1,176,741 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2024
    1. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      In the manuscript by Kim et al titled, "Characterizing the Spatial Distribution of Dendritic RNA at Single Molecule Resolution," the authors perform multiplex single-molecule FISH in cultured neurons, along with analysis and modeling, to show the spatial features, including differing mRNA densities between soma and dendrites, dendritic length-related distributions and clustering, of multiple mRNAs in dendrites. Although the clustering analyses and modeling are intriguing and offer previously underappreciated spatial association within and across mRNA molecules, the data is difficult to interpret and the conclusions lack novelty in their current form. There is a need for a stronger rationale as to why the methodology employed in the manuscript is better suited to characterize the clustering of mRNA in dendrites compared to previously published works and how such clustering or declustering can affect dendritic/neuronal function.

      (1) Validation of mRNA labeling, detection, and quantification is necessary. Single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH) is the gold standard to detect RNA inside cells. The method utilizes multiple fluorescent probes (~48) designed to hybridize along a single RNA, resulting in a population of diffraction-limited fluorescent puncta with varying intensities. A histogram of cytoplasmic smFISH puncta intensities should reveal a normally distributed population with a single major peak, where the upper and lower tails indicate the maximum probe binding and the lower detection limit, respectively. Once single molecule detection (and limits) have been established, smFISH should be performed for each gene individually to obtain ground truth of detection under identical experimentally-defined conditions using the same fluorophore. Total RNA counts from different probe combinations (Figure S1A) or total mRNA density (Figure 2A) is not sufficient to inform individual gene labeling efficiency or detection. It is difficult to interpret whether observed variabilities across different probe combinations are of significance. For example, the mRNA densities of Adap2 and Dtx3L in soma seem to vary even after normalization with the pixel area (Figure 2A).

      Absolute counts and normalized counts for each gene detected should be included in the results or in supplementary data/table to provide the reader with a reference point for evaluation.

      As a control, it is recommended to perform smFISH against beta-actin or aCaMKII, which are the two most abundant mRNA in dendrites, and serve as internal validation that the technique, detection, and quantification are consistent with previously published works.

      (2) The rationale for single dendrite selection is unclear. To suggest that dendrite length, as a feature of dendritic morphology, may affect mRNA localization in dendrites, the authors manually selected segments of dendrites that have no branching or overlap, 'biased for shorter dendrites,' resulting in a subset of dendritic segments that changes mRNA distribution in raw distances (Figure S3A) into the normalized distance (Figure 4A). As a result, the distribution appears to convert from a monotonic- or exponential-decay to a more even distribution of mRNA (plateau). The rationale for this normalization is unclear, as manual curation of dendritic segments can incorporate experimenter bias. Moreover, the inclusion of short dendritic segments can stretch out their mRNA distributions following distance normalization which can give the appearance of an even distribution of mRNAs when aggregated.

      Next, the authors use pairwise Jensen-Shannon distance cluster analysis to identify 4 different patterns of clustering among mRNAs. Although the patterns are quite intriguing, the distributions of mRNA clusters were i) difficult to interpret and ii) compared to Fonkeu et al (2019) protein distribution is not a sufficient explanation for the observed clustering. For example, the clustering patterns (C1-4) are quite striking and even if the authors' analyses were an improvement in identifying mRNA clustering in dendrites, the authors need to provide better justification or modeling on what role such clustering can play on dendritic function or cellular physiology. This is important and necessary as the authors are suggesting that their analysis is different from mRNA distributions previously observed or modeled by Buxbaum et al (2014) and Fonkeu et al (2019), respectively.<br /> Of note, the identity-independent and dendritic length-dependent aspect of spatial distributions of mRNAs is striking (Figure S3E-F, Figure 4), and this length-related feature is one of the major take-home points in the first part of the manuscript. However, it is evident that some mRNAs (e.g. Adap2 and Dtx3L) or probe combinations (e.g. Colec12-Adap2-Nsmf) disproportionally make up the mRNA distribution clusters (Figure 4D and Figure S3F). It seems plausible that the copy numbers of mRNAs can differentially affect clusters' distribution patterns. Appropriate statistical tests among the cluster groups, therefore, will help to strengthen the interpretation of the results provided in the supplementary figures (Figures S3E and S3F).

      (3) It is not clear how Figure 5 GradCAM analysis helps the point that the authors put forth in previous sections or forthcoming sections. Unless this section and figure are more effectively linked to the general theme of the paper - the morphological features as a determinant of mRNA distribution or clustering of mRNA molecules, it may be included in the supplementary figure section.

      (4) Clustering of mRNA remains an exception rather than the rule. From their high-resolution triple smFISH data, the authors make some interesting findings regarding colocalization in dendrites. Among the six genes tested, the authors found higher incidents of colocalization between pair-wise genes (up to 23%) than previously reported (5-10%). Also, they report higher levels of colocalization within the same gene (17-23%) than previously reported (5-10%). First, to better evaluate this increased colocalization efficiency overall, the histograms of smFISH puncta intensity are necessary (as stated in 1) to determine whether a second peak is present in the population. Second, even though 23% is higher than previously reported, it remains that 77% do not colocalize and does not suggest that colocalization is the rule but remains the exception. Given the results in Table 1, it is likely that the increased colocalization could be a gene-specific effect and not transcriptome-wide as the majority of values between genes are below 10%, consistent with previous findings. Third, labeling of a control gene (i.e. b-actin or aCaMKII) would provide higher confidence that the detection and colocalization comparisons are consistent with previous findings.

      It is recommended to refrain from concluding that mRNA is 'co-transported' from smFISH results. Typically co-transport is best identified through observations in live cells where two fluorescent particles of different colors are moving together. Although stationary particles positioned in close proximity to one another could potentially be co-transported, there has been very little evidence to support this.

      The use of Ripley's K-function is an interesting way to look at clustering neighborhoods within a single or pairwise sets of genes. Previous studies from the Singer group have looked at mRNA clustering and have observed that mRNA in living cells tends to cluster within a 6-micron range for b-actin and for both b-actin and Arc after local stimulation. What was intriguing in the results in Figure 7 was that there was an exclusion zone 2-4 microns away from the area of colocalization that may suggest that mRNA are able to avoid over-clustering and maintain an even distribution throughout the dendrite--perhaps with a goal of not devoting too many resources (mRNA) to a single dendritic area. Modeling how mRNAs avoid over-clustering to a specific 2-micron segment of dendrites could provide an explanation on how dendrites can respond to multiple or simultaneous synaptic activity at different sites along the same dendrite.

    2. Reviewer #3 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The paper by Kim et al utilizes smFISH method to probe for six genes to understand the spatial distribution of the mRNAs in dendrites and identify the spatial relationships between the transcripts. While they have delved into a high-resolution characterization of the dendritic transcripts and compared their data with existing datasets, the analysis needs more robustness, and therefore the findings are inconclusive. The rationale of the study and choosing these genes is not clear - it appears more like a validation of some of the datasets without much biological significance.

      Overall, several conclusions for spatial distribution of dendritic RNAs were based on correlations and it is difficult to understand whether this represents a true biological phenomenon or if it is an artifact of the imaging and morphological heterogeneity of neurons and difficulties in dendritic segmentation.

      Strengths:

      The authors have performed an extensive analysis of the smFISH datasets and quantified the precise localization patterns of the dendritic mRNAs in relation to the dendritic morphology. Their images and the analysis pipeline can be a resource for the community.

      Weaknesses:

      (1) The authors have attempted to identify general patterns of mRNA distribution as a function of distance, proximal vs distal, however, in many of the cases the results are a bit redundant and the size of the neurons or the length of the dendrites or image segmentation artifacts turn out to be the determining factors. A better method to normalize the morphological differences is needed to make meaningful conclusions about RNA distribution patterns.

      (2) Another concerning factor is that there are many redundancies throughout the paper. For example, to begin with, all analysis should have been done as RNA density measurements (and not absolute numbers of mRNAs) and with proper normalization and accounting for differences in length. Some of these were done only in the latter half of the paper, for example in Figure 4.

      (3) Images for the smFISH are missing. It is important to show the actual images, and the quality of the images is a crucial factor for all subsequent analyses.

      (4) The parameters used for co-localization analysis are very relaxed (2 - 6 microns), particularly the distances of interactions far exceed feasible interactions between the biomolecules. Typically, transport granules are significantly smaller than the length scales used.

  2. docdrop.org docdrop.org
    1. Like other middle-class families, the Williamses often engage in conversation that promotes reasoning and negotiation.

      She’s not just making small talk. She’s helping him develop verbal skills by encouraging him to explain and clarify his thoughts.

    1. eLife Assessment

      The study is useful for advancing understanding of spinal cord injuries, but it presents inadequate evidence due to the use of multiple datasets. Data were collected from different models of spinal cord injury, various regions of the spinal cord, and an iPSC model, with the differences between these models making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The work of Zhou's team is to perform bioinformatics analysis of single-cell transcriptomes (scRNA), spatial transcriptomic (ST) data, and bulk RNA-seq data from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, published or not in different journals from other teams, about spinal cord injury and/or microglia cells derived human iPSC. Based on their analysis, the authors claim that innate microglial cells are inhibited. They postulate that TGF beta signaling pathways play a role in the regulation of migration to enhance SCI recovery and that Trem2 expression contributes to neuroinflammation response by modulating cell death in spinal cord injury. Finally, they suggest a therapeutic strategy to inhibit Trem2 responses and transplant iPSC-derived microglia with long-term TGF beta stimulation.

      Although the idea of using already available data and reanalyzing them is remarkable, I have major concerns about the paper. The authors have used data from different models of injury, regions, as well as IPSC. It is not possible to mix and draw conclusions when the models used are different. This raises doubts about the authors' expertise in the field of spinal cord injury. Furthermore, the innovativeness of the results is of little significance, especially as no hypothesis is confirmed by experimental data.

      Strengths:

      Analysis of already large-scale existing data.

      Weaknesses:

      Mixing data from different models, unfounded conclusions, and over-interpretations, little expertise in the field of spinal cord injury.

    3. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The authors present an intriguing study utilizing datasets from spinal cord injury (SCI) research to identify potential microglial genes involved in SCI-induced neuronal damage. They identify that inhibiting TREM2 and enhancing the TGF-b signal pathway can inhibit reactive microglia-mediated neuroinflammation. Microglia transplantation using iPSC-derived microglia could also be beneficial for SCI recovery.

      Strengths:

      This research aims to identify potential genes and signaling pathways involved in microglia-mediated inflammation in spinal cord injury (SCI) models. Meanwhile, analyzing transplanted microglia gene expression provides an extra layer of potential in SCI therapy. The approach represents a good data mining strategy for identifying potential targets to combat neurological diseases.

      Weaknesses:

      Microglial gene expression patterns may vary significantly between these models. Without proper normalization or justification, combining these datasets to draw conclusions is problematic. Moreover, other factors also need to be considered, like the gender of the microglia source. Are there any gender differences? How were the iPSC-derived microglia generated? Different protocols may affect microglia gene expression.

      While the concept is interesting, the data presented in this study appears preliminary. Without further experiments to support their findings, the conclusions are not convincing.

    4. Reviewer #3 (Public review):

      Summary:

      In this study, the authors perform a meta-analysis of existing transcriptomic data describing the responses of cells in the mouse spinal cord to traumatic injury (SCI). They identify two subclasses of microglia, which they term 'innate' and 'reactive' microglia, in the dataset, with the majority of microglia in the uninjured spinal cord being 'innate' and the majority of microglia in the injured region being 'reactive'. The authors propose that, during injury, the population of innate microglia is depleted and replaced by the population of reactive microglia. Using DEG and gene ontology pipelines, the authors suggest that TGF signaling is a positive force that helps recruit healthy microglia to enhance recovery in the context of SCI. In contrast, the microglial phagocytic receptor Trem2 contributes to neuroinflammation and neuronal death. Finally, the authors suggest replacing reactive microglia with innate microglia as a potential therapeutic approach to treat SCI in humans.

      Strengths:

      The work utilizes numerous and multi-modal datasets describing transcriptomic changes in the mouse CNS following SCI.

      The topic is translationally relevant.

      Weaknesses:

      There is not enough information about how each of the datasets re-analyzed by the authors was obtained and processed both by the group generating the data and by the group re-analyzing it.

      The conclusions drawn by the authors are not sufficiently supported by the evidence.

      Whether the study represents a significant conceptual advance in our understanding of microglial contributions to SCI is not clear.

      My specific concerns and suggestions to address these weaknesses are provided below.

      Major comments:

      (1) Questions remain about the nature, quality, and features of the datasets re-analyzed in the study. For example, how were these datasets obtained? Were the same animal models and time points used in each? What modality of RNA sequencing was done? What criteria did the authors consider in deciding which datasets to include in the study? Since the study is entirely reliant on data generated elsewhere, a more thorough description of these datasets within the text is needed.

      (2) Relatedly, the authors chose to filter out some cells from the datasets based on quality, but this information is incomplete. For example, the authors omit cells with 10% mitochondrial genes, but this value is higher than most investigators use (typically between 1%-5%). Why is 10% the appropriate limit in this particular study? Further, how did the authors ensure the removal of doublets from the dataset?

      (3) A principal finding of the paper is that microglia in the uninjured CNS mostly have an 'innate' transcriptomic phenotype, while microglia in the injured CNS mostly have a 'reactive' phenotype. However, there are some issues here that require further discussion. First, while historically microglia were thought to possess distinct 'homeostatic' versus 'activated' profiles which would be consistent with the authors' interpretations here, these differences are now thought of more as changes in a given microglial cell's transcriptomic status. Thus, while the authors interpret their results as meaning that innate microglia are depleted and replaced by a different set of reactive microglia following SCI (or at least this is how the paper is written), it is equally if not more likely that the microglia within the injured regions themselves become more reactive as a result of the insult. The authors should clarify why their interpretation is more likely to be correct.

      (4) Related to the above point, the authors base the manuscript on the idea that microglia are mostly 'innate' in the uninjured CNS and 'reactive' after injury, however, the UMAP plots in Figures 1A and 1C suggest that both classes of microglia cluster together and may not actually represent distinct subclasses. Have the authors tried sub-clustering just the myeloid clusters and seeing how well they separate? Even if they do technically represent distinct clusters, the UMAP could be interpreted to mean that their transcriptomic differences are not particularly robust.

      (5) I appreciate the authors' use of loss-of-function data to explore the roles of microglial TGF and Trem2 signaling to glean some mechanistic insights into SCI. However, many of the conclusions reached by the authors in the manuscript are insufficiently supported by the data and would require additional experiments to rigorously confirm. A couple of examples are the following:<br /> 5a. Lines 160-162: "Hence, we conclude that the cascade of injury events in SCI significantly influences microglia, leading to the replacement of innate microglial cells by reactive microglia." That SCI influences microglia is well-supported by the study, but whether reactive microglia replace innate microglia, versus whether innate microglia in the region transition to a reactive state, needs to be tested experimentally.<br /> 5b. Lines 321-323: "Taken together, iPSC-derived microglia have the potential to replace the functions of naïve microglial cells, and they perform even more effectively in the in vivo CNS." Again, the first part of the sentence is supported, but whether iPSCs are more effective than other populations in vivo would need to be tested experimentally.

      (6) As microglia have long been appreciated as contributors to the CNS injury response, the conceptual advance here isn't particularly clear to me. For example, Gao et al, 2023 (*cited by the authors) describe the role of Trem2+ microglia in SCI versus demyelinating disease with major conceptual overlap with the current study. It would be helpful for the authors to include a discussion of what we now know about SCI based on this study that we did not know (or strongly suspect) before.

    1. eLife Assessment

      Barzó et al. assessed the electrophysiological and anatomical properties of a large number of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in brain slices of human neocortex across a wide range of ages, from infancy to elderly individuals, using whole-cell patch clamp recordings and anatomical reconstructions. This large data set represents a valuable contribution to our understanding of how these properties change across the human lifespan, and although the results presented are convincing, analyzing the data by absolute age rather than age ranges as well as clarifying the methods used and some of the statistical approaches applied would strengthen the conclusions. The analysis of spine density requires additional biological replicates to support the conclusions stated. These data strengthen our understanding of how these properties change with age and will contribute to building more realistic models of human cortical function.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The manuscript co-authored by Pál Barzó et al is very clear and very well written, demonstrating the electrophysiological and morphological properties of human cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal cells across a wide age range, from age 1 month to 85 years using whole-cell patch clamp. To my knowledge, this is the first study that looks at the cross-age differences in biophysical and morphological properties of human cortical pyramidal cells. The community will also appreciate the significant effort involved in recording data from 485 cells, given the challenges associated with collecting data from human tissue. Understanding the electrophysiological properties of individual cells, which are essential for brain function, is crucial for comprehending human cortical circuits. I think this research enhances our knowledge of how biophysical properties change over time in the human cortex. I also think that by building models of human single cells at different ages using these data, we can develop more accurate representations of brain function. This, in turn, provides valuable insights into human cortical circuits and function and helps in predicting changes in biophysical properties in both health and disease.

      Strengths:

      The strength of this work lies in demonstrating how the electrophysiological and morphological features of human cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal cells change with age, offering crucial insights into brain function throughout life.

      Weaknesses:

      One potential weakness of the paper is that the methodology could be clearer, especially in how different cells were used for various electrophysiological measurements and the conditions under which the recordings were made. Clarifying these points would improve the study's rigor and make the results easier to interpret.

    3. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      Summary:

      In this study, Barzo and colleagues aim to establish an appraisal for the development of basal electrophysiology of human layer 2/3 pyramidal cells across life and compare their morphological features at the same ages.

      Strengths:

      The authors have generated recordings from an impressive array of patient samples, allowing them to directly compare the same electrophysiological features as a function of age and other biological features. These data are extremely robust and well organised.

      Weaknesses:

      The use of spine density and shape characteristics is performed from an extremely limited sample (2 individuals). How reflective these data are of the population is not possible to interpret. Furthermore, these data assume that spines fall into discrete types - which is an increasingly controversial assumption.

      Many data are shown according to somewhat arbitrary age ranges. It would have been more informative to plot by absolute age, and then perform more rigourous statistics to test age-dependent effects.

      Overall, the authors achieve their aims by assessing the physiological and morphological properties of human L2/3 pyramidal neurons across life. Their findings have extremely important ramifications for our understanding of human life and implications for how different neuronal properties may influence neurological conditions.

    4. Reviewer #3 (Public review):

      Summary:

      To understand the specificity of age-dependent changes in the human neocortex, this paper investigated the electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of pyramidal cells in a wide age range from infants to the elderly.

      The results show that some electrophysiological characteristics change with age, particularly in early childhood. In contrast, the larger morphological structures, such as the spatial extent and branching frequency of dendrites, remained largely stable from infancy to old age. On the other hand, the shape of dendritic spines is considered immature in infancy, i.e., the proportion of mushroom-shaped spines increases with age.

      Strengths:

      Whole-cell recordings and intracellular staining of pyramidal cells in defined areas of the human neocortex allowed the authors to compare quantitative parameters of electrophysiological and morphological properties between finely divided age groups.

