Developmental beta-cell death orchestrates the islet's inflammatory milieu by regulating immune system crosstalk.

While pancreatic beta-cell proliferation has been extensively studied, the role of cell death during islet development remains incompletely understood. Using a genetic model of caspase inhibition in beta cells coupled with mathematical modeling, we here discover an onset of beta-cell death in juvenile zebrafish, which regulates beta-cell mass. Histologically, this beta-cell death is underestimated due to phagocytosis by resident macrophages.

Inflammation in health and disease: a balancing act (information about the 16th World Congress on Inflammation (WCI2024)).

The following provides a summary of the 16th World Congress on Inflammation (WCI 2024), which took place in Québec City (Canada) from July 21 to 24, 2024. At the meeting, researchers from around the world presented their latest findings which transcended fundamental and clinical science in the field of inflammation. Participants shared original work which covered a multitude of topics and discussed practical aspects of their research including the application of new diagnostic strategies and medical therapeutic technologies.

The identification of a SARs-CoV2 S2 protein derived peptide with super-antigen-like stimulatory properties on T-cells.

Severe COVID-19 can trigger a cytokine storm, leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with similarities to superantigen-induced toxic shock syndrome. An outstanding question is whether SARS-CoV-2 protein sequences can directly induce inflammatory responses. In this study, we identify a region in the SARS-CoV-2 S2 spike protein with sequence homology to bacterial super-antigens (termed P3).

Development of stable and porous AgO-loaded hydroxyapatite nanocomposites for enriched photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B under visible light.

A simple and inexpensive process from natural phosphate in the presence of Ag ions was used to develop AgO-loaded hydroxyapatite nanocomposites. The structural and textural characterization of the nanocomposites suggests that the AgO nanoparticles are well dispersed on the hydroxyapatite (HAp). The prepared nanocomposites show efficient Rhodamine B (RhB) dye photocatalytic degradation in water under visible and UV-visible light irradiation.

Printed Models for Better Prediction of Surgery in Patients with Double Outlet Right Ventricle.

The complex and variable anatomy of complex double outlet right ventricle makes it imperative to understand the spatial anatomic structures to determine whether it is feasible to repair the anomaly in a biventricular or univentricular fashion. Biventricular repair should be aimed for but is not always feasible. Choosing the correct surgical technique is of great importance in surgical planning of biventricular repair.

Effect of DLPFC rTMS on anhedonia and alpha asymmetry in depressed patients.

Anhedonia, a core symptom of depression, has been defined as the loss of pleasure or lack of reactivity to pleasurable stimuli. Considering the relevance of alpha asymmetry to MDD and anhedonia, we explored the effect of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation on frontal and posterior EEG alpha asymmetry (FAA and PAA, respectively), in this exploratory investigation. 61 participants randomly received sham (n = 11), bilateral (BS; n = 25), or unilateral stimulation (US; n = 25) of the DLPFC.

Chronic Radium-226 Bioaccumulation and Toxicity in the Aquatic Invertebrate Daphnia magna.

Mining operations in Canada, including uranium mining and milling, generate by-products containing radionuclides, including radium-226 (Ra), a long-lived, bioaccumulative calcium (Ca) analog. Despite strict discharge regulations, there is limited evidence to suggest that current thresholds for Ra adequately protect aquatic organisms. Furthermore, Canada lacks a federal water quality guideline for Ra, underscoring the need for protective limits to safeguard aquatic ecosystems.

Burdens of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages in 184 countries.

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, an updated and comprehensive assessment of the global burden attributable to SSBs remains scarce. Here we estimated SSB-attributable T2D and CVD burdens across 184 countries in 1990 and 2020 globally, regionally and nationally, incorporating data from the Global Dietary Database, jointly stratified by age, sex, educational attainment and urbanicity.

A Collaborative and Scalable Geospatial Data Set for Arctic Retrogressive Thaw Slumps with Data Standards.

Arctic permafrost is undergoing rapid changes due to climate warming in high latitudes. Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) are one of the most abrupt and impactful thermal-denudation events that change Arctic landscapes and accelerate carbon feedbacks. Their spatial distribution remains poorly characterised due to time-intensive conventional mapping methods.

Rapid climate action is needed: comparing heat vs. COVID-19-related mortality.

The impacts of climate change on human health are often underestimated or perceived to be in a distant future. Here, we present the projected impacts of climate change in the context of COVID-19, a recent human health catastrophe. We compared projected heat mortality with COVID-19 deaths in 38 cities worldwide and found that in half of these cities, heat-related deaths could exceed annual COVID-19 deaths in less than ten years (at + 3.

