Direct and indirect effects of pesticide exposure on the gut microbiota of a farmland raptor.

Recent studies in humans have shown that certain pesticides could affect the composition and functions of the gut microbiota, an essential modulator of vertebrate physiology, leading to potential dysbiosis. However, this relationship remains largely unknown in wild birds despite the implications of pesticides in the current decline of farmland species. The present study sought to fill this gap by providing data on the association between pesticide concentrations in blood and gut microbiota characteristics in relation to individual traits in a farmland raptor, the Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus).

In Search of Entangled Singlet Pure Diradicals.

Recent work has documented conjugate polycyclic hydrocarbons presenting unusual properties: accepting full on-bond electron pairing, they could be considered as closed-shell architectures, but their ground-state wave function is actually a pure diradical singlet, free of any ionic component, in contrast to diradicaloids. These so-called molecules also differ from disjoint diradicals, which do not accept on-bond electron pairing, in that their singly occupied molecular orbitals (SOMOs) are spatially entangled rather than disjoint. The present work first extends the study to a broad series of architectures exhibiting the same properties, namely: they present two degenerate SOMOs in the topological Hückel Hamiltonian, and their pure diradical wave functions lead to symmetry-keeping geometries.

Cu-Zeolite Catalysis for Biaryl Synthesis via Homocoupling Reactions of Phenols or Aryl Boronic Acids.

Due to the importance of biaryls as natural products, drugs, agrochemicals, dyes, or organic electronic materials, a green alternative biaryl synthesis has been developed based on easy-to-prepare and cheap copper(I)-exchanged zeolite catalysts. Cu-USY proved to efficiently catalyze the direct homocoupling of either phenols or aryl boronic acids under simple and practical conditions. The Cu-USY-catalyzed oxidative homocoupling of phenols could conveniently be performed under air either in warm methanol or water with good to high yields.

Reductive Activation of Artefenomel (OZ439) by Fe(II)-Heme, Related to Its Antimalarial Activity.

The 1,2,4-trioxolane antimalarial drug, OZ439 (artefenomel), exhibits cross-resistance to artemisinins with similar survival rates of artemisinin-resistant parasites after dihydroartemisinin or OZ439 exposure, suggesting that this drug shares some mechanisms of action with artemisinins. In this way, we investigated the reductive activation of OZ439 by heme in the presence of dithionite, demonstrating the formation of covalent heme-drug adducts. However, in the presence of the biologically abundant reductant glutathione instead of dithionite, heme-drug adducts were not detected, contrary to artemisinin that efficiently alkylates heme regardless of the reductant used.

Transcription processes compete with loop extrusion to homogenize promoter and enhancer dynamics.

The spatiotemporal configuration of genes with distal regulatory elements is believed to be crucial for transcriptional control, but full mechanistic understanding is lacking. We combine simultaneous live tracking of pairs of genomic loci and nascent transcripts with molecular dynamics simulations to assess the gene and its enhancer. We find that both loci exhibit more constrained mobility than control sequences due to stalled cohesin at CCCTC-binding factor sites.

A diazirine's central carbon is sp-hybridized, facilitating conjugation to dye molecules.

Diazirines are versatile carbene precursors that are extensively used in biological target identification experiments. However, their photo-activation wavelength ( 365 nm) precludes their use in living organisms. Here we show that a reconceptualization of the diazirine hybridization state leads to conjugation of the diazirine motif to longer-wavelength chromophores.

Revisiting Thomson's model with multiply charged superfluid helium nanodroplets.

We study superfluid helium droplets multiply charged with Na+ or Ca+ ions. When stable, the charges are found to reside in equilibrium close to the droplet surface, thus representing a physical realization of Thomson's model. We find the minimum radius of the helium droplet that can host a given number of ions using a model whose physical ingredients are the solvation energy of the cations, calculated within the helium density functional theory approach, and their mutual Coulomb repulsion energy.

A new species of Neblinaphryne (Anura: Brachycephaloidea: Neblinaphrynidae) from Serra do Imeri, Amazonas state, Brazil.

The highlands of the Guiana Shield (Pantepui) in northern South America harbor a unique fauna and flora. However, this diversity remains poorly documented, as many Pantepui massifs remain little explored or unexplored, mainly because their access is very challenging. Considering amphibians, 11 genera are endemic or sub-endemic to Pantepui, and one of them, Neblinaphryne, is monospecific and was recently described from the Neblina massif, at the border between Brazil and Venezuela.

An Isolable Base-Stabilized Diazosilenyl Cation.

In contrast to the emerging chemistry of stable diazoalkenes, there are not yet any studies devoted to heavier silicon analogues, diazosilenes. Here, we report the synthesis of a base-stabilized diazosilenyl cation 2 by the reaction of base-stabilized C-phosphonio-silyne 1 with NO. This silicon analog of diazoalkenes 2 exhibits a remarkable stability thanks to the coordination of phosphine and phosphine oxide ligands at the cationic silicon center.

Thermal treatment of sewage sludge: Impact of the sludge type and origin on the formation of recalcitrant compounds.

In a municipal wastewater treatment plant, the thermal treatment of sludge can be an efficient way of increasing the final sludge cake dryness and boosting anaerobic digestion performances. However, such treatments generate refractory compounds which, once returned to headworks, can affect the quality compliance of effluent discharges, particularly concerning organic nitrogen. This study explores the effects of thermal hydrolysis (TH) and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of municipal sludge on the refractory organic compound production.

Single-Molecule Magnet Behavior in a Tb-Nitronyl Nitroxide Radical Network with [Tb(NIT)] Nodes.

Two rare two-dimensional Ln-radical networks, namely, [{Ln(tfa)}(NIT-4Py)] [Ln = Gd and Tb ; tfa = trifluoroacetylacetonato; and NIT-4Py = 2-(4-pyridyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide], have been successfully constructed and characterized. In these complexes, each NIT-4Py radical functions as a tridentate ligand to ligate three Ln ions, creating a 2D network with linear five-spin [Ln(NIT)] nodes. Ferromagnetic Ln-NO interactions govern the characteristic magnetic behavior of a finite spin system.

Maribavir for refractory cytomegalovirus infection (with or without resistance) in solid organ transplant recipients: subgroup analysis of the phase 3 randomized SOLSTICE study.

Background: In the phase 3 SOLSTICE study (NCT02931539), maribavir was superior to investigator-assigned therapy (IAT) for confirmed cytomegalovirus viremia clearance at study week 8 in hematopoietic cell/solid organ transplant (HCT/SOT) recipients. We report additional efficacy and safety analyses from the SOT subgroup.

Methods: Eligible solid organ transplant recipients (n=211) received maribavir 400 mg twice daily (n=142) or IAT (n=69) for 8 weeks (12 weeks' follow-up).

Optimal Floquet state engineering for large scale atom interferometers.

The effective control of atomic coherence with cold atoms has made atom interferometry an essential tool for quantum sensors and precision measurements. The performance of these interferometers is closely related to the operation of large wave packet separations. We present here a novel approach for atomic beam splitters based on the stroboscopic stabilization of quantum states in an accelerated optical lattice.

Monitoring of Ammonium and Nitrate Ions in Soil Using Ion-Sensitive Potentiometric Microsensors.

Focusing on the ChemFET (chemical field-effect transistor) technology, the development of a multi-microsensor platform for soil analysis is described in this work. Thus, different FET-based microdevices (i.e.

Phytochemical Composition and Characterization of In Vitro Bioactivities from Using Green Process.

species are notable in Mediterranean regions due to their ecological and economic importance. Various parts of these species are widely used in traditional medicine, especially pinecones, which are a significant source of bioactive compounds. The current study aimed to evaluate the phytochemical composition and biological properties of the aqueous extracts obtained by maceration from three petal fractions, from Mill.

Fibroblast-Specific Protein-Protein Interactions for Myocardial Fibrosis from MetaCore Network.

Myocardial fibrosis is a major pathologic disorder associated with a multitude of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The pathogenesis is complex and encompasses multiple molecular pathways. Integration of fibrosis-associated genes into the global MetaCore network of protein-protein interactions (PPI) offers opportunities to identify PPI with functional and therapeutic significance.

Supervised multiple kernel learning approaches for multi-omics data integration.

Background: Advances in high-throughput technologies have originated an ever-increasing availability of omics datasets. The integration of multiple heterogeneous data sources is currently an issue for biology and bioinformatics. Multiple kernel learning (MKL) has shown to be a flexible and valid approach to consider the diverse nature of multi-omics inputs, despite being an underused tool in genomic data mining.

Fate of Boltzmann's breathers: Kinetic theory perspective.

The dynamics of a system composed of elastic hard particles confined by an isotropic harmonic potential are studied. In the low-density limit, the Boltzmann equation provides an excellent description, and the system does not reach equilibrium except for highly specific initial conditions: it generically evolves toward and stays in a breathing mode. This state is periodic in time, with a Gaussian velocity distribution, an oscillating temperature, and a density profile that oscillates as well.

Compensation to visual impairments and behavioral plasticity in navigating ants.

Desert ants are known to rely heavily on vision while venturing for food and returning to the nest. During these foraging trips, ants memorize and recognize their visual surroundings, which enables them to recapitulate individually learned routes in a fast and effective manner. The compound eyes are crucial for such visual navigation; however, it remains unclear how information from both eyes are integrated and how ants cope with visual impairment.

Ordering Effect of Charge-Charge Repulsion in Doped Antiferromagnetic Lattices: A Coupled Cluster Study.

In quantum chemistry, single-reference Coupled Cluster theory, and its refinements introduced by Bartlett, has become a "gold-standard" predictive method for taking into account electronic correlations in molecules. In this article, we introduce a new formalism based on a Coupled Cluster expansion of the wave function that is suited to describe model periodic systems and apply this methodology to the case of hole-doped antiferromagnetic two-dimensional (2D)-square spin-lattices as a proof of concept. More precisely, we focus our study on 1/5 and 1/7 doping ratios and discuss the possible ordering effect due to large hole-hole repulsion.

Hard carbon from a sugar derivative for next-generation sodium-ion batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries have emerged as a promising secondary battery system due to the abundance of sodium resources. One of the boosters for accelerating the practical application of sodium-ion batteries is the innovation in anode materials. This study focuses on developing a high-performance hard carbon anode material derived from hydroxymethylfurfural, produced from carbohydrates, using a straightforward thermal condensation method.

Meta-analysis of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis reveals no support for the effect of vegetation structure on acoustic signalling across terrestrial vertebrates.

Acoustic communication plays a prominent role in various ecological and evolutionary processes involving social interactions. The properties of acoustic signals are thought to be influenced not only by the interaction between signaller and receiver but also by the acoustic characteristics of the environment through which the signal is transmitted. This conjecture forms the core of the so-called "acoustic adaptation hypothesis" (AAH), which posits that vegetation structure affects frequency and temporal parameters of acoustic signals emitted by a signaller as a function of their acoustic degradation properties.