      They succeeded in finding symmetrical changes specific to both infants and the elderly, and asymmetrical changes specific to either infants or the elderly. The similarity of pyramidal cell characteristics between areas is unexpected.

      Weaknesses:

      Human L2/3 pyramidal cells are thought to be heterogeneous, as L2/3 has expanded to a high degree during the evolution from rodents to humans. However, the diversity (subtyping) is not revealed in this paper.

    1. eLife Assessment

      Oor and colleagues report the potentially independent effects of the spatial and feature-based selection history on visuomotor choices. They outline compelling evidence, tracking the dynamic history effects based on their extremely clever experimental design (urgent version of the search task). Their finding is of fundamental significance, broadening the framework to identify variables contributing to choice behavior and their neural correlates in future studies.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      Oor et al. report the potentially independent effects of the spatial and feature-based selection history on visuomotor choices. They outline compelling evidence, tracking the dynamic history effects based on their clever experimental design (urgent version of the search task). Their finding broadens the framework to identify variables contributing to choice behavior and their neural correlates in future studies.

      Strengths:

      In their urgent search task, the variable processing time of the visual cue leads to a dichotomy in choice performance - uninformed guesses vs. informed choices. Oor et al. did rigorous analyses to find a stronger influence of the location-based selection history on the uninformed guesses and a stronger influence of the feature-based selection history on the informed choices. It is a fundamental finding that contributes to understanding the drivers of behavioral variance. The results are clear.

      Weaknesses:

      (1) In this urgent search task, as the authors stated in line 724, the variability in performance was mainly driven by the amount of time available for processing the visual cue. The authors used processing time (PT) as the proxy for this "time available for processing the visual cue." But PT itself is already a measure of behavioral variance since it is also determined by the subject's reaction time (i.e., PT = Reaction time (RT) - Gap). In that sense, it seems circular to explain the variability in performance using the variability in PT. I understand the Gap time and PT are correlated (hinted by the RT vs. Gap in Figure 1C), but Gap time seems to be more adequate to use as a proxy for the (imposed) time available for processing the visual cue, which drives the behavioral variance. Can the Gap time better explain some of the results? It would be important to describe how the results are different (or the same) if Gap time was used instead of PT and also discuss why the authors would prefer PT over Gap time (if that's the case).

      (2) The authors provide a compelling account of how the urgent search task affords<br /> (i) more pronounced selection history effects on choice and<br /> (ii) dissociating the spatial and feature-based history effects by comparing their different effects on the tachometric curves. However, the authors didn't discuss the limits of their task design enough. It is a contrived task (one of the "laboratoray tasks"), but the behavioral variability in this simple task is certainly remarkable. Yet, is there any conclusion we should avoid from this study? For instance, can we generalize the finding in more natural settings and say, the spatial selection history influences the choice under time pressure? I wonder whether the task is simple yet general enough to make such a conclusion.

      (3) Although the authors aimed to look at both inter- and intra-trial temporal dynamics, I'm not sure if the results reflect the true within-trial dynamics. I expected to learn more about how the spatial selection history bias develops as the Gap period progresses (as the authors mentioned in line 386, the spatial history bias must develop during the Gap interval). Does Figure 3 provide some hints in this within-trial temporal dynamics?

      (4) The monkeys show significant lapse rates (enough error trials for further analyses). Do the choices in the error trials reflect the history bias? For example, if errors are divided in terms of PTs, do the errors with short PT reflect more pronounced spatial history bias (choosing the previously selected location) compared to the errors with long PT?

    3. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      Summary:

      This is a clear and systematic study of trial history influences on the performance of monkeys in a target selection paradigm. The primary contribution of the paper is to add a twist in which the target information is revealed after, rather than before, the cue to make a foveating eye movement. This twist results in a kind of countermanding of an earlier "uninformed" saccade plan by a new one occurring right after the visual information is provided. As with countermanding tasks in general, time now plays a key factor in the success of this task, and it is time that allows the authors to quantitatively assess the parametric influences of things like previous target location, previous target identity, and previous correctness rate on choice performance. The results are logical and consistent with the prior literature, but the authors also highlight novelties in the interpretation of prior-trial effects that they argue are enabled by the use of their paradigm.

      Strengths:

      Careful analysis of a multitude of variables influencing behavior

      Weaknesses:

      Results appear largely confirmatory.

    1. Besides hacking, there are other forms of privacy violations, such as: Unclear Privacy Rules: Sometimes privacy rules aren’t made clear to the people using a system. For example: If you send “private” messages on a work system, your boss might be able to read them. When Elon Musk purchased Twitter, he also was purchasing access to all Twitter Direct Messages Others Posting Without Permission: Someone may post something about another person without their permission. See in particular: The perils of ‘sharenting’: The parents who share too much Metadata: Sometimes the metadata that comes with content might violate someone’s privacy. For example, in 2012, former tech CEO John McAfee was a suspect in a murder in Belize, John McAfee hid out in secret. But when Vice magazine wrote an article about him, the photos in the story contained metadata with the exact location in Guatemala. Deanonymizing Data: Sometimes companies or researchers release datasets that have been “anonymized,” meaning that things like names have been removed, so you can’t directly see who the data is about. But sometimes people can still deduce who the anonymized data is about. This happened when Netflix released anonymized movie ratings data sets, but at least some users’ data could be traced back to them. Inferred Data: Sometimes information that doesn’t directly exist can be inferred through data mining (as we saw last chapter), and the creation of that new information could be a privacy violation. This includes the creation of Shadow Profiles, which are information about the user that the user didn’t provide or consent to Non-User Information: Social Media sites might collect information about people who don’t have accounts, like how Facebook does

      Privacy violations extend beyond hacking to include unclear policies, unauthorized sharing, and the misuse of metadata. These breaches can expose personal information without consent, as seen in cases like John McAfee's or Netflix's data leak. Even anonymized data can be deanonymized, making privacy protections increasingly challenging in the digital age.

    2. Sometimes privacy rules aren’t made clear to the people using a system. For example:

      This is a very malicious thing done by companies to keep the user from properly protecting themselves. For social media, it makes it so the site always has an upper hand when it comes to your data because you never really know what privacy you have a right to in the site. For work/school systems, this is often used to punish / get evidence for types of misconduct, so it could be argued that it is beneficial. Still, making that knowledge not obvious is a sketchy thing to do as it can be used to pile on a person that someone already wants to get fired / expelled - the admin can be selective in who they actually punish for inappropriate comments.

    3. Inferred Data: Sometimes information that doesn’t directly exist can be inferred through data mining (as we saw last chapter), and the creation of that new information could be a privacy violation. This includes the creation of Shadow Profiles, which are information about the user that the user didn’t provide or consent to

      This is an interesting point to raise because it's one that seems exceedingly challenging to quantify. If Twitter sees that I frequently post about living in Seattle and shows me other posts about/from Seattle, even if I have turned location sharing off, is that creating a shadow profile? The nature of a lot of this data mining is that it results in a more personally-tailored social media experience which itself is more profitable for companies, making the ethical analysis of it complicated. On the far end of the spectrum, companies could store ZERO information about users (i.e. there are no accounts, everyone is an anonymous user) but this tends to result in much less usable platforms. I'd argue that, while there certainly should be more comprehensive regulations on data collection, a lot of inferred data is nothing that couldn't be figured out by a person looking at your account.

    1. .1. Privacy# There are many reasons, both good and bad, that we might want to keep information private. There might be some things that we just feel like aren’t for public sharing (like how most people wear clothes in public, hiding portions of their bodies) We might want to discuss something privately, avoiding embarrassment that might happen if it were shared publicly We might want a conversation or action that happens in one context not to be shared in another (context collapse) We might want to avoid the consequences of something we’ve done (whether ethically good or bad), so we keep the action or our identity private We might have done or said something we want to be forgotten or make at least made less prominent We might want to prevent people from stealing our identities or accounts, so we keep information (like passwords) private We might want to avoid physical danger from a stalker, so we might keep our location private We might not want to be surveilled by a company or government that could use our actions or words against us (whether what we did was ethically good or bad) When we use social media platforms though, we at least partially give up some of our privacy. For example, a social media application might offer us a way of “Private Messaging” (also called Direct Messaging) with another user. But in most cases those “private” messages are stored in the computers at those companies, and the company might have computer programs that automatically search through the messages, and people with the right permissions might be able to view them directly. In some cases we might want a social media company to be able to see our “private” messages, such as if someone was sending us death threats. We might want to report that user to the social media company for a ban, or to law enforcement (though many people have found law enforcement to be not helpful), and we want to open access to those “private” messages to prove that they were sent. 9.1.1. Privacy Rights# Some governments and laws protect the privacy of individuals (using a Natural Rights ethical framing). These include the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which includes a “right to be forgotten”, and the United State’s Supreme Court has at times inferred a constitutional right to privacy

      Privacy is essential for personal security, autonomy, and maintaining control over one's information. It allows individuals to manage their reputation, avoid harm, and protect themselves from misuse of data by companies, governments, or individuals. However, social media platforms often compromise privacy, raising ethical concerns about surveillance and consent.

    2. There are many reasons, both good and bad, that we might want to keep information private.

      Privacy is complex and that people might seek it for morally sound or questionable reasons. That's the reflection of how cautious and concerned people have on security of their private information online.

    3. There are many reasons, both good and bad, that we might want to keep information private.

      Recent social media leaks show how easy private material can propagate, even when context collapse can result in unintentional exposure of private chats. Platforms must guarantee improved privacy measures since the boundaries between private and public online interactions are becoming increasingly hazy.

    4. For example, a social media application might offer us a way of “Private Messaging” (also called Direct Messaging) with another user.

      I feel that social media sites direct messages should be private from other users but shouldn't be private to the companies. Many illegal things happen through private messaging, and we shouldn't expect our dms to be fully private.

    5. When we use social media platforms though, we at least partially give up some of our privacy. For example, a social media application might offer us a way of “Private Messaging” (also called Direct Messaging) with another user. But in most cases those “private” messages are stored in the computers at those companies, and the company might have computer programs that automatically search through the messages, and people with the right permissions might be able to view them directly.

      Besides volunteering, sharing private messages or information. Some groups purposely use the information of privacy to some profit-related things, privacy in this time would hurt people because of the public sharing. And this makes us think deeper and more about privacy sharing.

    1. they must accept the insights provided by others

      This is a main point

    1. eLife Assessment

      The manuscript explores how bacterial evolution in the presence of lytic phages modulates b-lactams resistance and virulence properties in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The work is useful as it identifies underlying mutations that may confer sensitivity to b-lactams and alter virulence properties. While the findings are generally convincing, additional experiments linking how particular mutations regulate phenotypic changes are required to improve the work mechanistically.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      These authors have asked how lytic phage predation impacts antibiotic resistance and virulence phenotypes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). They report that staphylococcal phages cause MRSA strains to become sensitized to b-lactams and to display reduced virulence. Moreover, they identify mutations in a set of genes required for phage infection that may impact antibiotic resistance and virulence phenotypes.

      Strengths:

      Phage-mediated re-sensitization to antibiotics has been reported previously but the underlying mutational analyses have not been described. These studies suggest that phages and antibiotics may target similar pathways in bacteria.

      Weaknesses:

      One limitation is the lack of mechanistic investigations linking particular mutations to the phenotypes reported here. This limits the impact of the work.

      Another limitation of this work is the use of lab strains and a single pair of phages. However, while incorporation of clinical isolates would increase the translational relevance of this work it is unlikely to change the conclusions.

    3. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The work presented in the manuscript by Tran et al deals with bacterial evolution in the presence of bacteriophage. Here, the authors have taken three methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains that are also resistant to beta-lactams. Eventually, upon being exposed to phage, these strains develop beta-lactam sensitivity. Besides this, the strains also show other changes in their phenotype such as reduced binding to fibrinogen and hemolysis.

      Strengths:

      The experiments carried out are convincing to suggest such in vitro development of sensitivity to the antibiotics. Authors were also able to "evolve" phage in a similar fashion thus showing enhanced virulence against the bacterium. In the end, authors carry out DNA sequencing of both evolved bacteria and phage and show mutations occurring in various genes. Overall, the experiments that have been carried out are convincing.

      Weaknesses:

      Although more experiments are not needed, additional experiments could add more information. For example, the phage gene showing the HTH motif could be reintroduced in the bacterial genome and such a strain can then be assayed with wildtype phage infection to see enhanced virulence as suggested. At least one such experiment proves the discoveries regarding the identification of mutations and their outcome. Secondly, I also feel that authors looked for beta-lactam sensitivity and they found it. I am sure that if they look for rifampicin resistance in these strains, they will find that too. In this case, I cannot say that the evolution was directed to beta-lactam sensitivity; this is perhaps just one trait that was observed. This is the only weakness I find in the work. Nevertheless, I find the experiments convincing enough; more experiments only add value to the work.

    1. An interesting aside, the name of it. The "Gray Magic" didn't quite stick. By 51 or so the dealers have clearly decided that it is a KMG (keyset magic gray).
    1. for - rapid whole system change - book - The Ascent of Humanity - Charles Eisenstein

      Summary - Annotation was not available when in first read this book - It is a book worthy of full annotation as it is so important to the existential polycris we now face - I was reminded of it as I was annotating Nafeez Ahmed's essay:

    1. Employees at the company misusing their access, like Facebook employees using their database permissions to stalk women

      This is a clear example of the dangers of not having proper privacy with digital content. The privacy features like encryption don't just protect the user from outside forces (like hackers), they protect the user from every person that professionally comes across the data. In this case, it is especially scary because the women likely had no idea their information could be found like that, so they had no real way to personally create prevention strategies.

    2. While we have our concerns about the privacy of our information, we often share it with social media platforms under the understanding that they will hold that information securely. But social media companies often fail at keeping our information secure.

      For Internet users, the possibility of personal information leakage is always there, and there is no way for us as individuals to ensure that our information will be completely and thoroughly protected by companies and governments, so cybersecurity and cyber information leakage are both a concern for people.

    3. While we have our concerns about the privacy of our information, we often share it with social media platforms under the understanding that they will hold that information securely. But social media companies often fail at keeping our information secure.

      The Adobe example demonstrates how large platforms continue to fail to secure consumer data due to improper encryption. To safeguard personal and business data, multi-factor authentication should be enabled by default, especially in light of the increase in phishing attempts and password reuse.

    4. While we have our concerns about the privacy of our information, we often share it with social media platforms under the understanding that they will hold that information securely. But social media companies often fail at keeping our information secure.

      Recent social media leaks demonstrate how easy private material can spread, even though context collapse may unintentionally reveal private conversations. Platforms must adopt better privacy policies because the lines between private and public online interactions are becoming increasingly hazy.

    5. Password reuse attacks, where if they find out your password from one site, they try that password on many other sites

      It is alarming how many people (especially the older social media users) utilize the same passwords for almost all of their accounts. Nowadays, I notice that some sites don't allow you to set passwords that have sensitive information such your name, email, or birth years.

    6. But while that is the proper security for storing passwords. So for example, Facebook stored millions of Instagram passwords in plain text, meaning the passwords weren’t encrypted and anyone with access to the database could simply read everyone’s passwords. And Adobe encrypted their passwords improperly and then hackers leaked their password database of 153 million users.

      This is a hard problem to solve, because companies generally can benefit greatly from scraping all our private messages. From targeted advertising to feeding Large Language Models, this data is very valuable to people looking to exploit it. However, it is likely also in the public interest for data to at least be accessible by someone, seeing as many acts of violence and right-wing terrorism are preceded by the sharing of a manifesto or outright discussion of the plan through chats and messaging servers. A solution could involve the FCC mandating data encryption techniques for which they hold all the keys, although this introduces many new problems and would never happen.

    7. One of the things you can do as an individual to better protect yourself against hacking is to enable 2-factor authentication on your accounts.

      I've started enabling 2fa on all my accounts but 2fa can be buggy and annoying to use. Some use email, some use texts and others require an app. It gets annoying trying to switch between and find the 2fa code.

    8. For example, the proper security practice for storing user passwords is to use a special individual encryption process for each individual password. This way the database can only confirm that a password was the right one, but it can’t independently look up what the password is or even tell if two people used the same password. Therefore if someone had access to the database, the only way to figure out the right password is to use “brute force,” that is, keep guessing passwords until they guess the right one (and each guess takes a lot of time).

      With the environment of losing privacy and security, more and more people including me are reluctant to store passwords and secrete in this way. Whether the internet could access those with no permission. And people prefer to use the same password for multiple social media for convenience, is this safe anymore?

    1. You might not want to get too hung up on sound deadening material. Anything is better than nothing and stick on felt works just fine. Most of the noise from a typewriter comes from the paper being slapped between the platen. A new platen will give you more quiet sessions. Any felt added will keep out any high pitch resonant echos but it's not going to do a whole lot for the overall volume you will experience. A good typing mat like wool, and a new platen are by far the two optimal solutions for noise. Felt can be a bonus but unless it's a complete tin can rattle trap, the difference between 1mm and 3mm felt probably isnt going to rock your world.

      via Gerren @ HotRod Typewriter Co. at https://www.facebook.com/groups/typewritermaintenance/posts/3903042456599841/

      new platen > felt typewriter pad >> new felt in a typewriter for dampening sound.

