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Comfort or conservation? Investigating patient choices between plastic and metal speculums

Background The pelvic examination is essential in gynecologic care but often causes discomfort and anxiety. Choice of plastic or metal speculums may influence patient comfort and adherence to screening, yet patient preferences and environmental considerations remain underexplored. Objective To assess patient preferences between plastic and metal speculums, identify factors influencing these preferences, and evaluate environmental concerns related to speculum use. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 203 patients receiving care at West Virginia University’s Obstetrics and Gynecology clinics between September 15, 2024 and June 16, 2025. Participants completed an anonymous online questionnaire assessing speculum preference, comfort factors, sanitation perceptions, and environmental awareness. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. Results Plastic speculums were preferred by 49.8% of respondents, followed by no preference (32.5%) and metal speculums (17.7%). Younger participants (ages 18–35) showed a stronger preference for plastic. The speculum was identified as the most uncomfortable aspect of the exam by 34.4% of respondents, with temperature and positioning also frequently cited. Plastic was perceived as more sanitary by 45.8%. Environmental concern about plastic waste was higher among younger respondents and those preferring metal speculums. Despite ecological awareness, comfort during the exam was the predominant factor influencing preference. Conclusions Patient discomfort remains a primary barrier to maintaining consistent patient care in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, and this research found that the majority favor plastic speculums due to comfort despite environmental concerns in their lack of reusability. Efforts to improve pelvic exam experiences should address both comfort and sustainability, including innovations in speculum design, patient education on reusable options, and alternative screening methods. Further research is warranted to balance patient-centered care with environmental stewardship.

Stand composition shapes canopy structure, competition, and soil properties in virgin oriental beech forests

Abstract Forest stand composition influences ecosystem structure and functioning, yet its integrated effects on canopy architecture, competition intensity, and soil processes are rarely evaluated under undisturbed conditions that provide essential silvicultural reference states. The virgin oriental beech forests of the Hyrcanian region in northern Iran represent one of the last remaining temperate broadleaf forest systems worldwide that have developed without logging, grazing, or silvicultural intervention, providing a rare natural reference for examining coupled above- and belowground processes. We compared pure and mixed beech stands by quantifying canopy structural attributes, competition indices, and key organic and mineral soil properties. Pure stands exhibited larger trees, stronger vertical canopy organization, and significantly higher competition intensity, whereas mixed stands supported greater microbial biomass and respiration in the mineral soil despite lower competitive pressure. Correlation and redundancy analyses revealed strong linkages between canopy structure, competition intensity, and soil properties, with clear multivariate separation between pure and mixed stands. These findings demonstrate that stand composition reorganizes the coupling between canopy structure, competition intensity, and soil processes, highlighting the importance of integrating above- and belowground components to understand ecosystem functioning in undisturbed forests. By leveraging one of the few remaining virgin temperate beech forest landscapes, this study provides a basis for targeted silvicultural and restoration strategies by identifying when mixed-species stands enhance soil microbial functioning and when pure beech stands promote larger tree development and greater vertical canopy stratification.

KIMMDY: a biomolecular reaction emulator

Abstract Molecular simulations have become indispensable in biological research. Their accuracy continues to improve, but directly modelling biochemical reactions – central to all life processes – remains computationally challenging. Here, we present a biomolecular reaction emulator that models reactions across conformational ensembles using kinetic Monte Carlo. Our method, KIMMDY, is capable of handling dynamic, large-scale systems with successive, competing reactions, even on the second timescale or slower. It leverages graph neural networks for large-scale prediction of reaction rates, while also being capable of using simpler physics-based or heuristic models. We validate our approach against experimental data and showcase its power and versatility through a series of applications, including radical reactions, nucleophilic substitutions, and photodimerization. Example systems span proteins and DNA. KIMMDY aids the understanding of biochemical reaction cascades in complex systems, helps to re-interpret experimental data, and can inspire future wet-lab experiments.

