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Salicylic acid (SA) is produced by plants in response to pathogen infection. SA binds the NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES (NPR) family of receptors to regulate both positive (NPR1) and negative (NPR3/4) plant immune responses by interacting with the clade II TGACG (TGA) motif-binding transcription factors (TGA2, TGA5, and TGA6). Here, we report that the principal metabolome-level response to SA treatment in Arabidopsis is a reduction in sucrose and other free sugars. We observed nearly identical effects in the tga256 triple mutant, which lacks all clade II TGA transcription factors. The tga256 mutant presents reduced leaf blade development and elongated hypocotyls, roots, and petioles consistent with sucrose starvation. No changes were detected in auxin levels, and mutant seedling growth could be restored to that of wild-type by sucrose supplementation. Although the retrograde signal 2- C -methyl-D-erythritol-2,4-cyclodiphosphate is known to stimulate SA biosynthesis and defense signaling, we detected no negative feedback by SA on this or any other intermediate of the 2- C -methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate pathway. Trehalose, a proxy for the sucrose regulator trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), was highly reduced in tga256 , suggesting that defense-related reductions in sugar availability may be controlled by changes in T6P levels. We conclude that the negative regulatory roles of TGA2/5/6 include maintaining sucrose levels in healthy plants. Disruption of TGA2/5/6-NPR3/4 inhibitory complexes by mutation or SA triggers sucrose reductions in Arabidopsis leaves, consistent with the 'pathogen starvation' hypothesis. These findings highlight sucrose availability as a mechanism by which TGA2/5/6 balance defense and development.

Background: Cigarette smoking and alcohol use are well known to be concomitant behaviors, but there is a lack of studies related to recruitment of smokers for mobile cessation services at places where alcohol is consumed, such as bars and clubs. Adapting recruitment strategies to expand the reach of cessation programs to where tobacco users are located may help decrease the health-equity gap in tobacco control by improving reach and enrollment of underserved smokers residing in low-income and rural areas who are not reached by traditional cessation services., Objective: The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the feasibility of direct outreach in bars, clubs, and restaurants to recruit smokers to Quitxt, our mobile smoking cessation service. Quitxt is delivered through SMS text messaging or Facebook Messenger., Methods: We collaborated with an advertising agency to conduct in-person recruitment of young adult smokers aged 18-29 years, focusing on urban and rural Spanish-speaking Latino participants, as well as English-speaking rural White and African American participants. Street team members were recruited and trained in a 4-hour session, including a brief introduction to the public health impacts of cigarette smoking and the aims of the project. The street teams made direct, face-to-face contact with smokers in and near smoking areas at 25 bars, clubs, and other venues frequented by young smokers in urban San Antonio and nearby rural areas., Results: The 3923 interactions by the street teams produced 335 (8.5%) program enrollments. Most participants were English speakers with a mean age of 29.2 (SD 10.6) years and smoked a mean of 8.5 (SD 6.2) cigarettes per day. Among users who responded to questions on gender and ethnicity, 66% (70/106) were women and 56% (60/107) were Hispanic/Latino. Among users ready to make a quit attempt, 22% (17/77) reported 1 tobacco-free day and 16% (10/62) reported maintaining cessation to achieve 1 week without smoking. The response rate to later follow-up questions was low., Conclusions: Direct outreach in bars and clubs is a useful method for connecting young adult cigarette smokers with mobile cessation services. However, further research is needed to learn more about how mobile services can influence long-term smoking cessation among those recruited through direct outreach, as well as to test the use of incentives in obtaining more useful response rates., (©Patricia Chalela, Alfred L McAlister, Cliff Despres, Edgar Muñoz, Pramod Sukumaran, David Akopian, Sahak Kaghyan, Jesus Trujillo, Amelie G Ramirez. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 02.06.2022.)

Given how smart phones, internet services, and social media have shown great potential for assisting smoking cessation, we constructed a Facebook chat application based on our previous work with SMS texting services. This report summarizes findings from 2,364 Spanish-speaking young adults recruited through Facebook advertising in South Texas during the 2020 New Year holiday season. Among these service users, 926 (39%) were ready to make a quit attempt, and 26 (3.1%) of those users reported that they were tobacco free 1 month later. There were no responses to a chat question survey 72 days after the dates selected for quitting. Although more research with longer follow up is needed, these findings show that social media chat applications may be helpful for at least prompting quit attempts and short-term cessation among young adult Spanish-speaking smokers. There is no evidence of an impact on long-term cessation, and more research is clearly needed.

Promoting coronavirus vaccination is deterred by misinformation, ranging from elaborate conspiracy theories about sinister purposes to exaggeration of side effects, largely promulgated by social media. In this pilot study, we tested the effects of different messages on actions leading to vaccination. Two theory-based advertisements were produced for Facebook, which provided video testimonials from peer role models recommending vaccination and its benefits while providing psychological inoculation through the models' acknowledging misinformation, rejecting it and receiving the vaccine. These ads were paid to appear on Facebook users' feeds in rural counties in South Texas, along with a generic vaccine promotion ad from the CDC without peer models or psychological inoculation. Ad viewers could click a link to 'find a vaccine near you'; these responses served as the outcome variable for assessing experimental effects. Ads featuring peer modeling with psychological inoculation yielded a significantly higher rate of positive responses than CDC ads (30.5 versus14.9/1000 people reached in English and 49.7 versus 31.5/1000 in Spanish; P < 0.001 for both English and Spanish rate comparisons). This provides useful pilot data supporting the hypothesis that theory-based communication, i.e. peer modeling with psychological inoculation, may be more effective than more traditional forms of advertising for promoting coronavirus vaccination., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Purpose: We hypothesized that a protocol of standardized fixed dose using prolonged infusion during the early phase of sepsis may avoid insufficient β-lactam concentrations., Methods: In this single center prospective study, patients with sepsis and vasopressors were enrolled if they were treated by either piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem or cefepime. Βeta-lactams were administered at fixed dose by prolonged infusion. Targeted plasma concentrations for piperacillin, meropenem and cefepime were above 80 mg/L, 8 mg/L and 38 mg/L respectively. Three blood samples were collected per patient over the first 48 h of treatment. Primary endpoint was target concentration achievement during the 48 first hours, defined as all plasma concentrations above the targeted threshold., Results: Among the 89 patients completing the three samples, target concentrations were achieved for 61 (69%). Target concentrations were achieved in 20 (53%), 32 (89%), and 9 (60%) of the patients treated with piperacillin, meropenem and cefepime, respectively. By multivariate analysis, lower APACHE 2 score, higher baseline MDRD creatinine clearance, and piperacillin use were independently associated with insufficient β-lactam concentrations., Conclusion: Despite a fixed dose antibiotic administration protocol with prolonged infusion insufficient β-lactam concentration was frequent at the early phase of sepsis, especially in less severe patients, without renal failure, and treated with piperacillin. In septic patients with vasopressors, piperacillin dosing higher than 16 g may be needed to achieve the recommended target concentration., Trial Registration: NCT02820987., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)