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Research on state anxiety has long been dominated by the traditional psychometric approach that assumes anxiety symptoms have a common cause. Yet state anxiety can be conceptualized as a network system. In this study, we utilized data from the COVID‐Dynamic dataset from waves 7 to 13, collected at three‐week intervals from June 6, 2020, to October 13, 2020, and included 1,042 valid participants to characterize the internal dynamics of state anxiety. Using the Gaussian graphical model along with strength centrality, we estimated three network models of state anxiety. The between‐subjects and contemporaneous network showed numerous positive relations between items and some unexpected negative relations. Three communities were identified in the between‐subjects network, and two communities were identified in the contemporaneous network. The temporal network showed the coexistence of positive and negative predictions between items after three weeks. Several items exhibited significant positive autocorrelations after three weeks. These findings have implications for anxiety theory and clinical interventions at between‐subjects and within‐subjects levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we explored the use of thermal imaging technology combined with computer vision techniques for assessing surgical incision healing. We processed 1189 thermal images, annotated by experts to define incision boundaries and healing statuses. Using these images, we developed a machine learning model based on YOLOV8, which automates the recognition of incision areas, lesion segmentation and healing classification. The dataset was divided into training, testing and validation sets in a 7:2:1 ratio. Our results show high accuracy rates in incision location recognition, lesion segmentation and healing classification, indicating the model's effectiveness as a precise and automated diagnostic tool for surgical incision healing assessment. Conclusively, our thermal image‐based machine learning model demonstrates excellent performance in wound assessment, paving the way for its clinical application in intelligent and standardized wound management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basal ascomycetes in genus Taphrina have strict host specificity and coevolution with their host plants, making them appealing models for studying the genomic basis of ecological divergence and host adaption. We therefore performed genome sequencing and comparative genomics of different Taphrina species with distinct host ranges to reveal their evolution. We identified frequent chromosomal rearrangements and highly dynamic lineage‐specific (LS) genomic regions in Taphrina genomes. The LS regions occur at the flanking regions of chromosomal breakpoints, and are greatly enriched for DNA repeats, non‐core genes, and in planta up‐regulated genes. Furthermore, we identified hundreds of candidate secreted effector proteins (CSEPs) that are commonly organized in gene clusters that form distinct AT‐rich isochore‐like regions. Nearly half of the CSEPs constitute two novel superfamilies with modular structures unique to Taphrina. These CSEPs are commonly up‐regulated during infection, enriched in the LS regions, evolved faster, and underwent extensive gene gain and loss in different species. In addition to displaying signatures of positive selection, functional characterization of selected CSEP genes confirmed their roles in suppression of plant defence responses. Overall, our results showed that extensive chromosomal rearrangements and rapidly evolving CSEP superfamilies play important roles in speciation and host adaptation in the early‐branching ascomycetous fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Deletion of Prp4, the only kinase among spliceosome components, is not lethal in Fusarium graminearum but Fgprp4 mutants have severe growth defects and produced spontaneous suppressors. To identify novel suppressor mutations of Fgprp4, we sequenced the genome of suppressor S37 that was normal in growth but only partially recovered for intron splicing and identified a tandem duplication of 9‐aa in the tri‐snRNP component FgSNU66. Among the 19 additional suppressor strains found to have mutations in FgSNU66 (out of 260 screened), five had the same 9‐aa duplication event with S37 and another five had the R477H/C mutation. The rest had nonsense or G‐to‐D mutations in the C‐terminal 27‐aa (CT27) region of FgSnu66, which is absent in its yeast ortholog. Truncation of this C‐terminal region reduced the interaction of FgSnu66 with FgHub1 but increased its interaction with FgPrp8 and FgPrp6. Five phosphorylation sites were identified in FgSnu66 by phosphoproteomic analysis and the T418A‐S420A‐S422A mutation was shown to reduce virulence. Overall, our results showed that mutations in FgSNU66 can suppress deletion of Fgprp4, which has not been reported in other organisms, and the C‐terminal tail of FgSnu66 plays a role in its interaction with key tri‐snRNP components during spliceosome activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The versatile functions of SR (serine/arginine-rich) proteins in pre-mRNA splicing and processing are modulated by reversible phosphorylation. Previous studies showed that FgPrp4, the only protein kinase among spliceosome components, is important for intron splicing and the FgSrp1 SR protein is phosphorylated at five conserved sites in Fusarium graminearum. In this study, we showed that the Fgsrp1 deletion mutant rarely produced conidia and caused only limited symptoms on wheat heads and corn silks. Deletion of FgSRP1 also reduced ascospore ejection and deoxynivalenol (DON) production. Interestingly, FgSRP1 had two transcript isoforms due to alternative splicing and both of them were required for its normal functions in growth and DON biosynthesis. FgSrp1 localized to the nucleus and interacted with FgPrp4 in vivo. Deletion of all four conserved phosphorylation sites but not individual ones affected the FgSRP1 function, suggesting their overlapping functions. RNA-seq analysis showed that the expression of over thousands of genes and splicing efficiency in over 140 introns were affected. Taken together, FgSRP1 is important for conidiation, and pathogenesis and alternative splicing is important for its normal functions. The FgSrp1 SR protein is likely important for pre-mRNA processing or splicing of various genes in different developmental and infection processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kin1/Par-1/ MARK kinases regulate various cellular processes in eukaryotic organisms. Kin1 orthologs are well conserved in fungal pathogens but none of them have been functionally characterized. Here, we show that KIN1 is important for pathogenesis and growth in two phytopathogenic fungi and that FgKin1 regulates ascospore germination and the localization of Tub1 β-tubulins in Fusarium graminearum., The Fgkin1 mutant and putative Fg KIN1S172A kinase dead (nonactivatable) transformants were characterized for defects in plant infection, sexual and asexual reproduction, and stress responses. The localization of FgKin1 and two β-tubulins were examined in the wild-type and mutant backgrounds., Deletion of Fg KIN1 resulted in reduced virulence and defects in ascospore germination and release. Fg Kin1 localized to the center of septal pores. Fg KIN1 deletion had no effect on Tub2 microtubules but disrupted Tub1 localization. In the mutant, Tub1 appeared to be enriched in the nucleolus. In Magnaporthe oryzae, MoKin1 has similar functions in growth and infection and it also localizes to septal pores. The S172A mutation had no effect on the localization and function of Fg KIN1 during sexual reproduction., These results indicate that Fg KIN1 has kinase-dependent and independent functions and it specifically regulates Tub1 β-tubulins. FgKin1 plays a critical role in ascospore discharge, germination, and plant infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]