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How AI is helping to boost cancer screening
Defective autophagy in CD4 T cells drives liver fibrosis via type 3 inflammation
Effect of gas–liquid separation chamber and reflux hole on the self-priming performance of a self-priming pump
Iron-sensing and redox properties of the hemerythrin-like domains of Arabidopsis BRUTUS and BRUTUS-LIKE2 proteins
Abstract Iron uptake in plants is negatively regulated by highly conserved hemerythrin (Hr) E3 ubiquitin ligases exemplified by Arabidopsis thaliana BRUTUS (BTS). Physiological studies suggest these are the elusive plant iron sensors, but biochemical evidence is lacking. Here we demonstrate that the N-terminal domains of BTS and BTS-LIKE2 (BTSL2) respectively bind three and two diiron centres within three closely packed Hr-like subdomains. The centres can be reversibly oxidized by O 2 and H 2 O 2 , resulting in a di-Fe 3+ form that is non-labile. In the reduced state, a proportion of the iron becomes labile, based on accessibility to Fe 2+ chelators and reconstitution experiments, consistent with dynamic iron binding. Impaired iron binding and altered redox properties in the BTS dgl variant correlate with diminished capacity to suppress the downstream signalling cascade. These data provide the biochemical foundation for a mechanistic model of how BTS/Ls function as iron sensors that are unique to the plant kingdom.
Acute kidney injury in hospitalized patients with real-life analysis of incidence and clinical impact in Italian hospitals (the SIN-AKI study)
Abstract Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a common condition with significant impact on morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. This study explores the epidemiology of AKI, highlighting key factors and outcomes. In a retrospective study we evaluated patients admitted to hospital from 2016 to 2019, excluding those with pre-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4–5. Data were extracted from hospital databases, with AKI defined by changes in serum creatinine (sCr) according to KDIGO criteria. Additionally, AKI was classified as “de novo” or as AKI on CKD in the subgroup of patients with available pre-hospital eGFR. Outcomes included mortality, hospital stay duration (LOS), AKI recovery, and persistent AKI. Of 87,087 patients, 17,946 (20.6%) developed AKI. AKI patients were older, with more comorbidities, and had significantly higher mortality (17.7% vs. 4.3%, p < 0.001). AKI was associated with in-hospital mortality (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.16–1.30), longer LOS, and ICU admission. Mortality increased with AKI severity. Considering the 34,285 patients (39% of the total cohort) with pre-hospital eGFR, AKI occurred in 17.3% patients without previous CKD and in 31.1% of patients with previous CKD. These patients presented higher incidence of ICU admission and mortality. Additionally, 17.6% of AKI patients had persistent kidney dysfunction at discharge, often requiring extended hospitalization and ICU care. The substantial impact of AKI on both short- and potentially long-term health emphasizes the importance of early detection, personalized management, and structured follow-up to enhance outcomes and reduce CKD progression risk.
Clinical trials by the numbers
Polar regions are critical in achieving global sustainable development goals
Impact of elevated CO2 level and egg quiescence duration on gene expression in the peripheral olfactory system of Aedes aegypti
Abstract Elevation in CO2 can significantly impact the biology of various organisms, affecting life-history traits of both aquatic and terrestrial forms, including disease-vectoring mosquitoes. For mosquitoes, this effect is accentuated by egg quiescence duration, resulting in a change in foraging of adult females. Female mosquitoes rely on their olfactory system for locating resources, such as nectar and blood. This study employs a transcriptomic approach to investigate how a projected elevation in CO2 level, under a worst-case scenario, interacts with extended egg quiescence duration to modulate the molecular machinery of the peripheral olfactory system, the antennae and maxillary palps, of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The transcriptome analysis demonstrates significant changes in the abundance of genes related to metabolism, xenobiotics degradation and chemosensory function, with the most pronounced effects observed in the CO2 sensing tissue, the maxillary palp. The study provides novel insights into how anthropogenic climate change can modulate the olfactory sensory system of disease vectors, which may have cascading effects on resource-seeking behaviour.
Exchange anisotropies in microwave-driven singlet-triplet qubits
Abstract Hole spin qubits are emerging as the workhorse of semiconducting quantum processors because of their large spin-orbit interaction, enabling fast, low-power, all-electric operations. However, this interaction also causes non-uniformities, resulting in site-dependent qubit energies and anisotropies. Although these anisotropies enable single-spin control, if not properly harnessed, they can hinder scalability. Here, we report on microwave-driven singlet-triplet qubits in planar germanium and use them to investigate spin anisotropies. For in-plane magnetic fields, the spins are largely anisotropic and electrically tunable, allowing access to all transitions and coherence times exceeding 3 μs are extracted. For out-of-plane fields they have an isotropic response. Even in this field direction, where the qubit lifetime is strongly affected by nuclear spins, we find 400 ns coherence times. Our work adds a valuable tool to investigate and harness the spin anisotropies, applicable to two-dimensional devices, facilitating the path towards scalable quantum processors.
