The Effect of Temperature Variability on Biological Responses of Ectothermic Animals-A Meta-Analysis.

Climate change is altering temperature means and variation, and both need to be considered in predictions underpinning conservation. However, there is no consensus in the literature regarding the effects of temperature fluctuations on biological functions. Fluctuations may affect biological responses because of inequalities from non-linear responses, endocrine regulation or exposure to damaging temperatures.

Self-Organizing Maps for Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a powerful analytical technique for characterizing the molecular and elemental composition of surfaces. Individual mass spectra can provide information about the mean surface composition, while spatial mapping can elucidate the spatial distributions of molecular species in 2D and 3D with no prior labeling of molecular targets. The data sets produced by SIMS techniques are large and inherently complex, often containing subtle relationships between spatial and molecular features.

Enhanced Nitric Oxide Delivery Through Self-Assembling Nanoparticles for Eradicating Gram-Negative Bacteria.

In the current battle against antibiotic resistance, the resilience of Gram-negative bacteria against traditional antibiotics is due not only to their protective outer membranes but also to mechanisms like efflux pumps and enzymatic degradation of drugs, underscores the urgent need for innovative antimicrobial tactics. Herein, this study presents an innovative method involving the synthesis of three furoxan derivatives engineered to self-assemble into nitric oxide (NO) donor nanoparticles (FuNPs). These FuNPs, notably supplied together with polymyxin B (PMB), achieve markedly enhanced bactericidal efficacy against a wide spectrum of bacterial phenotypes at considerably lower NO concentrations (0.

A fast fish swimming protocol that provides similar insights to critical swimming speed.

Performance measures are an important tool to assess the impact of environmental change on animals. In fish, performance is often measured as critical swimming speed (Ucrit), which reflects individual maximal physiological capacities. A drawback of Ucrit is that trials are relatively long (∼30-75 min).

Applying Machine Learning for Antibiotic Development and Prediction of Microbial Resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a serious threat to human health worldwide. It is now more challenging than ever to introduce a potent antibiotic to the market considering rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance, surpassing the rate of antibiotic drug discovery. Hence, new approaches need to be developed to accelerate the rate of drug discovery process and meet the demands for new antibiotics, while reducing the cost of their development.

High resolution imaging and analysis of extracellular vesicles using mass spectral imaging and machine learning.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are potentially useful biomarkers for disease detection and monitoring. Development of a label-free technique for imaging and distinguishing small volumes of EVs from different cell types and cell states would be of great value. Here, we have designed a method to explore the chemical changes in EVs associated with neuroinflammation using Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and machine learning (ML).

Microglial activation induces nitric oxide signalling and alters protein S-nitrosylation patterns in extracellular vesicles.

Neuroinflammation is an underlying feature of neurodegenerative conditions, often appearing early in the aetiology of a disease. Microglial activation, a prominent initiator of neuroinflammation, can be induced through lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment resulting in expression of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which produces nitric oxide (NO). NO post-translationally modifies cysteine thiols through S-nitrosylation, which can alter function of the target protein.

A Survey Exploring Inflammatory Back Pain in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background Diagnostic delay of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a widely recognized issue worldwide, providing a great burden for patients with this disease. AxSpA is present in a significant proportion of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This UK study primarily aims to identify the presence of inflammatory back pain (IBP) in patients attending IBD clinic.

A Patient Survey Exploring the Burden of Inflammatory Back Pain in Patients With Known Psoriasis.

Background In the United Kingdom, diagnostic delay remains a challenge in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Psoriasis is a frequently identified extra-musculoskeletal manifestation associated with axSpA. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of inflammatory back pain (IBP) in psoriasis patients at a specialized psoriasis dermatology clinic in a London NHS Trust.

Markedly Enhanced Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Images Using Weakly Supervised Machine Learning.

Supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms are routinely applied to time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) imaging data and, more broadly, to mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). These algorithms have accelerated large-scale, single-pixel analysis, classification, and regression. However, there is relatively little research on methods suited for so-called weakly supervised problems, where ground-truth class labels exist at the image level, but not at the individual pixel level.

Warming and pollution interact to alter energy transfer efficiency, performance and fitness across generations in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Energy transfer efficiency across different trophic levels, from food to new biomass, can determine population dynamics and food-web function. Here we show that the energy needed to produce a unit of new biomass increases with warming and exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disrupting compound. These environmental effects are at least partially transmitted across generations via DNA methylation.

Controllable hierarchical self-assembly: systematic study forming metallosupramolecular frameworks on the basis of helical beta-oligoamides.

Self-assembly is a key guiding principle for the design of complex nanostructures. Substituted beta oligoamides offer versatile building blocks that can have inherent folding characteristics, offering geometrically defined functionalities that can specifically bind and assemble with predefined morphological characteristics. In this work hierarchical self-assembly is implemented based on metal coordinating helical beta-oligoamides crosslinked with transition metals selected for their favourable coordination geometries, Fe, Cu, Ni, Co, Zn, and two metalates, MoO, and WO.

Dietary Intake and Arterial Stiffness in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

Arterial stiffness is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease that is affected by diet. However, research understanding how these dietary risk factors are related to arterial stiffness during childhood is limited. The purpose of this review was to determine whether various dietary factors were associated with arterial stiffness in the pediatric population.

Sex-specific transgenerational plasticity: developmental temperatures of mothers and fathers have different effects on sons and daughters.

Each parent can influence offspring phenotype via provisioning of the zygote or sex-specific DNA methylation. Transgenerational plasticity may therefore depend on the environmental conditions experienced by each parent. We tested this hypothesis by conducting a fully factorial experiment across three generations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata), determining the effects of warm (28°C) and cold (21°C) thermal backgrounds of mothers and fathers on mass and length, and thermal performance (sustained and sprint swimming speeds, citrate synthase and lactate dehydrogenase activities; 18, 24, 28, 32 and 36°C test temperatures) of sons and daughters.

Patient Survey Exploring the Burden of Inflammatory Back Pain in Patients With Uveitis.

Background  In the UK, diagnostic delays remain a challenge in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Studies have shown that acute anterior uveitis is the most common extra-articular manifestation associated with axSpA. As part of a National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) Aspiring to Excellence quality improvement project, this study aimed to ascertain the burden of inflammatory back pain (IBP) in patients attending a uveitis clinic and to establish the number of these patients who had not been referred to a rheumatologist, thereby contributing to the diagnostic delay.

Multi-Dimensional Machine Learning Analysis of Polyaniline Films Using Stitched Hyperspectral ToF-SIMS Data.

The self-organizing map with relational perspective mapping (SOM-RPM) is an unsupervised machine learning method that can be used to visualize and interpret high-dimensional hyperspectral data. We have previously used SOM-RPM for the analysis of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) hyperspectral images and three-dimensional (3D) depth profiles. This provides insightful visualization of features and trends of 3D depth profile data, using a slice-by-slice view, which can be useful for highlighting structural flaws including molecular characteristics and transport of contaminants to a buried interface and characterization of spectra.

A Survey of Diagnostic Delay in Axial Spondyloarthritis Across Two National Health Service (NHS) Rheumatology Services.

Introduction Diagnostic delay is an ongoing challenge in axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA). A recent, comprehensive literature review has found a mean average of 8.7 years of delay between symptom onset and formal diagnosis in the United Kingdom (UK).

Large Area Ultrathin InN and Tin Doped InN Nanosheets Featuring 2D Electron Gases.

Indium nitride (InN) has been of significant interest for creating and studying two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG). Herein we demonstrate the formation of 2DEGs in ultrathin doped and undoped 2D InN nanosheets featuring high carrier mobilities at room temperature. The synthesis is carried out via a two-step liquid metal-based printing method followed by a microwave plasma-enhanced nitridation reaction.

luvHarris: A Practical Corner Detector for Event-Cameras.

There have been a number of corner detection methods proposed for event cameras in the last years, since event-driven computer vision has become more accessible. Current state-of-the-art have either unsatisfactory accuracy or real-time performance when considered for practical use, for example when a camera is randomly moved in an unconstrained environment. In this paper, we present yet another method to perform corner detection, dubbed look-up event-Harris (luvHarris), that employs the Harris algorithm for high accuracy but manages an improved event throughput.

The power of potential: Assisted reproduction and the counterstories of women who discontinue fertility treatment.

Despite their low and inconsistent rates of success, assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are presented by fertility clinics and constructed in media and popular culture as an effective treatment for infertility. The ways in which such technologies medicalize women's health and bodies have been well documented by social scientists and feminist health researchers. However, little is known about the struggles women face in cases of "failure"; that is, when ART does not achieve its purported potential to assist women in their attempts to conceive and have the desired outcomes of conception and birth.

Markers of MEK inhibitor resistance in low-grade serous ovarian cancer: EGFR is a potential therapeutic target.

Background: Although low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSC) is rare, case-fatality rates are high as most patients present with advanced disease and current cytotoxic therapies are not overly effective. Recognizing that these cancers may be driven by MAPK pathway activation, MEK inhibitors (MEKi) are being tested in clinical trials. LGSC respond to MEKi only in a subgroup of patients, so predictive biomarkers and better therapies will be needed.

Overview and experience of the YODA Project with clinical trial data sharing after 5 years.

The Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project has facilitated access to clinical trial data since 2013. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the Project, describe key decisions that were made when establishing data sharing policies, and suggest how our experience and the experiences of our first two data generator partners, Medtronic, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, can be used to enhance other ongoing or future initiatives.

COSMIC: the Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer.

COSMIC, the Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer (https://cancer.sanger.ac.

The COSMIC Cancer Gene Census: describing genetic dysfunction across all human cancers.

The Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) Cancer Gene Census (CGC) is an expert-curated description of the genes driving human cancer that is used as a standard in cancer genetics across basic research, medical reporting and pharmaceutical development. After a major expansion and complete re-evaluation, the 2018 CGC describes in detail the effect of 719 cancer-driving genes. The recent expansion includes functional and mechanistic descriptions of how each gene contributes to disease generation in terms of the key cancer hallmarks and the impact of mutations on gene and protein function.

Distinguishing Chemically Similar Polyamide Materials with ToF-SIMS Using Self-Organizing Maps and a Universal Data Matrix.

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is advancing rapidly, providing instruments with growing capabilities and resolution. The data sets generated by these instruments are likewise increasing dramatically in size and complexity. Paradoxically, methods for efficient analysis of these large, rich data sets have not improved at the same rate.