Development of a Buchwald-Hartwig Amination for an Accelerated Library Synthesis of Cereblon Binders.

In recent years, targeted protein degradation (TPD) has emerged as a powerful therapeutic modality utilizing both heterobifunctional ligand-directed degraders (LDDs) and molecular glues (e.g., CELMoDs) to recruit E3 ligases for inducing polyubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of target proteins.

Impact of COVID-19 Diagnosis on Weight Trajectories of Children in the US National COVID Cohort Collaborative.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the obesity epidemic, with both adults and children demonstrating rapid weight gain during the pandemic. However, the impact of having a COVID-19 diagnosis on this trend is not known.

Methods: Using longitudinal data from January 2019 to June 2023 collected by the US National Institute for Health's National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), children (age 2-18 years) with positive COVID-19 test results (n=11,474, 53% male, mean [SD] age 5.

High-throughput evaluation of half-metallicity of CoMnSi Heusler alloys using composition-spread films and spin-integrated hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

We demonstrate high-throughput evaluation of the half-metallicity of CoMnSi Heusler alloys by spin-integrated hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) of composition-spread films performed with high-brilliance synchrotron radiation at NanoTerasu, which identifies the optimum composition showing the best half-metallicity. Co Mn Si composition-spread thin films for  = 10-40% with a thickness of 30 nm are fabricated on MgO(100) substrates using combinatorial sputtering technique. The 2-ordering and (001)-oriented epitaxial growth of CoMnSi are confirmed by X-ray diffraction for  = 18-40%.

Utility of Abdominal Radiographs After Posterior Spinal Fusion for Neuromuscular Scoliosis.

Postoperative ileus, the temporary cessation of gastrointestinal motility leading to accumulation of fluid and gas in the bowel, is a common complication following posterior spine fusion (PSF) in patients with neuromuscular scoliosis (NMS). Abdominal radiographs (KUBs) are often ordered to differentiate between ileus and mechanical obstruction but expose patients to radiation, add cost, and may lead to unnecessary work up. The aim of this study was to determine how often KUBs led to a change in treatment after PSF in patients with NMS.

The burden of headache disorders among medical students in Vietnam: estimates from a cross-sectional study with a health-care needs assessment.

Background: In our previous study, we demonstrated that headaches are highly prevalent among medical students in Vietnam. In the present study, we provide estimates of the associated symptom burden and impaired participation, utilizing these estimates to assess headache-related healthcare needs within this population.

Methods: The study followed the standardized methodology established by the Global Campaign against Headache.

Nuclear N-WASP Induces Actin Polymerization in the Nucleus with Cortactin as an Essential Factor.

Nuclear actin polymerization was reported to control different nuclear processes, but its regulation is poorly understood. Here, we show that N-WASP can trigger the formation of nuclear N-WASP/F-actin nodules. While a cancer hotspot mutant of N-WASP lacking the VCA domain (V418fs) had a dominant negative function on nuclear F-actin, an even shorter truncation mutant found in melanoma (R128*) strongly promoted nuclear actin polymerization.

DIKOApp: An AI-Based Diagnostic System for Knee Osteoarthritis.

The diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis is challenging due to its complex nature and various contributing factors. With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, some computer vision-based methods have been developed to address this task. However, when applied in practice, these methods encounter numerous challenges.

Intensified and Accelerated Rescue Infliximab Therapy for Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis in Pregnancy: A Case Report.

Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) in pregnancy poses a clinical challenge with significant risk to both mother and fetus. Anti-TNF alpha therapy is known to be safe in pregnancy, however, data surrounding outcomes in ASUC is limited. In this report, we present the case of a pregnant patient of 10 weeks' gestation with ASUC successfully managed with intensified and accelerated infliximab therapy for a total dose of 35 mg/kg during a single admission.

Understanding Disenfranchised Grief in a Post-COVID-19 World-A Pilot Study of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in Palliative Care.

Disenfranchised grief is a form of grief that remains unacknowledged and unsupported. Building on Doka's foundational concept of disenfranchised grief, the guiding framework for this pilot project was the Knowledge to Action framework. This study is a quantitative cross-sectional web-based survey, which included a validated questionnaire: the Witnessing Disenfranchised Grief Scale.

Flexible Mechanical Sensors for Plant Growth Monitoring: An Emerging Area for Smart Agriculture.

The last decade has seen significant progress in the development of flexible electronics and sensors, particularly for display technologies and healthcare applications. Advancements in scalable manufacturing, miniaturization, and integration have further extended the use of this new class of devices to smart agriculture, where multimodal sensors can be seamlessly attached to plants for continuous and remote monitoring. Among the various types of sensing devices for agriculture, flexible mechanical sensors have emerged as promising candidates for monitoring vital parameters, including growth rates and water flow, providing a new avenue for understanding plant health and growth under varied environmental conditions.

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Ladder-like Polysilsesquioxanes as Compatibilized Nanofiller for Nanocomposite Materials.

Nanocomposite materials composed of an organic matrix and an inorganic nanofiller have been the subject of intense research in recent years. Indeed, the synergy between these two phases confers improved properties thanks to an increased surface-volume ratio, which reinforces the interactions between the particles and the polymer matrix. These interactions depend on many factors such as the shape, size and dispersion of the nanoobjects.

Development of a bioreactor with an integrated non-dispersive infrared CO sensor for rapid and sensitive detection of Cr(VI) toxicity in water.

Whole-cell bioreactors equipped with external physico-chemical sensors have gained attention for real-time toxicity monitoring. However, deploying these systems in practice is challenging due to potential interference from unknown wastewater constituents with liquid-contacted sensors. In this study, a novel approach using a bioreactor integrated with a non-dispersive infrared CO₂ sensor for both toxicity detection and real-time monitoring of microbial growth phases was successfully demonstrated.

Impact of COVID-19 Diagnosis on Weight Trajectories of Children in the US National COVID Cohort Collaborative.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the obesity epidemic, with both adults and children demonstrating rapid weight gain during the pandemic. However, the impact of having a COVID-19 diagnosis on this trend is not known. Using longitudinal data from January 2019 to June 2023 collected by the US National Institute for Health's National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), children (age 2-18 years) with positive COVID-19 test results { = 11,474, 53% male, mean [standard deviation (SD)] age 5.

New Hydrogenated Phenanthrene Glycosides from the Edible Vegetable W.T.Wang with DPP-IV Inhibitory and Hepatoprotective Activity.

Based on molecular networking-guided isolation, 15 previously undescribed hydrogenated phenanthrene glycosides, including eight hexahydro-phenanthrenone glycosides, four tetrahydro-phenanthrenone glycosides, one dihydro-phenanthrenol glycoside, two dimers, and two known dihydrophenanthrene glycosides, were isolated from W.T.Wang, a popular regional edible vegetable at the northwest region of Vietnam.

Stabilization of small organic molecules on VC and VCO MXenes: first-principles insights into the performance of van der Waals functionals and the effect of oxygen vacancies.

The adsorption of small organic molecules on pristine VC MXene and its derivatives is investigated by first-principles density functional theory calculations. By employing state-of-the-art van der Waals (vdW) density functionals, the binding affinity of studied molecules, , CH, CO, and HO on MXene adsorbents is well described by more recent vdW functionals, , SCAN-rvv10. Although both CH and CO are nonpolar molecules, on pristine and oxygen-vacancy surfaces, they show a different range of adsorption energies, in which CH is more inert and has weaker binding than CO.

Computational Characterization of the Structure, Energy, Strengths, and Fracture Resistances of Symmetric Tilt Grain Boundaries in Ice.

Using an interatomic potential that can capture the tetrahedral configuration of water molecules (HO) in ice without the need to explicitly track the motion of the O and H atoms, coarse-grained (CG) atomistic simulations are performed here to characterize the structures, energy, cohesive strengths, and fracture resistance of the grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline ice resulting from water freezing. Taking the symmetric tilt grain boundaries (STGBs) with a tilting axis of ⟨0001⟩ as an example, several main findings from our simulations are (i) the GB energy, , exhibits a strong dependence on the GB misorientation angle, θ. The classical Read-Shockley model only predicts the - θ relation reasonably well when θ < 20° or θ > 45° but fails when 20° < θ < 45°; (ii) two "valleys" appear in the -θ landscape.

Decoding cancer etiology with cellular reprogramming.

Cancer research remains clinically unmet in many areas due to limited access to patient samples and the lack of reliable model systems that truly reflect human cancer biology. The emergence of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and engineered human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has helped overcome these challenges, offering a versatile alternative platform for advancing cancer research. These hPSCs are already proving to be valuable models for studying specific cancer driver mutations, offering insights into cancer origins, pathogenesis, tumor heterogeneity, clonal evolution, and facilitating drug discovery and testing.

Changes in retail cigarette price after tax increase: Findings from the 2018-2020 ITC Vietnam surveys.

Introduction: No longitudinal study has investigated the impact of cigarette tax increases on retail prices in Vietnam. This study aims to describe changes in the purchase price of cigarettes following an excise tax increase from 70% to 75% in January 2019.

Methods: Data were collected from people who currently smoke cigarettes in the longitudinal ITC Vietnam surveys: 1870 participants in Wave 1 (pre-increase), 1564 in Wave 2 (post-increase), and 1308 in Wave 3 (post-increase).

Vascular risk factors are associated with grey matter atrophy in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Background: Comorbidities including vascular risk factors can be associated with whole and regional brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS). This has been examined in mixed MS cohorts in prospective or observational studies; however, the association between vascular comorbidities (VCM) in secondary progressive MS (SPMS) and brain atrophy has been less well studied. The aim was to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between VCM, comorbidity burden and brain atrophy in SPMS.

Associations Between Food Security, Housing and Health in South Australia.

Issue Addressed: Food security is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve for many households. Research has shown that food insecurity is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, including housing pressures, and may contribute to poor health outcomes. There is lack of data on these associations in the South Australian setting, where food security is not consistently monitored.

Therapeutically-Induced Lymphangiogenesis is Ineffective in Resolving Established Kidney Disease in Mice.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) counts acute kidney injuries (AKI) as one of its many underlying causes. Lymphatic vessels are important in modulating inflammation post-injury. Manipulating lymphatic vessel expansion thus has the potential to alter CKD progression.