Microfabrication-based engineering of biomimetic dentin-like constructs to simulate dental aging.

Human dentin is a highly organized dental tissue displaying a complex microarchitecture consisting of micrometer-sized tubules encased in a mineralized type-I collagen matrix. As such, it serves as an important substrate for the adhesion of microbial colonizers and oral biofilm formation in the context of dental caries disease, including root caries in the elderly. Despite this issue, there remains a current lack of effective biomimetic dentin models that facilitate the study of oral microbial adhesion by considering the surface architecture at the micro- and nanoscales.

An Open One-Step RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in millions of deaths globally, and while several diagnostic systems were proposed, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) remains the gold standard. However, diagnostic reagents, including enzymes used in RT-PCR, are subject to centralized production models and intellectual property restrictions, which present a challenge for less developed countries. With the aim of generating a standardized One-Step open RT-qPCR protocol to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in clinical samples, we purified and tested recombinant enzymes and a non-proprietary buffer.

Merging Brain-Computer Interface P300 speller datasets: Perspectives and pitfalls.

Background: In the last decades, the P300 Speller paradigm was replicated in many experiments, and collected data were released to the public domain to allow research groups, particularly those in the field of machine learning, to test and improve their algorithms for higher performances of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Training data is needed to learn the identification of brain activity. The more training data are available, the better the algorithms will perform.

Highly efficient free-breathing 3D whole-heart imaging in 3-min: single center study in adults with congenital heart disease.

Background: Three dimensional, whole-heart (3DWH) MRI is an established non-invasive imaging modality in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) for the diagnosis of cardiovascular morphology and for clinical decision making. Current techniques utilise diaphragmatic navigation (dNAV) for respiratory motion correction and gating and are frequently limited by long acquisition times. This study proposes and evaluates the diagnostic performance of a respiratory gating-free framework, which considers respiratory image-based navigation (iNAV), and highly accelerated variable density Cartesian sampling in concert with non-rigid motion correction and low-rank patch-based denoising (iNAV-3DWH-PROST).

Morphometric analysis of airways in pre-COPD and mild COPD lungs using continuous surface representations of the bronchial lumen.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a prevalent respiratory disease that presents a high rate of underdiagnosis during onset and early stages. Studies have shown that in mild COPD patients, remodeling of the small airways occurs concurrently with morphological changes in the proximal airways. Despite this evidence, the geometrical study of the airway tree from computed tomography (CT) lung images remains underexplored due to poor representations and limited tools to characterize the airway structure.

Leukocyte- and Platelet-Rich Fibrin (L-PRF) Obtained from Smokers and Nonsmokers Shows a Similar Uniaxial Tensile Response In Vitro.

We evaluated and compared the biomechanical properties of Leukocyte-and Platelet Rich Fibrin L-PRF clots and membranes derived from smoker and nonsmoker donors. Twenty venous-blood donors (aged 18 to 50 years) were included after signing informed consent forms. L-PRF clots were analyzed and then compressed to obtain L-PRF membranes.

Quality of life, exercise capacity, cognition, and mental health of Chilean patients after COVID-19: an experience of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program at a physical and rehabilitation medicine unit.

Background: Post-COVID disabilities, encompassing physical, cognitive, and psychological aspects, constitute the primary health sequelae for survivors. While the rehabilitation needs post COVID-19 are now well understood, each country possesses unique characteristics in terms of populations, healthcare systems, social dynamics, and economic profiles, necessitating context-specific recommendations. This study aims to address two main objectives: (1) analyze the impact of an 8-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation program on the quality of life, functional capacity, cognition, and mental health adaptations in adults recovering from COVID-19 in northern Chile, and (2) propose a personalized model for predicting program dropouts and responses.

Local energetic frustration conservation in protein families and superfamilies.

Energetic local frustration offers a biophysical perspective to interpret the effects of sequence variability on protein families. Here we present a methodology to analyze local frustration patterns within protein families and superfamilies that allows us to uncover constraints related to stability and function, and identify differential frustration patterns in families with a common ancestry. We analyze these signals in very well studied protein families such as PDZ, SH3, ɑ and β globins and RAS families.

Complexity and 1/f slope jointly reflect brain states.

Characterization of brain states is essential for understanding its functioning in the absence of external stimuli. Brain states differ on their balance between excitation and inhibition, and on the diversity of their activity patterns. These can be respectively indexed by 1/f slope and Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZc).

Atomic force microscopy-mediated mechanobiological profiling of complex human tissues.

