Skeletal muscle analysis of cancer patients reveals a potential role for carnosine in muscle wasting.

Background: Muscle wasting during cancer cachexia is mediated by protein degradation via autophagy and ubiquitin-linked proteolysis. These processes are sensitive to changes in intracellular pH ([pH] ) and reactive oxygen species, which in skeletal muscle are partly regulated by histidyl dipeptides, such as carnosine. These dipeptides, synthesized by the enzyme carnosine synthase (CARNS), remove lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes, and buffer [pH] .

The Impact of Acute Systemic Inflammation Secondary to Oesophagectomy and Anastomotic Leak on Computed Tomography Body Composition Analyses.

This study aimed to longitudinally assess CT body composition analyses in patients who experienced anastomotic leak post-oesophagectomy. Consecutive patients, between 1 January 2012 and 1 January 2022 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Changes in computed tomography (CT) body composition at the third lumbar vertebral level (remote from the site of complication) were assessed across four time points where available: staging, pre-operative/post-neoadjuvant treatment, post-leak, and late follow-up.

Social media enables people-centric climate action in the hard-to-decarbonise building sector.

The building and construction sector accounts for around 39% of global carbon dioxide emissions and remains a hard-to-abate sector. We use a data-driven analysis of global high-level climate action on emissions reduction in the building sector using 256,717 English-language tweets across a 13-year time frame (2009-2021). Using natural language processing and network analysis, we show that public sentiments and emotions on social media are reactive to these climate policy actions.

Lockdown impacts on residential electricity demand in India: A data-driven and non-intrusive load monitoring study using Gaussian mixture models.

This study evaluates the effect of complete nationwide lockdown in 2020 on residential electricity demand across 13 Indian cities and the role of digitalisation using a public smart meter dataset. We undertake a data-driven approach to explore the energy impacts of work-from-home norms across five dwelling typologies. Our methodology includes climate correction, dimensionality reduction and machine learning-based clustering using Gaussian Mixture Models of daily load curves.

A Review of Permeability and Flow Simulation for Liquid Composite Moulding of Plant Fibre Composites.

Liquid composite moulding (LCM) of plant fibre composites has gained much attention for the development of structural biobased composites. To produce quality composites, better understanding of the resin impregnation process and flow behaviour in plant fibre reinforcements is vital. By reviewing the literature, we aim to identify key plant fibre reinforcement-specific factors that influence, if not govern, the mould filling stage during LCM of plant fibre composites.

Adipose depot gene expression and intelectin-1 in the metabolic response to cancer and cachexia.

Background: Cancer cachexia is a poorly understood metabolic consequence of cancer. During cachexia, different adipose depots demonstrate differential wasting rates. Animal models suggest adipose tissue may be a key driver of muscle wasting through fat-muscle crosstalk, but human studies in this area are lacking.

Mapping thermal conductivity across bamboo cell walls with scanning thermal microscopy.

Scanning thermal microscopy is a powerful tool for investigating biological materials and structures like bamboo and its cell walls. Alongside nanoscale topographical information, the technique reveals local variations in thermal conductivity of this elegant natural material. We observe that at the tissue scale, fibre cells in the scattered vascular tissue would offer preferential pathways for heat transport due to their higher conductivities in both anatomical directions, in comparison to parenchymatic cells in ground tissue.

Plasma Metabolomics Identifies Lipid and Amino Acid Markers of Weight Loss in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer.

Cachexia is a multifactorial wasting syndrome associated with high morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Diagnosis can be difficult and, in the clinical situation, usually relies upon reported weight loss. The 'omics' technologies allow us the opportunity to study the end points of many biological processes.

The relationship between muscle mass and function in cancer cachexia: smoke and mirrors?

Purpose Of Review: Randomized clinical trials of cancer cachexia interventions are based on the premise that an increase in the muscle mass of patients is associated with consequent improvements in muscle function, and ultimately, quality of life. However, recent trials that have succeeded in demonstrating increases in lean body mass have been unable to show associated increases in patient physical function. In this review, we examine the potential causes for this lack of association between muscle mass and function in cancer cachexia, paying particular attention to those factors that may be at play when using body composition analysis techniques involving cross-sectional imaging.

Biomimetic Supramolecular Fibers Exhibit Water-Induced Supercontraction.

Spider silk is a fascinating material, combining high strength and elasticity that outperforms most synthetic fibers. Another intriguing feature of spider silk is its ability to "supercontract," shrinking up to 50% when exposed to water. This is likely on account of the entropy-driven recoiling of secondary structured proteins when water penetrates the spider silk.

Chemical composition of processed bamboo for structural applications.

Natural materials are a focus for development of low carbon products for a variety of applications. To utilise these materials, processing is required to meet acceptable industry standards. Laminated bamboo is a commercial product that is currently being explored for structural applications, however there is a gap in knowledge about the effects of commercial processing on the chemical composition.

The strength of plants: theory and experimental methods to measure the mechanical properties of stems.

From the stems of agricultural crops to the structural trunks of trees, studying the mechanical behaviour of plant stems is critical for both commerce and science. Plant scientists are also increasingly relying on mechanical test data for plant phenotyping. Yet there are neither standardized methods nor systematic reviews of current methods for the testing of herbaceous stems.

Bioinspired supramolecular fibers drawn from a multiphase self-assembled hydrogel.

Inspired by biological systems, we report a supramolecular polymer-colloidal hydrogel (SPCH) composed of 98 wt % water that can be readily drawn into uniform ([Formula: see text]6-[Formula: see text]m thick) "supramolecular fibers" at room temperature. Functionalized polymer-grafted silica nanoparticles, a semicrystalline hydroxyethyl cellulose derivative, and cucurbit[8]uril undergo aqueous self-assembly at multiple length scales to form the SPCH facilitated by host-guest interactions at the molecular level and nanofibril formation at colloidal-length scale. The fibers exhibit a unique combination of stiffness and high damping capacity (60-70%), the latter exceeding that of even biological silks and cellulose-based viscose rayon.

The relationship between muscle protein content and CT-derived muscle radio-density in patients with upper GI cancer.

Introduction: Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by skeletal muscle loss. Cross-sectional analysis of CT scans is a recognized research method for assessing skeletal muscle volume. However, little is known about the relationship between CT-derived estimates of muscle radio-density (SMD) and muscle protein content.

Nondestructive optical detection of monomer uptake in wood polymer composites.

A noninvasive method to assess the local monomer concentration within a wooden matrix, post monomer impregnation, by time-resolved diffuse optical spectroscopy is demonstrated. A data analysis technique for improving accuracy, which takes account of changes in the refractive index during the monomer uptake, has been employed. This technique can be potentially applied in the wood industry for the study of polymer composites as well as in cultural heritage science for noninvasively monitoring the penetration of chemical compounds used for consolidation or conservation purposes.