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Microbes are hardly seen as planktonic species and are most commonly found as biofilm communities in cases of chronic infections. Biofilms are regarded as a biological condition, where a large group of microorganisms gets adhered to a biotic or abiotic surface. In this context, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative nosocomial pathogen is the main causative organism responsible for life-threatening and persistent infections in individuals affected with cystic fibrosis and other lung ailments. The bacteria can form a strong biofilm structure when it adheres to a surface suitable for the development of a biofilm matrix. These bacterial biofilms pose higher natural resistance to conventional antibiotic therapy due to their multiple tolerance mechanisms. This prevailing condition has led to an increasing rate of treatment failures associated with P. aeruginosa biofilm infections. A better understanding of the effect of a diverse group of antibiotics on established biofilms would be necessary to avoid inappropriate treatment strategies. Hence, the search for other alternative strategies as effective biofilm treatment options has become a growing area of research. The current review aims to give an overview of the mechanisms governing biofilm formation and the different strategies employed so far in the control of biofilm infections caused by P. aeruginosa. Moreover, this review can also help researchers to search for new antibiofilm agents to tackle the effect of biofilm infections that are currently imprudent to conventional antibiotics.

Research and commercial trawl catches of humpback shrimp Pandalus hypsinotus from the Tatar Strait (Japan Sea) in 2004–2020 were investigated, with bioanalysis of about 45 thousand specimens. Average timing of group molting, spawning, and eggs laying are determined, terms of gonads and eggs development are estimated. Prespawning and molting of the females occur between January-April, with the peaks in early February and middle February, respectively. All oviparous females have 30–40 days to lay eggs, and molt during 50–55 days; the peak of the eggs laying occurs in late June. The males molt in July-August, afterwards the largest individuals change gender and new intersexes are formed. The males have the second molting in October-December, with the peak in late November. In January, after finish of the males molting, a new annual reproduction cycle starts from the prespawning molting of females. Both vitellogenesis and embryogenesis are observed through the year, though females with developing gonads prevail from August to January (because of a long time span between winter and summer moltings while the egg carrying continued 15 months) but oviparous females — from February to July. The individual reproductive cycle of Pandalus hypsinotus in the Tatar Strait lasts 24 months, with 9 months of vitellogenesis (quick growth of gonads) and 15 months of embryogenesis. During the 2-year reproductive cycle, most of females pass through the following stages: i) gonads development (just after eggs laying) when almost all oviparous females (up to 95 % in May) have green gonads under carapace that corresponds to the stage of development «eggs laid — gonads weakly developed»; ii) summer molting from August when females lose hairs on pleopods and the gonads growth accelerates; iii) respawning in January-March (together with the firstly spawning intersexes, with slight delay of the latter); iv) initial developing of eggs during summer; v) stage of «eyed eggs» from December to March; and vi) eggs laying and molting from late March to late May; then the 2-year reproductive cycle repeats.

Mammalian milk including microRNAs (miRNAs) as a novel class of noncoding RNAs, that can be transferred to infants and it plays on a critical role in biological functions such as immune regulation and development. However, the origin and functional importance of milk-derived miRNAs are still undetermined. This study applied RNA sequencing to explore the featured profiles of miRNA expression in colostrum and mature milk-originated exosomes from human, bovine, and caprine milk. These dietary exosome-derived miRNAs are highly conserved in human, bovine and caprine milk. Interestingly, abundant miRNAs expressed in human milk are similarly conserved across species. In addition, we confirmed that immune-related miRNAs (miR-30a-5p, miR-22-3p, and miR-26a) are commonly observed in the colostrum and mature milk of cows and caprines as well as humans. Our results provide new insights and resources for investigating the functionality of immune-associated miRNAs and evaluating physiological and biological condition in human, bovine and caprine milk as biomarkers.

The rejection of disability as a tragic biological condition is central to affirmative disability politics in the twentieth and twenty-first century Anglo tradition. If disability was primarily tra...

Nas últimas décadas, o corpo feminino tem sido ressignificado enquanto categoria analítica e compreendido em sua concretude sócio-histórica, não mais subsumido em sua condição meramente biológica. Sabemos que o corpo feminino, de modo geral, sofreu espoliação e repressões várias ao longo do processo histórico de estruturação da sociedade; ainda assim, o corpo negro foi o maior vilipendiado, tendo sido exposto a violações das mais diversas ordens, até mesmo em sua dimensão ontológica. Partindo desse pressuposto, o propósito deste estudo é analisar a produção lírica de cinco poetas moçambicanas – Lica Sebastião, Sónia Sultuane, Melita Matsinhe, Rinkel e Deusa d’África – a fim de desconstruir o imaginário histórico de subjugação a partir de representações possíveis de corpo erotizados e liberados em poemas contemporâneos. Para embasar tal estudo, nos apoiaremos na tipologia do corpo de Elódia Xavier (2007), Hooks (2019), entre outros autores.

