Explore the vast range of titles available.

The systematic screening of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals is a powerful tool for controlling community transmission of infectious disease on college campuses. Faced with a paucity of testing in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities developed molecular diagnostic laboratories focused on SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing on campus and in their broader communities. We established the UC Santa Cruz Molecular Diagnostic Lab in early April 2020 and began testing clinical samples just five weeks later. Using a clinically-validated laboratory developed test (LDT) that avoided supply chain constraints, an automated sample pooling and processing workflow, and a custom laboratory information management system (LIMS), we expanded testing from a handful of clinical samples per day to thousands per day with the testing capacity to screen our entire campus population twice per week. In this report we describe the technical, logistical, and regulatory processes that enabled our pop-up lab to scale testing and reporting capacity to thousands of tests per day.

The intent of this project is to describe the purpose of a Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP), its function, organization, and the implementation of the GIDEP program in Boeing-Monrovia Division. In addition, the author also initiates an internal GIDEP process flow to improve the Quality, Timeliness, Efficiency, and Cycle Time. This process will be implemented in Boeing-Monrovia Division once the project is completed.

The identification of small molecules that target specific CFTR variants has ushered in a new era of treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF), yet optimal, individualized treatment of CF will require identification and targeting of disease modifiers. Here we use genome-wide association analysis to identify genetic modifiers of CF lung disease, the primary cause of mortality. Meta-analysis of 6,365 CF patients identifies five loci that display significant association with variation in lung disease. Regions on chr3q29 ( MUC4/MUC20; P =3.3 × 10 −11 ), chr5p15.3 ( SLC9A3; P =6.8 × 10 −12 ), chr6p21.3 (HLA Class II ; P =1.2 × 10 −8 ) and chrXq22-q23 (AGTR2/SLC6A14; P =1.8 × 10 −9 ) contain genes of high biological relevance to CF pathophysiology. The fifth locus, on chr11p12-p13 ( EHF/APIP; P =1.9 × 10 −10 ), was previously shown to be associated with lung disease. These results provide new insights into potential targets for modulating lung disease severity in CF. Cystic fibrosis imposes a decline in quality of life but new treatments are being developed that target specific CFTR variants. Here the authors identify five genome loci significantly associated with variation in disease severity in a meta-analysis, which may provide targets for individualized treatment of cystic fibrosis.

Functional hyperemia occurs when enhanced neuronal activity signals to increase local cerebral blood flow (CBF) to satisfy regional energy demand. Ca 2+ elevation in astrocytes can drive arteriole dilation to increase CBF, yet affirmative evidence for the necessity of astrocytes in functional hyperemia in vivo is lacking. In awake mice, we discovered that functional hyperemia is bimodal with a distinct early and late component whereby arteriole dilation progresses as sensory stimulation is sustained. Clamping astrocyte Ca 2+ signaling in vivo by expressing a plasma membrane Ca 2+ ATPase (CalEx) reduces sustained but not brief sensory-evoked arteriole dilation. Elevating astrocyte free Ca 2+ using chemogenetics selectively augments sustained hyperemia. Antagonizing NMDA-receptors or epoxyeicosatrienoic acid production reduces only the late component of functional hyperemia, leaving brief increases in CBF to sensory stimulation intact. We propose that a fundamental role of astrocyte Ca 2+ is to amplify functional hyperemia when neuronal activation is prolonged. Neuronal activity increases local cerebral blood flow (CBF) to satisfy metabolic demand, yet the role of astrocytes in this phenomenon is controversial. Here, the authors show that astrocytes amplify CBF only when neuronal activity is sustained.

