Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 121, Number 8
This Week in PNAS
Commentaries
Perspective
Integrating multimodal neuro- and nanotechnology-enabled precision immunotherapies
with extant systemic immunotherapies may finally provide a significant breakthrough
for combatting glioblastoma (GBM). The potency of this approach lies in its ability
to ...
Brief Reports
Postmenopausal osteoporosis arises from imbalanced osteoclast and osteoblast activity,
and mounting evidence suggests a role for the osteoimmune system in bone homeostasis.
Bisphosphonate (BP) is an antiresorptive agent, but its treatment failure rate can
...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some US states mandated vaccination for certain citizens.
We used state-level data from the CDC to test whether vaccine mandates predicted changes
in COVID-19 vaccine uptake, as well as related voluntary behaviors involving ...
The Tibetan Plateau, recognized as Earth’s third pole and among the most responsive
regions to climate shifts, profoundly influences regional and even global hydrological
processes. Here, we discerned a significant weakening in the influence of ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Graph neural networks (GNNs) excel in modeling relational data such as biological,
social, and transportation networks, but the underpinnings of their success are not
well understood. Traditional complexity measures from statistical learning theory
fail ...
In problems such as variable selection and graph estimation, models are characterized
by Boolean logical structure such as the presence or absence of a variable or an edge.
Consequently, false-positive error or false-negative error can be specified as the
...
Applied Physical Sciences
The adaptive and surprising emergent properties of biological materials self-assembled
in far-from-equilibrium environments serve as an inspiration for efforts to design
nanomaterials. In particular, controlling the conditions of self-assembly can ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
While low-temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) holds great promise for the
analysis of unstable samples and for sensitizing NMR detection, spectral broadening
in frozen protein samples is a common experimental challenge. One hypothesis explaining
...
Chemistry
Oxidation self-charging batteries have emerged with the demand for powering electronic
devices around the clock. The low efficiency of self-charging has been the key challenge
at present. Here, a more efficient autoxidation self-charging mechanism is ...
Understanding the molecular-level mechanisms involved in transmembrane ion selectivity
is essential for optimizing membrane separation performance. In this study, we reveal
our observations regarding the transmembrane behavior of Li+ and Mg2+ ions as a ...
Computer Sciences
In recent years, critics of online platforms have raised concerns about the ability
of recommendation algorithms to amplify problematic content, with potentially radicalizing
consequences. However, attempts to evaluate the effect of recommenders have ...
Graph representation learning is a fundamental technique for machine learning (ML)
on complex networks. Given an input network, these methods represent the vertices
by low-dimensional real-valued vectors. These vectors can be used for a multitude
of ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Most of the geologic CO2 entering Earth’s atmosphere and oceans is emitted along plate margins. While C-cycling
at mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones has been studied for decades, little attention
has been paid to degassing of magmatic CO2 and mineral ...
Subsurface sandstone reservoirs sealed by overlying, low-permeability layers provide
capacity for long-term sequestration of anthropogenic waste. Leakage can occur if
reservoir pressures rise sufficiently to fracture the seal. Such pressures can be
...
The Baltic Sea basins, some of which only submerged in the mid-Holocene, preserve
Stone Age structures that did not survive on land. Yet, the discovery of these features
is challenging and requires cross-disciplinary approaches between archeology and ...
Engineering
Tremendous attention has been paid to the water-associated side reactions and zinc
(Zn) dendrite growth on the electrode–electrolyte interface. However, the Zn pulverization
that can cause continuous depletion of active Zn metal and exacerbate hydrogen ...
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) coupling of CO2 and nitrate can provide a useful and green source of urea, but the process is affected
by the photocathodes with poor charge-carrier dynamics and low conversion efficiency.
Here, a NiFe diatomic catalysts/TiO2 ...
Recent studies have reported the experimental discovery that nanoscale specimens of
even a natural material, such as diamond, can be deformed elastically to as much as
10% tensile elastic strain at room temperature without the onset of permanent damage
or ...
Sustainability outcomes are influenced by the laws and configurations of natural and
engineered systems as well as activities in socio-economic systems. An important subset
of human activity is the creation and implementation of institutions, formal and ...
Physics
We investigate the moiré band structures and the strong correlation effects in twisted
bilayer MoTe for a wide range of twist angles, employing a combination of various techniques.
Using large-scale first-principles calculations, we pinpoint realistic ...
