Results In our study samples, nearly 55.8% of the older adults were found to be suffering from DS. We found a significant association between DS and being female (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 0.89-2.09), Buddhism (aOR 1.95, 95% CI 1.58-2.42), Dalits (aOR 2.60, 95% CI 1.19-5.65), unemployed, low family income (aOR 1.77, 95% CI 1.07-2.92), smokers (aOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.20) and having chronic multi-morbid conditions (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.09-2.55). Conclusions The prevalence of DS was high among community-dwelling older adults in eastern Nepal. Our findings suggest the need for mental health prevention and management programs targeting the older population in rural Nepal.Background Problematic internet use (PIU) is an increasingly worrisome issue, as youth population studies are establishing links with internalizing and externalizing problems. There is a need for a better understanding of psychiatric diagnostic profiles associated with this issue, as well as its unique contributions to impairment. Here, we leveraged the ongoing, large-scale Child Mind Institute Healthy Brain Network, a transdiagnostic self-referred, community sample of children and adolescents (ages 5-21), to examine the associations between PIU and psychopathology, general impairment, physical health and sleep disturbances. Methods A total sample of 564 (190 female) participants between the ages of 7-15 (mean = 10.80, SD = 2.16), along with their parents/guardians, completed diagnostic interviews with clinicians, answered a wide range of self-report (SR) and parent-report (PR) questionnaires, including the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and underwent physical testing as part of the Healthy Brain Network protocol. Results PIU was positively associated with depressive disorders (SR aOR = 2.43, CI 1.22-4.74, p = .01; PR aOR = 2.56, CI 1.31-5.05, p = .01), the combined presentation of ADHD (SR aOR = 1.91, CI 1.14-3.22, p = .01; PR n.s.), Autism Spectrum Disorder (SR n.s.; PR aOR = 2.24, CI 1.34-3.73, p less then .001), greater levels of impairment (SR Standardized Beta = 4.63, CI 3.06-6.20, p less then .001; PR Standardized Beta = 5.05, CI 3.67-6.42, p less then .001) and increased sleep disturbances (SR Standardized Beta = 3.15, CI 0.71-5.59, p = .01; PR Standardized Beta = 3.55, CI 1.34-5.75, p less then .001), even when accounting for demographic covariates and psychiatric comorbidity. Conclusions The association between PIU and psychopathology, as well as its impact on impairment and sleep disturbances, highlight the urgent need to gain an understanding of mechanisms in order to inform public health recommendations on internet use in U.S. youth.Background Recently, it has become possible to collect next-generation DNA sequencing data sets that are composed of multiple samples from multiple biological units where each of these samples may be from a single cell or bulk tissue. Depsipeptide mouse Yet, there does not yet exist a tool for simulating DNA sequencing data from such a nested sampling arrangement with single-cell and bulk samples so that developers of analysis methods can assess accuracy and precision. Results We have developed a tool that simulates DNA sequencing data from hierarchically grouped (correlated) samples where each sample is designated bulk or single-cell. Our tool uses a simple configuration file to define the experimental arrangement and can be integrated into software pipelines for testing of variant callers or other genomic tools. Conclusions The DNA sequencing data generated by our simulator is representative of real data and integrates seamlessly with standard downstream analysis tools.Background The number of porcine Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) used in genetic association studies is very large, suitable for statistical testing. However, in breed classification problem, one needs to have a much smaller porcine-classifying SNPs (PCSNPs) set that could accurately classify pigs into different breeds. This study attempted to find such PCSNPs by using several combinations of feature selection and classification methods. We experimented with different combinations of feature selection methods including information gain, conventional as well as modified genetic algorithms, and our developed frequency feature selection method in combination with a common classification method, Support Vector Machine, to evaluate the method’s performance. Experiments were conducted on a comprehensive data set containing SNPs from native pigs from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia including Chinese breeds, Vietnamese breeds, and hybrid breeds from Thailand. Results The best combination of feature selection methods-information gain, modified genetic algorithm, and frequency feature selection hybrid-was able to reduce the number of possible PCSNPs to only 1.62% (164 PCSNPs) of the total number of SNPs (10,210 SNPs) while maintaining a high classification accuracy (95.12%). Moreover, the near-identical performance of this PCSNPs set to those of bigger data sets as well as even the entire data set. Moreover, most PCSNPs were well-matched to a set of 94 genes in the PANTHER pathway, conforming to a suggestion by the Porcine Genomic Sequencing Initiative. Conclusions The best hybrid method truly provided a sufficiently small number of porcine SNPs that accurately classified swine breeds.An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase is a phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme that introduces a fatty acyl group into the sn-2 position of phospholipids. Its substrate selectivity is physiologically important in defining the physicochemical properties of lipid membranes and modulating membrane protein function. However, it remains unclear how these enzymes recognize various fatty acids. Successful purification of bacterial lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferases (PlsCs) was recently reported and has paved a path for the detailed analysis of their reaction mechanisms. Here, we purified and characterized PlsC from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8. This integral membrane protein remained active even after solubilization and purification and showed reactivity toward saturated, unsaturated, and methyl-branched fatty acids, although branched-chain acyl groups are the major constituent of phospholipids of this bacterium. Multiple sequence alignment revealed the N-terminal end of the enzyme to be shorter than that of PlsCs with defined substrate selectivity, suggesting that the shortened N-terminus confers substrate promiscuity.