PMP2+ Schwann cells maintain the survival of large-caliber motor axons.

Neurodegenerative diseases of both the central and peripheral nervous system are characterized by selective neuronal vulnerability, i.e., pathology that affects particular types of neurons.

Clinical perspective on pluripotent stem cells derived cell therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Self-renewal capacity and potential to differentiate into almost any cell type of the human body makes pluripotent stem cells a valuable starting material for manufacturing of clinical grade cell therapies. Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by gradual loss of structure or function of neurons, often leading to neuronal death. This results in gradual decline of cognitive, motor, and physiological functions due to the degeneration of the central nervous systems.

Potential for application of direct thrombin inhibitors isolated from Euphorbia resinifera O.Berg latex in fibrin clot formation.

Direct thrombin inhibitors (designated as EuRL-DTIs) were partially purified from ethanol extracts of Euphorbia resinifera O.Berg latex. The obtained EuRL-DTIs comprised four major compounds: two isomers of phenolic compounds (CHO) and two amide compounds (tentatively identified as CHNO and CHNO), as identified by liquid chromatography and electrospray ionisation quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, and/or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Oral Regimens for Rifampin-Resistant, Fluoroquinolone-Susceptible Tuberculosis.

Background: For decades, poor treatment options and low-quality evidence plagued care for patients with rifampin-resistant tuberculosis. The advent of new drugs to treat tuberculosis and enhanced funding now permit randomized, controlled trials of shortened-duration, all-oral treatments for rifampin-resistant tuberculosis.

Methods: We conducted a phase 3, multinational, open-label, randomized, controlled noninferiority trial to compare standard therapy for treatment of fluoroquinolone-susceptible, rifampin-resistant tuberculosis with five 9-month oral regimens that included various combinations of bedaquiline (B), delamanid (D), linezolid (L), levofloxacin (Lfx) or moxifloxacin (M), clofazimine (C), and pyrazinamide (Z).

Development of a novel molecular probe for visualizing mesothelin on the tumor via positron emission tomography.

Objectives: Mesothelin (MSLN) is an antigen that is overexpressed in various cancers, and its interaction with tumor-associated cancer antigen 125 plays a multifaceted role in tumor metastasis. The serum MSLN expression level can be detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; however, non-invasive visualization of its expression at the tumor site is currently lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a molecular probe for imaging MSLN expression through positron emission tomography (PET).

PP2A Attenuates Thoracic Aneurysm and Dissection in Mouse Models of Marfan Syndrome.

Background: Recent studies show that hyperactivation of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) signaling plays a causal role in the development of thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection. Modulation of PP2A (protein phosphatase 2A) activity has been shown to be of significant therapeutic value. In light of the effects that PP2A can exert on the mTOR pathway, we hypothesized that PP2A activation by small-molecule activators of PP2A could mitigate AA progression in Marfan syndrome (MFS).

Discovering patient groups in sequential electronic healthcare data using unsupervised representation learning.

Introduction: Unsupervised feature learning methods inspired by natural language processing (NLP) models are capable of constructing patient-specific features from longitudinal Electronic Health Records (EHR).

Design: We applied document embedding algorithms to real-world paediatric intensive care (PICU) EHR data to extract patient-specific features from 1853 patients' PICU journeys using 647 unique lab tests and medication events. We evaluated the clinical utility of the patient features via a K-means clustering analysis.

Structural basis for human NKCC1 inhibition by loop diuretic drugs.

Na-K-Cl cotransporters functions as an anion importers, regulating trans-epithelial chloride secretion, cell volume, and renal salt reabsorption. Loop diuretics, including furosemide, bumetanide, and torsemide, antagonize both NKCC1 and NKCC2, and are first-line medicines for the treatment of edema and hypertension. NKCC1 activation by the molecular crowding sensing WNK kinases is critical if cells are to combat shrinkage during hypertonic stress; however, how phosphorylation accelerates NKCC1 ion transport remains unclear.

Open-Source Large Language Models in Radiology: A Review and Tutorial for Practical Research and Clinical Deployment.

Integrating large language models (LLMs) into health care holds substantial potential to enhance clinical workflows and care delivery. However, LLMs also pose serious risks if integration is not thoughtfully executed, with complex challenges spanning accuracy, accessibility, privacy, and regulation. Proprietary commercial LLMs (eg, GPT-4 [OpenAI], Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude 3 Opus [Anthropic], Gemini [Google]) have received much attention from researchers in the medical domain, including radiology.

Tau oligomers impair memory and synaptic plasticity through the cellular prion protein.

Deposition of abnormally phosphorylated tau aggregates is a central event leading to neuronal dysfunction and death in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Among tau aggregates, oligomers (TauOs) are considered the most toxic. AD brains show significant increase in TauOs compared to healthy controls, their concentration correlating with the severity of cognitive deficits and disease progression.

Development of a CT radiomics prognostic model for post renal tumor resection overall survival based on transformer enhanced K-means clustering.

Background: Kidney tumors, common in the urinary system, have widely varying survival rates post-surgery. Current prognostic methods rely on invasive biopsies, highlighting the need for non-invasive, accurate prediction models to assist in clinical decision-making.

Purpose: This study aimed to construct a K-means clustering algorithm enhanced by Transformer-based feature transformation to predict the overall survival rate of patients after kidney tumor resection and provide an interpretability analysis of the model to assist in clinical decision-making.

Determining the QRS axis: visual estimation is equal to calculation.

