Temple University

Subaerial biofilms (SABs) are microbial communities that colonize exposed surfaces, playing a role in biogeochemical cycles and the deterioration of built heritage. Their functioning is tightly coupled to environmental conditions, particularly moisture and carbon availability. This work presents a predictive framework to assess the long-term stability of SABs in response to future environmental changes - specifically, variations in temperature (T), air relative humidity (RH), and atmospheric CO2 partial pressure. The approach is based on a system of ordinary differential equations that describe the dynamics of key SAB components such as cyanobacteria, heterotrophs and polysaccharides. Using daily environmental profiles representative of summer and winter conditions, the model explores both the individual and combined impacts of T, RH and CO2 on microbial metabolism, productivity, and ecosystem composition. Results suggest that while temperature increases negatively affect inorganic carbon availability, they do not cause substantial shifts in SAB structure - consistent with the wide thermal tolerance typical of these communities. In contrast, elevated atmospheric CO2 may enhance carbon fixation and overall productivity. However, air relative humidity emerges as the primary regulator of microbial viability: even small fluctuations significantly alter the duration of metabolically active periods, with declines potentially leading to ecosystem collapse. Notably, the interaction between CO2 and water activity is synergistic: increases in atmospheric CO2 together with temperature-driven changes in relative humidity - either upward or downward - can in combination significantly influence SAB dynamics. These findings highlight the central role of water activity in maintaining SAB viability and suggest that even moderate shifts in microclimatic moisture availability could have profound impacts on these microbial communities.

This study examines the diagnostic accuracy of four measures derived from English narrative language samples for identifying developmental language disorder (DLD) in 5- and 6-year-old Spanish-English bilinguals. Ninety-two children aged 5;0-6;11 (years;months) produced narrative retells in English using Mercer Mayer's frog stories. Forty-six matched pairs of children with DLD and typical language were identified based on age and English language exposure. Percent grammatical utterances (PGU), errors per C-unit (EPC), mean length of utterance (MLU), and subordination index (SI) were calculated. Pooled, covariate-adjusted, and multivariate receiver operating characteristic curves were generated to evaluate the measures' diagnostic performance at optimal cutoffs. Analyses were also performed at different levels of language exposure (i.e., high English, balanced Spanish/English, high Spanish). None of the measures reached 80% for both sensitivity and specificity for the full participant group. Covariate-adjusted curves based on exposure were not significantly different from pooled analyses. When exposure groups were analyzed separately, PGU and EPC each yielded good diagnostic accuracy for the high English group (> 70% exposure) at 94% sensitivity and specificity. Combining these measures with MLU and/or SI yielded similar results. For the balanced exposure group, all measures fell below the 80% threshold. Measures of grammaticality (PGU and EPC) were the best indicators of DLD when analyzing English narrative language samples of young bilinguals with at least 70% exposure to English. None of the measures evaluated were adequate for identifying DLD in bilinguals with less exposure to English. Clinical implications are discussed. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31449370.

The reliance of fMRI research on between-person comparisons is limited by low test-retest reliability and an inability to explain within-person processes. Intraindividual studies are needed to understand how changes in brain functioning relate to changes in behavior. Here, we present open data and analysis of a novel intensively sampled fMRI study. This precision imaging dataset includes 44 sessions acquired across four participants at a twice-weekly rate. In each session, participants completed multiple reward-related tasks, mood and alertness ratings, and a behavioral mood manipulation. We examined how the reward response reflects between-person or within-person variance. Trial-level models suggested dramatically more trials than typically collected are needed to maximize reliability within runs and individuals. Test-retest reliability of the reward response was very low and not explained by measurement error, suggesting low power for between-person comparisons without large amounts of data. At an intraindividual level, mood and alertness explained up to 37% of the intraindividual variance of the anticipatory reward response. Finally, we found that while reliability or brain-behavior associations were not improved by multi-echo denoising, a multivariate reward signature had stronger intraindividual behavioral associations than a univariate anatomical mask. Together, results suggest that the BOLD reward response is not a stable trait-like marker, but moderated by state-like factors. More broadly, BOLD activation to reward tasks-and likely other fMRI tasks-presents substantial opportunity for within-person study to complement the traditional focus on between-person study. We conclude with a discussion of considerations for intensive longitudinal neuroimaging designs.

Fluoro(oxo) functional groups, such as trifluoromethyl ketones, trifluoroethanols, and difluoromethyl ketones, have emerged as desirable motifs in medicinal chemistry. Traditionally, the installation of these functional groups is accomplished through the use of either designer reagents or nucleophilic trifluoromethylation. In contrast, commercially available fluorinated building blocks, such as ethyl trifluoropyruvate, can be used in a divergent manner to access a wide variety of fluoro(oxo) functional groups. Herein, we demonstrate facile activation of trifluoromethyl(hydroxy) esters for the divergent synthesis of fluorinated pharmacons.