Message In Response Research Articles

App Design Features Important for Diabetes Self-management as Determined by the Self-Determination Theory on Motivation: Content Analysis of Survey Responses From Adults Requiring Insulin Therapy.

Using a diabetes app can improve glycemic control; however, the use of diabetes apps is low, possibly due to design issues that affect patient motivation. This study aimed to describes how adults with diabetes requiring insulin perceive diabetes apps based on 3 key psychological needs (competence, autonomy, and connectivity) described by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) on motivation. This was a qualitative analysis of data collected during a crossover randomized laboratory trial (N=92) testing 2 diabetes apps. Data sources included (1) observations during app testing and (2) survey responses on desired app features. Guided by the SDT, coding categories included app functions that could address psychological needs for motivation in self-management: competence, autonomy, and connectivity. Patients described design features that addressed needs for competence, autonomy, and connectivity. To promote competence, electronic data recording and analysis should help patients track and understand blood glucose (BG) results necessary for planning behavior changes. To promote autonomy, BG trend analysis should empower patients to set safe and practical personalized behavioral goals based on time and the day of the week. To promote connectivity, app email or messaging function could share data reports and communicate with others on self-management advice. Additional themes that emerged are the top general app designs to promote positive user experience: patient-friendly; automatic features of data upload; voice recognition to eliminate typing data; alert or reminder on self-management activities; and app interactivity of a sound, message, or emoji change in response to keeping or not keeping BG in the target range. The application of the SDT was useful in identifying motivational app designs that address the psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and connectivity. User-centered design concepts, such as being patient-friendly, differ from the SDT because patients need a positive user experience (ie, a technology need). Patients want engaging diabetes apps that go beyond data input and output. Apps should be easy to use, provide personalized analysis reports, be interactive to affirm positive behaviors, facilitate data sharing, and support patient-clinician communication.

“I Felt Completely Turned off by the Message”: The Effects of Controlling Language, Fear, and Disgust Appeals on Responses to COVID-19 Vaccination Messages

Psychological reactance theory (PRT) posits that when individuals’ perceived freedoms are threatened or restricted, they become aversively aroused and are motivated to reestablish those freedoms, leading to a state of psychological reactance. Applying PRT, this study examined the effects of controlling language, fear, and disgust appeals on responses to COVID-19 vaccination promotion messages. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions across controlling language (high/low), fear appeals (high/low), and disgust appeals (high/low), wherein they viewed two messages, with responses measured after each message. Results showed persuasion was diminished when the levels of any of these three variables were elevated, as in conditions of either high controlling language, high fear appeals, or high disgust appeals. Relative to low levels of these variables, high levels resulted in greater freedom threat perceptions, reactance, source derogation, and less positive attitudes toward the message. A 2-way interaction between fear and disgust appeals on source derogation and message attitudes in the low controlling language condition was significant—participants reported the least source derogation and most positive attitudes toward the message in response to the low controlling language, low fear, and low disgust appeals.

Forceful or Funny? Audience Interpretations of Narrative Persuasion in Satirical Entertainment Media

ABSTRACT It has been established that narrative entertainment messages have the power to produce persuasive outcomes in audiences, but the specific message components that influence audience responses are not well understood. The current study uses focus groups to explore audience interpretations of meaning, perceptions of persuasive intent, and perceptions of the source of a persuasive message in response to a satirical narrative with an environmental theme. The results indicated that audiences define persuasive intent much more narrowly than researchers. Audiences also inferred meaning based on which characters espoused certain messages, but struggled to form conceptions of the creators behind the show or discern an overall persuasive intent. Furthermore, humor acted both as a factor in enjoyment of the narrative and as a discounting cue.

