Search

Trogocytosis is a dynamic cellular process characterized by the exchange of the plasma membrane and associated cytosol during cell-to-cell interactions. Unlike phagocytosis, this transfer maintains the surface localization of transferred membrane molecules. For example, CD4 T cells engaging with antigen-presenting cells undergo trogocytosis, which facilitates the transfer of antigen-loaded major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules from antigen-presenting cells to CD4 T cells. This transfer results in the formation of antigen-loaded MHC class II molecule-dressed CD4 T cells. These “dressed” CD4 T cells subsequently participate in antigen presentation to other CD4 T cells. Additionally, trogocytosis enables the acquisition of immune-regulatory molecules, such as CTLA-4 and Tim3, in recipient cells, thereby modulating their anti-tumor immunity. Concurrently, donor cells undergo plasma membrane loss, and substantial loss can trigger trogocytosis-mediated cell death, termed trogoptosis. This review aims to explore the trogocytosis-mediated transfer of immune regulatory molecules and their implications within the tumor microenvironment to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of immune evasion in cancers.

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells have benefited in recent years from the addition of heavy alkali elements, such as Rb, which increase the solar cell open-circuit voltage (VOC). To investigate the source of this improvement, here, we compare samples with and without Rb to perform a quantitative comparison of electronic defects and minority carrier lifetime. Deep-level transient and optical spectroscopy measurements were performed on two sets of rubidium fluoride (RbF)-treated and untreated CIGS, and three distinct traps were identified regardless of RbF treatment. The RbF treatment was found to reduce the concentration of the H2 trap, which was previously found to act as a recombination center and is located preferentially at CIGS grain boundaries. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements showed an increase in effective lifetime after RbF and nearly all lifetime improvement resulted from reductions in bulk recombination. The observed VOC improvement is well correlated with increased minority carrier lifetime and acceptor concentration, which led to increases and decreases in electron and hole quasi-Fermi levels, respectively.

•There is broad support for surgical trainee parental leave of at least 6 weeks.•Parental leave support existed across demographics including those with and without children.•Surgical faculty reported feeling less supported than current trainees in parental leave.•Few respondents knew current American Board of Surgery parental leave policies.

•A single, academic department of surgery developed and implemented a new residency parental leave policy.•The new policy significantly improved the program's ability to meet trainees’ needs during pregnancy and early parenthood, from 15.0% in 2022 to 68.0% in 2023 (p < 0.001).•The new policy increased residents’ perceptions of equity surrounding parenthood and leave, from 20.0% in 2022 to 88.0% in 2023 (p < 0.001).•After implementing the new policy, concerns about the policy negatively affecting a trainee's child-rearing experience decreased from 52.5% in 2022 to 4.0% in 2023, and perceptions that the institution was unsupportive of breastfeeding also decreased significantly, from 47.5% in 2022 to 12.0% in 2023.•Despite improved perceptions related to the policy, a majority of residents still viewed pregnancy as a risk during surgical training (90.0% in 2022 and 80.0% in 2023). Additional wellness and policy research is needed to better support residents and their transition to parenthood.

Algae are an energy source that has the potential of replacing traditional biomass fuels such as wood and municipal waste. Current research is focused on the use of algae in the synthesis of fuels and valuable chemicals. It has been proven that intermediate and fast pyrolysis of biomass improves the yield of liquid and gaseous products. This work evaluates the pyrolysis of Scenedesmusmicroalgae at intermediate pyrolysis regimes via the use of a rotary kiln pyrolyser unit. The rotary kiln pyrolyser used was externally heated and operating at solid heating rates range of 300–500°C/min with solid and vapour residence times of 0.8 and 2 min, respectively. The effect of temperature on the yields and chemical composition of the bio-oil was evaluated via solvent extraction, FTIR, and GCMS techniques. Results reveal that the bio-oil synthesised contained citronellyl iso-valerate, phytol and palmitic acid as the three major compounds. The dominant compound classes were found to be fatty acid esters, alcohols, unsaturated aliphatics and fatty acids with compositions of 29.51–32.94, 18.04–21.65, 7.29–8.93 and 6.87–8.60%, respectively. The bio-oil yields obtained at reactor temperatures of 350, 450 and 550 °C were 14.5, 28.2 and 40%, respectively. A maximum proportion of fatty acid esters was achieved at 450 °C indicating favourable conditions for the esterification reactions between alcohols and fatty acids. A considerable amount (7.64%) of detrimental compounds in the form of nitrogen containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was detected in bio-oil synthesised at 350 °C.

Building scalable quantum systems that demonstrate performance enhancement based on entanglement is a major goal in quantum computing and metrology. The main challenge arises from the fragility of entanglement in large quantum systems. Optical atomic clocks utilizing a large number of atoms have pushed the frontier of measurement science, building on precise engineering of quantum states and control of atomic interactions. However, state-of-the-art optical atomic clocks are limited by a fundamental source of noise stemming from fluctuations of the population of many atoms—the quantum projection noise. Here, we present an optical clock platform integrated with collective strong-coupling cavity quantum electrodynamics for quantum non-demolition measurements. Optimizing the competition between spin measurement precision and loss of coherence, we measure a metrological enhancement for a large ensemble of atoms beyond the initial coherent spin state. Furthermore, a movable lattice allows the cavity to individually address two independent subensembles, enabling us to spin squeeze two clock ensembles successively and compare their performance without the influence of clock laser noise. Although the clock comparison remains above the effective standard quantum limit, the performance directly verifies 1.9(2) dB clock stability enhancement at the 10−17level without subtracting any technical noise contributions.

In this work, the co-pyrolysis of coal and algae is explored with special emphasis on decomposition kinetics and the possibility of the existence of synergistic effects. Modelling and kinetics analysis based approaches were used for the investigation of the existence of synergistic effects. The co-pyrolysis kinetics was studied using the model-free, Coats–Redfern integral method. The kinetics were evaluated for 1st and 2nd order reaction models. Results reveal that Scenedesmusmicroalgae is characterised by a two stage decomposition process that occurs at temperature ranges of 200–400 °C and 500–700 °C with activation energy of 145.5 and 127.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Bituminous coal has a two stage, slow decomposition process that occurs at temperature ranges of 400–700 °C and above 750 °C with an activation energy of 81.8 and 649.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Furthermore, co-pyrolysis of coal and microalgae is characterised by three stages whose kinetics are dominated by the pyrolysis of the individual materials. For the studied range of coal/algae ratios, the three pyrolysis stages occur in the approximate temperature ranges of 200–400 °C, 430–650 °C and above 750 °C, with activation energies in the ranges of 131–138, 72–78 and 864.5–1235 kJ/mol, respectively. Modelling and kinetics study showed that there is strong evidence of interactions between coal and microalgae that manifest as synergistic effects especially in the second and third stages of decomposition.

Images on the homepages of private practice dermatology websites often do not reflect the racial diversity of the metropolitan area in which each practice is located. A Google Maps scraper (Apify) was used to identify websites for private practices in 27 United States metropolitan areas selected from the 2020 U.S. Census list of 100 largest areas where non-white individuals makeup more than 50% of the population. Homepages from the top ten websites listed by the search engine were analyzed for images, use of non-English language, and mention of “Skin of Color” or “Ethnic Skin.” One hundred seventeen websites were included. Two mentioned “Skin of Color” or “Ethnic Skin”; seven mentioned a non-English language. A significantly lower percentage of non-white-presenting patients (p< 0.001) and providers (p< 0.001) were pictured on the selected dermatology websites than reported in the Census. These findings suggest that the images on the homepages of private practice dermatology websites were not reflective of the racial diversity of the metropolitan area in which each practice is located. Private practice dermatologists should be mindful of how their services are represented online, as it may dissuade potential minoritized patients from seeking dermatologic care.

Astronomer Matthew Bothwellis your guide on a tour of our galaxy's most spectacular, revelatory sights

DNA viruses are common in the human population and act as aetiological agents of cancer on a large scale globally. They include the human papillomaviruses (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), hepatitis viruses, and human polyomaviruses. Oncogenic viruses employ different mechanisms to induce cancer. Notably, cancer only develops in a minority of individuals who are infected, usually following protracted years of chronic infection. The human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are associated with the highest number of cancer cases, including cervical cancer and other epithelial malignancies. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the RNA virus hepatitis C (HCV) are significant contributors to hepatocellular cancer (HCC). Other oncoviruses include Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV), human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I), and Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). The identification of these infectious agents as aetiological agents for cancer has led to reductions in cancer incidence through preventive interventions such as HBV and HPV vaccination, HPV-DNA based cervical cancer screening, antiviral treatments for chronic HBV and HCV infections, and screening of blood for transfusion for HBV and HCV. Successful efforts to identify additional oncogenic viruses in human cancer may provide further understanding of the aetiology and development of cancer, and novel approaches for prevention and treatment. Cervical cancer, caused by HPV, is the leading gynaecological malignancy in LMICs, with high age-standardised incidence and mortality rates, HCC due to HBV is an important cause of cancer deaths, and the burden of other cancer attributable to infections continues to rise globally. Hence, cancers attributable to DNA viruses have become a significant global health challenge. These viruses hence warrant continued attention and interrogation as efforts to understand them further and device further preventive interventions are critical.

Capacity planning models and resource adequacy assessments have often relied on averaging and sampling techniques that disregard important reasonably expected interactions of weather-based resources. We provide a method to capture the economic value of information and reliability risk from using inadequate sample data to design sustainable systems with high renewable generation. Analysis of long run portfolio cost and sources of uncertainty shows as much as a 16% system cost increase with a 38-fold increase in expected unserved energy when average renewable outputs are modeled rather than a 10 year hourly coincident sample, which illustrates the pitfalls of averaging data and ignoring temporal interdependencies. Investment recommendations can significantly differ depending on which years and how many years are included in the analysis. We show that selecting the wrong year can increase system costs by over 4% with a 7-fold increase in expected unserved energy, failing to meet planned reliability and renewable design targets. It is possible for a single year of coincident load-wind-solar data to reasonably approximate system characteristics; however, the best year changes with renewable penetration.

Rubidium fluoride (RbF) postdeposition treatment (PDT) has been shown to improve the performance of Cu(In${}_\mathrm{x}$Ga$_\mathrm{1-x}$)Se$_{2}$ (CIGS) photovoltaic devices. In this study, temperature-dependent current voltage (JVT) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) experiments were combined with modeling using the solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) computer code to investigate the effect of the RbF PDT. Two devices, one as-deposited and one with RbF PDT, were deposited by a three stage coevaporation process. JVT measurements suggest the dominant recombination mechanism may be tunneling-enhanced recombination via bandtail states, but that defect states in the bandgap can also be important. RbF PDT is shown to decrease the characteristic energy of the bandtails. TRPL data show an increase in the minority carrier lifetime after RbF PDT, leading to an improved open-circuit voltage. SCAPS modeling indicates that the dominant recombination mechanism is dependent on the specific defect makeup of a device, suggesting that small changes in processing conditions can impact device behavior. This explains the observation that, for some devices, defect states in the gap dominate while others, as is the case here, appear to be dominated by bandtails.

The human body encounters various challenges. Tissue repair and regeneration processes are augmented after tissue injury to reinstate tissue homeostasis. The Wnt pathway plays a crucial role in tissue repair since it induces target genes required for cell proliferation and differentiation. Since tissue injury causes inflammatory immune responses, it has become increasingly clear that the Wnt ligands can function as immunomodulators while critical for tissue homeostasis. The Wnt pathway and Wnt ligands have been studied extensively in cancer biology and developmental biology. While the Wnt ligands are being studied actively, how the Wnt antagonists and their regulatory mechanisms can modulate immune responses during chronic pathological inflammation remain elusive. This review summarizes DKK family proteins as immunomodulators, aiming to provide an overarching picture for tissue injury and repair. To this end, we first review the Wnt pathway components and DKK family proteins. Next, we will review DKK family proteins (DKK1, 2, and 3) as a new class of immunomodulatory protein in cancer and other chronic inflammatory diseases. Taken together, DKK family proteins and their immunomodulatory functions in chronic inflammatory disorders provide novel insights to understand immune diseases and make them attractive molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. Review on Dickkopf family proteins as immunomodulatory ligands in cancer and other inflammatory diseases.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity states that clocks at different gravitational potentials tick at different rates relative to lab coordinates—an effect known as the gravitational redshift1. As fundamental probes of space and time, atomic clocks have long served to test this prediction at distance scales from 30 centimetres to thousands of kilometres2–4. Ultimately, clocks will enable the study of the union of general relativity and quantum mechanics once they become sensitive to the finite wavefunction of quantum objects oscillating in curved space-time. Towards this regime, we measure a linear frequency gradient consistent with the gravitational redshift within a single millimetre-scale sample of ultracold strontium. Our result is enabled by improving the fractional frequency measurement uncertainty by more than a factor of 10, now reaching 7.6 × 10−21. This heralds a new regime of clock operation necessitating intra-sample corrections for gravitational perturbations.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating neurological disorder for which soluble oligomers of the peptide amyloid-β (Aβ) are now recognized as the neurotoxic species. Metal-based therapeutics are uniquely suited to target Aβ, with ruthenium-based (Ru) complexes emerging as propitious candidates. Recently, azole-based Ru(III) complexes were observed to modulate the aggregation of Aβ in solution, where the inclusion of a primary amine proximal to the ligand coordination site improved the activity of the complexes. To advance these structure–activity relationships, a series of oxazole-based Ru complexes were prepared and evaluated for their ability to modulate Aβ aggregation. From these studies, a lead candidate, Oc, emerged that had superior activity relative to its azole predecessors in modulating the aggregation of soluble Aβ and diminishing its cytotoxicity. Further evaluation of Ocdemonstrated its ability to disrupt formed Aβ aggregates, resulting in smaller amorphous species. Because altering both sides of the aggregation equilibrium for Aβ has not been previously suggested for metal-based complexes for AD, this work represents an exciting new avenue for improved therapeutic success.

