This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In the US and east Asia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects at least a quarter of the population. This disease is the manifestation of metabolic syndrome in the liver and can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The gut microbiome is likely a contributing factor in NAFLD development and progression. Recently, researchers sought to identify the mechanisms that link the two together. They used a high-fat/fructose/cholesterol diet (HFC) to induce NALFD-like symptoms in mice and found that adding the prebiotic inulin to their diet ameliorated these symptoms. Inulin-fed mice had global changes to their microbiome, particularly elevated levels of the bacterial groups Bacteroides and Blautia. Inulin supplementation also increased their gut concentrations of short-chain fatty acids, like acetate. Further experiments found that species from Bacteroides and Blautia had a synergistic effect on acetate production..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Human microbiomes are diverse and dynamic communities of bacteria, which play a critical role in many aspects of human health, including the breakdown of the food we eat. Research has shown that dietary fermentable fiber generally improves cardiometabolic health. However, past studies have found the response to specific interventions has significant variation between individuals. This variation likely has multiple causes, but the role of gut microbial metabolism has not yet been explored. To test this, researchers colonized germ free (GF) mice with distinct, complex microbial communities and then fed them one of four diets. Each microbiome remained distinct under all diets, but the different diets led to variations in richness and taxon abundance in both microbiomes. Epigenetic, transcriptional, and metabolic analyses showed diet-directed differences between the communities, including changes in metabolic pathways associated with health..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are extreme environments that typically form along mid-ocean ridges. Although hundreds of vent systems have been identified, those south of 14°S on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge remain relatively unexplored. To learn more, a recent study investigated the microbes inhabiting the newly discovered Deyin-1 vent in this area. Analysis of 219 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) revealed a highly diverse and variable community. Most of the dominant microbes appeared capable of using reduced sulfur and hydrogen as primary energy sources, and many of the microbes seemed to use multiple energy pathways, indicating adaptability to fluctuating conditions. Multiple types of bacteria were also predicted to participate in the same metabolic pathways, suggesting functional redundancy within the community. Furthermore, the genome sequences suggested that a large proportion of microbes could both make their own food and consume other organisms..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Amphibians are one of the most vulnerable animal groups on the planet, with over 40% of their species threatened with extinction. A major driver of that vulnerability is the fungal pathogen _Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis_ (Bd). Bd is linked to the decline of at least 500 amphibian species, the greatest loss in biodiversity due to a pathogen ever recorded. The amphibian skin microbiome community structure has been linked to health outcomes of Bd infection, but the functional importance of the microbiota is not yet fully understood. To close this gap and potentially discover biomarkers or disease control methods, researchers investigated the microbiome of midwife toads. They examined both wild populations with naturally occurring Bd infection and controlled laboratory exposure. Infection with Bd led to changes in the microbial community structure, gene profile, and metabolic function in laboratory and wild toad populations..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Probiotics are one strategy farmers use to boost animal production. These live microorganisms promote gut health, improve metabolism, and stave off harmful pathogens. While the effects of probiotics on the gut microbiomes of terrestrial animals have been extensively examined. less is known about their effects on the microbiomes of fish. To find out, researchers looked at multiple omics datasets, to explore how rainbow trout responded to feed containing probiotics and “synbiotics," mixtures of pre- and probiotics. A look at conventional measures of feed efficiency showed mixed results versus controls, such as decreases in weight gain (not significant) and protein efficiency (significant), but a significant increase in lipid efficiency. In the gut, pro- and synbiotic additives were associated with a decreased abundance of otherwise plentiful Mycoplasma bacteria..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"St. Louis University researchers have discovered some of the molecular processes that lead to decline in patients with progeria. Their work also helps explain why certain drugs seemingly rejuvenate progeria cells, which could hint at more potent therapies against progeria. Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome is a rare genetic disease that causes premature aging. Rapid aging of different tissues causes death by teenage years, normally due to cardiovascular complications. Currently, therapies for this devastating disease provide patients minimal benefit. The origin of progeria is a mutation in the lamin A gene—responsible for fabricating structural proteins that help keep the cell nucleus sturdy and the genome intact. The mutated lamin A protein “progerin” destabilizes the cell nucleus, causes DNA damage, and ultimately leads to the aging effects found in patients with progeria. Now, the researchers have delved deeper to understand how progerin wreaks damage at the molecular level..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Every year, over 9 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean and can harm its ecosystems. When it comes to marine microbes, most of the current research has focused on those that directly colonize the plastic particles. But plastic also leaches chemical additives into the water, which could impact planktonic microbes as well. So, researchers tested the impact of leachate from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a common plastic, and zinc, a plastic additive, on a natural planktonic community. Some microorganisms, including both bacteria and eukaryotes, were impaired by exposure to plastic leachates. Photosynthetic microorganisms, the base of the food web, were particularly strongly affected, showing declines in photosynthetic efficiency, diversity, and abundance. Other important and normally highly abundant bacterial groups were also negatively impacted. In contrast, microorganisms that thrive in nutrient-rich environments, copiotrophs, dramatically increased in relative abundance..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite advancements in HCC diagnosis and treatment, current staging systems lack specificity and can’t easily predict patient survival. Researchers now report a new prognostic and diagnostic approach based on tracking genes that control iron metabolism in the body. Iron is critical for normal cell metabolism, growth, and proliferation. That goes extra for tumor cells, which have an increased demand for iron. But too much iron can lead to cell death—a process known as “ferroptosis”—which some researchers are harnessing to eliminate harmful cancer cells. In the current study, researchers used high-throughput sequencing to identify genes associated with iron metabolism and ferroptosis in patients with HCC. Based on four genes, patients could be divided into a low-risk group and a high-risk group with poorer overall survival and HCC samples could be distinguished from normal samples..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Excessive fat accumulation in pigs reduces economic returns in the pig industry. In humans and mice, the gut microbiome plays a role in host metabolism and fat accumulation, but the effects of a modern high-energy, high-protein diet on the gut microbiome and fat accumulation in pigs is not yet known. A recent study investigated the correlation between gut microbiome changes and fat accumulation in duroc pigs. They found that Prevotella copri abundance in the gut was positively associated with fat accumulation as well as increased obesity-related serum metabolite, increased host intestinal barrier permeability, and chronic inflammation. To examine causality, researchers isolated P. copri from pigs and administered it to germ-free mice. Treated mice showed similar phenotypes to pigs with high levels of P. copri, which included increased fat accumulation and altered serum metabolites..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

The object of the course is to teach students an approach to the study of pharmacologic agents. It is not intended to be a review of the pharmacopoeia. The focus is on the basic principles of biophysics, biochemistry and physiology, as related to the mechanisms of drug action, biodistribution and metabolism. The course consists of lectures and student-led case discussions. Topics covered include: mechanisms of drug action, dose-response relations, pharmacokinetics, drug delivery systems, drug metabolism, toxicity of pharmacological agents, drug interaction and substance abuse. Selected agents and classes of agents are examined in detail.

Review of Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16jrHD0riHntxhTOX2lCigZY9Ptqc20GsBQP4DXgaGAo

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bile acids play key roles in gut metabolism, cell signaling, and microbiome composition regulation in mammals. Primary bile acids are produced from cholesterol in the liver but are modified by microbes in the gut to form numerous secondary and tertiary bile acids with diverse functions. For decades, gut microbes have been known to transform bile acids through several mechanisms, including deconjugation of the amino acids glycine and taurine by bile salt hydrolases, dehydroxylation of the cholesterol core, and dehydrogenation and epimerization of the cholesterol core. Notably, alterations in the chemistry of the resulting secondary bile acids are linked to several diseases, including cirrhosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer. Recently, an additional transformation mechanism was uncovered in which gut microbes conjugate amino acids to bile acids. The discovery of the resulting microbially conjugated bile acids expands the known diversity of bile acids in the mammalian gut..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bladder cancer is the 10th most frequent malignancy in the world. Despite the availability of several treatment options, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, outcomes for patients with bladder cancer remain poor. Fortunately, a growing understanding of the molecular origins of the disease is revealing new targets for treatment. Among the most promising are a family of enzymes called tyrosine kinases. Tyrosine kinases modify the structure and function of tyrosine-containing proteins. This action helps regulate cellular processes such as growth, migration, differentiation, and metabolism. Dysregulation of tyrosine kinases is part of the pathway that leads to signs and symptoms of bladder cancer. Abnormal tyrosine kinase function can be caused by mutations, amplification, and chromosomal abnormalities. Ongoing studies are discovering how tyrosine kinases can serve as early markers of bladder cancer and how they might be manipulated to stop the progression of bladder tumors..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Just as it does for humans, morning signals the time to wake up for plants. Sunlight triggers stomata, which are tiny pores on plant leaves, to open. This boosts photosynthesis by letting CO₂ in and O₂ out. Cells known as guard cells are the gatekeepers of this process, and opening the stomata requires a lot of energy. But scientists have long wondered where this energy comes from. Because while guard cells serve a key photosynthetic function, they appear less equipped than surrounding cells to perform photosynthesis. Now, researchers from HKU and ETH have discovered guard cells’ secret source of fuel. Experiments on Arabidopsis plants showed that guard cells import most of their energy in the form of sugar from surrounding mesophyll cells. Mesophyll cells contain many more chloroplasts than guard cells, helping them produce large amounts of sugar through photosynthesis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Maintaining mental health during future deep-space exploration is a serious and complicated problem. Such exploration will require people to remain in closed environments for incredibly long periods. But connections between our gut microbes, the gut itself, and our brain could hold new solutions. Research has suggested that influences can travel along this microbiota-gut-brain axis. So, to identify potential mood-boosting microbes in an enclosed environment, researchers turned to the Lunar Palace 365 experiment, where the Lunar Palace 1, a closed bioregenerative life support facility, housed people for a year. The researchers identified four potential “psychobiotics” that corresponded with mental well-being, as well as three possible mechanisms for the improved mood. First, these microbes may be fermenting dietary fibers to produce short-chain fatty acids. Second, they may regulate amino acid metabolism pathways, including the one that converts tryptophan to serotonin..