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Finding ways to improve police legitimacy and police-community relations has for long been an important social issue in the United States. It becomes particularly urgent following the murder of George Floyd on May 25 th , 2020. An emerging area that holds potential in remediating police-community relations pertains to the use of social media by police. Yet, this body of research stays highly exploratory (e.g., case studies based on a small sample of agencies) and different viewpoints exist regarding the objectives of police social media usage. The current study identified 115 large police departments in the U.S. and collected their tweets over a 4-month period between 4/1/2020 and 7/31/2020. We investigated how police agencies (both individually and as an aggregate) leveraged social media to respond to the nationwide protests directed at the police and community reactions to such responses. We found that police agencies tweeted more frequently in the immediate aftermath of the murder and posted an increased number of civil-unrest related tweets. The public showed a greater interest in engaging with law enforcement agencies (i.e., average favorite and retweet counts) following the murder. A great variability emerged across agencies in their responses on social media, suggesting that examining only a handful of agencies or a particular dimension of social media usage would limit our understanding of police behaviors and citizen interactions on social media. In conclusion, we suggested a few avenues for future research (and practices) on responsible and effective use of social media by police, while pointing out the challenges associated with such inquiries.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element crucial for human health that primarily functions as an immunonutrient. It is incorporated into polypeptides such as selenocysteine (SeC) and selenomethionine (SeMet), two key amino acids involved in various biochemical processes. All living organisms can convert inorganic Se into biologically active organic forms, with SeMet being the predominant form and a precursor for SeC production in humans and animals. The human genome encodes 25 selenoprotein genes, which incorporate low-molecular-weight Se compounds in the form of SeC. Organic Se, especially in the form of selenoproteins, is more efficiently absorbed than inorganic Se, driving the demand for selenoprotein-based health products, such as functional foods. Se-enriched functional foods offer a practical means of delivering bioavailable Se and are associated with enhanced antioxidant properties and various health benefits. Recent advancements in selenoprotein synthesis have improved our understanding of their roles in antioxidant defense, cancer prevention, immune regulation, anti-inflammation, hypoglycemia, cardiovascular health, Alzheimer’s disease, fertility, and COVID-19. This review highlights key selenoproteins and their biological functions, biosynthetic pathways, and emerging applications while highlighting the need for further research.

Wearable thermoelectric devices, capable of converting body heat into electrical energy, provide the potential driving power for the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and soft robotics. However, critical parameters have long been overlooked for these practical applications. Here, we report a three-dimensional flexible thermoelectric device with a structure featuring an inner rigid and outer flexible woven design. Such a structure includes numerous small static air pockets that create a stable out-of-plane temperature difference, enabling precise temperature signal detection (accuracy up to 0.02 K). Particularly, this structure exhibits excellent multi-signal decoupling capability, excellent elasticity (>10,000 compression cycles), ultra-fast compression response (20 ms), stable output signal under 50% compressive strain, high breathability (1300 mm s −1 ), and washability. All these metrics achieve the highest values currently reported, fully meeting the requirements for body heat and moisture exchange, as demonstrated in our designed integrated smart mask and smart glove systems based on vector machine learning technology. This work shows that our three-dimensional flexible thermoelectric device has broad applicability in wearable electronics. Wearable thermoelectric devices are promising, though fabricating a breathable, sensitive, and washable devices has been a challenge. This report shows a woven thermoelectric fabric, incorporating rigid and flexible layers, for smart wearable devices.

Droughts have posed intense threats to the forest carbon sink (i.e. net ecosystem productivity, NEP), potentially elevating the risk of forest degradation and challenging the achievement of climatic and ecological goals. While global forest NEP endured, the resilience of NEP served as the ability of ecosystems to withstand and recover from perturbations and the underlying maintenance mechanisms during droughts remain unclear. Here, we explored the responses of NEP resilience, quantified by the lag-1 temporal autocorrelation coefficient (TAC) of two consecutive time series, to droughts based on 87 drought events across 45 forest sites with flux and meteorological observations in the Northern Hemisphere. Furthermore, an interpretable machine learning algorithm was utilized to disentangle the synergistic effects of environmental and biotic factors on TAC, achieving a mean coefficient of determination of 0.87 for drought events with significantly increasing TAC and 0.91 for other drought events. Here, we found that the increase in NEP resilience could alleviate the negative effects of droughts, in contrast to a 2.5 times increase in the probability of NEP decline events associated with decreased NEP resilience. However, NEP resilience declined with the rise of drought intensification. The reduced reference canopy conductance (Gcref) was the primary constraint on NEP resilience maintenance, contributing 48% to the total influence of biotic factors. In addition, high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) exacerbated the negative effects of soil moisture deficit, jointly leading to the decline in NEP resilience. Specifically, elevated VPD during droughts significantly reduced Gcref, indicating the vulnerability of tree hydraulic systems to compound stress. Overall, our study emphasizes the potential risks of the compound soil and atmospheric water deficit on forest NEP resilience and carbon sink across the Northern Hemisphere in the future.

