Publications by authors named "Rebecca Li"

Background: Radial bowing is necessary for forearm rotation. Fractures or deformities of the forearm that affect the radial bow may disrupt normal forearm rotation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the development and establish normative values for the pediatric and adolescent radial bow.

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Colloidal nanoparticle assembly methods can produce intricate superlattice structures and often use knowledge of atomic crystallization behaviors to guide their design. While this analogy has enabled multiple routes to programming colloidal crystallization thermodynamics, fewer tools or strategies exist to manipulate nanoparticle superlattice growth kinetics in a controlled manner. Here we investigate how small-molecule additives can be used to modulate the thermodynamics and kinetics of supramolecular-chemistry-driven nanoparticle assembly.

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  • * A study conducted in Senegal analyzed the genetic diversity of PfCyRPA in 95 malaria isolates, finding a mostly common wild type allele, with 15 identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mostly appearing as unique changes.
  • * Structure-based modeling showed that while most SNPs have minor effects on PfCyRPA antibodies, some may significantly affect its structure or interaction with the viral protein PfRH5, providing insights for future malaria vaccine design.
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Vaccines to the Plasmodium falciparum reticulocyte binding-like protein homologue 5 (PfRH5) target the blood-stage of the parasite life cycle. PfRH5 has the potential to trigger the production of strain-transcendent antibodies and has proven its efficacy both in pre-clinical and early clinical studies. Vaccine-induced monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to PfRH5 showed promising outcomes against cultured P.

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Background: Despite surgical and pharmacological interventions, endometriosis can recur. Reliable information regarding risk of recurrence following a first diagnosis is scant. The aim of this study was to examine clinical and survey data in the setting of disease recurrence to identify predictors of risk of endometriosis recurrence.

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  • Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is linked to heart disease and assessed through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 22,400 participants from various backgrounds.
  • The study confirmed connections with four known genetic loci and discovered two new loci related to CAC, with supportive replication findings for both.
  • Functional tests suggest that ARSE promotes calcification in vascular smooth muscle cells and its variants may influence CAC levels, identifying ARSE as a key target for potential treatments in vascular calcific diseases.
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Vascular calcification is a hallmark of atherosclerotic disease and serves as a strong predictor and risk factor for cardiovascular events. Growing evidence suggests that autophagy may play a protective role in early atherosclerosis. The precise effects of autophagy on VSMC-mediated calcification remain unknown.

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Background: Rare genetic variants and genetic variation at loci in an enhancer in SOX17 (SRY-box transcription factor 17) are identified in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and PAH with congenital heart disease. However, the exact role of genetic variants or mutations in SOX17 in PAH pathogenesis has not been reported.

Methods: SOX17 expression was evaluated in the lungs and pulmonary endothelial cells (ECs) of patients with idiopathic PAH.

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Rationale: Rare genetic variants and genetic variation at loci in an enhancer in SRY-Box Transcription Factor 17 (SOX17) are identified in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and PAH with congenital heart disease. However, the exact role of genetic variants or mutation in SOX17 in PAH pathogenesis has not been reported.

Objectives: To investigate the role of SOX17 deficiency in pulmonary hypertension (PH) development.

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Background: Anxiety from accidental exposure and vigilant dietary monitoring impair the quality of life (QoL) of food-allergic patients. A comprehensive food allergy-specific questionnaire allows patients to accurately report their QoL. This study validated the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire (FAQLQ) series and assessed the QoL of Chinese food-allergic patients and their caregivers.

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Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been used widely as an alternative to conventional cigarettes and have become particularly popular among young adults. A growing body of evidence has shown that e-cigarettes are associated with acute lung injury and adverse effects in multiple other organs. Previous studies showed that high emissions of aldehydes (formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) in aerosols were associated with increased usage of the same e-cigarette coils.

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Processing of contextual information during a new episodic event is crucial for learning and memory. Neuromodulation in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex plays an important role in the formation of associations between environmental cues and an aversive experience. Noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus send dense projections to both regions, but their contribution to contextual associative learning has not been established.

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Background: To better understand the potential role of social media (SM) as a self-management tool for individuals with endometriosis and to assess its current use by endometriosis patients.

Aims: The primary outcome was use of SM for health in patients with endometriosis. Secondary outcomes included preferred SM platforms for health information sharing and factors that influenced use, positive and negative experiences and reported impacts on health.

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The stability of drinking water disinfectant residuals is known to be influenced by multiple variables. To evaluate the effects of various influencing variables on disinfectant stability, a multivariate analysis of chloramine decay and associated disinfection by-products (DBPs) formation was investigated in a series of bench-scale experiments. Of nine water quality variables previously identified, monochloramine dose, pH, and bromide concentration were selected as key water quality variables based on previous investigations and modelling.

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Background: This survey of COVID-19 interventional studies encompasses, and expands upon, a previous publication [1] examining individual participant level data (IPD) sharing intentions for COVID-related trials and publications prior to June 30, 2020.

Methods: Replicating our inclusion criteria from the original survey, we evaluated a larger dataset of 2759 trials and 281 publications in this follow-up survey for willingness to share IPD and studied if sharing sentiment has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic.

Results: We found that 18 months into the pandemic, data sharing intentions remained static at 15% for trials registered through ClinicalTrials.

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Mechanistic understanding into the formation and growth of imine-linked two-dimensional (2D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is needed to improve their materials quality and access larger crystallite sizes, both of which limit the promise of 2D COFs and 2D polymerization techniques. Here we report a previously unknown temperature-dependent depolymerization of colloidal 2D imine-linked COFs, which offers a new means to improve their crystallinity. 2D COF colloids form at room temperature but then depolymerize when their reaction mixtures are heated to 90 °C.

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  • Arterial stiffness is identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and circulating levels of inactive matrix Gla protein (ucMGP) are linked to these health issues.
  • In a study analyzing data from the Framingham Heart Study, higher levels of ucMGP were associated with increased arterial stiffness and were predictive of future heart failure and rising blood pressure.
  • Experimental studies in mice also showed that older Mgp mice exhibited increased arterial stiffness, supporting the notion that targeting MGP could be a potential therapeutic strategy for addressing HFpEF.
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Background: Anaphylaxis is a significant health burden in most Western countries, but there are little published data on the incidence and pattern of anaphylaxis in Asia. We aim to determine the incidence rate and pattern of anaphylaxis over the past decade among the pediatric population in Hong Kong.

Methods: Medical records of patients presenting with allergy-related symptoms during the period 2010 to 2019 were examined.

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As we explore beyond Earth, astronauts may be at risk for harmful DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation. Double-strand breaks are a type of DNA damage that can be repaired by two major cellular pathways: non-homologous end joining, during which insertions or deletions may be added at the break site, and homologous recombination, in which the DNA sequence often remains unchanged. Previous work suggests that space conditions may impact the choice of DNA repair pathway, potentially compounding the risks of increased radiation exposure during space travel.

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The mammalian brain is highly vulnerable to oxygen deprivation, yet the mechanism underlying the brain's sensitivity to hypoxia is incompletely understood. Hypoxia induces accumulation of hydrogen sulfide, a gas that inhibits mitochondrial respiration. Here, we show that, in mice, rats, and naturally hypoxia-tolerant ground squirrels, the sensitivity of the brain to hypoxia is inversely related to the levels of sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQOR) and the capacity to catabolize sulfide.

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Macrocycles that assemble into nanotubes exhibit emergent properties stemming from their low dimensionality, structural regularity, and distinct interior environments. We report a versatile strategy to synthesize diverse nanotube structures in a single, efficient reaction by using a conserved building block bearing a pyridine ring. Imine condensation of a 2,4,6-triphenylpyridine-based diamine with various aromatic dialdehydes yields chemically distinct pentagonal [5 + 5], hexagonal [3 + 3], and diamond-shaped [2 + 2] macrocycles depending on the substitution pattern of the aromatic dialdehyde monomer.

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Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) generally leverage one or two monomers with specific sizes and shapes to access highly symmetric and periodic polymer networks. Almost all reported COFs employ the minimum sets of monomers needed for the polymerization (usually two, sometimes one) and crystallize in high-symmetry topologies. COFs synthesized from more than two monomers usually employ mixtures with different pendant functionalities to distribute these groups statistically throughout the structure, or monomers with different sizes in ratios targeting lower symmetry topologies.

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  • The study aimed to identify risk factors for mechanical ventilation and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients upon their admission to hospitals, using a cohort from Mass General Brigham hospitals.
  • The researchers analyzed data from 1,042 patients and created two risk scores (VICE and DICE) based on specific predictors, achieving high accuracy in forecasting outcomes.
  • Findings indicated that certain factors like diabetes and age were significant predictors of patient needs and mortality, with chronic statin use suggesting a protective effect against death from COVID-19.
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