Background: The QRS axis of the electrocardiogram (ECG) is often considered in clinical practice, but its determination is frequently limited to a rough estimation, such as "normal", with left or right deviation, and superior or inferior in the case of premature ventricular complexes (PVCs). However, a more exact determination of the QRS axis may be warranted in certain scenarios, such as to determine the origin of PVCs more precisely, and is attainable by visual estimation using the hexaxial reference system.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine how well such an estimation of the QRS axis would correlate with the axis calculated by formulas.

Interplay between Two Structure Types in the Incommensurately Modulated ATaSe Compounds (A = Rb, Cs).

Incommensurately modulated crystals are a rare class of materials that are notoriously difficult to characterize properly. We have synthesized two new incommensurately modulated compounds, RbTaSe and CsTaSe, based on the MQ (M = Nb, Ta; Q = S, Se) unit using high-temperature solid-state synthesis. Using superspace crystallography in combination with second harmonic generation measurements, we confirmed both materials to be noncentrosymmetric, falling into the superspace group 1(αβγ)0, while the basic cell suggests 2/.

Health Expenditures of Patients With Diabetes After Bariatric Surgery: Comparing Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy.

Background: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) differ in their effects on body weight and risk for reoperation. However, it is unclear whether long-term health expenditures differ by procedure type in patients with diabetes.

Objective: To compare health expenditures 3 years before and 5.

Poor Olfaction and Risk of Stroke in Older Adults: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Background: Poor olfaction may be associated with adverse cerebrovascular events, but empirical evidence is limited. We aimed to investigate the association of olfaction with the risk of stroke in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Methods: We included 5799 older adults with no history of stroke at baseline from 2011 to 2013 (75.

Combinatorial phenotypic landscape enables bacterial resistance to phage infection.

Success of phage therapies is limited by bacterial defenses against phages. While a large variety of anti-phage defense mechanisms has been characterized, how expression of these systems is distributed across individual cells and how their combined activities translate into protection from phages has not been studied. Using bacterial single-cell RNA sequencing, we profiled the transcriptomes of ~50,000 cells from cultures of a human pathobiont, , infected with a lytic bacteriophage.

Synthesis and characterization of surface modified MWCNTs reinforced PVA composite films.

Polymers have been ruling the packaging industry for decades due to their versatility, easy manufacturability, and low cost. The overuse of non-biodegradable plastics in food packaging has become a serious environmental concern. Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) reinforced nanocomposites have exceptional electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties.

Health outcomes in chronic kidney disease patients with cognitive impairment or dementia: a global collaborative analysis.

Background And Hypothesis: Mild cognitive impairment and dementia (CI) are common in patients with CKD. We aim to clarify whether and how CKD and CI coexistence increases adverse health outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study was conducted on CKD patients (stages 3-5) from the TriNetX platform.

Differential Associations of Cigar, Pipe, and Smokeless Tobacco Use Versus Combustible Cigarette Use With Subclinical Markers of Inflammation, Thrombosis, and Atherosclerosis: The Cross-Cohort Collaboration-Tobacco Working Group.

Background: Understanding the association of tobacco product use with subclinical markers is essential in evaluating health effects to inform regulatory policy. This is particularly relevant for noncigarette products (eg, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco), which have been understudied because of their low prevalence in individual cohort studies.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 98 450 participants from the Cross-Cohort Collaboration-Tobacco data set.

Glutamatergic Input from Arcuate Nucleus Kiss1 Neurons to Preoptic Kiss1 Neurons is Required for LH Surge in Female Mice.

Hypothalamic kisspeptin (Kiss1) neurons are vital for maintaining fertility in the mammal. In the female rodent, Kiss1 neurons populate the anteroventral periventricular/periventricular nuclei (Kiss1AVPV/PeN) and the arcuate nucleus (Kiss1ARH). Kiss1ARH neurons (a.

Fecal microbiota transplantation to prevent acute graft-versus-host disease: pre-planned interim analysis of donor effect.

Gut microbiota disruptions after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) are associated with increased risk of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). We designed a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial to test whether healthy-donor fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) early after alloHCT reduces the incidence of severe aGVHD. Here, we report the results from the single-arm run-in phase which identified the best of 3 stool donors for the randomized phase.

Topographic corneal changes in children with moderate to severe blepharokeratoconjunctivitis.

Purpose To determine the corneal topographic characteristics of children with blepharokeratoconjunctivitis (BKC), a chronic inflammatory ocular surface disease involving the lid margin, conjunctiva, and cornea. Methods The corneal topography of 21 children diagnosed with BKC between March 2008 and June 2019 at a single institution were reviewed retrospectively. Pachymetry and asymmetry indices were also analyzed.

High-affinity VNARs targeting human hemoglobin: Screening, stability and binding analysis.

Hemoglobin, composed of α- and β-chains, is essential for oxygen transport and is key in diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal and blood disorders. It also aids in detecting blood contamination and estimating transfusion volumes. Immunological methods, based on antigen-antibody interactions, are distinguished by their high sensitivity and accuracy.

Specific Rosetta-based protein-peptide prediction protocol allows the design of novel cholinesterase inhibitor peptides.

The search for novel cholinesterase inhibitors is essential for advancing treatments for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we employed the Rosetta pepspec module, originally developed for designing peptides targeting protein-protein interactions, to design de novo peptides targeting the peripheral aromatic site (PAS) of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). A total of nine peptides were designed for human AChE (hAChE), T.