The Planck Catalogue of Galactic Cold Clumps provides an all-sky sample of potential star-forming regions based on the submillimeter emission of their dust content. Around 1000 of these Planck objects were mapped with the James Clerk Maxwell telescope in the submillimeter range during the SCOPE survey, identifying prestellar and protostellar dense clumps inside them. We used the Effelsberg 100 m telescope to observe the emission lines of the NH3 inversion transitions toward a sample of 97 dense objects in varying environments in order to assess the physical parameters of their gas content. We derive their temperature, density, and velocity dispersion, correlating the resulting parameters with the environmental and evolutionary characteristics of the targets and with regard to their distance and physical size. We examine the dependence of physical parameters on distance and Galactic position and compare the gas-based and dust-continuum-based temperatures and densities. Together with the presence of maser emission and higher inversion transitions of ammonia, we may differentiate between certain groups of targets, e.g., filamentary, protostellar clumps, and high-latitude, core-sized, starless sources.

Bioregions are important tools for understanding and managing natural resources. Bioregions should describe locations of relatively homogenous assemblages of species occur, enabling managers to better regulate activities that might affect these assemblages. Many existing bioregionalization approaches, which rely on expert-derived, Delphic comparisons or environmental surrogates, do not explicitly include observed biological data in such analyses. We highlight that, for bioregionalizations to be useful and reliable for systems scientists and managers, the bioregionalizations need to be based on biological data; to include an easily understood assessment of uncertainty, preferably in a spatial format matching the bioregions; and to be scientifically transparent and reproducible. Statistical models provide a scientifically robust, transparent, and interpretable approach for ensuring that bioregions are formed on the basis of observed biological and physical data. Using statistically derived bioregions provides a repeatable framework for the spatial representation of biodiversity at multiple spatial scales. This results in better-informed management decisions and biodiversity conservation outcomes.

Interpretation of the colossal number of genetic variants identified from sequencing applications is one of the major bottlenecks in clinical genetics, with the inference of the effect of amino acid-substituting missense variations on protein structure and function being especially challenging. Here we characterize the three-dimensional (3D) amino acid positions affected in pathogenic and population variants from 1,330 disease-associated genes using over 14,000 experimentally solved human protein structures. By measuring the statistical burden of variations (i.e., point mutations) from all genes on 40 3D protein features, accounting for the structural, chemical, and functional context of the variations' positions, we identify features that are generally associated with pathogenic and population missense variants. We then perform the same amino acid-level analysis individually for 24 protein functional classes, which reveals unique characteristics of the positions of the altered amino acids: We observe up to 46% divergence of the class-specific features from the general characteristics obtained by the analysis on all genes, which is consistent with the structural diversity of essential regions across different protein classes. We demonstrate that the function-specific 3D features of the variants match the readouts of mutagenesis experiments for BRCA1 and PTEN, and positively correlate with an independent set of clinically interpreted pathogenic and benign missense variants. Finally, we make our results available through a web server to foster accessibility and downstream research. Our findings represent a crucial step toward translational genetics, from highlighting the impact of mutations on protein structure to rationalizing the variants' pathogenicity in terms of the perturbed molecular mechanisms.

The inner uterine lining (endometrium) is a unique tissue going through remarkable changes each menstrual cycle. Endometrium has its characteristic DNA methylation profile, although not much is known about the endometrial methylome changes throughout the menstrual cycle. The impact of methylome changes on gene expression and thereby on the function of the tissue, including establishing receptivity to implanting embryo, is also unclear. Therefore, this study used genome-wide technologies to characterize the methylome and the correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression in endometrial biopsies collected from 17 healthy fertile-aged women from pre-receptive and receptive phase within one menstrual cycle. Our study showed that the overall methylome remains relatively stable during this stage of the menstrual cycle, with small-scale changes affecting 5% of the studied CpG sites (22,272 out of studied 437,022 CpGs, FDR <0.05). Of differentially methylated CpG sites with the largest absolute changes in methylation level, approximately 30% correlated with gene expression measured by RNA sequencing, with negative correlations being more common in 5 ' UTR and positive correlations in the gene 'Body' region. According to our results, extracellular matrix organization and immune response are the pathways most affected by methylation changes during the transition from pre-receptive to receptive phase.

Context. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large eruptions of magnetised plasma from the Sun that are often accompanied by solar radio bursts produced by accelerated electrons.Aims. A powerful source for accelerating electron beams are CME-driven shocks, however, there are other mechanisms capable of accelerating electrons during a CME eruption. So far, studies have relied on the traditional classification of solar radio bursts into five groups (Type I-V) based mainly on their shapes and characteristics in dynamic spectra. Here, we aim to determine the origin of moving radio bursts associated with a CME that do not fit into the present classification of the solar radio emission.Methods. By using radio imaging from the Nancay Radioheliograph, combined with observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft, we investigate the moving radio bursts accompanying two subsequent CMEs on 22 May 2013. We use three-dimensional reconstructions of the two associated CME eruptions to show the possible origin of the observed radio emission.Results. We identified three moving radio bursts at unusually high altitudes in the corona that are located at the northern CME flank and move outwards synchronously with the CME. The radio bursts correspond to fine-structured emission in dynamic spectra with durations of similar to 1 s, and they may show forward or reverse frequency drifts. Since the CME expands closely following an earlier CME, a low coronal CME-CME interaction is likely responsible for the observed radio emission.Conclusions. For the first time, we report the existence of new types of short duration bursts, which are signatures of electron beams accelerated at the CME flank. Two subsequent CMEs originating from the same region and propagating in similar directions provide a complex configuration of the ambient magnetic field and favourable conditions for the creation of collapsing magnetic traps. These traps are formed if a CME-driven wave, such as a shock wave, is likely to intersect surrounding magnetic field lines twice. Electrons will thus be further accelerated at the mirror points created at these intersections and eventually escape to produce bursts of plasma emission with forward and reverse drifts.

