Predicting end-of-season timing across diverse North American grasslands.

Climate change is altering the timing of seasonal vegetation cycles (phenology), with cascading consequences on larger ecosystem processes. Therefore, understanding the drivers of vegetation phenology is critical to predicting ecological impacts of climate change. While numerous phenology models exist to predict the timing of the start of the growing season (SOS), there are fewer end-of-season (EOS) models, and most perform poorly in grasslands, since they were made for forests.

Assessment of immune modulation strategies to enhance survival and integration of human neural progenitor cells in rodent models of spinal cord injury.

Regenerative therapies are currently lacking for spinal cord injury (SCI). Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) have emerged as a promising therapeutic approach. To facilitate translation of NPCs into the clinic, studying human NPCs in rodent models is required.

Muscle Mass, Muscle Strength, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Kidney Transplant Recipients: Results of the TransplantLines Biobank and Cohort Study.

Introduction: Muscles are crucial for daily activities, and kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) often have reduced muscle mass and strength. We aimed to investigate the potential relationship of muscle mass and strength with physical health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in KTRs.

Methods: Data from the TransplantLines Biobank and Cohort Studies were used.

Injectable ionic hydrogel conductors: Advancing material design to transform cardiac pacing.

Direct pacing of the mid myocardium where re-entry originates can be used to prevent ventricular arrhythmias and circumvent the need for painful defibrillation or cardiac ablation. However, there are no pacing electrodes small enough to navigate the coronary veins that cross these culprit scar regions. To address this need, we have developed an injectable ionically conductive hydrogel electrode that can fill the epicardial coronary veins and transform them into flexible electrodes.

Methodological Variation Among Studies Evaluating Pain Processing in Tendinopathy: A Scoping Review.

Tendinopathy is a condition associated with pain and limited function. While upper and lower extremity tendinopathies may have different functional implications, there have been a number of reports supporting different patterns of dysfunction in pain processing and inhibition. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the methods across studies examining pain processing in patients with upper and lower extremity tendinopathy.

Robust Magnetoelectric Backscatter Communication System for Bioelectronic Implants.

Wireless communication technologies for bioelectronic implants enable remote monitoring for diagnosis and adaptive therapeutic intervention without the constraints of wired connections. However, wireless data uplink from millimeter-scale devices deep in the body struggles to achieve low power consumption while maintaining large misalignment tolerances. Here, we report a passive wireless backscatter communication system based on magnetoelectric transducers that consumes less than 0.

The association of diabetes mellitus and routinely collected patient-reported outcomes in patients with cancer. A real-world cohort study.

Objective: Current studies have indicated that diabetes mellitus (DM) is highly prevalent in patients with cancer, but there is little research on consequences on the well-being of patients during cancer treatment. This analysis evaluates the relationship between DM and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) in patients with cancer, using a large and well-characterized cohort.

Methods: This study utilized the Total Cancer Care protocol at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute.

The conundrum of the giant condyloma: is it carcinoma?

Perineal verrucous carcinoma is a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma that is mainly treated with surgical excision. In this case report, we present a 58-year-old man with human immunodeficiency virus who presented with an extraordinarily large perineal mass that was ultimately found to be verrucous carcinoma in association with giant condyloma acuminata. He was treated with a wide local excision followed by staged abdominoperineal resection and fasciocutaneous flap reconstruction.

Circulating B cells display differential immune regulatory molecule expression in granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a B-cell-mediated, relapsing, autoimmune disease. There is a need for novel therapeutic approaches and relapse markers to achieve durable remission. B cells express immune regulatory molecules that modulate their activation and maintain tolerance.

Comparing frequency and maximum principal strain of head impacts for U15 ice hockey leagues with standard and modified body contact rules.

Brain trauma in bodychecking ice hockey is of concern for youth participants, as it presents unique risks compared to the non-bodychecking version of the sport. This study compared head impact frequency and magnitude between two ice hockey leagues with different body contact rules in the U15 age division: AAA (standard bodychecking) and M15 Minor (modified body contact rules). Video analysis of 16 games per league revealed no significant overall diference in impact frequency.

Creatinine clearance/eGFR ratio: a simple index for muscle mass related to mortality in ICU patients.

Introduction: In patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), muscle mass is inversely associated with mortality. Although muscle mass can be estimated with 24-h urinary creatinine excretion (UCE), its use for risk prediction in individual patients is limited because age-, sex-, weight- and length-specific reference values for UCE are lacking. The ratio between measured creatinine clearance (mCC) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) might circumvent this constraint.

Using Oncology Treatment Pathway Data to Evaluate Serious Illness Communication, Care Utilization, and End-of-Life Care for Patients With Cancer.

Purpose: Oncology treatment pathways provide decision support and encourage guideline adherence. Pathway data combined with electronic health record (EHR) data can identify patient populations with poor prognoses, low serious illness conversation (SIC) rates, and high acute care utilization that may benefit from targeted interventions.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis among adults with cancer treated at seven affiliated sites of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) who had navigations within 21 treatment pathways between July 29, 2019, and March 8, 2023.

A novel method for 12-lead ECG reconstruction.

This paper presents a novel approach to synthesize a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) from any three independent ECG leads using a patient-specific encoder-decoder convolutional neural network. The objective is to decrease the number of recording locations required to obtain the same information as a 12-lead ECG, thereby enhancing patients' comfort during the recording process. We evaluate the proposed algorithm on a dataset comprising fifteen patients, as well as a randomly selected cohort of patients from the PTB diagnostic database.

Meat substitutes in Swedish school meals: nutritional quality, ingredients, and insights from meal planners.

This study provides an overview of the ingredients, origin, processing level, nutritional quality and practitioners' insights of commonly used meat substitutes in Swedish school meals. Using quantitative and qualitative data, this study evaluated 59 meat substitutes from 19 brands using Percentage Nutrient Contribution (%NC) to a Swedish school meal based on 30% of the recommended and maximum nutrient intake for teenagers and the NOVA processing framework. Meat substitutes were mince, balls, breaded, burgers, strips, or sausages.

Food choice, activity level, and carbon footprint: exploring potential for sustainable food consumption practices in young adults.

This study aims to explore climate consciousness in relation to food consumption in young adults, examining its relationship with physical activity level and gender. A mixed-method approach is utilized, integrating seven-day food records and semi-structured interviews, employing social practice theory in our analytical framework. Our cohort of 47 participants (25 women, 22 men) displays varied diets, from omnivores to vegans.

Separating Surface Reflectance from Volume Reflectance in Medical Hyperspectral Imaging.

Hyperspectral imaging has shown great promise for diagnostic applications, particularly in cancer surgery. However, non-bulk tissue-related spectral variations complicate the data analysis. Common techniques, such as standard normal variate normalization, often lead to a loss of amplitude and scattering information.

Enhancing boundary detection of radiofrequency ablation lesions through photoacoustic mapping.

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is the most common type of heart arrhythmia, typically treated with radiofrequency catheter ablation to isolate the heart from abnormal electrical signals. Monitoring the formation of ablation-induced lesions is crucial for preventing recurrences and complications arising from excessive or insufficient ablation. Existing imaging modalities lack real-time feedback, and their intraoperative usage is in its early stages.

Association between objectively measured protein intake and muscle status, health-related quality of life, and mortality in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Protein intake is known to be associated with muscle mass, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and mortality in patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis. However, most studies evaluated protein intake based on 24 h dietary recall or food frequency questionnaire, and these methods are prone to bias. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association of objectively measured protein intake with muscle mass and strength, HRQoL, and mortality.

Adverse and benevolent childhood experiences among adults in the United Kingdom: a latent class analysis.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are important factors for population mental and physical health. While considerable public health literature demonstrates the global relevance of ACEs, more recent research shows that benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) might be important to consider in their direct and mitigating roles for psychological distress and other mental health outcomes. There is little evidence of latent class examinations involving both ACEs and BCEs among adults in western nations.

Footprint of sustained poleward warm water flow within East Antarctic submarine canyons.

The intrusion of relatively warm water onto the continental shelf is widely recognized as a threat to Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers grounded below sea level, as enhanced ocean heat increases their basal melt. While the circulation of warm water has been documented on the East Antarctic continental shelf, the modes of warm water transport from the deep ocean onto the shelf are still uncertain. This makes predicting the future responses of major East Antarctic marine-grounded glaciers, such as Totten and Ninnis glaciers, particularly challenging.