The case for contextually grounded executive function measurement

Impact of holiday periods on glioblastoma surgery: a Dutch nationwide population-based cohort study

Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 and longitudinal trajectories of Aβ, tau, and cognition in cognitively unimpaired older adults

Standard EF tasks can still have predictive validity within diverse cultural contexts

Bayesian optimization for uncertainty-aware prediction of rainfall-induced deformation in embankment dams

Abstract Reliable early warning of embankment dam failure requires predictive models that are accurate, physically consistent, and uncertainty-calibrated. This study proposes a hybrid physics-informed Bayesian deep learning framework integrating coupled u-p Biot consolidation-based finite element modeling (OpenSeesPy) with an ANN-LSTM-MDN architecture optimized via Bayesian Optimization. Deterministic hydro-mechanical responses provide physically grounded descriptors and regularization targets, while the probabilistic network decomposes uncertainty into epistemic and aleatory components. Physics-informed penalty terms enforce consolidation-consistent behavior. The approach introduces adaptive, composition-dependent uncertainty scaling to account for heterogeneous borrow materials and non-stationary rainfall effect. A novel Uncertainty Calibration Score (UCS) jointly optimizes predictive sharpness and empirical coverage. Material-adaptive dropout rates further regularize predictions for variable soil compositions. Validation on construction-phase monitoring data from the Megech Dam demonstrates substantial improvements: Negative Log-Likelihood decreased from − 2.36 to − 2.52, CRPS decreased by 33.7% ( $$0.092 \to 0.061$$ ), and PICP increased from 0.86 to 0.93. Epistemic uncertainty reduced by 37.7%, while aleatoric variability remained captured. Adaptive prediction intervals revealed a pre-failure shift, with epistemic uncertainty rising to ~ 72% of total variance 8–12 weeks before observed failure. Statistical validation via block-bootstrap resampling, paired hypothesis testing ( p  < 0.0001), and ten-fold stratified cross-validation (CV < 8%) confirms significance and stability. This framework advances embankment dam forecasting by coupling geotechnical physics with Bayesian deep learning, providing reproducible, interpretable, and uncertainty-aware early warning insights for construction-phase variability.

Mitophagy promotes lung repair and regeneration by restoring epithelial metabolic fitness

QnAs with Yukiko Yamashita

Mitochondrial genome characterization and phylogenetic relationships of the subfamily Dipsadinae (Reptilia: Colubridae)

Metal-metal interactions in catalysis from spatial separation to physical mixtures

Abstract Physical mixtures of segregated metals recently demonstrated enhanced activity in redox reactions by assigning specific elementary steps to distinct sites to close the catalytic cycle through efficient transfer of reaction intermediates across conductive or reductive supports. Here, we delineate the fundamental shift from single static alloy sites to dual static separated structures, and ultimately to a dual dynamic mode. We term this mechanism dynamic interfacial cooperative catalysis. While collisions between identical single-sites provide no catalytic enhancement, collisions between distinct metal phases actively drive the reaction by facilitating cross-site electron and intermediate transfers. This dynamic synergy offers a blueprint for non-alloyed designs in high-concentration environments and energy-storage systems, including redox flow batteries.

Mycoviruses confer hypovirulence but enhance antifungal volatile organic compound production in a phytopathogenic fungus

Hypovirulence-associated mycoviruses can be frequently isolated in nature despite their likely compromised ecological fitness, but how their fungal hosts survive in natural environments remains largely unresolved. The discovery of more mycoviruses provides opportunities to understand these mycovirus–host relationships. Here, we characterize a capsidless RNA virus, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum ascoshuvirus 1 (SsAShV1), with a 10.7-kb ssRNA genome encoding a polyprotein containing conserved protease domain and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) domain. SsAShV1 shares structural similarities with animal-infecting viruses. SsAShV1 and its phylogenetically related shuviruses form a distinct evolutionary lineage, prompting the proposal to establish the family Shuviridae. SsAShV1 transfection alone induces hypovirulence in two Sclerotiniaceae fungal pathogens, with its 3’-UTR repeat-containing structural region (RCSR) enhancing replication efficiency. In the hypovirulent strain SCH767, which harbors SsAShV1 and five other mycoviruses, we observed a synergistic enhancement of antifungal volatile organic compound (VOC) production that was dependent on the host genetic background. A VOC, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Our findings reveal an evolutionary trade-off where viral infection shifts the fungal survival strategy from high virulence to enhanced chemical competition, ensuring the persistence of the hypovirulent partnership, and offering valuable insights into the development of a combination of mycovirus-based and VOC-mediated biocontrol strategies.

UHRF1 drives hepatocellular carcinoma progression via epigenetic repression of SFMBT2

Rational design of a Kappa opioid receptor peptide agonist with attenuated β-arrestin signaling

Abstract Difelikefalin is an FDA-approved κ-opioid receptor (KOR) peptide agonist used to treat chronic pruritus. However, as a balanced agonist that activates both G protein and β-arrestin pathways, difelikefalin remains associated with undesirable side effects linked to β-arrestin signaling. Here, we report the cryo-EM structure of the difelikefalin-KOR-Gi complex, identifying Y320 7.43 as a key residue that is critical for signaling bias. Guided by this structural insight, we engineer beta01, a β-amino acid-substituted analog with potent G protein activation but minimal β-arrestin recruitment. In mouse models, beta01 retains robust antinociceptive and antipruritic efficacy while significantly reducing sedation and anxiety-like behaviors. Structural, molecular dynamics simulations and 2D 13 C-Met NMR analyses further reveal beta01 stabilizes a unique KOR conformation with an expanded intracellular cavity that disfavors β-arrestin binding. This work establishes a rational structure-based framework for designing safer and more effective GPCR-targeted therapeutics.

The detection of episodic memory in others biases social choice

We often share personal memories with others, but the social function of episodic memory retrieval is not clear. In two experiments (N 1 = 50, N 2 = 125), run in two different labs, in different countries with different languages, and using naturalistic as well as experimentally crafted personal narratives, we show that participants can distinguish between context-rich (episodic) memories and context-poor (semantic) memories shared by others, and consistently ascribe greater memory ability to individuals sharing episodic compared to semantic personal memories. Moreover, participants report stronger social preference and feelings of closeness for individuals sharing personal episodic memories. The appraisal of episodic quality in memories shared by others, and not inferred personality traits of the narrator, predicted interpersonal closeness on a trial-by-trial basis. These findings reveal a fundamental social function of the episodic memory system: enabling the sharing of context-rich personal memories that foster close relationships. We propose that preferring partners who display strong episodic recall may confer adaptive advantages, linking social selection to the effectiveness of memory systems, particularly hippocampal function.

CFD investigation of PCM/PMMA enhanced CMUs with dual hollow sections for improved thermal performance in cold and freezing climates

Phage-assisted evolution of allosteric protein switches

Abstract Allostery, the transmission of locally induced conformational changes to distant functional sites, is a key mechanism for protein regulation. Artificial allosteric effectors enable remote manipulation of cell function; their engineering, however, is hampered by our limited understanding of allosteric residue networks. Here, we introduce a phage-assisted evolution platform for in vivo optimization of allosteric proteins. It applies opposing selection pressures to enhance activity and switchability of phage-encoded effectors and leverages retron-based recombineering to broadly explore fitness landscapes, introducing point mutations, insertions, and deletions. Applying this framework to the transcription factor AraC yielded near-binary optogenetic switches, with light-controlled activity spanning ~1000-fold dynamic range. Long-read sequencing across selection cycles enabled high-resolution tracking of evolving variant pools, revealing adaptive trajectories and context-dependent residue interactions. Mechanistically, we find that linker mutations promoting α-helix extension at the sensor-effector junction enhance conformational coupling between LOV2 and AraC. These variants emerge consistently across independently evolved pools, underscoring their functional relevance. Together, we develop a framework for the directed evolution of programmable allosteric switches in vivo. By coupling dynamic selection with deep mutational scanning and temporal sequencing, it enables both functional optimization and mechanistic insight into allosteric networks.

Charles Weissmann (1931–2025), an outstanding and captivating molecular biologist

With the death of Charles Weissmann, molecular biology has lost of one of its most productive, outstanding, and critical representatives. A molecular biologist who became famous through his ground-breaking discoveries, as well as his scientific presentations, which always included “little stories,” used to illustrate the main points of his talks in a persuasive and amusing fashion. He will be remembered for unraveling the replication of RNA bacteriophages; for developing the first example of targeted mutagenesis, using viral RNA; for cloning the first interferon gene; for his decisive contributions to the origin and pathogenic effects of prions; and for the superb quality of his experimental work and mentorship.

Rare variant optimized GWAS with functional validation identifies causal architecture of kidney function in East Asian population