Activity of the mammalian DNA transposon piggyBat from Myotis lucifugus is restricted by its own transposon ends.

Members of the piggyBac superfamily of DNA transposons are widely distributed in host genomes ranging from insects to mammals. The human genome has retained five piggyBac-derived genes as domesticated elements although they are no longer mobile. Here, we have investigated the transposition properties of piggyBat from Myotis lucifugus, the only known active mammalian DNA transposon, and show that its low activity in human cells is due to subterminal inhibitory DNA sequences.

A deficiency screen identifies genomic regions critical for sperm head-tail connection.

The Sperm Neck provides a stable connection between the sperm head and tail, which is critical for fertility in species with flagellated sperm. Within the Sperm Neck, the Head-Tail Coupling Apparatus serves as the critical link between the nucleus (head) and the axoneme (tail) via the centriole. To identify regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome that contain genetic elements that influence Head-Tail Coupling Apparatus formation, we undertook a 2 part screen using the Drosophila Deficiency kit.

In vitro model of retinoblastoma derived tumor and stromal cells for tumor microenvironment (TME) studies.

Retinoblastoma (RB) is an intraocular tumor arising from retinal cone progenitor cells affecting young children. In the last couple of years, RB treatment evolved towards eye preserving therapies. Therefore, investigating intratumoral differences and the RB tumor microenvironment (TME), regulating tumorigenesis and metastasis, is crucial.

Whole Gut Motility Patterns in Patients with Chronic Nausea and Vomiting.

Chronic nausea and vomiting (N/V) disorders are common in clinical practice. Our primary aim was to compare total and segmental gastrointestinal transit times as well as gastric contraction patterns in patients with chronic N/V syndrome to those of healthy volunteers (HVs). In the patient group, our secondary aim was to explore how symptoms and motility patterns were affected by a serotonin HT receptor agonist (Prucalopride).

Correction: Brandão et al. Genotoxicity and Gene Expression in the Rat Lung Tissue following Instillation and Inhalation of Different Variants of Amorphous Silica Nanomaterials (aSiO NM). 2021, , 1502.

In the original publication [...

Towards a risk assessment framework for micro- and nanoplastic particles for human health.

Background: Human exposure to micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) is inevitable but human health risk assessment remains challenging for several reasons. MNPs are complex mixtures of particles derived from different polymer types, which may contain plenty of additives and/or contaminants. MNPs cover broad size distributions and often have irregular shapes and morphologies.

Capturing patient experiences of care with digital technology to improve service delivery and quality of care: A scoping review.

Objective: Patient experience significantly impacts healthcare quality, outcomes, resource utilisation and treatment adherence. Digital technologies offer promising approaches for capturing real-time, multi-faceted patient experiences. This scoping review investigated how digital technologies are used to capture patient experience during healthcare encounters and their potential to improve health service delivery and care.

A deficiency screen identifies genomic regions critical for sperm head-tail connection.

A stable connection between the sperm head and tail is critical for fertility in species with flagellated sperm. The head-tail coupling apparatus (HTCA) serves as the critical link between the nucleus (head) and the axoneme (tail) via the centriole. To identify regions of the genome that contain genetic elements that influence HTCA formation, we undertook a two part screen using the deficiency (Df) kit.

PIWI-interacting RNAs: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNA) suppress selfish genetic elements and are essential for germ cell biology in animals. They also play critical roles in regeneration in planaria, regulate gene expression in adult mammalian testes, and participate in antiviral defense in mosquitoes. Inspired by a recent workshop on PIWI proteins and piRNAs, this commentary aims to summarize fundamental aspects of piRNA biology, highlight recent advances, and discuss key outstanding questions.

Environmental Factors for Sustained Telehealth Use in Mental Health Services: A Mixed Methods Analysis.

The mental health service delivery gap remains high globally. Appropriate telehealth use may increase capacity through flexible remote care provision. Despite the historical lack of telehealth integration into publicly funded mental health services, during COVID-19 lockdowns, services rapidly switched to telephone and audiovisual care provision.

Differentially Induced Autophagy by Engineered Nanomaterial Treatment Has an Impact on Cellular Homeostasis and Cytotoxicity.

Considering the increasing production of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), new approach methodologies (NAMs) are essential for safe-by-design approaches and risk assessment. Our aim was to enhance screening strategies with a focus on reactivity-triggered toxicities. We applied tests to 10 selected benchmark ENMs in two cell models, lung epithelial A549 and differentiated THP-1 macrophage-like cells.

Towards characterization of cell culture conditions for reliable proteomic analysis: in vitro studies on A549, differentiated THP-1, and NR8383 cell lines.

