Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia.

The frozen mummy of the large felid cub was found in the Upper Pleistocene permafrost on the Badyarikha River (Indigirka River basin) in the northeast of Yakutia, Russia. The study of the specimen appearance showed its significant differences from a modern lion cub of similar age (three weeks) in the unusual shape of the muzzle with a large mouth opening and small ears, the very massive neck region, the elongated forelimbs, and the dark coat color. Tomographic analysis of the mummy skull revealed the features characteristic of Machairodontinae and of the genus Homotherium.

Image-Based Quantitative Analysis of Epidermal Morphology in Wild Potato Leaves.

The epidermal leaf patterns of plants exhibit remarkable diversity in cell shapes, sizes, and arrangements, driven by environmental interactions that lead to significant adaptive changes even among closely related species. The Solanaceae family, known for its high diversity of adaptive epidermal structures, has traditionally been studied using qualitative phenotypic descriptions. To advance this, we developed a workflow combining multi-scale computer vision, image processing, and data analysis to extract digital descriptors for leaf epidermal cell morphology.

AI-Assisted Identification of Primary and Secondary Metabolomic Markers for Postoperative Delirium.

Despite considerable investigative efforts, the molecular mechanisms of postoperative delirium (POD) remain unresolved. The present investigation employs innovative methodologies for identifying potential primary and secondary metabolic markers of POD by analyzing serum metabolomic profiles utilizing the genetic algorithm and artificial neural networks. The primary metabolomic markers constitute a combination of metabolites that optimally distinguish between POD and non-POD groups of patients.

Intelligent Human Operator Mental Fatigue Assessment Method Based on Gaze Movement Monitoring.

Modern mental fatigue detection methods include many parameters for evaluation. For example, many researchers use human subjective evaluation or driving parameters to assess this human condition. Development of a method for detecting the functional state of mental fatigue is an extremely important task.

The dual role of methylglyoxal in plant stress response and regulation of DJ-1 protein.

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a highly reactive metabolic intermediate that plays important roles in plant salt stress response. This review explores the sources of MG in plants, how salt stress promotes MG production, and the dual role of MG under salt stress conditions. Both the positive role of low concentrations of MG as a signalling molecule and the toxic effects of high concentrations of MG in plant response to salt stress are discussed.

The influence of inactivated entomopathogenic bacterium on the immune responses of the Colorado potato beetle.

Background: Invasion of microorganisms into the gut of insects triggers a cascade of immune reactions accompanied by increased synthesis of effectors (such as antimicrobial peptides, cytokines, and amino acids), leading to changes in the physiological state of the host. We hypothesized that even an inactivated bacterium can induce an immune response in an insect. The aim of this study was to compare the roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and of the response of detoxification and antioxidant systems in a Colorado potato beetle (CPB) larval model in the first hours after invasion by either an inactivated or live bacterium.

Water-soluble neutral octahedral chalcogenide tungsten and molybdenum {MQ} clusters with P(CHCONH) ligand.

Developing the chemistry of octahedral chalcogenide molybdenum and tungsten cluster complexes in the context of applications in biology and medicine, in this work a series of water-soluble neutral cluster complexes [{MQ}(P(CHCONH))] (M = Mo, W; Q = S, Se) have been obtained by simultaneous replacement of inner and terminal halide ligands in [{MI}I] with chalcogenide and organic phosphine ligands and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, H and P NMR spectroscopies, elemental analysis, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The amide groups of the organic ligands, on the one hand, contribute to the solubility of the resulting clusters in water and, on the other hand, are able to form an extensive network of hydrogen bonds, leading to the crystallization of the complexes from aqueous solutions. Despite this fact, the complexes have sufficient solubility and stability in aqueous solutions, which made it possible to demonstrate their low cytotoxicity on Hep-2 cells (IC were not reached even at concentration up to 4 mM).

Housing and Husbandry Factors Affecting Zebrafish () Novel Tank Test Responses: A Global Multi-Laboratory Study.

The reproducibility crisis in bioscience, characterized by inconsistent study results, impedes our understanding of biological processes and global collaborative studies offer a unique solution. This study is the first global collaboration using the zebrafish () novel tank test, a behavioral assay for anxiety-like responses. We analyzed data from 20 laboratories worldwide, focusing on housing conditions and experimental setups.

The development of an analytical procedure for the determination of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems.

Microplastics raise growing concerns regarding their ubiquity and possible negative impact on human health; therefore, the need for comparable, standardized methods is urgent. Modern instrumental analytical techniques, such as IR and Raman spectroscopy, pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electron microscopy, are fundamental for the analysis of microplastics in environmental and biological objects. The quality of the samples prepared is a determining factor in the validity of the results obtained.

Levosimendan in Patients with Low Cardiac Output Syndrome After Cardiac Surgery: A Substudy of the Multicenter Randomized CHEETAH Trial.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that levosimendan administration in patients with low cardiac output syndrome after cardiac surgery is associated with improved long-term (5-year follow-up) outcomes.

