This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Infectious microbes don’t stop at the hospital door upon admission. Hospital surfaces serve as a reservoir of microbial life that may colonize patients, resulting in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The most vulnerable are critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), where HAIs represent the leading cause of death. Unfortunately, little is known about how the microbiome of the ICU is established or how it is influenced over time. A new study took advantage of a unique opportunity to examine the evolution of the ICU microbiome. Researchers examined microbes isolated from ICU surfaces before, during, and after hospital renovations closed the unit. Using DNA sequencing, they found that the greatest bacterial diversity existed before ICU closure..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In ecology research, population density is an important metric for community analysis studies. Yet even though microbiomes are small ecosystems, microbiome studies rarely report the bacterial density. To evaluate the significance of bacterial density in gut microbiome research, a recent retrospective study examined rectal swabs from hospitalized patients. The authors found that bacterial density had important methodologic significance, as it predicted vulnerability to sequencing contamination. Specifically, low-bacterial-density specimens had higher levels of sequencing contamination. Clinical factors like age, exposure to antibiotics, and comorbidities also varied with bacterial density. Older patients and those with multiple co-morbidities had high bacterial density, while antibiotic exposure correlated with low density. Lastly, bacterial density showed potential as a prognostic indicator, as the density at time of admission correlated with subsequent infection..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Trees support so much life on Earth – but one important component might easily be overlooked. The phyllosphere – the aerial surfaces of plants, including leaves – is a microbial habitat for diverse microorganisms. Phyllosphere bacteria play key roles in plant health, human health, and ecosystem function, but unfortunately, not much is known about how plants and their associated microbes influence each other. A recent study evaluated this relationship in a diverse neotropical forest. Using shotgun metagenomics, researchers found that the metabolic functions of phyllosphere microbes varied based on their tree hosts. While overall there was low variability in plant-associated microbes, suggesting that certain microbes form a “core microbiota” for neotropical trees, bacterial metabolism and membrane transport functions varied between plant species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the aged population. The key feature of AD is the deposition of two different kinds of protein aggregates in the brain, and at the point of aggregate formation, treatment becomes difficult. A recent study focused on how to prevent the aggregation of one protein: the microtubule-associated protein Tau, which forms neurofibrillary tangles. Following up on research indicating that polyphenolic compounds can serve as neuroprotective agents, researchers analyzed the ability of the polyphenol Baicalein to inhibit the aggregation of Tau. In vitro, Baicalein blocked Tau aggregation and paired helical filament dissolution via an oligomer capture and dissociation mechanism. It also dissolved preformed mature fibrils of Tau, creating Tau oligomers, with no effect on the viability of neuronal cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The transcription factor Nrf2 plays paradoxical roles in cancer biology. Transient Nrf2 activation can protect against cancer development, but permanent Nrf2 activation promotes progression and treatment resistance. Persistent activation can be triggered by Keap1-inactivating mutations that cause Nrf2 nuclear accumulation and/or by mutations in the ETGE and DLG motifs of Nrf2, which are important regions for Nrf2–Keap1 interaction. Epigenetic silencing of Keap1 and disruption of the Nrf2–Keap1 interaction by other proteins can also aberrantly activate Nrf2. Given the detrimental effects of excessive activation, pharmacologically balancing Nrf2 activity is a promising avenue for cancer treatment. Numerous Nrf2 activators have been discovered or developed, such as the synthetic compound oltipraz (OPZ) and the plant-derived compound curcumin (CUR). In general, Nrf2 activators can promote the functions of antioxidants, phase II detoxification factors, and transducers..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bariatric surgeries like gastric bypass are often used for weight loss, but they can also help protect patients from fatal heart attacks, possibly by altering the levels of gut-derived metabolic hormones like GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, and insulin, which are known to affect heart tissue, or by acting on heart tissue directly. Researchers recently investigated the mechanisms by performing three common bariatric surgeries on non-obese, non-diabetic rats. Ten weeks later, the researchers subjected the rats to simulated heart attacks by restricting and reestablishing their cardiac blood flow. Both Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy, but not ileal transposition surgery, reduced the size of the damaged area in the heart and the no-reflow area to which blood flow couldn’t be restored. Gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy also increased GLP-1 and leptin levels, while sleeve gastrectomy reduced ghrelin levels. In contrast, none of the surgeries affected insulin levels..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 3-5% of the global population While diagnosis is an important first step to accessing proper care ADHD often goes undiagnosed or undertreated, including in the UK To understand why that might be, researchers interviewed general practitioners (GPs) and patients across the country The team discovered several barriers, including the sheer complexity of pathways to care lack of services limited GP recognition and knowledge of ADHD and communication difficulties among GPs and patients The findings suggest that GPs might be ill equipped to identify and manage ADHD in primary care And they highlight areas of improvement specific to the UK healthcare system For their part, the team has devised an educational resource to enhance understanding of ADHD, accessible at www.adhdinfo.org..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bathyarchaeota is a newly proposed phylum of archaeal organisms. Its diverse members inhabit anoxic environments such as hot springs, salt marshes, mangrove sediments, and the sub-seafloor. While Bathyarchaeota is believed to be an important driver of the global carbon cycle, little is known about the phylum's true metabolic potential. A new study constructed nine metagenome-assembled genomes of Bathyarchaeota using mangrove and mudflat sediments of the Futian and Mai Po Nature Reserves. Comparative analyses of these genomes expanded the role of this phylum in phototrophy, autotrophy, and the nitrogen and sulfur cycles. and findings suggested the Bathyarchaeotal subgroup can sense light and thrive in micro-oxygen conditions. The results provide insight into the metabolic abilities and diverse lifestyles of members of Bathyarchaeota and highlight the crucial role of this newly proposed phylum in global biochemical cycles..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Two mosquito species in America have been engaged in a battle for dominance for the past 30 years: the native Aedes aegypti and the invasive Aedes albopictus -- also known as the Asian tiger mosquito The tiger mosquito has a distinct competitive advantage Male Aedes albopictus are really good at wooing female Aedes aegypti The resultant interspecies mating permanently sterilizes the female, effectively ending her reproductive future But Aedes aegypti are evolving the ability to resist the advances of Aedes albopictus Although this is good news for Aedes aegypti the outlook is darker for humans, as Aedes aegypti are key transmitters of diseases like Zika and dengue fever Researchers have now started to uncover the genetic changes tied to this resistance Uncovering the molecular correlates governing mosquito mating preferences could lead to better control strategies and might help prevent future outbreaks of disease Burford Reiskind, et al..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Reperfusion of heart tissue with blood after interruption of the blood supply (ischemia) often contributes to inflammation and cell death, including a specific form of cell death called pyroptosis, which can be regulated by the protein caspase-4. The protein beclin-1 is involved in an intracellular degradation process called autophagy that can limit cell death. However, whether beclin-1 limits caspase-4-mediated pyroptosis after heart reperfusion injury remains unclear. To find out, a recent study examined the effects of beclin-1 overexpression in mouse hearts and cultured human heart cells subjected to ischemia/reperfusion. Ischemia/reperfusion increased caspase-4 activity and the expression of the pyroptosis protein gasdermin D. In contrast, beclin-1 overexpression decreased caspase-4 activity, gasdermin D expression, and the levels of the inflammation molecule IL-1β..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Although invisible to the naked eye, beds are teeming with microbial life, which might influence how the human body’s own microbial communities form and develop, especially in infancy. To explore this hypothesis, researchers analyzed 577 dust samples from the beds of infants, as well as 542 airway samples from a child cohort study. The diversity of bacteria and fungi detected in bed dust correlated with one another, suggesting an interplay between the two types of organisms in bed dust. Additionally, the microbial makeup of bacterial and fungal communities in bed dust was influenced by different environmental factors. Bacterial communities were influenced by type of home, living environment, sex of siblings, and pets, whereas fungal communities were influenced by type of home and sampling season. There was limited evidence of microbial transfer between bed dust and infant airways..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A growing number of governments around the world are using behavioral science to inform public policy. So-called behavioral public policy leverages the scientific process to suggest how government decisions may or may not effect social change. Though rapidly growing, the discipline is still in its infancy. But opportunities for breaking through exist. Reporting in Behavioural Public Policy, members of the Behavioural Insights Team based in London and New York review those opportunities and the challenges that persist in this arena. As part of the world’s first government unit dedicated to using behavioral science, the team offers a valuable take on why behavioral science works and how it might be made to work for more governments worldwide. Though adapted to life outside of academia, behavioral public policy still faces many familiar challenges. Among them is the replication crisis that has gripped the field of psychology..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Plants lack the nervous system of animals and are usually firmly rooted in the ground, making it easy to think of them as being unaware of the world around them. But evidence suggests that plants can indeed sense and actively respond to their environment. When under attack by microbial pathogens, some plants have been shown to recruit beneficial microbes to aid in their defense. A recent study uncovered this phenomenon in tangerine trees infected with the fungus that causes melanose, one of the most destructive diseases of citrus plants worldwide. Researchers identified the microorganisms living on infected and uninfected leaves with both culture-based and DNA sequencing techniques. They found that the infected and uninfected leaves hosted distinct microbial communities, with the microbes occupying infected leaves having beneficial and antifungal characteristics..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"New research suggests that a low-calorie diet might help reverse symptoms of type 2 diabetes in men with obesity. The findings of the study add to a growing body of evidence indicating that diabetes is a reversible condition. Authors of the study looked at 18 men in South Africa who were over the age of 35, had class III obesity, and were on insulin treatment for diabetes. The participants were randomized to one of two groups: one followed a commercially available low-fat, low-calorie diet consisting of vegetables and a vegetable-soup-based meal plan; while the control group received a calorie-restricted meal plan. All participants were encouraged to engage in physical activity according to their abilities and to visit a counseling psychologist at least once a month. Over the course of 6 months, the team tracked the men’s levels of blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin, or HbA1c—using those measures to establish diabetes status..