Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 Calcium-Permeable Channel Contributes to Valve Stiffening in Aortic Stenosis.

Background: Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) is a progressive disease characterized by fibrosis, inflammation, calcification, and stiffening of the aortic valve leaflets, leading to disrupted blood flow. If untreated, AVS can progress to heart failure and death within 2 to 5 years. Uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind AVS is key for developing effective noninvasive therapies.

Characterizing the Modulation and Activation-Triggering Mechanisms of Main-Belt Comets via 3D Thermophysical Modeling of an Ellipsoidal Body.

Main-belt objects (MBOs) with volatile components provide important insights into the solar system's evolution and the origin of Earth's water. In this study, we employ a 3D thermophysical model to simulate the evolution of a representative ellipsoidal main-belt comet (MBC) and investigate the factors influencing its gas and dust activity. Our results highlight the important role of large obliquities in amplifying the detectability of sublimation-driven dust emission in MBCs.

Knowledge of and access to contraceptive information and services among teenagers with child welfare involvement: A descriptive study across the transition to high school.

Despite disproportionate rates of childbearing among youth with child welfare involvement, few studies have examined whether this population receives contraceptive information and knows how to access services. This longitudinal study examines responses from 245 youth with child welfare involvement (i.e.

Identifying the Mechanism of Interaction Between Soil Moisture State and Summertime MCS Initiations in Weakly Forced Synoptic Environments Using Convective-Permitting Simulations.

This work aims to identify a mechanism of interaction between soil moisture (SM) state and the incidence of weakly forced synoptic scale MCS events during boreal summer by performing a sensitivity study using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model over the US Great Plains. A uniformly dry SM patch at a 5° × 5° scale is centered at the point of a documented MCS initiation to observe spatiotemporal changes of the simulated MCS events, totaling 97 cases between 2004 and 2017. A storm-centered composite analysis of SM at the location of simulated MCS events depicted SM heterogeneity [O(100) km] structured as significantly drier soils to the southwest (SW) transitioning to wetter soils northeast (NE) of the mean simulated initiation.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Future Planetary Applications: Initial Results From the San Francisco Volcanic Field, a Lunar Analogue.

Seismic imaging is one of the most powerful tools available for constraining the internal structure and composition of planetary bodies as well as enabling our understanding planetary evolution, geology, and distribution of natural resources. However, traditional seismic instrumentation can be heavy and voluminous, expensive, and/or difficult to rapidly deploy in large numbers. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) provides a promising new alternative given the ease of deployment, light weight and simplicity of fiber optic cables.

Environmental Changes Recorded in Sedimentary Rocks in the Clay-Sulfate Transition Region in Gale Crater, Mars: Results From the Sample Analysis at Mars-Evolved Gas Analysis Instrument Onboard the Mars Science Laboratory Rover.

The rover explored the region between the orbitally defined phyllosilicate-bearing Glen Torridon trough and the overlying layered sulfate-bearing unit, called the "clay-sulfate transition region." Samples were drilled from the top of the fluviolacustrine Glasgow member of the Carolyn Shoemaker formation (CSf) to the eolian Contigo member of the Mirador formation (MIf) to assess in situ mineralogical changes with stratigraphic position. The Sample Analysis at Mars-Evolved Gas Analysis (SAM-EGA) instrument analyzed drilled samples within this region to constrain their volatile chemistry and mineralogy.

Juno Observations Set New Constraints on the Electrodynamic Interaction Between Io and Jupiter.

Juno's highly elliptical polar orbits provide unprecedented in-situ observations of the electrodynamic interaction between Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io. These observations occur in regions never sampled before both near Io's orbit and near Jupiter's ionosphere and at distances between the two. Magnetic field data obtained during multiple traversals of magnetic field lines mapping to Io's orbit reveal remarkably rich and complex magnetic signatures near flux tubes connected to Io's orbital position.

Evidence of Magnetic Reconnection in Ganymede's Wake Region From Juno.

Magnetic reconnection has been commonly reported between the solar wind IMF and the magnetic field of Earth and other planets. A similar phenomenon is expected between Jupiter's magnetosphere and Ganymede's mini magnetosphere inside the Jovian magnetosphere. This article is the first report of a reconnection event in the tail region of Ganymede.

Aerobic Training Attenuates Differences Between Black and White Adults in Left Ventricular-Vascular Coupling and Wasted Pressure Effort.

Background: Black compared with White adults have a higher risk for left-ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure possibly due to the early onset of alterations in ventricular-vascular coupling (ie, arterial [] to ventricular elastance [] ratio) and wasted pressure effort (). Aerobic training preserves the coupling ratio (/) and attenuates , but whether this applies to Black adults is unknown. We hypothesized that Black rather than White adults would have greater training-induced improvements in the / and .

Atomic scale insights into NaCl nucleation in nanoconfined environments.

In this work we examine the nucleation from NaCl aqueous solutions within nano-confined environments, employing enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations integrated with machine learning-derived reaction coordinates. Through our simulations, we successfully induce phase transitions between solid, liquid, and a hydrated phase, typically observed at lower temperatures in bulk environments. Interestingly, while generally speaking nano-confinement serves to stabilize the solid phase and elevate melting points, there are subtle variations in the thermodynamics of competing phases with the precise extent of confinement.

Quantification of Climate Footprints of in Coastal Human Communities of the United States Gulf Coast.

The incidence of vibriosis is rising globally with evidence of climate variability influencing environmental processes that support growth of pathogenic . The waterborne pathogen, can invade wounds and has one of the highest case fatality rates in humans. The bacterium cannot be eradicated from the aquatic environment, hence climate driven environmental conditions enhancing growth and dissemination of .