Hannon, JP, Wang-Price, S, Garrison, JC, Goto, S, Bothwell, JM, and Bush, CA. Normalized hip and knee strength in two age groups of adolescent female soccer players. J Strength Cond Res36(1): 207–211, 2022—Limb symmetry strength measures are used for clinical decision-making considering when an athlete is ready to return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. However, changes in bilateral muscle strength occur after ACL injury resulting in potentially altered limb symmetry calculations. Adolescent female soccer players are at increased risk of sustaining ACL injuries. Published age and sex-matched strength values in this population may be of benefit to clinicians to improve clinical decision-making. The purpose of this study was to establish normative hip and knee strength data of both the dominant and nondominant limbs in adolescent female soccer players. Sixty-four female soccer players (ages 10–18) were enrolled in this study. Subjects were divided by age into 2 groups (group 1: 10–14 years; group 2: 15–18 years). Subjects underwent Biodex isokinetic strength testing at 60°·s−1and 180°·s−1to assess quadriceps and hamstring strength. Isometric hip strength (abduction and external rotation) was measured using a hand-held dynamometer. No significant differences were found between groups on either limb in regards to quadriceps or hamstring strength. No significant differences were found between groups on either limb for hip external rotation strength. Significant differences in hip abduction strength were found between groups on the dominant (group 1: 0.21 ± 0.04; group 2: 0.18 ± 0.04; p= 0.014) and nondominant (group 1: 0.21 ± 0.05; group 2: 0.18 ± 0.05; p= 0.019) limbs. The results of this study shed light on normative strength values for a high-risk injury population.

Three colleagues pay tribute to Greg Donaghy, who at the time of his death on 1 July 2020 was the co-editor of International Journaland Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto. Dr Donaghy’s imaginative international history expanded the canvas of Canadian foreign policy beyond the traditional limits of the North Atlantic Triangle. As an author, editor, and mentor, he redefined the way that Canada’s world looks to its scholars.

The article announces the joining of Connie Reimers-Hild, as chief futurist at Wild Innovation, Erica Orange, as chief operating officer of The Future Hunters, and Art Guzzetti, as Vice president for mobility initiatives and policy for the American Public Transportation Association.

Lanthipeptides constitute a major family of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). They are classified into four subfamilies, based on the characteristics of their lanthipeptide synthetases. While over a hundred lanthipeptides have been discovered to date, very few of them are class IV lanthipeptides and the latter are all structurally similar. Here, we identified an uncharacterized group of class IV lanthipeptides using bioinformatics analysis. One representative pathway from Streptomycessp. NRRL S-1022 was expressed in Escherichia coli, which generated a lanthipeptide with two nonoverlapping rings that have not been reported for known class IV lanthipeptides. Further investigation into the biosynthetic mechanism revealed that multiple modification pathways are in operation in which dehydration and cyclization occur in parallel. While peptidases for maturation of class IV lanthipeptides have been elusive, two aminopeptidases encoded in the genome of Streptomycessp. NRRL S-1022 were shown to process the modified peptide by the dual endopeptidase/aminopeptidase activity. This work opens doors to discover more class IV lanthipeptides with interesting structural features and biological activities.

Lynch Syndrome (LS) is associated with a genetic predisposition to colorectal, endometrial and multiple extracolonic cancers. The lifetime risk of developing endometrial and ovarian cancers is 40–62% and 4–12% respectively. The case is presented of a 56-year-old woman with a prior history of colorectal cancer who later developed endometrial carcinoma. Tumour immunohistochemistry showed microsatellite instability (MSI)-high, which is observed in 90% of LS-associated carcinomas. Germline molecular testing to confirm the diagnosis is not available in Zimbabwe. Her case is discussed together with the difficulties associated with the management of patients in Zimbabwe suspected to have LS.