bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What Did the Cultural Landscape on Bornholm Look Like in the Mid-Eighteenth Century? An Analysis of Hammer’s Map
Authors: Walz Ulrich
Published: March 2024

The island of Bornholm, located in the Baltic Sea, has undergone a strong landscape change over the last 250 years, which has had an impact on the landscape form and functions (agriculture, recreation, biodiversity). In this paper, Hammer's historical map series from the 1750s is processed and evaluated using GIS technology. The results are presented and mapped according to the individual land use types and cultural landscape elements. For example, 250 years ago there was a very large proportion of extensively used heathland and very little forest, which is exactly the opposite today. In addition, there were a large number of smaller landscape elements, which together made for a diversely structured, agriculturally used landscape. This also includes the many smaller standing waters as well as wetlands and bogs. The large number of defensive installations recorded, such as redoubts, batteries, forts and signal points, clearly shows the military importance of the map and the significance of such installations for the security of the island at that time. The high number of windmills and water mills, the agricultural farms and the churches were also recorded. The resulting maps, which are also available digitally and interactively to the public, show the significant landscape change, which is placed in a historical context and discussed with its current effects, e.g. on biodiversity.
Outstanding women scientists who have broadened the knowledge on biological photoreceptors-II
Authors: Braslavsky Silvia E.
Published: March 2024

This part II is a continuation of the article published in Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences (2023) 22, 2799–2815, https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-023-00487-1, which should be considered a work in progress. Now, two female scientists who have worked on different aspects of chronobiology, plus a younger colleague who recently and too prematurely died, are incorporated to the list of outstanding women who have expanded the knowledge in the field of biological photoreceptors.

Graphical Abstract
One-vs-One, One-vs-Rest, and a novel Outcome-Driven One-vs-One binary classifiers enabled by optoelectronic memristors towards overcoming hardware limitations in multiclass classification
Authors: Psaltakis George , Rogdakis Konstantinos , Loizos Michalis , Kymakis Emmanuel
Published: March 2024

Deep neural networks have achieved considerable success over the past ten years in a variety of fields. However, current state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) systems require large computing hardware infrastructure and high power consumption. To overcome these hurdles, it is required to adopt new strategies such as designing novel computation architectures and developing building blocks that can mimic the low energy consumption of biological systems. On the architecture level, implementing classification tasks by splitting the problem into simpler subtasks is a way to relax hardware constraints despite the less accuracy of the approach. On the computation unit level, memristive devices are a promising technology for low power neuromorphic computation. Hereby, we combine both these two approaches and present a novel algorithmic approach for multiclass classification tasks through splitting the problem into binary subtasks while using optoelectronics memristors as synapses. Our approach leverages the core fundamentals from the One-vs-One (OvO) and the One-vs-Rest (OvR) classification strategies towards a novel Outcome-Driven One-vs-One (ODOvO) approach. The light modulation of synaptic weights, fed in our algorithm from experimental data, is a key enabling parameter that permits classification without modifying further applied electrical biases. Our approach requires at least a 10X less synapses (only 196 synapses are required) while reduces the classification time by up to $$\frac{N}{2}$$

N
2

compared to conventional memristors. We show that the novel ODOvO algorithm has similar accuracies to OvO (reaching over 60% on the MNIST dataset) while requiring even fewer iterations compared to the OvR. Consequently, our approach constitutes a feasible solution for neural networks where key priorities are the minimum energy consumption i.e., small iterations number, fast execution, and the low hardware requirements allowing experimental verification.
MoT-PSA: a two-layer depth-averaged model for simulation of powder snow avalanches on 3-D terrain
Authors: Vicari Hervé , Issler Dieter
Published: March 2024

For snow-avalanche hazard mapping, one needs efficient tools that nevertheless capture the essential physical processes. The code MoT-PSA (Method of Transport – Powder Snow Avalanche) described here is based on the two-layer depth-averaged formulation for mixed snow avalanches developed by Eglit and co-workers in the 1980s but is extended to 3-D terrain and uses a fast numerical scheme based on the method of transport. Compared to previous works, we introduce novel formulations for the suspension and deposition of snow from the dense core. Snow cover and air entrainment are quantified with physics-based models. A sensitivity study of the model parameters on an idealized topography shows that both the dense core and the parameters of the powder snow cloud (PSC) governing particle suspension and settling significantly affect the dynamics. As expected, we observe that snow cover entrainment favours the formation of large PSCs with long runout. The powder-snow avalanche that occurred in Lom (Norway) on 27 February 2020 is back-calculated using MoT-PSA. With plausible parameter values, the model reproduces the dense core stopping at the gully's base and the dilute PSC travelling across the frozen lake for almost 1 km.
Perspectives and presentation of mental health among women from rural Maharashtra (India): A qualitative study
Authors: Gala Pooja , Ticku Arunima , Pawar Tanvi , Sapre Shivani , Gupta Pooja , Iyer Kaavya , Kapoor Hansika , Kalahasthi Rupa , Kulkarni Savita , Iyer Poorvi
Published: March 2024

Objectives

A significant gap is observed between the proportion of individuals suffering from mental health (MH)-related conditions and those receiving adequate MH care services, especially in rural areas. This study highlights and contextualizes MH concerns and its extant knowledge as well as gender roles in rural Maharashtra (India).