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies have led to dramatic improvements in our understanding of human microbiomes. However, this method is based on the presence of DNA and cannot distinguish between living and dead microbes on its own. Environments like our skin are hostile and have high microbe turnover, which leads to significant amounts of DNA from dead microbes, which can lead to inaccurate community estimations in NGS studies. To overcome this, researchers tested the feasibility of pre-treatment with Benzonase to digest unprotected DNA. They used both mock bacterial communities and skin microbiome samples with inactivated bacteria or bacteria-free DNA spiked-in. Benzonase (BDA) pre-treatment reduced the levels of DNA from dead bacteria in both mock and natural communities. It also reduced the amount of host DNA in samples with high human-to-microbial DNA ratios without obvious impact on the microbial profile..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Metagenomic analysis frequently plays an important role in development pipelines for human fecal microbiome-related products, but validation and standardization of the methods used to extract DNA and assemble sequence libraries for these studies is currently lacking. To close this gap, researchers recently characterized existing protocols for accuracy and precision. First, they tested the quantification accuracy by using a defined mock community of bacteria. Then, the protocols that performed as expected were evaluated for both within- and inter-laboratory precision metrics. The protocols were also tested against the MOSAIC Standards Challenge samples. Lastly, they defined performance metrics for the recommended protocols to provide best-practice guidance. The uptake of the recommendations generated here should improve reproducibility in human metagenomic research and therefore facilitate development and commercialization of human microbiome-related products..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Brain scans are powerful tools for diagnosing disease, monitoring treatment, and conducting basic biological research. But slight head movements can impair image quality. Now, researchers have devised an improved method to significantly reduce this problem for a dual scanning technique called magnetic resonance – positron emission tomography, or MR-PET. Magnetic resonance, the basis of MRI scanning, builds images from the response of selected atoms in the body to radio waves under a strong magnetic field. Positron emission tomography, PET, builds images by detecting particles called positrons released by radioactive tracers after they are allowed to spread through the body. MR-PET combines the two techniques, offering advantages over either alone. But it takes a long time, as much as 90 minutes, to acquire the data to create MR-PET images. So, image-blurring artefacts and quantitative errors due to head movements can become a problem..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"HIV infection remains unacceptably common among women in sub-Saharan Africa. One possible contributing factor is the composition of the vaginal microbiota, as African, Caribbean and other Black (ACB) women have an increased rate of bacterial vaginosis (BV), which is associated with increased HIV risk. Targeting the vaginal microbiota and treating BV could help prevent HIV among women. In the absence of BV, the vaginal microbiota is predominated by one of several _Lactobacillus_ species that provide different levels of BV and HIV protection. _L. crispatus_ is associated with exclusion of BV-associated bacteria and reduced HIV risk while _L. iners_, the most common species among ACB women, seems less protective. The reduced protection provided by _L. iners_ is supported by genomic differences, such as the absence of a gene encoding an HIV-trapping D-lactate isomer and the presence of genes encoding pro-inflammatory cytotoxins..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Learning something new not only changes our perspectives and behavior – it actually changes the structure of our brains. Memories and experiences are recorded in the brain by altering the physical connections between neurons. Until recently, however, the protein signals that cause these tiny structural changes were too small to measure with available imaging methods. But researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience created ultra-sensitive sensors and revealed the activity of two of the proteins that write memories into neural circuits in the brain. Individual neurons have many branches, or dendrites. And each dendrite can be covered with thousands of tiny bumps called spines, where messages are received from other neurons. Changes in spine size are one way memories are recorded-when lots of messages are being passed and a spine is very active, it gets bigger. Many proteins need to be activated to make spines grow..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"There’s a new contender in the battle for gender equality. An international team of researchers has recently uncovered an obstacle that those working in academia have unknowingly endured for decades: a bias against _research_ on gender bias. Just as female academics must navigate underrepresentation, wage gaps, and difficulties in obtaining grant funding, it seems that individuals _researching _these topics also face a lack of appreciation for their work. To reach this conclusion, the team performed an extensive analysis of articles on gender discrimination published between 2008 and 2015. For each article, they assessed two criteria related to peer review: the impact factor and whether grant support was received. To truly understand how these articles fared amidst the broader context of social science research, however, the team needed a suitable point of reference in the field. For this, they turned to articles on racial bias, which use methods and paradigms similar to those employed in gender studies..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.