Diet of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) during range expansion in Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire.

Great Bay Estuary (GBE), within the rapidly warming Gulf of Maine, has experienced significant ecological shifts this century due to naturalization of invasive species. The range expansion of the American blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) currently underway from the mid-Atlantic northward brings the possibility of similar ecological shifts. This study accounts recent trapping and diet analysis of C.

Deriving Mendelian Randomization-based Causal Networks of Brain Imaging Phenotypes and Bipolar Disorder.

Neuroanatomical variation in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) has been previously described in observational studies. However, the causal dynamics of these relationships remain unexplored. We performed Mendelian Randomization of 297 structural and functional neuroimaging phenotypes from the UK BioBank and BD using genome-wide association study summary statistics.

Neonates exposed to HIV but uninfected exhibit an altered gut microbiota and inflammation associated with impaired breast milk antibody function.

Background: Infants exposed to HIV but uninfected have altered immune profiles which include heightened systemic inflammation. The mechanism(s) underlying this phenomenon is unknown. Here, we investigated differences in neonatal gut bacterial and viral microbiome and associations with inflammatory biomarkers in plasma.

Bioactivity Profiling of Chemical Mixtures for Hazard Characterization.

The assessment and regulation of chemical toxicity to protect human health and the environment are done one chemical at a time and seldom at environmentally relevant concentrations. However, chemicals are found in the environment as mixtures, and their toxicity is largely unknown. Understanding the hazard posed by chemicals within the mixture is critical to enforce protective measures.

Unveiling the hidden network of STING's subcellular regulation.

A new study deconvolutes the systems-level control of the cGAS-STING pathway and identifies many novel regulators of STING biology. This was made possible by optical pooled screening (OPS), which enables high-dimensional imaging of millions of gene-edited cells, showcasing the future of CRISPR screening.

Female Pelvic Conditions: Dyspareunia and Vulvodynia.

Genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder is a relatively new term encompassing both dyspareunia (recurrent pain with intercourse) and vaginismus (involuntary contraction of the pelvic floor with attempted penetration). Symptoms are often multifactorial. Thus, a detailed history and sensitive patient-centered examination are essential to identify and treat the underlying cause(s).

Association that Neuroimaging and Clinical Measures Have with Change in Arm Impairment in a Phase 3 Stroke Recovery Trial.

Objective: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitation therapy improved motor status compared to rehabilitation alone in the phase III VNS-REHAB stroke trial, but treatment response was variable and not associated with any clinical measures acquired at baseline, such as age or side of paresis. We hypothesized that neuroimaging measures would be associated with treatment-related gains, examining performance of regional injury measures versus global brain health measures in parallel with clinical measures.

Methods: Baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in the VNS-REHAB trial were used to derive regional injury measures (extent of injury to corticospinal tract, the primary regional measure; plus extent of injury to precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus; lesion volume; and lesion topography) and global brain health measures (degree of white matter hyperintensities, the primary global brain measure; plus volumes of cerebrospinal fluid, cortical gray matter, white matter, each thalamus, and total brain).

Audit and Feedback Interventions for Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: This systematic review evaluates the effect of audit and feedback (A&F) interventions targeting antibiotic prescribing in primary care and examines factors that may explain the variation in effectiveness.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving A&F interventions targeting antibiotic prescribing in primary care were included in the systematic review. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and ClinicalTrials.

Extracellular vesicles, RNA sequencing, and bioinformatic analyses: Challenges, solutions, and recommendations.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are heterogeneous entities secreted by cells into their microenvironment and systemic circulation. Circulating EVs carry functional small RNAs and other molecular footprints from their cell of origin, and thus have evident applications in liquid biopsy, therapeutics, and intercellular communication. Yet, the complete transcriptomic landscape of EVs is poorly characterized due to critical limitations including variable protocols used for EV-RNA extraction, quality control, cDNA library preparation, sequencing technologies, and bioinformatic analyses.

Minimally invasive serial collection of cerebrospinal fluid reveals sex-dependent differences in neuroinflammation in a rat model of mild traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are the seventh leading cause of disability globally with 48.99 million prevalent cases and 7.08 million years lived with diability.

Proof-of-Concept Validation of Noninvasive Detection of Cortical Spreading Depolarization with High Resolution Direct Current-Electroencephalography.

Background/objective: Cortical spreading depolarization (SD) is increasingly recognized as a major contributor to secondary brain injury. Monitoring SDs could be used to institute and guide SD-based therapeutics if noninvasive detection methods were available. Our primary objective is to use a high density array of electrodes to compare scalp direct current (DC)-shifts to SDs detected by gold standard electrocorticography (ECoG) to establish proof-of-concept validation that scalp DC-potentials can potentially provide noninvasive SD detection.

Atmosphere Effects in Laser Powder Bed Fusion: A Review.

The use of components fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) requires the development of processing parameters that can produce high-quality material. Manipulating the most commonly identified critical build parameters (e.g.

Instrumental variables in the cost of illness featuring type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To ascertain how an instrumental variables (IV) model can improve upon the estimates obtained from traditional cost-of-illness (COI) models that treat health conditions as predetermined.