Methods

Using in-depth interviews, MH themes were highlighted analytically among 72 female beneficiaries of Svatantra from the six administrative divisions (Konkan, Nashik, Pune, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur) in the state of Maharashtra, India.

Results

The notion that MH concerns exist among women from rural communities was well supported. Along with MH concerns, the participants reported somatic concerns in the context of adverse life experiences. Furthermore, systemic issues such as financial problems, familial concerns, presence of addictions and pressures of gender role-related responsibilities were significant triggers for MH problems.

Conclusions

Overall, this study aimed at improving the understanding of the MH needs of women in rural Maharashtra, which can further catalyze an exploration of their general MH and devise suitable interventions for the same.
Hegel contra Hegel: Eurocentrism, Colonialism, and Progress
Authors: Lima Erick
Published: March 2024

This study aims to investigate whether some of the Eurocentric and colonialist contents of Hegel's thought are open to criticism with elements of his own philosophy. First, I intend to show that some of these contents can be organized around the connection between ‘spirit’ and ‘progress’. I then construct an interpretation of Hegel's notion of spirit, based upon which I discuss its possibly pro-colonialist tendencies, arguing that disconnected from the philosophy of history it establishes a connection of autonomy and critique crucial even for anti-colonialist thought. Furthermore, following Adorno's criticism of Hegel, I investigate the possibility of finding in the ‘progress in the consciousness of freedom’ an experiential dimension capable of capturing its regressive moments. This analysis then leads to a discussion of colonization in the reconstruction of capitalist society presented in the Philosophy of Right, which reveals an important discrepancy, so I argue, concerning the Eurocentrism of the Philosophy of History. Finally, I propose a comparison of Hegel's discussion of colonization with Marx's theory of ‘primitive accumulation’, and evaluate thereby the pertinence of Hegel's connection between imperialism and the critique of capitalism.
Teachers as Housewives and the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Teacher's Perspective
Authors: O'Loughlin Áila KK
Published: March 2024

The 1970s Wages Against Housework (WAH) movement has much to offer as we form a “new normal” for life and work within the Covid-19 pandemic. WAH feminist philosophers Mariarosa Dalla Costa, Selma James, and Silvia Federici, as well as WAH critic Angela Davis outline the ways in which the housewife functions as a laborer within capitalist accumulation, as her duties to care for the home and rear the children generate the possibility of the husband to labor outside the home. This role of the housewife in Dalla Costa and James’ “social factory” parallels the work of teachers and the chorus of demands to “return to the classroom” that were placed on teachers in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Highlighting these parallels, the argument of this essay is simple: Covid-19 has visibilized the underpaid and unpaid labor of teachers. We ought to engage this moment of visibilization to demand transformative change to the teaching profession. Due to the parallels between WAH's “housewife” and teachers, we have much to learn from WAH theorizing as we demand those transformative changes, especially now as we solidify our “new normal” more than two years since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Escaping the organization: Examining the influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee withdrawal
Authors: Tan Zhihong , Yuan Ling , Yang Mengxi , Qu Yuanmei (Elly)
Published: March 2024

Many professional managers are driven to achieve the bottom line to secure income, honor, and standing in the workplace. Drawing on social information processing theory, we propose that supervisor bottom-line mentality in the workplace has a dysfunctional effect on organizations. Specifically, supervisor bottom-line mentality will hinder subordinates’ perception of the meaning of work, which eventuates high employee withdrawal (turnover intention and work withdrawal behavior). We also verified that amoral management weakens the negative relationship between supervisor bottom-line mentality and meaning of work in the first-stage moderated mediation model. Additionally, the strength of the indirect effects of supervisor bottom-line mentality on turnover intention and work withdrawal behavior is weaker (stronger) when supervisors’ amoral management is high (low). Our hypothesized moderated mediation model is supported by 301 data points generated by a three-stage full-time staff member. Furthermore, we put forward important theoretical and practical implications according to the research.
Low prevalence of secondary endosymbionts in aphids sampled from rapeseed crops in Germany
Authors: Manentzos A. N. , Pahl A. M. C. , Melloh P. , Martin E. A. , Leybourne D. J.
Published: March 2024

Peach-potato aphids, Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera:Aphididae), and cabbage aphids, Brevicoryne brassicae Linnaeus (Hemiptera:Aphididae), are herbivorous insects of significant agricultural importance. Aphids can harbour a range of non-essential (facultative) endosymbiotic bacteria that confer multiple costs and benefits to the host aphid. A key endosymbiont-derived phenotype is protection against parasitoid wasps, and this protective phenotype has been associated with several defensive enodsymbionts. In recent years greater emphasis has been placed on developing alternative pest management strategies, including the increased use of natural enemies such as parasitoids wasps. For the success of aphid control strategies to be estimated the presence of defensive endosymbionts that can potentially disrupt the success of biocontrol agents needs to be determined in natural aphid populations. Here, we sampled aphids and mummies (parasitised aphids) from an important rapeseed production region in Germany and used multiplex PCR assays to characterise the endosymbiont communities. We found that aphids rarely harboured facultative endosymbionts, with 3.6% of M. persicae and 0% of B. brassicae populations forming facultative endosymbiont associations. This is comparable with endosymbiont prevalence described for M. persicae populations surveyed in Australia, Europe, Chile, and USA where endosymbiont infection frequencies range form 0–2%, but is in contrast with observations from China where M. persicae populations have more abundant and diverse endosymbiotic communities (endosymbionts present in over 50% of aphid populations).
Replacing Tsar, King, and Emperor with the Sultan: Ukrainians, Hungarians, and the Ottomans (1660–1680)
Authors: Michels Georg
Published: March 2024

During the 1660s and 1670s, the Ottoman Empire reached the peak of its expansion with military invasions of Ukraine and Habsburg Hungary, parts of central Europe that had traditionally been regarded as beyond the Porte's horizons. Many Ukrainians and Hungarians welcomed the Ottomans as liberators; they saw the sultan as a more benevolent ruler than the Russian tsar, the Polish king, and the Habsburg emperor. This article reconstructs the political, social, and religious dimensions of pro-Ottoman hopes as well as the popular revolts that resulted from these hopes. Comparing Ukrainian and Hungarian engagements with the Ottomans reveals the divergent and overlapping aspects of a largely forgotten historical reality, that is, the quest of many Orthodox and Protestant Europeans to consider a Muslim alternative to the Christian empires that oppressed them. The article draws on a treasure trove of little studied sources, both archival and published, in multiple languages.
‘Every one (re)membered’: Anxiety, family history, and militarised vicarious identity promotion during Britain’s First World War centenary commemorations
Authors: Haigh Joseph
Published: March 2024

International Relations (IR) scholarship on ontological (in)security has explored how political agents seek to shape collective identity through the contestation and securitisation of memory narratives around controversial historical events. This article contributes a novel approach for understanding how actors promote emotional engagement with such narratives, synthesising nascent scholarship on vicarious identity and military subjectivity to develop the concept of ‘militarised vicarious identity promotion’. I use this framework to analyse how national custodian, the Royal British Legion, used the British 2014–18 First World War (WW1) centenary to promote affectively resonant revisionism around a war with difficult resonances in Britain by encouraging subjects to ‘live through’ others. Its ‘LIVE ON’ and ‘Every One Remembered’ initiatives first countered the centenary’s potential to destabilise homogenised militarist narratives underpinning national ontological security by rehabilitating WW1 through vicarious frames blurring different military subjectivities together in ways designed to reincorporate WW1 into homogenised remembrance discourses. Second, Britons were encouraged to integrate the nation’s military history into their personal biographies by vicariously identifying with ancestral and adoptive WW1 connections. Through enabling feelings of pride and status assuaging civilian anxiety, ‘vicarious military subjectivity’ based on family connections provided emotional reinforcement for identification with simplistic WW1 revisionism and homogenised British militarism more broadly.
Optimizing the input for learning of L2-specific constructions: The roles of Zipfian and balanced input, explicit rules and working memory
Authors: Pulido Manuel F.
Published: March 2024

Usage-based theory has proposed that learning of linguistic constructions is facilitated by input that contains few high-frequency exemplars, in what is known as a skewed (or Zipfian) input distribution. Early empirical work provided support to this idea, but subsequent L2 research has provided mixed findings. However, previous approaches have not explored the impact that cognitive traits (e.g., working memory) have on the effectiveness of skewed or balanced input. The experiment reported here tested learners’ ability to develop new L2 categories of adjectives that guide lexical selection in Spanish verbs of “becoming.” The results showed that, when explicit rules are provided, low-working memory learners benefitted from reduced variability in skewed input, while high-working memory individuals benefitted from balanced input, which better allows for rule-based hypothesis testing. The findings help clarify the mixed findings in previous studies and suggest a way forward for optimizing the L2 input based on individual traits.
Argument structure constructions in competition: The Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat alternation in Icelandic
Authors: Somers Joren , Jenset Gard B. , Barðdal Jóhanna
Published: March 2024

Alternating Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat verbs in Icelandic are notorious for instantiating two diametrically opposed argument structures: the Dat-Nom and the Nom-Dat construction. We conduct a systematic study of the relevant verbs to uncover the factors steering the alternation. This involves a comparison of 15 verbs, five alternating ones, and as a control, five Nom-Dat verbs and five non-alternating Dat-Nom verbs. Our findings show that alternating verbs instantiate the Nom-Dat construction 54% of the time and the Dat-Nom construction 46% of the time on average for four of five verbs when both arguments are full NPs. However, in configurations with a nominative pronoun, the Nom-Dat construction takes precedence over the Dat-Nom construction. Also, for the double-NP configuration, a logistic regression analysis identifies indefiniteness and length as two key predictors, apart from nominative case marking. We demonstrate that the latter systematically correlates with discourse-prominence, which we show, upon closer inspection, correlates with topicality.
What’s Wrong with Restrictivism?
Authors: Simkulet William M.
Published: March 2024

