bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Artificial Intelligence in Guiding Nutrition and Health Science Communication
Authors: Rowe Sylvia , Alexander Nick
Published: February 2025

For weeks—for months, actually—all one could hear out of the scientific world, the financial world, and other worlds was speculation about a new kind of technology that would disrupt and revolutionize human progress: artificial intelligence (AI). A technology using computers to perform work previously thought to require intelligence would certainly affect human enterprise from menial tasks to scientific research projects to every conceivable form of communication. The question is: Exactly how will these enterprises be affected? And will the results be positive or negative? For communicators of food and health science, who are trying to translate science for the public and for policymakers, the answers are critical. The authors of this article, extending their decades-long series on public trust, understanding, and communication of science issues, explore the challenges and opportunities that AI is expected to present. As usual, they offer guidance to food and health science communicators in dealing with AI challenges and in seizing those opportunities.
Membranous Staining of CD10 Is Related to Steatosis Changes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Investigation of CD10 Stainning in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Focal Nodular Hyperplasia, and Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: Wen Caiyan , Huang Chuqiang , Chen Shouguo , Liu Xia , Yin Weihua , Tao Lili
Published: February 2025

Aims:

To investigate the staining patterns of CD10 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).

Methods:

The expression pattern of CD10 was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in HCC cases. Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) cases were also examined. CD10 staining pattern in relationship with histologic subtypes and growth patterns of HCC was also analyzed.

Results:

CD10 expression was observed in 61% (64/105) of HCC cases, 100% (12/12) of FNH cases, and 31.6% (6/19) of ICC cases. Different expression patterns were noted, including cell membrane (13/64; 20.3%), luminal (9/64; 14.0%), cytoplasmic puncta (15/64; 23.4%), and canalicular (27/64; 42.3%) patterns of CD10 expression in HCC. Interestingly, CD10 membranous expression was found to be associated with steatosis changes. The observed pattern rates of CD10-positive ICC cases were 16.6% (1/6) for cell membrane, 50% (3/6) for cytoplasmic, and 33.3% (2/6) for luminal patterns; with 2 samples having a 1+ score (33.3%), 1 having a 2+ score (16.7%), and 3 having a 3+ score (50%).

Conclusions:

Different CD10 expression patterns were observed in HCC, FNH, and ICC. A canalicular CD10 expression pattern does not distinguish between benign and malignant lesions in the HCC, but reduced CD10 expression or no canalicular pattern suggests that a tumor is more likely to be HCC. Contrary to previous understanding, we found that CD10 is also expressed in ICC cases.
Unveiling Disparities in Patient Rights Awareness and Practice: Insights From Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Saadah Loai M. , Alnatour Dalal B. , Hadidi Mumen S. , Samara Fadia F. , Shakhshir Sana S. , Alnsour Wafa’a M. , Saket Maisa K.
Published: February 2025

Background:

High-quality universal health care coverage for all patients is the common theme in patient rights. However, pertinent investigations on this topic within the context of Jordanian health care are absent. This systematic review, coupled with a pooled artificial intelligence analysis of the data in retrieved studies, paves the way for such research by pooling data sets sourced from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Methods:

National Library of Medicine (NLM), through its secondary database of primary literature (PubMed), was queried with the terms “Patient” and “Rights” in April 2024. Quantitative surveys from MENA containing individual item assessments mapped to 1 of the 7 domains of Jordan National Patient Rights Charter were pooled. Finally, factors extracted for all studies were then used to build an artificial neural network (ANN) to test the hypothesis that information asymmetry in both awareness and practice of patient rights exist even among health care providers.

Results:

A total of 8 studies with 131 survey items were identified in the MENA region. All items tested either knowledge (awareness) or practice (implementation) of respondents regards patient rights except for 25 items in one study which measured both. ANN converged to a best net of multilayer feedforward with 3 hidden nodes. Patient right domain, from Jordanian Patient Rights Charter, ranked first and respondent type second as most important among the variables. However, there was huge and statistically significant asymmetry between students 0.602 (0.499 to 0.853), patients 0.627 (0.518 to 0.636), and nurses 0.492 (0.340 to 0.786) on one side and clinicians 1.166 (1.025 to 1.258) on the other side in the ANN model (both paired t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test P<0.0001) for any pairwise comparisons.