Lakes provide significant ecosystem services that are compromised by human degradation. Watershed and in-lake restoration are used to improve the physical, chemical, and biological condition of lakes, but their success is rarely evaluated. Our objectives were to compare water quality and biological conditions following in-lake, watershed, or a combination of both restoration activities in 20 lakes throughout Iowa, USA compared to reference systems. Lake-specific responses to restoration were variable, making it challenging to detect systematic effects in water quality parameters. Secchi depth generally improved following restoration, particularly in natural in-lake restorations and following sediment removal, fishery renovation, and with the number of restoration practices implemented, but improvements were not sustained. Restoration also tended to reduce nutrient and plankton concentrations and relative abundance of some benthic fishes. Due to the prolonged degradation of eutrophic lakes, it may be unrealistic to expect immediate and long-lasting water quality improvements. In-lake restoration in natural lakes may be the most likely to have detectable effects, but our results also highlight the need for improved restoration documentation and additional research to identify factors associated with restoration success. Our results are useful for guiding lake restoration practices and educating lake users and stakeholders on expected restoration outcomes.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a biological condition that affects between 2% and 5% of the population. Despite this, it is often underdiagnosed as unipolar depression, which increases the possibility of prescribing errors. This could foster episodes of inverse polarity (“switching”) which, in turn, raises the risk of suicide. Objective: This work reviews the existing literature for evidence that while biological agents could improve the mood of patients with psoriasis treated with these drugs, this same favorable antidepressant effect on humor may trigger a switch into mania, favoring attempted and completed suicide in undiagnosed bipolar patients treated for psoriasis with the abovementioned agents. Method: A systematic review of the literature was performed for evidence. Based on their titles and abstracts, 48 relevant articles from 18 countries in English, Spanish, and French from 2004 to 2019 were selected for this review. Results: Inherently, all antidepressants can be associated with treatment-emergent affective switch (TEAS). Biological agents may modify the neurotransmitter levels either improving or worsening the mood. A plausible hypothesis arises on the double-edged nature of biological agents: they would have an antidepressant effect that would be beneficial to treat the psychiatric comorbidity of the patient with psoriasis. However, this same antidepressant effect, in a patient with genetic vulnerability for depression with a concomitant inflammatory disease, could trigger a mood alteration. Conclusion: Both BD and psoriasis should be considered as a multisystem entity with a common physiopathology. Consequently, it is vital to emphasize the importance of the initial psychiatric evaluation.

Over the past few years, meta-analysis has become popular among biomedical researchers for detecting biomarkers across multiple cohort studies with increased predictive power. Combining datasets from different sources increases sample size, thus overcoming the issue related to limited sample size from each individual study and boosting the predictive power. This leads to an increased likelihood of more accurately predicting differentially expressed genes/proteins or significant biomarkers underlying the biological condition of interest. Currently, several meta-analysis methods and tools exist, each having its own strengths and limitations. In this paper, we survey existing meta-analysis methods, and assess the performance of different methods based on results from different datasets as well as assessment from prior knowledge of each method. This provides a reference summary of meta-analysis models and tools, which helps to guide end-users on the choice of appropriate models or tools for given types of datasets and enables developers to consider current advances when planning the development of new meta-analysis models and more practical integrative tools.

Nanozymes with intrinsic enzyme-like characteristics have attracted enormous research interest in biological application, due to their higher catalytic stability and activity than many natural enzymes. However, there is still a lack of facile approach for real-time evaluating the catalytic activity of nanozymes in living system, which limits their application in precise treatment of disease. Herein, we develop a novel manganese-semiconducting polymer-based nanozyme (MSPN) with oxidase-like activity for dynamically reporting the catalytic activity of itself in acid-induced cancer therapy via ratiometric near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF)-photoacoustic (PA) molecular imaging. Notably, MSPN possess oxidase-like activity in tumor microenvironment, owing to the mixed-valent MnOx nanoparticles ((Mn II ) 1 (Mn III ) 1.56 (Mn IV ) 1.4 O 6.14 ), which can effectively kill cancer cells. Because the semiconducting polymer (PFODBT) is conjugated with oxidase-responsive molecule (ORM) via amide bond, the catalyitic activity of nanozyme can be correlated with the ratiometric sginals of NIRF (FL 695 /FL 825 ) and PA (PA 680 /PA 780 ). Therefore, our integrated catalyitic and imaging platform represents an innovative strategy that can not only achieve effective catalyitic activity in vivo, but also be used to real-time monitor the nanozyme acitivity itself, which may provide new ideas for predicating anticancer effiecncy of nanozymes in biological condition.

