Impact of Antipseudomonal Antibiotics in Patients with Bronchiectasis Who Experienced Exacerbation or Developed Pneumonia: A Nationwide Study in Japan.

: Although chronic infection by among patients with bronchiectasis is associated with poor prognosis, the impact of antibiotics with coverage in patients with bronchiectasis who experienced bacterial pneumonia or exacerbation of bronchiectasis has not been fully investigated. : This study targeted patients with bronchiectasis who were admitted to hospitals because of bacterial pneumonia or exacerbation of bronchiectasis between April 2018 and March 2020 using a national inpatient database in Japan. The association of antipseudomonal antibiotic treatment with in-hospital mortality was assessed after propensity score matching to adjust the patients' backgrounds.

Genetic Characterization of Captive South American Fur Seals in Japan Based on Mitochondrial and Microsatellite DNA Analyses.

Molecular genetic analyses are effective in revealing the origin, kinship, and genetic diversity of zoo animals. In this study, we carried out the genetic characterization of captive founder individuals of the South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) in Japanese zoos and aquariums based on analyses of mitochondrial sequences and nuclear microsatellite loci. In mitochondrial DNA analysis, the haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity of the overall population were 0.

An explainable deep learning platform for molecular discovery.

Deep learning approaches have been increasingly applied to the discovery of novel chemical compounds. These predictive approaches can accurately model compounds and increase true discovery rates, but they are typically black box in nature and do not generate specific chemical insights. Explainable deep learning aims to 'open up' the black box by providing generalizable and human-understandable reasoning for model predictions.

TNF-α exacerbates SARS-CoV-2 infection by stimulating CXCL1 production from macrophages.

Since most genetically modified mice are C57BL/6 background, a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 that causes lethal infection in young C57BL/6 mice is useful for studying innate immune protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we established two mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2, ancestral and Delta variants, by serial passaging 80 times in C57BL/6 mice. Although young C57BL/6 mice were resistant to infection with the mouse-adapted ancestral SARS-CoV-2, the mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant caused lethal infection in young C57BL/6 mice.

Deep generative design of RNA aptamers using structural predictions.

RNAs represent a class of programmable biomolecules capable of performing diverse biological functions. Recent studies have developed accurate RNA three-dimensional structure prediction methods, which may enable new RNAs to be designed in a structure-guided manner. Here, we develop a structure-to-sequence deep learning platform for the de novo generative design of RNA aptamers.