Conclusions:

Jordan National Patient Charter can fit any patient right item one could think of in the infinite space of patient rights. Huge information asymmetry exists in both awareness and implementation between practicing professionals and society but also among the different health professions.
Genome sequences of pathogenic and non-pathogenic Pantoea ananatis strains in maize (Zea mays L.)
Authors: Duin Izabela Moura , Baba Viviane Yumi , D'Amico-Willman Katherine M. , Paduan Fernanda Neves , Sugahara Rodrigues Vanessa Hitomi , Huguet-Tapia Jose C. , Jones Jeffrey Bryant , Canteri Marcelo G. , Leite Júnior Rui Pereira , Balbi-Peña Maria Isabel
Published: February 2025

We performed genome sequencing and comparative analysis of Pantoea ananatis strains isolated from corn leaves expressing typical bacterial leaf streak (BLS) and maize white spot (MWS) symptoms to confirm bacterial identity and to understand the relationship among these strains and P. ananatis strains isolated from different plant hosts in Brazil. In pathogenicity tests, strains 4.2 and 13.3 isolated from symptomatic BLS leaves were non-pathogenic on corn. In contrast, strain B13 isolated from MWS-diseased leaf tissue caused symptoms typical of MWS. Our comparative analysis revealed that all three strains are very genetically similar. The G+C (%) content of strains 4.2 and 13.3 was 53.5%, while the B13 content was 53.7%. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis showed that strains B13 and 13.3, B13 and 4.2, and 4.2 and 13.3 shared ANIs of 99.17%, 99.15% and 99.99%, respectively. Strains 13.3, B13, and 4.2 shared ~99% ANI with P. ananatis type strain LMG 2665. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first genome sequences of P. ananatis strains isolated from corn in Brazil.
A two-step clockwork mechanism opens a proteo-lipidic pore in PIEZO2 channels
Authors: Li Shu , Wijerathne Tharaka , Bhatt Aashish , Jiang Wenjuan , Lacroix Jerome , Han Wei , Luo Yun Lyna
Published: February 2025

Mechanosensitive PIEZO channels are thought to open their pore through tension-induced flattening of large transmembrane arm domains. Yet, the structural basis of this activation remains unclear. Here, we uncover the conformational coupling between arm flattening and pore opening in PIEZO2 by capturing protein motions across length scales using hybrid-resolution molecular dynamics simulations. Sampling multiple microsecond-long trajectories under physiological activation tension show that arm flattening correlates with anticlockwise rotation of the pore domain and with clockwise twisting of inner pore helices, enabling dilation and hydration of a transmembrane pore gate. These clockwork motions enable PIEZO2 to populate two open states with distinct conductance depending on applied membrane tension, in agreement with single-channel electrophysiology. Pore opening is accompanied by the separation of pore helices, creating interhelical gaps which become filled with lipids, resulting in the fully conducting pore being walled by both lipids and protein. The fully open PIEZO2 state recapitulates minimal pore size, conductance, ion selectivity, and outward rectification of chloride currents observed electrophysiologically. This work reveals how tension-induced large-scale rearrangements of the PIEZO2 arms funnel into subtle and dynamic gating motions, providing invaluable structural insights for future structure-function and drug discovery studies.
Using AlphaFold2 to Predict the Conformations of Side Chains in Folded Proteins
Authors: Maisuradze Gia G. , Thakur Abhishek , Khatri Kisan , Haldane Allan , Levy Ronald M.
Published: February 2025

AlphaFold has revolutionized protein structure prediction by accurately creating 3D structures from just the amino acid sequence. However, even with extensive research validating its overall accuracy, a key question remains: Can AlphaFold predict the conformation of individual amino acid residue side chains within a folded protein? This is important for the field of molecular modeling, particularly when predicting the effects of mutations on protein stability and ligand binding. AlphaFold generates a set of atomic coordinates not just for the mutated side chain but also for potential rearrangements across the entire protein structure. In this study we investigate the ability of ColabFold, an online implementation of AlphaFold2 (AF2), to predict the conformations of residue side chains in folded proteins. We find that over a set of 10 benchmark proteins, the side chain conformation prediction error of ColabFold is on average ∼14% for χ1dihedral angles, and increases to ∼48% for χ3dihedral angles. The prediction error is smaller for non-polar side chains and is somewhat improved using structural templates. ColabFold demonstrates a bias towards the most prevalent rotamer states in the protein data bank (PDB), potentially limiting its ability to capture rare side chain conformations effectively. As an application of AlphaFold to explore the structural consequences of strongly cooperative mutations on side chain rearrangements, we employ a Potts sequence-based statistical energy model to perform large scale mutational scans of two proteins ABL1 and PIM1 kinase, searching for the most strongly cooperative mutational pairs, and then use ColabFold to predict the structural signatures of this cooperativity on the interacting side chains. Our results demonstrate that integration of the sequence-based Potts model with AlphaFold into a single pipeline provides a new tool that can be used to explore the fundamental relationship between protein mutations, cooperative changes in structure, and fitness.
Targeting lysosomal damage is a new therapeutic perspective for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Authors: Jaber Abbass , Palmieri Laura , Bakour Rania , Lachiver Elise , Hong Ai Vu , Bourg Nathalie , Poupiot Jérôme , Albini Sonia , Stockholm Daniel , Van Wittenberghe Laetitia , Miranda Adeline , Daniele Nathalie , Barthélèmy Inés , Blot Stephan , Bui Mai Thao , Evangelista Teresinha , Richard Isabelle , Israeli David
Published: February 2025

