Impaired epidermal homeostasis in Bcl11bR3S/R3S homozygous mutant mice

BCL11B, also known as CTIP2, is a transcription factor which plays a critical role in the regulation and development of many tissues and organ systems, including the skin. A 2019 study by Goos et. al. uncovered a novel point mutation in BCL11B gene that converted the Arginine(R)-3 residue to a Serine (S) (the p.R3S mutation) in BCL11B after investigating a previously uncharacterized case of unilateral coronal craniosynostosis in a human patient. A Bcl11bR3S/R3S mouse model was subsequently developed and here we have explored the effects of the p.R3S mutation on murine epidermal development utilizing that model. Perinatal lethality exhibited in homozygous Bcl11bR3S/R3S mice restricted the study window to samples collected from the skin of post-natal day 0 (P0) mice. Results demonstrated that the Bcl11bR3S/R3S P0 skin exhibited a marked reduction in epidermal thickness coupled with significant decreases in expression of keratinocyte proliferation and early- and late-stage keratinocyte differentiation markers compared to the control mice expressing the wild type BCL11B. The striking epidermal phenotype observed in the current study warrants further elucidation of the underlying mechanisms and to what extent the p.R3S mutation disrupts murine skin homeostasis during development.Key Words: BCL11B, NuRD complex, PRC2 complex, epidermis, epidermal developmen

Exchange bias between van der Waals materials: tilted magnetic states and field-free spin-orbit-torque switching

Magnetic van der Waals heterostructures provide a unique platform to study magnetism and spintronics device concepts in the two-dimensional limit. Here, we report studies of exchange bias from the van der Waals antiferromagnet CrSBr acting on the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2 (FGT). The orientation of the exchange bias is along the in-plane easy axis of CrSBr, perpendicular to the out-of-plane anisotropy of the FGT, inducing a strongly tilted magnetic configuration in the FGT. Furthermore, the in-plane exchange bias provides sufficient symmetry breaking to allow deterministic spin-orbit torque switching of the FGT in CrSBr/FGT/Pt samples at zero applied magnetic field. A minimum thickness of the CrSBr greater than 10 nm is needed to provide a non-zero exchange bias at 30 K

Designing magnetic properties in CrSBr through hydrostatic pressure and ligand substitution

The ability to control magnetic properties of materials is crucial for fundamental research and underpins many information technologies. In this context, two-dimensional materials are a particularly exciting platform due to their high degree of tunability and ease of implementation into nanoscale devices. Here we report two approaches for manipulating the A-type antiferromagnetic properties of the layered semiconductor CrSBr through hydrostatic pressure and ligand substitution. Hydrostatic pressure compresses the unit cell, increasing the interlayer exchange energy while lowering the N\'eel temperature. Ligand substitution, realized synthetically through Cl alloying, anisotropically compresses the unit cell and suppresses the Cr-halogen covalency, reducing the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy and decreasing the N\'eel temperature. A detailed structural analysis combined with first-principles calculations reveal that alterations in the magnetic properties are intricately related to changes in direct Cr-Cr exchange interactions and the Cr-anion superexchange pathways. Further, we demonstrate that Cl alloying enables chemical tuning of the interlayer coupling from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic, which is unique amongst known two-dimensional magnets. The magnetic tunability, combined with a high ordering temperature, chemical stability, and functional semiconducting properties, make CrSBr an ideal candidate for pre- and post-synthetic design of magnetism in two-dimensional materials.Comment: Main text: 17 pages, 4 figures. Supporting Information: 34 pages, 32 figures, 4 table

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

MIBiG 3.0: a community-driven effort to annotate experimentally validated biosynthetic gene clusters

Microbial Biotechnolog

MIBiG 3.0 : a community-driven effort to annotate experimentally validated biosynthetic gene clusters

With an ever-increasing amount of (meta)genomic data being deposited in sequence databases, (meta)genome mining for natural product biosynthetic pathways occupies a critical role in the discovery of novel pharmaceutical drugs, crop protection agents and biomaterials. The genes that encode these pathways are often organised into biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). In 2015, we defined the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG): a standardised data format that describes the minimally required information to uniquely characterise a BGC. We simultaneously constructed an accompanying online database of BGCs, which has since been widely used by the community as a reference dataset for BGCs and was expanded to 2021 entries in 2019 (MIBiG 2.0). Here, we describe MIBiG 3.0, a database update comprising large-scale validation and re-annotation of existing entries and 661 new entries. Particular attention was paid to the annotation of compound structures and biological activities, as well as protein domain selectivities. Together, these new features keep the database up-to-date, and will provide new opportunities for the scientific community to use its freely available data, e.g. for the training of new machine learning models to predict sequence-structure-function relationships for diverse natural products. MIBiG 3.0 is accessible online at https://mibig.secondarymetabolites.org/

Metamorfosi in chirurgia plastica Aspetti psicomorfologici

Il libro nasce dall'incontro tra il Prof. Paolo G. Morselli, specialista in chirurgia plastica e in psicoterapia, e Orwin Avalon, psicoterapeuta. Il loro lavoro riguarda la metamorfosi interiore che si pu\uf2 ottenere dal cambiamento corporeo con interventi di chirurgia plastica e introduce un nuovo concetto: la chirurgia plastica eumorfica, che ha la finalit\ue0 di ottenere, con il cambiamento delle forme esteriori (soma), conseguenti positive ripercussioni interiori (psiche) che portano alla cura dei conflitti del profondo. Il libro analizza il concetto di bellezza, le basi del canone estetico e tutte le sue implicazioni socio-culturali. Attraverso l'analisi di casi clinici descrive la chirurgia plastica estetica e ricostruttiva. Affronta inoltre i principi della psicomorfologia analizzando le dismorfopatie, i conflitti e i complessi nelle diverse fasi della vita. Con un approccio sinergico i due specialisti propongono una plausibile spiegazione della necessit\ue0 che ha l'essere umano di vivere in armonia con se stesso. \uc8 un orientamento per i chirurghi plastici, sia nella relazione con i pazienti sia nella gestione delle loro aspettative e aspirazioni. \uc8 utile agli operatori socio-sanitari che si occupano, a diversi livelli, di salute e benessere e a tutti coloro che desiderano comprendere e comprendersi. Il testo \ue8 interamente a colori e ricco di immagini fotografiche a illustrare i concetti esposti