bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cycle length flexibility: is the duration of sexual receptivity associated with changes in social pressures?
Authors: Darmis Fragkiskos , Huchard Élise , Cowlishaw Guy , Carter Alecia J.
Published: November 2023

Research in social mammals has revealed the complexity of strategies females use in response to female-female reproductive competition and sexual conflict. One point at which competition and conflict manifests acutely is during sexual receptivity, indicated by swellings in some primates. Whether females can adjust their sexual receptivity from cycle to cycle to decrease reproductive competition and sexual conflict in response to social pressures has not been tested. As a first step, this study explores whether sexual receptivity duration is predicted by social pressures in wild female chacma baboons (
Papio ursinus
). Given that female baboons face intense reproductive competition and sexual coercion, we predicted that: females could shorten the duration of their sexual receptive period to reduce female–female aggression and male coercion or increase it to access multiple or their preferred male(s). We quantified 157 ovulatory cycles from 46 wild females living in central Namibia recorded over 15 years. We found no support for our hypothesis; however, our analyses revealed a negative correlation between maximal-swelling duration and group size, a proxy of within-group competition. This study provides further evidence that swelling is costly as well as a testable framework for future investigations of ‘cycle length manipulation’.
A model to validate effective waves in random particulate media: spherical symmetry
Authors: Gower Artur L. , Hawkins Stuart C. , Kristensson Gerhard
Published: November 2023

There has not been a satisfying numerical validation of the theory of effective waves in random particulate materials. Validation has been challenging because the theoretical methods for effective waves have been limited to random particulate media in infinite slabs or half-spaces, which require a very large number of particles to perform accurate numerical simulations. This paper offers a solution by providing, from first principles, a method to calculate effective waves for a sphere filled with particles for a spherically symmetric incident wave. We show that this case can excite exactly the same effective wavenumbers, which are the most important feature to validate for effective waves. To check correctness, we also deduce an integral equation method which does not assume the effective wave solution. Our methods are, in principal, valid for any frequency, particle volume fraction and disordered pair-correlation. With the methods we provide, it is now possible to validate, with a heavier Monte Carlo simulation, the predictions from effective wave theory.
Community assembly of the human piercing microbiome
Authors: Xu Charles C. Y. , Lemoine Juliette , Albert Avery , Whirter Élise Mac , Barrett Rowan D. H.
Published: November 2023

Predicting how biological communities respond to disturbance requires understanding the forces that govern their assembly. We propose using human skin piercings as a model system for studying community assembly after rapid environmental change. Local skin sterilization provides a ‘clean slate’ within the novel ecological niche created by the piercing. Stochastic assembly processes can dominate skin microbiomes due to the influence of environmental exposure on local dispersal, but deterministic processes might play a greater role within occluded skin piercings if piercing habitats impose strong selection pressures on colonizing species. Here we explore the human ear-piercing microbiome and demonstrate that community assembly is predominantly stochastic but becomes significantly more deterministic with time, producing increasingly diverse and ecologically complex communities. We also observed changes in two dominant and medically relevant antagonists (
Cutibacterium acnes
and
Staphylococcus epidermidis
), consistent with competitive exclusion induced by a transition from sebaceous to moist environments. By exploiting this common yet uniquely human practice, we show that skin piercings are not just culturally significant but also represent ecosystem engineering on the human body. The novel habitats and communities that skin piercings produce may provide general insights into biological responses to environmental disturbances with implications for both ecosystem and human health.
Determinants of hyena participation in risky collective action
Authors: Montgomery Tracy M. , Lehmann Kenna D. S. , Gregg Samantha , Keyser Kathleen , McTigue Leah E. , Beehner Jacinta C. , Holekamp Kay E.
Published: November 2023

Collective action problems arise when cooperating individuals suffer costs of cooperation, while the benefits of cooperation are received by both cooperators and defectors. We address this problem using data from spotted hyenas fighting with lions. Lions are much larger and kill many hyenas, so these fights require cooperative mobbing by hyenas for them to succeed. We identify factors that predict when hyena groups engage in cooperative fights with lions, which individuals choose to participate and how the benefits of victory are distributed among cooperators and non-cooperators. We find that cooperative mobbing is better predicted by lower costs (no male lions, more hyenas) than higher benefits (need for food). Individual participation is facilitated by social factors, both over the long term (close kin, social bond strength) and the short term (greeting interactions prior to cooperation). Finally, we find some direct benefits of participation: after cooperation, participants were more likely to feed at contested carcasses than non-participants. Overall, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that, when animals face dangerous cooperative dilemmas, selection favours flexible strategies that are sensitive to dynamic factors emerging over multiple time scales.
Evolutionary ecomorphology for the twenty-first century: examples from mammalian carnivores
Authors: Schwab Julia A. , Figueirido Borja , Martín-Serra Alberto , van der Hoek Julien , Flink Therese , Kort Anne , Esteban Núñez Juan Miguel , Jones Katrina E.
Published: November 2023

