Chiral plasmonic crystals with 5-fold symmetries were synthesized from Au icosahedra, decahedra, and pentatwinned nanorods, unraveling the effects of seed twinning and aspect ratio on chiral overgrowth directed by L-glutathione. The influence of seed size on the overgrowth from pentatwinned nanorods was also studied, giving insight into the role volumetric strain plays in chiral crystal formation. Single particle reconstructions were obtained using electron tomography, and optical simulations on the measured structures verify their optical chirality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Biophysical constraints limit the specificity with which transcription factors (TFs) can target regulatory DNA. While individual nontarget binding events may be low affinity, the sheer number of such interactions could present a challenge for gene regulation by degrading its precision or possibly leading to an erroneous induction state. Chromatin can prevent nontarget binding by rendering DNA physically inaccessible to TFs, at the cost of energy-consuming remodeling orchestrated by pioneer factors (PFs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMore than 4 million people in the United States live alone with cognitive impairment or early dementia, yet research on their experiences is limited. Previous research has shown this population has higher levels of unmet care needs and lower financial resources than their married peers. By exploring the experiences of people living alone with cognitive impairment (PLACI), this research examines the successes and barriers within their journey to inform how interventions can improve their quality of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: People live longer, and frailty has become an important problem in the acute hospital setting. Increasingly the association between frailty and hospital-acquired complications has been reported. However, the overall burden of frailty in this setting has not been described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetection of light chain (LC) monoclonal gammopathies (MG) traditionally relies on serum free LC (FLC) κ, λ, and their ratio (κ/λ) reference ranges based on a mostly White population. We investigated FLC values in a racially diverse population by screening 10,035 individuals for heavy chain MG, identifying 9,028 negative cases whose FLC were measured. Participants included 4,149 from the PROMISE Study (US, n=2,383; South Africa, n=1,766) and 4,879 from the Mass General Brigham Biobank, with 44% self-identifying as Black.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is a recent addition to the routine analysis and research laboratory toolkit, primarily as a quantitative tool. SIFT-MS employs ultra-soft chemical ionisation to directly analyse volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air and headspace in real-time with high specificity and sensitivity. Coupling SIFT-MS with conventional laboratory automation equipment (, that used with chromatography systems) has proved straightforward and enables unattended operation, processing up to 230 samples per day per SIFT-MS instrument.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen bonding is a central concept in chemistry and biochemistry, and so it continues to attract intense study. Here, we examine hydrogen bonding in the HS dimer, in comparison with the well-studied water dimer, in unprecedented detail. We record a mass-selected IR spectrum of the HS dimer in superfluid helium nanodroplets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate the use, acceptability, and experience of a seven-item palliative care referral screening tool in an outpatient oncology setting.
Methods: A two-phase convergent parallel mixed-methods study. Patient participants who met any of the "Royal Marsden Triggers Tool" criteria were compared with those who did not in terms of demographic data, palliative care needs (Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale, IPOS) and quality of life indicators (EORTC-QLQ-C30).
The National Institutes of Health Toolbox Emotion Battery (NIHTB-EB) was developed to provide researchers and clinicians with a concise tool for measuring emotional health. The NIHTB-EB has been validated and normed in English and Spanish-speaking populations in the United States. However, its application in certain groups, such as people living with HIV (PWH) and who may use methamphetamine has not been tested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Qual Life Outcomes
September 2024
Background: Incorporating principles of family-centered care into pediatric weight management interventions can improve the effectiveness and quality of treatment and reduce attrition rates. To assess the family-centeredness of interventions, reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer scales are needed. The purpose of the study was to develop a shortened version of the modified Family Centered Care Assessment (mFCCA) and assess its psychometric properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity (Silver Spring)
September 2024
Objective: The objective of this study was to project the cost-effectiveness of implementing the Healthy Weight Clinic (HWC), a primary care-based intervention for 6- to 12-year-old children with overweight or obesity, at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) nationally.
Methods: We estimated intervention costs from a health care sector and societal perspective and used BMI change estimates from the HWC trial. Our microsimulation of national HWC implementation among all FQHCs from 2023 to 2032 estimated cost per child and per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained and projected impact on obesity prevalence by race and ethnicity.
This case report presents an unusual occurrence of Winkia (Actinomyces) neuii vertebral osteomyelitis in a 55-year-old male patient with diabetes mellitus. W. neuii is a distinct species formerly placed within the Actinomyces genus, exhibiting unique morphological and clinical characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNegative psychological states impact immunity by altering the gut microbiome. However, the relationship between brain states and microbiome composition remains unclear. We show that Brunner's glands in the duodenum couple stress-sensitive brain circuits to bacterial homeostasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne in three people with Alzheimer's or other dementias lives alone, without a spouse/partner or nearby children (i.e., is aging solo), yet most dementia caregiving research has focused solely on spouses or children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article delves into the understudied realm of investigating the potential benefits of integrating design thinking into community-based participatory research within the context of culturally diverse dementia caregivers. Following the Double-Diamond process model, we conducted a series of workshops with 15 family caregivers of dementia patients from three distinct communities (multi-racial, Black, and Latino ethnicity) to gain insights into their daily experiences and co-create interventions that could address their pressing challenges. The research question for this study aimed to explore the potential benefits of design thinking in community-based research on dementia caregiving.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychological states can regulate intestinal mucosal immunity by altering the gut microbiome. However, the link between the brain and microbiome composition remains elusive. We show that Brunner's glands in the duodenal submucosa couple brain activity to intestinal bacterial homeostasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Incorporating principles of family-centered care into pediatric weight management interventions can improve the effectiveness and quality of treatment and reduce attrition rates. To assess the family-centeredness of interventions, reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer scales are needed. The purpose of the study was to develop a shortened version of the modifed Family Centered Care Assessment (mFCCA) and assess its psychometric properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver one-third of Medicare beneficiaries discharged to nursing facilities require readmission. When those readmissions are to a different hospital than the original admission, or "fragmented readmissions," they carry increased risks of mortality and subsequent readmissions. This study examines whether Medicare beneficiaries readmitted from a nursing facility are more likely to have a fragmented readmission than beneficiaries readmitted from home among a 2018 cohort of Medicare beneficiaries, and examined whether this association was affected by a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHow cells coordinate morphogenetic cues and fate specification during development remains a fundamental question in organogenesis. The mammary gland arises from multipotent stem cells (MaSCs), which are progressively replaced by unipotent progenitors by birth. However, the lack of specific markers for early fate specification has prevented the delineation of the features and spatial localization of MaSC-derived lineage-committed progenitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Fragmented readmissions, when admission and readmission occur at different hospitals, are associated with increased charges compared with nonfragmented readmissions. We assessed if hospital participation in health information exchange (HIE) was associated with differences in total charges in fragmented readmissions.
Data Source: Medicare Fee-for-Service Data, 2018.
Endophytic actinobacteria are a group of bacteria living inside plant tissue without harmful effects, and benefit the host plant. Many can inhibit plant pathogens and promote plant growth. This study aimed to identify a strain of as a novel species and study its antibiotics production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyanobacterial blooms introduce autochthonous dissolved organic matter (DOM) into aquatic environments, but their impact on surface water photoreactivity has not been investigated through collaborative field sampling with comparative laboratory assessments. In this work, we quantified the apparent quantum yields (Φ) of reactive intermediates (RIs), including excited triplet states of dissolved organic matter (DOM*), singlet oxygen (O), and hydroxyl radicals (OH), for whole water samples collected by citizen volunteers from more than 100 New York lakes. Multiple comparisons tests and orthogonal partial least-squares analysis identified the level of cyanobacterial chlorophyll as a key factor in explaining the enhanced photoreactivity of whole water samples sourced from bloom-impacted lakes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule which modulates several biological and pathological processes. Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 (DDAH1) plays a key role indirectly regulating NO concentrations in the body. It has been shown that DDAH1 inhibition may be an effective therapeutic strategy in certain pathological states in which excessive NO is produced.
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