Machine learning models to evaluate mortality in pediatric patients with pneumonia in the intensive care unit.

Objectives: This study aimed to predict mortality in children with pneumonia who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) to aid decision-making.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study conducted at a single tertiary hospital.

Patients: This study included children who were admitted to the pediatric ICU at the National Taiwan University Hospital between 2010 and 2019 due to pneumonia.

Uniform, Strain-Free, Large-Scale Graphene and h-BN Monolayers Enabled by Hydrogel Substrates.

Translation of the unique properties of 2D monolayers from non-scalable micron-sized samples to macroscopic scale is a longstanding challenge obstructed by the substrate-induced strains, interface nonuniformities, and sample-to-sample variations inherent to the scalable fabrication methods. So far, the most successful strategies to reduce strain in graphene are the reduction of the interface roughness and lattice mismatch by using hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), with the drawback of limited uniformity and applicability to other 2D monolayers, and liquid water, which is not compatible with electronic devices. This work demonstrates a new class of substrates based on hydrogels that overcome these limitations and excel h-BN and water substrates at strain relaxation enabling superiorly uniform and reproducible centimeter-sized sheets of unstrained monolayers.

Effects of the Degree of Phenol Substitution on Molecular Structures and Properties of Chitosan-Phenol-Based Self-Healing Hydrogels.

Click chemistry is commonly used to prepare hydrogels, and chitosan-phenol prepared by using a Schiff base has been widely employed in the field of biomaterials. Chitosan-phenol is a derivative of chitosan; the phenol groups can disrupt both the inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds in chitosan, thereby reducing its crystallinity and improving its water solubility. In addition, chitosan-phenol exhibits various beneficial physiological functions.

Outcomes of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia before and after national pneumococcal immunization in Taiwan.

Objective: In Taiwan, the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children declined after the catch-up primary vaccination programs and the full national immunization program (NIP) with PCV13. The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) before and after the NIP.

Methods: The study included patients aged 3 months to 17 years who were diagnosed with CAP and treated at the National Taiwan University Hospital between 2007 and 2019.

Clinical characteristics of hospitalized children with community-acquired pneumonia and respiratory infections: Using machine learning approaches to support pathogen prediction at admission.

Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are common in children. We developed machine learning models to predict pediatric ARI pathogens at admission.

Methods: We included hospitalized children with respiratory infections between 2010 and 2018.

Molecular interactions of tannic acid and matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9.

Tannic acid (TA) has antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties and acts as an adhesive, hemostatic, and crosslinking agent in hydrogels. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a family of endopeptidase enzymes, play important roles in tissue remodeling and wound healing. TA has been reported to inhibit MMP-2/- 9 activities, thereby improving both tissue remodeling and wound healing.

Unraveling the molecular mechanism of collagen flexibility during physiological warmup using molecular dynamics simulation and machine learning.

Physiological warmup plays an important role in reducing the injury risk in different sports. In response to the associated temperature increase, the muscle and tendon soften and become easily stretched. In this study, we focused on type I collagen, the main component of the Achilles tendon, to unveil the molecular mechanism of collagen flexibility upon slight heating and to develop a model to predict the strain of collagen sequences.

Tough, Self-Healing, and Conductive Elastomer ─Ionic PEGgel.

Ionically conductive elastomers are necessary for realizing human-machine interfaces, bioelectronic applications, or durable wearable sensors. Current design strategies, however, often suffer from solvent leakage and evaporation, or from poor mechanical properties. Here, we report a strategy to fabricate ionic elastomers (IHPs) demonstrating high conductivity (0.

Are missing values important for earnings forecast? a machine learning perspective.

Analysts' forecast is one of the most common and important estimators for firms' future earnings. However, it is challenging to fully utilize because of the missing values. This study applies machine learning techniques to impute missing values in individual analysts' forecasts and subsequently to predict firms' future earnings based on both imputed and observed forecasts.

Effect of mutations on the hydrophobic interactions of the hierarchical molecular structure and mechanical properties of epithelial keratin 1/10.

Human epithelial keratin is an intermediate filament protein that serves as a backbone to maintain the stability of the cell nucleus and mechanical stability of the whole cells. The present study focused on two point mutations, F231L and S233L, of the 1B domain of keratin K 1/10 related to the rare genetic skin disease palmoplantar keratoderma (PPK). We used molecular dynamics simulation to study the effects of the mutations on various hierarchical structures, including heterodimers, tetramers, and octamers of the K1/10 1B domain at the atomic scale.

Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Subacromial Ultrasonography: Reliability and Influencing Factors.

Current imaging methods used to examine patients with subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) are limited by their semi-quantitative nature and their capability of capturing dynamic movements. This study aimed to develop a quantitative analytic model to assess subacromial motions using dynamic ultrasound and to examine their reliability and potential influencing factors. We included 48 healthy volunteers and examined their subacromial motions with dynamic ultrasound imaging.

Evaluation of the Need for Intensive Care in Children With Pneumonia: Machine Learning Approach.

Background: Timely decision-making regarding intensive care unit (ICU) admission for children with pneumonia is crucial for a better prognosis. Despite attempts to establish a guideline or triage system for evaluating ICU care needs, no clinically applicable paradigm is available.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict ICU care needs for pediatric pneumonia patients within 24 hours of admission, evaluate their performance, and identify clinical indices for making decisions for pediatric pneumonia patients.

Molecular origin of the effects of mutation on the structure and mechanical properties of human epithelial keratin K5/K14.

