Piece Of Puzzle Research Articles

'"Health" Is Just One Piece in the Puzzle of Wellbeing': Shifting From Preventing Health Deterioration to Improving Wellbeing in a Participatory Action Research Project With Care-Experienced Older People.

Prevention of health deterioration is a key policy objective in Sweden informed by active and healthy ageing initiatives. However, the perspectives of older people with mobility and health limitations on current prevention initiatives are seldom gained meaning these initiatives may fail to align to with the priorities of people whose health has ostensibly already deteriorated. We aimed to explore older care-experienced people's perspectives on the topic of health deterioration prevention and highlight aspects that they think are important to prioritise. Eight older people with experience in giving or receiving formal or informal care were involved as lay co-researchers in a participatory action research project that involved recruiting 11 further older informants to participate in peer interviews or complete a logbook. In a series of 13, 2-h workshops held over 1 year, we undertook data generation, training, reflection and analytic activities inspired by framework analysis. The lay co-researchers found the topic of health deterioration to be negatively and narrowly focussed opting instead to pursue a focus on articulating aspects, or puzzle pieces, that influence the improvement of wellbeing. Six influential puzzle pieces (stigma, digitalisation, services, losses, meaning and interactions) were regarded as important to prioritise which together illustrated that wellbeing is continually shaped in an interplay with dominant, but manipulable, social norms. This study highlights how the language of active and healthy ageing, which pervades policy and practice, is imbued with ageist and ableist subtexts that can influence older people's wellbeing and lead to exclusionary experiences in society. We highlight wider societal trends, particularly digitalisation and effectivisation, whose negative impact on older people's wellbeing could be mitigated through inclusive co-design and resistance to normative influences. This project was initiated in dialogue with stakeholder representatives from pensioner organisations in a larger scale participatory action research project. The care-experienced lay co-researchers collaborated in all phases of this project-gaining funding, formulating research questions, planning the study design, generating data in peer interviews, analysing and interpreting data, disseminating findings, prioritising future research and co-authoring articles.

In silico screening and immunogenic features of putative tick cement protein PA107 from Ixodes ricinus tick.

Tick salivary proteins are crucial for efficient and successful tick feeding. Most of them are still uncharacterized, especially those involved in the formation of tick cement. Tick salivary protein PA107 is a putative cement protein, which is transcribed in salivary glands during the initial phase of tick feeding. It is a tick-unique protein, with homologs described in several tick genera. In this study, a detailed in silico analysis of its primary and tertiary structure was performed, along with the immunogenicity assessment for the PA107 protein from Ixodes ricinus species. The screening of the primary structure placed it to the glycine-rich protein family, revealing in parallel an overlapping 15mer at the C-terminus and borderline homology to non-tick proteins with antimicrobial activity. The analysis of tertiary structure revealed a high degree of intrinsic disorder for monomeric PA107, in contrast to highly ordered structures for different oligomeric states that might correlate with the putative role in the tick cement formation process. Regarding in silico PA107 immunogenicity inference, obtained results were inconclusive, which aligns with the in vitro findings showing definitely the lack of humoral response induction in experimentally infested rats and persons bitten by the I. ricinus ticks. The results represent new pieces of a huge puzzle depicting a complex tick-host relationship, but also identify PA107 as a possible compound of novel formulations to be used in biomedicine as bioadhesives, and as a target for new anti-tick strategies, by interfering with the cement cone formation and stability, i.e. tick attachment and feeding.

