Multi-way overlapping clustering by Bayesian tensor decomposition.

The development of modern sequencing technologies provides great opportunities to measure gene expression of multiple tissues from different individuals. The three-way variation across genes, tissues, and individuals makes statistical inference a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian multi-way clustering approach to cluster genes, tissues, and individuals simultaneously.

The use of sex-sorted semen in horses.

The application of sex-sorted semen in horses has historically lagged the bovine industry due to differences in the reproductive physiology and grater variability in equine semen quality. Recent advancements, including SuperGen™ sorters and Ultraplus™ semen processing methods developed by STgenetics® (Navasota, Texas), have significantly improved the efficiency of the sex-sorting process and reduced the sperm damage previously reported. To facilitate the broader use sex-sorted semen in the equine industry, it is essential to address challenges such as shipping cooled semen to a central sorting facility, minimizing oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation, and developing effective methods for short-term cooling or long-term cryopreservation of the sex-sorted sperm.

Sequence-dependent conformational transitions of disordered proteins during condensation.

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) can form biomolecular condensates through phase separation. It is recognized that the conformation of IDPs in the dense and dilute phases, as well as at the interfaces of condensates, can critically impact their functionality. However, a residue-level understanding of the conformational transitions of IDPs during condensation remains elusive.

An isochoric optical platform for interrogation of aqueous glass formation processes.

Aqueous vitrification (glass formation) processes are integral to modern cryopreservation, but experimental methods by which to study them are limited, particularly at the mL volume scales relevant to many biomedical applications. Here, we introduce an inexpensive custom optical platform, the isochoric vitrification cryo-macroscope (or "isovitriscope"), to supplement standard techniques with new qualitative and quantitative data streams. The platform consists of an LED light source, a isochoric (constant-volume) chamber with sapphire optical windows, and a camera, which can operate in two modes.

Estimated Airline Compliance With Predeparture SARS-CoV-2 Testing for Passengers on Flights to the United States, January 2021 to June 2022.

In the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented public health measures were designed and implemented to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. On January 26, 2021, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff began daily audits of documents of arriving passengers at 18 US international ports of entry to ensure documentation of either a negative predeparture antigen or nucleic acid amplification test result for SARS-CoV-2 or recent recovery from COVID-19. This case study briefly describes the results of those audits.

Hydrogen-bond activation enables aziridination of unactivated olefins with simple iminoiodinanes.

Iminoiodinanes comprise a class of hypervalent iodine reagents that is often encountered in nitrogen-group transfer (NGT) catalysis. In general, transition metal catalysts are required to effect efficient NGT to unactivated olefins because iminoiodinanes are insufficiently electrophilic to engage in direct aziridination chemistry. Here, we demonstrate that 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) activates -arylsulfonamide-derived iminoiodinanes for the metal-free aziridination of unactivated olefins.

COVID-19 worry and smoking processes among Hispanic persons in the United States.

Hispanic persons in the United States (US) experienced a disproportionate proportion of adverse health consequences during the pandemic and are a well-established tobacco disparities population. The tendency to worry is one individual difference cognitive-affective construct that is important to smoking behavior and stress-related experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is limited understanding of COVID-19 worry in terms of smoking processes among Hispanic persons who smoke during the pandemic.

Nitrogen-to-functionalized carbon atom transmutation of pyridine.

The targeted and selective replacement of a single atom in an aromatic system represents a powerful strategy for the rapid interconversion of molecular scaffolds. Herein, we report a pyridine-to-benzene transformation nitrogen-to-carbon skeletal editing. This approach proceeds a sequence of pyridine ring-opening, imine hydrolysis, olefination, electrocyclization, and aromatization to achieve the desired transmutation.

High performance BO/MWCNTs and TiB/MWCNTs nano-adsorbents for the co-sorption of cyanide and phenol from refinery wastewater.

The refinery industry has witnessed tremendous activity aimed at producing petrochemicals for the benefit of the teeming populace. These activities are accompanied by the discharge of wastewater containing chemical substances and elements that have negative impacts on the ecosystem. The presence of phenol and cyanide contaminants in refinery wastewater poses serious health hazards to humans, necessitating their removal.

Dynamics of CH/ hydrogen bond networks probed by time-resolved CARS spectroscopy.

Hydrogen bond (HB) networks are essential for stabilizing molecular structures in solution and govern the solubility and functionality of molecules in an aqueous environment. HBs are important in biological processes such as enzyme-substrate interactions, protein folding, and DNA replication. However, the exact role of weakly polarized C-H bonds as HB proton donors in solution, such as CH/ HBs, remains mostly unknown.

Cloning and expression profiling of voltage-gated sodium channel gene (VGSC) from Spodoptera frugiperda.

Spodoptera frugiperda is a long-distance migratory pest with strong dispersal ability, fast reproduction speed and destructive feeding, so it is difficult to prevent and control. Pyrethroid insecticides are commonly used in pest insects control, And since the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) serves as a major target of pyrethroids, it is important to study this gene for pest control. VGSC is an integral transmembrane protein consisting of approximately 2,000 amino acid residues found in neurons, myocytes, endocrine cells, and ovarian cells and involved in the initiation and propagation of excitable cellular action potentials.

Bridging polymer architecture, printability, and properties by digital light processing of block copolycarbonates.

CO-based aliphatic polycarbonates (aPCs), produced through the alternating copolymerization of epoxides with CO, present an appealing option for sustainable polymeric materials owing to their renewable feedstock and degradable characteristics. An ongoing challenge in working with aPCs is modifying their mechanical properties to meet specific demands. Herein, we report that monomer ratio and polymer architecture of aPCs impact not only printability by digital light processing (DLP) additive manufacturing, but also dictate the thermomechanical and degradation properties of the printed objects.

Building Digital Twins for Cardiovascular Health: From Principles to Clinical Impact.

The past several decades have seen rapid advances in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, enabled by technological breakthroughs in imaging, genomics, and physiological monitoring, coupled with therapeutic interventions. We now face the challenge of how to (1) rapidly process large, complex multimodal and multiscale medical measurements; (2) map all available data streams to the trajectories of disease states over the patient's lifetime; and (3) apply this information for optimal clinical interventions and outcomes. Here we review new advances that may address these challenges using digital twin technology to fulfill the promise of personalized cardiovascular medical practice.

Forecasting West Nile Virus With Graph Neural Networks: Harnessing Spatial Dependence in Irregularly Sampled Geospatial Data.

Machine learning methods have seen increased application to geospatial environmental problems, such as precipitation nowcasting, haze forecasting, and crop yield prediction. However, many of the machine learning methods applied to mosquito population and disease forecasting do not inherently take into account the underlying spatial structure of the given data. In our work, we apply a spatially aware graph neural network model consisting of GraphSAGE layers to forecast the presence of West Nile virus in Illinois, to aid mosquito surveillance and abatement efforts within the state.

Long-term survival of cancer patients after photobiomodulation therapy for prevention and treatment of oral mucositis.

Background: Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) has been employed for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing treatment. However, information about the survival of patients receiving PBMT is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to correlate the survival of patients who either received or did not receive PBMT, combined with cancer treatments, and to assess whether the number of PBMT sessions had a positive impact on survival.

Pulse2AI: An Adaptive Framework to Standardize and Process Pulsatile Wearable Sensor Data for Clinical Applications.

To establish Pulse2AI as a reproducible data preprocessing framework for pulsatile signals that generate high-quality machine-learning-ready datasets from raw wearable recordings. We proposed an end-to-end data preprocessing framework that adapts multiple pulsatile signal modalities and generates machine-learning-ready datasets agnostic to downstream medical tasks. a dataset preprocessed by Pulse2AI improved systolic blood pressure estimation by 29.

DNA-directed formation of plasmonic core-satellite nanostructures for quantification of hepatitis C viral RNA.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) continues to be a significant public health challenge, affecting an estimated 71 million people globally and posing risks of severe liver diseases. Despite advancements in treatments, diagnostic limitations hinder the global elimination efforts targeted by 2030. This study introduces an innovative diagnostic approach, integrating catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) with plasmonic core-satellite gold nanoparticle (AuNP) assemblies, to enable sensitive and specific detection of HCV RNA.

Mesenchymal stromal cell-based therapy in lung diseases; from research to clinic.

Recent studies demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are important for the cell-based therapy of diseased or injured lung due to their immunomodulatory and regenerative properties as well as limited side effects in experimental animal models. Preclinical studies have shown that MSCs have also a remarkable effect on the immune cells, which play major roles in the pathogenesis of multiple lung diseases, by modulating their activity, proliferation, and functions. In addition, MSCs can inhibit both the infiltrated immune cells and detrimental immune responses in the lung and can be used in treating lung diseases caused by a virus infection such as Tuberculosis and SARS-COV-2.

Timing of standard chow exposure determines the variability of mouse phenotypic outcomes and gut microbiota profile.

Standard chow diet contributes to reproducibility in animal model experiments since chows differ in nutrient composition, which can independently influence phenotypes. However, there is little evidence of the role of timing in the extent of variability caused by chow exposure. Here, we measured the impact of diet (5V5M, 5V0G, 2920X, and 5058) and timing of exposure (adult exposure (AE), lifetime exposure (LE), and developmental exposure (DE)) on growth & development, metabolic health indicators, and gut bacterial microbiota profiles across genetically identical C57BL6/J mice.

Switching the proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism for non-canonical tyrosine residues in a protein.

The proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions of tyrosine (Y) are instrumental to many redox reactions in nature. This study investigates how the local environment and the thermodynamic properties of Y influence its PCET characteristics. Herein, 2- and 4-mercaptophenol (MP) are placed in the well-folded αC protein (forming 2MP-αC and 4MP-αC) and oxidized by external light-generated [Ru(L)] complexes.

Dominant contribution of combustion-related ammonium during haze pollution in Beijing.

Aerosol ammonium (NH), mainly produced from the reactions of ammonia (NH) with acids in the atmosphere, has significant impacts on air pollution, radiative forcing, and human health. Understanding the source and formation mechanism of NH can provide scientific insights into air quality improvements. However, the sources of NH in urban areas are not well understood, and few studies focus on NH/NH at different heights within the atmospheric boundary layer, which hinders a comprehensive understanding of aerosol NH.

Creating covalent bonds between Cu and C at the interface of metal/open-ended carbon nanotubes.

The unique electrical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are highly desired in many technological applications. Unfortunately, in practice, the electrical conductivity of most CNTs and their assemblies has fallen short of expectations. One reason for this poor performance is that electrical resistance develops at the interface between carbon nanomaterials and metal surfaces when traditional metal-metal type contacts are employed.

and studies of -loaded electrospun PLGA/PMMA/collagen nanofibers for accelerating topical wound healing.

This work aims to develop plant extract-loaded electrospun nanofiber as an effective wound dressing scaffolds for topical wound healing. Electrospun nanofibers were fabricated from leaf extract (SCLE), poly(lactic--glycolic acid) (PLGA), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), collagen and glycine. Electrospinning conditions were optimized to allow the formation of nanosized and uniform fibers that display smooth surface.

A system dynamics approach to model heat stress accumulation in dairy cows during a heatwave event.

Climate change is expected to increase the number of heat wave events, leading to prolonged exposures to severe heat stress (HS) and the corresponding adverse effects on dairy cattle productivity. Modelling dairy cattle productivity under HS conditions is complicated because it requires comprehending the complexity, non-linearity, dynamicity, and delays in animal response. In this paper, we applied the System Dynamics methodology to understand the dynamics of animal response and system delays of observed milk yield (MY) in dairy cows under HS.