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Rock hunters, tree huggers and taxi drivers: Books in brief

Characterising the performance of a drone-mounted real-time methane imaging system

Abstract We demonstrate a methane gas imaging system mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is shown to perform real-time detection at distances up to 10m whist airborne. Laser diodes that switch between on- and off- resonance with a $${1.6}{{\upmu \hbox {m}}}$$ 1.6 μ m methane absorption line are used to flood-illuminate a scene. The scene is imaged with an infrared InGaAs camera and the differential of the on-resonance and off-resonance back-scatter images are used to reveal the gas distribution. The performance of the system was characterised against a range of back-scatter surfaces, showing promising applicability to realistic gas sensing environments. We demonstrate that the system is capable of detecting a gas concentration of 5000 ppm.metre up to a range of 13.6m.

Phenolic compounds and safety of improved and local peanut varieties grown in Burkina Faso

The surprising culprit for the loss of huge swathes of tropical forest

Robot multi-target high performance grasping detection based on random sub-path fusion

DFT investigation of iron-doped boron nitride nanoparticles for anastrozole drug delivery and molecular interaction

Trump’s nominee for NIH chief talks frozen grants and fostering ‘scientific dissent’

Ancient puppets that smile or scowl hint at shared rituals

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants

Superconductivity and quantized anomalous Hall effect in rhombohedral graphene

A super-gel stays supple from −115 ºC to 143 ºC

Engineered heart muscle allografts for heart repair in primates and humans

Abstract Cardiomyocytes can be implanted to remuscularize the failing heart1–7. Challenges include sufficient cardiomyocyte retention for a sustainable therapeutic impact without intolerable side effects, such as arrhythmia and tumour growth. We investigated the hypothesis that epicardial engineered heart muscle (EHM) allografts from induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and stromal cells structurally and functionally remuscularize the chronically failing heart without limiting side effects in rhesus macaques. After confirmation of in vitro and in vivo (nude rat model) equivalence of the newly developed rhesus macaque EHM model with a previously established Good Manufacturing Practice-compatible human EHM formulation8, long-term retention (up to 6 months) and dose-dependent enhancement of the target heart wall by EHM grafts constructed from 40 to 200 million cardiomyocytes/stromal cells were demonstrated in macaques with and without myocardial infarction-induced heart failure. In the heart failure model, evidence for EHM allograft-enhanced target heart wall contractility and ejection fraction, which are measures for local and global heart support, was obtained. Histopathological and gadolinium-based perfusion magnetic resonance imaging analyses confirmed cell retention and functional vascularization. Arrhythmia and tumour growth were not observed. The obtained feasibility, safety and efficacy data provided the pivotal underpinnings for the approval of a first-in-human clinical trial on tissue-engineered heart repair. Our clinical data confirmed remuscularization by EHM implantation in a patient with advanced heart failure.

Impact of thermal treatment on the quality, total antioxidant and antibacterial properties of fermented camel milk

Abstract This study investigated the impact of thermal treatments on the quality, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties of fermented camel milk during refrigerated storage. Two thermal treatment categories were applied: moderate (63 °C for 30 min and 72 °C for 15 s) and high (85 and 90 °C for 15 s and 30 min). Findings indicated that raw camel milk was found to be microbiologically unacceptable. Heating milk to 90 °C for 30 min notably reduced fermentation time, increased fermented milk viscosity, and altered whey protein electrophoretic patterns. While thermal treatments below 90 °C boosted lactic acid bacteria count in fermented milk compared to raw milk-derived samples (control), all treatments exceeded the recommended standards throughout storage. Thermal treatment decreased the proteolysis degree and DPPH radical scavenging activity but enhanced the ferric-reducing power of fermented milk compared to the control. Among, thermal treatments, samples from milk heated at 90 °C exhibited the highest scavenging activity and reducing power. Antibacterial efficacy against Salmonella Typhimurium surpassed that against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus; the most pronounced effect was observed in samples from milk heated at 90 °C. In conclusion, thermal treatment of camel milk is crucial to ensure sufficient hygiene for safe milk consumption. Heating camel milk at 90 °C before fermentation positively impacted most of the studied properties.

Extant life detection using label-free video microscopy in analog aquatic environments

The ability of microbial active motion, morphology, and optical properties to serve as biosignatures was investigated by in situ video microscopy in a wide range of extreme field sites where such imaging had not been performed previously. These sites allowed for sampling seawater, sea ice brines, cryopeg brines, hypersaline pools and seeps, hyperalkaline springs, and glaciovolcanic cave ice. In all samples except the cryopeg brine, active motion was observed without any sample treatment. Active motion was observed in the cryopeg brines when samples were subjected to a temperature gradient above in situ. In general, levels of motility were low in the field samples collected at temperatures <  4ºC. Non-motile cells could be distinguished from microminerals by differences in passive motion (e.g., density measured by sinking/floating), refractive index and/or absorbance, or morphology in the case of larger eukaryotes. Dramatic increases in the fraction of motile cells were seen with simple stimuli such as warming or the addition of L-serine. Chemotaxis and thermotaxis were also observed in select samples. An open-source, autonomous software package with computational requirements that can be scaled to spaceflight computers was used to classify the data. These results demonstrate the utility of volumetric light microscopy for life detection, but also suggest the importance of developing methods to stimulate cells in situ and process data using the restrictions imposed by mission bandwidth, as well as instruments to capture cell-like objects for detailed chemical analysis.

