Browse Articles

Sowing date restructures carbon partitioning between defence and nutritional susceptibility to modulate stem borer resistance in sweet sorghum

Allostery is a widespread cause of loss-of-function variant pathogenicity

Abstract Allosteric communication between non-contacting sites in proteins plays a fundamental role in biological regulation and drug action. While allosteric gain-of-function variants are known drivers of oncogene activation, the broader importance of allostery in genetic disease and protein evolution is less clear. Here, we introduce a comparative framework that disentangles functional disruption by mutations from protein destabilization. Applying this framework across diverse datasets—ranging from paired experimental measurements of abundance and activity to proteome-wide comparisons of evolutionary fitness and biophysical stability predictions—we provide evidence that allostery is a widespread cause of loss-of-function variant pathogenicity in human genetic diseases. In addition, our analyses reveal a conserved distance-dependent decay of allosteric mutational effects outside of protein active sites. As an important mechanism of pathogenicity, allostery needs to be better mapped, understood, and predicted across the human proteome.

A hybrid deep learning approach for winter wheat yield prediction: evidence from leveraging multi-source data

A sensitive orange fluorescent calcium ion indicator for imaging neural activity

Rewritable, Stable, and Precise Optical Printing on Organohydrogel via Confining Dynamic Covalent Bond Exchange Between Crystalline Microdomains

ABSTRACT Optical printing on soft materials offers significant advantages for spatiotemporally controlled patterning in adaptive optics, information encryption, and reconfigurable devices. However, current strategies face challenges in achieving precise and rewritable pattern control with long‐term stability due to uncontrolled diffusion kinetics of reactive species and structural instability upon stimulus removal. Here, we design a crystal‐restricted dynamic organohydrogel that achieves precise optical patterning via confining dynamic covalent bond exchange between crystalline microdomains. These microdomains act as physical boundaries that restrict bond exchange and migration to microscale spaces, thereby accelerating exchange kinetics and network rearrangement for precise optical printing. Moreover, crystalline microdomains provide higher energy barriers that ensure long‐term pattern stability through shape retention below crystallization temperature, maintaining pattern fidelity for over 180 days. The system demonstrates exceptional shape memory performance with 98% fixity and recovery ratios over 20 cycles. Additionally, reversible phase transitions coupled with dynamic bond exchange enable rapid self‐healing and rewritable optical printing for information encoding, encryption, and controlled erasure. This design principle can be extended to other dynamic polymer systems, offering a generalizable platform for intelligent responsive interfaces with potential applications in anti‐counterfeiting and adaptive mechanical devices.

Fine-grained pixel-level crack mapping in earthen heritage structures

Patterns, drivers, and trends of urban cooling demand across global cities

Factors associated with cancer-related fatigue in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients during the peri-intervention period: a path analysis model

Cation-driven envelope dynamics modulate outer membrane vesiculation and extracellular electron transfer in Geobacter

Multifunctional electrospun PVDF/CS-Al/Cu-LDH hybrid nanofiber membrane with superior Hg(II) adsorption efficiency and dual anticancer–antioxidant bioactivity

Bypassing Schottky constraints via defect-mediated hydrogen transfer in hydrodechlorination

Abstract Hydrogen-mediated transformations at heterointerfaces are often limited by a fundamental kinetic mismatch: the need for strong interfacial polarization to stabilize active hydrogen (H*) often creates high Schottky barriers that impede the necessary electron supply. Here, using a defect-engineered MoS 2 /Fe(OH) 2 heterojunction for chloroform (CF) hydrodechlorination, we resolve this trade-off by engineering a defect-band hybridization mechanism. We observe that while increasing sulfur-vacancy density in MoS 2 upshifts its conduction-band minimum—nominally raising the barrier for electron injection—it paradoxically enhances interfacial electron transport. Electronic structure analysis reveals that interfacial electric-field coupling drives strong hybridization between vacancy-derived states and the MoS 2 conduction band. This forms quasi-continuous, defect-assisted tunneling channels that allow electrons to bypass the energetic barrier. The resulting electronic reconstruction stabilizes interfacial H* in a reactive yet mobile state, shifting the reaction regime from an Fe(II)-dominated single-electron transfer to a precise H*-mediated hydrogen atom transfer pathway. This mechanism suppresses hydrogen evolution and enables highly selective deep hydrodechlorination, providing a generalizable blueprint for manipulating electron–proton coupling at mismatched heterointerfaces.

Integrated risk characterization of estragole, aristolochic acids, and pyrrolizidine alkaloids in natural products using margin of exposure and RISK21

Collaborative passive cooling of impact-hardening interfaces enabled by nacre-mimetic design

Abstract Balancing thermal management with mechanical buffering is critical for protecting outdoor devices and expanding their application scenarios. Here we propose a nacre-mimetic strategy that synergistically improves passive cooling and impact resistance through brick-and-mortar component regulation, surpassing numerous advanced high-performance composites. Dynamic crosslinking within the composition imparts non-absorption in specific spectral bands and strain-rate-dependent impact hardening. The as-designed composite exhibits a thermal anisotropy ratio of 44.47 and remains nonflammable under an 873 K flame for 1 h, releasing low-carbon gaseous products. It achieves solar reflectance and mid-infrared emittance of 0.97 at 393 K, translating to urban cooling energy savings exceeding 40%. The composite resists projectile penetration at 50 m s −1 , and closed-loop recycling retains thermo-mechanical performance comparable to the pristine counterpart. Building on these attributes, we develop a thermo-mechanically coupled protective sandwich configuration featuring high volume resistivity and a low dielectric constant. This design delivers a maximum cooling effect of 20.5 K and dissipates 97.90% of the kinetic impact force in overheated outdoor devices. Life-cycle assessment quantifies a low environmental footprint. Collectively, this nacre-inspired paradigm illustrates sustainable multi-physics coupling management and holds strong promise for safeguarding outdoor devices in extremely harsh environments.

