Therapeutic potential of stem cell-derived somatic cells to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and diabetes.

Developments in basic stem cell biology have paved the way for technology translation in human medicine. An exciting prospective use of stem cells is the ex vivo generation of hepatic and pancreatic endocrine cells for biomedical applications. This includes creating novel models 'in a dish' and developing therapeutic strategies for complex diseases, such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and diabetes.

Associations of Maternal Prenatal Zinc Consumption with Infant Brain Tissue Organization and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes.

Background/objectives: While studies in rat pups suggest that early zinc exposure is critical for optimal brain structure and function, associations of prenatal zinc intake with measures of brain development in infants are unknown. This study aimed to assess the associations of maternal zinc intake during pregnancy with MRI measures of brain tissue microstructure and neurodevelopmental outcomes, as well as to determine whether MRI measures of the brain mediated the relationship between maternal zinc intake and neurodevelopmental indices.

Methods: Forty-one adolescent mothers were recruited for a longitudinal study during pregnancy.

Immunological Regulation of Fibrosis During Heart Failure: It Takes Two to Tango.

Immuno-fibrotic networks and their protein mediators, such as cytokines and chemokines, have increasingly been appreciated for their critical role in cardiac healing and fibrosis during cardiomyopathy. Immune activation, trafficking, and extravasation are tightly regulated to ensure a targeted and effective response against non-self antigens/pathogens while preserving tolerance towards self-antigens and coordinate fibrotic responses for efficient scar formation, a distinction that is severely compromised during chronic diseases. It is clear that immune cells are not only the critical regulators of post-infarct healing and scarring but are also the key players in regulating fibroblast activation during left-ventricular (LV) remodeling.

Distinct Urinary Metabolite Signatures Mirror In Vivo Oxidative Stress-Related Radiation Responses in Mice.

Exposure to ionizing radiation disrupts metabolic pathways and causes oxidative stress, which can lead to organ damage. In this study, urinary metabolites from mice exposed to high-dose and low-dose whole-body irradiation (WBI HDR, WBI LDR) or partial-body irradiation (PBI BM2.5) were analyzed using targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches.

Trauma-Induced Stress Distribution in Primary Incisors Restored With Preformed Zirconia Crowns: 3D Finite Element Analysis.

Background/aims: Preformed zirconia crowns have emerged as the preferred choice for restoring damaged primary incisors. However, they differ from natural teeth in their biophysical properties and can potentially alter the overall response of crowned teeth to a traumatic load. This in silico study aimed to compare the response of three different traumatic loading conditions for the (i) natural (M1) and (ii) zirconia-restored tooth models (M2) models.

Oncological principles in the management of ocular surface squamous neoplasia - A Review.

Ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) is the most common neoplasia of the anterior segment. Accurate and timely diagnosis, including detailed clinical assessment and imaging, is essential to ascertain the extent of the disease. The gold standard treatment for OSSN has evolved over the years, transitioning from wide-margin surgical excision using the "no-touch" technique to topical immunotherapy, plaque brachytherapy, and targeted immunotherapy.

Stakeholders' Roles in Evolutionizing Education: An Evolutionary-Based Toolkit Surrounding Elementary Education.

There is a rapidly growing body of research in the field of evolutionary educational psychology that examines children's evolved motivational and educational inclinations as they relate to modern learning and schooling. It is generally agreed that schools are inherently mismatched with how children of our species evolved to learn, thereby contributing to difficulty learning and associated adverse schooling outcomes. Many researchers argue that, by making small changes to schools that help to better align instructional methods and childhood as a whole with our species' evolved learning mechanisms, we can lessen the negative impacts from evolutionary mismatch and create better outcomes for modern students.

EEG-Based ADHD Classification Using Autoencoder Feature Extraction and ResNet with Double Augmented Attention Mechanism.

Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) represents a widely prevalent and heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition in pediatric populations, often exhibiting a substantial propensity to persist into adulthood. ADHD is a multifaceted disorder that resists straightforward diagnostic tests. Clinicians must invest substantial time and effort to secure an accurate diagnosis and implement effective treatment.

Dermatologist Driven Aesthetic Nail Enhancement.

Background: Nail aesthetic procedures so far have been a neglected domain of nail medicine. With changing times, more people are getting sensitized towards nail enhancement; hence, there is an ever-increasing need for dermatologist driven aesthetic nail procedures.

Discussion: The management of various nail disorders takes a long time and might not be very rewarding with regard to complete aesthetic improvement.

Metabolic interactions underpinning high methane fluxes across terrestrial freshwater wetlands.

Current estimates of wetland contributions to the global methane budget carry high uncertainty, particularly in accurately predicting emissions from high methane-emitting wetlands. Microorganisms drive methane cycling, but little is known about their conservation across wetlands. To address this, we integrate 16S rRNA amplicon datasets, metagenomes, metatranscriptomes, and annual methane flux data across 9 wetlands, creating the Multi-Omics for Understanding Climate Change (MUCC) v2.

Plasmodium falciparum raf kinase inhibitor is a lipid binding protein that interacts with and regulates the activity of PfCDPK1, an essential plant-like kinase required for red blood cell invasion.

Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein (RKIP) is an important regulator of the MAPK signaling pathway in multicellular eukaryotes. Plasmodium falciparum RKIP (PfRKIP) is a putative phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein (PEBP) that shares limited similarity with Homo sapiens RKIP (HsRKIP). Interestingly, critical components of the MAPK pathway are not expressed in malaria parasites and the physiological function of PfRKIP remains unknown.

