This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Our cells’ behavior depends on their underlying structure – the cytoskeleton. A dynamic network of protein filaments and tubules, the cytoskeleton drives motion. It is also central to cell development – and cancer. One protein at the center of cytoskeletal events is Merlin. Like other FERM-family proteins, Merlin mediates interactions between actin and transmembrane receptors, translating signaling into motion, adhesion, and growth regulation. Because it regulates such essential pathways, Merlin has a dual role in human biology. Its connection to the cytoskeleton is essential for embryonic development. and the signaling pathways it orchestrates are required for cell differentiation in later stages of development. At the same time, Merlin also maintains appropriate cell signaling levels and growth, preventing cancer progression. Further studies will shed light on Merlin's role in different contexts, improving our understanding of therapeutic strategies for disorders of both development and cancer..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Cancer cells are abnormal cells that rapidly proliferate and often find ways to evade the immune system’s attempts to stop them. Such cells often overexpress the genes MYC and ARF6 and have a mutated version of the KRAS gene. These changes are inextricably linked and result in significant resistance to cancer therapies. KRAS activates MYC gene expression and possibly promotes the translation of the messenger RNA for both MYC and ARF6. Then MYC induces expression of genes related to mitochondrial formation and energy production. Meanwhile, ARF6 protects the mitochondria from oxidation-induced injury. ARF6 may also promote cancer invasion, metastasis, and immune evasion. Thus, KRAS, MYC, and ARF6 cooperate to help cancer spread and to avoid the immune system and immune-based treatments. These harmful associations are common in pancreatic cancer and can be strengthened by mutations in other genes like TP53..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Vincent van Gogh once compared this impressionist masterpiece to a “Japanese dream”—a reflection of his love for Japanese prints but perhaps a comparison that has proven all too fitting. Because the thing about dreams is, their details tend to fade. A combination of natural aging and the buildup of grime has dulled van Gogh’s _Field with Irises near Arles_ over the past 130 years. Fortunately, those changes are not completely irreversible. Modern experimental art technology has given a team of Dutch researchers unprecedented access to the artist’s full color palette. Enabling them to not only digitally recreate van Gogh’s landscape in its original color—but also, to reproduce the very paints he used from scratch. Using the same techniques forensic scientists use to reconstruct a crime scene, the team first determined the chemical makeup of each dab of paint in the work..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In 2014, Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the MLB Players’ Association, instituted a controversial rule change designed to prevent home-plate collisions. Rule 7.13 states that a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct path to the plate to initiate contact with the catcher. Similarly, the catcher cannot block the runner’s path in his bid to score. Some players and managers were initially concerned that the rule would alter the nature of the game. But data show that in the higher-stakes matter of player safety, Rule 7.13 is a clear win. Using the MLB Health and Injury Tracking System, a database recording all injuries to players in the major and minor leagues, researchers from MLB and the MLB Players Association looked at how the 2014 rule change has altered the profile of player injuries. Specifically, they compared the incidence of some traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, in the seasons prior to and after the change..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The Earth is undeniably getting hotter. For the third time in a row, the past year has gone down as the hottest on record. While researchers don’t expect every year to be record-shattering, the trend is disconcerting—perhaps nowhere more so than in South Asia. A new study shows that here, unique climate effects converge with poor living conditions and high population density to create the most at-risk hot spot on our planet. Climate data shows that some of the world’s hottest zones lie across Asia. In these areas, the wet-bulb temperature, a measure of temperature that accounts for humidity, reaches life-threatening highs, commonly above 28°C. For perspective, consider that spending just a few hours at a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is enough to cause death. And according to an international team of researchers, this heating trend might only get worse..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Thrombospondin-1, or TSP-1, is a calcium-binding protein implicated in the development of several diseases, including diabetes, cancer, renal failure, and cardiovascular disease. To understand TSP-1’s role in disease, researchers recently examined the protein’s effects on the calcium dynamics, survival, and deformability of red blood cells. In vitro experiments showed that exposure to recombinant human TSP-1 significantly increased calcium levels in red blood cells. TSP-1 treatment also induced an inward ionic current, suggesting possible calcium influx through non-selective cation channels, and TSP-1 caused the deformation of red blood cells. Further experiments revealed that TSP-1 binding to its receptor CD47 could dictate the lifespan of red blood cells in circulation. Altogether, the findings suggest that TSP-1/CD47 signaling could be one targetable pathway in systemic diseases that attack red blood cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The Wnt signaling pathway is linked to multiple developmental defects, inherited diseases, and many types of cancer. An essential component of the Wnt signaling pathway is a family of proteins known as Dishevelled (DVL). Studies have hinted that phosphorylation of DVL proteins at specific sites ultimately controls parts of the Wnt pathway, but the molecular mechanisms have remained unclear. Now, researchers have discovered “barcode”-like patterns of phosphorylation that could dictate certain DVL functions. The team used mass spectrometry-based proteomics to determine which sites along the protein DVL3 were phosphorylated by 8 different kinases and found 88 phosphorylation sites organized into barcodes unique for each kinase. The barcoding they observed could determine how DVL3 is distributed in the cell and, with further research, could point to the role of DVL proteins in certain human diseases and cancers..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Most human infectious viral diseases – including COVID-19 and Ebola – originated in animals. As the largest group of mammalian species, rodents are natural reservoirs for many diverse zoonotic viruses. Better understanding the core rodent virome will reduce the risk of future emergence or re-emergence of rodent-borne pathogens. A recent study focused on viruses found in the lungs of rodents in Mainland Southeast Asia, a hotspot for zoonotic emerging infectious diseases. Lung samples were collected from 3,284 rodents and insectivores throughout Thailand, Lao PDR, and Cambodia. Using metatranscriptomics, researchers outlined unique characteristics of the rodent viruses identified. Many mammalian- or arthropod-related viruses from distinct evolutionary lineages were reported for the first time, and viruses related to known pathogens were found..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development unveils the deep bodily connections that can form among choir singers Researchers tracked different physiological variables as a choir sung and used algorithms to uncover connections between them Aside from a blending of voices, they found that choir singers’ heart rates and breathing patterns sync up when performing as a group This merging was coupled to the vocalization patterns of the singers The conductor’s hand movements also caused a shared physiological response among the singers In essence, the work suggests that a choir can be considered a type of coherent physiological entity… or, as the researchers suggest, a superorganism Viktor Müller, Julia A.M. Delius, Ulman Lindenberger. Complex networks emerging during choir singing..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Light-responsive proteins have revolutionized our understanding of the brain. By introducing the genes encoding these proteins into neurons and then exciting the cells using lasers – a technique known as optogenetics – individual cells can be rapidly turned on or off, enabling exquisitely sensitive investigations of brain function. But a fundamental limitation of the method is that light doesn’t travel very far through brain tissue, which has hampered the study of more buried – and often vital – structures. Now, researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science have developed a way to extend the reach of optogenetics by nearly an order of magnitude, providing new possibilities for deep-brain stimulation. The team accomplished this using a special type of nanoparticle known as an upconversion nanoparticle, so named for its ability to transform – or “upconvert” – near-infrared light into visible output..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Corals form diverse and valuable communities at all ocean depths. Unfortunately, they face a variety of threats, including increasing ocean temperatures, disease, and pollutants from human activities. But another less-expected threat may cause stress to ocean corals. Apicomplexans are a large group of parasites that cause major human diseases including malaria and toxoplasmosis. But these species don’t always live as human parasites – they also live among coral in tropical reefs. How the microbes can mitigate or exacerbate stress on coral communities, particularly those in deeper ocean environments, is unknown. A recent study evaluated the coral-residing microbes in deep-sea corals from the Gulf of Mexico. DNA sequencing identified 23 different types of apicomplexans, each with different patterns of niche and host. Some closely related microbes associated only with closely related corals, while others were present on a variety of coral types..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Much research on epilepsy treatment has focused on properly identifying the epileptogenic zone, the area of the brain where a seizure initiates. This zone, previous studies have found, can potentially be recognized by high-frequency activity, or “fast activity,” that occurs in a brain area right after seizure onset. However, this method does not accurately delineate the epileptogenic zone from other normal brain tissues. A new paper published in Human Brain Mapping examines how a different marker, or “fingerprint,” can be used to accurately identify the epileptogenic zone, whether this fingerprint can be seen in different types of brainwaves, and, finally, how the method compares to using fast activity. The study builds on a previous paper published by the authors, in which the fingerprint itself was identified as a specific pattern of brain activity observed in seizure patients..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Hip arthroscopy is an increasingly popular option for the repair of intra-articular conditions such as hip impingement and labral tears. But the procedure is technically demanding, and the learning curve for achieving competency isn’t well understood. To shed light on this issue, researchers have reviewed the records from 8041 hip arthroscopies performed by 251 surgeons to determine what career volume is most likely to prevent the need for revision surgery within 5 years. Career volume was defined as the number of hip arthroscopies performed per surgeon from their first documented case up to the index procedure. The index cohort included data from patients treated in New York state between 2003 and 2012 -- compiled from the New York Department of Health’s SPARCS database. Using these data, the researchers defined four strata for surgeon volume. They then compared the patient demographics and need for reoperation among these four groups..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Of the twelve cranial nerves that pass through the skull, the facial nerve is most susceptible to traumatic injury and paralysis. One technique for repairing such damage is polyethylene glycol-mediated cell fusion – or PEG-fusion – but this hasn’t been tested on facial nerves. Moreover, when looking at other nerve types, it’s only been applied immediately after injury. This doesn’t reflect real-world clinical practice, where nerve damage may not be addressed for days as life-saving interventions are prioritized. Now, researchers have applied PEG-fusion to facial nerves using a more clinically relevant timeline, and the results suggest that nerve regeneration is possible even when treatment is delayed. PEG-fusion helps restore the protective boundary of a nerve cell’s plasma membrane by plugging the holes caused by traumatic injury, which can seal the cell off from potentially toxic substances. But it hasn’t been clear whether delayed treatment can still help cells heal..