Highly Conductive Boron-Containing Electrolytes by Integrating Modeling and Experiments.

A highly conducting polymer electrolyte was developed, where the structure included molecular elements guided by computational modeling results. The electrolyte comprises acidic boron and basic oxygen atoms within the molecular structure. Because of the presence of the boron and oxygen atoms within the structure, it interacts with the anion and cation of the dissolved salt and functions as an ion separator by increasing the bond length between the anion and cation.

Characteristics of nursing homes with high rates of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Background: Nursing home residents experience a large burden of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Data are limited regarding nursing home characteristics associated with differences in facility-level invasive MRSA rates.

Methods: We analyzed 2011-2015 data from CDC's Emerging Infections Program (EIP) active population- and laboratory-based surveillance for invasive MRSA cases within seven states.

Preoperative Risk Assessment for Lumbar Fusion in Patients With Diabetes: Data-Driven Stratification of HbA1c and Same Day Glucose Levels that Predict 90-Day Complication Rates.

Study Designs: Retrospective Database Analysis.

Objectives: Pre-operative glycemic control in diabetic patients undergoing lumbar fusion (LF) is essential for evaluating complication risk. However, current thresholds for preoperative HbA1c and same-day-glucose (SDG) are either non-specific or have low predictive power.

Dynamic Measures of Team Adaptation.

Objective: Dynamic measures of team adaptation based in team cognition theory and the measurement of real-time team cognition are developed. The present study examines the validity and context-specificity of this measurement framework for simulation-based team training.

Background: Teams adapt by reorganizing their coordination behavior to overcome challenges in dynamic environments.

Cortical Acetylcholine Response to Deep Brain Stimulation of the Basal Forebrain in Mice.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) using electrical stimulation of neuronal tissue in the basal forebrain to enhance release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is under consideration to improve executive function in patients with dementia. While some small studies indicate a positive response in the clinical setting, the relationship between DBS and acetylcholine pharmacokinetics is incompletely understood. We examined the cortical acetylcholine response to different stimulation parameters of the basal forebrain.

Framing a Global Pandemic: Journalism Cultures and Media Coverage of COVID-19 in China, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Using a computational approach, this study analyzes and compares news coverage of the novel coronavirus in six major newspapers (i.e. , , , , , and ) from four countries (i.

Dexamethasone Delivery via Amphiphilic, Low-swelling Hydrogels Treats Postoperative Inflammation in Cervical Spine Applications.

Anterior cervical spine surgeries are often complicated by difficulty swallowing due to local postoperative swelling, pain, scarring, and tissue dysfunction. These postoperative events lead to systemic steroid and narcotic use. Local, sustained drug delivery may address these problems, but current materials are unsafe for tight surgical spaces due to high biomaterial swelling, especially upon degradation.

Synergistic Adhesion and Shape Deformation in Nanowire-Structured Liquid Crystal Elastomers.

Nature provides many examples of the benefits of nanoscopic surface structures in areas of adhesion and antifouling. Herein, the design, fabrication, and characterization of liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films are presented with nanowire surface structures that exhibit tunable stimuli-responsive deformations and enhanced adhesion properties. The LCE films are shown to curl toward the side with the nanowires when stimulated by heat or organic solvent vapors.

Efficacy of sodium hypochlorite and peracetic acid in reducing cross-contamination during washing of baby spinach at different water quality levels.

We evaluated the antimicrobial performance of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and peracetic acid (PAA) during washing of baby spinach in water of varying levels of organic load, as measured by its chemical oxygen demand (COD). Escherichia coli TVS353 was spot inoculated onto one unwashed leaf. Sanitizers were added into water with preadjusted COD (300 or 2500 ppm) to achieve concentrations from 20 to 80 ppm.

Automation of on-site microbial water quality monitoring from source to tap: Challenges and perspectives.

Ensuring the provision of safe drinking water necessitates thorough monitoring of microbial water quality. While traditional culture-based enumeration of bacterial indicators has served as the gold standard in compliance monitoring since the late 19th century, recent advancements in microbial sensor technology, driven by automation and digitalization, are revolutionizing on-site monitoring capabilities. These innovations offer unparalleled potential for automated, high temporal frequency monitoring with remote, real-time data transmission.

Correlates of multicaregiving and singular caregiving among cancer caregivers and associations with caregiver well-being.

Purpose: Compare demographic, care provision, and health-related characteristics of individuals fulfilling multiple illness-related caregiving roles (i.e. multicaregiving) versus singular (cancer only) caregiving and investigate factors associated with caregivers' mental and physical functioning.

Genetic Etiology Link to Brain Function Underlying ADHD Symptoms and its Interaction with Sleep Disturbance: An ABCD Study.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, remains poorly understood regarding how its polygenic risk score (PRS) impacts functional networks and symptomology. This study capitalized on data from 11,430 children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study to explore the interplay between PRS, brain function, and behavioral problems, along with their interactive effects. The results showed that children with a higher PRS exhibited more severe attention deficits and rule-breaking problems, and experienced sleep disturbances, particularly in initiating and maintaining sleep.

The Relationship between Homocysteine Levels, Polymorphism, and Pregnancy Outcomes in Georgian Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Over the past decade, numerous studies have been conducted to determine the role of homocysteine and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase () gene polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), yet the results are inconsistent. The aim of the current study was to determine the association between homocysteine levels (Hcy), ) and A1298C polymorphisms, and pregnancy outcomes in Georgian women with PCOS.

Materials And Methods: This case-control study included 177 female participants, of which 96 women were diagnosed with PCOS, and 81 age-matched women were without PCOS.

A simple and highly efficient protocol for C-labeling of plant cell wall for structural and quantitative analyses via solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.

Background: Plant cell walls are made of a complex network of interacting polymers that play a critical role in plant development and responses to environmental changes. Thus, improving plant biomass and fitness requires the elucidation of the structural organization of plant cell walls in their native environment. The C-based multi-dimensional solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) has been instrumental in revealing the structural information of plant cell walls through 2D and 3D correlation spectral analyses.

Ethics and trustworthiness of artificial intelligence in Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary surgery: a snapshot of insights from the European-African Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (E-AHPBA) survey.

Background: Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) surgery is a complex specialty and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications have the potential to improve pre- intra- and postoperative outcomes of HPB surgery. While ethics guidelines have been developed for the use of AI in clinical surgery, the ethical implications and reliability of AI in HPB surgery remain specifically unexplored.

Methods: An online survey was developed by the Innovation Committee of the E-AHPBA to investigate the current perspectives on the ethical principles and trustworthiness of AI in HPB Surgery among E-AHPBA membership.

The Role of Hospital Performance on Race and Ethnicity Outcome Disparities for US Non-Traumatic Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests.

Background: Factors contributing to worse outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) from minoritized communities are poorly understood. We sought to evaluate the impact of receiving hospital performance on OHCA outcome disparities.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of non-traumatic OHCAs from the National Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival from 2013-2022 that survived hospital admission.

Biomedical Effects of Protein Arginine Methyltransferase Inhibitors.

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) are enzymes that catalyze the methylation of arginine residues in eukaryotic proteins, playing critical roles in modulating diverse cellular processes. The importance of PRMTs in the incidence and progression of a wide range of diseases, particularly cancers, such as breast, liver, lung, colorectal cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is increasingly recognized. This underscores the critical need for the development of effective PRMT inhibitors as therapeutic intervention.

Unifying community whole-brain imaging datasets enables robust neuron identification and reveals determinants of neuron position in C. elegans.

We develop a data harmonization approach for C. elegans volumetric microscopy data, consisting of a standardized format, pre-processing techniques, and human-in-the-loop machine-learning-based analysis tools. Using this approach, we unify a diverse collection of 118 whole-brain neural activity imaging datasets from five labs, storing these and accompanying tools in an online repository WormID (wormid.

Neonatal cost savings in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: Economic evaluation of the sFlt-1/PlGF test with real world implementation of biomarkers.

Background: Preeclampsia is a key cause of prematurity in the U.S. and incurs significant healthcare costs.

Self-Management Practices Among Adults With Diabetes in the United States: An Analysis of the 2017-2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which adults with diabetes engage in self-management practices to lower their blood glucose levels and determine factors associated with these engagements.

Methods: The study analyzed data from the 2017-2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The sample included 1171 adults ages 20 and older with a laboratory A1C level of 6.

Substitution and Complementarity in the Consumption of Alcohol, Cannabis, and Opium.

Understanding the behavior of populations of drug consumers has been and remains a topic of keen interest. Using a unique dataset on 25 districts from Bengal, India, from 1911 to 1925, we analyze whether populations of consumers treat alcohol, cannabis, and opium as economic substitutes or complements in a legal regime. Additionally, we examine responsiveness to prices and income.

Estimation of factorial expressions and its improvement through calibration: A replication and extension of Tversky and Kahneman (1973).

Fifty years ago, Tversky and Kahneman (Cognitive Psychology, 5[2], 207-232, 1973) reported that people's speeded estimations of 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 were notably higher than their estimations for the equivalent expression in the opposite order, 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 × 7 × 8 (Median = 2,250 vs. 512, respectively). On top of this order effect, both groups grossly underestimated the correct value (40,320).

Mechanosensation of the heart and gut elicits hypometabolism and vigilance in mice.

Interoception broadly refers to awareness of one's internal milieu. Although the importance of the body-to-brain communication that underlies interoception is implicit, the vagal afferent signalling and corresponding brain circuits that shape perception of the viscera are not entirely clear. Here, we use mice to parse neural circuits subserving interoception of the heart and gut.

Analyzing the relationship between gene expression and phenotype in space-flown mice using a causal inference machine learning ensemble.

Spaceflight has several detrimental effects on human and rodent health. For example, liver dysfunction is a common phenotype observed in space-flown rodents, and this dysfunction is partially reflected in transcriptomic changes. Studies linking transcriptomics with liver dysfunction rely on tools which exploit correlation, but these tools make no attempt to disambiguate true correlations from spurious ones.