Metaproteomics Beyond Databases: Addressing the Challenges and Potentials of De Novo Sequencing.

Metaproteomics enables the large-scale characterization of microbial community proteins, offering crucial insights into their taxonomic composition, functional activities, and interactions within their environments. By directly analyzing proteins, metaproteomics offers insights into community phenotypes and the roles individual members play in diverse ecosystems. Although database-dependent search engines are commonly used for peptide identification, they rely on pre-existing protein databases, which can be limiting for complex, poorly characterized microbiomes.

Comparative Genomics Points to Ecological Drivers of Genomic Divergence Among Intertidal Limpets.

Comparative genomic studies of closely related taxa are important for our understanding of the causes of divergence on a changing Earth. This being said, the genomic resources available for marine intertidal molluscs are limited and currently, there are few publicly available high-quality annotated genomes for intertidal species and for molluscs in general. Here we report transcriptome assemblies for six species of Patellogastropoda and genome assemblies and annotations for three of these species (Scurria scurra, Scurria viridula and Scurria zebrina).

Replacing native grazers with livestock influences arthropods to have implications for ecosystem functions and disease.

Grazing by large mammalian herbivores influences ecosystem structure and functions through its impacts on vegetation and soil, as well as by the influence on other animals such as arthropods. As livestock progressively replace native grazers around the world, it is pertinent to ask whether they have comparable influence over arthropods, or not. We use a replicated landscape-level, long-term grazer-exclusion experiment (14 years) to address how ground-dwelling arthropods respond to such a change in grazing regime where livestock replace native grazers in the cold deserts of the Trans-Himalayan ecosystem of northern India.

3D-Printed Ultra-Thin Non-Prep Lithium Disilicate Veneers: A Proof-of-Concept Clinical Case.

Objective: To test the clinical application of LCM-printed lithium disilicate veneers.

Clinical Considerations: A female patient with tooth wear was scanned with intraoral scanner (Prime Scan, Dentsply Sirona). The six non-prep veneers were designed (DentalCAD, Exocad) and printed from lithium disilicate with an LCM-printer with the thickness of 0.

Novel Silk Fibroin Based Bilayer Scaffolds for Bioabsorbable Internal Biliary Stenting.

Biliary duct reconstruction is one of the most challenging parts of liver transplantation and accounts for 40%-60% of complications. While current stent-based devices on the market show promising results in reducing complications, they are manufactured from permanent synthetic materials and require a second reintervention for their removal. This exposes the patients to other potential complications and increases healthcare costs.

Demonstration of a Chemical Recycling Concept for Polybutylene Succinate containing Waste Substrates via Coupled Enzymatic/Electrochemical Processes.

Chemical recycling of polymer waste is a promising strategy to reduce the dependency of chemical industry on fossil resources and reduce the increasing quantities of plastic waste. A common challenge in chemical recycling processes is the costly downstream separation of reaction products. For polybutylene succinate (PBS) no effective recycling concept has been implemented so far.

Angiogenic factors alone or in combination with ultrasound Doppler criteria for risk classification among late-onset small fetuses with or without pre-eclampsia.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of maternal angiogenic factors in late-onset small fetuses, alone or in combination with the ultrasound and Doppler parameters currently used for the classification of low-risk small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses or high-risk fetal growth restriction (FGR), overall and according to the presence or absence of pre-eclampsia.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of women with a singleton pregnancy with a diagnosis of late-onset fetal smallness (defined as birth weight < 10 centile) and a gestational age of ≥ 34 weeks at delivery. Ultrasound assessment of estimated fetal weight (EFW) and Doppler assessment of uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI) and cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) were performed every 1-2 weeks.

Archaeal Signalling Networks-New Insights Into the Structure and Function of Histidine Kinases and Response Regulators of the Methanogenic Archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans.

The methanogenic archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans has one of the largest known archaeal genomes. With 53 histidine kinases (HK), it also has the largest set of signal transduction systems. To gain insight into the hitherto not very well understood signal transduction in Archaea and M.

The Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel Technique for Coverage of Mucosal Recessions at Dental Implants.

Objectives: To clinically evaluate the outcomes following surgical coverage of single peri-implant mucosal recessions in the aesthetic maxillary area by means of the modified coronally advanced tunnel (MCAT) and subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG).

Materials And Methods: Eleven systemically healthy non-smoking patients (8 females) each presenting a single peri-implant mucosal recession in the anterior maxillary region were consecutively treated with MCAT in conjunction with SCTG. In all cases, the facial recession was associated with an impaired aesthetic appearance.

MVP-VSASL: measuring MicroVascular Pulsatility using velocity-selective arterial spin labeling.

Purpose: By leveraging the small-vessel specificity of velocity-selective arterial spin labeling (VSASL), we present a novel technique for measuring cerebral MicroVascular Pulsatility named MVP-VSASL.

Theory And Methods: We present a theoretical model relating the pulsatile, cerebral blood flow-driven VSASL signal to the microvascular pulsatility index ( ), a widely used metric for quantifying cardiac-dependent fluctuations. The model describes the dependence of the of VSASL signal (denoted ) on bolus duration (an adjustable VSASL sequence parameter) and provides guidance for selecting a value of that maximizes the SNR of the measurement.

Extended-release pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders in incarcerated populations: A systematic review.

Background And Aims: Substance use (SU) is prevalent among individuals in the criminal justice system (CJS). However, there is often poor access to treatment. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of two medications, extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) and extended-release buprenorphine (XR-BUP) for the prison population.

The Hidden Value of Adult Informal Care in Europe.

The hidden value of adult informal care (IC) refers to the unaccounted value of informal care in overall costs of long-term care (LTC) estimates. This paper estimates the net value of adult IC in Europe, drawing on a well-being-based methodology. We use an instrumental variable strategy and a longitudinal and cross-country dataset to estimate the causal effect of the extensive and intensive margin of caregiving on subjective well-being.

Subjective sleep quality, but not objective sleep measures, mediates the relationship between pre-sleep worrying and affective wellbeing.

Pre-sleep worrying is associated with sleep disturbance, which in turn is associated with impaired affective wellbeing. However, studies examining the fine-grained temporal order of these variables are still lacking. In particular, within-person mediation of the association between pre-sleep worrying and the following day's affective wellbeing by subjective and objective indicators of sleep has not been tested yet.

Selective On-Surface Metalation and Uncommon Reordering of Self-Assembled Macrocyclic Biquinazoline Ligands on Ag(111).

The macrocyclic biquinazoline ligand, H-Mabiq, presents a central and a peripheral site for the coordination of metal ions, making the adsorption on solid surfaces promising for the creation of self-assembled bimetallic two-dimensional platforms. Here, we apply an on-surface metalation strategy under ultra-high vacuum conditions to guide the synthesis of metalated species and study sequential metalation patterns. We find that cobalt (as well as iron) metalation on the Ag(111) surface preferentially occurs at the macrocyclic centre without further metal coordination to the peripheral site.

Machine Perfusion Liver Preservation: Highlights From the International Liver Transplant Society 2024.

The 2024 International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) Congress, held in Houston, Texas, brought together a dynamic, multidisciplinary community of global experts to explore and discuss cutting-edge innovations and unmet needs in liver transplantation. Key themes included liver machine perfusion and donation after circulatory death (DCD), reflecting the ongoing effort to expand the donor pool and improve transplantation outcomes. Machine perfusion technologies, including normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (HOPE), and normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) have demonstrated great promise in optimizing graft quality, mitigating ischemia-reperfusion injury, and enhancing the use of marginal and DCD liver grafts.

Circulating concentrations of vitamins C, D and E vary with age but not with pneumonia status in foals during the first 5 months of life.

Background: Adequate vitamin availability is vital for cellular and immune function and for normal growth. Available data on age-related changes in serum concentrations of vitamins in foals are limited. In addition, associations between circulating vitamin concentrations and the development of bronchopneumonia in foals are not described.

Dichotomous STAT5 and STAT6 Activation in T Cells Reflects Cytokine Shifts Between Blood and Skin in Atopic Dermatitis.

We assessed STAT activation in T cells in blood and skin of AD patients versus HC. pSTAT5 T cells were increased in AD blood, correlated with disease activity, and were induced by common γc cytokines. Skin T cells exhibited a STAT6 signature, whereas only a subset was positive for STAT5.

α-Adrenoreceptor blocker phentolamine inhibits voltage-gated sodium channels via the local anaesthetic binding site.

Background And Purpose: Phentolamine is a non-selective α-adrenoreceptor antagonist used to reverse local anaesthesia, for example, during dental procedures when a vasoconstrictor is co-applied. Phentolamine-mediated vasodilation leads to faster clearance of injected drugs. Previous electrophysiological studies hypothesized that phentolamine acts as a modulator of voltage-gated sodium channels, which could conflict with its indication as local anaesthetic reversal agent.

Liquid crystalline self-assembly of mixtures of rod- and wedge-shaped MIDA boronates.

Rod-like MIDA boronates form smectic mesophases, while wedge-shaped MIDA boronates self-assemble into columnar mesophases. However, the phase behavior of mixtures is less understood. In order to obtain further insight on the molecular self-assembly of MIDA boronate mixtures two series of binary mixtures of rod-like and wedge-shaped mesogens were prepared.

Shared community history strengthens plant diversity effects on below-ground multitrophic functioning.

The relationship of plant diversity and several ecosystem functions strengthens over time. This suggests that the restructuring of biotic interactions in the process of a community's assembly and the associated changes in function differ between species-rich and species-poor communities. An important component of these changes is the feedback between plant and soil community history.

Structural Insights into the Substrate Recognition of Ginsenoside Glycosyltransferase Pq3-O-UGT2.

Ginsenosides are a group of tetracyclic triterpenoids with promising health benefits, consisting of ginseng aglycone attached to various glycans. Pq3-O-UGT2, an important UDP-dependent glycosyltransferase (UGT), catalyzes the production of Ginsenoside Rg3 and Rd by extending the glycan chain of Ginsenoside Rh2 and F2, respectively, with higher selectivity for F2. However, the mechanism underlying its substrate recognition remains unclear.

Lessons learned on obtaining reliable dynamic properties for ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids are nowadays investigated with respect to their use as electrolytes for high-performance energy storage materials. In this study, we provide a tutorial on how to calculate dynamic properties such as self-diffusion coefficients, ionic conductivities, transference numbers, as well as ion pair and ion cage dynamics, that all play a role in judging the applicability of ionic liquids as electrolytes.  For the case of the ionic liquid \ce{[C2C1Im][NTf2]}, we investigate the performance of different force fields.

Nature AND nurture: enabling formate-dependent growth in Methanosarcina acetivorans.

Methanosarcinales are versatile methanogens, capable of regulating most types of methanogenic pathways. Despite the versatile metabolic flexibility of Methanosarcinales, no member of this order has been shown to use formate for methanogenesis. In the present study, we identified a cytosolic formate dehydrogenase (FdhAB) present in several Methanosarcinales, likely acquired by independent horizontal gene transfers after an early evolutionary loss, encouraging re-evaluation of our understanding of formate utilization in Methanosarcinales.

Substitution and Electron Transfer in Diborane-Quinone Systems.

The dual reactivity of boron compounds as Lewis acids and electron donors has spurred the development of a metallomimetic chemistry of boron compounds as a topical research theme. In this work we elaborate on the reaction of specially-designed diborane(4) compounds with quinones, as a prime example showing their dual (metallomimetic) chemistry as a Lewis acid and electron donor. The quinone is first coordinated to the diborane and then reduced by intramolecular electron transfer from the B-B bond to a quinone π* orbital.