Background: The Georgian Birth Registry (GBR) is a comprehensive digital birth registry covering 99.8% of births nationwide. By law, registration in the GBR is mandatory, with data primarily transferred from medical records (MRs) by designated personnel at medical facilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotion is vital for life. Currently, the clinical assessment of motion abnormalities is largely qualitative. We previously developed methods to quantitatively assess motion using visual detection systems (around-body) and stretchable electronic sensors (on-body).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnaerobic digestate animal effluent (ADAE) contains high N and P nutrients which need to be treated. In this study, an integrated process was proposed using a microalgae consortium of Chlorella and Scenedesmus. The system was designed for 71 m/d (medium-sized) and 355 m/d (large-sized) animals of ADAE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReumatol Clin (Engl Ed)
November 2024
Background: In response to substantial lead exposure, the autonomous republic of Adjara in Georgia initiated complementary blood lead level (BLL) testing for pregnant women as part of their antenatal care services in 2020.
Objectives: To study the background BLLs in pregnant and breastfeeding women in Adjara and explore the time-trends of BLLs from September 2020 to July 2023.
Methods: We used data on BLLs during pregnancy or postpartum from the lead screening program in Adjara, combined with data from the Georgian Birth Registry, totaling 9,510 women.
Understanding fast pedestal dynamics and turbulent transport in the edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma of spherical tokamaks is crucial for the design and operation of future fusion reactors. The alkali beam emission spectroscopy diagnostic technique offers a means to measure the absolute electron density radial profile and fluctuation amplitude in these regions. In this study, we demonstrate that injecting a sodium neutral beam radially into the plasma and analyzing the light emission from its 3p-3s atomic transition using near-orthogonal viewing angles allows for accurate measurement of the electron density profile and fluctuations in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) Upgrade spherical tokamak.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent experiments at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak have provided the first ever measurements from the imaging heavy-ion beam probe. In this work, we show that the developed simulation framework can reproduce qualitatively the measurement's observed shape and position. Quantitatively, we demonstrate that the model reproduces, within the experimental uncertainties, the observed signal levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassically, chemokines coordinate leukocyte trafficking during immune responses; however, many chemokines have also been reported to possess direct antibacterial activity in vitro. Yet, the bacterial killing mechanism of chemokines and the biochemical properties that define which members of the chemokine superfamily are antimicrobial remain poorly understood. Here we report that the antimicrobial activity of chemokines is defined by their ability to bind phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin, two anionic phospholipids commonly found in the bacterial plasma membrane.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDozens of new antiviral systems have been recently characterized in bacteria. Some of these systems are present in eukaryotes and appear to have originated in prokaryotes, but little is known about these defense mechanisms in archaea. Here, we explore the diversity and distribution of defense systems in archaea and identify 2610 complete systems in Asgardarchaeota, a group of archaea related to eukaryotes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Sci Instrum
July 2024
Measurements of ion temperature profiles are required to assess the energy and particle transport processes in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. This device is equipped with a diagnostic alkali beam, which can be utilized to determine local impurity temperatures and densities by Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy (CXRS). It could provide such profiles in the edge plasma, where other diagnostics are less efficient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAsgardarchaeota, commonly referred to as Asgard archaea, is a candidatus phylum-rank archaeal clade that includes the closest archaeal relatives of eukaryotes. Despite their prevalence in the scientific literature, the name Asgardarchaeota lacks nomenclatural validation. Here, we describe a novel high-quality metagenome-assembled genome (MAG), AB3033_2, proposed to serve as the nomenclatural type for the species Asgardarchaeum abyssi according to the rules of the SeqCode.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlkanes, single carbon methane to long-chain hydrocarbons (e.g. hexadecane and tetradecane), are important carbon sources to anaerobic microbial communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeterministic formation of membrane scission necks by protein machinery with multiplexed functions is critical in biology. A microbial example is M2 viroporin, a proton pump from the influenza A virus that is multiplexed with membrane remodeling activity to induce budding and scission in the host membrane during viral maturation. In comparison, the dynamin family constitutes a class of eukaryotic proteins implicated in mitochondrial fission, as well as various budding and endocytosis pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe conducted focus groups with staff from 5 community-based organizations (21 participants; 86% female, 52% Hispanic/Latino/a/x and 24% Mexican/Mexican American) between August and October 2021. Results highlighted community partner perceptions of practices congruent (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Public Health
May 2024
Through a COVID-19 public health intervention implemented across sequenced research trials, we present a community engagement phased framework that embeds intervention implementation: (1) consultation and preparation, (2) collaboration and implementation, and (3) partnership and sustainment. Intervention effects included mitigation of psychological distress and a 0.28 increase in the Latinx population tested for SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To pilot test the COMmunity of Practice And Safety Support for Navigating Pain (COMPASS-NP) intervention for home care workers experiencing chronic pain.
Methods: Home care workers with chronic pain participated (n = 19; 2 groups) in a 10-week online group program focused on workplace safety and pain self-management. Primary outcomes were changes in pain interference with work and life.
BMC Complement Med Ther
May 2024
Background: Luteolin (3,4,5,7-tetrahydroxy flavone) is reported to strongly protect from acute carbon tetrachloride (CCl) -induced liver injury or fibrosis. Ferroptosis can be induced by hepatic injury, and contributes to liver fibrosis development. The exact functional mechanism underlying luteolin inhibition of hepatic injury and whether ferroptosis is involved are unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe measurement of the enterovirus and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in sewage water is relevant in the early detection of the introduction or disappearance of these viruses in the ecosystem. We evaluated the co-circulation of the enteroviruses and SARS-CoV-2 in 81 sewage water samples collected between September 2021 and April 2023 from different regions of north and southeast Romania, at the border with Ukraine. We used, for the molecular detection of the pathogens, the multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay produced for respiratory samples and the Respiratory 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF