Hormonal Regulation of Urokinase- and Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator in Mouse Sertoli Cells.

A role for the plasminogen activator (PA) system has been postulated in mammalian gonads, considering the complex process of morphogenesis these organs undergo during their development. Our results show that mouse Sertoli cells under basal conditions produce both types of PA, tissue-type PA (tPA) and urokinase-type PA (uPA), and hormonal treatments increase the production of both enzymes. The increased enzyme secretion does not correlate with a parallel increase in their mRNAs.

Oral Dysaesthetic and Perceptual Disorder, a Distinct Subset of Chronic Orofacial Pain Without Burning Symptoms: A Case-Control Study.

Background: According to the ICOP 2020, burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic orofacial pain disorder characterised by an intraoral burning sensation, which represents the main diagnostic criterion. However, some patients experience other symptoms such as xerostomia, taste alterations and globus, without the burning sensation (non-BMS).

Objective: This study aims to explore non-BMS as a distinct subclinical entity by comparing the classical BMS with this new group of patients in a case-control study, addressing gaps in current diagnostic criteria.

A review of clinical applications of pharmacokinetic simulations for a 2-month long-acting injectable formulation of aripiprazole.

Aripiprazole 2-month ready-to-use (Ari 2MRTU) is a long-acting injectable antipsychotic that was approved for use in Europe in March 2024, for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adult patients stabilized with aripiprazole; it is administered via gluteal intramuscular injection once every two months. This review examines population pharmacokinetic model-based simulations relevant to the use of Ari 2MRTU in Europe, accompanied by expert commentary that contextualizes the simulations and highlights the potential implications of the availability of Ari 2MRTU for patients, caregivers, and clinicians. Various simulations conducted across 8 weeks (representing the first dosing interval), or 32 weeks (representing maintenance dosing) demonstrated an aripiprazole exposure profile for Ari 2MRTU that was similar to aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM), but with an extended dosing interval.

Acetylation of alginate enables the production of inks that mimic the chemical properties of biofilm.

The reason why certain bacteria, , (PA), produce acetylated alginate (Alg) in their biofilms remains one of the most intriguing facts in microbiology. Being the main structural component of the secreted biofilm, like the one formed in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, Alg plays a crucial role in protecting the bacteria from environmental stress and potential threats. Nonetheless, to investigate the PA biofilm environment and its lack of susceptibility to antibiotic treatment, the currently developed biofilm models use native seaweed Alg, which is a non-acetylated Alg.

Physiology of bridging stent grafts after fenestrated/branched endovascular aortic repair: Where translational science meets the clinical profile.

Fenestrated/branched endovascular aortic repair emerges as the primary therapeutic modality for intricate aortic pathologies encompassing the paravisceral and thoracoabdominal segments, where bridging stent grafts (BSGs) play a vital role in linking the primary aortic endograft with target vessels. Bridging stent grafts can be categorized mainly into self-expanding stent grafts (SESGs) and balloon-expandable stent grafts (BESGs). Physiological factors significantly influence post-complex endovascular aortic repair BSG behaviour, impacting clinical outcomes of SESGs and BESGs in different but overlapping ways.

Aortic valve repair in adults: long-term clinical outcomes and echocardiographic evolution in different valve repair techniques.

Objective: Aortic valve repair/sparing have been established as effective treatments for aortic regurgitation and/or aortic aneurysms. However, concerns remain regarding long-term durability, reproducibility, and patient selection. This study aims to asses long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes, with a focus on aortic regurgitation grade and left ventricular ejection fraction evolution, in adults undergoing these procedures.

Transformer Decoder Learns from a Pretrained Protein Language Model to Generate Ligands with High Affinity.

The drug discovery process can be significantly accelerated by using deep learning methods to suggest molecules with druglike features and, more importantly, that are good candidates to bind specific proteins of interest. We present a novel deep learning generative model, Prot2Drug, that learns to generate ligands binding specific targets leveraging (i) the information carried by a pretrained protein language model and (ii) the ability of transformers to capitalize the knowledge gathered from thousands of protein-ligand interactions. The embedding unveils the receipt to follow for designing molecules binding a given protein, and Prot2Drug translates such instructions by using the syntax of the molecular language generating novel compounds which are predicted to have favorable physicochemical properties and high affinity toward specific targets.

A descriptive analysis of nurses' self-reported mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: An international study.

Aim: To describe the self-reported mental health of nurses from 35 countries who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: There is little occupationally specific data about nurses' mental health worldwide. Studies have documented the impact on nurses' mental health of the COVID-19 pandemic, but few have baseline referents.

The concentration of malachite green in fish: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and probabilistic risk assessment.

Malachite Green (MG) is an antibiotic with antifungal activity, which is illegal to use in agriculture due to its mutagenic and teratogenic properties. Several scientific papers have been published on MG in fish. Therefore, an attempt was made to determine the meta-analysis concentration of MG in fish based on countries and types of fish subgroups, as well as the health risks of consumers, using the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) model.

Angulated titanium bases screw channel abutments for single implant restorations: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Screw-retained implant crowns are a common solution to rehabilitate single or multiple edentulous sites. Angulated screw channel (ASC) abutments have been developed as a new system of connection to correct the angulation of the implant and avoid a possible undesired emergence of the access hole. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine available literature related to the effects of ASC abutments in rehabilitating single implant crowns.