Viruses and Evolution

The role of viruses within Big History is an important field in understanding the process of evolution; however, it is not yet extensively studied. This is due both to the fact that viruses, being microscopic pathogenic, have left limited physical traces in the geological record, and because there is no firm agreement on the place of viruses in evolution. The purpose of this report is to explore the role of viruses in the context of evolutionary development within the framework of Big History. It aims to provide an overview of current perspectives and challenges associated with understanding the position of viruses in the broader narrative of evolutionary history. According to a dictionary, a virus is defined as ‘any of a large group of submicroscopic infectious agents that are usually regarded as non-living extremely complex molecules. The term ‘agents’ is commonly used in virology due to the difficulty in finding a universal term to describe these unique entities. A virus is not an organism, in our usual sense of the definition, nor is it a chemical compound since viruses have an overly complex structure and behavior that sets them apart. In the field of evolution, viruses pose a perplexing puzzle piece that does not neatly fit into the larger picture. Undeniably, viruses are the most pervasive entities on Earth. However, despite their ubiquitous presence, only a little over 6,000 virus species have been comprehensively described in the existing body of knowledge. In the paper, the author observes evolution and their origins, including regressive, protobiont hypotheses, as well as the symbiotic theory, which according to some researchers was the factor that led to the three cellular domains of life that we now know. The paper also delves into a fascinating aspect of evolution: the unique position of viruses, which exist on the edge of disorder, displaying high instability yet remarkable adaptability. This raises the question of whether viruses can be considered alive or not, leading to an intriguing debate. We also explore the question of whether viruses can be classified as parasites, which may seem simple at first glance but is actually a complex and contradictory topic. The author discusses the role of viruses from an energetic perspective, recognizing their significance in information and energy dynamics within ecosystems. Viruses exert a substantial influence on energy flows in intricate ecological systems. The paper considers viruses from the perspective of information evolution, because in some respects viruses can be regarded as pure information particles. The author also argues that viruses can be considered as basic information agents that transmit genetic information and are thus the basic molecular tool of evolution. Moreover, this tool is beginning to be used by humans for the genetic alteration of many organisms, including ourselves. It is important that viruses will no longer be considered only as dangerous pathogens, since pathogenic viruses make up only a small part of their genus. We argue that breakthroughs in virology in the coming decades could be no less important as a breakthrough in understanding the nature of bacteria, both pathogenic and beneficial. The paper also examines viruses as a complex self-regulating system drawing comparisons to other complex systems such as computer viruses, cancer, and languages. It emphasizes the remarkable similarities between these systems and explores possible explanations for these similarities.

Paint: a ubiquitous yet disregarded piece of the microplastics puzzle.

Microplastics are widespread pollutants. Microplastics generated from the wear and tear of paints and coatings have recently been modeled to be a large source of microplastics to the environment. Yet, studies focused on microplastics broadly frequently overlook paint microplastics. In this article, we systematically reviewed the primary literature (turning up 53 relevant articles) on paint microplastic sources, identification methods, environmental concentrations, and toxicity to model organisms. Examples of sources of paint microplastics include paints from buildings and murals, crafts and hobbies, cars and roads, marine boats and structures, and industrial systems like pipes, sewers, and other infrastructure. Paint microplastics have been quantified in several marine samples from Europe and, to a lesser extent, East Asia. Reported concentrations of paint microplastics are up to 290,000 particles per kilogram of sediments, with the greatest concentration reported near a graffiti wall. Out of the toxicity studies testing paint microplastics, there have been 68 tested effects in total across all endpoints and organisms and 17 quantified lethal concentration 50% doses (ranging from 0.001 to 20 g/L). Of the tested effects, 45 observed endpoint values in the paint treatment were significantly different from the control (66%)-most of which were tests using antifouling paints. Overall, the number of studies on paint microplastics is small, limiting a holistic understanding of microplastics. Based on our synthesis of the state of the science on paint microplastics, we suggest a research agenda moving forward informed by research gaps.

Computational Thinking and the Circulatory System

The circulatory system is one of the complicated science subjects that science teachers must teach, presenting substantial conceptual learning challenges for students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to facilitate the teaching and learning of the circulatory system in a more concrete and understandable way. To achieve this, the study integrated computational thinking (CT) elements into science teaching and developed an unplugged circulatory system teaching module centered on CT principles. The unplugged CT approach, involves students recognizing CT elements in student-centered learning environments without computers through various tangible materials (paper, colored pencils, scissors, glue, colored cartons, puzzle pieces, stickers, etc.), various games, physical activities, competitions, kinesthetic activities, and more. In this student-centered learning environment the teacher guides students when they encounter difficulties in engaging and learning through unplugged CT activities. The unplugged teaching module consists of 10 different activities (4 activities shared due to space limitation) and lasts 4 weeks (16 lesson hours). As a result, thanks to the developed teaching module, students learned the concepts of the circulatory system more concretely and in a more organized way, showing how computational thinking elements are integrated into the subject through these activities.

