Frontostriatal Networks Undergo Functional Specialization During Adolescence that Follows a Ventral-Dorsal Gradient: Developmental Trajectories and Longitudinal Associations.

Seminal studies in animal neuroscience demonstrate that frontostriatal circuits exhibit a ventral-dorsal functional gradient to integrate neural functions related to reward processing and cognitive control. Prominent neurodevelopmental models posit that heightened reward-seeking and risk-taking during adolescence result from maturational imbalances between frontostriatal neural systems underlying reward processing and cognitive control. The present study investigated whether the development of ventral (VS) and dorsal (DS) striatal resting-state connectivity (rsFC) networks along this proposed functional gradient relates to putative imbalances between reward and executive systems posited by a dual neural systems theory of adolescent development.

COVID-19 booster doses reduce sex disparities in antibody responses among nursing home residents.

Background: Data suggest that antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccines are a correlate of protection. Some studies, including the clinical trials of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, did not stratify and evaluate whether antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines differed between the sexes or with aging. This gap in research is particularly relevant for older populations such as nursing home residents (NHR).

Adhesion strength of tumor cells predicts metastatic disease in vivo.

Although only a fraction of tumor cells contribute to metastatic disease, no prognostic biomarkers currently exist to identify these cells. We show that a physical marker-adhesion strength-predicts metastatic potential in a mouse breast cancer model and that it may stratify human disease. Cells disseminating from murine mammary tumors are weakly adherent, and, when pre-sorted by adhesion, primary tumors created from strongly adherent cells exhibit fewer lung metastases than weakly adherent cells do.

Deep oxygen-depleted depressions in a Red Sea coral reef sustain resistant ecosystems.

Persistent oxygen-depleted zones in the ocean are known primarily from enclosed basins in temperate regions or the open ocean (including oxygen minimum and limiting zones) (1). However, little is known about the possibility of such zones forming in tropical coastal domains, even though the combination of warmer temperatures and complex geological features in some tropical regions makes their occurrence more likely (1, 2). Here, we report two subsurface oxygen-depleted zones within deep (>490 m) depressions of the Red Sea's Difaht Farasan-a carbonate platform hosting the world's third largest contiguous tropical coral reef system.