scNCL: transferring labels from scRNA-seq to scATAC-seq data with neighborhood contrastive regularization.

Motivation: scATAC-seq has enabled chromatin accessibility landscape profiling at the single-cell level, providing opportunities for determining cell-type-specific regulation codes. However, high dimension, extreme sparsity, and large scale of scATAC-seq data have posed great challenges to cell-type identification. Thus, there has been a growing interest in leveraging the well-annotated scRNA-seq data to help annotate scATAC-seq data.

What, Where, and How to Collect Real-World Data and Generate Real-World Evidence to Support Drug Reimbursement Decision-Making in Asia: A reflection Into the Past and A Way Forward.

Background: Globally, there is increasing interest in the use of real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) to inform health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement decision-making. Using current practices and case studies shared by eleven health systems in Asia, a non-binding guidance that seeks to align practices for generating and using RWD/RWE for decision-making in Asia was developed by the World Data n Aia for Halth Technology Assessment in Reimbursement (REALISE) Working Group, addressing a current gap and needs among HTA users and generators.

Methods: The guidance document was developed over two face-to-face workshops, in addition to an online survey, a face-to-face interview and pragmatic search of literature.

Impact of BMI in Patients With Early Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Receiving Endocrine Therapy With or Without Palbociclib in the PALLAS Trial.

Purpose: BMI affects breast cancer risk and prognosis. In contrast to cytotoxic chemotherapy, CDK4/6 inhibitors are given at a fixed dose, irrespective of BMI or weight. This preplanned analysis of the global randomized PALLAS trial investigates the impact of BMI on the side-effect profile, treatment adherence, and efficacy of palbociclib.

Quasi-Copper-Mers Enable High-Performance Catalysis for CO Reduction.

As the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO ) level keeps hitting the new record, humanity is facing an ever-daunting challenge to efficiently mitigate CO from the atmosphere. Though electrochemical CO reduction presents a promising pathway to convert CO to valuable fuels and chemicals, the general lack of suitable electrocatalysts with high activity and selectivity severely constrains this approach. Herein, a novel class of electrocatalysts is investigated, the quasi-copper-mers, in which the CuN rather than Cu atom itself serve as the basic building block.

Systems Biology and Omics Approaches for Complex Human Diseases.

For many years, there has been general interest in developing virtual cells or digital twin models [...

Primary Prevention of Allergy - Is It Feasible?

The allergy epidemic has been attributed to environmental influences related to urbanization and the modern lifestyle. In this regard, various theories exploring the role of microbes (hygiene, old friends, microbiota, and biodiversity hypotheses), and the epithelial barrier (epithelial, dual allergen exposure and vitamin D hypotheses) have been proposed. These hypotheses have guided clinical studies that led to the formulation of intervention strategies during the proposed window of opportunity dubbed as the "first thousand days.

Mfsd2a-mediated lysolipid transport is important for renal recovery after acute kidney injury.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a global public health concern with high mortality and morbidity. In ischemic-reperfusion injury (IRI), a main cause of AKI, the brush border membrane of S3 proximal tubules (PT) is lost to the tubular lumen. How injured tubules reconstitute lost membrane lipids during renal recovery is not known.

Decreased DHA-containing phospholipids in the neocortex of dementia with Lewy bodies are associated with soluble Aβ , phosphorylated α-synuclein, and synaptopathology.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid implicated in cognitive functions by promoting synaptic protein expression. While alterations of specific DHA-containing phospholipids have been described in the neocortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the status of these lipids in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), known to manifest aggregated α-synuclein-containing Lewy bodies together with variable amyloid pathology, is unclear. In this study, post-mortem samples from the parietal cortex of 25 DLB patients and 17 age-matched controls were processed for phospholipidomics analyses using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) platform.

Clinical predictors of wheeze trajectories and associations with allergy in Asian children.

Background: Childhood wheezing is a highly heterogeneous condition with an incomplete understanding of the characteristics of wheeze trajectories, particularly for persistent wheeze.

Objective: To characterize predictors and allergic comorbidities of distinct wheeze trajectories in a multiethnic Asian cohort.

Methods: A total of 974 mother-child pairs from the prospective Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort were included in this study.

Dynamic de novo heterochromatin assembly and disassembly at replication forks ensures fork stability.

Chromatin is dynamically reorganized when DNA replication forks are challenged. However, the process of epigenetic reorganization and its implication for fork stability is poorly understood. Here we discover a checkpoint-regulated cascade of chromatin signalling that activates the histone methyltransferase EHMT2/G9a to catalyse heterochromatin assembly at stressed replication forks.

Posterior corneoscleral limbus: Architecture, stem cells, and clinical implications.

The limbus is a transition from the cornea to conjunctiva and sclera. In human eyes, this thin strip has a rich variation of tissue structures and composition, typifying a change from scleral irregularity and opacity to corneal regularity and transparency; a variation from richly vascularized conjunctiva and sclera to avascular cornea; the neural passage and drainage of aqueous humor. The limbal stroma is enriched with circular fibres running parallel to the corneal circumference, giving its unique role in absorbing small pressure changes to maintain corneal curvature and refractivity.

Globally invariant behavior of oncogenes and random genes at population but not at single cell level.

Cancer is widely considered a genetic disease. Notably, recent works have highlighted that every human gene may possibly be associated with cancer. Thus, the distinction between genes that drive oncogenesis and those that are associated to the disease, but do not play a role, requires attention.

The effects of menstrual cycle phases on immune function and inflammation at rest and after acute exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The immune system plays an important role in mediating exercise responses and adaptations. However, whether fluctuating hormone concentrations across the menstrual cycle may impact these processes remains unknown. The aim of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to compare baseline concentrations as well as exercise-induced changes in immune and inflammatory parameters between menstrual cycle phases.

Outcomes in breast cancer-does ethnicity matter?

Ethnic or racial differences in breast cancer (BC) survival outcomes have been reported, but current data are largely restricted to comparisons between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Most analyses have traditionally been based on self-reported race which may not always be accurate, or are oversimplified in their classification. With increasing globalization, quantification of the genetic ancestry from genomic data may offer a solution to infer the complex makeup from admixture of races.

The impact of universal health coverage and COVID-19 pandemic on out-of-pocket expenses in Thailand: an analysis of household survey from 1994 to 2021.

Objectives: After Thailand achieved Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in 2002, the extent of financial risk protection has not been assessed in the long term, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to revisit the impact of UHC on out-of-pocket expenses (OOPE) for health and to descriptively explore the impact of COVID-19 on OOPE.

Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis and used data from the Socio-Economic Survey from 1994 to 2021 in Thailand.

Dysfunctional Autophagy, Proteostasis, and Mitochondria as a Prelude to Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell dysfunction is a key driving force of AMD. RPE cells form a metabolic interface between photoreceptors and choriocapillaris, performing essential functions for retinal homeostasis. Through their multiple functions, RPE cells are constantly exposed to oxidative stress, which leads to the accumulation of damaged proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and cellular organelles, including mitochondria.

Molecular Fingerprint Detection Using Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy Technologies for Cancer Detection: A Progress Review.

Molecular vibrations play a crucial role in physical chemistry and biochemistry, and Raman and infrared spectroscopy are the two most used techniques for vibrational spectroscopy. These techniques provide unique fingerprints of the molecules in a sample, which can be used to identify the chemical bonds, functional groups, and structures of the molecules. In this review article, recent research and development activities for molecular fingerprint detection using Raman and infrared spectroscopy are discussed, with a focus on identifying specific biomolecules and studying the chemical composition of biological samples for cancer diagnosis applications.

Alpha-ketoglutarate supplementation and BiologicaL agE in middle-aged adults (ABLE)-intervention study protocol.

Targeting molecular processes of aging will enable people to live healthier and longer lives by preventing age-related diseases. Geroprotectors are compounds with the potential to increase healthspan and lifespan. Even though many of them have been tested in animal models, the translation to humans is limited.

Early Visibility of Cellular Aggregates and Changes in Central Corneal Thickness as Predictors of Successful Corneal Endothelial Cell Injection Therapy.

(1) Background: Cell injection therapy is an emerging treatment for bullous keratopathy (BK). Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) imaging allows the high-resolution assessment of the anterior chamber. Our study aimed to investigate the predictive value of the visibility of cellular aggregates for corneal deturgescence in an animal model of bullous keratopathy.

Dengue Virus Capsid Protein Facilitates Genome Compaction and Packaging.

Dengue virus (DENV) is a single-stranded (+)-sense RNA virus that infects humans and mosquitoes, posing a significant health risk in tropical and subtropical regions. Mature virions are composed of an icosahedral shell of envelope (E) and membrane (M) proteins circumscribing a lipid bilayer, which in turn contains a complex of the approximately 11 kb genomic RNA with capsid (C) proteins. Whereas the structure of the envelope is clearly defined, the structure of the packaged genome in complex with C proteins remains elusive.

A systematic review of quality and consistency of clinical practice guidelines on the primary prevention of food allergy and atopic dermatitis.

Background And Aims: With an increasing number of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) addressing primary prevention of food allergy and atopic dermatitis, it is timely to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the quality and consistency of recommendations and evaluation of their implementability in different geographical settings.

Methods: We systematically reviewed CPGs from 8 international databases and extensive website searches. Seven reviewers screened records in any language and then used the AGREE II and AGREE REX instruments to critically appraise CPGs published between January 2011 and April 2022.