Deciphering the genetic architecture of complex quantitative phenotypes remains challenging in quantitative genetics. These traits not only depend of multiple genetic factors but are also established over time and environments. Although quantitative genetics has investigated the genetic determinism of phenotypic plasticity in contrasted environmental conditions, the time related phenotypic plasticity has received less attention. Here […]
Molecular surveillance of Falciparum malaria in Rwanda: Shifts in parasite prevalence and risk factors between the 2014/15 and 2019/20 Rwanda Demographics and Health Surveys
Rwanda is a malaria endemic country and a focal point for emerging Plasmodium falciparum artemisinin partial resistance (ART-R). While Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provide both national and province-level representative data, malaria testing in Rwandan DHS (RDHS) studies has been limited to a subset of adult women and children under 5 years using RDT and/or […]
Branch-specific plasticity explains distal enrichment of retinotopically displaced inputs in visual cortex
Neurons distribute synaptic inputs across their dendritic tree. In layer 2/3 pyramidal cells of primary visual cortex, spines on distal dendrites share somatic orientation preference but have receptive fields displaced in retinotopic space, which supports tuning to visual edges. However, it is not known how synaptic plasticity rules can lead to specialization of tuning properties […]
Corpus for Benchmarking Clinical Speech De-identification
Objectives Publicly available datasets dedicated to clinical speech deidentification tasks remain scarce due to privacy constraints and the complexity of speech-level annotation. To address this gap, we compiled the SREDH-AICup sensitive health information (SHI) speech corpus, a time-aligned clinical speech dataset annotated across 38 SHI categories. Methods Two publicly available English medical-domain datasets were adapted […]
Insecticide temephos alters thermal dependence of dengue vector
1. Although ecological research has long focused on the effects of temperature on population growth, arthropod pests are exposed to a wide variety of environmental factors that affect their performance, such as chemical pesticides targeted against them. Moreover, these environmental factors likely do not act in isolation. Identifying the extent to which abiotic factors interact […]
The Influence of Polypharmacy on Type 2 Diabetes Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes in a Rural Cohort
Objective: In this study, we utilized a large-scale clinical database to evaluate the relationship between polypharmacy and adverse outcomes among type 2 diabetes patients in rural Montana to inform strategies that improve adherence, reduce preventable complications, and promote equitable diabetes care in underserved regions. Research Design and Methods: 591 patients from the Big Sky Care […]
Several multiple sequence alignment perturbation methods enhance AlphaFold3 sampling of alternative protein states
Protein function often involves multiple conformational states. Several multiple sequence alignment-perturbing strategies, including stochastic subsampling, clustering, and column masking, have been shown to enhance AlphaFold2 (AF2) sampling of alternative protein states. Here, we evaluate these strategies on AlphaFold3 (AF3) and compare their performance with the BioEmu Boltzmann sampling model on 107 proteins with multiple experimentally […]
Global population structure and phase variation of serotype 12F Streptococcus pneumoniae following the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
Abstract Background After the global deployment of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs), serotype 12F has become the predominant serotype responsible for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. As PCVs that include serotype 12F are gradually introduced, we aim to characterise the global population structure and genetic diversity of the 12F capsule locus using whole-genome sequencing. Capsule variants […]
Single-cell, clonal and spatial atlases of cranial placodes illuminate their specification and evolution
The vertebrate head is defined by complex sensory structures derived from cranial placodes. Placodes arise alongside the neural crest at the neural plate border, yet the mechanisms governing their identity, diversification, and evolutionary origins are unclear. We present an integrated single-cell, spatial, and clonal atlas of placode development to resolve the dynamics of their lineage […]
Impact of sputum quality on Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra test results for tuberculosis: A multi-country study
Rationale: Sputum-based testing using Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert) is the most common molecular testing method for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB). Objectives: To evaluate whether sputum quality influences Xpert positivity and diagnostic accuracy. Methods: We screened consecutive people for presumptive TB in India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia as part of the R2D2 […]
Human TBC1 domain-containing kinase is a class I multidomain pseudokinase
TBCK-related encephalopathy (TBCKE) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with biallelic mutations in TBCK. Despite the increasing number of reported cases worldwide, the biochemical and biophysical properties of TBCK remain unclear, hindering molecular understanding of its role in disease. Here, we present the successful expression, purification, and biochemical characterization of full-length human TBCK produced in Spodoptera […]
Client and Health Care Provider Perspectives on Point-of-Care Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Community Pharmacies in Uganda
Introduction : The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but laboratory-based and rapid or point-of-care (POC) testing are often unavailable and unaffordable, especially in low-resource settings, leading to empiric (usually antibiotic) treatment. Community pharmacies (CPs) are often the first point of contact for persons with symptoms of STIs, where pharmacists […]