Assessment of Medication Adherence Using Mobile Applications in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Scoping Review.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition that significantly impacts both patients and healthcare systems. The management of COPD involves various pharmacological intervention strategies, and addressing the issue of low adherence to these strategies has become a subject of significant interest. In response to this concern, there has been a shift toward utilizing telemedicine and mobile applications.

Towards a standard benchmark for variant and gene prioritisation algorithms: PhEval - Phenotypic inference Evaluation framework.

Background: Computational approaches to support rare disease diagnosis are challenging to build, requiring the integration of complex data types such as ontologies, gene-to-phenotype associations, and cross-species data into variant and gene prioritisation algorithms (VGPAs). However, the performance of VGPAs has been difficult to measure and is impacted by many factors, for example, ontology structure, annotation completeness or changes to the underlying algorithm. Assertions of the capabilities of VGPAs are often not reproducible, in part because there is no standardised, empirical framework and openly available patient data to assess the efficacy of VGPAs - ultimately hindering the development of effective prioritisation tools.

The effects of humidity on thermoregulatory physiology of a small songbird.

Scholander-Irving curves describe the relationship between ambient temperature and metabolic rate and are fundamental to understanding the energetic demands of homeothermy. However, Scholander-Irving curves are typically measured in dry air, which is not representative of the humidity many organisms experience in nature. Consequently, it is unclear (1) whether Scholander-Irving curves (especially below thermoneutrality) are altered by humidity, given the effects of humidity on thermal properties of air, and (2) whether physiological responses associated with Scholander-Irving curves in the lab reflect organismal performance in humid field conditions.

Neural network dose prediction for cervical brachytherapy: Overcoming data scarcity for applicator-specific models.

Background: 3D neural network dose predictions are useful for automating brachytherapy (BT) treatment planning for cervical cancer. Cervical BT can be delivered with numerous applicators, which necessitates developing models that generalize to multiple applicator types. The variability and scarcity of data for any given applicator type poses challenges for deep learning.

Tuning the Biodegradation Rate of Silk Materials via Embedded Enzymes.

Conventional thinking when designing biodegradable materials and devices is to tune the intrinsic properties and morphological features of the material to regulate their degradation rate, modulating traditional factors such as molecular weight and crystallinity. Since regenerated silk protein can be directly thermoplastically molded to generate robust dense silk plastic-like materials, this approach afforded a new tool to control silk degradation by enabling the mixing of a silk-degrading protease into bulk silk material prior to thermoplastic processing. Here we demonstrate the preparation of these silk-based devices with embedded silk-degrading protease to modulate the degradation based on the internal presence of the enzyme to support silk degradation, as opposed to the traditional surface degradation for silk materials.

The Monarch Initiative in 2024: an analytic platform integrating phenotypes, genes and diseases across species.

Bridging the gap between genetic variations, environmental determinants, and phenotypic outcomes is critical for supporting clinical diagnosis and understanding mechanisms of diseases. It requires integrating open data at a global scale. The Monarch Initiative advances these goals by developing open ontologies, semantic data models, and knowledge graphs for translational research.

Prevention and control of COVID-19 outbreak in a hemodialysis center.

Background: The prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hemodialysis (HD) units is challenging.

Aim: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on HD with COVID-19, between March 2020 and January 28, 2021, attending a single HD unit in Bogotá, Colombia.

Material And Methods: In this prospective observational study, incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality rate were estimated, including screening results with RT-PCR and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies in all patients and health personnel in the HD unit.

KG-Hub-building and exchanging biological knowledge graphs.

Motivation: Knowledge graphs (KGs) are a powerful approach for integrating heterogeneous data and making inferences in biology and many other domains, but a coherent solution for constructing, exchanging, and facilitating the downstream use of KGs is lacking.

Results: Here we present KG-Hub, a platform that enables standardized construction, exchange, and reuse of KGs. Features include a simple, modular extract-transform-load pattern for producing graphs compliant with Biolink Model (a high-level data model for standardizing biological data), easy integration of any OBO (Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies) ontology, cached downloads of upstream data sources, versioned and automatically updated builds with stable URLs, web-browsable storage of KG artifacts on cloud infrastructure, and easy reuse of transformed subgraphs across projects.

From pipelines to pathways in the study of academic progress.

Students and administrators can benefit from new analytics.

Automated treatment planning framework for brachytherapy of cervical cancer using 3D dose predictions.

. To lay the foundation for automated knowledge-based brachytherapy treatment planning using 3D dose estimations, we describe an optimization framework to convert brachytherapy dose distributions directly into dwell times (DTs)..

A Longitudinal Study Identifying the Characteristics and Content Knowledge of Those Seeking Certification to Teach Secondary Biology in the United States.

Teacher content knowledge has been identified as a key prerequisite to effective instruction, and current educational policies require measurement of teacher content knowledge to assess candidacy for licensure. The primary instruments used in the United States are the Praxis Subject Assessment exams, which are designed to measure the subject-specific content knowledge needed to be a teacher. The Praxis Biology Subject Assessment exam, used by 42 U.

Knowledge-based three-dimensional dose prediction for tandem-and-ovoid brachytherapy.

