Nepali oral microbiomes reflect a gradient of lifestyles from traditional to industrialized.

Background: Lifestyle plays an important role in shaping the gut microbiome. However, its contributions to the oral microbiome remain less clear, due to the confounding effects of geography and methodology in investigations of populations studied to date. Furthermore, while the oral microbiome seems to differ between foraging and industrialized populations, we lack insight into whether transitions to and away from agrarian lifestyles shape the oral microbiota.

Enhanced MRI-based brain tumour classification with a novel Pix2pix generative adversarial network augmentation framework.

The scarcity of medical imaging datasets and privacy concerns pose significant challenges in artificial intelligence-based disease prediction. This poses major concerns to patient confidentiality as there are now tools capable of extracting patient information by merely analysing patient's imaging data. To address this, we propose the use of synthetic data generated by generative adversarial networks as a solution.

Information mismatch in PHH3-assisted mitosis annotation leads to interpretation shifts in H&E slide analysis.

The count of mitotic figures (MFs) observed in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slides is an important prognostic marker, as it is a measure for tumor cell proliferation. However, the identification of MFs has a known low inter-rater agreement. In a computer-aided setting, deep learning algorithms can help to mitigate this, but they require large amounts of annotated data for training and validation.

Resistome analysis of wastewater treatment plants in Agadir city, Morocco, using a metagenomics approach.

Water scarcity has evolved into a pressing global issue, significantly impacting numerous regions worldwide. The use of treated wastewater stands out as a promising solution to this problem. However, the proliferation of various contaminants, primarily Antimicrobial Resistance Genes (ARGs), poses a significant challenge to its safe and sustainable use.

Combining Simple Deformations to Elicit Complex Motions and Directed Swimming of Smart Organic Crystals with Controllable Thickness.

The lack of control over the crystal growth in a systematic way currently stands as an unsurmountable impediment to the preparation of dynamic crystals as soft robots; in effect, the mechanical effects of molecular crystals have become a subject of scattered reports that pertain only to specific crystal sizes and actuation conditions, often without the ability to establish or confirm systematic trends. One of the factors that prevents the verification of such performance is the unavailability of strategies for effectively controlling crystal size and aspect ratio, where crystals of serendipitous size are harvested from crystallization solution. Here we devised a water-assisted precipitation method to prepare crystals of chemical variants of 9-anthracene derivatives with various thicknesses that respond to ultraviolet light with simple mechanical effects, including bending, splintering, and rotation.

Search for the Exclusive W Boson Hadronic Decays W^{±}→π^{±}γ, W^{±}→K^{±}γ and W^{±}→ρ^{±}γ with the ATLAS Detector.

A search for the exclusive hadronic decays W^{±}→π^{±}γ, W^{±}→K^{±}γ, and W^{±}→ρ^{±}γ is performed using up to 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13  TeV. If observed, these rare processes would provide a unique test bench for the quantum chromodynamics factorization formalism used to calculate cross sections at colliders. Additionally, at future colliders, these decays could offer a new way to measure the W boson mass through fully reconstructed decay products.

Supporting the status quo is weakly associated with subjective well-being: A comparison of the palliative function of ideology across social status groups using a meta-analytic approach.

Research has suggested that the endorsement of ideologies supporting the status quo leads to higher subjective psychological well-being-an idea labeled as the palliative function of ideology within system justification theory. Furthermore, this approach has suggested that this association should be moderated by social status. Specifically, the association between the endorsement of ideologies supporting the status quo and well-being should be positive among high-status groups and negative among low-status groups-mainly as a function of the existence of a unique motivation to justify the status quo.

Loss of STIM1 and STIM2 in salivary glands disrupts ANO1 function but does not induce Sjogren's disease.

Ca2+ signaling via the store operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) mediated by STIM1 and STIM2 proteins and the ORAI1 Ca2+ channel is important in saliva fluid secretion and has been associated with Sjogren's disease (SjD). However, there are no studies addressing STIM1/2 dysfunction in salivary glands or SjD in animal models. We report that mice lacking Stim1 and Stim2 (Stim1/2K14Cre(+)) in salivary glands exhibited reduced Ca2+ levels and hyposalivate.

Surveillance of Excess Mortality Based on Community Perceptions of Funeral Frequency in Northern Malawi during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Supplementary methods of mortality surveillance are needed in settings with incomplete death registration. Local perceptions of mortality levels might be useful indicators of excess deaths. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a survey question asking respondents to evaluate the recent frequency of funerals in their community relative to a pre-pandemic baseline.

Among the world's smallest vertebrates: a new miniaturized flea-toad (Brachycephalidae) from the Atlantic rainforest.

The genus includes miniaturized toadlets with two distinct morphotypes: brightly colored species with a bufoniform phenotype and smaller, cryptic species with a leptodactyliform phenotype. The diversity of leptodactyliform species is still underappreciated, and we generally lack fundamental information about their biology. Recent sampling efforts, including DNA analyses and recordings of advertisement calls, have improved our understanding of this group.

Matrix stiffening from collagen fibril density and alignment modulates YAP-mediated T-cell immune suppression.

T-cells are essential components of the immune system, adapting their behavior in response to the mechanical environments they encounter within the body. In pathological conditions like cancer, the extracellular matrix (ECM) often becomes stiffer due to increased density and alignment of collagen fibrils, which can have a significant impact on T-cell function. In this study, we explored how these ECM properties-density and fibrillar alignment-affect T-cell behavior using three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrices that mimic these conditions.

High-throughput sequencing discovered diverse monopartite and bipartite begomoviruses infecting cucumbers in Saudi Arabia.

Limited research in Saudi Arabia has devolved into the prevalence and genetic diversity of begomoviruses. Utilizing Illumina MiSeq sequencing, we obtained 21 full-length begomovirus sequences (2.7-2.

Controlling the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: Results from a multi-round study.

We investigated behavioral responses to COVID-19 in Malawi, where a first wave of the pandemic occurred between June and August 2020. Contrary to many countries on the African continent, the Government of Malawi did not impose a lockdown or a stay-at-home order in response to the initial spread of SARS-CoV-2. We hypothesized that, in the absence of such requirements to restrict social interactions, individuals would primarily seek to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during contacts, rather than reduce the extent of their social contacts.

Late Adolescents' Early Maladaptive Schemas: Are They Longitudinally Linked with Middle Childhood Temperament Over and Above Attachment?

Temperament is thought to influence the development of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs). However, whether temperament is longitudinally related to EMSs beyond attachment, the best known predictor of EMSs, has been underexplored. Hence, this study investigated (1) Whether middle childhood temperament is longitudinally related to late adolescent EMSs, (2) To what extent temperament explains EMSs beyond middle childhood attachment, and (3) Whether attachment moderates this temperament-EMSs link.

Efficient Aerial Water Harvesting with Self-Sensing Dynamic Janus Crystals.

Water scarcity is one of the most pressing issues of contemporary societal development that requires innovative technologies where the material not only harvests water but also plays an active role in the process. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient optical self-sensing approach to humidity capture from the air, where both humidity-harvesting and water-transduction functionalities are imparted on slender organic crystals by partial silanization via layer-by-layer hybridization. We report that due to the integration of the harvesting of aerial moisture and the collection of the condensed water, the ensuing Janus-type crystals capture humidity with the highest-to-date water collection efficiency of 15.