Accurate Reconstruction of Right Heart Shape and Motion From Cine-MRI for Image-Driven Computational Hemodynamics.

Accurate reconstruction of the right heart geometry and motion from time-resolved medical images is crucial for diagnostic enhancement and computational analysis of cardiac blood dynamics. Commonly used segmentation and/or reconstruction techniques, exclusively relying on short-axis cine-MRI, lack precision in critical regions of the right heart, such as the ventricular base and the outflow tract, due to its unique morphology and motion. Furthermore, the reconstruction procedure is time-consuming and necessitates significant manual intervention for generating computational domains.

Complete Lifestyle Medicine Intervention Program-Ontario: Implementation Protocol for a Rural Study.

Background: Sedentary lifestyles, poor nutritional choices, inadequate sleep, risky substance use, limited social connections, and high stress contribute to the growing prevalence of chronic diseases. Lifestyle medicine, emphasizing therapeutic lifestyle changes for prevention and treatment, has demonstrated effectiveness but remains underutilized in clinical settings. The Complete Lifestyle Medicine Intervention Program-Ontario (CLIP-ON) was developed to educate the rural population of Northern Ontario in lifestyle medicine to improve health outcomes and engagement.

Ferroptosis in Cancer: Epigenetic Control and Therapeutic Opportunities.

Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death driven by lipid peroxidation, has emerged as a critical pathway in cancer biology. This review delves into the epigenetic mechanisms that modulate ferroptosis in cancer cells, focusing on how DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs influence the expression and function of essential genes involved in this process. By unraveling the complex interplay between these epigenetic mechanisms and ferroptosis, the article sheds light on novel gene targets and functional insights that could pave the way for innovative cancer treatments to enhance therapeutic efficacy and overcome resistance in cancer therapy.

Correction: Ibarra et al. Selective Photo-Assisted Eradication of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells through Aptamer Decoration of Doped Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles. 2022, , 626.

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Binding to the Other Side: The AT-Hook DNA-Binding Domain Allows Nuclear Factors to Exploit the DNA Minor Groove.

The "AT-hook" is a peculiar DNA-binding domain that interacts with DNA in the minor groove in correspondence to AT-rich sequences. This domain has been first described in the HMGA protein family of architectural factors and later in various transcription factors and chromatin proteins, often in association with major groove DNA-binding domains. In this review, using a literature search, we identified about one hundred AT-hook-containing proteins, mainly chromatin proteins and transcription factors.

Brain perfusion changes in beta-thalassemia.

Background: Brain injury in hereditary hemoglobinopathies is commonly attributed to anemia-related relative hypoperfusion in terms of impaired oxygen blood supply. Supratentorial and infratentorial vascular watershed regions seem to be especially vulnerable, but data are very scarce.

Aims: We investigated a large beta-thalassemia sample with arterial spin labeling in order to characterize regional perfusion changes and their correlation with phenotype and anemia severity.

AI identifies potent inducers of breast cancer stem cell differentiation based on adversarial learning from gene expression data.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cancer cells within tumors that exhibit stem-like properties and represent a potentially effective therapeutic target toward long-term remission by means of differentiation induction. By leveraging an artificial intelligence approach solely based on transcriptomics data, this study scored a large library of small molecules based on their predicted ability to induce differentiation in stem-like cells. In particular, a deep neural network model was trained using publicly available single-cell RNA-Seq data obtained from untreated human-induced pluripotent stem cells at various differentiation stages and subsequently utilized to screen drug-induced gene expression profiles from the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) database.

Subtype Transdifferentiation in Human Cancer: The Power of Tissue Plasticity in Tumor Progression.

The classification of tumors into subtypes, characterized by phenotypes determined by specific differentiation pathways, aids diagnosis and directs therapy towards targeted approaches. However, with the advent and explosion of next-generation sequencing, cancer phenotypes are turning out to be far more heterogenous than initially thought, and the classification is continually being updated to include more subtypes. Tumors are indeed highly dynamic, and they can evolve and undergo various changes in their characteristics during disease progression.

Association between health-related physical fitness indicators and working ability: a systematic review.

Objectives: Work ability (WA) reflects a balance between work demands and an individual's ability to meet them. It is influenced by several occupational and health-related factors including the individual's physical fitness (PF). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide an overview of the possible relationship between PF measures and the individual's WA.

Melatonin mitigates oxidative damage induced by anthracycline: a systematic-review and meta-analysis of murine models.

Background: Oxidative stress induced by the excessive production of reactive oxygen species is one of the primary mechanisms implicated in anthracycline (ANT)-induced cardiotoxicity. There is a strong clinical need for a molecule capable of effectively preventing and reducing the oxidative damage caused by ANT. In vitro and studies conducted in mice have shown that melatonin stimulates the expression of antioxidative agents and reduces lipid peroxidation induced by ANT.

Evaluating the performance of large language models in haematopoietic stem cell transplantation decision-making.

In a first-of-its-kind study, we assessed the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) in making complex decisions in haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The evaluation was conducted not only for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 (GPT-4) but also conducted on other artificial intelligence models: PaLm 2 and Llama-2. Using detailed haematological histories that include both clinical, molecular and donor data, we conducted a triple-blind survey to compare LLMs to haematology residents.

lifex-ep: a robust and efficient software for cardiac electrophysiology simulations.

Background: Simulating the cardiac function requires the numerical solution of multi-physics and multi-scale mathematical models. This underscores the need for streamlined, accurate, and high-performance computational tools. Despite the dedicated endeavors of various research teams, comprehensive and user-friendly software programs for cardiac simulations, capable of accurately replicating both normal and pathological conditions, are still in the process of achieving full maturity within the scientific community.

The endocrine disrupting effects of nanoplastic exposure: A systematic review.

Good mechanical properties and low costs have led to a global expansion of plastic production and use. Unfortunately, much of this material can be released into the environment as a waste product and cleaved into micro- and nanoplastics (NPs) whose impact on the environment and human health is still largely unknown. Considering the growing worldwide awareness on exposure to chemicals that can act as endocrine disruptors, a systematic review was performed to assess the impact of NPs on the endocrine function of in vitro and in vivo models.

Health-related Quality of Life Profile of Newly Diagnosed Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndromes by Age, Sex, and Risk Group: A Real-world Study by the GIMEMA.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important goal of therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); however, little is known about HRQoL of these patients at clinical presentation. We report HRQoL profile of newly diagnosed patients with MDS across both the the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) and IPSS-Revised (IPSS-R) classifications, stratified by sex and age group categories, aiming to also establish European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) reference values for these patients. Analysis was based on 927 patients with a median age of 73.

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT).

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process involved in many physiological and pathological conditions [...

The challenges of managing patients with cancer in the workplace: Needs, opportunities and perspectives of occupational physicians.

Cancer is a global major public health problem since it is a leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 worldwide and the most recent epidemiological data suggested that its global impact is growing significantly. In this context, cancer survivors have to live for a long time often in a condition of disability due to the long-term consequences, both physical and psychological. These difficulties can seriously impair their working ability, limiting the employability.

Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 Overexpression Mediates Chemoresistance in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is among the most aggressive breast cancer subtypes. Despite being initially responsive to chemotherapy, patients develop drug-resistant and metastatic tumors. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) is a secreted protein with a tumor suppressor function due to its anti-proteolytic activity.

PATZ1 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A New Biomarker That Negatively Correlates with PD-L1 Expression and Suppresses the Malignant Phenotype.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, is still an unmet medical problem due to the lack of both effective therapies against advanced stages and markers to allow a diagnosis of the disease at early stages before its progression. Immunotherapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint is promising for many cancers, including NSCLC, but its success depends on the tumor expression of PD-L1. PATZ1 is an emerging cancer-related transcriptional regulator and diagnostic/prognostic biomarker in different malignant tumors, but its role in lung cancer is still obscure.

Aptamer-Based Strategies to Boost Immunotherapy in TNBC.

The immune system (IS) may play a crucial role in preventing tumor development and progression, leading, over the last years, to the development of effective cancer immunotherapies. Nevertheless, immune evasion, the capability of tumors to circumvent destructive host immunity, remains one of the main obstacles to overcome for maximizing treatment success. In this context, promising strategies aimed at reshaping the tumor immune microenvironment and promoting antitumor immunity are rapidly emerging.

lifex-fiber: an open tool for myofibers generation in cardiac computational models.

Background: Modeling the whole cardiac function involves the solution of several complex multi-physics and multi-scale models that are highly computationally demanding, which call for simpler yet accurate, high-performance computational tools. Despite the efforts made by several research groups, no software for whole-heart fully-coupled cardiac simulations in the scientific community has reached full maturity yet.

Results: In this work we present [Formula: see text]-fiber, an innovative tool for the generation of myocardial fibers based on Laplace-Dirichlet Rule-Based Methods, which are the essential building blocks for modeling the electrophysiological, mechanical and electromechanical cardiac function, from single-chamber to whole-heart simulations.

Mechanism of Action of Lactic Acid on Histones in Cancer.

Metabolic end products and intermediates can exert signaling functions as chemical sources for histone posttranslational modifications, which remodel chromatin and affect gene expression. Among them, lactic acid is responsible for histone lactylation, a recently discovered histone mark that occurs in high lactate conditions, such as those resulting from the Warburg effect in cancer cells. Late-breaking studies have advanced the knowledge on the mechanisms involved in histone lactylation, requiring independent nonenzyme and enzyme-dependent reactions, which is emerging as an important hallmark of cancer cells linking metabolic changes to gene expression reprogramming.