title: PeerJ description: Articles published in PeerJ link: https://peerj.com/articles/index.rss3?journal=peerj&page=700 creator: info@peerj.com PeerJ errorsTo: info@peerj.com PeerJ language: en title: The superior response speed of table tennis players is associated with proactive inhibitory control link: https://peerj.com/articles/13493 last-modified: 2022-05-20 description: ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism behind the faster volitional reaction time (RT) of open skill sports athletes from the perspective of proactive inhibitory control, with the hypothesis that the superior response speed of athletes from open skill sports is related to their enhanced capacity for releasing inhibition.MethodsParticipants were divided into two groups, an experimental group of 27 table tennis players and a control group of 27 non-athletes. By manipulating cue–target onset asynchrony (CTOA) in a simple cue-target detection task, the timing of target presentation occurred in different phases of the disinhibition process. The time needed for disinhibition were compared between groups.ResultsFor the experimental group, RT varied with CTOA at delays less than 200 ms; for CTOAs greater than 200 ms, RTs were not significantly different. For the control group, RT varied with CTOA for delays as long as 300 ms.ConclusionsTable tennis players took less time (200 ms) than non-athletes (300 ms) to complete the disinhibition process, which might partly explain their rapid response speed measured in unpredictable contexts.SignificanceThe study provided evidence for disinhibition speed as a new index to assess the capacity of proactive inhibitory control, and provided a new perspective to explore the superior RT of athletes from open skill sports. We also offered support for the fundamental cognitive benefits of table tennis training. creator: Mengyan Zhu creator: Yanling Pi creator: Jian Zhang creator: Nan Gu uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13493 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Zhu et al. title: The variability of emotions, physical complaints, intention, and self-efficacy: an ecological momentary assessment study in older adults link: https://peerj.com/articles/13234 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: BackgroundMany theoretical frameworks have been used in order to understand health behaviors such as physical activity, sufficient sleep, healthy eating habits, etc. In most research studies, determinants within these frameworks are assessed only once and thus are considered as stable over time, which leads to rather ‘static’ health behavior change interventions. However, in real-life, individual-level determinants probably vary over time (within days and from day to day), but currently, not much is known about these time-dependent fluctuations in determinants. In order to personalize health behavior change interventions in a more dynamic manner, such information is urgently needed.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to explore the time-dependent variability of emotions, physical complaints, intention, and self-efficacy in older adults (65+) using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).MethodsObservational data were collected in 64 healthy older adults (56.3% men; mean age 72.1 ± 5.6 years) using EMA. Participants answered questions regarding emotions (i.e., cheerfulness, relaxation, enthusiasm, satisfaction, insecurity, anxiousness, irritation, feeling down), physical complaints (i.e., fatigue, pain, dizziness, stiffness, shortness of breath), intention, and self-efficacy six times a day for seven consecutive days using a smartphone-based questionnaire. Generalized linear mixed models were used to assess the fluctuations of individual determinants within subjects and over days.ResultsA low variability is present for the negative emotions (i.e., insecurity, anxiousness, irritation, feeling down) and physical complaints of dizziness and shortness of breath. The majority of the variance for relaxation, satisfaction, insecurity, anxiousness, irritation, feeling down, fatigue, dizziness, intention, and self-efficacy is explained by the within subjects and within days variance (42.9% to 65.8%). Hence, these determinants mainly differed within the same subject and within the same day. The between subjects variance explained the majority of the variance for cheerfulness, enthusiasm, pain, stiffness, and shortness of breath (50.2% to 67.3%). Hence, these determinants mainly differed between different subjects.ConclusionsThis study reveals that multiple individual-level determinants are time-dependent, and are better considered as ‘dynamic’ or unstable behavior determinants. This study provides us with important insights concerning the development of dynamic health behavior change interventions, anticipating real-time dynamics of determinants instead of considering determinants as stable within individuals. creator: Iris Maes creator: Lieze Mertens creator: Louise Poppe creator: Geert Crombez creator: Tomas Vetrovsky creator: Delfien Van Dyck uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13234 