The missing link: How is the phantom limb influenced by prosthesis wearing in people with lower-limb amputation?

Background: Recent therapeutic and technological solutions aim to improve the daily living of people with limb amputation by considering various aspects of the phantom limb, in particular painless phantom sensations (PS) and voluntary phantom movements (VPM).

Objective: Although previous research has explored these phenomena mostly without considering the prosthesis, this study investigates the influence of prosthesis wearing on painless PS, painful PS, and VPM, in people with lower-limb amputation.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study based on semi-directed interviews.

Challenges in Describing Tremor and Dystonia.

Tremor is defined as an oscillatory and rhythmical movement. By contrast, dystonia is defined by sustained or intermittent abnormal postures, repetitive movements, or both. Tremor and dystonia often coexist in the same individual.

COMPOSIT study: evaluating osimertinib combination with targeted therapies in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: The emergence of diverse resistance mechanisms after osimertinib therapy, including on-target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and off-target alterations, warrants investigation of novel therapeutics to overcome these challenges and improve patient outcomes.

Methods: COMPOSIT was a French, retrospective, multicenter, cohort study of the effectiveness and tolerability of osimertinib in combination with other targeted therapies in patients with advanced EGFR-mutant (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who harbored other oncogenic drivers as primary or acquired resistance mechanisms. Real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR) were the primary endpoints.

Impacts of acid mine drainage remediation in the largest gold mine of Latin America on natural water bodies in the Dominican Republic.

Impacts of the acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation are investigated on the largest gold mine in Latin America, located in the Dominican Republic. Geochemical analysis of suspended matter in water performed in 2022 on water bodies located downstream to the mine, namely, the Margajita River and Lake Hatillo, are compared with analyses made in 2007, before the AMD remediation. The results for the Margajita River show a strong decrease in heavy metal and metalloid concentrations in the dissolved phase for Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb, and Pb (between 89.

Receptor kinase LecRK-I.9 regulates cell wall remodelling during lateral root formation in Arabidopsis.

Assembling and remodelling the cell wall is essential for plant development. Cell wall dynamics is controlled by cell wall proteins, polysaccharide biosynthesis, and a variety of sensor and receptor systems. LecRK-I.

Evaluating the quality and readability of ChatGPT-generated patient-facing medical information in rhinology.

Purpose: The artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has become a major tool for generating responses in healthcare. This study assessed ChatGPT's ability to generate French preoperative patient-facing medical information (PFI) in rhinology at a comparable level to material provided by an academic source, the French Society of Otorhinolaryngology (Société Française d'Otorhinolaryngologie et Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale, SFORL).

Methods: ChatGPT and SFORL French preoperative PFI in rhinology were compared by analyzing responses to 16 questions regarding common rhinology procedures: ethmoidectomy, sphenoidotomy, septoplasty, and endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy.

An interkinetic envelope surrounds chromosomes between meiosis I and II in C. elegans oocytes.

At the end of cell division, the nuclear envelope reassembles around the decondensing chromosomes. Female meiosis culminates in two consecutive cell divisions of the oocyte, meiosis I and II, which are separated by a brief transition phase known as interkinesis. Due to the absence of chromosome decondensation and the suppression of genome replication during interkinesis, it has been widely assumed that the nuclear envelope does not reassemble between meiosis I and II.

Is Tumor Growth Influenced by the Bone Remodeling Process?

In this study, we develop a comprehensive model to investigate the intricate relationship between the bone remodeling process, tumor growth, and bone diseases such as multiple myeloma. By analyzing different scenarios within the Basic Multicellular Unit, we uncover the dynamic interplay between remodeling and tumor progression. The model developed developed in the paper are based on the well accepted Komarova's and Ayati's models for the bone remodeling process, then these models were modified to include the effects of the tumor growth.

A Copper-Binding Peptide with Therapeutic Potential against Alzheimer's Disease: From the Blood-Brain Barrier to Metal Competition.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide. AD brains are characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) that bind Cu and have been associated with several neurotoxic mechanisms. Although the use of copper chelators to prevent the formation of Cu-Aβ complexes has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy, recent studies show that copper is an important neuromodulator that is essential for a neuroprotective mechanism mediated by Cu binding to the cellular prion protein (PrP).

Disentangling collective coupling in vibrational polaritons with double quantum coherence spectroscopy.

Vibrational polaritons are formed by strong coupling of molecular vibrations and photon modes in an optical cavity. Experiments have demonstrated that vibrational strong coupling can change molecular properties and even affect chemical reactivity. However, the interactions in a molecular ensemble are complex, and the exact mechanisms that lead to modifications are not fully understood yet.

Intrinsic Muscle Stem Cell Dysfunction Contributes to Impaired Regeneration in the mdx Mouse.

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating disease characterized by progressive muscle wasting that leads to diminished lifespan. In addition to the inherent weakness of dystrophin-deficient muscle, the dysfunction of resident muscle stem cells (MuSC) significantly contributes to disease progression.

Methods: Using the mdx mouse model of DMD, we performed an in-depth characterization of disease progression and MuSC function in dystrophin-deficient skeletal muscle using immunohistology, isometric force measurements, transcriptomic analysis and transplantation assays.

The role of vorasidenib in the treatment of isocitrate dehydrogenase-mutant glioma.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors in young adults. This condition imposes a substantial burden on patients and their caregivers, marked by neurocognitive deficits and high mortality rates due to tumor progression, coupled with significant morbidity from current treatment modalities. Although surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy improve survival, these treatments can adversely affect cognitive function, quality of life, finances, employment status, and overall independence.

