Browse Articles

The effect of inflammatory factors on unstable angina risk, from the gene level

MPA-based pointing calibration for Q/V band LEO canted antennas

Categorical framework for quantum-resistant zero-trust AI security

Correction for Slaughter et al., Community notes reduce engagement with and diffusion of false information online

Spatiotemporal expression of endospore appendages and cryo-EM insights into Ena1C-mediated S-ENA anchoring in Bacillus paranthracis

Abstract The endospores of many Bacillus cereus group species are decorated with highly resilient fibrous structures known as endospore appendages (ENAs), whose precise biological functions remain poorly understood. Structural and genetic studies have identified ena1A , ena1B , and ena1C as essential for forming the longer, thicker, and most abundant staggered (S)-ENA fibers in Bacillus paranthracis , whereas ena3A encodes the major subunit of the shorter, thinner, ladder-like (L)-ENAs. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal expression dynamics of S- and L-ENA proteins and the specific role of Ena1C in S-ENA biogenesis. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, we observed strict temporal regulation of ena gene expression, with no detectable ENA subunit production before spores became phase-bright. ENAs expression peaked during late sporulation phase, with fluorescence localized around the developing spore until its release; notably, S-ENA subunit expression began approximately one hour earlier than that of L-ENA subunits. Combining cryo-EM, negative-stain transmission electron microscopy, and genetic analyses, we show that Ena1C forms a nonameric ring-like structure required for tethering S-ENA to the spore surface. These findings provide new insights into the regulation of ENAs’ expression during fiber biogenesis and highlight their temporal coordination with spore coat and exosporium development.

SARS-CoV-2 S assembly into virions facilitated by host ERM proteins

The host cell cytoskeleton plays a critical role in the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle, though the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigates the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein and the cytoskeleton-associated ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) proteins through biochemical and structural characterization. A previously unidentified ERM-binding motif on the SARS-CoV-2 S protein is identified, revealing that S-ERM interactions are specifically conserved among highly pathogenic coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2. Functionally, these interactions facilitate S packaging into virions by directing it to assembly sites, utilizing ERM’s affinity for negatively curved membranes, akin to its role in cell surface protrusions. Silencing ERM expression significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 titer, highlighting its essential role in viral propagation. Additionally, leveraging the established role of COPI-mediated trafficking in S localization, a compound is developed to disrupt S-COPI binding, promoting S secretion to the cell surface and effectively reducing viral titers. Our findings revealed a critical host–pathogen interaction that drives S incorporation into virions and identified ERM proteins as key facilitators of coronavirus assembly. Furthermore, our study suggests an antiviral strategy by targeting the S-COPI trafficking pathway. These insights advanced our understanding of coronavirus–host interactions and provided a potential therapeutic approach against SARS-CoV-2 and other highly pathogenic coronaviruses.

Energy-efficient intrusion detection with a protocol-aware transformer–spiking hybrid model

Abstract Recent intrusion detection studies have achieved high accuracy using deep learning and transformer-based models; however, many approaches suffer from high computational cost, limited energy efficiency, and poor detection of rare attack classes in imbalanced network traffic. To address these challenges, this study proposes a Transformer-Augmented Spiking Neural Network (TASNN) that integrates attention-driven contextual modeling with energy-efficient spiking computation for intrusion detection systems (IDS). The framework incorporates Protocol-Aware Adaptive Normalization (PAAN) and Pseudo-Flow Reconstruction (PFR) to improve robustness to heterogeneous traffic patterns. An adaptive spike encoding strategy, including Multi-Scale Adaptive Spike Encoding (MASE) and Eventified Delta Coding (EDC), converts tabular features into sparse spiking representations. In addition, a Cross-Modal Gating (XMG) mechanism dynamically regulates spiking activity, while Spike-Aware Information Fusion (SAIF) supports stable and interpretable feature selection. Experimental evaluation on benchmark datasets demonstrates that TASNN achieves improved classification performance and reduced computational overhead compared to existing methods, highlighting its suitability for energy-constrained and edge-based intrusion detection scenarios.

GABA corelease guides the functional maturation of glycinergic synapses in an auditory sound localization circuit

In the mammalian brainstem and spinal cord, glycine is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. However, during development, many glycinergic neurons also corelease the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Although the acute effects of GABA corelease on immature synaptic transmission have been increasingly characterized, its role in synapse maturation and circuit formation remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the developmental roles of GABA corelease at glycinergic synapses from the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) to the lateral superior olive (LSO), an auditory pathway essential for binaural integration and sound localization. During the first two postnatal weeks, MNTB-LSO synapses corelease GABA and undergo pronounced synaptic and circuit refinement. Using conditional knockout mice with severely diminished GABA corelease from MNTB neurons, we found that key aspects of circuit refinement, including synaptic silencing and strengthening, occurred normally. However, a disruption of GABA corelease resulted in significantly larger quantal amplitudes and a reduced readily releasable vesicle pool, impairing the high fidelity and temporal precision of synaptic transmission, which are essential for accurate binaural processing. These results reveal a critical developmental role for GABA corelease in shaping the functional synaptic architecture of glycinergic synapses involved in sound localization.