Burden of multi-drug resistant bacterial isolates and its associated risk factors among UTI-confirmed geriatrics in Gondar town
Change in iceberg calving behavior preceded North Sea ice shelf disintegration during the last deglaciation
Abstract Understanding how regime shifts in iceberg calving behavior affect ice shelf stability remains a challenge for numerical models. This is an important question as we consider the fate of the ice shelves that currently buttress the Antarctic Ice Sheet and hold back the bulk of its potential upstream sea-level contribution. Using buried landforms, we demonstrate that ice shelves fringed the former British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) and document their disintegration ~18,000 years ago. The ice shelves produced massive (5–10 s km wide, 50–180 m thick) tabular icebergs until widespread ice shelf break-up shifted the calving regime to smaller bergs; a change that coincided with the collapse of marine-based ice across the central North Sea. We propose that the BIIS reached a climatic threshold around 18 ka which caused massive surface melting of its ice shelves, triggering hydrofracturing of crevasses that ultimately led to their disintegration and likely enhanced ice-retreat rates.
Determining minimum cuff pressure required to reduce arterial blood flow at rest
Cell Painting PLUS: expanding the multiplexing capacity of Cell Painting-based phenotypic profiling using iterative staining-elution cycles
Abstract Phenotypic changes in the morphology and internal organization of cells can indicate perturbations in cell functions. Therefore, imaging-based high-throughput phenotypic profiling (HTPP) applications such as Cell Painting (CP) play an important role in basic and translational research, drug discovery, and regulatory toxicology. Here we present the Cell Painting PLUS (CPP) assay, an efficient, robust and broadly applicable approach that further expands the versatility of available HTPP methods and offers additional options for addressing mode-of-action specific research questions. An iterative staining-elution cycle allows multiplexing of at least seven fluorescent dyes that label nine different subcellular compartments and organelles including the plasma membrane, actin cytoskeleton, cytoplasmic RNA, nucleoli, lysosomes, nuclear DNA, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, and Golgi apparatus. In this way, CPP significantly expands the flexibility, customizability, and multiplexing capacity of the original CP method and, importantly, also improves the organelle-specificity and diversity of the phenotypic profiles due to the separate imaging and analysis of single dyes in individual channels.
Synaptic plasticity-based regularizer for artificial neural networks
Abstract Regularization is an important tool for the generalization of ANN models. Due to the lack of constraints, it cannot guarantee that the model will work in a real environment with input data distribution changes. Inspired by neuroplasticity, this paper introduces a bounded regularization method that can be safely applied during the deployment phase. First, the reliability of neuron outputs is improved by extending our recent neuronal masking method to generate new supporting neurons. The model is then regularized by incorporating a synaptic connection module containing conenctions of the generated neurons to their previous layer. These connections are optimized online by introducing a synaptic rewiring process triggered by the information about the input distribution. This process is formulated as bilevel mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) with an objective to minimize the outer risk of the output by identifying the connections that minimize the inner risk of the neuron output. To address this optimization problem, a single-wave scheme is introduced to decompose the problem into smaller, parallel sub-problems that minimize the inner cost function while ensuring the aggregated solution to minimize the outer one. In addition, a storage/recovery memory module is proposed to memorize these connections and their corresponding risks, enabling the model to retrieve previous knowledge when encountering similar situations. Experimental results from classification and regression tasks show around 8% improvement in accuracy over state-of-the-art techniques. As a result, the proposed regularization method enhances the adaptability and robustness of ANN models in a variable environment.
Linking vector favourable environmental conditions with serological evidence of widespread bluetongue virus exposure in livestock in Ecuador
Abstract Despite existing knowledge of bluetongue disease (BT) in Latin America, little information is available on its actual spread and overall burden. As a vector-borne disease, high-risk areas for BT coincide with environmental conditions favourable for the prevailing vector. In Ecuador, information on the presence of BT is limited to singled out virological findings. In this study, we obtained serological evidence for BT virus exposure from the passive surveillance system of the National Veterinary Service, which monitors reproductive-vesicular diseases, including FMD and BT, as part of differential diagnosis. Bioclimatic factors relevant to Culicoides development as the main vector and host abundance at the parish level were considered as risk factors and analysed using a logistic regression model. The results reveal widespread evidence of bluetongue virus exposure, geographically aligning with favourable vector ecosystems within a temperature range of 12–32 °C. Key variables for predicting high-risk BT areas include cattle population, maximum temperature of the warmest month, minimum temperature of the coldest month, temperature seasonality, and precipitation of the driest month. This analysis, the first of its kind for an Andean country with diverse ecosystems, provides a foundation for initial strategic approaches for targeted surveillance and control measures, considering a One Health approach.
Detection of a sympatric cryptic species mimicking Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in dengue and Chikungunya endemic forest villages of Tripura, India, posing a daunting challenge for vector research
Abstract The Aedes ( Stegomyia ) albopictus (Skuse, 1895) (Diptera: Culicidae) is one of the major vectors for Dengue and Chikungunya. However, our study uncovered another mosquito species morphologically similar to Ae. albopictus but is genetically different. The male genitalia of this species possess minute differences in the IX tergum with Ae. albopictus . Nucleotide diversity and mean genetic distance analysis confirmed the genetic difference from Ae. albopictus and other Aedes species. However, this species has a significant degree of genetic similarity with the cryptic species of Ae. albopictus earlier reported from Vietnam and China. The time tree revealed the median divergence time of this species and Ae. albopictus species to be approximately 36.13 million years ago. This study marks the discovery of an Aedes nr. Albopictus species resembling Ae. albopictus in India and third in the world, also reports the distinct morphological feature of the male genitalia for the first time. Our study indicates the sympatric behavior of this species as it shares the breeding habitat of Ae. albopictus . The absence of endosymbiont Wolbachia in this species raises the possibility of reproductive isolation with Ae. albopictus leading to sympatric speciation and increasing virus-carrying capability for this species, having significant implications for vector-borne disease control.