Increases and decreases in the areas of climatic types have become one of the most important responses to climate warming. However, few attempts have been made to quantify the complementary relationship between different climate types or to further assess changes in the spatial morphology. In this study, we used different observed datasets to reveal a dispersion phenomenon between major global climate types in 1950-2010, which is significantly consistent with the increasing trend of global temperatures. As the standard deviation of the area of major climate zones strengthened in 1950-2010, the global climatic landscape underwent notable changes. Not only did the area change, but the shape of the overall boundary became regular, the aggregation of climatic patches strengthened, and the climatic diversity declined substantially. However, changes in the global climatic landscapes are not at equilibrium with those on the continental scale. Interpreting these climatic morphological indices can deepen our understanding of the redistribution response mechanisms of species to climate change and help predict how they will be impacted by long-term future climate change.

A classical observation in neurology is that aphasic stroke patients with impairments in speech production can nonetheless sing the same utterances. This preserved ability suggests a distinctive neural architecture for singing that could contribute to speech recovery. However, to date, these structural correlates remain unknown. Here, we combined a multivariate lesion–symptom mapping and voxel-based morphometry approach to analyse the relationship between lesion patterns and grey matter volume and production rate in speech and singing tasks. Lesion patterns for spontaneous speech and cued repetition extended into frontal, temporal and parietal areas typically reported within the speech production network. Impairment in spontaneous singing was associated with damage to the left anterior–posterior superior and middle temporal gyri. Preservation of grey matter volume in the same regions where damage led to poor speech and singing production supported better performance in these tasks. When dividing the patients into fluent and dysfluent singers based on the singing performance from demographically matched controls, we found that the preservation of the left middle temporal gyrus was related to better spontaneous singing. These findings provide insights into the structural correlates of singing in chronic aphasia and may serve as biomarkers to predict treatment response in clinical trials using singing-based interventions for speech rehabilitation.

How species evolve reproductive isolation in the species-rich Amazon basin is poorly understood in vertebrates. Here, we sequenced a reference genome and used a genome-wide sample of SNPs to analyze a hybrid zone between two highly cryptic species ofHypocnemiswarbling-antbirds-the Rondonia warbling-antbird (H. ochrogyna) and Spix's warbling-antbird (H. striata)-in a headwater region of southern Amazonia. We found that both species commonly hybridize, producing F(1)s and a variety of backcrosses with each species but we detected only one F-2-like hybrid. Patterns of heterozygosity, hybrid index, and interchromosomal linkage disequilibrium in hybrid populations closely match expectations under strong postzygotic isolation. Hybrid zone width (15.4 km) was much narrower than expected (211 km) indicating strong selection against hybrids. A remarkably high degree of concordance in cline centers and widths across loci, and a lack of reduced interspecificF(st)between populations close to versus far from the contact zone, suggest that genetic incompatibilities have rendered most of the genome immune to introgression. These results support intrinsic postzygotic isolation as a driver of speciation in a moderately young cryptic species pair from the Amazon and suggest that species richness of the Amazon may be grossly underestimated.

Extensive research has focused on the response of vegetation to climate change, including potential mechanisms and resulting impacts. Although many studies have explored the relationship between vegetation and climate change in China, research on spatiotemporal distribution changes of climate regimes using natural vegetation as an indicator is still lacking. Further, limited information is available on the response of vegetation to shifts in China's regional climatic zones. In this study, we applied Mann-Kendall, and correlation analysis to examine the variabilities in temperature, precipitation, surface soil water, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and albedo in China from 1982 to 2012. Our results indicate significant shifts in the distribution of Koppen-Geiger climate classes in China from 12.08% to 18.98% between 1983 and 2012 at a significance level of 0.05 (MK). The percentage areas in the arid and continental zones expanded at a rate of 0.004%/y and 0.12%/y, respectively, while the percentage area in the temperate and alpine zones decreased by -0.05%/y and - 0.07%/y. Sensitivity fitting results between simulated and observed changes identified temperature to be a dominant control on the dynamics of temperate (r(2)= 0.98) and alpine (r(2)= 0.968) zones, while precipitation was the dominant control on the changes of arid (r(2) = 0.856) and continental (r(2) = 0.815) zones. The response of the NDVI to albedo infers a more pronounced radiative response in temperate (r = -0.82, p