ET affects the antenatal diagnosis of PAS using MRI.

The clinical impact of preoperative body composition differs between male and female colorectal cancer patients.

AIM: Patient body composition is an important indicator of metabolic status and is associated with cancer progression. Because body composition varies between men and women, we aimed to examine the difference in clinical impact of preoperative body composition according to sex. METHOD: We used an integrated dataset of 559 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The association between preoperative body composition indices [body mass index (BMI), visceral to subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR) and skeletal muscle index (SMI)] and patient outcome, clinicopathological factors and preoperative inflammation and nutritional status was analysed, comparing men and women. RESULTS: Preoperative low BMI and low SMI in men was significantly associated with unfavourable overall survival (OS) [BMI: hazard ratio (HR) 2.22, 95% CI 1.28-4.14, P = 0.004; SMI: HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.61-4.07, P < 0.001] and high VSR in women was significantly associated with unfavourable OS (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.03-3.02, P = 0.040). Additionally, low SMI in men was significantly associated with deeper tumour invasion and greater distant metastasis and high VSR in women was significantly associated with advanced age, right-sided tumour, lower total lymphocyte count and lower albumin levels. Interestingly, low BMI in men was significantly associated with deeper tumour invasion, but also with favourable inflammation and nutritional status (lower C-reactive protein and higher albumin). CONCLUSION: The clinical impact of preoperative body composition differed between men and women: SMI in men and VSR in women were good prognosticators. Our findings may provide a novel insight for CRC treatment strategies.

Polymer gel with a flexible and highly ordered three-dimensional network synthesized via bond percolation.

Gels are a soft elastic material consisting of a three-dimensional polymer network with nanometer-sized pores and are used in a variety of applications. However, gel networks typically have a substantial level of defects because the network formation reaction proceeds stochastically. In this study, we present a general scheme to fabricate gels with extremely low levels of defects by applying geometric constraints into pregel solution based on the "bond percolation" concept. In the formed gel, stationary laser speckles, which are an indicator of spatial defects, were not observed at all. In addition, we found that the concentration fluctuations of the polymer chains were ergodic across the whole gel network. In such a homogeneous gel, both the spatial and temporal correlations of polymer chains are the same before and after gelation.

Fifteen-year survival of resin-bonded vs full-coverage fixed dental prostheses.

PURPOSE: We clarified cumulative survival and event-free rates of resin-bonded fixed dental prostheses (RBFDPs) and compared them to those of fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) to refine risk factors for non-survival/event and use of tooth extraction after the period of non-survival/event. METHODS: Study subjects were selected among all patients who consecutively attended the Fixed Prosthodontic Clinic of Okayama University Hospital. Eligible patients were those who received 3-unit metal-framed 2-retainer (wing-wing) RBFDPs or conventional full-coverage FDPs (RBFDPs/FDPs: 129/177 prostheses). Data were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis with the log-rank test, Mann-Whitney test, chi-square test, and Cox proportional hazards analysis. RESULTS: The 15-year cumulative survival rates were 66.5% for the RBFDP group and 61.6% for the FDP group, which were not significantly different (p = 0.59). The 15-year cumulative event-free rates were 53.4% for the RBFDP group and 59.2% for the FDP group, which were not significantly different (p = 0.52). No significant risk factors related to non-survival and event-free of RBFDPs/FDPs were identified in the analysis model using treatment method, sex, age, number of remaining teeth, and treatment site as explanatory variables. The number of cases in which RBFDPs/FDPs resulted in non-survival due to abutment tooth extraction was significantly lower in RBFDPs (p < 0.01). Further, the abutment tooth as a non-vital tooth was identified as a risk factor for RBFDPs/FDPs resulting in non-survival due to abutment tooth extraction. CONCLUSIONS: The present study is the first to indicate RBFDP as a prosthetic treatment option which should be selected for patients with slight or no abutment tooth decay.

Phylogeny and morphology of new species of Globisporangium.

An isolate originally obtained from pond water in Osaka in 1992 and identified as Pythium marsipium, was subsequently classified as Globisporangium marsipium. According to molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the internal transcribed spacer regions of the nuclear ribosomal RNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 genes, this isolate was shown to represent a new species, described here as G. lacustre sp. nov. In addition, two further new combinations are introduced in Globisporangium as G. camurandrum and G. takayamanum based on their DNA phylogeny.

The impact of preoperative anaemia and anaemic subtype on patient outcome in colorectal cancer.

AIM: Preoperative anaemia is associated with adverse outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). To clarify the reason for this we aimed to comprehensively assess the association of preoperative anaemia with tumour characteristics, host systemic inflammation and nutrition status, and perioperative blood transfusion. METHOD: We used an integrated database of 592 CRC patients. The association of preoperative anaemic subtype, calculated from haemoglobin and erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume levels, with patient outcome, preoperative serum data relating to systemic inflammation and nutrition and perioperative blood transfusion was analysed. RESULTS: Preoperative anaemia was significantly associated with poorer overall survival and relapse-free survival (RFS); in particular microcytic anaemia had a trend to poorer RFS than other forms of anaemia (P = 0.0648). In addition, preoperative anaemia was significantly correlated with right-sided tumours, greater depth of tumour invasion, use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, poorer prognostic nutritional index and higher modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS). Microcytic anaemia in particular had a strong association with a greater depth of tumour invasion (P = 0.0072) and higher mGPS (P = 0.0058) than other causes of anaemia. Perioperative blood transfusion for CRC patients with anaemia was associated with adverse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative anaemia, especially microcytic anaemia, was associated with poor patient outcomes, possibly due to poor systemic inflammatory and nutritional status, and it was not improved by perioperative blood transfusion. Our data suggest that preoperative anaemia and the anaemic subtype may serve as an easily available predictor of outcome in CRC.

Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to fit expected patterns for STEM.

Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects. According to the 'variability hypothesis', this over-representation of males is driven by gender differences in variance; greater male variability leads to greater numbers of men who exceed the performance threshold. Here, we use recent meta-analytic advances to compare gender differences in academic grades from over 1.6 million students. In line with previous studies we find strong evidence for lower variation among girls than boys, and of higher average grades for girls. However, the gender differences in both mean and variance of grades are smaller in STEM than non-STEM subjects, suggesting that greater variability is insufficient to explain male over-representation in STEM. Simulations of these differences suggest the top 10% of a class contains equal numbers of girls and boys in STEM, but more girls in non-STEM subjects.

The repeatability of cognitive performance: a meta-analysis.

Behavioural and cognitive processes play important roles in mediating an individual's interactions with its environment. Yet, while there is a vast literature on repeatable individual differences in behaviour, relatively little is known about the repeatability of cognitive performance. To further our understanding of the evolution of cognition, we gathered 44 studies on individual performance of 25 species across six animal classes and used meta-analysis to assess whether cognitive performance is repeatable. We compared repeatability (R) in performance (1) on the same task presented at different times (temporal repeatability), and (2) on different tasks that measured the same putative cognitive ability (contextual repeatability). We also addressed whether R estimates were influenced by seven extrinsic factors (moderators): type of cognitive performance measurement, type of cognitive task, delay between tests, origin of the subjects, experimental context, taxonomic class and publication status. We found support for both temporal and contextual repeatability of cognitive performance, with mean R estimates ranging between 0.15 and 0.28. Repeatability estimates were mostly influenced by the type of cognitive performance measures and publication status. Our findings highlight the widespread occurrence of consistent inter-individual variation in cognition across a range of taxa which, like behaviour, may be associated with fitness outcomes.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'.

Fixed-effect variance and the estimation of repeatabilities and heritabilities: issues and solutions.

Linear mixed-effects models are frequently used for estimating quantitative genetic parameters, including the heritability, as well as the repeatability, of traits. Heritability acts as a filter that determines how efficiently phenotypic selection translates into evolutionary change, whereas repeatability informs us about the individual consistency of phenotypic traits. As quantities of biological interest, it is important that the denominator, the phenotypic variance in both cases, reflects the amount of phenotypic variance in the relevant ecological setting. The current practice of quantifying heritabilities and repeatabilities from mixed-effects models frequently deprives their denominator of variance explained by fixed effects (often leading to upward bias of heritabilities and repeatabilities), and it has been suggested to omit fixed effects when estimating heritabilities in particular. We advocate an alternative option of fitting models incorporating all relevant effects, while including the variance explained by fixed effects into the estimation of the phenotypic variance. The approach is easily implemented and allows optimizing the estimation of phenotypic variance, for example by the exclusion of variance arising from experimental design effects while still including all biologically relevant sources of variation. We address the estimation and interpretation of heritabilities in situations in which potential covariates are themselves heritable traits of the organism. Furthermore, we discuss complications that arise in generalized and nonlinear mixed models with fixed effects. In these cases, the variance parameters on the data scale depend on the location of the intercept and hence on the scaling of the fixed effects. Integration over the biologically relevant range of fixed effects offers a preferred solution in those situations.