Artificial intelligence-based computer-aided diagnosis for breast cancer detection on digital mammography in Hong Kong.

Introduction: Research concerning artificial intelligence in breast cancer detection has primarily focused on population screening. However, Hong Kong lacks a population-based screening programme. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of artificial intelligence-based computer-assisted diagnosis (AI-CAD) program in symptomatic clinics in Hong Kong and analyse the impact of radio-pathological breast cancer phenotype on AI-CAD performance.

A green solvent enables precursor phase engineering of stable formamidinium lead triiodide perovskite solar cells.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer an efficient, inexpensive alternative to current photovoltaic technologies, with the potential for manufacture via high-throughput coating methods. However, challenges for commercial-scale solution-processing of metal-halide perovskites include the use of harmful solvents, the expense of maintaining controlled atmospheric conditions, and the inherent instabilities of PSCs under operation. Here, we address these challenges by introducing a high volatility, low toxicity, biorenewable solvent system to fabricate a range of 2D perovskites, which we use as highly effective precursor phases for subsequent transformation to α-formamidinium lead triiodide (α-FAPbI), fully processed under ambient conditions.

Glaciation of liquid clouds, snowfall, and reduced cloud cover at industrial aerosol hot spots.

The ability of anthropogenic aerosols to freeze supercooled cloud droplets remains debated. In this work, we present observational evidence for the glaciation of supercooled liquid-water clouds at industrial aerosol hot spots at temperatures between -10° and -24°C. Compared with the nearby liquid-water clouds, shortwave reflectance was reduced by 14% and longwave radiance was increased by 4% in the glaciation-affected regions.

Systems profiling reveals recurrently dysregulated cytokine signaling responses in ER+ breast cancer patients' blood.

Cytokines operate in concert to maintain immune homeostasis and coordinate immune responses. In cases of ER breast cancer, peripheral immune cells exhibit altered responses to several cytokines, and these alterations are correlated strongly with patient outcomes. To develop a systems-level understanding of this dysregulation, we measured a panel of cytokine responses and receptor abundances in the peripheral blood of healthy controls and ER breast cancer patients across immune cell types.

Evaluating the capability of ChatGPT in predicting drug-drug interactions: Real-world evidence using hospitalized patient data.

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) present a significant health burden, compounded by clinician time constraints and poor patient health literacy. We assessed the ability of ChatGPT (generative artificial intelligence-based large language model) to predict DDIs in a real-world setting. Demographics, diagnoses and prescribed medicines for 120 hospitalized patients were input through three standardized prompts to ChatGPT version 3.

Censored Least Squares for Imputing Missing Values in PARAFAC Tensor Factorization.

Tensor factorization is a dimensionality reduction method applied to multidimensional arrays. These methods are useful for identifying patterns within a variety of biomedical datasets due to their ability to preserve the organizational structure of experiments and therefore aid in generating meaningful insights. However, missing data in the datasets being analyzed can impose challenges.

Urinary syndecan-1 in dogs anesthetized with isoflurane or sevoflurane: A randomized, prospective study.

Background: Syndecan-1 (SDC1) is an established marker of endothelial glycocalyx shedding. Most research on SDC1 has focused on plasma or serum concentrations, and little is known about urine concentrations.

Objectives: Measure urinary SDC1 concentrations in dogs undergoing anesthesia with either sevoflurane or isoflurane and assess the effects of anesthesia duration and IV crystalloids on urinary SDC1 concentrations.

Effects of self-efficacy on frontal midline theta power and golf putting performance.

Introduction: Self-efficacy (SE), defined as an individual's belief in their ability to complete a task, is linked to top-down attentional control, influencing motor performance in sports. Although the behavioral effects of SE are well-documented, there is a lack of research on the mechanisms through which SE affects sports performance. Our research aims to elucidate the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie the impact of self-efficacy on sports performance.

Black blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) bacterial symbionts inform oviposition site selection by stable flies (Diptera: Muscidae).

Larval habitats of blood-feeding stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae), overlap with foraging sites of black blow flies, Phormia regina (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). We tested the hypothesis that bacteria in blow fly excreta inform oviposition decisions by female stable flies.

Systems profiling reveals recurrently dysregulated cytokine signaling responses in ER+ breast cancer patients' blood.

Cytokines mediate cell-to-cell communication across the immune system and therefore are critical to immunosurveillance in cancer and other diseases. Several cytokines show dysregulated abundance or signaling responses in breast cancer, associated with the disease and differences in survival and progression. Cytokines operate in a coordinated manner to affect immune surveillance and regulate one another, necessitating a systems approach for a complete picture of this dysregulation.

Potential Signals of COVID-19 as an Effect Modifier of Adverse Drug Reactions.

Purpose: COVID-19 infection may interact with patients' medical conditions or medications. The objective of this study was to identify potential signals of effect modification of adverse drug reactions by statistical reporting interactions with COVID-19 infection (SRIs) in a large spontaneous reporting database.

Methods: Data from the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System through the second quarter of 2020 were used.

Anti-tumor Effects of IL-1β Induced TRAIL-Expressing hUCMSCs on Embelin Treated Breast Cancer Cell Lines.

Background: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have high therapeutic value in cancer treatment. We have found that pre-activating hUCMSCs with IL-1β promotes tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) expression and facilitates anti-tumor effect. Furthermore, embelin has been found to induce apoptosis of different cancer cell lines by upregulating the expression of TRAIL receptor 1 (DR4) and TRAIL receptor 2 (DR5).

Understanding the Degradation of Methylenediammonium and Its Role in Phase-Stabilizing Formamidinium Lead Triiodide.

Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI) is the leading candidate for single-junction metal-halide perovskite photovoltaics, despite the metastability of this phase. To enhance its ambient-phase stability and produce world-record photovoltaic efficiencies, methylenediammonium dichloride (MDACl) has been used as an additive in FAPbI. MDA has been reported as incorporated into the perovskite lattice alongside Cl.

Stable flies sense and behaviorally respond to the polarization of light.

Insects use their polarization-sensitive photoreceptors in a variety of ecological contexts including host-foraging. Here, we investigated the effect of polarized light on host foraging by the blood-feeding stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, a pest of livestock. Electroretinogram recordings with chromatic adaptation demonstrated that the spectral sensitivity of stable flies resembles that of other calyptrate flies.

Particle Size Distribution and Predicted Lipid Bioaccessibility of Almonds and the Effect of Almond Processing: A Randomised Mastication Study in Healthy Adults.

Almonds are rich in unsaturated lipids, which play a role in some of the reported benefits of almond consumption for human health. Almond lipids are poorly bioaccessible due to almonds' unique physicochemical properties that influence particle size distribution (PSD) following mastication, allowing much intracellular lipid to escape digestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract. To investigate the impact of commercial processing (grinding almonds into flour), on PSD and predicted lipid bioaccessibility following mastication, a randomised cross-over design mastication study was conducted in healthy adults.

The Application of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Model to Gambling Urge and Involvement.

Background: Drawing on the intolerance of uncertainty model, this study aimed to examine whether intolerance of uncertainty and emotion regulation difficulties (in terms of impulse control difficulties and limited access to emotion regulation strategies) contributed to individual differences in gambling urge and involvement.

Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit Chinese adult participants who had engaged in buying lottery tickets and other gambling activities in the past year. They were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire survey, and a total of 580 valid cases ( = 34.

More extreme duplication in FDA Adverse Event Reporting System detected by literature reference normalization and fuzzy string matching.

Purpose: Literature reports of adverse drug events can be replicated across multiple companies, resulting in extreme duplication (defined as a majority of reports being duplicates) in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database because they can escape legacy duplicate detection algorithms routinely deployed on that data source. Literature reference field, added to in 2014, could potentially be utilized to identify replicated reports. FAERS does not enforce adherence to the Vancouver referencing convention, thus the same article may be referenced differently leading to duplication.

Origin, structure and functional transition of sex pheromone components in a false widow spider.

Female web-building spiders disseminate pheromone from their webs that attracts mate-seeking males and deposit contact pheromone on their webs that induces courtship by males upon arrival. The source of contact and mate attractant pheromone components, and the potential ability of females to adjust their web's attractiveness, have remained elusive. Here, we report three new contact pheromone components produced by female false black widow spiders, Steatoda grossa: N-4-methylvaleroyl-O-butyroyl-L-serine, N-4-methylvaleroyl-O-isobutyroyl-L-serine and N-4-methylvaleroyl-O-hexanoyl-L-serine.

Longitudinality Matters: Qualitative Perspectives on a Longitudinal Clinical Experience in a Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

Objective: Longitudinal models of clinical care and education can positively impact the patient and provider experience in terms of health outcomes, satisfaction, and motivation. While residency programs have seen an increase in primary care longitudinal clinical experiences (LCEs), defined as outpatient clinics in which patients are seen by residents over the course of their entire training, less is known about such opportunities in psychiatry residency programs. This qualitative study explores the impact of a longitudinal training model on psychiatric resident skill development, relationships in the clinical learning environment, and professional identity formation.

The impact of almonds and almond processing on gastrointestinal physiology, luminal microbiology, and gastrointestinal symptoms: a randomized controlled trial and mastication study.

Background: Almonds contain lipid, fiber, and polyphenols and possess physicochemical properties that affect nutrient bioaccessibility, which are hypothesized to affect gut physiology and microbiota.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of whole almonds and ground almonds (almond flour) on fecal bifidobacteria (primary outcome), gut microbiota composition, and gut transit time.

Methods: Healthy adults (n = 87) participated in a parallel, 3-arm randomized controlled trial.

Prognostic implication of the neoadjuvant rectal score and other biomarkers of clinical outcome in Hong Kong Chinese patients with locally advanced rectal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy is a standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer, for which pathological complete response is typically used as a surrogate survival endpoint. Neoadjuvant rectal score is a new biomarker that has been shown to correlate with survival. The main objectives of this study were to investigate factors contributing to pathological complete response, to validate the prognostic significance of neoadjuvant rectal score, and to investigate factors associated with a lower neoadjuvant rectal score in a cohort of Hong Kong Chinese.

Ultrasound-guided lymph node sampling: accuracy of FNAC, end-cutting (Franseen), and side-cutting (Temno) needle biopsy techniques.

Aim: To compare technical success, diagnostic accuracy, and histological yield of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), side-cutting (Temno) needle biopsy, and end-cutting (Franseen) needle biopsy for ultrasound-guided sampling of groin and axillary lymph nodes.

Materials And Methods: A total of 270 abnormal groin and axillary nodes were sampled using one of the three techniques. Nodes with a maximum length of <2.