Attention allocation on mobile app interfaces when human interacts with them

With the popularity of smartphones and the pervasion of mobile apps, people spend more and more time to interact with a diversity of apps on their smartphones, especially for young population. This raises a question: how people allocate attention to interfaces of apps during using them. To address this question, we, in this study, designed an experiment with two sessions (i.e., Session1: browsing original interfaces; Session 2: browsing interfaces after removal of colors and background) integrating with an eyetracking system. Attention fixation durations were recorded by an eye-tracker while participants browsed app interfaces. The whole screen of smartphone was divided into four even regions to explore fixation durations. The results revealed that participants gave significantly longer total fixation duration on the bottom left region compared to other regions in the session (1) Longer total fixation duration on the bottom was preserved, but there is no significant difference between left side and right side in the session2. Similar to the finding of total fixation duration, first fixation duration is also predominantly paid on the bottom area of the interface. Moreover, the skill in the use of mobile phone was quantified by assessing familiarity and accuracy of phone operation and was investigated in the association with the fixation durations. We found that first fixation duration of the bottom left region is significantly negatively correlated with the smartphone operation level in the session 1, but there is no significant correlation between them in the session (2) According to the results of ratio exploration, the ratio of the first fixation duration to the total fixation duration is not significantly different between areas of interest for both sessions. The findings of this study provide insights into the attention allocation during browsing app interfaces and are of implications on the design of app interfaces and advertisements as layout can be optimized according to the attention allocation to maximally deliver information.     

啮齿动物分子系统地理学研究进展

系统地理学是研究种间及种内不同种群的形成、现有分布格局的历史原因和演化过程的一门学科。基于分子水平,能够更准确地界定物种分布格局,促进分子系统地理学的形成和发展。近年来,分子系统地理研究的开展,促进了对啮齿动物物种分布格局形成机制的理解。对啮齿动物的种内及种上分类阶元的系统演化关系、起源中心与演化历程、影响系统地理格局的因素、鼠害防控和保护生物学等分子系统地理学方面的研究进行了综述。并提出了啮齿动物分子系统地理学未来发展的四点展望:1)综合性系统地理学研究;2)区域系统地理学研究;3)物种演化的全面系统研究;4)新型分子标记和分析方法的发展。     

Phage endolysins are adapted to specific hosts and are evolutionarily dynamic

Endolysins are produced by (bacterio)phages to rapidly degrade the bacterial cell wall and release new viral particles. Despite sharing a common function, endolysins present in phages that infect a specific bacterial species can be highly diverse and vary in types, number, and organization of their catalytic and cell wall binding domains. While much is now known about the biochemistry of phage endolysins, far less is known about the implication of their diversity on phage–host adaptation and evolution. Using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing, we could genetically exchange a subset of different endolysin genes into distinct lactococcal phage genomes. Regardless of the type and biochemical properties of these endolysins, fitness costs associated to their genetic exchange were marginal if both recipient and donor phages were infecting the same bacterial strain, but gradually increased when taking place between phage that infect different strains or bacterial species. From an evolutionary perspective, we observed that endolysins could be naturally exchanged by homologous recombination between phages coinfecting a same bacterial strain. Furthermore, phage endolysins could adapt to their new phage/host environment by acquiring adaptative mutations. These observations highlight the remarkable ability of phage lytic systems to recombine and adapt and, therefore, explain their large diversity and mosaicism. It also indicates that evolution should be considered to act on functional modules rather than on bacteriophages themselves. Furthermore, the extensive degree of evolvability observed for phage endolysins offers new perspectives for their engineering as antimicrobial agents.

Endolysins are produced by bacteriophages to degrade the host cell wall and release new particles, but the implications of their diversity on phage-host adaptation and evolution is unknown. This study uses CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to reveal novel insights into bacteriophage endolysin diversity and phage-bacteria interactions as well as into endolysin adaptation towards a new bacterial host.     

一株纤维蛋白溶解酶产生菌的鉴定及其产酶条件初步研究

从亚洲传统发酵食品--虾酱中筛选到一株产纤维蛋白溶解酶能力较强的菌株,通过形态和常规生理生化性质鉴定,发现该菌株与芽孢杆菌属细菌的特征很相近,结合16S rDNA序列分析,构建系统发育树,确定其分类地位,由中国典型培养物保藏中心定名为Bacillus sp.nov.SK006(CCTCC No.M 205071),并优化了发酵培养基组成及培养条件,本研究为该菌株的深入研究和广泛应用提供了理论依据.     

Hemin with Peroxidase Activity Can Inhibit the Oxidative Damage Induced by Ultraviolet A

Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), a highly reactive substance that contains oxygen, induced by ultraviolet A (UVA) cause oxidative damage to skin. We confirmed that hemin can catalyze the reaction of tyrosine (Tyr) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Catalysis was found to effectively reduce or eliminate oxidative damage to cells induced by H₂O₂ or UVA. The scavenging effects of hemin for other free-radical ROS were also evaluated through pyrogallol autoxidation, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH·)-scavenging assays, and phenanthroline–Fe²⁺ assays. The results show that a mixture of hemin and tyrosine exhibits strong scavenging activities for H₂O₂, superoxide anion (O₂⁻·), DPPH·, and the hydroxyl radical (·OH). Furthermore, the inhibition of oxidative damage to human skin keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells induced by H₂O₂ or UVA was evaluated. The results show that catalysis can significantly reduce the ratio of cell apoptosis and death and inhibit the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), as well as accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA). Furthermore, the resistance to apoptosis was found to be enhanced. These results show that the mixture of hemin and tyrosine has a significantly protective effect against oxidative damage to HaCaT cells caused by UVA, suggesting it as a protective agent for combating UVA damage.