Glycoconjugate vaccines: platforms and adjuvants for directed immunity.

Central to immune recognition is the glycocalyx, a glycan-rich coat on all cells that plays a crucial role in interactions that enable pathogen detection and activation of immune defenses. Pathogens and cancerous cells often display distinct glycans on their surfaces, making these saccharide antigens prime targets for vaccine development. However, carbohydrates alone generally serve as poor immunogens due to their often weak binding affinities, inability to effectively recruit T cell help, and reliance on adjuvants to iboost immune activation.

Quantifying NO Emission Sources in Houston, Texas Using Remote Sensing Aircraft Measurements and Source Apportionment Regression Models.

Air quality managers in areas exceeding air pollution standards are motivated to understand where there are further opportunities to reduce NO emissions to improve ozone and PM air quality. In this project, we use a combination of aircraft remote sensing (i.e.

infection of young children in Colombia and its impact on the gastrointestinal environment.

infections are a leading cause of bacterial-derived gastroenteritis worldwide with particularly profound impacts on pediatric patients in low- and middle-income countries. It remains unclear how impacts these hosts, though it is becoming increasingly evident that it is a multifactorial process that depends on the host immune response, the gastrointestinal microbiota, various bacterial factors, and host nutritional status. Since these factors likely vary between adult and pediatric patients in different regions of the world, it is important that studies define these attributes in well-characterized clinical cohorts in diverse settings.

Crosstalk between butyrate oxidation in colonocyte and butyrate-producing bacteria.

The composition of gut microbiota, including butyrate-producing bacteria (BPB), is influenced by diet and physiological conditions. As such, given the importance of butyrate as an energetic substrate in colonocytes, it is unclear whether utilization of this substrate by the host would enhance BPB levels, thus defining a host-microbiome mutualistic relationship based on cellular metabolism. Here, it is shown through using a mouse model that lacks short-chain acyl dehydrogenase (SCAD), which is the first enzyme in the beta-oxidation pathway for short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), that there is a significant diminishment in BPB at the phylum, class, species, and genus level compared to mice that have SCAD.

Diverse decarbonization pathways under near cost-optimal futures.

Energy system optimization models offer insights into energy and emissions futures through least-cost optimization. However, real-world energy systems often deviate from deterministic scenarios, necessitating rigorous uncertainty exploration in macro-energy system modeling. This study uses modeling techniques to generate diverse near cost-optimal net-zero CO pathways for the United States' energy system.

Toughening and Imparting Deconstructability to 3D-Printed Glassy Thermosets with "Transferinker" Additives.

Thermoset toughness and deconstructability are often opposing features; simultaneously improving both without sacrificing other mechanical properties (e.g., stiffness and tensile strength) is difficult, but, if achieved, could enhance the usage lifetime and end-of-life options for these materials.

The human craniospinal venous system and its influence on postural intracranial pressure: a review.

Objective: The cerebral and spinal venous systems have similar functions but unique anatomical and physiological properties. CSF occupies space in the cranial and spinal vaults, is continuously produced, and has many roles, including maintaining a favorable environment for CNS structures. The influence of the cerebrospinal venous system on CSF dynamics has been theorized since the 1940s.

Tricyclononenes and tricyclononadienes as efficient monomers for controlled ROMP: understanding structure-propagation rate relationships and enabling facile post-polymerization modification.

Grubbs 3rd-generation (G3) pre-catalyst-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) remains an indispensable tool in the polymer chemist's toolbox. Tricyclononenes (TCN) and tricyclononadienes (TCND) represent under-explored classes of monomers for ROMP that have the potential to both advance fundamental knowledge (, structure-polymerization kinetics relationships) and serve as practical tools for the polymer chemist (, post-polymerization functionalization). In this work, a library of TCN and TCND imides, monoesters, and diesters, along with their -norbornene counterparts, were synthesized to compare their behaviors in G3-initiated ROMP.

infection of young children in Colombia and its impact on the gastrointestinal environment.

Unlabelled: infections are a leading cause of bacterial-derived gastroenteritis worldwide with particularly profound impacts on pediatric patients in low-and-middle income countries. It remains unclear how impacts these hosts, though it is becoming increasingly evident that it is a multifactorial process that depends on the host immune response, the gastrointestinal microbiota, various bacterial factors, and host nutritional status. Since these factors likely vary between adult and pediatric patients in different regions of the world, it is important that studies define these attributes in well characterized clinical cohorts in diverse settings.

Valence can control the nonexponential viscoelastic relaxation of multivalent reversible gels.

Gels made of telechelic polymers connected by reversible cross-linkers are a versatile design platform for biocompatible viscoelastic materials. Their linear response to a step strain displays a fast, near-exponential relaxation when using low-valence cross-linkers, while larger supramolecular cross-linkers bring about much slower dynamics involving a wide distribution of timescales whose physical origin is still debated. Here, we propose a model where the relaxation of polymer gels in the dilute regime originates from elementary events in which the bonds connecting two neighboring cross-linkers all disconnect.

Nested non-covalent interactions expand the functions of supramolecular polymer networks.

Supramolecular polymer networks contain non-covalent cross-links that enable access to broadly tunable mechanical properties and stimuli-responsive behaviors; the incorporation of multiple unique non-covalent cross-links within such materials further expands their mechanical responses and functionality. To date, however, the design of such materials has been accomplished through discrete combinations of distinct interaction types in series, limiting materials design logic. Here we introduce the concept of leveraging "nested" supramolecular crosslinks, wherein two distinct types of non-covalent interactions exist in parallel, to control bulk material functions.

