Single-centre, double-blinded, randomised placebo-controlled trial to determine the effect of a 12-week home-based programme of footplate neuromuscular electrical stimulation on walking capacity in people with peripheral artery disease: a protocol for the Foot-PAD trial.

Introduction: Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) can experience intermittent claudication, which limits walking capacity and the ability to undertake daily activities. While exercise therapy is an established way to improve walking capacity in people with PAD, it is not feasible in all patients. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) provides a way to passively induce repeated muscle contractions and has been widely used as a therapy for chronic conditions that limit functional capacity.

Lack of correlation between school reopening and trends in adult COVID-19 hospitalisations and death rates during the Delta and early Omicron periods: An ecological analysis of five countries.

Objectives: In this ecological study, we describe SARS-CoV-2 case incidence and COVID-19 hospitalisation and death rates for school-aged and adult populations during the Delta and early Omicron periods, before and after schools reopened in five countries.

Methods: Data were extracted from government websites. Cases and COVID-19 hospitalisation and death incidence rates were calculated during the Delta and early Omicron periods in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom, for two weeks preceding and six weeks after schools reopened.

Global impact of ten-valent and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on invasive pneumococcal disease in all ages (the PSERENADE project): a global surveillance analysis.

Background: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) that are ten-valent (PCV10) and 13-valent (PCV13) became available in 2010. We evaluated their global impact on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence in all ages.

Methods: Serotype-specific IPD cases and population denominators were obtained directly from surveillance sites using PCV10 or PCV13 in their national immunisation programmes and with a primary series uptake of at least 50%.

Asymmetric Stereo High Dynamic Range Imaging with Smartphone Cameras.

Stereo high dynamic range imaging (SHDRI) offers a more temporally stable solution to high dynamic range (HDR) imaging from low dynamic range input images compared to bracketing and removes the loss of accuracy that single-image HDR solutions offer. However, few solutions currently exist that take advantage of the different (asymmetric) lenses, commonly found on modern smartphones, to achieve SHDRI. This paper presents a method that achieves single-shot asymmetric HDR fusion via a reference-based deep learning approach.

Transcriptomic Analysis across Crayfish () Claw Regeneration Reveals Potential Stem Cell Sources for Cultivated Crustacean Meat.

In the face of rising global demand and unsustainable production methods, cultivated crustacean meat (CCM) is proposed as an alternative means to produce delicious lobster, shrimp, and crab products. Cultivated meat requires starting stem cells that may vary in terms of potency and the propensity to proliferate or differentiate into myogenic (muscle-related) tissues. Recognizing that regenerating limbs are a non-lethal source of tissue and may harbor relevant stem cells, we selected those of the crayfish as our model.

Two-week intensive medical student point-of-care ultrasound training impact on long term utilization.

Background: There is little to no data evaluating long term usage of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) after a training intervention for medical students. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an intensive POCUS training program on medical student's usage at 9-months post-program.

Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study of rising second year medical students who participated in a 2-week summer POCUS training program.

Inequitable Distribution of Global Economic Benefits from Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccination.

Many low- and middle-income countries have been slow to introduce the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) into their routine childhood immunization schedules despite a high burden of disease. We estimated the global economic surplus of PCV, defined as the sum of the net value to 194 countries (i.e.

Stability and antigenicity of Chlamydia muridarum major outer membrane protein antigen at body temperature.

Chlamydia is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for disease and infertility across multiple species. Currently vaccines are being studied to help reduce the prevalence of this disease. The main advantage of protein subunit vaccines is their high degree of safety although this is traded off with the requirement for multiple booster doses to achieve complete protection.

Considerations for cultivated crustacean meat: potential cell sources, potential differentiation and immortalization strategies, and lessons from crustacean and other animal models.

Cultivated crustacean meat (CCM) is a means to create highly valued shrimp, lobster, and crab products directly from stem cells, thus removing the need to farm or fish live animals. Conventional crustacean enterprises face increasing pressures in managing overfishing, pollution, and the warming climate, so CCM may provide a way to ensure sufficient supply as global demand for these products grows. To support the development of CCM, this review briefly details crustacean cell culture work to date, before addressing what is presently known about crustacean muscle development, particularly the molecular mechanisms involved, and how this might relate to recent work on cultivated meat production in vertebrate species.