Carnivores (cats, dogs and kin) are a diverse group of mammals that inhabit a remarkable range of ecological niches. While the relationship between ecology and morphology has long been of interest in carnivorans, the application of quantitative techniques has resulted in a recent explosion of work in the field. Therefore, they provide a case study of how quantitative techniques, such as geometric morphometrics (GMM), have impacted our ability to tease apart complex ecological signals from skeletal anatomy, and the implications for our understanding of the relationships between form, function and ecological specialization. This review provides a synthesis of current research on carnivoran ecomorphology, with the goal of illustrating the complex interaction between ecology and morphology in the skeleton. We explore the ecomorphological diversity across major carnivoran lineages and anatomical systems. We examine cranial elements (skull, sensory systems) and postcranial elements (limbs, vertebral column) to reveal mosaic patterns of adaptation related to feeding and hunting strategies, locomotion and habitat preference. We highlight the crucial role that new approaches have played in advancing our understanding of carnivoran ecomorphology, while addressing challenges that remain in the field, such as ecological classifications, form–function relationships and multi-element analysis, offering new avenues for future research.
Agricultural soil legacy influences multitrophic interactions between crops, their pathogens and pollinators
Authors: Davis Jules K. , Cohen Anna D. , Getman-Pickering Zoe L. , Grab Heather L. , Hodgden Blythe , Maher Ryan M. , Pelzer Chris J. , Rangarajan Anu , Ryan Matthew R. , Ugine Todd A. , Thaler Jennifer S.
Published: November 2023

Soil legacy influences plant interactions with antagonists and below-ground mutualists. Plant–antagonist interactions can jeopardize plant–pollinator interactions, while soil mutualists can enhance plant–pollinator interactions. This suggests that soil legacy, either directly or mediated through plant symbionts, affects pollinators. Despite the importance of pollinators to natural and managed ecosystems, information on how soil legacy affects plant–pollinator interactions is limited. We assessed effects of soil management legacy (organic versus conventional) on floral rewards and plant interactions with wild pollinators, herbivores, beneficial fungi and pathogens. We used an observational dataset and structural equation models to evaluate hypothesized relationships between soil and pollinators, then tested observed correlations in a manipulative experiment. Organic legacy increased mycorrhizal fungal colonization and improved resistance to powdery mildew, which promoted pollinator visitation. Further, soil legacy and powdery mildew independently and interactively impacted floral traits and floral reward nutrients, which are important to pollinators. Our results indicate that pollination could be an overlooked consequence of soil legacy and suggests opportunity to develop long-term soil management plans that benefit pollinators and pollination.
Stabilizing selection on a plumage-based foraging adaptation: hooded warblers with average-sized white tail spots live longer
Authors: Mumme Ronald L.
Published: November 2023

Avian flush–pursuit insectivores typically use contrasting white plumage patches in their tails or wings to startle potential prey. Although experimental evidence indicates that the extent of white has been fine-tuned by natural selection to optimize foraging performance, the hypothesis that within-population plumage variation directly influences survival or lifetime reproduction and is subject to stabilizing selection has not been tested. Here, I provide such a test using data collected as part of a 14-year study of a colour-ringed breeding population of the hooded warbler (
Setophaga citrina
), a migratory flush–pursuit insectivore that shows inter-individual variation in the extent of white in the tail that is highly repeatable across moults and probably heritable. As expected under stabilizing selection, warblers with average-sized white tail patches achieved significantly higher apparent long-term survival than individuals with either a lesser or greater extent of white in the tail. Evidence of stabilizing selection was especially strong in males, an observation that is probably related to pronounced sexual habitat segregation on the wintering range. My results provide infrequently observed evidence of stabilizing selection operating in a natural population, and also illustrate how stabilizing selection can act on avian plumage traits outside the context of sexual and social signalling.
From teeth to pad: tooth loss and development of keratinous structures in sirenians
Authors: Hautier Lionel , Gomes Rodrigues Helder , Ferreira-Cardoso Sérgio , Emerling Christopher A. , Porcher Marie-Lou , Asher Robert J. , Portela Miguez Roberto , Delsuc Frédéric
Published: November 2023

