Designing a blockchain technology platform for enhancing the pre-exposure prophylaxis care continuum.

Objectives: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a key biomedical intervention for ending the HIV epidemic in the United States, but its uptake is impeded by systemic barriers, including fragmented workflows and ineffective data coordination. This study aims to design PrEPLinker, a blockchain-based, client-centered platform to enhance care to address these challenges by improving care coordination and enabling clients to securely manage their identity and PrEP-related data.

Materials And Methods: Using Houston, Texas, as a use case, we conducted a needs assessment with PrEP collaborators to evaluate existing workflows and identify barriers in the PrEP care continuum.

Spin-orbit interaction-mediated measurement of surface chirality.

The spin-orbit ( - ) interaction in a focused-reflected beam of light results in spatially nonuniform polarization in the beam cross section due to the superposition of orthogonal field components and polarization-dependent interface reflection coefficients. Polarization filtering the output beam leads to an interchangeable transformation of =∓2 charge vortex into two (∓) unit charge vortices, for  = ±1 circular polarization of the input Gaussian beam. This transformation follows a trajectory, named optical vortex trajectory, that depends on the input beam's and hence the and reflecting surface characteristics.

Microwave Mediated Acylation of Alcohols, Phenols and Thiophenols in Neat Acetic Anhydride.

A microwave-based method for the acylation of alcohols, phenols, and thiols has been developed without the need of a catalyst or base additives. The reaction is far more rapid than previously reported acylation methods, tolerates a wide variety of functional groups, and provides easy isolation of products in excellent yields without the need for chromatography. Most products can be isolated directly via evaporation under reduced pressure or by pouring the reaction mixture into water and filtering.

Therapeutic deep eutectic solvent with saponin, optimized through response surface methodology, exert potent in vivo antimicrobial effects against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Therapeutic deep eutectic solvents (THEDES) are a type of deep eutectics that can be used as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by enhancing the drug bioavailability, by increasing the solubility of APIs in aqueous solutions or by increasing their permeability through biological barriers. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of designer THEDES, based on Quillaja Saponin (SAP), a triterpene natural product to unravel the antimicrobial potential of such THEDES. THEDES were prepared by gently mixing and heating five different α- hydroxy acids- malic, citric, tartaric, glycolic, lactic acids and SAP with water as a third component in the THEDES.

Efficient Generation of Torsional Energy Profiles by Multifidelity Gaussian Processes for Hindered Rotor Corrections.

Accurate thermochemistry computations often require proper treatment of torsional modes. The one-dimensional hindered rotor model has proven to be a computationally efficient solution, given a sufficiently accurate potential energy surface. Methods that provide potential energies at various compromises of uncertainty and computational time demand can be optimally combined within a multifidelity treatment.

Probable paralytic rabies in a dog: ante-mortem clinical diagnosis implications in limited resource settings.

Introduction: Rabies is a dreadful zoonotic viral disease that affects animals and humans with a fatality rate of 100%. This report aims to create awareness among the veterinarians and general public about the paralytic form of rabies in order to understand the antemortem clinical diagnosis implications in limited resource settings, so as to follow the post-exposure prophylaxis at the golden hour period of rabies transmission.

Case Presentation: A one-year-old female dog was presented to the Ambulatory Clinic Unit, Veterinary Clinical Complex, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Theni, Tamil Nadu, India with the ailment of a dropped jaw and was unable to swallow food and water for the past three days.

Facile fabrication of graphene oxide and rare earth based metal organic frameworks decorated alginate and chitosan biopolymeric hybrid materials for defluoridation studies.

Fluorosis disease can be prevented by the defluoridated water. Hence, the present work focused on the fabrication of hybrid materials using graphene oxide (GO) and Ce-based metal organic frameworks namely cerium fumarate (Ce-Fu) which gives GO/Ce-Fu for defluoridation of water. Further, the powdered GO/Ce-Fu was dispersed with alginate (Alg) and chitosan (CS) biopolymeric matrixes to give GO/Ce-Fu/Alg-CS biopolymeric hybrid beads for defluoridation investigations.

The Effects of Interactive Context on Acoustic Characteristics of Speech in People With Dysarthria: A Preliminary Study.

