Neurostructural correlates of dispositional self-compassion

Self-compassion is an important emotion regulation strategy predicting positive psychological health and fewer psychopathological problems, but little is known about its structural neural basis. In the current study, we investigated the neurostructural correlates of dispositional self-compassion and its components using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We found that self-compassion was inversely correlated with gray matter volume (GMV) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which was primarily driven by the reduced self-judgment component. We also found that the mindfulness component was associated with greater GMV in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex and the left supplementary motor area, while the isolation and the over-identification components were both correlated with greater GMV in the right inferior temporal gyrus, and over-identification additionally related to less GMV in visual areas. Our findings suggest that dispositional self-compassion and its components are associated with brain structure in regions involved in emotion regulation, self-referential and emotion processing, with implications for the cognitive and neural mechanisms of self-compassion as well as those underlying the effects of self-compassion on its health outcomes.

Polarization Singularities of Photonic Quasicrystals in Momentum Space

We report the observation of polarization singularities in momentum space of 2D photonic quasicrystal slabs. Supercell approximation and band-unfolding approach are applied to obtain approximate photonic dispersions and the far-field polarization states defined on them. We discuss the relations between the topological charges of the polarization vortex singularities at Γ points and the symmetries of photonic quasicrystal slabs. With a perspective of multipolar expansions for the supercell, we confirm that the singularities are protected by the point-group symmetry of the photonic quasicrystal slab. We further uncover that the polarization singularities of photonic quasicrystal slab correspond to quasibound states in the continuum with exceptionally high-quality factors. Polarization singularities of different topological charges are also experimentally verified. Our Letter introduces core concepts of optical singularities into quasiperiodic systems, providing new platforms for explorations merging topological and singular optics.

Genome mapping coupled with CRISPR gene editing reveals a P450 gene confers avermectin resistance in the beet armyworm

The evolution of insecticide resistance represents a global constraint to agricultural production. Because of the extreme genetic diversity found in insects and the large numbers of genes involved in insecticide detoxification, better tools are needed to quickly identify and validate the involvement of putative resistance genes for improved monitoring, management, and countering of field-evolved insecticide resistance. The avermectins, emamectin benzoate (EB) and abamectin are relatively new pesticides with reduced environmental risk that target a wide number of insect pests, including the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, an important global pest of many crops. Unfortunately, field resistance to avermectins recently evolved in the beet armyworm, threatening the sustainable use of this class of insecticides. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level assembly of the beet armyworm genome and use bulked segregant analysis (BSA) to identify the locus of avermectin resistance, which mapped on 15-16 Mbp of chromosome 17. Knockout of the CYP9A186 gene that maps within this region by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing fully restored EB susceptibility, implicating this gene in avermectin resistance. Heterologous expression and in vitro functional assays further confirm that a natural substitution (F116V) found in the substrate recognition site 1 (SRS1) of the CYP9A186 protein results in enhanced metabolism of EB and abamectin. Hence, the combined approach of coupling gene editing with BSA allows for the rapid identification of metabolic resistance genes responsible for insecticide resistance, which is critical for effective monitoring and adaptive management of insecticide resistance.

Emotion Understanding Correlates With Parental Emotional Expressivity in Chinese Youths With Hearing Loss and Typical Hearing

This study aimed at examining the differences between Chinese youths with hearing loss (HL) and with typical hearing (TH) in emotion understanding (EU), parental emotional expressivity, and the associations between EU and parental emotional expressivity. The participants were 282 youths with HL (14.58 ± 3.42 years old) and 350 youths with TH (11.69 ± 2.49 years old). EU was measured by four visual-mode tasks, of which two involve language comprehension while the others do not. Parents reported positive and negative emotional expressivity on the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire. Covariates were controlled for including socioeconomic status, parent gender, youth gender, age, intelligence, and teacher-reported comprehension difficulties. Results showed that the four EU tasks were more challenging for the youths with HL than for the youths with TH. The interaction effect of the two groups × 4 tasks was not significant, suggesting that the differences between the two groups of youths in EU were generally similar across the four tasks. The parents of the youths with HL did not differ from the parents of the youths with TH in how often they displayed positive and negative emotional expressivity. Multigroup regression analyses revealed that negative emotional expressivity was negatively related to EU in the youths with HL but not in the youths with TH. However, these two regression coefficients were not significantly different. Positive emotional expressivity was not related to EU in either group. In conclusion, this study extends the knowledge about the EU of Chinese youths with HL and emotion-related socialization of the parents of these youths.

