Shear wave elastography reveals passive and active mechanics of triceps surae muscles in vivo: From shear modulus-ankle angle to stress-strain characteristics.

Characterizing individual muscle behavior is crucial for understanding joint function and adaptations to exercise, diseases, or aging. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a promising tool for measuring the intrinsic material properties of muscle. This study assessed the passive and active shear modulus of the triceps surae muscle group in 14 volunteers (7 females, 25.

Characterization of a novel conditional knockout mouse model to assess efficacy of mRNA therapy in the context of severe OTC deficiency.

Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is the most common urea-cycle disorder, characterized by hyperammonemia and accompanied by a high unmet patient need. mRNA therapies have been shown to be efficacious in hypomorphic Sparse-fur abnormal skin and hair (Spf-ash) mice, a model of late-onset disease. However, studying the efficacy of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) mRNA therapy in traditional knockout mice, a model for severe early-onset OTCD, is hampered by the rapid lethality of the model and poor lipid nanoparticle (LNP) uptake into neonatal mouse liver.

Planetary Health Diet Index Trends and Associations with Dietary Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Disease Biomarkers, Obesity, and Mortality in the United States (2005-2018).

Background: Diet plays a vital role in human health and environmental effects. Monitoring diet quality and its relationship to both health and environment are essential for policy making.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze trends in the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) and its associations with daily greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from food, disease-related biomarkers, anthropometric measurements, obesity, and all-cause mortality in the United States population.

The other health care system in Germany: care for people without health insurance.

Background: A large number of people in Germany have no health insurance. Their access to the official healthcare system is significantly more difficult or impossible. Charitable institutions try to provide medical care and create parallel healthcare structures.

Neuro-cognitive multilevel causal modeling: A framework that bridges the explanatory gap between neuronal activity and cognition.

Explaining how neuronal activity gives rise to cognition arguably remains the most significant challenge in cognitive neuroscience. We introduce neuro-cognitive multilevel causal modeling (NC-MCM), a framework that bridges the explanatory gap between neuronal activity and cognition by construing cognitive states as (behaviorally and dynamically) causally consistent abstractions of neuronal states. Multilevel causal modeling allows us to interchangeably reason about the neuronal- and cognitive causes of behavior while maintaining a physicalist (in contrast to a strong dualist) position.

Key determinants of the dual clamp/activator function of Complexin.

Complexin determines magnitude and kinetics of synchronized secretion, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remained unclear. Here, we show that the hydrophobic face of the amphipathic helix at the C-terminus of Complexin II (CpxII, amino acids 115-134) binds to fusion-promoting SNARE proteins, prevents premature secretion, and allows vesicles to accumulate in a release-ready state in mouse chromaffin cells. Specifically, we demonstrate that an unrelated amphipathic helix functionally substitutes for the C-terminal domain (CTD) of CpxII and that amino acid substitutions on the hydrophobic side compromise the arrest of the pre-fusion intermediate.

Neuromyotonia in a 16-year-old female with dramatic improvement after IVIG therapy: Case report and literature review.

Neuromyotonia, also known as Isaac syndrome, is a rare neurological disorder characterized by continuous muscle activity, stiffness, and spontaneous muscle contractions, it is very rare in children. We report a 16-year-old female patient with neuromyotonia. She presented with pain, stiffness, autonomic symptoms and muscle myokymia in both lower limbs.

Heavy Pentaisopropylcyclopentadienyltriylenes and their Heterobimetallic Complexes.

A series of triylenes of the heavy group 13 elements gallium, indium and thallium, carrying the pentaisopropylcyclopentadienyl ligand is reported. The compounds were characterized in solution and in the solid-state and their donor ligand properties in heterobimetallic complexes were investigated, whereby a series of tungsten carbonyl complexes was isolated. Furthermore, a new synthetic route towards a previously described lithium-aluminum heterobimetallic dimetallocene is reported, which also enabled the isolation of a heterobimetallic polydecker of lithium and gallium.

Trends in Toddler Diet Quality in the United States: 1999 to 2018.

Background And Objectives: Diet quality has improved over time for US adults and youth aged ≥2 years. Trends over time and disparities in the diet quality of toddlers 12 through 23 months old have not been documented. Our objective was to investigate the direction and magnitude of toddler diet quality trends from 1999 to 2018 overall and by household socioeconomic status.

Blue carbon stock heterogeneity in Brazilian mangrove forests: A systematic review.

This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of blue carbon stocks in Brazilian mangroves. We evaluated the effect of characteristics and site status (impacted versus non-impacted) on carbon stocks found in the various compartments on total ecosystem carbon stock (TECS). TECS followed an inverse trend with the latitudinal position: the highest values were found on the North coast (mean 511 Mg C ha), followed by the Northeast and Southeast.

π-Complexes Derived from Non-classical Diboriranes: Side-on vs. End-on Carbonylative Ring Expansion.

Unlike cyclopropanes, the analogous BC species (diboriranes) tend to adopt non-classical Hückel-aromatic structures with bridging moieties R between the boron atoms. The coordination of the thus generated cyclic 2e π-system to transition metals is completely unexplored. We here report that complexation of non-classical diboriranes cyclo-μ-RBDurCPh (R=H, SnMe; Dur=2,3,5,6-tetramethylphenyl) to Fe(CO) fragments allows for the carbonylative ring expansion of the BC ring to either four- or five-membered rings depending on the nature of the BRB 3-center-2-electron bond (3c2e): The H-bridged diborirane (R=H) initially reacts with Fe(CO) to the allylic π-complex with an agostic BH/Fe interaction.

