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Feasibility study of hyperspectral colposcopy as a novel tool for detecting precancerous cervical lesions

Intra-individual variability in ancient plasmodium DNA recovery highlights need for enhanced sampling

Abstract Malaria has been a leading cause of death in human populations for centuries and remains a major public health challenge in African countries, especially affecting children. Among the five Plasmodium species infecting humans, Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal. Ancient DNA research has provided key insights into the origins, evolution, and virulence of pathogens that affect humans. However, extensive screening of ancient skeletal remains for Plasmodium DNA has shown that such genomic material is rare, with no studies so far addressing potential intra-individual variability. Consequently, the pool of ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or genomic sequences for P. falciparum is extremely limited, with fewer than 20 ancient sequences available for genetic analysis, and no complete P. falciparum mtDNA from Classical antiquity published to date. To investigate intra-individual diversity and genetic origins of P. falciparum from the Roman period, we generated 39 sequencing libraries from multiple teeth and two from the femur of a Roman malaria-infected individual. The results revealed considerable variability in P. falciparum recovery across different dental samples within the individual, while the femur samples showed no preservation of Plasmodium DNA. The reconstructed 43-fold P. falciparum mtDNA genome supports the hypothesis of an Indian origin for European P. falciparum and suggests mtDNA continuity in Europe over the past 2000 years.

Enhancing the growth and essential oil components of Lavandula latifolia using Malva parviflora extract and humic acid as biostimulants in a field experiment

AbstractNatural extracts as biostimulants have the potential to enhance the productivity and growth of many medicinal and aromatic plants. This study aimed to enhance the growth, and essential oil (EO) content, as well as composition of Lavandula latifolia Medik. by using Malva parviflora L. extract (ME) as a biostimulant in combination with humic acid (HA) in a field experiment in two successive seasons of 2022 and 2023. The phenolic, flavonoid and water-soluble vitamins of the ME were analyzed using an HPLC. The protein amino acids of the ME were identified by an amino acid analyzer. The prepared concentrations of HA (0, 1, 2, and 4 g/L) were applied to the soil. While, they for ME (0, 2, 4, and 6 g/L) were added as a foliar spray. The EO compositions collected from the leaves of the treated L. latifolia plants were subjected to the hydro-distillation method and analyzed using GC-MS. The most prevalent vitamins found in ME were vitamin B12, vitamin C, and folic acid. Besides, several phenolic compounds were found in ME, such as catechol, cinnamic acid and syringic acid, while flavonoid chemicals, such as luteolin and quercetin. Also, alanine, ammonia, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, and tyrosine were the ME’s most prominent nitrogenous and amino acid components. The most effective treatments of HA and ME on the plant height, the number of branches/plant, and plant fresh weight were 4 + 6 g/L and 4 + 2 g/L for leaf area and chlorophyll content, it was 4 + 4 g/L; and for EO percentage were 4 + 0 g/L, 2 + 0 g/L, and 4 + 4 g/L, compared to the control treatment for each characteristic. The main EO compounds eucalyptol, camphor, α-pinene, β-pinene, Δ-elemene, germacrene D-4-ol, isoborneol, β-caryophyllene oxide, and tau.-cadinol identified in the leaves were found in the range of 28.74–46.19%, 15.34–30.49%, 3.39–7.16%, 0–5.08%, 0–5.18%, 0–3.20%, 0–3.31% and 0–3.40%, respectively. It can be concluded that a combination treatment of HA and ME as natural biostimulant compounds at 4 + 4 g/L could be recommended for good plant growth, and EO quantity of L. latifolia plants.

