Novel Grm6 Variant in a no b-wave (nob) Mouse Model: Phenotype Characterization and Gene Therapy.

Purpose: To characterize a no b-wave (nob) mouse model of congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) caused by a Grm6 variant that disrupts photoreceptor-to-bipolar cell signaling. Additionally, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of gene therapy in restoring visual function.

Methods: The nob mouse was generated through selective breeding to regenerate the nob phenotype.

NMRFx: Integrated Software for NMR Data Processing, Visualization, Analysis and Structure Calculation.

NMR spectroscopy is applied across a wide range of scientific disciplines to derive chemical, structural, and dynamical information for a broad and diverse range of molecular systems. The utility of the technique depends on robust computational protocols for processing, visualizing, and analyzing a wide range of experimental data types and transforming the data into useful chemical and structural information. Here we introduce NMRFx, a novel software application that integrates and augments features of our existing NMRViewJ and NMRFx Processor applications.

Training of physical neural networks.

Physical neural networks (PNNs) are a class of neural-like networks that make use of analogue physical systems to perform computations. Although at present confined to small-scale laboratory demonstrations, PNNs could one day transform how artificial intelligence (AI) calculations are performed. Could we train AI models many orders of magnitude larger than present ones? Could we perform model inference locally and privately on edge devices? Research over the past few years has shown that the answer to these questions is probably "yes, with enough research".

Photonic terahertz phased array via selective excitation of nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry elements.

Phased arrays are crucial in various technologies, such as radar and wireless communications, due to their ability to precisely control and steer electromagnetic waves. This precise control improves signal processing and enhances imaging performance. However, extending phased arrays to the terahertz (THz) frequency range has proven challenging, especially for high-frequency operation, broadband performance, two-dimensional (2D) phase control with large antenna arrays, and flexible phase modulation.

Discrete Actuation of Water-Responsive Crystalline Metal-Peptide Frameworks.

Engineering guest-responsive materials capable of controlled and precise sorption behavior and structural deformation in response to external stimuli is imperative for various applications. However, existing systems often exhibit complex, unpredictable dynamics, posing challenges for efficient control and utilization. Here, we design crystalline metal-peptide frameworks with tunable water-responsive (WR) dynamics by assembling glycine-threonine (Gly-Thr, GT) or glycine-serine (Gly-Ser, GS) peptides with zinc (Zn) ions, achieving either continuous or discrete threshold water-sorption-dependent phase transitions.

The Critical Role of the C-terminal Lobe of Calmodulin in Activating Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase.

Eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2K), a member of the α-kinase family, modulates translational rates by phosphorylating eEF-2, a GTPase that facilitates the translocation of the nascent chain on the ribosome during the elongation phase of protein synthesis. eEF-2K is regulated by diverse cellular cues, many of which sensitize it to the Ca-effector protein calmodulin (CaM). CaM, which binds and allosterically activates eEF-2K in the presence of Ca, contains two structural "lobes," each with a pair of Ca-binding EF-hands.

Heavy metal contamination and blue carbon sequestration in mangrove ecosystems of Puerto Rico.

Heavy metal contamination in coastal ecosystems can significantly impact biological activity, metal retranslocation, and biogeochemical cycling. This study assessed the concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in mangrove sediments and leaves of two ecosystems in Puerto Rico that differed in their proximity to urban areas: La Parguera and Laguna Grande. Metal bioconcentration factors and retranslocation percentages (RT%) were determined.

Broad-spectrum synthetic carbohydrate receptors (SCRs) inhibit viral entry across multiple virus families.

Viral pandemics continue to threaten global health and economic stability. Despite medical advances, the absence of broad-spectrum antivirals (BSAs) prevents rapid responses to emerging viral threats. This is largely due to the lack of universal drug targets across diverse viral families and high variability among viral proteins.

Topological and Reconfigurable Terahertz Metadevices.

The terahertz (THz) frequency range, situated between microwave and infrared radiation, has emerged as a pivotal domain with broad applications in high-speed communication, imaging, sensing, and biosensing. The development of topological THz metadevices represents a notable advancement for photonic technologies, leveraging the distinctive electronic properties and quantum-inspired phenomena inherent to topological materials. These devices enable robust waveguiding capabilities, positioning them as critical components for on-chip data transfer and photonic integrated circuits, particularly within emerging 6G communication frameworks.

Roadmap for Photonics with 2D Materials.

Triggered by advances in atomic-layer exfoliation and growth techniques, along with the identification of a wide range of extraordinary physical properties in self-standing films consisting of one or a few atomic layers, two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and other van der Waals (vdW) crystals now constitute a broad research field expanding in multiple directions through the combination of layer stacking and twisting, nanofabrication, surface-science methods, and integration into nanostructured environments. Photonics encompasses a multidisciplinary subset of those directions, where 2D materials contribute remarkable nonlinearities, long-lived and ultraconfined polaritons, strong excitons, topological and chiral effects, susceptibility to external stimuli, accessibility, robustness, and a completely new range of photonic materials based on layer stacking, gating, and the formation of moiré patterns. These properties are being leveraged to develop applications in electro-optical modulation, light emission and detection, imaging and metasurfaces, integrated optics, sensing, and quantum physics across a broad spectral range extending from the far-infrared to the ultraviolet, as well as enabling hybridization with spin and momentum textures of electronic band structures and magnetic degrees of freedom.

Probing Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution at Individual Al:SrTiO/RhCrO Photocatalyst Particles.

Particle-based photocatalysts for overall water splitting convert solar energy into hydrogen fuel without the use of any photovoltaic devices. As such they have the potential to revolutionize renewable energy production on Earth. While proven efficiencies have reached 1.

Electrical coherent driving of chiral antiferromagnet.

Electric current driving of antiferromagnetic states at radio or higher frequencies remains challenging to achieve. In this study, we report all-electrical, gigahertz-range coherent driving of chiral antiferromagnet manganese-tin (MnSn) nanodot samples. High coherence in multiple trials and threshold current insensitive to pulse width, in contrast to results observed with ferromagnets, were achieved in subnanosecond range, allowing 1000/1000 switching by 0.

Current practices in the study of biomolecular condensates: a community comment.

The realization that the cell is abundantly compartmentalized into biomolecular condensates has opened new opportunities for understanding the physics and chemistry underlying many cellular processes, fundamentally changing the study of biology. The term biomolecular condensate refers to non-stoichiometric assemblies that are composed of multiple types of macromolecules in cells, occur through phase transitions, and can be investigated by using concepts from soft matter physics. As such, they are intimately related to aqueous two-phase systems and water-in-water emulsions.

Impact of Tiny Fermi Pockets with Extremely High Mobility on the Hall Anomaly in the Kagome Metal CsV_{3}Sb_{5}.

The kagome metal CsV_{3}Sb_{5} exhibits an unusual charge-density-wave (CDW) order, where the emergence of loop current order that breaks time-reversal symmetry (TRS) has been proposed. A key feature of this CDW phase is a nonmonotonic Hall effect at low fields, often attributed to TRS breaking. However, its origin remains unclear.

Efficient and tunable photochemical charge transfer via long-lived Bloch surface wave polaritons.

Hybrid light-matter molecular exciton-polariton states have been proposed as a strategy to directly modify the efficiency and rate of photoinduced molecular charge transfer reactions. However, the efficacy of polariton-driven photochemistry remains an open question owing to the experimental challenges to tease out this effect. Here we demonstrate conditions under which photoinduced polaritonic charge transfer can be achieved and visualized using momentum-resolved ultrafast spectroscopy.

Photonic Spin-Locking via Momentum-Biased Higher-Order Topological Orbital Hybridization.

The advanced manipulation of topological photonic states with expanded degrees of freedom offers innovative ways of achieving robust light modulation and control. Here, by harnessing the orbital degree of freedom, strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and associated photonic spin-locking of Type-II higher-order topological states (HOTSs) are theoretically and experimentally demonstrated via momentum-biased orbital hybridization at the apex of a Kagome triangle lattice. The momentum bias, induced by the tilted incident light, not only produces symmetry breaking of the Kagome triangle lattice, but also introduces orbital momentum to Type-II HOTS.

Acquired Radioresistance Through Adaptive Evolution with Gamma Radiation as Selection Pressure: Increased Expression and Induction of Anti-Stress Genes.

Elucidating the mechanisms of radioresistance in highly radiotolerant organisms can provide valuable insights into the adaptation and evolution of organisms. However, research has been limited on many naturally occurring radioresistant organisms due to a lack of information regarding their genetic and biochemical characteristics and the difficulty of handling them experimentally. To address this, we conducted an experiment on adaptive evolution using gamma radiation as the selection pressure to generate evolved with gamma radiation resistance approximately one order of magnitude greater than that of wild-type .

Peptide Coacervates Can Protect Sequestered Oligonucleotides from Nucleases and Release Them for Transcription and Translation.

We demonstrate that coacervates, membraneless organelles formed by liquid-liquid phase separation, sequester and protect short DNA reporters and a functional luciferase gene from enzymatic degradation by various nucleases. Associative coacervates, formed by electrostatic interactions between polyhistidine peptides and ATP, inhibit degradation very efficiently. This protection arises from strong electrostatic interactions between the peptides and oligonucleotides, limiting the enzyme access to recognition and active sites.

The translation initiation factor DHX29 appears to pull on mRNA in a direction opposite to scanning.

The DExH-box helicase DHX29 plays a critical role in mammalian translation initiation. It is required for the scanning of mRNAs with complex 5'UTRs. Despite its importance, the detailed mechanism of DHX29's action has remained debated.

An integrative approach to bilingual cognition: preliminary insights into phonetic learning and sensorimotor adaptation.

Introduction: This study investigates the cognitive consequences of bilingualism by examining phonetic learning, speech motor adaptation, and verbal memory.

Methods: Early Spanish-English bilinguals divided into high and intermediate proficiency groups and English monolinguals completed three tasks: (1) production of an artificial English accent with novel phonotactic rules, (2) serial digit span in English, and (3) production of unfamiliar speech sounds during real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI).

Results: Bilinguals, particularly those with high proficiency, outperformed monolinguals in phonetic and articulatory learning.

Elevating Testosterone and Androstenedione Produces Temporary Sex-Dependent Variation in Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) Embryonic Development.

Vertebrate growth rates may respond to maternally supplied steroids, yet injections of individual hormones into avian eggs of different species have produced inconsistent results. This might be because diverse steroids' concentrations are naturally correlated in yolks, injections are not elevating hormones at critical times in development, or injected hormones are rapidly metabolized by the developing embryo. To explore these alternatives, we injected naturally occurring levels of androstenedione (A4) and testosterone (T) or an oil control into fertile Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) eggs at the onset (Day 0) and/or on Day 6 of incubation.

Simultaneous RNA Sequencing and DNA Methylation Profiling Reveals Neural Mechanisms That Regulate Sensitive Period Behavioral Learning.

Developmental processes emerge from both maturational and experience-dependent mechanisms. Experience at the proper maturational stage is essential for the acquisition of many complex cognitive and behavioral processes. A striking example of this is a critical period, a restricted developmental phase during which experience is required for both behavioral acquisition and period closure.

On the emergence of metabolism: the evolution of proteins that powered life.

Life is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Hence, life must extract energy from the environment. On Earth, that energy is driven by networks of metabolic reactions in all cells which ultimately move electrons and protons (i.

Serotonergic modulation of the BNST-CeA pathway reveals sex differences in fear learning.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by intense fear memory formation and is diagnosed more often in women than men. Here we show that increasing serotonin pharmacologically before auditory fear conditioning promoted memory recall in female and male mice, and that females were more sensitive to this effect. Optogenetic stimulation of raphe terminals in the anterior dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (adBNST) during fear conditioning increased c-Fos expression in the BNST and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and enhanced fear memory recall through activation of 5-HT receptors in the adBNST in females only.

PV - Oligodendrocyte Interactions in the Infralimbic Cortex Promote Extracellular Plasticity after Safety Learning.

Safety learning is mediated by the infralimbic region (IL) of the medial prefrontal cortex, but its cellular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show that safety learning improves cognitive flexibility in the long-term, which is associated with recruitment of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to a satellite position at parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in the IL and their maturation into oligodendrocytes (OLs), as well as a decrease in perineuronal nets (PNNs) surrounding PVs paired with satellite OLs. Using scRNA transcriptomic data mining, we demonstrate that immature OLs primarily express PNN assembly genes, whereas mature OLs express PNN degradation enzymes.