Interplay between acetylation and ubiquitination of imitation switch chromatin remodeler Isw1 confers multidrug resistance in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Cryptococcus neoformans poses a threat to human health, but anticryptococcal therapy is hampered by the emergence of drug resistance, whose underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Herein, we discovered that Isw1, an imitation switch chromatin remodeling ATPase, functions as a master modulator of genes responsible for in vivo and in vitro multidrug resistance in C. neoformans. Cells with the disrupted ISW1 gene exhibited profound resistance to multiple antifungal drugs. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that Isw1 is both acetylated and ubiquitinated, suggesting that an interplay between these two modification events exists to govern Isw1 function. Mutagenesis studies of acetylation and ubiquitination sites revealed that the acetylation status of Isw1K97 coordinates with its ubiquitination processes at Isw1K113 and Isw1K441 through modulating the interaction between Isw1 and Cdc4, an E3 ligase. Additionally, clinical isolates of C. neoformans overexpressing the degradation-resistant ISW1K97Q allele showed impaired drug-resistant phenotypes. Collectively, our studies revealed a sophisticated acetylation-Isw1-ubiquitination regulation axis that controls multidrug resistance in C. neoformans.

Thymic mimicry: The art of imitation.

Display of tissue self-antigens within the thymus is critical for the regulation of self-reactive T cells. In this issue of JEM, Michelson et al. (2023. J. Exp. Med.https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20230461) continue to advance our understanding of self-antigen representation by medullary thymic epithelial cells, identifying a new role for Hnf4γ in the regulation of thymic mimetic cells as well as their peripheral counterparts.

Analysis and Recognition of Voluntary Facial Expression Mimicry Based on Depressed Patients.

Many clinical studies have shown that facial expression recognition and cognitive function are impaired in depressed patients. Different from spontaneous facial expression mimicry (SFEM), 164 subjects (82 in a case group and 82 in a control group) participated in our voluntary facial expression mimicry (VFEM) experiment using expressions of neutrality, anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. Our research is as follows. First, we collected a large amount of subject data for VFEM. Second, we extracted the geometric features of subject facial expression images for VFEM and used Spearman correlation analysis, a random forest, and logistic regression-based recursive feature elimination (LR-RFE) to perform feature selection. The features selected revealed the difference between the case group and the control group. Third, we combined geometric features with the original images and improved the advanced deep learning facial expression recognition (FER) algorithms in different systems. We propose the E-ViT and E-ResNet based on VFEM. The accuracies and F1 scores were higher than those of the baseline models, respectively. Our research proved that it is effective to use feature selection to screen geometric features and combine them with a deep learning model for depression facial expression recognition.

Implementing a tertiary survey in the emergency general surgery population: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

OBJECTIVES: The inherent complexity of the Emergency General Surgery (EGS) patient may preclude precise documentation at admission. To obviate lapses in documentation, an EGS tertiary survey (EGS-TS) was developed to enable early recognition of relevant omissions in documentation and clinical findings. We theorized that the creation of the EGS-TS would promote more thorough clinical documentation. METHODS: A prospective observational study was performed utilizing an EGS-TS from February 2019 through May 2019. The EGS-TS included physical exam, medication reconciliation, analysis of documentation for accuracy, and review of diagnostic imaging for incidental findings. RESULTS: There were 139 EGS admissions during the study period and 108 (78%) received an EGS-TS. Of those who received the EGS-TS, incorrect medication reconciliations (72%), incidental findings (12%), undocumented wounds (11%), and undocumented indwelling catheters were identified (6%). CONCLUSION: Implementation of an EGS-TS triggers a detailed evaluation and reveals opportunities for education, improved adherence to documentation standards, and further research that may guide quality improvement initiatives.

Construction of a Pig Alveolar Cleft Model in Imitation of Cleft Lip and Palate Congenital Deformity.

Alveolar cleft repair is a key step in multiple disciplinary treatment for patients with cleft lip/and palate. Although autologous bone grafting has been used worldwide over the past half century, alternative advanced techniques, such as the use of bone substitutes and guided tissue regeneration, have shown their great potentials and have been recommended by a growing number of physicians and surgeons. The employment of new therapeutic approaches and devices in clinical routine requires tremendous experimental efforts and appropriate animal models with similar sizes and sites of deformity to that of human both anatomically and physiologically. The aim of this study is to develop a juvenile porcine model with surgically created alveolar clefts imitating congenital alveolar cleft in the cleft lip and palate. Alveolar defects between second incisor and canine were surgically created in two miniature pigs (unilateral cleft in P1 and P2); bilateral alveolar defects were surgically created between first and third incisor in one miniature pig (P3) using piezo surgery. Pigs were sacrificed (P1 at 1 month after the surgery and P2 at 3 months postoperatively) and the evaluation of defects were performed by assessing result from the computed tomography (CT) scan and histopathological examination. Postoperative CT scan results showed that the size of the defect remained the same, whereas the edge of the defect became irregular 3 months after the surgery. In all pig subjects, histopathological examination found no sign of osteogenesis in the area of defect, indicating that our surgical procedure was successful in establishing porcine models for alveolar cleft in congenital cleft lip and palate. In conclusion, we developed alveolar cleft in porcine models to mimic the size, site, and environment of congenital alveolar cleft in cleft lip and palate. The novel animal model can be employed in pilot studies for the purpose of optimizing the current surgical treatment techniques as well as developing new treatment procedures and test the bone substitute materials. The bilateral model can be applied in further control studies. Impact statement Cancellous iliac bone graft was the most popular surgical technique as well as the gold standard to reconstruct alveolar cleft. Nevertheless, several disadvantages exist regarding the additional surgical field of donor side and delayed age of alveolar bone grafting. Bone tissue-engineered strategy offers a promising alternative to address the gap in the current limitation of autologous bone to treat the growing craniofacial skeleton. Among different species of laboratory animals, porcine is suitable for oral and maxillofacial bone and implant-related research, where alveolar defect can be surgically developed simulating the size and site of alveolar cleft occurring together with cleft lip and palate. In this proposal, a reproducible porcine model of alveolar bone defect imitating congenital alveolar cleft during craniofacial growing stage is successfully constructed that will show great potential application in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The model for bilateral alveolar cleft can be potentially applied in a controlled study in future.

The importance of peer imitation on smoking initiation over time: a dynamical systems approach.

A recent Institute of Medicine Report calls for explicit modeling of smoking initiation, cessation and addiction processes. We introduce a model of smoking initiation that explicitly teases out the percentage of initiation due to social pressures, which we call "peer-imitation," and the percentage due to other factors, such as media ads, family smoking, and psychological factors, which we call "self-initiation." We propose a dynamic non-linear behavioral contagion model of smoking initiation and employ data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to estimate the relative contributions of imitation and self-initiation to the overall smoking initiation process. Although the percent of total smoking due to peer imitation has been trending downward over time, it remains higher than the percent due to self-initiation. We note unexpected changes for the 2007 cohort, and we discuss possible implications for intervention and for the spread of e-cigarettes.

Development and mechanical properties of straw-polyethylene imitation rattan material with wheat straw fibre.

A new type of imitation rattan was developed via a two-step method that used modified wheat straw as the raw materials and low-density polyethylene to make up wood plastic composite. Post-modification, a graft condensation reaction was carried out between silane as a coupling agent and wheat straw powder, which improved the thermal stability of the composite. A high level of contact and interaction at the fibre-matrix interface was observed. The optimum formula for the first step was 80% wheat straw powder, 4% silane coupling agent, and 16% calcium carbonate, with a modification temperature of 120 °C sustained for 10 min. For the second step, the mechanical properties had been greatly improved with the addition of modified wheat straw fibre and maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MA-g-PP). The use of 10% modified straw fibre and 5% MA-g-PP exhibited the highest tensile strength (8.75 MPa) and highest melt index (2.86 g/10 min). In particular, the MA-g-PP had an extremely advantage to the elastic modulus of wheat straw imitation rattan. The elastic modulus reached the maximum value of 2761.70 MPa at the amount of MA-g-PP added reached 5%. Our present study indicated the innovation of a new type of imitation rattan, which provides a new choice for utilizing wheat straw as industrial raw material, and other agricultural by-products containing liginocellulose could be used in a similar way.

Ectopic Prostate Tissue Presenting as Urinary Bladder Tumor: The Imitation Game!

Ectopic prostate tissue is a rare phenomenon. Histologically and immunohistochemically it is indistinguishable from normal prostatic tissue but it is difficult to recognize and may be confused with malignancy when presenting as ectopic lesion in the urinary system. Therefore, awareness of this entity is essential for both urologists and pathologists to prevent misdiagnosis.

The imitation game: How glioblastoma outmaneuvers immune attack.

Immune evasion and resistance to immunotherapy mark major roadblocks in treating glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer. In this issue of Cell, Gangoso et al. demonstrate that the immune microenvironment drives glioblastoma cells to hijack myeloid-characteristic transcriptional and epigenetic circuits as a mode of immune evasion.

Immune imitation of tumor progression after anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cells treatment in aggressive B-cell lymphoma.

We present three patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma (NHL) who received anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells therapy after failure of several lines of chemotherapy that developed pseudo-progression. One-week clinical and radiological findings were consistent with tumor progression. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) at 1 month post CAR T cells administration was consistent with treatment response. The rapid tumor growth and subsequent resolution are suggestive of tumor pseudo-progression mediated secondary to infiltration and immune activation of CAR T cells. Overall, 56 adult patients with NHL were enrolled in a phase 1b/2 in house clinical study with CD19 CAR T cells. Out of them 22/56 patients progressed as per PET-CT the 1 month post CAR T cells. In 14 patients, signs of progression started 7-10 days after CAR T cells infusion. In 11/14 patients, it was true progression, while in 3 it was pseudo-progression. Additional studies are warranted to describe the extent of this phenomenon and evaluate correlation with the CAR T activity and long-term disease control.

Significados da dinâmica familiar por homens que reproduziram a violência doméstica / Significado de la dinámica familiar por hombres que reprodujeron la violencia doméstica / Meanings of family dynamics by men who reproduced domestic violence

Resumo Objetivo: Analisar os significados atribuídos à dinâmica familiar por homens que reproduziram a violência doméstica vivenciada na infância. Métodos: Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa guiada à luz do Interacionismo Simbólico. Procurou-se conhecer a história oral de homens em processo jurídico junto à 2ᵃ Vara de Justiça pela Paz em Casa, situada no município de Salvador, Bahia, Brasil. Para tanto, utilizou-se entrevistas, as quais foram transcritas, textualizadas e transcriadas. A organização dos dados se deu com base na Análise de Conteúdo Temática. Resultados: As narrativas revelam que a interpretação das experiências de agressões físicas, psicológicas, negligência e testemunho da violência conjugal entre os pais na infância direcionou a construção dos significados de que a dinâmica familiar deve ser pautada no controle e dominação masculina sobre a esposa e filhos, princípios que nortearam os relacionamentos familiares na fase adulta. Conclusão: As histórias remetem para o significado de que a dinâmica familiar deve ser delineada com base na divisão sexual dos papéis, sendo o homem considerado o provedor e autoridade máxima da casa e a mulher responsável pelo cuidado dos filhos. Nota-se ainda a simbologia de que a interação entre pai e filhos deve ser estabelecida de maneira rude e severa. Estes significados predispõem à reprodução da violência durante a vida adulta, o que demonstra a importância de ações que viabilizem a ressignificação das interações familiares violentas, preferencialmente ainda na fase da infância.

Resumen Objetivo: Analizar el significado atribuido a la dinámica familiar por hombres que reprodujeron la violencia doméstica vivida en la infancia. Métodos: Se trata de un estudio cualitativo guiado según el interaccionismo simbólico. Se buscó conocer la historia oral de hombres en proceso judicial en el 2° Tribunal de Justica por la Paz en Casa, situado en el municipio de Salvador, estado de Bahia, Brasil. Para eso, se utilizaron entrevistas que fueron transcriptas, textualizadas y transcreadas. La organización de los datos se realizó con base en el análisis de contenido temático. Resultados: Las narrativas revelan que la interpretación de las experiencias de agresiones físicas, psicológicas, negligencia y testigo de la violencia conyugal entre los padres en la infancia llevó a la elaboración del significado de que la dinámica familiar debe estar marcada por el control y dominación masculina sobre la esposa e hijos, principios que guían las relaciones familiares en la fase adulta. Conclusión: Las historias remiten al significado de que la dinámica familiar debe estar definida con base en la división sexual de los roles, en que el hombre es considerado proveedor y autoridad máxima de la casa y la mujer responsable del cuidado de los hijos. Además, se observó la simbología de que la interacción entre padre e hijo debe establecerse de forma grosera y severa. Estos significados predisponen a la reproducción de la violencia durante la vida adulta, lo que demuestra la importancia de acciones que posibiliten la resignificación de las intervenciones familiares violentas, preferentemente aún en la fase de la infancia.