CXCL8 modulates M0 macrophage proliferation and polarization to influence tumor progression in cervical cancer

Integrating ecological and recreational functions to optimize ecological security pattern in Fuzhou City

AbstractThe scientific establishment of the Ecological Security Pattern (ESP) is crucial for fostering the synergistic development of ecological and recreational functions, thereby enhancing urban ecological protection, recreational development, and sustainable growth. This study aimed to propose a novel method of constructing ESP considering both ecological and recreational functions, and to reconstruct ESP by weighing the relationship between ecological protection and recreational development. Utilizing Fuzhou City as a case study, a comprehensive application of methodologies including Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA), landscape connectivity analysis, ArcGIS spatial analysis, social network analysis (SNA), and circuit theory is employed to develop both the ESP and the Recreational Spatial Pattern (RSP). A trade-off matrix is created to facilitate the reconstruction of the ESP, delineate functional zones, and identify strategic points, followed by a thorough optimization and development strategy. The analysis revealed 36 ecological source areas (ESAs) within Fuzhou City, encompassing a total area of 5807.90 km², predominantly situated in the western and northern regions. Additionally, 98 ecological corridors (ECs) were identified, extending over 2500.55 km, alongside 100 ecological pinch points (EPPs) and 146 ecological barrier points (EBPs). The city also contains 57 recreational nodes (RNs),, which display a spatial distribution characterized by a “dense in the east, sparse in the west” pattern. Furthermore, 165 recreational corridors (RCs) were extracted, covering a distance of 3795.21 km. Based on the trade-off matrix, Fuzhou City was categorized into eight functional zones: ecological core zone, ecological important zone, eco-recreation key trade-off zone, eco-recreation secondary trade-off zone, recreational core zone, recreational important zone, recreational development zone, and elastic development zone.The study identified 95 key strategic points and 475 sub-strategic. A multifunctional and complex ESP was constructed, characterized by “one core, five districts, six corridors, and seven wedges”, and a tailored ecological and recreational planning and development strategy for Fuzhou City was proposed. This research contributes a theoretical framework for the construction and optimization of a multifunctional ESP and supports the coordinated high-quality development of ecological protection and recreational activities in urban environments.

Susceptibility map-weighted MRI can distinguish tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease from essential tremor

Oncolytic alphavirus-induced extracellular vesicles counteract the immunosuppressive effect of melanoma-derived extracellular vesicles

Single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis accurately predicts multiple impairments in hippocampal activity and memory performance in a murine model of idiopathic autism

Clinical manifestation and laboratory data of illicit drugs versus other substances intoxication in children

Delivery of Prime editing in human stem cells using pseudoviral NanoScribes particles

Hierarchically aligned heterogeneous core-sheath hydrogels

Spontaneous base flipping helps drive Nsp15’s preferences in double stranded RNA substrates

AbstractCoronaviruses evade detection by the host immune system with the help of the endoribonuclease Nsp15, which regulates levels of viral double stranded RNA by cleaving 3′ of uridine (U). While prior structural data shows that to cleave double stranded RNA, Nsp15’s target U must be flipped out of the helix, it is not yet understood whether Nsp15 initiates flipping or captures spontaneously flipped bases. We address this gap by designing fluorinated double stranded RNA substrates that allow us to directly relate a U’s sequence context to both its tendency to spontaneously flip and its susceptibility to cleavage by Nsp15. Through a combination of nuclease assays, 19F NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and single particle cryo-EM, we determine that Nsp15 acts most efficiently on unpaired Us, particularly those that are already flipped. Across sequence contexts, we find Nsp15’s cleavage efficiency to be directly related to that U’s tendency to spontaneously flip. Overall, our findings unify previous characterizations of Nsp15’s cleavage preferences, and suggest that activity of Nsp15 during infection is partially driven by bulged or otherwise relatively accessible Us that appear at strategic positions in the viral RNA.

Connecting genomic results for psychiatric disorders to human brain cell types and regions reveals convergence with functional connectivity

AbstractIdentifying cell types and brain regions critical for psychiatric disorders and brain traits is essential for targeted neurobiological research. By integrating genomic insights from genome-wide association studies with a comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the adult human brain, we prioritized specific neuronal clusters significantly enriched for the SNP-heritabilities for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder along with intelligence, education, and neuroticism. Extrapolation of cell-type results to brain regions reveals the whole-brain impact of schizophrenia genetic risk, with subregions in the hippocampus and amygdala exhibiting the most significant enrichment of SNP-heritability. Using functional MRI connectivity, we further confirmed the significance of the central and lateral amygdala, hippocampal body, and prefrontal cortex in distinguishing schizophrenia cases from controls. Our findings underscore the value of single-cell transcriptomics in understanding the polygenicity of psychiatric disorders and suggest a promising alignment of genomic, transcriptomic, and brain imaging modalities for identifying common biological targets.

Segmentation aware probabilistic phenotyping of single-cell spatial protein expression data

The dynamics of higher-order novelties

The degradation mechanism of multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials

Hotspots of genetic change in Yersinia pestis

Ab initio machine-learning unveils strong anharmonicity in non-Arrhenius self-diffusion of tungsten

Abstract The knowledge of diffusion mechanisms in materials is crucial for predicting their high-temperature performance and stability, yet accurately capturing the underlying physics like thermal effects remains challenging. In particular, the origin of the experimentally observed non-Arrhenius diffusion behavior has remained elusive, largely due to the lack of effective computational tools. Here we propose an efficient ab initio framework to compute the Gibbs energy of the transition state in vacancy-mediated diffusion including the relevant thermal excitations at the density-functional-theory level. With the aid of a bespoke machine-learning interatomic potential, the temperature-dependent vacancy formation and migration Gibbs energies of the prototype system body-centered cubic (BCC) tungsten are shown to be strongly affected by anharmonicity. This finding explains the physical origin of the experimentally observed non-Arrhenius behavior of tungsten self-diffusion. A remarkable agreement between the calculated and experimental temperature-dependent self-diffusivity and, in particular, its curvature is revealed. The proposed computational framework is robust and broadly applicable, as evidenced by first tests for a hexagonal close-packed (HCP) multicomponent high-entropy alloy. The successful applications underscore the attainability of an accurate ab initio diffusion database.

Insulin signaling regulates R2 retrotransposon expression to orchestrate transgenerational rDNA copy number maintenance

AbstractPreserving a large number of essential yet highly unstable ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeats is critical for the germline to perpetuate the genome through generations. Spontaneous rDNA loss must be countered by rDNA copy number (CN) expansion. Germline rDNA CN expansion is best understood in Drosophila melanogaster, which relies on unequal sister chromatid exchange (USCE) initiated by DNA breaks at rDNA. The rDNA-specific retrotransposon R2 responsible for USCE-inducing DNA breaks is typically expressed only when rDNA CN is low to minimize the danger of DNA breaks; however, the underlying mechanism of R2 regulation remains unclear. Here we identify the insulin receptor (InR) as a major repressor of R2 expression, limiting unnecessary R2 activity. Through single-cell RNA sequencing, we find that male germline stem cells (GSCs), the major cell type that undergoes rDNA CN expansion, have reduced InR expression when rDNA CN is low. Reduced InR activity in turn leads to R2 expression and CN expansion. We further find that dietary manipulation alters R2 expression and rDNA CN expansion activity. This work reveals that the insulin pathway integrates rDNA CN surveying with environmental sensing, revealing a potential mechanism by which diet exerts heritable changes to genomic content.

Continental drift triggered the Early Permian aridification of North China

AbstractThe boundary between wet and arid climate zones in the Tethys Ocean remains challenging to trace, complicating our understanding of global aridification pattern during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian transition. The North China Block (NCB), situated in the Tethys Ocean, underwent a transition from humid to arid climate during the Early Permian, providing a rare opportunity to trace this climate boundary across this region. Here, we present paleomagnetic evidence indicating that the NCB underwent rapid northward drift between 290 and 281 million years ago. The NCB’s movement from a tropical wet to a subtropical arid zone corresponds to a lithological change from coal-bearing to red-bed deposits, demonstrating tectonic drift into a subtropical arid zone as the main driver of aridification in the NCB during this period. This drift also delineates the wet–dry boundary over the Tethys Ocean, consistent with modern climatic zonation patterns.