Browse Articles

Diffusion tensor imaging reveals myocardial architectural differences between porcine and primate hearts with potential implications for cardiac xenotransplantation

Stone tools suggest that hominins arrived on Indonesian island much earlier than thought

De Novo Design of High-Performance Cortisol Luminescent Biosensors

Enzymatic craftsmanship in collagen glycosylation

Species-independent analysis and identification of emotional animal vocalizations

Surface Acidity of Oxygen Evolution Intermediates by Excited State Optical Spectroscopy

Lactuca super-pangenome provides insights into lettuce genome evolution and domestication

CytoAnalyst web platform facilitates comprehensive single cell RNA sequencing analysis

Limestone Conversion to Cement Clinker Precursor in a Zero-Gap Electrolyzer

Adaptive resetting for informed search strategies and the design of non-equilibrium steady-states

Serological differentiation of West Nile, Usutu, and tick-borne encephalitis virus antibodies in birds and horses using mutant E protein ELISAs

Abstract West Nile virus (WNV), Usutu virus (USUV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are worldwide endemic zoonotic orthoflaviviruses, often co-circulating in the same areas. Serological studies in animals, mostly birds and horses, are important means to monitor the spread of these viruses and the infection risks for humans. However, cross-reactive antibodies to these structurally similar flaviviruses frequently impact serological differentiation in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), hence time-consuming virus neutralization tests (VNTs) have to be employed in laboratories with high biosafety level. This study presents ELISAs using recombinant flavivirus E proteins with point mutations in the conserved fusion loop domain (Equad proteins) for differentiating IgY or IgG antibodies against WNV, USUV or TBEV in ducks, geese, chickens and horses. Panels of 169 duck and goose sera, 101 chicken sera and 136 horse sera were tested in Equad ELISAs, which resulted in high sensitivity and specificity, further improved by a pre-absorption step for the differentiation of WNV and USUV antibodies. Equad ELISAs for poultry and horse sera enable the reliable differentiation of WNV, USUV and TBEV specific antibodies without the need for VNTs, which has important implications for conducting seroprevalence studies as well as for veterinary routine diagnosis.

A Protein-Centric Mass Spectrometry Approach for Species Identification within Harmful Algal Blooms

Long-lived photoinduced polar states in metal halide perovskites

Epigenome-wide association study of BMI and waist-to-hip ratio and their associations with dietary patterns in Korean adults

<i>anti</i> -Diastereo- and Enantioselective Ruthenium-Catalyzed C–C Coupling-Oxidative Lactonization of 1,4-Butanediol: Alkynes as Allylmetal Pronucleophiles

Local genetic sex differences in quantitative traits

Abstract Many traits show small global sex differences in genetic correlations and heritability. However, how these differences are distributed across the genome remains unknown. Here, we use LAVA to test for local genetic sex differences in genetic correlations, heritabilities, and the magnitude of genetic effects across 157 quantitative traits in the UK Biobank. Nearly every trait shows evidence for sex-dimorphic effects in at least one locus. We find that such loci can flag biological differences between the sexes. Moreover, we test for differences in the magnitude of genetic effects on the raw and the standardized scale. We show these have complementary interpretations, where only the latter scale is informative for heritability. Our results show how average metrics of genetic correlation and heritability across the whole genome can mask important variability between loci and that the scale of genetic effects needs to be considered carefully when comparing their magnitudes.

Comprehensive identification of the PEBP gene family in Vicia faba highlighting VfTFL1a variation and phenotypic insights into determinate growth

Abstract The phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein (PEBP) family regulates key plant processes including growth, development, flowering, seed germination, formation, and dormancy. Despite their importance for these processes that determine agronomical important characters, PEBP genes in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and closely related legumes remain underexplored. This study identified 11 VfPEBP genes for the first time in Vicia faba, classifying them into MFT-like, TFL-like, and FT-like subfamilies, and examining their relationships to PEBP-genes of the legumes Pisum sativum and Vicia sativa. TFL1 homologs, crucial for growth determinacy, are an important focus for breeding to achieve a more confined flowering and maturation time. Cis-element analysis suggested VfTFL1-genes are regulated by light, hormones, and abiotic stress. Amplicon sequencing of VfTFL1a, a gene linked to shoot apical meristem fate, identified novel allelic variation but none of these could discriminate determinate from indeterminate varieties, invalidating a previously reported marker. Field trials revealed that determinate varieties of faba bean flowered later but had more uniform agronomic traits compared to indeterminate ones. These findings provide new insights into the PEBP gene family, highlighting its critical role in regulating flowering time and plant architecture in Vicia faba and underscoring its potential as a target for crop improvement.

Johnson Solid Gold Nanoclusters as Heterogeneous Visible-Light Photocatalysts for Fukuyama Indole Synthesis

In-situ self-assembly of hole transport monolayer during crystallization for efficient single-crystal perovskite solar cells

Abstract Single-crystal perovskite solar cells (SC-PSCs) are emerging as a promising technology owing to their intrinsically low defect densities, long carrier diffusion lengths, and enhanced stability compared to their polycrystalline counterpart. However, their performance has been limited by interface-related losses, particularly at the perovskite/charge transport layer, which hinders effective hole extraction and promotes non-radiative recombination. In this work, we introduce a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) deposition strategy that exploits an asymmetric substrate stack configuration during space-confined inverse temperature crystallization (SC-ITC). This configuration triggers an in-situ migration of SAM molecules from the SAM-coated substrate to the uncoated substrate, resulting in a denser and more homogeneous SAM coating than the conventional spin-coating method can achieve. The improved SAM coverage significantly enhances hole extraction. Consequently, our SC-PSCs achieved power conversion efficiency as high as 24.32%.

Real-world pharmacovigilance assessment of hepatotoxicity risk with HER2-Targeted drugs using FAERS database analysis