Self-compassion and the Mitigation of Negative Affect in the Era of Social Distancing

Objectives

The outbreak of contagious diseases and their associated non-pharmaceutical interventions can lead to negative mental health consequences. This study aimed to investigate online self-compassion exercises' effectiveness in alleviating people's negative affect (anxiety and negative emotions) during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Methods

Study 1 examined the associations between self-compassion and negative affect using an anonymous online survey. In study 2, two pilot experiments were conducted to examine online self-compassion exercises' (i.e., instructor-guided meditation and self-guided writing) effectiveness to mitigate individuals' negative affect. In study 3, a randomized controlled study was conducted to further examine online self-compassion writing's effectiveness in reducing people's negative affect.

Results

The results of study 1 indicated a significant negative association between self-compassion and participants' negative affect. Participants in study 2a reported significant decreases in negative affect after completing the self-compassion meditation. Study 2b showed that participants who completed the self-compassion writing reported significantly more self-compassion and less anxiety when compared to participants who did not. Study 3 showed substantial pre/post-test changes in participants who completed self-compassion writing. Importantly, there were significant increases in participants' self-compassion and decreases in negative affect when compared to participants in the control condition.

Conclusions

Self-compassion exercises were effective to alleviate individuals' anxiety and reduce negative emotions (even within a brief session) during the pandemic lockdown.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-021-01674-w.

Whole-genome sequencing to detect mutations associated with resistance to insecticides and Bt proteins in Spodoptera frugiperda

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a major pest native to the Americas that has recently invaded the Old World. Point mutations in the target-site proteins acetylcholinesterase-1 (ace-1), voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) and ryanodine receptor (RyR) have been identified in S. frugiperda as major resistance mechanisms to organophosphate, pyrethroid and diamide insecticides respectively. Mutations in the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter C2 gene (ABCC2) have also been identified to confer resistance to Cry1F protein. In this study, we applied a whole-genome sequencing (WGS) approach to identify point mutations in the target-site genes in 150 FAW individuals collected from China, Malawi, Uganda and Brazil. This approach revealed three amino acid substitutions (A201S, G227A and F290V) of S. frugiperda ace-1, which are known to be associated with organophosphate resistance. The Brazilian population had all three ace-1 point mutations and the 227A allele (mean frequency = 0.54) was the most common. Populations from China, Malawi and Uganda harbored two of the three ace-1 point mutations (A201S and F290V) with the 290V allele (0.47-0.58) as the dominant allele. Point mutations in VGSC (T929I, L932F and L1014F) and RyR (I4790M and G4946E) were not detected in any of the 150 individuals. A novel 12-bp insertion mutation in exon 15 of the ABCC2 gene was identified in some of the Brazilian individuals but absent in the invasive populations. Our results not only demonstrate robustness of the WGS-based genomic approach for detection of resistance mutations, but also provide insights for improvement of resistance management tactics in S. frugiperda.

Evaluating Cross-Resistance to Cry and Vip Toxins in Four Strains of Helicoverpa armigera With Different Genetic Mechanisms of Resistance to Bt Toxin Cry1Ac

Evolution of resistance by pests has diminished the efficacy of transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). In China, where transgenic cotton producing Bt toxin Cry1Ac has been planted since 1997, field control failures have not been reported but the frequency of resistance to Cry1Ac has increased in the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. This provides incentive to switch to multi-toxin Bt cotton, which is grown in many other countries. Previous work created four laboratory strains of H. armigera with >100-fold resistance to Cry1Ac, with the genetic basis of resistance known in all but the LF256 strain. Here, we analyzed the genetic basis of resistance in Cry1Ac in LF256 and evaluated cross-resistance of all four strains to three toxins produced by widely planted multi-toxin Bt cotton: Cry1Fa, Cry2Ab, and Vip3Aa. DNA sequencing revealed that LF256 lacked the mutations in three genes (HaTSPAN1, HaABCC2, and HaABCC3) that confer resistance to Cry1Ac in two other strains of H. armigera we analyzed. Together with previous results, the data reported here show that each of the four strains examined has a different genetic basis of resistance to Cry1Ac. Significant positive cross-resistance occurred to Cry1Fa in three of the four strains tested but not to Cry2Ab or Vip3Aa in any strain. Thus, Cry2Ab and Vip3Aa are likely to be especially valuable for increasing the efficacy and durability of Bt cotton against H. armigera populations that have some resistance to Cry1Ac.

