Sand and dust storms: a growing global health threat calls for international health studies to support policy action.

Sand and dust storms increasingly threaten global environmental and public health. To date, 150 countries are directly affected, with more than 100 classified as non-dust source regions. With climate change, these storms are expected to become more frequent and severe.

Structure-guided discovery of viral proteins that inhibit host immunity.

Viruses encode proteins that inhibit host defenses, but sifting through the millions of available viral sequences for immune-modulatory proteins has been so far impractical. Here, we develop a process to systematically screen virus-encoded proteins for inhibitors that physically bind host immune proteins. Focusing on Thoeris and CBASS, bacterial defense systems that are the ancestors of eukaryotic Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) and cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) immunity, we discover seven families of Thoeris and CBASS inhibitors, encompassing thousands of genes widespread in phages.

Selective arm-usage of pre-miR-1307 dysregulates angiogenesis and affects breast cancer aggressiveness.

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women. Deregulation of miRNAs is frequently observed in breast cancer and affects tumor biology. A pre-miRNA, such as pre-miR-1307, gives rise to several mature miRNA molecules with distinct functions.

Hormone circuit explains why most HPA drugs fail for mood disorders and predicts the few that work.

Elevated cortisol in chronic stress and mood disorders causes morbidity including metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. There is therefore interest in developing drugs that lower cortisol by targeting its endocrine pathway, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. However, several promising HPA-modulating drugs have failed to reduce long-term cortisol in mood disorders, despite effectiveness in other hypercortisolism conditions such as Cushing's syndrome.

Dynamically induced spatial segregation in multispecies bacterial bioconvection.

Active matter, from motile bacteria to animals, can exhibit striking collective and coherent behavior. Despite significant advances in understanding the behavior of homogeneous systems, little is known about the self-organization and dynamics of heterogeneous active matter, such as complex and diverse bacterial communities. Under oxygen gradients, many bacterial species swim towards air-liquid interfaces in auto-organized, directional bioconvective flows, whose spatial scales exceed the cell size by orders of magnitude.

Deuterated Nanopolymers for Renal and Lymphatic Imaging via Quantitative Deuterium MRI.

Deuterium (H) MRI is an emerging tool for noninvasive imaging. We explore the integration of H MRI with deuterated multifunctional nanopolymers for deuterated particle imaging (DPI). To this end, amine-terminated G5-polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers were labeled with deuterated acetyl surface groups, leading to highly H-loaded bioparticles, making them ideal for imaging studies.

Ontogeny of energy use in harvester ant colonies, and the metabolic expense of colony growth.

In animals, metabolic rates during ontogeny often scale differently from the way they do in cross-species or population comparisons, with near-isometric scaling patterns more often observed during juvenile growth. In multiple social insect taxa, colony metabolic rate scales hypometrically across species or populations at the same developmental stage, but metabolic patterns during ontogeny have not been examined for any social insect species. We performed the first ontogenetic study of social metabolic scaling in harvester ant colonies () over 3.

Metagenome-informed metaproteomics of the human gut microbiome, host, and dietary exposome uncovers signatures of health and inflammatory bowel disease.

Host-microbiome-dietary interactions play crucial roles in regulating human health, yet their direct functional assessment remains challenging. We adopted metagenome-informed metaproteomics (MIM), in mice and humans, to non-invasively explore species-level microbiome-host interactions during commensal and pathogen colonization, nutritional modification, and antibiotic-induced perturbation. Simultaneously, fecal MIM accurately characterized the nutritional exposure landscape in multiple clinical and dietary contexts.

The 2025 Motile Active Matter Roadmap.

Activity and autonomous motion are fundamental aspects of many living and engineering systems. Here, the scale of biological agents covers a wide range, from nanomotors, cytoskeleton, and cells, to insects, fish, birds, and people. Inspired by biological active systems, various types of autonomous synthetic nano- and micromachines have been designed, which provide the basis for multifunctional, highly responsive, intelligent active materials.

Metabolic interplays between the tumour and the host shape the tumour macroenvironment.

Metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment are pivotal characteristics of cancers, and studying these processes offer insights and avenues for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. Recent advancements have underscored the impact of host systemic features, termed macroenvironment, on facilitating cancer progression. During tumorigenesis, these inherent features of the host, such as germline genetics, immune profile and the metabolic status, influence how the body responds to cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation from late pregnancy to early lactation attenuates the endocannabinoid system and immune proteome in preovulatory follicles and endometrium of Holstein dairy cows.

Activation of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) elicits negative effects on the reproductive system in mammals. Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid (FA) supplementation lowers ECS activation and has anti-inflammatory effects. Thus, we hypothesized that supplementing cows with n-3 FA will downregulate components of the ECS and immune system in preovulatory follicles and in the endometrium.

Non-Stoichiometric Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Forms in Macromolecular Condensates via Interphase Diffusion.

Transient amorphous phases are known as functional precursors in the formation of crystalline materials, both in vivo and in vitro. A common route to regulate amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) crystallization is via direct interactions with negatively charged macromolecules. However, a less explored phenomenon that can influence such systems is the electrostatically driven formation of Ca-macromolecule dense phases.

Early and delayed STAT1-dependent responses drive local trained immunity of macrophages in the spleen.

