Peroxycarbenium-Mediated Asymmetric Synthesis of 1,2-Dioxanes and 1,2-Dioxolanes.

The endoperoxide scaffold is found in numerous natural products and synthetic substances of pharmaceutical interest. The main challenge to their synthetic access remains the preparation of chiral compounds due to the weakness of the peroxide bond, which limits the scope of available or applicable methods. Here, we demonstrate how peroxycarbenium species can be trapped by silylated nucleophiles with high enantioselectivities and diastereoselectivities when applicable, using a chiral imidophosphorimidate (IDPi) as a catalyst.

Beyond the Dailey-Townes Model: Chemical Information from the Electric Field Gradient.

In this work, we reexamine the Dailey-Townes model by systematically investigating the electric field gradient (EFG) in various chlorine compounds, dihalogens, and the uranyl ion (). Through the use of relativistic molecular calculations and projection analysis, we decompose the EFG expectation value in terms of atomic reference orbitals. We show how the Dailey-Townes model can be seen as an approximation to our projection analysis.

Breast Cancer Specificities of Patients With Anti-Ri Paraneoplastic Neurologic Syndromes.

Background And Objectives: Breast cancers (BCs) of patients with paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes and anti-Yo antibodies (Yo-PNS) overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and display genetic alterations and overexpression of the Yo-onconeural antigens. They are infiltrated by an unusual proportion of B cells. We investigated whether these features were also observed in patients with PNS and anti-Ri antibodies (Ri-PNS).

High coverage and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in two vulnerable areas in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh completed a primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations for about 86 individuals per 100 population as of 5 July 2023. However, ensuring higher coverage in vulnerable areas is challenging. We report on the COVID-19 vaccine uptake and associated factors among adults in two vulnerable areas in Bangladesh.

Quality Diversity under Sparse Interaction and Sparse Reward: Application to Grasping in Robotics.

Quality-Diversity (QD) methods are algorithms that aim to generate a set of diverse and highperforming solutions to a given problem. Originally developed for evolutionary robotics, most QD studies are conducted on a limited set of domains'mainly applied to locomotion, where the fitness and the behavior signal are dense. Grasping is a crucial task for manipulation in robotics.

Walking or hanging: the role of habitat use for body shape evolution in lacertid lizards.

Differences in habitat use impose ecological constraints which in turn lead to functional and morphological differences through adaptation. In fact, a convergent evolutionary pattern is evident when species exhibit similar responses to similar environments. In this study we examine how habitat use influences the evolution of body shape in lizards from the family Lacertidae.

The Novel HLA-DPB1*1617:01 Allele Characterised by Two Different Sequencing-Based Typing Techniques.

The novel allele HLA-DPB1*1617:01 differs from HLA-DPB1*05:01:01:01 by one non-synonymous nucleotide substitution in exon 2.

The Novel HLA-B*40:02:39 Allele Characterised by Two Different Sequencing-Based Typing Techniques.

The novel allele HLA-HLA-B*40:02:39 differs from HLA-B*40:02:01:01 by one synonymous nucleotide substitution in exon 2.

Enlightening the invisible: Applications, limits and perspectives of intraoperative fluorescence in neurosurgery.

Introduction: The introduction of intraoperative fluorophores represented a significant advancement in neurosurgical practice. Nowadays they found different applications: in oncology to improve the visualization of tumoral tissue and optimize resection rates and in vascular neurosurgery to assess the exclusion of vascular malformations or the permeability of bypasses, with real-time intraoperative evaluations.

Research Question: A comprehensive knowledge of how fluorophores work is crucial to maximize their benefits and to incorporate them into daily neurosurgical practice.

synthesis of degradable polymer prodrug nanoparticles.

The synthesis of degradable polymer prodrug nanoparticles is still a challenge to be met, which would make it possible to remedy both the shortcomings of traditional formulation of preformed polymers (, low nanoparticle concentrations) and those of the physical encapsulation of drugs (, burst release and poor drug loadings). Herein, through the combination of radical ring-opening polymerization (rROP) and polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) under appropriate experimental conditions, we report the successful preparation of high-solid content, degradable polymer prodrug nanoparticles, exhibiting multiple drug moieties covalently linked to a degradable vinyl copolymer backbone. Such a rROPISA process relied on the chain extension of a biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol)-based solvophilic block with a mixture of lauryl methacrylate (LMA), cyclic ketene acetal (CKA) and drug-bearing methacrylic esters by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization at 20 wt% solid content.

Fine-Scale Genetic Structure of Small Fish Populations in Islands: The Case of Brook Charr (Mitchill, 1814) in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (France).

Island ecosystems, particularly vulnerable to environmental challenges, host many endangered native species. Diadromous fish, in particular, are threatened throughout their marine and freshwater habitats. The conservation of these species requires an in-depth understanding of their genetic diversity and structure, to better understand their adaptive potential.

Homologous In-Radiolabeled Platelet Survival and Sequestration Exploration for Refractory Immunologic Thrombocytopenic purpura in Children: A Strategy to Avoid Unnecessary Splenectomy.

Immunologic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a condition that affects four to 18 per 100 000 children every year. In most cases, spontaneous remission occurs, but splenectomy may be proposed. Exploring the site of platelet sequestration can help to better predict potential poor responders to splenectomy, but In-radiolabeled platelet scintigraphy (IPS) can be difficult to perform in children with very few platelets.

STRAIGHTMORPH: A Voice Morphing Tool for Research in Voice Communication Sciences.

The purpose of this paper is to make easily available to the scientific community an efficient voice morphing tool called STRAIGHTMORPH and provide a short tutorial on its use with examples. STRAIGHTMORPH consists of a set of Matlab functions allowing the generation of high-quality, parametrically-controlled morphs of an arbitrary number of voice samples. A first step consists in extracting an 'mObject' for each voice sample, with accurate tracking of the fundamental frequency contour and manual definition of Time and Frequency anchors corresponding across samples to be morphed.

Pollution resistance of Saturn's ring particles during micrometeoroid impact.

Saturn's rings have been estimated to be as young as about 100 to 400 million years old according to the hypothesis that non-icy micrometeoroid bombardment acts to darken the rings over time and the Cassini observation indicated that the ring particles appear to be relatively clean. These young age estimates assume that the rings formed out of pure water ice particles with a high accretion efficiency of impacting non-icy micrometeoroid material ( ≳ 10%). Here we show, using numerical simulations of hypervelocity micrometeoroid impacts on a ring particle, that non-icy material may not be as readily accreted as previously thought.

Inefficient transfer of diatoms through the subpolar Southern Ocean twilight zone.

The Southern Ocean, a region highly vulnerable to climate change, plays a vital role in regulating global nutrient cycles and atmospheric CO via the biological carbon pump. Diatoms, photosynthetically active plankton with dense opal skeletons, are key to this process as their exoskeletons are thought to enhance the transfer of particulate organic carbon to depth, positioning them as major vectors of carbon storage. Yet conflicting observations obscure the mechanistic link between diatoms, opal and particulate organic carbon fluxes, especially in the twilight zone where greatest flux losses occur.

Toward alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay in clinical practice.

Introduction: Seed amplification assays (SAAs) demonstrate remarkable diagnostic performance in alpha-synucleinopathies. However, existing protocols lack accessibility in routine laboratories, mainly due to the requirement for in-house production of recombinant alpha-synuclein (aSyn). This study proposes a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) aSyn-SAA protocol using solely commercial reagents to facilitate its clinical implementation.

David couldn't bring down Goliath: museum specimen reveals a failed predation attempt by fire ants ( Westwood, 1840) upon a large hawk moth (Cramer, 1775).

Insights into insect predatory behaviour can be inferred indirectly from specimens housed in Natural History Collections. In this work, we document a unique interaction, never recorded before, involving the remains of a Westwood, 1840 ant worker -probably (Smith, 1855)- whose head is firmly attached by its mandibles to an antenna of a female hawk moth (Cramer, 1775) (Sphingidae). This specimen is part of the Entomology Collection at the MNCN-CSIC in Madrid, Spain.

Left atrial reservoir strain as a predictor of cardiac dysfunction in a murine model of pressure overload.

Aim: Left atrial (LA) strain is emerging as a valuable metric for evaluating cardiac function, particularly under pathological conditions such as pressure overload. This preclinical study investigates the predictive utility of LA strain on cardiac function in a murine model subjected to pressure overload, mimicking pathologies such as hypertension and aortic stenosis.

Methods: High-resolution ultrasound was performed in a cohort of mice (n = 16) to evaluate left atrial and left ventricular function at baseline and 2 and 4 weeks after transverse aortic constriction (TAC).

Periodic Light Modulations for Low-Cost Wide-Field Imaging of Luminescence Kinetics Under Ambient Light.

Imaging luminescence kinetics is invaluable in many fields, including biology and chemistry. However, the luminescence lifetime of most photo-activated states is in the low ns-µs range and its measurement requires adding costly image intensifiers to cameras to access the fast phenomena present. Here, the Rectified Imaging under Optical Modulation (RIOM) and Heterodyne Imaging under Optical Modulation (HIOM) protocols make this possible with standard low-cost cameras only, even under ambient light.

Insights into the subdaily variations in methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide fluxes from upland tropical tree stems.

Recent studies have shown that stem fluxes, although highly variable among trees, can alter the strength of the methane (CH) sink or nitrous oxide (NO) source in some forests, but the patterns and magnitudes of these fluxes remain unclear. This study investigated the drivers of subdaily and seasonal variations in stem and soil CH, NO and carbon dioxide (CO) fluxes. CH, NO and CO fluxes were measured continuously for 19 months in individual stems of two tree species, Eperua falcata (Aubl.

Winter fruit contribution to the performance of the invasive fruit fly Drosophila suzukii under different thermal regimes.

Polyphagous insect species develop using multiple host plants. Often considered beneficial, polyphagy can also be costly as host nutritional quality may vary. Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is an invasive species that can develop on numerous fruit species over the annual cycle.

Aβ42 biomarker linked to insula, striatum, thalamus and claustrum in dementia with Lewy bodies.

The differential mechanisms between proteinopathies and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) remain unclear. To address this issue, we conducted a voxel-based morphometry and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker (α-synuclein, Aβ42, t-Tau and p-Tau) level correlation study in patients with DLB, AD and mixed cases (AD + DLB). Cerebrospinal fluid samples obtained by lumbar puncture and whole-brain T1-weighted images were collected in the AlphaLewyMA cohort.

Humanized Candida and NanoBiT Assays Expedite Discovery of Bdf1 Bromodomain Inhibitors With Antifungal Potential.

The fungal Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal (BET) protein Bdf1 is a potential antifungal target against invasive fungal infections. However, the need to selectively inhibit both Bdf1 bromodomains (BDs) over human orthologs and the lack of molecular tools to assess on-target antifungal efficacy hamper efforts to develop Bdf1 BD inhibitors as antifungal therapeutics. This study reports a phenyltriazine compound that inhibits both Bdf1 BDs from the human fungal pathogen Candida glabrata with selectivity over the orthologous BDs from the human BET protein Brd4.

Clinical impact of an explainable machine learning with amino acid PET imaging: application to the diagnosis of aggressive glioma.

Purpose: Radiomics-based machine learning (ML) models of amino acid positron emission tomography (PET) images have shown efficiency in glioma prediction tasks. However, their clinical impact on physician interpretation remains limited. This study investigated whether an explainable radiomics model modifies nuclear physicians' assessment of glioma aggressiveness at diagnosis.