Social contact patterns and their impact on the transmission of respiratory pathogens in rural China.

Introduction: Social contact patterns significantly influence the transmission dynamics of respiratory pathogens. Previous surveys have quantified human social contact patterns, yielding heterogeneous results across different locations. However, significant gaps remain in understanding social contact patterns in rural areas of China.

Optimized circular RNA vaccines for superior cancer immunotherapy.

Circular RNA (circRNA) has gained attention as a promising platform for mRNA vaccines due to its stability, sustained protein expression, and intrinsic immunostimulatory properties. This study aimed to design and optimize a circRNA cancer vaccine platform by screening for efficient internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) and enhancing circRNA translation efficiency for improved cancer immunotherapy. We screened 29 IRES elements to identify the most efficient one for immune cell translation, ultimately discovering the A (EV-A) IRES.

Radiomic signatures of brain metastases on MRI: utility in predicting pathological subtypes of lung cancer.

Background: The pathological sub-classification of lung cancer is crucial in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for patients. Quick and timely identification of pathological subtypes from imaging examinations rather than histological tests could help guiding therapeutic strategies. The aim of the study is to construct a non-invasive radiomics-based model for predicting the subtypes of lung cancer on brain metastases (BMs) from multiple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences.

A fuzzy reliability assessment methodology for city gas stations based on an extended T-S fault tree.

City gas stations (CGSs) play a crucial role in ensuring a stable and safe supply of natural gas to urban users. However, as the service time of stations increases and the performance of components deteriorates, concerns about the safety and reliability of these station have grown among operators and local government authorities. This paper proposes a fuzzy reliability assessment methodology for CGSs that considers the polymorphism of component faults and the uncertainties associated with fault relationships, failure probabilities, and fault magnitudes.

Layer-specific biomechanical and histological properties of normal and dissected human ascending aortas.

Recent studies have attempted to characterize the layer-specific mechanical and microstructural properties of the aortic tissues in either normal or pathological state to understand its structural-mechanical property relationships. However, layer-specific tissue mechanics and compositions of normal and dissected ascending aortas have not been thoroughly compared with a statistical conclusion obtained. Eighteen ascending aortic specimens were harvested from 13 patients with type A aortic dissection and 5 donors without aortic diseases, with each specimen further excised to obtain three tissue samples including an intact wall, an intima-media layer and an adventitia layer.