Pancreatic cancer is characterized by abundant desmoplasia, a dense stroma composed of extra-cellular and cellular components, with cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) being the major cellular component. However, the tissue(s) of origin for CAFs remains controversial. Here we determine the tissue origin of pancreatic CAFs through comprehensive lineage tracing studies in mice. We find that the splanchnic mesenchyme, the fetal cell layer surrounding the endoderm from which the pancreatic epithelium originates, gives rise to the majority of resident fibroblasts in the normal pancreas. In a genetic mouse model of pancreatic cancer, resident fibroblasts expand and constitute the bulk of CAFs. Single cell RNA profiling identifies gene expression signatures that are shared among the fetal splanchnic mesenchyme, adult fibroblasts and CAFs, suggesting a persistent transcriptional program underlies splanchnic lineage differentiation. Together, this study defines the phylogeny of the mesenchymal component of the pancreas and provides insights into pancreatic morphogenesis and tumorigenesis.

Bacteriophages Awesomesauce and LastJedi infect Mycobacterium smegmatis mc ² 155. While the Awesomesauce genome is 57,054 bp with 94 protein-coding genes, the LastJedi genome is 55,149 bp with 94 protein-coding genes. Nucleotide sequence comparison in Phamerator detected synteny between Awesomesauce gp49 to gp61 and singleton LilSpotty. Whole-genome BLASTn alignments revealed that LastJedi strongly resembles Clifton (99.41% identity).

Background: Dengue fever poses a pervasive, yet escalating public health burden in Mexico and abroad. Methods: We conducted a 41-year spatiotemporal analysis of dengue fever across Mexico (1985–2025), integrating monthly case surveillance with climate, land cover, vegetation, and novel disaster severity covariates derived from the Emergency Events Database. Four supervised regression models were trained on 1990–2021 data, with models evaluated on a 2022–2023 temporal holdout and against observed 2024–2025 surveillance totals. Five supplementary hazard analyses examined temporal correlation, disaster type breakdown, spatial co-occurrence, pre/post event trajectories, and sensitivity to scoring weight assumptions. Results: Mann–Kendall trend analysis identified statistically significant increasing dengue incidence in 15 of 32 states (9 inland), evidencing geographic expansion over four decades. Z-score analysis confirmed 2024 as a profound anomaly across both endemic and emerging states. Hazard features were significantly associated with national monthly dengue counts at lags 0–2 months across the full 1985–2025 series. A + 613% case increase following the June 2024 tropical storm. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the project’s developed ‘Severity Score’ performed comparably to four theoretically motivated differential weighting schemes. Conclusion: This study provides the first structured integration of disaster severity covariates in a dengue forecasting framework for Mexico. Geographic expansion into inland states, the 41-year trend analysis, and the hazard adjustment results collectively support a differentiated public health response that targets both endemic coastal states and newly affected inland regions. The analytical framework is directly transferable to emerging dengue risk contexts in the United States and Central America, geographic neighbors also experiencing increased dengue virus transmission.

Previous work in this Amazonian deforestation frontier identified a broad-scale landscape signal for malaria-vector abundance and infected-anopheline occurrence, generating the hypothesis that the anopheline assemblage itself may be organized by landscape structure. Here, we tested whether anopheline richness, total abundance, Nyssorhynchus darlingi abundance and multispecies assemblage structure are associated with landscape composition, configuration and spatial extent. We analyzed 365 anophelines from 22 landscapes and eight species using Bayesian count and hierarchical multispecies models. Predictors represented forest cover, secondary forest, water, exposed soil, forest configuration and river proximity across 3, 5 and 7 km². The 7 km² scale received the strongest support across responses. Forest cover consistently increased richness and community abundance, exposed soil reduced abundance-based responses, and forest edge density contributed to the best multispecies model. These findings indicate that broad-scale landscape structure organizes anopheline assemblages that may underlie malaria transmission in Amazonian frontier regions.

Background: Zoological parks offer unique opportunities to monitor arthropod vectors and assess risks to native and exotic animal populations. Methods: From August to December 2023, a prospective surveillance initiative was conducted at Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens, South Carolina’s largest zoological park. Adult mosquitoes were collected near animal enclosures using CO ₂ -baited CDC miniature light traps. Pools of Culex spp. were screened for West Nile virus with rapid analyte measurement platform assays. Results: A total of 597 mosquitoes representing 17 species were collected. All Culex pools tested negative for West Nile virus. Conclusions: Despite routine mosquito abatement, a diverse assemblage of species was documented. Continued surveillance in zoological settings can clarify vector-borne disease dynamics and emerging threats to both humans and animals. Future studies should assess insecticide resistance and expand arboviral testing to strengthen prevention and mitigation strategies.