Introduced substrates trigger colonization by reef-associated fish in a degraded coastal system.

Coastal reefs benefit the survival and growth of mobile organisms by providing shelter and increased food availability. Under increasing pressure from human activities, the coverage of subtidal reefs has decreased along the world's coasts. This decline is motivating efforts to restore these important habitats by re-introducing hard substrates into the coastal zone.

Optically enhancing and controlling photoacoustic signals using ultra-thin semiconductor coatings on metal surfaces.

We present a simple approach to enhance the signal strength and detection sensitivity of weak photoacoustic signals, by using ultrathin, high refractive index, absorbing semiconductor layers on metal surfaces. They form etalon resonances with reflection minima already for layer thicknesses of only a few tens of nm. Strain waves induce changes in the physical/optical thickness of the layers and/or changes in the phase and amplitude of light upon reflection from the metal-semiconductor interface.

Baseline gray matter volume associates with working memory performance after prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation.

Working memory is crucial for daily life and is often impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions. Attempts to enhance it using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown mixed results, possibly due to large inter-individual variability. This study assessed whether baseline regional brain volume was associated with working memory performance following tDCS.

Mlh1-Pms1 ATPase activity is regulated distinctly by self-generated nicks and strand discrimination signals in mismatch repair.

In eukaryotic post-replicative mismatch repair, MutS homolog complexes detect mismatches and in the major eukaryotic pathway, recruit Mlh1-Pms1/MLH1-PMS2 (yeast/human) complexes, which nick the newly replicated DNA strand upon activation by the replication processivity clamp, PCNA. This incision enables mismatch removal and DNA repair. Beyond its endonuclease role, Mlh1-Pms1/MLH1-PMS2 also has ATPase activity, which genetic studies suggest is essential for mismatch repair, although its precise regulatory role on DNA remains unclear.

Understanding photoacoustic signal formation in the presence of transparent thin films.

Strain-induced variation of the refractive index is the main mechanism of strain detection in photoacoustic experiments. However, weak strain-optic coupling in many materials limits the application of photoacoustics as an imaging tool. A straightforward deposition of a transparent thin film as a top layer has previously been shown to provide signal enhancement due to elastic boundary effects.