Criticality in Alzheimer's and healthy brains: insights from phase-ordering.

Criticality, observed during second-order phase transitions, is an emergent phenomenon. The brain operates near criticality where complex systems exhibit high correlations. As a system approaches criticality, it develops "domain"-like regions with competing phases and increased spatio-temporal correlations that diverge.

Frailty and mortality associations in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Observational data during the pandemic have demonstrated mixed associations between frailty and mortality.

Aim: To examine associations between frailty and short-term mortality in patients hospitalised with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Embase and the COVID-19 living systematic review from 1 December 2019 to 15 July 2021.

Case Fatality Rates for Patients with COVID-19 Requiring Invasive Mechanical Ventilation. A Meta-analysis.

Initial reports of case fatality rates (CFRs) among adults with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) are highly variable. To examine the CFR of patients with COVID-19 receiving IMV. Two authors independently searched PubMed, Embase, medRxiv, bioRxiv, the COVID-19 living systematic review, and national registry databases.

Organization of fast and slow chromatin revealed by single-nucleosome dynamics.

Understanding chromatin organization and dynamics is important, since they crucially affect DNA functions. In this study, we investigate chromatin dynamics by statistically analyzing single-nucleosome movement in living human cells. Bimodal nature of the mean square displacement distribution of nucleosomes allows for a natural categorization of the nucleosomes as fast and slow.

Single nucleosome imaging reveals loose genome chromatin networks via active RNA polymerase II.

Although chromatin organization and dynamics play a critical role in gene transcription, how they interplay remains unclear. To approach this issue, we investigated genome-wide chromatin behavior under various transcriptional conditions in living human cells using single-nucleosome imaging. While transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) is generally thought to need more open and dynamic chromatin, surprisingly, we found that active RNAPII globally constrains chromatin movements.

Arthroscopic Meniscectomy and Meniscoplasty for a Torn Discoid Medial Meniscus: Case Report, Surgical Technique, and Literature Review.

Introduction: Normal menisci of the knee are semilunar structures. Sometimes, a meniscus may be found to be thickened and disc like and is called a discoid meniscus. Such a discoid variant is usually found in the lateral meniscus.

Effects of Collective Histone State Dynamics on Epigenetic Landscape and Kinetics of Cell Reprogramming.

Cell reprogramming is a process of transitions from differentiated to pluripotent cell states via transient intermediate states. Within the epigenetic landscape framework, such a process is regarded as a sequence of transitions among basins on the landscape; therefore, theoretical construction of a model landscape which exhibits experimentally consistent dynamics can provide clues to understanding epigenetic mechanism of reprogramming. We propose a minimal gene-network model of the landscape, in which each gene is regulated by an integrated mechanism of transcription-factor binding/unbinding and the collective chemical modification of histones.

Social Factors Influencing Russian Male Alcohol Use over the Life Course: A Qualitative Study Investigating Age Based Social Norms, Masculinity, and Workplace Context.

The massive fluctuations occurring in Russian alcohol-related mortality since the mid-1980s cannot be seen outside of the context of great social and economic change. There is a dearth of qualitative studies about Russian male drinking and especially needed are those that address social processes and individual changes in drinking. Conducted as part of a longitudinal study on men's alcohol consumption in Izhevsk, this qualitative study uses 25 semi-structured biographical interviews with men aged 33-60 years to explore life course variation in drinking.

Osseous choristoma of the labial mucosa: A rare case report.

Osseous choristoma is a normal bone tissue in an ectopic position. These are slow growing lesions that are usually completely asymptomatic and only present when there is a disruption in the function of the organ due to its large size as it grows. Definitive diagnosis is obtained only after the histopathological examination.

Inherent structures, fragility, and jamming: insights from quasi-one-dimensional hard disks.

We study a quasi-one-dimensional system of hard disks confined between hard lines to explore the relationship between the inherent structure landscape, the thermodynamics, and the dynamics of the fluid. The transfer matrix method is used to obtain an exact description of the landscape, equation of state, and provide a mapping of configurations of the equilibrium fluid to their local jammed structures. This allows us to follow how the system samples the landscape as a function of occupied volume fraction ϕ.

Clinical assessment of the shoulder.

The shoulder joint is complex in structure and functionality. It is often difficult to assess clinically due to the great variety of associated pathology. This article presents an overview of the anatomy of the shoulder region and associated pathologies, whilst providing a summary of the clinical examination of the shoulder and associated 'special tests'.

Inherent structure landscape connection between liquids, granular materials, and the jamming phase diagram.

We provide a comprehensive picture of the jamming phase diagram by connecting the athermal, granular ensemble of jammed states and the equilibrium fluid through the inherent structure paradigm for a system of hard disks confined to a narrow channel. The J line is shown to be divided into packings that are either accessible or inaccessible from the equilibrium fluid. The J point itself is found to occur at the transition between these two sets of packings and is located at the maximum of the inherent structure distribution.

Fragile-strong fluid crossover and universal relaxation times in a confined hard-disk fluid.

We show that a system of hard disks confined to a narrow channel exhibits a fragile-strong fluid crossover located at the maximum of the isobaric heat capacity and that the relaxation times for different channel widths fall onto a single master curve when rescaled by the relaxation times and temperatures of the crossover. Calculations of the configurational entropy and the inherent structure equation of state find that the crossover is related to properties of the jamming landscape for the model but that the Adam-Gibbs relation does not predict the relaxation behavior. We also show that a facilitated dynamics description of the system, where kinetically excited regions are identified with local packing arrangements of the disks, successfully describes the fragile-strong crossover.

Calculations of the structure of basin volumes for mechanically stable packings.

Experimental and computational model systems composed of frictionless particles in a fixed geometry have a finite number of distinct mechanically stable (MS) packings. The frequency of occurrence for each MS packing is highly variable and depends strongly on preparation protocol. Despite intense work, it is extremely difficult to predict a priori the MS packing probabilities.

A study of association of depressive symptoms among the type 2 diabetic outpatients presenting to a tertiary care hospital.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing among Indian population over time. There are varying reports about the association of depression among type 2 diabetic individuals. However, there is limited data about this in India.

Edwards entropy and compactivity in a model of granular matter.

Formulating a statistical mechanics for granular matter remains a significant challenge, in part due to the difficulty associated with a complete characterization of the systems under study. We present a fully characterized model of a granular material consisting of N two-dimensional, frictionless hard disks, confined between hard walls, including a complete enumeration of all possible jammed structures. We show that the properties of the jammed packings are independent of the distribution of defects within the system and that all the packings are isostatic.

Complete jamming landscape of confined hard discs.

An exact description of the complete jamming landscape is developed for a system of hard discs of diameter sigma, confined between two lines separated by a distance 1+sqrt[3/4] View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Metal-to-semimetal transition in supercooled liquid silicon.

Computer simulations, using the Stillinger-Weber potential, have previously been employed to demonstrate a liquid-liquid transition in supercooled silicon near 1060 K. From calculations of electronic structure using an empirical psuedopotential, we show that silicon undergoes an associated metal to semimetal transition with a resistivity jump of roughly 1 order of magnitude. We show that the electronic states near the Fermi energy become localized in the low temperature phase, and that changes in electronic structure between the two phases arise from a change in atomic structure, and not from a change in density.