Recent publications
Zoonoses are infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Bats have been suggested to harbour more zoonotic viruses than any other mammalian order¹. Infections in bats are largely asymptomatic2,3, indicating limited tissue-damaging inflammation and immunopathology. To investigate the genomic basis of disease resistance, the Bat1K project generated reference-quality genomes of ten bat species, including potential viral reservoirs. Here we describe a systematic analysis covering 115 mammalian genomes that revealed that signatures of selection in immune genes are more prevalent in bats than in other mammalian orders. We found an excess of immune gene adaptations in the ancestral chiropteran branch and in many descending bat lineages, highlighting viral entry and detection factors, and regulators of antiviral and inflammatory responses. ISG15, which is an antiviral gene contributing to hyperinflammation during COVID-19 (refs. 4,5), exhibits key residue changes in rhinolophid and hipposiderid bats. Cellular infection experiments show species-specific antiviral differences and an essential role of protein conjugation in antiviral function of bat ISG15, separate from its role in secretion and inflammation in humans. Furthermore, in contrast to humans, ISG15 in most rhinolophid and hipposiderid bats has strong anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Our work reveals molecular mechanisms that contribute to viral tolerance and disease resistance in bats.
The genus Euplotes , a group of ciliated protists, has attracted attention as a model organism due to its widespread distribution and ease of cultivation. This study examines the evolutionary patterns of the SSU rRNA secondary structure within this genus, aiming to elucidate its role in supporting evolutionary relationships and uncovering cryptic species. By predicting the secondary structure of SSU rRNA and applying the CBC (Compensatory Base Change) concept analysis, we examined 69 species of the genus Euplotes , with 57 SSU rRNA gene sequences retrieved from GenBank and 12 newly sequenced specimens from South Korea. Our analysis revealed significant variations in the V4 region secondary structure, particularly in helix E23_8, across different clades of Euplotes . Reconstruction of the ancestral state indicated a transition from a simpler (Type I) to a more complex (Type II) secondary structure, with several species showing a reversal to Type I especially species in clade VI, suggesting of reverse evolution. In addition, our study identified cryptic species within Euplotes based on differences in the secondary structure of the V4 region, particularly evident in clade VI, where CBC analysis highlighted differences in E. minuta compared to E. vannus and E. crassus . These results highlight the utility of molecular data in refining species boundaries and evolutionary patterns within the genus Euplotes .
Introduction
Sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) face high levels of discrimination, which in turn is related to mental health inequalities. Structural stigma perpetuated by macro-level forces (social norms, laws, and policies) constrains opportunities and resources for SGMY, thereby contributing to downstream mental health outcomes. While a large body of work has explored SGMY’s increased risk for adverse mental health outcomes, little research has directly examined the roles of structural factors on SGMY mental health.
Methods
In the current study, we employed structural equation modeling to examine the association of laws and policies explicitly aimed at SGMY with depression and self-esteem outcomes in a diverse national sample of youth (N = 17,112) surveyed between April and December 2017.
Results
The presence of protective laws and the absence of antagonistic laws in the state SGMY lived in were associated with decreased depression and increased self-esteem. Sensitivity analyses revealed that this association held only for cisgender sexual minority youth. Trans and nonbinary (TNB) youth reported uniformly higher levels of depression and lower levels of self-esteem, neither of which were associated with SGMY equity-focused laws, possibly reflecting higher baseline levels of interpersonal and societal stigma directed at TNB youth.
Conclusions
These findings suggest the importance of implementing laws and policies specifically aimed at protecting SGMY and removing laws targeting SGMY, while revealing the need for greater support for TNB youth specifically.
Policy Implications
The presence of laws explicitly aimed at protecting SGMY and the absence of laws targeting SGMY are linked to lower depression and higher self-esteem among sexual minority youth. There is a need for trans youth-specific protective laws as well.
Background
Historically, soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control and prevention strategies have relied on mass drug administration efforts targeting preschool and school-aged children. While these efforts have succeeded in reducing morbidity associated with STH infection, recent modeling efforts have suggested that expanding intervention to treatment of the entire community could achieve transmission interruption in some settings. Testing the feasibility of such an approach requires large-scale clinical trials, such as the DeWorm3 cluster randomized trial. In addition, accurate interpretation of trial outcomes requires diagnostic platforms capable of accurately determining infection prevalence (particularly as infection intensity is reduced) at large population scale and with significant throughput. Here, we describe the development and validation of such a high-throughput molecular testing platform.
Methodology/principal findings
Through the development, selection, and validation of appropriate controls, we have successfully created and evaluated the performance of a testing platform capable of the semi-automated, high-throughput detection of four species of STH in human stool samples. Comparison of this platform with singleplex reference assays for the detection of these same pathogens has demonstrated comparable performance metrics, with index assay accuracy measuring at or above 99.5% and 98.1% for each target species at the level of the technical replicate and individual extraction respectively. Through the implementation of a rigorous validation program, we have developed a diagnostic platform capable of providing the necessary throughput and performance required to meet the needs of the DeWorm3 cluster randomized trial and other large-scale operational research efforts for STH.
Conclusions/significance
Resulting from the rigorous developmental approach taken, the platform we describe here provides the needed confidence in testing outcomes when utilized in conjunction with large-scale efforts such as the DeWorm3 trial. Additionally, the successful development of an evaluation and validation strategy provides a template for the creation of similar diagnostic platforms for other neglected tropical diseases.
We prove that the filtered GRID invariants of Legendrian links in link Floer homology, and consequently their associated invariants in the spectral sequence, obstruct decomposable Lagrangian cobordisms in the symplectization of the standard contact structure on ℝ ³ , strengthening a result by Baldwin, Lidman, and the fifth author.
Introduction
Both appraisal emotion approaches and self-regulation theory emphasize that appraising an event as conducive or detrimental to one’s current goals may trigger an affective response that can be observed nonverbally. Because there may be a female advantage in the inhibition and self-regulation of emotions, we hypothesized that female but not male athletes regulate emotions during sports through explicit nonverbal behaviors.
Methods
All nonverbal hand movement behavior of right-handed female and male tennis athletes was recorded during competitive matches. All immediate nonverbal expressions after point losses and wins were coded by two independent blind raters applying the NEUROpsychological GESture (NEUROGES®) system.
Results
No gender differences were found for overall hand movement activity. Female athletes executed more fall gestures than males as well as in space and both-handed act as a unit hand movements. In contrast to males, female athletes spent significantly more time with both-handed pantomime gestures (e.g., performing an imaginary backhand), particularly when losing points.
Discussion
Increased expressions of pantomime gestures in female athletes after losing indicate that women regulate negative emotions nonverbally through explicit hand movements. Thus, female athletes seem to nonverbally cope with their negative emotional arousal through explicit nonverbal behaviors in order to control performance.
Introduction
The role of language in false belief reasoning has been much debated for twenty-five years or more, especially the relative contributions of general language development, complement syntax, vocabulary, and executive function. However, the empirical studies so far have fallen short, in that they generally have too few participants for adequate statistical modeling; they do not include control variables; or they are cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, making inferences about causal direction much more tenuous.
Methods
The present study considers the role of these different variables in the development of false belief reasoning over several months of testing, with 258 children aged three to five years. The children are also from under-resourced communities, broadening the populations that generally contribute such data.
Results
A cross-sectional and a longitudinal regression analysis reveals the contribution of each variable to the children’s success on the false belief measures. Finally, a structural equation model tests the relative contribution of the different potential factors over time, how they interact, and change. The model is an excellent fit to the data. Inhibitory control, complement comprehension and vocabulary all have effects on false belief reasoning at the first time point (T1). However, at T3, the major proximal contribution is the child’s comprehension of complements, though the longitudinal pathways of vocabulary and inhibitory control also pave the way.
Discussion
Our data confirm the specific contribution of complement syntax but also makes clear, as do training studies, that a certain amount of preparedness in vocabulary and in executive function skills is also necessary.
Microbial eukaryotes (aka protists) are known for their important roles in nutrient cycling across different ecosystems. However, the composition and function of protist-associated microbiomes remains largely elusive. Here, we employ cultivation-independent single-cell isolation and genome-resolved metagenomics to provide detailed insights into underexplored microbiomes and viromes of over 100 currently uncultivable ciliates and amoebae isolated from diverse environments. Our findings reveal unique microbiome compositions and hint at an intricate network of complex interactions and associations with bacterial symbionts and viruses. We observed stark differences between ciliates and amoebae in terms of microbiome and virome compositions, highlighting the specificity of protist-microbe interactions. Over 115 of the recovered microbial genomes were affiliated with known endosymbionts of eukaryotes, including diverse members of the Holosporales, Rickettsiales, Legionellales, Chlamydiae, Dependentiae , and more than 250 were affiliated with possible host-associated bacteria of the phylum Patescibacteria. We also identified more than 80 giant viruses belonging to diverse viral lineages, of which some were actively expressing genes in single cell transcriptomes, suggesting a possible association with the sampled protists. We also revealed a wide range of other viruses that were predicted to infect eukaryotes or host-associated bacteria. Our results provide further evidence that protists serve as mediators of complex microbial and viral associations, playing a critical role in ecological networks. The frequent co-occurrence of giant viruses and diverse microbial symbionts in our samples suggests multipartite associations, particularly among amoebae. Our study provides a preliminary assessment of the microbial diversity associated with lesser-known protist lineages and paves the way for a deeper understanding of protist ecology and their roles in environmental and human health.
Inspired by the significance bell hooks places on shared spaces and conversation, this essay examines how Brazilian filmmakers Viviane Ferreira and Julia Murat create spaces for intergenerational dialogue between two women, to establish a female-centered sense of agency and belonging. In Murat’s Histórias que só existem quando lembradas (Found Memories, 2011) and in Ferreira’s Um dia com Jerusa (A Day with Jerusa, 2020), the two female protagonists—Madalena and Rita, Jerusa and Silvia, respectively—serendipitously encounter one another and subsequently share aspects of their lives, building communal bonds that defy isolation and forgetfulness. Moreover, their social interactions reaffirm ancestral frameworks, oral traditions, collective memory, and the basic need for good-hearted communion. Both filmmakers present their older protagonists as understated torchbearers whose lives offer continuity through those of their younger counterparts. Their kitchen-based conversations reveal personal journeys and poignant traces of human interaction among kindred spirits. I present a braided framework that considers ageism in cinema through scholarly texts by Tordin, Medina Bañón, and Zecchi; the role of space, setting and temporal modalities supported by theorists Fernandez, Da Silva, and Cunha; and the role of photography in light of Berger and Sontag.
This chapter studies recent documentaries by young Colombian women filmmakers that explore the politics of violence at a corporeal and personal level, in a national context where most politically conscious films examine violence as a collective concern. It focuses on the documentaries Dopamina (Dopamine, 2019), by Natalia Imery Almario, and Como el cielo después de llover (The Calm After the Storm, 2020), by Mercedes Gaviria Jaramillo. These documentaries examine issues of violence and gender through the lens of family dynamics, while also inquiring into the gendered aspects of audiovisual discourse, with a creative use of multisensorial modes of communication. The films combine domestic archival footage with conversations between the directors, their parents, and other people in their lives. The filmmakers talk mainly with their fathers, both progressive men who followed ideas of liberation and social change in their public lives while unwittingly reproducing some of the oppressive aspects of a patriarchal worldview in their private worlds. Both directors expand their means of expression beyond the visual field, developing a liberating way to narrate the female experience, surpassing the constraints of the traditional male-dominated gaze of audiovisual discourse.
This is not just a book about Latin American women filmmakers or the female characters in their films. Female Agency in Films Made by Latin American Women is a political project. At a time when the rights of women and LGBTQI+ people are under assault in the United States and elsewhere, this book envisions audiovisual discourse as a means of empowerment, exploring the links between filmmaking and gender-based social activism.
Introduction
Mild sleep-disordered breathing (mSDB) in children is associated with both neurobehavioral morbidity and reduced quality of life (QOL). However, the association between symptom burden and QOL with executive function is not well understood, and it is not known whether QOL and symptom burden may help identify children with neurocognitive dysfunction.
Objective
To assess associations among executive function, QOL, and symptom burden in children with mSDB.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis of the multicenter Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy Trial for Snoring, which included children aged 3 to 12 years randomized to watchful waiting or adenotonsillectomy for mSDB (snoring and an obstructive apnea-hypopnea index <3) between June 29, 2016, and February 1, 2021. The data for this report were analyzed between December 22, 2020, and October 3, 2024.
Exposure
Pediatric mSDB.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Quality of life was assessed using the Obstructive Sleep Apnea–18 (OSA-18), and symptom burden was assessed using the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire–Sleep-Related Breathing Disorder Scale (PSQ-SRBD). Executive function, including self-control and working memory, was measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Global Executive Composite (BRIEF GEC), and inhibitory control and sustained attention were measured by the GoNoGo vigilance test. Partial Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression models were used to assess the associations among QOL, symptoms, and executive function.
Results
The sample included 459 children (mean [SD] age, 6.1 [2.3] years; 230 female [50.1%]). Moderate correlations were found between the BRIEF GEC and the PSQ-SRBD and OSA-18 ( r = 0.58 [95% CI, 0.51-0.64] and 0.59 [95% CI, 0.52-0.64], respectively). After adjusting for age, sex, race and ethnicity, body mass index percentile, household income, maternal education, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, test characteristics, and disease severity, both OSA-18 and PSQ-SRBD scores were associated with the BRIEF GEC (β = 0.41 [95% CI, 0.36-0.47] and 3.66 [95% CI, 3.17-4.15], respectively). In the fully adjusted model, PSQ-SRBD was also associated with GoNoGo inhibitory control (β = −0.04 [95% CI, −0.08 to −0.01]) and sustained attention (β = −0.05 [95% CI, −0.10 to −0.01]).
Conclusions and Relevance
In this study, disease-specific QOL and symptom burden were associated with executive function in children with mSDB. These findings may be useful in identifying those children who are at risk for neurocognitive dysfunction.
Background and Aims
Nolana mollis is a dominant plant species in the hyperarid Atacama Desert. A previous hypothesis states that N. mollis owes its success to the condensation of atmospheric water from undersaturated air onto its leaf surfaces by exuded salts, and absorption of this water by its leaves, or by shallow roots following drip onto the soil surface; living roots of N. mollis were suggested to only exist near the soil surface.
Methods
We conducted a field experiment with three treatments to establish the source of N. mollis’s water: control, root cutting to block uptake of all soil moisture, and plastic skirting at the soil surface to block leaf drip of atmospheric water.
Key Results
Xylem tensions monotonically increased after root cutting until the plants wilted irreversibly, diverging clearly from the skirted and control treatments showing diurnal patterns of increasing tension in the day followed by recovery overnight.
Conclusions
Hydration in N. mollis requires access to deep soil water, motivating an alternative hypothesis: imperfect salt exclusion at the root surface and salt exudation by the leaf results in less root fouling and lower xylem tensions, while during the day evaporation of the surface brine, condensed overnight, increases the water use efficiency of carbon gain.
Droughts of increasing severity and frequency are a primary cause of forest mortality associated with climate change. Yet, fundamental knowledge gaps regarding the complex physiology of trees limit the development of more effective management strategies to mitigate drought effects on forests. Here, we highlight some of the basic research needed to better understand tree drought physiology and how new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches can be used to address them. Our discussion focuses on how trees change wood development to mitigate water stress, hormonal responses to drought, genetic variation underlying adaptive drought phenotypes, how trees ‘remember’ prior stress exposure, and how symbiotic soil microbes affect drought response. Next, we identify opportunities for using research findings to enhance or develop new strategies for managing drought effects on forests, ranging from matching genotypes to environments, to enhancing seedling resilience through nursery treatments, to landscape‐scale monitoring and predictions. We conclude with a discussion of the need for co‐producing research with land managers and extending research to forests in critical ecological regions beyond the temperate zone.
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