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A sample of young adults were surveyed to test the influence of brand familiarity and brand remarkability on a charity fundraising appeal's audience outcomes. The mediation effect of brand attitudes was also examined as well as the moderation effects of personal impulsiveness and social media engagement. The results show that the influence of brand familiarity on audience outcomes was partially mediated through brand attitudes. Brand remarkability's influence on audience outcomes was fully mediated through brand attitudes. Moderation effects were not found to be significant. However, post hoc testing found a direct effect of social media engagement on two audience outcomes: campaign sharing intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Managerial implications of our findings are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and innovative behavior of medical postgraduates in China, examining the mediating role of academic engagement and the moderating effect of relaxation. Drawing from a sample of 437 medical postgraduates from three Chinese universities, our findings revealed that challenge stressors positively correlated with innovative behavior, while the direct relationship between hindrance stressors and innovative behavior was not statistically significant. Furthermore, academic engagement mediated the relationship between two types of stressors and innovative behavior. Challenge stressors enhanced academic engagement, which in turn fostered innovative behavior. Conversely, hindrance stressors were found to diminish academic engagement, which in turn indirectly limited innovative behavior. Additionally, relaxation was identified as a moderating factor that helped mitigate the negative effects of hindrance stressors on academic engagement and indirectly on innovative behavior. These results suggested that academic engagement as a mechanism played a pivotal role in determining how different stressors influenced innovative behavior, underscoring the need for stress management, particularly through relaxation techniques, to maintain high levels of academic engagement and innovative behavior. This study offers practical insights for medical education policymakers and educators in China, emphasizing the importance of balancing stressors and incorporating relaxation practices to enhance the innovative capabilities of medical postgraduates in demanding academic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although live streaming via social media offers consumers real-time shopping experiences and potentially increases sales volume, the intangible values carried by live streaming from the streamer's perspective are relatively unknown. Building upon the Trust Transfer Theory, this study examined the values behind Instagram live streaming that could potentially build young consumers' trust in and engagement with social commerce sellers. Known for its visually appealing content, simplicity, speed, and mobility, Instagram is unlike other social media platform. More importantly, its targeting ability makes it an influencer dominant social media platform. Analysis using dual-stage PLS-SEM and ANN from 209 respondents revealed that utilitarian and symbolic values significantly influence trust, which subsequently builds customer engagement. Hedonic values and economic values, on the other hand, were found to play no significant role in building trust and customer engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Schlafen (SLFN) gene family has emerged as a critical subject of study in recent years, given its involvement in an array of cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, immune responses, viral infection inhibition, and DNA replication. Additionally, SLFN genes are linked to chemosensitivity, playing a pivotal role in treating malignant tumors. Human SLFNs comprise three domains: the N-terminal, middle (M), and C-terminal. The N- and C-terminal domains demonstrate nuclease and helicase/ATPase activities, respectively. Meanwhile, the M-domain likely functions as a linker that connects the enzymatic domains of the N- and C-terminals and may engage in interactions with other proteins. This paper aims to present a comprehensive overview of the SLFN family's structure and sequence, examine its significance in various tumors, and explore its connection with immune infiltrating cells and immune checkpoints. The objective is to assess the potential of SLFNs as vital targets in cancer therapy and propose novel strategies for combined treatment approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-mortem interval (PMI) is the time elapsed between the death of an individual and its forensic examination. It is a crucial information for judicial authorities, but current techniques still cannot establish a precise time interval. Novel approaches are therefore required. Recently, gingival tissue has emerged as interesting for forensic analysis thanks to the protection offered by lips to this tissue, limiting the influence of environmental factors. It is also easily accessible, and its sampling is minimally invasive even in the presence of rigor mortis. Moreover, the expression of HIF-1α, a master mediator of the hypoxic environment, has been described in gingival samples at different post-mortem (PM) times. We have hypothesized that the time-dependent post-mortem expression of HIF-1α could serve as a biomarker to more accurately predict the PMI. Our analyses were performed in an animal model, the mouse, where environment can be precisely controlled. Therewith, gingival tissue morphology was evaluated through histochemical staining and HIF-1α expression was analyzed by qPCR, western blots and immunofluorescence at different post-mortem times (0h to 100h). Our results showed (a) a global post-mortem stability of gingival tissue (b) a rapid increase in HIF-1α mRNA expression in the short post-mortem times followed by a slow decrease in transcript expression until 100h PM (c) an expression of the HIF- 1α protein and its degradation products, that follows the mRNA pattern (d) the presence of HIF-1α protein in the epithelial and connective layers of the tissue, with signal accumulation in both gingival strata until at least 32h post-mortem. This pilot study thus validated the mouse and the gingival tissue as models for post-mortem analyses, as well as for studying the fate of proteins such as HIF-1α. Transferring these approaches to human subjects may provide a more accurate estimate of PMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in health care delivery systems have shifted as a result of the modern uses of biomaterials in medicine. Contrary to traditional medicine, modern healthcare are now useful in solving problems that were considered impossible some years back. One of the most significant factors to the most recent advancements in implant development has been the use of calcium based materials in the creation of necessary implants in the form of soft and hard tissues. With the advent of naturally sourced materials in the manufacturing of biomaterials, lots of attention are now focused on the different sources of agro-based resources that can be used for the product developments. These agro-based materials are now been considered for sustainable and ecological purposes in several areas of applications globally in the recent times. Hence, the review was carried out with focus on the sources, relevance, processing techniques and applications of tricalcium phosphate based biomaterials in modern day healthcare delivery. This review provides a historical and prospective picture of the crucial functions that materials based on tricalcium phosphate will play in fulfilling human requirements for medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent measurements of the Lamb shift of muonic helium-4 ions were used to infer the alpha particle charge radius. The value found is compatible with the radius extracted from the analysis of the electron-helium scattering. Thus, the new spectroscopic data put additional empirical bounds on some free parameters of certain physics theories beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we analyze the new data in the context of large extra-dimensional theories. Specifically, we calculate the influence of the radion, the scalar degree of freedom of the higher-dimensional gravity, on the energy difference between the 2S and 2P levels of this exotic atom. The radion field is related to fluctuations of the volume of the supplementary space. It should be treated as a phenomenologically independent quantity in relation to the tensorial degrees of freedom of the metric within the braneworld scenario. Based on the spectroscopic data of muonic helium, we find constraints for the effective energy scale of the radion as a function of the alpha particle radius. Then, we discuss the implications of these new constraints on the proton radius puzzle. We also establish a new empirical bound for the radion by examining its influence on the isotopic shift in the 2P-2S transition of muonic hydrogen and muonic deuteron. In connection with this discussion, we study the impact of the radion on the tension observed in measurements of the difference between the squared radii of the helion and alpha particle as extracted from muonic and electronic helium isotopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the exponential growth of livestream shopping and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual influencers powered by AI have become a new trend. However, this phenomenon has yet to be studied precisely to understand the underlying mechanisms of virtual AI streamers' influence on the viewers. This study explores the effects of virtual influencers powered by AI by investigating the persuasive factors and underlying emotional mechanism that affect viewers' parasocial interaction intention and impulse buying intention. Data collected from 559 livestream viewers in a scenario-based survey were analyzed using maximum likelihood structural equation modeling (SEM) estimation and cross-validated using Bayesian SEM. The findings confirm the appraisal–emotion–action scheme and validate the role of arousal in mediating three persuasive factors and two behavioral approaches. Parasocial interaction intention was correlated with coolness, whereas congruence and mind perception were important antecedents of viewers' urge to buy impulsively. Furthermore, mindset had important moderating effects on arousal and parasocial interaction intention toward impulsive urges. This study extends the research on influencer marketing and livestream shopping. It also apprises marketing and retailing managers of the importance of nurturing an AI workforce and sheds light on IS management practice for potential industry opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the mechanism that can explain the production of lepton asymmetry and two types of sterile neutrino dark matter. The first type involves heavy sterile dark matter produced directly by the decay of Q-balls which are formed by first-order phase transition in the early universe; the second consists of keV sterile neutrino dark matter, produced resonantly with the aid of lepton asymmetry from Q-ball decay. Besides, gravitational waves from cosmic strings generated during the phase transition process could be detected at future interferometers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene expression profiles of hundreds of cancer cell-lines and the cell-lines' response to drug treatment were analyzed to identify genes whose expression correlated with drug resistance. In the GDSC dataset of 809 cancer cell lines, expression of 36 genes were associated with drug resistance (increased IC50) to many anti-cancer drugs. This was validated in the CTRP dataset of 860 cell lines. A polygenic score derived from the correlation coefficients of the 36 genes in cancer cell lines, UAB36, predicted resistance of cell lines to Tamoxifen. Although the 36 genes were selected from cell line behaviors, UAB36 successfully predicted survival of breast cancer patients in three different cohorts of patients treated with Tamoxifen. UAB36 outperforms two existing predictive gene signatures and is a predictor of outcome of breast cancer patients independent of the known clinical co-variates that affect outcome. This approach should provide promising polygenic biomarkers for resistance in many cancer types against specific drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The role of hypoalbuminemia throughout the course of chronic periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) remains poorly understood. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of hypoalbuminemia in periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) patients and to explore the association between hypoalbuminemia and treatment outcomes. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 387 PJI cases who underwent two‐stage exchange arthroplasty between January 2007 and August 2020, of which 342 were reimplanted. The mean follow‐up period was 7.9 years. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for hypoalbuminemia and to assess the effect of hypoalbuminemia at 1st‐ and 2nd‐stage exchange on the treatment outcome. Furthermore, the impact of dynamic changes in hypoalbuminemia was investigated. Results: The prevalence of hypoalbuminemia at 1st‐ and 2nd‐stage exchange was 22.2% and 4.7%, respectively. Patients with age ≥ 68 years and those with isolation of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, or Gram‐negative bacteria exhibited a higher risk of hypoalbuminemia. Hypoalbuminemia at 1st‐stage was significantly related to treatment failure (OR = 3.3), while hypoalbuminemia at 2nd‐stage raised the OR to 10.0. Patients with persistent hypoalbuminemia at both the 1st‐ and 2nd‐stage exchanges had a significantly higher rate of treatment failure than patients with hypoalbuminemia at the 1st‐stage but normal albumin levels at the 2nd‐stage exchange (55.6% vs 20.0%, p = 0.036). Conclusion: One in five patients with chronic PJI exhibits hypoalbuminemia. Hypoalbuminemia is more likely to develop in patients of advanced age and those infected by specific highly virulent organisms. Also, our results highlight the close association between hypoalbuminemia and treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinship analysis allows the determination of sibship based on the individuals' genetic profile. In a recent empirical study, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was proposed as a test to determine kinship between Phormia regina individuals useful in inferring postmortem transport of a corpse. In order to validate this technique, mitochondrial DNA gene cytochrome oxidase II was sequenced for all individuals used in the previous study. Then, the relatedness coefficient based on AFLP profiles was determined for the pairs of individuals that had different haplotypes, and thus could not be full siblings, to determine a conservative false positive error rate of this proposed test. A majority, 96%, of pair wise comparisons of individuals with different haplotypes had relatedness coefficients <0.41 supporting the conclusion that AFLP analysis for full sibship is a valid and robust technique and thus useful for the detection of postmortem movement of a corpse., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The forensic utility of an insect can depend in part on its population structure. Although some native North American species have been characterized in this fashion, information is lacking for species that were introduced from elsewhere and that might have lower genetic diversity and less geographic differentiation. We surveyed Chrysomya megacephala, an Asian fly present in the continental USA since the 1980s. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism profiles were generated from adult insects collected across Florida and in Mobile, Alabama. Analysis of Molecular Variance on 151 polymorphic loci found significant but very small variation among samples. STRUCTURE and principal coordinate analyses produced the same two clusters in the population, consistent with C. megacephala in Florida having originated from two separate source populations. A weak negative correlation between genetic and geographic distances probably reflected the geographic arrangement of the genetic clusters. A positive relative relatedness coefficient for each sample indicated that flies arriving at a bait within a short time were likely to be close relatives, consistent with the earlier results for native North American carrion flies. However, genetic diversity estimated for the introduced Florida C. megacephala was lower than for native species or for published data on Malaysian C. megacephala, perhaps reflecting the genetic effects of being introduced to a new geographic region. Genetic assignment, a method that has been proposed as a way to infer corpse postmortem relocation, was much less successful for C. megacephala compared to the native species, possibly reflecting a history of admixture., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Mechanism-based sepsis treatments are unavailable, and their incidence is rising worldwide. Deaths occur during the early acute phase of hyperinflammation or subsequent postacute hypoinflammatory phase with sustained organ failure. The acute sepsis phase shifts rapidly, and multiple attempts to treat early excessive inflammation have uniformly failed. We reported in a sepsis cell model and human sepsis blood leukocytes that nuclear NAD+ sensor SIRT1 deacetylase remodels chromatin at specific gene sets to switch the acute-phase proinflammatory response to hypoinflammatory. Importantly, SIRT1 chromatin reprogramming is reversible, suggesting that inhibition of SIRT1 might reverse postacute-phase hypoinflammation. We tested this concept in septic mice, using the highly specific SIRT1 inhibitor EX-527, a small molecule that closes the NAD+ binding site of SIRT1. Strikingly, when administered 24 h after sepsis, all treated animals survived, whereas only 40% of untreated mice survived. EX-527 treatment reversed the inability of leukocytes to adhere at the small intestine MVI, reversed in vivo endotoxin tolerance, increased leukocyte accumulation in peritoneum, and improved peritoneal bacterial clearance. Mechanistically, the SIRT1 inhibitor restored repressed endothelial E-selectin and ICAM-1 expression and PSGL-1 expression on the neutrophils. Systemic benefits of EX-527 treatment included stabilized blood pressure, improved microvascular blood flow, and a shift toward proimmune macrophages in spleen and bone marrow. Our findings reveal that modifying the SIRT1 NAD+ axis may provide a novel way to treat sepsis in its hypoinflammatory phase., (© 2014 Society for Leukocyte Biology.)

Carrion insect succession patterns have long been used to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI) during a death investigation. However, no published carrion succession study included sufficient replication to calculate a confidence interval about a PMI estimate based on occurrence data. We exposed 53 pig carcasses (16±2.5 kg), near the likely minimum needed for such statistical analysis, at a site in north-central Indiana, USA, over three consecutive summer seasons. Insects and Collembola were sampled daily from each carcass for a total of 14 days, by this time each was skeletonized. The criteria for judging a life stage of a given species to be potentially useful for succession-based PMI estimation were (1) nonreoccurrence (observed during a single period of presence on a corpse), and (2) found in a sufficiently large proportion of carcasses to support a PMI confidence interval. For this data set that proportion threshold is 45/53. Of the 266 species collected and identified, none was nonreoccuring in that each showed at least a gap of one day on a single carcass. If the definition of nonreoccurrence is relaxed to include such a single one-day gap the larval forms of Necrophilaamericana, Fanniascalaris, Cochliomyia macellaria, Phormiaregina, and Luciliaillustris satisfied these two criteria. Adults of Creophilus maxillosus, Necrobiaruficollis, and Necrodessurinamensis were common and showed only a few, single-day gaps in occurrence. C.maxillosus, P.regina, and L.illustris displayed exceptional forensic utility in that they were observed on every carcass. Although these observations were made at a single site during one season of the year, the species we found to be useful have large geographic ranges. We suggest that future carrion insect succession research focus only on a limited set of species with high potential forensic utility so as to reduce sample effort per carcass and thereby enable increased experimental replication., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: There is recent interest in focused stimulation of the cochlea via modalities such as tripolar electrical and infrared neural stimulation to improve speech in noise comprehension and music perception. The purpose of this work was to use vocoder-based simulations to investigate speech recognition for broad stimulation (standard monopolar paradigm) versus more focused stimulation under a variety of signal-to-noise ratios, dynamic ranges, and numbers of discriminable loudness steps., Design: Vocoder simulations were used to assess the intelligibility of sentences, consonants, and vowels that were noise vocoded and presented to 7 normal-hearing listeners for identification. A novel aspect of the simulations presented here was the use of nonuniform quantization steps within the dynamic range to more closely simulate the Weber functions observed in cochlear implant users. Intelligibility was assessed for the different filter slopes under a variety of signal-to-noise ratio levels, dynamic ranges, and numbers of discriminable steps., Results: Speech processed via vocoder simulations representing focused stimulation was found to be substantially more intelligible than speech processed via a monopolar electric vocoder simulation, with differences of up to 60 percentage points. There were no significant differences, however, seen between the two focused approaches (signal attenuations of 10 and 17 dB/mm) for the conditions investigated. Speech processed via the highly focused vocoder (17 dB/mm) was robust to constraints on small envelope dynamic range and small number of discriminable steps within the dynamic range, as high performance was maintained with at least a 5 dB dynamic range and eight or more discriminable steps. Significant drops in intelligibility were noted when the number of steps fell below eight., Conclusions: Highly focused stimulation-tripolar electrical and infrared neural stimulation-has potential for increased performance in noise compared with monopolar stimulation, but much work remains to bear this potential out and to take full advantage of each modality's strengths.

Background: Pulmonary contusion (PC) is a common, potentially lethal injury that results in the priming for exaggerated responses to subsequent immune challenge such as an infection (second hit). We hypothesize a PC-induced complement (C) activation participates in the priming effect for a second hit., Methods: Male, 8 weeks to 9 weeks, C57BL/6 mice (wild-type, C5) underwent blunt chest trauma resulting in PC. At 3 hours/24 hours after injury, the inflammatory response was measured in tissue, serum, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). The thrombin inhibitor, hirudin, was used to determine if injury-induced thrombin participated in the activation of C. Injury-primed responses were tested by challenging injured mice with bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) as a second hit. Inflammatory responses were assessed at 4 hours after LPS challenge. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni multiple comparison posttest (significance, p ≤ 0.05). Protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee., Results: We found significantly increased levels of C5a in the BAL of injured animals as early as 24 hours, persisting for up to 72 hours after injury. Hirudin-treated injured mice had significantly decreased levels of thrombin in the BAL that correlated with reduced C5a levels. Injured mice challenged with intratracheal (IT) LPS had increased C5a and inflammatory response. Conversely, inhibition of C5a or its receptor, C5aR, before LPS challenge correlated with decreased inflammatory responses; C5a-deficient mice showed a similar loss of primed response to LPS challenge., Conclusion: Complement C5a levels in the BAL are increased over several days after PC. Premorbid inhibition of thrombin markedly decreases C5a levels after PC, suggesting that thrombin-induced C activation is the major pathway of activation after PC. Similarly, inhibition of C5a after PC will decrease injury-primed responses to LPS stimulation. Our findings suggest cross-talk between the coagulation and complement systems that induce immune priming after PC.

Infrared neural stimulation (INS) is becoming an important complementary tool to electrical stimulation. Since the mechanism of INS is photothermal, describing the laser-induced heat distribution is fundamental to determining the relationship between stimulation pulses and neural responses. This work developed both a framework describing the time evolution of the heat distribution induced by optical fluence and a new method to extract thermal criteria (e.g., temperature change and rate of change) for neural activation. To solve the general problem of describing the temperature distribution, a Green's function solution to the heat diffusion equation was determined and convolved with the optical fluence. This provided a solution in the form of a single integral over time, from which closed-form solutions can be determined for special cases. This work also yielded an expression for thermal relaxation time, which provides a rigorous description of thermal confinement for INS. The developed framework was then applied to experimental data from the cochlea to extract the minimum temperature increase and rate of that increase to stimulate the cochlear spiral ganglion. This result, and similar analyses applied to other neural systems, can then shed light on the fundamental mechanism for INS and aid the development of optical neuroprostheses.

The accurate determination of time since death, or postmortem interval (PMI), can be critical in the investigation of suspicious deaths. Knowing when a suspicious death occurred can limit the number of potential suspects to those without a viable alibi for the time of the crime. The forensic techniques currently employed to determine PMI: pathology, entomology, and anthropology, are accurate over different time periods following death. A large gap in time exists between the capabilities of forensic entomology and traditional anthropology, leaving a period in which PMI is difficult to estimate. In this study, time-dependent differences in RNA decay rates were examined to extend the time frame over which early PMI estimates can be made. Comparing the decay rates of a large, labile segment of β-actin RNA and a smaller, more stable, non-overlapping segment of the same RNA from tooth pulp, we were able to estimate PMI values of pigs buried within a shallow grave for up to 84 days. This compares favorably to an estimate of PMI using insect data. Full skeletonization and loss of insect activity was observed by day 28 of our study. In addition to differences in RNA decay rates, morphological changes were observed in the pulp as it aged postmortem. To provide a quantitative measure of progressive color changes, analysis of digital photographs of each tooth's pulp were used to construct a simple colorimetric assay. This assay was then used to cluster ages of pulp samples by color. The two assays, used in combination with one another, can create a more precise estimate of PMI. The potential advantages of this molecular means of estimating PMI include extending the time frame for such estimates, is applicable to samples collected worldwide (no specialized knowledge of local insect fauna is required), is relatively fast, and inexpensive., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Approximately 8% of calyptrate species diversity comes from the Calliphoridae, which includes flies of medical, veterinary, and forensic importance. The status of family Calliphoridae has for years been the central systematic problem of the superfamily Oestroidea, and phylogenetic relationships between the key groups of the Calliphoridae are unresolved and controversial. We reconstructed phylogenies of the Calliphoridae within the larger context of the other Oestroidea based on 5,189 bp of combined data from one mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase subunit one) and three nuclear (carbamoylphosphate synthetase, elongation factor one alpha, and 28S ribosomal RNA) genes using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. Trees obtained from the different phylogenetic methods were almost identical. Calliphoridae is polyphyletic, with the phylogenetic position of Mesembrinellinae still uncertain but clearly outside the lineage that includes other Calliphoridae and some noncalliphorids, and Polleniinae is the sister group of the family Tachinidae. Strong support for a sister group relationship between Rhiniinae and traditional calliphorid subfamilies conflicts with a recent proposal to give Rhiniinae family status. All calliphorid subfamilies (except Calliphorinae) for which we had more than one species were monophyletic. Melanomyinae was nested within Calliphorinae. Toxotarsinae was more closely related to Calliphorinae rather than, as indicated by morphology, to Chrysomyinae. Efforts to resolve the relationships of the Oestroid families were largely inconclusive, although the monophyly of the superfamily was strongly supported.

Lung injury from pulmonary contusion is a common traumatic injury, predominantly seen after blunt chest trauma, such as in vehicular accidents. The local and systemic inflammatory response to injury includes activation of innate immune receptors, elaboration of a variety of inflammatory mediators, and recruitment of inflammatory cells to the injured lung. Using a mouse model of pulmonary contusion, we had previously shown that innate immune Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2 and TLR4) mediate the inflammatory response to lung injury. In this study, we used chimeric mice generated by adoptive bone marrow transfer between TLR2 or TLR4 and wild-type mice. We found that, in the lung, both bone marrow-derived and nonmyeloid cells contribute to TLR-dependent inflammatory responses after injury in a cell type-specific manner. We also show a novel TLR2-dependent injury mechanism that is associated with enhanced airway epithelial cell apoptosis and increased pulmonary FasL and Fas expression in the lungs from injured mice. Thus, in addition to cardiopulmonary physiological dysfunction, cell type-specific TLR and their differential response to injury may provide novel specific targets for management of patients with pulmonary contusion.

Reinvestigation of mitochondrial haplotypes previously reported to be shared between the Afrotropical blowflies Chrysomya putoria Weidemann and Chrysomya chloropyga Weidemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) revealed an error resulting from the misidentification of specimens. Preliminary amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis of the original and additional individuals again failed to find reciprocal monophyly, leading to a re-examination of the specimens for diagnostic male genitalic characters that were first described following the earlier study. Four of the original study specimens were found to have been misidentified, and definitive analysis of both mtDNA and AFLP genotypes using phylogenetic analysis and genetic assignment showed that each species was indeed reciprocally monophyletic. In addition to correcting the earlier error, this study illustrates how AFLP analysis can be used for efficient and effective specimen identification through both phylogenetic analysis and genetic assignment, and suggests that the latter method has special advantages for identification when no conspecific specimens are represented in the reference database., (© 2011 The Authors. Medical and Veterinary Entomology © 2011 The Royal Entomological Society.)

We propose a genetic test for full sibship for a pair of carrion flies that could reveal the postmortem relocation of a corpse. A carrion fly larva is sometimes left behind when a corpse is moved. The discovery of full sibling larvae of approximately the same developmental stage at two locations would strongly suggest that a corpse was moved between those two sites. Distributions of pairwise comparisons of relatedness (R) coefficients were generated using amplified fragment length polymorphism profiles for nine samples of laboratory-generated full siblings as well as for a reference sample of nonfull sibling Phormia regina (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The mean relative R coefficient, a pairwise measure of the proportion of shared alleles, was 0.479 (±0.289 SD) for full siblings, close to the theoretical expectation of 0.5. A likelihood ratio (LR) test was based on observed distributions of R. R >0.55 corresponded to an LR >1000 favoring full sibship for that pair of individuals., (© 2011 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

Chrysomya Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a genus of blowfly commonly observed in tropical and subtropical countries of the Old World. Species in this genus are vectors of bacteria, protozoans and helminths, cause myiasis, are predators of other carrion insects, and are important forensic indicators. Hypotheses concerning the evolution of sex determination, larval anatomy and genome size in Chrysomya have been difficult to evaluate because a robust phylogeny of the genus was lacking. Similarly, the monophyly of subgenera was uncertain. The phylogeny of Chrysomya spp. was reconstructed based on 2386 bp of combined mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPS) genes. Maximum parsimony (MP), maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analysis (BA) differed only slightly in the resulting tree topology. Chrysomya was monophyletic. Monogenic reproduction is almost certainly derived rather than, as has been suggested, primitive within the genus, and tuberculate larvae probably evolved twice. Genome size is more likely to have decreased over evolutionary time rather than, as has been suggested, increased within the genus, but its correlation with developmental time was not observed. The subgenera Microcalliphora, Eucompsomyia and Achoetandrus were recovered as monophyletic.

Blunt chest trauma resulting in pulmonary contusion is a common but poorly understood injury. We previously demonstrated that lung contusion activates localized and systemic innate immune mechanisms and recruits neutrophils to the injured lung. We hypothesized that the innate immune and inflammatory activation of neutrophils may figure prominently in the response to lung injury. To investigate this, we used a model of pulmonary contusion in the mouse that is similar to that observed clinically in humans and evaluated postinjury lung function and pulmonary neutrophil recruitment. Comparisons were made between injured mice with and without neutrophil depletion. We further examined the role of chemokines and adhesion receptors in neutrophil recruitment to the injured lung. We found that lung injury and resultant physiological dysfunction after contusion were dependent on the presence of neutrophils in the alveolar space. We show that CXCL1, CXCL2/3, and CXCR2 are involved in neutrophil recruitment to the lung after injury and that intercellular adhesion molecule 1 is locally expressed and actively participates in this process. Injured gp91-deficient mice showed improved lung function, indicating that oxidant production by neutrophil NADPH oxidase mediates lung dysfunction after contusion. These data suggest that both neutrophil presence and function are required for lung injury after lung contusion.

This paper reviews the existing research on infrared neural stimulation, a means of artificially stimulating neurons that has been proposed as an alternative to electrical stimulation. Infrared neural stimulation (INS) is defined as the direct induction of an evoked potential in response to a transient targeted deposition of optical energy. The foremost advantage of using optical radiation for neural stimulation is its spatial resolution. Exogenously applied or trans-genetically synthesized fluorophores are not used to achieve stimulation. Here, current work on INS is presented for motor nerves, sensory nerves, central nervous system, and in vitro preparations. A discussion follows addressing the mechanism of INS and its potential use in neuroprostheses. A brief review of neural depolarization involving other optical methods is also presented. Topics covered include optical stimulation concurrent with electrical stimulation, optical stimulation using exogenous fluorophores, and optical stimulation by transgenic induction of light-gated ion channels.

Previous research has shown that neural stimulation with infrared radiation (IR) is spatially selective and illustrated the potential of IR in stimulating auditory neurons. The present work demonstrates the application of a miniaturized pulsed IR stimulator for chronic implantation in cats, quantifies its efficacy, and short-term safety in stimulating auditory neurons. IR stimulation of the neurons was achieved using an optical fiber inserted through a cochleostomy drilled in the basal turn of the cat cochlea and was characterized by measuring compound action potentials (CAPs). Neurons were stimulated with IR at various pulse durations, radiant exposures, and pulse repetition rates. Pulse durations as short as 50 mus were successful in evoking CAPs in normal as well as deafened cochleae. Continual stimulation was provided at 200 pulses per second, at 200 mW per pulse, and 100 mus pulse duration. Stable CAP amplitudes were observed for up to 10 h of continual IR stimulation. Combined with histological data, the results suggest that pulsed IR stimulation does not lead to detectable acute tissue damage and validate the stimulation parameters that can be used in future chronic implants based on pulsed IR.

Puparial cases are common remnants of necrophagous flies in crime investigations. They usually represent the longest developmental time and, therefore, they can be very useful for the estimation of the post-mortem interval (PMI). However, before any PMI estimate, it is crucial to identify the species of fly eclosed from each puparium associated with the corpse. Morphological characteristics of the puparium are often distinctive enough to permit a species identification. But, even an accurate morphological analysis of empty puparia cannot discriminate among different species of closely related flies. Furthermore, morphological identification may be impossible if the fly puparia are poorly preserved or in fragments. This study explores the applicability of biomolecular techniques on empty puparia and their fragments for identification purposes. A total of 63 empty puparia of necrophagous Diptera resulting from forensic casework were examined. Samples were divided into three groups according to size, type and time of eclosion in order to verify whether the physical characteristics and puparia weathering can influence the amount of DNA extraction. The results suggest that a reliable genetic identification of forensically important flies may also be performed from empty puparia and/or their fragments. However, DNA degradation can deeply compromise the genetic analysis since the older the fly puparia, the smaller are the amplified fragments., (2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a common urban blowfly, with a worldwide distribution. It is among the most important forensic insects, and a major veterinary pest. A previous amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) survey of Phormia regina, another blowfly, found that the North American population structure results from the fact that flies trapped together at a bait are predominantly comprised of related individuals. We report here a similar population genetic pattern for L. sericata in North America based on AFLP genotypes with 249 loci. A STRUCTURE analysis found no population structure on a geographic scale, and analysis of molecular variance found a moderate amount of variation attributed to samples (adults collected at the same bait at the same time, Phi(SC)=20%, P=0.001). A Mantel test found a negligible correlation between geographic and genetic distances (R(2)=0.0063, P=0.02). The mean relative relatedness coefficient for every sample was positive (mean R=0.2486+/-0.18). Gravid females in a sample, those likely to oviposit on the same corpse, showed a pattern of relatively high relatedness similar to the total survey. Therefore, this pattern of local relatedness is likely to occur with larvae in a corpse, and if so it might support a genetic test for inferring the postmortem relocation of a corpse. This is because a larva may fall from the body at the original scene as it is moved. Connecting such a "stray" larva to the larval population in a corpse would provide powerful evidence that the corpse had been at both locations. Assignment tests resulted in a 96% success rate of assigning L. sericata individuals to their samples of origin., (2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Attempts to measure the hydrophobicity of the cell surfaces of Gordonia amarae and Rhodococcus erythropolis, filamentous bacteria found in wastewater treatment plants, by several methods--microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons (MATH) or bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbons (BATH), contact angle, and micro-sphere adhesion to cells (MAC)--were unsuccessful. The results were erratic and inconsistent. This was in part because of the filamentous growth habit of G. amarae, but it was also a consequence of the fact that the 'hydrophobicity' of bacterial cells is not a clearly defined quantity. A technique is introduced in which bacteria are suspended in solutions of synthetic surfactants (non-ionic, cationic and anionic), and the suspensions aerated under defined conditions. The partitioning of bacterial cells between the foam and liquid phases was reproducible. The method was tested in model systems in which the bacteria were replaced by silica particles with defined surface modifications. Although this technique is not a direct measure of 'hydrophobicity', the partitioning of cells depends in part upon their surface hydrophobicity. In addition, qualitative information is gained about ionic interactions between the bacteria and the bubble surface. The results are pertinent to the problem of foaming in wastewater treatment plants.

There is very little information concerning carrion fly population genetic structure. We generated amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) profiles for the common blowfly, Phormia regina (Meigen), from sites spanning the contiguous United States. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on 232 loci found significant variation (phi(SC) = 23%) among discrete samples (those collected at a bait in one location over a short period of time). Samples collected in the same location but at different times were also distinct. When samples were pooled into geographic regions (east, central, west), the variation was negligible (phi(CT) = 0%). A Mantel test found only a very weak correlation between individual genetic and geographic distances. Relative relatedness coefficients based on shared allele proportions indicated individual samples were likely to contain close relatives. P. regina arriving at an individual carcass typically represent a nonrandom sample of the population despite a lack of geographic structure. A female blow fly produces hundreds of offspring at one time; therefore, newly emerged siblings may respond in concert to an odor plume. These results may be of interest to forensic entomologists, many of whom use a laboratory colony founded from a small sample for the growth studies that support casework. Discrepancies between published growth curves may reflect such random differences in the founding individuals.

Blunt chest trauma resulting in pulmonary contusion with an accompanying acute inflammatory response is a common but poorly understood injury. We previously demonstrated that toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) participates in the inflammatory response to lung injury. We hypothesized that the TLR-4, in an MyD88-dependent manner, may also participate in the response to lung injury. To investigate this, we used a model of pulmonary contusion in the mouse that is similar to that observed clinically in humans and evaluated postinjury lung function, pulmonary neutrophil recruitment, and the systemic innate immune response. Comparisons were made between wild-type mice and mice deficient in TLR-4 or MyD88. We found TLR-4-dependent responses to pulmonary contusion that include hypoxemia, edema, and neutrophil infiltration. Increased expression of IL-6 and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 in the bronchoalveolar lavage and serum was also dependent on TLR-4 activation. We further demonstrated that these responses to pulmonary contusion were dependent on MyD88, an adapter protein in the signal transduction pathway mediated by TLRs. These results show that TLRs have a primary role in the response to acute lung injury. Lung inflammation and systemic innate immune responses are dependent on TLR activation by pulmonary contusion.

Forensic entomology case reports are the product of rapid development in the field, the widespread acceptance of the science and the application of forensic entomological knowledge. In this study, we retrospectively summarized information derived from 307 forensic entomology case reports from 1935 to 2022 from a global perspective. Our checklist of relevant information included insect species, specific indoor or outdoor preferences, preferred temperatures, and stages of body decomposition. Finally, a concept and calculation method for postmortem interval (PMI) estimation accuracy was proposed. There were 232 cases using insect developmental data and 28 cases using succession patterns to estimate PMI. A total of 146 species of insects were involved in the cases, of which 62.3% were Diptera and 37.7% were Coleoptera. Postmortem intervals were estimated from eggs in 4 cases, larvae in 180 cases, pupae in 45 cases, and puparia in 38 cases. The majority of cases were from June to October, and the average number of species mentioned in the cases was more at 15-30 °C. Considering the standardization of application, in the majority of cases, insect evidence was collected by other personnel and sent to forensic entomologists, there was a delay in the sampling, and the scene or meteorological data were directly used without correcting. Our data shows that there are still many shortcomings in the universality and standardization of forensic entomology in its practical application., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Lucilia cuprina and L. sericata (family Calliphoridae) are globally significant ectoparasites of sheep. Current literature suggests that only one of these blowfly subspecies, L. cuprina dorsalis, is a primary parasite causing myiasis (flystrike) in sheep in Australia. These species and subspecies are difficult to distinguish using morphological features. Hence, being able to accurately identify blowflies is critical for diagnosis and for understanding their relationships with their hosts and environment., Methods: In this study, adult blowflies (5 pools of 17 flies; n = 85) were collected from five locations in different states [New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC) and Western Australia (WA)] of Australia and their mitochondrial (mt) genomes were assembled., Results: Each mt genome assembled was ~ 15 kb in size and encoded 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs and a control region. The Lucilia species mt genomes were conserved in structure, and the genes retained the same order and direction. The overall nucleotide composition was heavily biased towards As and Ts-77.7% of the whole genomes. Pairwise nucleotide diversity suggested divergence between Lucilia cuprina cuprina, L. c. dorsalis and L. sericata. Comparative analyses of these mt genomes with published data demonstrated that the blowflies collected from sheep farm in TAS clustered within a clade with L. sericata. The flies collected from an urban location in QLD were more closely related to L. sericata and represented the subspecies L. c. cuprina, whereas the flies collected from sheep farms in NSW, VIC and WA represented the subspecies L. c. dorsalis., Conclusions: Phylogenetic analyses of the mt genomes representing Lucilia from the five geographic locations in Australia supported the previously demonstrated paraphyly of L. cuprina with respect to L. sericata and revealed that L. c. cuprina is distinct from L. c. dorsalis and that L. c. cuprina is more closely related to L. sericata than L. c. dorsalis. The mt genomes reported here provide an important molecular resource to develop tools for species- and subspecies-level identification of Lucilia from different geographical regions across Australia., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Bacteria have been implicated in the formation of viscous brown foams that can appear suddenly on wastewater treatment plants. Three strains of the filamentous bacterium Gordonia amarae, isolated from wastewater treatment plants, were investigated to determine their effect on foam formation and stabilisation. During the exponential phase of the bacterial growth a biosurfactant was formed, causing a significant drop in the surface tension of the filtered medium and the formation of persistent foam. Foaming tests in the presence and absence of bacteria showed that bacteria increased foam persistence, most probably by reducing the drainage from the lamellae between bubbles. Experiments showed that > or =55% of the three bacterial strains partitioned into the foam produced by the biosurfactant, indicating that their surfaces were hydrophobic. The extent of partitioning was independent of the growth stage, suggesting that the cell surface hydrophobicity did not change with age, or with cell viability. This work shows that, although the G. amarae cells themselves do not cause foaming, they do produce biosurfactant, which aids foam formation, and they stabilise the foam by reducing the rate of drainage from the foam lamellae.

A forensic entomological investigation can benefit from a variety of widely practiced molecular genotyping methods. The most commonly used is DNA-based specimen identification. Other applications include the identification of insect gut contents and the characterization of the population genetic structure of a forensically important insect species. The proper application of these procedures demands that the analyst be technically expert. However, one must also be aware of the extensive list of standards and expectations that many legal systems have developed for forensic DNA analysis. We summarize the DNA techniques that are currently used in, or have been proposed for, forensic entomology and review established genetic analyses from other scientific fields that address questions similar to those in forensic entomology. We describe how accepted standards for forensic DNA practice and method validation are likely to apply to insect evidence used in a death or other forensic entomological investigation.

Sorption of chlorpyrifos (CPF) from 2.85 microM (1 mg/L) aqueous solutions in 0.01 M NaCl to montmorillonite, kaolinite, and gibbsite was investigated at 25 degrees C. Uptake of CPF by kaolinite and gibbsite was generally <10%, with pH having at most a small effect. Sorption to montmorillonite was significantly greater, with approximately 50% of the initial CPF being removed from solution below pH 5. Above pH 5 the sorption decreased to about 30%. About 70% of CPF was sorbed to kaolinite and gibbsite after 30 min, whereas on montmorillonite only 50% sorbed in an initial rapid uptake (approximately 30 min) followed by slower sorption, with a maximum achieved by 24 h. Although CPF desorbed completely from kaolinite in methanol, only about two-thirds was desorbed from montmorillonite. CPF has only a weak affinity for the surfaces of kaolinite and gibbsite. In the case of montmorillonite, sorption is significantly stronger and may involve a combination of sorption to external surfaces and diffusion into microporous regions. At pH >6 increased negative surface charge results in a lower affinity of CPF for the external surface. In the presence of 50 mg/L humic acid (HA) the amount of CPF sorbed on gibbsite and kaolinite was 3-4 times greater than that in the binary systems. The HA forms an organic coating on the mineral surface, providing a more hydrophobic environment, leading to enhanced CPF uptake. The HA coating on montmorillonite may reduce access of CPF to microporous regions, with CPF tending to accumulate within the HA coating.

Background and Objective: Transient optical nerve stimulation is a promising new non-contact, spatially precise, artifact-free neural excitation technique useful in research and clinical settings. This study evaluates safety of this pulsed infrared laser technique by histopathologic examination of stimulated peripheral nerves., Study Design/materials and Methods: Exposed rat sciatic nerves were functionally stimulated with the pulsed Holmium:YAG laser, previously validated as an effective tool for optical stimulation. Nerves were removed immediately and up to 2 weeks after stimulation and assessed histologically for thermal damage. Laser parameters studied include upper limits for radiant exposure, repetition rate, and duration of stimulation., Results: Radiant exposures with <1% probability of thermal tissue damage (0.66-0.70 J/cm(2)) are significantly greater than radiant exposures required for reliable stimulation (0.34-0.48 J/cm(2)). The upper limit for safe laser stimulation repetition rate occurs near 5 Hz. Maximum duration for constant low repetition rate stimulation (2 Hz) is approximately 4 minutes with adequate tissue hydration., Conclusion: Results confirm that optical stimulation has the potential to become a powerful non-contact clinical and research tool for brief nerve stimulation with low risk of nerve thermal damage., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Forensic scientists are increasingly using DNA to identify the species of a tissue sample. However, little attention has been paid to basic experimental design issues such as replication and the selection of taxa when designing a species diagnostic test. We present an example using the forensically important fly genus Lucilia in which an increasingly larger sample size revealed that species diagnosis based on the commonly used cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) was less straightforward than we initially thought. This locus may still be useful for diagnosing Lucilia specimens, but additional knowledge other than the genotype will be required to reduce the list of candidate species to include only forms that can be distinguished by COI. We believe that these results illustrate the importance of study design and biological knowledge of the study species when proposing a DNA-based identification test for any taxonomic group.

Many authors have proposed DNA-based methods for identifying an insect specimen associated with human remains. However, almost no attempt has been made to validate these methods using additional observations. We tested a protocol for identifying insects in the blow fly subfamily Chrysomyinae (Diptera: Calliphoridae) often found to be associated with a human corpse in Canada or the USA. This method uses phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence from a short segment of the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome oxidase one (COI). Test chrysomyine COI sequences were obtained from 245 newly sequenced specimens and 51 specimens from the published literature. Published sequences from representatives of nonchrysomyine genera were also included to check for the possibility of a false positive identification. All of the chrysomyine test haplotypes were correctly identified with strong statistical support, and there were no false positives. This method appears to be an accurate and robust technique for identifying chrysomyine species from a death investigation in this geographic region. The far northern species Protophormia atriceps was not evaluated; therefore, caution is required in applying this method at very high latitudes in North America.

In this study, we calculate the Higgs mass matrix and explore the limitations of the minimum conditions of the scalar potential on parameter degrees of freedom in the CP violation TNMSSM. We discuss the contributions of some parameters to Higgs mass, and their impact on the strength of Higgs decay signals in different decay channels h → γ γ , h → VV (V = W , Z) and h → f f ¯ (f = b , c , τ) . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen participation in smart city projects is currently a hot issue, but there is a lack of quantitative research exploring this topic. Furthermore, little is known about how a sense of responsibility drives their participation in smart cities. Therefore, this paper aims to empirically explore how a sense of responsibility affects the willingness to participate in smart cities from the perspective of citizens. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R), a research model was constructed to explore the effect of information publicity, government transparency and subjective norms on the sense of responsibility, which leads to citizen participation intention. A total of 283 survey data were collected from Jinan, China, and structural equation models (SEMs) were used to test the relevant hypotheses. The results show that information publicity has a positive effect on citizen participation intention. Government transparency and subjective norms both have direct and significant impacts on citizens' sense of responsibility, which in turn has a positive effect on their participation intention. The moderation effect of information quality is not significant. This study contributes to the research stream on smart city participation. Not only does it contribute to further understanding the main factors that affect residents' participation in the construction of smart cities, but it also contributes to the implementation of bottom-up strategies and practices for smart city construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]