Health is not only a biological condition; it is configured as a social, cultural and legal good that the state can´t promote, improve or protect without the participation of health professionals, states and educational and research institutions; but, above all, it must have the active intervention of all citizens. The aim is for services to be carried out with equity, quality and social protection.

The impact of ameliorants on the biological condition of ordinary black soil in the south of European Russia (Rostov district) after oil pollution has been analyzed. The impact of ameliorants of different nature like urea, glauconite, potassium humate and Dop-Uni (bacterial preparation) on the biological condition of oil-contaminated ordinary black soil has been analyzed. According to the stimulating effect on the biological activity of oil-contaminated black soil, ameliorants were ranked in the following order: potassium humate > Dop-Uni > urea. According to the efficiency in stimulating oil breakdown, the ameliorants studied form the following sequence: potassium humate > Dop-Uni > urea. The above rank did not include glauconite since its mode of action is based not on the stimulation of oil breakdown, but on its fixation. In case of combined application of urea and potassium humate, there was a synergistic effect indicating the reasonability of their combined application. When applying urea and Dop-Uni, there was an antagonistic effect. According to the sensitivity to ameliorants in oil-contaminated black soils, biological parameters form the following sequence: content of labile organic matter ≥ invertase activity > catalase activity > phosphatase activity > root length ≥ shoot length. According to information value, the used biological parameters of soil condition form the following sequence: invertase activity > content of labile organic matter ≥ catalase activity > root length > shoot length > phosphatase activity.

Inter- and intra-individual variation in disgust sensitivity can be largely explained considering costs and benefits of coming into contact with potentially fitness-reducing factors. These costs and benefits should differ depending on individuals' biological condition, thus disgust sensitivity may depend on an individual's condition as well. Hand grip strength (HGS) is a measure of biological condition, that's been shown to correlate with many aspects related to current and future health. Thus, the aim of the study was to test if HGS predicts disgust sensitivity across three functionally specialized domains (pathogen, sexual, moral) in two separate studies. Study 1 included 132 healthy men and 90 women. Study 2 included 182 healthy women. In both studies, HGS was measured and disgust sensitivity was evaluated with the Three Domain Disgust Scale. Age and BMI were controlled and, additionally, in Study 2 health markers (hsCRP, IL-6), self-perceived attractiveness, cortisol and testosterone were controlled. Study 1 showed that HGS was negatively related with pathogen and sexual disgust, and HGS explained sex differences in sexual disgust domain. Study 2 confirmed this result for women, when controlled for potential confounders. When controlled for HGS, sexual disgust was also negatively related with women's age, muscle mass and self-perceived attractiveness.

OBJECTIVES Understanding depression as biologically caused has been shown to impact both treatment preferences and prognostic pessimism. Attribution theory has been posited as an explanation for this relationship. Given that evidence-based psychotherapy is effective yet often not delivered to individuals with depression, the present study sought to determine factors that impact treatment credibility. DESIGN Non-treatment-seeking, depressed individuals (n = 229) were randomly assigned to read a psychoeducation article about depression that consisted of a biological causal explanation, psychosocial causal explanation, or a non-causal control. METHODS Attributional dimensions of locus, stability, and control were examined as mediating the relationship between causal explanation and treatment credibility and prognostic pessimism. RESULTS Individuals in the biological condition were more likely to find antidepressant medication a credible treatment for depression. The manipulation had no direct effect on preference for psychotherapy or prognostic pessimism. Attributional dimensions of locus, stability, and control did not mediate the relationship between causal explanation and treatment credibility. To the extent that the psychosocial article increased perceived instability of the depression cause, however, prognostic pessimism was reduced. CONCLUSIONS The present study has implications for framing education about depression in mental health literacy programs and public awareness campaigns. PRACTITIONER POINTS This study found that conceptualizing depression as biologically caused increased the credibility of medication but not psychotherapy Participants reading a biological explanation of depression demonstrated an increase on some aspects of stigma and prognostic pessimism Emphasizing the person-environment interaction rather than biological causes decreased the perceived stability of depression which was associated with a decrease in prognostic pessimism.

Gender lay theory is a framework of information interpretation related to gender categorisation and can be divided into two general forms: gender essentialism versus gender as socially constructed. The present study investigated how exposure to scientifically framed explanations for gender differences affects individuals’ gender lay theory and if endorsement of an essentialist gender lay theory influences discrimination attribution. The 413 Swedish participants were exposed to scientific explanations of gender differences, with either a biological or a social constructionist perspective, or to no-explanation control. Compared to the control condition, the social constructionist condition showed higher endorsement of a non-essentialist gender lay theory. The biological condition did not differ from the control condition, indicating that an essentialist view of gender might be the prevailing norm in Sweden. Discrimination attribution was indirectly affected by exposure to social constructionist explanations of gender differences through increasing endorsement of a non-essentialist gender lay theory, which predicted a higher degree of discrimination attribution. In other words, exposure to social constructionist explanations of gender differences predicted a greater recognition of discriminatory behaviour as such than did exposure to biological explanations or no explanation. Implications of the current study include the potential for social constructionist theories of gender to be used for educational purposes to increase recognition of discriminatory behaviour.

Many researchers try to understand a biological condition by identifying biomarkers. This is typically done using univariate hypothesis testing over a labeled dataset, declaring a feature to be a biomarker if there is a significant statistical difference between its values for the subjects with different outcomes. However, such sets of proposed biomarkers are often not reproducible – subsequent studies often fail to identify the same sets. Indeed, there is often a very small overlap between the biomarkers proposed in pairs of related studies that explore the same phenotypes over the same distribution of subjects. This paper first defines the Reproducibility Score for a labeled dataset as a measure (taking values between 0 and 1) of the reproducibility of the results produced by an arbitrary fixed biomarker discovery process for a given distribution of subjects. We then provide ways to reliably estimate this score by defining algorithms that produce an over-bound and an under-bound for this score for a given dataset and biomarker discovery process, for the case of univariate hypothesis testing on dichotomous groups. We confirm that these approximations are meaningful by providing empirical results on a large number of datasets and show that these predictions match known reproducibility results. We have also created a publicly available website, hosted at https://biomarker.shinyapps.io/BiomarkerReprod/, that produces these Reproducibility Score approximations for any given dataset (with continuous or discrete features and binary class labels).

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a burgeoning concept in cell biology, which was associated with miRISC machinery. However, most studies about LLPS are based on overexpression of core proteins, which is far away from nature condition of cells, whether miRISC underwent LLPS under biological condition remains unknown. Taking miR-490-3p and its target CDK1 as an example, we revealed without overexpression of any protein components, miRISC functioned in an LLPS-depend manner. We firstly found miRISC has liquid-like properties in colon cancer (CC) cells and could fulfill common LLPS criteria under overexpression condition. Then, RIP was performed to confirm miR-490-3p is actually functioning in miRISC. RT-qPCR, western blot and luciferase assays were performed and found miR-490-3p could significantly decrease expression of CDK1 in both RNA and protein levels. However, without overexpression of miRISC components, when treating CC cells with 1,6-hexanediol(1,6-HD), a widely used LLPS inhibitor, the silence effects of miR-490-3p to CDK1 were totally abolished, no matter in RNA, protein or luciferase levels, suggesting that miRISC functions in an LLPS-depend way under biological condition. In conclusion, we found miR-490-3p could silence CDK1 to inhibit the proliferation of CC cells in an LLPS-depend manner.

13 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2020.103434, Few studies examined species or ecosystem dynamics on seamounts/banks. The Galicia Bank (GB), the deepest marine Special Area of Conservation in the Spanish Natura 2000 network, is considered a conservation priority because of its highly vulnerable habitats, such as cold-water and bamboo corals. The biological conditions and population structure of benthopelagic shrimps and their relationship with environmental conditions were analyzed during three expeditions over three years. Shrimps were collected by trawling. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) and nutritional condition (hepatosomatic index [HSI]) of shrimps were highest at the summit and deepest depths (>1500 m) sampled, whereas at intermediate depths between ca. 900–1500 m, these values were low. The intermediate depths around ca. 1000 m are influenced by the core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), which is characterized by high salinity and low O2 concentrations. The highest GSI were recorded in species (Aristeus antennatus, Plesionika martia) distributed at summit, associated with higher Chl a 1–2 months before sampling at surface. The species with the highest HSI were also linked to Chl a 1–2 months and with higher %OM (generalized additive models, GAM, results). Overall, the studied shrimp species showed viable populations on GB, with reproductors/spawners more markedly distributed over the summit (ca., The authors thank the team members participating in the Ban-Gal cruises of the INDEMARES project (EC contract INDEMARES-LIFE, 07/NAT/E/000732, which financed the project). [...]. English revision was financed by RECOMARES (RTI2018-094066-B-I00) project, within the same line of research of the article. With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)

