Role of Superlattice Phonons in Charge Localization Across Quantum Dot Arrays.

Understanding charge transport in semiconductor quantum dot (QD) assemblies is important for developing the next generation of solar cells and light-harvesting devices based on QD technology. One of the key factors that governs the transport in such systems is related to the hybridization between the QDs. Recent experiments have successfully synthesized QD molecules, arrays, and assemblies by directly fusing the QDs, with enhanced hybridization leading to high carrier mobilities and coherent band-like electronic transport.

The Association Between Blepharitis and Lower Eyelid Ectropion in a Large Cohort of Patients.

Purpose: Blepharitis and lower eyelid ectropion are highly prevalent ocular conditions occurring in 37%-46% and 2-3% of the general adult population, respectively. Blepharitis has multifactorial origins and involves anterior and posterior types of eyelid inflammation. Lower eyelid ectropion results in ocular surface exposure, epiphora and chronic conjunctivitis.

Metabolic and functional factors associated with a change in resting metabolic rate among older adults with type 2 diabetes- results from the CEV-65 randomized trial.

Aims: This study evaluated the effects of circuit resistance training (CRT), a vegetarian/Mediterranean diet (VegMedD), and empagliflozin on Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM).

Methods: 67 participants from CEV-65 trial (≥65 years, 61 % female) were randomly assigned to CRT, VegMedD, or empagliflozin for 10 weeks. Assessments included RMR, medical, metabolic, nutritional, anthropometric and functional measurements.

Characterization of LTBP2 mutation causing mitral valve prolapse.

Aims: Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common valvular disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with a strong genetic basis. This study aimed to identify a mutation in a family with MVP and to characterize the valve phenotype in LTBP2 knockout (KO) mice.

Methods And Results: Exome sequencing and segregation analysis were performed on a large family with MVP.

Wake-up call for recovery: a paradigm shift to address the deep crisis in Israel's public mental health services in the shadow of October 7, 2023.

Background: The events of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war have starkly exposed the shortcoming of Israel's public mental health system. This system, already strained by years of underfunding and the COVID-19 pandemic, was unprepared for the surge in mental health needs resulting from these traumatic events. This paper outlines the systemic failures and proposes a comprehensive overhaul reform towards an integrative community-based, recovery-oriented mental health service.

Glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists and cardiometabolic protection: historical development and future challenges.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) have revolutionized the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases, extending their therapeutic applications far beyond glycemic control in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. This editorial synthesizes key milestones, from the discovery of GLP-1 to recent clinical trials highlighting the pleiotropic effects of GLP-1RAs in addressing the interconnected spectrum of cardiometabolic conditions, with a focus on cardiovascular, renal, and hepatic benefits. In addition, as GLP-1RAs continue to reshape the management of cardiometabolic disease and global public health, we discuss future challenges to better elucidate their mechanisms of cardiometabolic protection and maximize their therapeutic potential.

Urban fruit bats give birth earlier in the season compared to rural fruit bats.

Background: Urbanization is rapidly altering our ecosystem. While most wild species refrain from entering urban habitats, some flourish in cities and adapt to the new opportunities these offer. Urban individuals of various species have been shown to differ in physiology, morphology, and behavior compared to their rural counterparts.

The association between gestational selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment and newborn thyroid screen: a large-scale cohort study.

Background: The diagnosis of depression or anxiety treated by SSRIs has become relatively common in women of childbearing age. However, the impact of gestational SSRI treatment on newborn thyroid function is lacking. We explored the impact of gestational SSRI treatment on newborn thyroid function as measured by the National Newborn Screening (NBS) Program and identified contributory factors.

Factors Associated with Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation in Late Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot.

Research establishing factors associated with duration of mechanical ventilation after Tetralogy of Fallot repair, is mainly based on population presenting at early infancy. There are fewer reports regarding repair after infancy, during childhood and preadolescence. To compare two groups of late TOF repair based on post-operative invasive mechanical ventilation duration and explore associations with pre-operative clinical markers of severity of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction.

Bat genomes illuminate adaptations to viral tolerance and disease resistance.

Zoonoses are infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Bats have been suggested to harbour more zoonotic viruses than any other mammalian order. Infections in bats are largely asymptomatic, indicating limited tissue-damaging inflammation and immunopathology.

Outlier removal in cryo-EM via radial profiles.

The process of particle picking, a crucial step in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) image analysis, often encounters challenges due to outliers, leading to inaccuracies in downstream processing. In response to this challenge, this research introduces an additional automated step to reduce the number of outliers identified by the particle picker. The proposed method enhances both the accuracy and efficiency of particle picking, thereby reducing the overall running time and the necessity for expert intervention in the process.

A conserved chaperone protein is required for the formation of a non-canonical type VI secretion system spike tip complex.

Type VI secretion systems (T6SS) are dynamic protein nanomachines found in Gram-negative bacteria that deliver toxic effector proteins into target cells in a contact-dependent manner. Prior to secretion, many T6SS effector proteins require chaperones and/or accessory proteins for proper loading onto the structural components of the T6SS apparatus. However, despite their established importance, the precise molecular function of several T6SS accessory protein families remains unclear.

Longitudinal study on the impact of childhood sexual abuse on sexual assertiveness: The mediating role of sexual fantasy.

Background: One of the devastating long-term outcomes of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is its effect on sexual assertiveness, manifested by the limited ability to initiate desired sexual interactions, express one's sexuality, and refuse unwanted sexual activities.

Objective: This study examined a model in which the relation between CSA and sexual assertiveness was mediated by survivors' subjective experience of their sexuality, as reflected by their subjective experience of sexual fantasy.

Participants And Setting: Three-hundred-and-sixty-three adults participated in this longitudinal study.

Familial Steep Corneas in Posterior Polymorphous Corneal Dystrophy 3 Due to a Novel ZEB1 Gene Mutation.

Purpose: To present 4 family members with posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD), nonkeratoconic steep corneas, and myopia caused by a previously unknown genetic alteration in the ZEB1 gene.

Methods: Ophthalmic examinations and corneal curvature analyses were performed for all patients. Whole-exome targeted gene panel sequencing was performed for 1 patient.

Quantifying the Chirality of Vibrational Modes in Helical Molecular Chains.

Chiral phonons have been proposed to be involved in various physical phenomena, yet the chirality of molecular normal modes has not been well defined mathematically. Here we examine two approaches for assigning and quantifying the chirality of molecular normal modes in double-helical molecular wires with various levels of twist. First, associating with each normal mode a structure obtained by imposing the corresponding motion on a common origin, we apply the continuous chirality measure (CCM) to quantitatively assess the relationship between the chirality-weighted normal mode spectrum and the chirality of the underlying molecular structure.

Nonunitary Gates Using Measurements Only.

Measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) is a universal platform to realize unitary gates, only using measurements that act on a preprepared entangled resource state. By deforming the measurement bases, as well as the geometry of the resource state, we show that MBQC circuits always transmit and act on the input state but generally realize nonunitary logical gates. In contrast to the stabilizer formalism that is often used for unitary gates, we find that ZX-calculus is an ideal computation method for these nonunitary gates.

Second Law of Thermodynamics without Einstein Relation.

Materials that are constantly driven out of thermodynamic equilibrium, such as active and living systems, typically violate the Einstein relation. This may arise from active contributions to particle fluctuations which are unrelated to the dissipative resistance of the surrounding medium. We show that in these cases the widely used relation between informatic entropy production and heat dissipation does not hold.

Simultaneous Unbinned Differential Cross-Section Measurement of Twenty-Four Z+jets Kinematic Observables with the ATLAS Detector.

Z boson events at the Large Hadron Collider can be selected with high purity and are sensitive to a diverse range of QCD phenomena. As a result, these events are often used to probe the nature of the strong force, improve Monte Carlo event generators, and search for deviations from standard model predictions. All previous measurements of Z boson production characterize the event properties using a small number of observables and present the results as differential cross sections in predetermined bins.

The correlation between blastocyst morphological parameters and chromosomal euploidy, aneuploidy and other chromosomal abnormalities following pre-implantation genetic testing-a single center retrospective study.

Purpose: To examine the association between blastocyst morphology and chromosomal status utilizing pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A).

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study including 169 in-vitro fertilization cycles that underwent PGT-A using Next Generation Sequencing (2017-2022). Blastocysts were morphologically scored based on Gardner and Schoolcraft's criteria.

Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis in Israel: Genetic Landscape and Clinical Characteristics.

Background: Hereditary transthyretin (ATTRv) amyloidosis is a rare, adult-onset autosomal-dominant disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the transthyretin (TTR) gene. Data about relevant variants in specific populations and typical initial manifestations may facilitate early diagnosis and treatment. We here describe the genetic landscape of ATTRv amyloidosis in Israel.

Light alters calling-song characteristics in crickets.

Communication is crucial for mate choice and thus for the survival and fitness of most species. In the cricket, females choose males according to their calling-song attractiveness and, exhibiting positive phonotaxis they approach the chosen male. Light has been widely reported to induce changes in crickets' daily activity patterns, including the males' stridulation behavior.

European Society of Cardiology quality indicators for the management of acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Closing the evidence-practice gap for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is central to improving quality of care. Under the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) framework, we aimed to develop updated quality indicators (QIs) for the evaluation of quality of care and outcomes for patients with ACS.

Methods: A Working Group of experts including members of the ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines Task Force for ACS, Acute CardioVascular Care Association and European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions followed the ESC methodology for QI development.

Leukocytosis in Cushing's syndrome persists post-surgical remission and could predict a lower remission prognosis in patients with Cushing's disease.

Context: Leukocytosis frequently noted in Cushing's syndrome (CS), along with other blood cell changes caused by direct and indirect cortisol effects.

Objective: Assess baseline white blood cell (WBC) profile in CS patients compared to controls and WBC changes pre- and post-remission after surgical treatment for CS.

Design: A comparative nationwide retrospective cohort study.

Elective fertility preservation before and after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Objective: To compare the number and outcomes of elective fertility preservation (FP) before and after the Covid-19 outbreak.

Methods: This retrospective study of 574 women who underwent elective FP between 01/2017-12/2021 included 123 women who underwent the procedure before and 451 who underwent it after the Covid-19 outbreak. The change in the number of women who underwent the procedure each month before and after the pandemic was calculated.