Single-cell atlas comparison across vertebrates reveals auditory cell evolution and mechanisms for hair cell regeneration.

Mammals suffer permanent hearing impairment from the loss of auditory hair cells due to their inability to regenerate. In contrast, lower vertebrates exhibit extraordinary capacity for hair cell regeneration and hearing restoration, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here we characterize the single-cell atlas of Xenopus laevis inner ear and perform a comprehensive comparison with mouse model.

Bioinformatics analysis reveals 's prognostic significance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and its association with immune cell infiltration.

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has a poor prognosis due to late diagnosis and complex molecular mechanisms. Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) is associated with angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. This study aimed to investigate 's prognostic value in HNSCC and its correlation with immune cell infiltration.

Early prediction of mortality upon intensive care unit admission.

Background: We aimed to develop and validate models for predicting intensive care unit (ICU) mortality of critically ill adult patients as early as upon ICU admission.

Methods: Combined data of 79,657 admissions from two teaching hospitals' ICU databases were used to train and validate the machine learning models to predict ICU mortality upon ICU admission and at 24 h after ICU admission by using logistic regression, gradient boosted trees (GBT), and deep learning algorithms.

Results: In the testing dataset for the admission models, the ICU mortality rate was 7%, and 38.

Single-cell RNA sequencing identifies endothelial-derived HBEGF as promoting pancreatic beta cell proliferation in mice via the EGFR-Kmt5a-H4K20me pathway.

Aims/hypothesis: Pancreatic beta cell mass is dynamically regulated in response to increased physiological and pathological demands. Understanding the mechanisms that control physiological beta cell proliferation could provide valuable insights into novel therapeutic approaches to diabetes. Here, we aimed to analyse the intracellular and extracellular signalling pathways involved in regulating the physiological proliferation of beta cells using single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) and in vitro functional assays.

Synergistic Effect of Anchoring Transitional/Interstitial Sites on Boosting Structural and Electrochemical Stability of O3-Type Layered Sodium Oxides.

O3-type layered oxides are considered promising cathode materials for next-generation high-energy-density sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). However, they face challenges, such as low rate capacity and poor cycling stability, which arise from structural deformation, sluggish Na diffusion kinetics, and interfacial side reactions. Herein, a synergistic substitution strategy for transitional and interstitial sites was adopted to improve the structure stability and Na diffusion kinetics of the O3-type NaNiFeMnO.

Big Data Analysis, Design, Effect Fabrication, and Properties Analysis of SiO/Cr/SiO Colored Solar Selective Absorbers with High PTCE and Chromaticity for Building Applications.

In today's era of rapid computing, advanced big data analytics enables precise results and efficient trend analysis. By leveraging these tools, the influence of various film thicknesses of Colored Solar Selective Absorbers (CSSAs) on solar absorption efficiency (α) and chromaticity was investigated. A clear and visually informative Chromaticity Coordinate Distribution (CCD) versus α diagram was constructed within the CIE xy chromaticity diagram, establishing a correlation between chromaticity and α.

The Influence and Mechanisms of Natural Plant Polysaccharides on Intestinal Microbiota-Mediated Metabolic Disorders.

Natural plant polysaccharides are renowned for their broad spectrum of biological activities, making them invaluable in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. Their safety, characterized by low toxicity and minimal side effects, coupled with their potential therapeutic properties, positions them as crucial elements in health-related applications. The functional effectiveness of these polysaccharides is deeply connected to their structural attributes, including molecular weight, monosaccharide components, and types of glycosidic bonds.

Role of the clock gene period in regulating circadian rhythm of courtship vibrations in Nilaparvata lugens.

Nilaparvata lugens, the brown planthopper (BPH), is a notorious pest threatening rice production across Asia. The heavy reliance on synthetic insecticides for control has led to resistance and raised ecological concerns. Substrate-borne vibrational communication, integral to species-specific mate recognition systems in insects, presents a potential avenue for pest management through mating disruption.

Design and Bottom-up Production of an Aerosolizable Cannabidiol Nanosuspension.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a small nonpsychoactive molecule derived from , exerts a variety of therapeutic actions, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial. Epidiolex is the only FDA-approved medicine containing pure CBD as an oral solution for seizure-controlling therapy. Nevertheless, the oral bioavailability of CBD is challenging due to its physical-chemical properties such as low solubility in water and high first-pass metabolism.

Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 in cancer patients: Two cohorts in UK and Hong Kong.

Background: Limited research exists on the risks and spectrum of complications in post-acute phase of COVID-19 in cancer patients. This study aimed to evaluate the post-acute effects of COVID-19 on different types of morbidities among cancer patients across two regions with different healthcare systems and dominant variants of COVID-19.

Materials And Methods: Cancer patients with COVID-19 from the UK Biobank (UKB, n = 2230; March 16, 2020 to May 31, 2021; pre-Omicron-variants dominant) and electronic medical records in Hong Kong (HK cohort, n = 22,335; April 1, 2020 to October 31, 2022; Omicron-variant dominant) were included.

Signatures of lower respiratory tract microbiome in children with severe community-acquired pneumonia using shotgun metagenomic sequencing.

Background: Severe community-acquired pneumonia was associated with high morbidity and mortality in children. However, species-level microbiome of lower airway was sparse, and we used shotgun metagenomic next-generation sequencing to explore microbial signatures.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study to recruit children under 18 who required admission to an intensive care unit for community-acquired pneumonia between December 2019 and February 2022.

Chiral Dichroism in Resonant Metasurfaces with Monoclinic Lattices.

We demonstrate that chiral response can be achieved in resonant metasurfaces with a monoclinic lattice symmetry (the so-called Bravais oblique lattices) where the mirror symmetry is broken by the lattice asymmetry and also by a substrate, whereas each individual meta-atom remains fully achiral. We describe the underlying physics by introducing a mode chirality parameter as a quantitative measure of the lattice chiral eigenmodes. We confirm experimentally selective linear and nonlinear chiral interaction of resonant silicon metasurfaces with circularly polarized light.

A systematic review of the efficacy of TYK2 inhibitors in patients with dermatological disease.

This study systematically reviews existing data on the efficacy of Tyrosine Kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitors in comparison to placebo or standard treatments for therapeutic benefit and improving quality of life in dermatological diseases. Seventeen records representing 13 clinical trials, one matching-adjusted indirect comparison, and one case study were included. Results indicate that Deucravacitinib is superior to placebo, Apremilast and Adalimumab in treating adult patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and superior to placebo in the treatment of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Myocardial delivery of miR30d with peptide-functionalized milk-derived extracellular vesicles for targeted treatment of hypertrophic heart failure.

miR30d has been shown to reverse cardiac hypertrophy. However, effective delivery of miR30d to the heart is challenging. Here, we engineered milk-derived extracellular vesicles (mEVs) by surface functionalization with an ischemic myocardium-targeting peptide (IMTP) and encapsulated miR30d to develop a formulation, the miR30d-mEVs, enabling targeted delivery of miR30d to the injured heart.

Rare but elevated incidence of hematological malignancy after clozapine use in schizophrenia: A population cohort study.

Background: Clozapine is widely regarded as a highly efficacious psychotropic drug that is largely underused worldwide. Recent disproportionality analyses and nationwide case-control studies suggested a potential association between clozapine use and hematological malignancy (HM). Nevertheless, the absolute rate difference is not well-established due to the absence of analytic cohort studies.

Relationship between the start time of treatment and patient prognosis in cases of acute wild mushroom poisoning in a certain region of Guizhou Province, China from 2013 to 2020: A retrospective Observational Study and forecast.

Methods: This single-center, retrospective observational study was conducted on 455 patients with Undergoing Treatment for Mushroom Poisoning at Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (AHZMU), the tertiary governmental hospital of China, between January 2013 and December 2020. We investigated the impact of prognostic factors, including the mortality rate of patients who completed treatment at AHZMU versus those transferred to AHZMU, average length of hospital stay, mortality rate for a latency period of > 6-h, major damaged organs, HOPE6-TALK scoring and established a predictive model to assess the severity of acute mushroom poisoning.

Results: In 2013-2020, there are 455 patients of mushroom poisoning at AHZMU.

Risk of mortality and complications in people with depressive disorder and diabetes mellitus: A 20-year population-based propensity score-matched cohort study.

People with depression have increased premature mortality and elevated prevalence of diabetes-mellitus compared to general population. However, risk of mortality and diabetes-related complications among patients with depression and co-occurring diabetes is under-studied. This population-based propensity score-matched (1:10) cohort study identified 12,175 patients with pre-existing depression and incident-diabetes (depression-diabetes group) and 117,958 patients with incident-diabetes only (diabetes-only group) between 2002 and 2021 in Hong-Kong, using territory-wide medical-record database of public-healthcare services, to investigate whether depression increased the risk of overall mortality, complications and post-complication mortality in people with diabetes.

Myasthenia gravis following statin therapy: evidence from target trial emulation and self-controlled case series study.

Several international pharmacovigilance agencies have issued warnings regarding the potential risk of myasthenia gravis (MG) following statin therapy. Our study investigated this association using population-based electronic health records in Hong Kong. We conducted a sequence of target trial emulation (TTE) for interpersonal comparison and a self-controlled case series (SCCS) study for intrapersonal comparison.

Multimorbidity is associated with myocardial DNA damage, nucleolar stress, dysregulated energy metabolism, and senescence in cardiovascular disease.

This study investigates why individuals with multimorbidity-two or more chronic conditions-are more prone to adverse outcomes after surgery. In our cohort, ninety-eight of 144 participants had multimorbidity. The myocardial transcriptome and metabolites involved in energy production were measured in 53 and 57 sequential participants, respectively.

Clonal hematopoiesis impacts frailty in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients: a retrospective multicenter analysis.

Somatic mutations of hematopoietic cells in the peripheral blood of normal individuals refer to clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), which is associated with a 0.5-1% risk of progression to hematological malignancies and cardiovascular diseases. CHIP has also been reported in Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients, but its biological relevance remains to be elucidated.

Association of plasma neurofilament light chain with microstructural white matter changes in Down syndrome.

Introduction: Both micro- and macrostructural white matter (WM) abnormalities, particularly those related to axonal degeneration, are associated with cognitive decline in adults with Down syndrome (DS) prior to a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a support protein within myelinated axons released into blood following axonal damage. In this study we investigated cross-sectional relationships between WM microstructural changes as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and plasma NfL concentration in adults with DS without dementia.

Divergent lineage trajectories and genetic landscapes in human gastric intestinal metaplasia organoids associated with early neoplastic progression.

Background: Gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) is a precancerous stage spanning a morphological spectrum that is poorly represented by human cell line models.

Objective: We aim to establish and characterise human IM cell models to better understand IM progression along the cancer spectrum.

Design: A large human gastric IM organoid (IMO) cohort (n=28), their clonal derivatives and normal gastric organoids (n=42) for comparison were established.