-cold extrusion synergized with cysteine for enhancing physicochemical, rheological characteristics and digestibility of whey protein isolate.

Impacts of co-cold extrusion (≤50 °C) of whey protein isolate (WPI) and cysteine (Cys, 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mmol/L) on its physicochemical, digestion and rheological properties were investigated. As Cys concentration increased, the emulsifying properties and digestibility of co-extruded WPI-Cys products showed an increasing trend. Specifically, when Cys reached 100 mmol/L, surface hydrophobicity, emulsification activity index (EAI), emulsification stability index (ESI) and stomach digestibility of the co-extruded WPI-Cys products increased by 205.

Remediation of benzo[α]pyrene contaminated soil using iron naturally bearing in tropical soil: A new frontier in catalyst-free in soil remediation.

Nature iron is considered one of the promising catalysts in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) that are utilized for soil remediation from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, the existence of anions, cations, and organic matter in soils considered impurities that restricted the utilization of iron that was harnessed naturally in the soil matrix and reduced the catalytic performance. In this regard, tropical soil naturally containing iron and relatively poor with impurities was artificially contaminated with 100 mg/50 g benzo[α]pyrene (B[α]P) and remediated using a slurry phase reactor supported with persulfate (PS).

Intracellular spatial transcriptomic analysis toolkit (InSTAnT).

Imaging-based spatial transcriptomics technologies such as Multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) can capture cellular processes in unparalleled detail. However, rigorous and robust analytical tools are needed to unlock their full potential for discovering subcellular biological patterns. We present Intracellular Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis Toolkit (InSTAnT), a computational toolkit for extracting molecular relationships from spatial transcriptomics data at single molecule resolution.

The Impact of Unions on US Direct Care Workers in Long-Term Care Settings: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To meet a growing demand for direct care workers (DCWs) in the United States, structural, organizational, and policy-related solutions are needed. Unionization of the workforce may be one such mechanism; however, its impact on outcomes remains poorly understood. To examine the impact of unionization on DCWs' financial well-being and employment attitudes, as well as patient outcomes.

Susceptibility and infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 in children versus adults, by variant (wild-type, alpha, delta): A systematic review and meta-analysis of household contact studies.

Importance: Understanding the susceptibility and infectiousness of children and adolescents in comparison to adults is important to appreciate their role in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To determine SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and infectiousness of children and adolescents with adults as comparator for three variants (wild-type, alpha, delta) in the household setting. We aimed to identify the effects independent of vaccination or prior infection.

Early Prediction of Progression to Alzheimer's Disease using Multi-Modality Neuroimages by a Novel Ordinal Learning Model ADPacer.

Machine learning has shown great promise for integrating multi-modality neuroimaging datasets to predict the risk of progression/conversion to Alzheimer's Disease (AD) for individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Most existing work aims to classify MCI patients into converters versus non-converters using a pre-defined timeframe. The limitation is a lack of granularity in differentiating MCI patients who convert at different paces.

Association Between Influenza Vaccination and Acute Kidney Injury Among the Elderly: A Self-Controlled Case Series.

Background: Several cases of renal complications, including acute kidney injury (AKI), after influenza vaccination have been reported, but the association remains unproven. We evaluated the association between influenza vaccination and AKI occurrence among the Korean elderly in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons.

Methods: We used a large database combining vaccination registration data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and claims data from the National Health Insurance Service.

The influence of social support in the prevention and treatment of postpartum depression: An intervention-based narrative review.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a mental health disorder that affects 10%-15% women globally. Longitudinal and meta-analyses have consistently demonstrated the negative impacts of PPD on both the affected mothers and subsequent infant development. Given the consideration that antidepressant side effects in breastfeeding infants and the cost-effectiveness considerations of psychotherapies, attention has been paid towards the promising role of social support interventions in order to prevent and reduce the PPD symptoms.

Transforming text to music using artificial intelligence improves the frontal lobe function of normal older adults.

Introduction: Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have been substantial. We investigated the effectiveness of an online meeting in which normal older adults (otokai) used a music-generative AI that transforms text to music (Music Trinity Generative Algorithm-Human Refined [MusicTGA-HR]).

Methods: One hundred eighteen community-dwelling, cognitively normal older adults were recruited through the internet (64 men, 54 women; mean age: 69.

Nature of back slopping kombucha fermentation process: insights from the microbial succession, metabolites composition changes and their correlations.

Kombucha, a fermented tea prepared with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), offers a unique and unpredictable home-brewed fermentation process. Therefore, the need for a controlled kombucha fermentation process has become evident, which requiring a thorough understanding of the microbial composition and its relationship with the metabolites produced. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of microbial communities and metabolites over a 12-day fermentation period of a conventional kombucha-making process.

Analyzing economic effect on mRNA vaccine inventory management with redistribution policy.

This study focused on the challenges posed by the fluctuating demand for COVID-19 vaccines, considering factors such as side effects, religious objections, and absenteeism, which result in the accumulation of excess vaccines. Recognizing the resulting social, economic, and environmental issues, this study investigated the application of a lateral transshipment policy for the management of the inventory of short-term vaccines, considering related unpredictabilities. A discrete event simulation built on foundational principles derived from a mixed-integer linear programming model was employed to explore the dynamics of mRNA-based vaccine distribution among two hospitals based on lateral transshipment and reordering policies.

Next-Generation Custom-Fit Reusable Respiratory Protective Device with Continuous Fit Monitoring - Part II: Continuous Fit Monitoring.

Filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) are manufactured in discrete sizes, with some models being limited in accommodating the fit of some sex and race combinations. This study presents the development of a custom-fit respiratory protective device (RPD) which conforms to a user's facial features and flexes and moves with facial movements during use. Our design also integrates a pressure-sensing network, which continuously monitors fit and will alert the user when the fit is compromised.

Anti-Growth and Anti-Metastatic Potential of Raw and Thermally Treated Extract in Human Cancer Cells.

Teff (), a gluten-free cereal crop cultivated originally in Northeast Africa, is increasingly utilized due to its nutritional and health benefits. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of ethanol extract obtained from raw and thermally treated teff, referred to as RTE and TTE, respectively, on uncontrolled growth and activated metastasis using human cancer cell lines. Both RTE and TTE contained flavones, such as orientin (luteolin 8-C-glucoside) and vitexin (apigenin 8-C-glucoside), and phenolic acids, such as protocatechuic acid and -coumaric acid.

Optimising Bioprinting Nozzles through Computational Modelling and Design of Experiments.

3D bioprinting is a promising technique for creating artificial tissues and organs. One of the main challenges of bioprinting is cell damage, due to high pressures and tensions. During the biofabrication process, extrusion bioprinting usually results in low cell viability, typically ranging from 40% to 80%, although better printing performance with higher cell viability can be achieved by optimising the experimental design and operating conditions, with nozzle geometry being a key factor.

Optimal Design of Formulas for a Single Degree of Freedom Tuned Mass Damper Parameter Using a Genetic Algorithm and H Norm.

One of the researchers' concerns in structural engineering is to control the dynamic behavior of structures efficiently. The TMD (tuned mass damper) is one of the effective methods of controlling the vibration of structures, and various numerical techniques have been proposed to find the optimal parameters of the TMD. This paper develops a new explicit formula to derive the optimal parameters of the TMD of a single degree of freedom (SDOF) structure under seismic load using a genetic algorithm (GA).

Personalized movie recommendations based on probabilistic linguistic sentiment and integrated DEMATEL-TODIM methods.

With the development of society, online reviews are increasingly becoming a crucial factor in decision-making. Especially for entertainment products such as movies, they are preferred for their affordability and high entertainment factor. Therefore, this paper proposes a movie recommendation model that considers user personalization using a probabilistic linguistic approach based on online reviews.

Microalgae: A Biological Tool for Removal and Recovery of Potentially Toxic Elements in Wastewater Treatment Photobioreactors.

Potentially toxic elements (PTE) pollution in water bodies is an emerging problem in recent decades due to uncontrolled discharges from human activities. Copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and uranium are considered potentially toxic and carcinogenic elements that threaten human health. Microalgae-based technologies for the wastewater treatment have gained importance in recent years due to their biomass high growth rates and effectiveness.

The need for individualization: An open innovation perspective on the case for customized products.

In modern marketing, the emergence of mass customization has reoriented the focus from traditional marketing practices toward a customer-centric approach. The individualization feel among consumers and the innovative approach taken by businesses are currently evident in the market but has yet been holistically analyzed. This study applied a modified Theory of Planned Behavior by incorporating the need for individualization, hedonic and utilitarian motivations, with a 4Ps marketing mix - with the main objective to identify factors contributing to the intention to make purchase of customized products.

Understanding the natural language of DNA using encoder-decoder foundation models with byte-level precision.

Summary: This article presents the Ensemble Nucleotide Byte-level Encoder-Decoder (ENBED) foundation model, analyzing DNA sequences at byte-level precision with an encoder-decoder Transformer architecture. ENBED uses a subquadratic implementation of attention to develop an efficient model capable of sequence-to-sequence transformations, generalizing previous genomic models with encoder-only or decoder-only architectures. We use Masked Language Modeling to pretrain the foundation model using reference genome sequences and apply it in the following downstream tasks: (i) identification of enhancers, promotors, and splice sites, (ii) recognition of sequences containing base call mismatches and insertion/deletion errors, an advantage over tokenization schemes involving multiple base pairs, which lose the ability to analyze with byte-level precision, (iii) identification of biological function annotations of genomic sequences, and (iv) generating mutations of the Influenza virus using the encoder-decoder architecture and validating them against real-world observations.

Effects of recirculation and air change per hour on COVID-19 transmission in indoor settings: A CFD study with varying HVAC parameters.

COVID-19 has already claimed over 7 million lives and has infected over 775 million people globally [1]. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, spreads primarily through droplets from infected people's airways, rendering Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems critical in controlling infection risk levels in the indoor environment. To understand the dynamics of exhaled droplets and aerosols and the percentage of particles that are inhaled, escaped, recirculated, or trapped on different surfaces for a variety of environmental settings, we have presented our findings from the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to investigate the impact of changing HVAC parameters in this paper.

Free-space direct nanoscale 3D printing of metals and alloys enabled by two-photon decomposition and ultrafast optical trapping.

Nanoscale three-dimensional (3D) printing of metals and alloys has faced challenges in speed, miniaturization and deficiency in material properties. Traditional nanomanufacturing relies on lithographic methods with material constraints, limited resolution and slow layer-by-layer processing. This work introduces polymer-free techniques using two-photon decomposition and optical force trapping for free-space direct 3D printing of metals, metal oxides and multimetallic alloys with resolutions beyond optical limits.

Nontechnical Skills Assessment in Acute Care Trauma Simulations: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Eye Tracking and Behavioral Marker Systems.

Introduction: The condition of trauma patients and the urgent need for timely resuscitation present unique challenges to trauma teams. These difficulties are exacerbated for military trauma teams in combat environments. Consequently, there is a need for continued improvement of nontechnical skills (NTS) training for trauma teams.