Microscopic Origin of the Spatial and Temporal Precision in Biological Systems.

All living systems display remarkable spatial and temporal precision, despite operating in intrinsically fluctuating environments. It is even more surprising given that biological phenomena are regulated by multiple chemical reactions that are also random. While the underlying molecular mechanisms of surprisingly high precision in biology remain not well understood, a novel theoretical picture that relies on the coupling of relevant stochastic processes has been recently proposed and applied to explain different phenomena.

Overexpression, Biophysical and Functional Characterization of a Recombinant FGF21 (rFGF21).

Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) is an endocrine FGF that plays a vital role in regulating essential metabolic pathways. FGF21 increases glucose uptake by cells, promotes fatty acid oxidation, reduces blood glucose levels, and alleviates metabolic diseases. However, detailed studies on its stability and biophysical characteristics have not been reported.

In-vivo high-resolution χ-separation at 7T.

A recently introduced quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) technique, χ-separation, offers the capability to separate paramagnetic (χ) and diamagnetic (χ) susceptibility distribution within the brain. In-vivo high-resolution mapping of iron and myelin distribution, estimated by χ-separation, could provide a deeper understanding of brain substructures, assisting the investigation of their functions and alterations. This can be achieved using 7T MRI, which benefits from a high signal-to-noise ratio and susceptibility effects.

Damage sensing through TLR9 regulates inflammatory and antiviral responses during influenza infection.

Host response aimed at eliminating the infecting pathogen, as well as the pathogen itself, can cause tissue injury. Tissue injury leads to the release of a myriad of cellular components including mitochondrial DNA, which the host senses through pattern recognition receptors. How the sensing of tissue injury by the host shapes the anti-pathogen response remains poorly understood.

Quantification of Escherichia coli transfer from plastic mulch to field-grown tomatoes and bell peppers.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) prohibits distribution of fruit that is dropped from the plant and contacts the ground during harvest. This includes fruit which contacts the ground while attached to the plant, called "drooping" fruit. In the Southeastern US, tomato and pepper are trellised and grown on plastic mulch.

Advanced profiling and structural analysis of anencephaly gangliosides by ion mobility tandem mass spectrometry.

Anencephaly, the most severe type of neural tube defects (NTDs) in humans, occurs between the third and fourth gestational weeks (GW), involves the cranial part of the NT and results in the absence of the forebrain and skull. Exposed to amniotic fluid toxicity, neural tissue is degraded and prevented from development. Currently, little is known about the molecular bases of the disease and the possible involvement of glycans.

Shorter weeknight sleep duration mediates the relationship between earlier adrenarche and depressed mood in adolescents.

Background: Shorter weeknight sleep duration has not been assessed as a mediating mechanism linking earlier pubertal timing to a greater burden of adolescent depression symptoms.

Methods: Among 1138 participants (48.6 % female) from Project Viva, a pre-birth longitudinal cohort, we examined relationships among pubertal timing measures, actigraphy-captured and self-reported weeknight sleep duration across mid-adolescence, and depression symptoms in late adolescence.

Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells (ECFCs) in Cerebrovascular Aging: Focus on the Pathogenesis of Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID), and Treatment Prospects.

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs), a unique endothelial progenitor subset, are essential for vascular integrity and repair, providing significant regenerative potential. Recent studies highlight their role in cerebrovascular aging, particularly in the pathogenesis of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). Aging disrupts ECFC functionality through mechanisms such as oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and cellular senescence, leading to compromised vascular repair and reduced neurovascular resilience.

Exposure to Ambient Temperature and Functional Connectivity of Brain Resting-State Networks in Preadolescents.

Objective: Exposure to extreme temperatures has been linked to acute mental-health events in young populations, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging allows for the assessment of connectivity patterns in brain functional networks, which have been associated with mental-health disorders. We investigated the short-term effects of ambient temperature on functional connectivity of brain resting-state networks in preadolescents.

Outcome measures in rodent models for spinal cord injury and their human correlates.

Pre-clinical research is intended to inform clinical research, however, communication between these researchers is lacking. A better understanding of what can be learned from animal and human models and what cannot, is essential. This includes a better understanding of where underlying constructs in outcome measures in rodents and humans align and where they diverge to improve dialogue between human and animal researchers.

Responses of skeletal muscle to mechanical stimuli in female rats following and during muscle disuse atrophy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of mechanotherapy to enhance recovery or prevent loss of muscle size with atrophy, in female rats. Female F344/BN rats were assigned to weight bearing (WB), hindlimb suspended (HS) for 14 days with reambulation for 7 days without (RA) or with (RAM) mechanotherapy (study 1), or to WB, HS for 7 days, with (HSM) or without mechanotherapy (study 2) to gastrocnemius. Muscle fiber cross sectional area (CSA) and type, collagen, satellite cell number, and protein synthesis (K) and degradation (K) were assessed.

The Addition of Thoracic Spine Manipulation or Mobilization to Exercise in Adults With Subacromial Impingement Syndrome: A Critically Appraised Topic.

Clinical Scenario: Shoulder pain is the third most common musculoskeletal complaint. The most common type of shoulder pain is subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS). The concept of regional interdependence demonstrates that body regions are interrelated, affecting how they function.

A multi-modal transformer for cell type-agnostic regulatory predictions.

Sequence-based deep learning models have emerged as powerful tools for deciphering the cis-regulatory grammar of the human genome but cannot generalize to unobserved cellular contexts. Here, we present EpiBERT, a multi-modal transformer that learns generalizable representations of genomic sequence and cell type-specific chromatin accessibility through a masked accessibility-based pre-training objective. Following pre-training, EpiBERT can be fine-tuned for gene expression prediction, achieving accuracy comparable to the sequence-only Enformer model, while also being able to generalize to unobserved cell states.

Male secreted short glycoproteins link sperm competition to the reproductive isolation of species.

Sperm competition is found across multicellular organisms using both external and internal fertilization. Sperm competition and post-copulatory cryptic female choice can promote incompatibility between species due to the antagonistic coevolution of the sexes within a species. This between-species incompatibility is accelerated and markedly asymmetrical when sexual mode differs, producing the "weak inbreeder, strong outcrosser" (WISO) pattern.

Structural insights into polyisoprenyl-binding glycosyltransferases.

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) catalyze the addition of sugars to diverse substrates facilitating complex glycoconjugate biosynthesis across all domains of life. When embedded in or associated with the membrane, these enzymes often depend on polyisoprenyl-phosphate or -pyrophosphate (PP) lipid carriers, including undecaprenyl phosphate in bacteria and dolichol phosphate in eukaryotes, to transfer glycan moieties. GTs that bind PP substrates (PP-GTs) are functionally diverse but share some common structural features within their family or subfamily, particularly with respect to how they interact with their cognate PP ligands.

International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines 2024: Insulin and Adjunctive Treatments in Children and Adolescents with Diabetes.

The International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) guidelines represent a rich repository that serves as the only comprehensive set of clinical recommendations for children, adolescents, and young adults living with diabetes worldwide. This chapter builds on the 2022 ISPAD guidelines, and updates recommendations on the principles of intensive insulin regimens, including more intensive forms of multiple daily injections with new-generation faster-acting and ultra-long-acting insulins; a summary of adjunctive medications used alongside insulin treatment that includes details on pramlintide, metformin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) and sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors; and key considerations with regard to access to insulin and affordability to ensure that all persons with diabetes who need insulin can obtain it without financial hardship.

International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines 2024 Diabetes Technologies: Glucose Monitoring.

The International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) guidelines represent a rich repository that serves as the only comprehensive set of clinical recommendations for children, adolescents, and young adults living with diabetes worldwide. This chapter builds on the 2022 ISPAD guidelines, and summarizes recent advances in the technology behind glucose monitoring, and its role in glucose-responsive integrated technology that is feasible with the use of automated insulin delivery (AID) systems in children and adolescents.

Thiol-modified hyaluronic acid and hydroxyl radical-induced oxidation synergistically enhance the gelling capacity of ginkgo seed proteins.

The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of synthetic thiol-modified hyaluronic acid (HASH) on the gelation properties of ginkgo seed protein isolate (GSPI) under non-oxidizing (NOX) or oxidizing (OX) conditions. Under NOX conditions, HASH mediated the disruption of disulfide bonds, leading to a dose-dependent dissociation of GSPI. Conversely, in OX conditions, hydroxyl radical-induced oxidation facilitated the formation of interprotein disulfide bonds.