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Chandra Discovery of a Candidate Hyperluminous X-Ray Source in MCG+11-11-032
No full textWe present a multiwavelength analysis of MCG+11-11-032, a nearby active galactic nucleus (AGN), with a unique classification as being both a binary and a dual AGN candidate. With new Chandra observations, we aim to resolve any dual AGN system via imaging data and search for signs of a binary AGN via analysis of the X-ray spectrum. Analyzing the Chandra spectrum, we find no evidence of the previously suggested double-peaked Fe Kα lines; the spectrum is instead best fit by an absorbed power law with a single Fe Kα line, as well as an additional line centered at ≈7.5 keV. The Chandra observation reveals faint, soft, and extended X-ray emission, possibly linked to low-level nuclear outflows. Further analysis shows evidence for a compact hard source—MCG+11-11-032 X2—located 3 . ″ 3 from the primary AGN. Modeling MCG+11-11-032 X2 as a compact source, we find that it is relatively luminous ( L 2-10 keV = 1 . 5 −0.5+0.9 × 1 0 41 erg s−1), and the location is coincident with a compact and off-nuclear source resolved in Hubble Space Telescope infrared (F105W) and optical (F621M, F547M) bands. Pairing our X-ray results with a 144 MHz radio detection at the host galaxy location, we observe X-ray and radio properties similar to those of ESO 243-49 HLX-1, suggesting that MCG+11-11-032 X2 may be a hyperluminous X-ray source. This detection with Chandra highlights the importance of a high-resolution X-ray imager as well as how previous binary AGN candidates detected with large-aperture instruments can benefit from high-resolution follow-up. Future spatially resolved optical spectra, and deeper X-ray observations, can better constrain the origin of MCG+11-11-032 X2.This paper employs a list of Chandra data sets, obtained by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, contained in doi:10.25574/cdc.335. F.C. acknowledges the CXC grant associated with proposal number 23700236. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. The HST data presented in this article were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The specific observations analyzed can be accessed via doi:10.17909/3xyk-1f32. Basic research in radio astronomy at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is supported by 6.1 Base Funding. M.M. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project PID2021-124243NB-C22. This work was partially supported by the program Unidad de Excelencia Marìa de Maeztu CEX2020-001058-M. F.M.-S. acknowledges support from NASA through ADAP award 80NSSC19K1096.With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2020-001058-M)Peer reviewe
Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture
No full textModern humans arrived in Europe more than 45,000 years ago, overlapping at least 5,000 years with Neanderthals1-4. Limited genomic data from these early modern humans have shown that at least two genetically distinct groups inhabited Europe, represented by Zlatý kůň, Czechia3 and Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria2. Here we deepen our understanding of early modern humans by analysing one high-coverage genome and five low-coverage genomes from approximately 45,000-year-old remains from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany4, and a further high-coverage genome from Zlatý kůň. We show that distant familial relationships link the Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals and that they were part of the same small, isolated population that represents the deepest known split from the Out-of-Africa lineage. Ranis genomes harbour Neanderthal segments that originate from a single admixture event shared with all non-Africans that we date to approximately 45,000-49,000 years ago. This implies that ancestors of all non-Africans sequenced so far resided in a common population at this time, and further suggests that modern human remains older than 50,000 years from outside Africa represent different non-African populations.We acknowledge support from the National Genomics Infrastructure in Stockholm funded by the Science for Life Laboratory, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council, and NAISS for assistance with massively parallel sequencing and access to the UPPMAX computational infrastructure. This study was funded by the Max Planck Society. H. Rougier received funding from CSUN’s RSCA Awards and College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. V.V.-M. is supported by the grant ‘Ayudas para contratos Ramón y Cajal’ (no. RYC2022-035700-I) funded by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. L.N.M.I. and B.M.P. are funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101042421 NEADMIX, awarded to B.M.P.). E.I.Z. is supported by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California Berkeley. V.S.-M. is supported by a Fyssen Foundation postdoctoral fellowship (2023–2025). P.V. and J.B. are supported by The Czech Science Foundation grant no. GA23-06822S. P.V. is also supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (DKRVO grant no. 2024-2028/7.I.a, 00023272). This project has received funding from the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 948365, awarded to F.W.), and ERC Starting grant credited to K.I.B. under grant agreement no. 805268 (CoDisEASe).Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society.Peer reviewe
