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Now is not the time to defund human fetal tissue research
The use of virtual reality technology among women undergoing intrauterine insemination: a randomized controlled study
Abstract Women diagnosed with infertility often experience elevated psychological distress both before and during treatment, which can adversely affect clinical pregnancy rates. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of virtual reality technology in decreasing psychological distress and increasing pregnancy rates in women diagnosed with infertility undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI). This randomised controlled trial study was conducted at Kosar University Hospital in Urmia, Iran, in 2024, involving 114 women diagnosed with infertility. Participants were randomly allocated to either the intervention group (n = 57), which viewed a selected video with 360-degree virtual reality glasses for 20 min before and 10 min during the IUI procedure, or the control group (n = 57), which received standard care. Psychological outcomes were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Pennsylvania State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ). The clinical pregnancy rates, a secondary outcome, was evaluated 14 days post-IUI using a Beta hCG test. Results indicated that the intervention group exhibited significantly lower median scores (interquartile range) for worry, anxiety, and depression compared to the control group ( p < 0.001). Furthermore, the odds of a positive pregnancy test were 2.76 times higher in the intervention group (95% CI, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that virtual reality technology is an effective intervention for reducing psychological distress and improving pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing IUI. Trial Registration : The study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT Id: IRCT20231013059702N2 Registration date: 2024-02-11 ).
Sustainable walkability around green, blue, and spiritual spaces in a semi-urban district of coastal Karnataka, India
Embrace diverse PhD supervision styles — but enforce essential standards
Objective assessment of cesarean section suturing techniques using a uterine simulator
Abstract Cesarean wound healing is influenced by surgeon experience, suture type, and technique. This study utilized a simulation model to quantify these effects. Obstetricians–gynecologists and junior residents performed two-layer continuous suturing on uterine models, forming eight groups based on experience level (expert, novice), suture type (conventional, barbed), and technique (Albert–Lembert, layer-to-layer). The ideal wound condition was defined as that achieved by an expert using barbed sutures and the layer-to-layer technique. Wound characteristics were quantified and compared to this ideal. Experts using barbed sutures in Albert–Lembert suturing showed higher wound density but greater deformation and larger endometrial openings (both P < 0.01). Novices using barbed sutures in Albert–Lembert suturing showed similar wound density but significantly greater deformation and opening (both P < 0.01). Novices using conventional sutures in layer-to-layer suturing showed the lowest wound density and longest suturing time (both P < 0.01). Notably, novices using barbed sutures achieved wound characteristics comparable to experts using conventional sutures in Albert–Lembert suturing and results closer to the ideal in layer-to-layer suturing. These findings establish a quantifiable standard for cesarean suturing and suggest that optimizing suture types and techniques may help compensate for differences in surgical expertise.
The global plastics treaty can be saved — here’s how to break the deadlock
Quantification of overall tumor burden using longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging improves response assessment in orthotopic murine hepatocellular carcinoma models
Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Mirroring the complexity of human HCC with its underlying liver disease requires multilocular orthotopic tumor models in mice, where objective tumor quantification in vivo is challenging, especially longitudinally. We investigated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to noninvasively quantify orthotopic HCC in an immunotherapy setting. Orthotopic HCCs were induced in diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-injected mice with either CCl 4 -induced hepatic fibrosis or dietary metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) to mirror the most frequent etiologies. Growth kinetics over the course of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment with anti-Programmed Death Ligand 1 (αPD-L1) were modeled by measuring the overall tumor burden (OTB) using MRI and compared to untreated animals. Tumor parameters, such as tumor volume, liver weights at sacrifice and largest tumor diameter were analyzed. We demonstrate that MRI is a reliable imaging tool for both pretreatment tumor confirmation as well as the longitudinal quantification of overall tumor burden under investigational treatment. While measuring only the largest tumor diameter yielded significant differences between αPD-L1-treated animals and untreated controls in the long-term setting, these trends in tumor response were not confirmed by MRI-based OTB measurement. In MASLD-HCC, tumors did not respond to PD-L1 blockade, thus confirming the OTB data and reflecting the immunotherapy resistance observed in the human setting and highlighting the translational relevance of the model. Orthotopic fibrosis-HCC and MASLD-HCC mouse models can be enhanced through the longitudinal use of MRI while reducing endpoints and animal numbers. The DEN-CCl 4 and DEN-Western Diet models mirror the αPD-L1 response from the human setting and require OTB measurement, because largest diameters may underestimate the total tumor mass in orthotopic HCC.
A history of hocus pocus: witchcraft down the ages
Robust imputation-based method for eye, hair, and skin colour prediction from low-coverage ancient DNA
Abstract The prediction of externally visible traits (eye, hair, and skin colours) from DNA can provide valuable information for contemporary and ancient human populations. The validated HIrisPlex-S method is the primary tool in forensics for phenotyping modern samples. The HIrisPlex-S multiplex PCR assay can handle trace DNA from modern samples, but the analysis of degraded, low-coverage ancient DNA (aDNA) presents additional challenges. Genotype imputation has recently proven successful in effectively filling in missing information in aDNA sequences. To assess the feasibility of this approach, we evaluated how key factors, such as genome coverage, minor allele frequency, extent of postmortem damage, and the population origin of the test individual, influence the efficiency of imputing HIrisPlex-S markers and predicting phenotypes. We used high-coverage sequence data from modern individuals and ancient remains for the evaluation. Our results demonstrate that even with genome coverages as low as 0.1–0.5×, the proposed workflow can predict phenotypes from degraded ancient (or forensic) whole genome sequence (WGS) data with good accuracy. To aid the archaeogenetics community, we have developed aHISPlex. This user-friendly, easily deployable imputation-based framework includes the new bioinformatics tools and the pre-made reference data sets required for the whole analysis.
Correction: Entanglement witnesses and separability criteria based on generalized equiangular tight frames
Calling all scientists: Support your Iranian colleagues
Methyl jasmonate-loaded chitosan nanoparticles and biochar improve maize thermotolerance
Uncovering the role of LINE-1 in the evolution of lung adenocarcinoma
A decadal analysis of drinking water quality and nitrate-related health risk assessment in groundwater sources: a case study of Poldasht County, Northwest Iran
I know science can’t fix the world — here’s why I do it anyway
Dominant contribution of Asgard archaea to eukaryogenesis
Abstract The origin of eukaryotes is one of the key problems in evolutionary biology 1,2 . The demonstration that the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) already contained the mitochondrion—an endosymbiotic organelle derived from an alphaproteobacterium—and the discovery of Asgard archaea—the closest archaeal relatives of eukaryotes 3–7 —inform and constrain evolutionary scenarios of eukaryogenesis 8 . We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the origins of core eukaryotic genes tracing to the LECA within a rigorous statistical framework centred around evolutionary hypothesis testing using constrained phylogenetic trees. The results show dominant contributions of Asgard archaea to the origin of most of the conserved eukaryotic functional systems and pathways. A limited contribution from Alphaproteobacteria was identified, relating primarily to energy transformation systems and Fe–S cluster biogenesis, whereas ancestry from other bacterial phyla was scattered across the eukaryotic functional landscape, without clear, consistent trends. These findings imply a model of eukaryogenesis in which key features of eukaryotic cell organization evolved in the Asgard lineage leading to the LECA, followed by the capture of the alphaproteobacterial endosymbiont and augmented by numerous but sporadic horizontal acquisitions of genes from other bacteria both before and after endosymbiosis.
Engineered fano resonances in a compact Si3N4 photonic crystal nanobeam-microring platform for multi-cladding environments
Abstract The steep slope of the asymmetric Fano resonance offers potential for enhancing signal readout in compact photonic sensors across gas and liquid environments. However, achieving and controlling Fano resonance shapes on ultra-compact, fabrication-constrained platforms, particularly across variable claddings, remains challenging. We demonstrate a CMOS-compatible Si 3 N 4 photonic platform based on a photonic crystal nanobeam (PhCN) side-coupled to a racetrack microring resonator (MRR), enabling engineered Fano resonances through passive geometric control. By varying the PhCN length and coupling gap, we systematically modulate the interference conditions that define resonance asymmetry and slope. Numerical and experimental results under both air and aqueous claddings show that the cladding-dependent modal transition, from leaky (air) to guided (liquid) backgrounds, enables robust, geometry-driven Fano behavior. A temporal coupled-mode theory model supports the results. The fabricated devices show steep asymmetric lineshapes, with $${Q}_{t}$$ >5 $$\cdot$$ 10 3 , ER > 14dB (up to 20 dB maximum across all devices), $$q$$ > 0.4, and slope responsivity >5 nm –1 (or 40–50 dB/nm), all within a compact footprint of ~40 × 34 µm 2 . The performance is comparable to similar MRR-based Fano implementations. This work provides a reproducible strategy for slope-optimized, passive Fano devices suitable for intensity-based refractive index sensing in lab-on-chip systems operating under variable cladding conditions without requiring ultra-high $$Q$$ or extreme ER. Thus, it serves as a design framework for future implementations.