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Maes et al. title: Does the landscape functionality approach provide insight into rangeland conditions in the Tanqua Karoo region, South Africa? link: https://peerj.com/articles/13305 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: The harsh environmental conditions coupled with a long history of overgrazing have altered the ecology of the arid Tanqua Karoo rangelands in South Africa, which necessitates rehabilitation. However, a suitable method for monitoring rangeland function over time is required for sustainable management. In this study, vegetation characteristics and landscape function indices were used to rate and compare rangeland conditions in 43 sites distributed among three vegetation types: Tanqua Karoo, Tanqua Wash Riviere, and Tanqua Escarpment Shrubland, which occupy different landscapes in the Tankwa Karoo National Park. The results showed low values of vegetation volume (mean of 10.1 m3 per 100 m−2) and low vegetated patches (mean of 29% patches vs 71% fetches). The overall landscape function indices (soil stability, water infiltration, and nutrient recycling) were low and amounted to 55%, 28%, and 17%, respectively. Amongst the various examined landscapes, the escarpment had the highest values of most of the measured landscape functionality parameters, and the open plains had the lowest values. This revealed high heterogeneity of soil properties and vegetation characteristics amongst the different vegetation types, mainly influenced by altitudinal gradients. The higher-lying landscapes on the escarpment are relatively more functional and more susceptible to improvement when compared to the lower-lying landscapes on the plains. The landscape functionality approach (LFA) approach demonstrated that some of the examined vegetation types had insignificant improvement in landscape functionality likely not to improve in the near term due to existing low patchiness, higher fetch space and low LFA indices coupled with the low annual rainfall of the region. The landscape functionality approach has provided a suitable benchmark for assessing and monitoring the diverse vegetation types in this arid part of the world. creator: Manam Saaed creator: Shayne Jacobs creator: Mmoto Leonard Masubelele creator: Lesego Khomo creator: Igshaan Samuels uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13305 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Saaed et al. title: Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on breastfeeding support for healthy mothers and the association between compliance with WHO recommendations for breastfeeding support and exclusive breastfeeding in Japan link: https://peerj.com/articles/13347 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: BackgroundProfessional breastfeeding support contributes to maternal and child health. However, the influence of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on breastfeeding support has not been carefully examined. Therefore, we assessed maternal breastfeeding intention and professional breastfeeding support before and during the pandemic. We further examined the association of compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for professional breastfeeding support with exclusive breastfeeding during the pandemic.MethodsThis cross-sectional, internet-based, questionnaire study analyzed data from 484 healthy women with live singleton births between 15 October 2019 and 25 October 2020 in Japan. A delivery before 5 March 2020 was classified as a before-pandemic delivery (n = 135), and a delivery after 6 March 2020 was a during-pandemic delivery (n = 349). Among the ten breastfeeding support steps recommended by the WHO, we assessed the five steps that are measurable by maternal self-report and would likely exhibit variability. Receipt of a free formula sample or invitation to a free sample campaign by the time of survey was also asked. Infant feeding status at the time of the survey was measured among women with infants younger than 5 months, which was a subgroup of mothers who delivered during the pandemic. Mothers were asked what was given to infants during the 24 h before the survey and when nothing other than breast milk was given, the status was classified as exclusive breastfeeding.ResultsWhile 82.2% of women with a delivery before the pandemic intended to breastfeed, the rate was 75.6% during the pandemic (p = 0.120). The average number of breastfeeding support steps received was 3.24 before the pandemic but it was 3.01 during the pandemic (p = 0.069). In particular, rooming-in was less frequent (39.3% before vs. 27.8% during the pandemic, p = 0.014). Among mothers with infants younger than 5 months who had a delivery during the pandemic (n = 189), only 37.0% (n = 70) reported exclusively breastfeeding during the 24 h before completing the survey. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that receiving support for all five steps was positively associated with exclusive breastfeeding during the 24 h before the survey (adjusted odds ratio 4.51; 95% CI [1.50–13.61]). Receipt of a free formula sample or invitation to a free sample campaign was negatively associated with exclusive breastfeeding (adjusted odds ratio 0.43; 95% CI [0.19–0.98]). Other factors related to non-exclusive breastfeeding were older maternal age, lower education level, primiparity, and no breastfeeding intention.ConclusionsThe pandemic weakened breastfeeding support for healthy women in Japan; however, support practice that adhered to WHO recommendations appeared to be effective during the pandemic. creator: Keiko Nanishi creator: Sumiyo Okawa creator: Hiroko Hongo creator: Akira Shibanuma creator: Sarah K. Abe creator: Takahiro Tabuchi uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13347 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Nanishi et al. title: Identification of vaccine targets & design of vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus using computational and deep learning-based approaches link: https://peerj.com/articles/13380 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: An unusual pneumonia infection, named COVID-19, was reported on December 2019 in China. It was reported to be caused by a novel coronavirus which has infected approximately 220 million people worldwide with a death toll of 4.5 million as of September 2021. This study is focused on finding potential vaccine candidates and designing an in-silico subunit multi-epitope vaccine candidates using a unique computational pipeline, integrating reverse vaccinology, molecular docking and simulation methods. A protein named spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 with the GenBank ID QHD43416.1 was shortlisted as a potential vaccine candidate and was examined for presence of B-cell and T-cell epitopes. We also investigated antigenicity and interaction with distinct polymorphic alleles of the epitopes. High ranking epitopes such as DLCFTNVY (B cell epitope), KIADYNKL (MHC Class-I) and VKNKCVNFN (MHC class-II) were shortlisted for subsequent analysis. Digestion analysis verified the safety and stability of the shortlisted peptides. Docking study reported a strong binding of proposed peptides with HLA-A*02 and HLA-B7 alleles. We used standard methods to construct vaccine model and this construct was evaluated further for its antigenicity, physicochemical properties, 2D and 3D structure prediction and validation. Further, molecular docking followed by molecular dynamics simulation was performed to evaluate the binding affinity and stability of TLR-4 and vaccine complex. Finally, the vaccine construct was reverse transcribed and adapted for E. coli strain K 12 prior to the insertion within the pET-28-a (+) vector for determining translational and microbial expression followed by conservancy analysis. Also, six multi-epitope subunit vaccines were constructed using different strategies containing immunogenic epitopes, appropriate adjuvants and linker sequences. We propose that our vaccine constructs can be used for downstream investigations using in-vitro and in-vivo studies to design effective and safe vaccine against different strains of COVID-19. creator: Bilal Ahmed Abbasi creator: Devansh Saraf creator: Trapti Sharma creator: Robin Sinha creator: Shachee Singh creator: Shriya Sood creator: Pranjay Gupta creator: Akshat Gupta creator: Kartik Mishra creator: Priya Kumari creator: Kamal Rawal uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13380 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Abbasi et al. title: Potential and functional prediction of six circular RNAs as diagnostic markers for colorectal cancer link: https://peerj.com/articles/13420 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: BackgroundCircular RNAs (circRNAs) have been discovered in colorectal cancer (CRC), but there are few reports on the expression distribution and functional mining analysis of circRNAs.MethodsDifferentially expressed circRNAs in CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were screened and identified by microarray and qRT-PCR. ROC curves of the six circRNAs were analyzed. A series of bioinformatics analyses on differentially expressed circRNAs were performed.ResultsA total of 207 up-regulated and 357 down-regulated circRNAs in CRC were screened, and three top up-regulated and down-regulated circRNAs were chosen to be verified in 33 pairs of CRCs by qRT-PCR. 6 circRNAs showed high diagnostic values (AUC = 0.6860, AUC = 0.8127, AUC = 0.7502, AUC = 0.9945, AUC = 0.9642, AUC = 0.9486 for hsa_circRNA_100833, hsa_circRNA_103828, hsa_circRNA_103831 and hsa_circRNA_103752, hsa_circRNA_071106, hsa_circRNA_102293). A circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network (cirReNET) including six candidate circRNAs, 19 miRNAs and 210 mRNA was constructed, and the functions of the cirReNET were predicted and displayed via Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses on these mRNAs and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the hub genes acquired by string and CytoHubba.ConclusionA cirReNET containing potential diagnostic and predictive indicators of CRCs and several critical circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axes (cirReAXEs) in CRC were mined, and may provide a novel route to study the mechanism and clinical targets of CRC. creator: Li yuan Liu creator: Dan Jiang creator: Yuliang Qu creator: Hongxia Wang creator: Yanting Zhang creator: Shaoqi Yang creator: Xiaoliang Xie creator: Shan Wu creator: Haijin Zhou creator: Guangxian Xu uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13420 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Liu et al. title: Differences in college students’ occupational dysfunction and mental health considering trait and state anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic link: https://peerj.com/articles/13443 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: BackgroundDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, university education has shifted from face-to-face classes to online and distance learning. Effects of exposure may manifest in terms of psychological, cognitive, or musculoskeletal impairments that affect an individual’s daily functioning and quality of life. There is a dearth of studies exploring anxiety states, occupational dysfunction, and mental health associated with the new standard of increased telecommunication. Accordingly, the present study aimed to identify the differences in occupational dysfunction, health literacy, positive and negative emotions, and stress response considering the anxiety states of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another purpose is to identify relationships among the parameters such as occupational dysfunction and mental health.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 358 students (average age: 18.5 years, age range: 18–29 years). Five tools were used: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Classification and Assessment of Occupational Dysfunction (CAOD), European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47), Profile of Mood States 2nd Edition (POMS-2), and Stress Response Scale-18 (SRS-18). Based on the cutoff value of state and trait anxiety of the STAI, the participants were classified into four groups and compared using one-way analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests. The relationship between all parameters was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient.ResultsThe group with high trait anxiety and high state anxiety had the highest CAOD total score, Total Mood Disturbance score on the POMS-2, SRS-18 score, and scores on many sub-items of the three parameters. The prevalence of occupational dysfunction was 47% for university students, and there was a variation of from 19 to 61% in each group. The correlation coefficients of the state and trait anxiety scores of the STAI, Total Mood Disturbance score, and SRS-18 ranged from .64 to .75. Additionally, the correlation coefficient between the CAOD total score and these parameters ranged from .44 to .48.ConclusionThe prevalence of occupational dysfunction was highest in the group with high trait anxiety and high state anxiety, and occupational dysfunction, negative emotions, and stress responses were strongest in this group. Our findings point to potential areas for targeted support and interventions. creator: Yasuaki Kusumoto creator: Rieko Higo creator: Kanta Ohno uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13443 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2022 Kusumoto et al. title: Prevalence and richness of malaria and malaria-like parasites in wild birds from different biomes in South America link: https://peerj.com/articles/13485 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: South America has different biomes with a high richness of wild bird species and Diptera vectors, representing an ideal place to study the influence of habitat on vector-borne parasites. In order to better understand how different types of habitats do or do not influence the prevalence of haemosporidians, we performed a new analysis of two published datasets comprising wild birds from the Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado) as well as wild birds from the Venezuelan Arid Zone. We investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of haemosporidian parasites belonging to two genera: Plasmodium and Haemoproteus. We evaluated data from 676 wild birds from the Cerrado and observed an overall prevalence of 49%, whereas, in the Venezuelan Arid Zone, we analyzed data from 527 birds and found a similar overall prevalence of 43%. We recovered 44 lineages, finding Plasmodium parasites more prevalent in the Cerrado (15 Plasmodium and 12 Haemoproteus lineages) and Haemoproteus in the Venezuelan Arid Zone (seven Plasmodium and 10 Haemoproteus lineages). No difference was observed on parasite richness between the two biomes. We observed seven out of 44 haemosporidian lineages that are shared between these two distinct South American biomes. This pattern of parasite composition and prevalence may be a consequence of multiple factors, such as host diversity and particular environmental conditions, especially precipitation that modulate the vector’s dynamics. The relationship of blood parasites with the community of hosts