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Prediction of KIR3DL1 and human leukocyte antigen binding

Perceived power dynamics in nursing education on students’ learning experience in Ghana

Introduction Educator-student connectedness is where students can thrive, even amid failure, preserving their worth and self-dignity. Every relationship may have challenges, which is no different in nursing education. Students are sometimes unhappy with the educator-student relationship, as power creates a certain distance that must be appropriately exhibited. The study explored the perceived power dynamics of the educator-student relationship in nursing education. Methods The study utilised an exploratory, descriptive qualitative approach to understand student nurses’ educator-student interaction. Twenty-four final-year students were involved in the study based on information power. Thematic analysis was used to generate codes, sub-themes, and themes. Findings Two main themes emerged: 1) difficulties faced by students and 2) the perceived impact of power dynamics. The identified subthemes include issues with teaching methods, feelings of suppression, and discouraging attitudes of educators. The findings further showed that students often pretend to understand when an educator becomes angry, reflecting the power dynamics in the classroom, where students may feel powerless to challenge authority even when their academic needs are unmet. Additionally, there is a lack of student autonomy, which affects their mental well-being and development as competent professionals. Conclusion Students are expected to develop critical thinking skills and become advocates for their patients; however, when their voices are suppressed, it is unlikely that they will confidently advocate for others in clinical settings. Suppressing their concerns can lead to long-term consequences, affecting their ability to question clinical decisions and their willingness to speak up for patient safety. Educational institutions should provide professional development on creating inclusive and supportive classroom dynamics to mitigate the adverse effects of power imbalances.

A tubulin-binding protein that preferentially binds to GDP-tubulin and promotes GTP exchange

International students’ experiences on speaking and writing skills in language learning processes in higher education

Although speaking and writing skills play a crucial role in second language acquisition, studies focusing specifically on the challenges faced by international students learning Turkish as a foreign language remain limited. This study aims to explore the experiences of international students enrolled in higher education institutions in Turkey, particularly regarding the development of their speaking and writing skills in the context of Turkish language learning. Adopting a phenomenological design within a qualitative research framework, data were collected from 24 international students through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that students struggled with the pronunciation of certain sounds, maintaining fluency, organizing their thoughts coherently, expressing themselves accurately, applying grammar rules, and choosing appropriate vocabulary. Furthermore, participants reported experiencing anxiety about making mistakes, as well as various psychological barriers that hindered their ability to express themselves effectively. In terms of writing skills, the most prominent difficulties included grammatical errors, challenges in spelling vowels and specific consonants, misuse of punctuation, and slow writing speed. Students also indicated that their limited vocabulary and difficulties adapting to Turkish syntax negatively affected their writing performance. These findings underscore the need for integrated language instruction programs that simultaneously address speaking and writing skills, offering structured practice opportunities, anxiety-reducing strategies, and greater chances for meaningful interaction. The results provide valuable insights for language instructors, curriculum designers, and policymakers aiming to improve Turkish as a foreign language instruction tailored to the specific needs of international learners.

The critical roles of bioactive sphingolipids in inflammation

The role of music in ADHD: A multi-dimensional computational and theoretical analysis

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting children and adults worldwide, has seen a significant rise in diagnoses and medication prescriptions in recent decades. This trend has emphasized the need for non-pharmacological interventions such as music to aid ADHD management. This study explores the musical experiences of individuals with ADHD through a comprehensive analysis of user-generated content from the Reddit r/ADHD community between 2014–2024. Advanced computational techniques, including large language models such as Gemini 1.5 Pro and LLAMA 3.1 were employed for data extraction and categorization. Additionally, APIs from digital streaming platforms were utilized to analyze musical characteristics and lyrical content of 9,215 tracks across three distinct categories: focus music, stuck songs, and general purpose. Insights from selective attention, emotion arousal and mood congruence theories were used to interpret the findings. Statistical analysis revealed significant variations in musical characteristics, with instrumentalness showing the largest effect size across contexts, suggesting unique musical preferences among individuals with ADHD. Correlation analyses uncovered complex interrelationships between musical attributes, particularly in focus music, where energy, speechiness, and instrumental characteristics displayed distinctive patterns. The sentiment and popularity analysis of lyrics further illuminated the emotional landscape of music in ADHD experiences, revealing a strategic approach to musical selection as a potential cognitive and emotional self-regulation mechanism.

