title: PeerJ description: Articles published in PeerJ link: https://peerj.com/articles/index.rss3?journal=peerj&page=670 creator: info@peerj.com PeerJ errorsTo: info@peerj.com PeerJ language: en title: Zanthoxylum bungeanum root-rot associated shifts in microbiomes of root endosphere, rhizosphere, and soil link: https://peerj.com/articles/13808 last-modified: 2022-08-04 description: Root-rot disease has lead to serious reduction in yields and jeopardized the survival of the economically and ecologically important Zanthoxylum bungeanum trees cultured in Sichuan Province. In order to investigate the interaction between the microbiome and the root-rot disease, a metagenomic analysis was performed to characterize the microbial communities and functions in Z. bungeanum root endosphere, rhizosphere and bulk soil with/without root-rot disease. Soil physicochemical properties, microbial population size and enzyme activities were also analyzed for finding their interactions with the root-rot disease. As results, lower total nitrogen (TN) and available phosphorus (AP) contents but higher pH in rhizosphere and bulk soil, as well as lower substrate-induced respiration (SIR) and higher protease activity in bulk soil of diseased trees were found, in comparison with that of healthy trees. Microbial diversity and community composition were changed by root-rot disease in the endosphere, but not in rhizosphere and bulk soils. The endophytic microbiome of diseased trees presented higher Proteobacteria abundance and lower abundances of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and dominant fungal phyla. The relative abundances of nitrogen cycle- and carbon cycle-related genes in endophytic microbiomes were different between the diseased and healthy trees. Based on ANOSIM and PCoA, functional profiles (KEGG and CAZy) of microbiomes in rhizosphere and bulk soil shifted significantly between the diseased and healthy trees. In addition, soil pH, TN, AP, SIR, invertase and protease were estimated as the main factors influencing the shifts of taxonomic and functional groups in microbiomes of rhizosphere and bulk soil. Conclusively, the imbalance of root and soil microbial function groups might lead to shifts in the root endosphere-rhizosphere microenvironment, which in turn resulted in Z. bungeanum root-rot. creator: Li Bin Liao creator: Xiao Xia Chen creator: Jun Xiang creator: Nan Nan Zhang creator: En Tao Wang creator: Fu Sun Shi uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13808 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Liao et al. title: Research progress in toxicological effects and mechanism of aflatoxin B1 toxin link: https://peerj.com/articles/13850 last-modified: 2022-08-04 description: Fungal contamination of animal feed can severely affect the health of farm animals, and result in considerable economic losses. Certain filamentous fungi or molds produce toxic secondary metabolites known as mycotoxins, of which aflatoxins (AFTs) are considered the most critical dietary risk factor for both humans and animals. AFTs are ubiquitous in the environment, soil, and food crops, and aflatoxin B1(AFB1) has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the most potent natural group 1A carcinogen. We reviewed the literature on the toxic effects of AFB1 in humans and animals along with its toxicokinetic properties. The damage induced by AFB1 in cells and tissues is mainly achieved through cell cycle arrest and inhibition of cell proliferation, and the induction of apoptosis, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy. In addition, numerous coding genes and non-coding RNAs have been identified that regulate AFB1 toxicity. This review is a summary of the current research on the complexity of AFB1 toxicity, and provides insights into the molecular mechanisms as well as the phenotypic characteristics. creator: Congcong Li creator: Xiangdong Liu creator: Jiao Wu creator: Xiangbo Ji creator: Qiuliang Xu uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13850 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Li et al. title: Radiographic assessment of endodontic mishaps in an undergraduate student clinic: a 2-year retrospective study link: https://peerj.com/articles/13858 last-modified: 2022-08-04 description: ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare the occurrence of instrumentation and obturation related endodontic procedural mishaps following the use of either, stainless steel hand or engine-driven rotary instrumentation techniques.MethodsFrom a computerized hospital database, a total of 730 dental patient records who had received endodontic treatment by undergraduate dental students between August 2018 to September 2020 were retrieved. The inclusion criteria were primary (non-surgical) endodontic treatment on permanent teeth with complete radiographic records. Following record screening, a final sample of n = 475 dental records were included. Radiographic records were evaluated for both instrumentation and obturation related mishaps. The data was analysed using multiple logistic regression analysis (α = 