Stearic acid metabolism in human health and disease.

Named after the Greek term for "hard fat", stearic acid has gradually entered people's field of vision. As an important component of various physiological cellular functions, stearic acid plays a regulatory role in diverse aspects of energy metabolism and signal transduction. Its applications range from serving as a bodily energy source to participating in endogenous biosynthesis.

Hypoxic mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomal circDennd2a regulates granulosa cell glycolysis by interacting with LDHA.

Background: Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is an ovarian dysfunction disorder that significantly impacts female fertility. Ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) are crucial somatic components supporting oocyte development that rely on glycolysis for energy production, which is essential for follicular growth. Hypoxia-induced exosomal circRNAs regulate glycolysis, but their biological functions and molecular mechanisms in POI are largely unexplored.

First psychometric evaluation of the Mexican Spanish version of the 11-item BPFSC-11 and convergence with maladaptive self and interpersonal functioning.

Background: The Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFSC-11) is a well-used, short, and easy-to-administer measure of borderline traits in young people. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Mexican Spanish version of the BPFSC-11 in a large community-based sample of Mexican adolescents. In addition, we evaluated the convergence between the borderline construct as measured by the BPFSC-11 and general personality functioning consistent with more contemporary personality disorder formulations to assess the nomological net of the BPFSC-11 total score.

Slc25a21 in cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury: a new target for renal tubular epithelial protection by regulating mitochondrial metabolic homeostasis.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant global health issue, which is often caused by cisplatin therapy and characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction. Restoring mitochondrial homeostasis in tubular cells could exert therapeutic effects. Here, we investigated Slc25a21, a mitochondrial carrier, as a potential target for AKI intervention.

Capillary Force-Assisted CsPbBrI ( = 0, 1) Columnar Crystal Film for X-ray Detectors with Ultrahigh Electric Field and Sensitivity.

Inorganic halide perovskite thin-film X-ray detectors have attracted great research interest in recent years due to their high sensitivity, low detection limit, and facile fabrication process. The poor crystal quality of the thin film with uncontrollable thickness and low background voltage during detection limits its practical application. Here, a high-quality CsPbBrI ( = 0, 1) columnar crystal film is prepared by an improved melt-confined method with a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template, which stabilizes the disorder perovskite systems of CsPbBrI by stress.

Is the Swallow Tail Sign a Useful Imaging Biomarker in Clinical Neurology? A Systematic Review.

Background: Loss of dorsolateral nigral hyperintensity (DNH) in iron-sensitive sequences of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), also described as "swallow tail sign" (STS) loss, has shown promising diagnostic value in Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes (APS).

Objective: To conduct a bibliometric analysis on substantia nigra MRI and a systematic review on the clinical utility of STS visual assessment on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging in various clinical entities.

Methods: VOSviewer's keyword co-occurrence network was employed using Web of Science (WOS).

Effects of Different Concentrations of AmB on the Unsaturated Phospholipid-Cholesterol Membrane Using the Langmuir Monolayer and Liposome Models.

Amphotericin B (AmB) causes toxicity to the erythrocyte membrane, leading to hemolysis, which limits the clinically effective dose for AmB intravenous therapy in invasive fungal infections. The molecular mechanism by which AmB adheres to the membrane of erythrocytes is the key factor in causing AmB to be toxic to the membrane of erythrocytes, but it is not yet fully understood; the mechanism by which AmB adheres to the liquid microdomains with higher fluidity formed by cholesterol and unsaturated phospholipids remains especially unclear. This study examined the adsorption of AmB at different concentrations, 5, 45, 85, and 125 μg/mL, on unsaturated phospholipid membranes containing 50 mol% cholesterol.

Enhancing Dysarthric Voice Conversion with Fuzzy Expectation Maximization in Diffusion Models for Phoneme Prediction.

Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder caused by neurological damage, significantly hampers speech intelligibility, creating communication barriers for affected individuals. Voice conversion (VC) systems have been developed to address this, yet accurately predicting phonemes in dysarthric speech remains a challenge due to its variability. This study proposes a novel approach that integrates Fuzzy Expectation Maximization (FEM) with diffusion models for enhanced phoneme prediction, aiming to improve the quality of dysarthric voice conversion.

SLA-MLP: Enhancing Sleep Stage Analysis from EEG Signals Using Multilayer Perceptron Networks.

: Sleep stage analysis is considered to be the key factor for understanding and diagnosing various sleep disorders, as it provides insights into sleep quality and overall health. : Traditional methods of sleep stage classification, such as manual scoring and basic machine learning approaches, often suffer from limitations including subjective biases, limited scalability, and inadequate accuracy. Existing deep learning models have improved the accuracy of sleep stage classification but still face challenges such as overfitting, computational inefficiencies, and difficulties in handling imbalanced datasets.

Cuneus atrophy and Parkinsonian phenoconversion in cognitively unimpaired patients with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder.

Isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is a strong predictor of Parkinson's disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies. Previous studies indicate that cortical atrophy in iRBD patients may be linked to cognitive impairment, but the pattern of atrophy is inconsistently reported. This study aimed to elucidate cortical atrophy patterns in a cognitively unimpaired iRBD cohort, focusing on regions associated with cognitive functions, particularly the cuneus/precuneus, and evaluated the predictive value for future phenoconversion.

Effects of pharmacogenomics-guided treatment on medication adherence and the antidepressant switching rate in major depressive disorder.

Background: In the treatment of depression, medication plays a crucial role. However, insufficient patient adherence to medication often results in unsatisfactory treatment outcomes, increasing both the recurrence and rehospitalization rates of depression, and consequently imposing a greater economic burden on the healthcare system.

Objectives: Our objective was to examine the impact of pharmacogenomic testing on medication adherence and antidepressant switching rates among individuals diagnosed with depression.

Mammalian hydroxylation of microbiome-derived obesogen, delta-valerobetaine, to homocarnitine, a 5-carbon carnitine analogue.

The recently discovered microbiome-generated obesogen, δ-valerobetaine (5-(trimethylammonio)pentanoate), is a 5-carbon structural analogue of the carnitine precursor, γ-butyrobetaine. Here, we report that δ-valerobetaine is enzymatically hydroxylated by mammalian γ-butyrobetaine dioxygenase (BBOX) to form 3-hydroxy-5-(trimethylammonio)pentanoate, a 5-carbon analogue of carnitine, which we term homocarnitine. Homocarnitine production by human liver extracts depends upon the required BBOX cofactors, 2-oxoglutarate, Fe, and ascorbate.

Increased Plasma -Secretase 1 Activity Correlates With Neurodegeneration in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

Background: -secretase 1 (BACE1) plays a key role in amyloidogenic pathway and is considered a new mechanism for cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). We explore the potential role of plasma BACE1 in CSVD and the pathological process it may be involved in.

Methods And Results: We enrolled 163 participants with CSVD (114 cerebral amyloid angiopathy and 49 hypertensive hemorrhage), and 96 cognitively unimpaired elders and 40 participants with Alzheimer's disease as controls.

The breaking of charge symmetry at the M-site in octahedral units of KMF perovskite induces enhanced electrochemical nitrate reduction in ammonia.

Electrochemical production of NH from NO offers a solution to the environmental issue of excess NO but is challenged by the lack of efficient, sensitive electrocatalysts with high NH yield rate and Faraday efficiency (FE). Herein, a medium-entropy perovskite fluoride (KMF, M = Co/Ni/Fe/Ti) was prepared as efficient electrocatalysts to produce NH via the NO reduction reaction (NORR). By introducing various transition metals at the M-sites, the charge distribution at the M-site octahedral units was adjusted to increase the disorder of KMF, resulting in an optimized electronic structure with high intrinsic NORR performance.

Predicting Diagnostic Conversion From Major Depressive Disorder to Bipolar Disorder: An EHR Based Study From Colombia.