Emily Carroll and Parker Crutchfield propose a new inconsistency argument against abortion restrictivism. In response, I raised several objections to their argument. Recently Carroll and Crutchfield have replied and seem to be under the impression that I’m a restrictivist. This is puzzling, since my criticism of their view included a very thinly veiled, but purposely more charitable, anti-restrictivist inconsistency argument. In this response, I explain how Carroll and Crutchfield mischaracterize my position and that of the restrictivist.
Removal of central venous catheter using Evolution® Rotating Dilator
Authors: Takamizawa Koichi , Hasumi Eriko , Fujiu Katsuhito , Inuzuka Ryo
Published: March 2024

We experienced the first case of a difficult-to-extract central venous catheter removed with a pacemaker lead removal system: a 14-year-old boy with Hirschsprung’s disease who had repeated catheter infections that could not be removed by traction. Because the catheter lumen was occluded, a suture was tied around the end of the catheter and the catheter was removed with a rotating dilator.
Joint micrograph denoising and protein localization in cryo-electron microscopy
Authors: Huang Qinwen , Zhou Ye , Liu Hsuan-Fu , Bartesaghi Alberto
Published: March 2024

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is an imaging technique that allows the visualization of proteins and macromolecular complexes at near-atomic resolution. The low electron doses used to prevent radiation damage to the biological samples result in images where the power of noise is 100 times stronger than that of the signal. Accurate identification of proteins from these low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) images is a critical task, as the detected positions serve as inputs for the downstream 3D structure determination process. Current methods either fail to identify all true positives or result in many false positives, especially when analyzing images from smaller-sized proteins that exhibit extremely low contrast, or require manual labeling that can take days to complete. Acknowledging the fact that accurate protein identification is dependent upon the visual interpretability of micrographs, we propose a framework that can perform denoising and detection in a joint manner and enable particle localization under extremely low SNR conditions using self-supervised denoising and particle identification from sparsely annotated data. We validate our approach on three challenging single-particle cryo-EM datasets and projection images from one cryo-electron tomography dataset with extremely low SNR, showing that it outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods used for cryo-EM image analysis by a significant margin. We also evaluate the performance of our algorithm under decreasing SNR conditions and show that our method is more robust to noise than competing methods.
Municipal Compost Public Health, Waste Management, and Urban Agriculture: A Decadal Study of Fugitive Pb in City of Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Authors: Yang Chansie , Hayhow Claire , Jackman Emma , Andrews Danielle , Brabander Daniel
Published: March 2024

Compostable materials constitute roughly half of waste generated globally, but only 5% of waste is actually processed through composting, suggesting that expanding compost programs may be an effective way to process waste. Compostable waste, if properly collected and processed, has value‐added end use options including: residential and park landscaping, remediation of brownfield sites, and as growing media in urban agriculture (UA). Since 2001, our lab has partnered with The Food Project, a non‐profit focused on youth leadership development through urban farming. From 2006 to 2022 we collected compost materials that were delivered to the farm from a variety of local sources and analyzed a suite of biogeochemical properties including lead (Pb) concentrations, organic carbon, and grain size distribution. Pb concentrations of Boston's municipal compost always exceeded the current City of San Francisco soil and compost purchase standard (80 μg/g). In 2012 Boston's composting program was halted when it exceeded the 400 μg/g Environmental Protection Agency's Pb in soil benchmark. Urban Pb is geomobile and must be managed to minimize resuspension and transport of fines whose Pb concentration is often elevated compared to bulk compost. Consequently, urban farmers have to source lower Pb compost from suburban suppliers at significantly greater cost. Over a 15 year period and through several city vendor contracts, Pb concentrations in municipal compost remain at levels that warrant continued surveillance and risk assessment.
Variability in Forest Plant Traits Along the Western Ghats of India and Their Environmental Drivers at Different Resolutions
Authors: Zheng Ting , Ye Zhiwei , Singh Aditya , Desai Ankur R. , Krishnayya N. S. R. , Dave Maulik G. , Townsend Philip A.
Published: March 2024

Imaging spectroscopy offers great potential to characterize plant traits at fine resolution across broad regions and then assess controls on their variation across spatial resolutions. We applied permutational partial least‐squares regression to map seven key foliar chemical and morphological traits using NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer‐Next Generation (AVIRIS‐NG) for six sites spanning a climatological gradient in the Western Ghats of India. We studied the variation of trait space at spatial resolutions from the plot level (4 m), community level (30 and 100 m) to the ecosystem level (1,000 m). We observed a consistent pattern of trait space across different resolutions, with one axis defined by foliar nitrogen and leaf mass per area (LMA) and another axis representing leaf structure and defense defined by fiber, lignin, and total phenolics. We also observed consistent directionality of environment‐trait correlations across resolutions with generally higher predictive capacity of our environment‐traits models at coarser resolutions. Among the seven traits, total phenolics, fiber, and lignin were strongly influenced by environmental factors (model R2 > 0.5 at 1,000 m). Calcium, sugars, and nitrogen were significantly affected by site conditions, incorporating site as a fixed effect largely improved model performance. LMA showed little dependence on environmental factors or site conditions, suggesting a stronger influence of species composition and site history on LMA variation. Our results show that reliable trait‐trait relationships can be identified in coarse resolution imagery, but that local scale trait‐trait relationships (resolutions finer than 30 m) are not sensitive to broad‐scale abiotic/biotic factors.
Substorm‐Time Ground dB/dt Variations Controlled by Interplanetary Shock Impact Angles: A Statistical Study
Authors: Oliveira Denny M. , Weygand James M. , Coxon John C. , Zesta Eftyhia
Published: March 2024

In this study, we investigate the effects caused by interplanetary (IP) shock impact angles on the subsequent ground dB/dt variations during substorms. IP shock impact angles have been revealed as a major factor controlling the subsequent geomagnetic activity, meaning that shocks with small inclinations with the Sun‐Earth line are more likely to trigger higher geomagnetic activity resulting from nearly symmetric magnetospheric compressions. Such field variations are linked to the generation of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), which couple to artificial conductors on the ground leading to deleterious consequences. We use a sub‐set of a shock data base with 237 events observed in the solar wind at L1 upstream of the Earth, and large arrays of ground magnetometers at stations located in North America and Greenland. The spherical elementary current system methodology is applied to the geomagnetic field data, and field‐aligned‐like currents in the ionosphere are derived. Then, such currents are inverted back to the ground and dB/dt variations are computed. Geographic maps are built with these field variations as a function of shock impact angles. The main findings of this investigation are: (a) typical dB/dt variations (5–10 nT/s) are caused by shocks with moderate inclinations; (b) the more frontal the shock impact, the more intense and the more spatially defined the ionospheric current amplitudes; and (c) nearly frontal shocks trigger more intense dB/dt variations with larger equatorward latitudinal expansions. Therefore, the findings of this work provide new insights for GIC forecasting focusing on nearly frontal shock impacts on the magnetosphere.
Effect of inulin on breath hydrogen, postprandial glycemia, gut hormone release, and appetite perception in RYGB patients: a prospective, randomized, cross-over pilot study
Authors: Steinert R. E. , Mueller M. , Serra M. , Lehner-Sigrist S. , Frost G. , Gero D. , Gerber P. A. , Bueter M.
Published: March 2024

Background and objective

Large intestinal fermentation of dietary fiber may control meal-related glycemia and appetite via the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY). We investigated whether this mechanism contributes to the efficacy of the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) by assessing the effect of oligofructose-enriched inulin (inulin) vs. maltodextrin (MDX) on breath hydrogen (a marker of intestinal fermentation), plasma SCFAs, gut hormones, insulin and blood glucose concentrations as well as appetite in RYGB patients.

Method

Eight RYGB patients were studied on two occasions before and ~8 months after surgery using a cross-over design. Each patient received 300 ml orange juice containing 25 g inulin or an equicaloric load of 15.5 g MDX after an overnight fast followed by a fixed portion snack served 3 h postprandially. Blood samples were collected over 5 h and breath hydrogen measured as well as appetite assessed using visual analog scales.

Results

Surgery increased postprandial secretion of GLP-1 and PYY (P ≤ 0.05); lowered blood glucose and plasma insulin increments (P ≤ 0.05) and reduced appetite ratings in response to both inulin and MDX. The effect of inulin on breath hydrogen was accelerated after surgery with an increase that was earlier in onset (2.5 h vs. 3 h, P ≤ 0.05), but less pronounced in magnitude. There was, however, no effect of inulin on plasma SCFAs or plasma GLP-1 and PYY after the snack at 3 h, neither before nor after surgery. Interestingly, inulin appeared to further potentiate the early-phase glucose-lowering and second-meal (3–5 h) appetite-suppressive effect of surgery with the latter showing a strong correlation with early-phase breath hydrogen concentrations.

Conclusion

RYGB surgery accelerates large intestinal fermentation of inulin, however, without measurable effects on plasma SCFAs or plasma GLP-1 and PYY. The glucose-lowering and appetite-suppressive effects of surgery appear to be potentiated with inulin.
Enhancing prognostic power in multiple myeloma using a plasma cell signature derived from single-cell RNA sequencing
Authors: Li Jian-rong , Arsang-Jang Shahram , Cheng Yan , Sun Fumou , D’Souza Anita , Dhakal Binod , Hari Parameswaran , Huang Quillan , Auer Paul , Li Yong , Urrutia Raul , Zhan Fenghuang , Shaughnessy John D. , Janz Siegfried , Dong Jing , Cheng Chao
Published: March 2024

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogenous plasma cell malignancy, for which the established prognostic models exhibit limitations in capturing the full spectrum of outcome variability. Leveraging single-cell RNA-sequencing data, we developed a novel plasma cell gene signature. We evaluated and validated the associations of the resulting plasma cell malignancy (PBM) score with disease state, progression and clinical outcomes using data from five independent myeloma studies consisting of 2115 samples (1978 MM, 65 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, 35 smoldering MM, and 37 healthy controls). Overall, a higher PBM score was significantly associated with a more advanced stage within the spectrum of plasma cell dyscrasias (all p < 0.05) and a shorter overall survival in MM (hazard ratio, HR = 1.72; p < 0.001). Notably, the prognostic effect of the PBM score was independent of the International Staging System (ISS) and Revised ISS (R-ISS). The downstream analysis further linked higher PBM scores with the presence of cytogenetic abnormalities, TP53 mutations, and compositional changes in the myeloma tumor immune microenvironment. Our integrated analyses suggest the PBM score may provide an opportunity for refining risk stratification and guide decisions on therapeutic approaches to MM.
The RNA m6A reader IGF2BP3 regulates NFAT1/IRF1 axis-mediated anti-tumor activity in gastric cancer
Authors: Ge Lichen , Rui Yalan , Wang Cheng , Wu Yingmin , Wang Hongsheng , Wang Junjun
Published: March 2024