Sirenians are a well-known example of morphological adaptation to a shallow-water grazing diet characterized by a modified feeding apparatus and orofacial morphology. Such adaptations were accompanied by an anterior tooth reduction associated with the development of keratinized pads, the evolution of which remains elusive. Among sirenians, the recently extinct Steller's sea cow represents a special case for being completely toothless. Here, we used μ-CT scans of sirenian crania to understand how motor-sensor systems associated with tooth innervation responded to innovations such as keratinized pads and continuous dental replacement. In addition, we surveyed nine genes associated with dental reduction for signatures of loss of function. Our results reveal how patterns of innervation changed with modifications of the dental formula, especially continuous replacement in manatees. Both our morphological and genomic data show that dental development was not completely lost in the edentulous Steller's sea cows. By tracing the phylogenetic history of tooth innervation, we illustrate the role of development in promoting the innervation of keratinized pads, similar to the secondary use of dental canals for innervating neomorphic keratinized structures in other tetrapod groups.
Knockout of OR39 reveals redundancy in the olfactory pathway regulating the acquisition of host seeking in
Anopheles coluzzii
Authors: Hinze Annika , Pelletier Julien , Ghaninia Majid , Marois Eric , Hill Sharon Rose , Ignell Rickard
Published: November 2023

The attraction of anthropophilic mosquitoes to human host cues, such as body odour and carbon dioxide, gradually increases during adult maturation. This acquisition of host-seeking behaviour correlates with age-dependent changes in odorant receptor (OR) transcript abundance and sensitivity of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). One OR gene of the human malaria vector,
Anopheles coluzzii
,
AcolOR39
, is significantly downregulated in mature females, and a cognate ligand of AcolOR39, sulcatone, a major component of human emanations, mediates the observed behavioural inhibition of newly emerged (teneral) females to human body odour. Knockout of
AcolOR39
, using CRISPR–Cas9 mutagenesis, selectively abolished sulcatone detection in OSNs, housed in trichoid sensilla. However, knockout of
AcolOR39
altered neither the response rate nor the flight behaviour of teneral females in a wind tunnel, indicating the involvement of other genes, and thus a redundancy, in regulating the acquisition of host seeking in mosquitoes.
Unisexual flowers as a resolution to intralocus sexual conflict in hermaphrodites
Authors: Chen Kai-Hsiu , Pannell John R.
Published: November 2023

In dioecious populations, males and females may evolve different trait values to increase fitness through their respective sexual functions. Because hermaphrodites express both sexual functions, resolving sexual conflict is potentially more difficult for them. Here, we show that hermaphrodite plants can partially resolve sexual conflict by expressing different trait values in different male and female modules (e.g. different flowers, inflorescences, branches etc.). We analysed the flowering phenology, sex allocation and selection gradients on floral traits of flowers of the andromonoecious plant
Pulsatilla alpina
, which produces both bisexual and male flowers. Our results indicate that strong protogyny prevents early bisexual flowers from profiting from high siring opportunities early in the reproductive season at a time when male flowers could achieve high siring success. The production of unisexual male flowers thus resolves this sexual conflict because it allows the flowers to express their male function without waiting until after the female function has been performed. Our study illustrates the resolution of sexual conflict arising from phenological constraints via modular divergence in sex allocation. We discuss the extent to which modular variation in sex allocation in the context of other sexual systems may be similarly explained.
Collective synchrony of mating signals modulated by ecological cues and social signals in bioluminescent sea fireflies
Authors: Hensley Nicholai M. , Rivers Trevor J. , Gerrish Gretchen A. , Saha Raj , Oakley Todd H.
Published: November 2023

Individuals often employ simple rules that can emergently synchronize behaviour. Some collective behaviours are intuitively beneficial, but others like mate signalling in leks occur across taxa despite theoretical individual costs. Whether disparate instances of synchronous signalling are similarly organized is unknown, largely due to challenges observing many individuals simultaneously. Recording field collectives andex situplayback experiments, we describe principles of synchronous bioluminescent signals produced by marine ostracods (Crustacea; Luxorina) that seem behaviorally convergent with terrestrial fireflies, and with whom they last shared a common ancestor over 500 Mya. Like synchronous fireflies, groups of signalling males use visual cues (intensity and duration of light) to decide when to signal. Individual ostracods also modulate their signal based on the distance to nearest neighbours. During peak darkness, luminescent ‘waves’ of synchronous displays emerge and ripple across the sea floor approximately every 60 s, but such periodicity decays within and between nights after the full moon. Our data reveal these bioluminescent aggregations are sensitive to both ecological and social light sources. Because the function of collective signals is difficult to dissect, evolutionary convergence, like in the synchronous visual displays of diverse arthropods, provides natural replicates to understand the generalities that produce emergent group behaviour.
Altered structural connectivity and functional brain dynamics in individuals with heavy alcohol use
Authors: Singleton S. Parker , Velidi Puneet , Schilling Louisa , Luppi Andrea I. , Jamison Keith , Parkes Linden , Kuceyeski Amy
Published: November 2023

Heavy alcohol use and its associated conditions, such as alcohol use disorder (AUD), impact millions of individuals worldwide. While our understanding of the neurobiological correlates of AUD has evolved substantially, we still lack models incorporating whole-brain neuroanatomical, functional, and pharmacological information under one framework. Here, we utilize diffusion and functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate alterations to brain dynamics inN= 130 individuals with a high amount of current alcohol use. We compared these alcohol using individuals toN= 308 individuals with minimal use of any substances. We find that individuals with heavy alcohol use had less dynamic and complex brain activity, and through leveraging network control theory, had increased control energy to complete transitions between activation states. Further, using separately acquired positron emission tomography (PET) data, we deploy anin silicoevaluation demonstrating that decreased D2 receptor levels, as found previously in individuals with AUD, may relate to our observed findings. This work demonstrates that whole-brain, multimodal imaging information can be combined under a network control framework to identify and evaluate neurobiological correlates and mechanisms of AUD.
Exploring SureChEMBL from a drug discovery perspective
Authors: Gadiya Yojana , Shetty Simran , Hofmann-Apitius Martin , Gribbon Philip , Zaliani Andrea
Published: November 2023

In the pharmaceutical industry, the patent protection of drugs and medicines is accorded importance because of the high costs involved in the development of novel drugs. Over the years, researchers have analyzed patent documents to identify freedom-to-operate spaces for novel drug candidates. To assist this, several well established public patent document data repositories have enabled automated methodologies for extracting information on therapeutic agents. In this study, we delve into one such publicly available patent database, SureChEMBL, which catalogues patent documents related to life sciences. Our exploration begins by identifying patent compounds across public chemical data resources, followed by pinpointing sections in patent documents where the chemical annotations were found. Next, we exhibit the potential of compounds to serve as drug candidates by evaluating their conformity to drug-likeness criteria. Lastly, we examine the drug development stage reported for these compounds to understand their clinical success. In summary, our investigation aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the patent compounds catalogued in SureChEMBL, assessing their relevance to pharmaceutical drug discovery.
The contribution of diverse and stable functional connectivity edges to brain-behavior associations
Authors: Matkovič Andraž , Murray John D. , Anticevic Alan , Repovš Grega
Published: November 2023

Resting-state functional connectivity (FC) has received considerable attention in the study of brain-behavior associations. However, the low generalizability of brain-behavior studies is a common challenge due to the limited sample-to-feature ratio. In this study, we aimed to improve the generalizability of brain-behavior associations in resting-state FC by focusing on diverse and stable edges, i.e., edges that show both high between-subject and low within-subject variability. We used resting-state data from 1003 participants with multiple fMRI sessions from the Human Connectome Project to group FC edges in terms of between-subject and within-subject variability. We found that resting-state FC variability was dominated by stable individual factors. Furthermore, diverse and stable edges were primarily part of heteromodal associative networks, and we showed that diverse stable regions are associated with a domain-general cognitive core. We used canonical correlation analysis (CCA) combined with feature selection and principal component analysis (PCA) to investigate the impact of edge selection on the strength and generalizability of brain-behavior associations. Surprisingly, selection based on edge stability did not significantly affect the results, but diverse edges were more informative than uniform edges in two of the three parcellations tested. Regardless, using all edges resulted in the highest strength and generalizability of canonical correlations. Our simulations suggest that under certain circumstances a combination of feature selection and PCA could improve the generalizability of the results, depending on the sample size and the information value of the features. The lack of improvement in generalizability with selection of stable edges may be due to unreliable estimation of within-subject edge variability or because within-subject edge variability is not related to the information value of the edges for brain-behavior associations. In other words, unstable edges may be equally informative as stable ones.
Artificially inserted G-quadruplex DNA secondary structures induce long-distance chromatin activation
Authors: Roy Shuvra Shekhar , Bagri Sulochana , Vinayagamurthy Soujanya , Sengupta Avik , Then Claudia Regina , Kumar Rahul , Sridharan Sriram , Chowdhury Shantanu
Published: November 2023

Although the role of G-quadruplex (G4) DNA structures has been suggested in chromosomal looping this was not tested directly. Here, to test causal function, an array of G4s, or control sequence that does not form G4s, were inserted within chromatin in cells.In vivoG4 formation of the inserted G4 sequence array, and not the control sequence, was confirmed using G4-selective antibody. Compared to the control insert, we observed a remarkable increase in the number of 3D chromatin looping interactions from the inserted G4 array. This was evident within the immediate topologically associated domain (TAD) and throughout the genome. Locally, recruitment of enhancer histone marks and the transcriptional coactivator p300/Acetylated-p300 increased in the G4-array, but not in the control insertion. Resulting promoter-enhancer interactions and gene activation were clear up to 5 Mb away from the insertion site. Together, these show the causal role of G4s in enhancer function and long-range chromatin interactions. Mechanisms of 3D topology are primarily based on DNA-bound architectural proteins that induce/stabilize long-range interactions. Involvement of the underlying intrinsic DNA sequence/structure in 3D looping shown here therefore throws new light on how long-range chromosomal interactions might be induced or maintained.
Effective Natural Language Processing Algorithms for Gout Flare Early Alert from Chief Complaints
Authors: Oliveira Lucas Lopes , Jiang Xiaorui , Babu Aryalakshmi Nellippillipathil , Karajagi Poonam , Daneshkhah Alireza
Published: November 2023

Early identification of acute gout is crucial, enabling healthcare professionals to implement targeted interventions for rapid pain relief and preventing disease progression, ensuring improved long-term joint function. In this study, we comprehensively explored the potential of gout flare (GF) early detection based on nurse chief complaint notes in the Emergency Department (ED). Addressing the challenge of identifying GFs prospectively during an ED visit, where documentation is typically minimal, our research focuses on employing alternative Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to enhance the detection accuracy. We investigate GF detection algorithms using both sparse representations by traditional NLP methods and dense encodings by medical domain-specific Large Language Models (LLMs), distinguishing between generative and discriminative models. Three methods are used to alleviate the issue of severe data imbalance, including oversampling, class weights, and focal loss. Extensive empirical studies are done on the Gout Emergency Department Chief Complaint Corpora. Sparse text representations like tf-idf proved to produce strong performance, achieving higher than 0.75 F1 Score. The best deep learning models are RoBERTa-Large-PM-M3-Voc and BioGPT, with the best F1 Scores on each dataset with a 0.8 on the 2019 dataset and a 0.85 F1 Score the 2020 dataset. We concluded that although discriminative LLMs performed better for this classification task, compared to generative LLMs, a combination of using generative models as feature extractors and employing support vector machine for classification yields promising results comparable to those obtained with discriminative models.
Control limitations in the null-space of the wrist muscle system
Authors: Lee Meng-Jung , Eden Jonathan , Gurgone Sergio , Berger Denise J , Borzelli Daniele , d’Avella Andrea , Mehring Carsten , Burdet Etienne
Published: November 2023

The redundancy present within the musculoskeletal system may offer a non-invasive source of signals for movement augmen tation, where the muscle-to-force null-space could be controlled simultaneously to the natural limbs. Here, we investigated the viability of extracting movement augmentation control signals from the muscles of the wrist complex. Our study assessed i) if controlled variation of the muscle activation patterns in the wrist joint’s null-space is possible; and ii) whether force and null-space targets could be reached simultaneously. During the null-space target reaching condition, participants used EMG-to-force null-space muscle activation to move their cursor towards a displayed target while minimising the exerted force as visualised through the cursor’s size. Initial targets were positioned to require natural co-contraction in the null-space and if participants showed a consistent ability to reach for their current target, they would rotate 5° incrementally to generate muscle activation patterns further away from their natural co-contraction. In contrast, during the concurrent target reaching condition participants were required to match a target position and size, where their cursor position was instead controlled by their exerted flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation, while its size was changed by their natural co-contraction magnitude. The results collected from 10 participants suggest that while there was variation in each participant’s co-contraction behaviour, most did not possess the ability to control this variation for muscle-to-force null-space reaching. In contrast, participants did show a direction and target size dependent ability to vary isometric force and co-contraction activity concurrently. Our results show the limitations of using null-space activity in joints with a low level of redundancy.
Fast and light efficient remote focusing for volumetric voltage imaging
Authors: Böhm Urs L. , Judkewitz Benjamin
Published: November 2023

Voltage imaging holds great potential for biomedical research by enabling noninvasive recording of the electrical activity of excitable cells such as neurons or cardiomyocytes. Camera-based detection can record from hundreds of cells in parallel, but imaging entire volumes is limited by the need to focus through the sample at high speeds. Remote focusing techniques can remedy this drawback, but have so far been either too slow or light inefficient. Here, we introduce FLIPR, a new approach for remote focusing that doubles the light efficiency and enables high-speed volumetric voltage imaging at 500 volumes/s. We show the potential of our approach by combining it with lightsheet imaging in the zebrafish spinal cord to record from >100 spontaneously active neurons in parallel.
Modeling the effects ofEhrlichia Chaffeensisand movement on dogs
Authors: Agusto Folashade B. , Drum Jaimie
Published: November 2023

Ehrlichia chaffeensisis a tick-borne infectious disease transmitted byamblyomma americanumtick. This infectious disease was discovered in the 1970s when military dogs were returning from the Vietnam war. The disease was found to be extremely severe in German Shepards, Doberman Pinschers, Belgium Malinois, and Siberian Huskies. In this study, we developed a mathematical model for dogs and ticks infected withehrlichia chaffeensiswith the aim of understanding the impact of movement on dogs as they move from one location to another. This could be a dog taken on a walk in an urban area or on a hike in the mountains. We carried out a global sensitivity analysis with and without movement between three locations using as response functions the sum of acutely and chronically infected and the sum of infected ticks in all life stages. The parameters with the most significant impact on the response functions are dogs disease progression rate, dogs chronic infection progression rate, dogs recovery rate, dogs natural death rate, acutely and chronically infected dogs disease induced death rate, dogs birth rate, eggs maturation rates, tick biting rate, dogs and ticks transmission probabilities, ticks death rate, and the location carrying capacity. Our simulation results show that infection in dogs and ticks are localized in the absence of movement and spreads between locations with highest infection in locations with the highest rate movement. Also, the effect of the control measures which reduces infection trickles to other locations (trickling effect) when control are implemented in a single location. The trickling effect is strongest when control is implemented in a location with the highest movement rate into it.
A biodegradable “one-for-all” nanoparticle for multimodality imaging and enhanced photothermal treatment of breast cancer
Authors: Hsu Jessica C. , Barragan Diego , Tward Alexander E. , Hajfathalian Maryam , Amirshaghaghi Ahmad , Mossburg Katherine J. , Rosario-Berríos Derick N. , Bouché Mathilde , Andrianov Alexander K. , James Delikatny E. , Cormode David P.
Published: November 2023