Transcriptional profiling of the tumor microenvironment of recurrent and non-recurrent stage II colon cancer

The role of fluctuations in the nucleation process

The emergence upon cooling of an ordered solid phase from a disordered liquid is a remarkable example of self-assembly, which has also major practical relevance. Here, we use a recently developed committor-based enhanced sampling method to explore the crystallization transition in a Lennard-Jones fluid, using variational principle based on the backward Kolmogorov equation. We exploit the unique properties of our method to study in detail the nucleation mechanism, allowing us to detect and analyze the fluctuations that eventually lead to crystallization. We find that the transition state ensemble has a complex nature in which the nonspherical solid core is surrounded by an interface that is more disordered than bulk liquid. We also compute from the variational principle a nucleation rate that is consistent with the experimental results at variance with previous estimates.

An improved seam carving method for enhancing the visual field of tunnel vision patients

Abstract Visual impairment has various forms all of which negatively affect the patient’s daily activities and prevent performing simple actions like walking safely in a street. Content-aware image retargeting can be used to enhance the scene for patients who have limited visual field i.e. tunnel vision. A modified Seam Carving method is presented in this research paper which can decrease the width of the input image to fit in the patient’s angle of vision while preserving the important objects in the original image as well as the image details. The method enhanced the original Seam Carving by calculating the energy map using multiscale image fusion that combines depth, saliency, foreground segmentation, and edge detection features, and used a forward-middle approach for the seam removal step. The results showed efficiency that outperformed various retargeting methods, achieving a 30.8% improvement in the composite score that integrates structural, perceptual, and feature-based quality metrics. Statistical analysis using paired t-tests ( $$n = 73$$ ) confirmed statistically significant improvements across all major metrics ( $$p<0.001$$ ), including SSIM, SIFT feature matching, and modern deep learning-based perceptual quality metrics, compared to the baseline seam carving method.

Enhancing security in IoMT using federated TinyGAN for lightweight and accurate malware detection

INDETERMINATE DOMAIN–DELLA protein interactions orchestrate gibberellin-mediated cell elongation in wheat and barley

DELLA proteins, members of the GRAS-domain family of transcriptional regulators, play a crucial role in plant growth and development. They modulate transcription indirectly via interactions with hundreds of transcription factors. The phytohormone gibberellin (GA) triggers DELLA degradation, providing a mechanism by which plants can integrate developmental and environmental signals to regulate gene expression and optimize growth responses. In agriculture, DELLA mutations have been instrumental in improving crop performance. Most modern wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) varieties carry Rht-B1b or Rht-D1b alleles that encode DELLA proteins resistant to GA-mediated degradation, resulting in constitutive partial suppression of stem growth, a semi-dwarf stature, and lodging resistance. However, these alleles also reduce early vigor and nitrogen use efficiency, limiting their utility in some environments. Understanding how DELLA proteins regulate growth and development is, therefore, critical for refining breeding strategies. In this study, we identified the orthologous C2H2 zinc-finger transcription factors INDETERMINATE DOMAIN 5 ( IDD5 ) in wheat and SEMI-DWARF 3 ( SDW3 ) in barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) as positive regulators of stem and leaf expansion. Both IDD5 and SDW3 physically interact with, and act downstream of, DELLA proteins as key components of GA-mediated growth responses. Altered expression levels of GA biosynthesis genes suggest that IDD5 contributes to GA homeostasis in addition to growth regulation. Loss-of-function mutations in IDD5 and SDW3 confer a GA-insensitive semi-dwarf phenotype comparable in height to the Rht-D1b Green Revolution allele. In field trials, idd5 lines exhibited improved grain weight per spike but were lower-yielding due to reduced spike number.