The Role of Speed, Change of Direction, and Momentum by Position and Starting Status in Division 1 Collegiate Football Players.

Mann, JB, Cowley, N, and Weakley, J. The role of speed, change of direction, and momentum by position and starting status in Division 1 collegiate football players. J Strength Cond Res 39(1): 41-47, 2025-This study (a) investigated differences between big, mid, and skill positions in sprint and change of direction times and momentum; (b) compared starting and nonstarting athletes; and (c) investigated whether thresholds can be developed to distinguish between starting and nonstarting Division 1 collegiate football athletes. Data from 496 collegiate football players who completed the 40-yard dash, pro-agility, and L drill were analyzed. Momentum was calculated using body mass and the average velocity during each test. To assess differences between positions and starters and nonstarters, data were analyzed using linear mixed models with effect size ±95% confidence intervals. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to determine whether a cutoff value could be used to distinguish starters from nonstarters. Significant differences for both time and momentum were found between positional groups and starters and nonstarters for all tests in all positions. Starting skill position players tended to have greater differences in sprint or change of direction times and starting big players had greater sprint momentum. However, it should be noted that all ROC curves demonstrated relatively poor predictive value. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that bigger, faster players are preferentially selected in collegiate Division 1 football and there may be value in coaches collecting and assessing different outcome measures (e.g., sprint times and sprint momentum) depending on the positional group of the player. Finally, it should be acknowledged that setting binary thresholds to guide selection decisions is ill-advised and that speed, change of direction, and momentum are only one piece of the performance puzzle.

Filling in missing puzzle pieces in protein structural biology with cross-linking mass spectrometry

Filling in missing puzzle pieces in protein structural biology with cross-linking mass spectrometry

Hemoptysis of unknown origin: let's put in order the puzzle pieces.

Hemoptysis of unknown origin: let's put in order the puzzle pieces.

Systemic Oxidative Stress Correlates with Sarcopenia and Pruritus Severity in Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC): Two Independent Relationships Simultaneously Impacting the Quality of Life—Is the Low Absorption of Cholestasis-Promoted Vitamin D a Puzzle Piece?

Background: Unlike other chronic liver disorders, in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), systemic oxidative stress (SOS) worsens along with liver disease progression status (DPS), influencing muscle metabolism, muscle quantity (MQ), and itch pathways. Synergistically, cholestasis contributes to reduced vitamin D absorption, with a negative impact on MM and SOS. Despite this evidence, the prevalence of sarcopenia in PBC, and the SOS-MQ relationship comparing PBC with other CLDs, has never been investigated. Moreover, the relationship between vitamin D and MQ-SOS, and the correlation between SOS and pruritus severity, remains unexplored in PBC. Methods: A total of 40 MASLD, 52 chronic HBV infections, 50 chronic HCV infections, and 41 ursodeoxycholic acid/antioxidant-naïve PBC patients were enrolled. Biochemical, nutritional, and liver stiffness (LSM) data were collected, and sarcopenia was assessed after a normalizing 3-month dietetic–physical exercise regimen. The d-ROMs/BAP tests evaluated SOS. The validated “PBC-40 questionnaire” estimated pruritus and quality of life (QoL). Results: Unlike other CLDs, in PBC patients, sarcopenia was more prevalent in initial mild fibrosis (PBC: 57.10% vs. MASLD: 30.76%, HBV: 22.60%, HCV: 20.70%, all p < 0.0001), and SOS significantly correlated with MQ (dROMs-ASM/h2, p: 0.0002; BAP-ASM/h2: p: 0.0092). PBC patients presented lower vitamin D levels and a significant correlation of these with SOS and MQ (all p < 0.0001). SOS also correlated with pruritus severity (dROMs, R: 0.835; BAP, R: −0.775, p < 0.0001). QoL impairment was significantly more represented in PBC individuals with sarcopenia, SOS imbalance, and relevant pruritus (p: 0.0228). Conclusions: In PBC, SOS correlates with MQ impairment and pruritus severity, configuring two independent relationships simultaneously impacting QoL.

