Maximizing Access to Cell Biology for PEERS: Retracting the term minority in favor of a more inclusive lexicon.

The word minority, when used incorrectly, is a condescending term that segregates, inaccurately represents groups as being smaller or less important, and fuels microaggressions. Scientific societies and other institutions have normalized using the word minority, or the "M word," to refer to members of underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The message put forth using the term minority often directly conflicts with the inclusive agenda these societies seek to enact. More inclusive acronyms such as PEER (Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity or Race) have been created to more accurately reflect the active process of exclusion by institutions. Here, we detail the rationale behind the decision to eradicate the word minority from the name of a prominent committee within the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). The ASCB Minority Affairs Committee changed its name to the Maximizing Access to Cell Biology for PEERS Committee. Herein, we emphasize the basis for the name change and highlight the contradictions intrinsic to the word minority in this context. We highlight why swift action is required for this rewording within the context of a committee dedicated to supporting the inclusion of PEERs in the scientific community.

Riding the Wave of Ambivalence in Cell Biology.

Increasing evidence clearly shows that most functional molecules in the cell exert a dual role depending on the specific interactive context, biochemical pathway, or subcellular localization [...].

Editor Profile: Andrey Abramov.

In this special interview series, we profile members of The FEBS Journal editorial board to highlight their research focus, perspectives on the journal and future directions in their field. Professor Andrey Abramov is a cell biologist and biophysicist at University College London's Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He has served as an Editorial Board Member of The FEBS Journal since 2015.

Bridging structural and cell biology with cryo-electron microscopy.

Most life scientists would agree that understanding how cellular processes work requires structural knowledge about the macromolecules involved. For example, deciphering the double-helical nature of DNA revealed essential aspects of how genetic information is stored, copied and repaired. Yet, being reductionist in nature, structural biology requires the purification of large amounts of macromolecules, often trimmed off larger functional units. The advent of cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) greatly facilitated the study of large, functional complexes and generally of samples that are hard to express, purify and/or crystallize. Nevertheless, cryo-EM still requires purification and thus visualization outside of the natural context in which macromolecules operate and coexist. Conversely, cell biologists have been imaging cells using a number of fast-evolving techniques that keep expanding their spatial and temporal reach, but always far from the resolution at which chemistry can be understood. Thus, structural and cell biology provide complementary, yet unconnected visions of the inner workings of cells. Here we discuss how the interplay between cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography, as a connecting bridge to visualize macromolecules in situ, holds great promise to create comprehensive structural depictions of macromolecules as they interact in complex mixtures or, ultimately, inside the cell itself.

Proteomics Impact on Cell Biology to Resolve Cell Structure and Function.

The acceleration of advances in proteomics has enabled integration with imaging at the EM and light microscopy levels, cryo-EM of protein structures, and artificial intelligence with proteins comprehensively and accurately resolved for cell structures at nanometer to subnanometer resolution. Proteomics continues to outpace experimentally based structural imaging, but their ultimate integration is a path toward the goal of a compendium of all proteins to understand mechanistically cell structure and function.

Impact of Pleural Lavage Cytology Positivity on Early Recurrence After Surgery for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer / Impacto de la positividad de la citología del lavado pleural en la recurrencia temprana después de la cirugía por cáncer de pulmón de células no pequeñas

Objective: The aim of this study was to elucidate the impact of pleural lavage cytology positivity on early recurrence in patients operated on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: This is a multicentre prospective cohort study of 684 patients undergoing an anatomical lung resection for NSCLC between October 2015 and October 2017 at 12 national centres. A pleural lavage was performed before and after lung resection. The association between the different predictors of early recurrence and PLC positivity was performed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. A propensity score analysis was performed by inverse probability weighting (IPSW) using average treatment effect (ATE) estimation to analyse the impact of PLC positivity on early recurrence. Results: Overall PLC positivity was observed in 15 patients (2.2%). After two years, 193 patients (28.2%) relapsed, 182 (27.2%) with a negative PLC and 11 (73.3%) with a positive PLC (p<0.001). Factors associated to early recurrence were adenocarcinoma histology (OR=1.59, 95%CI 1.06–2.38, p=0.025), visceral pleural invasion (OR=1.59, 95%CI 1.04–2.4, p=0.03), lymph node involvement (OR=1.84, 95%CI 1.14–2.96, p=0.013), advanced pathological stage (OR=2.12, 95%CI 1.27–3.54, p=0.004) and PLC positivity (OR=4.14, 95%CI 1.25–16.36, p=0.028). After IPSW, PLC positivity was associated with an increased risk of early recurrence (OR=3.46, 95%CI 2.25–5.36, p<0.001). Conclusions: Positive pleural lavage cytology was found to be the strongest predictor of early recurrence.(AU)

Moving structural biology forward together.

Continuing the celebration of Cell's 50th anniversary, this Focus Issue is an ode to the field of Structural Biology. We present Leading Edge articles highlighting specific approaches and insights that this field offers to answer fundamental and critical biological questions.

The implementation of an active inquiry learning centered "7E" teaching mode in the cell biology course enhances the learning effects of postgraduate students.

The primary objective of science postgraduate education is to foster students' capacity for creative thinking and problem-solving, particularly in the context of scientific research quality. In order to achieve this goal, the "7E" teaching mood has been implemented in the cell biology course for postgraduate students to promote student-centered active inquiry learning instead of breaking away from traditional indoctrination-based teaching methods. This study demonstrates that the implementation of the "7E" teaching mode, through content programming, process design, and effect evaluation, effectively meets the needs of the majority of students, fosters their interest in learning, enhances their performance in comprehensive questioning, and enhances their innovative abilities in scientific research. Consequently, this research offers a theoretical framework and practical foundation for the development of the "7E" teaching mode in postgraduate courses, aiming to cultivate highly skilled scientific professionals.

Measuring stomatal and guard cell metrics for plant physiology and growth using StoManager1.

Automated guard cell detection and measurement are vital for understanding plant physiological performance and ecological functioning in global water and carbon cycles. Most current methods for measuring guard cells and stomata are laborious, time-consuming, prone to bias, and limited in scale. We developed StoManager1, a high-throughput tool utilizing geometrical, mathematical algorithms, and convolutional neural networks to automatically detect, count, and measure over 30 guard cell and stomatal metrics, including guard cell and stomatal area, length, width, stomatal aperture area/guard cell area, orientation, stomatal evenness, divergence, and aggregation index. Combined with leaf functional traits, some of these StoManager1-measured guard cell and stomatal metrics explained 90% and 82% of tree biomass and intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) variances in hardwoods, making them substantial factors in leaf physiology and tree growth. StoManager1 demonstrated exceptional precision and recall (mAP@0.5 over 0.96), effectively capturing diverse stomatal properties across over 100 species. StoManager1 facilitates the automation of measuring leaf stomatal and guard cells, enabling broader exploration of stomatal control in plant growth and adaptation to environmental stress and climate change. This has implications for global gross primary productivity (GPP) modeling and estimation, as integrating stomatal metrics can enhance predictions of plant growth and resource usage worldwide. Easily accessible open-source code and standalone Windows executable applications are available on a GitHub repository (https://github.com/JiaxinWang123/StoManager1) and Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7686022).

The beauty and challenges of studying cell biology in diverse organisms.

Cell Reports Editor Shawnna Buttery interviewed Holly Goodson, Wallace Marshall, and Thibaut Brunet at the annual ASCB/EMBO Cell Bio conference. Shawnna asked how non-traditional organisms help us better understand the fundamentals of cell biology. A transcript of the conversation appears below, and the full conversation is available with the article online.

Celebrating our origins with cell biology.

Cell's 50th anniversary celebrations begin with our special focus issue on cell biology. Foundational and critical to our understanding of life and mechanisms of disease, explore Leading Edge content covering exciting frontiers of this field.

Interculturalidad: más allá de la diversidad Reflexiones y experiencias en contextos latinoamericanos / Interculturality: beyond diversity Reflections and experiences in Latin American contexts

Este libro tiene como origen las diversas reflexiones originadas por la ejecución de un trabajo de investigación en el área de la salud con comunidades indígenas de la Amazonia colombiana denominado: "Estrategia de Atención Primaria en Salud con enfoque intercultural e investigación Acción Participativa para la prevención del cáncer de cuello uterino en el resguardo indígena de El Paujil" (Colombia) y desarrollado por lideresas pertenecientes a la región e investigadores de las universidades Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, FUCS; Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, UDCA; y Universidad El Bosque, con la cofinanciación del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Colombia. Los avances del proyecto permitieron explorar las visiones sobre diversos temas de algunas comunidades indígenas de la Amazonia, en especial, los relacionados con la salud de las mujeres y sus roles en las familias y en las comunidades. El trabajo conjunto, mediante una metodología de investigación participativa alrededor de la prevención del cáncer de cuello uterino, incluyó en primer lugar el análisis de la interculturalidad como un enfoque que coincide con los postulados de respeto por los valores culturales y las diferencias.

This book has as origin the diverse reflections originated by the execution of a research work in the area of health with indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon called: "Primary Health Care Strategy with intercultural approach and Participatory Action Research for the prevention of cervical cancer in the indigenous reservation of El Paujil" (Colombia) and developed by leaders belonging to the region and researchers from the universities Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, FUCS; Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, UDCA; and Universidad El Bosque, with co-financing from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia. The progress of the project made it possible to explore the views on various topics of some indigenous communities in the Amazon, especially those related to women's health and their roles in the families and communities. The joint work, through a participatory research methodology on cervical cancer prevention, included first of all the analysis of interculturality as an approach that coincides with the postulates of respect for cultural values and differences.

Análise do perfil epidemiológico dos exames citopatológico do colo do útero em Altamira no período de 2014 a 2020: dados a partir do SISCAN / Analysis of the epidemiological profile of cervical cytopathological exams in Altamira in the period from 2014 to 2020: data from SISCAN / Análisis del perfil epidemiológico de los exámenes citopatológicos de cérvix en Altamira en el periodo de 2014 a 2020: datos del SISCAN

OBJETIVO: Este trabalho aborda sobre características referente aos exames citopatológicos do colo do útero em Altamira, coletado no Sistema de Informação do Câncer, dentro do período de 2014 a 2020. Observou-se também a qualidade da interpretação dos principais resultados encontrados, sobre a técnica de coleta e qualidade de exames. O objetivo é analisar o perfil epidemiológico dos exames citopatológicos do colo do útero do município. MÉTODO: A metodologia realizada foi estudo quantitativo, de corte transversal, epidemiológico, descritiva e analítico. RESULTADOS: Verificou- se um crescimento anual na taxa de cobertura do exame do preventivo no período de 2014 a 2019, que está ligado à implementação do Plano de Desenvolvimento Regional Sustentável do Xingu, e que esse crescimento mostra uma diferença estatística significativa entre a taxa de cobertura de Altamira, Pará, Brasil. Observou-se presença de falhas no preenchimento da ficha de notificação é referente ao campo da escolaridade das pacientes que não apresentam registro. Quanto a faixa etária mais frequente que realizam o exame do preventivo está entre 25 a 34 anos e as lesões intraepiteliais do colo uterino mais frequentes são: a de baixo grau que corresponde à população jovem (<34 anos) e de alto grau entre 25 a 44 anos.

OBJECTIVE: This paper deals with characteristics related to cytopathological examinations of the cervix in Altamira, collected in the Cancer Information System, within the period from 2014 to 2020. It was also observed the quality of interpretation of the main results found, on the technique collection and quality of exams. The objective is to analyze the epidemiological profile of cytopathological tests of the cervix in the city. METHOD: The methodology used was a quantitative, cross- sectional, epidemiological study, descriptive and analytical approach. RESULTS: As a result, there was an annual growth in the coverage rate of the preventive exam in the period from 2014 to 2019, which is linked to the implementation of the Xingu Sustainable Regional Development Plan, and that this growth shows a significant statistical difference between the coverage rate of Altamira, Pará, Brazil. It was observed the presence of failures in completing the notification form referring to the field of education of patients who do not have a record. As for the most frequent age group that undergoes the preventive examination, it is between 25 and 34 years old and the most frequent intraepithelial lesions of the uterine cervix are: low-grade, which corresponds to the young population (<34 years) and high-grade, between 25 and 34 years old. 44 years.

OBJETIVO: En este trabajo se abordan las características relacionadas con los exámenes citopatológicos de cérvix en Altamira, recogidos en el Sistema de Información del Cáncer, en el periodo comprendido entre 2014 y 2020. También se observó la calidad de interpretación de los principales resultados encontrados, sobre la técnica de recolección y calidad de los exámenes. El objetivo es analizar el perfil epidemiológico de los exámenes citopatológicos de cuello uterino en la ciudad. MÉTODO: La metodología utilizada fue un estudio cuantitativo, transversal, epidemiológico, de abordaje descriptivo y analítico. RESULTADOS: Como resultado, se observó un crecimiento anual de la tasa de cobertura del examen preventivo en el período de 2014 a 2019, que está vinculado a la implementación del Plan de Desarrollo Regional Sostenible Xingu, y que este crecimiento muestra una diferencia estadística significativa entre la tasa de cobertura de Altamira, Pará, Brasil. Se observó la presencia de fallas en el llenado del formulario de notificación referente al campo de la educación de los pacientes que no tienen un registro. En cuanto al grupo de edad más frecuente que se somete al examen preventivo, es entre 25 y 34 años y las lesiones intraepiteliales del cuello uterino más frecuentes son: de bajo grado, que corresponde a la población joven (<34 años) y de alto grado, entre 25 y 44 años.

Robustness and complexity.

When a system robustly corrects component-level errors, the direct pressure on component performance declines. Components become less reliable, maintain more genetic variability, or drift neutrally, creating new forms of complexity. Examples include the hourglass pattern of biological development and the hourglass architecture for robustly complex systems in engineering.