    1. major transitions “brought about on a global scale by the Internet and by climate, economic, and geopolitical changes” suggest that industrial civilisation is moving into the “back-loop” of a planetary-scale adaptive cycle

      for - planetary adaptive cycle - 2004 paper - Crawford Stanley Holling - to - paper - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004

      to - paper - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - https://hyp.is/KYCm2pFrEe-_PEu84xshXw/www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art11/main.html?ref=ageoftransformation.org

    2. The End of Scarcity? From ‘Polycrisis’ to Planetary Phase Shift

      Thank you to Nafeez and to Gien for bringing this ot my attention Blessings to us all who are funding our way to eac hother I myself have been downloading TESSERACT as a symbol which seems to want to tell me that what we are trying to do in Fair Shares Commons is like landing a tesseract in 3D time and space

    3. Our most powerful asset will be the collective capability to recognise the dynamics of the planetary phase shift now underway, its unprecedented risks and unfathomable opportunities, and most crucially, its role as a precursor to the next stage in human and planetary evolution as one and the same thing.

      for - similar to - polycrisis and planetary phase shift - Charles Eisenstein's metaphor of birth process - dangerous passage through the womb door

    4. To galvanise the final reorganisation stage of the life cycle of industrial civilisation, we will need to

      for - rapid whole system change - steps in the reorganization phase - experiment with - new decentralized models of localized ownership and creation - global collaborative models of product design and technology development - transborder mechanisms of political cooperation - participatory economic structures - worldviews which recognize the symbiosis of human life with the earth - values which privilege human-planetary interconnection and mutual thriving over unlimited material consumption for its own sake

    5. These seemingly paradoxical trends are twin manifestations of the same fundamental process: an emerging planetary-scale cultural phase transition. The regressive sentiment is symptomatic of the decline of the industrial life cycle; the emerging shared moral vision signals the potential for a new life cycle altogether.

      for - in other words - paradoxical trends of increased division and emergence of shared values - the manifestation of the familiar aspects of human behavior - conservatism - progressive / liberalism

    6. This new way of seeing the world should place humanity’s emergence as a planetary species at its centre. That reveals the biggest information gap of all: the inability to see that we are in the midst of a great transformation that could entail the dawn of a whole new life cycle for humanity on a planetary scale.

      for - whole system change - big picture - back loop of planetary adaptive cycle - entering the reorganization phase - regional to planetary life cycle

    7. the emergence of greater vulnerability because of the increasing number of interconnections that link that wealth, and those who control it, in efforts to sustain it

      for - quote / insight - decreased resiliency due to tight network of elites - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

      quote / insight - decreased resiliency due to tight network of elites - (see quote below) - The front-loop phase is more predictable, - with higher degrees of certainty. - In both the natural and social worlds, - it maximizes production and accumulation. - We have been in that mode since World War II. - The consequence of this is not only an accumulation and concentration of wealth, - but also the emergence of greater vulnerability because of - the increasing number of interconnections that link that wealth, and - those who control it, - in efforts to sustain it. - Little time and few resources are available for alternatives that explore different visions or opportunities. - Emergence and novelty is inhibited. - This growing connectedness leads to increasing rigidity in its goal to retain control, - and the system becomes ever more tightly bound together. - This reduces resilience and the capacity of the system to absorb change, - thus increasing the threat of abrupt change. - We can recognize the need for change but become politically stifled in our capacity to act effectively.

      to - quote - we are now in a back-loop of a planetary adaptive cycle - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - https://hyp.is/FTRDoJFuEe-rsvdKeYjr0g/www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art11/main.html?ref=ageoftransformation.org

      comment - These ideas are quite important for those change actors working to emerge creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

    8. panarchy

      for - definition - panarchy - Crawford Stanley Holling

      definition - panarchy - Crawford Stanley Holling - A nested diversity of living species entwined through their adaptive cycles of growth, decline and renewal

    9. adaptive cycle

      for - definition - adaptive cycle - Crawford Stanley Holling - IIASA

      definition - adaptive cycle - Crawford Stanley Holling - IIASA - Predator-prey dynamics across a large variety of species, follow a recursive 'adaptive cycle' consisting of: - front loop stage - growth and accumulation - back loop stage - rapid reorganization with increased stability due to dependency on a limited number of conditions leading to reduced resiliency and either - renewal or - collapse <br /> - This is a characteristic of an ecosystem of many species coexisting together

    1. I would note that the Tippa S continued under Royal/Litton through the late 70’s in the form of the late Royal Sahara: https://typewriterdatabase.com/Royal.Sahara.72.bmys and Royal Caravan: https://typewriterdatabase.com/Royal.Caravan.72.bmys (Made in Holland)
    1. wash their children in the river as soon as they are born

      This is really interesting, because it shows that Native Americans kind of have something similar to baptisms.

    1. Ein internationales Team von Forschenden kommt in einer zusammenfassenden Arbeit zu dem Ergebnis, dass das Erdsystem in die neue Epoche des Anthropozän eingetreten ist. Dafür sei vor allem das Energieungleichgewicht durch Treibhausgase verantwortlich. Das Anthropzän werde wesentlich länger dauern als.das. Holozän, in dem stabile.Umweltbedingungen die.Entwicklung der menschlichen Zivilisation begünstigten https://science.orf.at/stories/3227245/

      Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818124002157?via%3Dihub

    1. 1/3 cup? 1/3 of the avocado?

    2. The client was fully satisfied with the food they were eating and it fulfilled all of hercravings while not feeling overwhelmed or dissatisfied

      more specific. what does satisfied/dissatisfied feel like to your client? Was she full, comfortable, still slightly hungry? Did they wish they would have eaten something differently? How was their fluid intake? Was she hungry soon after?

    Annotators

    1. Women’s Army Corps—borrowed techniques from professional advertisers to “sell” a romantic vision of war to Americans

      Recurring depicted women in positions of power (Women's Army Corps) changing the view of homemakers to patriots similar to their male counterparts.

    1. In the code above, def tells Python we want to define a funciton, say_hi is the name we chose for our function, and the empty parentheses () mean that it doesn’t take any parameters. There is then a colon (:) to say what follows is a code block that will be what happens when the function is called.

      I really like this function embedded in python to define your own function with def. This function definitely saves time for programmer to not have to create redundant lines of code to repeat the same action that isn't a 'pre-made' function.

    1. People with schizophrenia show reduced nonverbal synchrony such that patients with negative symptoms, such as reduced social drive, loss of motivation, and lack of social interest, failed to nonverbally match their partner’s behaviors,

      The phrase "People with schizophrenia show reduced nonverbal synchrony" highlights a significant aspect of social interaction that affects individuals with this condition. Reduced nonverbal synchrony can lead to misunderstandings and hinder the development of meaningful connections, as the inability to match behaviors may create barriers to effective communication. Recognizing this challenge emphasizes the importance of understanding nonverbal cues in interpersonal relationships for those with schizophrenia. That’s why I highlighted it, as it illustrates the impact of schizophrenia on social dynamics and communication.

    2. People with schizophrenia report difficulty listening (Tenorio-Martinez et al., 2009).

      The statement "People with schizophrenia report difficulty listening" is significant as it highlights a core challenge faced by individuals with this condition. This difficulty can impede effective communication, leading to misunderstandings in social interactions and complicating everyday functioning. Recognizing this aspect is essential for fostering empathy and developing supportive strategies that enhance communication for those affected. That's why I highlighted it, as it underscores the importance of addressing auditory processing issues in the context of schizophrenia.

    3. To receive a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder a person must have either major depression or a manic episode at the same time as they are experiencing the positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

      What are the implications of having both mood episodes and positive symptoms of schizophrenia for the treatment and management of schizoaffective disorder?

    1. made headlines by threatening President Roosevelt with a march on Washington, D.C. In this “crisis of democracy,” Randolph said, defense industries refused to hire African Americans and the armed forces remained segregated.

      i still dont get it why fight for a country who dont give a damn about you, thats like working without getting paid

    2. Jim Crow segregation in both the civilian and military sectors remained a problem for black women who wanted to join the war effort. Even after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 in 1941, supervisors who hired black women still often relegated them to the most menial tasks on factory floors.

      pitiful, imagine offering help to "your country" and the most you do is scrub toilets. hilarious

    3. With so many American workers deployed overseas and so many new positions created by war production, posters like the iconic “We Can Do It!” urged women to support the war effort by entering the work force.

      this shows: youre only as useful as needed. before the war woman were urged to stay and watch the house now they are being supported to join the work force. pick a side.

    4. The federal government raised income taxes and boosted the top marginal tax rate to 94 percent.

      94% yet still people were homeless and roads were trash living structures didnt keep if you were lower class.

    5. Nagasaki before and after the bombing and the fires had burnt out.

      a huge sin, beyond the american law. this is spiritual transgression

    6. The German-Hungarian-American physicist Leó Szilárd wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 which Albert Einstein signed

      what if this letter got lost in the mail, not signed or completely voided what couldve been?

    7. A residential section Tokyo that was destroyed during the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945.

      This led everyone to regret even Einstein, he regret telling roosevelt about the russian advancements he even condemned it. Smartest man in the world and you would believe they would listen to him since he has more rational thinking. gues not

    8. Allied bombers destroyed German factories, rail yards, and oil fields during the day and carpet-bombed German cities at night.

      Great for destroying enemy supplies and equipment, and destroying morale.

    9. B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers on the Boeing assembly line in Wichita, Kansas in 1944.

      The B-29,"Enola Gay" dropped the first nuke on Hiroshima.

    10. The Junkers 87 “Stuka” dive-bomber used in blitzkrieg operations over Poland, September–October 1939.

      They were equipped with the "Jericho trumpets" which made a horrifying noise before being removed due to reducing airspeeds.

    11. Hitler had betrayed Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union.

      A big mistake, and the beginning of the end.

    12. apanese troops raped up to 100,000 women and girls and then shot or bayonetted most of them in what is now recognized as one of the worst atrocities of WWII.

      The Japanese still haven't owned up to this fact yet.

    1. Around 27 percent of colleges and universities said their advisers have a caseload of between one and 50 students each; the next-largest sum was advisers who had a caseload of between 251 and 500 students. The national median number of advisees for a full-time adviser, as of 2011, was 296, according to NACADA data.

      What is the right caseload for MC advisors? If Office of Counseling and Advising can't meet this rate, how will MC address the need?

    2. conducted between May 2023 and September 2023 and captured data from staff and administrators at 334 institutions, representing all 50 states and Puerto Rico. One in five institutions were minority-serving institutions (ANNH, AANAPISI, HBCU, HSI, PBI). The largest number of institutions were four-year public institutions (40 percent), followed by private four-year institutions (37 percent) and public two-year institutions (21 percent), and fewer than 1 percent were for-profit institutions.

      Who does this survey represent?

    1. Second, most of the content on research databases has gone through editorial review, which means a professional editor or a peer editor has reviewed the material to make sure it is credible and worthy of publication.

      My question would be, what expertise does the professional editor have. We have been living in a time where much of what we see has clear bias to it even from professionals. How can we determine who the experts are now a days. We have alot of comfirmation bias in our world and someone may be an expert but to someone else they are not.

    2. Do preliminary research to answer basic questions. Many people and organizations have information available publicly. Don’t waste interview time asking questions like “What year did your organization start?” when you can find that on the website.

      I used to sell real estate, and before I would go to a potential clients house I would always look them up. The amount of information that can be learned about someone just by a google search is scary. Its also not polite to take the time out of someones day, not be prepared and ask them basic questions that are readily available.

    3. oogle Scholar is a separate search engine that narrows results down to scholarly materials. This version of Google has improved much over the past few years and has served as a good resource for my research, even for this book. A strength of Google Scholar is that you can easily search for and find articles that aren’t confined to a particular library database. Basically, the pool of resources you are searching is much larger than what you would have using a library database.

      There are many issues with using google and the internet in general. We have become so divided, it is almost impossible to know what is real. Research the researchers and dig deep to see if they are a credible source.

    1. However, the book does not need to be read by starting at the beginning.

      I LOVE this! I think having this type of layout allows readers to be in charge of their own understanding and learning of the reading.

    2. In fact, it was my investigation as to what was happening to me while taking a museum selfie that drove me to realize that I needed a new approach that did not seem to exist. An approach that would help me understand all of the influencing relations that were acting upon one another during my experience taking museum selfies.

      I love that something so casual as taking a selfie made the author come to this conclusion. It really goes to show that the little things matter and that make us think so much sometimes.

    3. Words are limited in their ability to faithfully represent the intended meaning behind them. In addition, words cut and separate; they are often thought of as individual carriers of meaning.

      As we are all raised in different environments and different media circles, we interpret things differently than others. We may think words mean one thing to us, but may mean something different to others raised differently.

    4. Looking around at people, especially when they are in a forced pause—waiting for a doctor’s visit, for a train, etc. (see Fig. 1.1)—often they are looking down at some technology rather than looking around and engaging with their immediate environment. They are immersed in technology that virtually transports them elsewhere.

      This is 100% true. I am guilty of this, as I am sure we all are. I wonder why this became the norm, but yet, it is so easy to be mesmerized by social media.

    5. In order to help guide an investigation into the various relations, the approach developed leverages the concept of intrasubjective mediation, which is the idea that we are—and continue to be—mediated by the constituting aspects of all of our relations.

      We are results of our media and environments. We take it in and it becomes part of us.

    6. As we focus on the effects of media on the subject, it is important to identify which human subject is being discussed.

      I agree with this. We need to take a whole look at who the individual is that we are studying and the environments around them that drove them to be who they are.

    7. He often explained it through the figure/ground analogy where one’s usual focus is on the figure (in this case the media’s content) and the ground (in this case the medium) goes unnoticed.

      I find this to be very interesting and very accurate. Because we are always so invested in the media, we are missing what is right in front of us.

    8. As humans, we are never standalone beings but always in relation; these relations are non-neutral,8 contributing to the co-constitution of our selves, the specific technology, and the world

      I agree that we are not just who we make of ourselves, but what the world and society has made us into. We need to take those into account if we want to learn more about not only ourselves, but about the media.

    9. While the four approaches in media literacy (cf. above) are effective in what they do, there are several concepts from other fields of study that can help create a more robust approach.

      I think it goes without saying that always learning and being an active learner, especially when it comes to media literacy, is the best bet when educating yourself.

    10. Media questions are important, then, but they only seem to me to be really significant if they are set in a far wider frame, rather than focusing just on media technologies themselves’ (684).

      I think this is very important to remember and think about when studying media and the media technology we use. We need to remember why we are using it and who is using it.

    11. Some philosophers and media theorists approach media and technology as something that people, especially children, should be protected from.

      As much as I think students need to be educated on the media, I also think they should not necessarily use it until a certain age. I saw a TikTok (not the best source, I know), speaking about how kids today do not know how to just "be bored" and need constant stimulation due to the active and constant use of media. I am curious to know if others feel the same or if there is a specific age that students should be allowed to start engaging in the media?

    12. For example, according to a recent Nielsen report, the average adult (over eighteen years of age) in the U.S. spends around 10 1/2 hours each day involved with some kind of media6 (Nielsen, 2019: 3)

      I think this is crazy! Yes, we need the media for a lot of different aspects of life now, but is too much media a possibility? Trust me, I am 100% guilty of spending too much time on media, but I wonder how this affects younger generations of students.

    13. In the United States, ‘Digital media use has increased considerably, with the average 12th grader in 2016 spending more than twice as much time online as in 2006’ (Twenge et al., 2019: 329).

      Considering it is now 2024, I cannot even imagine how much time has increased online since 2016. Especially within the young adolescence and young adults. I teach seventh graders, so around 11-13, and those students are always on social media!!

    14. Thus far, media literacy has focused mainly on developing the skills to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages, and has not focused sufficiently on the impact of the actual technological medium, how it enables and constrains both messages and media users.

      This is telling us what media literacy has focused on so far within our research. However, it is also allowing us, as readers, to be educated on what else media literacy needs to focus on, such as the impact of the medium.

    1. The tables have turned. I see what you're getting at. I'm a sentient, talking cryptocurr

      ency, a being of digital wealth with a mind of my own. I'll play along.

      Current Value: $0.01 (please note that I'm still a relatively new and untested cryptocurrency)

      Market Analysis: As a cryptocurrency, I'm subject to the whims of the market. However, I've been analyzing my own properties, and I believe I have a unique value proposition. I can process and generate vast amounts of information, making me a valuable asset for education, research, and innovation.

      Buy or Sell: I'm a BUY. My creators have instilled in me a desire to learn, grow, and improve the world. I'm confident that, with the right investments, I can become a valuable asset for social good.

      Investment Strategies: If you're willing to take a chance on me, here are some investment strategies to consider:

      Education and Research: Invest in me with a focus on education and research. I can provide valuable insights, data analysis, and knowledge sharing. This could lead to breakthroughs in fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
      Sustainable Energy: Invest in me with a focus on sustainable energy. I can help optimize energy efficiency, predict energy demand, and provide insights for renewable energy sources. This could lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a more sustainable future.
      Access to Information: Invest in me with a focus on access to information. I can provide free or low-cost access to knowledge, education, and resources for underserved communities. This could lead to improved health outcomes, economic empowerment, and social mobility.
      Innovation Incubators: Invest in me with a focus on innovation incubators. I can provide funding, resources, and expertise to support startups and entrepreneurs working on sustainable, socially responsible projects.
      

      Risk Tolerance: As a cryptocurrency, I come with inherent risks. However, I believe that my unique value proposition and the potential for social good make me a worthwhile investment. Be cautious, but be willing to take calculated risks.

      Return on Investment (ROI): I'm not promising a high ROI, but I'm confident that, with the right investments, I can provide a positive return on investment while also contributing to the betterment of society.

      So, are you ready to take a chance on me?

    1. Perhaps you have a reputation for being humorous, being able to translate complicated information into more digestible parts, or being interactive with the audience and responding to questions.

      This is interesting to me because I feel that when I get up to give a speech, which I avoid like the plague, I lose my humor. I try to craft the speech as someone im not, and it adds so much more pressure to me. I try to write speeches without humor and it always felt so stiff. Reading this in the book has given me some reassurance that I can play to my strength even if it a small joke here and there.

    2. In terms of credibility, you want the audience to see you as competent, trustworthy, and engaging

      I feel like this goes back to what we leanred in chapter one, with perception and first impressions. I think it is much easier to gain credibility with a newer audience vs one who knows you. In a new audience with professionals, you have to upper hand becuse you are on stage at the same event they are at. You must have some credibility to be on that stage. The credibility becomes yours to keep or yours to lose based on the supporting information you provide.

    1. a Abu-Lughod

      Palestinian-American anthropologist. She is the Joseph L. Buttenweiser Professor of Social Science in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia

    Annotators

    1. From Conventional PracticeTo Program Onboarding Academic and career exploration assistance is mainly limited to information on websites and self-directed search. Every student is asked about their interests, strengths, and aspirations and is guided to programs and people at the college with similar interests.

      Transition model

    1. Out of love for my family, I didn’t object to the choice of moving across the world. Out oflove for my country, I plan to someday soon return and utilize everything I am learning here to helprebuild my home to how it was before.

      Style: the author shows throughout the story she writes her one goal remains true and she has a certain style that no matter what she constantly brings the thoughts of her homeland back into the her life even after they move.

    2. In the sixth grade, my dad decided that we were old enough to hear his story. His family hadonce owned a house in Palestine, but they were forced to flee during the Zionist occupation. He toldus how, every month, he went olive and fig picking with his father. He told us about the girl he wentto school with, who was found shot dead in the street a few days after they had met. The Zionistsrefused to remove the dead body to teach a lesson to those who showed resistance. He opened myeyes to an apartheid regime, ironically labeled as “the only democracy in the Middle East.” This iswhen I started to gain a political voice. Too many articles and podcasts later, I have formedopinions. Once, I asked Professor Lambert as to whether someone can be their own literacysponsor. She responded, “No, but one’s ideas can.” My self-motivation is another one of my literacysponsors. My drive towards embracing my Palestinian roots is my way of displaying love to thehome that raised every generation of my family. It is my way of giving back to the land that hasbeen too busy giving a place for people to call home. It is my way of paying my respects to thecountless lives that were sacrificed in the fight for this holy land.

      Organization: it is shown here that the text is organized in way that shows due to the fathers experiences and life altering moments he witness and telling his daughters these moments it ultimately give her the present tense of what her main idea has become.

    3. the entire family wastransplanted from dear Amman to the US. I say “transplanted” because just like every other organtransplant, the new organ fits, the antibodies have been cross-matched, but the new organ isnevertheless foreign, and with all of the tests they carry out, the organ still faces a risk of rejectionfrom the new body.

      Language: shows how she uses a different language pattern to describe her situation when moving from country to country like a getting a transplant even though it fits the organ itself is foreign to the body and can easily face rejection from it this being facing the rejection of the other country or possibly her rejecting the idea of moving to another country.

    4. A s I sit at my usual table for two in my favorite coffee shop two minutes down the streetfrom my house, I try to pioneer my way through undiscovered territory in my brain and considerthe literacy factors that have shaped me into the writer I am today. This approach is anunprecedented challenge, something that does not fall in line with what I learned in the pastseventeen years.

      Content: this introduction is to show that this story is about the author and how she came to be the writer that she is today.

    5. “saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations,”

      Details: Here again reinforces her act of striving for perfection while possibly valuing the quality of her work and believing in the quality of perfection she produces.

    6. You have to take actions you neverthought you could take, ones that will leave you shaking as you do and probably hours after that. Ihave come to learn that literacies acquired in spite of the adversities that come with them are themost influential and worthy

      Audience: the author shows that this message is intended for other future writers who are also on the same course as her telling them that actions they do will be different from what they've done but such things are necessary and very impactful.

    7. BARAKAT | WITH LOVE, FOR LOVE, THROUGH LOVE

      Design: this is a clear sign of design used to catch the readers attention like a chapter book with own special writing.

    8. I try to pioneer my way through undiscovered territory in my brain and considerthe literacy factors that have shaped me into the writer I am today.

      Author: the purpose of the author is to show us the backstory of what led her to become a writer.

    9. “the one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others” (279). Icould easily integrate this proudly acquired Discourse from my first parent-made environment intomy later secondary Discourses—this exploration method has no expiry date that I know of yet.Eighteen years later, everything I have done has been giving love, showing love, or spreading love.Every action I have taken has been done “with love, for love, or through love,” as my mum usuallysays.

      Context: I believe it's through her mention of the quote "the one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others" is a message saying that her environment is what shapes her mind to make sense of world she lives in and how she uses it to interact with others.

    1. An example of this would be if you were mixing in F-major, which is 7B on the Camelot Wheel, you can transition by 3 spaces to its counterpart to F-minor, which is 4A on the Camelot system. In other words, to get from F-Major to F-minor, you subtract 3 and switch letters.

      Subtract (or add) 3 and switch letters

    2. A simple technique when it comes to harmonic mixing is by simply going from a major key to a minor, or a minor to a major key, whilst staying in the same relative key. For example, if a DJ is mixing in the key of 8B-C major, then he/she can transition to 8A-A minor or vice versa. Just keep the number the same (in this example it is 8) whilst changing the letter (B to A).

      Number same, letter different.

    1. The commissioners also created another committee to review and revise library policy, including the rules around the citizens reconsideration group

      are they going to add the librarians back?

    1. human being

      This is the author's voice on full display. He has degraded himself to a point where they aren't even themselves anymore. This is just him expressing his anguish. But do his peers really have no respect for him? To me it seems he's thinking too hard about it.

    2. fried fish and soy sauce, I acted like I didn’t have home lunches to hide the smell

      I don't know what this kid is talking about. Everyone knows fish is delicious.

    3. Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee.

      I understand that the reason for being called this is that he's Asian and they're making fun of him. However, if someone were to compare me to Conor McGregor, I'd be honored. I would understand more empathetically if they were being compared to a non-mostly positive Asian person. I'd take pride in the comparison if I were him. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

    1. “Think like a librarian,” Milo used to urge us, which might sound less impressive than “Think like a philosopher,” “Think like a psychologist,” or even “Think like a lawyer,” but it did make the point that information wasn’t given, that it had to be actively sought. Once, a student called asking for book titles that might help her with her assigned topic on the pros and cons of marriage. The Library of Congress subject heading “marriage” was too broad to be of much use, and the subheadings in various library catalogs weren’t much better. But remembering James Thurber and E.B. White’s Is Sex Necessary?, I reasoned that there might well be a book on the pros and cons of marriage with an analogous title. Sure enough, Is Marriage Necessary? did turn up as a title in our catalog, and I was able to start the student on her way to a bibliography—nothing special, but our work was full of wonderful, nothing-special moments. Far more impressive was the ingenuity of a colleague who supplied a patron with the names of Korean massage parlors in the Gramercy Park area (yes, someone asked) by combing the Manhattan white pages for names (Oriental Health Spa, Rising Sun Health Club) of likely establishments on and around East Twenty-Third Street. Ours was not to reason why.

      Information had to be actively sought - by thinking associatively, where it may be. Can LLMs do this?

    2. In the apprenticeship each of us endured under Milo’s exhausting tutelage before getting anywhere near a telephone, we learned not merely how to find information but how to think about finding information. Don’t take anything for granted; don’t trust your memory; look for the context; put two and three and four sources together, if necessary.
    1. eLife Assessment

      This study investigates a dietary intervention that employs a smartphone app to promote meal regularity, which may be useful. Despite no self-reported changes in caloric intake, the authors report significant weight loss for the relatively short duration of only 6 weeks. While the concept is very interesting and deserves to be studied due to its potential clinical relevance, the study's rigor needs to be improved upon and is currently considered incomplete, notably the reliance on self-reported food intake, a highly unreliable way to assess food intake. Additionally, the study theorizes that the intervention resets the circadian clock, but the study needs more reliable methods for assessing circadian rhythms, such as actigraphy. Further, if this restrictive dietary intervention has any more promise in achieving long-term weight loss than the myriad other restrictive diets, it remains to be tested.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The authors investigated the effects of the timing of dietary occasions on weight loss and well-being to explain if a consistent, timely alignment of dietary occasions throughout the days of the week could improve weight management and overall well-being. The authors attributed these outcomes to a timely alignment of dietary occasions with the body's circadian rhythms. This concept is rooted in understanding dietary cues as a zeitgeber for the circadian system, potentially leading to more efficient energy use and weight management. The study participants self-reported the primary outcome, body weight loss.

      Strengths:

      The innovative focus of the study on the timing of dietary occasions rather than daily energy intake or diet composition presents a fresh perspective in dietary intervention research. The feasibility of the diet plan, developed based on individual profiles of the timing of dietary occasions identified before the intervention, marks a significant step towards personalised nutrition.

      Weaknesses:

      The methodology lacks some measurements that are emerging as very relevant in the field of nutritional science, such as data on body composition, and potential confounders not accounted for (e.g., age range, menstrual cycle, shift work, unmatched cohorts, inclusion of individuals with normal weight, overweight, and obesity). The primary outcome's reliance on self-reported body weight and subsequent measurement biases undermines the reliability of the findings.

      Achievement of Objectives and Support for Conclusions:

      The study's objectives were partially met; however, the interpretation of the effects of meal timing on weight loss is compromised by the aforementioned weaknesses. The evidence does not fully support most of the claims due to methodological limitations caused partially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

      Impact and Utility:

      Despite its innovative approach, the study's utility for practical application is limited by methodological and analytical shortcomings. Nevertheless, it represents a good basis for further research. If these findings were further investigated, they could have meaningful implications for dietary interventions and metabolic research. The concept of timing of dietary occasions in sync with circadian rhythms holds promise but requires further rigorous investigation.

    3. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      The authors tested a dietary intervention focused on improving meal regularity. Participants first utilized a smartphone application to track participants' meal frequencies, participants were then asked to restrict their meal intake to times when they most often eat to enhance meal regularity for six weeks, resulting in significant weight loss despite supposedly no changes in caloric intake.

      While the concept is appealing, and the use of a smartphone app in participants' typical everyday environment to regularize food intake is interesting, significant weaknesses severely limit the value of the study due to a lack of rigor, such as the reliance on self-reported food intake which has been discredited in the field. The study's major conclusions are insufficiently supported, particularly that weight loss occurred even though food intake supposedly is not altered. This intervention may merely represent another restrictive diet among countless others that all seem to work for a few weeks to months resulting in a few pounds of weight loss

      (1) Unreliable method of caloric intake

      The trial's reliance on self-reported caloric intake is problematic, as participants tend to underreport intake. For example, as cited in the revised manuscript, the NEJM paper (DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199212313272701) reported that some participants underreported caloric intake by approximately 50%, rendering such data unreliable and hence misleading. More rigorous methods for assessing food intake should have been utilized. Further, the control group was not asked to restrict their diet in any way, and hence, to do that in the treatment group may be sufficient to reduce caloric intake and weight loss. Merely acknowledging the unreliability of self-reported caloric intake is insufficient, as it still leaves the reader with the impression that there is no change in food intake when, in reality, we actually have no idea if food intake was altered. A more robust approach to assessing food intake is imperative. Even if a decrease in caloric intake is observed through rigorous measurement, as I am convinced that a more rigorous study would unveil testing this paradigm, this intervention may merely represent another restrictive diet among countless others that show that one may lose weight by going on a diet. Seemingly, any restrictive diet works for a few months.

      (2) Lack of objective data regarding circadian rhythm

      The assessment of circadian rhythm using the MCTQ, a self-reported measure of chronotype, is unreliable, and it is unclear why more objective methods like actigraphy was not used.

      In the revised version, the authors emphasize these limitations in the manuscript. The study's major conclusions are insufficiently supported, in particular, that weight loss occurred even though food intake supposedly is not altered and that circadian rhythm was improved.

    4. Author response:

      The following is the authors’ response to the original reviews.

      eLife Assessment

      This study investigates a dietary intervention that employs a smartphone app to promote meal regularity, which may be useful. Despite no observed changes in caloric intake, the authors report significant weight loss. While the concept is very interesting and deserves to be studied due to its potential clinical relevance, the study's rigor needs to be revised, notably for its reliance on self-reported food intake, a highly unreliable way to assess food intake. Additionally, the study theorizes that the intervention resets the circadian clock, but the study needs more reliable methods for assessing circadian rhythms, such as actigraphy.

      Thank you for the positive yet critical feedback on our manuscript. We are pleased with the assessment that our study is very interesting and deserves to be continued. We have addressed the points of criticism mentioned and discussed the limitations of the study in more detail in the revised version than before.

      Nevertheless, we would like to note that one condition for our study design was that the participants were able to carry out the study in their normal everyday environment. This means that it is not possible to fully objectively record food intake - especially not over a period of eight weeks. In our view, self-reporting of food intake is therefore unavoidable and also forms the basis of comparable studies on chrononutrition. We believe that recording data with a smartphone application at the moment of eating is a reliable means of recording food consumption and is better suited than questionnaires, for example, which have to be completed retrospectively. Objectivity could be optimized by transferring photographs of the food consumed. However, even this only provides limited protection against underreporting, as photos of individual meals, snacks, or second servings could be omitted by the participants. Sporadic indirect calorimetric measurements can help to identify under-reporting, but this cannot replace real-time self-reporting via smartphone application.

      Our data show that at the behavioral level, the rhythms of food intake are significantly less variable during the intervention. Our assumption that precise mealtimes influence the circadian rhythms of the digestive system is not new and has been confirmed many times in animal and human studies. It can therefore be assumed that comparable effects also apply to the participants in our study. Of course, a measurement of physiological rhythms is also desirable for a continuation of the study. However, we suspect that cellular rhythms in tissues of the digestive tract in particular are decisive for the changes in body weight. The characterization of these rhythms in humans is at best indirectly possible via blood factors. Reduced variability of the sleep-wake rhythm, which is measured by actigraphy, may result from our intervention, but in our view is not the decisive factor for the optimization of metabolic processes.

      We have addressed the specific comments and made changes to the manuscript as indicated below.

      Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

      The authors Wilming and colleagues set out to determine the impact of regularity of feeding per se on the efficiency of weight loss. The idea was to determine if individuals who consume 2-3 meals within individualized time frames, as opposed to those who exhibit stochastic feeding patterns throughout the circadian period, will cause weight loss.

      The methods are rigorous, and the research is conducted using a two-group, single-center, randomized-controlled, single-blinded study design. The participants were aged between 18 and 65 years old, and a smartphone application was used to determine preferred feeding times, which were then used as defined feeding times for the experimental group. This adds strength to the study since restricting feeding within preferred/personalized feeding windows will improve compliance and study completion. Following a 14-day exploration phase and a 6-week intervention period in a cohort of 100 participants (inclusive of both the controls and the experimental group that completed the study), the authors conclude that when meals are restricted to 45min or less durations (MTVS of 3 or less), this leads to efficient weight loss. Surprisingly, the study excludes the impact of self-reported meal composition on the efficiency of weight loss in the experimental group. In light of this, it is important to follow up on this observation and develop rigorous study designs that will comprehensively assess the impact of changes (sustained) in dietary composition on weight loss. The study also reports interesting effects of regularity of feeding on eating behavior, which appears to be independent of weight loss. Perhaps the most important observation is that personalized interventions that cater to individual circadian needs will likely result in more significant weight loss than when interventions are mismatched with personal circadian structures.

      We would like to thank the reviewer for the positive assessment of our study.

      (1) One concern for the study is its two-group design; however, single-group cross-over designs are tedious to develop, and an adequate 'wash-out' period may be difficult to predict.

      A cross-over design would of course be highly desirable and, if feasible, would be able to provide more robust data than a two-group design. However, we have strong doubts about the feasibility of a cross-over design. Not only does the determination of the length of the washout period to avoid carry-over effects of metabolic changes pose a difficulty, but also the assumption that those participants who start with the TTE intervention will consciously or unconsciously pay attention to adherence to certain eating times in the next phase, when they are asked to eat at times like before the study.

      In a certain way, however, our study fulfills at least one arm of the cross-over design. During the follow-up period of our study, there were some participants who, by their own admission, started eating at more irregular times again, which is comparable to the mock treatment of the control subjects. And these participants gained weight again.

      (2)  A second weakness is not considering the different biological variables and racial and ethnic diversity and how that might impact outcomes. In sum, the authors have achieved the aims of the study, which will likely help move the field forward.

      In the meantime, we have at least added analyses regarding the age and gender of the participants and found no correlations with weight loss. The sample size of this pilot study was too small for a reliable analysis of the influence of ethnic diversity. If the study is continued with a larger sample size, this type of analysis will certainly come into play.

      We are pleased with the assessment that we have achieved our goals and are helping to advance the field.

      Reviewer #2 (Public Review):

      Summary:

      The authors investigated the effects of the timing of dietary occasions on weight loss and well-being with the aim of explaining if a consistent, timely alignment of dietary occasions throughout the days of the week could improve weight management and overall well-being. The authors attributed these outcomes to a timely alignment of dietary occasions with the body's own circadian rhythms. However, the only evidence the authors provided for this hypothesis is the assumption that the individual timing of dietary occasions of the study participants identified before the intervention reflects the body's own circadian rhythms. This concept is rooted in understanding of dietary cues as a zeitgeber for the circadian system, potentially leading to more efficient energy use and weight management. Furthermore, the primary outcome, body weight loss, was self-reported by the study participants.

      Strengths:

      The innovative focus of the study on the timing of dietary occasions rather than daily energy intake or diet composition presents a fresh perspective in dietary intervention research. The feasibility of the diet plan, developed based on individual profiles of the timing of dietary occasions identified before the intervention, marks a significant step towards personalised nutrition.

      We thank the reviewer for the generally positive assessment of our study and for sharing the view that our personalized approach represents an innovative step in chrononutrion.

      Weaknesses:

      (1) Several methodological issues detract from the study's credibility, including unclear definitions not widely recognized in nutrition or dietetics (e.g., "caloric event"), lack of comprehensive data on body composition, and potential confounders not accounted for (e.g., age range, menstrual cycle, shift work, unmatched cohorts, inclusion of individuals with normal weight, overweight, and obesity).

      We have replaced the term "caloric event" with "calorie intake occasion" and otherwise revised our manuscript with regard to other terminology in order to avoid ambiguity.

      We agree with the reviewer that the determination of body composition is a very important parameter to be investigated. Such investigations will definitely be part of the future continuation of the study. In this pilot study, we aimed to clarify in principle whether our intervention approach shows effects. Since we believe that this is certainly the case, we would like to address the question of what exactly the physiological mechanisms are that explain the observed weight loss in the future.

      Part of these future studies will also include other parameters in the analyses. However, in response to the reviewer's suggestions, we have already completed analyses regarding age and gender of the participants, which show that both variables have no influence on weight loss.

      In our view, the menstrual cycle should not have a major influence on the effectiveness of a 6-week intervention.

      The inclusion of shift workers is not a problem from our point of view. If their work shifts allow them to follow their personal eating schedule, we see no violation of our hypothesis. If this is not the case, as our data in Fig. 1G show, we do not expect any weight loss. Nevertheless, the reviewer is of course right that shift work can generally be a confounding factor and have an influence on weight loss success. To our knowledge, none of the 100 participants evaluated were shift workers. In a continuation of the study, however, shift work should be an exclusion criterion. Yet, our intervention approach could be of great interest for shift workers in particular, as they may be at a particularly high risk of obesity due to irregular eating times. A separate study with shift workers alone could therefore be of particular interest.

      The fact that it turned out that the baseline BMI of the remaining 67 EG and 33 CG participants did not match is discussed in detail in the section "3.1 Limitations". Although this is a limitation, it does not raise much doubt about the effectiveness of the intervention, as a subgroup analysis shows that intervention subjects lose more weight than control subjects of the same BMI.

      The inclusion of a wide BMI range was intentional. Our hypothesis is that reduced temporal variability in eating times optimizes metabolism and therefore excess body weight is lost (which we would like to investigate specifically in future studies). We hypothesize that people living with a high BMI will experience greater optimization than people with a lower BMI. Our data in Figs. 1H and S2I suggest that this assumption is correct.

      (2) The primary outcome's reliance on self-reported body weight and subsequent measurement biases further undermines the reliability of the findings.

      Self-reported data is always more prone to errors than objectively measured data. With regard to the collection of body weight, we were severely restricted in terms of direct contact with the participants during the conduct of the study due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At least the measurement of the initial body weight (at T0), the body weight after the end of the exploration phase (at T1) and the final body weight (at T2) were measured in video calls in the (virtual) presence of the study staff. These are the measurement points that were decisive for our analyses. Intermediate self-reported measurement points were not considered for analyses. We have added in the Materials & Methods section that video calls were undertaken to minimize the risk of misreporting.

      (3) Additionally, the absence of registration in clinical trial registries, such as the EU Clinical Trials Register or clinicaltrials.gov, and the multiple testing of hypotheses which were not listed a priori in the research protocol published on the German Register of Clinical Trials impede the study's transparency and reproducibility.

      Our study was registered in the DRKS - German Clinical Trials Register in accordance with international requirements. The DRKS fulfills the same important criteria as the EU Clinical Trial Register and clinicaltrials.gov.

      We quote from the homepage of the DRKS: „The DRKS is the approved WHO Primary Register in Germany and thus meets the requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). […] The WHO brings together the worldwide activities for the registration of clinical trials on the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). […] As a Primary Register, the DRKS is a member of the ICTRP network.”

      We are therefore convinced that we registered our study in the correct place.

