Pangenomes of human gut microbiota uncover links between genetic diversity and stress response.

The genetic diversity of the gut microbiota has a central role in host health. Here, we created pangenomes for 728 human gut prokaryotic species, quadrupling the genes of strain-specific genomes. Each of these species has a core set of a thousand genes, differing even between closely related species, and an accessory set of genes unique to the different strains.

Brain-machine convergent evolution: Why finding parallels between brain and artificial systems is informative.

Central nervous system neurons manifest a rich diversity of selectivity profiles-whose precise role is still poorly understood. Following the striking success of artificial networks, a major debate has emerged concerning their usefulness in explaining neuronal properties. Here we propose that finding parallels between artificial and neuronal networks is informative precisely because these systems are so different from each other.

p21 regulates expression of ECM components and promotes pulmonary fibrosis via CDK4 and Rb.

Fibrosis and accumulation of senescent cells are common tissue changes associated with aging. Here, we show that the CDK inhibitor p21 (CDKN1A), known to regulate the cell cycle and the viability of senescent cells, also controls the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in senescent and proliferating cells of the fibrotic lung, in a manner dependent on CDK4 and Rb phosphorylation. p21 knockout protects mice from the induction of lung fibrosis.

Sonodynamic Therapy for HER2+ Breast Cancer with Iodinated Heptamethine Cyanine-Trastuzumab Conjugate.

The first example of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) with a cyanine dye-antibody conjugate is reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sonodynamic efficacy of a trastuzumab-guided diiodinated heptamethine cyanine-based sensitizer, versus its non-iodinated counterpart, , in a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) xenograft model. In addition, the combined sonodynamic and photodynamic (PDT) effects were investigated.

Crosslinking of Ly6a metabolically reprograms CD8 T cells for cancer immunotherapy.

T cell inhibitory mechanisms prevent autoimmune reactions, while cancer immunotherapy aims to remove these inhibitory signals. Chronic ultraviolet (UV) exposure attenuates autoimmunity through promotion of poorly understood immune-suppressive mechanisms. Here we show that mice with subcutaneous melanoma are not responsive to anti-PD1 immunotherapy following chronic UV irradiation, given prior to tumor injection, due to the suppression of T cell killing ability in skin-draining lymph nodes.

Synchronization in Coupled Laser Arrays with Correlated and Uncorrelated Disorder.

The effect of quenched disorder in a many-body system is experimentally investigated in a controlled fashion. It is done by measuring the phase synchronization (i.e.

How Single-Photon Switching Is Quenched with Multiple Λ-Level Atoms.

Single-photon nonlinearity, namely, the change in the response of the system as the result of the interaction with a single photon, is generally considered an inherent property of a single quantum emitter. Although the dependence on the number of emitters is well understood for the case of two-level systems, deterministic operations such as single-photon switching or photon-atom gates inherently require more complex level structures. Here, we theoretically consider single-photon switching in ensembles of emitters with a Λ-level scheme and show that the switching efficiency vanishes with the number of emitters.

Heterometallic Transition Metal Oxides Containing Lewis Acids as Molecular Catalysts for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide with Bimodal Activity.

Electrocatalytic CO reduction (e-CORR) to CO is replete with challenges including the need to carry out e-CORR at low overpotentials. Previously, a tricopper-substituted polyoxometalate was shown to reduce CO to CO with a very high faradaic efficiency albeit at -2.5 V versus Fc/Fc.

Grazing incidence fast atom diffraction: general considerations, semiclassical perturbation theory and experimental implications.

Using semiclassical methods, an analytical approach to describe grazing incidence scattering of fast atoms (GIFAD) from surfaces is described. First, we consider a model with a surface corrugated in the scattering plane, which includes the surface normal and the incidence direction. The treatment uses a realistic, Morse potential, within a perturbation approach, and correctly reproduces the basic GIFAD phenomenology, whereby the scattering is directed primarily in the specular direction.

Phages reconstitute NAD to counter bacterial immunity.

