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The proposed method will be useful for utilizing advanced neuroimaging techniques with 2D MRI data.SARS-CoV-2 can transmit efficiently in humans, but it is less clear which other mammals are at risk of being infected. SARS-CoV-2 encodes a Spike (S) protein that binds to human ACE2 receptor to mediate cell entry. A species with a human-like ACE2 receptor could therefore be at risk of being infected by SARS-CoV-2. We compared between 132 mammalian ACE2 genes and between 17 coronavirus S proteins. We showed that while global similarities reflected by whole ACE2 gene alignments are poor predictors of high-risk mammals, local similarities at key S protein-binding sites highlight several high-risk mammals that share good ACE2 homology with human. Bats are likely reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2, but there are other high-risk mammals that share better ACE2 homologies with human. Both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV are closely related to bat coronavirus. Yet, among host-specific coronaviruses infecting high-risk mammals, key ACE2-binding sites on S proteins share highest similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and Pangolin-CoV and between SARS-CoV and Civet-CoV. These results suggest that direct coronavirus transmission from bat to human is unlikely, and that rapid adaptation of a bat SARS-like coronavirus in different high-risk intermediate hosts could have allowed it to acquire distinct high binding potential between S protein and human-like ACE2 receptors.Cannabis is one of the most used drugs of abuse in the world. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of smoking cannabis on vision and to relate these to those perceived by the user. Thirty-one cannabis users participated in this study. Visual function assessment was carried out in a baseline session as well as after smoking cannabis. We evaluated static visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereoacuity, accommodative response, straylight, night-vision disturbances (halos) and pupil size. The participants were also divided into two groups depending on whether they perceived their vision to have worsened after smoking cannabis. A logistic regression analysis was employed to identify which visual test could best predict self-perceived visual effects. The study found that smoking cannabis has significant adverse effects on all the visual parameters analyzed (p less then 0.05). Self-perceived visual quality results revealed that about two thirds of the sample think that smoking cannabis impairs their vision. Contrast sensitivity, specifically for the spatial frequency 18 cpd, was identified as the only visual parameter significantly associated with self-perceived visual quality (Odds Ratio 1.135; p = 0.040). Smoking cannabis is associated with negative effects on visual function. Self-perceived visual quality after smoking cannabis could be related to impaired contrast sensitivity.The serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), 5-HT2A (HTR2A) and 5-HT2B (HTR2B) recepter genes, express proteins that are important regulators of serotonin reuptake and signaling, and thereby may contribute to the pathogenesis of aggressive criminal behavior. 370 sentenced murderers in Pakistani prisons and 359 men without any history of violence or criminal delinquency were genotyped for six candidate polymorphisms in SLC6A4, HTR2A and HTR2B genes. An association of higher expressing L/L and LA/LA variants of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism was observed with homicidal behavior (bi-allelic OR = 1.29, p = 0.016, tri-allelic OR = 1.32, p = 0.015) and in the murderer group only with response to verbal abuse (OR = 2.11, p = 0.015), but not with other measures of self-reported aggression. L/L and LA/LA genotypes of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism were associated with higher aggression scores on STAX1 scale of aggression compared to lower expressing genotypes (S/S, S/LG, LG/LG) in prison inmates. No associations were apparent for other serotonergic gene polymorphisms analyzed. Using the Braineac and GTEx databases, we demonstrated significant eQTL based functional effects for rs25531 in HTTLPR and other serotonergic polymorphisms analyzed in different brain regions and peripheral tissues. In conclusion, these findings implicate SLC6A4* HTTLPR as a major genetic determinant associated with criminal aggression. Future studies are needed to replicate this finding and establish the biologic intermediate phenotypes mediating this relationship.The physicochemical properties of chitosan obtained from the shells of swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus) and prepared via subcritical water pretreatment were examined. At the deacetylation temperature of 90 °C, the yield, ash content, and molecular weight of chitosan in the shells prepared via subcritical water pretreatment were 12.2%, 0.6%, and 1187.2 kDa, respectively. These values were lower than those of shells prepared via sodium hydroxide pretreatment. At the deacetylation temperature of 120 °C, a similar trend was observed in chitosan molecular weight, but differences in chitosan yield and ash content were not remarkable. At the same deacetylation temperature, the structures of chitosan prepared via sodium hydroxide and subcritical water pretreatments were not substantially different. However, the compactness and thermal stability of chitosan prepared via sodium hydroxide pretreatment was lower than those of chitosan prepared via subcritical water pretreatment. Compared with the chitosan prepared by sodium hydroxide pretreatment, the chitosan prepared by subcritical water pretreatment was easier to use in preparing oligosaccharides, including (GlcN)2, via enzymatic hydrolysis with chitosanase. Results suggested that subcritical water pretreatment can be potentially used for the pretreatment of crustacean shells. The residues obtained via this method can be utilized to prepare chitosan.The effect of somatic mutations and the gene expression profiles on the prognosis is well documented in cancer research. This study was conducted to evaluate the association of GATA3 somatic mutations with tumor features, survival, and expression profiles in breast cancer. Clinicopathological information was compared between TCGA-BRCA patients with GATA3-mutant and non-mutant tumors in all patients as well as in ER-positive subgroup. check details Cox-regression method was used to evaluate the association of the GATA3 mutation status with overall survival time. Differential gene expression, functional annotation, and protein-protein interaction analyses were performed using edgeR, Metascape, DAVID, STRING and CytoNCA. GATA3-mutant and non-mutant samples had significantly different clinicopathological features (p less then 0.05). While GATA3 mutation status was not associated with the overall survival in the entire cohort (padj = 0.52), the GATA3-wild type ER-positive cases had a better prognosis than mutant ones (padj = 0.