Structure, Function, and Regulation of LytA: The N-Acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine Amidase Driving the “Suicidal Tendencies” of Streptococcus pneumoniae—A Review
No full textStreptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a significant human pathogen responsible for a range of diseases from mild infections to invasive pneumococcal diseases, particularly affecting children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Despite pneumococcal conjugate vaccines having reduced disease incidence, challenges persist due to serotype diversity, vaccine coverage gaps, and antibiotic resistance. This review highlights the role of LytA, a key autolysin (N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase), in pneumococcal biology. LytA regulates autolysis, contributes to inflammation, and biofilm formation, and impairs bacterial clearance. It also modulates complement activation, aiding immune evasion. LytA expression is influenced by environmental signals and genetic regulation and is tied to competence for genetic transformation, which is an important virulence trait, particularly in meningitis. With the increase in antibiotic resistance, LytA has emerged as a potential therapeutic target. Current research explores its use in bacteriolytic therapies, vaccine development, and synergistic antibiotic strategies. Various compounds, including synthetic peptides, plant extracts, and small molecules, have been investigated for their ability to trigger LytA-mediated bacterial lysis. Future directions include the development of novel anti-pneumococcal interventions leveraging LytA’s properties while overcoming vaccine efficacy and resistance-related challenges. Human challenge models and animal studies continue to deepen our understanding of pneumococcal pathogenesis and potential treatment strategies.This research received no external funding.Peer reviewe
Agronomic and Metabolic Responses of Citrus clementina to Long-Term Irrigation with Saline Reclaimed Water as Abiotic Factor
No full textThe Panel on Climate Change has predicted an intensification of drought and heat waves. The aim of this study was to determine the physiological response of mandarin trees in a semi-arid area to the effects of a long period of irrigation with saline reclaimed water (RW) and freshwater (FW) in terms of leaf mineral constitution, free amino acids and phytohormone balance, and their influence on yield and fruit quality. Results showed that higher foliar levels of Cl−, B, Li+, and Br− were found in the RW treatment. In addition, fruit quality (juice content, soluble solid content, titratable acid, and maturity index) and yield (fruit weight and diameter) parameters and growth canopy were negatively affected by irrigation with RW. Regardless of the treatments, L-alanine (Ala) and proline were the most abundant amino acids, with Ala being described as a majority for the first time in the literature. Concretely, in FW, the total amino acid content was twice as high as the concentration in RW (51,359.46 and 23,833.31 ng g−1, respectively). The most abundant hormones were 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and trans-zeatin in both treatments. The saline stress response would be reflected in the higher concentration of salicylic and abscisic acids in the leaves of RW trees. In view of the high correlations found in a simplified correlation matrix of (i) Ala with the canopy growth and (ii) the salicylic acid (SA) with most of the evaluated agrometabolic parameters, it can be concluded that the exogenous application of the Ala and SA would increase tree size and could mitigate the effects of salt stress, respectively. However, these treatments could be completed with the external application of ACC since this phytohormone presents the lowest parameter during treatment with RW.This study formed part of the AGROALNEXT program and was supported by MCIN with funding from the European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and by Fundación Séneca with funding from Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia (CARM) (22015/PI/22). Also, this research was funded by the CARM through the call for Project Grants for the Generation of New Scientific Leadership “Young Leaders in Research”, included in the Regional Program for the Promotion of Scientific and Technical Research (2022 Action Plan) of the Fundación Séneca-Science and Technology Agency of the Region of Murcia (AGRISEN Project 21962/JLI/22), by MITECO through the call for strategic projects aimed at the ecological and digital transition, of the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research for the period 2021–2023 (TED2021-130501B-I00 Project), by MITECO, through the Fundación Biodiversidad, in the call of grants for environmental restoration and improvement in the agricultural sector, to contribute to the recovery of the ecological functionality of the Mar Menor (FERTECO Project) and by MICIU through the “ThinkInAzul” project: Joint Strategy for Research and Innovation in Marine Sciences to sustainably address new challenges in Marine-Maritime Monitoring and Observation, Climate Change, Aquaculture, and other Sectors of the Blue Economy. The authors also acknowledge the support of the Seneca Foundation (19903/GERM/15). María Pinciroli has enjoyed an AUIP grant during her stay at CEBAS-CSIC in Murcia (Spain) to carry out this work.Peer reviewe
Memory effects on the current-induced propagation of spin textures in NdCo5/Ni8Fe2 bilayers
No full textBilayers of NdCo5/Ni8Fe2 can act as reconfigurable racetracks thanks to the parallel stripe-domain configuration present in the hard magnetic material with weak perpendicular anisotropy (NdCo5), and its imprint on the soft magnetic layer (Ni8Fe2). This pattern hosts domain walls with well-defined vortexantivortex configurations and establishes paths for their deterministic propagation under the effect of pulsed currents. Magnetic transmission x-ray microscopy experiments show guided domain-wall propagation events within the Ni8Fe2 layer above a threshold current of 3 × 1011 A/m2. Propagation direction is governed by the change of in-plane magnetization, with opposite displacements for head-to-head and tail-to-tail domain walls. A comparison between domain-wall propagation events at remanence and under an applied in-plane field reveals the presence of an exchange bias field that keeps memory of the last saturated state. The link between the magnetic history stored in the hard magnetic layer and the direction of domain-wall propagation in the soft magnetic layer is a magnetic spring at the NdCo5/Ni8Fe2 interface, as shown by micromagnetic simulations. This leads to a system, which behaves as a hard-soft magnetic composite with reconfigurable capabilities for the controlled propagation of magnetic spin textures.V.V.F. and A.E.H.-A acknowledge the support from the Severo Ochoa Predoctoral Fellowship Program (nos. PA22-BP21-124, PA-23-BP22-093, respectively). The ALBA Synchrotron is funded by the Ministry of Research and Innovation of Spain, by the Generalitat de Catalunya and by European FEDER funds. This work has been supported by Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE under Grants No. PID2022-136784NB and No. RED2022-134096-T (NANOLITO) and by the ALBA in house research program.Peer reviewe
Impact of Bebtelovimab Treatment Timing on COVID-19 Outcomes in Ambulatory Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
No full text[Background]
Outcomes after bebtelovimab treatment for COVID-19 were favorable for most but not all solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) during the era of Omicron BA.2 to BA.5, but effects of timing of bebtelovimab administration on these outcomes are unknown. We sought to compare outcomes of SOTR who received early bebtelovimab (“EBT”, given ≤ 2 days from diagnosis) versus late bebtelovimab (“LBT”, given between Days 3 and 7), versus no bebtelovimab (NBT).[Methods]
This was a retrospective cohort study of SOTRs with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, with endpoint of 30-day COVID-19-related hospitalization. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine variables associated with receiving EBT, and to assess impact of EBT on hospitalization. A propensity score (PS) was calculated for EBT versus NBT.[Results]
Of 297 SOTRs, 162 (58.1%) received EBT, 46 (16.5%) LBT, and 71 (25.4%) NBT. Early bebtelovimab treatment was associated with a lower risk of 30-day COVID-19-related hospitalization compared to NBT (OR, 0.112 [95% CI, 0.018–0.686]; p = 0.018). There was no significant difference in hospitalization risk between LBT and NBT, suggesting that delayed administration may not confer additional benefits over no treatment.[Conclusions]
Early bebtelovimab treatment in outpatient SOTRs was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization compared to no treatment, while late administration did not show a significant advantage over no treatment. Although bebtelovimab is no longer authorized, these findings suggest that the timing of COVID therapies for SOTRs may be important to optimize outcomes.Sonsoles Salto Alejandre was supported by an award from the IMFAHE Foundation and a Fulbright Award. Mary Grace Bowring is supported by NHLBI grant number F30 HL168842-01.Peer reviewe