On cooling from the melt, plutonium (Pu) undergoes a series of structural transformations
accompanied by a ≈ 28% reduction in volume from its δ phase to its α phase at low temperatures. While Pu’s partially filled 5f-electron shells are known to be ...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
The Baltic Sea basins, some of which only submerged in the mid-Holocene, preserve
Stone Age structures that did not survive on land. Yet, the discovery of these features
is challenging and requires cross-disciplinary approaches between archeology and ...
Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying
outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, ...
Demography
Despite the significant scientific advancement in deciphering the “deaths of despair”
narrative, most relevant studies have focused on drug-, alcohol-, and suicide-related
(DAS) deaths. This study directly investigated despair as a determinant of death ...
While modern family-related ideas and behaviors have become more widely accepted in
contemporary China, Chinese Muslim minorities continue to hold on to traditional religious
practices. Surprisingly, data from our survey conducted in Gansu province in ...
Environmental Sciences
Wildfires have become more frequent and intense due to climate change and outdoor
wildfire fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations differ from relatively smoothly varying total PM2.5. Thus, we introduced a conceptual model for computing long-term ...
Social Sciences
In recent years, critics of online platforms have raised concerns about the ability
of recommendation algorithms to amplify problematic content, with potentially radicalizing
consequences. However, attempts to evaluate the effect of recommenders have ...
Sustainability Science
Sustainability outcomes are influenced by the laws and configurations of natural and
engineered systems as well as activities in socio-economic systems. An important subset
of human activity is the creation and implementation of institutions, formal and ...
Biological Sciences
Anthropology
Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying
outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, ...
Biochemistry
Blood metabolite levels are affected by numerous factors, including preanalytical
factors such as collection methods and geographical sites. These perturbations have
caused deleterious consequences for many metabolomics studies and represent a major
...
Cyanobacteria and evolutionarily related chloroplasts of algae and plants possess
unique RNA polymerases (RNAPs) with characteristics that distinguish them from canonical
bacterial RNAPs. The largest subunit of cyanobacterial RNAP (cyRNAP) is divided into
...
Mechanotransduction is the process by which a mechanical force, such as touch, is
converted into an electrical signal. Transmembrane channel-like (TMC) proteins are
an evolutionarily conserved family of membrane proteins whose function has been linked
to ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
While low-temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) holds great promise for the
analysis of unstable samples and for sensitizing NMR detection, spectral broadening
in frozen protein samples is a common experimental challenge. One hypothesis explaining
...
One important goal of circadian medicine is to apply time-of-day dosing to improve
the efficacy of chemotherapy. However, limited knowledge of how the circadian clock
regulates DNA repair presents a challenge to mechanism-based clinical application.
We ...
Physics-based simulation methods can grant atomistic insights into the molecular origin
of the function of biomolecules. However, the potential of such approaches has been
hindered by their low efficiency, including in the design of selective agonists ...
Cell Biology
Cysteine induces mitochondrial reductive stress in glioblastoma through hydrogen peroxide production
Glucose and amino acid metabolism are critical for glioblastoma (GBM) growth, but
little is known about the specific metabolic alterations in GBM that are targetable
with FDA-approved compounds. To investigate tumor metabolism signatures unique to
GBM, we ...
Aberrant lysine lactylation (Kla) is associated with various diseases which are caused
by excessive glycolysis metabolism. However, the regulatory molecules and downstream
protein targets of Kla remain largely unclear. Here, we observed a global Kla ...
Phagocytes promptly resolve ingested targets to replenish lysosomes and maintain their
responsiveness. The resolution process requires that degradative hydrolases, solute
transporters, and proteins involved in lipid traffic are delivered and made active
...
Developmental Biology
SOX8 was linked in a genome-wide association study to human height heritability, but
roles in chondrocytes for this close relative of the master chondrogenic transcription
factor SOX9 remain unknown. We undertook here to fill this knowledge gap. High-...
The placenta establishes a maternal–fetal exchange interface to transport nutrients
and gases between the mother and the fetus. Establishment of this exchange interface
relies on the development of multinucleated syncytiotrophoblasts (SynT) from ...
Evolution
As a fundamental ecological aspect of most organisms, locomotor function significantly
constrains morphology. At the same time, the evolution of novel locomotor abilities
has produced dramatic morphological transformations, initiating some of the most ...
The phylogeny and divergence timing of the Neoavian radiation remain controversial
despite recent progress. We analyzed the genomes of 124 species across all Neoavian
orders, using data from 25,460 loci spanning four DNA classes, including 5,756 coding
...
Genetics
Although evidence exists for a causal association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)
serum levels, and multiple sclerosis (MS), the role of variation in vitamin D receptor
(VDR) binding in MS is unknown. Here, we leveraged previously identified ...
Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) represents the clonal expansion of hematopoietic stem cells
and their progeny driven by somatic mutations. Accurate risk assessment of CH is critical
for disease prevention and clinical decision-making. The size of CH has been ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is an anion transporter
required for epithelial homeostasis in the lung and other organs, with CFTR mutations leading to the autosomal recessive genetic disease CF. Apart from excessive
mucus ...
One of the hallmarks of type 1 but also type 2 diabetes is pancreatic islet inflammation,
associated with altered pancreatic islet function and structure, if unresolved. IL-1β
is a proinflammatory cytokine which detrimentally affects β-cell function. In ...
Coordinated metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic remodeling are critical for modulating
T cell function and differentiation. However, how the epigenetic modification controls
Th17/Treg cell balance via metabolic reprogramming remains obscure. Here, we ...
Medical Sciences
Mavacamten is a FDA-approved small-molecule therapeutic designed to regulate cardiac
function at the sarcomere level by selectively but reversibly inhibiting the enzymatic
activity of myosin. It shifts myosin toward ordered off states close to the thick ...
Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA) is a prevalent degenerative disease
characterized by chronic pain and impaired jaw function. The complexity of TMJ OA
has hindered the development of prognostic tools, posing a significant challenge in
...
Microbiology
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum requires exogenous fatty acids to support its growth during the pathogenic, asexual
erythrocytic stage. Host serum lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is a significant fatty
acid source, yet the metabolic ...
Protein synthesis is performed by the ribosome and a host of highly conserved elongation
factors. Elongation factor P (EF-P) prevents ribosome stalling at difficult-to-translate
sequences, such as polyproline tracts. In bacteria, phenotypes associated ...
Neuroscience
One of the very fundamental attributes for telencephalic neural computation in mammals
involves network activities oscillating beyond the initial trigger. The continuing
and automated processing of transient inputs shall constitute the basis of cognition
...
GABAB receptor (GBR) activation inhibits neurotransmitter release in axon terminals in
the brain, except in medial habenula (MHb) terminals, which show robust potentiation.
However, mechanisms underlying this enigmatic potentiation remain elusive. Here, ...
Exposure to loud noise triggers sensory organ damage and degeneration that, in turn,
leads to hearing loss. Despite the troublesome impact of noise-induced hearing loss
(NIHL) in individuals and societies, treatment strategies that protect and restore
...
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) infections in humans cause neurological disorders while studies
of MPXV-infected animals indicate that the virus penetrates the brain. Pyroptosis
is an inflammatory type of regulated cell death, resulting from plasma membrane ...
The circadian clock throughout the day organizes the activity of neural stem cells
(NSCs) in the dentate gyrus (DG) of adult hippocampus temporally. However, it is still
unclear whether and how circadian signals from the niches contribute to daily ...
Accumulating evidence suggests that the brain renin angiotensin system (RAS) plays
a pivotal role in the regulation of cognition and behavior as well as in the neuropathology
of neurological and mental disorders. The angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) ...
In order to investigate the involvement of the primary visual cortex (V1) in working
memory (WM), parallel, multisite recordings of multi-unit activity were obtained from
monkey V1 while the animals performed a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task. During
...
Many animal species rely on the Earth’s magnetic field during navigation, but where
in the brain magnetic information is processed is still unknown. To unravel this,
we manipulated the natural magnetic field at the nest entrance of Cataglyphis desert ants ...
Physiology
Coupling red blood cell (RBC) supply to O2 demand is an intricate process requiring O2 sensing, generation of a stimulus, and signal transduction that alters upstream arteriolar
tone. Although actively debated, this process has been theorized to be ...
Plant Biology
Light is a crucial environmental factor that impacts various aspects of plant development.
Phytochromes, as light sensors, regulate myriads of downstream genes to mediate developmental
reprogramming in response to changes in environmental conditions. ...
Symbiosis receptor-like kinase SYMRK is required for root nodule symbiosis between
legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. To understand symbiotic signaling from
SYMRK, we determined the crystal structure to 1.95 Å and mapped the phosphorylation
sites ...
Corrections
Cover image: Pictured are cells in the adult mouse cochlea, indicating cell-type-specific zinc signaling (red). Brandon Bizup et al. found that mice exposed to noise trauma exhibited elevated cochlear levels and altered subcellular localization of labile zinc and the zinc transporter ZnT3, suggesting a role for zinc dysregulation in noise-induced hearing loss. According to the authors, the study suggests that zinc chelation may represent a potential treatment for preventing or mitigating hearing loss triggered by noise trauma. See the article by Bizup et al. e2310561121. Image credit: Brandon Bizup.
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