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Technologies that rely on quantum bits (qubits) require long coherence times and high-fidelity operations 1 . Superconducting qubits are one of the leading platforms for achieving these objectives 2 , 3 . However, the coherence of superconducting qubits is affected by the breaking of Cooper pairs of electrons 4 – 6 . The experimentally observed density of the broken Cooper pairs, referred to as quasiparticles, is orders of magnitude higher than the value predicted at equilibrium by the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory of superconductivity 7 – 9 . Previous work 10 – 12 has shown that infrared photons considerably increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best-isolated systems, it remains much higher 10 than expected, suggesting that another generation mechanism exists 13 . Here we provide evidence that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this observed difference. The effect of ionizing radiation leads to an elevated quasiparticle density, which we predict would ultimately limit the coherence times of superconducting qubits of the type measured here to milliseconds. We further demonstrate that radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and thereby increases the energy-relaxation time. Albeit a small effect for today’s qubits, reducing or mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers. Ionizing radiation from environmental radioactivity and cosmic rays increases the density of broken Cooper pairs in superconducting qubits, reducing their coherence times, but can be partially mitigated by lead shielding.

Morphogenesis of hierarchical vascular networks depends on the integration of multiple biomechanical signals by endothelial cells, the cells lining the interior of blood vessels. Expansion of vascular networks arises through sprouting angiogenesis, a process involving extensive cell rearrangements and collective cell migration. Yet, the mechanisms controlling angiogenic collective behavior remain poorly understood. Here, we show this collective cell behavior is regulated by non-canonical Wnt signaling. We identify that Wnt5a specifically activates Cdc42 at cell junctions downstream of ROR2 to reinforce coupling between adherens junctions and the actin cytoskeleton. We show that Wnt5a signaling stabilizes vinculin binding to alpha-catenin, and abrogation of vinculin in vivo and in vitro leads to uncoordinated polarity and deficient sprouting angiogenesis in Mus musculus. Our findings highlight how non-canonical Wnt signaling coordinates collective cell behavior during vascular morphogenesis by fine-tuning junctional mechanocoupling between endothelial cells. When a new blood vessel is created, a leader cell branches out from the lining of an existing vessel before being joined by other cells moving together in the same direction. A protein called Wnt5a regulates this process by helping the cells to orient themselves and finely coordinating their migration, but the exact details of this mechanism are still unclear. One way that cells can communicate is by touching and physically exerting forces on each other. This is made possible by structures called cellular junctions, which are present at the interface between cells. These can transmit forces within a tissue because they are connected with elements that form the cells’ internal skeletons. A protein known as vinculin is involved in these connections. To find out what role Wnt5a plays in cell migration, Carvalho et al. prevented blood vessel cells from creating the protein. The results showed that Wnt5a helps cells to move together by stabilizing vinculin at cell junctions. This strengthens the physical communication between cells and allows them to efficiently coordinate their movements. Indeed, in the mouse retina, deleting vinculin from cells that make blood cells impaired the formation of new blood vessels. Problems in the way that blood vessels grow are very common in the human population. In addition, Wnt5a is linked to cancer progression, which also relies on coordinated movement of cells. A better grasp of the role of this protein could therefore be relevant to understand how blood vessels are formed, but also how certain cancers invade surrounding tissues.

Sprouting angiogenesis is fundamental for development and contributes to cancer, diabetic retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. Sprouting angiogenesis depends on the invasive properties of endothelial tip cells. However, there is very limited knowledge on how tip cells invade into tissues. Here, we show that endothelial tip cells use dactylopodia as the main cellular protrusion for invasion into nonvascular extracellular matrix. We show that dactylopodia and filopodia protrusions are balanced by myosin IIA (NMIIA) and actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) activity. Endothelial cell-autonomous ablation of NMIIA promotes excessive dactylopodia formation in detriment of filopodia. Conversely, endothelial cell-autonomous ablation of Arp2/3 prevents dactylopodia development and leads to excessive filopodia formation. We further show that NMIIA inhibits Rac1-dependent activation of Arp2/3 by regulating the maturation state of focal adhesions. Our discoveries establish a comprehensive model of how endothelial tip cells regulate its protrusive activity and will pave the way toward strategies to block invasive tip cells during sprouting angiogenesis.

Proneural transcription factors (TFs) such as Ascl1 function as master regulators of neurogenesis in vertebrates, being both necessary and sufficient for the activation of a full program of neuronal differentiation. Novel insights into the dynamics of Ascl1 expression at the cellular level, combined with the progressive characterization of its transcriptional program, have expanded the classical view of Ascl1 as a differentiation factor in neurogenesis. These advances resulted in a new model, whereby Ascl1 promotes sequentially the proliferation and differentiation of neural/stem progenitor cells. The multiple activities of Ascl1 are associated with the activation of distinct direct targets at progressive stages along the neuronal lineage. How this temporal pattern is established is poorly understood. Two modes of Ascl1 expression recently described (oscillatory vs. sustained) are likely to be of importance, together with additional mechanistic determinants such as the chromatin landscape and other transcriptional pathways. Here we revise these latest findings, and discuss their implications to the gene regulatory functions of Ascl1 during neurogenesis.