Vacuole protein sorting 18 (Vps18) suppresses epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and lung tumorigenesis

Impact assessment for just transition of protein production systems

Understanding the impacts of protein production systems is necessary to plan the just transition of food systems. We analysed 285 studies to assess the impacts of 13 protein systems across 25 indicators under five key categories—natural capital, human capital, social capital, produced capital and governance. Nine protein systems (regenerative, organic, rangelands, free-range poultry, sustainable energy cultivated meat, conventional energy cultivated meat, mixed grains and livestock, pastoralists and plant-based) have overall positive impacts across all five categories. In comparison, four protein systems have negative impacts (small-scale beef, caged poultry, industrial pork, and confined feeding operations). We then used this in-depth assessment to develop five ‘what if’ future scenarios to track and assess the transition of protein production systems to 2050. Rapid reduction of industrial production may contribute to a just and inclusive transition of protein production systems. This assessment can help reduce risks associated with negative impacts and assist in governing and managing protein production systems towards long-term sustainability.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles disrupt peroxisome-endoplasmic reticulum contacts and increase very-long-chain fatty acid content

Meta-regression to explain shrinkage and heterogeneity in large-scale replication projects

Recent large-scale replication projects (RPs) have estimated concerningly low reproducibility rates. Further, they reported substantial degrees of shrinkage of effect size, where the replication effect size was found to be, on average, much smaller than the original effect size. Within these RPs, the included original-replication study-pairs can vary with respect to aspects of study design, outcome measures, and descriptive features of both original and replication study population and study team. This often results in between-study-pair heterogeneity, i.e., variation in effect size differences across study-pairs that goes beyond expected statistical variation. When broader claims about the reproducibility of an entire field are based on such heterogeneous data, it becomes imperative to conduct a rigorous analysis of the amount and sources of shrinkage and heterogeneity within and between included study-pairs. Methodology from the meta-analysis literature provides an approach for quantifying the heterogeneity present in RPs with an additive or multiplicative parameter. Meta-regression methodology further allows for an investigation into the sources of shrinkage and heterogeneity. We propose the use of location-scale meta-regressions as a means to directly relate the identified characteristics with shrinkage (represented by the location) and heterogeneity (represented by the scale). This provides valuable insights into drivers and factors associated with high or low reproducibility rates and therefore contextualises results of RPs. The proposed methodology is illustrated using publicly available data from the Replication Project Psychology and the Replication Project Experimental Economics. All analysis scripts and data are available online.

Molecular choreography of E1 enzymes in ubiquitin-like protein cascades: New insights into dynamics and specificity

Pharmacogenomic insights into amlodipine response: the role of CACNA1D, CACNA1C, and TRIB3 variants in hypertensive patients

Hypertension affects over 1.28 billion individuals worldwide, yet response variability to calcium channel blockers (CCBs) like amlodipine remains a challenge. While pharmacogenomic studies have implicated genetic polymorphisms in treatment outcomes, the combined effects of multiple variants remain unclear. This study investigates the influence of CACNA1D (rs3774426), CACNA1C (rs2239050, rs7311382), and TRIB3 (rs2295490) variants, individually and in combination, on the antihypertensive response to amlodipine. A total of 133 hypertensive patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, receiving amlodipine monotherapy were genotyped using ARMS-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Blood pressure response was defined as post-treatment systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≤140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≤90 mmHg. Statistical analyses were adjusted for age, gender, BMI, dose, family history of HTN and dietary habits. The CACNA1D rs3774426 TT genotype was significantly associated with non-response in 35 patients, showing higher SBP than the CC genotype (n = 69). Conversely, the CACNA1C rs2239050 GG genotype (n = 67) was linked to improved SBP and DBP control compared to the CC genotype (n = 25). Combined genotype models (CACNA1D–CACNA1C and CACNA1D–CACNA1C–TRIB3) showed strong unadjusted associations but lost significance after adjustment. These findings highlight the role of CACNA1D rs3774426 in predicting amlodipine non-response and demonstrate the potential of genetic screening for optimizing antihypertensive therapy. Integrating pharmacogenomics into clinical practice could enhance personalized treatment strategies, improving outcomes in hypertensive patients.

The kinesin-14 family motor protein KIFC2 promotes prostate cancer progression by regulating p65

Recursive Objective Space Exploration (ROSE): A computationally efficient deterministic approach for bi-objective optimization

Bi-objective optimization problems arise when a process needs to be optimized with respect to two conflicting objectives. Solving such problems produces a set of points called the Pareto front, where no objective can be improved without worsening at least one other objective. Existing deterministic methods for solving Multi-Objective Optimization Problems (MOOPs) include scalarization techniques, which transform the problem into a set of Single-Objective Optimization Problems (SOOPs) where each of them is to be solved independently to obtain a point on the Pareto front. In this paper, we propose an alternative strategy that tackles bi-objective optimization problems by exploring the objective space recursively at a reduced computational cost. Our approach is inspired by how plants efficiently explore physical space in search of light energy, balancing exploration and exploitation while minimizing biomass cost. The algorithm navigates the objective space without revisiting previously explored areas by solving intermediate SOOPs visualized as branches within this space. A trade-offs based stopping criterion enables the algorithm to focus on steep, information-rich segments of the Pareto front, creating denser branches to provide more detailed representation of the Pareto front. We benchmark the algorithm’s performance against a standard scalarization-based solution strategy from the literature, employing five case studies. Our strategy demonstrates that a holistic approach that structures the solution process within the objective space provides significant advantages. These include a more computationally efficient method for solving bi-objective optimization problems, an adaptive representation of the Pareto front based on trade-offs, and intuitive, straightforward parameterization guided by a user-oriented, trade-offs based stopping criterion.

Arylsulfatase B induces melanoma apoptosis by the ubiquitin ligase COP1

Expression of Concern: Ontological Differences in First Compared to Third Trimester Human Fetal Placental Chorionic Stem Cells

Inflamed endothelial cells express S1PR1 inhibitor CD69 to induce vascular leak

The porphyran degradation system is complete, phylogenetically and geographically diverse across the gut microbiota of East Asian populations

The human gut microbiota can acquire new catabolic functions by integrating genetic material coming from the environment, for example from food-associated bacteria. An illustrative example of that is the acquisition by the human gut microbiota of Asian populations of genes coming from marine bacteria living on the surface of red algae that are incorporated into their diet when eating maki-sushi. To better understand the function and evolution of this set of algal genes corresponding to a polysaccharide utilization locus (PUL) dedicated to the degradation of porphyran, the main polysaccharide of the red algae Porphyra sp ., we characterized it biochemically, assessed its genetic diversity and investigated its geographical distribution in large public worldwide datasets. We first demonstrated that both methylated and unmethylated fractions are catabolized without the help of external enzymes. By scanning the genomic data of more than 10,000 cultivated isolates as well as metagenomic data from more than 14,000 worldwide individuals, we found that the porphyran PUL is present in 17 different Phocaeicola / Bacteroides species (including 12 species that were not known to carry it), as well as in two Parabacteroides species and two genera from the Bacillota phylum, highlighting multiple lateral transfers within the gut microbiota. We then analyzed the prevalence of this porphyran PUL across 32 countries and showed that it exists in appreciable frequencies (>1%) only in East Asia (Japan, China, Korea). Finally, we identified three major PUL haplotypes which frequencies significantly differ between these East Asian countries. This geographic structure likely reflects the rate of bacterial horizontal transmission between individuals.

Targeted degradation of α-synuclein by arginine-based PROTACs

Loss of Ufsp1 does not cause major changes at the neuromuscular junction

UFMylation is a Ubiquitin-like post-translational modification involved in myriad of cellular processes. Enzymes involved in this pathway, including ligases and UFM1-specific proteases, are essential for development and homeostasis. Our previous transcriptomic analyses identified an enrichment of Ufsp1 at the neuromuscular junction of skeletal muscle cells. Ufsp1, one of the two UFM1 proteases, had been considered a pseudogene due to truncation of its catalytic domain in several species, including humans. However, recent findings revealed that Ufsp1 is translated from a non-canonical start codon in humans, yielding a catalytically active enzyme. This discovery has revived interest in studying Ufsp1’s role in vivo. We generated two mutant mouse models, one with a point mutation abolishing catalytic activity and another with complete knockout of the gene. Unlike other UFMylation pathway enzymes, both Ufsp1 mutants were born in normal ratios and did not exhibit gross phenotypic abnormalities. Despite the enrichment of Ufsp1 at neuromuscular junctions, only mild structural alterations of this synapse were detected, which did not impact overall muscle function. Our findings indicate that Ufsp1 is dispensable for normal development and homeostasis in mice, but further exploration of its function is needed in pathological conditions.