This study of 2111 undergraduates examined the impact of online science courses on their anxiety. More than 50% of students reported experiencing at least moderate anxiety in online science courses. Aspects of online learning that increase and decrease anxiety are identified, and actions that instructors can take to lessen anxiety in online science courses are offered.

Neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with metabolic pathway imbalances; however, most metabolic measurements are made peripherally, leaving central metabolic disturbances under-investigated. Cerebrospinal fluid obtained intraoperatively from children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 34), developmental delays (DD, n = 20), and those without known DD/ASD (n = 34) was analyzed using large-scale targeted mass spectrometry. Eighteen also had epilepsy (EPI). Metabolites significantly related to ASD, DD and EPI were identified by linear models and entered into metabolite–metabolite network pathway analysis. Common disrupted pathways were analyzed for each group of interest. Central metabolites most involved in metabolic pathways were L-cysteine, adenine, and dodecanoic acid for ASD; nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, L-aspartic acid, and glycine for EPI; and adenosine triphosphate, L-glutamine, ornithine, L-arginine, L-lysine, citrulline, and L-homoserine for DD. Amino acid and energy metabolism pathways were most disrupted in all disorders, but the source of the disruption was different for each disorder. Disruption in vitamin and one-carbon metabolism was associated with DD and EPI, lipid pathway disruption was associated with EPI and redox metabolism disruption was related to ASD. Two microbiome metabolites were also detected in the CSF: shikimic and cis-cis-muconic acid. Overall, this study provides increased insight into unique metabolic disruptions in distinct but overlapping neurodevelopmental disorders.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with many variations in metabolism, but the ex-act correlates of these metabolic disturbances with behavior and development and their links to other core metabolic disruptions are understudied. In this study, large-scale targeted LC-MS/MS metabolomic analysis was conducted on fasting morning plasma samples from 57 children with ASD (29 with neurodevelopmental regression, NDR) and 37 healthy controls of similar age and gender. Linear model determined the metabolic signatures of ASD with and without NDR, measures of behavior and neurodevelopment, as well as markers of oxidative stress, inflammation, redox, methylation, and mitochondrial metabolism. MetaboAnalyst ver 5.0 (the Wishart Research Group at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada) identified the pathways associated with altered metabolic signatures. Differences in histidine and glutathione metabolism as well as aromatic amino acid (AAA) biosynthesis differentiated ASD from controls. NDR was associated with disruption in nicotinamide and energy metabolism. Sleep and neurodevelopment were associated with energy metabolism while neurodevelopment was also associated with purine metabolism and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis. While behavior was as-sociated with some of the same pathways as neurodevelopment, it was also associated with alternations in neurotransmitter metabolism. Alterations in methylation was associated with aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and branched chain amino acid (BCAA) and nicotinamide metabolism. Alterations in glutathione metabolism was associated with changes in glycine, serine and threonine, BCAA and AAA metabolism. Markers of oxidative stress and inflammation were as-sociated with energy metabolism and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis. Alterations in mitochondrial metabolism was associated with alterations in energy metabolism and L-glutamine. Using behavioral and biochemical markers, this study finds convergent disturbances in specific metabolic pathways with ASD, particularly changes in energy, nicotinamide, neurotransmitters, and BCAA, as well as aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis.

We characterized the complete genome sequence of Siphoviridae bacteriophage Erla, an obligatory lytic subcluster EA1 bacteriophage infecting Microbacterium foliorum NRRL B-24224, with a capsid width of 65 nm and a tail length of 112 nm. The 41.5-kb genome, encompassing 62 predicted protein-coding genes, is highly similar (99.52% identity) to that of bacteriophage Calix.

This study of 1179 undergraduates with depression examined whether students revealed their depression to their online science instructors and the reasoning behind their decisions. Few students revealed their depression, but perceived that if they did, they would benefit by receiving accommodations but risk instructor judgment.