Browse Articles

Twin pair analysis uncovers links between DNA methylation, mitochondrial DNA quantity and obesity

Abstract Alterations in mitochondrial metabolism in obesity may indicate disrupted communication between mitochondria and nucleus, and DNA methylation may influence this interplay. Here, we leverage data from the Finnish Twin Cohort study subcohort ( n  = 173; 86 full twin pairs, 1 singleton), including comprehensive measurements of obesity-related outcomes, mitochondrial DNA quantity and nuclear DNA methylation levels in adipose and muscle tissue, to identify one CpG at SH3BP4 significantly associated with mitochondrial DNA quantity in adipose tissue (FDR < 0.05). We also show that SH3BP4 methylation correlates with its gene expression. Additionally, we find that 14 out of the 35 obesity-related traits display significant associations with both SH3BP4 methylation and mitochondrial DNA quantity in adipose tissue. We use data from TwinsUK and the Scandinavian T2D-discordant monozygotic twin cohort, to validate the observed associations. Further analysis using ICE FALCON suggests that mitochondrial DNA quantity, insulin sensitivity and certain body fat measures are causal to SH3BP4 methylation. Examining mitochondrial DNA quantity and obesity-related traits suggests causation from mitochondrial DNA quantity to obesity, but unmeasured within-individual confounding cannot be ruled out. Our findings underscore the impact of mitochondrial DNA quantity on DNA methylation and expression of the SH3BP4 gene within adipose tissue, with potential implications for obesity.

Addressing organizational learning to increase readiness for physical activity promotion in seven German nursing homes

Promoting physical activity among nursing home residents is essential for enhancing physical and mental well-being. However, organizational structures often prioritize basic care and indirectly hinder physical activity promotion. This study investigates organizational and individual learning processes to increase readiness for physical activity promotion in seven German nursing homes between 2020 and 2023. We selected a heterogeneous mix of nursing homes from the applications representing different forms of organizations regarding environmental contexts, capacity, care providers, and resident population composition. We used a mixed-methods approach for data collection, including interviews, documents, surveys, photologs, and fieldnotes. Data was treated confidentially and recorded pseudonymously. Applying qualitative content analysis, we revealed that physical activity promotion was initially insufficiently incorporated into organizational structures. Through a comprehensive assessment tool, we analyzed post-intervention changes in organizational readiness. Using a public management organizational learning model, we identified key processes that drove these changes. To maintain reflexivity, two authors analyzed data and discussed the results. Combining different data collection forms reduced the risk of researcher bias. Collaborating with external stakeholders helped validate the findings. Our findings highlight the significance of individual and organizational learning, which led to notable shifts: Individual learning improved staff awareness for the relevance of and competencies in physical activity promotion, as well as resident participation levels in actions offered. Organizational learning led to an adaptation of weekly activity schedules, modification of existing actions to promote PA in close alignment with home-specific needs, and the creation of PA-friendly infrastructures. Health-promoting leadership and shared values emerged as crucial factors in fostering a culture of physical activity promotion. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of promoting physical activity in nursing homes by integrating it into organizational structures and fostering a culture of readiness. This approach can enhance resident well-being and quality of life.

Common brain representations of action and perception investigated with cross-modal classification of newly learned melodies

Abstract An important feature of human cognition is the ability to predict sensory outcomes of motor actions and infer actions from sensory information – a process enabled by action-perception coupling. Through repeated and consistent sensory feedback, bidirectional sensorimotor associations can become highly automatic with experience. In musicians, for instance, auditory cortex activity can increase spontaneously even when observing piano playing without auditory feedback. A key question is whether such associations rely on shared neural representations, or a “common code”, between actions and their sensory outcomes. To test this, we trained non-musicians to play two melodies with different pitch sequences on the piano. The following day, they underwent an fMRI experiment with an MR-compatible piano while (a) playing the trained melodies without auditory feedback but imagining the sound, and (b) listening to the same melodies without playing but imagining the finger movements. Within-condition multivariate pattern analyses revealed that patterns of activity in auditory-motor regions represent pitch sequences. Importantly, cross-modal classification showed that these patterns generalized across conditions in the right premotor cortex, indicating the emergence of a common code across perception and action.

Optical control of RKKY coupling and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in a synthetic antiferromagnet

Correction: Task-based explanation for genre effects: Evidence from a dependency treebank

Publisher Correction: Biosynthesis of CuO nanoparticle using leaf extracts of Ocimum lamiifolium Hochst. ex Benth and Withana somnifera (L) Dunal for antibacterial activity

Dynamic infrared aurora on Jupiter

Abstract Auroral emissions are an important diagnostic for a planet’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. At the outer planets, the characteristics of emission from the triatomic hydrogen ion $${{\rm{H}}}_{3}^{+}$$ H 3 + are key to understanding the auroral energy budget. We present James Webb Space Telescope observations of Jupiter’s infrared auroral $${{\rm{H}}}_{3}^{+}$$ H 3 + emission, exhibiting variability on timescales down to seconds. Together with simultaneous Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet observations, these results imply an auroral $${{\rm{H}}}_{3}^{+}$$ H 3 + lifetime of 150 s, and that $${{\rm{H}}}_{3}^{+}$$ H 3 + cannot efficiently radiate heat deposited by bursty auroral precipitation. However, $${{\rm{H}}}_{3}^{+}$$ H 3 + radiation is particularly efficient in a dusk active region, which has no significant ultraviolet counterpart. The cause of such emission is unclear. We also present observations of rapid eastward-travelling auroral pulses in the dawn side auroral region and pulsations that propagate rapidly along the Io footprint tail. Together, these observations open a diagnostic window for the jovian magnetosphere and ionosphere.

Assessing the spatial distribution and sources of heavy metal pollution in the snow cover: A case study from Pavlodar, Northeastern Kazakhstan

This study assesses heavy metal contamination in the snow cover of northeastern Kazakhstan by analyzing both the melted filtrated water and the solid sediment after filtration near various pollution sources. The research examines the impact of oil refining, thermal power plants (northern industrial zone), aluminum production (eastern industrial zone), and transportation on heavy metal dispersion. Results indicate that Zn, Cr, and Pb concentrations in the solid phase of snow in residential areas exceed those in industrial zones, reaching 436.6, 259.1, and 218.6 mg/kg, respectively. The highest overall concentrations were found for barium (949.4 mg/kg) and manganese (638.1 mg/kg). In the liquid fraction (meltwater), Zn (58.6 μg/l) and Sr (34.8 μg/l) were predominant, while Mn (28.3 μg/l) was the main pollutant in the eastern industrial zone. Dust load values in the snow cover ranged from 42.3 to 418.5 mg/m²/day, with the highest pollution load observed for Cd, Pb, and Mo. Despite variations in dust load across the city (135.5 mg/m²/day in the northern industrial zone, 152.3 mg/m²/day in the eastern industrial zone, and 147.1 mg/m²/day in residential areas), the overall dust pollution level remains low. However, a sanitary-hygienic assessment revealed that most heavy metal concentrations in snow exceed maximum permissible levels for soil in areas influenced by industrial facilities and transportation, except for Mo, V, and Mn. The ecological risk index of snow pollution in Pavlodar was calculated at 192.13, indicating a high potential ecological risk. These findings highlight the importance of snow as an indicator of environmental pollution and the need for continuous monitoring to assess urban contamination trends.

Predictive optimization using long short-term memory for solar PV and EV integration in relatively cold climate energy systems with a regional case study

Axial ligand induces the charge localization of Ca single-atom sites for efficient Na–S batteries

Retraction: Purification and characterization of novel isoforms of the polyphenol oxidase from Malus domestica fruit pulp

Determination of vibration characteristic in automatic tapping operations based on artificial neural networks

A self-conformation-aware pre-training framework for molecular property prediction with substructure interpretability

Effect of PGPR on growth and nutrient utilization of Elymus nutans Griseb at different temperatures

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are beneficial bacteria that facilitate plant growth and can be used in the restoration of ecosystems. However, PGPR vary in their temperature tolerance, and few studies have investigated the effect of temperature on PGPR-mediated growth promotion or PGPR inoculum colonization. Therefore, we isolated and purified rhizosphere bacteria from the rhizosphere soil of Elymus nutans Griseb (EnG), collected from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Selective culture media were used to assess whether these strains possess plant growth-promoting abilities and to measure the magnitude of their plant growth-promoting ability. Then screen out the strains (S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5) with strong plant growth-promoting ability for identification. To demonstrate the growth-promoting effects of the selected PGPR, we conducted a study. In this study, we simulated three temperature gradients (10°C, 15°C, and 20°C) during the growing season of EnG on the Tibetan Plateau. Furthermore, we established four incubation substrate treatments: T1(addition of PGPR but no addition of NPK fertilizers), T2 (neither PGPR nor NPK fertilizers addition), T3 (addition of PGPR both and NPK fertilizers), and T4 (addition of NPK fertilizers but not PGPR), to explore the effects of PGPR on the growth and nutrient (NPK) utilization efficiency of EnG at different temperatures. The results revealed that compared with those under T2, the plant height (PT) and dry weight under, T1 increased by 51.72% – 70.67% and 24.99–51.25%, respectively. The soluble sugar (SS) and soluble protein (SP) content significantly increased by 59.37% and 369.66%, respctively, at 10 °C (p < 0.05) and by 100.17% and 94.5%, respectively, at 15 °C (p < 0.05). Compared with those under T4, the physiological efficiencies of N (NPE) at 15 °C and 20 °C significantly decreased by 40.43% and 72.11%, respectively, under T3. In summary, these showed that this PGPR (S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5) promoted the growth of EnG on the Tibetan plateau and improved its nutrient utilization efficiency.