A formative evaluation of human activity recognition technology for parent-child interactions

Studies in recognition of human activities have been developed in populations of all ages. It is possible to use various technologies to obtain data from environmental sensors or equipment, such as wheelchairs or wearable devices, for everyday and specialized use. With children, using augmented toys has become one of the preferred mechanisms to obtain information about the interaction between children and the toy. However, few efforts have been made to study mechanisms for receiving data from child and adult interactions. This work presents the design and evaluation of a computationally augmented glove and puzzle piece based on the specifications from the literature. After the evaluation, we proposed changes to the glove design to ensure the correct interaction data was obtained.

PuzzleAvatar: Assembling 3D Avatars from Personal Albums

Generating personalized 3D avatars is crucial for AR/VR. However, recent text-to-3D methods that generate avatars for celebrities or fictional characters, struggle with everyday people. Methods for faithful reconstruction typically require full-body images in controlled settings. What if users could just upload their personal "OOTD" (Outfit Of The Day) photo collection and get a faithful avatar in return? The challenge is that such casual photo collections contain diverse poses, challenging viewpoints, cropped views, and occlusion (albeit with a consistent outfit, accessories and hairstyle). We address this novel " Album2Human " task by developing PuzzleAvatar , a novel model that generates a faithful 3D avatar (in a canonical pose) from a personal OOTD album, bypassing the challenging estimation of body and camera pose. To this end, we fine-tune a foundational vision-language model (VLM) on such photos, encoding the appearance, identity, garments, hairstyles, and accessories of a person into separate learned tokens, instilling these cues into the VLM. In effect, we exploit the learned tokens as "puzzle pieces" from which we assemble a faithful, personalized 3D avatar. Importantly, we can customize avatars by simply inter-changing tokens. As a benchmark for this new task, we create a new dataset, called PuzzleIOI , with 41 subjects in a total of nearly 1k OOTD configurations, in challenging partial photos with paired ground-truth 3D bodies. Evaluation shows that PuzzleAvatar not only has high reconstruction accuracy, outperforming TeCH and MVDreamBooth, but also a unique scalability to album photos, and demonstrating strong robustness. Our code and data are publicly available for research purpose at puzzleavatar.is.tue.mpg.de

Designing a recombinant coat protein to reduce tobacco mosaic virus infection in plants

The Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) is a critical plant virus that can cause a significant drop in crop yield. To understand how recombinant coat-protein impacts the affinity and assembly of TMV’s subunits, research is being conducted to assess the effect of recombinant protein on virus resistance. To develop a recombinant coat-protein that can lower TMV infection rates in plants, a design strategy was employed that involves creating defective viral subunits leading to incorrect assembly. This method is similar to using defective puzzle pieces that form incorrect connections resulting in disrupted viral assembly, ultimately affecting the production of mature virus particles. The study investigated the effect of mutations on one side of the Tobacco mosaic virus coat-protein using molecular modeling and dynamics simulation techniques. The simulation showed that the recombinant subunit had lower flexibility (between 0.15 to 0.20 nm) compared to the other subunits (between 0.45 to 0.75 nm), which was attributed to the smaller loop area. The study suggests an effective recombinant coat-protein with the potential to prevent virus infection by disrupting the coat-protein assembly process. This approach can be used to design a plant vaccine against viruses. Developing a recombinant protein can also provide benefits to plants such as protection from pests and enhancement of growth and productivity.