in large and distinct ecosystems can provide more information about what factors are responsible for the variation in the prevalence and diversity of these parasites in an environment. creator: Daniela de Angeli Dutra creator: Nayara Belo creator: Erika M. Braga uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13485 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 de Angeli Dutra et al. title: Association of multiple tumor markers with newly diagnosed gastric cancer patients: a retrospective study link: https://peerj.com/articles/13488 last-modified: 2022-05-19 description: BackgroundThe purpose of this paper was to explore the correlation between multiple tumor markers and newly diagnosed gastric cancer.MethodsWe selected 268 newly diagnosed patients with gastric cancer and 209 healthy subjects for correlation research. The detection of multiple tumor markers was based on protein chips and the results were statistically analyzed using SPSS.ResultsWe concluded that gastric cancer was significantly related to gender, age, alpha fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199), and carbohydrate antigen 242 (CA242) positive levels (P < 0.001). After CA199 and CA242 were stratified by gender, the male odds ratio (OR) was 30.400 and 31.242, respectively, while the female OR was 3.424. After CA125 was stratified by age in patients over 54 years old with gastric cancer, the risk of occurrence in the CA125-positive population was 16.673 times that of the CA125-negative patients. Among patients 54 years old and younger, being CA125-positive was not a risk factor for gastric cancer (P = 0.082). AFP, CEA, CA125, CA199, and CA242 positive levels during the M1 stage were statistically significant when compared with the M0 stage and control group (P < 0.001), but the AFP (P = 0.045) and CA125 (P = 0.752) positive levels were not statistically significant when compared with the M0 stage and control group. The combined detection sensitivity of multiple tumor markers was 44.78%.ConclusionOur research shows that gastric cancer is associated with age, gender, and the positive levels of AFP, CEA, CA125, CA199, and CA242. The positive levels of AFP and CA125 were related to the distant metastasis of gastric cancer. To a certain extent, the combined detection sensitivity can be used for the initial screening of gastric cancer. creator: Xiaoyang Li creator: Sifeng Li creator: Zhenqi Zhang creator: Dandan Huang uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13488 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Li et al. title: Seasonal and diel influences on bottlenose dolphin acoustic detection determined by whistles in a coastal lagoon in the southwestern Gulf of California link: https://peerj.com/articles/13246 last-modified: 2022-05-18 description: Marine mammals in subtropical coastal habitats are sentinels of the health of the ecosystem and offer important ecosystem services. They rely on prey that pursues feeding opportunities, while both avoid unfavorable conditions. In many cases, these predator-prey dynamics fluctuate seasonally and are regulated by lunar, tidal, and/or diel cycles (hour). However, these rhythmical patterns may vary under different seasonal conditions. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Ensenada de La Paz in Baja California Sur, Mexico, were detected acoustically over the course of an annual cycle on 21 separate occasions, covering 640 h from June 2017 to May 2019. The presence of bottlenose dolphins was examined using Generalized Additive Models (GAM) including variables that are related directly to their habitat (direct variables: hour, distance, depth) and to their prey (indirect variables: SST, moon phase and tides). Seasonal differences in the presence of bottlenose dolphins were influenced more by indirect variables (explained deviance: 34.8% vs. 37.7%). Hourly acoustic detections occurred less frequently when SST exceeded 27.4 °C (Aug–End of Nov.) and more frequently at moderate temperatures (22.7 °C to 26.3 °C) in May through July. Moreover, bottlenose dolphins were detected more frequently during waning and new moon phases, at the onset of flood and ebb tides, and during day (04:00 to 20:00). The seasonal differences in acoustic detections rates were highlighted by the global GAM and hierarchical clustering. The strong seasonal pattern indicated possible interactions with rhythmic pattern of bottlenose dolphins. Four candidate variables (SST, moon, tide, and hour) were tested for plausible interaction terms additional to their individual consideration, out of which only hour changed significantly between seasons. The patterns of presence likely increase feeding opportunities or may favor other behaviors such as socializing, resting, or nursing. These might prove responsible for the distinct occurrence and hourly patterns of bottlenose dolphins. creator: Marco F. W. Gauger creator: Eduardo Romero-Vivas creator: Myron A. Peck creator: Eduardo F. Balart creator: Javier Caraveo-Patiño uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13246 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2022 Gauger et al.