A new method of accurate pedicle screw navigation

Performance of pelican optimizer for energy losses minimization via optimal photovoltaic systems in distribution feeders

In distribution grids, excessive energy losses not only increase operational costs but also contribute to a larger environmental footprint due to inefficient resource utilization. Ensuring optimal placement of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems is crucial for achieving maximum efficiency and reliability in power distribution networks. This research introduces the Pelican Optimizer (PO) algorithm to optimally integrate solar PV systems to radial electrical distribution grids. The PO is a novel bio-inspired optimization algorithm that draws inspiration from pelicans’ intelligence and behavior which incorporates unique methods for exploration and exploitation, improving its effectiveness in various optimization challenges. It introduces a hyper-heuristic for phase change, allowing the algorithm to dynamically adjust its strategy based on the problem’s characteristics. The suggested PO aims to reduce the energy losses to the possible minimum value. The developed PO version is tested on the Ajinde 62-bus network, a practical Nigerian distribution system, and a typical IEEE grid with 69 nodes. The simulation findings demonstrate the enhanced PO version’s efficacy, showing a significant decrease in losses of energy. With the Ajinde 62-node grid, the suggested PO version obtains a substantial 30.81% decrease in the total energy loss expenses in contrast to the initial scenario. Similarly, the IEEE 69-node grid achieves a significant decrease of 34.96%. Additionally, the model’s findings indicate that the proposed PO version performs comparably to the Differential Evolution (DE), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Satin bowerbird optimizer (SBO) algorithms.

Malabaricone C isolated from edible plants as a potential inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Microfluidic isolation and release of live disseminated breast tumor cells in bone marrow

Breast cancer represents a significant therapeutic challenge due to its aggressive nature and resistance to treatment. A major cause of treatment failure in breast cancer is the presence of rare, low-proliferative disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in distant organs including the bone marrow. This study introduced a microfluidic-based approach to improve the immunodetection and isolation of these rare DTCs for downstream analysis, with an emphasis on optimizing immunocapture, release, and enrichment methods of live DTCs as compared to the standard approach for blood-borne circulating tumor cells (CTCs). EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule), two key cell surface markers in breast cancer, were validated as efficient cell capture targets for DTCs within microfluidic chambers. Furthermore, we demonstrated that a combination of 0.25% trypsin and impulse was the most effective for releasing captured cells, maintaining high viability, and preserving essential cellular characteristics. Using a metastatic mouse breast cancer model, we achieved a 47.9-fold enrichment of live DTCs. Analysis of blood and bone marrow samples obtained from a breast cancer patient with minimal residual disease at two timepoints revealed a reduction in CTCs and an increase in DTCs following adjuvant chemotherapy. This observation suggested a potential dynamic interplay between CTCs and DTCs in response to therapy. Our results underscore the potential of the microfluidic approach in enhancing DTC detection and shed light on the importance of monitoring both CTCs and DTCs in breast cancer prognosis and treatment response assessment.

Starvation-induced HBP metabolic reprogramming and STAM2 O-GlcNAcylation facilitate bladder cancer metastasis

A methodological framework for deriving the German food-based dietary guidelines 2024: Food groups, nutrient goals, and objective functions

Background For a growing number of food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs), diet optimization is the tool of choice to account for the complex demands of healthy and sustainable diets. However, decisions about such optimization models’ parameters are rarely reported nor systematically studied. Objectives The objectives were to develop a framework for (i) the formulation of decision variables based on a hierarchical food classification system; (ii) the mathematical form of the objective function; and (iii) approaches to incorporate nutrient goals. Methods To answer objective (i), food groups from FoodEx2 levels 3-7 were applied as decision variables in a model using acceptability constraints (5 th and 95 th percentile for food intakes of German adults ( n  = 10,419)) and minimizing the deviation from the average observed dietary intakes. Building upon, to answer objectives (ii) and (iii), twelve models were run using decision variables from FoodEx2 level 3 ( n  = 255), applying either a linear or squared and a relative or absolute way to deviate from observed dietary intakes, and three different lists of nutrient goals (allNUT-DRV, incorporating all nutrient goals; modNUT-DRV excluding nutrients with limited data quality; modNUT-AR using average requirements where applicable instead of recommended intakes). Results FoodEx2 food groups proved suitable as diet optimization decision variables. Regarding deviation, the largest differences were between the four different objective function types, e.g., in the linear-relative modNUT-DRV model, 46 food groups of the observed diet were changed to reach the model’s goal, in linear-absolute 78 food groups, squared-relative 167, and squared-absolute 248. The nutrient goals were fulfilled in all models, but the number of binding nutrient constraints was highest in the linear-relative models (e.g. allNUT-DRV: 11 vs. 7 in linear-absolute). Conclusion Considering the various possibilities to operationalize dietary aspects in an optimization model, this study offers valuable contributions to a framework for developing FBDGs via diet optimization.