Soil drivers of fungal, bacterial and plant diversity in contaminated Southern Californian sites: Implications for dryland bioremediation.

This exploratory study surveyed seven contaminated brownfields and Superfund sites in Southern California to identify locally adapted species tolerant of mixed organic and metal contamination under arid and semi-arid conditions. Five novel native plants, including Brickellia californica, Baccharis salicifolia, Baccharis sarothroides, Eriogonum fasciculatum, and Heterotheca grandiflora were identified as hyperaccumulators of copper (Cu), alongside a non-native species from the Asteraceae family, Helminthotheca echioides. Additional metal-accumulating plants (including native plants) for lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), and nickel (Ni) were identified, and warrant further evaluation for their phytoremediation potential.

A Collection of Research and Review Articles From Leaders in the Field of Respiratory Biomechanics.

The beauty of the respiratory system is that it advects air from the mouth/nose to the deep lung, providing a substrate for the gas exchange needed for life. Due to the close interaction of structure and function, the lungs can deform under very small amounts of pressure. In addition, the lung serves as the first barrier of defense against inhaled toxins.

A mechanism-guided inverse engineering framework to unlock design principles of H-bonded organic frameworks for gas separation.

The diverse combinations of novel building blocks offer a vast design space for hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), rendering them highly promising for gas separation and purification. However, the underlying separation mechanism facilitated by their unique hydrogen-bond networks has not yet been fully understood. In this work, a comprehensive understanding of the separation mechanisms was achieved through an iterative data-driven inverse engineering approach established upon a hypothetical HOF database possessing nearly 110 000 structures created by a materials genomics method.

Characteristics and outcomes of venous thromboembolism-related litigation in orthopaedic surgery.

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a considerable source of morbidity, mortality, and economic burden within orthopaedic surgery. Our study aimed to analyze the characteristics and reasons for lawsuits pertaining to VTE levied against orthopaedic surgeons.

Methods: The Westlaw database was queried for cases filed between 1980 and 2023 against orthopaedic surgeons involving VTE, using the search terms "orthopaedic", "blood clot," "deep vein thrombosis," "venous thromboembolism," and "pulmonary embolism.

Systemic Activity and Phytotoxicity of Fluensulfone in Vegetable Transplants Infected by .

Fluensulfone is the active ingredient of the non-fumigant nematicide Nimitz. It is much less harmful to the environment and has much improved worker safety compared to broad-spectrum fumigant nematicides. The product is registered for use in a variety of crops, including fruiting vegetables, and is applied to soil 7-14 days before seeding or planting.

IsoPairFinder: A tool for biochemical pathway discovery using stable isotope tracing metabolomics.

The functional annotation of microbial genes lags far behind genome sequencing, leaving critical gaps in our knowledge of metabolic pathways. While integrating genetic manipulation with stable isotope tracing (SIT) metabolomics holds promise for pathway discovery, existing tools lack specialized capabilities for gene perturbation experiments. To address this need, we developed IsoPairFinder, a computational tool that identifies pathway intermediates by analyzing paired unlabeled (C) and isotope-labeled (C) metabolomics data from gene-edited microbes.

Longitudinal Associations between Well-Being and Academic Achievement throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: Testing the Moderating Role of Academic Stress among First-Generation and Continuing College Students.

First-generation and ethnic-racial minoritized college students experience greater academic disparities, but limited work has focused on intersectional experiences underlying academic achievement in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic over time. The current longitudinal study examined the associations between various forms of well-being (i.e.

mA modulates RAN translation from CAG repeat expansion RNA.

Nucleotide repeat expansions contribute to the development of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Recent studies revealed that DNA sequences with CAG and other nucleotide repeat expansions can undergo bidirectional transcription, and the ensuing transcripts could be translated into proteins through repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation; however, not much is known about the precise mechanisms underlying RAN translation. Here, we demonstrated that mA, installed by METTL3 and removed by FTO, promotes RAN translation in all three reading frames from the expanded CAG repeat RNA derived from the human gene, in which repeat expansion contributes to spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3).

Influence of gonadal and chromosomal sex on the brain transcriptome in a mouse species with natural sex reversal.

Sex chromosomes are expected to play a role in shaping the transcriptional architecture of sexual dimorphism, through the direct expression of sex-linked genes, by regulating autosomal genes, or in interactions with hormones. Yet, their degree of involvement remains elusive partly because chromosomal sex (e.g.

Effect of Hydrodynamic Shear Stress on Algal Cell Fate in 3D Extrusion Bioprinting.

The 3D bioprinting of aquatic photosynthetic organisms holds potential for applications in biosensing, wastewater treatment, and biofuel production. While algae cells can be immobilized in bioprinted cell-friendly matrices, there is a knowledge gap regarding the thresholds of hydrodynamic shear stress that affect the cells' functionality and viability during bioprinting. This study examines the effect of hydrodynamic shear stress on the fate of cells.

Cellular and circuit features distinguish mouse dentate gyrus semilunar granule cells and granule cells activated during contextual memory formation.

The dentate gyrus is critical for spatial memory formation and shows task-related activation of cellular ensembles considered as memory engrams. Semilunar granule cells (SGCs), a sparse dentate projection neuron subtype, were reported to be enriched among behaviorally activated neurons. By examining SGCs and granule cells (GCs) labeled during contextual memory formation in TRAP2 mice, we empirically tested competing hypotheses for GC and SGC recruitment into memory ensembles.

Optimization of Value for Sensitive Detection of Uridine and Thymidine Nucleosides by MS.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry has been widely used to quantify modified nucleosides enzymatically released from RNA and DNA. Compared to MS/MS, MS offers higher specificity for analytes in complex sample matrices because coeluting chemical interferences can be more effectively filtered out. To date, the detection of uracil- and thymine-containing nucleosides and their modified derivatives still suffers from poor sensitivity, owing, in part, to their relatively low proton affinities.

