Recent uci_postprints items

Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray Bright Seyfert Galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere Using Enhanced Starting Track Events with IceCube

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

IceCube recently reported the observation of TeV neutrinos from the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068, and the corresponding neutrino flux is significantly higher than the upper limit implied by observations of GeV–TeV gamma rays. This suggests that neutrinos are produced near the supermassive black hole, where the radiation density is high enough to obscure gamma rays. We use a set of muon neutrinos with interaction vertices inside the detector, which have good sensitivity to sources in the southern sky, from IceCube data recorded between 2011 and 2021. We then search for individual and collective neutrino signals from 14 Seyfert galaxies in the southern sky selected from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope AGN Spectroscopic Survey. Using the correlations between keV X-rays and TeV neutrinos predicted by disk–corona models, and assuming production characteristics similar to NGC 1068, a collective neutrino signal search reveals an excess of 6.7−3.2+4.0 events, which is inconsistent with...

The DESI DR1 peculiar velocity survey: Growth rate measurements from the galaxy power spectrum

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The large-scale structure of the Universe and its evolution encapsulate a wealth of cosmological information. A powerful means of unlocking this knowledge lies in measuring the auto-power spectrum and/or the cross-power spectrum of the galaxy density and momentum fields, followed by the estimation of cosmological parameters based on these spectrum measurements. In this study, we generalize the cross-power spectrum model to accommodate scenarios in which the density and momentum fields are derived from distinct galaxy surveys. The growth rate of the large-scale structures of the Universe, commonly represented as fσ 8 , was extracted by jointly fitting the monopole and quadrupole moments of the auto-density power spectrum, the monopole of the auto-momentum power spectrum, and the dipole of the cross-power spectrum. Our estimators, theoretical models, and parameter-fitting framework were tested using mocks, confirming their robustness and accuracy in retrieving the fiducial growth...

Genetic Variation and Stroke Recovery: The STRONG Study

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Genetic association studies can reveal biology and treatment targets but have received limited attention for stroke recovery. STRONG (Stroke, Stress, Rehabilitation, and Genetics) was a prospective, longitudinal (1-year), genetic study in adults with stroke at 28 US stroke centers. The primary aim was to examine the association that candidate genetic variants have with (1) motor/functional outcomes and (2) stress-related outcomes. METHODS: For motor/functional end points, 3 candidate gene variants (ApoE ε4, BDNF [brain-derived neurotrophic factor], and a dopamine polygenic score) were analyzed for associations with change in grip strength (3 months-baseline), function (3-month Stroke Impact Scale-Activities of Daily Living), mood (3-month Patient Health Questionnaire-8), and cognition (12-month telephone-Montreal Cognitive Assessment). For stress-related outcomes, 7 variants (serotonin transporter gene-linked promoter region, ACE [angiotensin-converting enzyme], oxytocin...

Peer influence decay and behavioral diffusion in adolescent networks: A simulation approach.

Fri, 8 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How far does peer influence spread through social networks before dissipating? This study investigates the diffusion of smoking behavior in adolescent friendship networks using longitudinal data from two schools (n = 3154 students) in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Using Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models, we simulate interventions targeting heavy smokers using various strategies (random, in-degree, eigenvector centrality) and coverage (10 to 100%). A new exponential decay model quantifies influence attenuation, revealing indirect peer influences, or spillover effects, up to three steps from targets. Targeting 10 to 30% of central individuals maximizes smoking reductions, but gains plateau beyond 40 to 50% owing to network saturation. In our analyses, the denser network exhibits broader diffusion and slower decay than the larger, sparser network. This decay metric optimizes intervention design across diverse network structures.

Climate resilience and collective action in Monrovia's coastal communities

Fri, 8 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Like many low-lying coastal nations, Liberia faces severe threats from sea level rise, coastal erosion, and flooding. These threats are particularly acute for residents of informal slum communities, who are relegated to high-hazard areas that lack basic infrastructure and are frequently overlooked by government officials. In addition, Liberia's limited national institutional capacity has left adaptation to coastal residents and other local stakeholders. This research examines how collective action shapes coastal climate adaptation strategies in two of the largest slum communities in Liberia, West Point and New Kru Town. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, this research investigates how residents experience and respond to coastal hazards, the role of government and civil society actors in supporting adaptation, and barriers to effective collective action. The study reveals disparities in government attention between the two communities, with New Kru Town receiving more infrastructural...

Neurodatascience: Past, Present, and Future

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The study of the brain is a compelling example of the power of convergent science. Over the last few decades, advances in neuroscience techniques and experimentation, as well as in data science tools to analyze the resulting data, have dramatically furthered our understanding of fundamental brain functions. Historically, it has been common for analytical approaches to have a considerable lag in development following the availability of new neuroscience techniques. However, this relationship has not simply been unidirectional, as there have been examples in which analytical developments have directly led to new scientific questions and experiments. Here we review how this interplay between neuroscience and data science advances has unfolded in the past and into the present, with a focus on electrophysiology and calcium imaging. Applying lessons learned from the past and present, we then discuss expected developments, challenges, and opportunities in the future. We end by providing...

Hippocampal ensembles represent sequential relationships among discrete nonspatial events

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT The hippocampus is critical to the temporal organization of our experiences, including the ability to remember past event sequences and predict future ones. Although this fundamental capacity is conserved across modalities and species, its underlying neuronal mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we recorded hippocampal ensemble activity as rats remembered a sequence of nonspatial events (5 odor presentations unfolding over several seconds), using a task with established parallels in humans. Using novel statistical methods and deep learning techniques, we then identified new forms of sequential organization in hippocampal activity linked with task performance. We discovered that sequential firing fields (“time cells”) provided temporal information within and across events in the sequence, and that distinct types of task-critical information (stimulus identity, temporal order, and trial outcome) were also sequentially differentiated within event presentations. Finally,...

Chronic stress and antidepressant treatment alter purine metabolism and beta oxidation within mouse brain and serum.

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex condition with unclear pathophysiology. Molecular disruptions within limbic brain regions and the periphery contribute to depression symptomatology and a more complete understanding the diversity of molecular changes that occur in these tissues may guide the development of more efficacious antidepressant treatments. Here, we utilized a mouse chronic social stress model for the study of MDD and performed metabolomic, lipidomic, and proteomic profiling on serum plus several brain regions (ventral hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and medial prefrontal cortex) of susceptible, resilient, and unstressed control mice. To identify how commonly used tricyclic antidepressants impact the molecular composition in these tissues, we treated stress-exposed mice with imipramine and repeated our multi-OMIC analyses. Proteomic analysis identified three serum proteins reduced in susceptible animals; lipidomic analysis detected differences in lipid species...

Smooth online parameter estimation for time varying VAR models with application to rat local field potential activity data.

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Multivariate time series data appear often as realizations of non-stationary processes where the covariance matrix or spectral matrix smoothly evolve over time. Most of the current approaches estimate the time-varying spectral properties only retrospectively - that is, after the entire data has been observed. Retrospective estimation is a major limitation in many adaptive control applications where it is important to estimate these properties and detect changes in the system as they happen in real-time. To overcome this limitation, we develop an online estimation procedure that gives a real-time update of the time-varying parameters as new observations arrive. One approach to modeling non-stationary time series is to fit time-varying vector autoregressive models (tv-VAR). However, one major obstacle in online estimation of such models is the computational cost due to the high-dimensionality of the parameters. Existing methods such as the Kalman filter or local least squares are...

The function of the ZFP189 transcription factor in the nucleus accumbens facilitates cocaine-specific transcriptional and behavioral adaptations.

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Distinguishing the brain mechanisms affected by distinct addictive drugs may inform targeted therapies against specific substance use disorders (SUDs). Here, we explore the function of a drug-associated, transcriptionally repressive transcription factor (TF), ZFP189, whose expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) facilitates cocaine-induced molecular and behavioral adaptations. To uncover the necessity of ZFP189-mediated transcriptional control in driving cocaine-induced behaviors, we created synthetic ZFP189 TFs of distinct transcriptional function, including ZFP189^VPR, which activates the expression of target genes and exerts opposite transcriptional control to the endogenously repressive ZFP189. By virally delivering synthetic ZFP189 TFs to the NAc of mice, we discover that the transcriptional control exerted by synthetic or endogenous ZFP189 solely alters behavioral adaptations to cocaine but not morphine, saline, or sucrose. Further, these synthetic ZFP189 TFs...

Modeling Local Field Potentials with Regularized Matrix Data Clustering

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper, we propose a novel regularized mixture model for clustering matrix-valued image data. The new framework introduces a sparsity structure (e.g., low rank, spatial sparsity) and separable covariance structure motivated by scientific interpretability. We formulate the problem as a fi-nite mixture model of matrix-normal distributions with regularization terms, and then develop an Expectation-Maximization-type of algorithm for efficient computation. Simulation results and analysis on brain signals show the excellent performance of the proposed method in terms of a better prediction accuracy than the competitors and the scientific interpretability of the solution.

Unity by Diversity: Improved Representation Learning for Multimodal VAEs

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Variational Autoencoders for multimodal data hold promise for many tasks in data analysis, such as representation learning, conditional generation, and imputation. Current architectures either share the encoder output, decoder input, or both across modalities to learn a shared representation. Such architectures impose hard constraints on the model. In this work, we show that a better latent representation can be obtained by replacing these hard constraints with a soft constraint. We propose a new mixture-of-experts prior, softly guiding each modality's latent representation towards a shared aggregate posterior. This approach results in a superior latent representation and allows each encoding to preserve information better from its uncompressed original features. In extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets and two challenging real-world datasets, we show improved learned latent representations and imputation of missing data modalities compared to existing methods.

A Model-Agnostic Graph Neural Network for Integrating Local and Global Information

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have achieved promising performance in a variety of graph-focused tasks. Despite their success, however, existing GNNs suffer from two significant limitations: a lack of interpretability in their results due to their black-box nature, and an inability to learn representations of varying orders. To tackle these issues, we propose a novel Model-agnostic Graph Neural Network (MaGNet) framework, which is able to effectively integrate information of various orders, extract knowledge from high-order neighbors, and provide meaningful and interpretable results by identifying influential compact graph structures. In particular, MaGNet consists of two components: an estimation model for the latent representation of complex relationships under graph topology, and an interpretation model that identifies influential nodes, edges, and node features. Theoretically, we establish the generalization error bound for MaGNet via empirical Rademacher...

A scalable reinforcement learning framework inspired by hippocampal memory mechanisms for efficient contextual and sequential decision making

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Efficient decision-making in context-dependent, sequential tasks remains a fundamental challenge in reinforcement learning (RL). Inspired by the function of the brain’s hippocampal system, we introduce Hippocampal-Augmented Memory Integration (HAMI), a biologically inspired memory-based RL framework that leverages symbolic indexing, hierarchical memory refinement, and structured episodic retrieval to enhance both learning efficiency and adaptability. We also propose Hierarchical Contextual Sequences (HiCoS), a structured RL environment grounded in neuroscience studies on episodic and sequence memory and context-driven decision-making, which serves as a controlled testbed for evaluating biologically inspired memory-based decision-making systems. Our experimental results demonstrate that HAMI achieves high decision accuracy and improved sample efficiency while maintaining low memory utilization. HAMI’s architecture exhibits significantly lower inference latency than baseline memory-based...

