Systemic and Mucosal Humoral Immune Responses to Lumazine Synthase 60-mer Nanoparticle SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines.

Vaccines that stimulate systemic and mucosal immunity to a level required to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission are an unmet need. Highly protective hepatitis B and human papillomavirus nanoparticle vaccines highlight the potential of multivalent nanoparticle vaccine platforms to provide enhanced immunity. Here, we report the construction and characterization of self-assembling 60-subunit icosahedral nanoparticle SARS-CoV-2 vaccines using the bacterial enzyme lumazine synthase (LuS).

Positive Ethnic Identity Content Among Adolescents With Minority Ethnic Backgrounds Living in Sweden.

Previous research on adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds has often centered on risks and vulnerabilities due to the effects of racism in society. This however leaves a gap in the literature when it comes to positive aspects of ethnic identity, and the gap is even more pronounced when it comes to European contexts since the few previous studies have largely been performed in the United States. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore positive ethnic identity content among adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds living in Sweden.

The Impact of Zirconium Oxide Nanoparticles on the Mechanical and Physical Properties of Glass Ionomer Dental Materials.

Glass ionomer cements (GICs) have been clinically attractive dental restorative materials for many years and are widely used as luting, lining, and restorative materials. However, these materials still have limitations in terms of weak physio-mechanical properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of zirconium oxide nanoparticles (nano-ZrO particles) on the physical and mechanical properties of two commercially available GICs.

Revealing New Insights into the Dynamics of Human Aromatase Interacting with Cytochrome P450 Reductase in a Realistic Membrane Environment.

Molecular dynamics simulations were applied to human aromatase (HA) complexed with cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) within a realistic endoplasmic reticulum membrane environment to evaluate its structural and dynamical properties. CPR was examined to have a specific point mutation (P281T), where proline was substituted by threonine, which is envisaged to demonstrate a far-reaching influence on its structure, dynamics, and electron transfer behavior. Since CPR plays a key role in the electron transfer to HA, catalyzing steroidogenesis, obtaining detailed information on the mutation effect of CPR on HA was crucial.

Who Benefits Most? Personality Traits as Predictors of Identity Intervention Outcomes in Adolescence.

Interventions focused on adolescents' identity development have shown promising results, but questions remain as to which adolescents benefit most from them. This preregistered study examined how personality traits (Big Five domains and higher-order meta-traits) moderate adolescents' responsiveness to the Identity Project, a school-based intervention supporting ethnic-racial identity development. A total of 509 adolescents from 22 classrooms in the southwestern regions of Sweden participated in an intervention and control group design (M = 16.

seed proteins effect on snake venom enzymes with antioxidant and antibacterial activities.

Objective: This study assessed the inhibitory potential of proteins extracted from seeds on snake venom toxic enzymes along with their potential antioxidant and antibacterial activities.

Methods: Crude proteins were extracted using common biological buffers (20 mM acetate, 20 mM phosphate and 20 mM Tris) at a ratio of 1:5 followed by 80 % ammonium sulfate precipitation, dialysis, and lyophilization. Then the lyophilized extracts were resolved on 15 % sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) gels.

Exploring the structural and functional dynamics of trimeric and tetrameric states of influenza encoded PB1-F2 viroporin through molecular dynamics simulations.

Influenza Viruses have always been a major health concern due to their highly contagious nature. The PB1-F2 viroporin encoded by the influenza A virus is known to be a pro-apoptotic protein involved in cell death induction of the host immune cells. The structural arrangement and the mode of action of PB1-F2 viroporin have not been fully understood yet.

Evaluation of a nanoparticle influenza vaccine in the pig model.

Influenza A virus (IAV) infection causes substantial disease burden and vaccines capable of conferring broad immunity are lacking, necessitating frequent reformulation of seasonal vaccines. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunogenicity and efficacy of an influenza nanoparticle vaccine developed to confer immunity against human seasonal H1N1 viruses from the pandemic 2009 (1A.3.

A manifesto for a globally diverse, equitable, and inclusive open science.

The field of psychology has rapidly transformed its open science practices in recent years. Yet there has been limited progress in integrating principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. In this Perspective, we raise the spectre of Questionable Generalisability Practices and the issue of MASKing (Making Assumptions based on Skewed Knowledge), calling for more responsible practices in generalising study findings and co-authorship to promote global equity in knowledge production.

Chromosome number alterations cause apoptosis and cellular hypertrophy in induced pluripotent stem cell models of embryonic epiblast cells.

Chromosomal aneuploidies are a major cause of developmental failure and pregnancy loss. To investigate the possible consequences of aneuploidy on early embryonic development in vitro, we focused on primed pluripotent stem cells that are relatable to the epiblast of post-implantation embryos in vivo. We used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as an epiblast model and altered chromosome numbers by treating with reversine, a small-molecule inhibitor of monopolar spindle 1 kinase (MSP1) that inactivates the spindle assembly checkpoint, which has been strongly implicated in chromosome mis-segregation and aneuploidy generation.

The structure and correlates of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire among U.S. racial/ethnic groups.

Research on externalizing psychopathology has relied heavily on White samples to generate core knowledge, with few studies examining variability in its components, including grandiose narcissism, across racial/ethnic groups. This preregistered (https://osf.io/n4s3f/) study addressed the following research questions: (1) Is there evidence for measurement invariance of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ) across racial/ethnic groups?; (2) Are there racial/ethnic group differences in (a) mean levels of the two NARQ subscales: admiration and rivalry, and (b) correlations between NARQ subscales and self-esteem?; (3) Do variations in ethnic identity commitment account for any observed group differences in the mean levels and correlations? The sample consisted of 1,248 U.

Modulating the immunodominance hierarchy of immunoglobulin germline-encoded structural motifs targeting the influenza hemagglutinin stem.

Antibodies targeting epitopes through germline-encoded motifs can be found in different individuals. While these public antibodies are often beneficial, they also pose hurdles for subdominant antibodies to emerge. Here, we use transgenic mice that reproduce the human IGHV1-6901 germline-encoded antibody response to the conserved stem epitope on group 1 hemagglutinin (HA) of influenza A virus to show that this germline-endowed response can be overridden by a subdominant yet cross-group reactive public antibody response.

Integrating systems of power and privilege in the study of resilience.

Although current approaches to the study of resilience acknowledge the role of context, rarely do those conceptualizations attend to societal systems and structures that include hierarchies of power and privilege-namely systems of racism, colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalism-nor do they articulate how these structural realities are embedded within individual experiences. We offer critiques of the current literature from this structural lens, using the concept of master narratives to articulate the incomplete and, at times, damaging story that the discipline of psychology has told about resilience. We then provide three models that center history, systems, and structures of society that can be employed in the study of resilience.

Using structural topic modeling to understand ethnicity-related narratives.

Objective: Narrative identity is a promising approach for understanding the content of individuals' ethnic identities but can be limited by the time-intensive nature of human coding and the reliance on preestablished coding systems.

Background: The aim of our preregistered study is to elucidate the content of individuals' ethnicity-related experiences using a novel statistical approach.

Method: We applied structural topic modeling (STM), a natural language processing tool, to narratives written by an ethnically diverse sample of 1149 young adults about a moment they felt aware of their ethnicity.

Research as resistance: Naming and dismantling the master narrative of "good" science.

The call for psychological science to make amends for "causing harm to communities of color and contributing to systemic inequities" (American Psychological Association, 2022a) requires a critical acknowledgment that science is not neutral but a sociopolitical and ideological endeavor. From its inception, psychology used science to produce what was framed as incontrovertible "hard" evidence of racial hierarchy, infallible "proof" that white people (i.e.

Evaluating a School-Based Intervention on Adolescents' Ethnic-racial Identity in Sweden.

Finding developmentally appropriate ways to support youth in understanding their own ethnic-racial identity is needed, particularly in contexts like Sweden where such support is not the norm. This preregistered longitudinal study examined whether an 8-week school-based intervention, the Identity Project, impacted youth ethnic-racial identity exploration (participation and search), resolution, private regard, and centrality. Participants were 509 adolescents in the 10 grade (M = 16.

Identification of a Cryptic Pocket in Methionine Aminopeptidase-II Using Adaptive Bandit Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Markov State Models.

Methionine aminopeptidase-II (MetAP-II) is a metalloprotease, primarily responsible for the cotranslational removal of the N-terminal initiator methionine from the nascent polypeptide chain during protein synthesis. MetAP-II has been implicated in angiogenesis and endothelial cell proliferation and is therefore considered a validated target for cancer therapeutics. However, there is no effective drug available against MetAP-II.

Ethnic-Racial Identity and Attitude Change: Assessments of Outgroup and Diversity Attitudes among Adolescents in Sweden.

Outgroup and diversity attitudes are important components of intercultural understanding and well-being. Despite the potential of ethnic-racial identity development as a means to foster positive outgroup and diversity attitudes, little is known about its effectiveness in rapidly diversifying contexts such as Sweden. This pre-registered study filled this gap by examining if adolescents taking part in an intervention focused on ethnic-racial identity exploration, the Identity Project, also reported change in outgroup and diversity attitudes, and whether migration background, education type, and ethnic-racial identity development predicted such change.

Evaluation of the Impact of Irradiance Lamps and Storage Media on Elution of TEGDMA from Dental Composites.

Objectives:  The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of irradiance light and storage media on the elution of triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) from conventional Filtek Z350XT 3M ESPE and two bulk-fill composites Shofu Beautifil-Bulk and Filtek Bulk fill flowable 3M ESPE using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Materials And Methods:  Shofu Beautifil-Bulk, Filtek Bulk fill flowable 3M ESPE, and Filtek Z350XT 3M ESPE were the three types of composites used in this study. Disk shaped samples of 4-mm thickness and 10-mm diameter were fabricated using a stainless steel mold and were polymerized using light emitting diode (LED) and quartz tungsten halogen (QTH) lamps.

A guide for social science journal editors on easing into open science.

Journal editors have a large amount of power to advance open science in their respective fields by incentivising and mandating open policies and practices at their journals. The Data PASS Journal Editors Discussion Interface (JEDI, an online community for social science journal editors: www.dpjedi.

Assessment of Salivary MMP-8 and IL-1β for the Diagnosis of Periodontal Diseases in Pakistani Population.

Objective:  Clinical methods use the subjective diagnosis of periodontal diseases by visual observation that could result in differences and variability of diagnosis. The addition of specific markers could aid in the accurate diagnosis of the local population. The objective of the study was to target two of the major proteins for possible significance in such an approach.

Attempting Well-Tempered Funnel Metadynamics Simulations for the Evaluation of the Binding Kinetics of Methionine Aminopeptidase-II Inhibitors.

Understanding the unbinding kinetics of protein-ligand complexes is considered a significant approach for the design of ligands with desired specificity and safety. In recent years, enhanced sampling methods have emerged as effective tools for studying the unbinding kinetics of protein-ligand complexes at the atomistic level. MetAP-II is a target for the treatment of cancer for which not a single effective drug is available yet.

Testing exploratory narrative processing as a mechanism of change in identity status processes over 4 years in college-going emerging adults.

We examined the critical task of emerging adulthood-identity development-via analyses of trajectories of identity exploration and commitment over the college years, as well as whether narrative processing of important events during this period served as a mechanism of identity exploration and commitment. We took advantage of a unique and comprehensive longitudinal design, which included 12 waves of data, both quantitative and qualitative assessments, collected over 4 years, on two distinct college campuses in the Northwestern and Northeastern regions of the United States (Wave 1, = 639; growth models using all waves, = 251). Analyses for this study were preregistered after data collection was complete.

Refined semi-lethal aerosol H5N1 influenza model in cynomolgus macaques for evaluation of medical countermeasures.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 viruses cause high mortality in humans and have pandemic potential. Effective vaccines and treatments against this threat are urgently needed. Here, we have refined our previously established model of lethal H5N1 infection in cynomolgus macaques.