Therapy-resistant cancer cell states identified across diverse contexts are selectively vulnerable to ferroptotic cell death induced by inhibition of lipid peroxidase pathways converging on GPX4. Lipid breakdown drives therapy resistance Cancer cells can assume different biological states, which can affect their resistance to therapies. A mesenchymal phenotype has been associated with drug resistance but the mechanism behind this state is not well understood. Stuart Schreiber and colleagues now show that tumour cells with a mesenchymal phenotype are selectively sensitive to inhibition of GPX4, an enzyme that alters lipid metabolism. GPX4 dissipates lipid peroxides and therefore prevents the iron-mediated reactions which induce ferroptotic cell death. These findings offer new perspectives on targeting cancers that have undergone a transition to a mesenchymal state to evade other therapeutic agents. Plasticity of the cell state has been proposed to drive resistance to multiple classes of cancer therapies, thereby limiting their effectiveness 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . A high-mesenchymal cell state observed in human tumours and cancer cell lines has been associated with resistance to multiple treatment modalities across diverse cancer lineages, but the mechanistic underpinning for this state has remained incompletely understood 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . Here we molecularly characterize this therapy-resistant high-mesenchymal cell state in human cancer cell lines and organoids and show that it depends on a druggable lipid-peroxidase pathway that protects against ferroptosis, a non-apoptotic form of cell death induced by the build-up of toxic lipid peroxides 7 , 8 . We show that this cell state is characterized by activity of enzymes that promote the synthesis of polyunsaturated lipids. These lipids are the substrates for lipid peroxidation by lipoxygenase enzymes 8 , 9 . This lipid metabolism creates a dependency on pathways converging on the phospholipid glutathione peroxidase (GPX4), a selenocysteine-containing enzyme that dissipates lipid peroxides and thereby prevents the iron-mediated reactions of peroxides that induce ferroptotic cell death 8 . Dependency on GPX4 was found to exist across diverse therapy-resistant states characterized by high expression of ZEB1, including epithelial–mesenchymal transition in epithelial-derived carcinomas, TGFβ-mediated therapy-resistance in melanoma, treatment-induced neuroendocrine transdifferentiation in prostate cancer, and sarcomas, which are fixed in a mesenchymal state owing to their cells of origin. We identify vulnerability to ferroptic cell death induced by inhibition of a lipid peroxidase pathway as a feature of therapy-resistant cancer cells across diverse mesenchymal cell-state contexts.

Background Genomic structural variations (GSVs), notably copy number variations (CNVs), significantly shape genetic diversity and facilitate adaptation in cattle populations. Despite their importance, the genome-wide characterization of CNVs in indigenous Ethiopian cattle breeds—Abigar, Fellata, and Gojjam-Highland remains largely unexplored. In this study, we applied a read-depth approach to whole genome sequencing (WGS) data to conduct the first comprehensive analysis of CNVs in these populations. Results We identified 3,893 CNV regions (CNVRs) covering 19.15 Mb (0.71% of the cattle genome). These CNVRs ranged from 1.60 kb to 488.0 kb, with an average size of 4.92 kb. These CNVRs included deletions (1713), duplications (1929), and mixed events (251) showing notable differences in distribution among the breeds. Four out of five randomly selected CNVRs were successfully validated using real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Further analyses identified candidate genes associated with high-altitude adaptation ( GBE1 and SOD1 ), heat stress adaptation ( HSPA13 , DNAJC18 , and DNAJC8 ) and resistance to tick infestations ( BoLA and KRT33A ). In addition, variance stabilizing transformation ( V ST ) statistics highlighted population-specific CNVRs, emphasizing the unique genetic signatures of high-altitude adaptation in the Gojjam-Highland cattle breed. Among the detected CNVRs, 4.93% (192 out of 3,893) overlapped with 520 quantitative traits loci (QTLs) associated with six economically important trait categories suggesting that these CNVRs may significantly contribute to the genetic variation underlying these traits. Conclusions Our comprehensive analysis reveals significant CNVRs associated with key adaptive traits in Ethiopian cattle breeds highlighting their genetic diversity and resilience. These findings offer valuable insights into the genetic basis of adaptability and can inform sustainable breeding practices and conservation efforts. Future research should prioritize the functional validation of these CNVRs and their integration into breeding programs to enhance traits such as disease resistance and environmental adaptability.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is the most abundant catechin in green tea, has many potential health benefits, including decreased weight gain and/or adipose tissue weight. Suggested mechanisms for body weight reduction by EGCG include: (1) a decrease in calorie intake and (2) activation of AMPK in liver, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissue. However, only one study supports the AMPK hypothesis. To determine the role of AMPK in EGCG-induced reduction of body weight, we administrated 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg per day to mice, together with a high-fat diet (HFD), for 20 weeks. EGCG had a significant effect on obesity and decrease in epididymal adipose tissue weight, and also affected serum lipid characteristics, including triglyceride, cholesterol (CHOL), and high- and low-density lipoprotein CHOL (HDL-C, LDL-C) concentrations. In addition, EGCG increased the excretion of free fatty acids from feces. By measuring the mRNA expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism, we found that EGCG inhibited the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of fatty acids ( , , , β, γ, and ) and increased the expression of genes associated with lipolysis ( ) and lipid oxidization in white adipose tissue, in both the HFD and the EGCG groups. However, EGCG significantly increased the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of fatty acids compared with the HFD group. Increased AMPK activity was found in both subcutaneous and epididymal adipose tissues. In conclusion, EGCG can decrease obesity and epididymal white adipose tissue weight in mice, only partially activation of AMPK.

Flash droughts, characterized by rapid onset and increasing frequency, pose significant threats to ecosystem stability and function. However, there remains no global consensus regarding forest responses to flash droughts. Here, using a reconstructed global high spatiotemporal resolution Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index dataset and an interpretable machine learning framework, we find that global forests have experienced increasingly rapid, intense, and prolonged flash droughts over the past four decades. Managed forests are more prone to browning from flash droughts than intact forests due to their limited capacity to acclimate to rapid drought stress driven by extreme heat. Notably, our meta-analysis confirms that current forest management practices, designed to maximize ecosystem services, exacerbate the vulnerability of managed forests to flash droughts globally. Our findings highlight the escalating risks posed by increasingly frequent and prolonged flash droughts to managed forests, underscoring the urgent need to integrate resistance and resilience to extreme climatic events into forest management strategies. Flash droughts, characterized by their rapid onset and increasing frequency, raise concerns about forest health. This study suggests that those droughts cause widespread forest browning globally, and management practices designed to maximize ecosystem services may further increase the vulnerability of managed forests.

Yak has been subject to natural selection, human domestication and interspecific introgression during its evolution. However, genetic variants favored by each of these processes have not been distinguished previously. We constructed a graph-genome for 47 genomes of 7 cross-fertile bovine species. This allowed detection of 57,432 high-resolution structural variants (SVs) within and across the species, which were genotyped in 386 individuals. We distinguished the evolutionary origins of diverse SVs in domestic yaks by phylogenetic analyses. We further identified 334 genes overlapping with SVs in domestic yaks that bore potential signals of selection from wild yaks, plus an additional 686 genes introgressed from cattle. Nearly 90% of the domestic yaks were introgressed by cattle. Introgression of an SV spanning the KIT gene triggered the breeding of white domestic yaks. We validated a significant association of the selected stratified SVs with gene expression, which contributes to phenotypic variations. Our results highlight that SVs of different origins contribute to the phenotypic diversity of domestic yaks. Yaks have been subject to natural selection, human domestication and interspecific introgression during their evolution. Here, the authors have identified genomic structural variations and the linked genes involved in these processes in domestic yaks, to reveal new insight into genetic basis of phenotypic diversity.

Objective To explore the application effect of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) for patients with hepatolithiasis undergoing hepatectomy. Methods A retrospective comparative analysis was performed on the clinical data of 120 patients with hepatolithiasis who were admitted to the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery in our hospital between December 2017 and May 2022 using convenience sampling. Results There were differences in the impact of different management modes on blood glucose and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores between the two groups of patients ( F blood glucose  = 32.581, F VAS  = 41.472, all P  < 0.001). The average blood glucose levels in the traditional group were higher than those in the ERAS group at two time points, and the VAS scores in the former group were higher than those in the latter at 6, 12 and 24 h after surgery. The remifentanil dosage (49.89 ± 12.12 vs 57.84 ± 11.43 mL, t  = − 2.475, P  = 0.016), patient-controlled analgesia frequency (3.83 ± 2.23 vs 5.57 ± 3.52 times, t  = − 2.481, P  = 0.015) and analgesic supplementation frequency (0.57 ± 0.73 vs 1.07 ± 1.02 times, t  = − 2.653, P  = 0.010) in the ERAS group were all lower than those in the traditional group. Different management modes had different effects on the levels of procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell count (WBC) in the two groups of patients ( F PCT  = 45.371, F IL-6  = 43.466, F CRP  = 51.364, F WBC  = 65.674, all P  < 0.001). The levels of PCT, IL-6, CRP and WBC in the ERAS group were lower than those in the traditional group at three time points: postoperative day 1, 7 and 14. The postoperative hospital stay (8.41 ± 2.55 vs 11.61 ± 3.34 d, t = − 7.812, P  < 0.001) and proportion of postoperative complications (9.61% vs 26.47%, χ 2  = 5.403, P  = 0.020) in the ERAS group were lower than those in the traditional group. Conclusion The application of ERAS effectively reduces the perioperative stress response, shortens the postoperative length of hospital stay and lowers the overall incidence of postoperative complications in patients with hepatolithiasis.