Optimal Transport based Cross-Domain Integration for Heterogeneous Data

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Detecting dynamic patterns shared across heterogeneous datasets is a critical yet challenging task in many scientific domains, particularly within the biomedical sciences. Systematic heterogeneity inherent in diverse data sources can significantly hinder the effectiveness of existing machine learning methods in uncovering shared underlying dynamics. Additionally, practical and technical constraints in real-world experimental designs often limit data collection to only a small number of subjects, even when rich, time-dependent measurements are available for each individual. These limited sample sizes further diminish the power to detect common dynamic patterns across subjects. In this article, we propose a novel heterogeneous data integration framework based on optimal transport to extract shared patterns in the conditional mean dynamics of target responses. The key advantage of the proposed method is its ability to enhance discriminative power by reducing heterogeneity unrelated...

CREB Binding at the Zfp189 Promoter Within Medium Spiny Neuron Subtypes Differentially Regulates Behavioral and Physiological Adaptations Over the Course of Cocaine Use.

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background

Over the course of chronic drug use, brain transcriptional neuroadaptation is thought to contribute to a change in drug use behavior over time. The function of the transcription factor CREB (cAMP response element binding protein) within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been well documented in opposing the rewarding properties of many classes of drugs, yet the gene targets through which CREB causally manifests these lasting neuroadaptations remain unknown. Here, we identify zinc finger protein 189 (Zfp189) as a CREB target gene that is transcriptionally responsive to acute and chronic cocaine use within the NAc of mice.

Methods

To investigate the role of the CREB-Zfp189 interaction in cocaine use, we virally delivered modified clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/dCas9 constructs capable of selectively localizing CREB to the Zfp189 gene promoter in the NAc of mice.

Results

We observed that CREB binding to the Zfp189...

The Evolution of Episodic Memory

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Evolution of Episodic Memory

CA1 20-40 Hz oscillatory dynamics reflect trial-specific information processing supporting nonspatial sequence memory

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract The hippocampus is known to play a critical role in processing information about temporal context. However, it remains unclear how hippocampal oscillations are involved, and how their functional organization is influenced by connectivity gradients. We examined local field potential activity in CA1 as rats performed a complex odor sequence memory task. We find that odor sequence processing epochs were characterized by increased power in the 4-8 Hz and 20-40 Hz range, with 20-40 Hz oscillations showing a power gradient increasing toward proximal CA1. Running epochs were characterized by increased power in the 8-12 Hz range and across higher frequency ranges (>24 Hz), with power gradients increasing toward proximal and distal CA1, respectively. Importantly, 20-40 Hz power increased with knowledge of the sequence and carried trial-type-specific information. These results suggest that 20-40 Hz oscillations are associated with trial-specific processing of nonspatial information...

Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis with Applications to Rat Local Field Potential Recordings

Thu, 7 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Modeling the brain dependence network is central to understanding underlying neural mechanisms such as perception, action, and memory. In this study, we present a broad range of statistical methods for analyzing dependence in a brain network. Leveraging a combination of classical and cutting-edge approaches, we analyze multivariate hippocampal local field potential (LFP) time series data concentrating on the encoding of nonspatial olfactory information in rats. We present the strengths and limitations of each method in capturing neural dynamics and connectivity. Our analysis begins with exploratory techniques, including correlation, partial correlation, spectral matrices, and coherence, to establish foundational connectivity insights. We then investigate advanced methods such as Granger causality (GC), robust canonical coherence analysis, spectral transfer entropy (STE), and wavelet coherence to capture dynamic and nonlinear interactions. Additionally, we investigate the utility...

Yeast Phenomic Analysis Reveals DNA Repair, pH Homeostasis, and Ribosomal Biogenesis as Modulators of Anticancer Ruthenium Complex KP1019

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The anticancer ruthenium complex indazolium trans-[tetrachlorobis(1H-indazole) ruthenate (III)-also known as KP1019-inhibits cancer cell proliferation in vitro, causes tumor regression in animal models, and showed no dose-limiting toxicity in a phase I clinical trial. Previous studies found that KP1019 damages DNA in both cancer cells and the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To identify other potential targets of KP1019 along with pathways that modulate the drug's cellular effects, we screened the yeast gene deletion strain library by quantitative high-throughput cell array phenotyping (Q-HTCP). Fitness differences, as judged by growth curve analysis, identified genes for which loss of function (gene deletion) interacts with (enhances or suppresses) KP1019 effects. Drug-enhancing deletions were enriched for DNA repair functions, consistent with DNA damage being a primary target of KP1019 in yeast. pH homeostasis also modified the effects of KP1019....

STABLE-MATCHING VORONOI DIAGRAMS: COMBINATORIAL COMPLEXITY AND ALGORITHMS

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We study algorithms and combinatorial complexity bounds for stable-matching Voronoi diagrams, where a set, S, of n point sites in the plane determines a stable matching between the points in R² and the sites in S such that (i) the points prefer sites closer to them and sites prefer points closer to them, and (ii) each site has a quota or "appetite" indicating the area of the set of points that can be matched to it. Thus, a stable-matching Voronoi diagram is a solution to the well-known post office problem with the added (realistic) constraint that each post office has a limit on the size of its jurisdiction. Previous work on the stable-matching Voronoi diagram provided existence and uniqueness proofs, but did not analyze its combinatorial or algorithmic complexity. In this paper, we show that a stable-matching Voronoi diagram of n point sites has O(n^2+ε) faces and edges, for any ε > 0, and show that this bound is almost tight by giving a family of diagrams...

Folding a paper strip to minimize thickness

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper, we study how to fold a specified origami crease pattern in order to minimize the impact of paper thickness. Specifically, origami designs are often expressed by a mountain–valley pattern (plane graph of creases with relative fold orientations), but in general this specification is consistent with exponentially many possible folded states. We analyze the complexity of finding the best consistent folded state according to two metrics: minimizing the total number of layers in the folded state (so that a “flat folding” is indeed close to flat), and minimizing the total amount of paper required to execute the folding (where “thicker” creases consume more paper). We prove both problems strongly NP-complete even for 1D folding. On the other hand, we prove both problems fixed-parameter tractable in 1D with respect to the number of layers.

Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Regulation: Multiethnic Differences in Reappraisal and Suppression

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Recent work found ethnic differences in the association between resting heart rate variability (HRV), an index of emotion regulation (ER) capacity, and ER difficulties. The present study examined whether this relationship exists among American adults from other marginalized ethnic backgrounds living in the United States, African American (AfAm) and Hispanic or Latino Americans (Hispanics), which remains unexplored in the literature. We addressed this gap by investigating whether self-reported ethnicity differentially moderated the relationship between log-transformed high-frequency HRV and ER, indexed by suppression and reappraisal. A total of 1,047 emerging adults (M_age = 19.7 years [1.7]) had complete ER and resting 10-min HRV data (82 AfAm [65% women], 183 Asians [52% women], 228 Hispanics [59% women], and 554 non-Hispanic White [NHW; 60% women]). HRV was highest among AfAm and Hispanics and lowest among Asian individuals. Linear regression, adjusting for...

Prior Experience of Managers and Maladaptive Responses to Performance Feedback: Evidence from Mutual Funds

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this study, we examine how the prior experiences of decision makers systematically influence their assessment of and responses to negative performance feedback. We posit that, although greater and more specialized experiences enable managers to build relevant knowledge and expertise in specific domains, they also make them overconfident in their abilities and strategies. Such experience-induced overconfidence further leads to distortions in the performance assessment process, hindering a firm’s ability to recognize and respond to poor performance. We empirically test these arguments in the context of U.S. mutual fund managers making investment decisions in response to fund performance below aspirations. As hypothesized, we find that more experienced and more specialized fund managers change their investment decisions less when faced with negative performance feedback than managers who are less experienced and less specialized. In additional analyses, we further show that the...

NON-EUCLIDEAN ERDŐS-ANNING THEOREMS

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

NON-EUCLIDEAN ERDŐS-ANNING THEOREMS

Shaping HCI Research for Children's Care Ecosystem Involvement

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Recent HCI research emphasizes the importance of considering children’s care ecosystems in the design of technologies, extending the focus beyond families to include teachers, peers, therapists, and institutions. While this ecosystem perspective opens opportunities for more inclusive and collaborative technologies, it also introduces challenges such as recruitment, power dynamics, reconciling diverse perspectives, and complex ethical considerations. This CHI 2026 workshop builds on prior community efforts at IDC 2023, CHI 2024, and IDC 2025. Its primary focus is on children’s care ecosystems, but we also welcome researchers working with other populations who wish to apply an ecosystem lens. The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss opportunities, challenges, and methods, and to collaboratively articulate a research agenda for care ecosystem-centered HCI. Participants will engage in mapping and synthesis activities that produce care ecosystem maps...

The cardiovascular conundrum in Non-Hispanic Black emerging adults: multiethnic differences in its association with emotion regulation strategies and socioeconomic status

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Previous studies have identified a pattern of jointly elevated sympathetic vasoconstriction (indexed by total peripheral resistance, TPR) and increased cardiac vagal tone (indexed by heart rate variability, HRV) in non-Hispanic Black (NHB) adults relative to non-Hispanic White (NHW) counterparts in the United States, referred to as the cardiovascular conundrum. Whether a similar pattern is observed in other minority ethnic groups, and the role of emotion regulation strategies and socioeconomic status (SES), remains unclear. This study examined ethnic differences in TPR and HRV in emerging adults with Asian (n = 183), NHB (n = 82), Hispanic/Latino (n = 228), and NHW (n = 554) backgrounds, and tested the moderating role of emotion regulation strategies (expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) and SES. NHB adults showed higher resting TPR (suggesting greater vascular strain) and HRV compared to NHW counterparts and other minority...

Specific heart rate variability features in four ethnic groups of young adults residing in the United States: Association with socioeconomic status

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Previous research has demonstrated different associations between ethnicity and resting measures of heart rate variability (HRV), an important proxy of an organism's autonomic regulatory pathways, particularly between non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) adults in the United States. The current study aimed to extend the investigation of differences in HRV to four ethnic groups through a social lens, by examining the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on the relation between ethnicity and HRV. Time- and frequency-domain indexes of HRV were collected during a 10-min period in 944 young adults (n = 175 Asian, n = 77 NHB, n = 208 Hispanic, n = 484 NHW). After adjusting for several covariates, NHB adults had higher resting values of high-frequency HRV compared to the other ethnic groups, specifically at mean and low estimates of SES. In NHB adults only, SES negatively correlated with HRV metrics. Also, Asian adults showed lower...

