This article reports an association between the stenothoid amphipod Stenula solsbergi (Schneider, 1884) (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Stenothoidae) and the fluffy sea anemone Metridium senile (Linnaeus, 1761) (Anthozoa: Actiniaria: Metridiidae), which was discovered in the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea during the winter season. This association is unique, as it was found during a time when the White Sea was completely covered with a solid thick ice sheet and water temperatures were below 0°C. Additionally, this is the first recorded finding of this amphipod species in the White Sea and the Russian faunal inventory, despite the fact that sea anemones M. senile are among the most common and prevalent invertebrates in the region. Our article presents for the first time the photos of the living coloration of the species, as well as in situ photographs of its winter aggregations, consisting of immature females, on host sea anemones.

A large coronary artery fistula originating from the circumflex artery and draining into the right atrium was diagnosed in an asymptomatic neonate on the first day of life. Over the following days, the patient developed pulmonary overcirculation and electrocardiographic signs of myocardial ischaemia. A successful percutaneous closure procedure was performed via a retrograde aortic approach using an Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder 5/4.

The activity of membrane-active peptides/proteins (MAPs) involves interactions with lipid bilayer regions of cell membranes. For example, antimicrobial peptides, lytic peptides, pore-forming toxins, lipidated peptides, and cell-penetrating peptides are all MAPs. Most MAPs induce damage in cell membranes/lipid bilayers, such as nanopore formation. Various methods have been employed to examine the interactions between MAPs and lipid bilayers, as well as MAP-induced membrane damage. Methods using giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are particularly versatile techniques because they provide useful information regarding both MAP–lipid bilayer interactions and MAP activities such as membrane damage. GUV studies have revealed many aspects of elementary processes of MAP-induced membrane damage and their correlations, thus clarifying the mechanisms of MAPs-induced membrane damage. Here, we focus on GUV-based studies of MAP-induced nanopore formation in lipid bilayers. First, we review the binding of MAPs to the lipid bilayers. Second, we review the rate of MAP-induced nanopore formation and the rate of membrane permeation of fluorescent probes through the nanopores. Third, we review the relationships between several elementary processes involved in MAP-induced nanopore formation (i.e., binding of MAPs, nanopore formation, translocation of MAPs across lipid bilayers) and factors that induce membrane instability to facilitate nanopore formation. The pre-pore model of translocation of MAPs across lipid bilayers is also reviewed. Fourth, we review the effects of membrane tension, membrane potential, and lipid composition on MAP-induced formation of nanopores and their stability. Finally, we describe our perspectives on future GUV-based studies of MAP-induced nanopore formation.

When most of the world’s parliaments were created, women could not vote or be elected. Correspondingly, parliaments’ rules and infrastructure as well expectations of parliamentarians’ (MPs) performance were designed around masculine standards, including the assumption that MPs had no caretaking responsibilities. Scholars seeking explanations for women’s underrepresentation argue that parliaments remain unwelcoming to those with caretaking roles. As long as women continue to bear disproportionate household obligations, increasing women’s presence in elected office requires parliaments to adopt reforms to accommodate parents. We surveyed members of Germany’s national and state parliaments about their attitudes towards parenthood and politics and support for various parenthood accommodations. We find that gender rather than being a parent shapes how politicians perceive the challenge of reconciling politics and parenthood. But shared experiences among women do not automatically produce similar attitudes about policies to make parliaments family friendly. Party ideology and gender both predict support for parliamentary reforms.

The late nineteenth-century animal marketplace was a thriving industry. The growth of empire and the development of new technologies and infrastructure facilitated the global movement of animals. As a result, many more reached Britain, where they were purchased by a range of customers for varying pursuits. Historians have explored the role of animal dealers in facilitating this market, but few have considered the influence of the ‘fancy of the private collector’ upon the trade. Taking naturalist, museum proprietor and zoo owner Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868–1937) as its case study, this paper explores the ways in which the scientific predilections of those with money and influence shaped the market and business practices of animal dealers, contributing directly to the ‘booms in beasts’ of the period. However, the retailing of animals involved more than financial transactions. Through an examination of the supply of animals to Rothschild’s zoological enterprise, this paper will demonstrate how scientific interests and purchasing power could combine to elevate customers from passive consumers, reliant on the capabilities of the animal dealer, to active collaborators. Working together, wealthy customers and dealers secured the further procurement of material, contributing to the construction of zoological knowledge, whilst also building their professional reputations.

We prove that every oriented tree on $n$ vertices with bounded maximum degree appears as a spanning subdigraph of every directed graph on $n$ vertices with minimum semidegree at least $n/2+{\mathrm{o}}(n)$. This can be seen as a directed graph analogue of a well-known theorem of Komlós, Sárközy, and Szemerédi. Our result for trees follows from a more general result, allowing the embedding of arbitrary orientations of a much wider class of spanning ‘tree-like’ structures, such as collections of at most $O(n^{0.99})$ pairwise vertex-disjoint cycles and subdivisions of graphs $H$ with $|H|\lt \exp \bigl (\sqrt {\textrm {O}(\log n)}\,\bigr )$ in which each edge is subdivided at least once.

We formulate an inverse problem for an uncoupled space–time fractional Schrödinger equation on closed manifolds. Our main goal is to determine the fractional powers and the Riemannian metric (up to an isometry) simultaneously from the knowledge of the associated source-to-solution map. Our argument relies on the asymptotic behavior of Mittag-Leffler functions, Weyl’s law for the eigenvalues of the Laplace–Beltrami operator, the unique continuation property of the space-fractional operator and the disjoint data metric determination result for the wave equation. We also provide a probabilistic formulation of our inverse problem.

We study the uniform computational content of Ramsey’s theorem using both Weihrauch reducibility and a new variant of Weihrauch reducibility, where the functions in the reduction are required to be total. In the latter setting, we show that the strength of Ramsey’s theorem varies significantly depending on how one represents its solutions, for example, using characteristic functions or using enumerations. Some of our results extend beyond variants of Ramsey’s theorem. In particular, we show that $\mathsf {RT}^{2}_{2}$ where solutions are represented using characteristic functions is not totally Weihrauch reducible to any computational problem whose solutions are represented using enumerations. Next, we study the computational problems $\mathsf {RT}^{n}_{\infty }$ which take as input a colouring of n-tuples which has some infinite homogeneous set and asks for any such set. The problem $\mathsf {RT}^{1}_{\infty }$ is fairly well-studied, as it is Weihrauch equivalent to the cluster point problem on $\mathbb {N}$. Our main result shows that $\mathsf {RT}^{1}_{\infty }$ is not Weihrauch reducible to $\mathsf {RT}^{2}_{\mathbb {N}}$, strengthening a result of Soldà and Valenti. We also show that the jump of $\mathsf {RT}^{1}_{\infty }$ is Weihrauch equivalent to $\mathsf {SRT}^{2}_{\infty }$.

Environmental insecticide residues are a growing concern in the management of disease-vector mosquitoes, such as Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae). While deltamethrin is extensively utilised in mosquito vector control, localised or intermittent sublethal exposure to this insecticide may influence mosquito population dynamics. To investigate the role of environmental residual deltamethrin in inducing transgenerational fitness costs in Ae. albopictus, this study established three different concentrations of deltamethrin solution based on its half-lethal concentration (0.002275 mg/L) for long-term exposure. And four consecutive generations were reared under these conditions. We monitored macroscopic growth and developmental data, reproductive capacity, and expression levels of yolk protein genes (vitellogenin) in each generation. Results showed that sublethal multigenerational deltamethrin exposure significantly prolonged the developmental period of Ae. albopictus; however, it did not have a significant impact on pupation or eclosion rates. In terms of fecundity, exposure to deltamethrin reduced the relative expression levels of vitellogenin-A1 and vitellogenin-C in Ae. albopictus, which was correlated with reduced reproductive output. Furthermore, there was a reduction observed in both single female oviposition rates and egg hatching success among exposed individuals. These findings highlight sublethal responses that may impact population dynamics and reproductive success in the field, underscoring the importance of considering chronic, low-dose insecticide effects in integrated vector management strategies.

This paper reports the results of an Australian qualitative study investigating the return of raw genomic data to research study participants. Increasing numbers of participants request access to their raw genomic data, although the legal position in relation to whether data should be returned lacks clarity, particularly in Australia. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in two research studies where participants have undergone whole genome sequencing: ZERO Childhood Cancer, and the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative. Four major themes were identified: whether raw genomic data should be returned; reasons for seeking access; risks in returning data; and processes for return. Our findings indicate that health professionals, scientists, bioinformaticians, patients and patient advocates overwhelmingly support the return of raw data upon request, with ethical imperatives providing a strong basis for this support. Many stakeholders went on to stress the importance of adequate support for participants to ensure risks associated with the return of raw genomic data are minimized, including the provision of explanation and, where necessary, counselling and clinical advice. Our findings provide a basis for arguing that adequate resourcing must be built into research projects from the outset, given expected increases in participant demand for genomic data.

There is growing interest in monitoring multiple insect species simultaneously by using traps baited with pheromones of multiple species. We tested potential interference among pheromones using blends targeting multiple species of cerambycid and elaterid beetles. The six-component blend of cerambycid pheromones has proven effective in attracting many species in the subfamilies Cerambycinae and Lamiinae. Seven elaterid species were trapped with a nine-component blend of sex attractants in an earlier field experiment. Traps were baited with the cerambycid blend, the elaterid blend, and the combined blend. Three elaterid species were similarly attracted by the elaterid and combined blends, whereas three other species were significantly less attracted by the combined blend. The variable influence of cerambycid compounds on attraction of elaterids to their sex attractants may reflect the nature of the hosts of their larvae. Specifically, larvae of species not influenced by the cerambycid blend feed on roots of deciduous agricultural plants. In contrast, larvae of the species antagonised by the cerambycid blend develop in woody tissues of plants, as do larvae of most cerambycids. These results suggest that these elaterids have evolved to detect cerambycid pheromones, allowing them to avoid aggressive competition with cerambycid larvae and even predation by cerambycids.