Reduction in activity and abundance of mitochondrial electron transport chain supercomplexes in pulmonary hypertension-induced right ventricular dysfunction.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) results in RV hypertrophy, fibrosis and dysfunction resulting in RV failure which is associated with impaired RV metabolism and mitochondrial respiration. Mitochondrial supercomplexes (mSC) are assemblies of multiple electron transport chain (ETC) complexes that consist of physically associated complex I, III and IV that may enhance respiration and lower ROS generation. The goal of this study was to determine if mSCs are reduced in RV dysfunction associated with PH.

Infrared Spectroscopy of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Protein: from Receptor Binding Domain to Spike Protein.

Spike (S) glycoprotein is the largest structural protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus and the main one involved in anchoring of the host receptor ACE2 through the receptor binding domain (RBD). S protein secondary structure is of great interest for shedding light on various aspects, from functionality to pathogenesis, finally to spectral fingerprint for the design of optical biosensors. In this paper, the secondary structure of SARS-CoV-2 S protein and its constituting components, namely RBD, S1 and S2 regions, are investigated at serological pH by measuring their amide I infrared absorption bands through Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy.

Nanofibrous Conductive Sensor for Limonene: One-Step Synthesis via Electrospinning and Molecular Imprinting.

Detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from different plant species and their organs can provide valuable information about plant health and environmental factors that affect them. For example, limonene emission can be a biomarker to monitor plant health and detect stress. Traditional methods for VOC detection encounter challenges, prompting the proposal of novel approaches.

Incidence of pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of the cervix before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on healthcare systems worldwide, including the disruption of routine screening programs for cervical cancer. This study aimed to compare the incidence of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN)2 and CIN3 lesions, adenocarcinoma, and squamous carcinoma of the cervix before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using archive data from the Policlinico di Bari, Unit of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Tissue Oxygenation Changes After Transfusion and Outcomes in Preterm Infants: A Secondary Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study of the Transfusion of Prematures Randomized Clinical Trial (TOP NIRS).

Importance: Preterm infants with varying degrees of anemia have different tissue oxygen saturation responses to red blood cell (RBC) transfusion, and low cerebral saturation may be associated with adverse outcomes.

Objective: To determine whether RBC transfusion in preterm infants is associated with increases in cerebral and mesenteric tissue saturation (Csat and Msat, respectively) or decreases in cerebral and mesenteric fractional tissue oxygen extraction (cFTOE and mFTOE, respectively) and whether associations vary based on degree of anemia, and to investigate the association of Csat with death or neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) at 22 to 26 months corrected age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a prospective observational secondary study conducted among a subset of infants between August 2015 and April 2017 in the Transfusion of Prematures (TOP) multicenter randomized clinical trial at 16 neonatal intensive care units of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network.

Secondary Structures of MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 Spike Proteins Revealed by Infrared Vibrational Spectroscopy.

All coronaviruses are characterized by spike glycoproteins whose S1 subunits contain the receptor binding domain (RBD). The RBD anchors the virus to the host cellular membrane to regulate the virus transmissibility and infectious process. Although the protein/receptor interaction mainly depends on the spike's conformation, particularly on its S1 unit, their secondary structures are poorly known.

Sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli in association with steroid hormones across menstrual cycles and fertility treatment.

Background: Steroid hormones (i.e., estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) are considered to play a crucial role in the regulation of women's sexual desire and sexual attraction to sexual stimuli throughout the menstrual cycle.

The impact of machine learning in predicting risk of violence: A systematic review.

Background: Inpatient violence in clinical and forensic settings is still an ongoing challenge to organizations and practitioners. Existing risk assessment instruments show only moderate benefits in clinical practice, are time consuming, and seem to scarcely generalize across different populations. In the last years, machine learning (ML) models have been applied in the study of risk factors for aggressive episodes.

The androgen system across the menstrual cycle: Hormonal, (epi-)genetic and psychometric alterations.

The menstrual cycle is characterized by various hormonal alterations and associations with mental and physical conditions have been postulated. Among endocrine factors, the androgen system has been a target of major interest in males and to a lesser extent in females and may influence emotion, cognition, behavior and somatic factors. Only few studies investigated alterations of these parameters throughout the menstrual cycle and there is a lack of studies exploring a link towards epigenetic and genetic regulation.

Food preferences throughout the menstrual cycle - A computer-assisted neuro-endocrino-psychological investigation.

Background: As eating behavior changes in relation to the menstrual cycle and weight changes with menopausal transition, ovarian hormones appear to be involved in regulating eating behavior. However, observations are contradictory and are difficult to compare, due to methodological problems related to nutritional epidemiology. To better understand the relationship between ovarian steroid hormones and eating behavior, our study evaluates women's responses to visual food cues at different points in the menstrual cycle with their specific serum estrogen/progesterone levels and women's responses in the case of strong estrogen changes in the context of fertility treatments.

High Sensitivity Monitoring of VOCs in Air through FTIR Spectroscopy Using a Multipass Gas Cell Setup.

Human exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and their presence in indoor and working environments is recognized as a serious health risk, causing impairments of varying severities. Different detecting systems able to monitor VOCs are available in the market; however, they have significant limitations for both sensitivity and chemical discrimination capability. During the last years we studied systematically the use of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as an alternative, powerful tool for quantifying VOCs in air.

The association between level of personality organization and problematic gaming: Anxiety, depression, and motivations for playing as mediators.

Problematic gaming is a topic of great clinical and social relevance, so it is particularly important to identify its protective and risk factors. Literature already showed that maladaptive personality favors problematic gaming. In the light of Kernberg's model of personality organization, the present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the mediational process through which low level of personality organization associates with problematic gaming, exploring the role of depressive and anxious symptoms and of motivations for playing.

Early brain and abdominal oxygenation in extremely low birth weight infants.

Background: Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants are at risk for end-organ hypoxia and ischemia. Regional tissue oxygenation of the brain and gut as monitored with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) may change with postnatal age, but normal ranges are not well defined.

Methods: A prospective study of ELBW preterm infants utilized NIRS monitoring to assess changes in cerebral and mesenteric saturation (Csat and Msat) over the first week after birth.

The Cassandra Experience: A Mixed Methods Study on the Intragroup Cognitive Dissonance of Italian Expatriates During the First Wave of COVID-19.

In March 2020, Italy was the first European country to be hit severely by the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to put in place moderate-high containment measures. 594 Italian expatriates participated in a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey focusing on the period that goes from the beginning of March 2020 to the beginning of April 2020. The survey aimed to describe the experiences of participants when it comes to conflicting beliefs and behavior with the Italian or host country communities in relation to COVID-19, using the Intragroup Cognitive Dissonance (ICD) framework.

Extremely randomized neural networks for constructing prediction intervals.

The aim of this paper is to propose a novel prediction model based on an ensemble of deep neural networks adapting the extremely randomized trees method originally developed for random forests. The extra-randomness introduced in the ensemble reduces the variance of the predictions and improves out-of-sample accuracy. As a byproduct, we are able to compute the uncertainty about our model predictions and construct interval forecasts.

Heteronormativity and the Justification of Gender Hierarchy: Investigating the Archival Data From 16 European Countries.

Within the framework of the System Justification Theory, this study tested on the archival data from 16 European countries the general hypothesis that homonegativity (HN), as an expression of gender binarism and heteronormativity, works as a legitimizing myth of gender hierarchy. Specifically, we hypothesized that (1) system justification (SJ) would positively relate to HN and (2) this relation would depend on the country level of gender hierarchy, (3) on the gender of respondents, and (4) on the interaction between gender hierarchy and gender. We selected the Gender Equality Index (GEI) as an indicator of the gender hierarchy of the country system and the items from the European Social Survey-Round 9 (ESS-9) as the indicators of the gender of respondents and the levels of SJ and HN.

α7 Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor mediates right ventricular fibrosis and diastolic dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension.

Right ventricular (RV) fibrosis is a key feature of maladaptive RV hypertrophy and dysfunction and is associated with poor outcomes in pulmonary hypertension (PH). However, mechanisms and therapeutic strategies to mitigate RV fibrosis remain unrealized. Previously, we identified that cardiac fibroblast α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7 nAChR) drives smoking-induced RV fibrosis.

Mathematical Modeling and Simulation Provides Evidence for New Strategies of Ovarian Stimulation.

New approaches to ovarian stimulation protocols, such as luteal start, random start or double stimulation, allow for flexibility in ovarian stimulation at different phases of the menstrual cycle. It has been proposed that the success of these methods is based on the continuous growth of multiple cohorts ("waves") of follicles throughout the menstrual cycle which leads to the availability of ovarian follicles for ovarian controlled stimulation at several time points. Though several preliminary studies have been published, their scientific evidence has not been considered as being strong enough to integrate these results into routine clinical practice.

Cognitive function in association with high estradiol levels resulting from fertility treatment.

The putative association between hormones and cognitive performance is controversial. While there is evidence that estradiol plays a neuroprotective role, hormone treatment has not been shown to improve cognitive performance. Current research is flawed by the evaluation of combined hormonal effects throughout the menstrual cycle or in the menopausal transition.

Interlaboratory Application of Raman CO Densimeter Equations: Experimental Procedure and Statistical Analysis Using Bootstrapped Confidence Intervals.

Raman spectroscopy has been used extensively to calculate CO fluid density in many geological environments, based on the measurement of the Fermi diad split (Δ; cm) in the CO spectrum. While recent research has allowed the calibration of several Raman CO densimeters, there is a limit to the interlaboratory application of published equations. These calculate two classes of density values for the same measured Δ, with a deviation of 0.

Complete populations of virtual patients for in silico clinical trials.

Motivation: Model-based approaches to safety and efficacy assessment of pharmacological drugs, treatment strategies or medical devices (In Silico Clinical Trial, ISCT) aim to decrease time and cost for the needed experimentations, reduce animal and human testing, and enable precision medicine. Unfortunately, in presence of non-identifiable models (e.g.

Endurance exercise training in pulmonary hypertension increases skeletal muscle electron transport chain supercomplex assembly.

Pulmonary hypertension is associated with pronounced exercise intolerance (decreased V ċ O max) that can significantly impact quality of life. The cause of exercise intolerance in pulmonary hypertension remains unclear. Mitochondrial supercomplexes are large respiratory assemblies of individual electron transport chain complexes which can promote more efficient respiration.

Support for rejection and reception policies toward asylum seekers in Italy: The role of conservative ideologies and legitimizing myths.

Based on Social Dominance Theory (SDT), this study investigates the relationships between ideologically conservative attitudes (social dominance orientation, SDO; right-wing authoritarianism, RWA), legitimizing myths (false belief in asylum seekers as bogus; perception of in-group threats), and citizens' support for restricted reception and rejection of asylum policies. A sample of 539 people living in Italy filled in an anonymous questionnaire administered using a cross-sectional design. The results support the expectations, showing that people high in SDO and RWA were more likely to hold the belief that asylum seekers are making false claims and to perceive that the latter pose a threat to the in-group, which in turn increased support for both of restrictive policies.

Maladaptive Personality Functioning and Psychopathological Symptoms in Problematic Video Game Players: A Person-Centered Approach.

Background: A need exists to increase our understanding of the association between maladaptive personality traits, psychopathological symptoms, game preference, and different types of video game use. In the present study, we used a person-centered approach to identify different subtypes of video game players and we explored how they differ in personality profiles, clinical symptoms, and video game usage.

Methods: We assessed problematic gaming via the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale and self-reported screen time playing video games in a sample of 366 adolescents and young adult gamers.