FamilyBloom: Examining Ecologies of Collaboration in Family-Centered Health Tracking

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Family health informatics tools can help support well-being with shared data tracking. Prior work typically focused on shared data review, but often in specific moments, like bedtime, or centered on caregiving of children or elderly members. To investigate how tracking can support mutual health collaboration between family members pervasively across daily contexts, we designed and deployed FamilyBloom, a glanceable smartwatch and home display system for mood and goal tracking. Twelve families with both neurotypical and ADHD members used FamilyBloom for three months on average. Our findings reveal how family-centered tracking created collaboration opportunities and tensions across multiple ecological systems: individual self-regulation, collaborations within family dynamics, involvement of care networks with varying trust levels, institutional school constraints and cultural stigma, and temporality of regular routines and crisis periods. We discuss an ecosystem-aware approach to...

Collaboration and Assistive Technology: Facilitating Joint Awareness for Noise Sensitivity

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Existing research has explored various methods to support people with noise sensitivity (PWNS), from desensitization therapies to technological solutions. However, there is a gap in systems that identify and monitor characteristics of noise sensitivity experiences to help PWNS and their companions better understand their condition and make informed management decisions. To fill this gap, we developed AudioBuddy, an app with sensing and tracking features designed to promote awareness between PWNS and their companions. We tested AudioBuddy as a technological probe over a two-week field deployment. Our results show that AudioBuddy can support awareness of how sounds and environments influence the psychophysiological states of PWNS, aiding in understanding noise sensitivity experiences. Nonetheless, technical limitations impacted the depth of awareness participants could attain. We discuss challenges and opportunities for future systems to facilitate awareness among PWNS and their...

Efficacy of Full-Packet Encryption in Mitigating Protocol Detection for Evasive VPNs

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Full-packet encryption is a technique used by modern evasive Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to avoid protocol-based flagging from censorship models by disguising their traffic as random noise on the network. Traditional methods for censoring full-packet-encryption based VPN protocols requires assuming a substantial amount of collateral damage, as other non-VPN network traffic that appears random will be blocked. We tested several machine learning-based classification models against the Aggressive Circumvention of Censorship (ACC) protocol, a fully-encrypted evasive VPN protocol which merges strategies from a wide variety of currently in-use evasive VPN protocols. Our testing found that while ACC was able to survive our models when compared to random noise, it was easily detectable with minimal collateral damage using several different machine learning models when within a stream of regular network traffic. While resistant to the current techniques deployed by nation-state censors,...

Positioning in Digital Markets: A Demand-Side View

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper proposes that firms’ positioning in digital markets involves offering combinations of core and peripheral product functions that add value to customers. When new entrants face demand uncertainty and seek positions that match customer needs and preferences, they draw on external market feedback, specifically customer evaluations of other products, as an input to their positioning decisions. Using data on Photo & Video mobile applications in the Apple App Store, we theorize and show that two dimensions of external market feedback—overall customer dissatisfaction and customer evaluation heterogeneity—convey distinct information about the demand environment. These cues shape whether entrants position as generalists combining multiple functions or as specialists that concentrate on a core function, as well as the extent to which they differentiate from existing competitive products. Our results show that higher customer dissatisfaction is associated with greater focus...

Breaking Free or Locking In: How Socially Disadvantaged Individuals Achieve or Reject an Aspired Identity in an Entrepreneurial Context

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Breaking Free or Locking In: How Socially Disadvantaged Individuals Achieve or Reject an Aspired Identity in an Entrepreneurial Context

Measurement of coherent exclusive J/ψ → μ+μ− production in ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=5.36 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 5 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The ATLAS experiment has performed a measurement of coherent exclusive J/ψ → μ+μ− production in ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=5.36$$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}=5.36 $$ TeV. The data was recorded at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during 2023, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 79 μb−1. Exclusive J/ψ candidates were selected with a dedicated track-sensitive trigger based on the ATLAS transition radiation tracker. The analysis involves reconstruction of the dimuon invariant mass based on muon tracks from the inner detector, as the muon transverse momentum range of interest precludes the use of the standard muon reconstruction and identification algorithms. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of J/ψ rapidity and are compared with theoretical predictions. After extrapolation to sNN=5.02$$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}=5.02 $$ TeV, they are also compared with previous measurements performed by other experiments using data from LHC Run 2. While the results...

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in sNN=5.36TeV O16+O16 and Ne20+Ne20 collisions with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 5 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents the first measurements of the azimuthal anisotropy coefficients , which quantify the -order Fourier modulation of charged-particle azimuthal distributions, for in and collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2025. The coefficients are measured as a function of transverse momentum ( ), collision centrality, and event multiplicity. They are extracted using two complementary methods: two-particle correlations with a template-fit subtraction of short-range nonflow contributions, and four-particle subevent cumulants, which intrinsically suppress nonflow effects and provide sensitivity to flow fluctuations. The results show a clear hierarchy and a nonmonotonic dependence on , reaching a maximum around , consistent with trends observed in heavy-ion collisions. Detailed comparisons between the two collision systems reveal an enhanced in central collisions, consistent with theory expectations based on the predicted...

Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Tue, 5 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 2021 May the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration began a 5 yr spectroscopic redshift survey to produce a detailed map of the evolving three-dimensional structure of the Universe between z = 0 and z ≈ 4. DESI’s principal scientific objectives are to place precise constraints on the equation of state of dark energy, the gravitationally driven growth of large-scale structure, and the sum of the neutrino masses, and to explore the observational signatures of primordial inflation. We present DESI DR1, which consists of all data acquired during the first 13 months of the DESI main survey, as well as a uniform reprocessing of the DESI Survey Validation data, which were previously made public in the DESI Early Data Release. The DR1 main survey includes high-confidence redshifts for 18.7M objects, of which 13.1M are spectroscopically classified as galaxies, 1.6M as quasars, and 4M as stars, making DR1 the largest sample of extragalactic redshifts ever assembled....

Search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon via vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of b-quarks in the ATLAS detector

Tue, 5 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A search for Standard Model Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon and decaying to b b ¯ is performed using 133 fb − 1 of s = 13 TeV pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The photon requirement reduces the multijet background, and the H → b b ¯ decay is the dominant decay mode. Event selection requirements target events produced by vector-boson fusion, the dominant production mode in this channel. Several improvements enhance the search sensitivity compared to previous measurements. These improvements include better background modelling and characterization, the use of a neural-network classifier, and an updated signal extraction strategy adopting a direct binned-likelihood fit to the classifier output. With these improvements, the Higgs boson signal strength is measured to be 0.2 ± 0.7 relative to the Standard Model prediction. This corresponds to an observed significance of 0.3 standard deviations, compared...

Erratum: The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment

Tue, 5 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The worldwide distribution of ATLAS computing, based on the amount of CPU provided, in HS23 (see Sect. 4.1 for the precise definition of HS23), on average in 2023–2024. Countries in gray did not contribute significant CPU One correction is noted for the paper [1], which does not affect the results reported. The vertical axis range of the legend of Fig. 1 is corrected as it was reversed in the original publication.

An abnormal immune response masquerading as infectious conditions.

Fri, 1 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) is a rare, benign, self-limited lymphadenitis most commonly affecting children and young adults, particularly females of Asian descent. Its etiology is unclear but is thought to involve immune dysregulation triggered by infection. We report a 14-year-old South Asian female presenting with 8 days of high fever, frontal headache, bilateral eye redness, transient arthralgias, and palpable lymphadenopathy in the cervical, axillary, and supraclavicular regions. Her history included recent travel to multiple countries and a prior episode of fever of unknown origin attributed to Bartonella. Initial laboratory evaluation revealed pancytopenia, elevated transaminases, and increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and lactate dehydrogenase with normal C reactive protein. Infectious workup was negative for malaria, cytomegalovirus, West Nile virus, Rickettsia, Bartonella, and dengue. Ultrasound of the left axilla and computed tomography showed bilateral axillary...

Characterization of dynamics of encapsulated small molecule Nile red in biodegradable polymer using 2D IR methods

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Biodegradable polymers are seen as a promising option for drug delivery. Here, we applied 2D IR methods with scattering removal to characterize the vibrational dynamics of encapsulated Nile red in amphiphilic block copolymer polyethylene glycol-block-polycaprolatone. Nile red was chosen because it is a commonly used hydrophobic dye molecule. Comparing the absorptive spectra, the splitting of diagonal peaks in nonrephasing spectra confirms the encapsulation of Nile red in the presence of polymer droplets. Pump-probe lifetime data exhibit multiple exponential decays and oscillations, which were fitted to quantify the encapsulation. Waiting time dependent 2D IR spectra were acquired and simulated to characterize the dynamics of the encapsulated Nile red. From these results, we can determine that a portion of the Nile red population, in the presence of polymer, exhibits distinctly different vibrational dynamics, consistent with encapsulation within coacervate microdroplets.

Reducing Supply Chain Dependencies for Viral Genomic Surveillance: Get by with a Little HELP from Commercial Enzymes already in your Lab Freezer

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical vulnerabilities in global laboratory supply chains, disrupting the availability of key reagents and jeopardising the continuity of genomic surveillance for epidemic response. Sustaining sequencing capacity during shortages requires locally accessible alternatives to commercial kits. Methods We developed ARTIC HELP (Homebrew Enzymes for Library Preparation), an open-source adaptation of the ARTIC nanopore sequencing protocol for viral genomic surveillance. We described cost-effective, generic replacements for enzyme mixes used in tiling multiplex RT-PCR and the nanopore native barcoding workflow, including end-prep (EP), barcode ligation (BL), and adapter ligation (AL). Through systematic evaluation, we tested wild-type M-MLV reverse transcriptase and two types of proofreading DNA polymerases, (i) B-family Pfu-based polymerases fused to an Sso7d DNA-binding domain, and (ii) blends of A-family (Taq-based) and B-family (Pfu-based)...

Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance and vaccine targets in high-transmission settings in Africa

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The spread of antimalarial drug resistance and the potential emergence of vaccine-escape variants in Plasmodium falciparum threaten progress toward malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we applied a scalable, Oxford Nanopore-based amplicon sequencing platform to profile five resistance genes (crt, dhfr, dhps, mdr1, k13) and the vaccine target csp in clinical isolates from northern Nigeria. We identified high frequencies of dhfr-IRNI (90%) and dhps-SGKAA (45%) haplotypes, consistent with molecular markers of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) resistance. However, no dhfr/dhps quintuple or sextuple mutation combinations associated with SP-IPTp failure were detected, supporting its continued preventive use in pregnancy. The chloroquine-resistant Pfcrt-76T allele persisted at ~ 25% frequency, suggesting both sustained resistant lineages and a potential re-expansion of chloroquine-susceptible parasites. No WHO-validated Pfk13 mutations linked to artemisinin partial resistance...

Highly Anisotropic Quasi‐Direct Organic Metal Halide Hybrids: A Platform for Polarization‐Sensitive Optoelectronics

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT Low‐dimensional organic–inorganic metal halide hybrids (OMHHs) exhibit remarkable optical properties and enhanced environmental stability. We investigate a 1D OMHH with formula C 4 N 2 H 14 PbBr 4 , consisting of Pb–Br chains separated by organic cations, which shows a large Stokes shift (0.83 eV) and broadband emission. Through first‐principles calculations and polarized Raman spectroscopy, we characterize the material's vibrational properties and identify the specific phonon modes that drive exciton self‐trapping. Our novel GW/Bethe‐Salpeter equation force formalism reveals that low‐frequency phonons (100100 cm − 1 , primarily involving Pb–Br motions) couple strongly with excitons, with a remarkably high Huang‐Rhys factor of 137 ± 4, and gives a pathway for ultrafast structural analysis during the absorption process. This phonon‐exciton coupling mechanism explains the material's broadband emission and provides a pathway for controlling optical properties through...

Application of FreezeTB, a targeted nanopore sequencing assay, for identification of drug resistance and lineages among pulmonary tuberculosis cases in Alaska

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alaska has the highest incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, with 8% mortality while undergoing TB treatment. With a quarter of TB cases lacking sputum culture to enable drug resistance testing, FreezeTB aimed to develop tools tailored to meet the challenges in Alaska while being translatable to other settings. We designed a rapid and cost-effective laboratory workflow and software to identify drug-resistant mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS). FreezeTB, a Fast, Reliable, Economical Evaluation tool to Zap Endemic Tuberculosis, amplifies 22 gene loci associated with resistance to 16 anti-tuberculosis drugs. M. tuberculosis isolates from Alaska (2011-2024) were blinded and underwent analysis with FreezeTB, then compared with phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (pDST) and whole genome sequencing (WGS). Compared with WGS (n = 79), FreezeTB provided the same mutations in 96% (n = 76/79)...

Genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 carriage in a cohort of schoolchildren in Côte d’ivoire during COVID-19 pandemics: insights from pre-delta emergence

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundAfter the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Côte d’Ivoire in March 2020, the virus spread significantly, with several epidemic waves. During a carriage study conducted from November 2020 to April 2021 to examine the oropharyngeal microbiome of school children, the presence of several other pathogens was investigated. This study characterised the diversity of SARS-CoV-2 detected in a cohort of school children in Côte d’Ivoire.MethodsOropharyngeal swabs from participants in Korhogo (n = 37) and Abidjan (n = 39) were analysed. RNA was extracted from the samples, followed by RT-qPCR detection of Coronaviruses. Sequencing was done on an Oxford Nanopore platform and data analysed in GISAID.ResultsOut of 445 samples collected, 15 (3.37%; 5 in Abidjan and 10 in Korhogo) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were sequenced. Genomic coverage of over 70% was obtained for 12 genome sequences (80%). There was a significant difference in SARS-CoV-2 carriage over season per sampling...

Integrating Aircraft Performance in Traffic Flow Management Analysis for Advanced Air Mobility

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Integrating advanced air mobility (AAM) into existing airspace will require substantial research and development regarding how diverse vehicles can operate cooperatively and safely in congested environments. Effective integration of AAM will hinge on the ability to develop robust, alternative traffic flow management techniques tailored specifically to the unique demands of AAM. This research introduces an air traffic management simulation framework for AAM operations, implemented in the open-source platform BlueSky. The framework characterizes airspace through demand models and vertiport networks and integrates high-fidelity vehicle performance and source noise models, enabling a deeper evaluation of flow management methods and the connection between noise and aircraft operations for mixed fleets of unique AAM vehicles. Performance is assessed through metrics of efficiency, safety, energy usage, and community noise exposure. The framework is exercised for an example AAM airspace...

Persistence and turnover of soil organic carbon in global drylands.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Reliable predictions of dryland carbon fluxes require understanding the persistence and turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC). We measure radiocarbon to quantify the age of SOC and CO₂ released from soil respiration at 97 dryland sites across six continents. Here we show that bulk SOC contains little C fixed in the past 60 years, while respired CO₂ originates from both bomb-derived recent C and millennia-old C, challenging the idea that old C is chemically or physically protected. Radiocarbon suggests mean ages of ~2100 years for bulk SOC and ~520 years for respired CO₂, the latter far older than machine-learning (<50 years) or Earth system models predict. Aridity, net primary productivity, and SOC content are dominant predictors for radiocarbon signatures, with abrupt shifts to older C beyond an aridity threshold of ~0.87. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate the vulnerability of older carbon into models and land management strategies.

LOXHD1 is indispensable for maintaining TMC1 auditory mechanosensitive channels at the site of force transmission.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hair cell bundles consist of stereocilia arranged in rows of increasing heights, connected by tip links that transmit sound-induced forces to shorter stereocilia tips. Auditory mechanotransduction channel complexes, composed of proteins TMC1/2, TMIE, CIB2, and LHFPL5, are located at the tips of shorter stereocilia. While most components can interact with the tip link in vitro, their ability to maintain the channel complexes at the tip link in vivo is uncertain. Return, using mouse models, we show that an additional component, LOXHD1, is essential for keeping TMC1-pore forming subunits at the tip link but is dispensable for TMC2. Using SUB-immunogold-SEM, we showed that TMC1 localizes near the tip link but mislocalizes without LOXHD1. LOXHD1 selectively interacts with TMC1, CIB2, LHFPL5, and tip-link protein PCDH15. Our results demonstrate that TMC1-driven mature auditory channels require LOXHD1 to stay connected to the tip link and remain functional, while TMC2-driven developmental...

SUB-immunogold-SEM reveals nanoscale distribution of submembranous epitopes.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Electron microscopy paired with immunogold labeling is the most precise tool for protein localization. However, these methods are either cumbersome, resulting in small sample numbers and restricted quantification, or limited to identifying protein epitopes external to the membrane. Here, we introduce SUB-immunogold-SEM, a scanning electron microscopy technique that detects intracellular protein epitopes proximal to the membrane. We identify four critical sample preparation factors contributing to the methods sensitivity. We validate its efficacy through precise localization and high-powered quantification of cytoskeletal and transmembrane protein distribution. We evaluate the capabilities of SUB-immunogold-SEM on cells with highly differentiated apical surfaces: (i) auditory hair cells, revealing the presence of nanoscale MYO15A-L rings at the tip of stereocilia; and (ii) respiratory multiciliate cells, mapping the distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 along the motile...

An alternative novel tool for DNA editing without target sequence limitation: the structure-guided nuclease.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Engineered endonucleases are a powerful tool for editing DNA. However, sequence preferences may limit their application. We engineer a structure-guided endonuclease (SGN) composed of flap endonuclease-1 (FEN-1), which recognizes the 3 flap structure, and the cleavage domain of Fok I (Fn1), which cleaves DNA strands. The SGN recognizes the target DNA on the basis of the 3 flap structure formed between the target and the guide DNA (gDNA) and cut the target through its Fn1 dimerization. Our results show that the SGN, guided by a pair of gDNAs, cleaves transgenic reporter gene and endogenous genes in zebrafish embryonic genome.

Not just two languages: Using variation in language experience to understand how cognitive resources shape syntactic processing.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Individuals who learn and use two languages come to that experience in many different ways. Recent studies have shown that to understand bilingualism, it is necessary to characterize the variation in experience that continually shapes the use of the two languages. The current investigation explored the consequences of individual differences in cognitive resources for the processing of syntactic information in two groups of speakers. One group were adults learning Spanish and the other were heritage bilinguals with Spanish as the home language. Both groups were proficient speakers of English. We examined the effects of working memory and cognitive control on syntactic processing, measured by an elicited sentence imitation task. The findings revealed both common and distinct contributions of cognitive resources. Working memory predicted Spanish syntactic processing for second language learners but not for heritage speakers. In contrast, working memory predicted English syntactic...

Analysis of Operational Factors Contributing to Aircraft Overflight Noise Variation

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Significant variations in measured overflight noise are observed from airport monitor networks, even for similar aircraft flying comparable operational procedures. Operational factors, including aircraft configuration, acceleration and deceleration procedures, thrust profiles, and associated environmental factors, can impact noise. To assess these impacts, operational Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast surveillance and weather data were associated with noise monitor recordings for a 3-year period at Seattle-Tacoma and John Wayne International Airports for Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-700, and Airbus A320 aircraft. The impact of flight procedures on noise observations is assessed by evaluating flight profiles by airline to investigate the impact of differences in departure and arrival procedures. It was observed that aircraft weight and thrust correlate positively with noise on departure. At John Wayne Airport, there is evidence that thrust variations can result in large...

Genetic modifiers of APOE-ε4-associated cognitive decline

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The APOE-ε4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. However, APOE-ε4 is not deterministic, highlighting the need to identify additional genetic and environmental factors. APOE-ε4 has been linked to accelerated cognitive decline, so we sought to investigate genetic factors that modify APOE-ε4–associated cognitive decline. We conduct cross-ancestry APOE-ε4-stratified and interaction GWAS using harmonized cognitive data from 32,778 participants, including 29,354 non-Hispanic White and 3,424 non-Hispanic Black individuals. Our primary outcome is late-life cognition, measured using harmonized composite scores for memory, executive function, and language, modeled as continuous traits reflecting both normative cognitive aging and disease-related decline. We identify two genome-wide significant loci in APOE-ε4 carriers, reaching genome-wide significance for executive function. These loci also demonstrate nominal associations across the other domains,...

Intracellular TMEM16A is necessary for myogenesis of skeletal muscle.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Transmembrane protein 16A (TMEM16A) localizes at plasma membrane and controls chloride influx in various type of cells. We here showed an intracellular localization pattern of TMEM16A molecules. In myoblasts, TMEM16A was primarily localized to the cytosolic compartment and partially co-localized with intracellular organelles. The global deletion of TMEM16A led to severe skeletal muscle developmental defect. In vitro observation showed that the proliferation of Tmem16a-/- myoblasts was significantly promoted along with activated ERK1/2 and Cyclin D expression; the myogenic differentiation was impaired accompanied by the enhanced caspase 12/3 activation, implying enhanced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Interestingly, the bradykinin-induced Ca²⁺ release from ER calcium store was significantly enhanced after TMEM16A deletion. This suggested a suppressing role of intracellular TMEM16A in ER calcium release whereby regulating the flux of chloride ion...