Objectives: Most bipolar disorder (BD) patients initially present with depressive symptoms, resulting in a delayed diagnosis of BD and poor clinical outcomes. This study aims to identify features predictive of the conversion from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) to BD by leveraging electronic health record (EHR) data from the Clínica San Juan de Dios Manizales in Colombia.

Methods: We employed a multivariable Cox regression model to identify important predictors of conversion from MDD to BD.

Conversion of human glial cells into neurons in ex vivo culture of human brain tissue: essential roles of the transcription factors NeuroD1 and Ascl1.

Transcription factor-mediated cell conversion has been reported in the central nervous system of both rodents and nonhuman primates. In particular, glia-to-neuron conversion has been achieved in the brain and spinal cord of animal models for neural regeneration and repair. However, whether glia-to-neuron conversion can be used for brain repair in humans needs to be explored.

Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH)-Based Nanotripod for High-Entropydynamic Therapy Associated with Metabolism Homeostasis.

Multielemental transition metal compounds represent a class of promising candidates for the biomedical field due to their unique structure and biomedical application potential. However, their synthesis process remains challenging, which was subject to the high-temperature treatment of the multimetallic elements integrated within one system. Herein, for the first time, we have fabricated the nanotripod, , (FeCoNiCuZnAl)O (denoted as HEO) agent, via the structural topotactic transformation of layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursors with the tunable disorder degree, for highly efficient high-entropydynamic therapy associated with metabolism homeostasis.

Robotic and laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer in Africa: an outcome comparison endorsed by the Nigerian society for colorectal disorders.

Background: Minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC) offer superior outcomes compared to open surgery. This study aimed to review the robotic and laparoscopic procedures for CRC performed in Africa, and compare the mean surgery duration, blood loss, hospital stay, rate of conversion, and prevalence of morbidity and mortality. This is the first study to compare the outcomes of robotic and laparoscopic surgeries for CRC in Africa.

Attachment State of Mind and complex traumatization in patients with Functional Motor Disorder (Motor Conversion Disorder).

Introduction: Functional Motor Disorder (FMD) is characterized by motor neurological symptoms that cannot be explained by typical neurological diseases or other medical conditions. The role of psychological factors in the development, severity, and persistence of FMD remains unclear. We investigated the Attachment State of Mind (SoM) in FMD patients using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and retrospectively examined the quality of their traumatic experiences, if any.

Serum neurotransmitter analysis of motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's patients.

Clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) are classified into motor and non-motor symptoms. Mental disorders, especially depression, are one of the major non-motor manifestations of PD. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Case Report: Combined Laparoscopic Perineal Hernia and Abdominal Parastomal Hernia Repair With a Mesh After Abdominoperineal Resection: A Video Vignette and Review of the Literature.

Background: Postoperative perineal hernia (PH) is an uncommon complication after abdominoperineal resection (APR). Different techniques have been described in literature and there is no consensus regarding the optimal repair approach. In the present study, we reported a case of a laparoscopic combined repair of a perineal hernia and abdominal parastomal hernia (PSH) with mesh.

A 2-year longitudinal investigation of insula subregional volumes in early psychosis.

Background: The insula is a heterogeneous cortical region with three cytoarchitectural subregions-agranular, dysgranular, and granular-that have distinct functional roles. Previous cross-sectional studies have shown smaller volume of all insula subregions in individuals with psychotic disorders. However, longitudinal trajectories of insula subregions in early psychosis, and the relationship between subregional volumes and relevant clinical phenomena, such as perceptual aberrations, have not been previously examined.

Potential Harm in the Psychological Treatment of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals show disproportionately high rates of mental distress relative to their cisgender, heterosexual peers resulting from minority stress, or unique identity-related stressors. The majority of research on minority stress and mental health in SGM individuals has focused on adults, a notable gap given that SGM youth face unique developmental factors that intersect with identity development and availability of support resources. SGM youth therefore represent a critical population for the mental health workforce to serve competently.