SARS-CoV-2 spike peptide analysis reveals a highly conserved region that elicits potentially pathogenic autoantibodies: implications to pan-coronavirus vaccine development.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, while subsiding, continues to plague the world as new variants emerge. Millions have died, and millions more battle with the debilitating symptoms of a clinical entity known as long Covid. The biggest challenge remains combating an ever-changing variant landscape that threatens immune evasion from vaccine and prior infection-generated immunity.

Non-Consumptive Effects of Cannibalism Elicit a Metabolic Response in Dragonfly Larvae.

Predator-prey interactions typically involve changes in metabolic rates associated with hunting, foraging, and activation/maintenance of defense mechanisms. Similar response can result from non-consumptive effects mediated by chemical cues, such as alarm cues (indicating predation), diet cues (signaling food resources), and kairomones (indicating predator or prey availability). While the impact of interspecific chemical communication on energy expenditure is well-studied, the role of conspecific chemical cues is less understood.

Immunomodulation of Pancreatic Cancer via Inhibition of SUMOylation and CD155/TIGIT Pathway.

Unlabelled: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the deadliest major cancer and has a profoundly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Previous studies have shown that inhibition of the E1 enzyme, which catalyzes the small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMO), with the small molecule TAK-981, can reprogram the TME to enhance immune activation and suppress tumor growth. We found that the CD-155/TIGIT pathway, a key regulator of immune evasion in PDAC, is influenced by SUMOylation.

S1P Lyase Inhibition Increased Intestinal S1P, Disrupted the Intestinal Barrier and Aggravated DSS-Induced Colitis.

Background: Sphingosine-1-phospate (S1P) receptor agonists (eg, ozanimod) desensitize migrating lymphocytes by irreversibly binding to S1P receptors (S1PR) and triggering their proteasomal degradation. Desensitized lymphocytes cannot sense S1P, therefore, halting lymphocyte recirculation. The S1P lyase (SPL) irreversibly degrades S1P and its inhibition disrupts the S1P gradient.

Threat to the predator suppresses defence of its prey.

Many studies have shown that prey can optimize their defence mechanisms based on cues indicating predator presence and pressure. However, little is known about whether prey can assess the actual threat by considering both predator density and the motivational state of cannibalistic predators, which can be influenced by threats from higher order predators. We conducted laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis that high predator density, combined with chemical cues indicating predator stress (e.

YAP-driven malignant reprogramming of oral epithelial stem cells at single cell resolution.

Tumor initiation represents the first step in tumorigenesis during which normal progenitor cells undergo cell fate transition to cancer. Capturing this process as it occurs in vivo, however, remains elusive. Here we employ spatiotemporally controlled oncogene activation and tumor suppressor inhibition together with multiomics to unveil the processes underlying oral epithelial progenitor cell reprogramming into tumor initiating cells at single cell resolution.

Shape Optimization and Experimental Investigation of Glue-Laminated Timber Beams.

This study investigated the optimal shape of glue-laminated timber beams using an analytical model of a slender beam, taking into account the anisotropy of its strength properties as well as boundary conditions at the oblique bottom face of the beam. A control theory problem was formulated in order to optimize the shape of the modeled beam. Two optimization tasks were considered: minimizing material usage (Vmin) for a fixed load-carrying capacity (LCC) of the beam and maximizing load-bearing capacity (Qmax) for a given volume of the beam.

A Similar Mutation in the AAUU-Rich Elements of the Mouse TNF Gene Results in a Distinct Ileocolitic Phenotype: A New Strain of TNF-Overexpressing Mice.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The stability of its mRNA transcript, determined in part by destabilizing sequences in its AAUU repeats (ARE) gene region, is an important regulator of its tissue and systemic levels. A deletion in the ARE region of the gene resulted in IBD and arthritis in mice and pigs, supporting a critical role for the cytokine in human IBD and several human arthritides.

Surface electromyography vs clinical outcome measures after robot-assisted gait training in patients with spinal cord injury after post-acute phase of rehabilitation.

Introduction And Objective: Surface electromyography (sEMG) measurements are a valid method for sublesional muscle activity following spinal cord injury (SCI). In the literature there are few reports evaluating the effect of robotic assisted gait training (RAGT) on the sEMG properties change in SCI patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of RAGT on observed change of sEMG, and in 64 incomplete SCI patients in the sub-acute stage in relation to functional scales.

Personality Types of Medical Students in Terms of Their Choice of Medical Specialty: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Research on personality types among doctors reveals its impact on medical specialty choices, suggesting that considering personality in career planning may enhance work satisfaction and reduce burnout risks.

Objective: This study, encompassing 2104 medical students, explores how personality types, traits, and gender relate to specialty preferences.

Methods: Participants of this study were medical students from various universities in Poland.

Determination of microcystins and nodularins in ambient freshwater and seawater by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry including toxin screening and identification.