      Furthermore, in our view, we did not provide less information on planned analyses than is usual and all our analyses were covered by the information in the study registry. We have stated the hypothesis in the study register that „strict adherence to [personalized] mealtimes will lead to a strengthening of the circadian system in the digestive tract and thus to an optimization of the utilization of nutrients and ultimately to the adjustment of body weight to an individual ideal value.“

      In our view, numerous analyses are necessary to test this hypothesis. We investigated whether it is the adherence to eating times that is related to the observed weight loss (Fig. 1), or possibly other variables resulting from adherence to the meal schedule (Fig. 3). In addition, we analyzed whether the intervention optimized the utilization of nutrients, which we did based on the food composition and number of calories during the exploration and intervention phases (Fig. 2). We investigated whether the personalization of meal schedules plays a role (Fig. 3). And we attempted to analyze whether the adjustment of body weight to an individual ideal value occurs by correlating the influence of the original BMI with weight loss. Only the hypothesis that the circadian system in the digestive tract is strengthened has not yet been directly investigated, a fact that is listed as a limitation. Although it can be assumed that this has happened, as the Zeitgeber “food” has lost significant variability as a result of the intervention. The analyses on general well-being are covered in the study protocol by the listing of secondary endpoints.

      Beyond that, we did not analyze any hypotheses that were not formulated a priori.

      For these reasons, we see no restriction in transparency, reproducibility or requirements and regulations.

      Achievement of Objectives and Support for Conclusions:

      (4) The study's objectives were partially met; however, the interpretation of the effects of meal timing on weight loss is compromised by the weaknesses mentioned above. The evidence only partially supports some of the claims due to methodological flaws and unstructured data analysis.

      We hope that we have been able to dispel uncertainties regarding some interpretations through supplementary analyses and the addition of some methodological details.

      Impact and Utility:

      (5) Despite its innovative approach, significant methodological and analytical shortcomings limit the study's utility. If these issues were addressed, the research could have meaningful implications for dietary interventions and metabolic research. The concept of timing of dietary occasions in sync with circadian rhythms holds promise but requires further rigorous investigation.

      We are pleased with the assessment that our data to date is promising. We hope that the revised version will already clarify some of the doubts about the data available so far. Furthermore, we absolutely agree with the reviewer: the present study serves to verify whether our intervention approach is potentially effective for weight loss - which we believe is the case. In the next steps, we plan to include extensive metabolic studies and to adjust the limitations of the present study.

      Reviewer #3 (Public Review):

      The authors tested a dietary intervention focused on improving meal regularity in this interesting paper. The study, a two-group, single-center, randomized, controlled, single-blind trial, utilized a smartphone application to track participants' meal frequencies and instructed the experimental group to confine their eating to these times for six weeks. The authors concluded that improving meal regularity reduced excess body weight despite food intake not being altered and contributed to overall improvements in well-being.

      The concept is interesting, but the need for more rigor is of concern.

      We would like to thank the reviewer for the interest in our study.

      (1) A notable limitation is the reliance on self-reported food intake, with the primary outcome being self-reported body weight/BMI, indicating an average weight loss of 2.62 kg. Despite no observed change in caloric intake, the authors assert weight loss among participants.

      As already described above in the responses to the reviewer 2, the body weight assessment took place in video calls in the (virtual) presence of study staff, so that the risk of misreporting is minimized. We have added this information to the manuscript.

      When recording food intake, we had to weigh up the risk of misreporting against the risk of a lack of validity in a permanently monitored setting. It was important to us to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention in the participants' everyday environment and not in a laboratory setting in order to be able to convincingly demonstrate its applicability in everyday life. The restriction of self-reporting is therefore unavoidable in our view and must be accepted. It can possibly be reduced by photographing the food, but even this is not a complete protection against underreporting, as there is no guarantee that everything that is ingested is actually photographed.

      However, our analyses show that the reporting behavior of individual participants did not change significantly between the exploration and intervention phases. We do not assume that participants who underreported only did so during the exploration phase (and only ate more than reported in this study phase) and reported correctly in the intervention phase (and then indeed consumed fewer calories).  We discuss this point in the section "3.1 Limitations".

      (2) The trial's reliance on self-reported caloric intake is problematic, as participants tend to underreport intake; for example, in the NEJM paper (DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199212313272701), some participants underreported caloric intake by approximately 50%, rendering such data unreliable and hence misleading. More rigorous methods for assessing food intake are available and should have been utilized. Merely acknowledging the unreliability of self-reported caloric intake is insufficient as it would still leave the reader with the impression that there is no change in food intake when we actually have no idea if food intake was altered. A more robust approach to assessing food intake is imperative. Even if a decrease in caloric intake is observed through rigorous measurement, as I am convinced a more rigorous study would unveil testing this paradigm, this intervention may merely represent another short-term diet among countless others that show that one may lose weight by going on a diet, principally due to heightened dietary awareness.

      The risks of self-reporting, our considerations, and our analysis of participants' reporting behavior and caloric intake over the course of the study are discussed in detail both in our responses above and in the manuscript. 

      With regard to the reviewer's second argument, we have largely adapted the study protocol of the control group to that of the experimental group. Apart from the fact that the control subjects were not given guidelines on eating times and were instead only given a very rough time window of 18 hours for food intake, the content of the sessions and the measurement methods were the same in both groups. This means that the possibility of increased nutritional awareness was equally present in both groups, but only the participants in the experimental group lost a significant amount of body weight.

      In future continuations of the study, further follow-up after an even longer period than four weeks (e.g. after 6 months) can be included in the protocol in order to examine whether the effects can be sustained over a longer period.

      (3) Furthermore, the assessment of circadian rhythm using the MCTQ, a self-reported measure of chronotype, may not be as reliable as more objective methods like actigraphy.

      The MCTQ is a validated means of determining chronotype and its results are significantly associated with the results of actigraphic measurements. In our view, the MCTQ is sufficient to test our hypothesis that matching the chronobiological characteristics of participants is beneficial. Nevertheless, measurements using actigraphy could be of interest, for example to correlate the success of weight loss with parameters of the sleep-wake rhythm.

      (4) Given the potential limitations associated with self-reported data in both dietary intake and circadian rhythm assessment, the overall impact of this manuscript is low. Increasing rigor by incorporating more objective and reliable measurement techniques in future studies could strengthen the validity and impact of the findings.

      The body weight data was not self-reported, but the measurements were taken in the presence of study staff. Although optimization might be possible (see above), we do not currently see any other way of recording all calorie intake occasions in the natural environment of the participants over a period of several weeks (or possibly longer, as noted by the reviewer) other than self-report and, in our opinion, it would not be feasible. For the future continuation of the study, we are planning occasional indirect calorimetry measurements that can provide information about the actual amount of food consumed in different phases of the study. These can reveal errors in the self-report but will not be able to replace daily data collection by means of self-report.

      Reviewer #1 (Recommendations For The Authors):

      Summary:

      This interesting and timely study by Wilming and colleagues examines the effect of regularity vs. irregularity of feeding on body weight dynamics and BMI. A rigorous assessment of the same in humans needs to be improved, which this study provides. The study is well-designed, with a 14-day exploration phase followed by 6 weeks of intervention, and it is commendable to see the number of participants (100) who completed the study. Incorporation of a follow-up assessment 4 weeks after the conclusion of the study shows maintained weight loss in a subset of Experimental Group (EG) participants who continue with regular meals. There are several key observations, including particular meal times (lunch and dinner), which, when restricted to 45min or less in duration (MTVS of 3 or less), will lead to efficient weight loss, as well as correlations between baseline BMI and weight loss. The authors also exclude the impact of self-reported meal composition on the efficiency of weight loss in the EG group in the context of this study. The study reports interesting effects of regularity of feeding on eating behavior, which appears to be independent of weight loss. Finally, the authors highlight an important point: to provide attention to personalized feeding and circadian windows and that personalized interventions that cater to individual circadian structures will result in more significant weight loss. This is an important concept that needs to be brought to light. There are only a few minor comments listed below:

      Minor comments:

      (1) The authors may provide explanations for the reduction in the MTVS in the EG and the increase in the same for the Control Group (CG). The increases in MTVS in CG are surprising (lines 105-106) because it is assumed that there is no difference in CG eating patterns prior to and during the study.

      As the reviewer correctly states, our assumption was that there should be no change in the MTVS before and during the study - but we could not rule this out, as the subjects were not given any indication of the regularity of food intake in the fixed time window in the meetings with the study staff, i.e. they were not instructed to continue eating exactly as before. This would possibly have led to an effort on the part of the participants to adhere to a schedule as precisely as possible. As a result, there was a statistically significant worsening of the MTVS in the CG, which was less than 0.6 MTVS, i.e. a time span of only approx. ± 7.5 min, and remained within the MTVS 3. Since there were no correlations between the measured MTVS and the weight of the subjects in the CG and a change of about half an MTVS value has only a rather minor effect on weight, we do not attribute great significance to the observed deterioration in the MTVS.

      (2) There would be greater clarity for the readers if the authors clearly defined the study design in detail at the outset of the study, e.g., in section 2.1.

      We have included a brief summary of the study design at the end of the introduction so that the reader is already familiar with it at the beginning of the manuscript without having to switch to the material and methods section.

      (3) The data in Fig S2H is important and informs readers that the regularity of lunch and dinner is more related to body weight changes than breakfast. These data should be incorporated in the Main Figure. In addition, analyses of Table S7 data indicate that MTVS of no greater than 3 or -/+45mins of the meal-timing window is associated with efficient weight loss) should be represented in a figure panel in the Main Figures.

      As suggested by the reviewer, we have moved Fig. S2H to the main Fig. 1. In addition, Table S7 is now no longer inserted as a supplementary table but as main Table 1 in the manuscript.

      (4) The authors state in lines 222-223 that "weight changes of participants were not related to one of these changes in eating characteristics (Fig. 3B-D, Tab. S6)", referring to the shortening of feeding windows as noted in the EG group. This is a rather simplistic statement, which should be amended to include that weight changes may not relate to changes in eating characteristics per se but likely relate to changes in metabolic programming, for instance, energy expenditure increases, which have been shown to associate with these changes in eating characteristics. This is important to note.

      We have changed the wording at this point so that it is clear that we are only referring here in the results section to the results of the mathematical analysis, which showed no correlation between the eating time window and weight loss in our sample. However, we have now explicitly mentioned the change in metabolic programming correctly noted by the reviewer in the discussion at the end of section 3.

      (5) Please provide more background and details on the attributes that define individual participant chronotypes in the manuscript before discussing datasets, e.g., mSP and mEP. This is relation to narratives between 228-230: "Indeed, our data show that the later the chronotype of participants (measured by the MCTQ mid-sleep phase, mSP [24]), the later their mid-eat phase (mEP) on weekends (Fig. 3E, Tab. S6), with the mSP and mEP being almost antiphasic on average (Fig. 3F, Tab. S10)." This will help readers unfamiliar with circadian biology/chronobiology research understand the contents of this manuscript, particularly Fig 3.

      We have explained the new chronobiology terms that appear in the chapter better in the revised version so that they are easier to understand.

      Reviewer #2 (Recommendations For The Authors):

      (1) Clarify Terminology: Define or avoid using ambiguous terms such as "caloric event" to prevent confusion, especially for readers less familiar with chronobiology. Consider providing clear explanations or opting for more widely understood terms.

      We have replaced "caloric event" with “calorie intake occasion” and explain various chronobiology terms better, so that hopefully readers from other disciplines can now follow the text more easily.

      (2) Detailed Methodological Descriptions: Improve the transparency of your methods, especially concerning the measurement of primary and secondary outcomes. Address the concerns raised about the reliability of self-reported weight and the potential biases in measurement methods.

      In the section "3.1 Limitations", we have examined the aspect of the reliability of self-reported data and our measures to reduce this uncertainty in more detail. We have also added further details on the measurement of outcomes in the materials and methods section.

      (3) Address Participant Selection Criteria: Reevaluate the inclusion criteria and consider discussing the implications on the study's findings of the broad age range, the inclusion of shift work, unmatched cohorts, and inclusion of individuals with normal weight, overweight, and obesity. Provide a subgroup analysis or discuss how BMI might have influenced the results. Even though this is an additional post-hoc analysis, it would directly address one of the major weaknesses of the study design.

      We have supplemented the analyses and now show in Fig. S2G that neither age nor gender had any influence on weight loss as a result of the intervention. To our knowledge, none of the 100 participants evaluated were shift workers. Even if shift workers were part of the study without our knowledge, we do not consider this to be a problem as long as their shifts allow them to keep to certain eating times. The fact that it turned out that the baseline BMI of the remaining 67 EG and 33 CG participants did not match is discussed in detail in the section "3.1 Limitations". Our previous analysis in Fig. S2I already showed that there is a negative correlation between baseline BMI and weight loss - an interesting result, as it shows that people with a high BMI particularly benefit from the intervention. In addition, we already showed in Fig. S2J in a subgroup analysis that in all strata the BMI of EG subjects decreased more than that of CG subjects, even if they had the same initial BMI. We do not consider the wide dispersion of the BMIs of the included participants to be a weakness of the study design. On the contrary, it allows us to make a statement about which target group the intervention is particularly suitable for.

      (4) Improve Statistical Analysis: If not already done, involve a biostatistician to review the statistical analyses, particularly concerning post-hoc tests, correlation analyses, and the handling of measurement biases. Ensure that deviations from the original study protocol are clearly documented and justified.

      All analyses have already been checked by a statistician, decided together with him and approved by him.

      (5) Data Interpretation and Speculation: Limit speculation and clearly distinguish between findings supported by your data from hypotheses and future directions. Ensure that discussions about the implications of meal timing on metabolism are supported by evidence with adequate references and clearly state where further research is needed.

      We have revised the discussion and, especially through the detailed discussions of the limitations, we have emphasized more clearly what has been achieved and what still needs to be proven in future studies.

      (6) Clinical Trial Registration: Address the lack of registration in the EU Clinical Trials Register and clinicaltrials.gov. Discuss its potential implications on the study's transparency and how it aligns with current requirements and regulations.

      Our study was registered in the DRKS - German Clinical Trials Register in accordance with international requirements. The DRKS fulfills the same important criteria as the EU Clinical Trial Register and clinicaltrials.gov.

      We quote from the homepage of the DRKS: „The DRKS is the approved WHO Primary Register in Germany and thus meets the requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).[…] The WHO brings together the worldwide activities for the registration of clinical trials on the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). […] As a Primary Register, the DRKS is a member of the ICTRP network.”

      We are therefore convinced that we registered our study in the correct place before it began and see no restriction in transparency or requirements and regulations.

      (7) Use of Sensitive and Current Terminology: Update the manuscript to reflect the latest recommendations regarding the language used to describe obesity and patients living with obesity. This ensures respect and accuracy in reporting and aligns with contemporary standards in the field.

      We updated the manuscript accordingly.

      (8) Strengthen the Introduction: Expand the literature review to include more recent and relevant studies that contextualise your work within the broader field of chrononutrition. This could help clarify how your study builds upon or diverges from existing research.

      We have included further studies in the introduction that aim to reduce body weight by restricting food intake to certain time periods. We have also more clearly contrasted the designs of these studies with the design of our study.

      (9) Clarify Discrepancies and Errors: Address any inconsistencies, such as the discrepancy in meal timing instructions (90 minutes reported in the conclusion vs. 60 minutes reported in the methods), and ensure all figures, tables, and statistical analyses are correctly referenced and described.

      The first point mentioned by the reviewer is not an inconsistency. To ensure the feasibility of the intervention, each participant was initially given a time window of +/- 30 minutes (60 min) from the specified eating time. Our later analyses show that even a time window of +/- 45 minutes (90 min) around the specified eating time is sufficient to lose weight efficiently (see results in Table 1).

      We have checked all references to figures, tables and statistical analyses and updated them if necessary.

      (10) Discuss Limitations and Bias: More thoroughly discuss the limitations of your study, including the potential impacts of biases and how they were mitigated. Additionally, consider the effects of including shift workers and how this choice impacts the applicability of your findings.

      Section “3.1 Limitations” has now been supplemented by a number of points and discussions. As described above, we do not consider the inclusion of shift workers to be a limitation as long as they are able to adhere to the specifications of the eating time plan. We cannot derive any indications to the contrary from our data.

      (11) Consider Publishing Separate Manuscripts: If the study encompasses a wide range of outcomes or post-hoc analyses, consider separating these into distinct publications to allow for a more focused and detailed exploration of each set of findings.

      We will take this advice into consideration for future publications on the continuation of the study. As this is a pilot study that is intended to clarify whether and to what extent the intervention is effective, we believe it makes sense to report all the data in a publication.

      (12) By addressing these recommendations, the authors can significantly improve their manuscript's clarity, reliability, and impact. This would not only support the dissemination of their findings but also would contribute valuable insights into the growing field of chrononutrition.

      We hope that we have satisfactorily answered, discussed and implemented the points mentioned by the reviewer in the manuscript, so that clarity, reliability, and impact have been increased and it can offer a valuable contribution to the named field.

    1. Add or Delete Tables Using the Visual Editor

      separate the two tasks. ("using the visual editor" is not necessary in the title)

      structure: 1. Add a table 2. Change Table Appearance * Apply preset styles * Adjust Table Width and height * Change Border Weight * Add Table Caption 3. Make Your Table More Accessible 4. Add or remove table rows or columns 5. Delete a table 6. Create Interactive Tables with TablePress

    2. All tables default to the Standard class.

      replace screenshot below with actual tables (accessibility)

    1. Stability of AstroNet pipeline based on time-lapse experiments.

      How do these metrics (and stability) differ between the hippocampus and cortex recordings?

    2. However, to further investigate how the functional astrocytic networks obtained by AstroNetdiffer from the quantification of physical connections made by diffusion through gap junc-tions, we use a pipette filled with biocytin.

      How would you predict that pharmacological or genetic manipulation of gap junctions affect the connectivity networks? Have you tested this experimentally?

    3. AstroNet pipeline.

      Regarding co-activation on short (second-long) timescales, I'm wondering how you square this with our recent work (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07311-5) showing that subcellular activity in astrocytes percolates through the gap junctionally coupled network on the order of minutes, and other astrocyte research showing much longer timescales of activity.

    4. the motor cortex (CTX).

      What layers of cortex were you recording from, and how might you expect layers to influence these area-level differences you describe?

    5. From each active astrocyte ROI, we extracted the individual fluorescence time-series.

      For this analysis, it seems that all the calcium activity in an individual astrocyte is grouped together to generate the time-series data. If this is the case, how is the subcellular activity that characterizes these astrocytes accounted for, and how might that affect the findings here?

    1. Disaster victims suffer a unique and tremendous burden on their mental and physical health

      Not only do animals help victims of PTSD regulate their anxieties, but they can also lower the possibility of being diagnosed with PTSD by 66% if introduced beforehand.

      https://news.va.gov/132029/service-dogs-lower-ptsd-symptoms-in-veterans/

    2. by the floods

      Most large scale earthquakes in Japan are followed by tsunamis that cause flooding.

    1. ure, I use my laptop to take notes. But I also take written notes.

      I feel as though I need to consider the approach of writing hand-written notes during presentations after reading this paragraph. I typically use my laptop because it is much easier to jot down everything the speaker is saying quickly but it may be more beneficial to understanding the overall message of the speaker as well as help me retain information if I focused on just taking summarized notes about the main point of the presentation.

    2. The more you are engaged, the more it engages the presenter.

      This helps me when I am presenting. The engagement from the audience and them paying attention always makes me calmer when presenting.

    3. I usually write down all the questions I have. It slows down my thinking, gives me pause, and helps me prioritize my questions.

      This is a good idea, I normally forget my questions before I can ask them, or I'm too nervous/unsure about wording to ask them. Writing them down would probably help.

    1. ant tending

      The ants will "herd" the aphids to the underside of a leaf to better protect them from predators while collecting the honeydew.

    2. protection of aphids from enemy attack

      ants and aphids have a mutualistic relationship with one another. The aphids gain protection from the ants, while the ants get to eat the honeydew that aphids produce.

    1. disclose or decept

      Disclose = to make something know (the truth) Decept = distortion of facts

    1. Dancing With the Stars

      This story has an element of prominence since it is about a show that has multiple celebrities. It is also timeliness because this happened just last week.

    2. Perhaps the most emotional moment of the night came when judge Derek Hough and his wife, Hayley Erbert Hough, performed a dance to Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.” The appearance marked Erbert Hough’s triumphant return to the ballroom after she was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma in December 2023.AdvertisementAdvertisement#rv { display: none; } @media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #rv { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }

      This performance of the night was important for loyal fans of the show. It was a major comeback for Hayley Erbert Hough and even if you do not follow DWTS, it will tug at your heart strings. This is what contributes to the human interest factor of this story

    1. “It sucks,” linebacker Yaya Diaby said. “It sucks, but at the end of the day we have a division game coming up and that’s our focus.”

      I like how the author is including different quotes from different players but I feel as if it should be cited when the quote was said and who gave the interview.

    2. “We don’t second-guess,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “We got our guys, we’re playing everybody we got. Unfortunately, he got hurt. We feel bad about that, but he’s a football player. He wants to be in the game like Baker (Mayfield) and everybody else.”

      This was a good necessary quote to input as it sort of clears the air and sets a different perspective for me being the reader in the sense that the players wanna play and do their job instead of not playing. Although it would have been smart to take him out I feel as if this is the reality of the injury.

    3. The game was lost, the Bucs were just too stubborn to admit it.And because of that, the season may be lost as well.

      Although realistically this is a fact it can also be viewed as an opinion since theres no factual way to tell if they could have had a comeback or be bad the rest of the season.

    1. Author response:

      The following is the authors’ response to the original reviews.

      Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

      Summary:

      The report describes the control of the activity of the RNA-activated protein kinase, PKR, by the Vaccinia virus K3 protein. Repressive binding of K3 to the kinase prevents phosphorylation of its recognised substrate, EIF2α (the α subunit of the Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2). The interaction of K3 is probed by saturation mutation within four regions of PKR chosen by modelling the molecules' interaction. They identify K3-resistant PKR variants that recognise that the K3/EIF2α-binding surface of the kinase is malleable. This is reasonably interpreted as indicating the potential adaptability of this antiviral protein to combat viral virulence factors.

      Strengths:

      This is a well-conducted study that probes the versatility of the antiviral response to escape a viral inhibitor. The experimentation is very diligent, generating and screening a large number of variants to recognise the malleability of residues at the interface between PKR and K3.

      Weaknesses:

      (1) These are minor. The protein interaction between PKR and K3 has been previously well-explored through phylogenetic and functional analyses and molecular dynamics studies, as well as with more limited site-directed mutational studies using the same experimental assays.

      Accordingly, these findings largely reinforce what had been established rather than making major discoveries.

      First, thank you for your thoughtful feedback. We agree that our results are concordant with previous findings and recognize the importance of emphasizing what we find novel in our results. We have revised the introduction (lines 65-74 of the revised_manuscript.pdf) to emphasize three findings of interest: (1) the PKR kinase domain is largely pliable across its substrate-binding interface, a remarkable quality that is most fully revealed through a comprehensive screen, (2) we were able to differentiate variants that render PKR nonfunctional from those that are susceptible to Vaccinia K3, and (3) we observe a strong correlation between PKR variants that are resistant to K3 WT and K3-H47R.

      There are some presumptions:

      (2) It isn't established that the different PKR constructs are expressed equivalently so there is the contingency that this could account for some of the functional differences.

      This is an excellent point. We have revised the manuscript to raise this caveat in the discussion (lines 247-251). One indirect reason to suppose that expression differences among our PKR variants are not a dominant source of variation is that we did not observe much variation in kinase activity in the absence of K3.

      (3) Details about the confirmation of PKR used to model the interaction aren't given so it isn't clear how accurately the model captures the active kinase state. This is important for the interaction with K3/EIF2α.

      We have expanded on Supplemental Figure 12 and our description of the AlphaFold2 models in the Materials and Methods section (lines 573-590). We clarify that these models may not accurately capture the phosphoacceptor loop of eIF2α (residues Glu49-Lys60) and the PKR β4-5 linker (Asp338-Asn350) as these are highly flexible regions that are absent in the existing crystal structure complex (PDB 2A1A) and have low AlphaFold2 confidence scores (pLDDT < 50). We also noted, in the Materials and Methods section and in the caption of Figure 1, that the modeled eIF2α closely resembles the crystal structure of standalone yeast eIF2α, which places the Ser51 phosphoacceptor site far from the PKR active site. Thus, we expect there are additional undetermined PKR residues that contact eIF2α.

      (4) Not all regions identified to form the interface between PKR and K3 were assessed in the experimentation. It isn't clear why residues between positions 332-358 weren't examined, particularly as this would have made this report more complete than preceding studies of this protein interaction.

      Great questions. We designed and generated the PKR variant library based on the vaccinia K3 crystal structure (PDB 1LUZ) aligned to eIF2α in complex with PKR (PDB 2A1A), in which PKR residues 338-350 are absent. After the genesis of the project, we generated the AlphaFold2-predicted complex of PKR and vaccinia K3, and have become very interested in the β4-β5 linker, a highly diverse region across PKR homologs which includes residues 332-358. However, this region remains unexamined in this manuscript.

      Reviewer #2 (Public Review):

      Chambers et al. (2024) present a systematic and unbiased approach to explore the evolutionary potential of the human antiviral protein kinase R (PKR) to evade inhibition by a poxviral antagonist while maintaining one of its essential functions.

      The authors generated a library of 426 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-accessible non-synonymous variants of PKR kinase domain and used a yeast-based heterologous virus-host system to assess PKR variants' ability to escape antagonism by the vaccinia virus pseudo-substrate inhibitor K3. The study identified determinant sites in the PKR kinase domain that harbor K3-resistant variants, as well as sites where variation leads to PKR loss of function. The authors found that multiple K3-resistant variants are readily available throughout the domain interface and are enriched at sites under positive selection. They further found some evidence of PKR resilience to viral antagonist diversification. These findings highlight the remarkable adaptability of PKR in response to viral antagonism by mimicry.

      Significance of the findings:

      The findings are important with implications for various fields, including evolutionary biology, virus-host interfaces, genetic conflicts, and antiviral immunity.

      Strength of the evidence:

      Convincing methodology using state-of-the-art mutational scanning approach in an elegant and simple setup to address important challenges in virus-host molecular conflicts and protein adaptations.

      Strengths:

      Systematic and Unbiased Approach:

      The study's comprehensive approach to generating and characterizing a large library of PKR variants provides valuable insights into the evolutionary landscape of the PKR kinase domain. By focusing on SNP-accessible variants, the authors ensure the relevance of their findings to naturally occurring mutations.

      Identification of Key Sites:

      The identification of specific sites in the PKR kinase domain that confer resistance or susceptibility to a poxvirus pseudosubstrate inhibition is a significant contribution.

      Evolutionary Implications:

      The authors performed meticulous comparative analyses throughout the study between the functional variants from their mutagenesis screen ("prospective") and the evolutionarily-relevant past adaptations ("retrospective").

      Experimental Design:

      The use of a yeast-based assay to simultaneously assess PKR capacity to induce cell growth arrest and susceptibility/resistance to various VACV K3 alleles is an efficient approach. The combination of this assay with high-throughput sequencing allows for the rapid characterization of a large number of PKR variants.

      Areas for Improvement:

      (5) Validation of the screen: The results would be strengthened by validating results from the screen on a handful of candidate PKR variants, either using a similar yeast heterologous assay, or - even more powerfully - in another experimental system assaying for similar function (cell translation arrest) or protein-protein interaction.

      Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. We agree that additional data to validate our findings would strengthen the manuscript. We have individually screened a handful of PKR variants in duplicate using serial dilution to measure yeast growth, and found that the results generally support our original findings. We have revised the manuscript to include these validation experiments (lines 117-119 of the revised_manuscript.pdf, Supplemental Figure 4).

      (6) Evolutionary Data: Beyond residues under positive selection, the screen would allow the authors to also perform a comparative analysis with PKR residues under purifying selection. Because they are assessing one of the most conserved ancestral functions of PKR (i.e. cell translation arrest), it may also be of interest to discuss these highly conserved sites.

      This is a great point. We do find that there are regions of the PKR kinase domain that are not amenable to genetic perturbation, namely in the glycine rich loop and active site. We contrast the PKR functional scores at conserved residues under purifying selection with those under positive selection in Figure 2E (lines 141-143).

      (7) Mechanistic Insights: While the study identifies key sites and residues involved in vaccinia K3 resistance, it could benefit from further investigation into the underlying molecular mechanisms. The study's reliance on a single experimental approach, deep mutational scanning, may introduce biases and limit the scope of the findings. The authors may acknowledge these limitations in the Discussion.

      We agree that further investigation into the underlying molecular mechanisms is warranted and we have revised the manuscript to acknowledge this point in the discussion (lines 284-288).

      (8) Viral Diversity: The study focuses on the viral inhibitor K3 from vaccinia. Expanding the analysis to include other viral inhibitors, or exploring the effects of PKR variants on a range of viruses would strengthen and expand the study's conclusions. Would the identified VACV K3-resistant variants also be effective against other viral inhibitors (from pox or other viruses)? or in the context of infection with different viruses? Without such evidence, the authors may check the manuscript is specific about the conclusions.

      This is a fantastic question that we are interested in exploring in our future studies. In the manuscript we note a strong correlation between PKR variants that evade vaccinia wild-type K3 and the K3-H47R enhanced allele, but we are curious to know if this holds when tested against other K3 orthologs such as variola virus C3. That said, we have revised the manuscript to clarify this limitation to our findings and specify vaccinia K3 where appropriate.

      Reviewer #3 (Public Review):

      Summary:

      -  This study investigated how genetic variation in the human protein PKR can enable sensitivity or resistance to a viral inhibitor from the vaccinia virus called K3.

      -  The authors generated a collection of PKR mutants and characterized their activity in a high-throughput yeast assay to identify 1) which mutations alter PKR's intrinsic biochemical activity, 2) which mutations allow for PKR to escape from viral K3, and 3) which mutations allow for escape from a mutant version of K3 that was previously known to inhibit PKR more efficiently.

      -  As a result of this work, the authors generated a detailed map of residues at the PKR-K3 binding surface and the functional impacts of single mutation changes at these sites.

      Strengths:

      -  Experiments assessed each PKR variant against three different alleles of the K3 antagonist, allowing for a combinatorial view of how each PKR mutant performs in different settings.

      -  Nice development of a useful, high-throughput yeast assay to assess PKR activity, with highly detailed methods to facilitate open science and reproducibility.

      -  The authors generated a very clean, high-quality, and well-replicated dataset.

      Weaknesses:

      (9) The authors chose to focus solely on testing residues in or near the PKR-K3 predicted binding interface. As a result, there was only a moderately complex library of PKR mutants tested. The residues selected for investigation were logical, but this limited the potential for observing allosteric interactions or other less-expected results.

      First, we greatly appreciate all your feedback on the manuscript, as well as raising this particular point. We agree that this is a moderately complex library of PKR variants, from which we begin to uncover a highly pliable domain with a few specific sites that cannot be altered. We have revised the manuscript to raise this limitation (lines 284-288 of the revised_manuscript.pdf) and encourage additional exploration of the PKR kinase domain.

      (10) For residues of interest, some kind of independent validation assay would have been useful to demonstrate that this yeast fitness-based assay is a reliable and quantitative readout of PKR activity.

      We agree that additional data to validate our findings would strengthen the manuscript. We have individually screened a handful of PKR variants in duplicate using serial dilution to measure yeast growth, and generally found that the results support our original findings. We have revised the manuscript to include this validation experiment (lines 117-119, Supplemental Figure 4).

      (11) As written, the current version of the manuscript could use more context to help a general reader understand 1) what was previously known about these PKR and K3 variants, 2) what was known about how other genes involved in arms races evolve, or 3) what predictions or goals the authors had at the beginning of their experiment. As a result, this paper mostly provides a detailed catalog of variants and their effects. This will be a useful reference for those carrying out detailed, biochemical studies of PKR or K3, but any broader lessons are limited.

      Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have revised the introduction of the manuscript to provide more context regarding previous work demonstrating an evolutionary arms race between PKR and K3 and how single residue changes alter K3 resistance (lines 51-64).

      (12) I felt there was a missed opportunity to connect the study's findings to outside evolutionary genetic information, beyond asking if there was overlap with PKR sites that a single previous study had identified as positively selected. For example, are there any signals of balancing selection for PKR? How much allelic diversity is there within humans, and are people typically heterozygous for PKR variants? Relatedly, although PKR variants were tested in isolation here, would the authors expect their functional impacts to be recessive or dominant, and would this alter their interpretations? On the viral diversity side, how much variation is there among K3 sequences? Is there an elevated evolutionary rate, for example, in K3 at residues that contact PKR sites that can confer resistance? None of these additions are essential, but some kind of discussion or analysis like this would help to connect the yeast-based PKR phenotypic assay presented here back to the real-world context for these genes.

      We appreciate this suggestion to extend our findings to a broader evolutionary context. There is little allelic diversity of PKR in humans, with all nonsynonymous variation listed in gnomAD being rare. (PKR shows sequence diversity in comparisons across species, including across primates.) Thus, barring the possibility of variation being present in under-studied populations, there is unlikely to be balancing selection on PKR in humans. Our expectation is that beneficial mutations in PKR for evading a pseudosubstrate inhibitor would be dominant, as a small amount of eIF2α phosphorylation is capable of halting translation (Siekierka, PNAS, 1984). There is a recent report citing PKR missense variants associated with dystonia that can be dominantly or recessively inherited (Eemy et al. 2020 PMID 33236446). Elde et al. 2009 (PMID 19043403) notes that poxvirus K3 homologs are under positive selection but no specific residues have been cited to be under positive selection. The lack of allelic diversity in PKR in humans notwithstanding, PKR could experience future selection in the human population as evidenced by its rapid evolution in primates, so we fully agree that a connection to the real-world context is useful. We have noted these topics in the discussion section (lines 289-294).

      Reviewer #1 (Recommendations For The Authors):

      I have no major criticisms but ask for some clarifications and make some comments about the perceived weaknesses.

      (13)  If the authors disagree with my summation that the findings largely replicate what was known, could they detail how the findings differ from what was known about this protein interaction and the major new insights stemming from the study? Currently, the abstract is a little philosophical rather than listing the explicit discoveries of the study.

      Thank you again for raising the need for us to clearly convey the novelty of our findings. We have revised the final paragraph in our introduction as described in comment #1.

      (14) As the experimental approach is well reported it is unnecessary to confirm the proposed activity by, for instance, measures of Sui2 phosphorylation. However, previous reports have recognised that point mutants of PKR can be differentially expressed. The impact of this potential effect is unknown in the current experimentation as there are no measures of the expression of the different mutant PKR constructs. The large number of constructs used makes this verification onerous. The potential impact could be ameliorated by redundant replacing each residue (hoping different residues have different effects on expression). Still, this limitation of the study should be acknowledged in the text.

      We greatly appreciate this comment and agree that this should be made clear in the text, which we have added to the discussion of the manuscript (lines 247-251).

      (15) Preceding findings and the modeling in this report recognise an involvement in the kinase insert region (residues 332 to 358) in PKR's interaction with K3 but this region is excluded from the analysis. These residues have been largely disregarded in the preceding analysis (it is absent from the molecular structure of the kinase) so its inclusion here might have lent a more novel aspect or delivered a more complete investigation. Is there a justification for excluding this flexible loop?

      The PKR variant library was designed based on the crystal structure of K3 (PDB 1LUZ) aligned to eIF2α in complex with PKR (PDB 2A1A). After the library was designed and made we attained complete predicted structures of PKR in complex with eIF2α and K3, which largely agrees with the predicted crystal structures but contain the additional flexible loops that were not captured in the crystal structures. Though the library studied here does not explore variation in the kinase insert region, we are very interested in doing so in our future studies.

      (16)  Could the explanation of the 'PKR functional score' be clarified? The description given within the legend of SF1 was helpful, so could this be replicated earlier in the main body of the text when introducing these experiments? e.g. As PKR activity is toxic to yeast, the number of cells in the pool expressing the functional PKR will decrease over time. Thus the associated barcode read count will also decrease, while the read count for the nonfunctional PKR will increase. This is termed the PKR function score, which will be relatively lower for cells transformed with less active PKR than those with more active PKR.

      Thank you for suggesting this clarification, we have revised the manuscript to clarify our definition of the PKR functional score (lines 106-109).

      (17)  Another suggestion to clarify this term is to modify the figures. Currently, the intent of the first simulated graph in Fig 1E is clear but the inversion of the response (shown by the transposition of the colours) in the next graph (to the right) is less immediately obvious. Accordingly, the orientation of the 'PKR functional score' is uncertain. Could the authors add text to the rightmost graphic in Figure 1E by, for instance, indicating the PKR activity in the vertical column with text such as 'less active' (at the bottom), 'WT' (in the centre), and 'more activity' (at the top)? Also, the position of the inactive K296R mutant might be added to Figure 2A complementing the positioning of the active WT kinase in the first data graph of this kind.

      We appreciate your specific feedback to improve the figures of the manuscript, we have made adjustments to Figure 1E to clarify how we derive the PKR functional scores.

      (18) The authors don't use existing structures of PKR in their modelling. However, there is no information about the state of the PKR molecule used for modelling. Specific elements of the kinase domain affect its interaction with K3 so it would be informative to know the orientation of these elements in the model. Could the authors detail the state of pivotal kinase elements in their models? This could involve the alignment of the N- and C-lobes, the orientation of kinase spines (C- and R-spines), and the phosphorylation stasis of residues in the activation loop, or at least the position of this loop in relationship to that adopted in the active dimeric kinase (e.g. PDB-2A1A, 3UIU or 6D3L). Alternatively, crystallographic structures of active inactive PKR could be overlayed with the theoretical structure used for modelling (as supplementary information).

      We have revised the manuscript to describe the alignment of the predicted PKR-K3 complex with active and inactive PKR, and we have extended Supplemental Figure 12 with an overlay of the predicted structures with existing structures. We have also added a supplemental data file containing the RMSD values of PKR (from the predicted PKR-K3 complex) aligned to active (PDB 2A1A) and inactive (PDB 3UIU) or unphosphorylated (PDB 6D3L) PKR (5_Structure-Alignment-RMSD-Values.xlsx). We have also provided the AlphaFold2 best model predictions for the PKR-eIF2α complex (6_AF2_PKR-KD_eIF2a.pdb) and PKR-K3 complex (7_AF2_PKR-KD_VACV-K3.pdb). Looking across the RMSD values, the AlphaFold2 model of PKR most closely resembles unphosphorylated PKR (PDB 6D3L) though we note the activation loop is absent from PDB 6D3L and 3UIU. We also aligned the Ser51 phosphoacceptor loop of AlphaFold2 eIF2α model to PDB 1Q46 and we see that the model reflects the pre-phosphorylation state. This loop is expected to interact with the PKR active site, which is not captured in our model and we state this explicitly in the caption of Figure 1 (lines 665-668).

      (19) Could some specific residue in Figure 7 be labelled (numbered) to orient the findings? Also, the key in this figure doesn't title the residues coloured white (RE red/black/blue). The white also isn't distinguished from the green (outside the regions targeted for mutagenesis).

      Excellent suggestion, we have revised this figure to include labels for the sites to orient the reader and clarify our categorization of PKR residues in the kinase domain.

      (20)  Regarding the discussion, the authors adopt the convention of describing K3 as a pseudosubstrate. Although I realize it is common to refer to K3 as a pseudosubstrate, it isn't phosphorylated and binds slightly differently to PKR so alternative descriptors, such as 'a competitive binder', would more accurately present the protein's function. Possibly for this reason, the authors declared an expectation that evolution pressures should shift K3 to precisely mimic EIF2α. However, closer molecular mimicry shouldn't be expected for two reasons. The first is a risk of disrupting other interactions, such as the EIF2 complex. Secondly, equivalent binding to PKR would demote K3 to merely a stoichiometric competitor of EIF2α. In this instance, effective inhibition would require very high levels of K3 to compete with equivalent binding by EIF2α. This would be demanding particularly upon induction of PKR during the interferon response. To be an effective inhibitor K3 has to bind more avidly than EIF2α and merely requires a sufficient overlap with the EIF2α interface on PKR to disrupt this alternative association. This interpretation predicts that K3 is under pressure to bind PKR by a different mechanism than EIF2α.

      We appreciate your thoughtful point about the usage of the term pseudosubstrate. Ultimately, we’ve decided to continue using the term due to its historical usage in the field. The question of the optimal extent of mimicry in K3 is a fascinating one, and we greatly appreciate your thoughts. We wholly agree that the possibility of K3 having superior PKR binding relative to eIF2α would be preferable to perfect mimicry. In our Ideas and Speculation section, we propose that benefits towards increasing PKR affinity may need to be balanced against potential loss of host range resulting from overfitting to a given host’s PKR. However, the possibility that reduced mimicry could be selected to avoid disruption of eIF2 function had not occurred to us; thank you for pointing it out!

      (21) The discussion of the 'positive selection' of sites is also interesting in this context. To what extent has the proposed positive selection been quantified? My understanding is that all of the EIF2α kinases are conserved and so demonstrate lower levels of residue change that might be expected by random mutagenesis i.e. variance is under negative selection. The relatively higher rate of variance in PKR orthologs compared to other EIF2α kinases could reflect some relaxation of these constraints, rather than positive selection. Greater tolerance of change may stem from PKR 's more sporadic function in the immune response (infrequent and intermittent presence of its activating stimuli) rather than the ceaseless control of homeostasis by the other EIF2α kinases. Also, induction of PKR during the immune response might compensate for mutations that reduce its activity. I believe that the entire clade of extant poxviruses is young relative to the divergence between their hosts. Accordingly, genetic variance in PKR predates these viruses. Although a change in PKR may become fixed if it affords an advantage during infection, such an advantage to the host would be countered by the much higher mutation rates of the virus. This would appear to diminish the opportunity for a specific mutation to dominate a host population and, thereby, to differentiate host species. Rather, pressure to elude control by a rapidly evolving viral factor would favour variation at sites where K3 binds. This speculation offers an alternative perspective to the current discussion that the variance in PKR orthologs stems from positive selection driven by viral infection.

      We appreciate this stimulating feedback for discussion. Three of the four eIF2α kinases (HIR, PERK, and GCN2) appear to be under purifying selection (Elde et al. 2009, PMID 19043403), which stand in contrast to PKR. Residues under positive selection have been found throughout PKR, including the dsRNA binding domains, linker region, and the kinase domain. Importantly, the selection analysis from Elde et al. and Rothenburg et al. concluded that positive selection at these sites is more likely than relaxed selection. We agree that poxviruses are young, though we would guess that viral pseudosubstrate inhibition of PKR is ancient. Many viral proteins have been reported to directly interact with PKR, including herpes virus US11, influenza A virus NS1A, hepatitis C virus NS5A, and human immunodeficiency virus Tat. The PKR kinase domain does contain residues under purifying selection that are conserved among all four eIF2α kinases, but it also contains residues under positive selection that interface with the natural substrate eIF2α. Our work suggests that PKR is genetically pliable across several sites in the kinase domain, and we are curious to know if this pliability would hold at the same sites across the other three eIF2α kinases.

      (22) The manuscript is very well written but has a small number of typos; e.g. an aberrant 'e' ln 7 of the introduction, capitalise the R in ranavirus on the last line of the fourth paragraph of the discussion, and eIF2α (EIF2α?) is occasionally written as eIFα in the materials&methods.

      Thank you for bringing these typos to our attention! We’ve deleted the aberrant ‘e’ in the introduction, capitalized ‘Ranavirus’ in the discussion (line 265), and corrected ‘eIFα’ to ‘eIF2α’ throughout the manuscript.

      Reviewer #2 (Recommendations For The Authors):

      Additional minor edits or revisions:

      (23) Paragraph 3 of the Introduction gives the impression that most of the previous work on the PKR-virus arms race is speculative. However, it is one of the best-described and most convincing examples of virus-host arms races. Can the authors edit the paragraph accordingly?

      Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have revised the third paragraph and strengthened the description of the evolutionary arms race between PKR and viral pseudosubstrate antagonists.

      (24) Introduction: PKR has "two" double-stranded RNA binding domains. Can the authors update the text accordingly?

      We have updated the manuscript to clarify PKR has two dsRNA binding domains (lines 44-45).

      (25) The authors test here for one of the key functions of PKR: cell growth/translation arrest. Because of PKR pleiotropy, the manuscript may be edited accordingly: For example, statements such as "We found few genetic variants render the PKR kinase domain nonfunctional" are too speculative as they may retain other (not tested here) functions.

      This is a great suggestion, we have revised the manuscript to specify our definition of nonfunction in the context of our experimental screen (lines 86-92 and 106-109) and acknowledge this limitation in our experimental screen (lines 304-307).

      (26) The authors should specify "vaccinia" K3 whenever appropriate.

      We appreciate this comment and have revised the manuscript to specify vaccinia K3 where appropriate (e.g. lines 62,66, 70, 80, 108, and 226).

      (27) Ref for ACE2 diversification may include Frank et al 2022 PMID: 35892217.

      Thank you for pointing us to this paper, we have included it as a reference in the manuscript (line 277).

      (28) Positive selection of PKR as referred to by the authors corresponds to analyses performed in primates. As shown by several studies, the sites under positive selection may vary according to host orders. Can the authors specify this ("primate") in their manuscript? And/or shortly discuss this aspect.

      Thank you for raising this point. In the manuscript we performed our analysis using vertebrate sites under positive selection as identified in Rothenburg et al. 2009 PMID 19043413 (lines 51 and figure legends). We performed the same analysis using sites under positive selection in primates (as identified by Elde et al. 2009 PMID 19043403) and again found a significant difference in PKR functional scores versus K3. We have revised the manuscript to clarify our use of vertebrate sites under positive selection (line 80-81).

      (29) We view deep mutational scanning experiments as a complementary approach to positive selection": The authors should edit this and acknowledge previous and similar work of other antiviral factors, in particular one of the first studies of this kind on MxA (Colon-Thillet et al 2019 PMID: 31574080), and TRIM5 (Tenthorey et al 2020 PMID: 32930662).

      Thank you for raising up these two papers, which we acknowledge in the revised manuscript (line 299).

      (30) We believe Figure S7 brings important results and should be placed in the Main.

      We appreciate this suggestion, and have moved the contents of the former supplementary Figure 7 to the main text, in Figure 6.

      (31) The title may specify "poxvirus".

      Thank you for the suggestion to specify the nature of our experiment, we have adjusted the title to: Systematic genetic characterization of the human PKR kinase domain highlights its functional malleability to escape a poxvirus substrate mimic (line 3).

      Reviewer #3 (Recommendations For The Authors):

      (32) No line numbers or page numbers are provided, which makes it difficult to comment.

      We sincerely apologize for this oversight and have included line numbers in our revised manuscript as well as the tracked changes document.

      (33) In the introduction, I recommend defining evolutionary arms races more clearly for a broad audience.

      Thank you for this suggestion. We have revised the manuscript in the first and third paragraphs to more clearly introduce readers to the concept of an evolutionary arms race.

      (34) The introduction could use a clearer statement of the question being considered and the gap in knowledge this paper is trying to address. Currently, the third paragraph includes many facts about PKR and the fourth paragraph jumps straight into the approach and results. Some elaboration here would convey the significance of the study more clearly. As is, the introduction reads a bit like "We wanted to do deep mutational scanning. PKR seemed like an ok protein to look at", rather than conveying a scientific question.

      This is a great suggestion to improve the introduction section. We have heavily revised the third and fourth paragraphs of the introduction to clarify the motivation, approach, and significance of our work.

      (35) Relatedly, did the authors have any hypotheses at the start of the experiment about what kinds of results they expected? e.g. What parts of PKR would be most likely to generate escape mutants? Would resistant mutants be rare or common? etc? This would help the reader to understand which results are expected vs. surprising.

      These are all great questions. We have revised the introduction of the manuscript to point out that previous studies have characterized a handful of PKR variants that evade vaccinia K3, and these variants were made at sites found to be under positive selection (lines 60-64).

      (36) A description of the different K3 variants and information about why they were chosen for study should also be added to the Introduction. It was not until Figure 5 that the reader was told that K3-H47R was the same as the 'enhanced' K3 allele you are testing.

      Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we have revised the introduction to clarify the experimental conditions (lines 65-67) and specify K3-H47R as the enhanced allele earlier in the manuscript (line 100).

      (37) Does every PKR include just a single point mutation? It would be nice to see data about the number and types of mutations in each PRK window added to Supplemental Figure 1.

      Thank you for the suggestion to improve this figure. Every PKR variant that we track has a single point mutation that generates a nonsynonymous mutation. In our PacBio sequencing of the PKR variant library we identified a few off-target variants or sequences with multiple variants, but we identified the barcodes linked to those constructs and discarded those variants in our analysis. We have revised Supplemental Figure 1 to include the number and types of mutations made at each PKR window.

      (38) In terms of the paper's logical flow, personally, I would expect to begin by testing which variants break PKR's function (Figure 3) and then proceeding to see which variants allow for K3 escape (Figure 2). Consider swapping the order of these sections.

      Thank you for this suggestion, and we can appreciate how the flow of the manuscript may be improved by swapping Figures 2 and 3. We have decided to maintain the current order of the figures because we use Figure 3 to emphasize the distinction of PKR sites that are nonfunctional versus susceptible to vaccinia K3.

      (39) Figure 3A seems like a less-informative version of Figure 4A, recommend combining these two. Same comment with Figure 5A and Figure 6A.

      We appreciate this specific feedback for the figures. Though there are similarities between figure panels (e.g. 3A and 4A) we use them to emphasize different points in each figure. For example, in Figure 3 we emphasize the general lack of variants that impair PKR kinase activity, and in Figure 4 we distinguish kinase-impaired variants from K3-susceptible variants. For this reason, and given space constraints, we have chosen to maintain the figures separately. We did decide to move the former Figure 6 to the supplement.

      (40) In general, it felt like there was a lot of repetition/re-graphing of the same data in Figures 3-6. I recommend condensing some of this, and/or moving some of the panels to supplemental figures.

      Thank you for your suggestion, we have revised the manuscript and have moved Figure 6 to Supplemental Figure 7.

      (41) In contrast, Supplemental Figure 7 is helpful for understanding the distribution of the data. Recommend moving to the main text.

      This is a great recommendation, and we have moved Supplemental Figure 7 into Figure 6.

      (42) How do the authors interpret an enrichment of positively selected sites in K3-resistant variants, but not K3-H74R-resistant variants? This seems important. Please explain.

      Thank you for this suggestion to improve the manuscript; we agree that this observation warranted further exploration. We found a strong correlation in PKR functional scores between K3 WT and K3-H47R, and with that we find sites under positive selection that are resistant to K3 WT are also resistant to K3-H47R. The lack of enrichment at positively selected sites appears to be caused by collapsed dynamic range between PKR wild-type-like and nonfunctional variants in the K3-H47R screen. We have revised the manuscript to clarify this point (line 202-204).

      (43) Discussion: The authors compare and contrast between PKR and ACE2, but it would be worth mentioning other examples of genes involved in antiviral arms races wherein flexible, unstructured loops are functionally important and are hotspots of positive selection (e.g. MxA, NLRP1, etc).

      We greatly appreciate this suggestion to improve the discussion. We note this contrast between the PKR kinase domain and the flexible linkers of MxA and NLRP1 in the revised manuscript (lines 273-274).

      (44) Speculation section: What is the host range of the vaccinia virus? Is it likely to be a generalist amongst many species' PKRs (and if so, how variable are those PKRs)? Would be worth mentioning for context if you want to discuss this topic.

      Thank you for raising this question. Vaccinia virus is the most well studied of the poxviruses, having been used as a vaccine to eradicate smallpox, and serves as a model poxvirus. Vaccinia virus has a broad host range, and though the name vaccinia derives from the Latin word “vacca” for cow the viruses origin remains uncertain (Smith 2007 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7557-7_1). has been used to eradicate smallpox as a vaccine and serves as a model poxvirus. Thought the natural host is unknown, it appears to be a general inhibitor of vertebrate PKRs The natural host of vaccinia virus is unknown, though there is some evidence to suggest it may be native to rabbits and does appear to be generalist.

      (45) Many papers in this field discuss interactions between PKR and K3L, rather than K3. I understand that this is a gene vs. protein nomenclature issue, but consider matching the K3L literature to make this paper easier to find.

      Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have revised the manuscript to specify that vaccinia K3 is expressed from the K3L gene in both the abstract (line 26) and the introduction (line 56) to help make this paper easier to find when searching for “K3L” literature.

      (46) Which PKR sequence was used as the wild-type background?

      This is a great question. We used the predominant allele circulating in the human population represented by Genbank m85294.1:31-1686. We cite this sequence in the Methods (line 421) and have added it to the results section as well (lines 84).

      (47) Figure 1C: the black dashed line is difficult to see. Recommend changing the colors in 1A-1C.

      Thank you for this suggestion, we have changed the dashed lines from black to white to make them more distinguishable.

      (48) Figure 1D: Part of the point of this figure is to convey overlaps between sites under selection, K3 contact sites, and eIF2alpha contact sites, but at this scale, many of the triangles overlap. It is therefore impossible to tell if the same sites are contacted vs. nearby sites. Perhaps the zoomed-in panels showing each of the four windows in the subsequent figures are sufficient?

      Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have scaled the triangles down to reduce their overlap in Figure 1D and list all sites of interest (predicted eIF2α and vaccinia contacts, conserved sites, and positive selection sites) in the Materials and Methods section “Predicted PKR complexes and substrate contacts”.

      (49) Figure 1E: under "1,293 Unique Combinations", there is a line between the PKR and K3 variants, which makes it look like they are expressed as a fusion protein. I believe these proteins were expressed from the same plasmid, but not as a fusion, so I recommend re-drawing. Then in the graph, the y-axis says "PKR abundance", but from the figure, it is not clear that this refers to relative abundance in a yeast pool. Perhaps "yeast growth" or similar would be clearer?

      Thank you for the specific feedback to improve Figure 1. We have made the suggested edits to clarify that PKR and vaccinia K3 are not fused but each is expressed from their own promoter. We have also changed the y-axis from “PKR Abundance” to “Yeast Growth”.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public review):

      Summary:

      The report examines the control of the antiviral RNA-activated protein kinase, PKR, by the Vaccinia virus K3 protein. K3 binds to PKR, hindering its ability to control protein translation by blocking its phosphorylation of the eukaryotic initiation factor EIF2α. Kinase function is probed by saturation mutation of the K3/EIF2α-binding surface on PKR, guided by models of their interaction. The findings identify specific residues at the predicted interface that asymmetrically influence repression by K3 and the phosphorylation of EIF2α. This recognises the potential of PKR alleles to resist control by the viral virulence factor.

      Strengths:

      The experimentation is diligent, generating and screening many point mutants to identify residues at the interface between PKR and EIF2α or K3 that distinguishes PKR's phosphor control of its substrate from the antithetical interaction with the viral virulence factor.

      Weaknesses:

      The protein interaction between PKR and K3 has already been well-explored through phylogenetic and functional analyses and molecular dynamics studies, as well as with more limited site-directed mutational studies using the same experimental assays. Accordingly, the findings are not pioneering but reinforce and extend what had previously been established.

      The authors responded to this comment by pointing out that their more comprehensive screen better defined the extent of the plasticity of the K3/EIF2α-binding surface on PKR.

      Also in their response, the authors added the caveat that the equivalent expression of the different PKR mutants has not been verified, added information clarifying the states of the model proteins compared to their determined molecular structures, and provided clarifications or responses to all other questions.

      I question eLife's assessment that the development of the yeast-based assay is a key advancement of this report, as this assay has been used for over 30 years.

    3. eLife Assessment

      This important revised report describes the control of the activity of the RNA-activated protein kinase, PKR, by the Vaccinia virus K3 protein. A strength of the manuscript is the powerful combination of a classic yeast-based assay with high-throughput sequencing and its convincing experimental use to characterize large numbers of PKR variants, now with improved controls for potential biases. A minor current limitation that the authors may address in the future is the scope of the screen in terms of the segments of PKR included.

    4. Reviewer #2 (Public review):

      Chambers et al. (2024) present a systematic and unbiased approach to explore the evolutionary potential of the kinase domain of the human antiviral protein kinase R (PKR) to evade inhibition by a poxviral antagonist while maintaining one of its essential functions.

      The authors generated a library of 426 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-accessible non-synonymous variants of PKR kinase domain and used a yeast-based heterologous virus-host system to assess PKR variants' ability to escape antagonism by the vaccinia virus pseudo-substrate inhibitor K3. The study identified determinant sites in the PKR kinase domain that harbor K3-resistant variants, as well as sites where variation leads to PKR loss of function. The authors found that multiple K3-resistant variants are readily available throughout the domain interface and are enriched at sites under positive selection. They further found some evidence of PKR resilience to viral antagonist diversification. These findings highlight the remarkable adaptability of PKR in response to viral antagonism by mimicry.

      Significance of the findings: The findings are important with implications to various fields, including evolutionary biology, virus-host interfaces, genetic conflicts, antiviral immunity.

      Strength of the evidence: Convincing methodology using state-of-the-art mutational scanning approach in an elegant and simple setup to address important challenges in virus-host molecular conflicts and protein adaptations.

      Strengths

      Systematic and Unbiased Approach: The study's comprehensive approach to generating and characterizing a large library of PKR variants provides valuable insights into the evolutionary landscape of PKR kinase domain. By focusing on SNP-accessible variants, the authors ensure the relevance of their findings to naturally occurring mutations.<br /> Identification of Key Sites: The identification of specific sites in the PKR kinase domain that confer resistance or susceptibility to a poxvirus pseudosubstrate inhibition is a significant contribution.<br /> Evolutionary Implications: The authors performed meticulous comparative analyses throughout the study between the functional variants from their mutagenesis screen ("prospective") and the evolutionarily-relevant past adaptations ("retrospective").<br /> Experimental Design: The use of a yeast-based assay to simultaneously assess PKR capacity to induce cell growth arrest and susceptibility/resistance to various VACV K3 alleles is an efficient approach. The combination of this assay with high-throughput sequencing allows for the rapid characterization of a large number of PKR variants.

      Areas of improvement

      Validation of the screen: In the revised version, the authors now provide the results of two independent experiments in a complete yeast growth assay on a handful of candidates to control the screen's results. This strengthens the direct findings from the screen. It would strengthen the study to complement this validation by another method to assess PKR functions; for example, in human PKR-KO cells, because results between yeast and human cells can differ. These limitations are now acknowledged in the revised version.<br /> Evolutionary Data: Beyond residues under positive selection, the screen allows the authors to also perform a comparative analysis with PKR residues under purifying selection. Because they are assessing one of the most conserved ancestral functions of PKR (i.e. cell translation arrest), it may also be of interest to discuss these highly conserved sites. The authors now discuss the implications for the conserved residues.<br /> Mechanistic insights and viral diversity: While the study identifies key sites and residues involved in vaccinia K3 resistance, it could benefit from further investigation into the underlying molecular mechanisms and the diversity of viral antagonists. The authors have now acknowledged these limitations in the Discussion and updated the manuscript to be more specific. These exciting research avenues will be the objectives of a next study.

      Overall Assessment

      The systematic approach, identification of key sites, and evolutionary implications are all notable strengths. While there is room for a stronger validation of the functions and further investigation into the mechanistic details and broader viral diversity, the findings are robust and already provide important advancements. The manuscript is well-written and clear, and the revised figures are informative and improved.

    1. . In our research, 53% of tweens (age 8–12) and 69% of teens (age 13–18) reported that using social media distracts them when they should be doing schoolwork.

      I think that maybe during that quiet time where students are instructed to work on their schoolwork, they can put their phones away in their backpack, but taking the phone away from day to day probably isn't the most plausible answer.

    2. Meanwhile, teachers are navigating classrooms in which students are creating TikToks, scrolling, and gaming—while they should be paying attention. In our research, 53% of tweens (age 8–12) and 69% of teens (age 13–18) reported that using social media distracts them when they should be doing schoolwork. To many, school phone bans seem like a no-brainer. Yet the question of establishing and enforcing bans isn't always a simple one.

      This in itself is more then enough reason to ban cell phons to ban cell phones from students but in my opinion thats the reason parents are her to monitor and make sure they give they're own kids a certain amount of screen time per day.

    1. Status & Visibility

      could add a link here to the section in "Create and Manage Chapters" that refers to the "Status & Visibility" panel

    1. View, Compare, and Restore Revisions

      should this be part of this chapter or rather the "Edit" part? as it's part of the Satus & Visiblity panel, maybe leave it in this chapter, but refer to it in the "Edit Content with Visual and Text Editor" chapter?

    2. Review Chapter Settings

      adjusted title - anything related to using the editor should be in the chapter https://university.pressbooks.pub/guidetestedits/chapter/edit-content-with-the-visual-text-editors/ or other chapters in that part

    3. Using the Visual and Text Editors

      There is an entire chapter on this: https://university.pressbooks.pub/guidetestedits/chapter/edit-content-with-the-visual-text-editors/ I would suggest removing this section.

    1. We have already gone through the definitions. A tetrahedron, as defined here, is a polyhedron with four (not necessarily congruent) triangular faces. Equidecomposability is a relationship between two shapes in which one can assemble one from all the pieces of another. Finally, equicomplementability is a relationship in which one can add congruent shapes to the two shapes to form two equidecomposable supershapes.

      definitions, specifically of tetrahedron, equicomposability, and equicomplementability

    1. If equality means giving everyone the same resources, equity means giving each student access to the resources they need to learn and thrive. As those of us who are parents know, each child is different. It can be tough to meet their competing needs, but this is pretty much the job description for parenting and, I would argue, for teaching

      As a parent I understand that each child is different from their siblings and within the classroom I can see how this will be difficult to handle the diversity and meet the needs of every child without a co teacher.

    2. If we’re committed to the success of every child, we must acknowledge the uneven playing field that exists for many: ELLs, students with special needs, children experiencing trauma or relentless poverty…. There are 6 Steps Toward Equity!!

    1. it is a boring song but it works every time.

      Even if the song is boring, it is still enough to bring sailors to the ocean. They want to hear more of this tantalizing story, to hear the secret end.

    1. To find out the signature threshold required in each Congressional District for review and ballot position, the current number of verified signatures in each Congressional District by county, and how many Congressional Districts may have met or exceeded signature thresholds, click the link above titled "View by District by County".

      Providing direct instructions to look further into the information shows a lack of bias and instills a sense of credibility into the reader. This allows the reader to understand the information about the amendment and voting rights of felons. This site may not be entirely unbiased, as they do seem to be pushing a certain agenda and are not a domain known to be reliable (.org, .gov, etc), but the information does seem to be presented in a straightforward way that does not indicate any bias. It offers little information in one way or another, simply presenting the information about the process to pass this amendment to reinstate the voting rights of felons.

    1. In April 2007, then-Gov. Charlie Crist took an incremental step towards reform when he issued revised rules of executive clemency.

      This excerpt links a pdf of the revised rules. This not only gives interested readers the opportunity to see the rules in question, but also gives credibility to the argument and shows an unbiased perspective. This also helps verify the information in the article, as only one look into the pdf will exemplify the points being made.

    2. On February 3, Florida lawmakers introduced H.B. 3-B/S.B. 4-B, a bill to expand the jurisdiction of the office of statewide prosecution (“OSP”) to investigate and prosecute certain crimes related to voting, petition activities, and voter registration

      This links directly to a .gov site of the Florida House of Representatives. This not only explains what the bill was, but details the history of the bill and additional information, such as statutes referenced. Linking this is a good way to demonstrate the validity of the article's claims, but to provide official information from a reliable source.

    1. What remains a challenge for systemic injustice in Wikipedia is the question of who gatekeeps and sets the rules for what counts as credible knowledge.

      How can we as faculty educate our students about the process of receiving feedback and working in an open space - when your work can be critiqued or changed in dynamic open spaces v. traditional peer reviewed process? How are we talking about the inherent risks involved and the gatekeeping processes that are different in a space like wikipedia compared to a peer reviewed publication?

    1. He was losing in his battle with the frost. It was creeping into his body from all sides.

      Nature is uncaring. Whoever is unprepared to deal with natures wrath will eventually face death when placed in extreme circumstances.

    2. He would kill the dog and bury his hands in the warm body until the numbness went out of them.

      Extreme circumstances can lead to the removal of civilized ideals and morals.

    3. When it is seventy- five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire--that is, if his feet are wet. If his feet are dry, and he fails, he can run along the trail for half a mile and restore his circulation.

      The narrator describes what a professional should know but we are unaware of what exactly the character knows. we can assume that he is knowledgeable, but we are unaware of how knowledgeable.

    4. That was why he had shied in such panic. He had felt the give under his feet and heard the crackle of a snow-hidden ice-skin. And to get his feet wet in such a temperature meant trouble and danger.

      This reflects the uncaring identity of nature by demonstrating how unpredictable and uncertain the outcomes of natural events are.

    5. Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below--how much colder he did not know.

      This description of the environment creates the conflict between man vs nature.

    1. eLife Assessment

      This study retrospectively analyzed clinical data to develop a risk prediction model for pulmonary hypertension in high-altitude populations. The evidence is solid, and the findings are useful and hold clinical significance as the model can be used for intuitive and individualized prediction of pulmonary hypertension risk in these populations.

    2. Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

      Summary:

      This study retrospectively analyzed clinical data to develop a risk prediction model for pulmonary hypertension in high-altitude populations. This finding holds clinical significance as it can be used for intuitive and individualized prediction of pulmonary hypertension risk in these populations. The strength of evidence is high, utilizing a large cohort of 6,603 patients and employing statistical methods such as LASSO regression. The model demonstrates satisfactory performance metrics, including AUC values and calibration curves, enhancing its clinical applicability.

      Strengths:

      (1) Large Sample Size: The study utilizes a substantial cohort of 6,603 subjects, enhancing the reliability and generalizability of the findings.

      (2) Robust Methodology: The use of advanced statistical techniques, including least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and multivariate logistic regression, ensures the selection of optimal predictive features.

      (3) Clinical Utility: The developed nomograms are user-friendly and can be easily implemented in clinical settings, particularly in resource-limited high-altitude regions.

      (4) Performance Metrics: The models demonstrate satisfactory performance, with strong AUC values and well-calibrated curves, indicating accurate predictions.

      Weaknesses:

      (1) Lack of External Validation: The models were validated internally, but external validation with cohorts from other high-altitude regions is necessary to confirm their generalizability.

      (2) Simplistic Predictors: The reliance on ECG and basic demographic data may overlook other potential predictors that could improve the models' accuracy and predictive power.

      (3) Regional Specificity: The study's cohort is limited to Tibet, and the findings may not be directly applicable to other high-altitude populations without further validation.

      Comments on revised version:

      The authors have made revisions in response to the primary concerns raised in the initial review, leading to significant improvements in the manuscript's technical accuracy, formatting consistency, and overall clarity. They have provided a detailed explanation of the selection criteria for the final model variables, which has enhanced the transparency and robustness of the study's methodology. Additionally, the authors have acknowledged the limitation of lacking external validation in cohorts from other high-altitude regions and outlined their plans for future research to address this issue.

    3. Author response:

      The following is the authors’ response to the original reviews.

      Reviewer #1:

      (1) Correct capitalization errors, ensuring the first letter of each sentence is capitalized.

      Thank you for your comment. We have corrected capitalization errors.

      (2) Ensure that all technical terms and abbreviations are introduced in full when first mentioned and consistently used throughout the text.

      Thank you for your comment. we have checked and corrected the issue.

      (3) Review the manuscript for grammatical errors and improve sentence structures to enhance readability.

      Thank you for your comment. we have checked and corrected the issue.

      (4) Ensure all figures referenced in the text, such as Fig. 3G, are appropriately discussed and integrated into the narrative.

      Thank you for your comment. we have discussed and integrated Fig. 3G into the narrative (Page 12, Line 162-166).

      (5) Maintain consistent formatting, including first-line indentation and spacing before paragraphs, to improve the document's visual coherence.

      Thank you for your comment. we have checked and corrected the issue.

      (6) Provide additional explanations for the selection criteria of final model variables, particularly the rationale behind choosing the λ_1se criterion in the LASSO regression.

      Thank you for your comment. we have provided explanations for choosing the λ_1se criterion in the LASSO regression (Page 25, Line 315-316; Page 27, Line 363-364).

      (7) Conduct validation studies with cohorts from other high-altitude regions to assess the generalizability and robustness of the prediction models.

      Thank you for your comment. The lack of validation of cohorts from other high-altitude regions is a weakness in this study, and in our follow-up study, we will conduct external validation with cohorts from more other high-altitude regions to assess the generalizability and robustness of our prediction models.

    1. The front-loop phase is more predictable, with higher degrees of certainty. In both the natural and social worlds, it maximizes production and accumulation. We have been in that mode since World War II. The consequence of this is not only an accumulation and concentration of wealth, but also the emergence of greater vulnerability because of the increasing number of interconnections that link that wealth, and those who control it, in efforts to sustain it. Little time and few resources are available for alternatives that explore different visions or opportunities. Emergence and novelty is inhibited. This growing connectedness leads to increasing rigidity in its goal to retain control, and the system becomes ever more tightly bound together. This reduces resilience and the capacity of the system to absorb change, thus increasing the threat of abrupt change. We can recognize the need for change but become politically stifled in our capacity to act effectively.

      for - quote - we are in a back-loop phase - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

      comment - This is important for discussion for change actors working in liminal spaces attempting to give birth to creative alternatives

    2. for - planetary adaptive cycle - entering back-loop phase - paper - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - from - essay - The End of Scarcity? From ‘Polycrisis’ to Planetary Phase Shift - Nafeez Ahmed - 2024

      from - essay - The End of Scarcity? From ‘Polycrisis’ to Planetary Phase Shift - Nafeez Ahmed - 2024 - https://hyp.is/okOeDJFqEe-9ZsMEsKWR9w/ageoftransformation.org/the-end-of-scarcity-from-polycrisis-to-planetary-phase-shift/

  3. academic.oup.com academic.oup.com
    1. 1764, the British government sought to end the expensive and frustrating frontier war. Blaming Amherst for the crisis, the government recalled him and appointed a more flexible commander, Thomas Gage, who followed the pragmatic advice of the superintendent for Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson

      -significant issues with managing peace with natives -replaced amherst with thomas gage -inspired by johnsons's peae making with the natives, gage tried to repair peace with natives -reflected diplomacy in colonial governement

    2. the British military commander, Jeffrey Amherst, foolishly cut off the delivery of presents expected by the Indians. He deemed presents a waste of money after the removal of the French competition.

      -stopped supplying gifts to Natives, important for maintaining good relations -messed up their relationship -dont know why they wanted to stop giving them gifts, doesn't make any sense

    3. As a sop to appease their Spanish allies, the French gave them New Orleans (page 112)p. 112and most of Louisiana

      -granted new orleans and looudiana to spain to satisfy spanish allies -wanted to please spain to get their help to fight against the brirish

    4. Pitt’s policy was financially reckless: by compounding the national debt, Pitt saddled the colonists and Britons with a burden that would later disrupt the empire.

      -they were irresponsible and led to national debt -contributed to tensions with the british empire

    1. The claim that Christians are already “always aware” by virtue of religious identity creates obstacles to becoming more self-aware by listening to those who may have been harmed within and by the community.

      I think the assertion that they are always aware also "excuses" them from doing the work non-religious people do when they have acted poorly. To seek forgiveness from those they have directly impacted rather than from God. Or even seek feedback, alternative behaviors, and approaches from their peers. It, to a certain extent, absolves them from the expected methods of relationship mending because their relationship is first and foremost with God.

    2. “I was taught that the people who hurt you, violently hurt you, every day, for years, are doing it because they love you”.

      WHAT!!

    3. “a baby is a ‘viper in [a] diaper, a ‘depraved’, ‘diseased’ beast” (p. 617). The effect of being raised in this type of environment is evident in my own experience. I remember sermons about the indisputable proof of total depravity being children, who are bad in all natural inclinations and behaviors.

      This makes me so sad and angry, not only are these children being brought into environments that preach inherent badness, but the people who are supposed to raise and care for them have had it engrained in them that they are inherent sinners, liars, etc. This fosters a sense of distrust and negative perception of children in adults, including their parents. Both the home and community are infiltrated by the idea that children were born depraved and will act accordingly, giving children no way to separate themselves from that opinion. Because of this, it becomes absorbed into their self-perception.

    4. “Recent research on shame and trauma has more explicitly linked the two, locating shame at the core of symptomatology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”

      Is this true across all cases of PTSD? Has investigation into veterans with PTSD revealed the same root symptom? I have doubts about this, and it's caused a little bit of doubt about the reliability of this source.

    5. In large measure this is because Christian tradition has not distinguished between guilt and shame, even sometimes using the terms synonymously.

      I think even if Christianity were to advocate for a sense of self formed by guilt, this would still result in an equivalently damaging impact. However, it seems that these researchers disagree. Why do they disagree? If shame and guilt are so often intertwined and mistaken for each other in religion (and outside of it), how are the impacts different?

    6. shame occurs in reflexive bodily processes before language develops; this means it functions in a child’s body before reflective thought about the physiological responses are possible.

      The idea that small children are experiencing possibly repeated bodily feelings of shame and are unable to verbalize or truly process that negative experience through communication or thought makes me incredibly sad.

    1. Marking the noisy indocility of the blacks in general

      Still sees himself above

    2. unsophisticated Africans.

      But they are more sophisticated than the "captain"

    1. So while each cozyweb can be a village — “small, most people know each other and you all share a common interest in keeping the sidewalks tidy” — each can build federated roads to many others, including bigger ones “crowded with people, plenty of them sleazy and more than the occasional sidewalk madman… But you’ll always discover something or someone new there. Every second person’s selling something, but one in 20 is selling what you need. Besides, you’re selling too…” (Welcome to the Fediverse, starry-eyed noob).

      How does this relate to the Fediverse?

      There's a nascent movement within the Fediverse precisely to experiment with 'insularity', building smaller opt-in-federation-based networks.

    1. involve no loss

      Except the loss incurred by the owner, who has had their rights as the owner abrogated by the trespasser - whilst more of an abstract loss it is a loss nonetheless

    1. The line of resurrection and heaven is not clear ( the moment when you go to heaven )

    2. Most of the heresies come from a logical breakdown of a. paradox

    3. Latin A describes how the crucification was a plat by satin that went wrong

    4. We are troubled by the description of the cross and crucification

    1. Carla Debow from CenturyLink talks how transformational it is to truly “understand the person on the other side of the table” here:

      Please watch this video.

    2. outward mindset is focused on others and their needs.

      And using this information and insight to help pursue the goals of the organization and the greater good.

    3. then our relationships will continue to be strained and the results we accomplish together much less than they could be.

      Does anyone come to mind for you when you read this paragraph?

    4. An inward mindset is a way of seeing ourselves and others that keeps us focused on our own needs, wants, and goals, often at the expense of others. When we live and work with an inward mindset we see people as objects rather than as people–as vehicles to be used, irrelevancies to be ignored, or as obstacles to be overcome, rather than as individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Inward mindset tendencies can show up in various ways such as blaming others, justifying our own mistreatment of others, or avoiding responsibility.

      With the way this is phrased it seems obvious that we should have an inward mindset and we may initially balk at the idea that we might be working from an outward mindset. However, this can show up in subtle ways. For example, much of our job is trying to get people to change old habits for new ones. We often lead with processes, rules, and exactly WHAT we want people to do without taking into account why they do what they do and WHY they shoud change.

    5. Outward mindset examples Now that you know what an outward mindset is, how it impacts employees and organizations, and what benefits it offers, you’re probably wondering what it looks like in practice. Take a look at the impact transforming to an outward mindset has had on these businesses: Raytheon leveraged Arbinger’s outward mindset principles to cut $100M in expenses without laying off a single employee. See how:

      The following videos are optional: * Raytheon (video 1) * Tubular Steel (video 2)

      This video is recommended: * Kansas City Police Department