Modelling how cleaner fish approach an ephemeral reward task demonstrates a role for ecologically tuned chunking in the evolution of advanced cognition

What makes cognition “advanced” is an open and not precisely defined question. One perspective involves increasing the complexity of associative learning, from conditioning to learning sequences of events (“chaining”) to representing various cue combinations as “chunks.” Here we develop a weighted graph model to study the mechanism enabling chunking ability and the conditions for its evolution and success, based on the ecology of the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus. In some environments, cleaners must learn to serve visitor clients before resident clients, because a visitor leaves if not attended while a resident waits for service. This challenge has been captured in various versions of the ephemeral reward task, which has been proven difficult for a range of cognitively capable species. We show that chaining is the minimal requirement for solving this task in its common simplified laboratory format that involves repeated simultaneous exposure to an ephemeral and permanent food source. Adding ephemeral–ephemeral and permanent–permanent combinations, as cleaners face in the wild, requires individuals to have chunking abilities to solve the task. Importantly, chunking parameters need to be calibrated to ecological conditions in order to produce adaptive decisions. Thus, it is the fine-tuning of this ability, which may be the major target of selection during the evolution of advanced associative learning.

Monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 therapy and SARS-CoV-2 detection

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an exceptional public health crisis that demands the timely creation of new therapeutics and viral detection. Owing to their high specificity and reliability, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have emerged as powerful tools to treat and detect numerous diseases. Hence, many researchers have begun to urgently develop Ab-based kits for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Ab drugs for use as COVID-19 therapeutic agents. The detailed structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is known, and since this protein is key for viral infection, its receptor-binding domain (RBD) has become a major target for therapeutic Ab development. Because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus with a high mutation rate, especially under the selective pressure of aggressively deployed prophylactic vaccines and neutralizing Abs, the use of Ab cocktails is expected to be an important strategy for effective COVID-19 treatment. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 infection may stimulate an overactive immune response, resulting in a cytokine storm that drives severe disease progression. Abs to combat cytokine storms have also been under intense development as treatments for COVID-19. In addition to their use as drugs, Abs are currently being utilized in SARS-CoV-2 detection tests, including antigen and immunoglobulin tests. Such Ab-based detection tests are crucial surveillance tools that can be used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Herein, we highlight some key points regarding mAb-based detection tests and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Securing Financial Inclusiveness Adoption of Blockchain FinTech Compliance

Financial technology (FinTech) as part of financial inlcussion changes conventional business models to be information technology minded. The presence of FinTech in the wider community makes it easy for access to financial service products and transactions and payment systems more practically, efficiently, and economically. Unfortunately, as the security risk in transacting increases, cyber security in the financial services industry and FinTech service providers is considered a major target by cybercriminals. This study proposed a security management approach through hybrid blockchain method implemented through flask framework and encryption to protect transaction data. The results are promising. Referring to accuracy, this study successfully reduces data leakage and misuse of personal data and financial data in FinTechs.

Opioid Receptor-Mediated and Non-Opioid Receptor-Mediated Roles of Opioids in Tumour Growth and Metastasis

Opioids are administered to cancer patients in the period surrounding tumour excision, and in the management of cancer-associated pain. The effects of opioids on tumour growth and metastasis, and their consequences on disease outcome, continue to be the object of polarised, discrepant literature. It is becoming clear that opioids contribute a range of direct and indirect effects to the biology of solid tumours, to the anticancer immune response, inflammation, angiogenesis and importantly, to the tumour-promoting effects of pain. A common misconception in the literature is that the effect of opioid agonists equates the effect of the mu-opioid receptor, the major target of the analgesic effect of this class of drugs. We review the evidence on opioid receptor expression in cancer, opioid receptor polymorphisms and cancer outcome, the effect of opioid antagonists, especially the peripheral antagonist methylnaltrexone, and lastly, the evidence available of a role for opioids through non-opioid receptor mediated actions.

Vaccines and Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: Considerations for the Older Population

Age is among the most prominent risk factors for developing severe COVID-19 disease, and therefore older adults are a major target group for vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. This review focusses on age-associated aspects of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination strategies, and summarizes data on immunogenicity, efficacy and effectiveness of the four COVID-19 vaccines, which are licensed in the US and/or Europe; namely, the two mRNA vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer (BNT162b2) and Moderna (mRNA-1273), and the adenovector vaccines developed by AstraZeneca/University Oxford (ChAdOx1-nCoV-19, AZD1222) and Janssen/Johnson&Johnson (Ad26.COV2-S), respectively. After very high protection rates in the first months after vaccination even in the older population, effectiveness of the vaccines, particularly against asymptomatic infection and mild disease, declined at later time points and with the emergence of virus variants. Many high-income countries have recently started administration of additional doses to older adults and other high-risk groups, whereas other parts of the world are still struggling to acquire and distribute vaccines for primary vaccination. Other vaccines are available in other countries and clinical development for more vaccine candidates is ongoing, but a complete overview of COVID-19 vaccine development is beyond the scope of this article.

N-glycosylation profiles of the SARS-CoV-2 spike D614G mutant and its ancestral protein characterized by advanced mass spectrometry

N-glycosylation plays an important role in the structure and function of membrane and secreted proteins. The spike protein on the surface of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is heavily glycosylated and the major target for developing vaccines, therapeutic drugs and diagnostic tests. The first major SARS-CoV-2 variant carries a D614G substitution in the spike (S-D614G) that has been associated with altered conformation, enhanced ACE2 binding, and increased infectivity and transmission. In this report, we used mass spectrometry techniques to characterize and compare the N-glycosylation of the wild type (S-614D) or variant (S-614G) SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins prepared under identical conditions. The data showed that half of the N-glycosylation sequons changed their distribution of glycans in the S-614G variant. The S-614G variant showed a decrease in the relative abundance of complex-type glycans (up to 45%) and an increase in oligomannose glycans (up to 33%) on all altered sequons. These changes led to a reduction in the overall complexity of the total N-glycosylation profile. All the glycosylation sites with altered patterns were in the spike head while the glycosylation of three sites in the stalk remained unchanged between S-614G and S-614D proteins.

Orthoformimycin inhibits translation elongation by displacing the A-site tRNA and preventing peptide bond formation

The ribosome is a major target for antibiotics owing to its essential cellular role in protein synthesis. Structural analysis of ribosome-antibiotic complexes provides insight into the molecular basis for their inhibitory action and highlights possible avenues to improve their potential or overcome existing resistance mechanisms. Here we use X-ray crystallography and pre-steady state kinetics to detail the inhibitory mechanism of the antimicrobial on the large ribosomal subunit.

How Times Have Changed! A Cornucopia of Antigens for Membranous Nephropathy

The identification of the major target antigen phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) in the majority of primary (idiopathic) cases of membranous nephropathy (MN) has been followed by the rapid identification of numerous minor antigens that appear to define phenotypically distinct forms of disease. This article serves to review all the known antigens that have been shown to localize to subepithelial deposits in MN, as well as the distinctive characteristics associated with each subtype of MN. We will also shed light on the novel proteomic approaches that have allowed identification of the most recent antigens. The paradigm of an antigen normally expressed on the podocyte cell surface leading to in-situ immune complex formation, complement activation, and subsequent podocyte injury will be discussed and challenged in light of the current repertoire of multiple MN antigens. Since disease phenotypes associated with each individual target antigens can often blur the distinction between primary and secondary disease, we encourage the use of antigen-based classification of membranous nephropathy.

Modelling Annual Cocoa Production Using ARIMA Time Series Model

Cocoa is the most valuable tropical agricultural commodity, comes next to oil; a major target in Nigeria’s export diversification strategies. Cocoa production forecasting is important to the Nigerian agricultural transformation agenda. This study attempts to forecast Nigerian cocoa production between 2019 and 2025 using the ARIMA model. The automated analytical procedure implemented in the R software package indicated that ARIMA (0, 1, 1) is the combination with the least Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) and hence, the most appropriate for forecasting. The results revealed that cocoa production would fall by more than 20% in 2025 in comparison with 2018. Thus, to guard against the fall, cocoa farmers in the country should be incentivized through adequate financial and technical assistance.

Correlated diffusion in lipid bilayers

Lipid membranes are complex quasi–two-dimensional fluids, whose importance in biology and unique physical/materials properties have made them a major target for biophysical research. Recent single-molecule tracking experiments in membranes have caused some controversy, calling the venerable Saffman–Delbrück model into question and suggesting that, perhaps, current understanding of membrane hydrodynamics is imperfect. However, single-molecule tracking is not well suited to resolving the details of hydrodynamic flows; observations involving correlations between multiple molecules are superior for this purpose. Here dual-color molecular tracking with submillisecond time resolution and submicron spatial resolution is employed to reveal correlations in the Brownian motion of pairs of fluorescently labeled lipids in membranes. These correlations extend hundreds of nanometers in freely floating bilayers (black lipid membranes) but are severely suppressed in supported lipid bilayers. The measurements are consistent with hydrodynamic predictions based on an extended Saffman–Delbrück theory that explicitly accounts for the two-leaflet bilayer structure of lipid membranes.