Accurate Estimation of Diffusion Coefficients and their Uncertainties from Computer Simulation.

Self-diffusion coefficients, *, are routinely estimated from molecular dynamics simulations by fitting a linear model to the observed mean squared displacements (MSDs) of mobile species. MSDs derived from simulations exhibit statistical noise that causes uncertainty in the resulting estimate of *. An optimal scheme for estimating * minimizes this uncertainty, i.

A multimedia tool for infection prevention and control practices in the intensive care unit: a participatory interventional before-after study.

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices by critical care nurses are crucial in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI).

Aim: To implement an integrative approach to developing a set of IPC practices and disseminating information on the IPC practices through an educational multimedia tool to improve compliance with the practices.

Methods: This participatory interventional before-after study was conducted in a single tertiary care centre's cardiac surgical intensive care unit (ICU) from May 2022 to March 2023.

Critical Steps in Shotgun Metagenomics-Based Diagnosis of Bloodstream Infections Using Nanopore Sequencing.

Shotgun metagenomics offers a broad detection of pathogens for rapid blood stream infection of pathogens but struggles with often low numbers of pathogens combined with high levels of human background DNA in clinical samples. This study aimed to develop a shotgun metagenomics protocol using blood spiked with various bacteria and to assess bacterial DNA extraction efficiency with human DNA depletion. The Blood Pathogen Kit (Molzym) was used to extract DNA from EDTA-whole blood (WB) and plasma samples, using contrived blood specimens spiked with bacteria for shotgun metagenomics diagnostics via Oxford Nanopore sequencing and PCR-based library preparation.

Implementation strategies: lessons learned during an e-learning intervention to improve dietary behaviors and feeding practices in early childhood education and care.

Background: Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers play an important role in fostering healthy dietary habits. The Nutrition Now project focusing on improving dietary habits during the first 1000 days of life. Central to the project is the implementation of an e-learning resource aimed at promoting feeding practices among staff and healthy dietary behaviours for children aged 0-3 years in ECEC.

Quality assessment of fish vaccine data in the Norwegian Veterinary Prescription Register (VetReg).

Background: Vaccination of farmed salmonids has been an integral part of preventing infectious diseases in Norway's aquaculture industry. In Norway, vaccine usage is regulated by the government. There is a need to monitor vaccine usage for both regulatory and research purposes, at local and national scales.

Structural modification of defective WO by g-CN for photocatalytic gold recovery from non-cyanide-based plating effluent.

A set of nCN/WO composites was synthesized through a simple thermal treatment for gold recovery from the simulated effluent of a non-cyanide-based plating bath. The obtained results exhibited that all nCN/WO composites demonstrated a higher photocatalytic activity for gold recovery than their pristine components due to the formation of nanocomposites which paved a convenient pathway for charge transfer. Among all synthesized composites, the 5.

Altered Neural Responses to Punishment Learning in Conduct Disorder.

Objective: Conduct disorder (CD) is associated with deficits in the use of punishment for reinforcement learning (RL) and subsequent decision-making, contributing to reckless, antisocial, and aggressive behaviors. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether differences in behavioral learning rates derived from computational modeling, particularly for punishment, are reflected in aberrant neural responses in youths with CD compared to typically-developing controls (TDCs).

Methods: 75 youths with CD and 99 TDCs (9-18 years, 47% girls) performed a probabilistic RL task with punishment, reward, and neutral contingencies.

Improved Description of Environment and Vibronic Effects with Electrostatically Embedded ML Potentials.

Incorporation of environment and vibronic effects in simulations of optical spectra and excited state dynamics is commonly done by combining molecular dynamics with excited state calculations, which allows to estimate the spectral density describing the frequency-dependent system-bath coupling strength. The need for efficient sampling, however, usually leads to the adoption of classical force fields despite well-known inaccuracies due to the mismatch with the excited state method. Here, we present a multiscale strategy that overcomes this limitation by combining EMLE simulations based on electrostatically embedded ML potentials with the QM/MMPol polarizable embedding model to compute the excited states and spectral density of 3-methyl-indole, the chromophoric moiety of tryptophan that mediates a variety of important biological functions, in the gas phase, in water solution, and in the human serum albumin protein.

Gender Differences in the Association Between Anxiety and Interoceptive Insight.

Anxiety is one of the most common and debilitating mental health disorders, and is related to changes in interoception (perception of bodily states). While anxiety is more prevalent in women than men, gender differences in interoception-anxiety associations are often overlooked. Here, we examined gender-specific relationships between anxiety and interoception in the breathing domain, utilising multicentre data pooled from four study sites (N = 175; 51% women).

Reviving the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem in open quantum systems.

In closed systems, the celebrated Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) theorem states that a one-dimensional locally interacting half-integer spin chain with translation and spin rotation symmetries cannot have a non-degenerate gapped ground state. However, the applicability of this theorem is diminished when the system interacts with a bath and loses its energy conservation. In this letter, we propose that the LSM theorem can be revived in the entanglement Hamiltonian when the coupling to the bath renders the system short-range correlated.

Ca excitability of glia to neuromodulator octopamine in Drosophila living brain is greater than that of neurons.

Aim: Octopamine in the Drosophila brain has a neuromodulatory role similar to that of noradrenaline in mammals. After release from Tdc2 neurons, octopamine/tyramine may trigger intracellular Ca signaling via adrenoceptor-like receptors on neural cells, modulating neurotransmission. Octopamine/tyramine receptors are expressed in neurons and glia, but how each of these cell types responds to octopamine remains elusive.

Critical role for Transglutaminase 2 in scleroderma skin fibrosis and in the development of dermal sclerosis in a mouse model of scleroderma.

Objective: Scleroderma is a life-threatening autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation, tissue remodelling, and fibrosis. This study aimed to investigate the expression and function of transglutaminase 2 (TGM2) in scleroderma skin and experimentally-induced dermal fibrosis to determine its potential role and therapeutic implications.

Methods: We performed immunohistochemistry on skin sections to assess TGM2 expression and localisation, and protein biochemistry of both SSc-derived and healthy control dermal fibroblasts to assess TGM2 expression, function and ECM deposition in the presence of a TGM2 and TGFβ neutralizing antibodies and a small molecule inhibitor of the TGFβRI kinase.

A Small-Molecule Drug for the Self-Checking of Mitophagy.

Mitophagy that disrupt mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), represents a critical focus in pharmacology. However, the discovery and evaluation of MMP-disrupting drugs are often hampered using commercially available marker molecules that target similar or identical zones. These markers can significantly interfere with, obscure, or amplify the functional effects of MMP-targeting drugs, frequently leading to clinical failures.

Radiotherapy Quality Assurance in the SCOPE2 Trial: What Lessons can be Learned for the Next UK Trial in Oesophageal Cancer?

Aims: The SCOPE2 trial evaluates radiotherapy (RT) dose escalation for oesophageal cancer. We report findings from the accompanying RT quality assurance (RTQA) programme and identify recommendations for PROTIEUS, the next UK trial in oesophageal RT.

Maetrials And Methods: SCOPE2's RTQA programme consisted of a pre-accrual and on-trial component.

Electrocatalytic methane conversion via in-situ generated superoxide radicals in an aprotic ionic liquid.

The electrochemical activation and partial oxidation of methane are highly attractive to enable the direct conversion in a sustainable and decentralized way. Herein, we report an electrochemical system in a non-diaphragm electrochemical bath to convert CH to CHOH and CHCHOH at room temperature, in which VO·HO as the anodic catalyst to activate CH and an aprotic ionic liquid [BMIM]BF as supporting electrolyte to control superoxide radicals (O) as the main active oxygen species generated on cathode. As a result, methanol and ethanol were identified as the liquid products, and the superior methanol Faraday efficiency (FE) of 32.

Assessment of the proficiency level of novices in distal intramedullary nail interlocking achieved through training with Digitally Enhanced Hands-on Surgical Training (DEHST).

Background: Digitally Enhanced Hands-on Surgical Training (DEHST) platform was introduced to overcome the lack of training capabilities for the challenging task of freehand distal interlocking of intramedullary nails. It demonstrates high perceived realism for surgeons, and novices perform significantly better after DEHST training. However, characterization of how performance improves remained unexplored.

"Pattern Regulation in Epimorphic Fields", aka the Polar Coordinate Model.

The Polar Coordinate Model (PCM) was a model, published in 1976, to account for the properties of distal regeneration in the appendages of insects and vertebrates. It had considerable impact at the time and has continued to be cited ever since. This article describes the work that led up to the model, the genesis of the model itself, its strengths and weaknesses, and its long term impact.

Bioprospecting indigenous bacteria from landfill leachate for enhanced polypropylene microplastics degradation.

Plastic pollution, especially microplastics (MPs), is a severe environmental threat. Due to the significant environmental issues posed by plastics, it is critical to use an effective and sustainable degradation technique. The study aimed to isolate and identify Indigenous bacterial strains from landfill leachate (LL) to evaluate its potential for degrading Polypropylene microplastics (PPMPs).

Antimicrobial agents in agricultural fertilizers produced from sewage sludge - A cause for concern?

The production of organic-mineral fertilizers from sewage sludge is one of the ecological options in their management. Though, pharmaceuticals and their derivatives, which accumulate in the sludge, could be a problem due to their impacts on the environment. This manuscript aimed at better understanding of risks posed by antimicrobial agents (AAs) in sludge-based fertilizers.

Impact of Particular Stages of the Manufacturing Process on the Reliability of Flexible Printed Circuits.

The purpose of the experiment was to indicate which element of the production process of flexible printed circuit boards is optimal in terms of the reliability of final products. According to the Taguchi method, in the experiment, five factors with two levels each were chosen for the subsequent analysis. These included the number of conductive layers, the thickness of the laminate layer, the type of the laminate, the diameter of the plated holes, and the current density in the galvanic bath.

Vibration Serviceability Assessment of Floor Structures: Simulation of Human-Structure-Environment Interactions Using Agent-Based Modeling.

A rapidly growing body of experimental evidence in the literature shows that the effects of humans interacting with vibrating structures, other humans, and their surrounding environment can be critical for reliable estimation of structural vibrations. The Interaction-based Vibration Serviceability Assessment framework (I-VSA) was proposed by the authors in 2017 to address this, taking into account human-structure dynamic interactions (HSI) to simulate the structural vibrations experienced by each occupant/pedestrian. The I-VSA method, however, had limited provisions to simulate simultaneously multiple modes of structure in HSI, to simulate human-human and human-environment interactions, and the movement pattern of the occupants/pedestrians.

Effects of a L. Extract and Rosmarinic Acid in Improving Streptozotocin-Induced Aortic Tissue Damages in Rats.

Background/aim: L. () is an aromatic medicinal species with important nutraceutical potential, having rosmarinic acid (RA) as one of its main metabolites. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of an extract obtained from the leaves of this species and of its main metabolite in improving the streptozotocin-induced damage of hearts and aorta of diabetic rats.