The thymus regulates skeletal muscle regeneration by directly promoting satellite cell expansion.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The thymus is the central immune organ, but it is known to progressively degenerate with age. As thymus degeneration is paralleled by the wasting of aging skeletal muscle, we speculated that the thymus may play a role in muscle wasting. Here, using thymectomized mice, we show that the thymus is necessary for skeletal muscle regeneration, a process tightly associated with muscle aging. Compared to control mice, the thymectomized mice displayed comparable growth of muscle mass, but decreased muscle regeneration in response to injury, as evidenced by small and sparse regenerative myofibers along with inhibited expression of regeneration-associated genes myh3, myod, and myogenin. Using paired box 7 (Pax7)-immunofluorescence staining and 5-Bromo-2-deoxyuridine-incorporation assay, we determined that the decreased regeneration capacity was caused by a limited satellite cell pool. Interestingly, the conditioned culture medium of isolated thymocytes had a potent capacity to directly stimulate...

GGPP depletion initiates metaflammation through disequilibrating CYB5R3-dependent eicosanoid metabolism.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Metaflammation is a primary inflammatory complication of metabolic disorders characterized by altered production of many inflammatory cytokines, adipokines, and lipid mediators. Whereas multiple inflammation networks have been identified, the mechanisms by which metaflammation is initiated have long been controversial. As the mevalonate pathway (MVA) produces abundant bioactive isoprenoids and abnormal MVA has a phenotypic association with inflammation/immunity, we speculate that isoprenoids from the MVA may provide a causal link between metaflammation and metabolic disorders. Using a line with the MVA isoprenoid producer geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS) deleted, we find that geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) depletion causes an apparent metaflammation as evidenced by abnormal accumulation of fatty acids, eicosanoid intermediates, and proinflammatory cytokines. We also find that GGPP prenylate cytochrome b₅ reductase 3 (CYB5R3) and the prenylated...

Aldh inhibitor restores auditory function in a mouse model of human deafness.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Genetic hearing loss is a common health problem with no effective therapy currently available. DFNA15, caused by mutations of the transcription factor POU4F3, is one of the most common forms of autosomal dominant non-syndromic deafness. In this study, we established a novel mouse model of the human DFNA15 deafness, with a Pou4f3 gene mutation (Pou4f3Δ) identical to that found in a familial case of DFNA15. The Pou4f3(Δ/+) mice suffered progressive deafness in a similar manner to the DFNA15 patients. Hair cells in the Pou4f3(Δ/+) cochlea displayed significant stereociliary and mitochondrial pathologies, with apparent loss of outer hair cells. Progression of hearing and outer hair cell loss of the Pou4f3(Δ/+) mice was significantly modified by other genetic and environmental factors. Using Pou4f3(-/+) heterozygous knockout mice, we also showed that DFNA15 is likely caused by haploinsufficiency of the Pou4f3 gene. Importantly, inhibition of retinoic acid signaling by the aldehyde...

The intragenic microRNA miR199A1 in the dynamin 2 gene contributes to the pathology of X-linked centronuclear myopathy.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Mutations in the myotubularin 1 (MTM1) gene can cause the fatal disease X-linked centronuclear myopathy (XLCNM), but the underlying mechanism is incompletely understood. In this report, using an Mtm1^-/y disease model, we found that expression of the intragenic microRNA miR-199a-1 is up-regulated along with that of its host gene, dynamin 2 (Dnm2), in XLCNM skeletal muscle. To assess the role of miR-199a-1 in XLCNM, we crossed miR-199a-1^-/- with Mtm1^-/y mice and found that the resultant miR-199a-1-Mtm1 double-knockout mice display markers of improved health, as evidenced by lifespans prolonged by 30% and improved muscle strength and histology. Mechanistic analyses showed that miR-199a-1 directly targets nonmuscle myosin IIA (NM IIA) expression and, hence, inhibits muscle postnatal development as well as muscle maturation. Further analysis revealed that increased expression and phosphorylation of signal transducer...

Oncofusion-driven de novo enhancer assembly promotes malignancy in Ewing sarcoma via aberrant expression of the stereociliary protein LOXHD1.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ewing sarcoma (EwS) is a highly aggressive tumor of bone and soft tissues that mostly affects children and adolescents. The pathognomonic oncofusion EWSR1::FLI1 transcription factor drives EwS by orchestrating an oncogenic transcription program through de novo enhancers. By integrative analysis of thousands of transcriptomes representing pan-cancer cell lines, primary cancers, metastasis, and normal tissues, we identify a 32-gene signature (ESS32 [Ewing Sarcoma Specific 32]) that stratifies EwS from pan-cancer. Among the ESS32, LOXHD1, encoding a stereociliary protein, is the most highly expressed gene through an alternative transcription start site. Deletion or silencing of EWSR1::FLI1 bound upstream de novo enhancer results in loss of the LOXHD1 short isoform, altering EWSR1::FLI1 and HIF1α pathway genes and resulting in decreased proliferation/invasion of EwS cells. These observations implicate LOXHD1 as a biomarker and a determinant of EwS metastasis and suggest new avenues...

Golgi-resident TRIO regulates membrane trafficking during neurite outgrowth.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Neurite outgrowth requires coordinated cytoskeletal rearrangements in the growth cone and directional membrane delivery from the neuronal soma. As an essential Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), TRIO is necessary for cytoskeletal dynamics during neurite outgrowth, but its participation in the membrane delivery is unclear. Using co-localization studies, live-cell imaging, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis, along with neurite outgrowth assay and various biochemical approaches, we here report that in mouse cerebellar granule neurons, TRIO protein pools at the Golgi and regulates membrane trafficking by controlling the directional maintenance of both RAB8 (member RAS oncogene family 8)- and RAB10-positive membrane vesicles. We found that the spectrin repeats in Golgi-resident TRIO confer RAB8 and RAB10 activation by interacting with and activating the RAB GEF RABIN8. Constitutively active RAB8 or RAB10 could partially restore the neurite outgrowth...

High-resolution immunofluorescence imaging of mouse cochlear hair bundles.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

High-resolution immunofluorescence imaging of cochlear hair bundles faces many challenges due to the hair bundles small dimensions, fragile nature, and complex organization. Here, we describe an optimized protocol for hair-bundle protein immunostaining and localization. We detail the steps and solutions for extracting and fixing the mouse inner ear and for dissecting the organ of Corti. We further emphasize the optimal permeabilization, blocking, staining, and mounting conditions as well as the parameters for high-resolution microscopy imaging. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Trouillet et al. (2021).

A roadmap for equitable reuse of public microbiome data

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Science benefits from rapid open data sharing, but current guidelines for data reuse were established two decades ago, when databases were several million times smaller than they are today. These guidelines are largely unfamiliar to the scientific community, and, owing to the rapid increase in biological data generated in the past decade, they are also outdated. As a result, there is a lack of community standards suited to the current landscape and inconsistent implementation of data sharing policies across institutions. Here we discuss current sequence data sharing policies and their benefits and drawbacks, and present a roadmap to establish guidelines for equitable sequence data reuse, developed in consultation with a data consortium of 167 microbiome scientists. We propose the use of a Data Reuse Information (DRI) tag for public sequence data, which will be associated with at least one Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) account. The machine-readable DRI tag indicates...

The molecular basis of the genesis of basal tone in internal anal sphincter.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Smooth muscle sphincters exhibit basal tone and control passage of contents through organs such as the gastrointestinal tract; loss of this tone leads to disorders such as faecal incontinence. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this tone remain unknown. Here, we show that deletion of myosin light-chain kinases (MLCK) in the smooth muscle cells from internal anal sphincter (IAS-SMCs) abolishes basal tone, impairing defecation. Pharmacological regulation of ryanodine receptors (RyRs), L-type voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels (VDCCs) or TMEM16A Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) channels significantly changes global cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]i) and the tone. TMEM16A deletion in IAS-SMCs abolishes the effects of modulators for TMEM16A or VDCCs on a RyR-mediated rise in global [Ca(2+)]i and impairs the tone and defecation. Hence, MLCK activation in IAS-SMCs caused by a global rise in [Ca(2+)]i via a RyR-TMEM16A-VDCC signalling module sets the basal tone. Targeting this...

Alzheimers disease and related dementias and related health conditions among American Indian and Alaska Native Medicare beneficiaries.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

Alzheimers disease and related dementias (ADRD) and its associated factors are not well understood in the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population.

Methods

We analyzed Medicare 2019 data for 112,280 AI/AN and 1,010,862 White beneficiaries aged 68+, examining the prevalence of ADRD-related health conditions and their associations with ADRD through logistic regressions.

Results

AI/AN beneficiaries had higher age-adjusted ADRD prevalence (15.6% vs. 13.3%), and a higher prevalence of 5 of 9 Lancet risk factors: diabetes, alcohol use disorder (AUD), tobacco use disorder, visual and hearing impairments. Traumatic brain injury (TBI), AUD, and visual and hearing impairments had stronger associations with ADRD among AI/AN beneficiaries, while depression, diabetes, and hypertension had stronger associations among White beneficiaries.

Discussion

Our findings highlight disparities in ADRD and related health conditions between AI/AN...

Loxhd1 Mutations Cause Mechanotransduction Defects in Cochlear Hair Cells.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sound detection happens in the inner ear via the mechanical deflection of the hair bundle of cochlear hair cells. The hair bundle is an apical specialization consisting of actin-filled membrane protrusions (called stereocilia) connected by tip links (TLs) that transfer the deflection force to gate the mechanotransduction channels. Here, we identified the hearing loss-associated Loxhd1/DFNB77 gene as being required for the mechanotransduction process. LOXHD1 consists of 15 polycystin lipoxygenase α-toxin (PLAT) repeats, which in other proteins can bind lipids and proteins. LOXHD1 was distributed along the length of the stereocilia. Two LOXHD1 mouse models with mutations in the 10th PLAT repeat exhibited mechanotransduction defects (in both sexes). While mechanotransduction currents in mutant inner hair cells (IHCs) were similar to wild-type levels in the first postnatal week, they were severely affected by postnatal day 11. The onset of the mechanotransduction phenotype...

Tas2R activation relaxes airway smooth muscle by release of Gα_t targeting on AChR signaling.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are severe respiratory diseases. Bitter receptor-mediated bronchodilation is a potential therapy for asthma, but the mechanism underlying the agonistic relaxation of airway smooth muscle (ASM) is not well defined. By exploring the ASM relaxation mechanism of bitter substances, we observed that pretreatment with the bitter substances nearly abolished the methacholine (MCh)-induced increase in the ASM cell (ASMC) calcium concentration, thereby suppressing the calcium-induced contraction release. The ASM relaxation was significantly inhibited by simultaneous deletion of three Gα_t proteins, suggesting an interaction between Tas2R and AChR signaling cascades in the relaxation process. Biochemically, the Gα_t released by Tas2R activation complexes with AChR and blocks the Gα_q cycling of AChR signal transduction. More importantly, a bitter substance, kudinoside A, not only attenuates airway constriction...

Myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) regulates the contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle and maintains blood pressure.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Myosin light chain phosphatase with its regulatory subunit, myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) modulates Ca(2+)-dependent phosphorylation of myosin light chain by myosin light chain kinase, which is essential for smooth muscle contraction. The role of MYPT1 in vascular smooth muscle was investigated in adult MYPT1 smooth muscle specific knock-out mice. MYPT1 deletion enhanced phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chain and contractile force in isolated mesenteric arteries treated with KCl and various vascular agonists. The contractile responses of arteries from knock-out mice to norepinephrine were inhibited by Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) and protein kinase C inhibitors and were associated with inhibition of phosphorylation of the myosin light chain phosphatase inhibitor CPI-17. Additionally, stimulation of the NO/cGMP/protein kinase G (PKG) signaling pathway still resulted in relaxation of MYPT1-deficient mesenteric arteries, indicating phosphorylation of MYPT1...

Ultrasound-Integrated Urinary Catheter for Minimally-Invasive Cervical & Fetal Monitoring

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Over 4 million births occur in the United States annually, and nearly all laboring mothers undergo multiple manual exams to assess cervical dilation and effacement as part of labor progression. Assessing cervical dilation is a critical part of labor management. However, manual cervical exam poses a risk of infection that can lead to maternal and fetal complications, and these exams are subjective with variability rates as high as 50%. Our innovation leverages the anatomical proximity of the bladder and uterus to obtain labor metrics. 75% of mothers receive an epidural for pain management and are unable to feel their lower body, resulting in the need for a urinary catheter to drain the bladder. We propose an ultrasound-integrated urinary catheter to provide continuous, objective measurements of both cervical dilation and fetal vitals while seamlessly integrating into the existing standard for labor management. The ultrasound-integrated urinary catheter could transform obstetric...

Evaluating synthesized speech intelligibility in noise

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Humans can modify their speech to improve intelligibility in noisy environments. With the advancement of speech synthesis technology, machines may also synthesize voices that remain highly intelligible in noise condition. This study evaluates both the subjective and objective intelligibility of synthesized speech in speech-shaped noise from three major speech synthesis platforms. It was found that synthesized voices have a similar intelligibility range to human voices, and some synthesized voices were more intelligible than human voices. It was also found that two modern automatic speech recognition systems recognized 10% more words than human listeners.

Electroacupuncture improves cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms in breast cancer survivors: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: We conducted a randomized, double-blinded pilot trial to compare the impact of two electroacupuncture (EA) regimens on co-occurring neuropsychiatric symptoms among breast cancer survivors (BCS). METHODS: BCS who self-reported cognitive impairment, fatigue, insomnia, or psychological distress were randomized (1:1) to receive ten weekly EA to target either neuropsychiatric-specific (nEA) or non-neuropsychiatric-specific (sEA) acupoints. Primary endpoints were the within-group pre-post effect sizes (Glass's Δ) in symptom severities, adjusted for multiple comparisons (p-adjusted). Outcomes were assessed using neurocognitive tests (CANTAB®), PROs (FACT-Cog, MFSI-SF, EORTC QLQ-C30), plasma biomarkers, and neuroimaging. Responders were defined by reliable change index (for objective cognition) or MCID (for PROs). RESULTS: Thirty-five were recruited, with 30 (86%) completing all sessions. The mean (±SD) age was 58.2 (±12.2) years, and 86% reported co-occurring symptoms. Following...

Chronic Thromboembolism Phenotypes after Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Identification with the SEARCH Algorithm.

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

RATIONALE: Chronic dyspnea and exercise impairment are common after acute pulmonary embolism but poorly characterised. OBJECTIVES: We performed a prospective observational study to validate an algorithm to diagnose discrete post-pulmonary embolism outcomes, including chronic thromboembolism phenotypes. METHODS: Six pulmonologists independently reviewed records from 150 consecutive patients three or more months after acute pulmonary embolism who had undergone a stepwise diagnostic algorithm (SEARCH): symptom screen, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, pulmonary arterial perfusion scans, resting echocardiography, confirmatory imaging, and hemodynamic measurements by rest and exercise right heart catheterisation. Clinical data were reviewed after the first post-pulmonary embolism evaluation and then six months later. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Symptomatic recovery was most common and occurred in 66.2% of patients during the final evaluation. Dyspnea without discernable physiological...

Cost-Effectiveness of Medical Therapy for Heart Failure With Mildly Reduced and Preserved Ejection Fraction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Three medications are now guideline-recommended treatments for heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (HFmrEF/HFpEF), however, the cost-effectiveness of these agents in combination has yet to be established. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs), and sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) in individuals with HFmrEF/HFpEF. METHODS: Using a 3-state Markov model, we performed a cost-effectiveness study using simulated cohorts of 1,000 patients with HFmrEF and HFpEF. Treatment with 1-, 2-, and 3-drug combinations was modeled. Based on a United States health care sector perspective, outcome data was used to calculate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) in 2023 United States dollars based on a 30-year time horizon. RESULTS: Treatment with MRA, MRA+SGLT2i, and MRA+SGLT2i+ARNI therapy resulted...

Abstract 5031: Integrating real-world wearable data into breast cancer risk assessment: Evidence from the All of Us Research Program

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Lifestyle and genetic factors are known contributors to breast cancer risk, yet their integration with clinical data into breast cancer risk assessment remains limited. Traditional, self-reported lifestyle measures are subject to recall bias, whereas wearable devices provide objective, continuous measurements of physical activity and sleep behaviors. Using data from the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program (n=633,540 participants), we conducted a retrospective matched case-control study to evaluate the association between objectively captured wearable data and breast cancer risk, and to establish a scalable analytical framework for causal and machine learning modeling. Females diagnosed with breast cancer at age ≥50 years with at least five valid weeks of Fitbit data (two or more days per week) within the five years preceding diagnosis (n=154) were each matched to up to 20 cancer-free controls by date of birth (±1 year) and availability of wearable...

Towards Verifying Crash Consistency

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Compute Express Link (CXL) memory sharing, persistent memory, and other related technologies allow data to survive crash events. A key challenge is ensuring that data is consistent after crashes such that it can be safely accessed. While there has been much work on bug-finding tools for persistent memory programs, these tools cannot guarantee that a program is crash-consistent. In this paper, we present a language, CrashLang, and its type system, that together guarantee that well-typed data structure implementations written in CrashLang are crash-consistent. CrashLang leverages the well-known commit-store pattern in which a single store logically commits an entire data structure operation. In this paper, we prove that well-typed CrashLang programs are crash-consistent, and provide a prototype implementation of the CrashLang compiler. We have evaluated CrashLang on five benchmarks: the Harris linked list, the Treiber stack, the Michael–Scott queue, a Read-Copy-Update binary search...

Performative planning creates a values mismatch between wildfire plans and community needs.

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To mitigate the potential impacts of wildfire, communities across the United States are engaging in collaborative wildfire risk mitigation planning. Planning involves identifying a set of goals, developing management strategies to achieve those goals, and codifying the goals and strategies in a written document. A plan's goals and strategies are informed by values-the things plan authors and communities want to protect or enhance. Identifying and evaluating these values can give insight into whether a plan is meeting the needs of local wildfire risk and vulnerability, incorporating best practice from national policies, or simply reflecting broader cultural trends. This paper explores these tensions using the case of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), which are local (neighborhood to multicounty) plans developed collaboratively by diverse wildfire-related stakeholders. Drawing on a combination of manual coding and computational text analysis, we first characterize the...

Detrended fluctuation analysis of amygdala-hippocampal beta synchrony reveals network rigidity in depression associated with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Objective Depressive symptoms are common in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), yet the network dynamics linking limbic circuitry to mood disturbance in TLE remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether the temporal organization of amygdala-hippocampal beta synchrony reflects depressive symptom burden in individuals with TLE undergoing intracranial EEG (iEEG) monitoring. Approach We analyzed iEEG recordings from 14 adults with TLE who underwent intracranial monitoring as part of routine pre-surgical evaluation. Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) in the beta band was calculated between the amygdala and the hippocampus, and the temporal structure of the dFC was quantified using detrended fluctuation analysis. Random permutation of epochs was performed to assess the influence of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) on the network dynamics. We additionally extracted the ultra-slow fluctuations in dFC and assessed whether the timing of the IEDs was phase-locked...

Automated Insertion of Flushes and Fences for Persistency

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

CXL shared memory and persistent memory allow the contents of memory to persist beyond crashes. Stores to persistent or CXL memory are typically not immediately made persistent; developers must manually flush the corresponding cache lines to force the data to be written to the underlying storage. Correctly using flush and fence operations is known to be challenging. While state-of-the-art tools can find missing flush instructions, they often require bug-revealing test cases. No existing tools can ensure the absence of missing flush bugs. In this paper, we present PMRobust, a compiler that automatically inserts flush and fence operations to ensure that code using persistent memory is free from missing flush and fence bugs. PMRobust employs a novel static analysis with optimizations that target newly allocated objects. We have evaluated PMRobust on persistent memory libraries and several persistent memory data structures and measured a geometric mean overhead of 0.26% relative to...

Circulating Asprosin Concentrations and Body Weight Changes in Postmenopausal Women: Findings from the Women’s Health Initiative

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Weight changes after menopause contribute to cardiometabolic risk, yet hormonal determinants of long-term weight trajectories remain incompletely understood. Asprosin, a fasting-induced adipokine involved in hepatic gluconeogenesis and appetite regulation, has been associated with metabolic disease, although its prospective role in affecting weight change remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine whether plasma asprosin concentrations are directly and prospectively associated with changes in body weight and body composition among postmenopausal women. METHODS: In a case-control study of 4020 postmenopausal women (1987 newly developed/incident diabetes cases and 2033 matched controls) nested within the Women's Health Initiative, we prospectively evaluated participants' baseline plasma concentrations of asprosin in relation to 3-y changes in weight, measures of central obesity, and the risk of major weight gain or loss (≥7% of baseline weight). Associations...

Prenatal attachment interventions: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

PurposeAmidst a rapidly growing worldwide literature on non-invasive interventions to optimize parent–child relationships prenatally, the effectiveness of prenatal attachment intervention remains uncertain due to methodologic restrictions of prior systematic reviews. The current systematic review was aimed at capturing the diversity of study designs, intervention targets and methods employed reflective of this burgeoning literature. We then employed meta-regression to evaluate the impact of expected heterogeneity on estimated intervention effects.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, PsychINFO, Trip database, and Google Scholar for empirical prenatal attachment intervention studies published through August 11, 2025, with titles and abstracts written in English. Articles with main texts written in other languages were translated prior to analysis (PROSPERO ID CRD42021241199).ResultsPrenatal attachment scores increased following intervention when examining all studies (p < ....

NeoFusion: Fully Mechanical Syringe Pump for Low-Resource Countries

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There are approximately 6,500 newborn deaths each day. Despite many of these deaths being preventable by proper access to quality healthcare, the world continues to see a health crisis that disproportionately impacts low-and-middle income countries (LMICs), with about 98% of newborn deaths occurring in these regions. The WHO has identified syringe pumps as necessary medical devices because they can gradually deliver precise amounts of medication, fluids, nutrients, and electrolytes to neonates. However, the majority of syringe infusion pumps currently on the market depend on electricity, which can be unreliable in areas lacking proper infrastructure. Our solution, NeoFusion, does not require electricity and is fully mechanical, powered by the potential energy stored in a spring. Preliminary trials with our prototype achieved accurate and adjustable flow rates. In future designs, we will incorporate a visual and auditory alarm system for occlusions.