Background: Microcystins (MCs) and nodularins (NODs) produced by cyanobacteria occur in ambient freshwaters and across the freshwater-marine continuum, and pose health threats through drinking and recreational waters, as well as food resources. Approximately 300 MC and NOD toxins have been published, but less than 15 of them are commercially available as toxin standards. Our aim herein was to rapidly identify and quantify all toxin congeners, including those without standards, in water samples even at low abundance by reversed-phase solid phase extraction (SPE)-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to provide insights into toxin levels and potential toxicity.

Statistical process monitoring creates a hemodynamic trajectory map after pediatric cardiac surgery: A case study of the arterial switch operation.

Postoperative critical care management of congenital heart disease patients requires prompt intervention when the patient deviates significantly from clinician-determined vital sign and hemodynamic goals. Current monitoring systems only allow for static thresholds to be set on individual variables, despite the expectations that these signals change as the patient recovers and that variables interact. To address this incongruency, we have employed statistical process monitoring (SPM) techniques originally developed to monitor batch industrial processes to monitor high-frequency vital sign and hemodynamic data to establish multivariate trajectory maps for patients with d-transposition of the great arteries following the arterial switch operation.

Predation Risk Experienced by Tadpoles Shapes Personalities Before but Not After Metamorphosis.

Consistent inter-individual differences in behaviour, that is, personalities, can emerge as a result of inter-individual differences in ontogenetic experience, and predation risk is a potent one. As personalities develop over lifetime, however, they may also be broken by ontogenetic transitions of the individual. Here we first tested the hypothesis that consistent inter-individual differences in larval behaviour arise under predation challenge, and are entangled with differences in body size.

Noninvasive Monitoring of Steatotic Liver Disease in Western Diet-Fed Obese Mice Using Automated Ultrasound and Shear Wave Elastography.

Background And Aims: Ultrasound imaging and shear wave elastography (SWE) can be used to noninvasively stage hepatopathologies and are widespread in clinical practice. These techniques have recently been adapted for small animal use in a novel 3D in vivo imaging system capable of high-throughput automated scanning. Our goal was to evaluate the feasibility of using this imaging tool in the murine Western diet (WD) model, a highly translatable preclinical model of obesity, metabolic disease and liver fibrosis.

Evaluation of outcome and safety profile in high-dose BEAM and Benda-EAM chemotherapy with subsequent autologous stem cell transplantation in lymphoma patients.

Introduction: Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto- HSCT) preceded by high-dose chemotherapy is a mainstay in relapsed/refractory lymphoma. The study aimed to compare the efficacy and adverse event profile between BEAM and Benda-EAM (BeEAM) regimens and to evaluate prognostic factors for survival in lymphoma patients undergoing auto-HSCT.

Material And Methods: We present a single-center retrospective analysis of 82 lymphoma patients (median age 52; IQR 38.

Transitioning from Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose to Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Combination with a mHealth App Improves Glycemic Control in People with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

Integrating mobile health (mHealth) apps into daily diabetes management allows users to monitor and track their health data, creating a comprehensive system for managing daily diabetes activities and generating valuable real-world data. This analysis investigates the impact of transitioning from traditional self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) to real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM), alongside the use of a mHealth app, on users' glycemic control. Data were collected from 1271 diabetes type 1 and type 2 users of the mySugr app who made a minimum of 50 SMBG logs 1 month before transitioning to rtCGM and then used rtCGM for at least 6 months.

HIF-2α drives hepatic Kupffer cell death and proinflammatory recruited macrophage activation in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Proinflammatory hepatic macrophage activation plays a key role in the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This involves increased embryonic hepatic Kupffer cell (KC) death, facilitating the replacement of KCs with bone marrow-derived recruited hepatic macrophages (RHMs) that highly express proinflammatory genes. Moreover, phago/efferocytic activity of KCs is diminished in NASH, enhancing liver inflammation.

Assessment of inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Luna EMG robot as a tool for assessing upper limb proprioception in patients with stroke-a prospective observational study.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the inter-rater and intra-rater agreement of measurements performed with the Luna EMG (electromyography) multifunctional robot, a tool for evaluation of upper limb proprioception in individuals with stroke.

Methods: The study was conducted in a group of patients with chronic stroke. A total of 126 patients participated in the study, including 78 women and 48 men, on average aged nearly 60 years (mean = 59.

Increased coronary artery disease severity in patients undergoing invasive diagnostics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: This study aimed to compare the stage of coronary heart disease in patients who underwent invasive cardiac diagnostics during the COVID-19 pandemic and before, based on the number of medical devices used and the number of complex coronary angioplasty procedures performed.

Material And Methods: A retrospective, single-center study was conducted, which included 187 successive patients with diagnosed coronary heart disease, who were divided into 2 groups: group I (N = 92, pre-COVID-19 pandemic) and group II (N = 95, during COVID-19 pandemic).

Results: Despite a comparable number of invasive procedures in both groups, stent length and contrast use per procedure were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revisiting the Role of Balloon Atrial Septostomy Prior to the Arterial Switch Operation.

Objectives: Patients with dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) frequently undergo balloon atrial septostomy (BAS) prior to the arterial switch operation (ASO) to promote atrial-level mixing. Balloon atrial septostomy has inherent risks as an invasive procedure and may not always be necessary. This study revisits the routine utilization of BAS prior to ASO.