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Addendum: Transmission of MPXV from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys
Sub-ethnic variations in craniofacial morphometrics among Afemai University Students in Nigeria: potential implications for ethnic identification
Abstract Craniofacial morphometrics provide valuable insights into population-specific variations, aiding ethnic affiliation estimation in forensic anthropology and clinical reconstructive applications. Nigeria’s ethnic diversity, with over 250 groups, shows distinct facial and nasal patterns, but data on minority groups like the Afemai (Edo North) remain limited. This cross-sectional study examined morphometric variations among Afemai students to assess sub-ethnic differences and potential for ethnic identification. A total of 150 Afemai students (aged 16–30 years) at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, were recruited via random sampling after screening 330 individuals (210 excluded). Direct anthropometric measurements (facial height/breadth, nasal height/width, interpupillary distance, nasolabial angle) were taken using digital callipers and tape, with indices calculated (facial index; nasal index). Parameters were stratified by sub-ethnic ancestry area (six local government areas), gender, and parental ethnic homogeneity. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA and independent t-tests, with significance at p ≤ 0.05. The sample was 80% male ( n = 120) and 20% female ( n = 30). Predominant phenotypes were hyperleptoprosopic faces (54%) and hyperplatyrrhine noses (62%). ANOVA showed significant ancestry-area differences in nasal width ( p < 0.001), nasal height ( p = 0.037), nasolabial angle ( p = 0.020), facial height ( p < 0.001), and facial breadth ( p < 0.001). Gender differences were significant for nasal height, nasolabial angle, facial height, and interpupillary distance (all p < 0.001). Parental descent affected only nasal height ( p = 0.013). Sub-ethnic and gender variations in craniofacial parameters support their utility for ethnic affiliation estimation within Afemai, providing normative data for forensic and clinical use in Nigeria. Balanced gender sampling and advanced techniques are recommended for future studies.
SNOR promotes translation restart after dormancy
Abstract Cellular dormancy enables survival during prolonged nutrient limitation by reversibly suppressing protein synthesis 1–4 . How inactive eukaryotic ribosomes are reactivated when nutrients return remains unclear. Here, using high-resolution in situ cryo-electron tomography in Schizosaccharomyces pombe , we identify SNOR, an SBDS domain-containing ribosome-associated factor that binds at the peptidyl transferase centre and contacts the hypusinated loop of eIF5A during glucose depletion-induced dormancy. Rather than acting as a canonical hibernation factor, SNOR licenses dormant ribosomes for rapid translational restart. Upon glucose repletion, SNOR and eIF5A act together to promote efficient recovery of polysomes and exit from dormancy. These findings define a stress-responsive ribosome restart module that couples carbon-source limitation to surveillance of the ribosomal active site and reactivation of protein synthesis.
Federated deep learning for distributed intrusion detection and privacy preservation in power networks
Abstract The deepening cyber-physical integration of smart grids has expanded the attack surface of power networks, while centralised intrusion detection schemes struggle with data silos, privacy exposure, and prohibitive communication costs across geographically dispersed substations. This paper proposes a federated deep learning framework that addresses these constraints jointly. A three-tier cloud–edge–terminal architecture confines raw measurements to local devices and exchanges only model parameters across tiers. At each edge node, a hybrid CNN-BiLSTM detector trained under focal loss captures both spatial protocol motifs and temporal attack signatures, including stealthy false data injection and APT traces. Privacy is preserved through a layer-selective mechanism that combines Paillier homomorphic encryption on sensitive gradient slices with calibrated differential privacy on the residual components, pushing the privacy–utility frontier outward without saturating cryptographic cost. An adaptive aggregation rule weights client updates by data quality, drift severity, and marginal validation contribution, mitigating the convergence pathologies that vanilla FedAvg exhibits under sharp non-IID partitioning. Experiments on NSL-KDD, CICIDS2017, and an ICS power-system corpus show that the proposed scheme recovers within 0.7 F1 points of the centralised upper bound, suppresses membership inference advantage to below 0.08, holds detection quality against up to 20% Byzantine clients, and converges in roughly half the rounds required by FedAvg. The framework offers a deployable path toward collaborative intrusion detection across regional grid operators without compromising data sovereignty.
