Browse Articles

From negligible to giant electrocaloric effect of poly(vinylidene fluoride)

Ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization of model fuel oil using HPW/Al2O3/PANI composite: experimental and kinetic modeling

Denosumab attenuates knee osteoarthritis progression by inhibiting synovial inflammation via the RANK/TRAF6/FSTL1 signalling

Reliable wrist PPG monitoring by mitigating poor skin sensor contact

Abstract Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a widely used non-invasive technique for monitoring cardiovascular health and various physiological parameters on consumer and medical devices. While motion artifacts are well-known challenges in dynamic settings, suboptimal skin-sensor contact in sedentary conditions - an important issue often overlooked in existing literature - can distort PPG signal morphology, leading to the loss or shift of essential waveform features and therefore degrading sensing performance. In this work, we propose a deep learning-based framework that transforms C ontact P ressure-distorted PPG signals into ones with the ideal morphology, known as CP-PPG. CP-PPG incorporates a well-crafted data processing pipeline and an adversarially trained deep generative model, together with a custom PPG-aware loss function. We validated CP-PPG through comprehensive evaluations, including 1) morphology transformation performance, 2) downstream physiological monitoring performance on public datasets, and 3) in-the-wild performance. Extensive experiments demonstrate substantial and consistent improvements in signal fidelity (Mean Absolute Error: 0.09, 40% improvement over the original signal) as well as downstream performance across all evaluations in Heart Rate (HR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Respiration Rate (RR), and Blood Pressure (BP) estimation (on average, 21% improvement in HR; 41-46% in HRV; 6% in RR; and 4-5% in BP). These findings highlight the critical importance of addressing skin-sensor contact issues for accurate and reliable PPG-based physiological monitoring. Our implementation is publicly available at: https://github.com/manhph2211/CP-PPG .

Alternative antigen retention by a gp96-fusion approach induces long-lasting and broad immunity in mice

Differentiation between patent foramen ovale and pulmonary arteriovenous malformations via simultaneous contrast transthoracic echocardiography and transcranial doppler

AAV-delivered engineered suppressor tRNA rescues visual function in mice with an inherited retinal disease

Finite element analysis of flexural behavior in ultra-high-strength concrete beams with BFRP and hybrid BFRP-steel reinforcement

Solvent vapor diffusion–driven multiscale pre-aggregation of non-fullerene acceptors enables high-performance organic solar cells

Abstract Precise control of active layer morphology is crucial for improving organic solar cell efficiency but remains challenge. Here, we report a solvent vapor diffusion (SVD) method that creates a vertical solvent gradient by diffusing benzene vapor into a toluene-based acceptor solution before layer-by-layer fabrication. This process tunes multiscale pre-aggregation of non-fullerene acceptors, forming hierarchical domains that facilitate efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. This strategy also optimizes the vertical donor/acceptor composition profile, aligning exciton generation to minimize recombination and enhance charge collection. Morphological, spectroscopic, and device analyses show enhanced molecular ordering, improved phase separation, and superior carrier dynamics compared with conventional processing. Solvent vapor diffusion strategy demonstrates universality across diverse systems, yielding consistent performance gains. Devices based on D18/L8-BO achieved an efficiency of 20.18%, while D18 (1% PYIT)/L8-BO-C4 reached 20.71%, establishing the strategy as a powerful approach for structural engineering in high-performance OSCs.

Parental burnout and decreased sensitivity to context for mothers: A temporal network approach grounded in the family environment

A genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies GRA38 as a key regulator of lipid homeostasis during Toxoplasma gondii adaptation to lipid-rich conditions

Abstract Intracellular parasites like Toxoplasma gondii scavenge host nutrients, particularly lipids, to support their growth and survival. Although Toxoplasma is known to adjust its metabolism based on nutrient availability, the mechanisms that mediate lipid sensing and metabolic adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen under lipid-rich (10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)) and lipid-limited (1% FBS) conditions to identify genes critical for lipid-responsive fitness. We identify the Toxoplasma protein GRA38 as a lipid-dependent regulator of parasite fitness. GRA38 exhibits phosphatidic acid (PA) phosphatase (PAP) activity in vitro, which is significantly reduced by mutation of its conserved DxDxT/V catalytic motif. Disruption of GRA38 leads to the accumulation of PA species and widespread alterations in lipid composition, consistent with impaired PAP activity. These lipid imbalances correlate with reduced parasite virulence in mice. Our findings identify GRA38 as a metabolic regulator important for maintaining lipid homeostasis and pathogenesis in Toxoplasma gondii .

