The helmeted hornbill casque is reinforced by a bundle of exceptionally thick, rod-like trabeculae.

Among hornbill birds, the critically endangered helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is notable for its casque (a bulbous beak protrusion) being filled with trabeculae and fronted by a very thick keratin layer. Casque function is debated but appears central to aerial jousting, where birds (typically males) collide casques at high speeds in a mid-flight display that is audible for more than 100 m. We characterized the structural relationship between the skull and casque anatomy using X-ray microtomography and quantitative trabecular network analysis to examine how the casque sustains extreme impact.

Blobby is a synaptic active zone assembly protein required for memory in Drosophila.

At presynaptic active zones (AZs), scaffold proteins are critical for coordinating synaptic vesicle release and forming essential nanoarchitectures. However, regulatory principles steering AZ scaffold assembly, function, and plasticity remain insufficiently understood. We here identify an additional Drosophila AZ protein, "Blobby", essential for proper AZ nano-organization.

Altering phosphorylation of dystrophin S3059 to attenuate cancer cachexia.

Aims: Cancer cachexia affects up to 80 % of patients with advanced cancer and accounts for >20 % of all cancer-related deaths. Sarcolemmal localization of dystrophin, a key protein within the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC), is perturbed in multiple muscle wasting conditions, including cancer cachexia, indicating a potential role for dystrophin in the maintenance of muscle mass. Strategies to preserve dystrophin expression at the sarcolemma might therefore combat muscle wasting.

Shape-based disease grading via functional maps and graph convolutional networks with application to Alzheimer's disease.

Shape analysis provides methods for understanding anatomical structures extracted from medical images. However, the underlying notions of shape spaces that are frequently employed come with strict assumptions prohibiting the analysis of incomplete and/or topologically varying shapes. This work aims to alleviate these limitations by adapting the concept of functional maps.

The diagnostic process for infectious disease diagnosis in animals.

Veterinary diagnostic laboratories provide a vast catalog of tests for infectious agents and often have multiple tests and testing modalities for individual pathogens. Understanding which test to select, which sample type is best, and which animal to sample in a population are critical factors for drawing appropriate conclusions and diagnosing a disease. Each diagnostic test has its inherent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, and, in many situations, multiple tests may be required for proper interpretation.