Browse Articles

Fibre supplementation alters the gastrointestinal microbiome, the microbial metabolites and indicators of neurodegeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer´s disease

Abstract Alzheimer´s disease is a neurodegenerative disease with high global prevalence and no cure available. It is known that the microbiota-gut-brain-axis plays a role in the pathogenesis, but the pathways are not fully understood yet. To elucidate the role of dietary fibre supplementation on this axis in a 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer´s disease, a feeding trial with an inulin supplement was conducted. At the start (Basis, n = 11) and after 7 weeks with (AD + F; n = 15) and without (AD; n = 15) supplementation, the mice were sacrificed and the following samples were taken: ingesta for 16 S rRNA sequencing and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) analysis, and brain tissue for amyloid-beta staining and proteome analysis. The microbiota patterns in stomach, small intestine, caecum and colon differed between AD and AD + F. SCFA concentrations were significantly higher in group AD + F as compared to AD and Basis. In the AD mice, plaque load was significantly increased as compared to Basis, while a reduction in AD + F as compared to AD was observed. The brain proteome also differed between AD + F and AD, indicating a beneficial effect of the inulin supplementation, possibly mediated in part by microbial acetate. Since prebiotic substances like inulin are also part of human diets, this should be investigated further in the translational context.

Deciphering the Synchronization of Alternating Current Frequency with the Nickel Catalytic Cycle in Selective C–N Cross-Coupling

Poziotinib for EGFR exon 20-insertion NSCLC: Clinical efficacy of the phase 2 ZENITH trial and differential impact of EGFR exon 20 insertion location on sensitivity

Multi-branch and multi-label tree species classification using deep learning for UAV aerial photography and Sentinel remote sensing images

How a dangerous tick-borne virus sneaks into the brain

Modulating Molecular Microheterogeneity within Electrolytes Controls Macroscopic Battery Performance

Modular synthesis of PAHs from aryl halides and terminal alkynes via photoinduced palladium catalysis

Abstract A visible-light-induced, palladium-catalyzed one-step annulation of aryl halides with terminal alkynes is developed to enable direct access to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) under mild conditions. Unlike conventional thermal methods that favor Sonogashira coupling, this transformation proceeds via photoexcitation of Pd(0), generating a Pd(I)/aryl radical hybrid that adds to the alkyne to form a vinyl radical intermediate, enabling regioselective annulation without requiring oxidative addition. The reaction exhibits broad functional group tolerance, wide substrate scope, and excellent scalability, granting modular entry to diverse PAH frameworks, including π-extended and halogenated derivatives. Mechanistic investigations, including radical trapping, radical clock analysis, EPR experiments, light-dependence experiments, and kinetic isotope effect studies, support a radical pathway. This operationally simple and mechanistically distinct approach provides a streamlined and versatile strategy for the construction of functionalized PAHs with potential relevance to materials science and organic electronics.

Depolarization block induction via slow NaV1.1 inactivation in Dravet syndrome

Peptide-Programmable DNAzyme Converter for Artificial Autocatalytic Gene Regulation

Mechanically activated snai1b coordinates the initiation of myocardial delamination for trabeculation

Abstract During development, myocardial contractile force and intracardiac hemodynamic shear stress coordinate the initiation of trabeculation. While Snail family genes are well-recognized transcription factors of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, snai1b-positive cardiomyocytes are sparsely distributed in the ventricle of zebrafish at 4 days post-fertilization. Isoproterenol treatment significantly increases the number of snai1b-positive cardiomyocytes, of which 80% are Notch-negative. CRISPR-activation of snai1b leads to 51.6% cardiomyocytes forming trabeculae, whereas CRISPR-repression reduces trabecular cardiomyocytes to 6.7% under isoproterenol. In addition, 36.7% of snai1b-repressed cardiomyocytes undergo apical delamination. 4-D strain analysis demonstrates that isoproterenol increases the myocardial strain along radial trabecular ridges in alignment with the snai1b expression and Notch-ErbB2-mediated trabeculation. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics reveal that these snai1b-positive cardiomyocytes are devoid of some epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-related phenotypes, such as Col1a2 production and induction by ErbB2 or TGF-β. Thus, we uncover snai1b-positive cardiomyocytes that are mechanically activated to initiate delamination for cardiac trabeculation.

