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Kalirin is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for the GTPase RAC1, linked to schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s Disease. It plays a crucial role in synaptic plasticity by regulating dendritic spine formation and actin cytoskeleton remodeling, which are essential for creating new synapses. Authors developed two novel compounds targeting kalirin, confirming that predictive modeling can indicate biological activity.

Here, recognizing the significant growth of electronic cigarettes in recent years, the authors sought to test a hypothesis that three main components of the liquid solutions used in e-cigarettes might affect lung cancer cell viability. In a study performed by exposing A549 cells, human lung cancer cells, to different types of smoke extracts, the authors found that increasing levels of nicotine resulted in improve lung cancer cell viability up until the toxicity of nicotine resulted in cell death. They conclude that these results suggest that contrary to conventional thought e-cigarettes may be more dangerous than tobacco cigarettes in certain contexts.

Water scarcity affects upwards of a billion people worldwide today. This project leverages the potential of capturing humidity to build a high-efficiency water condensation device that can generate water and be used for personal and commercial purposes. This compact environment-friendly device would have low power requirements, which would potentially allow it to utilize renewable energy sources and collect water at the most needed location.

Female employment rates in South Korea are far below those of other countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We assessed job satisfaction, job retention, and the underlying factors that impact these variables for both genders and various ages through a survey. Among 291 adult participants (161 women, 130 men) aged 20 to 59, working in various fields, 95% of responders were college graduates. These results suggest that even highly educated women feel more pressure from an innate sense of responsibility and societal perception to care for children than men.

Fear of mathematics is a widespread phenomenon. Pandey and Pandey investigate what this fear has to do with the place of mathematics in a school curriculum, by developing a method for comparing mathematical problem complexity to the complexity of English literature coursework.

Here, beginning from an interest in fractals, infinitely complex shapes. The authors investigated the fractal object that results from crumpling a sheet of paper. They determined its fractal dimension using continuous Chi-squared analysis, thereby testing and validating their model against the more conventional least squares analysis.

Here, seeking to understand a possible cause of the declining popluations of Brood X cicadas in Ohio and Indiana, the authors investigated the presence of Wolbachia, an inherited bacterial symbiont that lives in the reproductive cells of approximately 60% of insect species in these cicadas. Following their screening of one-hundred 17-year periodical cicadas, they only identified the presence of Wolbachia infection in less than 2%, suggesting that while Wolbachia can infect cicadas it appears uncommon in the Brood X cicadas they surveyed.

In this study, the authors analyze gene expression datasets to determine if there is a core set of genes dysregulated during nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

In this study, the authors investigated the time-dependent cytokine secretion ability of phyto-hemagglutinin (PHA)-activated T cells derived from human peripheral (PB) and cord blood (CB). They hypothesized that the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, and pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNFα, levels would be higher in PHA-activated T cells obtained from PB as compared to the levels obtained from CB and would decrease over time. Upon PHA-activation, the IL-10 levels were relatively high while the TNFα levels decreased, making these findings applicable in therapeutic treatments e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and organ transplantation.

Oligodendrocytes are specialized brain cells that can change to cells that produce myelin and protect nerves. This study investigates the capacity for different extracellular matrix cues to induce this effect in culture.