Characterization of VldE (Spr1875), a Pneumococcal Two-State l,d-Endopeptidase with a Four-Zinc Cluster in the Active Site.

Remodeling of the pneumococcal cell wall, carried out by peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolases, is imperative for maintaining bacterial cell shape and ensuring survival, particularly during cell division or stress response. The protein Spr1875 plays a role in stress response, both regulated by the VicRK two-component system (analogous to the WalRK TCS found in Firmicutes). Modular Spr1875 presents a putative cell-wall binding module at the N-terminus and a catalytic C-terminal module (Spr1875) connected by a long linker.

TANGO2-related rhabdomyolysis symptoms are associated with abnormal autophagy functioning.

Patients with pathogenic variants in the gene suffer from severe and recurrent rhabdomyolysis episodes precipitated by fasting. Autophagy functioning was analyzed , in primary skeletal myoblasts from TANGO2 patients, in basal and fasting conditions, and mutations were associated with reduced LC3-II levels upon starvation. In zebrafish larvae, inhibition induced locomotor defects which were exacerbated by exposure to atorvastatin, a compound known to cause rhabdomyolysis.

Deciphering the Complexity of the Immune Cell Landscape in Kidney Allograft Rejection.

While the Banff classification dichotomizes kidney allograft rejection based on the localization of the cells in the different compartments of the cortical kidney tissue [schematically interstitium for T cell mediated rejection (TCMR) and glomerular and peritubular capillaries for antibody-mediated rejection (AMR)], there is a growing evidences that subtyping the immune cells can help refine prognosis prediction and treatment tailoring, based on a better understanding of the pathophysiology of kidney allograft rejection. In the last few years, multiplex IF techniques and automatic counting systems as well as transcriptomics studies (bulk, single-cell and spatial techniques) have provided invaluable clues to further decipher the complex puzzle of rejection. In this review, we aim to better describe the inflammatory infiltrates that occur during the course of kidney transplant rejection (active AMR, chronic active AMR and acute and chronic active TCMR).

Role of viruses in periodontitis: An extensive review of herpesviruses, human immunodeficiency virus, coronavirus-19, papillomavirus and hepatitis viruses.

Periodontitis is the inflammation of the supporting structures around the dentition. Several microbial agents, mostly bacteria, have been identified as causative factors for periodontal disease. On the other hand, oral cavity is a rich reservoir for viruses since it contains a wide variety of cell types that can be targeted by viruses.

Mechanistic Learning for Predicting Survival Outcomes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

We employed a mechanistic learning approach, integrating on-treatment tumor kinetics (TK) modeling with various machine learning (ML) models to address the challenge of predicting post-progression survival (PPS)-the duration from the time of documented disease progression to death-and overall survival (OS) in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). We compared the predictive power of model-derived TK parameters versus RECIST and assessed the efficacy of nine TK-OS ML models against conventional survival models. Data from 526 advanced HNSCC patients treated with chemotherapy and cetuximab in the TPExtreme trial were analyzed using a double-exponential model.

Disruption of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate biosynthesis leads to RAS proto-oncogene activation and perturbation of mitochondrial metabolism.

Perturbation of the deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (dNTP) pool is recognized for contributing to the mutagenic processes involved in oncogenesis. The RAS gene family encodes well characterized oncoproteins whose structure and function are among the most frequently altered in several cancers. In this work, we show that fluctuation of the dNTP pool induces CG->TA mutations across the whole genome, including RAS gene at codons for glycine 12 and 13, known hotspots in cancers.

Membrane nanodomains to shape plant cellular functions and signaling.

Plasma membrane (PM) nanodomains have emerged as pivotal elements in the regulation of plant cellular functions and signal transduction. These nanoscale membrane regions, enriched in specific lipids and proteins, behave as regulatory/signaling hubs spatially and temporally coordinating critical cellular functions. In this review, we first examine the mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of PM nanodomains in plant cells, highlighting the roles of PM lipid composition, protein oligomerization and interactions with cytoskeletal and cell wall components.

Life cycle and morphogenetic differentiation in heteromorphic cell types of a cosmopolitan marine microalga.

Gephyrocapsa huxleyi is a prevalent, bloom-forming phytoplankton species in the oceans. It exhibits a complex haplodiplontic life cycle, featuring a diploid-calcified phase, a haploid phase and a third 'decoupled' phase produced during viral infection. Decoupled cells display a haploid-like phenotype, but are diploid.

A pipeline for validation of Serendipita indica effector-like sRNA suggests cross-kingdom communication in the symbiosis with Arabidopsis.

Bidirectional communication between pathogenic microbes and their plant hosts via small (s)RNA-mediated cross-kingdom RNA interference (ckRNAi) is a key element for successful host colonisation. Whether mutualistic fungi of the Serendipitaceae family, known for their extremely broad host range, use sRNAs to colonize plant roots is still under debate. To address this question, we developed a pipeline to validate the accumulation, translocation, and activity of fungal sRNAs in post-transcriptional silencing of Arabidopsis thaliana genes.

Acceptability patterns of hypothetic taxes on different types of foods in France.

Objective: To identify patterns of food taxes acceptability among French adults, and to investigate population characteristics associated with them.

Design: Cross-sectional data from the NutriNet-Santé e-cohort. Participants completed an ad-hoc web-based questionnaire to test patterns of hypothetical food taxes acceptability (i.

Gender and geographical bias in the editorial decision-making process of biomedical journals: a case-control study.

Objectives: To assess whether the gender (primary) and geographical affiliation (post-hoc) of the first and/or last authors are associated with publication decisions after peer review.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Biomedical journals.