Design of SARS-CoV-2 RBD Immunogens to Focus Immune Responses Towards Conserved Coronavirus Epitopes.

SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, with new variants emerging that evade pre-existing immunity and limit the efficacy of existing vaccines. One approach towards developing superior, variant-proof vaccines is to engineer immunogens that preferentially elicit antibodies with broad cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants by targeting conserved epitopes on spike. The inner and outer faces of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) are two such conserved regions targeted by antibodies that recognize diverse human and animal coronaviruses.

"If my husband was in the labor ward with me, my baby wouldn't have died"; experiences on birth companionship from a tertiary health facility, Tanzania.

Background: Despite existing policies promoting companionship, it remains uncommon in Tanzania. Pregnant women select a trusted individual to accompany them during childbirth, providing emotional, physical, and spiritual support. The World Health Organization recommends birth companionship as integral to intrapartum care for positive maternal and fetal outcomes.

Presence of microplastics during high rainfall events in the Cauvery River (South India): Ecological risk and cultural practices.

Rivers directly support the development of a region/country; however, globally, these aquatic regions are impacted by recent human activity. During a rainfall event, we monitored the baseline information on the spatial variability of microplastics (MPs) in the Cauvery River in South India. Forty surface water samples from two selected sites were collected between 27 September and 16 October 2022 during the commencement of monsoon which indicates 69 and 43 pieces L of MPs, respectively.

Global Proteomics Indicates Subcellular-Specific Anti-Ferroptotic Responses to Ionizing Radiation.

Cells have many protective mechanisms against background levels of ionizing radiation orchestrated by molecular changes in expression, post-translational modifications, and subcellular localization. Radiotherapeutic treatment in oncology attempts to overwhelm such mechanisms, but radioresistance is an ongoing challenge. Here, global subcellular proteomics combined with Bayesian modeling identified 544 differentially localized proteins in A549 cells upon 6 Gy X-ray exposure, revealing subcellular-specific changes of proteins involved in ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death, suggestive of potential radioresistance mechanisms.

A call for research to address the threat of paper mills.

Research paper mills are covert organizations that provide low-quality or fabricated manuscripts to paying clients. As members of the United2Act Research Working Group, we propose 5 key research questions on paper mills that require resourcing and support.