A functional helix shuffled variant of the B domain of Staphylococcus aureus.

The B domain of protein A is a biotechnologically important three-helix bundle protein. It binds the Fc fragment of antibodies with helix 1/2 and the Fab region with helix 2/3. Here we designed a helix shuffled variant by changing the connectivity of the helices, in order to redesign the helix bundle, yielding altered helix-loop-helix properties.

Outcome of critically ill patients receiving systemic chemotherapy on the intensive care unit.

Objective: Analyze the outcomes of critically ill patients who developed new-onset organ dysfunction and received systemic chemotherapy during their ICU stay.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: A tertiary medical center in Germany with an Intensive Care Medicine department consists of 11 intensive care units comprising 140 beds, serving all subspecialties of adult intensive care medicine.

Fracture characteristics of human cortical bone influenced by the duration of glycation.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) accumulate in various tissues, including bone, due to aging and conditions like diabetes mellitus. To investigate the effects of AGEs on bone material quality and biomechanical properties, an study utilizing human tibial cortex, sectioned into 90 beams, and randomly assigned to three mechanical test groups was performed. Each test group included ribose ( = 0.

Impact of myelodysplasia-related and additional gene mutations in intensively treated patients with -mutated AML.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the myelodysplasia-related gene (MRG) as well as additional gene mutations on outcomes in intensively treated patients with -mutated ( ) AML. Targeted DNA sequencing of 263 genes was performed in 568 AML patients (median age: 59 years) entered into the prospective AMLSG 09-09 treatment trial. Most commonly co-mutated genes were (49.

Genomic strategies to facilitate breeding for increased β-Glucan content in oat (Avena sativa L.).

Background: Hexaploid oat (Avena sativa L.) is a commercially important cereal crop due to its soluble dietary fiber β-glucan, a hemicellulose known to prevent cardio-vascular diseases. To maximize health benefits associated with the consumption of oat-based food products, breeding efforts have aimed at increasing the β-glucan content in oat groats.

Pitting base rate driven heuristics against conditional reasoning in multivariate contingency assessment.

Contingency assessment is a major module of adaptive cognition and a prominent topic of ecological rationality. Virtually all influential theories assume that contingency estimates between Y and X are inferred from subjective conditional probabilities of focal Y levels given different X levels, p ( Y focal | X different levels ) . Yet, conditional probabilities are cognitively demanding, as Yfocal must be assessed separately for all levels of Xdifferent level.

IP6K1 rewires LKB1 signaling to mediate hyperglycemic endothelial senescence.

Diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but the molecular mechanisms underlying diabetic vasculopathy have been elusive. Here we report that inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 (IP6K1) mediates hyperglycemia-induced endothelial senescence by rewiring the liver kinase B1 (LKB1) signaling from activating the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway to the p53 pathway. We found that hyperglycemia upregulated IP6K1, which disrupts the Hsp/Hsc70 and carboxyl terminus of Hsc70-interacting protein (CHIP)-mediated LKB1 degradation, leading to increased expression levels of LKB1.

A novel prognostic risk model for patients with refractory/relapsed acute myeloid leukemia receiving venetoclax plus hypomethylating agents.

Off-label hypomethylating agents and venetoclax (HMA/VEN) are often used for relapsed and refractory (R/R) AML patients. However, predictors of outcome are elusive. The objective of the current retrospective observational multicenter study of 240 adult patients (median age 68.

Disentangling Sources of Momentum Fluctuations in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb Collisions with the ATLAS Detector.

High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.

Experimental economics for machine learning-a methodological contribution on lie detection.

In this paper, we investigate how technology has contributed to experimental economics in the past and illustrate how experimental economics can contribute to technological progress in the future. We argue that with machine learning (ML), a new technology is at hand, where for the first time experimental economics can contribute to enabling substantial improvement of technology. At the same time, ML opens up new questions for experimental research because it can generate previously impossible observations.

An autocrine synergistic desmin-SPARC network promotes cardiomyogenesis in cardiac stem cells.

The mammalian heart contains cardiac stem cells throughout life, but it has not been possible to harness or stimulate these cells to repair damaged myocardium in vivo. Assuming physiological relevance of these cells, which have evolved and have been maintained throughout mammalian evolution, we hypothesize that cardiac stem cells may contribute to cardiomyogenesis in an unorthodox manner. Since the intermediate filament protein desmin and the matricellular Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine (SPARC) promote cardiomyogenic differentiation during embryogenesis in a cell-autonomous and paracrine manner, respectively, we focus on their genes and employ mouse embryonic and cardiac stem cell lines as in vitro models to ask whether desmin and SPARC cooperatively influence cardiomyogenesis in cardiac stem and progenitor cells.

Investigating associations between the physical living environment and hippocampus in adulthood and older age.

It is by now well known that the physical living environment has a major impact on people's life, but the neural structures involved in this relationship remain to be explored. Most studies investigating this relationship only focus on single environmental predictors. In order to understand how the multitude of factors constituting the living environment relate to brain structure we used data from the UK Biobank (n = 21,094; age Mean = 63.

Fannyhessea vaginae and clearance of Lactobacillus iners are associated with incident non-chlamydial non-Mycoplasma genitalium urethritis in men who have sex with women.

Background: The etiology of nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) is incompletely understood. We sought to determine if genitourinary bacterial diversity or specific taxa were associated with incident NGU.

