Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii are fungal pathogens that cause systemic mycoses and are prevalent in arid regions in the Americas. While C. immitis mainly occurs in California and Was...

Scientists identify two compounds that could benefit people living with multiple sclerosis

Multiple myeloma (MM) is consistently preceded by monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM). While these precursor conditions are asymptomatic, th...

When older adults living in nursing homes are prescribed the pain medicine tramadol alongside certain antidepressants, their risk of seizures may go up, according to a study published October 8, 2025,...

Arnold et al. present evidence that Late Pleistocene hippos from the Upper Rhine Graben show close genetic ties to modern African hippos. Although hippos have been thought to have gone extinct around ...

The site of Casal Lumbroso is located in the north-west sector of Rome (central Italy). Stratigraphic and geochemical data presented here evidence that the archaeological and paleontological horizon l...

Study offers user-friendly template for simulating quantum systems on consumer laptops, saving supercomputers for more complex systems.

This study investigates the life histories of three burials discovered in 2015, close to San Vito al Tagliamento, northeastern Italy. Despite the poor…

European Journal of Human Genetics - A new multisystem ERCC1-hepatorenal syndrome: insights from a clinical cohort, molecular pathogenesis, and management guidelines

The Zika viral protease NS2B-NS3 is a crucial target for antiviral drug development due to its role in processing viral polyproteins. Here, the authors utilize crystallographic fragment screening and deep mutational scanning to identify binding sites for resistance-resilient inhibitors.

The pathogenic avian flu H5N1 virus remains stable in raw milk and throughout the cheese-making process, but contaminated cheese fed to ferrets did not lead to infection, whereas raw milk did.

Scientific Reports - Pulsed thermographic analysis of Herculaneum papyri

Despite almost a century and a half of excavation, the dynamic landscape into which the temple complex of Karnak was embedded is not well understood. Presenting the results of the first comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of the area, the authors show that Karnak was built upon a fluvial terrace segment surrounded by river channels in an island configuration potentially recalling the ‘primeval mound’ of Egyptian creation myths. Permanent occupation of the site became possible after 2520 BC ±420 years, likely during the Old Kingdom. Subsequent landscape changes were dramatic, with the occupants of the island responding both opportunistically and proactively.

Chiral organophosphorus pollutants are widely distributed in different environmental matrices, but their health risks to humans remain insufficiently explored. This study explored the acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-mediated enantioselective neurotoxicity of dioxabenzofos on SH-SY5Y cells and elucidated the microscopic mechanisms underlying neurotoxicity at the enantiomeric level. Cellular assays exhibited that dioxabenzofos displayed significant enantioselectivity in inhibiting the intracellular AChE activity, with IC50 values of 17.2 μM and 5.28 μM, respectively, reflecting differences in bioaffinity between both enantiomers and intracellular AChE. Modes of neurotoxic action suggest that the different orientations of enantiomers enable them to form conjugated interactions and substantial hydrogen bonds with key residues, while inherent conformational dynamics and flexibility enhance the bioaffinity of (S)-dioxabenzofos toward AChE. Energy decomposition results indicated that the binding free energy (−15.43 kcal mol–1) of (R)-dioxabenzofos to AChE was larger than that of (S)-dioxabenzofos (−23.55 kcal mol–1), and key residues such as Trp-86, Tyr-124, Ser-203, Tyr-337, and His-447 at the active site were found to contribute differently to the enantioselective neurotoxic effects. Clearly, these findings provide mechanistic insights into assessing the neurotoxicity risks associated with human exposure to chiral dioxabenzofos.

Abstract. Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is the primary cause of cardiovascular death worldwide. Worryingly, the prevalence of IHD is increasing in younger

A combination of resistivity mapping and three-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was used to investigate the subsurface of the sanctuary of Artemis Amarysia in Amarynthos, Euboea (G...

The SWEET project is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial that shows that long-term consumption of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers improves body weight control and elicits beneficial gut microbiota changes in adults with overweight or obesity.

VEXAS syndrome is an adult-onset autoinflammatory disorder caused by somatic UBA1 variants, but there are no standardized criteria for genetic testing or diagnostics. This study compared Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing (NGS) for detecting UBA1 variants in patients with suspected VEXAS, assessed the ability of Sanger sequencing to estimate variant allele fractions (VAFs), and evaluated the Maeda et al. scoring system for selecting patients for genetic testing in a primary cohort and a validation cohort. In the primary cohort of 104 patients, Sanger sequencing identified VEXAS variants in 12%, with no additional cases detected by NGS. Sanger sequencing accurately quantified VAFs ranging from 0.1 to 0.9. In a small longitudinal subset (n = 3), VAFs in blood correlated with CRP levels, increased over time despite various treatments, but decreased in two patients after initiation of Azacitidine treatment. The novel parameters, VAF in myeloid cells and VEXAS cell concentration, showed promise as exploratory markers for patient monitoring. The Maeda-score, requiring a threshold score of 2 for 100% sensitivity, exhibited low specificity—29% in the primary cohort and 41% in the validation cohort (n = 62, with 2 carrying VEXAS variants). In contrast, the simplified SWIM-score—based on Skin involvement, Weight loss, Inflammation, and Macrocytic anemia—achieved 100% sensitivity in both cohorts, with higher specificities of 47% and 65%, respectively. In conclusion, Sanger sequencing reliably detected UBA1 variants and quantified VAFs. Monitoring VAF and VEXAS cell concentration may track disease progression, and the SWIM-score demonstrated potential for accurately selecting patients for UBA1 testing.