Vesicle tension in porous membranes: Aspiration, spreading, and tube extraction.

We review recent theoretical and experimental advances in understanding the mechanical tension of porous vesicles. Focusing on three key deformation processes, aspiration, spreading, and tube extrusion, we show how membrane porosity introduces novel timescales and feedback mechanisms that alter vesicle behavior. In particular, we highlight how tube extrusion from porous membranes demonstrates the vesicle's ability to regulate internal volume and dynamically modulate membrane tension.

Transverse vortices induced by modulated granular shear flows of elongated particles.

We perform discrete element method (DEM) simulations of elongated grains in a shear cell for various particle aspect ratios and contact frictions, with an additional heterogeneous force perturbation in the flow direction. For a perturbation in the form of a single Fourier mode, we show that the response of the system consists of transverse secondary flows that average onto a pattern of four vortices. We also theoretically studied this phenomenon by generalizing the granular rheology μ(I) to the case of elongated grains and computing the linear response to such a perturbation.

HIV-phyloTSI: subtype-independent estimation of time since HIV-1 infection for cross-sectional measures of population incidence using deep sequence data.

Background: Estimating the time since HIV infection (TSI) at population level is essential for tracking changes in the global HIV epidemic. Most methods for determining TSI give a binary classification of infections as recent or non-recent within a window of several months, and cannot assess the cumulative impact of an intervention.

Results: We developed a Random Forest Regression model, HIV-phyloTSI, which combines measures of within-host diversity and divergence to generate continuous TSI estimates directly from viral deep-sequencing data, with no need for additional variables.

The cost of remembering: engram competition as a flexible mechanism of forgetting.

The retention and use of long-term memories is crucial for adaptive behavior. While stable memories help organisms anticipate outcomes, they may become maladaptive if not updated to reflect new conditions as the environment changes. Accumulating evidence suggests that forgetting reflects altered activation of engram cells, with memories persisting in a latent state rather than being erased.

Biphasic Continuous Esterification of Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents using ICHEM Technology: A Step toward New Hydrotropes with Potential Anticorrosive Properties.

Impact in Continuous Flow Heated Mechanochemistry (ICHEM) technology was used for the first biphasic continuous flow esterification of choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with nonmiscible acetic, hexanoic, and octanoic anhydrides, resulting in the synthesis of novel hydrotropic DESs. The reaction was first optimized in batch using acetic anhydride, and then scaled up to continuous flow in an 80 mL WAB Research Lab ICHEM reactor, achieving 90-95% yields at lab scales of 50-100 g. The physicochemical properties of the three new DESs were analyzed, revealing that esterification via the ICHEM process had minimal impact on these properties compared to the conventional batch method.

m6A modification in R-loop homeostasis: a potential target for cancer therapeutics.

R-loops or DNA-RNA hybrids are prominent nucleic acid structures that commonly arise during transcription. These structures play important biological functions, such as regulating gene expression and DNA repair. However, when unresolved by nucleic acid processing factors, pathological R-loops can be harmful and lead to genome instability.

Multiple oestradiol functions inhibit ferroptosis and acute kidney injury.

Acute tubular necrosis mediates acute kidney injury (AKI) and nephron loss, the hallmark of end-stage renal disease. For decades, it has been known that female kidneys are less sensitive to AKI. Acute tubular necrosis involves dynamic cell death propagation by ferroptosis along the tubular compartment.

Novel insights into vascular dysfunction in cuprizone-induced demyelination through functional ultrasound imaging.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS), affecting 2.8 million people worldwide, that presents multiple features, one of which is demyelination. Although treatments exist to manage the condition, no cure has been found to stop the progression of neurodegeneration.

Fast automatic multiscale electron tomography for sensitive materials under environmental conditions.

The demand for characterisation of beam-sensitive samples at the nanoscale in environmental conditions is increasing for applications in materials science and biology. Here we communicate a protocol with custom software, enabling precise control over the electron microscope, and a custom sample holder, facilitating automated acquisition of fast 3D data from a single object under environmental conditions. This method enables imaging with a controlled electron dose and multi-modal electron signals.

UHRF2 mediates resistance to DNA methylation reprogramming in primordial germ cells.

In mammals, primordial germ cells (PGCs) undergo global erasure of DNA methylation with delayed demethylation of germline genes and selective retention of DNA methylation at evolutionarily young retrotransposons. However, the molecular mechanisms of persistent DNA methylation in PGCs remain unclear. Here we report that resistance to DNA methylation reprogramming in PGCs requires UHRF2, the paralog of the DNMT1 cofactor UHRF1.

Tubulin tyrosine ligase variant perturbs microtubule tyrosination, causing hypertrophy in patient-specific and CRISPR gene-edited iPSC-cardiomyocytes.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a hereditary heart condition characterized by either preserved or reduced ejection fraction without any underlying secondary causes. The primary cause of HCM is sarcomeric gene mutations, which account for only 40%-50% of the total cases. Here, we identified a pathogenic missense variant in tubulin tyrosine ligase (TTL p.

Singular value decomposition of microbubbles echoes for skull aberration corrections in ultrasound localization microscopy.

Non-invasive imaging of the brain vascular system is key for the understanding and monitoring of cerebral small vessel disease and neurological disorders. ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) is emerging as a powerful modality for the cerebral angiographic and hemodynamic imaging up to the microscopic scale in preclinical and clinical settings. However, the skull bone induces aberrations during ultrasonic propagation leading to distortions and shadowed regions.

A top-down control of stress-induced REM sleep shortening.

The cerebral structures orchestrating the daily cycles of wake, rapid eye movement (REM), and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep have been identified in remarkable detail. However, the mechanisms by which they dynamically adapt to environmental challenges remain to be fully understood. Here, we show that the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a key hub in stress regulation, modulates sleep architecture through direct projections to the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), a major sleep center.

A light-resuming strategy as a screening method for selecting Sec61 inhibitors down-modulating PD-L1 expression.

The perturbation of protein translocation into the secretory pathway using Sec61 translocon inhibitors is a novel and promising strategy for tackling many pathological situations, including cancer and viral infections. However, a highly sensitive and direct screening platform for selecting Sec61 inhibitors is unavailable. Here, we develop a "resuming luminescence upon translocation interference" (RELITE) assay capable of selecting Sec61 inhibitors in a single round of screening.

Proton therapy for adult type IDH-mutated glioma: Proglio-1, a multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Gliomas with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation affect young adults with a long-life expectancy. While radiotherapy is effective, studies have shown its detrimental effects on cognition and quality of life. Unlike photon radiotherapy, proton therapy better spares healthy tissue.

Imaging the brain by traversing the skull with light and sound.

Optical and ultrasonic techniques for imaging the living brain have traditionally been limited to low-resolution interrogations or highly invasive craniotomy procedures. Localization-based techniques for super-resolution ultrasound and optical imaging, as well as hybrid optoacoustic techniques, are now enabling multiscale interrogations of the brain to exploit anatomical, functional and molecular contrasts non-invasively or minimally invasively. However, the skull bone remains a substantial obstacle to the transcranial application of light- and sound-based imaging techniques.

Quantifying the effects of antibiotic resistance and within-host competition on strain fitness in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Competition plays a key role in shaping the structure and diversity of bacterial populations. In many clinically important bacterial species, strains compete at multiple scales: at the between-host scale for new hosts to colonise, and at the within-host scale during co-colonisation. Characterising these multiple facets of competition plays an important role in understanding bacterial ecology.

Safety in the shallows: nearshore coastal habitats can provide physical and thermal features that optimize escape performance in newborn blacktip reef sharks ().

The prevailing shark nursery paradigm suggests that high survival in these habitats is primarily driven by reduced predator encounters: so-called pre-encounter risk. In this study, we propose an alternative or complementary mechanism: that some nurseries may lower post-encounter risk by providing environmental conditions that maximize escape performance. To test this hypothesis, we examined how temperature, depth and habitat complexity influence the escape performance of newborn blacktip reef sharks () in Mo'orea, French Polynesia.

Early Postnatal Shank3 Downregulation in the Nucleus Accumbens Impairs Performance in Social Conditioning Paradigms in Male Mice.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by reduced social interactions, as well as repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Mutations in SHANK3, a scaffolding protein located postsynaptically at excitatory synapses, are associated with ASD, schizophrenia, and intellectual disability in humans. Similar autism-like phenotypes have been observed in Shank3-deficient rodent models.

A switch to non-proliferative growth sustains Drosophila wing development during the early pupal stage.

Understanding how final organ size is established during development remains a fundamental yet unresolved question in biology. Size determination depends on two key processes: how organs increase their mass and how they stop growing upon reaching an appropriate size. Over the past few decades, organ transplantation and regeneration experiments have provided broad insights into size determination.

Design specifications for biomedical virtual twins in engineered adoptive cellular immunotherapies.

In (immune)oncology, virtual twins (VTs) offer patient-individual decision support. Nevertheless, current VTs do not incorporate the unique properties of engineered adoptive cellular immunotherapies (eACIs). Here, we outline the minimal design specifications for VTs for engineered ACIs (eACI-VTs) to model the complex interplay between cell product and patient physiology.

Meteorins regulate the formation of the left-right organizer and the establishment of vertebrate body asymmetry.

While the exterior of vertebrate bodies appears bilaterally symmetrical, internal organ positioning and morphology frequently exhibit left-right (L-R) asymmetries. In several vertebrates, including human, mouse, frog, and zebrafish, left-right symmetry-breaking during embryonic development is initiated by a ciliated organ called the Node or left-right organizer. Within the Node, a leftward flow of extraembryonic fluid named the Nodal flow mediates the asymmetric expressions of Nodal factors.

El Niño and droughts in Southeast Asia: A stochastic-chaotic modeling approach.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) significantly impacts global weather, with strong El Niño events often linked to prolonged dry conditions in Southeast Asia. While several high-impact El Niño events have coincided with prolonged dry conditions, leading to droughts, the underlying causal mechanisms remain complex and incompletely understood. In this study, we develop a minimal, data-driven model to quantify the conditions under which ENSO events amplify prolonged dry conditions risk in Southeast Asia.

Sequential spin-logic algorithmics for Ising machines.

Ising machines are considered as promising hardware solvers. The idea is to map the solution of a problem to the ground state of an Ising spin glass and find this minimum by performing annealing in an Ising machine that emulates spin physics. However, previous approaches to deterministic sequential algorithmics have been plagued by the hiearchy problem: couplings become exponentially small along the causal direction.

Genuine Quantum Advantage in Anharmonic Bosonic Quantum Batteries.

Finding a quantum battery model that displays a genuine quantum advantage, while being prone to experimental fabrication, is an extremely challenging task. In this Letter we propose a deceptively simple quantum battery model that displays a genuine quantum advantage, saturating the quantum speed limit. It consists of two harmonic oscillators (the charger and the battery), coupled during the charging dynamics by an anharmonic interaction.