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a muscle degenerative disease affecting young boys, arises from the loss of dystrophin. Current gene therapy approaches aim to restore a shortened form of dystrophin (microdystrophin) via Adeno-Associated Vector (AAV) delivery, but clinical studies show limited efficacy, emphasizing the need for improved strategies such as combined therapies. In this study, we identified lysosomal perturbations in the myofibers of DMD patients and animal models, an overlooked mechanism of cellular damage in muscular dystrophies. These were notably marked by the upregulation and recruitment of Galectin-3, a known biomarker of lysosomal membrane permeabilization, to damaged lysosomes, alongside alterations in lysosome number, morphology, and activation of endolysosomal damage response. Importantly, microdystrophin therapy inDmdmdxmice fails to fully correct these damages. However, combining it with trehalose, a lysosome-protective disaccharide, significantly improves outcome, enhancing muscle function, histology and transcriptome. These findings highlight lysosomal damage as a novel mechanism in DMD pathogenesis and suggest that combining trehalose with gene therapy could enhance therapeutic efficacy.

Teaser

Lysosomal damage contributes to DMD pathology and is an interesting therapeutic target worth considering for current and future approaches.
Mixed Selectivity of Subthalamic Nucleus Neurons in Encoding Motor and Reward Behaviors
Authors: Wu Bing-Shiuan , Ming Min-Yuan , Wu Yu-Wei
Published: February 2025

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) plays a critical role in modulating motor and cognitive functions within the basal ganglia, with its dysfunction being implicated in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. However, the behavioral representations of individual STN neurons remain incompletely understood. Usingin vivotwo-photon calcium imaging in behaving mice, we systematically mapped the activity of single STN neurons across diverse behavioral contexts, including locomotion, licking, and reward-driven actions. Our findings reveal that STN neurons exhibit mixed selectivity, encoding multiple behaviors with distinct temporal dynamics and excitatory or inhibitory response patterns. This mixed selectivity allows the STN to robustly encode motor parameters such as locomotion speed and licking intensity while integrating contextual information from different behavioral states. Comparisons with the adjacent zona incerta (ZI) revealed distinct encoding properties: while both regions represent locomotion, STN neurons more faithfully track motor states, whereas ZI neurons exhibit prolonged calcium events with weaker movement correlations. Population-level analysis showed STN activity in a low-dimensional neural manifold, with components linked to movement velocity and licking intensity. Notably, locomotion encoding in STN was context-dependent, diverging when movements were internally generated versus reward-modulated. Together, these findings highlight the specialized yet flexible role of the STN in integrating motor and reward-related signals, supporting a framework in which STN neurons contribute to motor control through multiplexed and context-dependent encoding. This work provides new insights into the functional organization of basal ganglia circuits and has implications for understanding STN’s role in both physiological and pathological conditions.
Phylogenetic clustering of microbial communities as a biomarker for chemical pollution
Authors: Smith Thomas P. , Hope Rachel , Bell Thomas
Published: February 2025

Microbial communities play a critical role in ecosystem functioning and offer promising potential as bioindicators of chemical pollution in aquatic environments. Here we examine the responses of both bacterial isolates and microbial communities to a range of pollutants, focusing on the phylogenetic predictability of their responses. We found that bacterial isolates exhibited a strong phylogenetic signal in their growth responses, with closely related taxa responding similarly to chemical stress. In microbial communities, pollutants that significantly impacted isolates also reduced community diversity and growth, causing shifts in community structure toward increased phylogenetic clustering, suggesting environmental filtering. The net relatedness index (NRI) effectively captured these shifts, indicating its potential as a simple metric for monitoring pollution. Our findings highlight the predictability of microbial responses to pollution and suggest that microbial-based bioindicators, coupled with rapid sequencing technologies, could transform environmental monitoring.
Integrated Cross-Disease Atlas of Human And Mouse Astrocytes Reveals Heterogeneity and Conservation of Astrocyte Subtypes in Neurodegeneration
Authors: Lucas Tawaun A. , Novikova Gloriia , Rao Sadhna , Wang Yuanyuan , Laufer Benjamin I. , Pandey Shristi. , Webb Michelle. G. , Jorstad Nikolas. , Friedman Brad A. , Hanson Jesse E. , Kaminker Joshua S.
Published: February 2025

Astrocytes play a pivotal role in central nervous system homeostasis and neuroinflammation. Despite advancements in single-cell analyses, the heterogeneity of reactive astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly across species, remains understudied. Here, we present an integrated atlas of 187,000 astrocytes from mouse models of Alzheimer’s (AD) and multiple sclerosis (MS) alongside 438,000 astrocytes from AD, MS, and Parkinson’s (PD) patients. Our analysis identified four distinct mouse astrocyte clusters, including two disease-associated astrocyte (DAA) clusters, DAA1 and DAA2. DAA1 displayed reactivity resembling responses to acute stimuli, including endotoxemia, while DAA2 expressed well-known AD risk genes. In an AD model, DAA1 and DAA2 exhibited distinct spatial relationships to amyloid plaques. In humans, we identified eight distinct astrocyte clusters, encompassing homeostatic and disease-associated subtypes. Cross-species analysis linked disease-associated clusters while also highlighting divergent expression in others. Our astrocyte atlas is available through a user-friendly, searchable website:http://research-pub.gene.com/AstroAtlas/.
Associations between gut microbiota and personality traits: insights from a captive common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) colony
Authors: Ye Huimin , Šlipogor Vedrana , Hanson Buck T. , Séneca Joana , Hausmann Bela , Herbold Craig W. , Pjevac Petra , Bugnyar Thomas , Loy Alexander
Published: February 2025

