Enhancing severe hypoglycemia prediction in type 2 diabetes mellitus through multi-view co-training machine learning model for imbalanced dataset.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who have severe hypoglycemia (SH) poses a considerable risk of long-term death, especially among the elderly, demanding urgent medical attention. Accurate prediction of SH remains challenging due to its multifaced nature, contributed from factors such as medications, lifestyle choices, and metabolic measurements. In this study, we propose a systematic approach to improve the robustness and accuracy of SH predictions using machine learning models, guided by clinical feature selection.

Repeated vaccination with homologous influenza hemagglutinin broadens human antibody responses to unmatched flu viruses.

The on-going diversification of influenza virus necessicates annual vaccine updating. The vaccine antigen, the viral spike protein hemagglutinin (HA), tends to elicit strain-specific neutralizing activity, predicting that sequential immunization with the same HA strain will boost antibodies with narrow coverage. However, repeated vaccination with homologous SARS-CoV-2 vaccine eventually elicits neutralizing activity against highly unmatched variants, questioning this immunological premise.

Protocol for near-infrared optogenetics manipulation of neurons and motor behavior in C. elegans using emissive upconversion nanoparticles.

In deep tissue, optogenetics faces limitations with visible light. Here, we present a protocol for near-infrared (NIR) optogenetics manipulation of neurons and motor behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans using emissive upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). We describe steps for synthesizing and modifying UCNPs.

Humoral profiles of toddlers and young children following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.

Although young children generally experience mild symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2, severe acute and long-term complications can occur. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines elicit robust immunoglobulin profiles in children ages 5 years and older, and in adults, corresponding with substantial protection against hospitalizations and severe disease. Whether similar immune responses and humoral protection can be observed in vaccinated infants and young children, who have a developing and vulnerable immune system, remains poorly understood.

Distinct Functional Humoral Immune Responses Are Induced after Live Attenuated and Inactivated Seasonal Influenza Vaccination.

Influenza viruses infect 5-30% of the world's population annually, resulting in millions of incidents of hospitalization and thousands of mortalities worldwide every year. Although annual vaccination has significantly reduced hospitalization rates in vulnerable populations, the current vaccines are estimated to offer a wide range of protection from 10 to 60% annually. Such incomplete immunity may be related to both poor antigenic coverage of circulating strains, as well as to the insufficient induction of protective immunity.

Long-term changes in major ion chemistry-similarities and differences between inflow rivers and the lake in Taihu watershed, China.

The major ion chemistry in the Taihu watershed has dramatically changed due to human disturbances; however, little is known about the similarities and differences in the responses of the inflow rivers and Taihu lake to the disturbances. Using historical (1950s-1970s) and recent (2018-2021) water chemistry data of inflow rivers and the lake, as well as socioeconomic and land use data, we explored the drivers for the major ion chemistry change and different responses of the inflow rivers and the receiving lake. The results indicated that, compared with 1950s-1970s, all the major ions and TDS in rivers and Taihu lake significantly increased (by 91% for Mg and by 395% for Cl in rivers; by 68% for HCO and 134% for Na in the lake); however, their increases in major ion composition presented a clear difference, i.

Liver biopsy-based validation, confirmation and comparison of the diagnostic performance of established and novel non-invasive steatotic liver disease indexes: Results from a large multi-center study.

Background: Non-invasive tools (NIT) for metabolic-dysfunction associated liver disease (MASLD) screening or diagnosis need to be thoroughly validated using liver biopsies.

Purpose: To externally validate NITs designed to differentiate the presence or absence of liver steatosis as well as more advanced disease stages, to confirm fully validated indexes (n = 7 NITs), to fully validate partially validated indexes (n = 5 NITs), and to validate for the first time one new index (n = 1 NIT).

Methods: This is a multi-center study from two Gastroenterology-Hepatology Departments (Greece and Australia) and one Bariatric-Metabolic Surgery Department (Italy).

Beta-containing bivalent SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccine elicits durable broad neutralization in macaques and protection in hamsters.

Background: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, several variants of concern (VOC) have emerged for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease, and/or reduced vaccine effectiveness. Effective COVID-19 vaccine strategies are required to achieve broad protective immunity against current and future VOC.

Methods: We conducted immunogenicity and challenge studies in macaques and hamsters using a bivalent recombinant vaccine formulation containing the SARS-CoV-2 prefusion-stabilized Spike trimers of the ancestral D614 and the variant Beta strains with AS03 adjuvant (CoV2 preS dTM-AS03) in a primary immunization setting.

Hybrid immunity expands the functional humoral footprint of both mRNA and vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Despite the successes of current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, waning immunity, the emergence of variants of concern, and breakthrough infections among vaccinees have begun to highlight opportunities to improve vaccine platforms. Real-world vaccine efficacy studies have highlighted the reduced risk of breakthrough infections and diseases among individuals infected and vaccinated, referred to as hybrid immunity. Thus, we sought to define whether hybrid immunity shapes the humoral immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) following Pfizer/BNT162b2, Moderna mRNA-1273, ChadOx1/AZD1222, and Ad26.

Neurologic sequelae of COVID-19 are determined by immunologic imprinting from previous coronaviruses.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains a global public health emergency. Although SARS-CoV-2 is primarily a respiratory pathogen, extra-respiratory organs, including the CNS, can also be affected. Neurologic symptoms have been observed not only during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also at distance from respiratory disease, also known as long-COVID or neurological post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (neuroPASC).

Humoral profiles of toddlers and young children following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.

Although young children generally experience mild symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2, severe acute and long-term complications can occur. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines elicit robust immunoglobulin profiles in children ages 5 years and older, and in adults, corresponding with substantial protection against hospitalizations and severe disease. Whether similar immune responses and humoral protection can be observed in vaccinated infants and young children, who have a developing and vulnerable immune system, remains poorly understood.

[Policy Analysis in Plastic Pollution Governance and Recommendations in China].

Plastic pollution is a global concern and an issue in environmental governance. Based on the updated "Plastic Prohibition/Restriction Order" issued recently in China, the present study systematically reviewed the implementation effectiveness of the "Plastic Prohibition/Restriction Order" since 2007. Furthermore, we summarized plastics in China and plastic waste management progress policies.

AOSLO-net: A Deep Learning-Based Method for Automatic Segmentation of Retinal Microaneurysms From Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy Images.

Purpose: Accurate segmentation of microaneurysms (MAs) from adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) images is crucial for identifying MA morphologies and assessing the hemodynamics inside the MAs. Herein, we introduce AOSLO-net to perform automatic MA segmentation from AOSLO images of diabetic retinas.

Method: AOSLO-net is composed of a deep neural network based on UNet with a pretrained EfficientNet as the encoder.

Accelerated carbonate dissolution caused by anthropogenic acidification - contrast of watershed soils to lake sediments in Taihu Region, China.

Although Taihu watershed is an "acid-insensitive" region, anthropogenic acidification has greatly changed the water chemistry in Taihu Lake. However, how soil carbonates responded to the long-term human-induced acidification received less attention. In this work, we investigated soil carbonate concentrations from different land uses in the upstream of the lake and sediment carbonate profiles in the lake, to explore the linkage of carbonates dissolution in the land and sedimentation in the lake.

[Distribution Characteristics and Ecological and Health Risk Assessment of Phthalic Acid Esters in Surface Water of Qiandao Lake, China].

In order to reveal the pollution and risk level of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in Qiandao Lake, six types of PAEs in 17 sampling points (in Qiandao Lake and its inflowing rivers) in dry and wet seasons were detected. The results showed that six types of PAEs were detected in both dry and wet seasons, with the concentrations of 0.98-5.

Multiphysics and multiscale modeling of microthrombosis in COVID-19.

Emerging clinical evidence suggests that thrombosis in the microvasculature of patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) plays an essential role in dictating the disease progression. Because of the infectious nature of SARS-CoV-2, patients' fresh blood samples are limited to access for in vitro experimental investigations. Herein, we employ a novel multiscale and multiphysics computational framework to perform predictive modeling of the pathological thrombus formation in the microvasculature using data from patients with COVID-19.

Recent Advances in Computational Modeling of Biomechanics and Biorheology of Red Blood Cells in Diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disease characterized by chronically elevated blood glucose levels, affects about 29 million Americans and more than 422 million adults all over the world. Particularly, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for 90-95% of the cases of vascular disease and its prevalence is increasing due to the rising obesity rates in modern societies. Although multiple factors associated with diabetes, such as reduced red blood cell (RBC) deformability, enhanced RBC aggregation and adhesion to the endothelium, as well as elevated blood viscosity are thought to contribute to the hemodynamic impairment and vascular occlusion, clinical or experimental studies cannot directly quantify the contributions of these factors to the abnormal hematology in T2DM.

Computational investigation of blood cell transport in retinal microaneurysms.

Microaneurysms (MAs) are one of the earliest clinically visible signs of diabetic retinopathy (DR). MA leakage or rupture may precipitate local pathology in the surrounding neural retina that impacts visual function. Thrombosis in MAs may affect their turnover time, an indicator associated with visual and anatomic outcomes in the diabetic eyes.

Deep transfer learning and data augmentation improve glucose levels prediction in type 2 diabetes patients.

Accurate prediction of blood glucose variations in type 2 diabetes (T2D) will facilitate better glycemic control and decrease the occurrence of hypoglycemic episodes as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with T2D, hence increasing the quality of life of patients. Owing to the complexity of the blood glucose dynamics, it is difficult to design accurate predictive models in every circumstance, i.e.

In silico biophysics and hemorheology of blood hyperviscosity syndrome.

Hyperviscosity syndrome (HVS) is characterized by an increase of the blood viscosity by up to seven times the normal blood viscosity, resulting in disturbances to the circulation in the vasculature system. HVS is commonly associated with an increase of large plasma proteins and abnormalities in the properties of red blood cells, such as cell interactions, cell stiffness, and increased hematocrit. Here, we perform a systematic study of the effect of each biophysical factor on the viscosity of blood by employing the dissipative particle dynamic method.

[Changes in Water Chemistry and Driving Factors in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal].

To reveal the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal natural water chemistry characteristics and the influence of human activities, river samples from Xuzhou to Jiaxing were collected in 2019-2020. Simultaneously, the water chemistry data of the canal from 1959 to 1962 and 1975 to 1977 in the Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou sections and the recent social and economic data of the major cities along the canal were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the type of hydrochemistry in the study area was mainly influenced by the weathering of carbonate rocks in the basin, but K+Na accounted for 40.

Integrating blood cell mechanics, platelet adhesive dynamics and coagulation cascade for modelling thrombus formation in normal and diabetic blood.

Normal haemostasis is an important physiological mechanism that prevents excessive bleeding during trauma, whereas the pathological thrombosis especially in diabetics leads to increased incidence of heart attacks and strokes as well as peripheral vascular events. In this work, we propose a new multiscale framework that integrates seamlessly four key components of blood clotting, namely transport of coagulation factors, coagulation kinetics, blood cell mechanics and platelet adhesive dynamics, to model the development of thrombi under physiological and pathological conditions. We implement this framework to simulate platelet adhesion due to the exposure of tissue factor in a three-dimensional microchannel.