Amplicon sequencing detects mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance in Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

BACKGROUND

Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is a major damaging agricultural pest that exhibits high resistance to pyrethroid insecticides. L925I (TTA to ATA) and T929V (ACT to GTT) mutations in the para-type voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) are associated with resistance of B. tabaci to pyrethroids. Amplicon sequencing is a reliable and highly efficient method to detect the frequency of mutations linked with insecticide resistance.

RESULTS

Similar frequencies of L925I and T929V mutations were obtained by amplicon sequencing and Sanger sequencing (L925I: 0.3548 vs 0.3619; T929V: 0.6140 vs 0.6381) with overlap of 95% confidence interval in the SX population of B. tabaci. In five populations of B. tabaci from China, the maximum and minimum frequencies of the two mutations were found in the LN (L925I: 0.1126; T929V: 0.8834) and JS (L925I: 0.8776; T929V: 0.1166) populations by amplicon sequencing. However, there was no significant difference in frequencies between the L925I and T929V mutations. The sum frequency of L925I and T929V exceeded 0.9688 in all populations. In addition, a combining mutation, L925 + T929V (L925I and T929V located in same allele), was found in five populations by amplicon sequencing even though its highest frequency was only 0.0157.

CONCLUSION

We established an efficient approach for detecting frequency of mutation by amplicon sequencing. The frequencies of L925I and T929V in VGSC associated with pyrethroid resistance were detected in this study, which could provide foundational data for resistance management of B. tabaci. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Efficacy analysis of fully endoscopic microvascular decompression in primary trigeminal neuralgia via keyhole approach]

Objective: To explore the efficacy and technical features of fully endoscopic microvascular decompression(MVD) in primary trigeminal neuralgia(PTN) via keyhole approach. Methods: The clinical data of 97 patients with PTN underwent fully endoscopic MVD via keyhole approach in the Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University from December 2014 to February 2019 was collected. During fully endoscopic MVD in PTN via keyhole approach, performer use natural clearance without grinding except developed rock bone crest or excessive retraction of the brain tissue, visually and panoramically observe and evaluate the CPA area, accurately identify the responsible vessels, to avoid the omission of responsible vessels or insufficient decompression. And the use of preplaced technology, bridging technology and submersible technology, ensure the efficacy of surgery and reduce the surgical side injuries.Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) pain score was used to evaluate the efficacy and identify the recurrence. The surgical efficacy was analyzed. Results: The offending vessels were identified under endoscope in 96 cases. Among them, arterial compression was found in 77 cases, venous compression in 6 cases, and both arterial and venous compression in 13 cases. About the pain outcomes, 87 cases had immediate and complete relief of pain, 5 cases had almost relief of pain, 4 cases had partial relief of pain, and still needed medication control, but the dose was lower than that before operation, and 1 case had no obvious relief of pain. About complications, there were 4 cases of temporary facial numbness, 1 case of temporary hearing loss, both of them recovered after symptomatic treatment. There was no cerebral infarction or hemorrhage, intracranial or incision infection. All cases were followed up for 3.0-38.0 months with a median period of(22.4±2.2) months. During the follow-up periods, postoperative recurrence occurred in 3 cases. Conclusion: Fully endoscopic MVD for PTN through keyhole approach, provides panoramic view to avoid omission of offending vessels and reduce complications, seemed to be a safe and effective surgical method.