Combined toxicity of pesticides and heavy metals on Rhizoglyphus robini (Acari: Acaridae)

Abstract This study investigates the combined effects of heavy metals (lead and nickel) and three pesticides (abamectin, propargite, and chlorpyrifos) on the bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus robini (Acaridae). Toxicity bioassays were conducted to determine the heavy metal ratios (HMR) and the LC 50 of pesticide alone divided by LC 50 of pesticide with heavy metal pretreatment. The results revealed that exposure to lead and nickel enhanced the toxicity of propargite and chlorpyrifos but significantly reduced the toxicity of abamectin, indicating an antagonistic effect. Specifically, for propargite, lead increased toxicity by 2.67-fold and nickel by 1.73-fold. For chlorpyrifos, lead increased toxicity by 1.75-fold and nickel by 1.17-fold. In contrast, for abamectin, lead and nickel reduced toxicity by 0.82-fold and 0.86-fold, respectively (HMR < 1), confirming an antagonistic interaction. Biochemical analyses showed that lead exposure significantly increased cytochrome P450 activity, while nickel reduced glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity. The observed changes in enzyme activities suggest that heavy metals may affect detoxification pathways. Our results highlight the importance of considering environmental contaminants when designing pest management strategies, as combined exposure to heavy metals and pesticides can either enhance or reduce the efficacy of control measures.

Anion-exchange fluorinated ion conductors for stable high-voltage lithium battery

A self-orchestrating physics-discovering neural architecture for adaptive and fault-resilient robotic motion control via RPA and digital twins

Estimating high-resolution albedo for urban applications

Abstract Extreme urban heat poses a growing threat to global health, yet a critical cooling intervention-reflective cool roofs-lacks the high-resolution data needed for building-level planning. While satellite-based albedo estimates are globally available, their coarse resolution cannot resolve individual rooftops, limiting targeted climate action. Here we show that fusing freely available 10-m Sentinel-2 imagery with high-resolution satellite data enables urban albedo mapping at 30-cm resolution. This approach combines the radiometric accuracy and global coverage of Sentinel-2 with the spatial detail of commercial imagery to produce actionable urban datasets. Validated against airborne hyperspectral measurements (root mean square error = 0.04), the method resolves albedo at individual building footprints across diverse urban environments. Applied to 12 global cities, our analysis shows that prioritizing large-footprint buildings for cool roof retrofits can reduce citywide temperatures by up to 0.5 °C. This work validates Sentinel-2 for city-scale albedo estimation and enables globally deployable, building-scale rooftop albedo mapping to support targeted cool roof interventions.

Biological and genetic characteristics of Pospiviroid exocortiscitri and Hostuviroid impedihumuli in mulberry trees from Shiraz, Iran, using infectious clones

Frontal cortex organization supporting audiovisual processing during naturalistic viewing

Pain-centered symptom-language co-occurrence networks differ between interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and fibromyalgia in Reddit patient discourse

Abstract Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are chronic pain conditions frequently discussed within shared conceptual frameworks such as central sensitization. Despite this conceptual overlap, IC/BPS is clinically characterized by pelvic and urinary symptoms, whereas FM is associated with widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and other systemic manifestations. Whether these differences are reflected in the organization of symptom-related language within patient-generated discourse remains insufficiently characterized. Patient-generated text related to IC/BPS and FM was collected from disease-specific Reddit communities using identical retrieval procedures, yielding temporally comparable corpora. A predefined evaluative lexicon was constructed from validated clinical questionnaires together with pain-related, affective, and anatomical vocabulary. Symptom-language co-occurrence networks were analyzed using a three-step framework examining global pain-centered network organization, dense-core topology and community structure, and local pain-centered lexical configurations. Both conditions exhibited pain-centered symptom-language networks. However, the FM network showed a greater concentration of symptom-language terms within the immediate network neighborhood of “pain,” whereas the IC/BPS network retained a larger peripheral structure. Dense-core analysis revealed distinct topological organization. The IC/BPS dense core retained partial modular differentiation, whereas the FM dense core formed a highly interconnected structure with minimal residual community organization. At the local level, pain-centered lexical neighborhoods also differed between conditions. In IC/BPS, “pain” was preferentially associated with pelvic, urinary, and sensory terms, whereas in FM it was more frequently associated with whole-body, fatigue-, sleep-, chronicity-, and affect-related vocabulary. These findings indicate that two chronic pain conditions sharing substantial conceptual overlap nevertheless exhibit distinct pain-centered symptom-language topologies within patient-generated discourse. Comparative network analysis of patient-generated language may provide a complementary framework for characterizing disease-specific patterns of symptom-language organization in online health communities.