Epilepsy, a neurological disorder causing recurring seizures, is often studied in zebrafish by exposing animals to pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), which induces clonic- and tonic-like behaviors. While adult zebrafish seizure-like behaviors are well characterized, manual assessment remains challenging due to its time-consuming nature, potential for human error/bias, and the risk of overlooking subtle behaviors. Aiming to circumvent these issues, we developed a machine learning model for automating the analysis of subtle abnormal and seizure-like behaviors in PTZ-exposed adult zebrafish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndometriosis is a female-specific chronic condition that affects 1 in 10 women and other individuals with a uterus worldwide with common symptoms that include pelvic pain and infertility. Reliable and effective non-invasive biomarkers for endometriosis do not exist, and therefore currently a diagnosis of endometriosis requires direct visualization of lesions at surgery. Similarly, few safe and effective management strategies exist for endometriosis, with hormonal interventions and surgery only providing temporary symptom control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the pionneer work of Meerwaldt and the Groningen team, who related skin autofluorescence (SAF) to the dermal concentrations of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), hundreds of articles have been devoted to its application in diabetes. Due to the slow turnover of the AGEs formed on collagen of the skin, the SAF can reflect the progressive accumulation of AGEs and hence be a marker of long-term glucose exposure. Accordingly, relations with HbA1c from the previous 3-10 years have been established in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and even in gestational diabetes mellitus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHerein, we describe a method to purify higher buoyancy neutrophils after exposure of whole blood to brief hypoxia and reoxygenation in combination with platelet-derived serotonin. These higher buoyancy neutrophils display enhanced ability to form neutrophil extracellular traps and increment the tryptamine-protein adducts. Similar changes are identified in neutrophils isolated from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Retirement Knowledge Scale (RKS) consists of 10 questions that assess three aspects of financial planning for retirement: reflection about retirement plans, engagement with information on retirement preparedness, and evaluation of retirement preparedness. The RKS was administered to 1350 adults 50 and older in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) as an experimental module for the 2020 wave along with the "Big Three" questions of financial literacy that assess knowledge about inflation, interest rate, and risk. Results of the study provide support for the reliability of the RKS scales in the full sample and separately for non-retired and retired adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF