EXPRESS: Activation of the Motor System Following Gaze Cues is Determined by Hand Access, Not Hand Proximity.

The influence of gaze cues on target prioritization (reaction times (RTs)) and movement execution (movement trajectories) differs based on the ability of the human gaze cue model to manually interact with the targets. Whereas gaze cues consistently impacted RTs, movement trajectories may only be affected when the hands of the human model had the potential to interact with the target. However, the perceived ability to interact with the targets was confounded by the proximity between the model's hands and the targets.

Assessing the Effects of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors on Bone Utilizing Machine Learning-assisted Opportunistic Quantitative Computed Tomography.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are widely used in cancer treatment, yet their impact on bone health remains unclear. This study aimed to perform a retrospective cohort study utilizing routine computed tomography (CT) scans from patients with melanoma to perform opportunistic quantitative CT (QCT) analysis to investigate the effects of ICI treatment on skeletal health, including volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) measurements and osteoarthritis (OA) parameters. A previously established machine-learning assisted opportunistic QCT pipeline was used to estimate lumbar spine vBMD from baseline and 12-month follow-up CT scans in patients with melanoma treated with ICI therapy and those not treated with ICI therapy.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus prevalence and its association along the food chain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are present across the One Health continuum and pose a considerable risk for transmission along the food chain. This systematic review and meta-analysis estimates the prevalence of VRE colonization in livestock, food of animal origin, and in human populations.

Methods: Embase, MEDLINE and CAB Abstracts were searched for eligible literature.

Agricultural Landscape Genomics to Increase Crop Resilience.

Populations are continually adapting to their environment. Knowledge of which populations and individuals harbor unique and agriculturally useful variation has the potential to accelerate crop adaptation to the increasingly challenging environments predicted for the coming century. Landscape genomics, which identifies associations between environmental and genomic variation, provides a means for obtaining this knowledge.

Understanding social behaviours across neurodiverse young people: roles of social cognition and self-regulation.

Background: Differences in social behaviours are common in young people with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs). Recent research challenges the long-standing hypothesis that difficulties in social cognition explain social behaviour differences.

Aims: We examined how difficulties regulating one's behaviour, emotions and thoughts to adapt to environmental demands (i.

AI-based processing of future prepared foods: Progress and prospects.

The prepared foods sector has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by the fast pace of modern living and increasing consumer demand for convenience. Prepared foods are taking an increasingly important role in the modern catering industry due to their ease of storage, transportation, and operation. However, their processing faces several challenges, including labor shortages, inefficient sorting, inadequate cleaning, unsafe cutting processes, and a lack of industry standards.

High pressure processing at different hydration levels as a tool to enhance rice bran stability and techno-functionality.

High-pressure processing (HPP) enhances food safety and shelf life by inactivating microorganisms and preserving food quality, yet its effectiveness in low-humidity environments has not been evaluated. This study investigated the effects of HPP at 500 MPa for 15 min across varying hydration levels (15, 30, 60, 77 %) on rice bran (RB), aiming to identify microbial effectiveness, besides techno-functional and physicochemical properties. HPP effectively reduced mesophilic bacteria, molds and yeast of RB at > 15 % hydration level, achieving reductions of up to 4 logarithmic cycles in the latter, nearing the detection limit of the method.

Methylmercury in subarctic amphibians: environmental gradients, bioaccumulation, and estimated flux.

Rapid warming in polar regions is causing large changes to ecosystems, including altering environmentally available mercury (Hg). Although subarctic freshwater systems have simple vertebrate communities, Hg in amphibians remains unexplored. We measured total Hg (THg) in wetland sediments and methylmercury (MeHg) in multiple life-stages (eggs to adults) of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) and larval boreal chorus frogs (Pseudacris maculata) from up to 25 wetlands near Churchill, Manitoba (Canada), during the summers of 2018-2019.

Evolutionary constrained genes associated with autism spectrum disorder across 2,054 nonhuman primate genomes.

Background: Significant progress has been made in elucidating the genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the link between genomics, neurobiology and clinical phenotype in scientific discovery. New models are therefore needed to address these gaps.

The effect of calcium on acute sodium chloride toxicity in Daphnia species.

Chloride concentrations in freshwater are rising, with toxic effects on aquatic life. In temperate regions with cold winters, road salt used for deicing paved surfaces is a primary cause. There is evidence that water hardness can modify salt toxicity, but data are insufficient to inform policy.

Optimising patient engagement for assessing total joint arthroplasty outcomes - a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a critical outcome in total joint arthroplasty (TJA), yet assessing it effectively remains a challenge due to limitations in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS). While these measures are commonly gathered in clinical settings, additional contact through mail or phone is often needed, and low response rates can affect the validity and reliability of collected data. To improve response rates, this study evaluated various methods of incentivizing patient participation in a randomized trial format, focusing on postal questionnaires.

Association between white blood cell count and coronary artery bypass graft failure: an individual patient data analysis of clinical trials.

Background: Baseline systemic inflammation is associated with worse long-term outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting [CABG], but the mechanisms of this association are unclear. This study aims to explore the association between pre-operative white blood cell [WBC] count and CABG graft failure.

Methods: We pooled individual patient data from two randomized clinical trials with systematic CABG graft imaging.

