Their floods and Our floods: News values of flood photo galleries of Associated Press and Xinhua News Agency

This study investigates how floods are presented as newsworthy in the photo galleries of Associated Press (AP) and Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua), two news outlets with different cultural and political backgrounds. A distinction is made between international floods, that is, Their floods, and domestic floods, that is, Our floods. The data consists of around 1500 photo-caption complexes. The analysis adopts the framework of Discursive News Values Analysis. The findings show a similar tendency to highlight Negativity, Impact, Personalization and Superlativeness in presenting Their floods by AP and Xinhua, though the two differ in Proximity and Positivity. By contrast, Our floods are presented differently. Negativity, Impact and Personalization are foregrounded in AP’s presentation of floods in the United States, whereas Xinhua’s presentation of floods in China gives prominence to Negativity, Positivity, Personalization and Superlativeness. The study is significant for its attention to cross-cultural comparison and the genre of online photo galleries.

Purified EDEM3 or EDEM1 alone produces determinant oligosaccharide structures from M8B in mammalian glycoprotein ERAD

Sequential mannose trimming of N-glycan, from M9 to M8B and then to oligosaccharides exposing the a1,6-linked mannosyl residue (M7A, M6 and M5), facilitates endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation of misfolded glycoproteins (gpERAD). We previously showed that EDEM2 stably disulfide-bonded to the thioredoxin domain-containing protein TXNDC11 is responsible for the first step (George et al., 2020). Here, we show that EDEM3 and EDEM1 are responsible for the second step. Incubation of pyridylamine-labeled M8B with purified EDEM3 alone produced M7 (M7A and M7C), M6 and M5. EDEM1 showed a similar tendency, although much lower amounts of M6 and M5 were produced. Thus, EDEM3 is a major a1,2-mannosidase for the second step from M8B. Both EDEM3 and EDEM1 trimmed M8B from a glycoprotein efficiently. Our confirmation of the Golgi localization of MAN1B indicates that no other a1,2-mannosidase is required for gpERAD. Accordingly, we have established the entire route of oligosaccharide processing and the enzymes responsible.

Long Time Constant May Endorses Sharp Waves and Spikes Than Sharp Transients in Scalp Electroencephalography: A Comparison of Both After-Slow Among Different Time Constant and High-Frequency Activity Analysis

Objective: To clarify whether long time constant (TC) is useful for detecting the after-slow activity of epileptiform discharges (EDs): sharp waves and spikes and for differentiating EDs from sharp transients (Sts).Methods: We employed 68 after-slow activities preceded by 32 EDs (26 sharp waves and six spikes) and 36 Sts from 52 patients with partial and generalized epilepsy (22 men, 30 women; mean age 39.08 ± 13.13 years) defined by visual inspection. High-frequency activity (HFA) associated with the apical component of EDs and Sts was also investigated to endorse two groups. After separating nine Sts that were labeled by visual inspection but did not fulfill the amplitude criteria for after-slow of Sts, 59 activities (32 EDs and 27 Sts) were analyzed about the total area of after-slow under three TCs (long: 2 s; conventional: 0.3 s; and short: 0.1 s).Results: Compared to Sts, HFA was found significantly more with the apical component of EDs (p < 0.05). The total area of after-slow in all 32 EDs under TC 2 s was significantly larger than those under TC 0.3 s and 0.1 s (p < 0.001). Conversely, no significant differences were observed in the same parameter of 27 Sts among the three different TCs. Regarding separated nine Sts, the total area of after-slow showed a similar tendency to that of 27 Sts under three different TCs.Significance: These results suggest that long TC could be useful for selectively endorsing after-slow of EDs and differentiating EDs from Sts. These findings are concordant with the results of the HFA analysis. Visual inspection is also equally good as the total area of after-slow analysis.

Wine Storage at Cellar vs Room Conditions: Changes in the Aroma Composition of Riesling Wine

Storage temperature is one of the most important factors affecting wine aging. Along with bottling parameters (type of stopper, SO2 level and dissolved O2 in wine), they determine how fast wine will evolve, reach its optimum and decline in sensory quality. At the same time, lowering of the SO2 level in wine has been a hot topic in recent years. In the current work, we investigated how Riesling wine evolved on the molecular level in warm (~25 °C) and cool (~15 °C) conditions depending on the SO2 level in the wine (low, medium and high), flushing of the bottle’s headspace with CO2 and three types of stoppers (Diam 30, Diam 30 origin and Diam 5) with different OIR levels (0.8–1.3 mg) and OTR levels (0.3–0.4 mg/year). It was demonstrated that the evolution of primary and secondary aromas, wine color and low molecular weight sulfur compounds (LMWSCs) during the two years of aging mainly depended on the storage temperature. Variation in the SO2 level and CO2 in the headspace affected mostly certain LMWSCs (H2S, MeSH) and β-damascenone. New aspects of C13-norisprenoids and monoterpenoids behavior in Riesling wine with different levels of SO2 and O2 were discussed. All three types of stoppers showed very close wine preservation properties during the two years of storage. The sensory analysis revealed that, after only six months, the warm stored wines with a low SO2 level were more oxidized and different from the samples with medium and high SO2 levels. A similar tendency was also observed for the cool stored samples.