Recent studies have suggested the link between inter-individual behavioural variation (i.e., animal personality) and gut microbiota. Non-human primates living under controlled conditions are valuable models to investigate diet-independent microbiome-host interactions. In this study, we investigated links between specific gut microbiota members and personality traits, as well as group membership, sex, age class, breeding status and relatedness of 26 captive common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), maintained under the same diet and housing conditions. Personality was assessed using an established testing battery in repeated tests. Then, we collected a total of 225 fecal samples during the summers of 2017 and 2019 from five marmoset social groups for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Within-individual microbiota variance was smaller than that between group members. Group members also exhibited more similar gut microbiota than individuals from different groups in each sampling year. Beta diversity of the gut microbiota was linked with personality traits, age class, sex, and breeding status, but not with genetic relatedness. We identified specific bacterial taxa associated with personality traits. In particular, members of the sulfite-reducing generaDesulfovibriowere enriched in more avoidant marmosets. Amplicon sequencing of the dissimilatory sulfite reductase genedsrBconfirmed this pattern, yet additionally revealed an unknown uncultured bacterium that was the predominant sulfite-reducing bacterium in the fecal samples and was linked to more explorative individuals. These findings highlight specific association patterns between selected microbial taxa and personality traits in captive common marmosets.

Importance

This study provides valuable insights into the intricate relationship between gut microbiota and host personality traits, using captive common marmosets as a model. By controlling for diet and housing conditions, it probes key host factors such as personality, age, sex, and social group membership, offering a robust framework for understanding microbiome-host interactions. The discovery of specific microbial taxa associated with personality traits, particularly the enrichment of sulfite-reducing genera in more avoidant individuals, underscores the potential role of the gut microbiome in shaping or reflecting personality. These findings advance our understanding of microbiome-host dynamics and pave the way for future research on the mechanistic links between behavior and gut microbiota in other animal models and across broader ecological contexts.
Calcium induced N-terminal gating and pore collapse in connexin-46/50 gap junctions
Authors: Flores Jonathan A. , O’Neill Susan E. , Jarodsky Joshua M. , Reichow Steve L.
Published: February 2025

Gap junctions facilitate electrical and metabolic coupling essential for tissue function. Under ischemic conditions (e.g.,heart attack or stroke), elevated intracellular calcium (Ca2+) levels uncouple these cell-to-cell communication pathways to protect healthy cells from cytotoxic signals. Using single-particle cryo-EM, we elucidate details of the Ca2+-induced gating mechanism of native connexin-46/50 (Cx46/50) gap junctions. The resolved structures reveal Ca2+binding sites within the channel pore that alter the chemical environment of the permeation pathway and induce diverse occluded and gated states through N-terminal domain remodeling. Moreover, subunit rearrangements lead to pore collapse, enabling steric blockade by the N-terminal domains, reminiscent of the “iris model” of gating proposed over four decades ago. These findings unify and expand key elements of previous gating models, providing mechanistic insights into how Ca2+signaling regulates gap junction uncoupling and broader implications for understanding cell stress responses and tissue protection.
Comorbidity analysis and clustering of endometriosis patients using electronic health records
Authors: Khan Umair , Oskotsky Tomiko T. , Yilmaz Bahar D. , Roger Jacquelyn , Gjoni Ketrin , Irwin Juan C. , Opoku-Anane Jessica , Elhadad Noémie , Giudice Linda C. , Sirota Marina
Published: February 2025

Endometriosis is a prevalent, complex, inflammatory condition associated with a diverse range of symptoms and comorbidities. Despite its substantial burden on patients, population-level studies that explore its comorbid patterns and heterogeneity are limited. In this retrospective case-control study, we analyzed comorbidities from over forty thousand endometriosis patients across six University of California medical centers using de-identified electronic health record (EHR) data. We found hundreds of conditions significantly associated with endometriosis, including genitourinary disorders, neoplasms, and autoimmune diseases, with strong replication across datasets. Clustering analyses identified patient subpopulations with distinct comorbidity patterns, including psychiatric and autoimmune conditions. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of endometriosis comorbidities and highlights the heterogeneity within the patient population. Our findings demonstrate the utility of EHR data in uncovering clinically meaningful patterns and suggest pathways for personalized disease management and future research on biological mechanisms underlying endometriosis.
Land-use history causes differences in park nighttime cooling capacity and forest structure
Authors: Richmond Isabella C. , Paulauskas Michael A. , Padvaiskas Erica , Sinisterra Laura Carolina Gonzàlez , Hutt-Taylor Kayleigh , Robitaille Alec L. , Ziter Carly D.
Published: February 2025

