Rapid changes in consumer preferences for high-quality animal-based protein have driven the poultry industry to identify non-invasive, in-line processing technologies for rapid detection of muscle meat quality defects. At production plants, technologies like radio-frequency waves (RF waves) can identify and separate myopathy-conditioned meat, reducing misclassification errors due to human fatigue and inexperience. Previous studies have shown that advanced diagnostic tools combined with complex data analytics, such as support vector machines (SVMs) and backpropagation neural networks (BPNNs), can classify chicken breast myopathies post-deboning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis meta-analysis review undertakes a comprehensive examination of various approaches for identifying myopathic fillets and meticulously evaluates the effects of bird age, deboning time, and different cooking and storage conditions on woody breast (WB) myopathic conditions in broiler deboned fillets. The data, meticulously collected from 20 articles based on predefined inclusion criteria sourced from various databases and online resources, reveal significant insights. For instance, the analysis uncovers that deboning time significantly affects Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear (MORS), Blunt Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear (BMORS), and descriptive analysis values ( < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHLA-B*27 was one of the first HLA alleles associated with an autoimmune disease, i.e., axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and acute anterior uveitis (B27AAU), which cause joint and eye inflammation, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile exposure therapy is the most effective psychological treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, and traumatic stress-related disorders, it is not universally effective, indicating a need for further treatment optimization. This study investigated a shift in approach to exposure therapy with 29 treatment-refractory adults in an OCD clinic not responding to standard treatment, comprising habituation-based exposure therapy. Participants completed standard exposure as a continuation of standard clinic treatment, followed by an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) consultation session to assess psychological inflexibility processes interfering with treatment progress, and then an ACT-based exposure targeting behavior change through increasing psychological flexibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: 6-mercaptopurine is a cornerstone of maintenance therapy for pediatric ALL. Response to 6MP is typically determined by the ANC. Therapeutic ANC range while receiving 6MP is between 500 and 1500/μL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore the clinical use of 'My Hearing Explained for Children' (MHEfC) with children aged 8-11 years, from the perspectives of the child, parents and audiologist.
Design: A mixed methods randomised control trial. Participants completed evaluation questionnaires after their appointment.
Motivation: Pooled designs for single-cell RNA sequencing, where many cells from distinct samples are processed jointly, offer increased throughput and reduced batch variation. This study describes expression-aware demultiplexing (EAD), a computational method that employs differential co-expression patterns between individuals to demultiplex pooled samples without any extra experimental steps.
Results: We use synthetic sample pools and show that the top interindividual differentially co-expressed genes provide a distinct cluster of cells per individual, significantly enriching the regulation of metabolism.
Lymph node (LN) fine needle aspiration (LN FNA) represents a powerful technique for minimally invasive sampling of human LNs in vivo and has been used effectively to directly study aspects of the human germinal center response. However, systematic deep phenotyping of the cellular populations and cell-free proteins recovered by LN FNA has not been performed. Thus, we studied human cervical LN FNAs as a proof-of-concept and used single-cell RNA-sequencing and proteomic analysis to benchmark this compartment, define the purity of LN FNA material, and facilitate future studies in this immunologically pivotal environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtten Percept Psychophys
April 2024
We used pupillometry during a 2-back task to examine individual differences in the intensity and consistency of attention and their relative role in a working memory task. We used sensitivity, or the ability to distinguish targets (2-back matches) and nontargets, as the measure of task performance; task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) as the measure of attentional intensity; and intraindividual pretrial pupil variability as the measure of attentional consistency. TEPRs were greater on target trials compared with nontarget trials, although there was no difference in TEPR magnitude when participants answered correctly or incorrectly to targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the 2019-2020 academic year, the Southeast Missouri State University College of Education, Health, and Human Studies initiated a college-level Interprofessional Education (IPE) Committee to identify methods for collaboration, interprofessional research opportunities, and cross-disciplinary learning experiences. The IPE Committee determined that IPE was an installed component of the healthcare majors, without significant interactions between programs, and non-healthcare programs were omitted from formal IPE efforts. The exclusion of the non-healthcare academic majors from traditional healthcare initiatives limited faculty and student interactions, notably between the educator preparatory and healthcare programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pediatr Pharmacol Ther
