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The competition for nursing faculty has reached a crisis point, with over 2000 schools of nursing vying for a shrinking pool of qualified candidates. This shortage hits research-intensive institutions hardest because nurses may delay entry into academic research careers following extended clinical practice. Although strategic faculty recruitment and development in research-intensive institutions is critical for advancing science, little is known about successful organizational strategies implemented within research-intensive schools of nursing. This article presents organizational strategies for recruiting and developing research-intensive nursing faculty through a mission-driven, human-centered approach at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. The authors highlight three key approaches: mission-aligned recruitment practices, human-centered approaches to creating supportive environments, and the integration of individual- and organization-centered approaches to faculty development. Success requires recruiting faculty with diverse disciplinary expertise, implementing transparent processes, and achieving a balance between individual career aspirations and institutional research, education, and service priorities. As federal research priorities rapidly evolve and the shortage of research-intensive nursing faculty deepens, institutions must invest in adaptive recruitment strategies, robust mentoring programs, and equitable resource allocation to build sustainable research capacity and leadership pipelines.

Sustaining evidence-based HIV prevention interventions remains a challenge, particularly among at-risk youth in Africa. The 4 Youth by Youth (4YBY) sustainment study is a hybrid type 2 cluster randomized controlled trial that evaluates the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of a crowdsourced approach to sustaining a package of evidence-based HIV prevention services. The study will be conducted across 40 community sites, supported by 18 community-based organizations (CBOs) providing HIV prevention services in Nigeria. Given their longstanding engagement with young people, CBOs serve as key partners in assessing long-term sustainability strategies for the 4YBY intervention, which has proven effective in increasing HIV prevention service uptake among youth. This protocol describes a cluster randomized controlled trial that will be conducted across 40 sites, all randomized into two arms. Half of the sites (20) will be assigned to receive the standard 4YBY intervention (4YBY-S), while the other 20 sites will receive the standard 4YBY intervention plus an enhanced sustainability strategy (4YBY-S + 4YBY-E). While the 4YBY-S group will continue implementing core intervention activities, the 4YBY-E group will receive additional sustainability-focused support. The Enhanced Sustainability Strategy in the 4YBY-E arm consists of four key components. First, "People" involves identifying and training sustainability teams within CBOs to champion intervention longevity. Second, "Learning", where bi-weekly collaborative sessions will be established to foster knowledge-sharing and problem-solving among stakeholders. Third, "Adaptation Monitoring" will focus on continuously tracking and modifying intervention strategies to better align with local needs. Finally, "Nurturing Coaches" includes dedicated coaches who will provide technical assistance, conduct audits, and offer feedback to strengthen sustainability efforts. Evaluation will be guided by Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), the PEN-3 Cultural Model, Proctor's Implementation Outcomes Framework, and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The study hypothesizes that sites receiving the enhanced sustainability strategy (4YBY-S + 4YBY-E) will exhibit greater sustainability of core intervention components, defined as the continued delivery, adaptation, and integration of the intervention within community-based organizations-compared to sites receiving only the standard 4YBY intervention (4YBY-S). Additionally, the 4YBY-S + 4YBY-E arm is expected to achieve a higher uptake of HIV prevention services at 24 months, reflecting both the intervention's effectiveness and its long-term viability within community settings. This protocol represents one of the first cluster randomized controlled trials evaluating intervention sustainment strategies for a youth-led, evidence-based HIV prevention program in Africa. Findings will advance implementation science by establishing a threshold for sustainable strategies and identifying the key factors that support the long-term integration and continuation of HIV prevention services for at-risk youth. The results critically impact scaling up community-led interventions and shaping policy frameworks to strengthen the global HIV response. The protocol was registered with clinicaltrials.gov under registration NCT07072481.

Understanding how the spliceosome integrates regulatory cues to generate RNA diversity remains a central question in gene expression control. Emerging evidence reveals a multilayered framework in which splicing is governed by nuclear architecture and the physical state of nuclear speckles. These condensates function as phosphorylation-sensitive hubs that concentrate splicing machinery and couple signaling pathways to RNA processing. Chromatin organization, transcript architecture, and condensate properties are tightly coordinated, adding spatial constraints to spliceosome function. Recent findings further uncover temporal regulation through cell cycle and ultradian dynamics of speckle assembly. In this review, we synthesize these advances and propose a unified model in which charge-dependent phosphorylation of splicing factors drives condensate remodeling, linking nuclear organization to regulated splicing outcomes across space and time.

In this work, the effects of two UV filters - avobenzone and oxybenzone - on the membranes of fibroblasts and keratinocytes in ex vivo model systems (Langmuir monolayers) and cell line experiments were examined. The goal of these studies was to analyze the significance of lipid structures in the mechanism of UV filter-induced toxicity to skin cells. Monolayers composed of lipids characteristic of mammalian cell membranes - namely phosphatidylcholine (SOPC), sphingomyelin (SM), cholesterol (Chol) and ceramides (Ceramide 22 and Ceramide 17) - were used as model systems. Both mixed monolayers mimicking fibroblast and keratinocyte membranes and one-component lipid films were investigated. The surface pressure/area measurements and penetration studies were done, and Brewster angle microscopy was applied to verify the morphology of the studied systems. It was found that avobenzone has a stronger impact on molecular organization of skin cell model membranes than oxybenzone; however, its effect is concentration-limited. Both UV filters exhibited stronger affinity to Chol, SM and SOPC monolayers than to ceramides, which are the lipids characteristic for skin cells. Therefore, it can be suggested that ceramides may hinder the penetration of UV filter molecules into the interior of skin cells. Cell line model studied with SEM microscopy suggested that UV filters alter the skin cell membrane. Finally, it was summarized that the mechanism of UV filter toxicity is complex, but one of its important elements is the impact on the organization of lipid structures.

Although poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have been established to enhance ovarian cancer outcomes, the emergence of drug resistance poses considerable clinical challenges. In this study, we constructed a Hi-C atlas to systematically characterize the effect of olaparib on chromatin organization at multiple hierarchical scales, namely, chromosomes, A/B compartments, topologically associating domains, and chromatin loops. To investigate the effects of PARPi on expression of the cohesion subunit RAD21, we established olaparib-resistant ovarian cancer cell line. Furthermore, we examined the effects of RAD21 on the functions of ovarian cancer cells and spheroids based on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and comet assays. In addition, by performing integrated analyses using ChIP-seq datasets, ChIP-qPCR, and chromosome conformation capture assays, we assessed the influence of RAD21 on the enhancer-promoter interactions of a homologous recombination repair gene. Moreover, on the basis of our findings in previous studies using clinical samples, we further evaluated the clinical value of RAD21 in multiple databases. Genome-wide Hi-C heatmap analysis revealed that olaparib led to a reduction in the genome-wide contact frequency for long distance interactions, altered the degree of chromatin compartmentalization, and promoted compartment switching in ovarian cancer. Differences between the olaparib-treated and control cells with respect to topologically associating domain boundaries and chromatin loops were found to be associated with key cellular functions, such as DNA repair and transcriptional mis-regulation in cancer. Furthermore, PARPi treatment was observed to induce the expression of RAD21, whereas an upregulation of RAD21 promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis in ovarian cancer spheroids. Mechanistically, we obtained evidence to indicate that by maintaining enhancer-promoter interactions within chromatin conformation, RAD21 regulates the transcription of RAD51, thereby mediating olaparib resistance in ovarian cancer. The high expression of RAD21 was found to show a significant association with poor overall and progression-free survival in patients with ovarian cancer. Our findings in this study indicate that RAD21 could serve as a potential therapeutic target for overcoming olaparib resistance in ovarian cancer, and provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the resistance to PARPi from the perspective of chromatin organization.

Insect's body barriers rely on specialized extracellular matrices that protect against harmful environmental influences. The outer barrier is the cuticle, which is composed of chitin, cuticle proteins and lipids. The peritrophic matrix (PM) serves as an inner barrier lining the midgut epithelium. It is composed of chitin fibers that are organized by PM proteins. While cuticle and PM proteins have received considerable attention in the past, supramolecular organization and physicochemical properties of the chitin component - particularly of the PM - remain poorly understood. Here, we combine synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction data from the PMs of Manduca sexta and Zophobas morio with RNA interference (RNAi), mass spectrometric and histochemical analyses of the PM from Tribolium castaneum to determine chitin's allomorphic state and degree of acetylation. The chitin of the PM exhibits signatures characteristic of dihydrate β-chitin along the entire midgut. In contrast, the cuticle is made of tightly packed α-chitin nanofibrils. Mass spectrometry revealed that the PM's chitin is highly acetylated (>95%). RNAi silencing of gut-specific genes encoding chitin deacetylasesTcCDA6-9 further increases the degree of acetylation. Histochemical analyses staining chitin with different degrees of acetylation confirm the predominance of highly acetylated chitin in the PM. Notably, the larval cuticle has a layered organization with deacetylated chitin present in exo- and highly acetylated chitin in endocuticles. Depletion of both TcCDA1 or TcCDA2 impairs chitin deacetylation, which indicates that both proteins cooperate in their activity in the integument. These results establish fundamental principles of polysaccharide-based extracellular matrices, with broad implications for insect biology.

Humans make choices that actively shape the trajectory of events in their lives. These choices rely on personal knowledge that can influence how these events are later remembered. We study how people's memory for a naturalistic sequence of events is altered when their choices control the future. Participants read "choose-your-own-adventure" stories with full, partial, or no control over future events. In all conditions, events which are causally or semantically central to the story are better recalled. However, even when all participants read the exact same story, those with full control recall more idiosyncratic combinations of events. Moreover, their memories are less well predicted by generic sentence embeddings, suggesting a shift away from normative semantic space. Agency also increases the likelihood of jointly remembering or forgetting consecutive events. These results reveal that agency fundamentally reshapes memory organization, increasing the influence of idiosyncratic personal factors and strengthening local temporal integration.

Competency-based nursing education is facilitated by creating a scaffolded structure of outcomes, assessments, and educational experiences that challenge students to grow in critical thinking, clinical, and professional skills. Given the interdependent nature of curricular elements and the faculty-student relationship, the success of a competency-based curriculum is dependent upon the structure built. Backward design can facilitate curriculum development, but depending on organizational structure within a nursing program, can be a substantial time and resource burden. The purpose of this article is to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be leveraged within this structure-building process to promote timely design and curricular transformation aligned with competency-based standards. Considering how AI tools should be employed for support, rather than replacement, of human efforts, an approach for utilization of AI-Assistant tools in developing outcomes and assessments is presented alongside a thoughtful consideration of how these tools could be further utilized in curricular evaluation and ongoing revisions. As the capabilities of these tools expand, so will opportunities for integration at all levels of the competency-based educational process.

A central goal in developmental biology is to understand how cell fates are specified during development. Advances in stem cell-derived embryoid models, such as gastruloids, have enabled the use of powerful single-cell lineage tracing approaches that are difficult to apply in whole organisms due to the complexities of genetic engineering. Here, we highlight four recent studies that use these techniques to examine fate decisions and spatial organization in gastruloids, uncovering the interplay between cell lineage and signaling in cell fate decisions.

Animals rely on sensory perception to initiate and execute a wide range of behaviors. In social interactions, house mice primarily depend on olfactory and auditory cues, whereas the contribution of visual input remains less well understood. To address this gap, we systematically examined the impact of lighting on social interactions using a same-sex resident-intruder assay in male and female mice. Behaviors were categorized into self-behavior, social investigation, allogrooming, aggression (males), and mounting (females), and were analyzed in terms of total duration, frequency, latency, temporal dynamics, behavioral transitions, and variability. Across sexes, we found no significant differences in overall behavioral composition or variability between light and dark conditions. Although some behavioral transitions differed between conditions, none remained significant after multiple-comparison correction. Nevertheless, temporal analyses revealed subtle lighting-dependent patterns, with certain behaviors exhibiting time-dependent changes that reached statistical significance only under specific illumination conditions. These findings suggest that under the conditions tested, visual cues were not found to substantially alter the overall repertoire of social behaviors, but may modulate their temporal organization. Together, our results indicate that vision may function as a modulatory cue that influences when specific behaviors are expressed, highlighting the importance of temporal dynamics in behavioral analysis.