Cities are temporally dynamic ecosystems that experience continuous redevelopment over time. Urban parks, which provide critical benefits to resident wellbeing, are developed on different land-use types and contain natural elements that are susceptible to the effects of historical decision making. Thus, understanding the current day functioning of our city’s ecosystems and planning for the equitable distribution of park benefits in the future requires incorporation and understanding of the impacts of historical decision-making. We measured neighbourhood socio-demographic composition, forest structure, and the cooling effect of 33 sites in parks across Montreal, each with a past land-use in one of three classes: agricultural, forested, or industrial. We asked: 1) what are the effects of historical land-use on current park forest structure, diversity, and consequently the capacity to provide cooling? 2) how do surrounding communities differ around parks of each historical land-use type, and what are the implications for equitable access to cooling? We found that forest structure and cooling capacity differed across past land-use type, and forest structure has complex relationships with park cooling capacity. Our results provide evidence of historical environmental injustice impacting current day cooling capacity for marginalized groups. Previously industrial parks had less cooling capacity at night, while simultaneously being surrounded by communities with higher proportions of immigrants, and lower median incomes than Montreal’s average. However, daytime cooling capacity was similar across past land-use type, highlighting the importance of current management decisions to provide a critical ecosystem service, temperature mitigation, regardless of a site’s history. Planting areas of small, dense forest stands with trees >= 5 cm DBH within urban parks can help augment daytime cooling benefits in the city but may hinder nighttime cooling. To provide both nighttime and daytime cooling, a mixed management strategy of park trees is required, where small and large trees are incorporated at different densities. Finally, we find evidence of gentrification surrounding all park sites, emphasizing the complex socioecological dynamics of green infrastructure and the need for community-led greening projects paired with social housing policies.
Nano-organization of synapses defines synaptic release properties at cortical neuron dendritic spines
Authors: Jafri Haani , Thomas Samantha J. , Yang Sung Hoon , Cain Rachel E. , Dalva Matthew B
Published: February 2025

Visualization of the submicron organization of excitatory synapses has revealed an unexpectedly ordered architecture consisting of nanocolumns of synaptic proteins that group into nanomodules which scale in number as spine size increases. How these features are related to synaptic function has remained unclear. Here, using super-resolution followed by live-cell line-scan imaging, we find that the size of the smallest miniature calcium and glutamate events are the same, regardless of whether spines have one or two nanopuncta of PSD-95, and that miniature synaptic response in all spines are best fit by a three term Poisson. Two nanomodule spines exhibit more large events without a significant change in event frequency, with the number of the largest events increasing disproportionately. These data support a model where nanomodules define sites of synaptic release and where the nanoarchitecture of synaptic proteins specifies subtypes of excitatory synapses, with increasing numbers of nanomodules increasing coordinated multivesicular release.
Genome restructuring and adaptation in Arctic marine bacteria
Authors: Sadler Mike , Wietz Matthias , Morris Robert M , Mino Sayaka
Published: February 2025

Arctic marine bacteria experience seasonal changes in temperature, salinity, and light caused by the formation and melting of sea-ice. Time-series studies have identified spatial and temporal patterns in microbial communities in the Arctic and environmental sequencing has provided insights into the genetic potential of key taxa. We cultured and sequenced the complete genomes of 34 Arctic marine bacteria to identify patterns of gene gain, loss, and rearrangement that structure genomes and underlie adaptations to Arctic conditions. We found that the most abundant lineage in the Arctic (SAR11) is comprised of diverse species and subspecies, each encoding 50-150 unique genes. Half of the SAR11 genomes (8/16) harbor a genomic island with the potential to enhance survival in the Arctic by utilizing the osmoprotectant and potential methyl donor glycine betaine. We also cultured and sequenced four species from a new family of Pseudomonadales, four subspecies of Pseudothioglobus (SUP05), a genus of high GC Puniceispirillaes (SAR116), and a family of low GC SAR116. Time-series data indicate that this collection represents up to 60% of the marine bacterial community in Arctic waters at peak abundance. Their complete genomes provide insights into the evolutionary processes that underlie diversity and adaptation to the Arctic Ocean.
Long-term evaluation of the association between dominance, bib size, sex and age
Authors: Silva Nicolas J. , Silva Liliana R. , D’Amelio Pietro B. , Ferreira André C. , Lucas Annick , Covas Rita , Doutrelant Claire
Published: February 2025