Multiple origins of a single point mutation in the cotton bollworm tetraspanin gene confers dominant resistance to Bt cotton

BACKGROUND

Transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are used globally to kill key insect pests and provide numerous benefits, including improved pest management, increased profits, reduced insecticide use, and increased biological control. Unfortunately, such benefits are rapidly being lost by the evolution of Bt resistance by pests.

RESULTS

The main strategy to delay resistance relies on the use of non-Bt refuge plants to produce sufficient susceptible insects that mate with rare resistant insects emerging from Bt crops, essentially diluting and/or removing resistance alleles from pest populations. A key assumption for the success of this refuge strategy is that inheritance of resistance is recessive. In China, dominant resistance to Cry1Ac Bt cotton by the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera is increasing and is associated with a mutation in the tetraspanin HaTSPAN1 gene, conferring more than 125-fold resistance. Here, we used amplicon sequencing to test the hypotheses that the HaTSPAN1 mutation either arose from a single event and spread or that the mutation evolved independently several times throughout northern China. From three laboratory strains and 28 field populations sampled from northern China, we identified six resistant and 50 susceptible haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the HaTSPAN1 mutation arose from at least four independent origins and spread to their current distributions.

CONCLUSION

The results provide valuable information about the evolutionary origins of dominant resistance to Cry1Ac Bt cotton in northern China and offer rationale for the rapid increase in field-evolved resistance in these areas, where the implementation of additional practical resistance management is needed. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Ultrawideband, Wide Scanning Stripline-Fed Tightly Coupled Array Antenna Based on Parallel-Dipole Elements

A stripline-fed tightly coupled array antenna with compact size, large scan volume and low cross-polarization characteristics is proposed for ultrawideband (UWB) applications. Simple impedance-matching process is realized by using parallel dual dipoles. Meanwhile, the parallel symmetrical radiating structures minimize the cross-polarization field components dramatically. The mitigation of various undesired resonances is studied in detail. An infinite array is designed to achieve 3:1 bandwidth (6−18 GHz) when scanning ±60∘ in the E-/D-planes (VSWR < 2.5) and H-plane (VSWR < 3.5). The cross-polarization levels remain below −29 dB at broadside. A 16 × 16 prototype is fabricated to demonstrate the design. The measured results are consistent well with the simulated ones. The overall size of the prototype at the lowest operating frequency is 3×3×0.4λ03 (15×15×2cm3). Due to its wide bandwidth, good electronic scan performance and compact size, the proposed antenna array is a good candidate for modern wireless platforms.

Photocatalytic Degradation and Antibacterial Properties of Fe3+-Doped Alkalized Carbon Nitride

Discovering novel materials and improving the properties of existing materials are the main goals in the field of photocatalysis to increase the potential application of the materials. In this paper, a modified graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) photocatalyst named Fe³⁺-doped alkalized carbon nitride, which couples the photocatalytic reaction with the Fenton reaction, is introduced to demonstrate its Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation and antibacterial properties. Under visible-light irradiation, the degradation rate of RhB was 99.9% after 200 min, while the antibacterial rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) after 300 min were 99.9986%, 99.9974%, and 99.9876%, respectively. Moreover, the repetitive experiments of RhB degradation demonstrate that the proposed photocatalysts have excellent stability and reusability. The active free radical trapping experiments reveal that the superoxide radical (·O2−) is the dominant reactive oxygen species. In addition, the Fenton reaction is introduced into the photocatalytic system due to the doping of Fe³⁺, and the hydroxyl radical (·OH) produced from the Fenton reaction further enhances the photocatalytic performance. The remarkable improvement in photocatalytic performance of the proposed photocatalyst can be attributed to its broader UV–visible absorption characteristic and the occurrence of the Fenton reaction.

Cross-polarization suppression for patch array antennas via generalized Kerker effects

The generalized Kerker effect has recently gained an explosive progress in metamaterials, from the scattering management of particle clusters to the reflection and transmission manipulation of metalattices and metasurfaces. Various optical phenomena observed can be explained by the generalized Kerker effect. Due to the same nature of electromagnetic waves, we believe that the generalized Kerker effect can also be used in the microwave field. Inspired by this, in this letter we design a kind of patch array antenna to suppress the cross-polarization by interferences of multipoles. Using different far-field radiation phase symmetries of electromagnetic multipoles for the patch, the cross-polarization can be almost cancelled while the co-polarization be kept. A pair of 8×8 U-slot patch array antennas, working in a wide band (8.8 GHz-10.4 GHz), have been designed, fabricated and measured to verify our proposal. Simulated and measured results both agree well with the theory, showing more than 20 dB gain suppression of the cross-polarization, which indicates the universality of the generalized Kerker effect in electromagnetic waves.

