Association Between Olfactory Test Data with Multiple Levels of Odor Intensity and Suspected Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Olfactory function decline has recently been reported to be associated with a risk of cognitive impairment. Few population-based studies have included younger adults when examining the association between olfactory test data with multiple odor intensities and suspected cognitive impairment.

Objective: We investigated the association between high-resolution olfactory test data with fewer odors and suspected cognitive impairments.

Perceptual decisions interfere more with eye movements than with reach movements.

Perceptual judgements are formed through invisible cognitive processes. Reading out these judgements is essential for advancing our understanding of decision making and requires inferring covert cognitive states based on overt motor actions. Although intuition suggests that these actions must be related to the formation of decisions about where to move body parts, actions have been reported to be influenced by perceptual judgements even when the action is irrelevant to the perceptual judgement.

Model-free idealization: Adaptive integrated approach for idealization of ion-channel currents.

Single-channel electrophysiological recordings provide insights into transmembrane ion permeation and channel gating mechanisms. The first step in the analysis of the recorded currents involves an "idealization" process, in which noisy raw data are classified into two discrete levels corresponding to the open and closed states of channels. This provides valuable information on the gating kinetics of ion channels.

Detecting Comparative Features of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment through the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health Linkage: A Web-Based Survey.

Multidimensional assessments are important in evaluating the overall health of older adults. The comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is a representative framework; however, the burden associated with the CGA has led to the development of simplified multidimensional tools. Comparing these tools to the CGA can help utilize them effectively.

Cryo-EM structures of human zinc transporter ZnT7 reveal the mechanism of Zn uptake into the Golgi apparatus.

Zinc ions (Zn) are vital to most cells, with the intracellular concentrations of Zn being tightly regulated by multiple zinc transporters located at the plasma and organelle membranes. We herein present the 2.2-3.

Stratum corneum compliance enhances tactile sensitivity through increasing skin deformation: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Tactile sensation plays a crucial role in object manipulation, communication, and even emotional well-being. It has been reported that the deformability of skin (also described as skin compliance) that shows a large mechanical response to stimuli is associated with high tactile sensitivity. However, although the compliance of the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin, can change daily due to skin care and environmental factors, few studies have quantified the effect of the stratum corneum on tactile sensation.

An epidemic dynamics model with limited isolation capacity.

We consider a modified SIR model with a four-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations to consider the influence of a limited isolation capacity on the final epidemic size defined as the total number of individuals who experienced the disease at the end of an epidemic season. We derive the necessary and sufficient condition that the isolation reaches the capacity in a finite time on the way of the epidemic process, and show that the final epidemic size is monotonically decreasing in terms of the isolation capacity. We find further that the final epidemic size could have a discontinuous change at the critical value of isolation capacity below which the isolation reaches the capacity in a finite time.

Vasopressin Expressed in Hypothalamic CRF Neurons Causes Impaired Water Diuresis in Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency.

Patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency can present with impaired free water excretion and hyponatremia, which is due to the enhanced secretion of vasopressin (AVP) despite increased total body water. AVP is produced in magnocellular neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) and supraoptic nucleus and in parvocellular corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neurons in the PVH. This study aimed to elucidate whether magnocellular AVP neurons or parvocellular CRF neurons coexpressing AVP are responsible for the pathogenesis of hyponatremia in secondary adrenal insufficiency.

Social influence makes outlier opinions in online reviews offer more helpful information.

Identifying helpful information from large-scale online reviews has become a core issue in studies on harnessing wisdom-of-crowds. We investigated whether online reviews expressing dissenting opinions (i.e.

C4S DB: Comprehensive Collection and Comparison for ChIP-Seq Database.

Combining multiple binding profiles, such as transcription factors and histone modifications, is a crucial step in revealing the functions of complex biological systems. Although a massive amount of chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) data is available, existing ChIP-seq databases or repositories focus on individual experiments, and it is difficult to elucidate orchestrated regulation by DNA-binding elements. We developed the Comprehensive Collection and Comparison for ChIP-Seq Database (C4S DB) to provide researchers with insights into the combination of DNA binding elements based on quality-assessed public ChIP-seq data.

Salivary gland cancer organoids are valid for preclinical genotype-oriented medical precision trials.

Salivary gland cancers (SGCs) are heterogeneous tumors, and precision oncology represents a promising therapeutic approach; however, its impact on SGCs remains obscure. This study aimed to establish a translational model for testing molecular-targeted therapies by combining patient-derived organoids and genomic analyses of SGCs. We enrolled 29 patients, including 24 with SGCs and 5 with benign tumors.

Mechanism of the compression effect on visual duration perception caused by temporally sandwiching sounds.

When task-irrelevant nontarget sound temporally sandwiches brief target visual stimuli, its perceived duration is compressed (time compression). Since little is known about the mechanisms of time compression, this study examined its causal factors. Experiment 1 measured the effects of preceding, trailing, and sandwiching sounds on visual duration perception and examined whether adding the first two effects predicts the empirical effect of the third.

Identification of the Most Impactful Asparagine Residues for γS-Crystallin Aggregation by Deamidation.

Crystallin aggregation in the eye lens is involved in the pathogenesis of cataracts. The aggregation is considered to be promoted by non-enzymatic post-translational modifications, such as the deamidation and stereoinversion of amino acid residues. Although in a previous study, the deamidated asparagine residues were detected in γS-crystallin in vivo, it is unclear which deamidated residues have the most impact on the aggregation under physiological conditions.

Enterocloster alcoholdehydrogenati sp. nov., a Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from the Feces of a Patient with Alcoholism.

Strain C5-48, an anaerobic intestinal bacterium that potentially accumulates acetaldehyde at levels exceeding its minimum mutagenic concentration (50 µM) in the colon and rectum, was isolated from the feces of a patient with alcoholism. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain C5-48 showed high similarity to the corresponding sequences of Lachnoclostridium edouardi Marseille-P3397 (95.7%) and Clostridium fessum SNUG30386 (94.

Carbon nanotube recognition by human Siglec-14 provokes inflammation.

For the design and development of innovative carbon nanotube (CNT)-based tools and applications, an understanding of the molecular interactions between CNTs and biological systems is essential. In this study, a three-dimensional protein-structure-based in silico screen identified the paired immune receptors, sialic acid immunoglobulin-like binding lectin-5 (Siglec-5) and Siglec-14, as CNT-recognizing receptors. Molecular dynamics simulations showed the spatiotemporally stable association of aromatic residues on the extracellular loop of Siglec-5 with CNTs.

Unraveling Binding Mechanism and Stability of Urease Inhibitors: A QM/MM MD Study.

Soil bacteria can produce urease, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to ammonia (NH) and carbamate. A variety of urease inhibitors have been proposed to reduce NH volatilization by interfering with the urease activity. We report a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics (QM/MM MD) study on the mechanism employed for the inhibition of urease by three representative competitive inhibitors; namely, acetohydroxamic acid (AHA), hydroxyurea (HU), and -(-butyl)phosphorictriamide (NBPTO).

The dynamic behavior of skin in response to vibrating touch stimuli affects tactile perception.

Background: The tactile perceptions arising on the skin mediate representations of the body and perceptions of the external physical world. Thus, these tactile sensations greatly impact our lives. Although tactile perception is caused by skin deformation, few studies have investigated the contribution of skin physical properties to tactile perception because the skin deformation in response to mechanical stimuli is difficult to measure in real time.

Computational Methods to Predict Intrinsically Disordered Regions and Functional Regions in Them.

Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are protein regions that do not adopt fixed tertiary structures. Since these regions lack ordered three-dimensional structures, they should be excluded from the target portions of homology modeling. IDRs can be predicted from the amino acid sequences, because their amino acid compositions are different from that of the structured domains.

Development of serial X-ray fluorescence holography for radiation-sensitive protein crystals.

X-ray fluorescence holography (XFH) is a powerful atomic resolution technique capable of directly imaging the local atomic structure around atoms of a target element within a material. Although it is theoretically possible to use XFH to study the local structures of metal clusters in large protein crystals, the experiment has proven difficult to perform, especially on radiation-sensitive proteins. Here, the development of serial X-ray fluorescence holography to allow the direct recording of hologram patterns before the onset of radiation damage is reported.

Properties of REM sleep alterations with epilepsy.

It is usually assumed that individuals rest during sleep. However, coordinated neural activity that presumably requires high energy consumption is increased during REM sleep. Here, using freely moving male transgenic mice, the local brain environment and astrocyte activity during REM sleep were examined using the fibre photometry method with an optical fibre inserted deep into the lateral hypothalamus, a region that is linked with controlling sleep and metabolic state of the entire brain.