FecalSeq enrichment with RAD Sequencing from non-invasive environmental samples holds promise for genetic monitoring of an imperiled lagomorph.

Despite advances in genomic sequencing and bioinformatics, conservation genomics is still often hindered by a reliance on non-invasive samples. The presence of exogenous DNA and the low quantity and poor quality of DNA in non-invasive samples have been a roadblock to sequencing, thereby limiting the potential for genomic monitoring of endangered species. Recent molecular advances, such as host DNA enrichment, hold promise for facilitating sequencing from non-invasive samples.

Flanged males have higher reproductive success in a completely wild orangutan population.

Male orangutans (Pongo spp.) exhibit bimaturism, an alternative reproductive tactic, with flanged and unflanged males displaying two distinct morphological and behavioral phenotypes. Flanged males are larger than unflanged males and display secondary sexual characteristics which unflanged males lack.

Mother-offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii).

Sexually-selected infanticide by males is widespread across primates. Maternal protection is one of many infanticide avoidance strategies employed by female primates. Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) mothers with younger offspring are less social with males than mothers with older offspring.

Back-to-back: The co-occurrence of DISH and ankylosing spondylitis from early modern Poland.

Objective: This case study evaluates an individual with skeletal changes consistent with DISH and ankylosing spondylitis. We present here an evaluation of the individual's pathological skeletal changes and a review of the potential diagnoses. Finally, we offer a differential diagnosis of co-morbidity infrequently found in the paleopathological record.

The Evolution of an Innovative Online Task to Monitor Children's Oral Narrative Development.

Oral narrative abilities are an important measure of children's language competency and have predictive value for children's later academic performance. Research and development underway in New Zealand is advancing an innovative online oral narrative task. This task uses audio recordings of children's story retells, speech-to-text software and language analysis to record, transcribe, analyse and present oral narrative and listening comprehension data back to class teachers.

A better start literacy approach: effectiveness of Tier 1 and Tier 2 support within a response to teaching framework.

The Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) is a strengths-based approach to supporting children's literacy learning in their first year of school. Previous research has shown the approach is effective at accelerating foundational literacy knowledge in children with lower levels of oral language. This study examined the impact of the BSLA for children with varied language profiles and across schools from diverse socioeconomic communities.

Placental location site and adverse antepartum pregnancy complications: a meta-analysis and review of the literature.

Purpose: The purpose to the study was to determine the relationship, if any, between the placental location site and antepartum complications of pregnancy.

Methods: A University research librarian conducted a comprehensive literature search using the search engines PubMed and Web of Science. The search terms were "placental location" AND "pregnancy complications" OR "perinatal complications.

Pill-Swallowing Training in Very Young Children With Cancer: A Case Series and Developmental Considerations.

Pill-swallowing training (PST) is a promising behavioral intervention. However, previous studies of PST have largely reported outcomes only in children aged 6 years and older. In the pediatric oncology setting, younger children may benefit from learning to swallow pills, with motivators such as avoiding bad-tasting liquid medications, simplifying oral medication routines, and accessing trials for patients with poor prognoses.

Aggregate-Induced Self-Assembly and Ultrafast Dynamics of Light-Harvesting D-A-A Polymorphs.

Organic dipolar molecules are an emerging class of light harvesters useful in electronic applications and have captured new urgency with the design and synthesis of new molecular structures for device testing. However, research has not evolved beyond the cyclical thin film preparation-device testing-chemical structural modification approach. Without an understanding of polymorphism, molecular photophysics at the interface or metastable morphologies that regulate charge carrier dynamics, it is not obvious a priori if a new molecular structure will produce a suitable thin film morphology for superior device performance without developing structure-function relationships that consider morphology and photophysics.

Ultrafast Spectroscopic Dynamics of Quinacrine-Riboflavin Binding Protein Interactions.

Redox active cofactors play a dynamic role inside protein binding active sites because the amino acids responsible for binding participate in electron transfer (ET) reactions. Here, we use femtosecond transient absorption (FsTA) spectroscopy to examine the ultrafast ET between quinacrine (Qc), an antimalarial drug with potential anticancer activity, and riboflavin binding protein (RfBP) with a known K = 264 nM. Steady-state absorption reveals a ∼ 10 nm red-shift in the ground state when QcH is titrated with RfBP, and a Stern-Volmer analysis shows ∼84% quenching and a blue-shift of the QcH photoluminescence to form a 1:1 binding ratio of the QcH-RfBP complex.

Deviant burials and social identity in a postmedieval Polish cemetery: An analysis of stable oxygen and carbon isotopes from the "vampires" of Drawsko.

Objectives: Deviant burials can reveal important information about both social and individual identity, particularly when the mortuary record is supplemented by an examination of skeletal remains. At the postmedieval (17th to 18th c. AD) cemetery of Drawsko (Site 1), Poland, six individuals (of n = 285) received deviant, anti-vampiristic mortuary treatment.

Photoinduced charge recombination in dipolar D-A-A photonic liquid crystal polymorphs.

A hexylalkoxy dipolar D-A-A molecule [7-(4-N,N-(bis(4-hexyloxyphenyl)amino)phenyl)-2,1,3-(benzothia-diazol-4-yl)methylene]propane-dinitrile, (C6-TPA-BT-CN) has been synthesized and the photophysics studied via femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (FsTA) in toluene and in amorphous and liquid crystalline spherulite thin films. Two spherulite macromolecular crystalline phases (banded, and non-banded) were observed through concentration dependent, solution processing techniques and are birefringent with a negative sign of elongation. A dramatic change in the electronic absorption from blue in amorphous films to green in spherulites was observed, and the molecular orientation was determined through the combined analysis of polarized light microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy.

Quantum dots as platforms for charge transfer-based biosensing: challenges and opportunities.

Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have received significant attention as unique photoluminescent materials for biological imaging and sensing. Charge transfer (CT) modulation of QD emission has recently emerged as a promising detection modality in these applications; however, much still remains unknown about the mechanism through which an electron or hole transfers from a QD exciton to a redox active moiety in a bioconjugate construct. Here, we highlight the utility and challenges of CT for QD-based biosensing, particularly in comparison to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and summarize the current understanding of this process, which is situated at the intersection between biological and photovoltaic research with QDs.

Apotropaic practices and the undead: a biogeochemical assessment of deviant burials in post-medieval poland.

Apotropaic observances-traditional practices intended to prevent evil-were not uncommon in post-medieval Poland, and included specific treatment of the dead for those considered at risk for becoming vampires. Excavations at the Drawsko 1 cemetery (17th-18th c. AD) have revealed multiple examples (n = 6) of such deviant burials amidst hundreds of normative interments.

A re-evaluation of the impact of radiographic orientation on the identification and interpretation of Harris lines.

The identification of Harris lines through radiographic analysis has been well-established since their discovery in the late nineteenth century. Most commonly associated with stress, the study of Harris lines has been fraught with inconsistent identification standards, high levels of intra- and interobserver error, and the inevitability of skeletal remodelling. Despite these methodological challenges, the use of Harris lines remains an important contributor to studies of health in archaeological populations.

Cooperatively assembling donor-acceptor superstructures direct energy into an emergent charge separated state.

A novel supramolecular system composed of diketopyrrolopyrrole electron donors and perylene derived bisimide (PDI) electron acceptors forms superstructures that undergo fast photoinduced charge separation following assembly. This bioinspired route toward functional hierarchical structures, whereby assembly and electronic properties are closely coupled, could lead to new materials for artificial photosynthesis and organic electronics.

Probing the Quenching of Quantum Dot Photoluminescence by Peptide-Labeled Ruthenium(II) Complexes.

Charge transfer processes with semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have generated much interest for potential utility in energy conversion. Such configurations are generally nonbiological; however, recent studies have shown that a redox-active ruthenium(II)-phenanthroline complex (Ru-phen) is particularly efficient at quenching the photoluminescence (PL) of QDs, and this mechanism demonstrates good potential for application as a generalized biosensing detection modality since it is aqueous compatible. Multiple possibilities for charge transfer and/or energy transfer mechanisms exist within this type of assembly, and there is currently a limited understanding of the underlying photophysical processes in such biocomposite systems where nanomaterials are directly interfaced with biomolecules such as proteins.

Self-concept and depression among children who experienced the death of a family member.

The present study investigates the moderating effects of physical and academic self-concept on depression among children who experienced the death of a family member. Data from Phase III of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care was used in the present study. Having a higher physical self-concept moderated the relationship between death of a family member and depression.

"Is always that sense of wanting … never really being satisfied": Women's Quotidian Struggles With Food Insecurity in a Hispanic Community in New Mexico.

In this article, we explore women's everyday experiences with food insecurity. Women's narratives from a Hispanic community in New Mexico depict the poignant struggles women confront as they actively engage with buffering the experience of hunger to hide scarcity and mask and cope with emotional distress. These data give us a lens for understanding women's lives in the context of disparity as it relates to food insecurity as a public health issue and provide a way to conceptualize how social determinants operate and integrate with quotidian life activities and processes.

Competition between Förster resonance energy transfer and electron transfer in stoichiometrically assembled semiconductor quantum dot-fullerene conjugates.

Understanding how semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) engage in photoinduced energy transfer with carbon allotropes is necessary for enhanced performance in solar cells and other optoelectronic devices along with the potential to create new types of (bio)sensors. Here, we systematically investigate energy transfer interactions between C60 fullerenes and four different QDs, composed of CdSe/ZnS (type I) and CdSe/CdS/ZnS (quasi type II), with emission maxima ranging from 530 to 630 nm. C60-pyrrolidine tris-acid was first coupled to the N-terminus of a hexahistidine-terminated peptide via carbodiimide chemistry to yield a C60-labeled peptide (pepC60).

Covalently patterned graphene surfaces by a force-accelerated Diels-Alder reaction.

Cyclopentadienes (CPs) with Raman and electrochemically active tags were patterned covalently onto graphene surfaces using force-accelerated Diels-Alder (DA) reactions that were induced by an array of elastomeric tips mounted onto the piezoelectric actuators of an atomic force microscope. These force-accelerated cycloadditions are a feasible route to locally alter the chemical composition of graphene defects and edge sites under ambient atmosphere and temperature over large areas (∼1 cm(2)).

Controlled doping in thin-film transistors of large contorted aromatic compounds.

Bigger and better: The new thin-film organic material octabenzcircumbiphenyl (OBCB; see scheme) forms an active layer in a field effect transistor, which can be switched simultaneously with two different inputs, that is, electrical bias and protonation.