November 2023
Chemotherapies and biologic agents are known to cause hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs). It is imperative that pediatric patients receive these agents to treat their cancer or other rare condition, as oftentimes there are no available therapeutic alternatives. Successful medication desensitization has been described previously with a 12-step method using 3 intravenous (IV) infusion bags of varying concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClimate change is posing unprecedented pressure onto marine ecosystems worldwide. This makes it imperative to monitor the effects that are being experienced in these environments. Nudibranchs are benthic marine organisms that possess characteristics that have the potential to act as indicators of change within ecosystems such as coral reefs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells that recognize microbial metabolites through a semi-invariant T cell receptor (TCR). Major questions remain regarding the extent of human MAIT cell functional and clonal diversity. To address these, we analyzed the single-cell transcriptome and TCR repertoire of blood and liver MAIT cells and developed functional RNA-sequencing, a method to integrate function and TCR clonotype at single-cell resolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHLA-E is a non-classical class I MHC protein involved in innate and adaptive immune recognition. While recent studies have shown HLA-E can present diverse peptides to NK cells and T cells, the HLA-E repertoire recognized by CD94/NKG2x has remained poorly defined, with only a limited number of peptide ligands identified. Here we screen a yeast-displayed peptide library in the context of HLA-E to identify 500 high-confidence unique peptides that bind both HLA-E and CD94/NKG2A or CD94/NKG2C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was established to quantify diverse cellular characteristics. This technique has been widely used in various species, such as fish, poultry, and humans for compositional analysis. This technology was limited to offline quality assurance/detection of woody breast (WB); however, inline technology that can be retrofitted on the conveyor belt would be more helpful to processors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogen-specific CD8 T cell responses restricted by the nonpolymorphic nonclassical class Ib molecule human leukocyte antigen E (HLA-E) are rarely reported in viral infections. The natural HLA-E ligand is a signal peptide derived from classical class Ia HLA molecules that interact with the NKG2/CD94 receptors to regulate natural killer cell functions, but pathogen-derived peptides can also be presented by HLA-E. Here, we describe five peptides from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that elicited HLA-E-restricted CD8 T cell responses in convalescent patients with coronavirus disease 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Current recommendations for febrile neutropenia (FN) include initiation of broad-spectrum antibiotics without clear indications of when or how to de-escalate or target therapy, especially in those without microbiologically defined bloodstream infections (MD-BSIs). The purpose of this study is to characterize a pediatric FN population, FN management, and identify the proportion of patients with MD-BSI.
Methods: This study was a single-center, retrospective chart review of patients admitted to the University of North Carolina Children's Hospital between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, with a diagnosis of FN.
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-E binds epitopes derived from HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C and HLA-G signal peptides (SPs) and serves as a ligand for CD94/NKG2A and CD94/NKG2C receptors expressed on natural killer and T cell subsets. We show that among 16 common classical HLA class I SP variants, only 6 can be efficiently processed to generate epitopes that enable CD94/NKG2 engagement, which we term 'functional SPs'. The single functional HLA-B SP, known as HLA-B/-21M, induced high HLA-E expression, but conferred the lowest receptor recognition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: Posaconazole (PSZ) is a triazole antifungal for the management of invasive fungal disease (IFD) in adults and children. Although PSZ is available as an intravenous (IV) solution, oral suspension (OS) and delayed-release tablets (DRTs), OS is the preferred formulation for pediatric use because of potential safety concerns associated with an excipient in the IV formulation and difficulty in swallowing intact tablets by children. However, poor biopharmaceutical characteristics of the OS formulation leads to an unpredictable dose-exposure profile of PSZ in children, potentially risking therapeutic failure.
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