Perioperative infections are a common cause of morbidity in cardiac surgery. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is increasingly used as a rescue treatment for septic shock. However, data on efficacy and safety in cardiac surgery patients are limited. A scoping review of available literature aimed at identifying studies investigating the use of IVIG in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or with infective endocarditis was performed. Studies reporting data on the use of IVIG in these populations were included, including case reports. Data on study design, population, control group, indications for IVIG therapy, and formulation and dose of IVIG were abstracted. Outcome data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were also abstracted. A total of 135 studies were identified, including 7 RCTs and 1 RCT study protocol. Most studies were performed in the setting of heart transplantation, followed by nontransplant cardiac surgery and infective endocarditis. The most common formulation was standard IVIG at a dose of 2 g/kg. Available data on the use of IVIG in cardiac surgery patients are mostly limited to the use of standard IVIG in heart transplantation recipients, and available evidence does not justify the routine use of IVIG in the cardiac surgery setting. However, in light of the strong scientific rationale supporting the use of IVIG, new high-quality RCTs enrolling a larger number of patients and following prospectively registered protocols are needed.

Thermochromic smart windows (TSWs) exploit temperature-driven phase transitions to autonomously regulate solar and thermal radiation, offering a promising clean technology for reducing building energy demand and enhancing indoor comfort. Despite rapid advances in thermochromic materials, large-scale deployment of TSWs remains limited by coupled challenges in performance regulation, durability, climate adaptability, and architectural integration. This review examines the scientific and technological barriers that constrain the transition of TSWs from laboratory innovation to building-scale application. We first explored the fundamental trade-offs governing solar and visible light modulation, thermal emissivity control, and switching behaviors across diverse climatic contexts, and discussed how this performance requirements interact with long-term environmental stability. We then analyzed pathways for engineering translation, including scalable fabrication, integration within building systems and the implications of window behavior for occupant experience and operational control. Looking ahead, TSWs development is shifting from isolated material optimization toward spectrally intelligent envelope systems. Future progress will depend on standardized design guidelines, clear regulatory responsibilities for long-term service, and system-level integration with adaptive building control. These advances position TSWs as a component of climate-resilient building envelopes capable of contributing to cleaning thermal infrastructure in a warming world.

Sleep talking (ST) is a parasomnia characterized by the utterance of unaware linguistic activations during sleep. Electrophysiological evidence is scarce, and it remains unclear whether local electroencephalographic (EEG) alterations characterize the sleep of STs outside of parasomnia episodes. Findings from NREM parasomnias suggest that local slow-wave activity (SWA) abnormalities may characterize a full night's sleep beyond behavioural manifestations. Accordingly, this study investigates SWA topography and the spatial distribution of the single SWA bins across sleep stages in a group of 12 young STs compared to 10 healthy controls (HCs) matched for sex and age, who underwent overnight laboratory polysomnographic recordings. The relationship between SWA pattern and parasomnia frequency was explored, and the overnight decline in SWA was examined to assess the potential impact of homeostatic processes. Our findings point to a peculiar SWA pattern characterized by a substantially stable central increase across sleep stages and a frontopolar decrease primarily in N2 sleep, suggesting a local and frequency-specific (≥ 1 Hz) SWA regulation in STs that may interact with homeostatic processes. These results provide new insights into the sleep electrophysiology of STs and shed light on trait-like regional alterations in SWA that may facilitate parasomnia events. Our findings align with the concept of local sleep, which posits that distinct cortical regions may simultaneously exhibit diverse functional states. In this view, different parasomnias may be characterized by specific SWA topographical patterns reflecting the peculiar behaviours enacted during sleep.

Cet article examine la place structurante de Rousseau dans l'itinéraire intellectuel d'Alfred Espinas. Loin de relever d'un intérêt circonstanciel, la lecture espinassienne de Rousseau constitue un « antagonisme constitutif » à partir duquel Espinas élabore une sociologie fondée sur le caractère naturel de la vie sociale et sur l'organicité des sociétés. De Des Sociétés animales aux écrits des années 1890, le contractualisme rousseauiste s'impose ainsi comme un véritable contre-modèle théorique, associé à l'artificialisme, à l'abstraction et à une « morale et une politique régressives ». Cette confrontation éclaire, en retour, les conditions de légitimation de la sociologie naissante. This article examines the structuring role Rousseau occupies in Alfred Espinas’s intellectual trajectory. Far from being a mere incidental topic of interest, Espinas’s interpretation of Rousseau embodies a “constitutive antagonism”, upon which Espinas builds a sociology based on the natural character of social life and the organic nature of societies. From Des Sociétés animales to his writings of the 1890s, Rousseau’s contractualism becomes a genuine theoretical counter-model associated with artificiality, abstraction and ‘regressive morality and politics’. This confrontation, in turn, sheds light on the conditions under which nascent sociology gained legitimacy.

The prolonged neuroparalytic effect of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is largely attributable to the high intracellular stability of its light chain (LC), highlighting the need for strategies to promote LC clearance. Although deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) regulate LC turnover through both proteasomal and non-proteasomal pathways, the latter remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of the DUB USP9X in regulating LC stability. Using a stable LC-overexpressing cell model, we found that pharmacological inhibition of USP9X with Degrasyn markedly promoted LC clearance. Transcriptomic analysis following lentivirus-mediated USP9X knockdown revealed enrichment of autophagy-related pathways, accompanied by suppression of PI3K-AKT signaling. Mechanistically, USP9X knockdown did not affect total mTOR protein levels but suppressed AKT-mTOR signaling, as shown by reduced phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR. This was associated with decreased ULK1 phosphorylation at the inhibitory site Ser757, increased phosphorylation at the active site Ser555, elevated p-AMPK levels, increased LC3-II/LC3-I ratio, and reduced p62 levels. All of those pointed to enhanced autophagic activity in response to USP9X inhibition. In BoNT/A-intoxicated rats, chloroquine-mediated autophagy inhibition delayed recovery from paralysis, whereas rapamycin-induced autophagy activation accelerated muscle strength recovery. Consistently, systemic administration of Degrasyn promoted functional recovery. Collectively, these findings indicate that USP9X inhibition promotes intracellular LC clearance, likely through an autophagy-lysosome-dependent mechanism involving suppression of AKT-mTOR signaling and activation of AMPK-ULK1-related pathways. Our study identifies USP9X as a host negative regulator of LC clearance and a potential therapeutic target for accelerating recovery following botulinum toxin intoxication.

Mechanosensing and mechanotransduction are essential for all living cells. In mammals, Piezo1 and Piezo2 are two mechanically activated cation channels that serve as mechanosensors for a variety of physiological and pathological processes, ranging from touch sensing to sickle cell disease. These two channels are well evolutionarily conserved, and orthologous genes can be traced back to the origin of vertebrates, which underwent whole-genome duplications (WGDs). The number of paralogous genes originating from the vertebrate WGD varies across gene families. Thus, whether there are more PIEZO paralogous genes in vertebrates remains understudied. Here, we identified piezo3, a new paralog of the piezo gene family, and analyzed its evolutionary history using phylogenetic and synteny analyses. The piezo3 gene is present in most vertebrate lineages but absent in birds and most mammals, likely due to nonfunctionalization after WGDs. In addition, we demonstrated that this channel could mediate calcium flux in response to mechanical stimuli in HEK293T cells, suggesting that Piezo3 exhibits PIEZO1/2-like activation and conduction channel functions. Our CRISPR mutation analysis revealed that the zebrafish piezo3 gene is not developmentally essential for skeletons and survival, possibly because its expression overlaps with other PIEZO channels. Mutant zebrafish showed elevated sensitivity to mechanical force and increased locomotor activity under (photopic) light illumination. Our results suggest that this new mechanical-sensing Piezo channel is widespread in vertebrates and may be critical for vertebrate adaptation by modulating mechanical sensing and light responses during evolution.