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"River deltas across the globe are sinking – a problem for the half-billion people currently living on them. These landforms, created as sediment washes downstream towards a river’s mouth, are highly susceptible to environmental change. Human activity such as population growth and industrialization are dramatically accelerating this sinking, leading to increased flood risk and the loss of coastal wetlands. To keep deltas intact, a better understanding of the stresses they face is key. Many research groups have studied threats to deltas at the single-delta level; the scope and variety of these threats at the global level, however, isn’t clear. But researchers in New York have developed a method to classify the effects of human activity on deltas worldwide. The team used cluster analysis -- a way of sorting different variables into groups based on their similarity -- to spot patterns in datasets collected at 48 deltas..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"This tiny brain structure is known as the claustrum. For more than a hundred years, scientists have speculated about what exactly the claustrum does. But only recently has state-of-the-art biological technology allowed researchers to probe its anatomy and connections to the rest of the brain. Francis Crick—of DNA fame—and neuroscientist Christof Koch hypothesized the claustrum to be the seat of consciousness, a conductor of sorts, orchestrating the activity of neurons in charge of higher brain functions from deep within. Now, new research from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan appears to confirm that hypothesis. Only, instead of arousing neurons to action, the claustrum lulls them to sleep. The claustrum is both an appropriate and unfortunate name for this important part of the brain’s anatomy. Latin for “hidden or shut away,” the claustrum has long defied close examination due to its thin, irregular shape and placement deep within the brain..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is an autoimmune disease defined by destroyed pancreatic β-cells. which results in impaired insulin secretion and hyperglycemia, but one complication of T1D gets less attention than the others: cognitive dysfunction. Previous studies reported that modification of gut microbiota can reduce the incidence of T1D. So, researchers from Wenzhou Medical University hypothesized that modified gut microbiota may also affect cognitive function in T1D. Using an induced mouse model of T1D, researchers modified the microbiota with an antibiotic and measured the impact of these microbial changes on cognitive performance. Antibiotic-treated mice (TD1V) had a disrupted microbiome and altered host metabolic phenotypes. Antibiotic-treated mice (blue) also showed greater cognitive impairment than induced T1D alone (red). The antibiotic treatment depleted acetate-producing bacteria, which lead to long-term acetate deficiency..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Diazotrophs, microorganisms that “fix” atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that plants can use, are important members of mangrove ecosystems. Diazotrophic community structure and nitrogen fixation rates are strongly regulated by the environment, but how they change with sediment depth remains unclear. To find out, a new study investigated biological nitrogen fixation in sediment cores taken from a mangrove ecosystem in China. The results showed that diazotroph diversity decreased with depth, and salinity was the main factor that influenced the diazotrophic community structure. Communities above vs. below 50 cm were markedly different. In sediments shallower than 50 cm, Anaeromyxobacter, Rubrivivax, Methylocystis, Dickeya and Methylomonas dominated, while Agrobacterium and Azotobacter dominated from 50 to 100 cm. The nitrogen fixation rate and the abundance of nitrogen fixation genes increased with depth, while the abundance of genes related to nitrification and denitrification decreased..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Oceanic microbiomes are critical to the global carbon cycle and to oceanic carbon and energy cycling, and the Deltaproteobacteria clade SAR324 is one of the few microbial groups inhabiting all oceanic depth zones. Although the metabolic potential of dark-zone SAR324 has been investigated, the ecology and metabolic traits of euphotic- and twilight-zone SAR324 remain unclear. To learn more, a recent study collected SAR324 from various depths of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. A pangenomic analysis including published genomic data revealed considerable intra-clade diversity, as indicated by the average nucleotide identity (ANI). The bacteria clustered into four ecotypes with different spatiotemporal distributions, and bacteria at different depths had different metabolic characteristics. The deep- and twilight-zone bacteria exhibited genomic and metabolic traits consistent with sulfur-based chemolithoautotrophy..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Many young athletes will at some point face shoulder instability – a painful condition that can lead to repeated episodes of shoulder dislocation, which often requires surgical repair. Despite being a common diagnosis, however, many important details regarding the patient characteristics and circumstances that lead to shoulder instability aren’t well known. Now, a team of researchers based in the US has taken a fresh look at the data collected in the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network clinical trial, or MOON trial, to get a better idea of what groups are at highest risk for injury and describe the most common features of the condition. The MOON trial, an ongoing effort being conducted at 10 sites across America, aims to learn what factors are tied to good outcomes after surgery for shoulder instability. By investigating the demographics of those enrolled in the trial, the researchers uncovered important epidemiological information regarding the condition..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.