Individual-based long-term datasets are needed to investigate the relationships between drivers of labile individual traits. A case in point is dominance structures, which has been shown to vary greatly across years and populations. Using an eight-year dataset, encompassing more than 700 individuals, we studied the association between the size of a melanin-based plumage trait (a black patch under the beak or ‘bib’), individual attributes (age and sex) and dominance. Our study model, the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), is a small passerine, which lives year-round in colonies of varying size. Bib sizes were obtained from pictures and automatically pre-processed with an object segmentation deep learning network based on YOLO. We recorded 36,346 dominance-related interactions to estimate dominance hierarchies. We then investigated the effect of sex and age on bib size, and the overall and between-year association of bib size and age with dominance for each sex. We found that bib size increased with age within individuals of both sexes. Age was a strong and consistent predictor of dominance in males, but not in females. Nevertheless, dominance was not correlated with bib size in males and not in females. Finally, these relationships did not strongly vary between years. Our results suggest that males and females may use different factors to regulate dominance interactions. Furthermore, our longitudinal dataset allowed us to show that bib size is not a badge of status under our population conditions even though its growth encodes age information, highlighting the importance of considering multiple traits over time when studying morphological signalling of hierarchy positions.
Informational Complexity as a Neural Marker of Cognitive Reserve
Authors: Stolp Laura , Mandke Kanad N , Mediano Pedro AM , Gellersen Helena M , Swartz Alex , Rudzka Katarzyna , Simons Jon , Bekinschtein Tristan A , Bor Daniel
Published: February 2025

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a mismatch between neurological damage and cognitive functioning often is attributed to individual differences in cognitive reserve. Understanding the neural mechanism of cognitive reserve could help assessing the therapeutic effectiveness of interventions in AD. To address this, here, 38 elderly participants performed a sustained attention task during high-density EEG while awake and during drowsiness. Operationally, the degree to which performance was impaired under drowsiness signalled the extent of cognitive reserve, with less impairment indicating a higher level of cognitive reserve. Investigating performance variations during the active management of neural challenges offers a novel approach to studying cognitive reserve, capturing dynamics that mirror everyday cognitive demand. We related cognitive reserve to various measures, including informational complexity using the Lempel-Ziv (LZSUM) algorithm. We found a significant interaction effect between arousal and performance, where LZSUM values increased in high performers when drowsy but decreased in low performers. This effect was most pronounced in the frontal and central areas. Our findings suggest LZSUM to be indicative of a compensatory mechanism and thus show potential for LZSUM as a neural marker in assessing cognitive reserve. However, we found no consistent relationship between performance and structural brain measures, and proxies of cognitive reserve. Critically, our findings present a counterexample to the prevailing view that informational complexity purely reflects conscious level. Further research, such as a study with the same paradigm in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD, may lead to additional insights of whether we are truly measuring cognitive reserve.
The Evolving Landscape of Neuroscience
Authors: Senden Mario
Published: February 2025

Neuroscience emerged as a distinct academic discipline during the 20th century and has undergone rapid expansion since then. However, a comprehensive analysis of its evolving landscape remains lacking. The present study provides a large-scale, data-driven, mapping of neuroscience research. Leveraging large language models and clustering techniques to analyze 461,316 articles published between 1999 and 2023, this study reveals the field’s structural organization and highlights dominant themes. Citation network analysis uncovers a surprisingly integrated picture and key intellectual hubs that shape the broader research landscape. An analysis of how research clusters align with pre-defined dimensions demonstrates a strong experimental focus, widespread reliance on micro theories, and a growing emphasis on applied and translational research. At the same time, fundamental research is at the risk of decline while theoretical work and cross-scale integration remain limited. This study provides a framework for understanding neuroscience’s trajectory and identifies potential avenues for strengthening the field.
Dynamics of infant white matter maturation from birth to 6 months
Authors: Risk Benjamin , Li Longchuan , Jones Warren , Shultz Sarah
Published: February 2025

The first months after a baby’s birth encompass the most rapid period of postnatal change in the human lifespan, but longitudinal trajectories of white matter maturation in this period remain uncharted. Using densely sampled diffusion tensor images collected longitudinally at a mean rate of 1 scan per 1.55 days, we measured non-linear growth and growth rate trajectories of major white matter tracts from birth to 6 months. Growth rates at birth were 6 to 11 times faster than at 6 months, with tracts less mature at birth developing fastest. When matched on chronological age, shorter gestation infants had less mature white matter at birth but faster growth rates than their longer gestation peers; however, growth trajectories were highly similar when corrected for gestational age. This is the first study to estimate white matter trajectories using dense sampling in the first 6 post-natal months, which can inform the study of neurodevelopmental disorders beginning in infancy.
Observation of the Two-Photon Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana Effect
Authors: Björkman Isak , Kuzmanović Marko , Paraoanu Gheorghe Sorin
Published: February 2025