Does Virtual Interviewing Provide the Information for a Satisfactory Rank Decision?: A Perspective From the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Interviews.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine whether current fellows and program directors in pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) were satisfied with virtual interviewing (VI) in terms of their respective matches. The secondary goal was to assess areas in which the virtual interview process could be improved.

Methods: After institutional review was obtained, fellow surveys were piloted to non-PEM fellows to solicit feedback.

FLT3 is genetically essential for ITD-mutated leukemic stem cells but dispensable for human hematopoietic stem cells.

Leukemic stem cells (LSCs) fuel acute myeloid leukemia (AML) growth and relapse, but therapies tailored towards eradicating LSCs without harming normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are lacking. FLT3 is considered an important therapeutic target due to frequent mutation in AML and association with relapse. However, there has been limited clinical success with FLT3 drug targeting, suggesting either that FLT3 is not a vulnerability in LSC, or that more potent inhibition is required, a scenario where HSC toxicity could become limiting.

Peritoneal dialysis in patients with severe obesity: A successful single center experience.

There is growing emphasis on increasing utilization of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in patients with end stage kidney disease (ESKD); however, use in patients with severe obesity has still been fraught for various reasons. We aim to assess the viability of PD in patients with severe obesity (BMI > 40 Kg/m). We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients admitted at the home dialysis center of an academic center between 2014 and 2020 (n = 99).

Design of an integrated model with temporal graph attention and transformer-augmented RNNs for enhanced anomaly detection.

It is important in the rising demands to have efficient anomaly detection in camera surveillance systems for improving public safety in a complex environment. Most of the available methods usually fail to capture the long-term temporal dependencies and spatial correlations, especially in dynamic multi-camera settings. Also, many traditional methods rely heavily on large labeled datasets, generalizing poorly when encountering unseen anomalies in the process.

Pan-tumor analysis to investigate the obesity paradox in immune checkpoint blockade.

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for developing cancer but is also associated with improved outcomes after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), a phenomenon called the obesity paradox. To interrogate mechanisms of divergent immune responses in obese and non-obese patients, we examined the relationship among obesity status, clinical responses, and immune profiles from a diverse, pan-tumor cohort of patients treated with ICI-based therapy.

Methods: From June 2021 to March 2023, we prospectively collected serial peripheral blood samples from patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors who received ICI as standard of care at Johns Hopkins.

The interplay of senescence and MMPs in myocardial infarction: implications for cardiac aging and therapeutics.

Aging is associated with a marked increase in cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction (MI). Cellular senescence is also a crucial factor in the development of age-related MI. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) interaction with cellular senescence is a critical determinant of MI development and outcomes, most notably in the aged heart.

Prevalence of food allergy and its association with atopic dermatitis in Iran: Results from the PERSIAN birth cohort.

Background: The incidence of food allergy (FA) has been increasing worldwide, causing growing concern on a global scale.

Objective: This birth cohort study analyzes the incidence of reported FA and other atopic comorbidities in children from birth to age 2 years who were living in 4 urban and semiurban areas in Iran.

Methods: Children were followed from birth until age 24 months, with follow-up questionnaires administered through parent or guardian interviews conducted when the children were aged 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 months.

Role of decompression in pediatric mandibular odontogenic keratocyst.

Special care is required for the management of jaw lesions in pediatric population. The following article describes the decompression technique as the least aggressive approach for the management of pediatric mandibular odontogenic keratocyst. A custom-made acrylic splint was fabricated around teeth, and it was attached to a piece of Foley's catheter to be used as a decompression port.

Development and Preliminary Validation of a Novel Instrument to Assess Re-Injury Associated Anxiety Following Traumatic Orofacial and Dental Injury in Young Boxers.

Background/aim: An injury sustained during sports activity can lead to the development of reinjury anxiety and hamper performance. Although tools exist to assess re-injury anxiety, a domain of interest in the field of sports medicine, research in the psychological impact of an orofacial injury is rudimentary. The present study envisaged to develop an instrument to assess the presence of reinjury anxiety following orofacial and dental injury in boxers aged between 10 and 16 years.

The ACTION VAD Registry: A Collective Five-Year Experience.

Background: The Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) began in 2018 as a collaborative learning health system committed to improving outcomes in pediatric heart failure, including children and adults with congenital heart disease, supported with ventricular assist devices (VADs). This report describes patient and device characteristics, and outcomes through 1-year post-implant.

Methods: The ACTION VAD registry report was created from data submitted to the ACTION learning network from April 2018-June 2023.

In-vitro assay studies and molecular docking of functionalized chitosan decorated vanadium pentoxide nano-agents as an antidiabetic drug.

This study aims to enhance the antidiabetic potential of Vanadium pentoxide (VO) by synthesizing chitosan-based nanoparticles (NPs). Chitosan and its derivatives were used to fabricate VO NPs, ensuring enhanced antioxidant and antidiabetic activity. Surface topography was analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing bioactive sites on the NPs with improved electron-transfer capability, as confirmed by cyclic voltammetry (CV).

Improved feature reduction framework for sign language recognition using autoencoders and adaptive Grey Wolf Optimization.

Automatic Sign Language Recognition Systems (ASLR) offers smooth communication between hearing-impaired and normal-hearing individuals, enhancing educational opportunities for impaired. However, it struggles with "curse of dimensionality" due to excessive features resulting in prolonged training time and exhaustive computational demand. This paper proposes technique that integrates machine learning and swarm intelligence to effectively address this issue.