Unaddressed age-related hearing loss is highly prevalent among older adults, typified by negative consequences for speech-in-noise perception and psychosocial wellbeing. There is promising evidence that group singing may enhance speech-in-noise perception and psychosocial wellbeing. However, there is a lack of robust evidence, primarily due to the literature being based on small sample sizes, single site studies, and a lack of randomized controlled trials. Hence, to address these concerns, this SingWell Project study utilizes an appropriately powered sample size, multisite, randomized controlled trial approach, with a robust preplanned statistical analysis. To explore if group singing may improve speech-in-noise perception and psychosocial wellbeing for older adults with unaddressed hearing loss. We designed an international, multisite, randomized controlled trial to explore the benefits of group singing for adults aged 60 years and older with unaddressed hearing loss (registered at clinicaltrials.gov, ID: NCT06580847). After undergoing an eligibility screening process and completing an information and consent form, we intend to recruit 210 participants that will be randomly assigned to either group singing or an audiobook club (control group) intervention for a training period of 12-weeks. The study has multiple timepoints for testing, that are broadly categorized as macro (i.e., pre- and post-measures across the 12-weeks), or micro timepoints (i.e., pre- and post-measures across a weekly training session). Macro measures include behavioural measures of speech and music perception, and psychosocial questionnaires. Micro measures include psychosocial questionnaires and heart-rate variability. We hypothesize that group singing may be effective at improving speech perception and psychosocial outcomes for adults aged 60 years and older with unaddressed hearing loss-more so than participants in the control group.

Abstract Accurately decoding emotions from facial and vocal cues is essential to successful social interaction. The human mirror neuron system (hMNS) is thought to support this through sensorimotor simulation of observed emotional expressions. While prior studies linked hMNS activity—indexed by mu rhythm desynchronization (mu-ERD)—to emotional action perception, causal evidence with dynamic, multimodal social stimuli remains limited. We investigated whether transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) to the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), a key node of the hMNS, enhances perception of static and dynamic emotional displays. Fifty-two participants received active or sham tRNS over the IFC. Consistent with pre-registered predictions, active tRNS led to better performance on static emotion perception tasks compared to sham, with no group difference on a static identity-matching control task—validating stimulation specificity. Extending prior work, active tRNS led to faster response times and greater mu-ERD measured by EEG during dynamic audio-visual emotion perception tasks, consistent with predictions relating to enhanced sensorimotor simulation. These findings suggest that tRNS to the IFC can augment rapid, embodied emotion perception—particularly when stimuli more closely approximate real-world social communication—and contribute to the causal mapping of the hMNS, opening new avenues for studying social-emotional function in neurotypical and clinical populations.

There is growing interest in using neuroimaging to understanding listening effort in individuals with hearing loss, with a particular focus on how innovative hearing aid features impact listening effort. This study used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the neural basis of listening effort in experienced hearing aid users. This study evaluated the impact of a new deep learning-based noise management hearing aid feature on cerebral blood oxygenation, with the expectation that it would be associated with less oxygenation in the left prefrontal cortex compared to a standard quiet-listening hearing aid program. Twenty-six experienced hearing aid users repeated sentence-final words from sentences presented in noise while wearing individually prescribed hearing aids in two conditions: a standard-listening program with an omnidirectional microphone setting and a DNN-listening program combining directional microphones with a deep-neural-network-based noise management algorithm. Listening accuracy, subjective listening effort ratings, and prefrontal oxygenation via fNIRS were measured throughout testing. As expected, the DNN-listening program was associated with higher listening accuracy, lower subjective listening effort ratings, and lower fNIRS-measured oxygenation in the left prefrontal cortex relative to the standard-listening program. The utility of fNIRS for hearing aid research and the interaction of listening effort and other cognitive processes are discussed further.

A ‘sibling’ species of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans has long been sought for use in comparative analyses that would enable deep evolutionary interpretations of biological phenomena. Here, we describe the first sibling species of C . elegans , C. inopinata n. sp., isolated from fig syconia in Okinawa, Japan. We investigate the morphology, developmental processes and behaviour of C. inopinata , which differ significantly from those of C. elegans . The 123-Mb C. inopinata genome was sequenced and assembled into six nuclear chromosomes, allowing delineation of Caenorhabditis genome evolution and revealing unique characteristics, such as highly expanded transposable elements that might have contributed to the genome evolution of C. inopinata . In addition, C. inopinata exhibits massive gene losses in chemoreceptor gene families, which could be correlated with its limited habitat area. We have developed genetic and molecular techniques for C. inopinata ; thus C. inopinata provides an exciting new platform for comparative evolutionary studies. Caenorhabditis nematodes are important model organisms. Here, the authors report the biology and genome of Caenorhabditis inopinata , a first sibling species of C. elegans , and develop genetic and molecular techniques for C. inopinata .