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and its associated reader protein insulin like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3) are involved in tumor initiation and progression via regulating RNA metabolism. This study aims to investigate the biological function and clinical significance of IGF2BP3 in gastric cancer (GC). The clinical significance of IGF2BP3 was evaluated using tumor related databases and clinical tissues. The biological role and molecular mechanism of IGF2BP3 in GC progression were investigated by multi-omics analysis including Ribosome sequence (Ribo-seq), RNA sequence (RNA-seq) and m6A sequence (m6A-seq) combined with gain- and loss- of function experiments. IGF2BP3 expression is significantly elevated in GC tissues and associated with poor prognosis of GC patients. Knockdown of IGF2BP3 significantly weakens the migration and clonogenic ability, promotes the apoptosis, inhibits translation, and suppresses in vitro growth and progression of GC cells. Mechanistically, IGF2BP3 regulates the mRNA stability and translation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells 1(NFAT1) in a m6A dependent manner. Then NFAT1 induced by IGF2BP3 acts as a transcription factor (TF) to negatively regulates the promoter activities of interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) to inhibit its expression. Inhibition of IGF2BP3-induced expression of IRF1 activates interferon (IFN) signaling pathway and then exerts its anti-tumor effect. Elevated IGF2BP3 promotes in vivo and in vitro GC progression via regulation of NFAT1/IRF1 pathways. Targeted inhibition of IGF2BP3 might be a potential therapeutic approach for GC treatment.
Cryo-EM structures reveal how phosphate release from Arp3 weakens actin filament branches formed by Arp2/3 complex
Authors: Chavali Sai Shashank , Chou Steven Z. , Cao Wenxiang , Pollard Thomas D. , De La Cruz Enrique M. , Sindelar Charles V.
Published: March 2024

Arp2/3 complex nucleates branched actin filaments for cell and organelle movements. Here we report a 2.7 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of the mature branch junction formed by S. pombe Arp2/3 complex that provides details about interactions with both mother and daughter filaments. We determine a second structure at 3.2 Å resolution with the phosphate analog BeFx bound with ADP to Arp3 and ATP bound to Arp2. In this ADP-BeFx transition state the outer domain of Arp3 is rotated 2° toward the mother filament compared with the ADP state and makes slightly broader contacts with actin in both the mother and daughter filaments. Thus, dissociation of Pi from the ADP-Pi transition state reduces the interactions of Arp2/3 complex with the actin filaments and may contribute to the lower mechanical stability of mature branch junctions with ADP bound to the Arps. Our structures also reveal that the mother filament in contact with Arp2/3 complex is slightly bent and twisted, consistent with the preference of Arp2/3 complex binding curved actin filaments. The small degree of twisting constrains models of actin filament mechanics.
Crustal permeability generated through microearthquakes is constrained by seismic moment
Authors: Yu Pengliang , Mali Ankur , Velaga Thejasvi , Bi Alex , Yu Jiayi , Marone Chris , Shokouhi Parisa , Elsworth Derek
Published: March 2024

We link changes in crustal permeability to informative features of microearthquakes (MEQs) using two field hydraulic stimulation experiments where both MEQs and permeability evolution are recorded simultaneously. The Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) model effectively predicts permeability evolution and ultimate permeability increase. Our findings confirm the form of key features linking the MEQs to permeability, offering mechanistically consistent interpretations of this association. Transfer learning correctly predicts permeability evolution of one experiment from a model trained on an alternate dataset and locale, which further reinforces the innate interdependency of permeability-to-seismicity. Models representing permeability evolution on reactivated fractures in both shear and tension suggest scaling relationships in which changes in permeability ($$\Delta k$$
Δ
k
) are linearly related to the seismic moment ($$M$$
M
) of individual MEQs as $$\Delta k\propto M$$
Δ
k
∝
M
. This scaling relation rationalizes our observation of the permeability-to-seismicity linkage, contributes to its predictive robustness and accentuates its potential in characterizing crustal permeability evolution using MEQs.
Spectral-temporal-spatial customization via modulating multimodal nonlinear pulse propagation
Authors: Qiu Tong , Cao Honghao , Liu Kunzan , Yu Li-Yu , Levy Manuel , Lendaro Eva , Wang Fan , You Sixian
Published: March 2024

Multimode fibers (MMFs) are gaining renewed interest for nonlinear effects due to their high-dimensional spatiotemporal nonlinear dynamics and scalability for high power. High-brightness MMF sources with effective control of the nonlinear processes would offer possibilities in many areas from high-power fiber lasers, to bioimaging and chemical sensing, and to intriguing physics phenomena. Here we present a simple yet effective way of controlling nonlinear effects at high peak power levels. This is achieved by leveraging not only the spatial but also the temporal degrees of freedom during multimodal nonlinear pulse propagation in step-index MMFs, using a programmable fiber shaper that introduces time-dependent disorders. We achieve high tunability in MMF output fields, resulting in a broadband high-peak-power source. Its potential as a nonlinear imaging source is further demonstrated through widely tunable two-photon and three-photon microscopy. These demonstrations provide possibilities for technology advances in nonlinear optics, bioimaging, spectroscopy, optical computing, and material processing.
Water-dispersible X-ray scintillators enabling coating and blending with polymer materials for multiple applications
Authors: Zhang Hailei , Zhang Bo , Cai Chongyang , Zhang Kaiming , Wang Yu , Wang Yuan , Yang Yanmin , Wu Yonggang , Ba Xinwu , Hoogenboom Richard
Published: March 2024

Developing X-ray scintillators that are water-dispersible, compatible with polymeric matrices, and processable to flexible substrates is an important challenge. Herein, Tb3+-doped Na5Lu9F32 is introduced as an X-ray scintillating material with steady-state X-ray light yields of 15,800 photons MeV−1, which is generated as nanocrystals on halloysite nanotubes. The obtained product exhibits good water-dispersibility and highly sensitive luminescence to X-rays. It is deposited onto a polyurethane foam to afford a composite foam material with dose-dependent radioluminescence. Moreover, the product is dispersed into polymer matrixes in aqueous solution to prepare rigid or flexible scintillator screen for X-ray imaging. As a third example, it is incorporated multilayer hydrogels for information camouflage and multilevel encryption. Encrypted information can be recognized only by X-ray irradiation, while the false information is read out under UV light. Altogether, we demonstrate that the water-dispersible scintillators are highly promising for aqueous processing of radioluminescent, X-ray imaging, and information encrypting materials.
Rectifying artificial nanochannels with multiple interconvertible permeability states
Authors: Qian Ruocan , Wu Mansha , Yang Zhenglin , Wu Yuting , Guo Weijie , Zhou Zerui , Wang Xiaoyuan , Li Dawei , Lu Yi
Published: March 2024

Transmembrane channels play a vital role in regulating the permeation process, and have inspired recent development of biomimetic channels. Herein, we report a class of artificial biomimetic nanochannels based on DNAzyme-functionalized glass nanopipettes to realize delicate control of channel permeability, whereby the surface wettability and charge can be tuned by metal ions and DNAzyme-substrates, allowing reversible conversion between different permeability states. We demonstrate that the nanochannels can be reversibly switched between four different permeability states showing distinct permeability to various functional molecules. By embedding the artificial nanochannels into the plasma membrane of single living cells, we achieve selective transport of dye molecules across the cell membrane. Finally, we report on the advanced functions including gene silencing of miR-21 in single cancer cells and selective transport of Ca2+ into single PC-12 cells. In this work, we provide a versatile tool for the design of rectifying artificial nanochannels with on-demand functions.
BHLHE40/41 regulate microglia and peripheral macrophage responses associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders of lipid-rich tissues
Authors: Podleśny-Drabiniok Anna , Novikova Gloriia , Liu Yiyuan , Dunst Josefine , Temizer Rose , Giannarelli Chiara , Marro Samuele , Kreslavsky Taras , Marcora Edoardo , Goate Alison Mary
Published: March 2024

Genetic and experimental evidence suggests that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk alleles and genes may influence disease susceptibility by altering the transcriptional and cellular responses of macrophages, including microglia, to damage of lipid-rich tissues like the brain. Recently, sc/nRNA sequencing studies identified similar transcriptional activation states in subpopulations of macrophages in aging and degenerating brains and in other diseased lipid-rich tissues. We collectively refer to these subpopulations of microglia and peripheral macrophages as DLAMs. Using macrophage sc/nRNA-seq data from healthy and diseased human and mouse lipid-rich tissues, we reconstructed gene regulatory networks and identified 11 strong candidate transcriptional regulators of the DLAM response across species. Loss or reduction of two of these transcription factors, BHLHE40/41, in iPSC-derived microglia and human THP-1 macrophages as well as loss of Bhlhe40/41 in mouse microglia, resulted in increased expression of DLAM genes involved in cholesterol clearance and lysosomal processing, increased cholesterol efflux and storage, and increased lysosomal mass and degradative capacity. These findings provide targets for therapeutic modulation of macrophage/microglial function in AD and other disorders affecting lipid-rich tissues.
Endogenous stimuli-responsive separating microneedles to inhibit hypertrophic scar through remodeling the pathological microenvironment
Authors: Yang Zhuo-Ran , Suo Huinan , Fan Jing-Wen , Lv Niannian , Du Kehan , Ma Teng , Qin Huimin , Li Yan , Yang Liu , Zhou Nuoya , Jiang Hao , Tao Juan , Zhu Jintao
Published: March 2024

Hypertrophic scar (HS) considerably affects the appearance and causes tissue dysfunction in patients. The low bioavailability of 5-fluorouracil poses a challenge for HS treatment. Here we show a separating microneedle (MN) consisting of photo-crosslinked GelMA and 5-FuA-Pep-MA prodrug in response to high reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the HS pathological microenvironment. In vivo experiments in female mice demonstrate that the retention of MN tips in the tissue provides a slowly sustained drug release manner. Importantly, drug-loaded MNs could remodel the pathological microenvironment of female rabbit ear HS tissues by ROS scavenging and MMPs consumption. Bulk and single cell RNA sequencing analyses confirm that drug-loaded MNs could reverse skin fibrosis through down-regulation of BCL-2-associated death promoter (BAD), insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) pathways, simultaneously regulate inflammatory response and keratinocyte differentiation via up-regulation of toll-like receptors (TOLL), interleukin-1 receptor (IL1R) and keratinocyte pathways, and promote the interactions between fibroblasts and keratinocytes via ligand-receptor pair of proteoglycans 2 (HSPG2)-dystroglycan 1(DAG1). This study reveals the potential therapeutic mechanism of drug-loaded MNs in HS treatment and presents a broad prospect for clinical application.
Public perceptions and support of climate intervention technologies across the Global North and Global South
Authors: Baum Chad M. , Fritz Livia , Low Sean , Sovacool Benjamin K.
Published: March 2024

Novel, potentially radical climate intervention technologies like carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering are attracting attention as the adverse impacts of climate change are increasingly felt. The ability of publics, particularly in the Global South, to participate in discussions about research, policy, and deployment is restricted amidst a lack of familiarity and engagement. Drawing on a large-scale, cross-country exercise of nationally representative surveys (N = 30,284) in 30 countries and 19 languages, this article establishes the first global baseline of public perceptions of climate-intervention technologies. Here, we show that Global South publics are significantly more favorable about potential benefits and express greater support for climate-intervention technologies. The younger age and level of climate urgency and vulnerability of these publics emerge as key explanatory variables, particularly for solar geoengineering. Conversely, Global South publics express greater concern that climate-intervention technologies could undermine climate-mitigation efforts, and that solar geoengineering could promote an unequal distribution of risks between poor and rich countries.
Supramolecular catalyst with [FeCl4] unit boosting photoelectrochemical seawater splitting via water nucleophilic attack pathway
Authors: Miao Jiaming , Lin Cheng , Yuan Xiaojia , An Yang , Yang Yan , Li Zhaosheng , Zhang Kan
Published: March 2024

Propelled by the structure of water oxidation co-catalysts in natural photosynthesis, molecular co-catalysts have long been believed to possess the developable potential in artificial photosynthesis. However, the interfacial complexity between light absorber and molecular co-catalyst limits its structural stability and charge transfer efficiency. To overcome the challenge, a supramolecular scaffold with the [FeCl4] catalytic units is reported, which undergo a water-nucleophilic attack of the water oxidation reaction, while the supramolecular matrix can be in-situ grown on the surface of photoelectrode through a simple chemical polymerization to be a strongly coupled interface. A well-defined BiVO4 photoanode hybridized with [FeCl4] units in polythiophene reaches 4.72 mA cm−2 at 1.23 VRHE, which also exhibits great stability for photoelectrochemical seawater splitting due to the restraint on chlorine evolution reaction by [FeCl4] units and polythiophene. This work provides a novel solution to the challenge of the interface charge transfer of molecular co-catalyst hybridized photoelectrode.
Microtubule damage shapes the acetylation gradient
Authors: Andreu-Carbó Mireia , Egoldt Cornelia , Velluz Marie-Claire , Aumeier Charlotte
Published: March 2024

The properties of single microtubules within the microtubule network can be modulated through post-translational modifications (PTMs), including acetylation within the lumen of microtubules. To access the lumen, the enzymes could enter through the microtubule ends and at damage sites along the microtubule shaft. Here we show that the acetylation profile depends on damage sites, which can be caused by the motor protein kinesin-1. Indeed, the entry of the deacetylase HDAC6 into the microtubule lumen can be modulated by kinesin-1-induced damage sites. In contrast, activity of the microtubule acetylase αTAT1 is independent of kinesin-1-caused shaft damage. On a cellular level, our results show that microtubule acetylation distributes in an exponential gradient. This gradient results from tight regulation of microtubule (de)acetylation and scales with the size of the cells. The control of shaft damage represents a mechanism to regulate PTMs inside the microtubule by giving access to the lumen.
High-latitude platform carbonate deposition constitutes a climate conundrum at the terminal Mesoproterozoic
Authors: de Kock Michiel O. , Malatji Ingrit , Wabo Herve , Mukhopadhyay Joydip , Banerjee Amlan , Maré L. P.
Published: March 2024

During the Mesoproterozoic Era, 1600 to 1000 million years ago, global climate was warm with very little evidence of glaciation. Substantial greenhouse warming would have been required to sustain this ice-free state given 5-18% lower solar luminosity. Paleomagnetic data reported here place voluminous ca. 1.2 Ga shallow marine carbonate deposits from India at an unexpectedly high latitude of around 70° from the equator. Previous studies noted high latitudes, but their implication was never considered. Here, we evaluate the temporal-latitudinal distribution of neritic carbonate deposits across the Proterozoic and identify similar deposits from North China that together with those from India are seemingly unique to the late Mesoproterozoic. A uniformitarian interpretation implies that this is cold-water carbonate deposition, but facies similarity with low-latitude neritic deposits rather suggests a hotter climate and elevated polar ocean temperatures of 15–20° or higher. This interpretation represents a climate conundrum that would require much greater greenhouse warming than documented for the Mesoproterozoic.