MiR-448 downregulates CTTN to inhibit cell proliferation and promote apoptosis in glioma

OBJECTIVE

miRNAs have been confirmed to be related to cell proliferation and apoptosis. In this study, we detected the potential effect of miR-448 on glioma cell proliferation and apoptosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

miR-448 and CTTN expression levels were detected in glioma cell lines with quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Cells were transfected with miR-448 mimics and inhibitor by using lipofectamine 2000 respectively. The proliferative ability of transfected cells was detected via methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) and cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assays. Cell apoptosis and cell-cycle were tested using flow cytometry. The regulatory correlation between miR-448 and CTTN was explored by bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay.

RESULTS

Lower expression of miR-448 and higher level of CTTN were detected in glioma cells. MiR-448 could regulate cell proliferation, cell apoptosis, and cell cycle. CTTN was negatively regulated by miR-448.

CONCLUSIONS

miR-448 downregulates CTTN to inhibit cell proliferation and promote apoptosis in glioma, which indicates a potential therapeutic target of glioma.

Circularly Polarized States Spawning from Bound States in the Continuum

Bound states in the continuum in periodic photonic systems like photonic crystal slabs are proved to be accompanied by vortex polarization singularities on the photonic bands in the momentum space. The winding structures of polarization states not only widen the field of topological physics but also show great potential that such systems could be applied in polarization manipulating. In this Letter, we report the phenomenon that by in-plane inversion (C_{2}) symmetry breaking, pairs of circularly polarized states could spawn from the eliminated bound states in the continuum. Along with the appearance of the circularly polarized states as the two poles of the Poincaré sphere together with linearly polarized states covering the equator, full coverage on the Poincaré sphere could be realized. As an application, ellipticity modulation of linear polarization is demonstrated in the visible frequency range. This phenomenon provides a new degree of freedom in modulating polarization. The C points could also find applications in light-matter interactions. Further studying and manipulating the reported polarization singularities may lead to novel phenomena and physics in radiation modulating and topological photonics.

[Application of complete endoscopic technique in microvascular decompression related tovertebrobasilar artery compression]

Objective: To study the operative method, special technique and curative effect of complete neuroendoscopic microvascular decompression(MVD) related to vertebrobasilar artery compression. Methods: Thirteen patients with functional cranial nerve disease caused by vertebrobasilar artery as direct or indirect responsible vessel accepted complete endoscopic MVD, including 11 patients with hemifacial spasm and 2 patients with trigeminal neuralgia. The procedure and curative effect of endoscopic surgery were analyzed retrospectively. Results: All procedures of complete neuroendoscopic MVD were successfully completed.Intraoperative observation by endoscope showed that 6 cases were oppressed directly by vertebral artery, 2 cases were oppressed directly by basilar artery, 5 cases were combined oppressed by displaced basilar artery and other vessels (1 case was superior cerebellar artery and 4 cases were anterior inferior cerebellar artery). During the operation, Teflon sheets was placed directly into the compression point in 2 cases, the "Pre-placed" technique was used to place Teflon sheets in 7 cases, and the "Set up bridge" technique was used to place Teflon sheets in 4 cases. Follow-up for 8-38 months,the symptoms disappeared completely in 12 cases and improved in 1 case. No deaths and severe complications occurred, such as postoperative bleeding, cerebellar infarction and intracranial infection. Conclusion: MVD related to vertebrobasilar artery compression can be performed by complete neuroendoscopic technique, which can achieve sufficient decompression effect and curative effect.Flexible use of the special technology of placing Teflon sheets by single-hand under endoscope, such as the "Pre-placed" and "Set up bridge" technique, is an important technical guarantee for the successful completion of endoscopic MVD.