Drug discovery uses high throughput screening to identify compounds that interact with a molecular target or that alter a phenotype favorably. The cautious selection of molecules used for such a screening is instrumental and is tightly related to the hit rate. In this work, we wondered if cell painting, a general-purpose image-based assay, could be used as an efficient proxy for compound selection, thus increasing the success rate of a specific assay. To this end, we considered cell painting images with 30,000 molecules treatments, and selected compounds that produced a visual effect close to the positive control of an assay, by using the Frechet Inception Distance. We then compared the hit rates of such a preselection with what was actually obtained in real screening campaigns. As a result, cell painting would have permitted a significant increase in the success rate and, even for one of the assays, would have allowed to reach 80% of the hits with 10 times fewer compounds to test. We conclude that images of a cell painting assay can be directly used for compound selection prior to screening, and we provide a simple quantitative approach in order to do so.

This study aimed to develop a prototype of the GISSA Mother-Baby ChatBot Application (GCBMB), a conversational agent to promote child health and evaluate the experience of use and satisfaction with this technological solution. This is a two-stage cross-sectional research with a mixed methodology. The first stage develops the settings of dialogue and the GCBMB prototype. The second stage evaluates the experience of using the ChatBot through a structured questionnaire where statements are used to assess the respondent's level of agreement using the Likert Scale and analyzes the application's use path through its database. The sample consisted of 142 puerperae, with a mean age of 25.4 years, where 38.1% were primiparous. The level of agreement of women with simplicity good quality of information, clarity of content, usefulness, and satisfaction with the application was above 90%. Women between 26 and 30 years of age had a higher mean number of hits (5.21), settings accessed (9.26), and usage time (272 seconds) comparing younger and older women. The use of ChatBots on smartphones is encouraging to promote the health of children in Brazil. However, more investments are required to improve technological solutions and research with robust methodologies to evaluate their effectiveness.

Adaptation to breathing is a critical step in lung function and it is crucial for organismal survival. Alveoli are the lung gas exchange units and their development, from late embryonic to early postnatal stages, requires feedbacks between multiple cell types. However, how the crosstalk between the alveolar cell types is modulated to anticipate lung adaptation to breathing is still unclear. Here, we uncovered a synchronous alternative splicing switch in multiple genes in the developing mouse lungs at the transition to birth, and we identified hnRNP A1, Cpeb4, and Elavl2/HuB as putative splicing regulators of this transition. Notably, we found that Vegfa switches from the Vegfa 164 isoform to the longer Vegfa 188 isoform exclusively in lung alveolar epithelial AT1 cells. Functional analysis revealed that VEGFA 188 (and not VEGFA 164) drives the specification of Car4-positive aerocytes, a subtype of alveolar endothelial cells specialized in gas exchanges. Our results reveal that the cell type–specific regulation of Vegfa alternative splicing just before birth modulates the epithelial-endothelial crosstalk in the developing alveoli to promote lung adaptation to breathing.

[...]this issue presents studies about sustainability and new technology in the information age and a study about a group of mothers and their social identity. By failing to focus on the long term, these companies may adversely affect the market in the long run, leading other companies that operate in the segment to follow them and potentially harming the development of a particular market and an entire country, when triggering a dynamic that could explain the decline of many organizations. [...]Oliveira (2018) analyzes the regulatory mechanisms in Brazil and in other countries such as the United States, that hinder or prohibit the participation of financial firms in non-financial corporations. [...]whatever the causes of organizational decline, this is a relevant research topic considering the current economic scenario where even in the sector of radical technological innovation, only 25% of Brazilian startups survive after 3 years of operation. The literature has shown that the perception of injustice can be considered as a variable prior to occupational stress being developed and, in turn, retaliation becomes effective. [...]the perception of injustice is considered the connection between occupational stress and retaliation.

The activity of prioritizing software requirements should be done as efficiently as possible. Selecting the most stable requirements for the most important customers of a development company can be a positive factor considering that available resources do not always encompass the implementation of all requirements. There are many quantitative methods for prioritization of software releases in the field of search-based software engineering (SBSE). However, we show that it is possible to use qualitative verbal decision analysis (VDA) methods to solve this type of problem. Moreover, we will use the ZAPROS III-i method to prioritize requirements considering the opinion of the decision-maker, who will participate in this process. Results obtained using VDA structured methods were found to be quite satisfactory when compared to methods using SBSE. A comparison of results between quantitative and qualitative methods will be made and discussed later. The results were reviewed and corroborated with the use of performance metrics.

Urban expansion is widely acknowledged to have a substantial impact on water bodies. The objective of this work is to propose and apply a composite index to evaluate the quality of Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs), which protect urban rivers. The PPAWater index aggregates information from six indicators, namely, sanitary sewage, precarious settlement, urban drainage, level of occupation, conservation units, and preservation area, established by the municipal master plan. When applied to sub-basins in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, the fifth most-populated city in Brazil, the index shows that the localities lacking sufficient sanitation infrastructure and with fewer hectares of protected areas register as the most vulnerable PPAs. The PPAWater index is an important tool to guide urban environmental planning, formulation, and management of public policies for the protection of urban water resources. It can be used by municipal managers to evaluate environmentally sensitive areas.