Publications by authors named "Houston A"

Increased expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16Ink4a (p16) is detected in neurons of human Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains and during normal aging. Importantly, selective eliminating p16-expressing cells in AD mouse models attenuates tau pathologies and improves cognition. But whether and how p16 contributes to AD pathogenesis remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The digitisation of healthcare records has generated vast amounts of unstructured data, presenting opportunities for improvements in disease diagnosis when clinical coding falls short, such as in the recording of patient symptoms. This study presents an approach using natural language processing to extract clinical concepts from free-text which are used to automatically form diagnostic criteria for lung cancer from unstructured secondary-care data.

Methods: Patients aged 40 and above who underwent a chest x-ray (CXR) between 2016 and 2022 were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Incorporating the inherent heterogeneity of living systems into models of active nematics is essential to provide a more realistic description of biological processes such as bacterial growth, cell dynamics and tissue development. Spontaneous flow of a confined active nematic is a fundamental feature of these systems, in which the role of heterogeneity has not yet been considered. We therefore determine the form of spontaneous flow transition for an active nematic film with heterogeneous activity, identifying a correspondence between the unstable director modes and solutions to Schrödinger's equation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer outcomes are exacerbated by clinical trial underrepresentation. This study aims to identify inequalities in ethnicity and socioeconomic features among ovarian cancer clinical trial participants in two London cancer centres.

Methods: All ovarian cancer patients treated between 2017 and 2022 were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store significant amounts of organic carbon (OC) in their soils. Consequently, the protection and restoration of BCEs may contribute to net greenhouse gas emissions abatement and help address the global challenges of both mitigating and adapting to climate change. An ongoing debate is whether OC sequestered out with the blue carbon (BC) project and transported to its present location (allochthonous) should be counted as 'additional'.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To study the spatial interactions among cancer and non-cancer cells, we here examined a cohort of 131 tumour sections from 78 cases across 6 cancer types by Visium spatial transcriptomics (ST). This was combined with 48 matched single-nucleus RNA sequencing samples and 22 matched co-detection by indexing (CODEX) samples. To describe tumour structures and habitats, we defined 'tumour microregions' as spatially distinct cancer cell clusters separated by stromal components.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Breast cancer (BC) has distinct molecular subtypes influenced by different cell origins, yet the transcriptional networks for these subtypes are not well understood.
  • This study utilized advanced techniques on 61 samples from 37 BC patients to reveal how gene expression and chromatin accessibility connect BC subtypes to their likely cells of origin.
  • Key transcription factors BHLHE40 and KLF5 were found to play crucial roles in luminal and basal-like tumors, respectively, and exhausted CD8 T cells were linked to immune dysfunction in basal-like BC, showcasing the potential of single-cell level analysis in understanding cancer lineages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Antiseizure medication (ASM) use in traumatic brain injuries (TBI) reduces the risk of early post-traumatic seizure (PTS). Agent selection and dosing strategies remain inconsistent among trauma centers in the United States.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the most common PTS prophylaxis regimens among adult trauma centers in brain injured patients throughout the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The application of ketogenic dietary interventions to mental health treatments is increasingly acknowledged within medical and psychiatric fields, yet its exploration in clinical psychology remains limited. This article discusses the potential implications of ketogenic diets, traditionally utilized for neurological disorders, within broader mental health practices.

Methods: This article presents a perspective based on existing ketogenic diet research on historical use, biological mechanisms, and therapeutic benefits.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) coupled with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) presents a powerful platform for detailed material characterization via rich imaging and spectroscopic data. Modern electron microscopes can access multiple length scales and sampling rates far beyond human perception and reaction time. Recent advancements in machine learning (ML) offer a promising avenue to enhance these capabilities by integrating ML algorithms into the STEM-EELS framework, fostering an environment of active learning.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wildlife disease outbreaks can lead to population declines, which are usually attributed to increased direct or indirect mortality. Alternatively, behavior associated with sickness can lead to social isolation, potentially decreasing fitness of affected individuals. A useful case study to examine this dynamic is chronic wasting disease (CWD), a neurological disease of cervids, known to affect behavior and movement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Learning is a taxonomically widespread process by which animals change their behavioural responses to stimuli as a result of experience. In this way, it plays a crucial role in the development of individual behaviour and underpins substantial phenotypic variation within populations. Nevertheless, the impact of learning in social contexts on evolutionary change is not well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Despite extensive research on genomic changes in glioblastoma, the survival rate remains under 5% after five years.
  • This study aims to broaden the understanding of high-grade glioma by combining various biological analyses (proteomics, metabolomics, etc.) to identify complex regulatory mechanisms involved in tumor growth and progression.
  • Results from analysis of 228 tumors indicate significant variability in early-stage changes, but they converge on common outcomes affecting protein interactions and modifications, highlighting PTPN11's crucial role in high-grade gliomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Access to intrinsic properties of a 2D material is challenging due to the absence of a bulk that would dominate over surface contamination, and this lack of bulk also precludes effective conventional cleaning methods that are almost always sacrificial. Suspended graphene and carbon contaminants represent the most salient challenge. This work has achieved ultraclean graphene, attested by electron energy loss (EEL) spectra unprecedentedly exhibiting fine-structure features expected from bonding and band structure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study was done in 13 hospitals in the UK to see how well doctors are using a blood test called high-sensitivity cardiac troponin to figure out if patients have heart problems and whether they can go home safely.
  • The study included almost 138,000 patients, and it found that 44% were at low risk, 31% at intermediate risk, and 25% at high risk for having a heart issue.
  • Most of the low-risk patients (about 66%) were sent home, but the numbers varied a lot depending on the hospital, and younger patients and those from less poor neighborhoods were more likely to be discharged.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Coastal California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica), a federally threatened species, is a flagship species for regional conservation planning in southern California (USA). An inhabitant of coastal sage scrub vegetation, the gnatcatcher has declined in response to habitat loss and fragmentation, exacerbated by catastrophic wildfires. We documented the status of gnatcatchers throughout their California range and examined post-fire recovery of gnatcatchers and their habitat.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To determine if decreasing lifetime use of methamphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, and inhalants among high school students occurring from 2009 to 2019 in the U.S. also occurred in five southeastern states, Youth Risk Behavior Survey data representative of high school students in grades 9-12 in 2009 and 2019 were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although classically recognized as a neurotransmitter, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) has also been identified in colonic tumors. Moreover, the gut microbiome represents another potential source of GABA. Both GABA and GABA receptors have been implicated in contributing to the effects of GABA in colorectal cancer, with both pro- and anti-tumorigenic functions identified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Non-clear cell renal cell carcinomas (non-ccRCCs) encompass diverse malignant and benign tumors. Refinement of differential diagnosis biomarkers, markers for early prognosis of aggressive disease, and therapeutic targets to complement immunotherapy are current clinical needs. Multi-omics analyses of 48 non-ccRCCs compared with 103 ccRCCs reveal proteogenomic, phosphorylation, glycosylation, and metabolic aberrations in RCC subtypes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As a crucial strategy towards a sustainable chemical industry, the direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from renewable carbon dioxide (CO) and methanol (MeOH) is studied using CeO nanoparticles modified with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen carbonate ([BMIm][HCO]) devoid of stoichiometric dehydrating agents. The synthesized CeO@[BMIm][HCO] catalyst having high thermal stability harnesses the unique physicochemical properties of CeO and the ionic liquid to exhibit a DMC yield of 10.4 % and a methanol conversion of 16.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: is a causative agent of pneumonia and acute otitis media (AOM), as well as invasive diseases such as meningitis and bacteremia. PCV15 (V114) is a new 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) approved for use in individuals ≥6 weeks of age for the prevention of pneumonia, AOM, and invasive pneumococcal disease.

Areas Covered: This review summarizes the V114 Phase 3 development program leading to approval in infants and children, including pivotal studies, interchangeability and catch-up vaccination studies, and studies in at-risk populations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Foraging is risk sensitive if choices depend on the variability of returns from the options as well as their mean return. Risk-sensitive foraging is important in behavioural ecology, psychology and neurophysiology. It has been explained both in terms of mechanisms and in terms of evolutionary advantage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, and treatment is guided by biomarker profiles representing distinct molecular subtypes. Breast cancer arises from the breast ductal epithelium, and experimental data suggests breast cancer subtypes have different cells of origin within that lineage. The precise cells of origin for each subtype and the transcriptional networks that characterize these tumor-normal lineages are not established.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF