Browse Articles

Ethane dehydrogenation over CaCO3-mediated tandem catalysts

Acute effects of BFR intra-conditioning on torque and muscle activity of the rectus femoris muscle during isokinetic knee extensions

LABind: identifying protein binding ligand-aware sites via learning interactions between ligand and protein

Geological framework and morphotectonic characterization of the Khon Kaen Geopark, Northeastern Thailand

Serotonin and psilocybin activate 5-HT1B receptors to suppress cortical signaling through the claustrum

Mechanism of bactericidal efficacy against nosocomial pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus strain caused by fatty acids from Hermetia illucens larvae fat

Abstract Hermetia illucens (HI) is a promising insect that widely employed as a sustainable source of food and has been recently used as a successful antimicrobial agent. Fatty acids extracted sequentially from HI larvae fight against MDR nosocomial pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus. This strain is resistant to various antibiotics, causing many issues and deaths in healthcare sectors. The present study aimed to elucidate the mechanism of bactericidal efficacy of fatty acids (FAs) in HI larvae fat against S. aureus ATCC 55804 strain. The disk diffusion assay, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and half of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC50) applied in this study, proved the antimicrobial activity of fatty acids. The mechanism of FAs action was evaluated by several approaches, including inhibition of the bacterial growth curves and salt tolerance assays, scanning electron (SEM) and transmission electron (TEM) microscopies. S. aureus ATCC 55804 was resistant to 30% out of ten tested antibiotics belonging to different classes. In addition, microscopic observations showed the inhibitory effect of acidic water methanol extract (AWME3) by targeting of the S. aureus ATCC 55804 cell membrane and causing the considerable morphological alterations on the bacterial wall and destruction its cytoplasmic contents leading to the cellular content release and cell death. This study revealed the potential efficacy of AWME3 as a novel therapeutic antibacterial agent effective against resistant nosocomial bacterial pathogens.

Mid-infrared light resonance-enhanced proton conductivity in ceramics

Abstract Ionic transport in solids is a critical process for energy devices including batteries and fuel cells. To improve ionic transport, an emerging approach is the selective excitation of atomic vibrations related to the mobile ions. However, there is limited direct experimental evidence demonstrating enhanced macroscopic ionic conductivity through this approach. Here, we use a 140 mW continuous-wave mid-infrared (MIR) light to excite the O–H stretch vibration in proton-conducting yttrium-doped barium zirconate. We observe reversible enhancement of 36.8% in bulk, and 53.0% in grain boundary proton conductivities, controlled by MIR irradiation. Decreases in the activation energy and prefactor for bulk proton conduction suggest possible reduction in activation entropy and attempt frequency of proton hopping. We rationalize the enhancement as the excitation of O–H stretch vibrational states, followed by the relaxation into lattice vibration modes, modulating the potential energy surface of the proton. Our findings highlight MIR irradiation as a power-saving strategy to optimize the performance and operation cost of solid-state electrochemical devices by selective modulation of the vibrational properties.

Predictive modeling of asthma drug properties using machine learning and topological indices in a MATLAB based QSPR study

Charting the spatial transcriptome of the human cerebral cortex at single-cell resolution

Multi-stage framework using transformer models, feature fusion and ensemble learning for enhancing eye disease classification

Projection of ENSO using observation-informed deep learning

Functional characterization of a novel plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium enhancing root growth and salt stress tolerance

