Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography coupled with artificial intelligence algorithms as tool to investigate wound healing: A prospective, randomized, single-blinded pilot study.

Background: Ablative fractional photothermolysis serves as an excellent in vivo model for studying wound healing. The advent of non-invasive imaging devices, such as line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT), enhances this model by enabling detailed monitoring of skin wound healing over time. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms are revolutionizing the evaluation of clinical images by providing detailed analyses that are unfeasible manually.

The maternal-fetal neurodevelopmental groundings of preterm birth risk.

Background: Altered neurodevelopment is a major clinical sequela of Preterm Birth (PTB) being currently unexplored in-utero.

Aims: To study the link between fetal brain functional (FbF) connectivity and preterm birth, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).

Study Design: Prospective single-centre cohort study.

Finite sample corrections for average equivalence testing.

Average (bio)equivalence tests are used to assess if a parameter, like the mean difference in treatment response between two conditions for example, lies within a given equivalence interval, hence allowing to conclude that the conditions have "equivalent" means. The two one-sided tests (TOST) procedure, consisting in testing whether the target parameter is respectively significantly greater and lower than some pre-defined lower and upper equivalence limits, is typically used in this context, usually by checking whether the confidence interval for the target parameter lies within these limits. This intuitive and visual procedure is however known to be conservative, especially in the case of highly variable drugs, where it shows a rapid power loss, often reaching zero, hence making it impossible to conclude for equivalence when it is actually true.

Generation of potent antibacterial compounds through enzymatic and chemical modifications of the trans-δ-viniferin scaffold.

Stilbene dimers are well-known for their diverse biological activities. In particular, previous studies have demonstrated the high antibacterial potential of a series of trans-δ-viniferin-related compounds against gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus. The trans-δ-viniferin scaffold has multiple chemical functions and can therefore be modified in various ways to generate derivatives.

The action of physiological and synthetic steroids on the calcium channel CatSper in human sperm.

The sperm-specific channel CatSper (cation channel of sperm) controls the intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca]) and plays an essential role in sperm function. It is mainly activated by the steroid progesterone (P4) but is also promiscuously activated by a wide range of synthetic and physiological compounds. These compounds include diverse steroids whose action on the channel is so far still controversial.

Influence of Molecular Structure and Physicochemical Properties of Immunosuppressive Drugs on Micelle Formulation Characteristics and Cutaneous Delivery.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether subtle differences in molecular properties affected polymeric micelle characteristics and their ability to deliver poorly water-soluble drugs into the skin. D-α-tocopherol-polyethylene glycol 1000 was used to prepare micelles containing ascomycin-derived immunosuppressants-sirolimus (SIR), pimecrolimus (PIM) and tacrolimus (TAC)-which have similar structures and physicochemical properties and have dermatological applications. Micelle formulations were prepared by thin-film hydration and extensively characterized.

Platform combining statistical modeling and patient-derived organoids to facilitate personalized treatment of colorectal carcinoma.

Background: We propose a new approach for designing personalized treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, by combining ex vivo organoid efficacy testing with mathematical modeling of the results.

Methods: The validated phenotypic approach called Therapeutically Guided Multidrug Optimization (TGMO) was used to identify four low-dose synergistic optimized drug combinations (ODC) in 3D human CRC models of cells that are either sensitive or resistant to first-line CRC chemotherapy (FOLFOXIRI). Our findings were obtained using second order linear regression and adaptive lasso.

Dynamics of career intentions in a medical student cohort: a four-year longitudinal study.

Background: Medical students' career intentions often change between matriculation and graduation, yet little is known about the precise timing and dynamics of individual students' career decisions. This study expands on previous research by exploring the stability of individual students' career intentions over four years and by analyzing associations between unstable career intentions and students' characteristics.

Methods: Medical students from two classes were recruited into a cohort during their first academic year and completed a yearly survey over a four-year period (end of pre-clinical curriculum to graduation).

The Generalized Method of Wavelet Moments with eXogenous inputs: a fast approach for the analysis of GNSS position time series.

The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) daily position time series are often described as the sum of stochastic processes and geophysical signals which allow to study global and local geodynamical effects such as plate tectonics, earthquakes, or ground water variations. In this work, we propose to extend the Generalized Method of Wavelet Moments (GMWM) to estimate the parameters of linear models with correlated residuals. This statistical inferential framework is applied to GNSS daily position time-series data to jointly estimate functional (geophysical) as well as stochastic noise models.

Dexamethasone exposure in normal-weight and obese hospitalized COVID-19 patients: An observational exploratory trial.

During the latest pandemic, the RECOVERY study showed the benefits of dexamethasone (DEX) use in COVID-19 patients. Obesity has been proven to be an independent risk factor for severe forms of infection, but little information is available in the literature regarding DEX dose adjustment according to body weight. We conducted a prospective, observational, exploratory study at Geneva University Hospitals to assess the impact of weight on DEX pharmacokinetics (PK) in normal-weight versus obese COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

Evidence of antagonistic predictive effects of miRNAs in breast cancer cohorts through data-driven networks.

Non-coding micro RNAs (miRNAs) dysregulation seems to play an important role in the pathways involved in breast cancer occurrence and progression. In different studies, opposite functions may be assigned to the same miRNA, either promoting the disease or protecting from it. Our research tackles the following issues: (i) why aren't there any concordant findings in many research studies regarding the role of miRNAs in the progression of breast cancer? (ii) could a miRNA have either an activating effect or an inhibiting one in cancer progression according to the other miRNAs with which it interacts? For this purpose, we analyse the AHUS dataset made available on the ArrayExpress platform by Haakensen et al.

Students' intentions to practice primary care are associated with their motives to become doctors: a longitudinal study.

Background: Medical schools can contribute to the insufficient primary care physician workforce by influencing students' career preferences. Primary care career choice evolves between matriculation and graduation and is influenced by several individual and contextual factors. This study explored the longitudinal dynamics of primary care career intentions and the association of students' motives for becoming doctors with these intentions in a cohort of undergraduate medical students followed over a four-year period.

A Two-sample Nonparametric Test for Circular Data- its Exact Distribution and Performance.

A nonparametric test labelled 'Rao Spacing-frequencies test' is explored and developed for testing whether two circular samples come from the same population. Its exact distribution and performance relative to comparable tests such as the Wheeler-Watson test and the Dixon test in small samples, are discussed. Although this test statistic is shown to be asymptotically normal, as one would expect, this large sample distribution does not provide satisfactory approximations for small to moderate samples.

Polymeric micelle formulations for the cutaneous delivery of sirolimus: A new approach for the treatment of facial angiofibromas in tuberous sclerosis complex.

Facial angiofibromas are benign tumors characteristic of tuberous sclerosis complex. The disease involves the mTOR pathway and the cutaneous manifestation responds to topical treatment with sirolimus (SIR). However, there are no approved topical SIR products and extemporaneous formulations have been sub-optimal.

Granger-causal testing for irregularly sampled time series with application to nitrogen signalling in Arabidopsis.

Motivation: Identification of system-wide causal relationships can contribute to our understanding of long-distance, intercellular signalling in biological organisms. Dynamic transcriptome analysis holds great potential to uncover coordinated biological processes between organs. However, many existing dynamic transcriptome studies are characterized by sparse and often unevenly spaced time points that make the identification of causal relationships across organs analytically challenging.

Targeting hallmarks of cancer with a food-system-based approach.

Although extensive resources are dedicated to the development and study of cancer drugs, the cancer burden is expected to rise by about 70% over the next 2 decade. This highlights a critical need to develop effective, evidence-based strategies for countering the global rise in cancer incidence. Except in high-risk populations, cancer drugs are not generally suitable for use in cancer prevention owing to potential side effects and substantial monetary costs (Sporn, 2011).

Is nonmetastatic cutaneous melanoma predictable through genomic biomarkers?

Cutaneous melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer whose treatment and prognosis are critically affected by the presence of metastasis. In this study, we address the following issue: which gene transcripts and what kind of interactions between them can allow to predict nonmetastatic from metastatic melanomas with a high level of accuracy? We carry out a meta-analysis on the first gene expression set of the Leeds melanoma cohort, as made available online on 11 May 2016 through the ArrayExpress platform with MicroArray Gene Expression number 4725. According to the authors, primary melanoma mRNA expression was measured in 204 tumours using an illumina DASL HT12 4 whole-genome array.

A Predictive Based Regression Algorithm for Gene Network Selection.

Gene selection has become a common task in most gene expression studies. The objective of such research is often to identify the smallest possible set of genes that can still achieve good predictive performance. To do so, many of the recently proposed classification methods require some form of dimension-reduction of the problem which finally provide a single model as an output and, in most cases, rely on the likelihood function in order to achieve variable selection.

Use of a Publicly Available Database to Determine the Impact of Diabetes on Length of Hospital Stay for Elective Orthopedic Procedures in California.

In California, 1 in 3 hospital beds are occupied by adults with diabetes. The aim of this study was to examine whether diabetes impacts length of stay (LOS) following common elective orthopedic procedures compared to nondiabetic individuals, and also the performance of hospitals across California for these procedures. Using the Public Use California Patient Discharge Data Files for 2010-2012, the authors examined LOS for elective discharges for hip, spine, or knee surgery (n = 318,861) from the total population of all discharges (n = 11,476,073) for 309 hospitals across California.

Wavelet-Variance-Based Estimation for Composite Stochastic Processes.

This article presents a new estimation method for the parameters of a time series model. We consider here composite Gaussian processes that are the sum of independent Gaussian processes which, in turn, explain an important aspect of the time series, as is the case in engineering and natural sciences. The proposed estimation method offers an alternative to classical estimation based on the likelihood, that is straightforward to implement and often the only feasible estimation method with complex models.