DNA signatures preserved in the official 1978 sample collection of the Shroud of Turin
Abstract This research provides novel insights into the diversity of DNA extracted from samples collected from the Turin Shroud in 1978, revealing its biological complexity through rigorous DNA and metagenomic analyses. Our findings highlight its preservation conditions and environmental interactions, offering valuable perspectives into the identified genetic variants, which originated from multiple biological sources. We identified several human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages, including K1a1b1a, which matches the 1978 official collector’s mitogenome, H2a2 ( i . e ., the lineage of the mtDNA reference sequence rCRS), H1b, which is common in Western Eurasia, and the rare H33, which is also present in the Near East. Additionally, the reconstructed microbiome of the Shroud reveals a rich tapestry of multiple microbes commonly found on the human epidermis, as well as archaeal communities adapted to high salinity and fungi including molds. These findings are consistent with the preservation conditions experienced by the Shroud over the centuries. The presence of abundant Mediterranean endemic red coral, various cultivated plants ( e . g ., carrot, wheat, corn, bananas, and peanuts) and domesticated animals ( e . g ., cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats) provide a fascinating glimpse into the diverse biological sources of the contaminants that have accumulated on the Turin Shroud over time. Finally, radiocarbon dating of two distinct threads collected from the reliquary is consistent with their use in repair interventions of the Shroud carried out in 1534 and 1694 CE.
Optimized multi-modal action recognition using multi-agent systems and adaptive temporal attention
Occurrence, distribution, and potential risks of ingested microplastic particles in three commercial fish species in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties of thymoquinone attenuate D-galactose induced premature aging-associated alterations in mice
Efficiently tunable real-time implementation of Riccati equation-based designs: general scheme and benchmark study
Abstract The article is motivated by extensive Riccati equation (RE)-based designs, where few are efficiently implemented in real-time computing platforms. In particular, the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) scheme is criticized for its computational burden, which is caused by RE solving at each instant. Accordingly, we consider a benchmark problem – thrust vector control (TVC) – and focus on computational efficiency. The analysis efficiently guarantees the applicability and asymptotic stability of the SDRE-based TVC, avoiding the common compromise in practice that resorts to numerical checking routines; however, using the standard applicability-checking routine in MATLAB ® causes substantial computational effort, which accounts for the dominant computational burden in the RE-based design. Practically, we extend a state-of-the-art RE solver “Structure-Preserving Doubling Algorithm” by proposing an FPGA hardware implementation that 1) manifests remarkable computational efficiency in time and accuracy, $$\mathit{simultaneously}$$ ; and 2) provides a tuning flexibility so that practitioners more easily balance the two criteria. To quantify 1) and 2), the computation time (resp., accuracy residual) using the extended solver averagely amounts to $$10\% (\text{resp}., 32\%)$$ of that by the MATLAB $$$\textsuperscript{\textregistered}$$$ benchmark; while the tuning flexibility directly relates to the stopping criterion in the RE-solving process, which adopts the Frobenius norm of the associated RE's residual matrix.
Sustaining microglial reparative function enhances stroke recovery
Transcriptional profiling of Drosophila male-specific P1 neurons
Abstract In Drosophila melanogaster , the P1 cluster of male-specific neurons both integrates sensory cues and drives or modulates behavioral programs such as courtship, in addition to contributing to a social arousal state. The behavioral function of these neurons is linked to the genes they express, which underpin their capacity for synaptic signaling, neuromodulation, and physiology. Yet, P1 neurons have not been fully characterized at the transcriptome level. Moreover, it is unknown how the molecular landscape of P1 neurons acutely changes after flies engage in social behaviors, where baseline P1 neural activity is expected to increase. To address these two gaps, we use single cell-type RNA sequencing to profile and compare the transcriptomes of P1 neurons harvested from socially paired versus solitary male flies. Compared to wholehead transcriptome datasets, we find that P1 neurons are enriched in 2,665 genes, including those encoding receptors, neuropeptides, and cell-adhesion molecules ( dprs / DIPs ). Furthermore, courtship is characterized by changes in $$\sim$$ 300 genes, including those previously implicated in regulating behavior (e.g. DopEcR , Octß3R , Fife , kairos , rad ). Finally, we identify a suite of genes that potentially link conspecific courtship with the innate immune system. Together, these data serve as a molecular map for future studies of an important set of higher-order and sexually-dimorphic neurons.