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The development of catalysts able to assist industrially important chemical processes is a topic of high importance. In view of the catalytic capabilities of small metal clusters, research efforts are being focused on the synthesis of novel catalysts bearing such active sites. Here we report a heterogeneous catalyst consisting of Pd 4 clusters with mixed-valence 0/+1 oxidation states, stabilized and homogeneously organized within the walls of a metal–organic framework (MOF). The resulting solid catalyst outperforms state-of-the-art metal catalysts in carbene-mediated reactions of diazoacetates, with high yields (>90%) and turnover numbers (up to 100,000). In addition, the MOF-supported Pd 4 clusters retain their catalytic activity in repeated batch and flow reactions (>20 cycles). Our findings demonstrate how this synthetic approach may now instruct the future design of heterogeneous catalysts with advantageous reaction capabilities for other important processes. Mixed-valence clusters of Pd 4 organized within a metal–organic framework exhibit robust catalytic capacities during carbene-mediated chemical reactions.

Wild almond species accumulate the bitter and toxic cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin. Almond domestication was enabled by the selection of genotypes harboring sweet kernels. We report the completion of the almond reference genome. Map-based cloning using an F₁ population segregating for kernel taste led to the identification of a 46-kilobase gene cluster encoding five basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, bHLH1 to bHLH5. Functional characterization demonstrated that bHLH2 controls transcription of the P450 monooxygenase–encoding genes PdCYP79D16 and PdCYP71AN24, which are involved in the amygdalin biosynthetic pathway. A nonsynonymous point mutation (Leu to Phe) in the dimerization domain of bHLH2 prevents transcription of the two cytochrome P450 genes, resulting in the sweet kernel trait.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and obesity affect the functioning of multiple maternal systems and influence colonization of the newborn gastrointestinal through the breastmilk microbiota (BMM). It is currently unclear how GDM and obesity affect the human BMM composition. Here, we applied 16S-rRNA high-throughput sequencing to human colostrum milk to characterize BMM taxonomic changes in a cohort of 43 individuals classified in six subgroups according to mothers patho-physiological conditions (healthy control (n = 18), GDM (n = 13), or obesity (n = 12)) and newborn gender. Using various diversity indicators, including Shannon/Faith phylogenetic index and UniFrac/robust Aitchison distances, we evidenced that BMM composition was influenced by the infant gender in the obesity subgroup. In addition, the GDM group presented higher microbial diversity compared to the control group. Staphylococcus , Corynebacterium 1, Anaerococcus and Prevotella were overrepresented in colostrum from women with either obesity or GDM, compared to control samples. Finally, Rhodobacteraceae was distinct for GDM and 5 families ( Bdellovibrionaceae , Halomonadaceae , Shewanellaceae , Saccharimonadales and Vibrionaceae ) were distinct for obesity subgroups with an absolute effect size greater than 1 and a q-value ≤ 0.05. This study represents the first effort to describe the impact of maternal GDM and obesity on BMM.

The effect of Al 2 O 3 with respect to TiO 2 as abrasive for the osseointegration of dental implants has been questioned. The aim has been to clarify the advantages or disadvantages of mechanical and biological response. The implants studied were as-received with acid etching and sandblasted with TiO 2  and with Al 2 O 3  with posterior acid etching. Roughness, microhardness, residual stresses and fatigue were determined. In vivo tests were realized in minipigs. The percentage of bone index contact (BIC) after 2 and 6 weeks of implantation was determined histometric evaluation. Results showed that the roughness of the Al 2 O 3 treated implants was 2.54 respect to 0.80 μm for TiO 2 , microhardness were 370 and 241 HVN and compressive residual stresses of − 2450 and − 78.3 MPa, respectively. These compressive stresses justify the higher fatigue strength of the Al 2 O 3 sandblasted samples. BIC values after 6 weeks were 63% compared to 38% for TiO 2 . Graphical abstract

In this paper, an improved fuel consumption and emissions control strategy based on a mathematical and heuristic approach is presented to optimize Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs). The well-known Sequential Quadratic Programming mathematical method (SQP-Hessian approach) presents some limitations to achieve fuel consumption and emissions control optimization, as it is not able to find the global minimum, and it generally shows efficient results in local exploitation searches. The usage of a combined Modified Artificial Bee Colony algorithm (MABC) with the SQP approach is proposed in this work to obtain better optimal solutions and overcome these limitations. The optimization is performed with boundary conditions, considering that the optimized vehicle performance has to satisfy Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) constraints. The weighting factor of the vehicle’s performance parameters in the objective function is varied, and optimization is carried out for two different driving cycles, namely Federal Test Procedure (FTP) and Economic commission Europe—Extra Urban Driving Cycle (ECE-EUDC), using the MABC and MABC with SQP approaches. The MABC with SQP approach shows better performance in terms of fuel consumption and emissions than the pure heuristic approach for the considered vehicle with similar boundary conditions. Moreover, it does not present significant penalties for final battery charging and it offers an optimized size of the key vehicle’s components for different driving cycles.

PurposeIdentify soil properties involved in the adsorption of the bacteriophages (phages) ΦITL-1 and ΦRSP, analyzing different soils and substrates used for greenhouse tomato crops.MethodsSoil samples were collected from greenhouses in Mexico Central, and soil properties were obtained using the NOM-021-RECNAT-2000. For phage adsorption, soil or substrate was mixed with a phage solution, using three different Water Retention Capacity (WRC) levels, incubated under shaking to room temperature, and finally, the plaque-forming units were counted for each phage by titration.ResultsThe phage elution counts showed that the amount of aqueous solution in the mixture is inversely related to the number of viral particles adsorbed on the soil. Furthermore, the soils with a sandy texture had lower adsorption of phages in comparison with the rest of the soils analyzed, which have clay, clay loam, and sandy loam textures. A correlation analysis showed that soil pH and texture are the properties that most influenced phage adsorption. Finally, a principal component analysis showed that Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) has a direct relationship with phage adsorption.ConclusionIn the present study, we demonstrated that soil texture, pH, CEC, and WRC are determinant variables that affect the adsorption of R. solanacearum phages ΦITL-1 and ΦRSP. Furthermore, we propose that the responsible mechanism may be due to the richness of cations in the soil, which could imply an electrostatic interaction with some exposed phage proteins. These results highlight the influence of soil properties on biocontrol strategies based on phages, which try to reduce the impact of soil-borne bacterial phytopathogens.

The existence of globally-distributed species with low dispersal capabilities is a paradox that has been explained as a result of human-mediated transport and by hidden diversity in the form of unrecognized cryptic species. Both factors are not mutually exclusive, but relatively few studies have demonstrated the presence of both. Here we analyse the genetic patterns of the colonial ascidian Diplosoma listerianum , a species nowadays distributed globally. The study of a fragment of a mitochondrial gene in localities worldwide revealed the existence of multiple cryptic species. In addition, we found a complex geographic structure and multiple clades occurred in sympatry. One of the species showed strong population structure irrespective of geographical distances, which is coherent with stochastic dispersal linked to human transport. The present study shows the complexity of discerning the role of cryptic diversity from human-driven range shifts worldwide, as well as disentangling the effects of natural and artificial dispersal.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subgenual cingulated gyrus (SCG) is a promising new technique that may provide sustained remission in resistant major depressive disorder (MDD). Initial studies reported a significant early improvement in patients, followed by a decline within the first month of treatment, an unexpected phenomenon attributed to potential placebo effects or a physiological response to probe insertion that remains poorly understood. Here we characterized the behavioural antidepressant-like effect of DBS in the rat medial prefrontal cortex, focusing on modifications to rodent SCG correlate (prelimbic and infralimbic (IL) cortex). In addition, we evaluated the early outcome of DBS in the SCG of eight patients with resistant MDD involved in a clinical trial. We found similar antidepressant-like effects in rats implanted with electrodes, irrespective of whether they received electrical brain stimulation or not. This effect was due to regional inflammation, as it was temporally correlated with an increase of glial-fibrillary-acidic-protein immunoreactivity, and it was blocked by anti-inflammatory drugs. Indeed, inflammatory mediators and neuronal p11 expression also changed. Furthermore, a retrospective study indicated that the early response of MDD patients subjected to DBS was poorer when they received anti-inflammatory drugs. Our study demonstrates that electrode implantation up to the IL cortex is sufficient to produce an antidepressant-like effect of a similar magnitude to that observed in rats receiving brain stimulation. Moreover, both preclinical and clinical findings suggest that the use of anti-inflammatory drugs after electrode implantation may attenuate the early anti-depressive response in patients who are subjected to DBS.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses (HPAIV) of the H5N1 subtype occasionally transmit from birds to humans and can cause severe systemic infections in both hosts. PB1-F2 is an alternative translation product of the viral PB1 segment that was initially characterized as a pro-apoptotic mitochondrial viral pathogenicity factor. A full-length PB1-F2 has been present in all human influenza pandemic virus isolates of the 20(th) century, but appears to be lost evolutionarily over time as the new virus establishes itself and circulates in the human host. In contrast, the open reading frame (ORF) for PB1-F2 is exceptionally well-conserved in avian influenza virus isolates. Here we perform a comparative study to show for the first time that PB1-F2 is a pathogenicity determinant for HPAIV (A/Viet Nam/1203/2004, VN1203 (H5N1)) in both mammals and birds. In a mammalian host, the rare N66S polymorphism in PB1-F2 that was previously described to be associated with high lethality of the 1918 influenza A virus showed increased replication and virulence of a recombinant VN1203 H5N1 virus, while deletion of the entire PB1-F2 ORF had negligible effects. Interestingly, the N66S substituted virus efficiently invades the CNS and replicates in the brain of Mx+/+ mice. In ducks deletion of PB1-F2 clearly resulted in delayed onset of clinical symptoms and systemic spreading of virus, while variations at position 66 played only a minor role in pathogenesis. These data implicate PB1-F2 as an important pathogenicity factor in ducks independent of sequence variations at position 66. Our data could explain why PB1-F2 is conserved in avian influenza virus isolates and only impacts pathogenicity in mammals when containing certain amino acid motifs such as the rare N66S polymorphism.

Chelicerata represents one of the oldest groups of arthropods, with a fossil record extending to the Cambrian, and is sister group to the remaining extant arthropods, the mandibulates. Attempts to resolve the internal phylogeny of chelicerates have achieved little consensus, due to marked discord in both morphological and molecular hypotheses of chelicerate phylogeny. The monophyly of Arachnida, the terrestrial chelicerates, is generally accepted, but has garnered little support from molecular data, which have been limited either in breadth of taxonomic sampling or in depth of sequencing. To address the internal phylogeny of this group, we employed a phylogenomic approach, generating transcriptomic data for 17 species in combination with existing data, including two complete genomes. We analyzed multiple data sets containing up to 1,235,912 sites across 3,644 loci, using alternative approaches to optimization of matrix composition. Here, we show that phylogenetic signal for the monophyly of Arachnida is restricted to the 500 slowest-evolving genes in the data set. Accelerated evolutionary rates in Acariformes, Pseudoscorpiones, and Parasitiformes potentially engender long-branch attraction artifacts, yielding nonmonophyly of Arachnida with increasing support upon incrementing the number of concatenated genes. Mutually exclusive hypotheses are supported by locus groups of variable evolutionary rate, revealing significant conflicts in phylogenetic signal. Analyses of gene-tree discordance indicate marked incongruence in relationships among chelicerate orders, whereas derived relationships are demonstrably robust. Consistently recovered and supported relationships include the monophyly of Chelicerata, Euchelicerata, Tetrapulmonata, and all orders represented by multiple terminals. Relationships supported by subsets of slow-evolving genes include Ricinulei + Solifugae; a clade comprised of Ricinulei, Opiliones, and Solifugae; and a clade comprised of Tetrapulmonata, Scorpiones, and Pseudoscorpiones. We demonstrate that outgroup selection without regard for branch length distribution exacerbates long-branch attraction artifacts and does not mitigate gene-tree discordance, regardless of high gene representation for outgroups that are model organisms. Arachnopulmonata (new name) is proposed for the clade comprising Scorpiones + Tetrapulmonata (previously named Pulmonata).