Proteomic investigations result in high dimensional datasets, but integration or comparison of different studies is hampered by high variances due to different experimental setups. In addition, cell culture conditions can have a huge impact on the outcome. This study systematically investigates the impact of experimental parameters on the proteomic profiles of commonly used cell lines-A549, differentiated THP-1 macrophage-like cells, and NR8383-for toxicity studies.

Correction: Global Implications From the Rise and Recession of Telehealth in Aotearoa New Zealand Mental Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/50486.].

Fatty acid conjugated EPI-X4 derivatives with increased activity and in vivo stability.

Dysregulation of the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis is implicated in autoimmune, inflammatory, and oncogenic diseases, positioning CXCR4 as a pivotal therapeutic target. We evaluated optimized variants of the specific endogenous CXCR4 antagonist, EPI-X4, addressing existing challenges in stability and potency. Our structure-activity relationship study investigates the conjugation of EPI-X4 derivatives with long-chain fatty acids, enhancing serum albumin interaction and receptor affinity.

Bioinformatics and machine learning to support nanomaterial grouping.

Nanomaterials (NMs) offer plenty of novel functionalities. Moreover, their physicochemical properties can be fine-tuned to meet the needs of specific applications, leading to virtually unlimited numbers of NM variants. Hence, efficient hazard and risk assessment strategies building on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) become indispensable.

Desorption of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Microplastics in Human Gastrointestinal Fluid Simulants-Implications for Exposure Assessment.

Microplastics have been detected in various food types, suggesting inevitable human exposure. A major fraction may originate from aerial deposition and could be contaminated by ubiquitous pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). While data on the sorption of pollutants to microplastics are abundant, the subsequent desorption in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is less understood.

Advancing Nanomaterial Toxicology Screening Through Efficient and Cost-Effective Quantitative Proteomics.

Proteomic investigations yield high-dimensional datasets, yet their application to large-scale toxicological assessments is hindered by reproducibility challenges due to fluctuating measurement conditions. To address these limitations, this study introduces an advanced tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling protocol. Although labeling approaches shorten data acquisition time by multiplexing samples compared to traditional label-free quantification (LFQ) methods in general, the associated costs may surge significantly with large sample sets, for example, in toxicological screenings.

Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide Receptor (GIPR) Overexpression Reduces the Tumorigenic Potential of Retinoblastoma Cells.

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common malignant intraocular tumor in early childhood. Gene expression profiling revealed that the gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor (GIPR) is upregulated following trefoil factor family peptide 1 (TFF1) overexpression in RB cells. In the study presented, we found this G protein-coupled transmembrane receptor to be co-expressed with TFF1, a new diagnostic and prognostic RB biomarker for advanced subtype 2 RBs.

Dynamic co-evolution of transposable elements and the piRNA pathway in African cichlid fishes.

East African cichlid fishes have diversified in an explosive fashion, but the (epi)genetic basis of the phenotypic diversity of these fishes remains largely unknown. Although transposable elements (TEs) have been associated with phenotypic variation in cichlids, little is known about their transcriptional activity and epigenetic silencing. Here, we describe dynamic patterns of TE expression in African cichlid gonads and during early development.

Trail pheromone identification in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris.

In this work, we identified the trail pheromone of the ant Crematogaster scutellaris. We combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of extracts from the hind tibia, the location of the respective glands, with automated trail following assays. The study found tridecan-2-ol to be the strongest discriminator between hind tibia and other body part extracts.

Standardized production of hPSC-derived cardiomyocyte aggregates in stirred spinner flasks.

A promising cell-therapy approach for heart failure aims at differentiating human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into functional cardiomyocytes (CMs) in vitro to replace the disease-induced loss of patients' heart muscle cells in vivo. But many challenges remain for the routine clinical application of hPSC-derived CMs (hPSC-CMs), including good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant production strategies. This protocol describes the efficient generation of hPSC-CM aggregates in suspension culture, emphasizing process simplicity, robustness and GMP compliance.

Matrix-free human pluripotent stem cell manufacturing by seed train approach and intermediate cryopreservation.

Background: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have an enormous therapeutic potential, but large quantities of cells will need to be supplied by reliable, economically viable production processes. The suspension culture (three-dimensional; 3D) of hPSCs in stirred tank bioreactors (STBRs) has enormous potential for fuelling these cell demands. In this study, the efficient long-term matrix-free suspension culture of hPSC aggregates is shown.

Associative Learning of Quantitative Mechanosensory Stimuli in Honeybees.

The proboscis extension response (PER) has been widely used to evaluate honeybees' () learning and memory abilities, typically by using odors and visual cues for the conditioned stimuli. Here we asked whether honeybees could learn to distinguish between different magnitudes of the same type of stimulus, given as two speeds of air flux. By taking advantage of a novel automated system for administering PER experiments, we determined that the bees were highly successful when the lower air flux was rewarded and less successful when the higher flux was rewarded.