Common Elements and Differences Among Treatment Approaches to Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Commentary on Five Case Studies.

Treating people who have experienced deep and prolonged developmental trauma, that is, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD), can be challenging given the complexity and severity of their presentations. The main features of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, that is, affective and behavioral dysregulation, altered self-experience and identity disturbances, relational difficulties, negative self-concepts, and negative pathogenic beliefs, are, at the same time, therapeutic goals and obstacles to treatment. Therefore, clinicians must be aware of these difficulties in order to identify them and be ready to treat them when they arise during therapy with the same client.

Temperature Requirements Can Affect the Microbial Composition Causing Sour Rot in Grapes.

Sour rot (SR) is a late-season non-Botrytis rot affecting grapevines, resulting from a complex interplay of microorganisms, including non-Saccharomyces yeasts and acetic acid bacteria. Nonmicrobial factors contributing to disease development encompass vectors (e.g.

Tau oligomers impair memory and synaptic plasticity through the cellular prion protein.

Deposition of abnormally phosphorylated tau aggregates is a central event leading to neuronal dysfunction and death in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Among tau aggregates, oligomers (TauOs) are considered the most toxic. AD brains show significant increase in TauOs compared to healthy controls, their concentration correlating with the severity of cognitive deficits and disease progression.

Development and validation of the pain management competency scale for nurses and a nationwide survey of Chinese nurses.

Background: Nurses' competency in pain management is essential for effectively alleviating patients' acute pain, controlling chronic pain, and promoting patient recovery. However, reliable tools for evaluating these competencies across different clinical specialties and healthcare settings are lacking. This study aimed to develop and validate a Pain Management Competency Scale for Nurses (PMCSN) and to assess the pain management competencies of nurses in China through a nationwide survey.

Improved primary stability and load transfer of a customized osseointegrated transfemoral prosthesis compared to a commercial one.

Background: Transfemoral osseointegrated prostheses, like other uncemented prostheses experience the risk of aseptic loosening and post-operative periprosthetic fractures, with an incidence between 3% and 30%. To date, however, osseointegrated off-the-shelf prostheses are manufactured in a limited number of sizes, and some patients do not meet the strict eligibility criteria of commercial devices. A customized osseointegrated stem was developed and a pre-clinical in vitro investigation of the stem was performed, to evaluate its biomechanical performance.

Studying Alzheimer's disease through an integrative serum metabolomic and lipoproteomic approach.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. The great variability in disease evolution and the incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying AD make it difficult to predict when a patient will convert from prodromal stage to dementia. We hypothesize that metabolic alterations present at the level of the brain could be reflected at a systemic level in blood serum of patients, and that these alterations could be used as prognostic biomarkers.

On mobility and gait in scoliosis patients: a comparison of conventional and 3D-printed braces during an instrumented timed-up and go test.

Objective: Spinal orthoses are the most viable conservative treatment for scoliosis, and additive manufacturing techniques have shown huge perspective in producing patient-specific braces, reducing material waste, and production times. This pilot study aimed at determining whether 3D-printed braces could induce advantages or disadvantages compared to conventional braces in terms of mobility and gait, and at quantitatively evaluating the effects of braces on mobility and gait.

Methods: Ten participants were included in the study, eight with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and two with osteogenesis imperfecta.

The evolving landscape of COVID-19: factors associated with in-hospital COVID-19 related mortality during the 2023-2024 phase of JN.1 subvariant dominance.

Background: COVID-19 remains a complex health challenge. We analysed the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19-related hospitalisations during JN.1 variant dominance.

Prediction of difficult mask ventilation in Thai adult patients undergoing elective surgery using ultrasound of distance from skin to hyoid bone, and from skin to thyroid isthmus: a prospective cohort observational study.

Background: A previous study showed that airway ultrasound, specifically the distance from the skin to the hyoid bone (DSHB), may be correlated with a higher risk of difficult mask ventilation (DMV). However, the study was conducted in Italy and lacks data for the Asian and Thai populations. This study aimed to predict DMV using pre-operative ultrasonography to measure the DSHB and from the skin to the thyroid isthmus (DSTI) in Thai patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia.

Mechanisms underlying CSD initiation implicated by genetic mouse models of migraine.

A key unanswered question in migraine neurobiology concerns the mechanisms that make the brain of migraineurs susceptible to cortical spreading depression (CSD, a spreading depolarization that underlies migraine aura and may trigger the migraine pain mechanisms). Important insights into this question can be obtained by studying the mechanisms of facilitation of CSD initiation in genetic mouse models of the disease. These models, all generated from families with hereditary migraine, allow the investigation of the functional consequences of disease-causing mutations at the molecular, cellular, synaptic and neural circuit levels.

Validating the Accuracy of Parkinson's Disease Clinical Diagnosis: A UK Brain Bank Case-Control Study.

Objective: Despite diagnostic criteria refinements, Parkinson's disease (PD) clinical diagnosis still suffers from a not satisfying accuracy, with the post-mortem examination as the gold standard for diagnosis. Seminal clinicopathological series highlighted that a relevant number of patients alive-diagnosed with idiopathic PD have an alternative post-mortem diagnosis. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of PD comparing the in-vivo clinical diagnosis with the post-mortem diagnosis performed through the pathological examination in 2 groups.