Molecular Regulation of Cardiomyocyte Maturation.

Purpose Of The Review: This review aims to discuss the process of cardiomyocyte maturation, with a focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms required to form a fully functional heart. We examine both long-standing concepts associated with cardiac maturation and recent developments, and the overall complexity of molecularly integrating all the processes that lead to a mature heart.

Recent Findings: Cardiac maturation, defined here as the sequential changes that occurring before the heart reaches full maturity, has been a subject of investigation for decades.

High-Frequency Ultrasound for Detecting Periodontal Inflammation: A Preclinical Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Aim: Ultrasonography (US) has shown accuracy in imaging healthy periodontium. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of US for estimating dimensions of inflamed periodontium induced by ligature and bacteria.

Methods: Periodontal tissues of maxillary as well as mandibular premolars and molars in six female mini pigs were treated with ligature and three strains of bacteria for 4-10 weeks.

Network-based investigation of petroleum hydrocarbons-induced ecotoxicological effects and their risk assessment.

Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) are compounds composed mostly of carbon and hydrogen, originating from crude oil and its derivatives. PHs are primarily released into the environment through the diffusion of oils, resulting from anthropogenic activities like transportation and offshore drilling, and accidental incidents such as oil spills. Once released, these PHs can persist in different ecosystems and cause long-term detrimental ecological impacts.

Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Vascular Response to Mechanical Compression during Induced Gingival Inflammation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the gingival vascular response to mechanical compression during inflammation using ultrasonography. Four female and 4 male Sinclair mini pigs 18 mo of age were included in the study. Pathogenic bacteria-impregnated silk ligatures were placed around the third premolars (PM3), fourth premolars (PM4), and first molars (M1).

Quantitative Ultrasound for Periodontal Soft Tissue Characterization.

Objective: Periodontal diseases are a spectrum of inflammatory diseases that affect 45.9% of adults aged ≥30 years in the United States Current standard of care in clinics for the assessment of oral soft tissue inflammation is bleeding on probing,which is invasive, subjective and semi-qualitative. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) has shown promising results in the non-invasive quantitative characterization of various soft tissues; however, it has not been used in clinical periodontics.

Depletion of core microbiome forms the shared background against diverging dysbiosis patterns in Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis: insights from an integrated multi-cohort analysis.

Background/aims: Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) are gastrointestinal (GI) inflammatory disorders with overlapping clinical presentations but diverging etiologies. The study aims to decipher CD and ITB-associated gut dysbiosis signatures and identify disease-associated co-occurring modules to evaluate whether this dysbiosis signature is a disease-specific trait or is a shared feature across diseases of diverging etiologies.

Methods: Disease-associated gut microbial modules were identified using statistical machine learning and co-abundance network analysis in controls, CD and ITB patients recruited as part of this study.

A Life-Size Three-Dimensional Phantom for Periodontal Imaging Development and Treatment-Planning.

Rationale And Objectives: This study aims to (1) describe a periodontal and implant ultrasound imaging phantom designed for training of common periodontal and peri-implant soft- and hard-tissue deficiencies, and (2) detail the specific anatomical phantom features and showcase imaging data obtained from intraoral scans, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) as well as ultrasound.

Materials And Methods: A prototype, full-sized, three-dimensional (3D), periodontal ultrasound phantom was created. To mimic periodontal and peri-implant soft-tissue, a phantom material similar to soft-tissue was attached.

Ecotoxicological risk assessment of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) against different aquatic species leveraging intelligent consensus prediction and i-QSTTR modeling.

The increasing presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in aquatic ecosystems, driven by widespread human use, poses significant risks, including acute and chronic toxicity to aquatic species. However, the scarcity of experimental toxicity data on APIs and related compounds due to the high costs, time requirements, and ethical concerns associated with animal testing hinders comprehensive risk assessment. In response, we developed quantitative structure-toxicity relationship (QSTR) and interspecies quantitative structure toxicity-toxicity relationship (i-QSTTR) models for three key aquatic species: zebrafish, water fleas, and green algae, using NOEC as an endpoint, following OECD guidelines.

Ultrasound Characterization of Oral Soft Tissues Using the Burr Speckle Model.

Periodontal (gum) diseases, reportedly affect 4 out of 10 adults 30 years of age or older in the USA. The standard of care for clinical assessments of these diseases is bleeding on probing, which is invasive, subjective and semi-qualitative. Thus, research on proposing alternative noninvasive modalities for clinical assessments of periodontal tissues is crucial.

PFOA remediation from kaolinite soil by electrokinetic process coupled with activated carbon/iron coated activated carbon - permeable reactive barrier.

This study applied electrokinetic (EK) in situ soil remediation for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) removal from kaolinite soil. The kaolinite soil was spiked with 10 mg/kg PFOA for the EK treatment using Sodium Cholate bio-surfactant coupled with Activated Carbon (AC) or iron-coated Activated Carbon (FeAC) permeable reactive barrier (PRB). The study also evaluated the impact of AC and FeAC PRBs' position on the EK process performance.

