Selection of Early Life Codons by Ultraviolet Light.

How life developed in its earliest stages is a central but notoriously difficult question in science. The earliest lifeforms likely used a reduced set of codon sequences that were progressively completed over time, driven by chemical, physical, and combinatorial constraints. However, despite its importance for prebiotic chemistry, UV radiation has not been considered a selection pressure for the evolution of early codon sequences.

A single gene orchestrates androgen variation underlying male mating morphs in ruffs.

Androgens are pleiotropic and play pivotal roles in the formation and variation of sexual phenotypes. We show that differences in circulating androgens between the three male mating morphs in ruff sandpipers are linked to 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (HSD17B2), encoded by a gene within the supergene that determines the morphs. Low-testosterone males had higher expression in blood than high-testosterone males, as well as in brain areas related to social behaviors and testosterone production.

Stay Connected to Be Diverse!

Plankton biodiversity is crucial for the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, influencing nutrient cycling, food web dynamics, and carbon storage. Global change and habitat destruction disrupt these ecosystems, reducing species diversity and ecosystem resilience. Connectivity between aquatic habitats supports biodiversity by enabling species migration, genetic diversity, and recovery from disturbances.

Does the habitual dietary intake of adults in Bavaria, Germany, match dietary intake recommendations? Results of the 3rd Bavarian Food Consumption Survey.

Objective: Monitoring dietary habits is crucial for identifying shortcomings and delineating countermeasures. About 20 years after the last population-based surveys in Bavaria and Germany, dietary habits were assessed to describe the intake distributions and compare these with recommendations at food and nutrient level.

Methods: The 3rd Bavarian Food Consumption Survey (BVS III) was designed as a diet survey representative of adults in Bavaria; from 2021 to 2023, repeated 24-h diet recalls were collected by telephone using the software GloboDiet©.

Shifting Paradigms: A Deep Dive Into Public Perceptions of Gender-affirming Surgery.

Background: Given the growing demand for gender-affirming surgery (GAS) in recent years, it is essential to explore the public perceptions of GAS. Understanding the public's opinions and attitudes toward GAS will provide valuable insights for shaping educational initiatives to enhance public knowledge and awareness.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used the Prolific Academic platform to distribute an online survey among adult participants residing in the United States in August 2023.

Cold waves in the Amazon rainforest and their ecological impact.

Cold waves crossing the Amazon rainforest are an extraordinary phenomenon likely to be affected by climate change. We here describe an extensive cold wave that occurred in June 2023 in Amazonian-Andean forests and compare environmental temperatures to experimentally measured thermal tolerances and their impact on lowland animal communities (insects and wild mammals). While we found strong reductions in activity abundance of all animal groups under the cold wave, tropical lowland animals showed thermal tolerance limits below the lowest environmental temperatures measured during the cold wave.

The Outcomes of Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Oncology Patients With Non-neutropenic Fever: A Scoping Review of the Literature.

Background: There are established and well-followed guidelines for pediatric oncology patients who have neutropenic fever. However, there are no explicit criteria for this patient group, and over 50% of pediatric oncology patients with fever do not present with neutropenia.

Objective: In this scoping review, we have explored the outcomes of non-neutropenic fever in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients with cancer-directed treatment.

Bayesian-optimized deep learning for identifying essential genes of mitophagy and fostering therapies to combat drug resistance in human cancers.

Dysregulated mitophagy is essential for mitochondrial quality control within human cancers. However, identifying hub genes regulating mitophagy and developing mitophagy-based treatments to combat drug resistance remains challenging. Herein, BayeDEM (Bayesian-optimized Deep learning for identifying Essential genes of Mitophagy) was proposed for such a task.

Nutrient Digestibility in Zoo-Kept Tapirs (Tapirus spp) as Compared to Other Herbivores.

Tapirs are hindgut fermenters with a natural diet dominated by browse, with a certain proportion of wild fruit. By contrast, diets fed to tapirs in zoos are often dominated by domestic fruit and other sources of easily digestible carbohydrates, which have been linked to obesity and various health problems. We aimed at better understanding the digestive physiology of tapirs, measuring the digestive efficiency of 13 lowland (Tapirus terrestris) and five Malayan (Tapirus indicus) tapirs from five zoos on various zoo diets by recording intake and total faecal excretion.

A reproducible representation of healthy tibiofemoral kinematics during stair descent using REFRAME - part I: REFRAME foundations and validation.

In clinical movement biomechanics, kinematic measurements are collected to characterise the motion of articulating joints and investigate how different factors influence movement patterns. Representative time-series signals are calculated to encapsulate (complex and multidimensional) kinematic datasets succinctly. Exacerbated by numerous difficulties to consistently define joint coordinate frames, the influence of local frame orientation and position on the characteristics of the resultant kinematic signals has been previously proven to be a major limitation.

German evidence- and consensus-based guideline on the management of penile urethritis.

Urethritis is a common condition predominantly caused by sexually transmitted pathogens such as Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Mycoplasma genitalium. It is not possible to differentiate with certainty between pathogens on the basis of clinical characteristics alone. However, empirical antibiotic therapy is often initiated in clinical practice.

Targeting the Type I Interferon Pathway in Glomerular Kidney Disease: Rationale and Therapeutic Opportunities.