Methods: From August 2014-July 2018, men who have sex with women attending a sexual health clinic were clinically evaluated, including Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) testing, at enrollment and six monthly visits.

Bone quality analysis of the mandible in alcoholic liver cirrhosis: Anatomical, microstructural, and microhardness evaluation.

Objectives: Alcoholic bone disease has been recognized in contemporary literature as a systemic effect of chronic ethanol consumption. However, evidence about the specific influence of alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) on mandible bone quality is scarce. The aim of this study was to explore microstructural, compositional, cellular, and mechanical properties of the mandible in ALC individuals compared with a healthy control group.

Multidisciplinary unravelling Cogan's syndrome post-C-section: insights into diagnosis, treatment and a possible identified new trigger.

We present a case series consisting of three female patients in their 30s with presumed autoimmune uveitis resembling Cogan's syndrome following caesarean sections (C-sections) with severe intraoperative bleeding and the use of chitosan-tamponade, exhibiting a combination of varying ocular and auditory symptoms postoperatively. Our patients displayed a range of inflammatory ocular changes, including stromal keratitis, panuveitis, retinal infiltrates, haemorrhages, optic disc swelling, and intraretinal and subretinal fluid, along with otalgia and hearing loss, consistent with typical and atypical Cogan's syndrome. Treatment involved systemic corticosteroids, resulting in variable outcomes.

A Retrospective 8-Year Single Institutional Study in Germany Regarding Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcome of Malignant Parotid Tumors.

This study sought to comprehensively evaluate the diagnosis, therapeutic interventions, and outcomes of individuals afflicted with malignant parotid tumors at a tertiary care otolaryngology department in Heilbronn, Germany, spanning the years 2010-2018. The primary objective was to juxtapose this dataset with findings from analogous single and multicenter investigations. We conducted a meticulous analysis of electronic medical records pertaining to 45 patients subjected to primary parotid cancer treatment.

A Catch-Release Strategy for the Genomics-Driven Discovery of Antiproliferative Furan-Functionalized Peptides.

Furan-functionalized peptides are of significant pharmacological interest due to their pronounced bioactivities and unique potential for orthogonal bioconjugation and derivatization. However, naturally occurring peptides with furyl side chains are exceedingly rare. This study presents a streamlined method to predict and assess the microbial production of peptides incorporating 3-furylalanine (Fua) moieties.

Prenatal exposure to pesticide mixtures and the placental transcriptome: Insights from trimester-specific, sex-specific and metabolite-scaled analyses in the SAWASDEE cohort.

We investigated the effect of exposure to pesticide mixtures during pregnancy on the placental transcriptome, to link these exposures and placental functions. The Study of Asian Women and their Offspring's Development and Environmental Exposures (SAWASDEE) enrolled pregnant farmworkers from Thailand (n = 248), who were primarily exposed to organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid pesticides. We measured maternal urinary levels of six non-specific OP metabolites expressed as three summary measures (dimethylalkylphosphates (DMAP), diethylalkylphosphates (DEAP), and dialkylphosphates (DAP) and three pyrethroid metabolites (3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), cis- and trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid (cis-DCCA, trans-DCCA) during early, middle, and late pregnancy, and adjusted for urine dilution using creatinine.

Efficacy of fenbendazole against gastrointestinal nematodes in naturally infected goats in Maputo Province, Mozambique using in vivo, in vitro and molecular assessment.

Anthelmintic resistance occurs worldwide in strongyles of ruminants but data from low-income countries are sparse and rarely apply most up to date methods, while effects of management practices in these countries are poorly documented. In Mozambique, benzimidazole resistance has been previously reported; the present study followed this up in detail, applying in vivo faecal egg count (FEC) reduction test (FECRT), in vitro egg hatch test (EHT) and molecular deep amplicon sequencing approaches targeting the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2, nemabiome) and the isotype 1 β-tubulin gene to determine the resistance status on farms and the strongyle species involved. Adult Landim goats (433) from six semi-intensive and ten extensive farms (22-30 animals/farm) from Maputo Province were visited April 2021 to February 2022.

Exploring Matrine and Oxymatrine as Potential Bioinsecticide to Control Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae).

A bottleneck in sustainable fruit production is the replacement of chemical products with natural compounds. Matrine and oxymatrine, derived from a Chinese medicinal herb, have exhibited potential for controlling agricultural pests. However, there is no information regarding their effectiveness in managing dipterans.

Rivals reloaded: Adapting to sample-based speed-accuracy trade-offs through competitive pressure.

Collecting an adequate amount of information for a decision is an important skill. However, previous experiments on speed-accuracy trade-offs in sample-based decisions revealed marked oversampling that was impervious to various interventions (Fiedler, McCaughey, et al., 2021).

Gender representation in cardiothoracic surgical academia: a call to support women across the globe.

Underrepresentation of women in surgical specialties persists, especially in academic leadership roles. Efforts to better understand disparities and support women cardiothoracic surgeons are ongoing.

Patient-specific hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes indicate allelic and contractile imbalance as pathogenic factor in early-stage Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is often caused by heterozygous mutations in β-myosin heavy chain (MYH7, β-MyHC). In addition to hyper- or hypocontractile effects of HCM-mutations, heterogeneity in contractile function (contractile imbalance) among individual cardiomyocytes was observed in end-stage HCM-myocardium. Contractile imbalance might be induced by burst-like transcription, leading to unequal fractions of mutant versus wildtype mRNA and protein in individual cardiomyocytes (allelic imbalance).