MYC is a transcription factor playing multiple functions both in physiological and pathological settings. Biochemical characterizations, combined with the analyses of MYC chromatin binding, have shown that its pleiotropic activity depends on the chromatin context and its protein-protein interactions with different cofactors. In order to determine the contribution of MYC in a certain biological condition, it would be relevant to analyze the concomitant binding of MYC and its associated proteins, in relationship to the chromatin environment. To this end, we here provide a simple method to parallel map the genome-wide binding of MYC-associated proteins, together with the chromatin profiling of multiple histone modifications. We detail the procedure to perform high-throughput ChIP-seq (HT-ChIP-seq) with a variety of biological samples. In addition, we describe simple bioinformatic steps to determine the distribution of MYC binding with respect to the chromatin context and the association of its cofactors. The described approach will permit the reproducible characterization of MYC activity in different biological contexts.

This chapter presents the application of a regional reference approach used in a watershed-specific assessment in southern Pennsylvania. It utilizes a contemporary multimetric approach for biological assessments based on comparisons of Codorus Creek biological condition with ecoregional reference conditions. An assessment of physical habitat characteristics was made concurrently with the macroinvertebrate and fish biosurveys. The key to reducing subjectivity in visual-based approach is to provide adequate training and address relevant parameters that represent the physical habitat structure of the region. Benthic macroinvertebrate sampling consisted of a multihabitat composite from each station. The field technique was standardized by unit area to insure comparable effort at all sites, and followed a method developed for low-gradient streams. Fish collection techniques were standardized to provide a representative sample, ensure data quality, and allow a comparison of fish assemblages along the length of the study area. Macroinvertebrate IBI scores demonstrated considerable overlap among the population of upstream and downstream sites.

International audience; Abstract Recently, the research on pain-related disability has increasingly paid attention to the psychological and social factors that may influence the biological condition. In the current study, we aimed to explore attachment styles, self-esteem, and quality of life in individuals with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Participants were 371 diagnosed women, with a mean age of 42.7 years (standard deviation = 10.6). The average number of years since diagnosis was 7.4 years (standard deviation = 2.4) years. To assess attachment, quality of life, and self-esteem, women responded, respectively, to the Relationship Questionnaire, the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory. Our results showed that secure attachment relationships and high self-esteem represent protective factors for quality of life of women with fibromyalgia, while the contrary emerged for insecure attachments and low self-esteem. The understanding of the psychological components that contribute to fibromyalgia may improve the effectiveness of interventions.

What is currently known as “Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” or “ADHD” is not a recent psychiatric condition but a syndrome that received several definitions in the past medical literature. Although there is evidence regarding the genetic liability and the peculiarities in brain structure, function as well neurotransmission of people with ADHD, there are differences between cultures regarding the recognition and the acceptance of the disorder and its “true” prevalence rate. Indeed, for a long time, the debate around ADHD oscillated between the view of ADHD as a biological condition resulting from the intertwining of genetics and environmental factors, and the opposite view considering ADHD as a “psychological variant rather than a disorder.”

A criterion for assessing the activity of biochemical and microbiological processes in the rhizosphere is necessary to explain the direction of the reaction of organisms, communities or ecosystems in response to anthropogenic influences. The purpose of the research is to assess the influence of farming systems (traditional and no-till) and the complex of microbial preparations (СMP) together with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on microbiological processes in the rhizosphere of S. bicolor using the integral indicator of the biological condition (IIBC). Using IIBС, the direction of biological processes in the sorghum’s rhizosphere was shown. It depended both on the cultivation technology and the use of microbial preparations. IIBС of rhizosphere increased by 9.1% when using CMP and AMF in no-till, which indicated an increase in the biological activity of sorghum plants.

There has been growing interest in the associations among biological aging, stress, and psychopathology. Biological aging reflects an individual's functional and biological condition, and one of the indicators is telomere length.1 Telomeres consist of DNA repeats at chromosome ends.2 It is a normal process that telomeres shorten during the lifespan, but this process can be accelerated and result in biological aging associated with morbidity and mortality.2