Design: Single-center subanalysis of the multicenter randomized CHEETAH trial.

Setting: Cardiac surgery department of a tertiary hospital.

Benzofuroxans: A Possible +100 Years Old Misunderstanding?

Since 1912 benzofuroxans have been believed to exhibit a molecular structure characterised by the presence of two fused rings, i. e. a benzene ring and a pentatomic heterocycle containing a N-O-N fragment wherein one of the two N atoms is involved in a further N O bond, namely benzo[1,2-c]1,2,5-oxadiazole N-oxide.

The First Phage vB_PseuGesM_254 Active against Proteolytic Strains.

Bacteria of the genus, including the subgroup, play an important role in the environmental microbial communities. Psychrotolerant isolates of can produce thermostable proteases and lipases. When contaminating refrigerated raw milk, these bacteria spoil it by producing enzymes resistant to pasteurization.

Blood Growth Factor Levels in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: High Neuregulin-1 Is Associated with Comorbid Cardiovascular Pathology.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are known to frequently suffer from comorbid cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). There are abundant data on cytokine levels and their role in the pathogenesis of SLE, while growth factors have received much less attention. The aim of this study was to analyze growth factor levels in SLE patients and their association with the presence of comorbid CVDs.

Special Issue: "Molecular Signatures of Gynecological Cancers-Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Cervical Cancer, and Endometrial Cancer 2.0".

Cancer of women's reproductive organs (gynecological cancers) and breast cancer affect women all over the world [...

Catching the Big Fish in Big Data: A Meta-Analysis of Zebrafish Kidney scRNA-Seq Datasets Highlights Conserved Molecular Profiles of Macrophages and Neutrophils in Vertebrates.

The innate immune system (IIS) is an ancient and essential defense mechanism that protects animals against a wide range of pathogens and diseases. Although extensively studied in mammals, our understanding of the IIS in other taxa remains limited. The zebrafish () serves as a promising model organism for investigating IIS-related processes, yet the immunogenetics of fish are not fully elucidated.

A new leaf pubescence gene, Hl1th , introgressed into bread wheat from Thinopyrum ponticum and its phenotypic manifestation under homoeologous chromosomal substitutions.

Blue-grain lines were created on the basis of the spring bread wheat variety Saratovskaya 29 (S29) with chromosome 4B or 4D replaced with chromosome 4Th from Thinopyrum ponticum. The leaf pubescence of the two lines differs from S29 and from each other. In this work, we studied the effect of these substitutions on the manifestation of this trait.

Genotype imputation in human genomic studies.

Imputation is a method that supplies missing information about genetic variants that could not be directly genotyped with DNA microarrays or low-coverage sequencing. Imputation plays a critical role in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). It leads to a significant increase in the number of studied variants, which improves the resolution of the method and enhances the comparability of data obtained in different cohorts and/or by using different technologies, which is important for conducting meta-analyses.

Evaluation of Eukaryotic mRNA Coding Potential.

It is widely discussed that eukaryotic mRNAs can encode several functional polypeptides. Recent progress in NGS and proteomics techniques has resulted in a huge volume of information on potential alternative translation initiation sites and open reading frames (altORFs). However, these data are still incomprehensive, and the vast majority of eukaryotic mRNAs annotated in conventional databases (e.

Enhanced thermal stability enables human mismatch-specific thymine-DNA glycosylase to catalyse futile DNA repair.

Human thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG) excises T mispaired with G in a CpG context to initiate the base excision repair (BER) pathway. TDG is also involved in epigenetic regulation of gene expression by participating in active DNA demethylation. Here we demonstrate that under extended incubation time the full-length TDG (TDGFL), but neither its isolated catalytic domain (TDGcat) nor methyl-CpG binding domain-containing protein 4 (MBD4) DNA glycosylase, exhibits significant excision activity towards T and C in regular non-damaged DNA duplex in TpG/CpA and CpG/CpG contexts.

Through-bond and through-space radiofrequency amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Radio Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (RASER) is a phenomenon observed during nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments with strongly negatively polarized systems. This phenomenon may be utilized for the production of very narrow NMR lines, background-free NMR spectroscopy, and excitation-free sensing of chemical transformations. Recently, novel methods of producing RASER by ParaHydrogen-Induced Polarization (PHIP) were introduced.

Cleavage of DNA Substrate Containing Nucleotide Mismatch in the Complementary Region to sgRNA by Cas9 Endonuclease: Thermodynamic and Structural Features.

The non-ideal accuracy and insufficient selectivity of CRISPR/Cas9 systems is a serious problem for their use as a genome editing tool. It is important to select the target sequence correctly so that the CRISPR/Cas9 system does not cut similar sequences. This requires an understanding of how and why mismatches in the target sequence can affect the efficiency of the Cas9/sgRNA complex.