Hypergravity hinders proper dendritic patterning of a sensory neuron in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

The Arctic Ocean is a net sink for anthropogenic lead deposited into the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract Humans emitted millions of tons of the toxic element lead (Pb) into the atmosphere. The North Atlantic Ocean has been strongly affected by atmospheric Pb deposition, however the role of ocean currents in dispersing the Atlantic dissolved Pb (dPb) burden remains unclear. Here, we show that the Arctic Ocean received a dPb flux of 611 ± 74 Mg·a -1 from the North Atlantic Ocean in 2015/2016, making the Arctic Ocean a previously unrecognized net sink of Atlantic dPb (378 ± 85 Mg·a -1 ). This input is comparable to Arctic riverine dPb discharge (344 ± 222 Mg·a -1 ). Lead isotope measurements trace the origin of dPb in the Arctic Ocean back to anthropogenic emissions from North America and Eurasia. Elevated dPb concentrations in the North Atlantic Ocean prior to the global-phase out of leaded gasoline (1986-2021) suggests ~5-fold higher fluxes from the North Atlantic in the late 1980s relative to 2015/2016, explaining the widespread contamination of Arctic abyssal sediments with Pb.

The contribution of audition and proprioception in unisensory and multisensory target reaching

Abstract Everyday actions often involve reaching for targets sensed by auditory and proprioceptive senses (reaching a ringing smartphone in the dark or tapping on it while holding it with the other hand). However, it is still unclear whether reaching performance toward auditory and proprioceptive targets is modality-specific and whether performance improves under multisensory compared to unisensory conditions. Here, we addressed these questions by measuring reaching performance toward auditory, proprioceptive, and combined audio-proprioceptive targets along the azimuth and depth dimensions. Accuracy was similar along the azimuth dimension, whereas precision was generally lower for auditory targets compared to proprioceptive and audio-proprioceptive targets. A second experiment investigated whether providing additional proprioceptive information while reaching for an auditory target could improve precision in subsequent auditory-only trials. A slight general improvement was observed, indicating that proprioceptive cues may help reduce spatial variability in auditory-guided actions, though not to the level seen in the multisensory condition. Overall, the results suggest that while the target modality slightly impacts movement accuracy, it has a significant impact on movement precision, with proprioceptive input playing a crucial role in enhancing precision. The concurrent availability of auditory and proprioceptive target information does not enhance precision beyond that achieved with proprioceptive information alone, whereas proprioception can modestly improve subsequent auditory-guided reaching.

Biomimetic transmembrane transport of multi-enzymes to fabricate heterogeneous bioreactors with photoenzymatic reduction of CO2

Predictive expert assessments for large-scale battery storage system investments with conditional multi-facet fuzzy logarithmic least-squares and orthogonal metric robust aggregation

Agonist signaling drives neutrophil subpopulations to promote/inhibit colorectal cancer liver metastasis

Design and lmplementation of wheel-leg-paddle lntegrated structure amphibious robot

Long-term protection from naturally acquired immunity against hepatitis E virus reinfection

Investigating the feasibility and safety of transcranial infraslow gray noise stimulation as a potential treatment for generalized anxiety disorder

Abstract Anxiety is a beneficial behavior that assists survival, although when high levels of anxiety persist it can hinder normal functioning. Despite numerous treatment options most individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) continue to suffer from the disorder. A novel neuromodulatory treatment that safely and non-invasively alters pathological neural circuitry associated with GAD is required. Therefore, this study investigates the feasibility, safety, and effect of a new innovative High-Definition Transcranial Infraslow Gray Noise Stimulation (HD-tIGNS) targeting the anxiety network in people with GAD, in a delayed-start double-blinded randomized sham-controlled pilot trial ( N  = 22). HD-tIGNS was applied three times per week for three [delayed-start (following 3-weeks of actisham)], or six weeks (early-start). Anxiety questionnaires and electroencephalography were taken at baseline, mid-treatment, and post-treatment. On average, six participants were recruited per month with a mean treatment adherence of 99.5%, and an 8.3% dropout rate of enrolled participants. Clinically meaningful changes in GAD-7 were observed in 45% (early-start group) and 36% (delayed-start group) of participants following 6-weeks and 3-weeks of intervention respectively. No significant differences in brain activity or functional connectivity were observed. This study provides evidence supporting HD-tIGNS as a safe and feasible treatment approach for GAD, however future research should consider alternate network targets.