MRNA transcription profile of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) exposed to ultrasound during different stages of in vitro plantlet development

Key messageIn response to an ultrasound pulse, several hundred DEGs, including in response to stress, were up- or down-regulated in in vitro potato plantlets. Despite this abiotic stress, plantlets survived.Ultrasound (US) can influence plant growth and development. To better understand the genetic mechanism underlying the physiological response of potato to US, single-node segments of four-week-old in vitro plantlets were subjected to US at 35 kHz for 20 min. Following mRNA purification, 10 cDNA libraries were assessed by RNA-seq. Significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were categorized by gene ontology or Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes identifiers. The expression intensity of 40,430 genes was studied. Several hundred DEGs associated with biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and catabolism, cellular protein modification, and response to stress, and which were expressed mainly in the extracellular region, nucleus, and plasma membrane, were either up- or down-regulated in response to US. RT-qPCR was used to validate RNA-seq data of 10 highly up- or down-regulated DEGs, and both Spearman and Pearson correlations between SeqMonk LFC and RT-qPCR LFC were highly positive (0.97). This study examines how some processes evolved over time (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 1 week and 4 weeks) after an abiotic stress (US) was imposed on in vitro potato explants, and provides clues to the temporal dynamics in DEG-based enzyme functions in response to this stress. Despite this abiotic stress, plantlets survived.

Intervening to Reduce Satisficing Behaviors in Web Surveys

Most online surveys still look and feel much like paper questionnaires. In particular, although the web is an interactive medium, web surveys rarely exploit this interactive capability. One exception is a series of demonstrations that online survey respondents seem to become more conscientious when prompted (usually with a brief textual message) in response to behaviors like item nonresponse, nondifferentiation, and answering very quickly. While these earlier studies have found that interactive intervention can reduce the occurrence of these behaviors, the underlying mechanism—why the intervention works—remains unclear. To shed light on this, we conducted two experiments to explore why respondents might change their behavior after being prompted. Part of the explanation lies in whether the benefits of the intervention are specific to the targeted behavior or lead to a general increase in conscientious responding. The findings show that intervention can lead to genuine improvement in respondent behaviors, but it also runs the risk of producing socially desirable bias in survey answers.

Developing Spiritually Framed Breast Cancer Screening Messages in Consultation With African American Women

Despite efforts to increase breast cancer screening (BCS) among African American women, disparities in breast cancer mortality persist. Culturally framed health communication may provide a useful strategy to address this issue. Spirituality not only represents an integral aspect of African American culture, but it has also been identified as a potential barrier to BCS among this population. Rather than continuing to focus on spirituality as a barrier, there is an opportunity to develop promotional messages that tap into the protective properties of spirituality among this population. The goals of this study were to engage a group of African American women to identify important spiritual elements to be included in health communication materials, and to subsequently develop a spiritually framed BCS message in response to their feedback. Three nominal group sessions were conducted with 15 African American women. Results revealed three important spiritual elements that can be incorporated into BCS health messages: (a) the body as a temple; (b) going to the doctor does not make you faithless; and (c) God did not give us the spirit of fear. These elements were used to draft a spiritually framed BCS message. Next, 20 face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted to help finalize the spiritually framed BCS message for use in a future study on culturally framed health communication.

Public health risk communication by text message in response to a cluster of invasive meningococcal infection in a primary school.

Public health risk communication during emergencies should be rapid and accurate in order to allow the audience to take steps to prevent adverse outcomes. Delays to official communications may cause unnecessary anxiety due to uncertainty or inaccurate information circulating within the at-risk group. Modern electronic communications present opportunities for rapid, targeted public health risk communication. We present a case report of a cluster of invasive meningococcal disease in a primary school in which we used the school’s mass short message service (SMS) text message system to inform parents and guardians of pupils about the incident, to tell them that chemoprophylaxis would be offered to all pupils and staff, and to advise them when to attend the school to obtain further information and antibiotics. Following notification to public health on a Saturday, an incident team met on Sunday, sent the SMS messages that afternoon, and administered chemoprophyaxis to 93% of 404 pupils on Monday. The use of mass SMS messages enabled rapid communication from an official source and greatly aided the public health response to the cluster.

The “individual” in Johann Friedrich Overbeck’s and Franz Liszt’s Seven Sacraments

In the preface to his Septem sacramenta (1878–1884), Franz Liszt acknowledged its stimulus — drawings completed in 1862 by the German painter J. F. Overbeck (1789–1869). This essay explores what Liszt likely meant by his and Overbeck’s “diametrically opposed” approaches and speculates on why the composer nonetheless acknowledged the artist’s work. Each man adopted an individualized treatment of the sacraments, neither in line with the Church’s neo-Thomistic philosophy. Whereas the Church insisted on the sanctifying effects of the sacraments’ graces, Overbeck emphasized the sacraments as a means for moral edification, and Liszt expressed their emotional effects on the receiver. Furthermore, Overbeck embedded within his work an overt polemical message in response to the contested position of the pope in the latter half of the nineteenth century. For many in Catholic circles, he went too far. Both works experienced a problematic reception. Yet, despite their works’ reception, both Overbeck and Liszt believed they had contributed to the sacred art of their time. The very individuality of Overbeck’s treatment seems to have stimulated Liszt. True to his generous nature, Liszt, whose individual voice often went unappreciated, publicly recognized an equally individual voice in the service of the Church.

Neural correlates of migration: activation of hypothalamic clock(s) in and out of migratory state in the blackheaded bunting (Emberiza melanocephala).

BackgroundMany vertebrates distinguish between short and long day lengths using suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). In birds particular, the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) is suggested to be involved in the timing of seasonal reproduction. This study investigated the response of SCN and MBH to a single long day, and the role of MBH in induction of the migratory phenotype in night-migratory blackheaded buntings.Methodology/Principal FindingsExperiment 1 immunocytochemically measured c-fos in the SCN, and c-fos, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the MBH of buntings exposed to a 20 h light period. Long light period induced significantly stronger c-fos expression, measured as number of c-fos-like immunoreactive (c-fos-lir) cells, in MBH, but not in the SCN. Within the MBH, c-fos-lir cells were significantly denser in the inferior hypothalamic nucleus (IH) and infundibular nucleus (IN), but not in the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH). IH and IN also had significantly increased number of VIP and NPY labeled cells. DMH had significantly increased number of VIP labeled cells only. Experiment 2 assayed c-fos, VIP and NPY immunoreactivities in the middle of day and night in the MBH of buntings, after seven long days (day active, non-migratory state) and after seven days of Zugunruhe (night active, migratory state) in long days. In the migratory state, the number of c-fos-lir cells was significantly greater only in DMH; VIP-lir cells were denser in all three MBH regions suggesting enhanced light sensitivity at night. The denser NPY-lir cells only in IN in the non-migratory state were probably due to premigratory hyperphagia.Conclusions/SignificanceIn buntings, SCN may not be involved in the photoperiod-induced seasonal responses. MBH contains the seasonal clock sensitive to day length. VIP and NPY are parts of the neuroendocrine mechanism(s) involved, respectively, in sensing and translating the photoperiodic message in a seasonal response.

ATR controls the UV‐related upregulation of the CDKN1A mRNA in a Cdk1/HuR‐dependent manner

Ultraviolet (UV) light is a carcinogenic agent that upregulates the expression of several genes involved in various cellular processes, including cell cycle checkpoints and apoptosis. The universal cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/Cip1) plays major roles in these processes, and the level of its corresponding message increases several times in response to UV-induced DNA damage. This upregulation is mainly posttranscriptional owing to HuR-dependent mRNA stabilization. Since the protein kinase Atr plays major roles during the cellular response to UV damage, we sought to investigate its possible implication in the stabilization of the p21(WAF1/Cip1) coding mRNA. We have shown that the UV-dependent accumulation of the CDKN1A mRNA is indeed under the control of the Atr protein kinase. Upon UV damage, Atr allows nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling of the HuR protein, which binds the CDKN1A mRNA and reduces its turnover. This ATR-dependent effect is mediated through UV-related phosphorylation/inactivation of the Cdk1 protein kinase by Atr, which leads to the dissociation of HuR from Cdk1. Indeed, inhibition or shRNA specific knockdown of CDK1 in ATR-deficient cells enhanced the cytoplasmic level of HuR and restored the CDKN1A mRNA upregulation in response to UV damage. These results show that ATR stabilizes the CDKN1A message in response to UV damage through Cdk1-related cytoplasmic accumulation of HuR.

Novel space alters theta and gamma synchrony across the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus

Hippocampal theta (6–10 Hz) and gamma (25–50 Hz and 65–100 Hz) local field potentials (LFPs) reflect the dynamic synchronization evoked by inputs impinging upon hippocampal neurons. Novel experience is known to engage hippocampal physiology and promote successful encoding. Does novelty synchronize or desynchronize theta and/or gamma frequency inputs across the septotemporal (long) axis of the hippocampus (HPC)? The present study tested the hypothesis that a novel spatial environment would alter theta power and coherence across the long axis. We compared theta and gamma LFP signals at individual (power) and millimeter distant electrode pairs (coherence) within the dentate gyrus (DG) and CA1 region while rats navigated a runway (1) in a familiar environment, (2) with a modified path in the same environment and (3) in a novel space. Locomotion in novel space was related to increases in theta and gamma power at most CA1 and DG sites. The increase in theta and gamma power was concurrent with an increase in theta and gamma coherence across the long axis of CA1; however, there was a significant decrease in theta coherence across the long axis of the DG. These findings illustrate significant shifts in the synchrony of entorhinal, CA3 and/or neuromodulatory afferents conveying novel spatial information to the dendritic fields of CA1 and DG targets across the long axis of the HPC. This shift suggests that the entire theta/gamma-related input to the CA1 network, and likely output, receives and conveys a more coherent message in response to novel sensory experience. Such may contribute to the successful encoding of novel sensory experience.

Undergraduates' use of text messaging language: Effects of country and collection method

Abstract Studies of mobile phone text messaging have reported widely varying proportions of textisms (e.g., u for you, 2 for to). We investigated whether conclusions about textism use are influenced by participant country, text message collection method, and categorisation method. Questionnaire data were collected from 241 undergraduate students in Australia and Canada, who also provided text messages via three methods used in previous research: translation from conventional English, writing a message in response to a scenario, and providing naturalistic messages. Significantly higher proportions of textisms were observed in messages written by Australians than Canadians, and in messages collected experimentally than naturalistically. A re-categorisation of textism forms as “contractive” versus “expressive” was explored and overall implications for text-message collection are discussed.

Studies of the Book of Isaiah in the Korean Church since its Beginning

The history of the Korean Church is marked by its unfailing enthusiasm toward the Bible in general and the OT Prophets in particular. Well before Protestant Christianity was introduced to Korea, Korean nobility had already read the Bible in the late 18th century through their contact with French Roman Catholic missionaries working in China. Some Korean trading merchants participated in the translation of the Bible into Korean by helping John Ross, a Scottish missionary to China and Manchuria, in his translation of the Bible into Korean. Even a Confucian noble man like Yi Soo-Jung himself translated the Gospel of Luke as early as the late 19th century in Japan. No wonder Korean Christianity has been called a Bibleloving or Bible-committed one. Faced with the decline of their mother country, Korean Christians (both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians) specially put their trust in the OT and its bountiful promises and prophecies designed to sustain the people of Israel in many national crises and tribulations. The OT provided them with many inspiring lessons and convictions because of its apparently nationalistic tone and universal vision of a peaceful world full of freedom, justice, and equality. The book of Isaiah, among others, has for several reasons been one of the most widely read OT books in Korea since Christianity was introduced to Korean people in the late 19th century: its messianic hope, its sociopolitical oracles, and its frequent quotations in the NT. A survey of the uses and interpretations of the book of Isaiah illustrates how Korean Christians and Bible scholars have appropriated its message in close response to their contemporary sociopolitical challenges. The present essay reviews how both the Korean Church and academia have read and interpreted the book of Isaiah these two past two centuries. It also pays special attention to how the socio-religious milieu of Korea influenced Korean people s reading and interpretation of the book. To this end, the present article examines commentaries, monographs, articles, and important books of sermons which deal with the book of Isaiah with attention to themes and methods. For this reason the present essay takes a historical approach to major works on the book of Isaiah and categorizes them into several types in accordance with their exegetical method, focus, and targeted reader. Through its diachronical analysis of major works on the Book of Isaiah, the present essay categorizes all Korean works on Isaiah into three types of interpretation: pre-critical and over-Christological (supercessionistic) interpretation, historical-critical interpretation, and historical-canonical interpretation. The initial stage of the Korean people s reading of Isaiah has been marked by its supercessionistic and spiritualizing tendency. The middle stage of Korean churches and Christians has moved a bit toward the historical-critical reading with relatively insufficient attention to the pastoral and devotional function of the Book of Isaiah. The latest stage seeks to steer a middle road between Christological and spiritualizing reading on the one hand and historical and canonical reading on the other hand. The present essay concludes that the interpretation and reading of the Book of Isaiah in Korea has been undergoing various stages of change in accordance with the societal and cultural environments they have faced.

