Stephensonhood1584

Background Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni) infection is a significant public health problem in Ethiopia, and has wide distribution in the country. The impact of the disease is particularly high on school-age children. Nationwide 385 endemic districts were identified, whereby control and elimination interventions are underway using school-based annual mass drug administration (MDA) with praziquantel. The national elimination program targets endemic districts as a whole. The aim of this study was to identify the transmission foci of Schistosoma mansoni and determine prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) in Abeshge district. Methods The study was conducted from April to May, 2019 among school-age children randomly selected from public elementary schools in Abeshge district, South-central Ethiopia. Demographic information and data on risk factors of S. mansoni infection were gathered using pre-tested questionnaire. Moreover, a stool sample was collected from each child and examined using Kato-Katz thicargeting the district homogenously.Background RNAs perform many functions in addition to supplying coding templates, such as binding proteins. RNA-protein interactions are important in multiple processes in all domains of life, and the discovery of additional protein-binding RNAs expands the scope for studying such interactions. To find such RNAs, we exploited a form of ribosomal regulation. Ribosome biosynthesis must be tightly regulated to ensure that concentrations of rRNAs and ribosomal proteins (r-proteins) match. One regulatory mechanism is a ribosomal leader (r-leader), which is a domain in the 5' UTR of an mRNA whose genes encode r-proteins. When the concentration of one of these r-proteins is high, the protein binds the r-leader in its own mRNA, reducing gene expression and thus protein concentrations. To date, 35 types of r-leaders have been validated or predicted. Results By analyzing additional conserved RNA structures on a multi-genome scale, we identified 20 novel r-leader structures. Surprisingly, these included new r-leaders in the highly studied organisms Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Our results reveal several cases where multiple unrelated RNA structures likely bind the same r-protein ligand, and uncover previously unknown r-protein ligands. Each r-leader consistently occurs upstream of r-protein genes, suggesting a regulatory function. That the predicted r-leaders function as RNAs is supported by evolutionary correlations in the nucleotide sequences that are characteristic of a conserved RNA secondary structure. The r-leader predictions are also consistent with the locations of experimentally determined transcription start sites. Conclusions This work increases the number of known or predicted r-leader structures by more than 50%, providing additional opportunities to study structural and evolutionary aspects of RNA-protein interactions. These results provide a starting point for detailed experimental studies.Background Academically talented high school students (ATHSSs), an exceptional cohort, are not well studied for their career expectations, especially for those with medical career expectation (MCE). Nowadays, the public perception of the medical profession is changing in China. The purpose of this study was to answer questions about 'is medicine attractive for ATHSSs and 'what factors affect medical career expectations (MCE) for ATHSSs' in China. Methods A total of 16,479 representative ATHSSs in senior three completed a questionnaire and four different academic tests. Frequency statistics showed the proportion of ATHSSs with MCE. Unpaired t-tests were performed to find out the differences in demographics, family background, and academic performance between students with and without MCE. The logit models analysis were applied to explore the potential factors that affected the MCE of this exceptional group of students. Results ATHSSs with MCE accounted for 20.6% (ranking 7/18) of the respondents. They were more likely to be female, came from relatively poorer families, lived in a rural area, and performed significantly worse in all academic tests except for mathematics, compared with those without MCE. In addition, the results revealed that gender (β = - 0.436, p less then 0.01), region of hometown (β = - 103, p less then 0.1), mother's years of schooling (β = - 0.019, p less then 0.05), and father's occupational status (β = - 0.005, p less then 0.01) contributed significantly to the MCE of academically talented students. Better performance in mathematics affected the MCE of ATHSSs taking the liberal arts and science tests differently. Conclusions We found the medical career is becoming unattractive to academically talented students and the medical career may be losing their aura in China. check details Students who have medical career expectations are likely to be females and to have a weak family background.Background Tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages worldwide. In tea, lateral roots (LRs) are the main organ responsible for the absorption of moisture and mineral nutrients from the soil. Lateral roots formation and development are regulated by the nitrogen and auxin signaling pathways. In order to understand the role of auxin and nitrogen signaling in LRs formation and development, transcriptome analysis was employed to investigate the differentially expressed genes involved in lateral roots of tea plants treated with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA), low and high concentrations of nitrogen. Results A total of 296 common differentially expressed genes were identified and annotated to four signaling pathways, including nitrogen metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, glutathione metabolism and transcription factors. RNA-sequencing results revealed that majority of differentially expressed genes play important roles in nitrogen metabolism and hormonal signal transduction. Low nitrogen condition induced the biosynthesis of auxin and accumulation of transcripts, thereby, regulating lateral roots formation. Furthermore, metabolism of cytokinin and ethylene biosynthesis were also involved in lateral roots development. Transcription factors like MYB genes also contributed to lateral roots formation of tea plants through secondary cell wall biosynthesis. Reversed phase ultra performance liquid chromatography (RP-UPLC) results showed that the auxin concentration increased with the decreased nitrogen level in lateral roots. Thus, tea plant lateral roots formation could be induced by low nitrogen concentration via auxin biosynthesis and accumulation. Conclusion This study provided insights into the mechanisms associated with nitrogen and auxin signaling pathways in LRs formation and provides information on the efficient utilization of nitrogen in tea plant at the genetic level.