Social-structural barriers to primary care among sex workers: findings from a community-based cohort in Vancouver, Canada (2014-2021).

Background: Due to social-structural marginalization, sex workers experience health inequities including a high prevalence of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, mental health disorders, trauma, and substance use, alongside a multitude of barriers to HIV and substance use services. Given limited evidence on sex workers' broader primary healthcare access, we aimed to examine social-structural factors associated with primary care use among sex workers over 7 years.

Methods: Data were derived from An Evaluation of Sex Workers Health Access (AESHA), a community-based open prospective cohort of women (cis and trans) sex workers in Metro Vancouver, from 2014 to 2021.

An approach to teaching the psychiatric interview.

The psychiatric interview serves as the cornerstone of psychiatric practice. It is therefore essential that we find effective ways of teaching students how to conduct a psychiatric interview. The present paper arises from two faculty members at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador considering how to improve the quality of teaching of the psychiatric interview to preclerkship undergraduate medical students, before they begin the clinical portion of their training.

Abortion and contraception within prison health care: a qualitative study.

Background: Although abortion was completely decriminalized in Canada 36 years ago, barriers to pregnancy prevention and termination persist across the country, such as travel and information gaps. Research demonstrates incarcerated people face barriers to family planning care, yet there is no systematic data collection of sexual and reproductive health experiences and outcomes among incarcerated people in Canada. The aim of this study was to explore family planning care experiences among women and gender diverse people who have experienced incarceration in Canada.

Optimization of chemical transfection in airway epithelial cell lines.

Background: Chemical transfection is a widely employed technique in airway epithelium research, enabling the study of gene expression changes and effects. Additionally, it has been explored for its potential application in delivering gene therapies. Here, we characterize the transfection efficiency of EX-EGFP-Lv105, an EGFP-expressing plasmid into three cell lines commonly used to model the airway epithelium (1HAEo-, 16HBE14o-, and NCI-H292).

Covid-19 pandemic-related changes in teleworking, emotional exhaustion, and occupational burnout: a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted significant shifts to teleworking, raising questions about potential impacts on employee wellbeing. This study examined the association between self-reported changes to teleworking frequency (relative to before the pandemic) and two indicators of occupational burnout: emotional exhaustion and professionally diagnosed burnout.

Methods: Data were derived from two samples from a digital cohort study based in Geneva, Switzerland: one population-based, and one from a sample of workers who were likely mobilized in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses: a comparison of meta- and mega-analyses in the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study.

Background: There is increasing need for effective incorporation of high-dimensional genetics data from individuals with varied ancestry in genome-wide association (GWAS) analyses. Classically, multi-ancestry GWAS analyses are performed using statistical meta-analysis to combine results conducted within homogeneous ancestry groups. The emergence of cosmopolitan reference panels makes collective preprocessing of GWAS data possible, but impact on downstream GWAS results in a mega-analysis framework merits investigation.

Graphene-Integrated Microbolometer Array Imaging System: A Novel Approach for Fast and Sensitive Terahertz Detection in Biomedical Applications.

Existing biomedical imaging modalities are often restricted by their substantial size, high costs, and potential risks associated with ionizing radiation exposure. Given these challenges, there is an urgent need for innovative imaging systems that not only excel in detection performance but are also compact, cost-effective, and ensure safety for biomedical applications. In response to these requirements, our research introduces an advanced terahertz (THz) microbolometer array imaging system (MAIS), specifically engineered for biomedical detection.

The Comic Research Abstract: Graphic Medicine as Interdisciplinary Health Research (Example: Intergenerational Storytelling).

This article explores the rise of comics-based research (CBR) as an innovative method for disseminating and translating academic findings to broader audiences. Rooted in the established use of comics in technical communication, CBR takes the unique strengths of graphic media-accessibility, multimodal engagement, and visual storytelling-to communicate complex concepts to diverse audiences, particularly in health-related disciplines. A recent development in this field is the comic research abstract, a concise, visually enriched alternative to traditional textual abstracts.

Short-term pitch memory predicts both incidentally and intentionally acquired absolute pitch categories.

Tonal short-term memory has been positively associated with both incidentally acquired absolute pitch memory (e.g., for popular songs) and explicitly learned absolute pitch (AP) categories; however, the relationship between these constructs has not been directly tested within the same individuals.

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) leaves accelerates skin tissue regeneration in excisional wound model: possible molecular mechanisms.

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) leaves are a traditional medicinal herb used for treating many infectious and inflammatory-related conditions, including wound healing. To validate its traditional use, our study evaluates the acute toxicity and wound-healing effects of methanolic extracts of Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.

Targeting LMO2-induced autocrine FLT3 signaling to overcome chemoresistance in early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Early T-cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ETP-ALL) is an immature subtype of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) commonly show deregulation of the LMO2-LYL1 stem cell transcription factors, activating mutations of cytokine receptor signaling, and poor early response to intensive chemotherapy. Previously, studies of the Lmo2 transgenic mouse model of ETP-ALL identified a population of stem-like T-cell progenitors with long-term self-renewal capacity and intrinsic chemotherapy resistance linked to cellular quiescence. Here, analyses of Lmo2 transgenic mice, patient-derived xenografts, and single-cell RNA-sequencing data from primary ETP-ALL identified a rare subpopulation of leukemic stem cells expressing high levels of the cytokine receptor FLT3.