Human cytokine and coronavirus nucleocapsid protein interactivity using large-scale virtual screens.

Understanding the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the human immune system is paramount to the characterization of novel variants as the virus co-evolves with the human host. In this study, we employed state-of-the-art molecular docking tools to conduct large-scale virtual screens, predicting the binding affinities between 64 human cytokines against 17 nucleocapsid proteins from six betacoronaviruses. Our comprehensive analyses reveal specific changes in cytokine-nucleocapsid protein interactions, shedding light on potential modulators of the host immune response during infection.

Exploring trauma and wellbeing of people who use drugs after witnessing overdose: A qualitative study.

Background: The national overdose crisis is often quantified by overdose deaths, but understanding the traumatic impact for those who witness and respond to overdoses can help elucidate mental health needs and opportunities for intervention for this population. Many who respond to overdoses are people who use drugs. This study adds to the literature on how people who use drugs qualitatively experience trauma resulting from witnessing and responding to overdose, through the lens of the Trauma-Informed Theory of Individual Health Behavior.

Post-Cesarean Delivery Analgesic Outcomes in Patients Maintained on Methadone and Buprenorphine: A Retrospective Investigation.

Background: Despite the increasing prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnant women, there are limited studies on their anesthesia care and analgesic outcomes after cesarean delivery (CD).

Methods: Patients with OUD on either buprenorphine or methadone maintenance therapy who underwent CD at our institution from 2011 to 2018 were identified. Anesthetic details and analgesic outcomes, including daily opioid consumption and pain scores, were compared between patients maintained on buprenorphine and methadone.

Continuous Epidural Hydromorphone Infusion for Post-Cesarean Delivery Analgesia in a Patient on Methadone Maintenance Therapy: A Case Report.

The prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) in the United States has more than quadrupled over the past two decades. This patient population presents a number of challenges to clinicians, including difficult pain management after surgical procedures due to the development of opioid tolerance. Significantly greater opioid consumption and pain scores after cesarean delivery have been reported in patients with OUD compared to other obstetric patients.

Neurobiology of Addiction.

Drugs of abuse can cause changes in the brain leading to addiction. Current scientific focus has been on how these drugs interact with the brain and the changes they cause, how those changes affect human behavior and how they may last beyond termination of drug use. Compulsiveness in seeking the drug, impulsiveness in consuming the drug, and negative affect when the drug is withheld are characteristic of addiction.

Compliant threads maximize spider silk connection strength and toughness.

Millions of years of evolution have adapted spider webs to achieve a range of functionalities, including the well-known capture of prey, with efficient use of material. One feature that has escaped extensive investigation is the silk-on-silk connection joints within spider webs, particularly from a structural mechanics perspective. We report a joint theoretical and computational analysis of an idealized silk-on-silk fibre junction.