Modeling the European Neolithic expansion suggests predominant within-group mating and limited cultural transmission.

The Neolithic Revolution initiated a pivotal change in human society, marking the shift from foraging to farming. Historically, the underlying mechanisms of agricultural expansion have been a topic of debate, centered around two primary models: cultural diffusion, involving the transfer of knowledge and practices, and demic diffusion, characterized by the migration and replacement of populations. More recently, ancient DNA analyses have revealed significant ancestry changes during Europe's Neolithic transition, suggesting a primarily demic expansion.

Inflammatory response following intra-articular injection of decellularized porcine amnion/chorion in horses.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate effects of intra-articular decellularized porcine amnion/chorion suspension (dPACLS) in horses.

Study Design: Controlled, randomized, prospective study.

Animals: A total of 10 adult horses.

The genetic history of Portugal over the past 5,000 years.

Background: Recent ancient DNA studies uncovering large-scale demographic events in Iberia have presented very limited data for Portugal, a country located at the westernmost edge of continental Eurasia. Here, we present the most comprehensive collection of Portuguese ancient genome-wide data, from 67 individuals spanning 5000 years of human history, from the Neolithic to the nineteenth century.

Results: We identify early admixture between local hunter-gatherers and Anatolian-related farmers in Neolithic Portugal, with a northeastern-southwestern gradient of increasing Magdalenian-associated ancestry persistence in Iberia.

Small Molecule Oxybutynin Rescues Proliferative Capacity of Complex III-Defective Muscle Progenitor Cells.

Mitochondrial disease encompasses a group of genetically inherited disorders hallmarked by an inability of the respiratory chain to produce sufficient ATP. These disorders present with multisystemic pathologies that predominantly impact highly energetic tissues such as skeletal muscle. There is no cure or effective treatment for mitochondrial disease.

The genomic footprints of migration: how ancient DNA reveals our history of mobility.

Ancient DNA has emerged as a powerful tool for studying human migration through the detection of admixture signatures. Here, we present the theoretical principles and methodologies for admixture analysis, with an emphasis on f-statistics and qpAdm. We review case studies from the literature demonstrating how these methods uncover patterns of human mobility, and discuss challenges related to data quality, demographic complexity, and sample representativeness on admixture and migration inferences.

Optimized in-solution enrichment of over a million ancient human SNPs.

Background: In-solution hybridization enrichment of genetic markers is a method of choice in paleogenomic studies, where the DNA of interest is generally heavily fragmented and contaminated with environmental DNA, and where the retrieval of genetic data comparable between individuals is challenging. Here, we benchmark the commercial "Twist Ancient DNA" reagent from Twist Biosciences using sequencing libraries from ancient human samples of diverse demographic origin with low to high endogenous DNA content (0.1-44%).

Cilta-cel CAR T cells as an effective and well tolerated treatment for POEMS: a case study.

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The effects of solar radiation modification on solar and wind resource and power generation in the Caribbean.

The slow pace of global mitigation efforts has led to increased interest in Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) as a means for rapidly and artificially cooling the planet. Deploying SRM technologies, however, may directly alter renewable energy resources. This makes it a concern for Caribbean countries which are investing heavily in Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) to reduce their reliance on imported energy and meet climate change mitigation goals.

Remote Control of Gold-Iron Nanowires Using Low-Frequency 1 Hz Magneto-Mechanical Therapy and Cesium 137 0.662 MeV Radiotherapy for Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an extremely infiltrative brain cancer that is impossible to fully remove surgically and almost always recurs at the borders of the resection cavity. There is increasing focus on inducing cancer cell death using magneto-mechanical therapy (MMT), which involves energy conversion of an external low-frequency magnetic field into mechanical forces using magnetic nanoparticles. Here, we combined MMT with enhanced radiotherapy (RT)─the standard of care treatment for GBM─to increase the efficiency of treatment using gold-iron nanowires (AuFe NWs).

Midterm outcomes of thoracic endovascular aortic repair versus optimal medical therapy for uncomplicated acute type B dissection.

Objective: We sought to compare the early and midterm outcomes of thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) versus optimal medical therapy (OMT) for uncomplicated acute type B aortic dissection.

Methods: Data were analyzed for 200 consecutive patients with uncomplicated acute type B aortic dissection from February 1992 to July 2022, including 147 with initial OMT and 53 undergoing TEVAR at index hospitalization. Baseline, intraoperative, and postoperative data, survival, and (re)intervention were compared between the two strategies.

Taking three-dimensional x-ray diffraction (3DXRD) from the synchrotron to the laboratory scale.

Three-dimensional x-ray diffraction (3DXRD), a rotating x-ray diffraction technique, is a powerful tool for studying the micromechanical behavior of polycrystalline materials, capable of measuring the volume, position, orientation, and strain of thousands of grains simultaneously. However, its application has been historically limited to synchrotron facilities. Here, we present the first demonstration of laboratory-scale 3DXRD (Lab-3DXRD) using a liquid-metal-jet source.