The neurotoxicity of Paraquat and its degradation products on drosophila melanogaster

Microwave quantum heterodyne sensing using a continuous concatenated dynamical decoupling protocol

Abstract By sequentially recording the phase of an AC signal relative to an external clock, quantum heterodyne schemes have recorded MHz and GHz signals with Fourier-limited precision. However, in systems with large inhomogeneous broadening, existing heterodyne protocols provide limited protection of the spin coherence, impacting amplitude sensitivity. Here, we use a continuous microwave scheme that extends spin coherence towards the effective $${T}_{2}\approx \frac{1}{2}{T}_{1}$$ T 2 ≈ 1 2 T 1 limit and resolves the frequency, amplitude and phase of MHz to GHz magnetic fields. In an ensemble of boron vacancies in hexagonal boron nitride the scheme achieves an amplitude sensitivity of $$\eta \approx 3-5\,\mu {{{\rm{T}}}}/\sqrt{{{{\rm{Hz}}}}}$$ η ≈ 3 − 5 μ T / Hz and phase sensitivity of $${\eta }_{\phi }\approx 0.076\,{{{\rm{rads}}}}/\sqrt{{{{\rm{Hz}}}}}$$ η ϕ ≈ 0.076 rads / Hz . We demonstrate that the scheme is compatible with quantum heterodyne detection, recording a GHz signal with a resolution  < 1 Hz and SNR of 235 over a 10 s measurement. Achieving this performance in a two-dimensional material platform could have broad applications in probing nanoscale condensed matter systems.

Clinical validation of the Unesp-Botucatu acute pain scale in sheep undergoing orthopedic surgery

Unesp-Botucatu sheep acute pain scale (USAPS) was validated for assessing postoperative abdominal pain. We aimed to investigate the clinical applicability and test the psychometric properties of USAPS to assess postoperative pain in sheep submitted to orthopedic surgery. Twenty-three healthy sheep undergoing patellofemoral joint arthrotomy were video-recorded for three minutes before and after surgery, after postoperative analgesic rescue, and 24 hours post-surgery. Four evaluators, unaware of the recording time points, randomly assessed all videos twice at one-month intervals. Intra-observer reliability based on the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was very good for all evaluators (ICC: 0.82–0.93). Inter-observer reliability was very good for four of six pairs of evaluators (ICC: 0.84–0.9) and good for two (ICC: 0.77 and 0.80). Principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the USAPS´s unidimensional structure. The concurrent criterion validity had a strong Spearman correlation (rho: 0.80) between the USAPS and the Visual Analogue Scale. Responsiveness was evidenced by the highest USAPS total score 2 and 24 hours after surgery, and intermediate scores after analgesic rescue. USAPS items had an acceptable Spearman item-total correlation (rho: 0.38–0.64), except appetite (rho: 0.25). Internal consistency was excellent according to Cronbach’s alpha (α: 0.84) and acceptable according to McDonald’s omega coefficients (ω: 0.75). Specificity was 100% and sensitivity was 71%. USAPS cut-off point was ≥ 4 of 10, the same applied for soft tissue surgery. The area under the curve of 0.91 demonstrates the high discriminatory capacity of the scale. The item appetite can be excluded without affecting the USAPS cut-off point. We concluded that USAPS had satisfactory psychometric properties and, is a valid and reliable clinical tool for assessing pain in sheep undergoing orthopedic surgery.

Author Correction: Adipose-derived stem cells using fibrin gel as a scaffold enhances post-hepatectomy liver regeneration

Identification of predictive subphenotypes for clinical outcomes using real world data and machine learning

Plants partition the pollinator niche by depositing pollen on different parts of the pollinator body

Niche partitioning of pollinators promotes the maintenance of high plant diversity in tropical environments. The role of animal pollinators in this partitioning has been evaluated predominantly at individual and species levels. However, pollinators can carry pollen on different parts of their bodies, potentially resulting in an increase in plant niche partitioning. Nonetheless, studies of pollen loads on different body parts of pollinators and how those patterns influence in plant niche partitioning remain scarce. Here, we 1) measure pollinator niche partitioning of plants considering hummingbird body parts, and 2) explore the contribution of hummingbird traits to niche partitioning of plants. We used mist nets to capture hummingbirds in the southern Andes of Ecuador, and took pollen samples from their bill, base of the bill, forehead, throat and chest-belly using fuchsin-gel. We evaluated plant niche partitioning at the species level based on all pollen found on a given species and at the body-part level by considering pollen loads on different hummingbird body parts, using the specialization metric (d’) and beta diversity analysis. Niche partitioning of plants was higher when the different body parts of hummingbirds were considered than specialization at the species level. The contribution to plant niche partitioning by hummingbird species was positively related to tarsus length, potentially because this trait is associated to hummingbird perching behavior and longer contact times with flowers. In sum, we show that plants increase niche partitioning as a result of pollen deposition on different body-parts, which may help explain coexistence in species-rich systems where many plant species co-flower and share pollinators.