title: PeerJ description: Articles published in PeerJ link: https://peerj.com/articles/index.rss3?journal=peerj&page=571 creator: info@peerj.com PeerJ errorsTo: info@peerj.com PeerJ language: en title: A systematic review of effects of daytime napping strategies on sports performance in physically active individuals with and without partial-sleep deprivation link: https://peerj.com/articles/14460 last-modified: 2022-12-01 description: BackgroundSleep is the body’s natural recovery process, restoring routine metabolic and regulatory functions. Various sleep interventions have been developed to facilitate recovery, and athletic performance, and daytime napping are among them. However, due to inconsistencies in studies, it remains unclear whether daytime napping affects sports performance. This article aims to review the effects of daytime napping on various variables of sports performance in physically active individuals with and without partial-sleep deprivation.MethodsA systematic search in three clinical databases, namely Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, and Web of Science, was conducted. To be included in the current review, the study should be a randomized controlled trial that evaluated the influence of daytime napping on one or more components of sports performance in healthy adults, 18 years old or older.ResultsIn the accessible data available until December 2021, 1,094 records were found, of which 12 relevant randomized controlled trials were selected for qualitative synthesis. The majority of studies reported favourable effects of daytime napping on sports performance. However, only one study reported no significant impact, possibly due to a different methodological approach and a shorter nap duration.ConclusionNapping strategies optimize sports performance in physically active, athletic populations, benefitting partially sleep-deprived and well-slept individuals, with longer nap durations (~90 min) having more significant advantages. Daytime naps can be considered as cost-efficient, self-administered methods promoting recovery of body functions. creator: Priya Sirohi creator: Moazzam Hussain Khan creator: Saurabh Sharma creator: Shibili Nuhmani creator: Wafa Hashem Al Muslem creator: Turki Abualait uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14460 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Sirohi et al. title: Humans read emotional arousal in monkey vocalizations: evidence for evolutionary continuities in communication link: https://peerj.com/articles/14471 last-modified: 2022-12-01 description: Humans and other mammalian species communicate emotions in ways that reflect evolutionary conservation and continuity, an observation first made by Darwin. One approach to testing this hypothesis has been to assess the capacity to perceive the emotional content of the vocalizations of other species. Using a binary forced choice task, we tested perception of the emotional intensity represented in coos and screams of infant and juvenile female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) by 113 human listeners without, and 12 listeners with, experience (as researchers or care technicians) with this species. Each stimulus pair contained one high- and one low-arousal vocalization, as measured at the time of recording by stress hormone levels for coos and the degree of intensity of aggression for screams. For coos as well as screams, both inexperienced and experienced participants accurately identified the high-arousal vocalization at significantly above-chance rates. Experience was associated with significantly greater accuracy with scream stimuli but not coo stimuli, and with a tendency to indicate screams as reflecting greater emotional intensity than coos. Neither measures of empathy, human emotion recognition, nor attitudes toward animal welfare showed any relationship with responses. Participants were sensitive to the fundamental frequency, noisiness, and duration of vocalizations; some of these tendencies likely facilitated accurate perceptions, perhaps due to evolutionary homologies in the physiology of arousal and vocal production between humans and macaques. Overall, our findings support a view of evolutionary continuity in emotional vocal communication. We discuss hypotheses about how distinctive dimensions of human nonverbal communication, like the expansion of scream usage across a range of contexts, might influence perceptions of other species’ vocalizations. creator: Jay W. Schwartz creator: Harold Gouzoules uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14471 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Schwartz and Gouzoules title: Differential responses of the seed germination of three functional groups to low temperature and darkness in a typical steppe, Northern China link: https://peerj.com/articles/14485 last-modified: 2022-12-01 description: Seed germination is a key stage in the life history of plants, which has a crucial effect on plant community structure. Climate change has substantially altered the surface soil temperature and light availability, which can affect seed germination. However, whether the seed germination of different functional groups is affected by the interactions of light and temperature remains unclear. Under laboratory conditions, we examined the effects of low temperature and darkness, as well as their interaction, on the seed germination of 16 species belonging to three plant functional groups (annual and biennials, perennial grasses, and perennial forbs) in a typical steppe, Northern China. We found that low temperature had a significant negative effect on seed germination of all species. Low temperature significantly decreased the final germination percentage and germinative force of the three plant functional groups, and the germination duration of perennial grasses. Darkness significantly decreased the germinative force of perennial forbs and total seeds, and the germination duration of perennial grasses. The interactive effects of light and temperature on the seed final germination percentage and germinative force of perennial grass indicated that darkness strengthened the inhibitory effect of low temperature on the seed germination of the grass functional group. Our study indicate that the seed germination of different plant functional groups varied greatly in response to changing environmental conditions. Our results suggest that future climate change could alter the regeneration and species composition of plant communities through changing seed germination. creator: Mengzhou Liu creator: Ning Qiao creator: Bing Zhang creator: Fengying Liu creator: Yuan Miao creator: Ji Chen creator: Yanfeng Sun creator: Peng Wang creator: Dong Wang uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14485 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Liu et al. title: Screening of high-risk deleterious missense variations in the CYP1B1 gene implicated in the pathogenesis of primary congenital glaucoma: A comprehensive in silico approach link: https://peerj.com/articles/14132 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: BackgroundPrimary congenital glaucoma (PCG) is the most common subtype of glaucoma caused by defects in the cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) gene. It is developing among infants in more than 80% of cases who exhibit impairments in the anterior chamber angle and the trabecular meshwork. Thus, a comprehensive in silico approach was performed to evaluate the effect of high-risk deleterious missense variations in the CYP1B1 gene.Material and methodsAll the information for CYP1B1 missense variants was retrieved from the dbSNP database. Seven different tools, namely: SIFT, PolyPhen-2, PROVEAN, SNAP2, PANTHER, PhD-SNP, and Predict-SNP, were used for functional annotation, and two packages, which were I-Mutant 2.0 and MUpro, were used to predict the effect of the variants on protein stability. A phylogenetic conservation analysis using deleterious variants was performed by the ConSurf server. The 3D structures of the wild-type and mutants were generated using the I-TASSER tool, and a 50 ns molecular dynamic simulation (MDS) was executed using the GROMACS webserver to determine the stability of mutants compared to the native protein. Co-expression, protein-protein interaction (PPI), gene ontology (GO), and pathway analyses were additionally performed for the CYP1B1 in-depth study.ResultsAll the retrieved data from the dbSNP database was subjected to functional, structural, and phylogenetic analysis. From the conducted analyses, a total of 19 high-risk variants (P52L, G61E, G90R, P118L, E173K, D291G, Y349D, G365W, G365R, R368H, R368C, D374N, N423Y, D430E, P442A, R444Q, F445L, R469W, and C470Y) were screened out that were considered to be deleterious to the CYP1B1 gene. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the majority of the variants occurred in highly conserved regions. The MD simulation analysis exhibited that all mutants’ average root mean square deviation (RMSD) values were higher compared to the wild-type protein, which could potentially cause CYP1B1 protein dysfunction, leading to the severity of the disease. Moreover, it has been discovered that CYP1A1, VCAN, HSD17B1, HSD17B2, and AKR1C3 are highly co-expressed and interact with CYP1B1. Besides, the CYP1B1 protein is primarily involved in the metabolism of xenobiotics, chemical carcinogenesis, the retinal metabolic process, and steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways, demonstrating its multifaceted and important roles.DiscussionThis is the first comprehensive study that adds essential information to the ongoing efforts to understand the crucial role of genetic signatures in the development of PCG and will be useful for more targeted gene-disease association studies. creator: Muhammad Shahid creator: Ahmad Azfaralariff creator: Muhammad Tufail creator: Nazeer Hussain Khan creator: Ahmed Abdulkareem Najm creator: Sabika Firasat creator: Muhammad Zubair creator: Shazrul Fazry creator: Douglas Law uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14132 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Shahid et al. title: PredictION: a predictive model to establish the performance of Oxford sequencing reads of SARS-CoV-2 link: https://peerj.com/articles/14425 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: The optimization of resources for research in developing countries forces us to consider strategies in the wet lab that allow the reuse of molecular biology reagents to reduce costs. In this study, we used linear regression as a method for predictive modeling of coverage depth given the number of MinION reads sequenced to define the optimum number of reads necessary to obtain >200X coverage depth with a good lineage-clade assignment of SARS-CoV-2 genomes. The research aimed to create and implement a model based on machine learning algorithms to predict different variables (e.g., coverage depth) given the number of MinION reads produced by Nanopore sequencing to maximize the yield of high-quality SARS-CoV-2 genomes, determine the best sequencing runtime, and to be able to reuse the flow cell with the remaining nanopores available for sequencing in a new run. The best accuracy was −0.98 according to the R squared performance metric of the models. A demo version is available at https://genomicdashboard.herokuapp.com/. creator: David E. Valencia-Valencia creator: Diana Lopez-Alvarez creator: Nelson Rivera-Franco creator: Andres Castillo creator: Johan S. Piña creator: Carlos A. Pardo creator: Beatriz Parra uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14425 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Valencia-Valencia et al. title: Genetic evolution of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in Thailand link: https://peerj.com/articles/14419 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: BackgroundOngoing outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses and the emergence of the genetic-related hemagglutinin (HA) gene of reassortant H5Nx viruses currently circulating in wild birds and poultries pose a great global public health concern. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the genetic evolution of Thai H5N1 HA and neuraminidase (NA) genes between 2003 and 2010. The H5N1 Thailand virus clade 2.3.4 was also genetically compared to the currently circulating clade 2.3.4.4 of H5Nx viruses.MethodsFull-length nucleotide sequences of 178 HA and 143 NA genes of H5N1 viruses circulating between 2003 and 2010 were phylogenetically analyzed using maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic construction. Bayesian phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using BEAST analysis with a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. The maximum clade credibility (MCC) tree was determined, and the time of the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) was estimated. The H5N1 HA nucleotide sequences of clade 2.3.4 Thailand viruses were phylogenetically analyzed using ML phylogenetic tree construction and analyzed for nucleotide similarities with various subtypes of reassortant H5Nx HA clade 2.3.4.4.ResultsML phylogenetic analysis revealed two distinct HA clades, clade 1 and clade 2.3.4, and two distinct NA groups within the corresponding H5 clade 1 viruses. Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction for molecular clock suggested that the Thai H5N1 HA and NA emerged in 2001.87 (95% HPD: 2001.34-2002.49) and 2002.38 (95% HPD: 2001.99-2002.82), respectively, suggesting that the virus existed before it was first reported in 2004. The Thai H5N1 HA clade 2.3.4 was grouped into corresponding clades 2.3.4, 2.3.4.1, 2.3.4.2, and 2.3.4.3, and shared nucleotide similarities to reassortant H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 ranged from 92.4-96.8%. Phylogenetic analysis revealed monophyletic H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 evolved from H5N1 clade 2.3.4.ConclusionH5N1 viruses existed, and were presumably introduced and circulated in avian species in Thailand, before they were officially reported in 2004. HA and NA genes continuously evolved during circulation between 2004 and 2010. This study provides a better understanding of genetic evolution with respect to molecular epidemiology. Monitoring and surveillance of emerging variants/reassortants should be continued. creator: Pirom Noisumdaeng creator: Juthamas Phadungsombat creator: Sasrinakarn Weerated creator: Witthawat Wiriyarat creator: Pilaipan Puthavathana uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14419 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Noisumdaeng et al. title: Occurrence of Nosemosis in honey bee, Apis mellifera L. at the apiaries of East Kazakhstan link: https://peerj.com/articles/14430 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: Nosemosis is the most common disease in honey bee Apis mellifera L., and is a major issue related to bee health worldwide. Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to determine prevalence of microsporidia parasitic infection of the genus Nosema spp. in East Kazakhstan Region (EKR). In the years of 2018 –2021, 394 honey bee samples were collected at 30 apiaries located in four districts of East Kazakhstan Region (Katon-Karagay, Urzhar, Borodulikhinsky, and Shemonaikhinsky). In order to determine the level of infestation, firstly, the presence of Nosema spp. spores was detected using optical microscopy, and then the average amount of spores per bee was counted using a hemocytometer. The degree of nosemosis prevalence was determined in points by means of a semi-quantitative method, and as a percentage from the total of samples and of the amount of positive tests. At the outcome of the study, microsporidia of the genus Nosema spp. were detected in 23.3% of cases (92 samples). Prevalence at its low degree was found in six samples (1.5%), at an average degree in 55 samples (14%), and at a high one in 31 samples (7.9%). This research study proved that microsporidia of the genus Nosema spp. are widely spread at the apiaries of East Kazakhstan Region in different orographic and climatic conditions. Notwithstanding that it was impossible to statistically determine any significant differences between the dependence of nosemosis prevalence and the apiary location, this indicator is actually higher in the mountainous regions than in the steppe. Concurrently, a close inverse correlation was recognized between the amount of spores in one bee and the level of infestation in bee families from the duration of the vegetation season at the apiary location. This gives grounds to assert that the environmental factors have an impact on formation and development of nosemosis. The results of the research presented in the article indicate the need for further research aimed at increasing the number of studied apiaries, and above all the use of molecular biology methods to distinguish the species that cause nosemosis infection (PCR). creator: Abdrakhman Baigazanov creator: Yelena Tikhomirova creator: Natalya Valitova creator: Maral Nurkenova creator: Ainur Koigeldinova creator: Elmira Abdullina creator: Olga Zaikovskaya creator: Nurgul Ikimbayeva creator: Dinara Zainettinova creator: Lyailya Bauzhanova uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14430 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Baigazanov et al. title: Hybrid purity identification using EST-SSR markers and heterosis analysis of quantitative traits of Russian wildrye link: https://peerj.com/articles/14442 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: Russian wildrye, Psathyrostachys junceus (Fisch.) Nevski, is widely distributed in the high latitude areas of Eurasia. It plays an important role in grassland ecosystem maintenance, as well as being a valuable palatable forage species for livestock and wildlife. Russian wildrye germplasm has rich phenotypic and genetic diversity and has potential for improvement through crossbreeding. In this study, fifteen Russian wildrye hybrid combinations were produced and one F1 population with 123 putative hybrids was obtained by crossing two individual plants with significant differences in nutritional characteristics and reproductive tiller number. Twelve phenotypic traits of the F1 population were measured for three consecutive years, and ten of the twelve traits were in line with the genetic characteristics of quantitative traits. Hybrid superiority was revealed among F1 hybrids in both nutritional and reproductive traits. One non-recurrent parent plant with the highest PCA-synthesis score was selected and used to make a backcross with the ‘BOZOISKY SELECT’ male parent, and 143 putative BC1 hybrids were obtained. Sixteen pairs of EST-SSR primers were randomly selected from polymorphic primers derived from different expressed tiller trait related genes. Three primer pairs that amplified both the paternal and maternal characteristic band were used to assess the purity of the F1 population, and three primer pairs (with one shared primer pair) were used to identify the BC1 population. The hybrid purity was 96.75% for the F1 population and 95.80% for the BC1 population, and the results were confirmed by self-fertility test through bagging isolation. The genetic similarity coefficients between the F1 progeny and the male parent ranged from 0.500 to 0.895, and those between the BC1 progeny and the male parent ranged from 0.667 to 0.939. A subset of individuals in the BC1 population had closer genetic distance to the recurrent parent, and genetic variation within the BC1 population decreased compared to the F1 population. creator: Zhiqi Gao creator: Lan Yun creator: Zhen Li creator: Qiyu Liu creator: Chen Zhang creator: Yingmei Ma creator: Fengling Shi uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14442 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Gao et al. title: Adult intussusception: a challenge to laparoscopic surgery? link: https://peerj.com/articles/14495 last-modified: 2022-11-30 description: BackgroundIntussusception can occur at any age and is common in children but less common in adults. This study aimed to evaluate our experience of 51 adult intussusception and study the etiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment.MethodsThis analysis assessed the clinical manifestations, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of adult intussusception in 51 adult patients at the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University from January 2010 to December 2020.ResultsThe mean age of the cohort was 54.43 ± 18.21 years, and 42 patients were diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography and abdominal computed tomography (CT). Among them, 76.5% (39/51) had abdominal pain, 11.8% (6/51) had blood in stool, and 5.9% (3/51) had a palpable abdominal mass. Of these, 62.7% had tumors: malignant accounted for 39.2% (20/51) and benign accounted for 23.5% (12/51). CT is the preferred imaging method with a sensitivity of 92.2%, while colonoscopy provides a complementary diagnosis in patients involving the colon. All patients underwent surgical treatment, including 21.6% (11/51) laparoscopic surgery, 74.5% (38/51) open surgery, and 5.9% (3/51) intussusception reduction during the operation. The average operation time of the open group was 133.27 ± 43.75 min and the average hospital stay was 16.24 ± 12.55 days, while the average operation time of the laparoscopic group was 140.50 ± 46.15 mins, and the average hospital stay was 16.60 ± 16.98 days (P > 0.05).ConclusionAdult intussusception is a rare disease in clinic. Laparoscopic surgery can be useful and safe for adult intussusception. creator: Mingze Sun creator: Zhongmin Li creator: Zhenbo Shu creator: Qi Wu creator: Xue Liu uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14495 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Sun et al. title: Trichoderma longibrachiatum TG1 increases endogenous salicylic acid content and antioxidants activity in wheat seedlings under salinity stress link: https://peerj.com/articles/12923 last-modified: 2022-11-29 description: Several studies have reported the deleterious effects of excessive salt stress on Triticum aestivum L. seedlings. Seed pretreatment with exogenous salicylic acid (SA) enhances plants to tolerate salt stress. Herein, the present study aims to investigate the potential of plant-growth-promoting fungus Trichoderma longibrachiatum (TG1) to increase the plant growth and enhance the salicylic acid (SA) contents and antioxidants activity in wheat seedlings under different concentrations of salt stress. Wheat seeds were pretreated in TG1 spore suspension before exposure to different salt stresses. Compared with 0, 50, 100, 150 salt stresses, the TG1 and NaCl increased the wheat seeds germination rate, germination potential and germination index significantly; the shoot height and root length were increased by an average of 39.45% and 29.73%, respectively. Compared to NaCl stress across the four concentrations (0, 50, 100, and 150 mM), the TG1 treated wheat seedlings increased SA concentration and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity (PAL) by an average of 55.87% and 24.10% respectively. In addition, the TG1+NaCl-treated seedlings increased superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidases (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities in the shoot by an average of 47.68%, 23.68%, and 38.65% respectively compared to NaCl-stressed seedlings. Significantly, the genes, SOD, CAT, and POD were relatively up-regulated in the salt-tolerant TG1-treated seedlings at all NaCl concentrations in comparison to the control. Wheat seedlings treated with TG1+NaCl increased the transcript levels of SOD, POD and CAT by 1.35, 1.85 and 1.04-fold at 50 mM NaCl concentration, respectively, compared with 0 mM NaCl concentration. Our results indicated that seeds pretreatment with TG1 could increase endogenous SA of plants and promote seedling growth under salt stress by improving enzymatic antioxidant activities and gene expression. creator: Solomon Boamah creator: Shuwu Zhang creator: Bingliang Xu creator: Tong Li creator: Alejandro Calderón-Urrea creator: Richard John Tiika uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12923 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Boamah et al.