Bacteria defend against phage infection through a variety of antiphage defence systems. Many defence systems were recently shown to deplete cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) in response to infection, by cleaving NAD into ADP-ribose (ADPR) and nicotinamide. It was demonstrated that NAD depletion during infection deprives the phage of this essential molecule and impedes phage replication.

Comparing Lesion Conspicuity and ADC Reliability in High-resolution Diffusion-weighted Imaging of the Breast.

Purpose: This study investigated the breast lesion conspicuity and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) reliability for three different diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) protocols: spatiotemporal encoding (SPEN), single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI), and readout segmentation of long variable echo-trains (RESOLVE).

Methods: Sixty-five women suspected of having breast tumors were included in this study, with 44 lesions (36 malignant, 8 benign) analyzed further. Breast MRI was performed on a 3 Tesla (3T) system (MAGNETOM Prisma, Siemens) equipped with a dedicated 18-channel breast array coil for a phantom and patients.

A Discrepancy in the Reports on Life Events Between Parents and Their Depressed Children Is Associated with Lower Responsiveness to SSRI Treatment.

Exposure to a range of stressful life events (SLE) is implicated in youth psychopathology. Previous studies point to a discrepancy between parents'/children's reports regarding stressful life events. No study systematically assessed the correlation between such discrepancies and psychopathology in depressed youth.

Computational pipeline predicting cell death suppressors as targets for cancer therapy.

Identification of promising targets for cancer therapy is a global effort in precision medicine. Here, we describe a computational pipeline integrating transcriptomic and vulnerability responses to cell-death inducing drugs, to predict cell-death suppressors as candidate targets for cancer therapy. The prediction is based on two modules; the transcriptomic similarity module to identify genes whose targeting results in similar transcriptomic responses of the death-inducing drugs, and the correlation module to identify candidate genes whose expression correlates to the vulnerability of cancer cells to the same death-inducers.

Protocol for assessing murine cell doublet engagement and subsequent effects using flow cytometry and imaging flow cytometry.

Physical interactions between two immune cells or between immune and cancer cells play a major role in shaping the immune response in the tumor microenvironment, making them prime therapeutic targets for bispecific engagers. Here, we present a protocol for assessing murine cell doublet engagement and subsequent effects using flow cytometry and imaging flow cytometry. We describe steps for identifying bispecific cell engager antibodies at the cell-cell interface, doublet quantification, and characterizing cellular protein morphology and processes within the doublet.

SMARCA5-mediated chromatin remodeling is required for germinal center formation.

The establishment of long-lasting immunity against pathogens is facilitated by the germinal center (GC) reaction, during which B cells increase their antibody affinity and differentiate into antibody-secreting cells (ASC) and memory cells. These events involve modifications in chromatin packaging that orchestrate the profound restructuring of gene expression networks that determine cell fate. While several chromatin remodelers were implicated in lymphocyte functions, less is known about SMARCA5.

A new approach for multislice spatiotemporal encoding MRI in a portable low-field system.

Purpose: Spatiotemporal encoding (SPEN) MRI offers a unique alternative to address image distortion problems in echo planar acquisition-based techniques, at portable low-field systems that lack multiple receiver coils. However, existing 2-π multislice SPEN schemes fail to keep consistent SNRs and contrasts with different numbers of slice settings. This work proposes a new multislice SPEN scheme (SPENms) to achieve stable quality imaging in portable low-field MRI systems.

Combination of Searches for Higgs Boson Pair Production in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector.

This Letter presents results from a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using 126-140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. At 95% confidence level (CL), the upper limit on the production rate is 2.9 times the standard model (SM) prediction, with an expected limit of 2.

Studies of the Energy Dependence of Diboson Polarization Fractions and the Radiation-Amplitude-Zero Effect in WZ Production with the ATLAS Detector.

This Letter presents the first study of the energy dependence of diboson polarization fractions in WZ→ℓνℓ^{'}ℓ^{'}(ℓ,ℓ^{'}=e,μ) production. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. Two fiducial regions with an enhanced presence of events featuring two longitudinally polarized bosons are defined.