Abstract Objective: To analyze the meanings attributed to family dynamics by men who reproduced domestic violence suffered in their childhood. Methods: This is a qualitative research guided in the light of Symbolic Interactionism. We sought to know the oral history of men under criminal prosecutions before the 2ndCourt of Justice for Peace at Home, located in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. To this end, interviews were used, which were transcribed, textualized and transcribed. Data organization was based on content analysis. Results: The statements reveal that interpreting physical, psychological aggression, neglect and witness of domestic violence experiences between parents in childhood directed constructing the meanings that family dynamics must be based on male control and domination over the wife and children, principles that guided family relationships in adulthood. Conclusion: The stories refer to the meaning that family dynamics must be delineated based on sexual division of roles, with men being considered providers and maximum authority of the house, and women, responsible for children care. It is also noted the symbology that father-children interaction must be established in a rude and severe way. These meanings predispose to reproducing violence during adulthood, which demonstrates the importance of actions that make it possible to redefine violent family interactions, preferably still in childhood.

Neuroestrogen synthesis modifies neural representations of learned song without altering vocal imitation in developing songbirds.

Birdsong learning, like human speech, depends on the early memorization of auditory models, yet how initial auditory experiences are formed and consolidated is unclear. In songbirds, a putative cortical locus is the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), and one mechanism to facilitate auditory consolidation is 17ß-estradiol (E2), which is associated with human speech-language development, and is abundant in both NCM and human temporal cortex. Circulating and NCM E2 levels are dynamic during learning, suggesting E2's involvement in encoding recent auditory experiences. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis in juvenile male songbirds using a comprehensive assessment of neuroanatomy, behavior, and neurophysiology. First, we found that brain aromatase expression, and thus the capacity to synthesize neuroestrogens, remains high in the auditory cortex throughout development. Further, while systemic estrogen synthesis blockade suppressed juvenile song production, neither systemic nor unilateral E2 synthesis inhibition in NCM disrupted eventual song imitation. Surprisingly, early life neuroestrogen synthesis blockade in NCM enhanced the neural representations of both the birds' own song and the tutor song in NCM and a downstream sensorimotor region, HVC, respectively. Taken together, these findings indicate that E2 plays a multifaceted role during development, and that, contrary to prediction, tutor song memorization is unimpaired by unilateral estrogen synthesis blockade in the auditory cortex.

A Comprehensive Artificial Sweat Study for Quantitation of Nickel and Other Inorganic Elements Released from Imitation Earrings Purchased in Istanbul Market.

Element sensitization is frequent cause of allergic contact dermatitis, and Ni is the main reason for this condition owing to daily use of different Ni-containing items. European Union established a limit of 0.2 µg/cm2/week Ni release for the items by the Ni Directive in 2004. The aim of this study was to determine the amount of element release of imitation earrings sold in different points of Istanbul with different prices and consider the element release levels including 29 trace and toxic elements. After calculation of released nickel amounts, 31.80% of earrings (71 of 223) were observed over the limit of European Commission Directive's migration limit. Minimum and maximum nickel release amounts were found as 0.21 and 30.11 µg/cm2/week, respectively, and mean level was found 3.24 µg/cm2/week among 71 positive earrings. Results showed that essential part of imitation earrings used especially by women release nickel particles over the European Commission Directive's migration limit. In addition, other elements such as Cu, Cr, and Co were found to be in the structure of the imitation earrings, as well as high amounts of toxic element Pb.

Copycat of dynamic facial expressions: Superior volitional motor control for expressions of disgust.

In social situations facial expressions are often strategically employed. Despite the many research on motor control of limb movements, little is known about the control over facial expressions. Using a response-priming task, we investigated motor control over three facial expressions, smiles, disgust and emotionally neutral jaw drops. Prime stimuli consisted of videos of a facial expression to be prepared or - as a neutral prime - an abstract symbol superimposed to a scrambled face. In valid trials an equal symbol (=) indicated to produce the primed expression. In invalid trials, an unequal symbol (‡) prompted participants to produce an alternative, unprimed expression. We examined the impact of emotion in preparing and revoking a prepared expression, and possible facilitation for dynamic facial expressions relative to symbolic primes. Participants' facial responses were scored using automated analyses of facial expressions with computer software. The underlying neurocognitive processes were tracked with event-related-potentials. Reprogramming costs, in the form of longer reaction times (RTs) in trials where participants had prepared an invalidly primed expression and had to quickly switch to the correct one, were more pronounced for smiles and jaw drops than for disgust, possibly indicating the need for being fast when showing disgust. Data from the P3 component related the behavioral effect to a more efficient updating of the correct response in brain systems responsible for motor control. Priming participants with dynamic facial expressions as examples for imitation, improved performance accuracy as compared to the symbolic abstract stimuli, but it not did affect RTs. Priming with dynamic videos also resulted in larger validity effects of the P3 component when disgust was the target response, indicating that the perceptual system might trigger automatic emotional responses, at least for negative affect.

Peer effects on adolescent smoking: Are popular teens more influential?

Previous research on adolescent cigarette adoption has focused on peer influence and the perceived status gain from smoking but has ignored the status effects on peer influence. We analyze adolescent peer effects on cigarette consumption while considering the popularity of peers. The analysis is based on a four wave panel survey representative of American high school students. We measure peers' popularity by their eigenvector centrality in high school social networks. Using lagged peers' behavior, school fixed effects, and instrumental variables to control for homophily and contextual confounds, we find that the probability of smoking the following year increases with the mean popularity of smokers, while the popularity of non-smokers has the opposite effect. These effects persist seven and fourteen years later (wave 3 and 4 of the data). In addition, the probability of smoking increases with the smoking propensity of the 20% most popular teens and decreases with the smoking propensity of the bottom 80%. The results indicate the importance of knowing not only the smoking propensity within a school but also the location of smokers within the social hierarchy.

Lack of Automatic Imitation in Newly Sighted Individuals.

Viewing a hand action performed by another person facilitates a response-compatible action and slows a response-incompatible one, even when the viewed action is irrelevant to the task. This automatic imitation effect is taken as the clearest evidence for a direct mapping between action viewing and motor performance. But there is an ongoing debate whether this effect is innate or experience dependent. We tackled this issue by studying a unique group of newly sighted children who suffered from dense bilateral cataracts from early infancy and were surgically treated only years later. The newly sighted children were less affected by viewing task-irrelevant actions than were control children, even 2 years after the cataract-removal surgery. This strongly suggests that visually guided motor experience is necessary for the development of automatic imitation. At the very least, our results indicate that if imitation is based on innate mechanisms, these are clearly susceptible to long periods of visual deprivation.

Age mimicry. A perspective on the young-old.

This essay proposes drawing on Homi K. Bhabha's concept of colonial mimicry to theorize the young-old's imitation of midlife. Bhabha states: "colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of a difference that is almost the same, but not quite". On an abstract level, similarities can be found in what is expected of the young-old: the young-old are to orient themselves towards middle-age norms, yet only to a certain degree and only when respecting the allegedly natural differences between the ages of life. Thus, the young-old are considered to be almost the same as the middle-aged, but 'not quite'; with this slight deviation the young-old in fact embody a distorted picture of the latter that causes irritation: through age mimicry midlife norms are not only affirmed but questioned. The paper focuses on the ambivalence in this position of the young-old, exploring examples from different contexts: styling, cosmetic surgery, and the world of work.

Gender differences in the pathways of family factors influencing children's oral health behaviours: a cross-sectional study of primary school students in Beijing, China.

OBJECTIVE: Research on what family factors influence children's oral health behaviours (COHB) in developing countries is limited, and there have been no path analyses accounting for gender differences in these factors. Thus, our study evaluated gender differences in COHB including the influencing pathways of family factors in China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through multistage cluster sampling, 915 pairs of mothers and children from six public elementary schools in Beijing completed self-administered questionnaires regarding COHB, parents' modelling behaviours (PMB), parents' controlling behaviours (PCB), parents' oral health knowledge and attitudes (PKA), and children's oral health knowledge and attitudes (CKA). The influencing factors were analysed using path analysis. RESULTS: Compared with boys, girls showed significantly better performance in drinking less carbonated drinks regularly (8.6% vs. 16.9%). For both genders, PMB shad a significant direct influence on COHB, while PKA had an indirect influence through PMB. In the boys' model, PKA indirectly influenced COHB through CKA. In the girls' model, socioeconomic status had a positive direct effect on COHB. CONCLUSIONS: The gender differences were not as large as expected. Given that slightly different influential factors for COHB exist between boys and girls, interventions should take note of the similarities and differences in pathways.

The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media.

We investigated a unique way in which adolescent peer influence occurs on social media. We developed a novel functional MRI (fMRI) paradigm to simulate Instagram, a popular social photo-sharing tool, and measured adolescents' behavioral and neural responses to likes, a quantifiable form of social endorsement and potential source of peer influence. Adolescents underwent fMRI while viewing photos ostensibly submitted to Instagram. They were more likely to like photos depicted with many likes than photos with few likes; this finding showed the influence of virtual peer endorsement and held for both neutral photos and photos of risky behaviors (e.g., drinking, smoking). Viewing photos with many (compared with few) likes was associated with greater activity in neural regions implicated in reward processing, social cognition, imitation, and attention. Furthermore, when adolescents viewed risky photos (as opposed to neutral photos), activation in the cognitive-control network decreased. These findings highlight possible mechanisms underlying peer influence during adolescence.