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Many undergraduate chemistry students struggle to understand the concept of stereoisomers, molecules that have the same molecular formula and sequence of bonded atoms but are different in how their atoms are oriented in space. Our goal in this study is to improve stereoisomer instruction by getting participants actively involved in the lesson. Using a pretest-instruction-posttest design, we instructed participants to enact molecule rotation in three ways: (1) by imagining the molecules' movements, (2) by physically moving models of the molecules, or (3) by gesturing the molecules' movements. Because gender differences have been found in students' performance in chemistry (Moss-Racusin et al., 2018), we also disaggregated our effects by gender and examined how men and women responded to each of our 3 types of instruction. Undergraduate students took a pretest on stereoisomers, were randomly assigned to one of the 3 types of instruction in stereoisomers, and then took a posttest. We found that, controlling for pretest performance, both women and men participants made robust improvements after instruction. We end with a discussion of how these findings might inform stereoisomer instruction.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a phospholipid that acts as an extracellular signaling molecule and activates the family of lysophosphatidic acid receptors (LPA1-6). These G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are broadly expressed and are particularly important in development as well as in the nervous, cardiovascular, reproductive, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary systems. Here, we report on a photoswitchable analogue of LPA, termed AzoLPA, which contains an azobenzene photoswitch embedded in the acyl chain. AzoLPA enables optical control of LPA receptor activation, shown through its ability to rapidly control LPA-evoked increases in intracellular Ca2+ levels. AzoLPA shows greater activation of LPA receptors in its light-induced cis-form than its dark-adapted (or 460 nm light-induced) trans-form. AzoLPA enabled the optical control of neurite retraction through its activation of the LPA2 receptor.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) plays important roles as a signaling lipid in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes. S1P signals via a family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) (S1P1-5) and intracellular targets. Here, we report on photoswitchable analogs of S1P and its precursor sphingosine, respectively termed PhotoS1P and PhotoSph. PhotoS1P enables optical control of S1P1-3, shown through electrophysiology and Ca2+ mobilization assays. We evaluated PhotoS1P in vivo, where it reversibly controlled S1P3-dependent pain hypersensitivity in mice. The hypersensitivity induced by PhotoS1P is comparable to that induced by S1P. PhotoS1P is uniquely suited for the study of S1P biology in cultured cells and in vivo because it exhibits prolonged metabolic stability compared to the rapidly metabolized S1P. Using lipid mass spectrometry analysis, we constructed a metabolic map of PhotoS1P and PhotoSph. The formation of these photoswitchable lipids was found to be light dependent, providing a novel approach to optically probe sphingolipid biology.

The presence of a human figure in a scene appears to change how people describe it. About 20% of participants take the human figure's viewpoint (Tversky and Hard in Cognition 110:124-129, 2009. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.10.008). Five exploratory studies compare descriptions of a scene with no person to descriptions of a scene with a person. About 20% of participants are predicted to use the person's point of view in the "person" conditions. Study 1 replicates the original pattern. Study 2 shows that the pattern holds when object/scene are changed, and that the figure's gaze towards/away from the object does not change the pattern. Studies 3 and 4 show the pattern holds when the object has different positions and when it is moving. Study 5 shows the pattern holds when the describer is talking to an interlocutor, in both speech and co-speech gesture, and when the person is using gesture alone. The presence of a human figure in a scene appears to be a robust variable in shaping spatial descriptions.

Cases of co-infection and secondary infection emerging during the current Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic are a major public health concern. Such cases may result from immunodysregulation induced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Pandemic preparedness must include identification of disease natural history and common secondary infections to implement clinical solutions.

Medical students represent a significant part of the health-care community and are active members of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response. This study aimed to evaluate various factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention among medical students via an online anonymous survey. A total of 370 students completed the online survey, with 229 (61.89%) not vaccinated for COVID-19. Of students not yet vaccinated, 45 (19.65%) were unsure or did not intend to accept the vaccine, while 184 (80.35%) intend to be vaccinated within 6 months. Overall, female gender, health status, clinical science enrollment, and the practice of COVID-19 preventative behaviors significantly correlated with the intention to be vaccinated within 6 months. Greater perceived risk for contracting COVID-19, lesser beliefs that the COVID-19 vaccination trials were rushed, and greater beliefs that being vaccinated would help complete their medical education were uniquely associated with the intention to be vaccinated within 6 months. Collectively, this study identified several factors that influenced medical students' intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. This information may be used in future immunization strategies to increase the vaccination rates among this group of future medical professionals.