Shp-1 regulates the activity of low-affinity T cells specific to endogenous self-antigen during melanoma tumor growth and drives resistance to immune checkpoint inhibition.

Background: The presence of activated CD8 T cells in the tumor microenvironment is correlated with an effective immune response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. However, ICI predominantly targets high-affinity T cells, which may be less abundant in tumors with few neoantigens. Targeting the intracellular phosphatase Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-1 (Shp-1) in combination with ICI lowers the T cell activation threshold and enhances the ability of low-affinity T cells to mount a productive antitumor response.

Microcanonical Analysis of Semiflexible Homopolymers with Variable-Width Bending Potential.

Understanding the structural dynamics of semiflexible polymers in an implicit solvent under varying conditions provides valuable insights into their behavior in diverse environments. In this work, we systematically investigate the effect of the angular width of the bending potential on structural state behavior and conformational variability using microcanonical analysis. A range of angular widths is explored, with the widest value corresponding directly to the classic semiflexible polymer model, which exhibits a diverse set of structural states, including Two-Strand, Three-Strand, Four-Strand, Ring, Random Coil, and Globule configurations.

Performance of qpAdm-based screens for genetic admixture on graph-shaped histories and stepping stone landscapes.

qpAdm is a statistical tool that is often used for testing large sets of alternative admixture models for a target population. Despite its popularity, qpAdm remains untested on 2D stepping stone landscapes and in situations with low prestudy odds (low ratio of true to false models). We tested high-throughput qpAdm protocols with typical properties such as number of source combinations per target, model complexity, model feasibility criteria, etc.

A microRNA-regulated transcriptional state defines intratumoral CD8 T cells that respond to immunotherapy.

The rising incidence of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) and poor survival outcomes necessitate new and effective therapies. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), specifically anti-PD-1 therapy, show promise, yet clinical determinants of a positive response are suboptimal. Here, we identify microRNA-155 (miR-155) as necessary for CD8 T cell-infiltrated tumors through an unbiased in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screen identifying functional tumor antigen-specific CD8 T cell-expressed microRNAs.

The Impact of a Western Diet High in Phosphate on the CKD-MBD in an Alport Syndrome Model.

Background: Chronic kidney disease - mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD) is a syndrome that begins early in CKD, contributes to CKD-associated mortality, and includes components of FGF23 elevation, αklotho deficiency, CKD-stimulated vascular disease, and renal osteodystrophy. Hyperphosphatemia, occurring in later stages of CKD, is also driven by mechanisms of CKD-MBD, and has been shown to stimulate vascular calcification. In a mouse model of Alport CKD that is resistant to vascular calcification, we examine the effects of a high-phosphate Western-type diet on the CKD-MBD, and test whether the diet promotes induction of vascular calcification.

The Challenges of Aortic Valve Management After Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation.

Background: Continuous retrograde flow across the aortic valve from left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy can result in cusp damage and progressive aortic regurgitation, potentially triggering recurrent heart and multiorgan failure. The management of aortic regurgitation after LVAD implantation has not been well defined.

Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the investigators' experience with the management of de novo aortic regurgitation requiring intervention in patients with continuous-flow LVAD.

Derivation of outcome-dependent dietary patterns for low-income women obtained from survey data using a supervised weighted overfitted latent class analysis.

Poor diet quality is a key modifiable risk factor for hypertension and disproportionately impacts low-income women. Analyzing diet-driven hypertensive outcomes in this demographic is challenging due to the complexity of dietary data and selection bias when the data come from surveys, a main data source for understanding diet-disease relationships in understudied populations. Supervised Bayesian model-based clustering methods summarize dietary data into latent patterns that holistically capture relationships among foods and a known health outcome but do not sufficiently account for complex survey design.

Coming and going: A narrative review exploring the push-pull factors during nurses' careers.

Background: Shortages of nurses are one of the biggest challenges healthcare systems face around the world. Given the wide range of contexts and individuals working in nursing, a 'one-size-fits-all' retention strategy is unlikely to be effective. Knowing what matters most to nurses at different career stages would help employers and policy-makers who want to enhance nurse retention to design tailored strategies.

Generation of antigen-specific memory CD4 T cells by heterologous immunization enhances the magnitude of the germinal center response upon influenza infection.

Current influenza vaccine strategies have yet to overcome significant obstacles, including rapid antigenic drift of seasonal influenza viruses, in generating efficacious long-term humoral immunity. Due to the necessity of germinal center formation in generating long-lived high affinity antibodies, the germinal center has increasingly become a target for the development of novel or improvement of less-efficacious vaccines. However, there remains a major gap in current influenza research to effectively target T follicular helper cells during vaccination to alter the germinal center reaction.

Association between preoperative right heart catheterization parameters and outcomes in patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting.

Right ventricular catheterization may capture information that can help define prognosis before coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In this study, we evaluate the association between preoperative right heart catheterization parameters and outcomes of patients undergoing isolated CABG. All patients undergoing isolated CABG at our institution from 2013 to 2021 who also underwent preoperative right heart catheterization <14 days prior to isolated CABG were retrospectively queried.