Cardiometabolic risk factors and brain age: a meta-analysis to quantify brain structural differences related to diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

Background: Cardiometabolic risk factors - including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity - have long been linked with adverse health outcomes such as strokes, but more subtle brain changes in regional brain volumes and cortical thickness associated with these risk factors are less understood. Computer models can now be used to estimate brain age based on structural magnetic resonance imaging data, and subtle brain changes related to cardiometabolic risk factors may manifest as an older-appearing brain in prediction models; thus, we sought to investigate the relationship between cardiometabolic risk factors and machine learning-predicted brain age.

Methods: We performed a systematic search of PubMed and Scopus.

Violence exposure is associated with preference for masculine faces: evidence from Senegal.

It has been suggested that in threatening environments, both women and men should prefer more masculine men as romantic and coalition partners, respectively. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis has been weak or inconsistent, primarily because most experimental research has focused on elevating the perceived danger from other men through virtual threats. This study investigates whether personal experience with violence predicts the preference for masculine features in 326 Senegalese participants presented with pairs of manipulated facial photographs of West African men (one more feminine, one more masculine) and asked to indicate which face is more attractive (to women) or more trustworthy (to men).

Simple, streamlined, cost-effective cDNA synthesis method from cell cultures.

Applications like drug development need simple and streamlined methods to process samples from 96-well cell culture plates for gene expression measurements. Unfortunately, current options are expensive for such processing. Therefore, our aim was to develop a method that would allow streamlined analysis of mRNA from 96-well cell culture plates while being relatively cheap and simple.

Improving machine learning-based bitewing segmentation with synthetic data.

Objectives: Class imbalance in datasets is one of the challenges of machine learning (ML) in medical image analysis. We employed synthetic data to overcome class imbalance when segmenting bitewing radiographs as an exemplary task for using ML.

Methods: After segmenting bitewings into classes, i.

Polarity-guided uneven mitotic divisions control brassinosteroid activity in proliferating plant root cells.

Brassinosteroid hormones are positive regulators of plant organ growth, yet their function in proliferating tissues remains unclear. Here, through integrating single-cell RNA sequencing with long-term live-cell imaging of the Arabidopsis root, we reveal that brassinosteroid activity fluctuates throughout the cell cycle, decreasing during mitotic divisions and increasing during the G1 phase. The post-mitotic recovery of brassinosteroid activity is driven by the intrinsic polarity of the mother cell, resulting in one daughter cell with enhanced brassinosteroid signaling, while the other supports brassinosteroid biosynthesis.

Phylogenomics defines Streptofilum as a novel deep branch of streptophyte algae.

Streptophytes constitute a major organismal clade comprised of land plants (embryophytes) and several related green algal lineages. Their seemingly well-studied phylogenetic diversity was recently enriched by the discovery of Streptofilum capillaum, a simple filamentous alga forming a novel deep streptophyte lineage in a two-gene phylogeny. A subsequent phylogenetic analysis of plastid genome-encoded proteins resolved Streptofilum as a sister group of nearly all known streptophytes, including Klebsormidiophyceae and Phragmoplastophyta (Charophyceae, Coleochaetophyceae, Zygnematophyceae, and embryophytes).

Low-dose irradiation of the gut improves the efficacy of PD-L1 blockade in metastatic cancer patients.

The mechanisms governing the abscopal effects of local radiotherapy in cancer patients remain an open conundrum. Here, we show that off-target intestinal low-dose irradiation (ILDR) increases the clinical benefits of immune checkpoint inhibitors or chemotherapy in eight retrospective cohorts of cancer patients and in tumor-bearing mice. The abscopal effects of ILDR depend on dosimetry (≥1 and ≤3 Gy) and on the metabolic and immune host-microbiota interaction at baseline allowing CD8 T cell activation without exhaustion.

Spectroscopic characterization of phenol in frozen aqueous solution and on the ice surface.

Phenol is one of the omnipresent pollutants in the environment, frequently detected in ambient air, water, soil, snow, and ice. Due to its low aqueous reactivity and inability to undergo direct photolysis under typical tropospheric conditions, phenol can be widely distributed and accumulated in the environment for an extended period of time. However, the reactivity of phenol can be influenced by a number of factors, including temperature, pH, and phase transitions.

In vitro assessment of selenium bioavailability from selenized lactic acid bacteria using a static INFOGEST digestion model and intestinal permeability model.

Background And Objective: Microbial selenium (Se) supplementation is an essential area of biotechnological research due to differences in the bioavailability and toxicity of different forms of selenium. To date, research has focused mainly on the use of selenized yeast. However, in recent years, scientific interest has also increased in other microorganisms, such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which have several unique properties that can affect the quality and bioavailability of selenium.

Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescents' mHealth App Use, Body Dissatisfaction, and Physical Self-Worth: Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Study.

Background: Longitudinal investigation of the association between mobile health (mHealth) app use and attitudes toward one's body during adolescence is scarce. mHealth apps might shape adolescents' body image perceptions by influencing their attitudes toward their bodies. Adolescents might also use mHealth apps based on how they feel and think about their bodies.

Quantum Chemical and Trajectory Surface Hopping Molecular Dynamics Study of Iodine-Based BODIPY Photosensitizer.