Artificial intelligence for advanced functional materials: exploring current and future directions
No full textThis perspective addresses the topic of harnessing the tools of artificial intelligence (AI) for boosting innovation in functional materials design and engineering as well as discovering new materials for targeted applications in energy storage, biomedicine, composites, nanoelectronics or quantum technologies. It gives a current view of experts in the field, insisting on challenges and opportunities provided by the development of large materials databases, novel schemes for implementing AI into materials production and characterization as well as progress in the quest of simulating physical and chemical properties of realistic atomic models reaching the trillion atoms scale and with near ab initio accuracy.C M acknowledges the support by the European Commission through the MaX Centre of Excellence for supercomputing applications (grant number 101093374). C M and N M acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Germany's Excellence Strategy (EXC 2077, No. 390741603, University Allowance, University of Bremen) and Lucio Colombi Ciacchi, the host of the 'U Bremen Excellence Chair Program'. S R acknowledges funding from 2021 SGR 00997, funded by Generalitat de Catalunya and Grant PID2022-138283NB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by 'ERDF/EU'. ICN2 is funded by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and supported by the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence programme, Grant CEX2021-001214-S, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039.501100011033. K S N and A U acknowledge support by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Research Centre of Excellence award to the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM, project No. EDUNC-33-18-279-V12) and National Research Foundation, Singapore under its AI Singapore Programme (AISG Award No: AISG3-RP-2022-028). M A acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Grant No. PID2022-140163NB-I00), Gobierno Vasco-UPV/EHU (Project No. IT1569-22), and the Basque Government Education Departments' IKUR program, also co-funded by the European NextGenerationEU action through the Spanish Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (PRTR). V L D acknowledges support from UK Research and Innovation [grant number EP/X016188/1]. O A v L acknowledges the support by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), [funding reference number RGPIN-2023-04853], the University of Toronto's Acceleration Consortium via the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, grant number: CFREF-2022-00042, the Ed Clark Chair of Advanced Materials, a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 772834). W W acknowledges the support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy for the Excellence Cluster '3D Matter Made to Order' (Grant No. EXC-2082/1-390761711) and by the Carl Zeiss Foundation.With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excelence" accreditation (CEX2021-001214-S)Peer reviewe
Contilisant+Tubastatin A Hybrids: Polyfunctionalized Indole Derivatives as New HDAC Inhibitor-Based Multitarget Small Molecules with In Vitro and In Vivo Activity in Neurodegenerative Diseases
No full textHerein, we describe the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of 15 Contilisant+Tubastatin A hybrids. These ligands are polyfunctionalized indole derivatives developed by juxtaposing selected pharmacophoric moieties of Contilisant and Tubastatin A to act as multifunctional ligands. Compounds 3 and 4 were identified as potent HDAC6 inhibitors (IC = 0.012 μM and 0.035 μM, respectively), so they were further evaluated in Drosophila and human cell models of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Both compounds attenuated PD-like phenotypes, such as motor defects, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction in PD model flies. Ligands 3 and 4 were also studied in the transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans CL2006 model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Both compounds were nontoxic, did not induce undesirable animal functional changes, inhibited age-related paralysis, and improved cognition in the thrashing assay. These results highlight 3 and 4 as novel multifunctional ligands that improve the features of PD and AD hallmarks in the respective animal models.JMC thanks AEI (Government of Spain; Grant PID2019-105813RB-C21) and UCJC
[Grant: “In vivo analysis of new analogues of Contilisant (MITOPI) (2022)”] for support.
This work is part of the MINA-CM program (number S2022/BMD-7236), funded by the
call for the implementation of programs of R&D activities between research groups of
the Community of Madrid in Biomedicine 2022 (Order 1171/2022). MTP thanks MINA-
CM program (number S2022/BMD-7236) for a contract. MMRF and AP thank
Comunidad de Madrid for a “Investigo” Contract (2022-23). II thanks AEI (Government
of Spain; Grant PID2019-105813RB-C22) for support. AS thanks the UAEU for financial
support by Strategic Research Program-Zayed Center for Health Sciences (Grant #
G00003680) and by the SURE PLUS (grant #: G00003976) (2022). CGF thanks AEI
(MINECO-FEDER, Government of Spain; Grant PID2022-139016OA-I00), Generalitat
de Catalunya (Grant 2021 SGR 00357), and AGAUR (Grant 2023Llavor005). ABS
acknowledges the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) for
her FI-SDUR fellowship (2021FISDU 00182). Some strains were provided by the CGC,
which is funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40 OD010440).
DK and SG thank the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (Research Core
Funding grant P1-0208, and project J1-3018) for finnancial support. LSH wants to
greatfully acknowledge experimental support by Philipp Stegen
Análisis sobre la percepción social. Informe encuesta población general C. Monitoring of project impact
No full textHierarchical domain structures in buckled ferroelectric free sheets
No full textFlat elastic sheets tend to display wrinkles and folds. From pieces of clothing down to two-dimensional crystals, these corrugations appear in response to strain generated by sheet compression or stretching, thermal or mechanical mismatch with other elastic layers, or surface tension. Extensively studied in metals, polymers and, — more recently — in van der Waals exfoliated layers, with the advent of thin single crystal freestanding films of complex oxides, researchers are now paying attention to novel microstructural effects induced by bending ferroelectric-ferroelastics, where polarization is strongly coupled to lattice deformation. Here we show that wrinkle undulations in BaTiO3 sheets bonded to a viscoelastic substrate transform into a buckle delamination geometry when transferred onto a rigid substrate. Using spatially resolved techniques at different scales (Raman, scanning probe and electron microscopy), we show how these delaminations in the free BaTiO3 sheets display a self-organization of ferroelastic domains along the buckle profile that strongly differs from the more studied sinusoidal wrinkle geometry. Moreover, we disclose the hierarchical distribution of a secondary set of domains induced by the misalignment of these folding structures from the preferred in-plane crystallographic orientations. Our results disclose the relevance of the morphology and orientation of buckling instabilities in ferroelectric free sheets, for the stabilization of different domain structures, pointing to new routes for domain engineering of ferroelectrics in flexible oxide sheets.D.P. acknowledges funding from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation fellowship (ID 100010434). The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through Grants no PID2019–108573GB-C21, PID2022–140589NB-I00, PID2020–112914RB-I00 and PID2023–147211OB-C22 funded by Grant No MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The Micro Raman imaging research was conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Authors acknowledge the use of instrumentation financed through Grant IU16–014206 (METCAM-FIB) to ICN2 funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with the support of the Ministry of Research and Universities, and Generalitat de Catalunya. The ICN2 is funded by the CERCA programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and by the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence Programme, funded by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, CEX2021–001214-S). The ICMAB is funded the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence Programme, funded by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, CEX2023–001263-S). The INMA is funded by the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence Programme (AEI, CEX2023–001286-S). The authors acknowledge the European’s Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant No 823713-ESTEEM3. This work was also funded from Regional Gobierno de Aragon through Project Nos. E13_23R, including FEDER funding. The authors also acknowledge the use of instrumentation as well as the technical advice provided by the National Facility ELECMI ICTS, node «Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA)» at «Universidad de Zaragoza». The authors are grateful to Dr. Kapil Gupta for assistance with the Spectra electron microscope at the Joint Electron Microscopy Centre at ALBA synchrotron (JEMCA).With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excelence" accreditation (CEX2021–001214-S).With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excelence" accreditation (CEX2023–001263-S).With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excelence" accreditation (CEX2023–001286-S).Peer reviewe