AMP-activated protein kinase can be allosterically activated by ADP but AMP remains the key activating ligand.

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular energy status. When activated by increases in ADP:ATP and/or AMP:ATP ratios (signalling energy deficit), AMPK acts to restore energy balance. Binding of AMP to one or more of three CBS repeats (CBS1, CBS3, CBS4) on the AMPK-γ subunit activates the kinase complex by three complementary mechanisms: (i) promoting α-subunit Thr172 phosphorylation by the upstream kinase LKB1; (ii) protecting against Thr172 dephosphorylation; (iii) allosteric activation.

Serial Trauma Abdominal Ultrasound in Children (STAUNCH): A Pilot Study.

Background: Ultrasound has established utility within pediatric emergency medicine and has an added benefit of avoiding excessive radiation exposure. The serial focused assessment with sonography in trauma (sFAST) examination is a potential alternative to improve pediatric trauma evaluation. We sought to evaluate the accuracy of sFAST in pediatric patients with blunt abdominal trauma.

Diagnostic accuracy of prehospital lung ultrasound for acute decompensated heart failure: A systematic review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) reduces time to diagnosis and treatment of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in emergency department (ED) patients with undifferentiated dyspnea. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and clinical impact of LUS for ADHF in the prehospital setting.

Methods: We performed a keyword search of multiple databases from inception through June 1, 2023.

Activity-dependent compartmentalization of dendritic mitochondria morphology through local regulation of fusion-fission balance in neurons in vivo.

Neuronal mitochondria play important roles beyond ATP generation, including Ca uptake, and therefore have instructive roles in synaptic function and neuronal response properties. Mitochondrial morphology differs significantly between the axon and dendrites of a given neuronal subtype, but in CA1 pyramidal neurons (PNs) of the hippocampus, mitochondria within the dendritic arbor also display a remarkable degree of subcellular, layer-specific compartmentalization. In the dendrites of these neurons, mitochondria morphology ranges from highly fused and elongated in the apical tuft, to more fragmented in the apical oblique and basal dendritic compartments, and thus occupy a smaller fraction of dendritic volume than in the apical tuft.

BAY-3827 and SBI-0206965: Potent AMPK Inhibitors That Paradoxically Increase Thr172 Phosphorylation.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is the central component of a signalling pathway that senses energy stress and triggers a metabolic switch away from anabolic processes and towards catabolic processes. There has been a prolonged focus in the pharmaceutical industry on the development of AMPK-activating drugs for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, recent findings suggest that AMPK inhibitors might be efficacious for treating certain cancers, especially lung adenocarcinomas, in which the gene (encoding the α1 catalytic subunit isoform of AMPK) is often amplified.

Enhanced clearance of C. muridarum infection using azithromycin-loaded liposomes.

Chlamydia trachomatis is an intracellular bacterium which infects around 129 million people annually. Despite similar infection rates between sexes, most research investigating the effects of chlamydial infection on fertility has focused on females. There is now emerging evidence of a potential link between Chlamydia and impaired male fertility.

serotype 33G: genetic, serological, and structural analysis of a new capsule type.

(the pneumococcus) is a bacterial pathogen with the greatest burden of disease in Asia and Africa. The pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide has biological relevance as a major virulence factor as well as public health importance as it is the target for currently licensed vaccines. These vaccines have limited valency, covering up to 23 of the >100 known capsular types (serotypes) with higher valency vaccines in development.

Frequent loss-of-function mutations in the AMPK-α2 catalytic subunit suggest a tumour suppressor role in human skin cancers.

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular energy status activated by increases in AMP or ADP relative to ATP. Once activated, it phosphorylates targets that promote ATP-generating catabolic pathways or inhibit ATP-consuming anabolic pathways, helping to restore cellular energy balance. Analysis of human cancer genome studies reveals that the PRKAA2 gene (encoding the α2 isoform of the catalytic subunit) is often subject to mis-sense mutations in cancer, particularly in melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, where up to 70 mis-sense mutations have been documented, often accompanied by loss of the tumour suppressor NF1.