Preliminary evaluation of a relational savoring prevention program for mothers in Iran

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Relational savoring improves parents' well-being but has seldom been tested outside of the United States. In Iran, discussing parenting difficulties is taboo, and there is less emphasis on the experience of joy in motherhood. This cultural variation underscores the need to examine the effects of relational savoring, which focuses on heightening positive emotion in the context of parenthood. In this study conducted in Iran, mothers of children ages 5 and under (N = 100) were randomized into the experimental (4 weekly relational savoring sessions) or control group (no intervention). Participants were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 2-month follow-up. Compared to control group mothers, relational savoring mothers had higher closeness to child and availability at post-test and 2-month follow-up. There were no differential impacts on parenting competence and sensitivity/responsiveness. This program can be effective in improving aspects of the mother-child relationship among...

Central American and Mexican Mothers and Youth Migration-Related Separations and Reunifications

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In pursuit of safety and better economic opportunities, some parents make the difficult decision to migrate to the United States, leaving their children behind in the care of a substitute caregiver. Since 2021, more than 400,000 unaccompanied immigrant youth have migrated to the United States to reunify with their parents. These reunifications are often precarious; attachment disruptions resulting from prolonged separation affect the psychological well-being of youth and parents. We collected and analyzed interviews from 16 mother–youth dyads from Mexico and Central America who experienced migration-related separations. Drawing on frameworks of attachment, ambiguous loss, and migratory grief, we used grounded theory methods, specifically Schatzman’s dimensional analysis, to uncover meanings, interactions, and outcomes that migrant youth experience during and after separation from their mother. Analyses revealed five key findings: (a) Family separation is not a discrete event;...

The Dermoepidermal Junction as the Initiation Point for Reversal of Dermatoporosis.

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Dermatoporosis (DP) or chronic cutaneous fragility syndrome has traditionally been linked to extracellular matrix (ECM) dehydration, reduced cellular turnover, epidermal thinning, and vascular fragility. However, recent imaging methods and clinical evidence indicate that the dermoepidermal junction (DEJ) might be the earliest change reflecting DP reversal. OBJECTIVE: To propose a new mechanistic process in which the DEJ acts as the initiation point for reversing the DP. The process is supported by clinical and imaging evidence, as well as independent literature on DEJ biology. METHODS: A combination of clinical and investigational findings, published theoretical models, and evidence from wound-healing, skin-longevity reports, ex vivo model analyses, and device-based interventions formed the basis for the scientific narrative. RESULTS: Cumulative evidence suggests that an initial change in the DEJ, along with structural restoration, appears to trigger or initiate regenerative...

Can methods that focus on eating behaviour and individual agency improve success rates in eating disorder recovery?

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Success rates in eating disorder treatments are disappointing, and many calls have been made in recent research literature for innovative approaches to improve outcomes. This Comment article offers an argument for the importance of behaviour and agency in supporting eating disorder recovery, where behaviour encompasses eating and other everyday actions and habits and agency is an individual’s capacity to set priorities and intentions, generate insights, draw conclusions, make decisions, and perform actions. Current treatments often deprioritize eating and other behaviours as well as individual agency for the patient/client, with lower importance often attributed to behavioural change than to physiological or psychological change. Reasons for deprioritizing behaviour may include beliefs about the therapeutic alliance, the intellectual appeal of psychological exploration, and the ready measurability of physiological factors. Reasons for deprioritizing personal agency may relate...

Social Network Typology and Cognitive Status Among African Americans: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Social Network Typology and Cognitive Status Among African Americans: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study

Honest Doubt: Quasi‐Fideism and Epistemic Vertigo

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In his final notebooks, published as On Certainty , Wittgenstein articulated a radical conception of the structure of reasons, such that all rational evaluation essentially presupposes arational hingecommitments . I have argued elsewhere that such an account has application to the epistemology of religious belief by generating a distinctive proposal that I call quasi‐fideism . Quasi‐fideism seems to fare better than competing views in terms of capturing the phenomenology of at least a certain kind of fundamental religious commitment, particularly in terms of its visceral certainty and its associated resistance to ordinary rational considerations. And yet this apparent strength might also be thought to be in other respects a weakness. Can it not also be an important ingredient of the religious life – even the deeply religious life – that it involves religious doubt? But how is that to be squared with thinking of fundamental religious commitments in terms of arational hinge certainties?...

The highs and lows: Cannabis use and positive valence bipolar mood and emotion processes in emerging adults

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Growing work underscores the importance of understanding disturbances in positive valence or emotional processes in psychopathology. Despite evidence that substance use disorders, such as cannabis misuse, are associated with positive emotion processes, few studies have examined associations between cannabis use and clinically relevant disorders that centrally feature positive emotions (such as bipolar spectrum disorders) and associated positive emotion processes. The present study investigates associations between self-reported cannabis use and bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD) risk and mood severity, as well as three well-studied positive valence processes (i.e., positive emotion experience, reward responsiveness, and positive emotion valuation). Emerging adult college students who endorsed cannabis use (N = 968) were recruited from nine North American universities. Higher self-reported BSD risk was associated with greater cannabis-related interference with daily life,...

Nowcasting Earthquakes with QuakeGPT: Methods and First Results

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Earthquake nowcasting has been proposed as a means of tracking the change in large earthquake potential in a seismically active area. The method was developed using observable seismic data, in which probabilities of future large earthquakes can be computed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) methods. Furthermore, analysis of the Shannon information content of the earthquake catalogs has been used to show that there is information contained in the catalogs, and that it can vary in time. Here we discuss a new method for earthquake nowcasting that uses an AI-enhanced deep learning model "QuakeGPT" that is based on an attention-based science transformer adapted for time series forecasting. Such dot product attention-based transformers were introduced by Vaswani et al. (2017), and are the basis for the new large language models such as ChatGPT. To use these science transformers, they must first be trained on a large corpus of data. A problem is that the existing history of...

How custom polymerases are driving innovation in synthetic biology

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Polymerases are the molecular machines of information transfer, yet their natural catalytic repertoire is largely restricted to DNA, RNA, and a limited set of chemically modified analogs. In response to this constraint, custom polymerases have emerged as powerful tools in the synthetic biology toolbox. Advances in polymerase engineering are unlocking access to RNA polymers generated by primer-extension rather than a promoter driven process as well as synthetic genetic polymers with unnatural backbone structures, collectively termed xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs). In this review, we highlight examples of how custom polymerases are redefining the chemical boundaries of genetic function and driving innovation across the fields of synthetic biology, biotechnology, and molecular medicine.

Quantifying Removal of Selenium by Aquatic Plants via Methylation and Volatilization in San Joaquin Marsh (SJM)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The San Joaquin Marsh (SJM) is a constructed wetland located in Irvine, California within the Newport Bay watershed that offers hiking trails to residents and serves as a protected wildlife sanctuary. A prominent feature of the habitat is the natural wetland treatment system, where urban runoff and groundwater travels through a series of ponds with vegetation, and the effluent (clean water) makes its way towards upper Newport Bay and the ocean. One major pollutant of emerging concern present in the marsh is selenium (Se), a naturally occurring element in the surrounding foothills around the area. At high levels, Se can be toxic to native aquatic plants and animals present in this ecosystem. Our team is working with Dr. Jian Peng from AtkinsRéalis, our Industry Advisor, to quantify the levels of Se volatilization occurring in the watershed, focusing primarily on the SJM and San Diego Creek. The goal of this project is to gather data and analyze the amount of Se removal via volatilization....

Vive la république européenne? Reading The European Balcony Project as artistic counter-public

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The article first contextualizes the European Balcony Project (EBP), a manifesto written by authors Ulrike Guérot, Robert Menasse, and theatre director Milo Rau who subsequently put it up for discussion in various public fora. On 10 November 2018, artists and citizens performed the manifesto and proclaimed the European Republic from (theatre) balconies and public places in 25 European countries. They encouraged a dialogue that sought to promote a more diverse public sphere. In my reading, the EBP emerges as a contemporary version of Oskar Negt’s and Alexander Kluge’s public counter sphere, as a real and imaginary community in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk in an arena of discursive interaction and democratic practice. By reading the texts in the context of a political avantgarde project, I show how the interventions aim to set a counterpoint to the resurgence of nationalism and promote a vision of a democratic continent based in shared values....

Understanding the Perspectives of Autistic Gamers through an Online Autistic Community and a Survey

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Autistic people often have an interest in and spend a substantial amount of time engaged with video games. Games can be supportive of their mental health and social needs and have been widely used for behavioral interventions among autistic people. However, the gaming experiences and preferences of autistic people themselves have not been thoroughly studied. To explore these experiences, we used a multi-method approach, analyzing game-related posts from a large autism-related subreddit and conducting a survey with 145 autistic people. The survey allowed us to further understand preferences around accessibility and sensory experiences, representation, and social experiences in communities that emerged in the Reddit posts. We found that games offering a sense of freedom, control, and creativity might be particularly appealing to autistic gamers. Discussions also emerged around what types of audio and visual sensory input were considered soothing and appropriate. Moreover, both the...

Neuroprotective Effect of Intraperitoneal Humanin-G in Retinal Degeneration of Royal College of Surgeons Rats

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study aimed to examine whether Humanin-G (HNG), a mitochondrial derived peptide with cytoprotective properties, could improve the retinal function and gene expression profiles after intraperitoneal injections to Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats with Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) dysfunction and retinal degeneration. Starting at postnatal day 21 (p21), RCS rats received twice a week intraperitoneal injections of either Low Dose HNG (0.4 mg/kg), High Dose HNG (4mg/kg), or sham-saline for 1 or 4 weeks. Visual function was tested with full field scotopic & photopic electroretinography (ERG) and optokinetic testing (OKT) 1 and 4 weeks after first injection (WAFI). The rats were euthanized after the ERG and OKT (1 or 4 WAFI) and the dissected retinas and RPE were collected for RNA, cDNA and Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. The results of our study showed that high dose (4mg/kg) HNG at 4 WAFI was associated with the largest change in gene expression in the...

Flapping-Wing Micro-Air-Vehicle Project (FMMAV)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are a student-led research team dedicated to bridging the gap between natural flight and modern engineering by studying the complex aerodynamics of flapping wings. Our project focuses on evolving our quadflapper and novel prototypes into high-performance aerial vehicles that challenge the efficiency of traditional propeller drones.

Which Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences are most Strongly Associated with Young Peoples’ Arrests and Convictions?

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with young people’s criminal legal system involvement, but the extent to which distinct types of ACEs and positive childhood experiences (PCEs) differentially relate to arrests and convictions for youth is unknown. We identified childhood exposures that remain independently associated with arrests and convictions by age 26 among a broad set of ACEs and PCEs. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from two components of the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We examined the occurrence and number of arrests and convictions by age 26 and constructed ACE- and PCE-type indicator variables and overall scores. Weighted, covariate-adjusted logistic and negative binomial regression models estimated associations between ACE types and arrests and conviction outcomes, controlling for PCE score. Similarly, we estimated PCE-type outcome associations controlling for ACE score. Finally, we examined sex differences...

UCI Rocket Project Solids: RPS-003 Light Fury

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The UCI Rocket Project Solids (RPS) undergraduate team presents their 2025-26 design and manufacturing process for their latest rocket: Light Fury. RPS operates on a one-year design cycle while implementing new design aspects to expand the depth of the team's engineering capabilities. This APCP-based solid propellant rocket features a 5U Cubesat payload with a deployable rover and UCI's first-ever active control airbrake system, alongside custom-manufactured carbon fiber and fiberglass airframes and fins. Light Fury is set to compete in the 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition in Texas, where the rocket must reach an exact 10,000ft. apogee achieved by the airbrake system. This poster details their progress throughout the 2025-26 year, from initial design choices, testing procedures, static fires, and launches on their testbed rocket: Night Fury.

Drone Magnetic Deployment System: Electro-Permanet Magnets

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Mag-Vengers partnered with Design West Technologies (DWT) to develop a compact drone deployment system to remotely release multi-gas sensors while minimizing size, weight, and power (SWaP). The design replaces conventional mechanisms with electro-permanent magnets (EPMs), which draw power only during switching between “ON” and “OFF”, reducing mass and improving energy efficiency while enabling reliable individual release during high-speed flight. The system is compatible with DWT’s existing drone platforms, supports flexible mounting configurations, and carries at least 6 sensor pucks. Each EPM operates with short 5 A pulses to produce 19.4 N holding force. Simulation and testing were used to optimize performance and ensure safe, repeatable deployment.

Comparison of Chlorophyll and Bacteriochlorophyll Ultrafast Transient Absorption Spectra and Kinetics.

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis are initiated through the absorption of light by chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll photosynthetic pigments, respectively, which function as light-harvesting (antenna) and redox pigments on the photosynthetic membrane that trap and convert the absorbed optical energy into chemical energy. While several studies have characterized the ultrafast spectra, kinetics, and structures of the light-harvesting and reaction center complexes that contain the photosynthetic pigments, a detailed understanding of how the ultrafast excited-state dynamics vary across different photosynthetic pigments is lacking. Such information is critical in understanding the molecular mechanisms of both artificial and natural photosynthetic systems. In this study, we conducted ultrafast time-resolved absorption spectroscopy on chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll photosynthetic pigments at room temperature to directly compare the spectra and kinetics of their transient,...

Validation of the DESI DR2 Lyα BAO analysis using synthetic datasets

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The second data release (DR2) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), containing data from the first three years of observations, doubles the number of Lyman-α (Lyα) forest spectra in DR1 and it provides the largest dataset of its kind. To ensure a robust validation of the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) analysis using Lyα forests, we have made significant updates compared to DR1 to both the mocks and the analysis framework used in the validation. In particular, we present CoLoRe-QL, a new set of Lyα mocks that use a quasilinear input power spectrum to incorporate the nonlinear broadening of the BAO peak. We have also increased the number of realizations used in the validation to 400, compared to the 150 realizations used in DR1. Finally, we present a detailed study of the impact of quasar redshift errors on the BAO measurement, and we compare different strategies to mask damped Lyman-α absorbers in our spectra. The BAO measurement from the Lyα dataset of DESI...

Challenges and responses of malaria elimination in a high-endemic area along the Thai-Myanmar border: A health systems perspective.

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Despite Thailands progress under the 1-3-7 malaria elimination framework, border districts such as Tha Song Yang in Tak Province continue to experience persistent transmission due to high population mobility, geographic constraints, and health system challenges. Understanding how local health systems respond to these pressures is critical for sustaining malaria elimination in complex border settings. This mixed-methods study applied the World Health Organizations Six Building Blocks framework to examine challenges and responses in malaria elimination in Tha Song Yang District. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with 24 key informants from district health offices, vector-borne disease units, malaria posts and clinics, hospitals, and local authorities. Quantitative data included household surveys assessing malaria-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (n = 388), and secondary surveillance data on adherence to the 1-3-7 strategy from 2018 to 2022. Adherence...

Recent uci_postprints items

Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray Bright Seyfert Galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere Using Enhanced Starting Track Events with IceCube

The DESI DR1 peculiar velocity survey: Growth rate measurements from the galaxy power spectrum

Genetic Variation and Stroke Recovery: The STRONG Study

Peer influence decay and behavioral diffusion in adolescent networks: A simulation approach.

Climate resilience and collective action in Monrovia's coastal communities

Neurodatascience: Past, Present, and Future

Hippocampal ensembles represent sequential relationships among discrete nonspatial events

Chronic stress and antidepressant treatment alter purine metabolism and beta oxidation within mouse brain and serum.

Smooth online parameter estimation for time varying VAR models with application to rat local field potential activity data.

The function of the ZFP189 transcription factor in the nucleus accumbens facilitates cocaine-specific transcriptional and behavioral adaptations.

Modeling Local Field Potentials with Regularized Matrix Data Clustering

Unity by Diversity: Improved Representation Learning for Multimodal VAEs

A Model-Agnostic Graph Neural Network for Integrating Local and Global Information

A scalable reinforcement learning framework inspired by hippocampal memory mechanisms for efficient contextual and sequential decision making

Optimal Transport based Cross-Domain Integration for Heterogeneous Data

CREB Binding at the Zfp189 Promoter Within Medium Spiny Neuron Subtypes Differentially Regulates Behavioral and Physiological Adaptations Over the Course of Cocaine Use.

Background

Methods

Results

The Evolution of Episodic Memory

CA1 20-40 Hz oscillatory dynamics reflect trial-specific information processing supporting nonspatial sequence memory

Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis with Applications to Rat Local Field Potential Recordings

Yeast Phenomic Analysis Reveals DNA Repair, pH Homeostasis, and Ribosomal Biogenesis as Modulators of Anticancer Ruthenium Complex KP1019

STABLE-MATCHING VORONOI DIAGRAMS: COMBINATORIAL COMPLEXITY AND ALGORITHMS

Folding a paper strip to minimize thickness

Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Regulation: Multiethnic Differences in Reappraisal and Suppression

Prior Experience of Managers and Maladaptive Responses to Performance Feedback: Evidence from Mutual Funds

NON-EUCLIDEAN ERDŐS-ANNING THEOREMS

Shaping HCI Research for Children's Care Ecosystem Involvement

The cardiovascular conundrum in Non-Hispanic Black emerging adults: multiethnic differences in its association with emotion regulation strategies and socioeconomic status

Specific heart rate variability features in four ethnic groups of young adults residing in the United States: Association with socioeconomic status

FamilyBloom: Examining Ecologies of Collaboration in Family-Centered Health Tracking

Collaboration and Assistive Technology: Facilitating Joint Awareness for Noise Sensitivity

Efficacy of Full-Packet Encryption in Mitigating Protocol Detection for Evasive VPNs

Positioning in Digital Markets: A Demand-Side View

Breaking Free or Locking In: How Socially Disadvantaged Individuals Achieve or Reject an Aspired Identity in an Entrepreneurial Context

Measurement of coherent exclusive J/ψ → μ+μ− production in ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=5.36 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in sNN=5.36TeV O16+O16 and Ne20+Ne20 collisions with the ATLAS detector

Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon via vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of b-quarks in the ATLAS detector

Erratum: The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment

An abnormal immune response masquerading as infectious conditions.

Characterization of dynamics of encapsulated small molecule Nile red in biodegradable polymer using 2D IR methods

Reducing Supply Chain Dependencies for Viral Genomic Surveillance: Get by with a Little HELP from Commercial Enzymes already in your Lab Freezer

Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance and vaccine targets in high-transmission settings in Africa

Highly Anisotropic Quasi‐Direct Organic Metal Halide Hybrids: A Platform for Polarization‐Sensitive Optoelectronics

Application of FreezeTB, a targeted nanopore sequencing assay, for identification of drug resistance and lineages among pulmonary tuberculosis cases in Alaska

Genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 carriage in a cohort of schoolchildren in Côte d’ivoire during COVID-19 pandemics: insights from pre-delta emergence

Integrating Aircraft Performance in Traffic Flow Management Analysis for Advanced Air Mobility

Persistence and turnover of soil organic carbon in global drylands.

LOXHD1 is indispensable for maintaining TMC1 auditory mechanosensitive channels at the site of force transmission.

SUB-immunogold-SEM reveals nanoscale distribution of submembranous epitopes.

An alternative novel tool for DNA editing without target sequence limitation: the structure-guided nuclease.

Not just two languages: Using variation in language experience to understand how cognitive resources shape syntactic processing.

Analysis of Operational Factors Contributing to Aircraft Overflight Noise Variation

Genetic modifiers of APOE-ε4-associated cognitive decline

Intracellular TMEM16A is necessary for myogenesis of skeletal muscle.

The thymus regulates skeletal muscle regeneration by directly promoting satellite cell expansion.

GGPP depletion initiates metaflammation through disequilibrating CYB5R3-dependent eicosanoid metabolism.

Aldh inhibitor restores auditory function in a mouse model of human deafness.

The intragenic microRNA miR199A1 in the dynamin 2 gene contributes to the pathology of X-linked centronuclear myopathy.

Oncofusion-driven de novo enhancer assembly promotes malignancy in Ewing sarcoma via aberrant expression of the stereociliary protein LOXHD1.

Golgi-resident TRIO regulates membrane trafficking during neurite outgrowth.

High-resolution immunofluorescence imaging of mouse cochlear hair bundles.

A roadmap for equitable reuse of public microbiome data

The molecular basis of the genesis of basal tone in internal anal sphincter.

Alzheimers disease and related dementias and related health conditions among American Indian and Alaska Native Medicare beneficiaries.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Loxhd1 Mutations Cause Mechanotransduction Defects in Cochlear Hair Cells.

Tas2R activation relaxes airway smooth muscle by release of Gαt targeting on AChR signaling.

Myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) regulates the contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle and maintains blood pressure.

Ultrasound-Integrated Urinary Catheter for Minimally-Invasive Cervical & Fetal Monitoring

Evaluating synthesized speech intelligibility in noise

Electroacupuncture improves cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms in breast cancer survivors: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Chronic Thromboembolism Phenotypes after Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Identification with the SEARCH Algorithm.

Cost-Effectiveness of Medical Therapy for Heart Failure With Mildly Reduced and Preserved Ejection Fraction

Tas2R activation relaxes airway smooth muscle by release of Gα_t targeting on AChR signaling.