The neural basis of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as depression, anxiety, apathy and aggression affect up to 90% of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. These symptoms significantly increase caregiver stress and institutionalization rates, and more importantly they are correlated with faster cognitive decline. However, the neuronal basis of NPS in AD remains largely unknown.

Analysis of variants induced by combined ex vivo irradiation and in vivo tumorigenesis suggests a role for the ZNF831 p.R1393Q mutation in cutaneous melanoma development.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is known to be the most important environmental carcinogen for cutaneous melanoma. While genomic analyses of melanoma tumors implicate a high rate of UV damage, the experimental induction and recovery of bona fide UV-signature changes have not been directly observed. To replicate recurrent UV mutations from TCGA_SKCM specimens, we UV-irradiated cultured immortalized human melanocytes and subjected them to in vivo tumorigenesis assays.

Beta-band power modulation in the human amygdala differentiates between go/no-go responses in an arm-reaching task.

. Traditionally known for its involvement in emotional processing, the amygdala's involvement in motor control remains relatively unexplored, with sparse investigations into the neural mechanisms governing amygdaloid motor movement and inhibition. This study aimed to characterize the amygdaloid beta-band (13-30 Hz) power between 'Go' and 'No-go' trials of an arm-reaching task.

Beta-band power classification of go/no-go arm-reaching responses in the human hippocampus.

Can we classify movement execution and inhibition from hippocampal oscillations during arm-reaching tasks? Traditionally associated with memory encoding, spatial navigation, and motor sequence consolidation, the hippocampus has come under scrutiny for its potential role in movement processing. Stereotactic electroencephalography (SEEG) has provided a unique opportunity to study the neurophysiology of the human hippocampus during motor tasks. In this study, we assess the accuracy of discriminant functions, in combination with principal component analysis (PCA), in classifying between 'Go' and 'No-go' trials in a Go/No-go arm-reaching task.

Barocaloric Effects in Dialkylammonium Halide Salts.

Barocaloric effects─solid-state thermal changes induced by the application and removal of hydrostatic pressure─offer the potential for energy-efficient heating and cooling without relying on volatile refrigerants. Here, we report that dialkylammonium halides─organic salts featuring bilayers of alkyl chains templated through hydrogen bonds to halide anions─display large, reversible, and tunable barocaloric effects near ambient temperature. The conformational flexibility and soft nature of the weakly confined hydrocarbons give rise to order-disorder phase transitions in the solid state that are associated with substantial entropy changes (>200 J kg K) and high sensitivity to pressure (>24 K kbar), the combination of which drives strong barocaloric effects at relatively low pressures.

Sensory processing deficits and related cortical pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting cognitive functions. However, sensory deficits in AD start to draw attention due to their high prevalence and early onsets which suggest that they could potentially serve as diagnostic biomarkers and even contribute to the disease progression. This literature review examines the sensory deficits and cortical pathological changes observed in visual, auditory, olfactory, and somatosensory systems in AD patients, as well as in various AD animal models.

Colossal barocaloric effects with ultralow hysteresis in two-dimensional metal-halide perovskites.

Pressure-induced thermal changes in solids-barocaloric effects-can be used to drive cooling cycles that offer a promising alternative to traditional vapor-compression technologies. Efficient barocaloric cooling requires materials that undergo reversible phase transitions with large entropy changes, high sensitivity to hydrostatic pressure, and minimal hysteresis, the combination of which has been challenging to achieve in existing barocaloric materials. Here, we report a new mechanism for achieving colossal barocaloric effects that leverages the large volume and conformational entropy changes of hydrocarbon order-disorder transitions within the organic bilayers of select two-dimensional metal-halide perovskites.

Enrichment analyses identify shared associations for 25 quantitative traits in over 600,000 individuals from seven diverse ancestries.

Since 2005, genome-wide association (GWA) datasets have been largely biased toward sampling European ancestry individuals, and recent studies have shown that GWA results estimated from self-identified European individuals are not transferable to non-European individuals because of various confounding challenges. Here, we demonstrate that enrichment analyses that aggregate SNP-level association statistics at multiple genomic scales-from genes to genomic regions and pathways-have been underutilized in the GWA era and can generate biologically interpretable hypotheses regarding the genetic basis of complex trait architecture. We illustrate examples of the robust associations generated by enrichment analyses while studying 25 continuous traits assayed in 566,786 individuals from seven diverse self-identified human ancestries in the UK Biobank and the Biobank Japan as well as 44,348 admixed individuals from the PAGE consortium including cohorts of African American, Hispanic and Latin American, Native Hawaiian, and American Indian/Alaska Native individuals.

Regulation of angiotensin II actions by enhancers and super-enhancers in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Angiotensin II (AngII) promotes hypertension and atherosclerosis by activating growth-promoting and pro-inflammatory gene expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Enhancers and super-enhancers (SEs) play critical roles in driving disease-associated gene expression. However, enhancers/SEs mediating VSMC dysfunction remain uncharacterized.