Purpose: The current study compared temporal and spectral acoustic contrast between vowel segments produced by speakers with dysarthria across three speech tasks-interactive, solo habitual, and solo clear.

Method: Nine speakers with dysarthria secondary to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis participated in the study. Each speaker was paired with a typical interlocutor over videoconferencing software.

An open trial of biofeedback for long COVID.

Objective: Biofeedback is a therapeutic treatment model that teaches self-regulation of autonomic functions to alleviate stress-related symptoms. "Long COVID" refers to chronic physical and cognitive sequelae post-SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study examined the efficacy of a six-week intervention, consisting of weekly one-hour sessions combining heart rate variability and temperature biofeedback, for alleviating mood symptoms, somatic symptoms and sleep disturbance of patients diagnosed with long COVID.

Compensation for coarticulation despite a midway speaker change: Reassessing effects and implications.

Accounts of speech perception disagree on how listeners demonstrate perceptual constancy despite considerable variation in the speech signal due to speakers' coarticulation. According to the spectral contrast account, listeners' compensation for coarticulation (CfC) results from listeners perceiving the target-segment frequencies differently depending on the contrastive effects exerted by the preceding sound's frequencies. In this study, we reexamine a notable finding that listeners apparently demonstrate perceptual adjustments to coarticulation even when the identity of the speaker (i.

Studying Conversational Adjustments in Interaction: Beyond Acoustic Phonetic Changes.

Purpose: We examined which measures of complexity are most informative when studying language produced in interaction. Specifically, using these measures, we explored whether native and nonnative speakers modified the higher level properties of their production beyond the acoustic-phonetic level based on the language background of their conversation partner.

Method: Using a subset of production data from the Wildcat Corpus that used Diapix, an interactive picture matching task, to elicit production, we compared English language production at the dyad and individual level across three different pair types: eight native pairs (English-English), eight mixed pairs (four English-Chinese and four English-Korean), and eight nonnative pairs (four Chinese-Chinese and four Korean-Korean).

The first HyDRA challenge for computational vibrational spectroscopy.

Vibrational spectroscopy in supersonic jet expansions is a powerful tool to assess molecular aggregates in close to ideal conditions for the benchmarking of quantum chemical approaches. The low temperatures achieved as well as the absence of environment effects allow for a direct comparison between computed and experimental spectra. This provides potential benchmarking data which can be revisited to hone different computational techniques, and it allows for the critical analysis of procedures under the setting of a blind challenge.

Synthesis and activity of β-carboline antimalarials targeting the Plasmodium falciparum heat shock 90 protein.

A collection of β-carbolines based on the natural product harmine, a compound known to target the heat shock 90 protein of Plasmodium falciparum, was synthesized and tested for antimalarial activity and potential toxicity. Several of these novel compounds display promising bioactivity, providing a new potential therapeutic with a mode of action that differs versus any currently available clinical treatment.

Hydrothermally magnetic particles fabricated hydrocalumite based biopolymeric composites for toxic chromium removal.

Hexavalent chromium is an emerging environmental pollutant that leads to various effects on living organisms. The developed clay material, hydrocalumite (HC) possesses promising chromium adsorption capacity but because of its powder form it cannot be used in column studies. Hence, it is aimed to prepared HC in an usable hybrid bio-composite form by dispersing HC in biopolymeric matrixes like chitosan (CS) and cellulose (Cel) as HCCS and HCCel bio-composites for Cr(VI) removal from water.

Perceptual learning alters effects of foreign language backgrounds in speech-in-speech recognition.

The effect of training on linguistic release from masking (LRM) was examined. In a pre-test and post-test, English monolingual listeners transcribed sentences presented with English and Dutch maskers. During training, participants transcribed sentences with either Dutch, English, or white noise maskers and received feedback.

Perceived Cognitive Deficits in Patients With Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 and Their Association With Post-COVID-19 Condition.

Importance: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and in post-COVID-19 condition (PCC; colloquially known as long COVID), but the association between early presenting neuropsychiatric symptoms and PCC is unknown.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients with perceived cognitive deficits within the first 4 weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the association of those deficits with PCC symptoms.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective cohort study was conducted from April 2020 to February 2021, with follow-up of 60 to 90 days.

