Publications by authors named "S Humphries"
Optimal Cell Length for Exploration and Exploitation in Chemotactic Planktonic Bacteria.
Environ Microbiol
December 2024
Elongated morphologies are prevalent among motile bacterioplankton in aquatic systems. This is often attributed to enhanced chemotactic ability, but how long is best? We hypothesized the existence of an optimal cell length for efficient chemotaxis resulting from shape-imposed physical constraints acting on the trade-off between rapid exploration versus efficient exploitation of nutrient sources. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the chemotactic performance of elongated cephalexin-treated Escherichia coli towards α-methyl-aspartate in a microfluidic device creating linear, stable and quiescent chemical gradients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) develops in 5-10% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality, particularly in those with a fibrotic phenotype. Yet, biomarkers to reliably identify RA patients with underlying pulmonary fibrosis are inadequate. Herein, we used sputum to identify lung-based biomarkers that distinguish RA patients with underlying pulmonary fibrosis and may better inform underlying pathogenesis in RA-ILD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMammalian hearing operates on three basic steps: 1) sound capturing, 2) impedance conversion, and 3) frequency analysis. While these canonical steps are vital for acoustic communication and survival in mammals, they are not unique to them. An equivalent mechanism has been described for katydids (Insecta), and it is unique to this group among invertebrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a complex disease, and variations in genetic profiles might influence unique clinical and imaging characteristics.
- Computational image analysis, or radiomics, provides a way to quantify and analyze CT scan features objectively in patients with pulmonary fibrosis.
- The study found that certain genetic variants correlated with deep learning-based classifications of the usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern on CT, suggesting that advanced imaging analysis could help in understanding genotype-phenotype relationships in lung diseases.
Article Synopsis
- High-resolution CT (HRCT) is crucial for diagnosing and monitoring interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), allowing noninvasive visualization and classification of lung injury patterns.
- Predicting disease progression and treatment response is difficult, as traditional visual assessments of lung damage can be subjective and have inconsistent agreement among radiologists.
- Machine learning techniques for quantitative CT (QCT) analysis provide strong correlations with patient outcomes, making them valuable for assessing disease severity and predicting progression and mortality in ILDs like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and connective tissue disease.