Silver sulfide nanoparticles (Ag2S-NP) have been proposed for various optical-based biomedical applications, such as near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, photoacoustics (PA) and photothermal therapy (PTT). However, their absorbance is relatively low in the NIR window used in these applications, and previous formulations were synthesized using toxic precursors under harsh conditions and have clearance issues due to their large size. Herein, we synthesized sub-5 nm Ag2S-NP and encapsulated them in biodegradable, polymeric nanoparticles (AgPCPP). All syntheses were conducted using biocompatible reagents in the aqueous phase and under ambient conditions. We found that the encapsulation of Ag2S-NP in polymeric nanospheres greatly increases their NIR absorbance, resulting in enhanced optical imaging and photothermal heating effects. We therefore found that AgPCPP have potent contrast properties for PA and NIRF imaging, as well as for computed tomography (CT). We demonstrated the applicability of AgPCPP nanoparticles as a multimodal imaging probe that readily improves the conspicuity of breast tumorsin vivo. PTT was performed using AgPCPP with NIR laser irradiation, which led to significant reduction in breast tumor growth and prolonged survival compared to free Ag2S-NP. Lastly, we observed a gradual decrease in AgPCPP retention in tissues over time with no signs of acute toxicity, thus providing strong evidence of safety and biodegradability. Therefore, AgPCPP may serve as a “one-for-all” theranostic agent that degrades into small components for excretion once the diagnostic and therapeutic tasks are fulfilled, thus providing good prospects for translation to clinical use.

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Evolution of tandem repeats in putative CSP to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
Authors: Dash Manoswini , Pande Veena , Das Aparup , Sinha Abhinav
Published: November 2023

The molecular hitchhiking model proposes that linked non-coding regions also undergo fixation, while fixing a beneficial allele in a population. This concept can be applied to identify loci with functional and evolutionary significance. Putative circumsporozoite protein (CSP) in Plasmodium vivax (PvpuCSP) identified following the molecular hitchhiking model, holds evolutionary significance. We investigated the extent of genetic polymorphism in PvpuCSP and the role of natural selection which shapes the genetic composition and maintains the diversity inP. vivaxisolates from India. Sequencing the putative CSP ofP. vivax(PvpuCSP) in 71 isolates revealed a well-conserved N- and C-terminal, constituting around 80% of the gene. PCR amplification and sequencing validated extensive diversity in the repeat region, ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 kb towards the C-terminal, identifying 37 different alleles from 71 samples. The recent and exclusive accumulation of repeats in puCSP withinP. vivaxhighlights its highly variable length polymorphism, making it a potential marker for estimating diversity and infection complexity. Episodic diversifying selection in the PvpuCSP repeat region, evidenced by statistically significant p-values and likelihood ratios, enhances amino acid diversity at various phylogenetic levels, facilitating adaptation for accommodating different substrates for degradation.
Adaptive remodeling of rat adrenomedullary stimulus-secretion coupling in response to a chronic hypertensive environment
Authors: Paillé Vincent , Park Joohee , Toutain Bertrand , Bourreau Jennifer , Fontanaud Pierre , De Nardi Frédéric , Gabillard-Lefort Claudie , Bréard Dimitri , Guilet David , Henrion Daniel , Legros Christian , Guérineau Nathalie C.
Published: November 2023

Chronic elevated blood pressure impinges on the functioning of multiple organs and therefore harms body homeostasis. Elucidating the protective mechanisms whereby the organism copes with sustained or repetitive blood pressure rises is therefore a topical challenge. Here we address this issue in the adrenal medulla, the master neuroendocrine tissue involved in the secretion of catecholamines, influential hormones in blood pressure regulation. Using acute adrenal slices from spontaneously hypertensive rats, we show that chromaffin cell stimulus-secretion coupling is remodeled, resulting in a less efficient secretory function primarily upon sustained electrical or cholinergic challenges. The remodeling is supported by revamped cellular and tissular mechanisms, including chromaffin cell excitability through voltage-gated ion channel expression changes, gap junctional communication and cholinergic synaptic transmission. As such, by weakening its competence to release catecholamines, the ‘hypertensive medulla’ has elaborated an adaptive shielding mechanism against damaging effects of redundant elevated catecholamine secretion and associated blood pressure.
A Global Transcriptional Atlas of the Effect of Sleep Deprivation in the Mouse Frontal Cortex
Authors: Ford Kaitlyn , Zuin Elena , Righelli Dario , Medina Elizabeth , Schoch Hannah , Singletary Kristan , Muheim Christine , Frank Marcos G. , Hicks Stephanie C. , Risso Davide , Peixoto Lucia
Published: November 2023

Sleep deprivation (SD) has negative effects on brain function. Sleep problems are prevalent in neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Thus, understanding the molecular consequences of SD is of fundamental importance in neuroscience. In this study, we present the first simultaneous bulk and single-nuclear (sn)RNA sequencing characterization of the effects of SD in the mouse frontal cortex. We show that SD predominantly affects glutamatergic neurons, specifically in layers 4 and 5, and produces isoform switching of thousands of transcripts. At both the global and cell-type specific level, SD has a large repressive effect on transcription, down-regulating thousands of genes and transcripts; underscoring the importance of accounting for the effects of sleep loss in transcriptome studies of brain function. As a resource we provide extensive characterizations of cell types, genes, transcripts and pathways affected by SD; as well as tutorials for data analysis.
Motor cortex somatostatin interneurons adaptively shape the structure of motor sequences
Authors: Lee Jeong Oen , Bariselli Sebastiano , Sitzia Giacomo , Lovinger David M.
Published: November 2023

The brain can flexibly reorganize motor sequence, or program, execution to efficiently reach positive outcomes. These behavioral adaptations are primarily driven by reinforcement learning, leading to structural and kinematic modifications of consolidated motor programs. While previous studies established the critical contribution of cortical and basal ganglia circuits in controlling motor sequences or movement-by-movement kinematics, the neural mechanisms that adaptively shape efficient motor programs are not fully understood. Here, we found increased action-locked activity and network synchrony of somatostatin (SST) interneurons in the primary motor cortex (M1), compared to desynchronized pyramidal (PYR) neuron calcium activity, upon the acquisition of a single lever-press task in freely moving mice. After motor consolidation, cortical SST interneurons disengaged from action execution and then re-engaged when mice reorganized their motor programs upon changes in task complexity. Notably, the activity of M1 SST interneurons encoded structural and kinematic information of these more complex motor sequences. Finally, we showed that inhibition of SST interneurons interfered with the kinematics and disrupted the efficiency of motor program execution. These findings demonstrate a causal role for M1 SST interneuron re-engagement in regulating efficient motor sequence reorganization.

HIGHLIGHTS

Activation of somatostatin (SST) interneurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) correlates with learning new motor actions and execution of complex motor programs.

Activity of M1 SST interneurons adapts in response to structural patterns of the motor tasks.

Inhibition of SST interneuron activity leads to inefficient execution of complex motor programs.
Activating neutrophils by co-administration of immunogenic recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor for the treatment of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor
Authors: Wang Yueqi , Liu Shuaitong , Yan Juan , Baseer-Tariq Shanza , Salla Bharath , Ji Liangliang , Li Ming , Chi Ping , Deng Liang
Published: November 2023

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) is a rare, aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma with a poor prognosis and is insensitive to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Loss-of-function of the histone modifying polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) components, EED or SUZ12, is one of the main mechanisms of malignant transformation. In a murine model of MPNST, PRC2-loss tumors have an “immune desert” phenotype and intratumoral (IT) delivery immunogenic modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) sensitized the PRC2-loss tumors to ICB. Here we show that IT MQ833, a second-generation recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara virus, results in neutrophil recruitment and activation and neutrophil-dependent tumor killing in the MPNST model. MQ833 was engineered by deleting three viral immune evasion genes, E5R, E3L, and WR199, and expressing three transgenes, including the two membrane-bound Flt3L and OX40L, and IL-12 with an extracellular matrix anchoring signal. Furthermore, we explored strategies to enhance anti-tumor effects of MQ833 by co-administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).
Why dropping intention of attention to YouTuber channels?
Authors: Wu ChienHsing , Kao Shu-Chen , Chen Jung-Chen
Published: November 2023

Purpose

Social participation and user-generated contents have engendered an era when “any receiver can be a provider.” Although studies have emphasized on increasing the number of subscribers conducive to platform success, the issue regarding why viewers drop their registered YouTuber channels has been less addressed. This article aims to present and empirically test a causal model to account for the pattern of discontinuous intention of attention to YouTuber channels.

Design/methodology/approach

Inspired by the expectation–disconfirmation theory, the study proposes and examines a research model by using an empirical quantitative approach. The proposed model considers channel and YouTuber facets, as well as potential moderation effects of viewing seniority.

