Multi-omic network analysis identifies dysregulated neurobiological pathways in opioid addiction.

Background: Opioid addiction is a worldwide public health crisis. In the United States, for example, opioids cause more drug overdose deaths than any other substance. Yet, opioid addiction treatments have limited efficacy, meaning that additional treatments are needed.

Risk of Urinary Tract Infections in Male Veterans With Diabetes Prescribed Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors Versus Sulfonylureas Across the Veterans Health Administration.

Due to their mechanism of action, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) carry a presumed increased risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) which is reflected in current prescribing data. As SGLT2i prescribing trends increase, some retrospective studies confirm an increased risk of UTI while conflicting studies find no increased risk of UTI associated with this therapy. This study aims to compare the odds of developing a UTI in male Veterans with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on metformin taking a SGLT2i vs a sulfonylurea (SU) within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

MENTOR: Multiplex Embedding of Networks for Team-Based Omics Research.

While the proliferation of data-driven omics technologies has continued to accelerate, methods of identifying relationships among large-scale changes from omics experiments have stagnated. It is therefore imperative to develop methods that can identify key mechanisms among one or more omics experiments in order to advance biological discovery. To solve this problem, here we describe the network-based algorithm MENTOR - Multiplex Embedding of Networks for Team-Based Omics Research.

Risk of Pancreatitis With Incretin Therapies Versus Thiazolidinediones in the Veterans Health Administration.

Background: Incretin therapies, comprised of the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), have been increasingly utilized for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Previous studies have conflicting results regarding risk of pancreatitis associated with these agents-some suggest an increased risk and others find no correlation. Adverse event reporting systems indicate that incretin therapies are some of the most common drugs associated with reports of pancreatitis.

A glimpse into the fungal metabolomic abyss: Novel network analysis reveals relationships between exogenous compounds and their outputs.

Fungal specialized metabolites are a major source of beneficial compounds that are routinely isolated, characterized, and manufactured as pharmaceuticals, agrochemical agents, and industrial chemicals. The production of these metabolites is encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters that are often silent under standard growth conditions. There are limited resources for characterizing the direct link between abiotic stimuli and metabolite production.

Exploring the role of plant lysin motif receptor-like kinases in regulating plant-microbe interactions in the bioenergy crop .

For plants, distinguishing between mutualistic and pathogenic microbes is a matter of survival. All microbes contain microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) that are perceived by plant pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Lysin motif receptor-like kinases (LysM-RLKs) are PRRs attuned for binding and triggering a response to specific MAMPs, including chitin oligomers (COs) in fungi, lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs), which are produced by mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria, and peptidoglycan in bacteria.

Genetics of varicose veins reveals polygenic architecture and genetic overlap with arterial and venous disease.

Varicose veins represent a common cause of cardiovascular morbidity, with limited available medical therapies. Although varicose veins are heritable and epidemiologic studies have identified several candidate varicose vein risk factors, the molecular and genetic basis remains uncertain. Here we analyzed the contribution of common genetic variants to varicose veins using data from the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program and four other large biobanks.

Lack of correlation between standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs) and healthcare-facility-onset infection rates in Veterans Affairs medical facilities.

We detected no correlation between standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs) and healthcare facility-onset infection (HO-CDI) rates in 102 acute-care Veterans Affairs medical centers over 16 months. SAARs may be useful for investigating trends in local antimicrobial use, but no ratio threshold demarcated HO-CDI risk.

Antiviral Strategies Against SARS-CoV-2: A Systems Biology Approach.

The unprecedented scientific achievements in combating the COVID-19 pandemic reflect a global response informed by unprecedented access to data. We now have the ability to rapidly generate a diversity of information on an emerging pathogen and, by using high-performance computing and a systems biology approach, we can mine this wealth of information to understand the complexities of viral pathogenesis and contagion like never before. These efforts will aid in the development of vaccines, antiviral medications, and inform policymakers and clinicians.

Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring Outcomes in Veterans With Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Nearly 25% of patients served in the US Department of Veterans Affairs have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients with DM typically monitor their blood glucose using intermittent fingerstick self-testing. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) might offer improved disease management.

Ratio of Mixed Venous Oxygen Saturation-to-Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure: Insights From the Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking Program.

Background: Hemodynamic values from right heart catheterization aid diagnosis and clinical decision-making but may not predict outcomes. Mixed venous oxygen saturation percentage and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure relate to cardiac output and congestion, respectively. We theorized that a novel, simple ratio of these measurements could estimate cardiovascular prognosis.

Water in an External Electric Field: Comparing Charge Distribution Methods Using ReaxFF Simulations.

The growing interest in the effects of external electric fields on reactive processes requires predictive methods that can reach longer length and time scales than quantum mechanical simulations. Recently, many studies have included electric fields in ReaxFF, a widely used reactive molecular dynamics method. In the case of modeling an external electric field, the charge distribution method used in ReaxFF is critical.

What next for local government climate emergency declarations? The gap between rhetoric and action.

The UK, like other countries, has seen a proliferation of declarations of local climate emergencies. While these declarations have been interpreted as a demonstration of ambition, little is known about how and why they actually came about when they did and the implications this will have for what happens next. Focusing on London, UK, we present evidence collected via semi-structured interviews with experts and practitioners involved in the propagation of climate emergency declarations to critically explore how and why these declarations emerged, and the various different roles they are perceived to play for different local actors.

Pressure Induced Assembly and Coalescence of Lead Chalcogenide Nanocrystals.

We report here pressure induced nanocrystal coalescence of ordered lead chalcogenide nanocrystal arrays into one-dimensional (1D) and 2D nanostructures. In particular, atomic crystal phase transitions and mesoscale coalescence of PbS and PbSe nanocrystals have been observed and monitored in situ respectively by wide- and small-angle synchrotron X-ray scattering techniques. At the atomic scale, both nanocrystals underwent reversible structural transformations from cubic to orthorhombic at significantly higher pressures than those for the corresponding bulk materials.

Exploring the Impacts of Living in a "Green" City on Individual BMI: A Study of Lingang New Town in Shanghai, China.

Urban planning and design in the 21st century is increasingly focusing on sustainability, illustrated by the proliferation of greener cities. While operational definitions and the actual planning of these cities can vary considerably (e.g.

Shape Dependence of Pressure-Induced Phase Transition in CdS Semiconductor Nanocrystals.

Understanding structural stability and phase transformation of nanoparticles under high pressure is of great scientific interest, as it is one of the crucial factors for design, synthesis, and application of materials. Even though high-pressure research on nanomaterials has been widely conducted, their shape-dependent phase transition behavior still remains unclear. Examples of phase transitions of CdS nanoparticles are very limited, despite the fact that it is one of the most studied wide band gap semiconductors.

Effect of High-Dose Ergocalciferol on Rate of Falls in a Community-Dwelling, Home-Based Primary Care Veteran Population: A Case-Crossover Study.

There was no difference identified in the rate of falls immediately prior to and following initiation of ergocalciferol 50,000 IU self-administered once weekly.

Erectile Dysfunction Medications and Skin Cancer: An Analysis in US Veterans.

Objective: To examine the relationship between phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor drugs (PDE5i) and skin cancers in a large-scale study of Veterans.

Methods: This was a retrospective database review using the Department of Veterans Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure database. Veterans Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure was searched 19 years for Veterans who received PDE5i treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Water desorption from rapidly-heated metal oxide surfaces-first principles, molecular dynamics, and the Temkin isotherm.

Quantitative understanding and control of water and impurity desorption from steel surfaces are crucial for high-voltage, pulsed power, vacuum technology, catalysis, and environmental applications. We apply a suite of modeling techniques, ranging from electronic density functional theory, to classical molecular dynamics (MD) and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) methods to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of fast water desorption from different surfaces of hematite FeO and CrO. Water binding energies on chromium oxide are found to be higher than iron oxide at zero temperature.

Anisotropy and Strain Localization in Dynamic Impact Experiments of Tantalum Single Crystals.

Deformation mechanisms in bcc metals, especially in dynamic regimes, show unusual complexity, which complicates their use in high-reliability applications. Here, we employ novel, high-velocity cylinder impact experiments to explore plastic anisotropy in single crystal specimens under high-rate loading. The bcc tantalum single crystals exhibit unusually high deformation localization and strong plastic anisotropy when compared to polycrystalline samples.

Molecular and Kinetic Models for High-Rate Thermal Degradation of Polyethylene.

Thermal degradation of polyethylene is studied under the extremely high rate temperature ramps expected in laser-driven and X-ray ablation experiments-from 10 to 10 K/s in isochoric, condensed phases. The molecular evolution and macroscopic state variables are extracted as a function of density from reactive molecular dynamics simulations using the ReaxFF potential. The enthalpy, dissociation onset temperature, bond evolution, and observed cross-linking are shown to be rate dependent.

Corrigendum: Superfast assembly and synthesis of gold nanostructures using nanosecond low-temperature compression via magnetic pulsed power.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14778.

FRAX Prediction With and Without Bone Mineral Density Testing.

The use of a fracture risk assessment tool with and without bone mineral density testing effectively predicted the risk of osteoporotic fractures in male veteran patients.