Epidemiological and experimental studies have demonstrated a bidirectional relationship between mood disorders and the circadian system, with disrupted circadian rhythms contributing to depressive states, and their restoration playing a key role in antidepressants effects. In this context, we sought to examine whether selected molecular pathways implicated in antidepressant responses exhibit diurnal regulatory patterns. Naïve adult male and female C57BL/6 mice were euthanized at 3-hour intervals beginning at Zeitgeber Time 0 (ZT0), and hippocampal (HC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) tissues were collected for RT-qPCR and western blot analyses. We observed statistically significant diurnal rhythmicity in all analyzed transcripts (cFos, Arc, Nr4a1, Dusp1, Dusp5, and Dusp6) in both HC and mPFC samples, with peak expression occurring during the dark (active) phase (ZT15-18). Phosphorylation levels of TrkBY816 (tropomyosin-related kinase) and GSK3βS9 (glycogen synthase kinase 3β) also showed patterns suggestive of temporal rhythmicity, peaking during the light (inactive) phase. Levels of p-ERK2T185/Y187 (extracellular-signal regulated kinase) did not display rhythmic fluctuations, but peaked during the light phase in the HC, especially in males. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that antidepressant-related signaling is subject to diurnal regulation, highlighting the importance of integrating circadian biology and time-of-day as relevant variables in the development of translationally relevant antidepressant research.

Phototransformation is an important attenuation process for pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. However, there are unknowns regarding the kinetics, products, and mechanisms of the sensitized photolysis of many pharmaceuticals induced by natural sensitizers. In this study, we systematically investigated the photochemical behavior and fate of the diuretic furosemide (FUR) under natural sunlight in the presence of nitrate (NO3-) and dissolved organic matter (DOM). Results show that NO3- significantly promoted the photodegradation of FUR through photosensitization, with photolysis rate constant in the presence of 1 mM NO3- being approximately 1.6-fold higher than that of direct photolysis. The photolysis of FUR predominantly generated hydroxylated product, whose generation and degradation were both facilitated by NO3-. DOM exhibited inhibitory effects on NO3--sensitized photolysis of FUR by light screening and radical quenching. The photolysis pathways of FUR in the presence of NO3- included decarboxylation, C-N bond cleavage, dechlorination, hydroxylation, ring opening, dehydrogenation, and desulfonamidation. Most photoproducts were predicted to be less ecotoxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative than FUR. Model predictions with APEX indicate that direct photolysis and reaction with carbonate radical were the primary photochemical processes for FUR dissipation in natural waters. The photolysis half-lives of FUR were significantly affected by dissolved organic carbon and water depth. Results of this study fulfill the knowledge gaps in the photochemical behavior and fate of the diuretic drugs in sunlit surface waters.

Eye posthatching development was examined in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) from 1 day posthatching (1 dph) to 365 dph. Eye histology and morphometry, retinal expression of calretinin (CR) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and corneal ultrastructure were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Basic eye structure was detectable at 1 dph, though important features, including retina and iris pigmentation as well as photoreceptor differentiation, were delayed till 4 dph. Differentiated photoreceptors seemed to emerge at 4 dph with evident increases in their count and shape diversity at 20 dph. The corneal surface epithelium appeared smooth at 20 dph. However, it featured corrugations and micropits at 60 dph, excessive desquamations at 90 dph, and distinct intercellular boundaries at 365 dph. Iris differentiation was evident at 20 dph. The annular ligament was seen at the iridocorneal junction at 20 dph with noticeable intracellular coarse secretory granules in yearling fish. The choroidal rete appeared massively filled by blood at 90 dph. Morphometrically, eye diameter and corneal thickness increased markedly between 20 dph and 365 dph. While the iris and central parts of the retina showed a rapid increase in thickness between 4 dph and 20 dph. Immunohistochemically, CR- and TH-immunoreactive cells were detected in the retina from 1 dph onwards, with CR localized to the inner nuclear and ganglion cell layers and TH to the inner nuclear layer. Numbers of immunoreactive cells per mm2 peaked at 90 dph for CR and 20 dph for TH, suggesting a differential timeline for their activities. CR immunoreactive cells were equally distributed between central and peripheral parts of the retina. While TH immunoreactive cells revealed a significantly higher count at the peripheral parts of the retina between 20 dph and 365 dph. This study characterizes early posthatching ocular development in C. idella and provides a reference for future studies of the cyprinid eye.