Concurrent Middle Cerebral Artery and Basilar Artery Occlusions Treated With Mechanical Thrombectomy in a Patient With Active COVID-19 Infection.

We report a rare case of acute ischemic stroke from concurrent large vessel occlusions (LVOs) and subsequent successful mechanical thrombectomy revascularization in a patient with active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. A 59-year-old woman presented to the emergency department after one week of intermittent chest pain, dyspnea, and diarrhea found to have COVID-19 pneumonia. On hospital day three, the patient developed acute altered mental status and hemiparesis with a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) of 22.

Caspase-3-Responsive, Fluorogenic Bivalent Bottlebrush Polymers.

Controlling the access of proteases to cleavable peptides placed at specific locations within macromolecular architectures represents a powerful strategy for biologically responsive materials design. Here, we report the synthesis of peptide-containing bottlebrush (co)polymers (BBPs) featuring polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) pendants on each backbone repeat unit. The AMCs are linked via caspase-3-cleavable peptides which, upon enzymatic cleavage, provide a "turn-on" fluorescence signal due to the release of free AMC.

Defining Reactivity-Deconstructability Relationships for Copolymerizations Involving Cleavable Comonomer Additives.

The incorporation of cleavable comonomers as additives into polymers can imbue traditional polymers with controlled deconstructability and expanded end-of-life options. The efficiency with which cleavable comonomer additives (CCAs) can enable deconstruction is sensitive to their local distribution within a copolymer backbone, which is dictated by their copolymerization behavior. While qualitative heuristics exist that describe deconstructability, comprehensive quantitative connections between CCA loadings, reactivity ratios, polymerization mechanisms, and deconstruction reactions on the deconstruction efficiency of copolymers containing CCAs have not been established.

Self-Amplified HF Release and Polymer Deconstruction Cascades Triggered by Mechanical Force.

Hydrogen fluoride (HF) is a versatile reagent for material transformation, with applications in self-immolative polymers, remodeled siloxanes, and degradable polymers. The responsive generation of HF in materials therefore holds promise for new classes of adaptive material systems. Here, we report the mechanochemically coupled generation of HF from alkoxy--difluorocyclopropane (DFC) mechanophores derived from the addition of difluorocarbene to enol ethers.

An organometallic swap strategy for bottlebrush polymer-protein conjugate synthesis.

Polymer-protein bioconjugation offers a powerful strategy to alter the physical properties of proteins, and various synthetic polymer compositions and architectures have been investigated for this purpose. Nevertheless, conjugation of molecular bottlebrush polymers (BPs) to proteins remains an unsolved challenge due to the large size of BPs and a general lack of methods to transform the chain ends of BPs into functional groups suitable for bioconjugation. Here, we present a strategy to address this challenge in the context of BPs prepared by "graft-through" ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), one of the most powerful methods for BP synthesis.

Mechanism-Guided Discovery of Cleavable Comonomers for Backbone Deconstructable Poly(methyl methacrylate).

The development of cleavable comonomers (CCs) with suitable copolymerization reactivity paves the way for the introduction of backbone deconstructability into polymers. Recent advancements in thionolactone-based CCs, exemplified by dibenzo[c,e]-oxepine-5(7H)-thione (DOT), have opened promising avenues for the selective deconstruction of multiple classes of vinyl polymers, including polyacrylates, polyacrylamides, and polystyrenics. To date, however, no thionolactone CC has been shown to copolymerize with to an appreciable extent to enable polymer deconstruction.

The neurosurgery research & education foundation-young neurosurgeons committee webinar series: Providing education and inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Young Neurosurgeons Committee (YNC) and Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF) launched the YNC-NREF Webinar Series to provide young and aspiring neurosurgeons with timely information, education, and inspiration in the absence of in-person programming.

Design: Five 90-minute Zoom webinars were evaluated, each including 1-2 keynote speakers, a panel discussion, and an audience question-and-answer section. Topics included overviews of neurosurgery, the match, subspecialties, and inspirational career stories.

Glycan-costumed virus-like particles promote type 1 anti-tumor immunity.

Cancer vaccine development is inhibited by a lack of strategies for directing dendritic cell (DC) induction of effective tumor-specific cellular immunity. Pathogen engagement of DC lectins and toll-like receptors (TLRs) shapes immunity by directing T cell function. Strategies to activate specific DC signaling pathways via targeted receptor engagement are crucial to unlocking type 1 cellular immunity.

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of CO-Enabled Sedimentary Basin Geothermal.

The expansion of renewable energy and the large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide (CO) capture and storage (CCS) can decarbonize the power sector. The use of CO to extract geothermal heat from naturally porous and permeable sedimentary basins to generate electricity (CO-plume geothermal (CPG) system) presents an opportunity to simultaneously generate renewable energy and geologically store CO. In this study, we estimate the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of CPG systems through 12 scenarios in which CPG systems are combined with one of six CO sources (e.

Gut metabolite L-lactate supports population expansion during acute infection.

How the microaerobic pathogen establishes its niche and expands in the gut lumen during infection is poorly understood. Using 6-wk-old ferrets as a natural disease model, we examined this aspect of pathogenicity. Unlike mice, which require significant genetic or physiological manipulation to become colonized with , ferrets are readily infected without the need to disarm the immune system or alter the gut microbiota.