Diverse and highly differentiated lava suite in Jezero crater, Mars: Constraints on intracrustal magmatism revealed by Mars 2020 PIXL.

The Jezero crater floor features a suite of related, iron-rich lavas that were examined and sampled by the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance, and whose textures, minerals, and compositions were characterized by the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). This suite, known as the Máaz formation (fm), includes dark-toned basaltic/trachy-basaltic rocks with intergrown pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, and altered olivine and overlying trachy-andesitic lava with reversely zoned plagioclase phenocrysts in a K-rich groundmass. Feldspar thermal disequilibrium textures indicate that they were carried from their crustal staging area.

Characterization and comparison of fecal microbiota in horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction and age-matched controls.

Background: Altered gut microbiota has been associated with dopaminergic degenerative diseases in people, but studies on horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) are lacking.

Hypothesis/objectives: Investigate the effect of PPID on fecal microbiota in horses.

Animals: Nine horses with PPID and 13 age-matched control horses.

The diversity of natural killer cell functional and phenotypic states in cancer.

The role of natural killer (NK) cells as immune effectors is well established, as is their utility as immunotherapeutic agents against various cancers. However, NK cells' anti-cancer roles are suppressed in cancer patients by various immunomodulatory mechanisms which alter these cells' identity, function, and potential for immunosurveillance. This manifests in abnormal NK cell responses accompanied by changes in phenotypic or genotypic identity, giving rise to specific NK cell subsets that are either hypofunctional or, more broadly, defective in their responses.

Changes in Cerebral Hemodynamic Among Patients With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder Receiving Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Task-Related Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study.

There remains a scarcity of studies to evaluate the treatment effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a cost-effective method to measure cerebral hemodynamics. This study used fNIRS to evaluate the effect of ECT in patients suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic phase).

Adenoviral Vector-Based Vaccine Expressing Hemagglutinin Stem Region with Autophagy-Inducing Peptide Confers Cross-Protection Against Group 1 and 2 Influenza A Viruses.

An effective universal influenza vaccine is urgently needed to overcome the limitations of current seasonal influenza vaccines, which are ineffective against mismatched strains and unable to protect against pandemic influenza. In this study, bovine and human adenoviral vector-based vaccine platforms were utilized to express various combinations of antigens. These included the H5N1 hemagglutinin (HA) stem region or HA2, the extracellular domain of matrix protein 2 of influenza A virus, HA signal peptide (SP), trimerization domain, excretory peptide, and the autophagy-inducing peptide C5 (AIP-C5).

A Nanoparticle Comprising the Receptor-Binding Domains of Norovirus and as a Combination Vaccine Candidate.

Background: Noroviruses, which cause epidemic acute gastroenteritis, and parasites, which lead to malaria, are two infectious pathogens that pose threats to public health. The protruding (P) domain of norovirus VP1 and the αTSR domain of the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of sporozoite are the glycan receptor-binding domains of the two pathogens for host cell attachment, making them excellent targets for vaccine development. Modified norovirus P domains self-assemble into a 24-meric octahedral P nanoparticle (P NP).

The Effect of CaCl on the Gelling Properties of Pea Protein-Pectin Dispersions.

The effects of CaCl addition before (PreCa) or after (PostCa) heating pea protein-pectin dispersions on the formed gel's rheological and microstructural properties were investigated. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) revealed that CaCl bound both pea proteins and pectins through a spontaneous exothermic reaction and pectin exhibited a stronger binding affinity to CaCl. In PreCa gels, low levels of CaCl (5 and 10 mM) increased the gel elasticity (increase in the storage modulus, G') and their microstructural compactness.

A Canadian Perspective on Systemic Therapy for Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Although the majority of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) present with early-stage or locoregional disease that can be treated with definitive radiotherapy, approximately 20% of patients experience disease recurrence, and 15% present with metastatic disease that is not amenable to curative therapy. Management of patients with recurrent or metastatic (r/m) NPC who are not candidates for local salvage therapy is challenging in Canada, as there is uncertainty in extrapolating evidence that is largely generated from Southeast China to non-endemic regions such as Canada. Currently, treatment options in Canada are limited to chemotherapy regimens that can only achieve short-term response and prolongation of survival.

Testing a Multidimensional Factor Structure of the Self-Control Scale.

The Self-Control Scale (SCS) is one of the most widely used measures in the clinical, personality, and social psychology fields. It is often treated as unidimensional, even though no research supports such a unidimensional factor structure. We tested the factor structure in an undergraduate sample as well as a community sample used for additional confirmatory analyses.

A Double Regression Method for Graphical Modeling of High-dimensional Nonlinear and Non-Gaussian Data.

Graphical models have long been studied in statistics as a tool for inferring conditional independence relationships among a large set of random variables. The most existing works in graphical modeling focus on the cases that the data are Gaussian or mixed and the variables are linearly dependent. In this paper, we propose a double regression method for learning graphical models under the high-dimensional nonlinear and non-Gaussian setting, and prove that the proposed method is consistent under mild conditions.

Enhancing Patient Choice Through the Development of Physical Therapist Online Biographies.

Provider web profiles are becoming popular locations for patients to seek information before their visits. This industry insight assesses patients' utilization of a physical therapy clinic's website to determine the impact the addition of physical therapist biographies had on patient perceptions and physical therapist selection. Forty-six percent of first-time patients ( = 786) indicated visiting the clinic's website prior to their visit.

Agricultural Landscape Genomics to Increase Crop Resilience.

Populations are continually adapting to their environment. Knowledge of which populations and individuals harbor unique and agriculturally useful variation has the potential to accelerate crop adaptation to the increasingly challenging environments predicted for the coming century. Landscape genomics, which identifies associations between environmental and genomic variation, provides a means for obtaining this knowledge.

Potent HIV‑1 protease inhibitors containing oxabicyclo octanol-derived P2-ligands: Design, synthesis, and X‑ray structural studies of inhibitor-HIV-1 protease complexes.

We describe here the design, synthesis, and X-ray structural studies of a new class of HIV-1 protease inhibitors containing 8-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octanol-derived P2 ligands.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to identify candidate genes associated with feed efficiency traits in pigs.

Pig production is an agricultural sector of great economic and social relevance to Brazil and global markets. Feed efficiency traits directly influence the sustainability of pig production due to the economic impact of feed costs on the production system and the environmental footprint of the industry. Therefore, breeding for improved feed efficiency has been a target of worldwide pig breeding programs.

Some comments on the paper is human height based on a Lucas sequence relationship between the foot height, tibial length, femur length and upper body length? And an alternative analysis.

We have read with great interest the paper published by the Journal of Anatomy [244(5), 2024, 861-872] on Is human height based on a Lucas sequence relationship between the foot height, tibial length, femur length and upper body length? by Paley et al. The authors show that foot height, tibial length, femur length and upper body length follow a generalized Lucas sequence. Our letter demonstrates that their result is indeed stronger, as their data follow the original, homogeneous Lucas sequence.

Insights into microbial compositions of the respiratory tract of neonatal dairy calves in a longitudinal probiotic trial through 16S rRNA sequencing.

Introduction: Probiotics are a promising intervention for modulating the microbiome and the immune system, promoting health benefits in cattle. While studies have characterized the calf lung bacterial profile with and without oral probiotics, simultaneous probiotic effects on the bacterial populations of multiple sites along the respiratory tract have not been characterized.

Methods: This study utilized the same pre-weaning diary calf group from our previous studies to characterize the bacterial populations present in the nostril and tonsil across control and treatment groups and nine sampling time points.

Canopy complexity drives positive effects of tree diversity on productivity in two tree diversity experiments.

Forest canopy complexity (i.e., the three-dimensional structure of the canopy) is often associated with increased species diversity as well as high primary productivity across natural forests.

Effects of dam fear and stress on metrics of puppy welfare in commercial breeding kennels.

It is well established that maternal factors can affect the abilities of offspring to cope with stressors and can influence their overall welfare states. However, maternal effects have not been extensively explored in US commercial breeding kennels (CBKs). Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify if fear and stress in dams affected puppy welfare metrics in CBKs.

Examining the factor structure of the home learning environment.

The home learning environment (HLE) is an important context for fostering early development. Literature supports four subdomains of the HLE: home literacy, numeracy, executive function, and science environments. The current study examined the factor structure of the HLE with all four domain-specific established scales.

Imaging Electron Beam-Sensitive Twisted Hybrid Perovskite Bilayers at One-Angstrom Resolution.

Twisted halide perovskite bilayers, a type of moiré material, show square moiré patterns with exciting optical properties. Atomic-scale structure analysis and its correlation with properties are difficult to achieve due to the extreme sensitivity of organic-inorganic halide perovskites to the illuminated electron beam in conventional/scanning transmission electron microscopy. Here, we developed a low-dose exit wave reconstruction methodology with a real-space resolution of one angstrom at ∼50 e/Å, which recovers the phase information on the moiré fringes in CHNHPbI (MAPbI) twisted perovskite bilayers at atomic scale, enabling detailed structural analysis of defects and corresponding strain distribution in such moiré materials.

Fast-Relaxing Hydrogels Promote Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cell Aggressiveness through Integrin β1 Signaling.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by a dense extracellular matrix (ECM) exhibiting high stiffness and fast stress relaxation. In this work, gelatin-based viscoelastic hydrogels were developed to mimic the compositions, stiffness, and fast stress relaxation of PDAC tissues. The hydrogels were cross-linked by gelatin-norbornene-boronic acid (GelNB-BA), thiolated macromers, and a 1,2-diol-containing linear synthetic polymer PHD.