Reconstruction of long-term hourly sea level data for Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Regional sea level rise has been regarded a key factor in understanding of climate change impact to coastal communities. As a vulnerable island to sea level rise and storm surges, the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada lacks sufficient long-term island-wide historic record of sea level data. This has become a major challenge for further studies on coastal environments and climate change adaptation.

Selectively expressed RNA molecules as a versatile tool for functionalized cell targeting.

Targeting of diseased cells is one of the most urgently needed prerequisites for a next generation of potent pharmaceuticals. Different approaches pursued fail mainly due to a lack of specific surface markers. Developing an RNA-based methodology, we can now ensure precise cell targeting combined with selective expression of effector proteins for therapy, diagnostics or cell steering.

Spatial transcriptomics unveils estrogen-modulated immune responses and structural alterations in the ectocervical mucosa of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate users.

The injectable contraceptive, depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), is associated with compromised cervical mucosal barriers. High-resolution spatial transcriptomics is applied here to reveal the spatial localization of these altered molecular markers. Ectocervical tissue samples from Kenyan sex workers using DMPA, or non-hormonal contraceptives, underwent spatial transcriptomics and gene set enrichment analyses.

Supporting wild bee development with a bacterial symbiont.

Aims: Wild bees foster diverse microbiota that may determine survival success of developing larvae. Here, we compare survivorship and microbial communities of Ceratina calcarata small carpenter bees reared from eggs across three treatments: maternally collected control provisions with diverse microbiota, sterile provisions, and probiotic provisions supplemented with a beneficial symbiont, Apilactobacillus kunkeei.

Methods And Results: Survival probability and adult masses differed across treatments, with the probiotic treatment resulting in highest survivorship and masses.

Leveraging Intramolecular π-Stacking to Access an Exceptionally Long-Lived MC Excited State in an Fe(II) Carbene Complex.

The ability to manipulate excited-state decay cascades using molecular structure is essential to the application of abundant-metal photosensitizers and chromophores. Ligand design has yielded some spectacular results elongating charge-transfer excited state lifetimes of Fe(II) coordination complexes, but triplet metal-centered (MC) excited states─recently demonstrated to be critical to the photoactivity of isoelectronic Co(III) polypyridyls─have to date remained elusive, with temporally isolable examples limited to the picosecond regime. With this report, we show how strong-field donors and intramolecular π-stacking can conspire to stabilize a long-lived MC excited state for a remarkable 4.

Effects of nurse-home visiting on intimate partner violence and maternal income, mental health and self-efficacy by 24 months postpartum: a randomised controlled trial (British Columbia Healthy Connections Project).

Objective: To evaluate the impact of Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a home-visiting programme, on exploratory maternal outcomes in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Design: Pragmatic, parallel arm, randomised controlled trial conducted October 2013-November 2019. Random allocation of participants (1:1) to comparison (existing services) or NFP (plus existing services).

Sex and psychedelics: a wide-lens look at a burgeoning field.

In this article we initiate a conversation between scientific and humanities-oriented studies of sexuality and psychedelics. Drawing on three recent studies which indicate a positive connection between the use of psychedelics and sexual well-being, the article argues that taking account of sexuality as culturally produced, historically contingent and geographically specific would improve the reliability and efficacy of future studies. The need for socially and culturally attuned research grounded in contemporary sexual politics in this area is urgent, as in recent years-despite little reporting of sexuality in clinical research-the psychedelics field has had to grapple with the ethics of the relationship between psychedelic states and sexual interactions in therapeutic spaces and the 'underground'.

Birth weight and head circumference for 22-29 weeks gestation neonates from an international cohort.

Objective: Size at birth is a key indicator of in utero growth. Our objective was to generate sex-specific percentiles for birth weight and head circumference in neonates born between 22 and 29 weeks gestation from pregnancies without hypertension or diabetes and assess differences between vaginal and caesarean births and between singletons and twins.

Methods: We used data from 12 countries participating in the International Network for Evaluating Outcomes in Neonates database from 2007 to 2021.

Pharmacological characterization of cannabidiol as a negative allosteric modulator of the 5-HT receptor.

Promising clinical evidence suggests that psychedelic compounds, like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have therapeutic value for treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, they often produce hallucinations and dissociative states, likely mediated by the serotonin (5-HT) receptor 5-HT, raising challenges regarding therapeutic scalability. Given the reported antipsychotic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and its promiscuous binding at many receptors, we assessed whether CBD could modulate 5-HT signaling.

The Art of Clinical Negotiation.

The art of clinical negotiation is an important, yet underappreciated aspect of medicine. Key components of negotiation include the need to consider principles over personalities, to explore all options before deciding on the best course, to realize if consensus cannot be achieved then compromise may still be possible, to work from evidence to incorporate contextual factors, and to stay evidence based. These principles can be helpful in many settings, including contract negotiation, drug pricing, and research.