Particle-based hydrogels have been used as injectable scaffolds, biomaterial inks for extrusion bioprinting, and permissive systems for 3D cell culture owing to their unique physical properties, including bulk yielding and porosity. These properties are in part governed by interparticle interactions and spatial organization, with limited potential to design these properties in systems based on spherical hydrogel microparticles. Here, we engineer particle-based hydrogels where each particle is a discrete electrospun hydrogel microfiber that has been segmented to a length of 93 ± 51 µm, with a diameter of 1.6 ± 0.3 µm, presenting unique viscoelastic properties allowing stability without interparticle crosslinking (annealing). The fibers' flexibility and high aspect ratios enable interactions among fibers that give packed hydrogel microfiber (PHM) materials that are mechanically robust, can stretch without breaking when strained, and exhibit tissue-mimetic stress relaxation under constant strain. As cell culture scaffolds, shear-induced alignment of the individual fibers within 3D printed PHM filaments provide topographical cues to cells that promote alignment. Cells embedded in 3D within PHMs spread due to the permissive microenvironment presented by the microfibers. This work highlights strengths of fiber-based particle systems as dynamic and permissive scaffolds and printable biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Adolescent aggression is influenced by multiple interacting cognitive and behavioral processes. Previous research has primarily used mediation and moderation models to examine directional mechanisms such as hostile attribution bias and anger rumination. However, these approaches provide limited insight into how these factors operate as an interconnected system. To this end, we employed cross-sectional network analysis to exploratorily examine the structural organization of the aggression-related network in Chinese adolescents, identify nodes with the highest centrality and bridge centrality, and explore differences in network structure between males and females. We recruited 927 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.20 ± 1.21 SD; 55.88% female), who completed measures of aggression, peer victimization, hostile attribution bias, anger rumination, and self-control. Network analysis was conducted to identify core and bridge nodes within the network and to compare network structures across gender groups. Our findings revealed that angry afterthoughts (AR1) and angry memories (AR3) showed the highest expected influence, highlighting their central role in the aggression network. Hostile attribution bias (HAB), hostility (A4), and relational victimization (PV2) acted as bridge nodes connecting cognitive and behavioral clusters. Although gender-specific networks displayed similar centrality patterns, the overall network structures differed significantly between males and females. These findings suggest that interventions targeting the most central elements of anger rumination may be particularly effective. Addressing these core and bridge nodes, which connect cognitive and behavioral components, could enhance the efficacy of strategies aimed at reducing aggression in Chinese adolescents.

Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (gHAT) is a vector-borne disease with hundreds of thousands of people living at risk across Sub-Saharan Africa. Uganda, having reduced gHAT cases reported annually from 948 in 2000 to zero local cases since 2020, is a frontrunner to be verified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having achieved elimination of transmission (EoT) of gHAT. It is now crucial to quantify the impact of the interventions deployed, quantify whether the last transmission event (LTE) and last case have already occurred, and determine the resources required to sustain the gains. We employed a suite of mechanistic compartmental gHAT models, fitted to data from seven districts (Adjumani, Amuru, Arua, Koboko, Maracha, Moyo, and Yumbe) in Uganda that reported gHAT cases during 2000-2022, to address these questions. By combining and weighting the evidence from each model variant, we captured the uncertainty of achieving different elimination metrics across Uganda. Additionally, we utilised the dynamic transmission model outputs to perform a health economic analysis, identifying the most cost-effective strategies to avert disease burden. Predictions estimate that Uganda had the LTE in or before 2021 with high certainty (>95%). The model suggests that the local Ugandan case reported in 2019 may have been the last, but that there remains a 1.13% chance that cases could be reported after 2025. The cost-effectiveness analysis recommends that as transmission dynamics remain similarly low across all strategies, the Stop 2026 strategy, in which there is only passive screening from 2026 and subsequent reactive screening and vector control are only implemented if cases are detected, has the highest probability of being cost-effective and is predicted to have an economic cost of $193K ($161K-$220K) between 2026 and 2040. To sustain Uganda's success whilst ensuring efficient resource use, this modelling analysis recommends implementing the Stop 2026 strategy in all seven analysed districts, which focuses on maintaining strong passive screening post-2026. This recommendation aligns with the current gHAT strategy in Uganda.

Transparent management and disclosure of surgical errors and adverse events (AE) are essential for patient safety and staff well-being. This systematic review synthesizes evidence on how surgical errors and AE are experienced and disclosed, focusing on their psychological impact on clinicians, coping strategies, support resources, and barriers to disclosure. A systematic search of PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and WoS Core Collection was conducted without date restrictions, using also additional sources and automatic alerts. Two reviewers independently screened studies, assessed quality, and extracted data. Findings were synthesized narratively. A total of 30 studies involving 11,723 participants were included. Surgical staff reported significant emotional distress following AE, with guilt (53-89%) and anxiety (45-88%) commonly reported and up to 96% experiencing some emotional impact. Coping strategies varied, while formal psychological support was rarely (1.6-7%) accessed. Reporting and disclosure practices were inconsistent, with disclosure rates ranging from 17 to 62%. Major barriers included fear of litigation, unclear institutional procedures, and hierarchical pressures. Although disclosure was widely recognized as ethically correct, individual and systemic obstacles persisted. Training interventions improved communication skills, but gaps remained. This systematic review highlights the substantial psychological impact of surgical errors and AE on clinicians, underscoring the need for organizational strategies that protect staff well-being. Evidence directly addressing psychological factors involved in disclosure remains limited. Clearer disclosure protocols, enhanced communication training, and accessible psychological support may reduce distress among surgical staff and promote transparent, patient-centered error management, particularly in complex surgical fields such as oncological care.

Intermediate Respiratory Care Units (IRCUs) play an increasingly important role in the management of patients with acute or acute-on-chronic respiratory failure who require more advanced monitoring and respiratory support than can be provided on conventional hospital wards but do not require admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Their development has been driven by the widespread adoption of noninvasive ventilation, high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy, and continuous respiratory monitoring, and their strategic value was clearly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This position paper from the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) provides evidence-informed recommendations regarding the infrastructure, technology, staffing, organization, and quality standards necessary for the optimal functioning of IRCUs in Spain. A multidisciplinary panel of experts developed consensus-based guidance drawing on available scientific evidence and clinical experience, addressing architectural design, technological resources, professional roles, training pathways, clinical care models, and quality indicators. IRCUs have emerged as a key component in the management of acute and chronic respiratory failure, contributing to improved clinical outcomes and more efficient use of critical care resources. This document highlights the importance of standardized admission criteria, structured care processes, multidisciplinary coordination, and continuous performance evaluation using validated indicators to support the consolidation of IRCUs as high-value, sustainable components of modern respiratory care systems.

Academic practice partnerships facilitate a shared focus between practice and academic settings that encourages nursing leadership in both settings to work towards improving patient outcomes, facilitating new knowledge and optimizing the organizational aspects of clinical care. The purpose of this report is to describe a 17-year academic-practice partnership with a focus on research, referred to as the University of Maryland Nursing (UMNursing) Research Program. The goal of the academic research partnerships was to create collaborative research opportunities for faculty at the school of nursing and nursing staff at the academic medical center. Since 2007, 17 academic-partnership research grants were funded by the UMNursing Research Program and half of these pilot studies resulted in submissions to the National Institutes of Health for R21, R01 and center-level grants. A total of 9 manuscripts have been published. Academic-practice partnerships for research, such as the one described in this report, can be an alternative solution to alleviating national funding cuts while continuing to facilitate nursing research and building clinically relevant nursing knowledge. Sustained academic-practice partnerships can enhance nursing research capacity, leverage limited funding, and promote clinically relevant scholarship.

Spatial ATAC-seq enables simultaneous profiling of cellular locations and chromatin accessibility in intact tissues but faces challenges from high dimensionality, noise, and sparsity. Moreover, existing methods often overlook DNA sequence information, which contains critical regulatory motifs. To address these limitations, we introduce SpaDC, a graph-regularized convolutional neural network that integrates spatial location, chromatin accessibility, and DNA sequence. SpaDC employs a triplet loss function to integrate multiple spatial ATAC-seq datasets and remove batch effects. Benchmark analyses on real datasets demonstrate state-of-the-art performance in spatial domain identification, data denoising, and gene regulatory network (GRN) inference. Applied to mouse embryonic brain spatial ATAC-seq data, SpaDC accurately identified known brain structures and recovered chromatin accessibility signals. On P22 mouse brain spatial multi-omics data, SpaDC revealed spatial domain-specific cis-regulatory elements and GRNs. Collectively, SpaDC provides a powerful, sequence-based solution for spatial ATAC-seq analysis, enabling more accurate and robust investigation of tissue architecture and chromatin organization.

The mechanical responses and properties of breast epithelial cells are known to change during malignant transformation and progression due to the dynamics of their actin cytoskeleton network organization and the resulting viscoelastic deformability. Studying the viscoelastic creep behavior of breast cells may reveal new avenues for developing novel cancer diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers and improving fundamental biophysical understanding of the disease. Here we present an approach that uses functional principal component analysis (fPCA) to distinguish between the viscoelastic responses of malignant and non-malignant live breast cells that are subjected to shear flow in microfluidic channels under in-situ observation with optical, fluorescence, and confocal microscopy. The fPCA method extracts critical features of cell viscoelasticity from the in-situ measured creep responses of non-tumorigenic breast cells (MCF-10A), less metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells (MDA-MB-468), and highly metastatic breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231). The results demonstrate distinguishable clustering patterns for the three types of cells in the first principal component (PC) and the second PC space. The first PC, indicative of the overall level of creep compliance, accounts for more than 98% of the total variance in the observed creep responses. The scores of the cells examined on the first PC axis increase with increasing cancer malignancy. They also correlate highly with the average moduli and viscosities extracted from viscoelastic models (-83% correlation with moduli and -85% correlation with viscosities). This suggests a direct link between the malignancy of cancer and the overall creep compliance level that is governed by cell viscoelastic properties. The implications of the results are discussed for the detection of non-tumorigenic and tumorigenic breast cells at different stages of cancer progression.