0.05).ResultsEngine-driven rotary instrumentation resulted in a significant decrease in the overall occurrence of instrumentation related endodontic mishaps by 40% compared to hand instrumentation (Odds Ratio = 0.59 [0.36–0.97], p = 0.04). In particular, rotary instrumentation decreased ledge formation, perforation and obturation related mishaps, with minimal effect on the limitation of zipping.ConclusionThe use of rotary instrumentation techniques may reduce the incidence of instrumentation and obturation endodontic mishaps in the undergraduate dental clinic. creator: Manal Matoug-Elwerfelli creator: Ahmed Abdou creator: Wejdan Almutairi creator: Malak Alhuthayli creator: Shaikhah Aloyaynaa creator: Rahaf Almohareb uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13858 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Matoug-Elwerfelli et al. title: A new nurse frog of the Allobates tapajos species complex (Anura: Aromobatidae) from the upper Madeira River, Brazilian Amazonia link: https://peerj.com/articles/13751 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: Cryptic diversity is extremely common in widespread Amazonian anurans, but especially in nurse frogs of the genus Allobates. There is an urgent need to formally describe the many distinct but unnamed species, both to enable studies of their basic biology but especially to facilitate conservation of threatened environments in which many are found. Here, we describe through integrative taxonomy a new species of the Allobates tapajos species complex from the upper Madeira River, southwestern Amazonia. Species delimitation analyses based on molecular data are congruent and delimit five candidate species in addition to A. tapajos sensu stricto. The new species is recovered as sister to A. tapajos clade F, a candidate species from Teles-Pires River, southeastern Amazonia. The new species differs from nominal congeners in adult and larval morphology and in male advertisement call. Egg deposition sites differ between east and west banks of the upper Madeira River, but there is no evidence of corresponding morphologic or bioacoustic differentiation. The new species appears to be restricted to riparian forests; its known geographic range falls entirely within the influence zone of reservoirs of two large dams, which underscores the urgent need of a conservation assessment through long-term monitoring. This region harbors the richest assemblage of Allobates reported for Brazilian Amazonia, with six nominal species and four additional candidate species awaiting formal description. creator: Miquéias Ferrão creator: James Hanken creator: Albertina P. Lima uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13751 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Ferrão et al. title: Protecting endangered megafauna through AI analysis of drone images in a low-connectivity setting: a case study from Namibia link: https://peerj.com/articles/13779 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: Assessing the numbers and distribution of at-risk megafauna such as the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) is key to effective conservation, yet such data are difficult to obtain. Many current monitoring technologies are invasive to the target animals and expensive. Satellite monitoring is emerging as a potential tool for very large animals (e.g., elephant) but detecting smaller species requires higher resolution imaging. Drones can deliver the required resolution and speed of monitoring, but challenges remain in delivering automated monitoring systems where internet connectivity is unreliable or absent. This study describes a model built to run on a drone to identify in situ images of megafauna. Compared with previously reported studies, this automated detection framework has a lower hardware cost and can function with a reduced internet bandwidth requirement for local network communication. It proposes the use of a Jetson Xavier NX, onboard a Parrot Anafi drone, connected to the internet throughout the flight to deliver a lightweight web-based notification system upon detection of the target species. The GPS location with the detected target species images is sent using MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT), a lightweight messaging protocol using a publisher/subscriber architecture for IoT devices. It provides reliable message delivery when internet connection is sporadic. We used a YOLOv5l6 object detection architecture trained to identify a bounding box for one of five objects of interest in a frame of video. At an intersection over union (IoU) threshold of 0.5, our model achieved an average precision (AP) of 0.81 for black rhino (our primary target) and 0.83 for giraffe (Giraffa giraffa). The model was less successful at identifying the other smaller objects which were not our primary targets: 0.34, 0.25, and 0.42 for ostrich (Struthio camelus australis), springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) and human respectively. We used several techniques to optimize performance and overcome the inherent challenge of small objects (animals) in