Influence of talker and accent variability on rapid adaptation and generalization to non-native accented speech in younger and older adults.

Introduction: Listeners can rapidly adapt to English speech produced by non-native speakers of English with unfamiliar accents. Prior work has shown that the type and number of talkers contained within a stimulus set may impact rate and magnitude of learning, as well as any generalization of learning. However, findings across the literature have been inconsistent, with relatively little study of these effects in populations of older listeners.

It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China.

How do older individuals cope with health impairments and the potential economic losses that ensue? Exploiting longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample of Chinese seniors, we investigate whether and how familial economic support responds to sudden and sizable changes in health. We find that both financial and instrumental support from children go up following a health shock. Furthermore, financial transfers coming from siblings, other relatives and friends increase by a larger percentage than those from children.

Building Digital Twins for Cardiovascular Health: From Principles to Clinical Impact.

The past several decades have seen rapid advances in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, enabled by technological breakthroughs in imaging, genomics, and physiological monitoring, coupled with therapeutic interventions. We now face the challenge of how to (1) rapidly process large, complex multimodal and multiscale medical measurements; (2) map all available data streams to the trajectories of disease states over the patient's lifetime; and (3) apply this information for optimal clinical interventions and outcomes. Here we review new advances that may address these challenges using digital twin technology to fulfill the promise of personalized cardiovascular medical practice.

Strength, number, and kinetics of hydrogen bonds for water confined inside boron nitride nanotubes.

Water has shown a myriad of highly interesting properties and behaviors, such as very low friction, phase transition under unexpected conditions, massive property alterations, inside strong nanoconfinements of few-nanometer to sub-nanometer diameters. Water-water hydrogen bonding is one of the most important factors dictating such water behavior and properties inside such strong nanoconfinements. In this paper, we employ Reactive Force Field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for studying multiple facets of such water-water hydrogen bonds (HBs) inside boron-nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) having diameters ranging from a few nanometers to sub-nanometers.

Recurrent cortical networks encode natural sensory statistics via sequence filtering.

Recurrent neural networks can generate dynamics, but in sensory cortex it has been unclear if any dynamic processing is supported by the dense recurrent excitatory-excitatory network. Here we show a new role for recurrent connections in mouse visual cortex: they support powerful dynamical computations, but by filtering sequences of input instead of generating sequences. Using two-photon optogenetics, we measure neural responses to natural images and play them back, finding inputs are amplified when played back during the correct movie dynamic context- when the preceding sequence corresponds to natural vision.

Synthetic mucus barrier arrays as a nanoparticle formulation screening platform.

A mucus gel layer lines the luminal surface of tissues throughout the body to protect them from infectious agents and particulates. As a result, nanoparticle drug delivery systems delivered to these sites may become trapped in mucus and subsequently cleared before they can reach target cells. As such, optimizing the properties of nanoparticle delivery vehicles, such as their surface chemistry and size, is essential to improving their penetration through the mucus barrier.

Quantifying Prescribed-Fire Smoke Exposure Using Low-Cost Sensors and Satellites: Springtime Burning in Eastern Kansas.

Prescribed fires (fires intentionally set for mitigation purposes) produce pollutants, which have negative effects on human and animal health. One of the pollutants produced from fires is fine particulate matter (PM). The Flint Hills (FH) region of Kansas experiences extensive prescribed burning each spring (March-May).

Unravelling the Risk of Poisoning From Nicotine-Containing Tobacco Products in Children Less Than Five Years of Age.

For decades, young children in the United States have been accidentally poisoned by traditional tobacco products and the yearly incidence has slowly increased. More poisonings have accompanied the introduction of new products such as e-cigarettes and dissolvable tobacco, with renewed public attention. Using toxicological principles of human health risk assessment, published data from prior exposures, and information about the content and characteristics of specific products, I estimated the acute toxicological risk from exposure to various types and quantities of tobacco products for children <5 years old.

Twisting two-dimensional iron sulfide layers into coincident site superlattices intercalation chemistry.

Layered van der Waals (vdW) materials are susceptible not only to various stacking polymorphs through translations but also twisted structures due to rotations between layers. Here, we study the influence of such layer-to-layer twisting through the intercalation of ethylenediamine (EDA) molecules into tetragonal iron sulfide (Mackinawite FeS). Selected area electron diffraction patterns of intercalated FeS display reflections corresponding to multiple square lattices with a fixed angle between them, contrary to a single square lattice seen in the unintercalated phase.

Health-Damaging Climate Events Highlight the Need for Interdisciplinary, Engaged Research.

In 2023 human populations experienced multiple record-breaking climate events, with widespread impacts on human health and well-being. These events include extreme heat domes, drought, severe storms, flooding, and wildfires. Due to inherent lags in the climate system, we can expect such extremes to continue for multiple decades after reaching net zero carbon emissions.

Macrophage-induced reduction of bacteriophage density limits the efficacy of pulmonary phage therapy.

The rise of antimicrobial resistance has led to renewed interest in evaluating phage therapy. In murine models highly effective treatment of acute pneumonia caused by relies on the synergistic antibacterial activity of bacteriophages with neutrophils. Here, we show that depletion of alveolar macrophages (AM) shortens the survival of mice without boosting the .

Public Health Benefits From Improved Identification of Severe Air Pollution Events With Geostationary Satellite Data.

Despite improvements in ambient air quality in the US in recent decades, many people still experience unhealthy levels of pollution. At present, national-level alert-day identification relies predominately on surface monitor networks and forecasters. Satellite-based estimates of surface air quality have rapidly advanced and have the capability to inform exposure-reducing actions to protect public health.