Effects of nitrogen addition on the growth and photosynthetic physiology of Gleditsia sinensis Lam. seedlings under shading conditions

Exclusive: RFK Jr cancelled mRNA research — but the US military is still funding it

Prolonging All-Optical Molecular Electron Spin Coherence in the Tissue Transparency Window

GPS Pipeline: portable, scalable genomic pipeline for Streptococcus pneumoniae surveillance from Global Pneumococcal Sequencing Project

Abstract Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a major pathogen globally, responsible for an estimated one million deaths annually and contributing significantly to the global burden of antimicrobial resistance. Ongoing surveillance of its vaccine antigen (i.e. serotypes), antimicrobial resistance, and pneumococcal lineages is crucial for assessing the impact of vaccination programs and guiding future vaccine design. However, current bioinformatics tools have several limitations that prevent them from enabling comprehensive analysis that allows simultaneous, large-scale, and independent generation of these crucial data. Here, we present the GPS Pipeline that enables reliable extraction of public health information from pneumococcal genomes using in silico methods. It can accurately identify 102 of 107 known serotypes, recognise 1053 pneumococcal lineages, and predict susceptibilities to 19 common antibiotics. Built on Nextflow and utilising containerisation technology, the GPS Pipeline minimises software setup requirements and bioinformatics expertise while facilitating large-scale analysis of genomic data. The GPS Pipeline was applied and validated on 20,924 pneumococcal genomes worldwide, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing responsiveness in pneumococcal genomic surveillance.

Multi-resolution transfer learning for tampered image classification using SE-enhanced fused-MBConv and optimized CNN heads

Abstract The widespread use of digital image tampering has created a strong need for accurate and generalizable detection systems, especially in domains like forensics, journalism, and cybersecurity. Traditional handcrafted methods often fail to capture subtle manipulation artifacts, and many deep learning approaches lack generalization across diverse image sources and manipulation techniques. To address these limitations, we propose a tampered image classification model based on transfer learning using EfficientNetV2B0. This backbone is combined with a lightweight, regularized CNN classification head and optimized using Focal Loss to address class imbalance. The architecture integrates compound scaling, fused MBConv layers, and squeeze-and-excitation (SE) attention to improve feature representation and robustness. We evaluate the model on four benchmark datasets-CASIA v1, Columbia, MICC-F2000, and Defacto (Splicing)-and achieve exceptional performance, with AUC scores up to 1.0000 and F1-scores up to 0.9997. Comparisons with 42 state-of-the-art models, including IML-ViT, MVSS-Net++, ConvNeXtFF, and DRRU-Net, show our method consistently outperforms existing approaches in accuracy, precision, recall, and generalization, particularly on high-resolution and compressed images. These results demonstrate the practical effectiveness and forensic reliability of the proposed system.

Sulfate Promotes Amine Salt Ozonation in Atmospheric Aerosols

Solid-State Ionomer-Interlayered Bulk Monolayer MoS₂ Membranes with Thickness-Scalable Bright Luminescence

Evidence for single variant in altermagnetic RuO2(101) thin films

Effect of surface pretreatments on surface roughness and repair bond strength of aged machinable hybrid ceramic with nanohybrid resin composite

Abstract To evaluate the repair bond strength of a nanohybrid resin composite to aged machinable hybrid ceramic after using three surface pretreatments. Specimens of the hybrid ceramic blocks were grouped into four groups based on the ceramic surface pretreatment: no treatment control group, bur grinding group, HF etched group, and grit-blasting group. All the groups were tested for surface roughness by an optical profilometer. Test groups were subdivided into immediate and aged groups based on aging protocol. A nanohybrid resin composite was placed onto prepared resin/ceramic hybrid material surfaces for the micro shear bond strength test. Deboned specimens were inspected using a stereomicroscope and a scanning electron microscope to determine the failure mode. Data was analyzed using ANOVA and the Tukey’s HSD test. One-way ANOVA test for surface roughness showed no significant difference among the differently pretreated surfaces. Two-way ANOVA after aging indicated significant differences of surface pretreatments and aging protocol on MSBSof the nanohybrid composite bonded to hybrid ceramic (p < 0.05). Surface pretreatments increased the bond strength of resin composite bonded to hybrid ceramic material. Aging had a detrimental effect on MSBSof nanohybrid resin composite to hybrid ceramic.

Intermolecular Lithium η²-Alkene and κ²-Alkane Complexes: Synthesis, Bonding, and Facile Interconversion