Improved modeling of anharmonicity for furan microsolvation.

Computational benchmark data for complexes requires accurate models of anharmonic torsional motion. State-of-the-art hindered rotor treatments come with a number of difficulties, regarding discontinuities from badly converged points or coupling, oscillations, or the consideration and correction of stationary points. Their manual handling introduces a level of arbitrariness not suitable for benchmark procedures.

To compare central visual field progression using mean deviation and pointwise linear regression analysis.

Purpose: To compare central visual field progression using mean deviation and pointwise linear regression (PLR) analysis.

Methods: We analyzed the 10-2 Humphrey visual field (HVF) tests for moderate and advanced primary glaucoma who had undergone at least five reliable 10-2 visual field tests with a minimum follow-up of at least two years and best-corrected visual acuity better than 6/12. Regression slope less than -1 dB/year at P < 0.

Design of hydrotalcite and biopolymers entrapped tunable cerium organic cubic hybrid material for superior fluoride adsorption.

The excess fluoride in drinking water is serious risk which leads to fluorosis. The adsorption method is facile route for defluoridation studies. Hybrid adsorbent possesses unique advantages like high surface area and high stability has been employed for water treatment.

The effect of visual speech information on linguistic release from masking.

Listeners often experience challenges understanding a person (target) in the presence of competing talkers (maskers). This difficulty reduces with the availability of visual speech information (VSI; lip movements, degree of mouth opening) and during linguistic release from masking (LRM; masking decreases with dissimilar language maskers). We investigate whether and how LRM occurs with VSI.

The Impact of Facial Personal Protective Equipment on Speech Intensity.

Importance: Facial personal protective equipment (FPPE) filters small particles in the operating room (OR) but also affects speech production, diminishing the effective transfer of information among OR team members.

Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the attenuating effects of different combinations of layered FPPE on speech intensity, including potential differences in the effect of talkers with varying backgrounds and speaking volumes.

Study Design: We recruited 30 speakers from health and nonhealth occupations with English as either their first or second language.

Leukoencephalopathy During Daratumumab-Based Therapy: A Case Series of Two Patients with Multiple Myeloma.

Leukoencephalopathy in the setting of multiple myeloma (MM) is a rare demyelinating condition, with few reported cases in literature. Daratumumab is a CD38 targeted monoclonal antibody that has been widely used for the management of MM. In the absence of central nervous system (CNS) disease, many medication-induced leukoencephalopathy cases reported with MM, including daratumumab-induced, are associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and John Cunningham (JC) virus.

Dark-field spin Hall effect of light.

While an optical system's symmetry ensures that the spin Hall effect of light (SHEL) vanishes at normal incidence, the question of how close to the normal incidence can one reliably measure the SHEL remains open. Here we report simulation and experimental results on the measurement of SHEL at $\sim 0.12^\circ$ away from normal incidence in the Fourier plane of a weakly focused beam of light, reflected at an air-glass interface.

Spin-orbit coupling mediated transverse spin mode rotation in a uniaxial crystal.

We demonstrate topological features in a spin-orbit coupled inhomogeneously polarized beam of light due to propagation of a linearly polarized focused Gaussian beam through a tilted-rotated (θ-ϕ) quartz crystal plate. The crystal plate is kept in a polarization interferometer, and transverse and longitudinal phase difference is introduced between the o- and e-wave-beams via (θ-ϕ) variation. The curvature in the phase difference, originating at a phase saddle, at the stem of an intensity forklet pattern, enables continuous rotation of the output two-lobe intensity pattern as a function of (θ-ϕ).

Ameliorative Effects of Phytomedicines on Alzheimer's Patients.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that severely affects individuals' cognitive abilities, memory, and quality of life. It affects the elderly population, and there is no permanent prevention or cures available to date, treatments mainly aiming to alleviate the symptoms as and when they appear. Alternate therapeutic approaches are being researched constantly, and there is a growing focus on phytomedicine, herbal medicine, organic compounds, and ayurvedic compounds for the treatment of AD.