Long-Term Coronary Artery Evaluation Using Noncontrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography in Patients with Kawasaki Disease.

To evaluate the use of noncontrast-enhanced coronary magnetic resonance angiography (NC-CMRA) for long-term follow-up in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD). In total, 40 (77 aneurysms) patients with KD who underwent NC-CMRA were retrospectively analyzed. Coronary artery aneurysms and dilations observed during the acute phase were classified into three groups according to their diameter based on the American Heart Association criteria.

Sarcomere gene variants did not improve cardiac function in pediatric patients with dilated cardiomyopathy from Japanese cohorts.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a progressive myocardial disorder characterized by impaired cardiac contraction and ventricular dilation. However, some patients with DCM improve when experiencing left ventricular reverse remodeling (LVRR). Currently, the detailed association between genotypes and clinical outcomes, including LVRR, particularly among children, remains uncertain.

Phase-transformable metal-organic polyhedra for membrane processing and switchable gas separation.

The capability of materials to interconvert between different phases provides more possibilities for controlling materials' properties without additional chemical modification. The study of state-changing microporous materials just emerged and mainly involves the liquefication or amorphization of solid adsorbents into liquid or glass phases by adding non-porous components or sacrificing their porosity. The material featuring reversible phases with maintained porosity is, however, still challenging.

Helical-Sense Matching Facilitates Supramolecular Copolymerization of Helical-Chiral Pillar[5]arenes.

Supramolecular polymerization using two-dimensional π-conjugated chiral monomers has been mainly demonstrated because the supramolecular polymerization can be controlled by stereocommunication through π-π stacking between the two-dimensional chiral monomers. We herein report supramolecular copolymerization utilizing three-dimensional pentahedrons with twisted helical chirality through different combinations of helical-chiral acidic and basic pillar[5]arenes as comonomers. In this case, helical-sense matching is key to facilitating the supramolecular copolymerization.

Early initiation of oral beta-blocker improves long-term survival in patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: The optimal timing for the initiation of oral beta-blockers after acute myocardial infarction (MI) remains unclear within the context of current primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) practice.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 412 consecutive patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute MI between January 2007 and August 2016 who underwent successful primary PCI and were given oral carvedilol during hospitalization. Early and late carvedilol groups were based on initiation within the first 24 h or after.

Acquired copy number amplification at the MYC enhancer in human B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines.

Our study highlights the discovery of recurrent copy number alterations in noncoding regions, specifically blood enhancer cluster (BENC-CNA), in B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) cell lines. We demonstrate that BENC-CNA acts as a super-enhancer, driving MYC expression and possibly contributing to the immortalization and proliferative advantage of BCP-ALL cells in vitro.

Folate Metabolism and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Genetic Pathway Analysis from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium.

Background: Prenatal folate supplementation has been consistently associated with a reduced risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Previous germline genetic studies examining the one carbon (folate) metabolism pathway were limited in sample size, scope, and population diversity and led to inconclusive results.

Methods: We evaluated whether ∼2,900 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) within 46 candidate genes involved in the folate metabolism pathway influence the risk of childhood ALL, using genome-wide data from nine case-control studies in the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium (n = 9,058 cases including 4,510 children of European ancestry, 3,018 Latinx, and 1,406 Asians, and 92,364 controls).

Quasi-Homogeneous Photocatalysis in Ultrastiff Microporous Polymer Aerogels.

The development of efficient and low-cost catalysts is essential for photocatalysis; however, the intrinsically low photocatalytic efficiency as well as the difficulty in using and recycling photocatalysts in powder morphology greatly limit their practical performance. Herein, we describe quasi-homogeneous photocatalysis to overcome these two limitations by constructing ultrastiff, hierarchically porous, and photoactive aerogels of conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs). The CMP aerogels exhibit low density but high stiffness beyond 10 m s, outperforming most low-density materials.

Effect of postpartum depression and role of infant feeding practices on relative weight of child at 1 and 3 years of age.

Background: Childhood obesity has increased and is considered one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21 century globally, and may be exacerbated by postpartum depression (PPD). The purpose of this study was to examine the association between PPD at 1 and 6 month postpartum, infant feeding practices, and body mass index (BMI) z-score of the child at one and three years of age.

Methods: This study used data from an ongoing prospective maternal-child birth cohort performed at the National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD) in suburban Tokyo, Japan with the period of recruitment from May 13, 2010 to November 28, 2013.

Significant anisotropic deformation and optical shifts in stretched cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers.

This study explores the opto-mechanical response of cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) subjected to uniaxial stretching along the -axis, perpendicular to their helical -axis. A definitive crossover is observed in the strain () dependencies of various optical and mechanical properties, such as the transmission spectra, degree of mesogen orientation, Poisson's ratios, and tensile stress. At low strains, CLCEs exhibit a blue shift in the selective reflection band due to a reduction in the helical pitch, accompanied by a decrease in reflection selectivity for circularly polarized light.

Unraveling Non-Uniform Strain-Induced Crystallization Near a Crack Tip in Natural Rubber.

Strain-induced crystallization (SIC) in natural rubber (NR) near crack tips significantly enhances crack growth resistance, but understanding the interplay between local strain field and crystallization remains challenging due to confined and heterogeneous characteristics. Using micro-scale digital image correlation (DIC) and scanning wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD, with a narrow 10 µm square beam), this study maps local strain tensor properties and SIC in the vicinity of the crack tip and its peripheral zone (≈3 mm × 1 mm area). The analysis reveals a significant correlation between these properties.

Replicating shear-mediated self-assembly of spider silk through microfluidics.

The development of artificial spider silk with properties similar to native silk has been a challenging task in materials science. In this study, we use a microfluidic device to create continuous fibers based on recombinant MaSp2 spidroin. The strategy incorporates ion-induced liquid-liquid phase separation, pH-driven fibrillation, and shear-dependent induction of β-sheet formation.

Relationship between dietary fiber to carbohydrate ratio and mortality risk in US adults: NHANES 2007-2018.

Background And Aims: The evidence is inconsistent regarding associations between relative proportions of macronutrient intake and disease risk, potentially due to limitations in accounting for differential effects of simple sugars and dietary fiber, grouped as "carbohydrates." We examined the association between the ratio of dietary fiber to carbohydrate intake (FC-R) measure, the relative proportion of macronutrients, and mortality risk in a nationally representative sample of U.S.

Strain hardening in biaxially stretched elastomers undergoing strain-induced crystallization.

We reveal strain hardening due to strain-induced crystallization (SIC) in both cross-linked natural rubber (NR) and its synthetic analogue (IR) under planar extension, a type of biaxial stretching where the rubber is stretched in one direction while maintaining the dimension in the other direction unchanged. Utilizing a bespoke biaxial tensile tester, planar extension tests were conducted on geometrically designed and optimally shaped sheet specimens to achieve a uniform and highly strained field. Evident strain hardening due to SIC was observed in both stretching () and constrained () directions when the stretch () exceeded a critical value .

Stress-independent delay time in yielding of dilute colloidal gels.

We investigate the yielding under shear for dilute poly(-isopropyl acrylamide--fumaric acid) (PNIPAM-FAc) colloidal gels obtained above the volume phase transition temperature. In this temperature range, the microgel suspensions form colloidal gels due to hydrophobic interparticle interactions under appropriate pH and ionic strength conditions. Step-strain tests revealed that yielding occurs when the applied strain exceeds a specific threshold, requiring a finite, stress-independent delay time ().

Evaluating the association between caesarean delivery and weight status in early childhood in a Japanese birth cohort study.

To examine whether the prevailing hypothesis of an association between caesarean section (CS) delivery method and increased weight status in early childhood is observed in Japanese. A total of 1277 mother-infant pairs from a prospective hospital-based mother-infant birth cohort that recruited women in their first trimester from May 2010 to November 2013 were included. We assessed the relationship between delivery method and weight status of delivered children at 1, 3 and 6 years of age.

Porous supramolecular gels produced by reversible self-gelation of ruthenium-based metal-organic polyhedra.

Supramolecular gels based on metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) represent a versatile platform to access processable soft materials with controlled porosity. Herein, we report a self-gelation approach that allows the reversible assembly of a novel Ru-based MOP in the form of colloidal gels. The presence of cationic mixed-valence [Ru(COO)] paddlewheel units allows for modification of the MOP charge acid/base treatment, and therefore, its solubility.

Effect of Medical Fee Schedule Revisions on the Expansion of Nutritional Support Teams in Japan: An Interrupted Time-series Analysis.

Introduction: In 2018, the fee schedule for nutrition support teams (NSTs) in Japanese hospitals was changed. The change was intended to encourage more hospitals to establish NSTs, and this study aims to investigate whether this change had the desired effect. Specifically, we will look at the proportion of hospitals with NSTs before and after the 2018 revision to see if there was a significant increase in the number of hospitals with NSTs.

Pore-Networked Gels: Permanently Porous Ionic Liquid Gels with Linked Metal-Organic Polyhedra Networks.

Porous liquids (PLs) are attractive materials because of their capability to combine the intrinsic porosity of microporous solids and the processability of liquids. Most of the studies focus on the synthesis of PLs with not only high porosity but also low viscosity by considering their transportation in industrial plants. However, a gap exists between PLs and solid adsorbents for some practical cases, where the liquid characteristics and mechanical stability without leakage are simultaneously required.

Latent disease similarities and therapeutic repurposing possibilities uncovered by multi-modal generative topic modeling of human diseases.

Motivation: Human diseases are characterized by multiple features such as their pathophysiological, molecular and genetic changes. The rapid expansion of such multi-modal disease-omics space provides an opportunity to re-classify diverse human diseases and to uncover their latent molecular similarities, which could be exploited to repurpose a therapeutic-target for one disease to another.

Results: Herein, we probe this underexplored space by soft-clustering 6955 human diseases by multi-modal generative topic modeling.