Trained immunity (TI) is the process wherein innate immune cells gain functional memory upon exposure to specific ligands or pathogens, leading to augmented inflammatory responses and pathogen clearance upon secondary exposure. While the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and reprogramming of bone marrow (BM) progenitors are well-established mechanisms underpinning durable TI protection, remodeling of the cellular architecture within the tissue during TI remains underexplored. Here, we study the effects of peritoneal Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) administration to find TI-mediated protection in the spleen against a subsequent heterologous infection by the Gram-negative pathogen Typhimurium (.

Unveiling the Electrical Properties of Hyaluronan-Coated Cancer Extracellular Vesicles Using Correlative Scanning Probe Microscopy-Based Nano-Electrical Modes.

Cancer cells produce extracellular vesicles (EVs) coated with an anionic sugar polymer, hyaluronan (HA), in the extracellular matrix. Hyaluronan is an established cancer biomarker in several cancer types. In this work, we thoroughly investigated the electrical properties of HA-coated EVs using advanced scanning probe microscopy (SPM) based nanoelectrical modes, which include EFM (electrostatic force microscopy), KPFM (Kelvin probe force microscopy), PFM (piezoresponse force microscopy) and C-AFM (conductive atomic force microscopy).

Chiral Metal Coating to Enhance Water Electrolysis.

Producing hydrogen through water splitting often faces challenges of overpotential, stability, and expensive catalysts, which limit its efficiency and hinder the advancement of hydrogen production technologies. Nickel foam and nickel meshes have emerged as promising materials for electrolyzer electrodes due to their high surface area and the ability to produce electrolyzers with a very small gap between the anode and cathode. This study presents a simple method for coating Ni-based electrodes with a chiral Ni-Au film, using electroplating, thus enhancing its efficiency dramatically.

Modulation by NPY/NPF-like receptor underlies experience-dependent, sexually dimorphic learning.

The evolutionary paths taken by each sex within a given species sometimes diverge, resulting in behavioral differences. Given their distinct needs, the mechanism by which each sex learns from a shared experience is still an open question. Here, we reveal sexual dimorphism in learning: C.

Single-molecule systems for the detection and monitoring of plasma-circulating nucleosomes and oncoproteins in diffuse midline glioma.

The analysis of cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) and proteins in the blood of patients with cancer potentiates a new generation of non-invasive diagnostic approaches. However, confident detection of tumor-originating markers is challenging, especially in the context of brain tumors, where these analytes in plasma are extremely scarce. Here, we apply a sensitive single-molecule technology to profile multiple histone modifications on individual nucleosomes from the plasma of patients with diffuse midline glioma (DMG).

A widespread family of viral sponge proteins reveals specific inhibition of nucleotide signals in anti-phage defense.

Cyclic oligonucleotide-based antiviral signaling systems (CBASS) are bacterial anti-phage defense operons that use nucleotide signals to control immune activation. Here we biochemically screen 57 diverse and phages for the ability to disrupt CBASS immunity and discover anti-CBASS 4 (Acb4) from the phage SPO1 as the founding member of a large family of >1,300 immune evasion proteins. A 2.

Oncogenic IDH1 drives robust loss of histone acetylation and increases chromatin heterogeneity.

Malignant gliomas are heterogeneous tumors, mostly incurable, arising in the central nervous system (CNS) driven by genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic aberrations. Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1/2) enzymes are predominantly found in low-grade gliomas and secondary high-grade gliomas, with IDH1 mutations being more prevalent. Mutant-IDH1/2 confers a gain-of-function activity that favors the conversion of a-ketoglutarate (α-KG) to the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), resulting in an aberrant hypermethylation phenotype.

Retinal ganglion cells encode the direction of motion outside their classical receptive field.

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) typically respond to light stimulation over their spatially restricted receptive field. Using large-scale recordings in the mouse retina, we show that a subset of non- direction-selective (DS) RGCs exhibit asymmetric activity, selective to motion direction, in response to a stimulus crossing an area far beyond the classic receptive field. The extraclassical response arises via inputs from an asymmetric distal zone and is enhanced by desensitization mechanisms and an inherent DS component, creating a network of neurons responding to motion toward the optic disc.

Voices of Nanomedicine: Blueprint Guidelines for Collaboration in Addressing Global Unmet Medical Needs.

The "" under this Perspective underline the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships across several disciplines, such as medical science and technology, medicine, bioengineering, and computational approaches, in bridging the gap between research, manufacturing, and clinical applications. Effective communication is key to bridging team gaps, enhancing trust, and resolving conflicts, thereby fostering teamwork and individual growth toward shared goals. Drawing from the success of the COVID-19 vaccine development, we advocate the application of similar collaborative models in other complex health areas such as nanomedicine and biomedical engineering.

Reduced circulating sphingolipids and activity are linked to T2D risk and impaired insulin secretion.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a transient form of diabetes that resolves postpartum, is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D) in women. While the progression from GDM to T2D is not fully understood, it involves both genetic and environmental components. By integrating clinical, metabolomic, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, we identified associations between decreased sphingolipid biosynthesis and future T2D, in part through the allele of the gene in Hispanic women shortly after a GDM pregnancy.

Sensory experience controls dendritic structure and behavior by distinct pathways involving degenerins.

Dendrites are crucial for receiving information into neurons. Sensory experience affects the structure of these tree-like neurites, which, it is assumed, modifies neuronal function, yet the evidence is scarce, and the mechanisms are unknown. To study whether sensory experience affects dendritic morphology, we use the ' arborized nociceptor PVD neurons, under natural mechanical stimulation induced by physical contacts between individuals.