Type I interferons (IFNs) are immunostimulatory molecules that can activate the innate and adaptive immune systems. In cases of immune dysfunction, prolonged activation of the type I IFN pathway has been correlated with kidney tissue damage in a wide range of kidney disorders, such as lupus nephritis (LN) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Genetic mutations, such as risk variants in conjunction with elevated type I IFN expression, are also associated with higher rates of chronic kidney disease in patients with LN and collapsing FSGS.

Nanocarrier imaging at single-cell resolution across entire mouse bodies with deep learning.

Efficient and accurate nanocarrier development for targeted drug delivery is hindered by a lack of methods to analyze its cell-level biodistribution across whole organisms. Here we present Single Cell Precision Nanocarrier Identification (SCP-Nano), an integrated experimental and deep learning pipeline to comprehensively quantify the targeting of nanocarriers throughout the whole mouse body at single-cell resolution. SCP-Nano reveals the tissue distribution patterns of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) after different injection routes at doses as low as 0.

A truncated variant of the ribosome-associated trigger factor specifically contributes to plant chloroplast ribosome biogenesis.

Molecular chaperones are essential throughout a protein's life and act already during protein synthesis. Bacteria and chloroplasts of plant cells share the ribosome-associated chaperone trigger factor (Tig1 in plastids), facilitating maturation of emerging nascent polypeptides. While typical trigger factor chaperones employ three domains for their task, the here described truncated form, Tig2, contains just the ribosome binding domain.

Microcomputed tomographic analysis of the trabecular and cortical architecture of the proximal femur and hip bone of cats and small breed dogs.

This study aims to provide an initial database to gain more detailed knowledge of the trabecular and cortical bone structure of pelvic and femur bones in cats and smaller dogs. Additionally, the bony microarchitecture between cats and smaller dogs was compared to identify possible differences between those species. These findings could potentially improve the development of non-cemented total hip replacement (THR).

Neuropathology, pathomechanism, and transmission in zoonotic Borna disease virus 1 infection: a systematic review.

Borna disease, which is a severe encephalitis that primarily affects horses and sheep, has been recognised for over two centuries. Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) has been identified as a cause of a predominantly fatal encephalitis in humans. Little scientific data exist regarding the virus' transmission, entry portal, and excretion routes.

Design and Characterization of a Micro RNA-200c Detecting Broccoli Fluorescent Light-up Aptamer.

In the last decade the important role of small non-coding RNAs such as micro RNAs (miRs) in gene regulation in healthy and disease states became more and more evident. The miR-200-family of miRs has been shown to play a critical role in many diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders and could be potentially important for diagnosis and treatment. However, the size of miRs of about ~21-23 nt provide challenges for their investigation.

Twins with at least one with CHD and their immunisation status in direct comparison-are both twins complying with the German immunisation recommendations?

Background: Patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs) are at higher risk for infectious diseases. This may partly be due to frequent hospital stays and the associated exposure to pathogens. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of immunisation coverage among twins in which at least one twin has CHD.

Intravitreal Enzyme Replacement Therapy Slows Retinopathy in Late Infantile Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Type 2.

Ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2) is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in the gene, encoding lysosomal tripeptidyl peptidase 1 (TPP1). The classical late-infantile phenotype has an age of onset between 2 and 4 years and is characterized by psychomotor regression, myoclonus, ataxia, blindness, and shortened life expectancy. Vision loss occurs due to retinal degeneration, usually when severe neurological symptoms are already evident.

Conceptual foundations of a REFRAME-based approach to discriminate across total knee implant designs based on the positions of functional centres of rotation.

In modern knee arthroplasty, surgeons increasingly aim for individualised implant selection based on data-driven decisions to improve patient satisfaction rates. The identification of an implant design that optimally fits to a patient's native kinematic patterns and functional requirements could provide a basis towards subject-specific phenotyping. The goal of this study was to achieve a first step towards identifying easily accessible and intuitive features that allow for discrimination between implant designs based on kinematic data.

Translation, adaptation, and validation of the Care Coordination Instrument for cancer patients.

Background: Cancer requires interdisciplinary intersectoral care. The Care Coordination Instrument (CCI) captures patients' perspectives on cancer care coordination. We aimed to translate, adapt, and validate the CCI for Germany (CCI German version).

Satiety-enhancing placebo intervention decreases selective attention to food cues.

Background: As placebo interventions could influence appetite and satiety in first studies, they are a promising tool for the future treatment of obesity. Furthermore, individuals with heightened body weight show increased selective attention for food cues. This study aimed to investigate whether placebo induced changes of appetite and satiety can affect attention allocation and to examine correlating factors.

Targeting pleuro-alveolar junctions reverses lung fibrosis in mice.

Lung fibrosis development utilizes alveolar macrophages, with mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Here, we fate map connective tissue during mouse lung fibrosis and observe disassembly and transfer of connective tissue macromolecules from pleuro-alveolar junctions (PAJs) into deep lung tissue, to activate fibroblasts and fibrosis. Disassembly and transfer of PAJ macromolecules into deep lung tissue occurs by alveolar macrophages, activating cysteine-type proteolysis on pleural mesothelium.