Cryo-EM structure and evolutionary history of the conjugation surface exclusion protein TraT.

Conjugation plays a major role in dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes. Following transfer of IncF-like plasmids, recipients become refractory to a second wave of conjugation with the same plasmid via entry (TraS) and surface (TraT) exclusion mechanisms. Here, we show that TraT from the pKpQIL and F plasmids (TraT and TraT) exhibits plasmid surface exclusion specificity.

Potential plant extinctions with the loss of the Pleistocene mammoth steppe.

During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the dominant mammoth steppe ecosystem across northern Eurasia vanished, in parallel with megafauna extinctions. However, plant extinction patterns are rarely detected due to lack of identifiable fossil records. Here, we introduce a method for detection of plant taxa loss at regional (extirpation) to potentially global scale (extinction) and their causes, as determined from ancient plant DNA metabarcoding in sediment cores (sedaDNA) from lakes in Siberia and Alaska over the past 28,000 years.

Clade 2.3.4.4b but not historical clade 1 HA replicating RNA vaccine protects against bovine H5N1 challenge in mice.

The ongoing circulation of influenza A H5N1 in the United States has raised concerns of a pandemic caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza. Although the United States has stockpiled and is prepared to produce millions of vaccine doses to address an H5N1 pandemic, currently circulating H5N1 viruses contain multiple mutations within the immunodominant head domain of hemagglutinin (HA) compared to the antigens used in stockpiled vaccines. It is unclear if these stockpiled vaccines will need to be updated to match the contemporary H5N1 strains.

Activation of three targets by a TAL effector confers susceptibility to bacterial blight of cotton.

Bacterial transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) promote pathogenicity by activating host susceptibility (S) genes. To understand the pathogenicity and host adaptation of Xanthomonas citri pv. malvacearum (Xcm), we assemble the genome and the TALE repertoire of three recent Xcm Texas isolates.

Achieving Language Justice in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology: A Multinational Perspective for Language-Concordant Equitable Patient- and Family-Centered Care and Research Inclusion.

Language-discordant healthcare encounters-when the patient/caregiver and clinician are not able to communicate directly in the patient's/caregiver's preferred language-are associated with worse quality of care, increased adverse events, and research exclusion. Here, we describe the current state of language justice in clinical practice and research in the United States, Canada, and Spain, discuss the role of social determinants of health and language, in patient safety and health outcomes and review an example of culturally and linguistically concordant interventions to increase research participation. We close with practical and global strategies to increase multilingual research participation and to provide equitable patient- and family-centered care in pediatric hematology-oncology.

Opioid use and abuse in adolescents and young adults; dealing with science, laws and ethics: Charming the COBRAS.

The subject of substance use disorders in the pediatric population remains a disturbing conundrum for clinicians, researchers and society in general. Many of our youth are at risk of being damaged and even killed by drug addictions that result from the collision of rapidly developing as well as vulnerable central nervous systems encountering the current global drug addiction crisis. A major motif of this chemical calamity is opioid use disorder in adolescents and young adults that was stimulated by the 19th century identification of such highly addictive drugs as morphine, heroin and a non-opiate, cocaine.

From Radioactive Effluent to Drinking Water: Efficient Removal of Trace TcO /ReO by Cationic Porous Aromatic Framework.

Efficient removal of TcO from radioactive effluents while recovering drinking water remains a challenge. Herein, an excellent ReO (a nonradioactive surrogate of TcO ) scavenger is presented through covalently bonding imidazolium poly(ionic liquids) polymers with an ionic porous aromatic framework (iPAF), namely iPAF-P67, following an adsorption-site density-addition strategy. It shows rapid sorption kinetics, high uptake capacity, and exceptional selectivity toward ReO .

Pretrained Deep Neural Network Kin-SiM for Single-Molecule FRET Trace Idealization.

Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) has emerged as a pivotal technique for probing biomolecular dynamics over time at nanometer scales. Quantitative analyses of smFRET time traces remain challenging due to confounding factors such as low signal-to-noise ratios, photophysical effects such as bleaching and blinking, and the complexity of modeling the underlying biomolecular states and kinetics. The dynamic distance information shaping the smFRET trace powerfully uncovers even transient conformational changes in single biomolecules both at or far from equilibrium, relying on trace idealization to identify specific interconverting states.

Nation-wide cohort of device-measured sedentary time and physical activity in the USA-the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) Accelerometry Substudy: cohort profile.

Purpose: This paper describes the data collection and management methods for the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) Accelerometry Substudy, a nested cohort of device-based physical activity and sedentary time data.

Participants: US-based CPS-3 participants (initially enrolled 2006-2013) who completed the 2018 follow-up survey and had a valid email address were invited to the Accelerometry Substudy (n=109 780). Among the 23 111 participants who registered and were shipped an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer, 21 219 participants returned the device with a complete wear log (91.

Assessing Second Trimester Ferning in Diagnosing Preterm Prelabor Rupture of Membranes.

Preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) diagnosis is made through visualization of amniotic fluid (pooling), nitrizine testing, sonographic low amniotic fluid, and microscopic detection of amniotic fluid arborization (ferning). Data exits on the specificity and sensitivity of ferning detection but has not focused on the second trimester. Our objective is to evaluate the presence of ferning in transvaginally collected amniotic fluid in pregnancies with known second trimester PPROM to determine if there is a difference in ferning based on gestational age and sample drying time.

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Thromboembolism in Pregnancy.

Objective The impact of type 1 DM (T1DM) on thromboembolism in pregnancy is uncertain. We hypothesized that T1DM is associated with higher rates of thrombotic events during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study utilizing the National Inpatient Sample database from HCUP/AHRQ for 2017-2019.

The Dose-Dependent Effect of Obesity on Adverse Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes in a Hispanic Population.

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with maternal obesity in a Hispanic population. We hypothesized that obesity confers a dose-dependent risk associated with these outcomes.

Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies delivered between 24 and 42 weeks gestation at an urban county hospital between 2013 and 2021.

Multi-domain Online Therapeutic Investigation of Neurocognition (MOTION) - A randomized comparative-effectiveness study of two remotely delivered mind-body interventions for older adults with cognitive decline.

Background: Research suggest that mind-body movement programs have beneficial effects on cognitive outcomes for older adults with cognitive decline. However, few studies have directly compared specific approaches to mind-body movement or studied the impact of remote program delivery.

Methods: In a 3-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) for older adults with cognitive impairment, we are comparing a multidomain mind-body program that emphasizes movement, body awareness, personal meaningfulness, and social connection, and a traditional Chinese mind-body exercise (Tai Chi) to a health and wellness education control condition.

Adaptive behaviour during epidemics: a social risk appraisal approach to modelling dynamics.

The interaction of infectious diseases and behavioural responses to them has been the subject of widespread study. However, limited attention has been given to how broader social context shapes behavioural response. In this work, we propose a novel framework which combines two well-studied dynamic processes into a 'social risk appraisal' mechanism.

Stepwise order in protein complex assembly: approaches and emerging themes.

Protein-based nanomachines drive every cellular process. An explosion of high-resolution structures of multiprotein complexes has improved our understanding of what these machines look like and how they work, but we still know relatively little about how they assemble in living cells. For example, it has only recently been appreciated that many complexes assemble co-translationally, with at least one subunit still undergoing active translation while already interacting with other subunits.

Global trends and current research in post-traumatic osteoarthritis: A bibliometric and visualization analysis from 2010 to 2024.

Background: To investigate global trends and current research on post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) from 2010 to 2024 using bibliometric and visualization techniques.

Methods: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from the Web of Science Core Collection. The study examined publication trends, author contributions, institutional collaborations, keyword co-occurrence, and citation patterns, employing CiteSpace software to analyze key metrics such as publication frequency, centrality, and clustering.

Functional characterization of MMAR_1296 in Mycobacterium marinum and its potential as a vaccine candidate.

The Pro-Glu/Pro-Pro-Glu (PE/PPE) family proteins in mycobacteria plays a crucial role in pathogenesis and immune evasion. These proteins characterized by unique structures with conserved sequences. This study elucidated the specific immunological functions of MMAR_1296 from marine mycobacterium.

Association of age and performance status with adverse events in older adults with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma receiving frontline R-CHOP therapy: Alliance 151930, a secondary analysis of the phase III trial CALGB 50303.

Introduction: Rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP) therapy is the standard of care for patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, detailed delineation of toxicity data is limited and has not been examined by age. We sought to examine adverse event data in patients receiving R-CHOP from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 50303 trial to determine if there were differences in grade 3+ toxicities by age cohort or ECOG performance status (PS), and if outcome was impacted by age cohort or toxicity occurrence.

Black/White disparities in low birth weight across maternal trajectories of social mobility in South Carolina.

Persistent racial disparities in low birth weight (LBW) in the United States may be better understood through the adoption of a life course perspective that considers differential exposure and vulnerability of Black and White women to socioeconomic position across generations. Using a multigenerational dataset of singleton birth certificates from South Carolina from 1989 to 2020 linked along the maternal line, we constructed intergenerational social mobility trajectories of grandmaternal and maternal education and compared unadjusted and adjusted associations between trajectories and LBW among Black and White women. We found that White women were more likely to be upwardly mobile, and Black women to be downwardly mobile.

Alpha Atlas: Mapping global production of α-emitting radionuclides for targeted alpha therapy.

Targeted Alpha Therapy has shown great promise in cancer treatment, sparking significant interest over recent decades. However, its broad adoption has been impeded by the scarcity of alpha-emitters and the complexities related to their use. The availability of these radionuclides is often constrained by the intricate production processes and purification, as well as regulatory and logistical challenges.

School closures, child maltreatment reporting and victimization during the pandemic.

Background: School closures during the pandemic correlated with declines in child maltreatment reports in the U.S. However, it remains unclear how reporting from personnel other than schoolteachers or nurses and the nature of these reports were affected.

Using transient, effector-specific neural responses to gate decoding for brain-computer interfaces.

Real-world implementation of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for continuous control of devices should ideally rely on fully asynchronous decoding approaches. That is, the decoding algorithm should continuously update its output by estimating the user's intended actions from real-time neural activity, without the need for any temporal alignment to an external cue. This kind of open-ended temporal flexibility is necessary to achieve naturalistic and intuitive control, but presents a challenge: how do we know when it is appropriate to decode anything at all? Activity in motor cortex is dynamic and modulates with many different types of actions (proximal arm control, hand control, speech, etc.

Design and synthesis of a carbohydrate-derived chemosensor for selective Ni(II) ion detection: A turn-off approach.

Nickel, an essential transition metal, plays a vital role in biological systems and industries. However, exposure to nickel can cause severe health issues, such as asthma, dermatitis, pneumonitis, neurological disorders, and cancers of the nasal cavity and lungs. Due to nickel's toxicity and extensive industrial use, efficient sensors for detecting Ni ions in environmental and biological contexts are essential.

Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030.

Due to complex interactions, changes in any one area of food systems are likely to impact-and possibly depend on-changes in other areas. Here we present the first annual monitoring update of the indicator framework proposed by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, with new qualitative analysis elucidating interactions across indicators. Since 2000, we find that 20 of 42 indicators with time series have been trending in a desirable direction, indicating modest positive change.

Innate Versus Acquired: A Review of Predictive Technical Aptitude Assessments in Surgical Trainee Selection.

Purpose Of Review: The evaluation and selection process of similarly qualified applicants for surgical residency positions in the United States (US) is challenging. Technical aptitude assessments may provide an opportunity to improve the selection process by offering insight into a candidate's technical skills. The use of these assessments prompts consideration of the degree to which technical aptitude in surgery is innate versus acquired.