Adhesins Als1 and Hwp1 Modulate Interactions with .

and are known to synergistically interact with each other in the oral cavity. For example, glucosyltransferase B (GtfB), secreted by , can bind to the cell surface, promoting dual-species biofilm formation. However, the fungal factors mediating interactions with are unknown.

Coccidioidomycosis Granulomas Informed by Other Diseases: Advancements, Gaps, and Challenges.

Valley fever is a respiratory disease caused by a soil fungus, , that is inhaled upon soil disruption. One mechanism by which the host immune system attempts to control and eliminate is through granuloma formation. However, very little is known about granulomas during infection.

Endothermic physiology of extinct megatooth sharks.

The evolution of the extinct megatooth shark, , and its close phylogenetic relatives remains enigmatic. A central question persists regarding the thermophysiological origins of these large predatory sharks through geologic time, including whether was ectothermic or endothermic (including regional endothermy), and whether its thermophysiology could help to explain the iconic shark's gigantism and eventual demise during the Pliocene. To address these uncertainties, we present unique geochemical evidence for thermoregulation in from both clumped isotope paleothermometry and phosphate oxygen isotopes.

A multi-benefit framework for funding forest management in fire-driven ecosystems across the Western U.S.

Forests across the Western U.S. face unprecedented risk due to historic fire exclusion, environmental degradation, and climate change.

Human viral nucleic acids concentrations in wastewater solids from Central and Coastal California USA.

We measured concentrations of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), mpox virus, human metapneumovirus, norovirus GII, and pepper mild mottle virus nucleic acids in wastewater solids at twelve wastewater treatment plants in Central California, USA. Measurements were made daily for up to two years, depending on the wastewater treatment plant. Measurements were made using digital droplet (reverse-transcription-) polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) following best practices for making environmental molecular biology measurements.

Electrochemically Generated Carbanions Enable Isomerizing Allylation and Allenylation of Aldehydes with Alkenes and Alkynes.

The direct coupling of aldehydes with petrochemical feedstock alkenes and alkynes would represent a practical and streamlined approach for allylation and allenylation chemistry. However, conventional approaches commonly require preactivated substrates or strong bases to generate allylic or propargylic carbanions and only afford branched allylation or propargylation products. Developing a mild and selective approach to access synthetically useful linear allylation and allenylation products is highly desirable, albeit with formidable challenges.

Synthase-selected sorting approach identifies a beta-lactone synthase in a nudibranch symbiotic bacterium.

Background: Nudibranchs comprise a group of > 6000 marine soft-bodied mollusk species known to use secondary metabolites (natural products) for chemical defense. The full diversity of these metabolites and whether symbiotic microbes are responsible for their synthesis remains unexplored. Another issue in searching for undiscovered natural products is that computational analysis of genomes of uncultured microbes can result in detection of novel biosynthetic gene clusters; however, their in vivo functionality is not guaranteed which limits further exploration of their pharmaceutical or industrial potential.

Type IV Hypersensitivity Reaction after Cyanoacrylate Venous Closure.

Background: Nonthermal endovenous closure techniques are routinely utilized to treat superficial axial venous reflux. Cyanoacrylate closure is a safe and effective modality implemented for truncal closure. However, an adverse reaction of type IV hypersensitivity (T4H), unique to cyanoacrylate, is a known risk.

Impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems.

Large herbivores play unique ecological roles and are disproportionately imperiled by human activity. As many wild populations dwindle towards extinction, and as interest grows in restoring lost biodiversity, research on large herbivores and their ecological impacts has intensified. Yet, results are often conflicting or contingent on local conditions, and new findings have challenged conventional wisdom, making it hard to discern general principles.

Online dashboards for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data need standard best practices: An environmental health communication agenda.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of wastewater surveillance to supplement clinical data. Numerous online information dashboards have been rapidly, and typically independently, developed to communicate environmental surveillance data to public health officials and the public. In this study, we review dashboards presenting SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data and propose a path toward harmonization and improved risk communication.

Post-Resettlement Food Insecurity: Afghan Refugees and Challenges of the New Environment.

Background: Lack of access to adequate, safe, and nutritious food is a major concern for the Afghan population due to ongoing war and humanitarian crises. Recently resettled Afghan refugees in the US continue to face challenges securing adequate, nutritious food resources in new environments. This study examined Afghan refugees' food access and insecurity in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

Simulations of Subnanometer Scale Image Contrast in Atomic Force Microscopy of Self-Assembled Monolayers in Water.