MYD88‐dependent and ‐independent activation of TREM‐1 via specific TLR ligands

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-1 plays an important role in myeloid cell-activated inflammatory responses. Although TLR ligands such as LPS and lipoteichoic acid have been shown to upregulate TREM-1 expression in macrophage and neutrophils, the role of specific TLR in inducing the expression of TREM-1 remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether the presence of TLR is necessary for the expression of TREM-1. We show that BM-derived macrophages from TLR4 and TLR2 KO mice failed to induce expression of TREM-1 message and protein in response to their specific ligands. Interestingly, the expression of TREM-1 in response to LPS is not altered in myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) KO macrophages, suggesting that downstream of TLR a MyD88-independent pathway induces the expression of TREM-1. Inhibiting toll/IL-1R domain-containing adaptor-inducing IFN-beta (TRIF) expression by siRNA decreased TREM-1 expression in response to LPS, suggesting that the expression of TREM-1 in response to LPS was mediated by the TRIF signaling pathway. On the other hand, the expression of TREM-1 in response to lipoteichoic acid is dependent on MyD88 expression. These data indicate that the expression of TREM-1 in response to TLR ligands occurs secondary to downstream signaling events and that the presence of TLR is necessary for the expression of TREM-1 in response to their specific ligands. However, the downstream signaling required for the expression of TREM-1 is dependent on the stimulus and the surface receptor through which the signaling is initiated.

Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ Stimulation of Adipocyte ApoE Gene Transcription Mediated by the Liver Receptor X Pathway

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARgamma) agonists increase insulin sensitivity in humans and are useful for treating human diabetes. Treatment with these agonists leads to increased apoE expression and triglyceride accumulation in adipocytes. The importance of apoE for adipocyte triglyceride accumulation is demonstrated by observations that triglyceride accumulation is impaired in apoE knockout adipocytes treated with PPARgamma agonists. The current studies investigate the molecular mechanism for PPARgamma stimulation of the adipocyte apoE gene and demonstrate that the liver receptor X (LXR) response element within an apoE gene downstream enhancer is required for the apoE response to PPARgamma agonists. The response of the apoE gene to treatment with PPARgamma agonists was delayed beyond 12 h suggesting the involvement of an intermediary pathway. The combined addition of PPARgamma and LXR agonists did not increase apoE response beyond that observed with addition of either alone. Deletion or mutation of the LXR response element completely eliminated the adipocyte apoE gene response to a PPARgamma agonist. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses performed using isolated adipocytes, or adipose tissue from mice treated with PPARgamma agonists, showed increased LXR binding to the apoE gene after PPARgamma agonist treatment. Knockdown of LXR expression completely eliminated the increase in apoE message, protein, and triglyceride in response to PPARgamma stimulation. The LXR response element has been previously shown to mediate sterol responsiveness of the apoE gene, and apoE expression plays an important role in adipocyte triglyceride balance. The current observations suggest that the PPARgamma-LXR-apoE regulatory cascade could be an important molecular link for cross-talk between adipocyte triglyceride and cholesterol homeostasis.

Signal dependent pre‐mRNA splicing regulates the surface thrombogenecity of platelets

Platelets unexpectedly contain a subset of intronic-rich pre-mRNAs that are processed into translatable message in response to activating signals. Here we report that signaling through Clk1 and SF2/ASF, activated Clk1 induces SF2/ASF phosphorylation, regulates mRNA processing in platelets and identify tissue factor (TF) as a pre-mRNA that is under signal-dependent control. Megakaryocytes deliver Clk1 to proplatelets, and mature platelets mobilize Clk1 to focal adhesion complexes as they adhere and spread on fibrinogen. Activated platelets splice TF pre-mRNA into translatable message and generate TF protein and activity (10-fold increase, quiescent vs. activated platelets) on their surface through Clk1-dependent mechanisms. Interruption of Clk1 signaling with a benzothiazole compound blocks this process (75% reduced TF activity). Together, these studies demonstrate that Clk1 and SF2/ASF regulate pre-mRNA processing in platelets and identify a previously unrecognized role for signal-dependent pre-mRNA splicing in controlling the surface thrombogenecity of activated platelets.

Accessible Pedestrian Signals

The U.S. Access Board's Draft Guidelines for Accessible Public Rights-of-Way recommends the use of push-button-integrated accessible pedestrian signals (APSs). This research compared the effect of specific features of push-button-integrated APSs on the ability of blind pedestrians to locate and correctly use push buttons and to cross accurately during the pedestrian phase. A rapid-tick walk signal promoted the fastest onset of crossing compared with speech messages and bird calls and is therefore the preferred signal. However, speech walk indications are needed where two APSs are mounted on the same pole. Although variations in the standard features made little difference to users who were thoroughly familiar with devices, empirical evidence from participants with less knowledge of the devices as well as subjective data lead to the recommendation that APS devices include a push-button locator tone, a rounded push button with an activation tone or message, a tactile arrow incorporated into the push button, responsiveness to ambient sound, and a push-button information message and beaconing in response to an extended button press.

From the ashes of virtue, a promise of light: the transformation of political Islam in Turkey

The November 2002 general elections in Turkey transformed Turkish politics by bringing a new political party to power with almost two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The now dominant Justice and Development Party (akp) emerged from a tradition of Islamically orientated political parties that have challenged the religious policies of the Turkish state. Previous Islamically orientated parties in Turkey were successively banned from politics, but re-emerged after a period in which they reframed their message in response to their perceived opportunities and constraints. The new Justice and Development Party has gone a step further than its predecessors, dramatically highlighting a process of institutional change and ideological moderation that has occurred in Turkish political Islam. The increasing moderation of the Islamist movement is the result of several institutional factors. First, the movement has been given the freedom to make strategic choices in a political system that rewards political entrepreneurship with credible opportunities for power. Second, the state and elements of civil society have imposed public institutional constraints on the movement's behaviour. Third, iterated interaction between Islamist leaders, their constituency and the state have provided the movement with increased information about its potential appeal and strategic options over time.

Multicondition detection apparatus and method providing interleaved tone and verbal warnings

An apparatus for the detection and enunciation of hazardous conditions within an environment comprises at least two detection circuits positioned to sense ambient conditions within a home or business environment. One of the detection circuits senses the presence of smoke, and the other detection circuit senses the presence of carbon monoxide. The apparatus also comprises an alarm circuit which is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one alarm pattern, and preferably a separate alarm pattern for each different sensed condition. A voice synthesizer circuit is also included, and is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one voice message. As with the alarm patterns, the voice synthesizer preferably generates separate voice messages for each separate detected condition. The apparatus advantageously also contains an interleaving control circuit. This interleaving control circuit interleaves the alarm patterns and voice messages in a predetermined sequence to reduce confusion in an emergency situation. A method for the detection and enunciation of multiple hazardous condition within an environment is also presented, and comprises the steps of: (a) sensing ambient conditions within the environment to detect at least two hazardous condition; (b) generating an alarm pattern and a voice message in response to sensing the hazardous conditions; (c) interleaving the alarm pattern and the voice message; and (e) enunciating these interleaved alarm patterns and voice.

Low-level pilin expression allows for substantial DNA transformation competence in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The gonococcal pilus is a major virulence factor that has well-established roles in mediating epithelial cell adherence and DNA transformation. Gonococci expressing four gonococcal pilin variants with distinct piliation properties under control of the lac regulatory system were grown in different levels of the inducer isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). These pilin variants expressed various levels of pilin message and pilin protein in response to the level of IPTG in the growth medium. Moreover, posttranslational modifications of the variant pilin proteins were detected, including S-pilin production and glycosylation. The ratio of the modified and unmodified pilin forms did not substantially change with different levels of pilin expression, showing that these modifications are not linked to pilin expression levels. DNA transformation competence was also influenced by IPTG levels in the growth medium. Substantial increases in transformation competence over an isogenic, nonpiliated mutant were observed when limited amounts of three of the pilin variants were expressed. Immunoelectron microscopy showed that when limited amounts of pilin are expressed, pili are rare and do not explain the pilin-dependent transformation competence. This pilin-dependent transformation competence required prepilin processing, the outer membrane secretin PilQ, and the twitching-motility-regulating protein PilT. These requirements show that a fully functional pilus assembly apparatus is required for DNA uptake when limited pilin is produced. We conclude that the pilus assembly apparatus functions to import DNA into the bacterial cell in a pilin-dependent manner but that extended pili are not required for transformation competence.