When faced with an ambiguous pronoun, comprehenders use both multimodal cues (e.g., gestures) and linguistic cues to identify the antecedent. While research has shown that gestures facilitate language comprehension, improve reference tracking, and influence the interpretation of ambiguous pronouns, literature on reference resolution suggests that a wide set of linguistic constraints influences the successful resolution of ambiguous pronouns and that linguistic cues are more powerful than some multimodal cues. To address the outstanding question of the importance of gesture as a cue in reference resolution relative to cues in the speech signal, we have previously investigated the comprehension of contrastive gestures that indexed abstract referents – in this case expressions of personal preference – and found that such gestures did facilitate the resolution of ambiguous statements of preference. In this study, we extend this work to investigate whether the effect of gesture on resolution is diminished when the gesture indexes a statement that is less likely to be interpreted as the correct referent. Participants watched videos in which a speaker contrasted two ideas that were either neutral (e.g., whether to take the train to a ballgame or drive) or moral (e.g., human cloning is (un)acceptable). A gesture to the left or right side co-occurred with speech expressing each position. In gesture-disambiguating trials, an ambiguous phrase (e.g., I agree with that, where that is ambiguous) was accompanied by a gesture to one side or the other. In gesture non-disambiguating trials, no third gesture occurred with the ambiguous phrase. Participants were more likely to choose the idea accompanied by gesture as the stimulus speaker’s preference. We found no effect of scenario type. Regardless of whether the linguistic cue expressed a view that was morally charged or neutral, observers used gesture to understand the speaker’s opinion. This finding contributes to our understanding of the strength and range of cues, both linguistic and multimodal, that listeners use to resolve ambiguous references.

Xanthogranulomatous Pyelonephritis (XGP) is a serious and rare inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. This systematic review analyzes XGP cases. We performed a literature search for “Pyelonephritis, Xanthogranulomatous.” The primary composite outcome was recovery with post-surgery complications, partial recovery, death, or chronic kidney disease. The secondary outcome was any presentation or treatment complication. Predictor variables consisted of demographics, history, symptoms, and diagnosis/management. Among the 251 patients, the mean age was 36.1 years, and 57.4% were female. The most common symptom and finding were fever (55.0%) and renal stones (53.8%), respectively. There were 15.5% with the composite outcome. There were 51.0% with any presentation or treatment complication. Multivariate logistic regression analysis for the composite outcome showed that kidney of both/horseshoe (OR:3.86, 95% CI:1.01, 14.73, p = 0.048), dialysis required (OR:8.64, 95% CI:2.27, 32.94, p = 0.002), and operative treatment of nephrostomy or nephrostomy followed by nephrectomy (OR:4.57, 95% CI:1.58, 13.17, p = 0.01) were each significantly associated with increased odds. Fever (OR:3.04, 95% CI:1.63, 5.67, p <0.001) and renal stones (OR:2.55, 95% CI:1.35, 4.81, p = 0.004) were each significantly associated with increased odds for any presentation/treatment complication. In conclusion, XGP patients with involvement of both or horseshoe kidneys, dialysis requirements, or treatment of nephrostomy or nephrostomy followed by nephrectomy may require aggressive treatment to mitigate poor patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive Internet search was conducted to obtain pre-admission information and acceptance statistics from 260 graduate programmes in speech-language pathology accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in the United States. ASHA is the national professional, scientific and credentialing association for members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel and students. Data were collected for analysis from Internet websites of individual academic programmes and ASHA's EdFind, an online directory for undergraduate and graduate programmes in communication sciences and disorders in the United States. Frequency counts were used to analyse the data. Since graduate programmes are not required by ASHA to report or publish entrance requirements, the information included on the individual websites and ASHA's EdFind varies widely among the programmes with some information incomplete or not reported at all.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) comprise a diverse superfamily of over 800 proteins that have gained relevance as biological targets for pharmaceutical drug design. Although these receptors have been investigated for decades, three-dimensional structures of GPCR have only recently become available. In this review, we focus on the technological advancements that have facilitated efforts to gain insights into GPCR structure. Progress in these efforts began with the initial crystal structure determination of rhodopsin (PDB: 1F88) in 2000 and has continued to the most recently published structure of the A1AR (PDB: 5UEN) in 2017. Numerous experimental developments over the past two decades have opened the door for widespread GPCR structural characterization. These efforts have resulted in the determination of three-dimensional structures for over 40 individual GPCR family members. Herein we present a comprehensive list and comparative analysis of over 180 individual GPCR structures. This includes a summary of different GPCR functional states crystallized with agonists, dual agonists, partial agonists, inverse agonists, antagonists, and allosteric modulators.

Brain anatomy is typically taught using static images. We asked participants to use their own hands to represent the brain and perform gestures during learning. We measured learning via a pretest/postest design. We compared five video trainings in which participants heard similar audio and repeated terminology aloud. Conditions were: (1) Image: Participants saw images of a physical model of the brain. (2) Physical model: Participants saw hands pointing to the physical model. (3) Physical model + action: Participants performed actions on the physical model. (4) Hand model: Participants saw images of hands being used to represent the brain. (5) Hand model + action: Participants performed gestures seen in the video. All trainings improved post‐test performance. Performance in the hand model condition was worse compared to conditions with action. We connect these findings to the larger claim that gesture benefits learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]