Findings

Analysis of a sample of 406 questionnaires revealed that ads interference is not a significant reason for discontinuation of viewing a channel, in contrast to insufficient playfulness and inconsistency. Regarding YouTubers’ features, both interaction inadequacy and negative self-disclosure are significant determinants of perceived dissatisfaction and discontinuation of viewing. The effects of determinants of discontinuity depend on viewers' seniorities, except for negative self-disclosure.

Originality/value

While existing studies have focused mainly on revealing the determinants associated with the behavioral intention of viewing YouTuber channels to increase self-media performance, this research contributes insights into the literature investigating why existing viewers stop following a certain YouTuber channel. From a psychological perspective, this study demonstrates the value of modeling discontinuous behaviors toward YouTuber channels in the domain of social marketing.
Pressure from social media: influence of social media usage on career exploration
Authors: Zhang Maoyu , Zhou Shiyu , Wu Yan , Liu Shengming
Published: November 2023

Purpose

Despite the dramatic increase in people's use of social media, relatively few studies have examined its effect on careers. Drawing upon social comparison theory and self-regulation theory, this study aims to investigate how career-oriented social media usage interacts with social comparison orientation (SCO) to influence the career exploration of university students.

Design/methodology/approach

Three waves of survey data are collected from 482 university students in China. Hypotheses are tested through ordinary least squares analysis.

Findings

Results show that career-oriented social media usage increases career anxiety, which in turn promotes career exploration. Furthermore, SCO strengthens such influence of career-oriented social media usage.

Originality/value

Given the limited attention paid to the effects of social media in career contexts, this study distinguishes career-oriented social media usage and proposes insights into its effect on career exploration. In doing so, this study extends social media literature and provides implications for the transition of university students from school to work in the digital era.
Meesho: Will restructuring override win-win HR policies?
Authors: Sharma Moumita , Srivastava Pallavi
Published: November 2023

Learning outcomes

This case study attempts to sensitize the impact of restructuring on the organization’s employer brand. The students shall learn to appreciate the criticality of maintaining a balance between being an employee-centric organization and building a sustainable business model, to analyze the alternative people management strategies in emerging start-ups.

Case overview/synopsis

This case study illustrates the innovative human resource (HR) policies adopted by the start-up Meesho. Meesho was started as “Fashnear” by two Indian Institute of Technology graduates Sanjeev Barnwal and Vidit Aatrey in the year 2015, with the headquarters located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It was a social commerce platform wherein the local apparel sellers or manufacturers could register themselves on the app and sell their products online to nearby consumers and the product would be delivered to their homes. Later, it was renamed Meesho (Meri E-Shop) with an improved business model. The innovative people-centric policies got Meesho recognition as one of the most employee-friendly start-ups and an innovative employer. However, later as part of the restructuring exercise, it had to lay off employees, which had a counter impact on its reputation and image as a desirable employer. This case study captures the dilemma faced by start-ups like Meesho who were in the process of sustaining their growth and optimizing their workforce and, at the same time, have to manage their employer brand in the process.

Complexity academic level

This case study can be used at the postgraduate level of management and in executive management programs.

Supplementary material

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS6: Human resource management.
Growth and dimensions of monkeypox research: a scientometrics study
Authors: Sheeja N.K. , K. Susan Mathew , Cherukodan Surendran
Published: November 2023

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the trend of Mpox research in the pre and post-outbreak period. The study compared the growth pattern, major research areas, sources of publications, funding agencies, countries and institutions invested in Mpox research, and institutional and countrywide collaboration patterns in Mpox research in both periods.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on the data retrieved from the Web of Science database for two time frames: the pre-outbreak period (January 1989–April 2022) and the post-outbreak period (May 2022–December 2022). The study is limited to research articles and reviews articles from Web Science. The study used Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer visualization software to derive results.

Findings

The study found few publications on Mpox before the epidemic outbreak, and a steep increase is visible after it. Before and after the Mpox pandemic, the USA ranked first in the production of literature. The focus of research before the outbreak of the epidemic was on virology, which was replaced by infectious diseases during the post-epidemic period. More publications were found available in open-access journals during the post-outbreak time. Author collaboration with US authors from other countries is higher in the post-outbreak period. During the pre-outbreak time, the principal supporters of Mpox research were American funding agencies and institutes. The study reveals that the research in post-outbreak is more concentrated on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Mpox.

Practical implications

This study offers a systematic literature review on Mpox’s overall research productivity. It contrasted the patterns of this field’s pre- and post-epidemic research. The conclusions of this study will act as a guide for scientists operating all across the world.

Originality/value

A thorough scientometric analysis of the trend of Mpox research in the pre- and post-outbreak period has not been attempted. It will help identify the nature of research on Mpox over the years, which will support future research on Mpox attempted across the globe.