Cognitive neuroscience: How the brain navigates abstract task spaces.

Humans and other animals learn the abstract structure of a task and then use this structure to rapidly generalize to new situations. A recent study reveals how the brain builds and uses abstract task representations.

Multimodal cell-free DNA whole-genome TAPS is sensitive and reveals specific cancer signals.

The analysis of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) through minimally invasive liquid biopsies is promising for early multi-cancer detection and monitoring minimal residual disease. Most existing methods focus on targeted deep sequencing, but few integrate multiple data modalities. Here, we develop a methodology for ctDNA detection using deep (80x) whole-genome TET-Assisted Pyridine Borane Sequencing (TAPS), a less destructive approach than bisulphite sequencing, which permits the simultaneous analysis of genomic and methylomic data.

Unveiling Recurrence Patterns: Analyzing Predictive Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Recurrence after Surgery.

Objectives: Breast cancer (BC) stands as the second-leading cause of female-specific cancer-related fatalities globally, necessitating comprehensive research to address its critical aspects. This study aimed to explore the time intervals between surgery and disease recurrence in BC patients and their survival utilizing various parametric and semi-parametric models.

Methods: After the examination of data collected from 2010 to 2021 at a BC Center in Tehran, Iran, 171 cases met the criteria for analysis out of 2246 datasets.

Discovery of a glyphosate oxidase in nature.

Glyphosate is the most used herbicide on Earth. After a half-century of use we know only two biodegradative pathways, each of which appears to degrade glyphosate incidentally. One pathway begins with oxidation of glyphosate catalysed by glycine oxidase (GO).

Dark Current in Broadband Perovskite-Organic Heterojunction Photodetectors Controlled by Interfacial Energy Band Offset.

Lead halide perovskite and organic semiconductors are promising classes of materials for photodetector (PD) applications. State-of-the-art perovskite PDs have performance metrics exceeding silicon PDs in the visible. While organic semiconductors offer bandgap tunability due to their chemical design with detection extended into the near-infrared (NIR), perovskites are limited to the visible band and the first fraction of the NIR spectrum.

Representing Context and Priority in Working Memory.

The ability to prioritize among contents in working memory (WM) is critical for successful control of thought and behavior. Recent work has demonstrated that prioritization in WM can be implemented by representing different states of priority in different representational formats. Here, we explored the mechanisms underlying WM prioritization by simulating the double serial retrocuing task with recurrent neural networks.

Practical strategies to achieve resilient health systems: results from a scoping review.

Background: This paper presents the results of a systematic review to identify practical strategies to create the institutions, skills, values, and norms that will improve health systems resilience.

Methods: A PRISMA 2020 compliant systematic review identified peer-reviewed and gray literature on practical strategies to make health systems more resilient. Investigators screened 970 papers to identify 65 English language papers published since 2015.

Building compositional tasks with shared neural subspaces.

Cognition is remarkably flexible; we are able to rapidly learn and perform many different tasks. Theoretical modeling has shown artificial neural networks trained to perform multiple tasks will re-use representations and computational components across tasks. By composing tasks from these sub-components, an agent can flexibly switch between tasks and rapidly learn new tasks.

Development and Psychometric Properties of Decision-Making Scale for Emergency Hospital Evacuation in Disasters.

Background: The evidence shows that the need for emergency evacuation in hospitals has arisen. Designing an emergency evacuation decision making tool increases the confidence of hospital managers in the decision made. Therefore, this study was aimed at the development, and the psychometric properties, of the decision-making scale for emergency hospital evacuation in disasters.

Mortality Risk Related to Heatwaves in Dezful City, Southwest of Iran.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the impact of heatwaves on daily deaths due to non-accidental, cardiovascular and respiratory causes in the city of Dezful in Iran from 2013 to 2019.

Method: We collected daily ambient temperature and mortality and defined 2 types of heatwaves by combining daily temperature ⩾90th in each month of the study period or since 30 years with duration ⩾2 and 3 days. We used a distributed lag non-linear model to study the association between each type of heatwave definition, and deaths due to non-accidental, cardiovascular and respiratory causes with lags up to 13 days.

Role of hospitals in recovery from COVID-19: Reflections from hospital managers and frontliners in the Eastern Mediterranean Region on strengthening hospital resilience.

Background: COVID-19 highlighted the critical role that hospitals play throughout the prolonged response and continuous recovery stages of the pandemic. Yet, there is limited evidence related to hospitals in the recovery stage, particularly capturing the perspectives of hospital managers and frontliners in resource-restrained and humanitarian settings.

Objective: This paper aims to capture the perspectives of hospital managers and frontliners across the Eastern Mediterranean Region on (1) the role of hospitals in recovering from COVID-19, (2) Hospitals' expectations from public health institutions to enable recovery from COVID-19, (3) the Evaluation of hospital resilience before and through COVID-19, and (4) lessons to strengthen hospital resilience throughout the COVID-19 recovery.

Potent ClpP agonists with anticancer properties bind with improved structural complementarity and alter the mitochondrial N-terminome.

The mitochondrial ClpP protease is responsible for mitochondrial protein quality control through specific degradation of proteins involved in several metabolic processes. ClpP overexpression is also required in many cancer cells to eliminate reactive oxygen species (ROS)-damaged proteins and to sustain oncogenesis. Targeting ClpP to dysregulate its function using small-molecule agonists is a recent strategy in cancer therapy.

Climate adaptive hospital: A systematic review of determinants and actions.

Introduction: Climate change is among the most renowned concerns of the current century, endangering the lives of millions of people worldwide. To comply with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), hospitals should be on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although hospitals contribute to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases, they are also affected by the health consequences of climate change.

Building Resilience in Firefighters: A Systematic Review.

Background: We aimed to identify indicators affecting firefighters' resilience through a systematic review.

Methods: International electronic databases, including Web of Science, Medline through PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar, were searched on Dec 23, 2018. The search strategy was developed using main words, including firefighter, resilience, and indicators.

Probabilistic prediction of segmental body composition in Iranian children and adolescents.

Background: Adolescents' body composition is considered an important measure to evaluate health status. An examination of any of the segmental compartments by anthropometric indices is a more usable method than direct methods.

Objectives: To propose a method based on the network approach for predicting segmental body composition components in adolescent boys and girls using anthropometric measurements.

Scale Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Questionnaire for Measuring the Risk Factors for Death in Floods.

Purpose: Determination of the causes of flood-related deaths is the precondition for effective interventions aimed at the reduction of such deaths. There is a gap in the design and the development of a valid and reliable instrument for measuring underlying factors of death in the flood.

Methods: This study was carried out in two phases.

Epidemiological modelling in refugee and internally displaced people settlements: challenges and ways forward.

The spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 presents many challenges to healthcare systems and infrastructures across the world, exacerbating inequalities and leaving the world's most vulnerable populations at risk. Epidemiological modelling is vital to guiding evidence-informed or data-driven decision making. In forced displacement contexts, and in particular refugee and internally displaced people (IDP) settlements, it meets several challenges including data availability and quality, the applicability of existing models to those contexts, the accurate modelling of cultural differences or specificities of those operational settings, the communication of results and uncertainties, as well as the alignment of strategic goals between diverse partners in complex situations.

Spectrum dependency to rate and spike timing in neuronal spike trains.

Background: Spike trains are series of interspike intervals in a specific order that can be characterized by their probability distributions and order in time which refer to the concepts of rate and spike timing features. Periodic structure in the spike train can be reflected in oscillatory activities. Thus, there is a direct link between oscillator activities and the spike train.

Uncoupling Proteins and Regulated Proton Leak in Mitochondria.

Higher concentration of protons in the mitochondrial intermembrane space compared to the matrix results in an electrochemical potential causing the back flux of protons to the matrix. This proton transport can take place through ATP synthase complex (leading to formation of ATP) or can occur via proton transporters of the mitochondrial carrier superfamily and/or membrane lipids. Some mitochondrial proton transporters, such as uncoupling proteins (UCPs), transport protons as their general regulating function; while others are symporters or antiporters, which use the proton gradient as a driving force to co-transport other substrates across the mitochondrial inner membrane (such as phosphate carrier, a symporter; or aspartate/glutamate transporter, an antiporter).

Refugee and Migrant Health Strategy for the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is the origin and host to an increasing number of forcibly displaced people, mainly due to conflicts and economic disparities. Overall, 66% of the world's refugees originate from EMR. The numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been growing steadily in the region during the past decades, rising to 19.

Feasibility of a virtual reality-based exercise intervention and low-cost motion tracking method for estimation of motor proficiency in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Background: Motor impairment is widely acknowledged as a core feature in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which can affect adaptive behavior and increase severity of symptoms. Low-cost motion capture and virtual reality (VR) game technologies hold a great deal of promise for providing personalized approaches to motor intervention in ASD. The present study explored the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a custom-designed VR game-based intervention (GaitWayXR™) for improving gross motor skills in youth with ASD.

Analysis of gait synchrony and balance in neurodevelopmental disorders using computer vision techniques.

Gait tasks are commonly administered during motor assessments of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Gait analyses are often conducted in laboratory settings using costly and cumbersome experiments. In this paper, we propose a computational pipeline using computer vision techniques as an ecological and precise method to quantify gait in children with NDDs with challenging behaviors.

Behavioral, health- related and demographic risk factors of death in floods: A case-control study.

During the first half of 2019, many provinces of Iran were affected by floods, which claimed the lives of 82 people. The present study aimed to investigate the behavioral, health related and demographic risk factors associated with deaths due to floods. We measured the odds ratio and investigated the contribution and significance of the factors in relation to mortality.

Strategies and experiences for sand and dust storm adaptation: A qualitative study in Iran.

Background And Purpose: Sand and Dust storms (SDS) are meteorological hazards that are increasing due to climate change. Mitigation and adaptation are two main strategies that help to deal with this global concern. In the recent decades, Iran has been prone to SDS.