Concerted transcriptional regulation of the morphogenesis of hypothalamic neurons by ONECUT3.

Acquisition of specialized cellular features is controlled by the ordered expression of transcription factors (TFs) along differentiation trajectories. Here, we find a member of the Onecut TF family, ONECUT3, expressed in postmitotic neurons that leave their Ascl1/Onecut1/2 proliferative domain in the vertebrate hypothalamus to instruct neuronal differentiation. We combined single-cell RNA-seq and gain-of-function experiments for gene network reconstruction to show that ONECUT3 affects the polarization and morphogenesis of both hypothalamic GABA-derived dopamine and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) glutamate neurons through neuron navigator-2 (NAV2).

Fibration symmetry-breaking supports functional transitions in a brain network engaged in language.

In his book 'A Beautiful Question', physicist Frank Wilczek argues that symmetry is 'nature's deep design,' governing the behavior of the universe, from the smallest particles to the largest structures. While symmetry is a cornerstone of physics, it has not yet been found widespread applicability to describe biological systems, particularly the human brain. In this context, we study the human brain network engaged in language and explore the relationship between the structural connectivity (connectome or structural network) and the emergent synchronization of the mesoscopic regions of interest (functional network).

Symmetries and synchronization from whole-neural activity in connectome: Integration of functional and structural networks.

Understanding the dynamical behavior of complex systems from their underlying network architectures is a long-standing question in complexity theory. Therefore, many metrics have been devised to extract network features like motifs, centrality, and modularity measures. It has previously been proposed that network symmetries are of particular importance since they are expected to underly the synchronization of a system's units, which is ubiquitously observed in nervous system activity patterns.

Characterizing Mechanical Changes in the Biceps Brachii Muscle in Mild Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Using Shear Wave Elastography.

There is no general consensus on evaluating disease progression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Recently, shear wave elastography (SWE) has been proposed as a noninvasive diagnostic tool to assess muscle stiffness in vivo. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize biceps brachii (BB) muscle mechanics in mild-FSHD patients using SWE.

Validation of dementia care-related scales among informal caregivers of Latinos with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

Objectives: To test the psychometric properties of several dementia care-related scales among Latinos in the US.

Design: We leveraged secondary baseline data from a one-arm mHealth trial on dementia caregiver support. We included 100 responses for caregiver-focused scales and 88 responses for care recipient-focused scales.

Associations Between Food Insecurity and Diet Quality Among Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Trainees in the Health Sciences at a Private University in Boston: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Food insecurity is a pivotal determinant of health outcomes. Little evidence exists on the association between food insecurity and health behaviors and outcomes, including diet quality, among graduate students or postdoctoral trainees.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the association between food insecurity and diet quality among graduate students and postdoctoral trainees at 3 health-focused graduate schools (public health, medical, and dental medicine) within Harvard University.

Distinctive protein expression in elderly livers in a Sprague-Dawley rat model of normothermic ex vivo liver machine perfusion.

Background: Liver grafts are frequently declined due to high donor age or age mismatch with the recipient. To improve the outcome of marginal grafts, we aimed to characterize the performance of elderly vs. young liver grafts in a standardized rat model of normothermic ex vivo liver machine perfusion (NMP).

Fibration symmetry-breaking supports functional transitions in a brain network engaged in language.

In his book 'A Beautiful Question' , physicist Frank Wilczek argues that symmetry is 'nature's deep design,' governing the behavior of the universe, from the smallest particles to the largest structures . While symmetry is a cornerstone of physics, it has not yet been found widespread applicability to describe biological systems , particularly the human brain. In this context, we study the human brain network engaged in language and explore the relationship between the structural connectivity (connectome or structural network) and the emergent synchronization of the mesoscopic regions of interest (functional network).

Surface relief VCSELs at 670 nm with integrated polymer microlens for highly collimated fundamental-mode emission.

We demonstrate the integration of a wet-chemically etched surface relief on a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) emitting in the red spectral range for higher-order mode suppression. With this relief, fundamental-mode emission is achieved over the entire power range from threshold beyond thermal rollover. For collimation of the emitted beam, we implement polymer microlenses fabricated on-chip by a thermal reflow technique.

Refusal of patients: care for people without health insurance in German emergency departments.

In case of an emergency, health insurance in Germany provides easy access to medical care in emergency departments. Over 100,000 people do not have health insurance for various reasons. They are repeatedly refused treatment in emergency rooms as their right to care outside of regular insurance is often unknown or ignored.

A lithium-aluminium heterobimetallic dimetallocene.

Homobimetallic dimetallocenes exhibiting two identical metal atoms sandwiched between two η bonded cyclopentadienyl rings is a narrow class of compounds, with representative examples being dizincocene and diberyllocene. Here we report the synthesis and structural characterization of a heterobimetallic dimetallocene, accessible through heterocoupling of lithium and aluminylene fragments with pentaisopropylcyclopentadienyl ligands. The Al-Li bond features a high ionic character and profits from attractive dispersion interactions between the isopropyl groups of the cyclopentadienyl ligands.

Fibration symmetries and cluster synchronization in the Caenorhabditis elegans connectome.

Capturing how the Caenorhabditis elegans connectome structure gives rise to its neuron functionality remains unclear. It is through fiber symmetries found in its neuronal connectivity that synchronization of a group of neurons can be determined. To understand these we investigate graph symmetries and search for such in the symmetrized versions of the forward and backward locomotive sub-networks of the Caenorhabditi elegans worm neuron network.