Epithelial keratin, a type of intermediate filament (IF) protein, is one of the key components in maintaining the stability of the cell nucleus in the epidermis of the skin, the largest organ in the human body. It absorbs water and withstands external pressure, affecting the structural stability and mechanical properties of the skin. Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is a rare genetic skin disease related to genetic mutations in epithelial keratin K5/K14.

Effect of obesity and body mass index on coronavirus disease 2019 severity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

We conducted a systematic review of observational studies to examine the effects of body mass index (BMI) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m ) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Sixteen articles were finally included in the meta-analysis, and a random effects model was used.

Ion Effect and Metal-Coordinated Cross-Linking for Multiscale Design of Nereis Jaw Inspired Mechanomutable Materials.

The Nvjp-1 protein is a key component in the jaws of Nereis virens, a species of marine worm. It contains over 25 mol % of histidine, which is believed to play a key role in the metal-coordinated cross-linking responsible for the structural stability and exceptional mechanical performance of the worm jaw. Understanding the nanoscale mechanism behind this cross-linking and its pathway in affecting the macroscopic mechanical behavior of the material is crucial to develop bioinspired mechanomutable materials based on Nvjp-1.

Determinants of Sir2-Mediated, Silent Chromatin Cohesion.

Cohesin associates with distinct sites on chromosomes to mediate sister chromatid cohesion. Single cohesin complexes are thought to bind by encircling both sister chromatids in a topological embrace. Transcriptionally repressed chromosomal domains in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae represent specialized sites of cohesion where cohesin binds silent chromatin in a Sir2-dependent fashion.

Real-time obstructive sleep apnea detection from frequency analysis of EDR and HRV using Lomb Periodogram.

In this study, an effective real-time obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) detection method from frequency analysis of ECG-derived respiratory (EDR) and heart rate variability (HRV) is proposed. Compared to traditional Polysomnography (PSG) which needs several physiological signals measured from patients, the proposed OSA detection method just only use ECG signals to determine the time interval of OSA. In order to be feasible to be implemented in hardware to achieve the real-time detection and portable application, the simplified Lomb Periodogram is utilized to perform the frequency analysis of EDR and HRV in this study.

A series of conditional shuttle vectors for targeted genomic integration in budding yeast.

The capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to repair exposed DNA ends by homologous recombination has long been used by experimentalists to assemble plasmids from DNA fragments in vivo. While this approach works well for engineering extrachromosomal vectors, it is not well suited to the generation, recovery and reuse of integrative vectors. Here, we describe the creation of a series of conditional centromeric shuttle vectors, termed pXR vectors, that can be used for both plasmid assembly in vivo and targeted genomic integration.

An efficient ASIC implementation of 16-channel on-line recursive ICA processor for real-time EEG system.

This is a proposal for an efficient very-large-scale integration (VLSI) design, 16-channel on-line recursive independent component analysis (ORICA) processor ASIC for real-time EEG system, implemented with TSMC 40 nm CMOS technology. ORICA is appropriate to be used in real-time EEG system to separate artifacts because of its highly efficient and real-time process features. The proposed ORICA processor is composed of an ORICA processing unit and a singular value decomposition (SVD) processing unit.

Bond energy effects on strength, cooperativity and robustness of molecular structures.

A fundamental challenge in engineering biologically inspired materials and systems is the identification of molecular structures that define fundamental building blocks. Here, we report a systematic study of the effect of the energy of chemical bonds on the mechanical properties of molecular structures, specifically, their strength and robustness. By considering a simple model system of an assembly of bonds in a cluster, we demonstrate that weak bonding, as found for example in H-bonds, results in a highly cooperative behaviour where clusters of bonds operate synergistically to form relatively strong molecular clusters.

Structure and mechanical properties of human trichocyte keratin intermediate filament protein.

Keratin is a protein in the intermediate filament family and the key component of hair, nail, and skin. Here we report a bottom-up atomistic model of the keratin dimer, using the complete human keratin type k35 and k85 amino acid sequence. A detailed analysis of geometric and mechanical properties through full-atomistic simulation with validation against experimental results is presented.

KCS1 deletion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to a defect in translocation of autophagic proteins and reduces autophagosome formation.

Inositol phosphates are implicated in the regulation of autophagy; however, the exact role of each inositol phosphate species is unclear. In this study, we systematically analyzed the highly conserved inositol polyphosphate synthesis pathway in S. cerevisiae for its role in regulating autophagy.

Tunable nanomechanics of protein disulfide bonds in redox microenvironments.

Disulfide bonds are important chemical cross-links that control the elasticity of fibrous protein materials such as hair, feather, wool and gluten in breadmaking dough. Here we present a novel computational approach using the first-principles-based ReaxFF reactive force field and demonstrate that this approach can be used to show that the fracture strength of disulfide bonds is decreased under the presence of reducing agents, due to a loss of cross-link stability controlled by the chemical microenvironment. Simulations in explicit solvents and dithiothreitol (DTT) indicate an intermediate step involving weakened elongated bonds, illustrating the tunability of the elasticity, rupture mechanism and strength of proteins.

Bypassing Sir2 and O-acetyl-ADP-ribose in transcriptional silencing.

The yeast Sir2/3/4 complex forms a heterochromatin-like structure that represses transcription. The proteins nucleate at silencers and spread distally, utilizing the Sir2 NAD(+)-dependent histone deacetylase activity and the affinity of Sir3/4 for deacetylated histone tails. A by-product of the Sir2 reaction, O-acetyl-ADP-ribose (OAADPr), is thought to aid spreading by binding one of the Sir proteins.