Deep learning estimation of proton stopping power with photon-counting computed tomography: a virtual study.

Purpose: Proton radiation therapy may achieve precise dose delivery to the tumor while sparing non-cancerous surrounding tissue, owing to the distinct Bragg peaks of protons. Aligning the high-dose region with the tumor requires accurate estimates of the proton stopping power ratio (SPR) of patient tissues, commonly derived from computed tomography (CT) image data. Photon-counting detectors for CT have demonstrated advantages over their energy-integrating counterparts, such as improved quantitative imaging, higher spatial resolution, and filtering of electronic noise.

Maternal Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: An Interrupted Time-series Analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent policy responses aimed at curbing disease spread and reducing economic fallout, had far-reaching consequences for maternal health. There has been little research to our knowledge on enduring disruptions to maternal health trends beyond the early pandemic and limited understanding of how these impacted pre-existing disparities in maternal health.

Methods: We leveraged rigorous interrupted time-series methods and US National Center for Health Statistics Vital Statistics Birth Data Files of all live births for 2015-2021 (N = 24,653,848).

Individual and regional differences in the effects of school racial segregation on Black students' health.

Background: School racial segregation in the US has risen steadily since the 1990s, propelled by Supreme Court decisions rolling back the legacy of . Quasi-experimental research has shown this resegregation harms Black students' health. However, whether individual or family characteristics (e.

Medicaid Expansion and Perinatal Health Outcomes: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Objective: There has been little evidence of the impact of preventive services during pregnancy covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on birthing parent and infant outcomes. To address this gap, this study examines the association between Medicaid expansion under the ACA and birthing parent and infant outcomes of low-income pregnant people.

Methods: This study used individual-level data from the 2004-2017 annual waves of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS).

Out-of-Equilibrium Mechanical Disruption of β-Amyloid-Like Fibers using Light-Driven Molecular Motors.

Artificial molecular motors have the potential to generate mechanical work on their environment by producing autonomous unidirectional motions when supplied with a source of energy. However, the harnessing of this mechanical work to subsequently activate various endoenergetic processes that can be useful in materials science remains elusive. Here, it is shown that by integrating a light-driven rotary motor through hydrogen bonds in a β-amyloid-like structure forming supramolecular hydrogels, the mechanical work generated during the constant rotation of the molecular machine under UV irradiation is sufficient to disrupt the β-amyloid fibers and to trigger a gel-to-sol transition at macroscopic scale.