Publications by authors named "J E Sng"

We derive a numerical model representing the emergence and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants, informed by data from in-vitro passaging experiments in Vero B4 cells. We compare our numerical simulation results against probabilistic derivations of the expected probability of and time until the fittest variant becomes fixed in the population. Contrary to literature surrounding DNA viruses and eukaryotes where probabilities of fitness extremes are often modelled by exponential decaying tail, we show that above wildtype fitness differences for SARS-CoV-2 are actually best modelled by a heavy-tailed Fréchet distribution.

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Article Synopsis
  • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is being increasingly utilized for breast cancer treatment, and machine learning (ML) models are being tested to predict the likelihood of a pathologic complete response (pCR) based on clinical features of patients.
  • In a study involving 499 breast cancer patients from two Singapore hospitals, various ML models were trained and evaluated, utilizing methods for addressing missing data, with the random forest model showing the highest predictive accuracy and calibration.
  • Key predictors for achieving pCR included estrogen receptor intensity, HER2 intensity, and age at diagnosis, while better handling of missing data led to improved predictive performance in terms of positive and negative predictive values.
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COVID-19 made apparent the devastating impact viral pandemics have had on global health and order. Development of broad-spectrum antivirals to provide early protection upon the inevitable emergence of new viral pandemics is critical. In this work, antiviral polymers are discovered using a combination of high-throughput polymer synthesis and antiviral screening, enabling diverse polymer compositions to be explored.

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  • - The study explores how mentorship in medical education has transitioned from a one-on-one relationship to include group and peer mentoring, highlighting its evolving and context-specific nature.
  • - A systematic review of literature from 2000 to 2023 identified 216 articles that illustrate mentoring as a complex adaptive system (CAS), with key characteristics such as community dynamics and long-term support.
  • - The conclusion stresses the need to rethink how mentorship is designed and supported in medical training, emphasizing the importance of understanding mentorship as a CAS for enhancing mentor training and support.
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Why individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2-induced neuropathology remains elusive. Choroid plexus (ChP) plays critical roles in barrier function and immune response modulation and expresses the ACE2 receptor and the chromosome 21-encoded TMPRSS2 protease, suggesting its substantial role in establishing SARS-CoV-2 infection in the brain. To explore this, we established brain organoids from DS and isogenic euploid iPSC that consist of a core of functional cortical neurons surrounded by a functional ChP-like epithelium (ChPCOs).

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