the data. Although our primary focus for the development of the model was rhino, we included other species classes to emulate field conditions where many animal species are encountered, and thus reduce the false positive occurrence rate for rhino detections. To constrain model overfitting, we trained the model on a dataset with varied terrain, angle and lighting conditions and used data augmentation techniques (i.e., GANs). We used image tiling and a relatively larger (i.e., higher resolution) image input size to compensate for the difficulty faced in detecting small objects when using YOLO. In this study, we demonstrated the potential of a drone-based AI pipeline model to automate the detection of free-ranging megafauna detection in a remote setting and create alerts to a wildlife manager in a relatively poorly connected field environment. creator: Alice Hua creator: Kevin Martin creator: Yuzeng Shen creator: Nicole Chen creator: Catherine Mou creator: Maximilian Sterk creator: Berend Reinhard creator: Friedrich F. Reinhard creator: Stephen Lee creator: Sky Alibhai creator: Zoe C. Jewell uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13779 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Hua et al. title: Differential proteomic analysis of mouse cerebrums with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperlipidemia link: https://peerj.com/articles/13806 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: Hyperlipidemia is a chronic disease characterized by elevated blood cholesterol and triglycerides and there is accumulated evidence that the disease might affect brain functions. Here we report on a proteomic analysis of the brain proteins in hyperlipidemic mice. Hyperlipidemia was successfully induced in mice by a 20 week high-fat diet (HFD) feeding (model group). A control group with a normal diet and a treatment group with HFD-fed mice treated with a lipid-lowering drug simvastatin (SIM) were established accordingly. The proteins were extracted from the left and right cerebrum hemispheres of the mice in the three groups and subjected to shotgun proteomic analysis. A total of 4,422 proteins were detected in at least half of the samples, among which 324 proteins showed significant difference (fold change >1.5 or <0.67, p < 0.05) in at least one of the four types of comparisons (left cerebrum hemispheres of the model group versus the control group, right cerebrums of model versus control, left cerebrums of SIM versus model, right cerebrums of SIM versus model). Biological process analysis revealed many of these proteins were enriched in the processes correlated with lipid metabolism, neurological disorders, synaptic events and nervous system development. For the first time, it has been reported that some of the proteins have been altered in the brain under the conditions of HFD feeding, obesity or hyperlipidemia. Further, 22 brain processes-related proteins showed different expression in the two cerebrum hemispheres, suggesting changes of the brain proteins caused by hyperlipidemia might also be asymmetric. We hope this work will provide useful information to understand the effects of HFD and hyperlipidemia on brain proteins. creator: Changming Chen creator: Meiling Wen creator: Caixia Wang creator: Zhongwen Yuan creator: Ya Jin uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13806 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Chen et al. title: Assisted migration and the rare endemic plant species: the case of two endangered Mexican spruces link: https://peerj.com/articles/13812 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: BackgroundIn the projected climate change scenarios, assisted migration might play an important role in the ex situ conservation of the threatened plant species, by translocate them to similar suitable habitats outside their native distributions. However, it is unclear if such habitats will be available for the Rare Endemic Plant Species (REPS), because of their very restricted habitats. The aims of this study were to perform a population size assessment for the REPS Picea martinezii Patterson and Picea mexicana Martínez, and to evaluate the potential species distributions and their possibilities for assisted migration inside México and worldwide.MethodsWe performed demographic censuses, field surveys in search for new stands, and developed distribution models for Last Glacial Maximum (22,000 years ago), Middle Holocene (6,000 years ago), current (1961–1990) and future (2050 and 2070) periods, for the whole Mexican territory (considering climatic, soil, geologic and topographic variables) and for all global land areas (based only on climate).ResultsOur censuses showed populations of 89,266 and 39,059 individuals for P. martinezii and P. mexicana, respectively, including known populations and new stands. Projections for México indicated somewhat larger suitable areas in the past, now restricted to the known populations and new stands, where they will disappear by 2050 in a pessimistic climatic scenario, and scarce marginal areas (p = 0.5–0.79) remaining only for P. martinezii by 2070. Worldwide projections (based only on climate variables) revealed few marginal areas in 2050 only in México for P. martinezii, and several large areas (p ≥ 0.5) for P. mexicana around the world (all outside México), especially on the Himalayas in India and the Chungyang mountains in Taiwan with highly suitable (p ≥ 0.8) climate habitats in current and future (2050) conditions. However, those suitable areas are currently inhabited by other endemic spruces: Picea smithiana (Wall.) Boiss and Picea morrisonicola Hayata, respectively.ConclusionsAssisted migration would only be an option for P. martinezii on scarce marginal sites in México, and the possibilities for P. mexicana would be continental and transcontinental translocations. This rises two possible issues for future ex situ conservation programs: the first is related to whether or not consider assisted migration to marginal sites which do not cover the main habitat requirements for the species; the second is related to which species (the local or the foreign) should be prioritized for conservation when suitable habitat is found elsewhere but is inhabited by other endemic species. This highlights the necessity to discuss new policies, guidelines and mechanisms of international cooperation to deal with the expected high species extinction rates, linked to projected climate change. creator: Eduardo Mendoza-Maya creator: Erika Gómez-Pineda creator: Cuauhtémoc Sáenz-Romero creator: José Ciro Hernández-Díaz creator: Carlos A. López-Sánchez creator: J. Jesús Vargas-Hernández creator: José Ángel Prieto-Ruíz creator: Christian Wehenkel uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13812 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Mendoza-Maya et al. title: Criteria for assessing the adaptive changes in mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes of strike fighting style in different training load regimes link: https://peerj.com/articles/13827 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: BackgroundTo study the peculiarities of changes in functional indicators and body composition parameters of mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes of strike fighting style and a number of biochemical blood indicators during two months of using different intensity training load regimes, and to determine the most informative criteria for assessing adaptive body changes in these training conditions.MethodsWe examined 40 MMA athletes (men) aged 20–22, who used mainly strike fighting style in their competitive activity, and divided them into 2 research groups (A and B), 20 athletes in each group. Group A athletes used medium intensity (Ra = 0.64), and group B—high intensity (Ra = 0.72) training load regime. To assess the adaptive body changes we applied methods of control testing of maximum muscle strength growth (1 RM), special training (the number of accurate kicks on the mannequin for 30 s), and bioimpedansometry. By monitoring biochemical parameters (testosterone, cortisol, creatinine, phosphorus, calcium, cholesterol, LDH) in the blood serum of athletes, we determined the peculiarities of adaptive-compensatory body reactions in response to training loads.ResultsThe obtained results of special training increased during the study period by an average of 10.5% in group B athletes, but group A participants’ results had no significant changes compared to basal data. The largest increase in the development of maximum muscle strength growth by an average of 44.4% was recorded after 2 months of research in group B. Group B athletes also had positive changes in body fat and fat-free mass indicators during the study which were two times higher than the results of group A. The laboratory studies and correlation analysis showed informative biochemical markers (cortisol, testosterone and creatinine) for assessing the condition of athletes in both groups before using high and medium training load regimes. The biochemical markers for assessing the adaptive-compensatory reactions of athletes in response to high-intensity physical stimuli at the beginning of the study were indicators of LDH and cholesterol, and in conditions of medium intensity it was LDH, testosterone and cortisol. After 2 months of study the set of biochemical markers assessing the adaptation processes before the load completely changed only in group B athletes and consisted of LDH, phosphorus, cholesterol, and calcium. At the same time, the set of biochemical criteria for assessing adaptive-compensatory reactions after training in group B athletes was completely changed compared with the data recorded at the beginning of the study.ConclusionDefining the optimal set of criteria for assessing the adaptive-compensatory changes in MMA athletes of strike fighting style will allow in the shortest possible time to correct the parameters of the training load regime for accelerating the body functionality in the process of special power training. creator: Andrii Chernozub creator: Veaceslav Manolachi creator: Georgiy Korobeynikov creator: Vladimir Potop creator: Liudmyla Sherstiuk creator: Victor Manolachi