Use of High-Frequency Ultrasound for the Correlation of Epithelial Rete Peg Variation.

Objective: Rete pegs are projections of the oral epithelium into connective tissue. Their dimensions change during pathological conditions and may correlate with wound-healing status. Non-invasive, high-frequency ultrasound (US) may be able to capture these changes and aid in early detection of histopathological changes.

Leveraging integrative toxicogenomic approach towards development of stressor-centric adverse outcome pathway networks for plastic additives.

Plastics are widespread pollutants found in atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems due to their extensive usage and environmental persistence. Plastic additives, that are intentionally added to achieve specific functionality in plastics, leach into the environment upon plastic degradation and pose considerable risk to ecological and human health. Limited knowledge concerning the presence of plastic additives throughout plastic life cycle has hindered their effective regulation, thereby posing risks to product safety.

Intraoral ultrasonography image registration for evaluation of partial edentulous ridge: A methodology and validation study.

Objectives: Ultrasound (US) reveals details for diagnosing soft- and hard-tissue dimensions around teeth, implants, and the edentulous ridge, not seen in 2D radiographs. Co-registering free-hand US scans with other 3D modalities presents reliability challenges. This study first aims to develop and validate a registration method to longitudinally reproduce US images of the jawbone on a simulator.

Ultrasound-based jawbone surface quality evaluation after alveolar ridge preservation.

Background: Bone readiness for implant placement is typically evaluated by bone quality/density on 2-dimensional radiographs and cone beam computed tomography at an arbitrary time between 3 and 6 months after tooth extraction and alveolar ridge preservation (ARP). The aim of this study is to investigate if high-frequency ultrasound (US) can classify bone readiness in humans, using micro-CT as a reference standard to obtain bone mineral density (BMD) and bone volume fraction (BVTV) of healed sockets receiving ARP in humans.

Methods: A total of 27 bone cores were harvested during the implant surgery from 24 patients who received prior extraction with ARP.

Poly Meta-Aminophenol (PmAP) as a Solid-State Electron Mediator in the Z-Scheme, AgPO/CoFeO Heterojunction: Mineralization of Highly Concentrated Bisphenol-A and Reactive Dyes Water Pollutants.

This study demonstrated the effectiveness of poly meta-aminophenol (PmAP) as a solid electron mediator in the Z-scheme photocatalytic system for organic pollutants (viz. bisphenol-A and reactive dyes) mineralization and also illustrated how PmAP transported the photogenerated electrons from an O-emitting photocatalyst (AgPO) to a H-emitting photocatalyst (CoFeO) enabling enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. The PmAP/AgPO-CoFeO (PAC-10), was prepared by a two-step process and characterized by various analytical methods to assess the impact of PmAP on optical, photocatalytic, and electrochemical characteristics of the CoFeO (CFO)/AgPO composite.

Stress phenotyping analysis leveraging autofluorescence image sequences with machine learning.

Background: Autofluorescence-based imaging has the potential to non-destructively characterize the biochemical and physiological properties of plants regulated by genotypes using optical properties of the tissue. A comparative study of stress tolerant and stress susceptible genotypes of with respect to newly introduced stress-based phenotypes using machine learning techniques will contribute to the significant advancement of autofluorescence-based plant phenotyping research.

Methods: Autofluorescence spectral images have been used to design a stress detection classifier with two classes, stressed and non-stressed, using machine learning algorithms.

Transformative Dynamics: Self-Assembly of Iron Oxide Hydroxide Nanorods into Iron Oxide Microcubes for Enhanced Perfluoroalkyl Substance Remediation.

We report the controlled synthesis of iron oxide microcubes (IOMCs) through the self-assembly arrays of ferric oxide hydroxide nanorods (NRs). The formation of IOMCs involves a complex interplay of nucleation, self-assembly, and growth mechanisms influenced by time, thermal treatment, and surfactant dynamics. The self-assembly of vertically aligned NRs into IOMCs is controlled by dynamic magnetism properties and capping agents like cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), whose concentration and temperature modulation dictate growth kinetics and structural uniformity.

Quantitative Ultrasound for Periodontal Soft Tissue Characterization.

Periodontal diseases affect 45.9\% of adults aged 30 or older in the United States. Current diagnostic methods for clinical assessment of these diseases are visual examination and bleeding on probing that are subjective, qualitative, and/or invasive.

Iron slag/activated carbon-electrokinetic system with anolyte recycling for single and mixture heavy metals remediation.

The electrokinetic process has been proposed for in-situ soil remediation to minimize excavation work and exposure to hazardous materials. The precipitation of heavy metals in alkaline pH near the cathode is still challenging. Reactive filter media and enhancement agents have been used in electrokinetics to enhance the removal of heavy metals.