From seedlings to adults: Linking survival and leaf functional traits over ontogeny.

As long-lived tropical trees grow into the multi-layered canopy and face different environmental conditions, the relationships between leaf traits and whole-plant survival can vary over ontogeny. We tested the strength and direction of the relationships between leaf traits and long-term survival data across life stages for woody species from a subtropical forest in Puerto Rico. Trait-survival relationships were largely consistent across ontogeny with conservative traits leading to higher survival rates.

Performing liver imaging at a high level: quality and adequacy in LI-RADS.

Imaging is critical to HCC management, including surveillance, diagnosis, staging, and treatment response assessment, which requires it be performed consistently at a high level. The Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) was developed to standardize the acquisition, interpretation, and reporting of liver imaging, but until now, has not addressed the essential component of exam quality and adequacy. In this manuscript, we discuss the concepts of quality and adequacy and their clinical significance in the setting of HCC diagnostic imaging and treatment response assessment.

Enhanced interpretable thyroid disease diagnosis by leveraging synthetic oversampling and machine learning models.

Thyroid illness encompasses a range of disorders affecting the thyroid gland, leading to either hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, which can significantly impact metabolism and overall health. Hypothyroidism can cause a slowdown in bodily processes, leading to symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, depression, and cold sensitivity. Hyperthyroidism can lead to increased metabolism, causing symptoms like rapid weight loss, anxiety, irritability, and heart palpitations.

Myelomeningocele repair in Latin America: a systematic review.

Objective: Myelomeningocele (MMC) carries high morbidity and mortality. The Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS) showed improved outcomes after prenatal compared to postnatal repair. However, it is unclear how the MOMS trial affected practice and outcomes in the Latin American region.

Presentation, Treatment, and Survival Among Asians With Gastric Cancer.

Introduction: In aggregate, Asian patients have a higher incidence and mortality from gastric cancer (GC) than Non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients. However, there is a lack of data regarding outcomes among Asian-American subpopulations with GC.

Methods: The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with GC between 2004 and 2020.

A high-efficiency and long-cycling aqueous indium metal battery enabled by synergistic In/K interactions.

Aqueous trivalent metal batteries are promising options for energy storage, owing to their ability to transfer three electrons during redox reactions. However, advances in this field have been limited by challenges such as incompatible M/M electrode potentials and salt hydrolysis. Herein, we identify the trivalent indium metal as a viable candidate and demonstrate a high-performance indium-Prussian blue hybrid battery using a K/In mixture electrolyte.

Impact of adolescent high-fat diet and psychosocial stress on neuroendocrine stress responses and binge eating behavior in adult male Lewis rats.

Childhood obesity is a multifactorial disease affecting more than 160 million adolescents worldwide. Adolescent exposure to obesogenic environments, characterized by access to high-fat diets and stress, precipitates maladaptive eating habits in adulthood such as binge eating. Evidence suggests a strong association between Western-like high-saturated-fat (WD) food consumption and dysregulated hormone fluctuations.

Timing of tracheostomy in geriatric patients with isolated severe traumatic brain injury: A nationwide analysis.

Background: The impact of tracheostomy timing on outcomes is unclear in geriatric patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Patients aged≥65 with isolated severe TBI who underwent tracheostomy were identified in the ACS-TQIP 2017-2020 database. Patients were grouped by early (<10 days) vs.

Twice-Yearly Lenacapavir for HIV Prevention in Men and Gender-Diverse Persons.

Background: Twice-yearly subcutaneous lenacapavir has been shown to be efficacious for prevention of HIV infection in cisgender women. The efficacy of lenacapavir for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in cisgender men, transgender women, transgender men, and gender-nonbinary persons is unclear.

Methods: In this phase 3, double-blind, randomized, active-controlled trial, we randomly assigned participants in a 2:1 ratio to receive subcutaneous lenacapavir every 26 weeks or daily oral emtricitabine-tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (F/TDF).

Using Hybrid Coating to Fabricate Highly Stable and Expandable Transparent Liquid Marbles.

Liquid marbles (LMs) are microliter-scale droplets coated with hydrophobic solid particles. The particle size and hydrophobicity of the surface coating determine their properties, such as transparency, expandability, and resistance to evaporation and coalescence, one or more of which can be critical to their application as microreactors. This study reports the use of a mixture of two different hydrophobic powders for fabrication of LMs for colorimetric assays: trichloro(1,1,2,2-perfluorooctyl) silane-linked silica gel (modified silica gel (MSG), particle size: 40-75 μm) and hexamethyldisilazane-linked fumed silica (modified fumed silica (MFS), average aggregate length: 200-300 nm).

Oncolytic Virotherapies and Adjuvant Gut Microbiome Therapeutics to Enhance Efficacy Against Malignant Gliomas.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent malignant brain tumor. Current standard-of-care treatments offer limited benefits for patient survival. Virotherapy is emerging as a novel strategy to use oncolytic viruses (OVs) for the treatment of GBM.

Potential Applications and Ethical Considerations for Artificial Intelligence in Traumatic Brain Injury Management.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems have emerged as promising tools for rapidly identifying patterns in large amounts of healthcare data to help guide clinical decision making, as well as to assist with medical education and the planning of research studies. Accumulating evidence suggests AI techniques may be particularly useful for aiding the diagnosis and clinical management of traumatic brain injury (TBI)-a considerably heterogeneous neurologic condition that can be challenging to detect and treat. However, important methodological and ethical concerns with the use of AI in medicine necessitate close monitoring and regulation of these techniques as advancements continue.

Virtual histopathology methods in medical imaging - a systematic review.

Virtual histopathology is an emerging technology in medical imaging that utilizes advanced computational methods to analyze tissue images for more precise disease diagnosis. Traditionally, histopathology relies on manual techniques and expertise, often resulting in time-consuming processes and variability in diagnoses. Virtual histopathology offers a more consistent, and automated approach, employing techniques like machine learning, deep learning, and image processing to simulate staining and enhance tissue analysis.

Lateral entorhinal cortex neurons that project to nucleus accumbens mediate contextual associative memory.

The lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) contains glutamatergic projections that innervate the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and may be involved in the encoding of contextual associations with both positive and negative valences, such as those encountered in drug cues or fear conditioning. To determine whether LEC-NAc neurons are activated by the encoding and recall of contexts associated with cocaine or footshock, we measured c-fos expression in these neurons and found that LEC-NAc neurons are activated in both contexts. Specifically, activation patterns of the LEC-NAc were observed in a novel context and reexposure to the same context, highlighting the specific role for LEC-NAc neurons in encoding rather than the valence of a specific event-related memory.

Women in Dental Clinical and Translational Research.

This article presents a summary of the third American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Meeting within a Meeting, which was held during the 2024 annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Speakers were challenged to reflect on how women are differentially affected by health and societal issues by factors that go beyond biology. The goal was to promote current research on women's issues that are relevant to dental, oral, and craniofacial scientists.

Unraveling the Boundaries of Police Physical Fitness: Normative Values of Police Physical Fitness Based on a Representative Sample of 8,000 Federal Highway Police Officers Aged 21-70 Years From Brazil.

Marins, EF, de Araújo Rocha Junior, V, Castagna de Freitas, F, Rossy e Vasconcelos Júnior, J, Aparecido Minervi, N, Dawes, JJ, and Boscolo Del Vecchio, F. Unraveling the boundaries of police physical fitness: normative values of police physical fitness based on a representative sample of 8000 federal highway police officers aged 21-70 years from Brazil. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2024-To develop age- and sex-based normative tables related to physical fitness components (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, and power) from a representative sample of the Brazilian police population.

Efficacy and Safety of Switching to Daily Bictegravir Plus Lenacapavir From a Complex Human Immunodeficiency Virus Treatment Regimen: A Randomized, Open-Label, Multicenter Phase 2 Study (ARTISTRY-1).

Background: Complex antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens, such as those requiring multiple tablets, several doses per day, or both, can negatively affect quality of life and treatment adherence among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Methods: ARTISTRY-1 is a phase 2/3, operationally seamless, randomized, open-label, multicenter, active-controlled study (GS-US-621-6289; NCT05502341). Phase 2 of the study enrolled adults with plasma HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL receiving a complex ART regimen for ≥6 months.

Retinitis Pigmentosa Associated With EYS Gene Mutations in Puerto Rico: A Case Series.

Background: Mutations in the (eyes shut homolog) gene are a known cause of autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP). Pathogenic variants in have been associated with a more severe clinical course compared to mutations in other retinitis pigmentosa (RP)-related genes. The prevalence of -related arRP varies among different populations.

How Physician-Insurance Contracting Contributes to the Medical Exodus and Access to Ophthalmic Care in Puerto Rico.

Background: Puerto Rico (PR) has experienced significant demographic changes, characterized primarily by an aging population and an unprecedented exodus of medical doctors. Ophthalmologists are of particular concern as they commonly serve older populations, and the island has high rates of some age-related eye diseases in the United States (US). Our research aims to investigate the factors driving ophthalmologists in PR to emigrate to the mainland US.

The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Asthma Severity in US Adults.

: The association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and asthma severity among United States (US) adults with asthma has not been well documented. In addition, whether gender differences exist in this association has been underexplored. We aimed to examine the prevalence of asthma severity in the US adult population with asthma and investigate the association between ACEs and asthma severity by using data from non-institutionalized US adults with asthma.

Application of Forced Oscillation Technique in Assessing Pulmonary Fibrosis in Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome.

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by defects in lysosome-related organelles. Given the high mortality rate associated with HPS pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and the significant risks tied to lung transplantation, it is essential to explore new tools for the early surveillance of PF to monitor its progression before clinical symptoms become apparent. This study evaluates the forced oscillation technique (FOT) for assessing PF in five adult patients with HPS, all homozygous for the (c.

Practitioners' Needs for Addressing the Challenges of Sea-Level Rise-A Qualitative Assessment.

Practitioners at the local and regional scale are under increased pressure to reduce risks to people and property posed by the threats of sea-level rise (SLR) and associated impacts. To achieve this, a dialog between practitioners and scientists is imperative. Current research documents impacts of SLR, evaluates local SLR adaptation activities, identifies barriers to action, and works to assess local adaptive capacity.

The Long-Term Survival of Implants in the Esthetic Region.

Dental implants in the esthetic zone of the oral cavity have always posed a challenge to the oral surgeon. Multiple variables must be considered, such as available soft and hard tissues, gingival phenotype, position of the lip upon smiling, and other factors that pertain to patient compliance and expectations. It is essential to pay attention to the factors that might compromise the long-term stability of these implants.