Uncomfortable staring? Gaze to other people in social situations is inhibited in both infants and adults.

People attract infants' and adults' gaze when presented on a computer screen. However, in live social situations, adults inhibit their gaze at strangers to avoid sending inappropriate social signals. Such inhibition of gaze has never been directly investigated in infants. The current preregistered study measured gaze and neural responses (EEG alpha power) to a confederate in a live social situation compared to a video of this confederate. Adults looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, although their neural responses suggest that they were overall equally attentive in both situations. Infants also looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, with similar neural response patterns. The gaze difference between live social and video situations increased with age. The study shows that young infants are already sensitive to social context and show decreased gaze to strangers in social situations. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This study shows that infants and adults look more at a video of a stranger than at a stranger that is present live in a social situation. Neural responses suggest that adults are equally attentive in both live and video situations but inhibit their gaze at the stranger in live social situations. Infants show a similar pattern of shorter gaze at a stranger who is present in person than at a video of this stranger. The study shows that gaze in infants and adults may diverge from cognitive processes measured through EEG, highlighting the importance of combining behavioural and neural measures in natural interactions.

Core hyphosphere microbiota of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum.

BACKGROUND: Bacteria and fungi are dynamically interconnected, leading to beneficial or antagonistic relationships with plants. Within this interkingdom interaction, the microbial community directly associated with the pathogen make up the pathobiome. While the overall soil bacterial community associated with Fusarium wilt diseases has been widely examined, the specific bacterial populations that directly interact with the Fusarium wilt pathogens are yet to be discovered. In this study, we define the bacterial community associated with the hyphae of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum race 2 (FON2). Using the 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, we describe the hyphosphere pathobiome of three isolates of FON2. RESULTS: Our results show a core microbiome that is shared among the three tested hyphospheres. The core hyphosphere community was made up of 15 OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Units) that were associated with all three FON2 isolates. This core consisted of bacterial members of the families, Oxalobacteraceae, Propionibacteriaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Micrococcaceae, Bacillaceae, Comamonadaceae, Pseudomonadaceae and unclassified bacteria. The hyphosphere of FON2 was dominated by order Burkholderiales. While all three isolate hyphospheres were dominated by these taxa, the specific OTU differed. We also note that while the dominant OTU of one hyphosphere might not be the largest OTU for other hyphospheres, they were still present across all the three isolate hyphospheres. Additionally, in the correlation and co-occurrence analysis the most abundant OTU was negatively correlated with most of the other OTU populations within the hyphosphere. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates a core microbiota associated with FON2. These results provide insights into the microbe-microbe dynamic of the pathogen's success and its ability to recruit a core pathobiome. Our research promotes the concept of pathogens not being lone invaders but recruits from the established host microbiome to form a pathobiome.

Comparative three-dimensional jaw muscle anatomy of marsupial carnivores (Dasyurus spp.) and the termite-eating numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus).

Among marsupials, the endangered numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is the only obligate myrmecophage with a diet comprised strictly of termites. Like many other specialised myrmecophagous mammals, numbats have a gracile and highly specialised skull morphology with an elongated rostrum and small braincase. Myrmecobiidae is one of four taxonomic families within the Australasian marsupial order Dasyuromorphia, and to date, the muscular anatomy of any member of this group is relatively poorly known. We utilised microdissection and contrast-enhanced microcomputed tomography scanning to provide the first comprehensive qualitative and quantitative descriptions of jaw muscle anatomy in numbats and quolls (Dasuyrus species). The arrangement of the jaw muscles across these species was conservative, both in gross anatomy and muscle proportions, corresponding to a 'generalised' mammalian pattern. In contrast to Dasyurus, the jaw muscles of the numbat were greatly reduced. Many aspects of the muscle anatomy of the numbat were similar to patterns reported in other myrmecophagous species, particularly a greatly reduced temporalis muscle. Unusually, the digastric muscle in the numbat was comprised of a single, large anterior belly while the posterior belly was absent. We propose that the enlarged anterior belly of the digastric may be linked to jaw stabilisation and coordination of tongue movements during feeding. The lateral insertion and fascial connection of the digastric to the tongue in numbats may also aid in distributing stress evenly across the jaw and minimise muscle fatigue. The muscle descriptions and three-dimensional models provided in this study will facilitate further analysis of musculoskeletal adaptation and evolution within the Dasyuromorphia.

Utilização da pressão positiva contínua nas vias aéreas na insuficiência cardíaca e apneia obstrutiva do sono. Revisão sistemática de ensaios clínicos / Utilization of continuous positive airway pressure in heart failure and obstructive sleep apnea. Systematic review of clinical trials

Introdução. Pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca (IC) portadores de apneia obstrutiva do sono (AOS) tem taxas de morbi mortalidade elevados e o tratamento com a pressão positiva contínua nas vias aéreas (CPAP) pode reduzir estes riscos. Objetivo geral. Realizar uma revisão sistemática de ensaios clínicos randomizados sobre os efeitos da terapia por CPAP em pacientes com IC portadores de AOS. Fontes de informação. Pesquisamos as bases de dados eletrônicas PubMed, Embase, Web of Science e Lilacs nos últimos 10 anos, sem limites de linguagem. Critérios de elegibilidade. Ensaios clínicos randomizados, estudos de pacientes com IC apresentando fração de ejeção do ventrículo esquerdo (FEVE) reduzida (<50%) portadores de apneia obstrutiva do sono e que fossem tratados com CPAP. Resultados. A FEVE aumentou consideravelmente nos grupos que receberam a terapia por CPAP (média basal: 30,6%; média pós CPAP: 36,7%), assim como a saturação de oxigênio (SaO2) (média basal: 94%; média pós CPAP: 95,3%) e houve redução no índice de apneia/hipopneia (média basal: 39,6; média pós CPAP: 12,3). Conclusões. Nossa revisão sistemática de ensaios clínicos randomizados confirma que a terapia por CPAP em pacientes com IC portadores de AOS melhora variáveis preditoras de morbi mortalidade.