Genomic analysis of differentiation and demography of the formerly conspecific agile (Dipodomys agilis) and Dulzura (D. simulans) kangaroo rats.

Karyotype variation within Pacific kangaroo rat Dipodomys agilis motivated its division in 1997 into the agile kangaroo rat (AKR, D. agilis, 2N = 62) in the north of its range in California, and Dulzura kangaroo rat (DKR, D. simulans, 2N = 60) to the south, with a suspected sympatric zone south of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains.

Evans Syndrome: Analysis of 1255 Adult Cases in US Hospitals, Revealing Demographics, Associations, and Outcomes.

Evans syndrome (ES) is a rare immune disorder characterized by immune thrombocytopenia and warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA), with the possibility of autoimmune neutropenia (AIN). Limited data due to its rarity led us to perform a descriptive analysis of demographics, outcomes, and comorbidities. This study used the National Inpatient Sample database to identify Evans syndrome hospitalizations (ICD-10 code D69.

Increasing the Scale of the Mass Spectrometry Query Language Compendium with Explainable AI.

A significant bottleneck in metabolomics data interpretation is the effective use of domain knowledge to assign structural information based on fragmentation patterns. The mass spectrometry query language (MassQL) aims to make this process accessible and applicable across multiple analysis platforms. While advanced computational methods are capable of predicting compound structures from fragmentation data, AI/ML approaches often rely on complex, opaque criteria that are difficult to interpret or modify.

Antibiotic-Mediated Plasmonic-Mie Resonance for Biosensing Applications on a Novel Silicon Nanopillar Metasurface.

This study demonstrates a biosensing platform facilitated by localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) on a silicon (Si) nanopillar metasurface mediated by the presence of cephalexin (Cef) antibiotics in solution. The metasurface is designed to exhibit narrow quadrupolar Mie resonances that when coupled with bovine serum albumin-coated (BSA-coated) plasmonic gold nanospheres (BSANS) will produce an appreciable redshift at the peak resonance wavelength, occurring only in the presence of the target antibiotic. To optimize the performance of the Si nanopillars, the finite element method is utilized to fine-tune their diameters, heights, and periodicity, along with improvements to the fabrication techniques, under the BSANS-antibiotic binding assay.

Dynamic remodeling of centrioles and the microtubule cytoskeleton in the lifecycle of chytrid fungi.

Cell movement and division are complex behaviors driven by a dynamic internal cytoskeleton. The molecular components and principles of cytoskeletal assembly are well studied, but less is known about cytoskeletal remodeling events, including how centrioles transition from ciliary base to centrosome. Here we address this using the chytrid a zoosporic fungus which has centrioles and cilia, lost in most fungal lineages.

Molecular chameleons adaptability in target binding.

Estimates show that up to 85% of the human therapeutic proteomes are undruggable by traditional small molecules. Macrocycles, a class of molecular leads, often extend beyond the traditional drug space and offer the potential to modulate challenging targets within this 85%. These modalities exhibit significant conformational flexibility and often function as molecular chameleons, enabling them to adapt to environments with varying polarities while ensuring good oral bioavailability.

Preoperative Diagnostic Assessment of Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery: A 2025 Update.

Despite medical advances and increased perioperative testing, mortality and cardiovascular complications of noncardiac surgery (NCS) have hardly declined since the early 2000s. Studies demonstrate a disproportionate overutilization of preoperative diagnostic testing with a concurrent underutilization of interventions that have been shown to meaningfully modify mortality. Consequently, there has been a paradigm shift in the approach to perioperative testing.

Reverse Spectral Search Reimagined: A Simple but Overlooked Solution for Chimeric Spectral Annotation.

The exponential growth of untargeted metabolomics data, now reaching billions of mass spectra in public repositories, benefits from reannotation strategies for data reuse. While tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) library matching remains the gold standard, annotation workflows face a critical bottleneck: chimeric spectra. These composite spectra, arising from simultaneous fragmentation of multiple precursor ions, compromise the ability to annotate MS/MS spectra against nonchimeric reference spectra.

Theoretical Investigation of the Material Usage During On-Bead Enrichment of Post-Translationally Modified Peptides in Suspension Systems.

Over the past decade, the number and diversity of identified protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) have grown significantly. However, most PTMs occur at relatively low abundance, making selective enrichment of modified peptides essential. To address this, we developed a thermodynamic model describing the free beads enrichment in suspension enrichment process and derived a theoretical relationship between material dosage and analyte recovery.

Comparative evaluation of image registration techniques in functional ultrasound imaging.

Functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) is an emerging hemodynamic-based neuroimaging technique that combines high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity with extensive brain coverage, enabling a wide range of applications in preclinical brain research. Based on power Doppler imaging, fUSI measures changes in cerebral blood volume by detecting the back-scattered echoes from red blood cells moving within its field of view. Despite the significant contribution of fUSI technology to neuroscience research, its full potential is partly constrained by the challenge of accurately co-registering power Doppler vascular maps acquired across different sessions and/or animals to a single reference: an approach that could widen the scope of experimental paradigms and enable the utilization of advanced data analysis tools.

Variability in Long COVID Definitions and Validation of Published Prevalence Rates.

Importance: Long COVID definitions vary widely, and no consensus exists on how to accurately measure its prevalence, complicating both clinical care and research.

Objective: To assess long COVID prevalence using various definitions from published literature.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective, multicenter cohort study used data from the longitudinal Innovative Support for Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE).