The role of pangenomics in orphan crop improvement.

Global food security depends heavily on a few staple crops, while orphan crops, despite being less studied, offer the potential benefits of environmental adaptation and enhanced nutritional traits, especially in a changing climate. Major crops have benefited from genomics-based breeding, initially using single genomes and later pangenomes. Recent advances in DNA sequencing have enabled pangenome construction for several orphan crops, offering a more comprehensive understanding of genetic diversity.

The Loss of Tafazzin Transacetylase Activity Is Sufficient to Drive Testicular Infertility.

Barth syndrome (BTHS) is a rare, infantile-onset, X-linked mitochondriopathy exhibiting a variable presentation of failure to thrive, growth insufficiency, skeletal myopathy, neutropenia, and heart anomalies due to mitochondrial dysfunction secondary to inherited TAFAZZIN transacetylase mutations. Although not reported in BTHS patients, male infertility is observed in several () mouse alleles and in a mutant. Herein, we examined the male infertility phenotype in a BTHS-patient-derived point-mutant knockin mouse () allele that expresses a mutant protein lacking transacetylase activity.

Structural serology of polyclonal antibody responses to mRNA-1273 and NVX-CoV2373 COVID-19 vaccines.

Current COVID-19 vaccines are largely limited in their ability to induce broad, durable immunity against emerging viral variants. Design and development of improved vaccines utilizing existing platforms requires an in-depth understanding of the antigenic and immunogenic properties of available vaccines. Here we examined the antigenicity of two of the original COVID-19 vaccines, mRNA-1273 and NVX-CoV2373, by electron microscopy-based polyclonal epitope mapping (EMPEM) of serum from immunized non-human primates (NHPs) and clinical trial donors.

Defining a highly conserved B cell epitope in the receptor binding motif of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein.

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce robust and persistent germinal centre (GC) B cell responses in humans. It remains unclear how the continuous evolution of the virus impacts the breadth of the induced GC B cell response. Using ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration, we examined draining lymph nodes of nine healthy adults following bivalent booster immunization.

Integration of point of care ultrasound into undergraduate medical education at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center school of medicine: a 6 year review.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) education has become an essential component of medical school curricula. Ultrasound represents a highly effective teaching modality to reinforce anatomical knowledge gained during cadaveric dissections. At Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center-School of Medicine (TTUHSC-SOM), POCUS was incorporated into the pre-clerkship curriculum especially during the first year of medical school anatomy course.