The Emotional Effect of Background Music on Selective Attention of Adults

Daily activities can often be performed while listening to music, which could influence the ability to select relevant stimuli while ignoring distractors. Previous studies have established that the level of arousal of music (e.g., relaxing/stimulating) has the ability to modulate mood and affect the performance of cognitive tasks. The aim of this research was to explore the effect of relaxing and stimulating background music on selective attention. To this aim, 46 healthy adults performed a Stroop-type task in five different sound environments: relaxing music, stimulating music, relaxing music-matched noise, stimulating music-matched noise, and silence. Results showed that response times for incongruent and congruent trials as well as the Stroop interference effect were similar across conditions. Interestingly, results revealed a decreased error rate for congruent trials in the relaxing music condition as compared to the relaxing music-matched noise condition, and a similar tendency between relaxing music and stimulating music-matched noise. Taken together, the absence of difference between background music and silence conditions suggest that they have similar effects on adult’s selective attention capacities, while noise seems to have a detrimental impact, particularly when the task is easier cognitively. In conclusion, the type of sound stimulation in the environment seems to be a factor that can affect cognitive tasks performance.

A Quantitative Analysis of Legislation with Harsher Punishment in Japan

The purpose of this study is to show how the Japanese government has created laws with harsher punishment since the 1990s. While a tendency toward harsher punishment is common in advanced Western countries, a similar tendency in Japan has prompted scholarly discussion on whether it can be understood through the “penal-populism” framework. However, it lacks in systematic evidence. This study presents three findings that differ from previous studies through a quantitative analysis of legislation with harsher punishment. First, while previous literature argues that the legislation increased in the latter half of the 1990s, this study shows that it peaked in the middle of the 2000s. Second, while previous literature argues that the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Justice promote the legislation, this study shows that it is caused by every ministry’s drafting Bills. Third, this study shows that it does not quantitatively avoid partisan conflicts, contrary to the prediction of the “penal-populism” theory.

TET2 Mutation and High miR-22 Expression as Biomarkers to Predict Clinical Outcome in Myelodysplastic Syndrome Patients Treated with Hypomethylating Therapy

Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) is one of the most frequently mutated genes in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). TET2 is known to involve a demethylation process, and the loss of TET2 is thought to cause DNA hypermethylation. Loss of TET2 function is known to be caused by genetic mutations and miRNA, such as miR-22. We analyzed 41 MDS patients receiving hypomethylating therapy (HMT) to assess whether TET2 mutation status and miR-22 expression status were associated with their clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes. Responsiveness to HMT was not affected by both TET2 mutation (odds ratio (OR) 0.900, p = 0.909) and high miR-22 expression (OR 1.548, p = 0.631). There was a tendency for TET2 mutation to be associated with lower-risk disease based on IPSS (Gamma = −0.674, p = 0.073), lower leukemic transformation (OR 0.170, p = 0.040) and longer survival (Hazard ratio 0.354, p = 0.059). Although high miR-22 expression also showed a similar tendency, this tendency was weaker than that of TET2 mutation. In summary, the loss of TET2 function, including both TET2 mutation and high miR-22 expression, was not a good biomarker for predicting the response to HMT but may be associated with lower-risk disease based on IPSS, lower leukemic transformation and longer survival.

Structure, Distribution, Chemical Composition, and Gene Expression Pattern of Glandular Trichomes on the Leaves of Rhus potaninii Maxim

Rhus potaninii Maxim is an economically and medicinally important tree species in China. It produces galls (induced by aphids) with a high abundance of tannins. Here, we discuss the histology, cellular structures and their distribution, and the macromolecular components of secretive glandular trichomes on the leaves of R. potaninii. A variation in the density of glandular trichomes and tomenta was found between the adaxial and abaxial sides of a leaf in different regions and stages of the leaf. The glandular trichomes on R. potaninii trees comprise a stalk with no cellular structure and a head with 8–15 cells. Based on staining, we found that the secretion of glandular trichomes has many polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, and acidic lipids but very few neutral lipids. The dense glandular trichomes provide mechanical protection for young tissues; additionally, their secretion protects the young tissues from pathogens by a special chemical component. According to transcriptome analysis, we found enhanced biosynthetic and metabolism pathways of glycan, lipids, toxic amino acids, and phenylpropanoids. This shows a similar tendency to the staining. The numbers of differentially expressed genes were large or small; the averaged range of upregulated genes was greater than that of the downregulated genes in most subpathways. Some selectively expressed genes were found in glandular trichomes, responsible for the chitinase activity and pathogenesis-related proteins, which all have antibacterial activity and serve for plant defense. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing the components of the secretion from glandular trichomes on the leaf surface of R. potaninii.

Investigating the Factors Affecting Myopia in Retinopathy of Prematurity after Laser Treatment

To elucidate the mechanism of myopia development in laser-treated retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) eyes, we investigated the effect of the number of laser shots applied on the myopic variables. A total of 33 eyes of 17 infants with laser-treated ROP were included. Cycloplegic retinoscopic refraction testing was carried out and the spherical equivalent (SE) was calculated. Relationships between SE and various variables (including the number of laser shots applied) were examined. In addition, an age- and axial length (AL)-matched control group without ROP was prepared to compare ocular structural parameters. Although there was no statistical difference in AL between two groups (p = 0.88), SE was significantly more myopic in the ROP group (p < 0.001). SE was associated with AL, corneal refraction (CR), and crystalline lens power (CLP) in the ROP group. Of these three factors (AL, CR, and CLP), only CLP was significantly correlated with the number of laser shots applied (p = 0.003); no correlations were observed between the number of laser shots and AL or CR (p = 0.15 and 0.10, respectively). Very similar tendency was observed in the analysis of the difference between right and left eyes in each child.

Professional development for science and engineering professors offering English-medium instruction

English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented in higher-education institutions around the world. This study examines the states of EMI-related professional development (PD) for Korean science and engineering professors and their perceptions of such programs. Faculty members at the three major science and engineering schools in Korea participated in a questionnaire survey and the follow-up interviews. The results show that the vast majority of them had not participated in pre- or in-service PD programs and had negative attitudes towards certified EMI-related PD programs mainly due to their institution’s strong emphasis on their research performance rather than the quality of their teaching. The study offers suggestions for future directions of EMI-related PD at institutions with a similar tendency.