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The candidate phyla radiation (CPR) is a lineage of bacteria with unusual ribosomal structures, reduced metabolic capacities, small genomes, and small cell sizes. Due to these traits, this phylum — also called Patescibacteria — is thought to be host-associated, and there are only a few cultivated representatives. Most CPR genomes originated from groundwater, but they also can be found in surface freshwater, where they remain largely understudied. To close this gap, a recent study examined CPRs from freshwater lakes in Europe and Asia with deep metagenomic sequencing, as well as the first use of Fluorescence in situ Hybridization followed by Catalyzed Reporter Deposition (CARD-FISH) to view CPRs in freshwater. Like previously described CPR members, the lineages in this study had reduced genome sizes, low abundance, and slow estimated replication rates..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiomes of animals are diverse microbial communities that dramatically affect host health and physiology. Modern laboratory techniques have allowed researchers to learn much about these microbiomes. Unfortunately, the common sequencing and culture techniques often struggle to distinguish between strains within a bacterial species. But microfluidic droplets could be a way to sidestep such limitations and distinguish between strains in a high volume, efficient way. To test this, a research team developed a microfluidic platform that encapsulates individual bacterial cells and cultivates them in different growth media, and they used it to successfully profile the honeybee microbiome at a strain-specific level. Strain diversity is particularly important for honeybees due to their uniquely simple and stable bacterial community. Compared to traditional gut samples, this technique detected more strain diversity in some bacterial species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The deep sea is an incredibly harsh environment. The freezing cold and crushing pressure make operations in the deep sea difficult and expensive. However, as we build more deep-sea infrastructure, the need to understand the corrosion of these installments grows too. To close this gap, researchers recently examined 10-year-old deep-sea mooring chains and the surrounding environment. The rate of corrosion was much higher than expected from abiotic factors alone, and the corrosion type, localized deep pitting, also indicated microbial corrosion. Compared to the surrounding sediment, the chains had a distinct microbiome dominated by sulfur-cycling bacteria. Modeling the metabolism of the chain microbiome suggests it is generating energy from the reaction between metallic iron and elemental sulfur. Such metabolic strategies may be particularly important in low-energy environments like this..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Dr. Bolander recently retired from the University of South Carolina, where he taught biochemistry at both the graduate and undergraduate levels for decades. He accumulated considerable figures and notes and is making them available to others involved with teaching biochemistry or related courses.

These notes cover material with weaker coverage in standard biochemistry textbooks. This text is supplemental rather than primary.

When an athlete performs a task, some of the energy being used turns into heat. That is why they feel hot afterward. This unit focuses on thermodynamics, a study of the relationship between energy, work and heat. Students will explore and study the laws of ideal gases, as well as the concepts of temperature, temperature scales and kinetic molecular theory. To enhance understanding, students will be introduced to the workings of a Stirling engine.

Each lesson will be accompanied by a lesson plan. Depending on the lesson, also included will be examples and applications (problems to be solved by students using the equations and concepts presented in the lesson).

The unit is intended to be taught in 10 th or 11 th grade Chemistry classes, but it can be used also by middle school 7 th and 8 th grade teachers to expose students to concepts like temperature, pressure, volume and ideal gas laws. Although the primary focus of this unit is Chemistry, the lessons and concepts of this unit can be used in Physics, Physical Science and Math classes to introduce and familiarize students with these concepts. Student understanding will improve in relation to vocabulary, computation skills, problem solving skills and comprehension levels. Many strategies, examples and applications will be brought out and explained in the unit. The unit will last approximately three weeks.