A computational study of I-BODIPY (2-ethyl-4,4-difluoro-6,7-diiodo-1,3-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene) has been carried out to investigate its key photophysical properties as a potential triplet photosensitizer capable of generating singlet oxygen. Multireference CASPT2 and CASSCF methods have been used to calculate vertical excitation energies and spin-orbit couplings (SOCs), respectively, in a model (mono-iodinated BODIPY) molecule to assess the applicability of the single-reference second-order algebraic diagrammatic construction, ADC(2), method to this and similar molecules. Subsequently, time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), possibly within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA), using several exchange-correlation functionals has been tested on I-BODIPY against ADC(2), both employing a basis set with a two-component pseudopotential on the iodine atoms.

Electric Field Control of Magnetic Skyrmion Helicity in a Centrosymmetric 2D van der Waals Magnet.

Two-dimensional van der Waals magnets hosting topological magnetic textures, such as skyrmions, show promise for spintronics and quantum computing. Electrical control of these topological spin textures is crucial for enhancing operational performance and functionality. Here, using electron microscopy combined with electric and magnetic biasing, we show that the skyrmion helicity in insulating CrGeTe can be controlled by the direction of the external electric field applied during the field cooling process.

Unusual innervation of the sartorius muscle by the ilioinguinal and femoral nerves with unique arrangement of the lumbar plexus: a case report and clinical implications.

The sartorius muscle is typically innervated by two branches of the femoral nerve arising from the lumbar plexus. We present an unreported variant where the sartorius muscle was innervated by an accessory branch arising from the ilioinguinal nerve in addition to the proper two branches from the femoral nerve. The iliohypogastric nerve was fused with the ilioinguinal nerve.

Evidence of -mediated β-lactam antibiotic resistance transfer to from sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium from food-producing animals and human clinical specimens.

Macrococci are usually found as commensals on the skin and mucosa of animals and have been isolated from mammal-derived fermented foods; however, they can also act as opportunistic pathogens. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing, comparative genomics, extensive biotyping, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and chemotaxonomy to characterize sp. strains isolated from livestock and human-related specimens.

The role of surgical resection of the primary tumor in metastatic upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose Of Review: To evaluate the role of extirpative surgery for the primary tumor in metastatic upper tract urothelial carcinoma (mUTUC).

Recent Findings: The PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched on July 2024 to identify relevant studies according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review (PRISMA) statement. Studies were eligible for analysis if they compared oncologic outcomes between mUTUC patients who underwent surgical resection of the primary tumor and patients who did not.

High-throughput Photoactive Magnetic Microrobots for Food Quality Control.

Ensuring food quality and safety according to stringent global standards requires analytical procedures that are accurate, cost-effective, and efficient. This present innovative high-throughput microrobots designed for the detection of antioxidants in food samples. These microrobots consist of photocatalytic bismuth subcarbonate anchored on silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles.

Trends in Indicators of Violence Among Adolescents in Europe and North America 1994-2022.

Objectives: To describe age and gender specific time trends in adolescent violence across 19 countries over 28 years.

Methods: The paper presents analysis of eight cycles of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study from 1994-2022, involving 789,531 children aged 11, 13, and 15. Indicators of violence included physical fighting, school bullying and cyberbullying (from 2018).

Compact Monocular Video-Ophthalmoscope to Measure Retinal Reflectance Changes to Flicker Light Stimuli.

This paper describes a compact video-ophthalmoscope (VO) designed for capturing retinal video sequences of the optic nerve head (ONH) under flicker light stimulation. The device uses an OLED display and a fiber optic-coupled LED light source, enabling high-frame-rate video at low illumination intensity (12 μW/cm). Retinal responses were recorded in 10 healthy subjects during flicker light exposure with a pupil irradiance of 2 μW/cm.

Stereotactic radiosurgery as neuromodulation of refractory angina: an initial case series.

Background: This intervention pilot case series assessed 40-Gy stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) neuromodulation applied to the bilateral stellate ganglion (SG) as a bailout procedure for patients with refractory angina pectoris (RAP).

Materials And Methods: The local institutional review board approved this feasibility study. In three patients with RAP, after repeated good response, symptoms were temporarily relieved after anaesthetic blockade of the left SG under ultrasound guidance.

The role of positional changes in optimizing OSA treatment: evidence from DISE.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the impact of positional changes on upper airway obstruction patterns during drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and identify the airway regions most responsive to this change. Special focus was placed on the tongue base, a critical area in OSA pathophysiology.

Methods: This prospective study was conducted from June 2021 to June 2024.

Disconnecting trapdoors: Phylogenomic analyses reveal evolutionary contrasts in trapdoor spiders with intercontinental distribution (Idiopidae, Idiopinae).

Among Mygalomorphae spiders, the family Idiopidae is the second most diverse, consisting exclusively of trapdoor spiders and is divided into three subfamilies: Arbanitinae, Genysinae, and Idiopinae. The subfamily Idiopinae, distinguished mainly by anterior lateral eyes that project forward, includes 153 species across seven genera, distributed throughout South America, Africa, and parts of Asia. Within this subfamily, the genus Idiops includes the greatest diversity and is the only genus recorded in both the New and Old Worlds.