The effects of age, fitness, and health on the passive stiffness of the intact low back and its impact on seated work in a healthy, working, female population.

Age is associated with increased tissue stiffness and a higher risk of low back pain, particularly in older, sedentary workers who spend long periods sitting. This study explored how trunk stiffness changes with age and its relationship with posture during prolonged sitting in a sample of 37 women aged 20-65 years. Age was assessed as both Chronological Age and Fitness Age, with trunk stiffness measured using a passive trunk flexion apparatus.

History of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guidelines for non-animal test methods in Japan.

The number of alternatives to animal tests (non-animal test methods) for human health developed globally account for more than 40% of the test methods in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals (TGs). Within the TGs, the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) has standardized 16 OECD TGs for human health, implemented four major revisions, and developed one test method for the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) S10 guidelines on photosafety. This review describes trends in the OECD and Japan that mainly focus on international standardizations of non-animal test methods for human health.

Turning residues into valuable compounds: organic waste conversion into odd-chain fatty acids via the carboxylate platform by recombinant oleaginous yeast.

Environmental concerns are rising the need to find cost-effective alternatives to fossil oils. In this sense, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are proposed as carbon source for microbial oils production that can be converted into oleochemicals. This investigation took advantage of the outstanding traits of recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica strains to assess the conversion of SCFAs derived from real digestates into odd-chain fatty acids (OCFA).

Impact of commercial gut health interventions on caecal metagenome and broiler performance.

Background: Maintaining gut health is a persistent and unresolved challenge in the poultry industry. Given the critical role of gut health in chicken performance and welfare, there is a pressing need to identify effective gut health intervention (GHI) strategies to ensure optimal outcomes in poultry farming. In this study, across three broiler production cycles, we compared the metagenomes and performance of broilers provided with ionophores (as the control group) against birds subjected to five different GHI combinations involving vaccination, probiotics, prebiotics, essential oils, and reduction of ionophore use.

TAD-SIE: sample size estimation for clinical randomized controlled trials using a Trend-Adaptive Design with a Synthetic-Intervention-Based Estimator.

Background: Phase-3 clinical trials provide the highest level of evidence on drug safety and effectiveness needed for market approval by implementing large randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, 30-40% of these trials fail mainly because such studies have inadequate sample sizes, stemming from the inability to obtain accurate initial estimates of average treatment effect parameters.

Methods: To remove this obstacle from the drug development cycle, we present a new algorithm called Trend-Adaptive Design with a Synthetic-Intervention-Based Estimator (TAD-SIE) that powers a parallel-group trial, a standard RCT design, by leveraging a state-of-the-art hypothesis testing strategy and a novel trend-adaptive design (TAD).

Synergetic effect of fungal pretreatment and lignin modification on delignification and saccharification: a case study of a natural lignin mutant in mulberry.

Background: Fungal pretreatment for partial separation of lignocellulosic components may reduce lignocellulose recalcitrance during the production of biofuels and biochemicals. Quantitative and qualitative modification of plant lignin through genetic engineering or traditional breeding may also reduce the recalcitrance. This study was conducted to examine the effects of combining these two approaches using three white rot fungi and mulberry wood with an altered lignin structure.

Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations.

Background: Bone fractures represent a global public health issue. Over the past few decades, a sustained increase in the number of incidents and prevalent cases have been reported, as well as in the years lived with disability. Current monitoring techniques predominantly rely on imaging methods, which can result in subjective assessments, and expose patients to unnecessary cumulative doses of radiation.

Emerging strategies for nitric oxide production and their topical application as nanodressings to promote diabetic wound healing.

The challenges associated with prolonged healing or non-healing of chronic diabetic wounds contribute significantly to the increased incidence of lower limb amputation. A pivotal factor in the impediment of healing is the reduced production of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) due to the hyperglycemic microenvironment typical of chronic diabetes. While both endogenous and exogenous NO have been shown to promote the healing process of diabetic wounds, the direct application of NO in wound management is limited due to its gaseous nature and the risk of explosive release.

Risk of stroke associated with proton pump inhibitor use among individuals with and without pre-existing cardiovascular diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly used for managing gastroesophageal disorders but concerns about their potential association with increased stroke risk have emerged, especially among patients with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions such as acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to assess the risk of stroke associated with PPI use, stratified by the presence or absence of pre-existing CVD.

Methods: This review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines and included studies up to March 2024 from PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science.

Anti-inflammatory coupled anti-angiogenic airway stent effectively suppresses tracheal in-stents restenosis.

Excessive vascularization during tracheal in-stent restenosis (TISR) is a significant but frequently overlooked issue. We developed an anti-inflammatory coupled anti-angiogenic airway stent (PAGL) incorporating anlotinib hydrochloride and silver nanoparticles using advanced electrospinning technology. PAGL exhibited hydrophobic surface properties, exceptional mechanical strength, and appropriate drug-release kinetics.

Prominosomes - a particular class of extracellular vesicles containing prominin-1/CD133?

Extracellular membrane vesicles (EVs) offer promising values in various medical fields, e.g., as biomarkers in liquid biopsies or as native (or bioengineered) biological nanocarriers in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and cancer therapy.

Defective Slc7a7 transport reduces erythropoietin compromising erythropoiesis.

Background: Lysinuric protein intolerance is a rare autosomal disorder caused by mutations in the Slc7a7 gene that lead to impaired transport of neutral and basic amino acids. The gold standard treatment for lysinuric protein intolerance involves a low-protein diet and citrulline supplementation. While this approach partially improves cationic amino acid plasma levels and alleviates some symptoms, long-term treatment is suggested to be detrimental and may lead to life-threatening complications characterized by a wide range of hematological and immunological abnormalities.

Ambient air pollution and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias: a global study between 1990 and 2019.

Background: Emerging research found air pollution may be associated with incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. However, few studies have examined these associations at the global scale. This study aimed to assess the dynamic associations between ambient air pollution and the burden of AD and other dementias worldwide.

The histone demethylase KDM5C enhances the sensitivity of acute myeloid leukemia cells to lenalidomide by stabilizing cereblon.

Background: The protein cereblon (CRBN) mediates the antileukemia effect of lenalidomide (Len). Len binds to CRBN, recruits IKZF1/IKZF3, and promotes their ubiquitination and degradation, through which Len exhibits its antileukemia and antimyeloma activity. Therefore, the protein level of CRBN might affect the antiproliferative effect of Len.

Cannabis consumption and risk of asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Cannabis is the third most widely used psychoactive substance globally, and its consumption has been increasing, particularly with the growing trend of legalization for medicinal and recreational use. Recent studies have raised concerns about the potential impact of cannabis on respiratory health, specifically the risk of asthma, a significant public health concern. This systematic review aimed to consolidate research on the association between cannabis use and the risk of asthma.

Learning by making - student-made models and creative projects for medical education: systematic review with qualitative synthesis.

Study Objective: Student-centered learning and unconventional teaching modalities are gaining popularity in medical education. One notable approach involves engaging students in producing creative projects to complement the learning of preclinical topics. A systematic review was conducted to characterize the impact of creative project-based learning on metacognition and knowledge gains in medical students.

scSMD: a deep learning method for accurate clustering of single cells based on auto-encoder.

Background: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has transformed biological research by offering new insights into cellular heterogeneity, developmental processes, and disease mechanisms. As scRNA-seq technology advances, its role in modern biology has become increasingly vital. This study explores the application of deep learning to single-cell data clustering, with a particular focus on managing sparse, high-dimensional data.

Harnessing multivariate insights coupled with susceptibility indices to reveal morpho-physiological and biochemical traits in heat tolerance of cotton.

Cotton is essential for the global textile industry however, climate change, especially extreme temperatures, threatens sustainable cotton production. This research aims to identify breeding strategies to improve heat tolerance and utilize stress-resistant traits in cotton cultivars. This study investigated heat tolerance for 50 cotton genotypes at the seedling stage by examining various traits at three temperatures (32 °C, 45 °C and 48 °C) in a randomized plot experiment.

Solving unknown primary cancer with earlier diagnosis - the SUPER-ED trial: study protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial to support earlier diagnosis for people presenting with malignancy of undefined primary origin.

Background: People with malignancy of undefined primary origin (MUO) have a poor prognosis and may undergo a protracted diagnostic workup causing patient distress and high cancer related costs. Not having a primary diagnosis limits timely site-specific treatment and access to precision medicine. There is a need to improve the diagnostic process, and healthcare delivery and support for these patients.

Randomized studies in China show that studying and promoting civic honesty needs to consider local norms.

Civic honesty is a crucial behavior that policymakers and business leaders strive to promote among citizens and employees. We conducted online and field experiments in China adapting the setting of a recent research which employed an innovative design to study civic honesty behavior around the globe. Results show that the psychological mechanism underlying lost-wallet reporting behavior in China is somewhat different from what has been suggested in the literature.

Efficient nonlinear function approximation in analog resistive crossbars for recurrent neural networks.

Analog In-memory Computing (IMC) has demonstrated energy-efficient and low latency implementation of convolution and fully-connected layers in deep neural networks (DNN) by using physics for computing in parallel resistive memory arrays. However, recurrent neural networks (RNN) that are widely used for speech-recognition and natural language processing have tasted limited success with this approach. This can be attributed to the significant time and energy penalties incurred in implementing nonlinear activation functions that are abundant in such models.

Impact of choline choride and sugar natural deep eutectic solvents on structure and functionality of treebean (Parkia timoriana) seed protein.

This study explores the impact of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) on the structure and functionality of treebean (Parkia timoriana) seed protein, a novel approach to enhancing protein stability and functionality for sustainable bioprocessing. The research aims to evaluate the dynamic interactions between protein and choline chloride-sugar-based NADES, focusing on their effects on thermal properties, emulsification behaviour, and rheological characteristics. NADES were formulated using different sugars, and protein-NADES dispersions were analysed for their physicochemical and functional properties.

The impact of climate change on vulnerable populations in pediatrics: opportunities for AI, digital health, and beyond-a scoping review and selected case studies.

Climate change critically impacts global pediatric health, presenting unique and escalating challenges due to children's inherent vulnerabilities and ongoing physiological development. This scoping review intricately intertwines the spheres of climate change, pediatric health, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a goal to elucidate the potential of AI and digital health in mitigating the adverse child health outcomes induced by environmental alterations, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). A notable gap is uncovered: literature directly correlating AI interventions with climate change-impacted pediatric health is scant, even though substantial research exists at the confluence of AI and health, and health and climate change respectively.

Outside-in engineering of cadherin endocytosis using a conformation strengthening antibody.

P-cadherin, a crucial cell-cell adhesion protein which is overexpressed in numerous malignant cancers, is a popular target for drug delivery antibodies. However, molecular guidelines for engineering antibodies that can be internalized upon binding to P-cadherin are unknown. Here, we use a combination of biophysical, biochemical, and cell biological methods to demonstrate that trapping the P-cadherin extracellular region in an X-dimer adhesive conformation triggers cadherin endocytosis via an outside-in signaling mechanism.