Harnessing second-order processes enables new control schemes in quantum dynamics. We show that the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana (LZSM) transition can be generalized to a virtual-state process in a three-level system, employing a phase modulated drive whereby two photons excite the system from the first to the third level while avoiding the second one. We implement experimentally this process in a transmon, achieving 98% population transfer. We predict and observe the doubling of LZSM velocity. Furthermore, we demonstrate robustness to amplitude and frequency offsets, made possible by the nearly exact cancellation of the two-photon ac Stark shift due to the presence of the fourth state.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Ultrahigh-Energy Particle Collisions and Heavy Dark Matter at Phase Transitions
Authors: Baldes Iason , Dichtl Maximilian , Gouttenoire Yann , Sala Filippo
Published: February 2025

We initiate the study of “bubbletrons,” by which we mean ultrahigh-energy collisions of the particle shells that generically form at the walls of relativistic bubbles in cosmological first-order phase transitions (PT). As an application, we calculate the maximal dark matter mass MDM that bubbletrons can produce in a U(1) gauge PT, finding MDM∼105/1011/1015  GeV for PT scales vϕ∼10−2/103/109  GeV. Bubbletrons realize a novel link between ultrahigh-energy phenomena and gravitational waves sourced at the PT, from nanohertz to megahertz frequencies.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Fully Programmable Spatial Photonic Ising Machine by Focal Plane Division
Authors: Veraldi Daniele , Pierangeli Davide , Gentilini Silvia , Strinati Marcello Calvanese , Sakellariou Jason , Cummins James S. , Kamaletdinov Airat , Syed Marvin , Wang Richard Zhipeng , Berloff Natalia G. , Karanikolopoulos Dimitrios , Savvidis Pavlos G. , Conti Claudio
Published: February 2025

Ising machines are an emerging class of hardware that promises ultrafast and energy-efficient solutions to NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. Spatial photonic Ising machines (SPIMs) exploit optical computing in free space to accelerate the computation, showcasing parallelism, scalability, and low power consumption. However, current SPIMs can implement only a restricted class of problems. This partial programmability is a critical limitation that hampers their benchmark. Achieving full programmability of the device while preserving its scalability is an open challenge. Here, we report a fully programmable SPIM achieved through a novel operation method based on the division of the focal plane. In our scheme, a general Ising problem is decomposed into a set of Mattis Hamiltonians, whose energies are simultaneously computed optically by measuring the intensity on different regions of the camera sensor. Exploiting this concept, we experimentally demonstrate the computation with high success probability of ground-state solutions of up to 32-spin Ising models on unweighted maximum cut graphs with and without ferromagnetic bias. Simulations of the hardware prove a favorable scaling of the accuracy with the number of spin. Our fully programmable SPIM enables the implementation of many quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems, further establishing SPIMs as a leading paradigm in non–von Neumann hardware.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Excitation-Inhibition Balance Controls Information Encoding in Neural Populations
Authors: Barzon Giacomo , Busiello Daniel Maria , Nicoletti Giorgio
Published: February 2025

Understanding how the complex connectivity structure of the brain shapes its information-processing capabilities is a long-standing question. By focusing on a paradigmatic architecture, we study how the neural activity of excitatory and inhibitory populations encodes information on external signals. We show that at long times information is maximized at the edge of stability, where inhibition balances excitation, both in linear and nonlinear regimes. In the presence of multiple external signals, this maximum corresponds to the entropy of the input dynamics. By analyzing the case of a prolonged stimulus, we find that stronger inhibition is instead needed to maximize the instantaneous sensitivity, revealing an intrinsic tradeoff between short-time responses and long-time accuracy. In agreement with recent experimental findings, our results pave the way for a deeper information-theoretic understanding of how the balance between excitation and inhibition controls optimal information-processing in neural populations.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Interaction effects on the itinerant ferromagnetism phase transition
Authors: Pera Jordi , Casulleras Joaquim , Boronat Jordi
Published: February 2025

Itinerant ferromagnetism is one of the most-studied quantum phase transitions, the transition point and the nature of this phase transition being widely discussed. In dilute Fermi liquids, this analysis has been carried out up to second order in the gas parameter, where the results for any spin degeneracy are universal in terms of only the s-wave scattering length a0. We extend this analysis to third order, where energies depend not only on a0, but also on the s-wave effective range r0 and the p-wave scattering length a1. The introduction in the theory of these new parameters changes the transition point, with respect to the second-order estimation, and also can modify the nature of the phase transition itself. We analyze these interaction effects on the phase transition for different spin values. The emerging phase diagram shows that the type of ferromagnetic transition changes dramatically as a function of r0 and a1 and, importantly, that this classification is not solely determined by the spin value, as happens at second order.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Edge state behavior of interacting bosons in a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice
Authors: Ghosh A. , Martin A. M.
Published: February 2025

In the low-energy regime, the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model's key characteristics are encapsulated by a Dirac-type Hamiltonian in continuum space, i.e., localized states emerge at the boundaries. Building on this, we have developed an effective Hamiltonian to model ultracold interacting bosons on an SSH-like lattice through variational minimization under the mean-field approximation. To pinpoint the boundary states, we have developed an algorithm by generalizing the imaginary time propagator, where an initial state evolves under the squared Hamiltonian to converge to the targeted state. This algorithm has broader applicability, enabling the identification of specific eigenstates in various contexts. Furthermore, we draw a parallel to an experimentally physical setup involving a gas of ultracold bosons confined to an array of potential wells with alternating depths. By establishing the system's analogy with the SSH system, we apply our algorithm to investigate boundary states in the presence of interactions, demonstrating how these findings align with those of the continuous system.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Conformational Entropy of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Bars Intruders from Biomolecular Condensates
Authors: Grigorev Vladimir , Wingreen Ned S. , Zhang Yaojun
Published: February 2025

It was recently discovered that eukaryotic cells are host to a multiplicity of biomolecular condensates. These condensates typically contain protein and/or RNA components with intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). While IDRs have been proposed and demonstrated to play many roles in condensate biology, we suggest here an additional crucial role of IDRs, which is to exclude unwanted “intruders” from condensates. This exclusion effect arises from the large conformational entropy of IDRs; i.e., there is a high free-energy cost to occupying space that would otherwise be available to the IDRs. By combining polymer theory with sticker-spacer simulations, we show that the relevant insertion free energy increases with the concentration of IDRs in the condensate as well as with intruder size, attaining a linear scaling with surface area for large intruders. We find that at realistic IDR concentrations, particles as small as the size of an average protein (4 nm in diameter) can be 97% excluded from condensates. To overcome this entropic barrier, molecules must interact favorably with condensate components to be recruited as clients. Application of the developed size-exclusion theory to biological condensates suggests that condensate IDRs may play a generic exclusionary role across organisms and types of condensates.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Synthesis and crystal structure of 5,10-dihydroxy-9-methoxy-2,2-dimethyl-12-(2-methylbut-3-en-2-yl)-2H,6H-pyrano[3,2-b]xanthen-6-one
Authors: Saekee Amporn , Kuhakarn Chutima , Chakarawet Khetpakorn , Hongthong Sakchai
Published: February 2025

5,10-Dihydroxy-9-methoxy-2,2-dimethyl-12-(2-methylbut-3-en-2-yl)-2H,6H-pyrano[3,2-b]xanthen-6-one, C24H24O6 (2), is a prenylated xanthone that was synthesized from 5,9,10-trihydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-12-(2-methylbut-3-en-2-yl)-2H,6H-pyrano[3,2-b]xanthen-6-one or macluraxanthone (1), a known compound isolated from Garcinia schomburgkiana Pierre. The present study describes the synthesis of compound 2 by methylation reaction of 1, and its crystallographic characterization. Compound 2 features a planar xanthone core and a bent pyrano ring adopting a half-boat conformation. An intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl hydrogen donor and the ketone acceptor organizes the molecules into a one-dimensional network along the b-axis direction. Perpendicular to this network, π–π stacking interactions form the three-dimensional supramolecular architecture. These two key intermolecular interactions are distinctly revealed in the Hirshfeld surface analysis.
The role of the CFO in financial communication: implications for public relations and investor relations
Authors: Hoffmann Christian Pieter , Binder-Tietz Sandra , Bendahan Bitton Daniel
Published: February 2025

Purpose

Members of the corporate C-suite are powerful and widely perceived communicators. Communication management research examines the role of the corporate communication function in facilitating the positioning of chief executive officers (CEO). The present study contributes to this research by extending the focus to another executive board member, the chief financial officer (CFO) and the domain of financial communication. It examines the role of the CFO in addressing financial audiences – compared to that of the CEO. It also analyzes the roles of the public relations (PR) and investor relations (IR) departments in facilitating CFO positioning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on an interview study of eight IR and PR professionals and a survey of 106 heads of investor relations and financial communication experts from listed companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Findings

Findings show that CFOs are similarly visible in capital markets as CEOs. Their communicator roles differ according to task responsibilities, with CEOs focusing on strategy and CFOs conveying financial performance. While CEOs are more involved in press relations, CFOs focus on investor dialog. CFOs are less proactively positioned than CEOs. Also, CFOs are mostly positioned in the context of mandatory disclosure. PR departments influence CEO positioning more, while IR departments commonly report to the CFO. Communicator roles are rarely formally defined and are subject to the executives’ preferences, which encumbers strategic communication management.

Research limitations/implications

This study is based on cross-sectional survey data, which are subject to self-selection. The examined markets represent advanced capital markets with strict disclosure requirements. Findings indicate a lack of formalization in CFO positioning in the context of financial communication. This study also highlights the need to examine C-suite positioning beyond the CEO and the PR department.

Originality/value

This study contributes to research on C-suite communication by extending the perspective beyond the CEO and public relations. It also contributes to communication management research by highlighting how resource allocation and establishing rules shape the management practices applied to C-suite positioning. Finally, it contributes to financial communication research by empirically exploring the CFO’s communicator role.