Mitigation of thermal artifacts in 100 kHz ultrafast 2D IR spectroscopy.

Ytterbium lasers make possible shot-to-shot data collection of two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectra at 100 kHz and higher repetition rates. At those rates, the power absorbed by the sample is appreciable and creates a steady state temperature rise and an accumulated thermal grating artifact in the spectra that can obscure weak or low concentration IR chromophores. We report the magnitude of the temperature rise, the pulse ordering by which it is created, and ways to mitigate it.

Positronium image of the human brain in vivo.

Positronium is abundantly produced within the molecular voids of a patient's body during positron emission tomography (PET). Its properties dynamically respond to the submolecular architecture of the tissue and the partial pressure of oxygen. Current PET systems record only two annihilation photons and cannot provide information about the positronium lifetime.

Standard operating protocol for utilizing energy-based devices in aesthetic practice.

Background: Lasers and other energy-based devices are increasingly becoming popular in aesthetic practice. Many centers employ doctors or technicians to perform these procedures where treating doctor and operating doctor may be different. Hence the need for standard operative protocols, to be followed while performing these procedures to avoid mistakes, complications and to get optimum results.

Spatially controlled diffusion range of tumor-associated angiogenic factors to develop a tumor model using a microfluidic resistive circuit.

Developing a tumor model with vessels has been a challenge in microfluidics. This difficulty is because cancer cells can overgrow in a co-culture system. The up-regulation of anti-angiogenic factors during the initial tumor development can hinder neovascularization.

Behenic Acid as a multi-target inhibiting antibacterial phytochemical against and for effective management of aquaculture infections: an in-silico, in-vitro & in-vivo experimentation.

Multi-Target Inhibitors are the upcoming frontrunners of the antibiotic world as they provide significant advantage over drug resistance development. Antibacterial drug discovery research, requires more robust and innovative approaches such as multi-target inhibiting drugs, which over comes the innate hurdles in the field of antibiotics. In this current study, a curated set of 5,112 phytochemical molecules were virtually screened for its multi-target inhibition potential against 7 antibacterial protein drug-targets.

Microplastics in oral healthcare products (OHPs) and their environmental health risks and mitigation measures.

The environmental input of microplastics from personal care products has received significant attention; however, less focus has been paid to oral healthcare products. The present study assessed the occurrence of microplastics in commercially available oral healthcare products such as toothbrushes, toothpastes, toothpowder, mouthwash, dental floss, and mouth freshener spray that have a pan-India distribution. The extracted microplastics were quantified and characterised using a microscope and ATR-FTIR.

Comparative studies of the sensitivities of sparse and full geometries of Total-Body PET scanners built from crystals and plastic scintillators.

Background: Alongside the benefits of Total-Body imaging modalities, such as higher sensitivity, single-bed position, low dose imaging, etc., their final construction cost prevents worldwide utilization. The main aim of this study is to present a simulation-based comparison of the sensitivities of existing and currently developed tomographs to introduce a cost-efficient solution for constructing a Total-Body PET scanner based on plastic scintillators.

Performance evaluation of hybrid constructed wetlands for nitrogen removal and statistical approaches.

Nitrogen pollution in water bodies has become a pressing environmental and public health issue worldwide, demanding the implementation of effective nitrogen removal strategies. This research paper delves into the performance evaluation of hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) as a sustainable and innovative approach for nitrogen removal, employing a comprehensive year-long dataset gathered from a practical setup. The study collected data under diverse operating conditions to investigate the effectiveness of HCWs in removing nitrogen.

Transformation of PET raw data into images for event classification using convolutional neural networks.

In positron emission tomography (PET) studies, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) may be applied directly to the reconstructed distribution of radioactive tracers injected into the patient's body, as a pattern recognition tool. Nonetheless, unprocessed PET coincidence data exist in tabular format. This paper develops the transformation of tabular data into n-dimensional matrices, as a preparation stage for classification based on CNNs.

Detection of range shifts in proton beam therapy using the J-PET scanner: a patient simulation study.

The Jagiellonian PET (J-PET) technology, based on plastic scintillators, has been proposed as a cost effective tool for detecting range deviations during proton therapy. This study investigates the feasibility of using J-PET for range monitoring by means of a detailed Monte Carlo simulation study of 95 patients who underwent proton therapy at the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) in Krakow, Poland. Approach: Discrepancies between prescribed and delivered treatments were artificially introduced in the simulations by means of shifts in patient positioning and in the Hounsfield unit to the relative proton stopping power calibration curve.

Ferroptosis regulates key signaling pathways in gastrointestinal tumors: Underlying mechanisms and therapeutic strategies.

Ferroptosis is an emerging novel form of non-apoptotic, regulated cell death that is heavily dependent on iron and characterized by rupture in plasma membrane. Ferroptosis is distinct from other regulated cell death modalities at the biochemical, morphological, and molecular levels. The ferroptotic signature includes high membrane density, cytoplasmic swelling, condensed mitochondrial membrane, and outer mitochondrial rupture with associated features of accumulation of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation.

Effectiveness of reinforcement program on adherence toward short peripheral catheter (SPC) care guidelines among registered nurses working in pediatric wards of a tertiary care hospital.

Background: Short peripheral catheterization is the common procedure performed in every hospital with patients' admittance. It becomes challenging when it comes to children and requires more knowledge and skills. The aim of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of the reinforcement program on adherence to short peripheral catheter (SPC) care guidelines among registered nurses.

ProTheRaMon - a GATE simulation framework for proton therapy range monitoring using PET imaging.

Objective: This paper reports on the implementation and shows examples of the use of the ProTheRaMon framework for simulating the delivery of proton therapy treatment plans and range monitoring using positron emission tomography (PET). ProTheRaMon offers complete processing of proton therapy treatment plans, patient CT geometries, and intra-treatment PET imaging, taking into account therapy and imaging coordinate systems and activity decay during the PET imaging protocol specific to a given proton therapy facility. We present the ProTheRaMon framework and illustrate its potential use case and data processing steps for a patient treated at the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) proton therapy center in Krakow, Poland.

Programmed Topographic Substrates for Studying Roughness Gradient-Dependent Cell Migration Using Two-Photon Polymerization.

The mediation of the extracellular matrix is one of the major environmental cues to direct cell migration, such as stiffness-dependent durotaxis and adhesiveness-dependent haptotaxis. In this study, we explore another possible contact guidance: roughness dependent topotaxis. Different from previously reported studies on topotaxis that use standard photolithography to create micron or submicron structures that have identical height and different spatial densities, we develop a new method to programmatically fabricate substrates with different patterns of surface roughness using two-photon polymerization.

Insights into the Molecular Mechanisms of Histone Code Recognition by the BRPF3 Bromodomain.

Bromodomains are evolutionarily conserved reader modules that recognize acetylated lysine residues on the histone tails to facilitate gene transcription. The bromodomain and PHD finger containing protein 3 (BRPF3) is a scaffolding protein that forms a tetrameric complex with HBO1 histone acetyltransferase (HAT) and two other subunits, which is known to regulate the HAT activity and substrate specificity. However, its molecular mechanism, histone ligands, and biological functions remain unknown.

Simulating NEMA characteristics of the modular total-body J-PET scanner-an economic total-body PET from plastic scintillators.

The purpose of the presented research is estimation of the performance characteristics of the economic total-body Jagiellonian-PET system (TB-J-PET) constructed from plastic scintillators. The characteristics are estimated according to the NEMA NU-2-2018 standards utilizing the GATE package. The simulated detector consists of 24 modules, each built out of 32 plastic scintillator strips (each with cross section of 6 mm times 30 mm and length of 140 or 200 cm) arranged in two layers in regular 24-sided polygon circumscribing a circle with the diameter of 78.

A prospective study of a new prediction model of vaginal birth after cesarean section at a tertiary care centre.

Objective: To create a new and simple model for predicting the likelihood of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) section using variables available at the time of admission.

Materials And Methods: A prospective observational study was performed at a tertiary care centre in Haryana over a period of 12 months (January 2018 - December 2018) in pregnant women attending the labour room with one previous cesarean section fulfilling the criteria for undergoing trial of labour after cesarean (TOLAC). The sample size was 150.

3D TOF-PET image reconstruction using total variation regularization.

In this paper we introduce a semi-analytic algorithm for 3-dimensional image reconstruction for positron emission tomography (PET). The method consists of the back-projection of the acquired data into the most likely image voxel according to time-of-flight (TOF) information, followed by the filtering step in the image space using an iterative optimization algorithm with a total variation (TV) regularization. TV regularization in image space is more computationally efficient than usual iterative optimization methods for PET reconstruction with full system matrix that use TV regularization.

Performance assessment of the 2 γpositronium imaging with the total-body PET scanners.

Purpose: In living organisms, the positron-electron annihilation (occurring during the PET imaging) proceeds in about 30% via creation of a metastable ortho-positronium atom. In the tissue, due to the pick-off and conversion processes, over 98% of ortho-positronia annihilate into two 511 keV photons. In this article, we assess the feasibility for reconstruction of the mean ortho-positronium lifetime image based on annihilations into two photons.

Estimating relationship between the time over threshold and energy loss by photons in plastic scintillators used in the J-PET scanner.

Purpose: The time-over-threshold (TOT) technique is being used widely due to itsimplications in developing the multi-channel readouts, mainly when fast signal processing is required. Using the TOT technique, as a measure of energy loss instead of charge integration methods, significantly reduces the signal readout costs by combining the time and energy information. Therefore, this approach can potentially be utilized in J-PET tomograph which is built from plastic scintillators characterized by fast light signals.

Novel application of maghemite nanoparticles coated bacteria for the removal of cadmium from aqueous solution.

Heavy metals are classified as persistent pollutants owing to their nature of bioaccumulation and affect human life and environment, even in minor concentrations. Divalent Cadmium (Cd) is one of the heavy metal pollutants that are highly toxic. The present study investigates the novel application of maghemite nanoparticles coated Bacillus subtilis for the removal of Cd ions from its aqueous solution by batch adsorption studies.

Estimating the NEMA characteristics of the J-PET tomograph using the GATE package.

A novel whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) system based on plastic scintillators is developed by the J-PET Collaboration. It consists of plastic scintillator strips arranged axially in the form of a cylinder, allowing the cost-effective construction of the total-body PET system. In order to determine the properties of the scanner prototype and optimize its geometry, advanced computer simulations were performed using the GATE (Geant4 application for tomographic emission) software.