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to develop a knowledge-based dose prediction system using a convolution neural network (CNN) for cervical brachytherapy treatments with a tandem-and-ovoid applicator.

Methods: A 3D U-NET CNN was utilized to make voxel-wise dose predictions based on organ-at-risk (OAR), high-risk clinical target volume (HRCTV), and possible source location geometry. The model comprised 395 previously treated cases: training (273), validation (61), test (61).

Knowledge-based dose prediction models to inform gynecologic brachytherapy needle supplementation for locally advanced cervical cancer.

Purpose: The use of interstitial needles, combined with intracavitary applicators, enables customized dose distributions and is beneficial for complex cases, but increases procedure time. Overall, applicator selection is not standardized and depends on physician expertise and preference. The purpose of this study is to determine whether dose prediction models can guide needle supplementation decision-making for cervical cancer.

Temporary Hydrogel Dressings for Colon Polypectomies.

Currently, no dressings are utilized after removal of polyps during a colonoscopy rendering these tissue sites susceptible to bleeding, sepsis, and perfusion. We report the design specifications, synthesis, and evaluation of polymerized hydrogels as colon wound dressings post polypectomy. The hydrogels exhibited varied properties to include moduli between 100 and 16 000 Pa, dissolution times between 4 h to 7 days or longer, swelling up to 200%, and adhesion to colon tissue from 0.

Cytoskeleton-inspired artificial protein design to enhance polymer network elasticity.

Reducing topological network defects to enhance elasticity in polymeric materials remains a grand challenge. Efforts to control network topology, primarily focused on crosslinking junctions, continue to underperform compared to theoretical estimations from idealized networks using affine and phantom network theories. Here, artificial protein technology was adapted for the design of polymer-network hydrogels with precisely defined coil-like and rod-like strands to observe the impact of strand rigidity on the mechanical properties of polymeric materials.

Spanish validation of Charlson index applied to prostate cancer.

Purpose: Comorbidity assessment is essential in the triage of care for men with prostate cancer (PC). The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the revised Charlson index (RCI) in PC.

Materials And Methods: 731 PC patients diagnosed from 1993 to 2008 were referred to our Radiation Oncology Department.

Present status of sentinel lymph node biopsy in cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, and seventh overall. This disease represents a medical, economic and social burden. In early FIGO stage patients (IA, IB1 and IIA1), nodal involvement is the most important prognostic factor.

Human Pegivirus in Patients with Encephalitis of Unclear Etiology, Poland.

Human pegivirus (HPgV), previously called hepatitis G virus or GB virus C, is a lymphotropic virus with undefined pathology. Because many viruses from the family Flaviviridae, to which HPgV belongs, are neurotropic, we studied whether HPgV could infect the central nervous system. We tested serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples from 96 patients with a diagnosis of encephalitis for a variety of pathogens by molecular methods and serology; we also tested for autoantibodies against neuronal antigens.

Postoperative adjuvant and very early salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy in high-risk prostate cancer patients can improve specific and overall survival.

Purpose: Adjuvant radiotherapy (ART) for biochemical relapse (BR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) showed increased disease-free survival (DFS) in three previous randomized trials. Retrospective phase II trials evaluated if early salvage RT (ESRT) is equivalent to ART. Our study aims to compare ART and ESRT to salvage RT.

Are endometrial cancer radiotherapy results age related?

Objective: To analyze the impact of age on radiotherapy results based on cancer-specific survival (CSS), vaginal-cuff relapses (VCR) and complications analysis in 438 patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC) receiving postoperative radiotherapy (PRT) divided into three age groups for analysis.

Materials And Methods: From 2003 to 2015, 438 patients with EC were treated with PRT and divided into three age groups: Group-1: 202 patients < 65 years; Group-2: 210 patients ≥ 65 and < 80 years; Group-3: 26 patients ≥ 80 years. Vaginal toxicity was assessed using the objective LENT-SOMA criteria and RTOG scores were recorded for the rectum, bladder, and small bowel.

Perceiving Relationship Success Through a Motivational Lens: A Regulatory Focus Perspective.

The current research examined the hypothesis that the relative importance of growth- and security-related relationship qualities in establishing successful relationships depends on the motivational orientation-regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997)-of the individual. Across four studies, we found that individuals in a promotion focus, whether chronic (Studies 1-2, 4) or temporarily induced (Study 2), prioritized the presence of relationship growth versus security in perceiving relationship success (Studies 1-2), rated their own relationship well-being higher when growth (but not security) qualities were present (Study 3), and experienced heightened relationship well-being when room for growth was manipulated to appear abundant versus limited (Study 4). In contrast, prevention-focused individuals did not place as much emphasis on growth relative to security (Studies 1 and 3) and, when forced to choose, preferred a relationship characterized by security versus growth (Study 2).

Is it really "all in their heads"? How self-esteem predicts partner responsiveness.

Objective: Having a responsive partner is important for the well-being of relationships. Unfortunately, people with low self-esteem (LSEs) perceive their partners to be less responsive than do people with high self-esteem (HSEs). Although the common assumption has been that LSEs' negative partner perceptions are "all in their heads"-a reflection of their negative self-projection-we argue that LSEs' views of lower partner responsiveness are, in fact, warranted.