International students are often encouraged to cope with acculturative stress by relying on personal and multicultural strengths. The authors explored this assumption by testing personal growth initiative, hardiness, and universal‐diverse orientation as predictors of international students’ acculturative stress and adjustment. Data from 336 international students supported a partially mediated model, such that greater levels of personal and multicultural strengths predicted less acculturative problems, thus leading to better adjustment.

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Objectives To assess the effectiveness of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for response assessment post curative-intent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC). Methods Consecutive ASCC patients treated with curative-intent CRT at a single centre between January 2018 and April 2020 were retrospectively identified. Clinical meta-data including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) outcomes were collated. Three radiologists evaluated PET-CT and MRI using qualitative response assessment criteria and agreed in consensus. Two-proportion z test was used to compare diagnostic performance metrics (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy). Kaplan-Meier analysis (Mantel-Cox log-rank) was performed. Results MRI (accuracy 76%, PPV 44.8%, NPV 95.7%) and PET-CT (accuracy 69.3%, PPV 36.7%, NPV 91.1%) performance metrics were similar; when combined, there were statistically significant improvements (accuracy 94.7%, PPV 78.9%, NPV 100%). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated significant differences in PFS between responders and non-responders at PET-CT (p = 0.007), MRI (p = 0.005), and consensus evaluation (p < 0.001). Cox regression analysis of PFS demonstrated a lower hazard ratio (HR) and narrower 95% confidence intervals for consensus findings (HR = 0.093, p < 0.001). Seventy-five patients, of which 52 (69.3%) were females, with median follow-up of 17.8 months (range 5–32.6) were included. Fifteen of the 75 (20%) had persistent anorectal and/or nodal disease after CRT. Three patients died, median time to death 6.2 months (range 5–18.3). Conclusion Combined PET-CT and MRI response assessment post-CRT better predicts subsequent outcome than either modality alone. This could have valuable clinical benefits by guiding personalised risk-adapted patient follow-up. Key Points • MRI and PET-CT performance metrics for assessing response following chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) were similar. • Combined MRI and PET-CT treatment response assessment 3 months after CRT in patients with ASCC was demonstrated to be superior to either modality alone. • A combined MRI and PET-CT assessment 3 months after CRT in patients with ASCC has the potential to improve accuracy and guide optimal patient management with a greater ability to predict outcome than either modality alone

The hierarchy of the quorum-sensing system plays a crucial role in Pseudomonas (P.) aeruginosa virulence and the production of important industrial bacterial products like rhamnolipids and proteases. In this study, the effect of adding exogenous acyl-homoserine lactone synthetic signal to the premature culture of P. aeruginosa on the production of protease and rhamnolipids was investigated. At the early exponential phase, induction of rhamnolipid production showed a more rapid response than protease production. Prediction of the 3D structure of the acyltransferase RhlA enzyme, which is the first key enzyme in rhamnolipid synthesis, was then done using the I-Tasser program to investigate the possible protein structure that might influence the response to N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) presence. With a good C-score, 3D modeling showed RhlA to have AHL binding pocket where ten ligand binding site residues were elucidated in the protein. Multiple sequence alignment revealed low homology with LuxR proteins. Although conserved residues were depicted from the alignment, they were different from the ligand-binding residues suggesting that AHL binds to RhlA with a different mechanism than LuxR proteins. After further bioinformatics analysis, we found that RhlA binds to AHL in a mechanism similar to the lactonase enzyme. In conclusion, the in silico domain and protein alignment analysis revealed an AHL binding site in the RhlA enzyme protein structure.