Achieving high-resolution images using dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) requires understanding how chemical and structural features of the surface affect image contrast. This understanding is particularly challenging when imaging samples in water. An initial step is to determine how well-characterized surface features interact with the AFM tip in wet environments.

Coccidioidomycosis and Host Microbiome Interactions: What We Know and What We Can Infer from Other Respiratory Infections.

Between 70 and 80% of Valley fever patients receive one or more rounds of antibiotic treatment prior to accurate diagnosis with coccidioidomycosis. Antibiotic treatment and infection (bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic) often have negative implications on host microbial dysbiosis, immunological responses, and disease outcome. These perturbations have focused on the impact of gut dysbiosis on pulmonary disease instead of the implications of direct lung dysbiosis.

Strengthening global-change science by integrating aeDNA with paleoecoinformatics.

Ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) data are close to enabling insights into past global-scale biodiversity dynamics at unprecedented taxonomic extent and resolution. However, achieving this potential requires solutions that bridge bioinformatics and paleoecoinformatics. Essential needs include support for dynamic taxonomic inferences, dynamic age inferences, and precise stratigraphic depth.

Diagnostic accuracy of ASQ for screening of neurodevelopmental delays in low resource countries.

Objective: The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) is the most used diagnostic tool to identify neurodevelopmental disorders in children under age 3 but is challenging to use in low-resource countries. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) is an easy-to-use, low-cost clinical tool completed by parents/caregivers that screens children for developmental delay. The objective was to determine the performance of ASQ as a screening tool for neurodevelopmental impairment when compared with BSID second edition (BSID-II) for the diagnosis of moderate-to-severe neurodevelopmental impairment among infants at 12 and 18 months of age in low-resource countries.

Hawaiian coral holobionts reveal algal and prokaryotic host specificity, intraspecific variability in bleaching resistance, and common interspecific microbial consortia modulating thermal stress responses.

Historically, Hawai'i had few massive coral bleaching events, until two consecutive heatwaves in 2014-2015. Consequent mortality and thermal stress were observed in Kāne'ohe Bay (O'ahu). The two most dominant local species exhibited a phenotypic dichotomy of either bleaching resistance or susceptibility (Montipora capitata and Porites compressa), while the third predominant species (Pocillopora acuta) was broadly susceptible to bleaching.

Optimal foraging strategies for mutually avoiding competitors.

Many animals are known to exhibit foraging patterns where the distances they travel in a given direction are drawn from a heavy-tailed Lévy distribution. Previous studies have shown that, under sparse and random resource conditions, solitary non-destructive (with regenerating resources) foragers perform a maximally efficient search with Lévy exponent μ equal to 2, while for destructive foragers, efficiency decreases with μ monotonically and there is no optimal μ. However, in nature, there also exist situations where multiple foragers, displaying avoidance behavior, interact with each other competitively.

and Initial Validation of Mi Niño: A Tool to Measure Food-Related Parenting Practices of Spanish-Speaking Parents with Young Children.

Background: Accurate measurement of food-related parenting practices is necessary to inform related interventions and program evaluation. Valid tools reflect cultural attributes that affect household food environments and feeding practices. Simple, unidirectional language adaptation approaches are insufficient to capture these attributes in assessment tools.

Parental factors that impact the ecology of human mammary development, milk secretion, and milk composition-a report from "Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN)" Working Group 1.

The goal of Working Group 1 in the Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Project was to outline factors influencing biological processes governing human milk secretion and to evaluate our current knowledge of these processes. Many factors regulate mammary gland development in utero, during puberty, in pregnancy, through secretory activation, and at weaning. These factors include breast anatomy, breast vasculature, diet, and the lactating parent's hormonal milieu including estrogen, progesterone, placental lactogen, cortisol, prolactin, and growth hormone.

Conserved enhancer logic controls the notochord expression of vertebrate .

The cell type-specific expression of key transcription factors is central to development. Brachyury/T/TBXT is a major transcription factor for gastrulation, tailbud patterning, and notochord formation; however, how its expression is controlled in the mammalian notochord has remained elusive. Here, we identify the complement of notochord-specific enhancers in the mammalian gene.