Phylogenetic and taxonomic revisions of Jurassic sea stars support a delayed evolutionary origin of the Asteriidae.

Background: The superorder Forcipulatacea is a major clade of sea stars with approximately 400 extant species across three orders (Forcipulatida, Brisingida, Zorocallida). Over the past century, the systematics of Forcipulatacea have undergone multiple revisions by various authors, with some considering numerous families such as Asteriidae, Zoroasteridae, Pedicellasteridae, Stichasteridae, Heliasteridae, Labidiasteridae, and Neomorphasteridae, while others recognized only two families (., Asteriidae and Zoroasteridae).

Transposon-sequencing (Tn-seq) of the Candida glabrata reference strain CBS138 reveals epigenetic plasticity, structural variation, and intrinsic mechanisms of resistance to micafungin.

Candida glabrata (also called Nakaseomyces glabratus) is an opportunistic pathogen that can resist common antifungals and rapidly acquire multidrug resistance. A large amount of genetic variation exists between isolates, which complicates generalizations. Portable transposon-sequencing (Tn-seq) methods can efficiently provide genome-wide information on strain differences and genetic mechanisms.

Understanding the Multiple Influences on Black Parents' School Involvement: A Longitudinal Perspective.

This study explores longitudinal influences of various factors on Black parents' involvement in their children's education. Guided by Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler's Model of Parent Involvement, this research examines whether parents' school climate perceptions, attitudes about involvement, self-efficacy, and children's academic performance predict parent involvement over time. Utilizing data from the Maryland Adolescence in Context Study with a sample of 560 Black parents, we found that positive school climate perceptions and favorable attitudes towards involvement significantly predict increased parent involvement in later years.

The Influence of Racial Socialization, Mentor Support, and Emotion Regulation on the Psychological Well-Being of African American Boys.

Although it is well-documented that school-based racial discrimination can have adverse effects on African American adolescents, the understanding of how socio-emotional factors can act as safeguards is still limited. This study explores whether emotion regulation, mentor support, and parent racial socialization help African American boys cope with school-based racial discrimination. Factors such as emotion regulation are internal assets, while mentor support and parent racial socialization are external resources.

Increasing Referral Acceptance for Women's Health Services Among Hispanic Women.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of an individualized educational intervention on women's health referral acceptance rates among Hispanic women.

Design: Quality improvement (QI) project.

Setting/local Problem: Barriers to cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women include a lack of access to women's health services and a lack of knowledge related to cervical cancer risk factors.

Tn-seq of the reference strain CBS138 reveals epigenetic plasticity, structural variation, and intrinsic mechanisms of resistance to micafungin.

Unlabelled: is an opportunistic pathogen that can resist common antifungals and rapidly acquire multidrug resistance. A large amount of genetic variation exists between isolates, which complicates generalizations. Portable Tn-seq methods can efficiently provide genome-wide information on strain differences and genetic mechanisms.

Optically addressable spin defects coupled to bound states in the continuum metasurfaces.

Van der Waals (vdW) materials, including hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), are layered crystalline solids with appealing properties for investigating light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. hBN has emerged as a versatile building block for nanophotonic structures, and the recent identification of native optically addressable spin defects has opened up exciting possibilities in quantum technologies. However, these defects exhibit relatively low quantum efficiencies and a broad emission spectrum, limiting potential applications.

Development and Evaluation of Ensemble Learning-based Environmental Methane Detection and Intensity Prediction Models.

The environmental impacts of global warming driven by methane (CH) emissions have catalyzed significant research initiatives in developing novel technologies that enable proactive and rapid detection of CH. Several data-driven machine learning (ML) models were tested to determine how well they identified fugitive CH and its related intensity in the affected areas. Various meteorological characteristics, including wind speed, temperature, pressure, relative humidity, water vapor, and heat flux, were included in the simulation.

Calcineurin-dependent contributions to fitness in the opportunistic pathogen .

The protein phosphatase calcineurin is vital for the virulence of the opportunistic fungal pathogen . The host-induced stresses that activate calcineurin signaling are unknown, as are the targets of calcineurin relevant to virulence. To potentially shed light on these processes, millions of transposon insertion mutants throughout the genome of were profiled for fitness defects in the presence of FK506, a specific inhibitor of calcineurin.

Prepubescent Electronic Cigarette Exposure Affects Sexual Motivation and Puberty in Female But Not Male Long-Evans Rats.

Introduction: A method for delivering vaporized nicotine to animals has been developed using e-cigarette devices. The present experiment was designed to measure the effects of e-cigarette nicotine on pubertal onset and development of reproductive behavior in female and male Long-Evans rats.

Aim And Methods: Rats received daily 10-min sessions of electronic-cigarette vaporized nicotine (5% Virginia Tobacco JUUL Pods) or room air in a whole-body exposure chamber (postnatal day 28-31).

School Connectedness and Mental Health Among Black Adolescents.

Black students' school experiences are important for their mental health. The current study explored the link between school connectedness in middle childhood and depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors among Black adolescents. Participants were Black youth (M = 9.

Reflecting on change: Critical consciousness as a protective factor for Black youth.

Objectives: The previous decade has seen an abundance of scholarship on the benefits of critical consciousness (CC) for racial and ethnic minority youth. However, it is unclear whether CC is a buffer against the negative effects of racial discrimination on Black adolescents' outcomes. The present study examined whether three CC dimensions buffered against the negative effects of racial discrimination on academic attitudes.

Deterministic Fabrication of a Coupled Cavity-Emitter System in Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Light-matter interactions in optical cavities underpin many applications of integrated quantum photonics. Among various solid-state platforms, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is gaining considerable interest as a compelling van der Waals host of quantum emitters. However, progress to date has been limited by an inability to engineer simultaneously an hBN emitter and a narrow-band photonic resonator at a predetermined wavelength.

Manipulating the Charge State of Spin Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Negatively charged boron vacancies (V) in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently gained interest as spin defects for quantum information processing and quantum sensing by a layered material. However, the boron vacancy can exist in a number of charge states in the hBN lattice, but only the -1 state has spin-dependent photoluminescence and acts as a spin-photon interface. Here, we investigate the charge state switching of V defects under laser and electron beam excitation.

Redefining pleiotropic drug resistance in a pathogenic yeast: Pdr1 functions as a sensor of cellular stresses in .

is a prominent opportunistic fungal pathogen of humans. The increasing incidence of infections is attributed to both innate and acquired resistance to antifungals. Previous studies suggest the transcription factor Pdr1 and several target genes encoding ABC transporters are critical elements of pleiotropic defense against azoles and other antifungals.

Redefining Pleiotropic Drug Resistance in a Pathogenic Yeast: Pdr1 Functions as a Sensor of Cellular Stresses in .

Unlabelled: is a prominent opportunistic fungal pathogen of humans. The increasing incidence of infections is attributed to both innate and acquired resistance to antifungals. Previous studies suggest the transcription factor Pdr1 and several target genes encoding ABC transporters are critical elements of pleiotropic defense against azoles and other antifungals.

Treatment of Intractable Pillar Pain With Excision of the Hook of Hamate.

A common consequence of carpal tunnel release (CTR) is ulnar palmar pain termed pillar pain. Some (very rare) patients do not improve with conservative treatment. We have been treating recalcitrant pain with excision of hook of the hamate.

Predictive value of inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers for venous thromboembolism in COVID-19 patients.

Background: The predictive value of coagulation markers for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in COVID-19 patients has been investigated with conflicting results.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the correlation between biomarkers and VTE and the predictive value of D-dimer for VTE in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Complete blood count, inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers at admission were collected.

Online Racial Discrimination, Critical Consciousness, and Psychosocial Distress Among Black and Latino Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Past research has found that stressful events such as racial discrimination can spur social development in racially marginalized youth. Critical consciousness has been identified as one such developmental task. Yet, there is still much to learn regarding the role of racial discrimination in developing critical consciousness, particularly as it relates to the mechanism linking racial discrimination to critical consciousness.