Safety and preliminary efficacy of adding tocilizumab to cisplatin/docetaxel for the treatment of locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer patients: prospective phase 1/2 clinical trial

A J-domain protein enhances memory by promoting physiological amyloid formation in <i>Drosophila</i>

Memory requires experience-dependent alterations in the synaptic proteome. Chaperones interface between the environment and the proteome. Manipulating J-domain protein (JDP) chaperones, the most diverse family of chaperones, in a Drosophila neuronal circuit that encodes associative long-term memories, we identified yet uncharacterized JDPs that transduce sensory cues. One of these JDPs, CG10375, which we named Funes, enhances memory when overexpressed and impairs memory when functionally impaired. Funes overexpression enhances memory formation even when sensory stimuli are suboptimal. At the circuit level, Funes acts on neurons where conditioned and unconditioned stimuli converge to form associative memories. From a proteomic-based screen, we found that overexpression of Funes changes the solubility of a small subset of proteins, one of which is the mRNA-binding protein Orb2. Combining in vitro and in vivo biophysical, biochemical, and cryo-EM structural analyses, we found that Funes associates with oligomeric Orb2 and promotes the formation of translationally active amyloids. Perturbation of the conserved J domain eliminates the ability of Funes to facilitate amyloid assembly and promote memory. We posit that the brain harbors chaperones that influence memory by regulating physiological amyloid formation.

Correlational analysis of halotolerant palynomorphs peculiarities by integrating morphological and morphometric characterization using scanning electron microscopy

Theory for sequence selection via phase separation and oligomerization

Nonequilibrium selection pressures were proposed for forming oligonucleotides with rich functionalities encoded in their sequences, such as catalysis. Since phase separation was shown to direct various chemical processes, we ask whether condensed phases can provide mechanisms for sequence selection. To answer this question, we use nonequilibrium thermodynamics and describe the reversible oligomerization of different monomers to sequences at nondilute conditions prone to phase separation. We find that as sequences form, their interactions can trigger phase separation, which in turn enriches some sequences while depleting others. Our main result is that phase separation creates a selection pressure leading to specific sequence patterns when fragmentation maintains the system away from equilibrium. When fragmentation is slow, alternating sequences that interact more cooperatively with their surroundings are preferred. When fragmentation is fast, sequences with longer repeating motifs capable of more specific interactions are selected instead. Our finding that out-of-equilibrium condensed phases can provide a selection mechanism highlights their potential as versatile hubs for the evolution of functional sequences, a question relevant to the molecular origin of life and de novo life.

Chronic NH4Cl loading improves glucose tolerance without modifying insulin sensitivity in mice

Abstract Acute metabolic acidosis (MA), a feature mostly associated with chronic kidney disease, decreases glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. By contrast, the effects of chronic MA on glucose homeostasis remain elusive. Here, we evaluated glucose homeostasis and metabolic parameters in male mice exhibiting chronic MA via long-term NH 4 Cl administration. Unlike acute MA, chronic MA resulted in lower body weight, increased energy expenditure, lower basal glycemia, improved glucose tolerance without changes in insulin secretion or sensitivity. No overall glucose uptake changes were observed. However, hepatic and intestinal gluconeogenesis were decreased whereas renal endogenous glucose production was increased in mice with chronic MA. The elevated glucose urinary excretion was associated with lower expression of renal sodium/glucose co-transporters. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that chronic MA potentiates anion transport, glucose and lipid metabolism, mitochondrial and oxidative phosphorylation pathways in the kidney. Overall, chronic MA improves glucose tolerance without changes in insulin secretion or sensitivity, likely due to reduced hepatic gluconeogenesis, decreased renal glucose reabsorption and increased energy demands in the kidney.

All-visible-light-responsive porous aromatic frameworks manipulate CO ₂ uptake by reversible bulk isomerization of azobenzene pendants

Embedding light-responsive small molecules in a porous solid is a promising strategy to achieve dynamic control over material properties. Powering these systems with low-energy photons is essential for their future applications, since visible light, compared to UV light, is less damaging and offers more selective isomerization with higher penetration depth. However, the construction of visible light-responsive porous materials remains a significant challenge. Here, we report the construction of a series of visible-light-responsive porous aromatic switchable framework materials grafted with o -fluoroazobenzene pendants ( Azo-PSFs ). The materials exhibit high microporosity and reversible photoswitching upon irradiation with visible light. The highly robust materials can be cycled between two distinct states multiple times without showing any photo fatigue or decomposition. Remarkably, solid-state NMR revealed that the azobenzene moiety undergoes reversible bulk isomerization in the framework. The isomerization of azobenzene within the framework is associated with substantial changes in adsorption capacity and CO 2 uptake-release by the material. This work presents the example of visible-light-triggered bulk isomerization in an azobenzene-based porous material, providing a benchmark characterization of photoresponsive systems and paving the way for the future advancements in light-driven materials.

An intelligent monitoring system for forecasting and anomaly detection in precision beekeeping