creator: Ion Mihaila uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13827 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Chernozub et al. title: Investigation of discriminatory attitude toward people living with HIV in the family context using socio-economic factors and information sources: A nationwide study in Indonesia link: https://peerj.com/articles/13841 last-modified: 2022-08-03 description: BackgroundThe well-being of people living with HIV (PLHIV) remains a concern. In addition to facing discrimination in their communities, many PLHIV have family members who have a discriminatory attitude. This study analyzes the discriminatory attitude toward PLHIV in the family context using socio-economic factors and information sources in Indonesia.MethodsA cross-sectional study design was adopted using secondary data from the 2017 Indonesian Demographic Health Survey (IDHS). A total sample of 28,879 respondents was selected using two-stage stratified cluster sampling. The study variables are information sources, sex, age, education, residence, earnings, and familial discriminatory attitude. We used the STATA 16.1 software to analyze Chi-square and binary logistics with a 95% confident interval (CI) with a significance of 5% (p-value < 0.05).ResultsIn Indonesia, familial discriminatory attitude has a prevalence of 72.10%. In the survey, the respondents with access to some information about HIV (AOR: 0.794; 95% CI [0.722–0.873]), women (AOR: 0.768; 95% CI [0.718–0.820]), and those living in rural areas (AOR: 0.880; 95% CI [0.834–0.929]) were the least likely to have a familial discriminatory attitude. Meanwhile, the respondents aged 15–24 years (AOR: 1.329; 95% CI [1.118–1.581]) and those with a secondary level of education (AOR: 1.070; 95% CI [1.004–1.142]) were the most likely to have a familial discriminatory attitude.Conclusion.In the study, we found that, the younger the age and the lower the educational level of the respondent, the more likely they were to have a familial discriminatory attitude. The government may consider these factors when designing policies to tackle familial discrimination faced by PLHIV; in particular, education on HIV and AIDS should be promoted. creator: Nursalam Nursalam creator: Tintin Sukartini creator: Heri Kuswanto creator: Setyowati Setyowati creator: Devi Mediarti creator: Rosnani Rosnani creator: Rifky Octavia Pradipta creator: Masunatul Ubudiyah creator: Dluha Mafula creator: Sirikanok Klankhajhon creator: Hidayat Arifin uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13841 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Nursalam et al. title: Phytotoxic effects of Acacia saligna dry leachates on germination, seedling growth, photosynthetic performance, and gene expression of economically important crops link: https://peerj.com/articles/13623 last-modified: 2022-08-02 description: The influence of dry leachates of Acasia saligna was tested on the seedling growth, photosynthesis, biochemical attributes, and gene expression of the economically important crops, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), radish (Raphanus sativus L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and arugula (Eruca sativa L.). Different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%) of stem extract (SE) and leaf extract (LE) of A. saligna were prepared, and seedlings were allowed to grow in Petri plates for 8 days. The results showed that all plant species exhibited reduced germination rate, plant height, and fresh and dry weight due to leachates extracts of A. saligna. Moreover, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), exhibited differential regulation due to the extract treatment. The SOD was increased with increasing the concentration of extracts, while CAT and APX activities were decreased with increasing the extract concentrations. In addition, leachate extract treatment decrease chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, PSII activity, and water use efficiency, with evident effects at their higher concentrations. Furthermore, the content of proline, sugars, protein, total phenols, and flavonoids were reduced considerably due to leachates extract treatments. Furthermore, seedlings treated with high concentrations of LE increased the expression of genes. The present results lead to the conclusion that A. saligna contains significant allelochemicals that interfere with the growth and development of the tested crop species and reduced the crops biomass and negatively affected other related parameters. However, further studies are suggested to determine the isolation and purification of the active compounds present in A. saligna extracts. creator: Haifa Abdulaziz Sakit ALHaithloul creator: Muhammad Ishfaq Khan creator: Arafa Musa creator: Mohammed M. Ghoneim creator: Ayshah Aysh ALrashidi creator: Imtiaz Khan creator: Ehab Azab creator: Adil A. Gobouri creator: Mahmoud R. Sofy creator: Mohamed El-Sherbiny creator: Mona H. Soliman uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13623 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 ALHaithloul et al.