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Summary: Evolutionary emergence of specialised vascular tissues has enabled plants to coordinate their growth and adjust to unfavourable external conditions. Whilst holding a pivotal role in long‐distance transport, both xylem and phloem can be encroached on by various biotic factors for systemic invasion and hijacking of nutrients. Therefore, a complete understanding of the strategies deployed by plants against such pathogens to restrict their entry and establishment within plant tissues, is of key importance for the future development of disease‐tolerant crops. In this review, we aim to describe how microorganisms exploit the plant vascular system as a route for gaining access and control of different host tissues and metabolic pathways. Highlighting several biological examples, we detail the wide range of host responses triggered to prevent or hinder vascular colonisation and effectively minimise damage upon biotic invasions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Certain neurophysiological characteristics of sleep, in particular slow oscillations (SOs), sleep spindles, and their temporal coupling, have been well characterised and associated with human memory abilities. Delta waves, which are somewhat higher in frequency and lower in amplitude compared to SOs, and their interaction with spindles have only recently been found to play a critical role in memory processing of rodents, through a competitive interaction between SO–spindle and delta–spindle coupling. However, human studies that comprehensively address delta wave interactions with spindles and SOs, as well as their functional role for memory are still lacking. Electroencephalographic data were acquired across three naps of 33 healthy older human participants (17 female) to investigate delta–spindle coupling and the interplay between delta‐ and SO‐related activity. Additionally, we determined intra‐individual stability of coupling measures and their potential link to the ability to form novel memories in a verbal memory task. Our results revealed weaker delta–spindle compared to SO–spindle coupling. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, we found no evidence for an opposing dependency between SO‐ and delta‐related activities during non‐rapid eye movement sleep. Moreover, the ratio between SO‐ and delta‐nested spindles rather than SO–spindle and delta–spindle coupling measures by themselves predicted the ability to form novel memories best. In conclusion, our results do not confirm previous findings in rodents on competitive interactions between delta activity and SO–spindle coupling in older adults. However, they support the hypothesis that SO, delta wave, and spindle activity should be jointly considered when aiming to link sleep physiology and memory formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Michigan State College of Human Medicine began as an experiment to teach medical students in community-based settings and to create a primary care workforce for the state. Decades later, CHM faced internal and external challenges that spurred creation of a new curriculum - the Share Discovery Curriculum - founded on learning by doing and other learning theories. Methods: A curricular design group (CDG) developed guiding principles for reform. Based on this, pedagogies and structures were selected to achieve this vision and developed into a curricular structure. Components of the first-year curriculum were piloted with a group of students and faculty members. Results: Six guiding principles were endorsed, grounded in learning theories such as Dewey's Learning by Doing. Based upon these, several key features of the new curriculum emerged: learning communities; one-on-one coaches for students; symptom-based presentations for content; simulation, authentic clinical tasks, flipped classrooms, and modified practice-based learning as primary teaching modalities; early, integrated clinical and scientific learning; milestones as course learning objectives; and a multidimensional, competency-based assessment system. Discussion: The process and outcomes described here are intended as an exemplar for schools undertaking curricular change. Early stakeholder engagement, faculty development, sustainable administrative systems, and managing complexity are core to the success of such endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]