Abstract Plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are soil microorganisms through which phytohormones and other bioactive compounds are produced, thereby enhancing plant growth and stress tolerance. In this study, a novel PGPR strain was identified from the rhizosphere of Lycium chinense seedlings, which produce protein-rich fruit. Whole-genome sequencing and annotation revealed that the genome of this strain, designated Pseudomonas sp. A-2, consists of a 6.65-Mb circular chromosome with 5,980 predicted protein-coding sequences. Comparative genomic analysis classified the strain within the genus Pseudomonas . The A-2 strain genome encodes proteins involved in indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis and signaling pathways, which was validated through IAA detection assays and quantitative analyses. Plant growth rates were significantly enhanced by the A-2 strain treatment, with increases of 3-fold in Arabidopsis , 1.5-fold in tobacco, and 1.35-fold in peanut. In Arabidopsis thaliana , expression of key genes associated with lateral and adventitious root formation was induced by the A-2 strain treatment, including ARFs , AMI1 , TAA1 , YUCs , IBRs , TOB1 , and ECH2 . Moreover, enhanced tolerance to salt stress was conferred by the A-2 strain treatment, as evidenced by improved biomass accumulation, chlorophyll content, antioxidant enzyme activity, and reduced lipid peroxidation. Levels of total soluble sugars, including trehalose, were elevated in the A-2 strain treated plants, suggesting a role in osmotic adjustment under stress. The plant growth–promoting and stress-alleviating properties of Pseudomonas sp. A-2 highlight its potential application as an effective biological agent for sustainable agriculture.

Pd nanocatalysts engineering for direct oxidation methane-to-methanol with 99.7% selectivity

Incidence and predictors of respiratory distress among neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care unit, Northwest Ethiopia

Knowledge-guided self-learning control strategy for mixed vehicle platoons with delays

Days alive and out of hospital in patients with wild type transthyretin amyloidosis: cohort study

Insights into type IX secretion from PorKN cogwheel structure bound to PorG and attachment complexes

Association between retinal vascular fractal dimension and hearing loss: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Hearing loss (HL) is a prevalent health issue, and identifying noninvasive biomarkers for early detection is crucial. This study investigates the association between retinal vascular fractal dimension (FD) and HL in a health checkup population. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 575 participants who underwent ophthalmological and audiological assessments at Shanghai Health and Medical Center CN between October 2014 and January 2024. Retinal FD was measured using nonmydriatic fundus photography and analyzed using Singapore I Vessel Assessment software. Hearing thresholds were assessed by air-conduction pure-tone audiometry, with the high Fletcher index (hFI) used to evaluate hearing acuity. Results showed that higher retinal FD values were significantly associated with better hearing acuity. Specifically, each 1-SD increase in arteriolar FD (FDa) was correlated with a 2.85 dB decrease in the hearing threshold at 1 kHz (β = −2.85, 95% CI − 4.47 to − 1.23, p < .001), and each 1-SD increase in venular FD (FDv) was correlated with a 2.61 dB decrease at 2 kHz (β = −2.61, 95% CI − 4.42 to − 0.80, p = .005). The study suggests that retinal FD may serve as a noninvasive biomarker for early detection of HL and could assist in the development of preventive strategies.

Author Correction: Reduced fungal protein acetylation mediates the antimicrobial activity of a rhizosphere bacterium against a phytopathogenic fungus

Evolutionarily divergent nidovirus with an exceptionally large genome identified in Pacific oysters undergoing mass mortality

Metatranscriptomic data from a mass-mortality event of adult Pacific Oysters, Crassostrea ( Magallana ) gigas , the most widely cultivated shellfish globally, revealed a nidovirus shown to replicate in a bivalve, Pacific Oyster Nidovirus 1 (PONV1). At 64,331 bp of linear bisegmented, positive-sense single-stranded RNA, PONV1 has one of the largest genomes reported for an RNA virus. Moreover, transcriptomic data reveal that many conspecific viruses of PONV1 occur in Pacific oysters from Europe and the Pacific coasts of Asia and North America. PONV1 (tentative species Megarnavirus gigas ) and its conspecific viruses represent a putative family, Megarnaviridae , that is widely divergent from other families of nidoviruses, and encodes protein domains likely involved in virus–host interaction that are undescribed for other nidoviruses. Given that PONV1 occurs in diseased Pacific oysters undergoing mass mortality, and that close relatives of PONV1 are widespread globally, it emphasizes the need for caution in the translocation of Pacific oyster spat that routinely occurs.