Tissue mechanobiology is an emerging field with the overarching goal of understanding the interplay between biophysical and biochemical responses affecting development, physiology, and disease. Changes in mechanical properties including stiffness and viscosity have been shown to describe how cells and tissues respond to mechanical cues and modify critical biological functions. To quantitatively characterize the mechanical properties of tissues at physiologically relevant conditions, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a highly versatile biomechanical technology.

Machine learning modeling of lung mechanics: Assessing the variability and propagation of uncertainty in respiratory-system compliance and airway resistance.

Background And Objective: Traditional assessment of patient response in mechanical ventilation relies on respiratory-system compliance and airway resistance. Clinical evidence has shown high variability in these parameters, highlighting the difficulty of predicting them before the start of ventilation therapy. This motivates the creation of computational models that can connect structural and tissue features with lung mechanics.

Zerumbone liquid crystalline nanoparticles protect against oxidative stress, inflammation and senescence induced by cigarette smoke extract in vitro.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of zerumbone-loaded liquid crystalline nanoparticles (ZER-LCNs) in the protection of broncho-epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages against oxidative stress, inflammation and senescence induced by cigarette smoke extract in vitro. The effect of the treatment of ZER-LCNs on in vitro cell models of cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-treated mouse RAW264.7 and human BCi-NS1.

Aloe vera peel-derived nanovesicles display anti-inflammatory properties and prevent myofibroblast differentiation.

Background: Aloe vera (AV) is a medicinal plant, most known for its beneficial effects on a variety of skin conditions. Its known active compounds include carbohydrates and flavonoids such as quercetin and kaempferol, among others. In the past decade, plant nanovesicles (NVs) have gained considerable interest as interkingdom communicators, presenting an opportunity for clinical standardization of natural products.

Cross-species transmission and PB2 mammalian adaptations of highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 viruses in Chile.

H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) emerged in wild birds in Chile in December 2022 and spilled over into poultry, marine mammals, and one human. Between December 9, 2022 - March 14, 2023, a coordinated government/academic response detected HPAIV by real-time RT-PCR in 8.5% (412/4735) of samples from 23 avian and 3 mammal orders.

Exploring the structural acrobatics of fold-switching proteins using simplified structure-based models.

Metamorphic proteins are a paradigm of the protein folding process, by encoding two or more native states, highly dissimilar in terms of their secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary structure, on a single amino acid sequence. Moreover, these proteins structurally interconvert between these native states in a reversible manner at biologically relevant timescales as a result of different environmental cues. The large-scale rearrangements experienced by these proteins, and their sometimes high mass interacting partners that trigger their metamorphosis, makes the computational and experimental study of their structural interconversion challenging.

Self-regulation learning as active inference: dynamic causal modeling of an fMRI neurofeedback task.

Introduction: Learning to self-regulate brain activity by neurofeedback has been shown to lead to changes in the brain and behavior, with beneficial clinical and non-clinical outcomes. Neurofeedback uses a brain-computer interface to guide participants to change some feature of their brain activity. However, the neural mechanism of self-regulation learning remains unclear, with only 50% of the participants succeeding in achieving it.

Sedation and Analgesia for Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis in the Intensive Care Unit: Few Certainties, Many Questions Ahead.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare, acute mucocutaneous life-threatening disease. Although research has focused on the pathophysiological and therapeutic aspects of the disease, there is a paucity of data in the literature regarding pain management and sedation in the intensive care unit (ICU). Most therapies have been extrapolated from other situations and/or the general ICU population.

WarpPINN: Cine-MR image registration with physics-informed neural networks.

The diagnosis of heart failure usually includes a global functional assessment, such as ejection fraction measured by magnetic resonance imaging. However, these metrics have low discriminate power to distinguish different cardiomyopathies, which may not affect the global function of the heart. Quantifying local deformations in the form of cardiac strain can provide helpful information, but it remains a challenge.

Engineering the catalytic activity of an Antarctic PET-degrading enzyme by loop exchange.

Several hydrolases have been described to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at moderate temperatures ranging from 25°C to 40°C. These mesophilic PET hydrolases (PETases) are less efficient in degrading this plastic polymer than their thermophilic homologs and have, therefore, been the subject of many protein engineering campaigns. However, enhancing their enzymatic activity through rational design or directed evolution poses a formidable challenge due to the need for exploring a large number of mutations.

DNA facilitates heterodimerization between human transcription factors FoxP1 and FoxP2 by increasing their conformational flexibility.

Transcription factors regulate gene expression by binding to DNA. They have disordered regions and specific DNA-binding domains. Binding to DNA causes structural changes, including folding and interactions with other molecules.