The Impact of Cancer Status on Anxiety in Prostate Cancer Patients: A Network Analysis.

Prostate cancer (PCa) patients often also suffer from comorbid anxiety, which can impede treatment efficacy as well as be intrinsically unpleasant. Identification of the associations between particular symptoms of anxiety that are most likely to occur at different points in the PCa diagnosis-treatment journey can inform anxiety treatment choices and potentially influence their overall treatment outcomes. Although simple correlational analyses and ANOVA models of data analysis have been used to address this issue, the possibility of confounds due to the inter-relationships between other anxiety symptoms argues for the use of network analysis, which calculates each symptom-symptom connection while also taking into account the entire range of symptom relationships.

The association between gait speed and falls in ambulatory adults with spinal muscular atrophy: a retrospective pilot study.

Introduction: Fatigue and gait speed are established determinants of fall risk in patients with neurological disorders. However, data on adults with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is limited. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate falls and risk factors in adults with SMA.

Neuromuscular transmission deficits in patients with CMT and ClC-1 inhibition in CMT animal models.

Objective: Charcot-Marie Tooth (CMT) is a hereditary neuropathy characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue with no approved therapies. Preclinical studies implicate neuromuscular junction (NMJ) transmission deficits in muscle dysfunction in CMT. This study aimed to evaluate NMJ function in patients with CMT types 1 and 2, and to determine whether enhancing NMJ transmission can improve muscle function in preclinical CMT models.

Age-related increase in the excitability of mouse layer V pyramidal neurons in the primary motor cortex is accompanied by an increased persistent inward current.

Sarcopenia, or pathological age-related loss of muscle strength and mass, contributes to physical function impairment in older adults. While current understanding of sarcopenia is centered mostly on neuromuscular mechanisms, mounting evidence supports that deficits at the level of the primary motor cortex (PMC) play a significant role. Despite the importance of the PMC to initiate movement, understanding of how age affects the excitability of layer V pyramidal neurons (LVPNs) of the PMC is limited.

Prioritization of Early-Stage Research and Development of a Hydrogel-Encapsulated Anaerobic Technology for Distributed Treatment of High Strength Organic Wastewater.

This study aims to support the prioritization of research and development (R&D) pathways of an anaerobic technology leveraging hydrogel-encapsulated biomass to treat high-strength organic industrial wastewaters, enabling decentralized energy recovery and treatment to reduce organic loading on centralized treatment facilities. To characterize the sustainability implications of early-stage design decisions and to delineate R&D targets, an encapsulated anaerobic process model was developed and coupled with design algorithms for integrated process simulation, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment under uncertainty. Across the design space, a single-stage configuration with passive biogas collection was found to have the greatest potential for financial viability and the lowest life cycle carbon emission.