568 results match your criteria: "Convergence Institute[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • * A study used advanced modeling and data analysis to assess 90 potential biomarkers, finding that using combinations of these markers increased specificity but decreased sensitivity.
  • * Notably, early on-treatment biomarkers, like monitoring tumor size changes two weeks after starting treatment, displayed better accuracy, and blood-based biomarkers were also effective, offering a less invasive method for identifying responsive patients.
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Enhancing Sleep and Reducing Occupational Stress Through Forest Therapy: A Comparative Study Across Job Groups.

Psychiatry Investig

October 2024

Department of Neurology, Sleep Medicine Research Center, International St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.

Objective: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic radically shifted occupational patterns, leading to increased telecommuting and related stressors. Healthcare providers, among the most impacted group, faced heightened risks and workplace changes. Our study examined the efficacy of forest therapy in alleviating work-induced stress across various professions, exploring the need for profession-specific stress-relief strategies in the post-pandemic workplace.

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Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are associated with improved response in solid tumors treated with immune checkpoint blockade, but understanding of the prognostic and predictive value of TLS and the circumstances of their resolution is incomplete. Here we show that in hepatocellular carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant immunotherapy, high intratumoral TLS density at the time of surgery is associated with pathologic response and improved relapse-free survival. In areas of tumor regression, we identify a noncanonical involuted morphology of TLS marked by dispersion of the B cell follicle, persistence of a T cell zone enriched for T cell-mature dendritic cell interactions and increased expression of T cell memory markers.

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: This study was conducted to develop information and communication technology (ICT)-based oral functional rehabilitation exercise (OFRE) program content to effectively improve the oral function of the elderly people. : After selecting evidence-based effective OFRE items through systematic review, the final items were constructed through the validity evaluation of detailed items through an expert Delphi survey. The items were composed in a simple content form that can be performed directly and applied to ICT-based mobile applications.

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Multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (MFBIA) is used to measure lymphedema, but it is a biomarker that is sensitive to stiffness. Lymphedema is a condition that can be accompanied by stiffness, but no studies have considered this, so we tried to use non-invasive elastography as a biomarker for stiffness. This retrospective study included 102 patients with lymphedema, divided into two groups according to the elastography strain ratio: stiff group (elastography strain ratio <0.

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Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are one of the most effective treatments for obesity. The current therapy associated with repeated subcutaneous injections to maintain the drug therapeutic effect causes patient compliance issues and raises environmental concerns (due to sharp biohazard waste from disposed syringes/needles). Herein, we report a programmable scheduled release microneedles (PSR-MNs) system for delivering Semaglutide (a GLP-1 RA agent with a half-life of ~ 7 days) to manage and treat obesity.

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Axon guidance molecules are frequently altered in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and influence PDA progression. However, the molecular mechanism remained unclear. Using genetically engineered mouse models to examine semaphorin 3D (SEMA3D), we identified a dual role for tumor- and nerve-derived SEMA3D in the malignant transformation of pancreatic epithelial cells and invasive PDA development.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzed the nutrients and antioxidant activities of different ratios (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10%) of mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) fermented with specific microorganisms.
  • It found that fermentation altered the content of isoflavones and ginsenosides, generally decreasing certain types while increasing others, particularly beneficial compounds like ginsenoside Rg3 and compound K.
  • The results suggest that higher ratios of MCG enhance the overall quality, antioxidant properties, and potential health benefits, making it valuable for food and pharmaceutical uses.
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Predicting Protein-Ligand Binding Affinity (PLBA) is pivotal in drug development, as accurate estimations of PLBA expedite the identification of promising drug candidates for specific targets, thereby accelerating the drug discovery process. Despite substantial advancements in PLBA prediction, developing an efficient and more accurate method remains non-trivial. Unlike previous computer-aid PLBA studies which primarily using ligand SMILES and protein sequences represented as strings, this research introduces a Deep Learning-based method, the Enhanced Representation Learning on Protein-Ligand Graph Structured data for Binding Affinity Prediction (ERL-ProLiGraph).

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Article Synopsis
  • Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) pose significant risks for patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), highlighting the need to identify patients at higher risk and develop strategies to manage these complications.
  • An observational study involving 111 patients found that 40.5% experienced symptomatic irAEs, with higher rates linked to combination ICI therapy and pre-existing autoimmune disorders.
  • Early increases in specific cytokines and T helper cell populations were associated with developing severe irAEs, indicating potential biomarkers for monitoring and targeting therapeutic interventions.
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Patterns of recurrence after curative intent hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastasis.

J Gastrointest Surg

December 2024

Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; The Cancer Convergence Institute at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Improved surgical techniques and therapy have enabled more patients with oligometastatic colorectal cancer to qualify for surgery, but many still experience recurrence, which varies by site and outcome.
  • A study of 195 patients who had liver metastasis resection revealed that the one-year recurrence-free survival was 46%, while overall survival rates were high at 95% for the same period; several prognostic factors for worse outcomes were identified.
  • The findings highlight the need for further research to pinpoint patients at increased risk of recurrence, potentially guiding additional preventive treatment strategies.
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Agent-based models (ABMs) have become essential tools for simulating complex biological, ecological, and social systems where emergent behaviors arise from the interactions among individual agents. Quantifying uncertainty through global sensitivity analysis is crucial for assessing the robustness and reliability of ABM predictions. However, most global sensitivity methods demand substantial computational resources, making them impractical for highly complex models.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hypoxia, which is a lack of oxygen, happens in most solid tumors and can lead to cancer spreading and worse outcomes for patients.
  • Breast cancer cells that are low in oxygen are much more likely to spread to the lungs in experiments with animals.
  • By studying how these cancer cells behave, researchers found that blocking a specific protein called MUC1 can help stop the cancer from spreading and could lead to better treatments.
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Correction: Kim et al. The Auto-Regulation of ATL2 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Plays an Important Role in the Immune Response against in . 2024, , 2388.

Int J Mol Sci

September 2024

Division of Life Science and Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Four), Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Research Center (PMBBRC), Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinju-daero, Jinju 52828, Republic of Korea.

Article Synopsis
  • The original publication discusses [insert main topic or theme here].
  • It explores key findings/results that were significant at the time.
  • The publication also highlights its impact on the field and how it has influenced subsequent research.
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Adherence to the nutritional recommendations according to diabetes status in Korean adults: a cross-sectional study.

BMC Public Health

September 2024

Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Bionanotechnology, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnamdaero, Sujeong-gu, Gyeonggi-do, 13120, Seongnam-si, Republic of Korea.

Background: Nutritional therapy plays a crucial role in diabetes management. Assessing adherence to nutritional recommendations is critical for evaluating whether the current status of nutrition education is appropriate. This study aimed to evaluate adherence to nutritional recommendations according to diabetes status using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2016 to 2019.

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Metastasis initiates when cancer cells escape from the primary tumor, which requires changes to intercellular junctions. Claudins are transmembrane proteins that form the tight junction, and their expression is reduced in aggressive breast tumors. However, claudins' roles during breast cancer metastasis remain unclear.

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Background: Drug discovery is a complex and expensive procedure involving several timely and costly phases through which new potential pharmaceutical compounds must pass to get approved. One of these critical steps is the identification and optimization of lead compounds, which has been made more accessible by the introduction of computational methods, including deep learning (DL) techniques. Diverse DL model architectures have been put forward to learn the vast landscape of interaction between proteins and ligands and predict their affinity, helping in the identification of lead compounds.

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Sex-dependent effects in the aged melanoma tumor microenvironment influence invasion and resistance to targeted therapy.

Cell

October 2024

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Cutaneous melanoma shows a notable sex disparity in how often it occurs and affects different genders, particularly worsening with age, but the reasons behind this are not fully understood.* -
  • The study reveals that skin fibroblasts from older males experience changes that lead to increased melanoma cell invasiveness and resistance to treatment, impacting the behavior of tumors in older male mice.* -
  • A specific protein, BMP2, is linked to the more aggressive characteristics of melanoma cells in aged males, and blocking its action can make these cancer cells more responsive to certain treatments.*
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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed a new method for matching chemotherapy regimens to pancreatic cancer patients based on chemosensitivity data from patient-derived organoids (PDOs).
  • In a study involving PDOs from 95 patients, the method successfully matched 91% of the organoids to standard chemotherapeutics and showed that well-matched patients had significantly better clinical outcomes, such as reduced tumor markers and improved survival rates.
  • The findings suggest that using PDO pharmacotyping to customize chemotherapy could lead to better treatment strategies and outcomes for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most widely used plastics in the world, causes serious environmental problems. Recently, scientists have been focused on the enzymatic degradation of PET, an environmentally friendly method that offers an attractive approach to the degradation and recycling of PET. In this work, PET hydrolase from sp.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the molecular pathways that contribute to metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) by labeling and analyzing tumor subclones to understand their pre-metastatic states.
  • Researchers identified distinct gene signatures for subclones with high and low metastatic potential, revealing specific pathway activations, such as the IL-1 pathway in metastasis-high subclones.
  • They found that human PDAC tumors exhibit similar metastatic potential signatures, with higher scores linked to worse patient prognosis, underscoring the potential conservation of these pathways across various epithelial cancers.
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Advancements in imaging technologies have revolutionized our ability to deeply profile pathological tissue architectures, generating large volumes of imaging data with unparalleled spatial resolution. This type of data collection, namely, spatial proteomics, offers invaluable insights into various human diseases. Simultaneously, computational algorithms have evolved to manage the increasing dimensionality of spatial proteomics inherent in this progress.

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Assessing maternity care access: impacts on cesarean sections and dystocia.

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

August 2024

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Namdong 774 beon-gi, Namdong-gu, Incheon, 21565, South Korea.

Background: As South Korea grapples with a declining birthrate, maternity care accessibility has become challenging. This study examines the association with labour intervention and pregnancy complication, specifically focusing on C-section and dystocia in maternity disparities.

Methods: Data from the South Korean NHIS-NID was used to analyze 1,437,186 women with childbirths between 2010 and 2015.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metastasis is a big reason why many people die from cancer, and this study found specific cancer cells that help it spread.
  • The researchers looked at how these cancer cells interact with other cells in their environment using a special imaging technique.
  • They discovered that the cancer cells that cause metastasis are often found close to certain types of immune and connective tissue cells, which might help them spread even more.
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The host protease KLK5 primes and activates spike proteins to promote human betacoronavirus replication and lung inflammation.

Sci Signal

August 2024

Center for Study of Emerging and Re-emerging Viruses, Korea Virus Research Institute, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon 34126, Republic of Korea.

Article Synopsis
  • Coronaviruses need host proteases, like KLK5, to activate their spike proteins, enabling them to enter host cells and release their genetic material.
  • KLK5 is particularly effective among the KLK family, as it activates spike proteins of several human betacoronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, while other proteases like KLK12 and KLK13 have more specialized roles.
  • The study suggests that targeting KLK5 with compounds such as ursolic acid could be a potential treatment to inhibit coronavirus replication and reduce inflammation in infected individuals.
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