Study Setting And Design: A simulation study based on observational data compares the coefficients and average marginal effects from an IV model to a traditional COI model when an unobservable confounder is introduced. The two approaches are then applied to real data, using a kinship-weighted family history as an instrument, and differences are interpreted within the context of the findings from the simulation study.

Patient Reported Outcome Measures in cancer care: a hybrid effectiveness-Implementation trial to optimise Symptom control and health service Experience (PROMISE)-protocol for a randomised controlled trial of electronic self-reporting of symptoms versus usual care during and following treatment in patients with cancer.

Introduction: Routine collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has the potential to inform and improve cancer care. It is now feasible for patients to complete PROMs electronically (ePROMs) providing information about their current levels of symptoms, side effects of treatment and other concerns. PROM scores can be tracked over time allowing more timely identification of problems and more appropriate intervention.

Effect of curing conditions on heat resistance in white chocolate.

Heat-resistant chocolate is of much interest to confectionery companies for marketing in tropical areas. Methods exist to produce heat-resistant chocolate by exposing the product to high relative humidity (RH) and increased temperatures. The overall objective of this research project was to explore the curing of white chocolate (30% whole milk powder, 44% sucrose, and 26% cocoa butter) to make it heat resistant and able to be picked up at 33 and 55°C.

Challenges and Recommendations for Improving Cancer Research and Practice in Nigeria: .

Background: Cancers, with increasing incidence and mortality rates, constitute a leading public health problem in Nigeria. As the burden of cancer in Nigeria increases, research and quality service delivery remain critical strategies for improved cancer control across the continuum of care. This study contextualizes the challenges and gaps in oncology research and practice in Nigeria, and presents recommendations to address the gaps.

Culture-Negative Endocarditis Complicated by Cerebral Abscesses Due to Streptococcus gordonii: A Diagnostic Odyssey.

Endocarditis is a serious diagnostic entity that carries a high rate of morbidity and mortality, with complications including heart failure, septic embolization, brain abscesses, and stroke. Blood culture-negative endocarditis (BCNE) represents a particularly challenging clinical scenario where the causative organism is undetectable, either due to being difficult to culture or due to the empiric administration of antimicrobial agents. This entity generally results in delayed diagnosis and treatment of endocarditis, with a potential increase in the rate of complications.

A Pilot Study on the Collection of Adverse Event Data from the Patient Using an Electronic Platform in a Cancer Clinical Trial Unit.

Background And Objective: Accurate and robust adverse event (AE) data collection is crucial in cancer clinical trials to ensure participant safety. Frameworks have been developed to facilitate the collection of AE data and now the traditional workflows are facing renewal to include patient-reported data, improving completeness of AE data. We explored one of these workflows in a cancer clinical trial unit.

Ovarian cancer-derived IL-4 promotes immunotherapy resistance.

Ovarian cancer is resistant to immunotherapy, and this is influenced by the immunosuppressed tumor microenvironment (TME) dominated by macrophages. Resistance is also affected by intratumoral heterogeneity, whose development is poorly understood. To identify regulators of ovarian cancer immunity, we employed a spatial functional genomics screen (Perturb-map), focused on receptor/ligands hypothesized to be involved in tumor-macrophage communication.

Using Genetic Data to Determine Origin for Out-Migrating Smolt and Returning Adult Steelhead Trout () in a Southeast Alaska Drainage.

is a partially migratory salmonid species, and many migratory populations (known as steelhead) have declined in recent decades in the western United States and Canada. Closely related resident populations (known as rainbow trout) may be an effective resource in the recovery of these declining migratory populations. However, the extent to which different populations of resident rainbow trout produce migratory individuals and how likely these individuals are to return as adults to spawn remains unknown.

Association Between Pain and Bullying in Australian Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Data From the Australian Child Wellbeing Project.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the frequency, and the strength of the association, between bullying and pain in Australian schoolchildren.

Methods: We used nationally representative data from the 2014 Australian Child Wellbeing Project, comprised students aged 8 to 14 years from 180 schools. Weighted, multiple logistic regression models (adjusting for sex and school year) were constructed to quantify the association between weekly or more frequent bullying and weekly or more frequent pain.

Impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer care in New South Wales, Australia: real-world data from the EnRICH Program.

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted healthcare systems worldwide, causing substantial changes to routine healthcare delivery. National and international modelling studies have predicted adverse impacts of this disruption. This study aimed to assess the real-world impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of care and outcomes for patients with lung cancer in New South Wales (NSW).

A keep-it-simple embolisation approach to treat pelvic congestion syndrome without compromising clinical effectiveness.

Introduction: There are two approaches to treating pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS): (i) the keep-it-simple (KIS) approach, which involves embolising only the refluxing vein(s), typically the left ovarian vein (LOV) unless the right ovarian vein (ROV) or left/right internal iliac vein (IIV) tributaries are also refluxing; and (ii) the extensive (EXT) approach, which empirically embolises almost all of the LOV, ROV, and left and right IIV tributaries. The aim of this study is to determine whether the KIS approach can effectively treat PCS while minimising the number of treated veins and coils used, without the need for injecting sclerosing agents into pelvic veins or the use of occlusion balloons.

Methods: This is a single-institution retrospective cohort study.