Video abstracts and plain language summaries are more effective than graphical abstracts and published abstracts

Background Journals are trying to make their papers more accessible by creating a variety of research summaries including graphical abstracts, video abstracts, and plain language summaries. It is unknown if individuals with science, science-related, or non-science careers prefer different summaries, which approach is most effective, or even what criteria should be used for judging which approach is most effective. A survey was created to address this gap in our knowledge. Two papers from Nature on similar research topics were chosen, and different kinds of research summaries were created for each one. Questions to measure comprehension of the research, as well as self-evaluation of enjoyment of the summary, perceived understanding after viewing the summary, and the desire for more updates of that summary type were asked to determine the relative merits of each of the summaries. Results Participants (n = 538) were randomly assigned to one of the summary types. The response of adults with science, science-related, and non-science careers were slightly different, but they show similar trends. All groups performed well on a post-summary test, but participants reported higher perceived understanding when presented with a video or plain language summary (p<0.0025). All groups enjoyed video abstracts the most followed by plain language summaries, and then graphical abstracts and published abstracts. The reported preference for different summary types was generally not correlated to the comprehension of the summaries. Here we show that original abstracts and graphical abstracts are not as successful as video abstracts and plain language summaries at producing comprehension, a feeling of understanding, and enjoyment. Our results indicate the value of relaxing the word counts in the abstract to allow for more plain language or including a plain language summary section along with the abstract.

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Cohn et al. Research Summary
Please read the abstract below before moving to the next section.
This abstract is from: Cohn et al. "Clonal CD4+ T cells in the HIV-1 latent reservoir display a distinct gene profile upon reactivation" Nature Medicine 24, p604-609 (2018).
Despite suppressive combination antiretroviral therapy (ART), latent HIV-1 proviruses persist in patients. This latent reservoir is established within 48-72 h after infection, has a long half-life [1,2], enables viral rebound when ART is interrupted, and is the major barrier to a cure for HIV-1 [3]. Latent cells are exceedingly rare in blood (∼1 per 1 × 106 CD4+ T cells) and are typically enumerated by indirect means, such as viral outgrowth assays [4,5]. We report a new strategy to purify and characterize single reactivated latent cells from HIV-1-infected individuals on suppressive ART. Surface expression of viral envelope protein was used to enrich reactivated latent T cells producing HIV RNA, and single-cell analysis was performed to identify intact virus. Reactivated latent cells produce full-length viruses that are identical to those found in viral outgrowth cultures and represent clones of in vivo expanded T cells, as determined by their T cell receptor sequence. Gene-expression analysis revealed that these cells share a transcriptional profile that includes expression of genes implicated in silencing the virus. We conclude that reactivated latent T cells isolated from blood can share a gene-expression program that allows for cell division without activation of the cell death pathways that are normally triggered by HIV-1 replication.

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Takata et al. Research Summary
Please read the abstract below before moving to the next section.
Vertebrate genomes exhibit marked CG suppression-that is, lower than expected numbers of 5′-CG-3′ dinucleotides [1]. This feature is likely to be due to C-to-T mutations that have accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, driven by CG-specific DNA methyl transferases and spontaneous methylcytosine deamination. Many RNA viruses of vertebrates that are not substrates for DNA methyl transferases mimic the CG suppression of their hosts [2,3,4]. This property of viral genomes is unexplained [4,5,6]. Here we show, using synonymous mutagenesis, that CG suppression is essential for HIV-1 replication. The deleterious effect of CG dinucleotides on HIV-1 replication was cumulative, associated with cytoplasmic RNA depletion, and was exerted by CG dinucleotides in both translated and non-translated exonic RNA sequences. A focused screen using small inhibitory RNAs revealed that zincfinger antiviral protein (ZAP) [7] inhibited virion production by cells infected with CG-enriched HIV-1. Crucially, HIV-1 mutants containing segments whose CG content mimicked random nucleotide sequence were defective in unmanipulated cells, but replicated normally in ZAP-deficient cells. Crosslinkingimmunoprecipitation-sequencing assays demonstrated that ZAP binds directly and selectively to RNA sequences containing CG dinucleotides. These findings suggest that ZAP exploits host CG suppression to identify non-self RNA. The dinucleotide composition of HIV-1, and perhaps other RNA viruses, appears to have adapted to evade this host defence.