Here the authors sought to better understand glioma, cancer that occurs in the glial cells of the brain with gene expression profile analysis. They considered the expression of complement system genes across the transcriptional and IDH-mutational subtypes of low-grade glioma and glioblastoma. Based on their results of their differential gene expression analysis, they found that outcomes vary across different glioma subtypes, with evidence suggesting that categorization of the transcriptional subtypes could help inform treatment by providing an expectation for treatment responses.

In this study, the authors use bioinformatic approaches to characterize the mirror neurons, which are active when performing and seeing certain actions. They also investigated whether mirror neuron impairment was connected to neural degenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders.

In this study, the authors test whether excess copper exposure has neurobehavioral effects on Hirudo verbana leeches.

This study applies Taft linear free-energy relationships to study kinetic trends in the enzymatic hydrolysis of sterically hindered substrates.

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.

Seeking to investigate the effects of ambient pollutants on human respiratory health, here the authors used machine learning to examine asthma in Lost Angeles County, an area with substantial pollution. By using machine learning models and classification techniques, the authors identified that nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels were significantly correlated with asthma hospitalizations. Based on an identified seasonal surge in asthma hospitalizations, the authors suggest future directions to improve machine learning modeling to investigate these relationships.

In this study, the authors studied the ability for bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance over successive generations and modeled the trajectory to predict how antibiotic resistance is developed.

In this study, the authors investigate the effects of different algal growth media on algae's ability to perform carbon dioxide biofixation, or utilize carbon dioxide by fixing it into fatty acids within the cells. More specifically, carbon dioxide biofixation of Chlorella vulgaris was cultured in one of four media options and carbon dioxide was measured and compared to controls. The study results demonstrated that the use of media can enhance algae's capacity for biofixation and this has important implications for developing methods to reduce carbon dioxide in the environment.

Stem cells are at the forefront of research in regenerative medicine and cell therapy. Two essential properties of stem cells are self-renewal and potency, having the ability to specialize into different types of cells. Here, Park and Jeong took advantage of previously identified stem cell transcription factors associated with potency to differentiate umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (US-MSCs) from morphologically similar fibroblasts. Western blot analysis of the transcription factors Klf4, Nanog, and Sox2 revealed their expression was unique to US-MSCs providing insight for future methods of differentiating between these cell lines.

The availability, portion sizes, and consumption of highly palatable food has been linked adverse health outcomes. McBurnett and O’Donnell sought to assess the relationship between reward-based eating drive, consumption, cravings, and knowledge of the effects of sugary foods. In this study population, reward-based eating drive was related to both consumption and cravings. Further, for females, the knowledge of sugar’s effects was significantly and inversely associated with its consumption.