ImageDoubler: image-based doublet identification in single-cell sequencing.

Single-cell sequencing provides detailed insights into individual cell behaviors within complex systems based on the assumption that each cell is uniquely isolated. However, doublets-where two or more cells are sequenced together-disrupt this assumption and can lead to potential data misinterpretations. Traditional doublet detection methods primarily rely on simulated genomic data, which may be less effective in homogeneous cell populations and can introduce biases from experimental processes.

Topical mupirocin treatment reduces interferon and myeloid signatures in cutaneous lupus erythematous lesions through targeting of Staphylococcus species.

Objective: Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is an inflammatory skin manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Type I interferons (IFNs) promote inflammatory responses and are elevated in CLE lesions. We recently reported that CLE lesions are frequently colonized with Staphylococcus aureus (S.

Synchronization transitions in Kuramoto networks with higher-mode interaction.

Synchronization is an omnipresent collective phenomenon in nature and technology, whose understanding is still elusive for real-world systems in particular. We study the synchronization transition in a phase oscillator system with two nonvanishing Fourier-modes in the interaction function, hence going beyond the Kuramoto paradigm. We show that the transition scenarios crucially depend on the interplay of the two coupling modes.

The Effects of a Stress Management Group Education Program on Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in People With Comorbid Diabetes and Chronic and/or Recurrent Foot and Ankle Complications.

Background: Individuals with diabetic foot and ankle complications are at heightened risk for depression, anxiety, and stress.

Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of a stress management group education (SMGE) program in this population.

Methods: The 21-question Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and the Problem Areas in Diabetes scale were administered prior to, upon completion of, and at approximately 6 weeks after the program.

Gigaxonin glycosylation regulates intermediate filament turnover and may impact giant axonal neuropathy etiology or treatment.

Gigaxonin (also known as KLHL16) is an E3 ligase adaptor protein that promotes the ubiquitination and degradation of intermediate filament (IF) proteins. Mutations in human gigaxonin cause the fatal neurodegenerative disease giant axonal neuropathy (GAN), in which IF proteins accumulate and aggregate in axons throughout the nervous system, impairing neuronal function and viability. Despite this pathophysiological significance, the upstream regulation and downstream effects of normal and aberrant gigaxonin function remain incompletely understood.

A new design for an artificial cell: polymer microcapsules with addressable inner compartments that can harbor biomolecules, colloids or microbial species.

Eukaryotic cells have an architecture consisting of multiple inner compartments (organelles) such as the nucleus, mitochondria, and lysosomes. Each organelle is surrounded by a distinct membrane and has unique internal contents; consequently, each organelle has a distinct function within the cell. In this study, we create biopolymer microcapsules having a compartmentalized architecture as in eukaryotic cells.

Cognitive Function Deficits Associated With Long-Duration Type 1 Diabetes and Vascular Complications.

Objective: Patients with type 1 diabetes now live long enough to experience cognitive decline. During middle age, they show mild cognitive deficits, but it is unknown whether severity increases with aging or whether cognitive profiles are similar to those of age-matched peers with and without diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: We tested and compared cognition in 82 individuals with 50 or more years of type 1 diabetes (Medalists), 31 age-matched individuals with type 2 diabetes, and 30 age-matched control subjects without diabetes.

Photocatalytic Oxidation of Sulfur Mustard and Its Simulant on BODIPY-Incorporated Polymer Coatings and Fabrics.

Sulfur mustard is one of the most toxic chemical warfare agents worldwide. We report the use of 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza- s-indacene (BODIPY) photosensitizers as a fast and effective sulfur mustard decontaminant and their incorporation into various polymer coatings and fabrics, including army combat uniform. These BODIPY-embedded materials are capable of generating singlet oxygen under visible light irradiation and effectively detoxifying sulfur mustard by converting it into nontoxic sulfoxides as the major products.

MOFwich: Sandwiched Metal-Organic Framework-Containing Mixed Matrix Composites for Chemical Warfare Agent Removal.

This work describes a new strategy for fabricating mixed matrix composites containing layered metal-organic framework (MOF)/polymer films as functional barriers for chemical warfare agent protection. Through the use of mechanically robust polymers as the top and bottom encasing layers, a high-MOF-loading, high-performance-core layer can be sandwiched within. We term this multifunctional composite "MOFwich".

Tuning the Morphology and Activity of Electrospun Polystyrene/UiO-66-NH Metal-Organic Framework Composites to Enhance Chemical Warfare Agent Removal.

This work investigates the processing-structure-activity relationships that ultimately facilitate the enhanced performance of UiO-66-NH metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in electrospun polystyrene (PS) fibers for chemical warfare agent detoxification. Key electrospinning processing parameters including solvent type (dimethylformamide [DMF]) vs DMF/tetrahydrofuran [THF]), PS weight fraction in solution, and MOF weight fraction relative to PS were varied to optimize MOF incorporation into the fibers and ultimately improve composite performance. It was found that composites spun from pure DMF generally resulted in MOF crystal deposition on the surface of the fibers, while composites spun from DMF/THF typically led to MOF crystal deposition within the fibers.

Imaging and Analysis of Encapsulated Objects through Self-Assembled Electron and Optically Transparent Graphene Oxide Membranes.

We demonstrate a technique for facile encapsulation and adhesion of micro- and nano objects on arbitrary substrates, stencils, and micro structured surfaces by ultrathin graphene oxide membranes via a simple drop casting of graphene oxide solution. A self-assembled encapsulating membrane forms during the drying process at the liquid-air and liquid-solid interfaces and consists of a water-permeable quasi-2D network of overlapping graphene oxide flakes. Upon drying and interlocking between the flakes, the encapsulating coating around the object becomes mechanically robust, chemically protective, and yet highly transparent to electrons and photons in a wide energy range, enabling microscopic and spectroscopic access to encapsulated objects.

MOFabric: Electrospun Nanofiber Mats from PVDF/UiO-66-NH for Chemical Protection and Decontamination.

Textiles capable of capture and detoxification of toxic chemicals, such as chemical-warfare agents (CWAs), are of high interest. Some metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit superior reactivity toward CWAs. However, it remains a challenge to integrate powder MOFs into engineered materials like textiles, while retaining functionalities like crystallinity, adsorptivity, and reactivity.

Light-Directed Self-Assembly of Robust Alginate Gels at Precise Locations in Microfluidic Channels.

Recently there has been much interest in using light to activate self-assembly of molecules in a fluid, leading to gelation. The advantage of light over other stimuli lies in its spatial selectivity, i.e.

Catalytic Propulsion and Magnetic Steering of Soft, Patchy Microcapsules: Ability to Pick-Up and Drop-Off Microscale Cargo.

We describe the creation of polymeric microcapsules that can exhibit autonomous motion along defined trajectories. The capsules are made by cross-linking aqueous microdroplets of the biopolymer chitosan using glutaraldehyde. A coflow microfluidic tubing device is used to generate chitosan droplets containing nanoparticles (NPs) with an iron (Fe) core and a platinum (Pt) shell.

The Language of End-of-Life Decision Making: A Simulation Study.

Background: Framing is known to influence decision making.

Objective: The study objective was to describe language used by physicians when discussing treatment options with a critically and terminally ill elder.

Methods: High-fidelity simulation was used, involving an elder with end-stage cancer and life-threatening hypoxia, followed by a debriefing interview.

Microfluidic generation of uniform water droplets using gas as the continuous phase.

Microfluidic schemes for forming uniform aqueous microdroplets usually rely on contacting the aqueous liquid (dispersed phase) with an immiscible oil (continuous phase). Here, we demonstrate that the oil can be substituted with gas (nitrogen or air) while still retaining the ability to generate discrete and uniform aqueous droplets. Our device is a capillary co-flow system, with the inner flow of water getting periodically dispersed into droplets by the external flow of gas.

Microfluidic assembly of Janus-like dimer capsules.

We describe the microfluidic assembly of soft dimer capsules by the fusion of individual capsules with distinct properties. Microscale aqueous droplets bearing the biopolymer chitosan are generated in situ within a chip and, as they travel downsteam, pairs of droplets are made to undergo controlled cross-linking and coalescence (due to a channel expansion) to form stable dimers. These dimers are very much like Janus particles: the size, shape, and functionality of each individual lobe within the dimer can be precisely controlled.

Factors influencing the acquisition of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection in cystic fibrosis patients.

Background: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is one of the most common multi-drug resistant organisms causing pulmonary infections in CF patients. It is unknown whether S. maltophilia infection follows the same pattern and shares similar risk factors for acquisition as described for Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Chronic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection and mortality or lung transplantation in cystic fibrosis patients.

Background: Chronic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection is an independent risk factor for severe pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of chronic S. maltophilia infection on mortality and the need for lung transplantation in a longitudinal study of children and adults with CF.

Effect of pulmonary exacerbations on long-term lung function decline in cystic fibrosis.

It is unknown what proportion of long-term lung function decline in cystic fibrosis (CF) is explained by pulmonary exacerbations. The aim of this study was to determine how exacerbations requiring hospitalisation contribute to the course of CF lung disease. This was a retrospective cohort study.

Chronic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection and exacerbation outcomes in cystic fibrosis.

Background: Chronic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection is a risk factor for pulmonary exacerbation in cystic fibrosis (CF) but its impact on subsequent clinical outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of chronic S. maltophilia infection and associated antimicrobial therapy on the recovery of forced expiratory lung volume in 1s (FEV(1)) following pulmonary exacerbation.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in cystic fibrosis: serologic response and effect on lung disease.

Rationale: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is one of the more common multidrug-resistant organisms isolated from the respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), but the effect of chronic S. maltophilia infection on CF lung disease is unknown.

Objectives: To determine the impact of chronic S.

Cranial vasculature in zebrafish forms by angioblast cluster-derived angiogenesis.

Formation of embryonic vasculature involves vasculogenesis as endothelial cells differentiate and aggregate into vascular cords and angiogenesis which includes branching from the existing vessels. In the zebrafish which has emerged as an advantageous model to study vasculogenesis, cranial vasculature is thought to originate by a combination of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, but how these processes are coordinated is not well understood. To determine how angioblasts assemble into cranial vasculature, we generated an etsrp:GFP transgenic line in which GFP reporter is expressed under the promoter control of an early regulator of vascular and myeloid development, etsrp/etv2.

Long-lasting sensitization of reward-directed behavior by amphetamine.

Exposure to psychostimulant drugs of abuse such as amphetamine can result in long-lasting "sensitization" of reward-directed behavior, such that subjects display enhancements in behavior directed by and toward rewards and reward-predictive cues (i.e. "incentive sensitization").

Regular health care use by lesbians: a path analysis of predictive factors.

Background: Lesbians have more health risks than other women but access preventive medical care less frequently.

Objective: To test the influence of (i) provider inquiry about sexual orientation, (ii) perceived provider gay-positivity and (iii) patient disclosure of sexual orientation on regular health care use in a sample of Canadian lesbians.

Methods: A path analysis using community survey data from 489 lesbian respondents.