Targeting SphK1/S1PR3 axis ameliorates sepsis-induced multiple organ injury via orchestration of macrophage polarization and glycolysis

Sepsis is a heterogeneous and imprecise disorder characterized by aberrant response to infection which has been accredited for detrimental impact on immune homeostasis. Recently, macrophage metabolism has been recognized as attractive targets to develop novel immunomodulatory therapy for sepsis research. However, the fine-tuning regulators dictating macrophage functions and the specific mechanisms underlying macrophage metabolic reprogramming remain largely obscure. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a metabolic mediator of sphingolipid catabolism, predominantly formed through sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) catalyzing, mediates inflammation in sepsis by binding to S1P receptor 3 (S1PR3) expressed in macrophages. Here we demonstrate that SphK1/S1PR3 axis was upregulated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced macrophages and septic mice lungs, cascading the activation of proglycolytic signaling such as HIF-1α, HK2 and PFKFB3. Targeted inhibition of Sphk1 by PF-543 effectively abrogated upregulated SphK1/S1PR3 axis in vitro and in vivo. In addition, PF-543 significantly suppressed sepsis-related inflammation and multi-organ injury in vivo. Furthermore, PF-543 not only blunted key glycolytic enzymes HIF-1α, HK2, and PFKFB3 in LPS-treated macrophages but also inhibited HK2 and PFKFB3 in septic mice. Silencing or inhibiting SphK1 tempered pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages while boosted anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages. Intriguingly, S1PR3 knockdown proficiently dampened glycolysis-associated markers, retrieved LPS-modulated M1/M2 polarization and attenuated NF-κB p65 activation. In conclusion, our study provides the first evidence that PF-543 orchestrates proportional imbalance of macrophage polarization and the Warburg effect in a SphK1/S1PR3 dependent manner during sepsis, mitigating both hyperinflammation and multi-organ failure, adding a novel puzzle piece to pharmacologically exploitable therapy for sepsis.

Pain's puzzle pieces: MAGI-1, NaV1.8, degradation, analgesia.

Pain's puzzle pieces: MAGI-1, NaV1.8, degradation, analgesia.

Fragments of the Sanskrit Paссaviṃњatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra (SI 3492, SI 3650) in the Serindia Collection (IOM, RAS)

According to the latest data, the Sanskrit part of the Serindia Collection (IOM, RAS) includes 667 storage units, which represent manuscript fragments of various Buddhist texts. About 100 of the largest and most well-preserved manuscripts have been studied and introduced into scientific circulation by Russian and foreign researchers. At the same time, many other texts in a rather scattered and fragmented condition still remain unpublished. Among the unexplored Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts in the Serindia Collection, the most important place belongs to the fragments of fundamental texts in the Mahāyāna tradition — the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras (“Sūtras on Perfect Wisdom”). The present paper deals with three previously unpublished Sanskrit fragments (SI 3492, SI 3650) housed in the Serindia Collection as part of the “N.F. Petrovsky Subcollection”. Fragments have been identified as parts of the Paсcaviṃњatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra (“Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom in 25000 lines”). Judging from the external characteristics and contents, these fragments not only belong to the same manuscript, but also fit together like three puzzle pieces. The paper includes a description of the fragments, a transliteration of the manuscript and its comparison with the critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the Sūtra, a Russian translation, and facsimiles made before and after its restoration.

Genomics and evolutionary analysis of Chlorella variabilis-infecting viruses demarcate criteria for defining species of giant viruses.

Chloroviruses exhibit a close relationship with their hosts with the phenotypic aspect of their ability to form lytic plaques having primarily guided the taxonomy. However, with the isolation of viruses that are only able to complete their replication cycle in one strain of Chlorella variabilis, systematic challenges emerged. In this study, we described the genomic features of 53 new chlorovirus isolates and used them to elucidate part of the evolutionary history and taxonomy of this clade. Our analysis revealed new chloroviruses with the largest genomes to date (>400 kbp) and indicated that four genomic features are statistically different in the viruses that only infect the Syngen 2-3 strain of C. variabilis (OSy viruses). We found large regions of dissimilarity in the genomes of viruses PBCV-1 and OSy-NE5 when compared with the other genomes. These regions contained genes related to the interaction with the host cell machinery and viral capsid proteins, which provided insights into the evolution of the replicative and structural modules in these giant viruses. Phylogenetic analysis using hallmark genes of Nucleocytoviricota revealed that OSy-viruses evolved from the NC64A-viruses, possibly emerging as a result of the strict relationship with their hosts. Merging phylogenetics and nucleotide identity analyses, we propose strategies to demarcate viral species, resulting in seven new species of chloroviruses. Collectively, our results show how genomic data can be used as lines of evidence to demarcate viral species. Using the chloroviruses as a case study, we expect that similar initiatives will emerge using the basis exhibited here.IMPORTANCEChloroviruses are a group of giant viruses with long dsDNA genomes that infect different species of Chlorella-like green algae. They are host-specific, and some isolates can only replicate within a single strain of Chlorella variabilis. The genomics of these viruses is still poorly explored, and the characterization of new isolates provides important data on their genetic diversity and evolution. In this work, we describe 53 new chlorovirus genomes, including many isolated from alkaline lakes for the first time. Through comparative genomics and molecular phylogeny, we provide evidence of genomic gigantism in chloroviruses and show that a subset of viruses became highly specific for their hosts at a particular point in evolutionary history. We propose criteria to demarcate species of chloroviruses, paving the way for an update in the taxonomy of other groups of viruses. This study is a new and important piece in the complex puzzle of giant algal viruses.

Notes on the Biblical Foundation of the Document of the International Theological Commission, “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church”

The document of the International Theological Commission, “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church” (2018), sanctions an idea that has been gaining ground in recent decades: synodality is a structural dimension of the church. This essay assesses the biblical foundation that this document offers in terms of this constitutive rather than operational understanding of synodality. To fit all the theological pieces of the synodality puzzle together and give them biblical consistency, this article takes two steps. The first focuses on exploring the theological welding between the church understood from the Trinitarian Mystery (LG 1–8) and the church as the people of God (LG 9–17). Second, this propaedeutic operation builds a solid framework that allows us to justify why the ITC document brings up certain biblical quotations, to fit them into a coherent reflection and at the same time to present other passages that are absent in the document.

Introducing the Narcissistic Antagonism Scale: A missing puzzle piece in the assessment of momentary narcissism.

Narcissism is a relatively stable personality trait, which is most accurately described by three facets: agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic. Existing studies support the central role of antagonistic narcissism and its role in explaining the process of fluctuation in narcissism. However, there is a lack of a suitable adjective-based measure of antagonistic narcissism, resulting in intensive longitudinal studies assessing only agentic and neurotic narcissism. To address this gap and to advance research on fluctuations in narcissism, this article introduces the Narcissistic Antagonism Scale (NAS). Across six studies (total N = 1,862; k = 14,927 observations), we establish the NAS's factorial, convergent, and divergent validity; reliability; and temporal stability. The three-factor model of narcissism, including antagonistic aspects, reproduces and proves to be invariant across daily and momentary perspectives. The NAS exhibits good psychometric properties at both between- and within-person levels. It is a valuable addition for intensive longitudinal studies and facilitates a nuanced examination of narcissistic states across diverse contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mitochondrial Structure, Dynamics, and Physiology: Light Microscopy to Disentangle the Network.

Mitochondria serve as energetic and signaling hubs of the cell: This function results from the complex interplay between their structure, function, dynamics, interactions, and molecular organization. The ability to observe and quantify these properties often represents the puzzle piece critical for deciphering the mechanisms behind mitochondrial function and dysfunction. Fluorescence microscopy addresses this critical need and has become increasingly powerful with the advent of superresolution methods and context-sensitive fluorescent probes. In this review, we delve into advanced light microscopy methods and analyses for studying mitochondrial ultrastructure, dynamics, and physiology, and highlight notable discoveries they enabled.

19P Recurrent TTN missense variants in biallelic titinopathies: collecting all the puzzle pieces

19P Recurrent TTN missense variants in biallelic titinopathies: collecting all the puzzle pieces