Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Sexually and Gender Diverse Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

This study assesses differences in opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment among sexually and gender diverse (SGD) vs non-SGD people. Using electronic health record data from a federally qualified health center, this retrospective cohort study explores OUD treatment for adults with an OUD diagnosis, as well as any clinic visit from January 2013 until June 2021 (N = 1,133), through review of medication prescriptions for OUD and OUD-related visits. Patients identifying as lesbian/gay had the lowest prevalence of OUD, with 1% (n = 231) of lesbian/gay patients having an OUD diagnosis, as compared to 1.

Computational prediction of multiple antigen epitopes.

Motivation: Identifying antigen epitopes is essential in medical applications, such as immunodiagnostic reagent discovery, vaccine design, and drug development. Computational approaches can complement low-throughput, time-consuming, and costly experimental determination of epitopes. Currently available prediction methods, however, have moderate success predicting epitopes, which limits their applicability.

Mindfulness and Interoceptive Awareness: A Network Analysis.

Higher trait mindfulness is correlated with higher interoceptive awareness. However, there is a gap in understanding which mindfulness dimensions connect to which interoceptive awareness dimensions. This study ( N = 1005) used network analysis to identify central and bridge nodes driving the linkage between mindfulness and interoceptive awareness.

Pdr5: A master of asymmetry.

Pdr5 is a founding member of a large (pdr) subfamily of clinically and agriculturally significant fungal ABC transporters. The tremendous power of yeast genetics combined with biochemical and structural approaches revealed the astonishing asymmetry of this efflux pump. Asymmetry is manifested in Pdr5's ATP-binding sites, drug binding sites, signal transformation interface, and molecular exit gate.

Clinical Characteristics, Response to Platinum-Based Chemotherapy and Poly (Adenosine Phosphate-Ribose) Polymerase Inhibitors in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Harboring BRCA Mutations.

The oncogenic role and clinical relevance of mutations in NSCLC remain unclear. We aim to evaluate the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with NSCLC harboring mutations treated at Hadassah Medical Center (HMC). We retrospectively assessed all patients with advanced NSCLC who underwent next-generation sequencing (NGS) and were found to have pathogenic somatic mutations (p-BRCA).

TFOFinder: Python program for identifying purine-only double-stranded stretches in the predicted secondary structure(s) of RNA targets.

Nucleic acid probes are valuable tools in biology and chemistry and are indispensable for PCR amplification of DNA, RNA quantification and visualization, and downregulation of gene expression. Recently, triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFO) have received increased attention due to their improved selectivity and sensitivity in recognizing purine-rich double-stranded RNA regions at physiological pH by incorporating backbone and base modifications. For example, triplex-forming peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers have been used for imaging a structured RNA in cells and inhibiting influenza A replication.

Bifurcations and transition to chaos in generalized fractional maps of the orders 0 < α < 1.

In this paper, we investigate the generalized fractional maps of the orders 0<α<1. Commonly used in publications, fractional and fractional difference maps of the orders 0<α<1 belong to this class of maps. As an example, we numerically solve the equations, which define asymptotically periodic points to draw the bifurcation diagrams for the fractional difference logistic map with α=0.

Inhibition of ERK signaling for treatment of ERRα positive TNBC.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), in particular, is an aggressive and highly metastatic type of breast cancer that does not respond to established targeted therapies and is associated with poor prognosis and worse survival. Previous studies identified a subgroup of triple-negative breast cancer patients with high expression of estrogen related receptor alpha (ERRα) that has better prognosis when treated with tamoxifen. We therefore set out to identify common targets of tamoxifen and ERRα in the context of TNBC using phosphoproteomic analysis.

Endocrine therapy resistance: what we know and future directions.

Endocrine resistance is a major hurdle in the treatment of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. When abnormally regulated, molecular signals responsible for cellular proliferation, as well as ER itself, allow for cellular evasion of ER-dependent treatments. Therefore, pharmacological treatments that target these evasion mechanisms are beneficial for the treatment of endocrine-resistant breast cancers.

COVID-19 Pharmacotherapy: Drug Development, Repurposing of Drugs, and the Role of Pharmacogenomics.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been the subject of intense pharmacological research. Various pharmacotherapeutic approaches including antiviral and immunotherapy are being explored. A pandemic, however, cannot depend on the development of new drugs; the time required for conventional drug discovery and development is far too lengthy.

Time Production Intensively Studied in One Observer.

If one accepts the notion of an internal clock, then one must further presume that time production (TP) is attuned with the rate of functioning of the clock's pacemaker. As the level of environmental stimulation increases, TP of the same target durations should decrease; this is particularly the case when one is exposed to flicker. In the present exploratory study, wherein the second author served in an = 1 experiment, we intensely study TP, using a factorial design that crosses a factor of Flicker with one of Counting Strategy, to create 48 different conditions (sessions).

Preschool children weigh accuracy against partisanship when seeking information.

The current work asked how preschool-age children (N = 200) weigh accuracy against partisanship when seeking information. When choosing between a story that favored the ingroup but came from an unreliable source and a story that favored the outgroup but came from a reliable source, children were split between the two; although they tracked both reliability and bias, they were conflicted about which one to prioritize. Furthermore, children changed their opinions of the groups after hearing the story they had chosen; children who heard an unreliable ingroup-favoring story ended up more biased against the outgroup even while recognizing that the story's author was not a trustworthy source of information.

Does Your Patient Understand Their Treatment Plan? Factors Affecting Patient Understanding of Their Medical Care Treatment Plan in the Inpatient Setting.

The empathy and quality of communication between the physician and patient is believed to correlate with patient satisfaction and knowledge of the diagnoses and treatment plan. Examining patients' understanding of their plan can allow providers to better aid patients upon their discharge from the hospital in the hopes of improving home care compliance. We sought to evaluate factors that we hypothesized to have an impact on a patient's ability to understand their medical management plan in the inpatient setting.

Intuitive theories inform children's beliefs about intergroup obligation.

In addition to emerging from children's direct experiences with collaborative partners and groups, children's beliefs about obligation also arise from a process of intuitive theory-building in early childhood. On this account, it is possible for at least some of children's beliefs to emerge in the absence of specific experiences where obligations are held among fellow members of a group "we."

The persistence of pay inequality: The gender pay gap in an anonymous online labor market.

Studies of the gender pay gap are seldom able to simultaneously account for the range of alternative putative mechanisms underlying it. Using CloudResearch, an online microtask platform connecting employers to workers who perform research-related tasks, we examine whether gender pay discrepancies are still evident in a labor market characterized by anonymity, relatively homogeneous work, and flexibility. For 22,271 Mechanical Turk workers who participated in nearly 5 million tasks, we analyze hourly earnings by gender, controlling for key covariates which have been shown previously to lead to differential pay for men and women.

The effects of manganese overexposure on brain health.

Manganese (Mn) is the twelfth most abundant element on the earth and an essential metal to human health. Mn is present at low concentrations in a variety of dietary sources, which provides adequate Mn content to sustain support various physiological processes in the human body. However, with the rise of Mn utility in a variety of industries, there is an increased risk of overexposure to this transition metal, which can have neurotoxic consequences.

Venous Thromboembolism and Sarcoidosis: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Several studies have described an increased incidence of venous thromboembolism in inflammatory conditions such as sarcoidosis. CASE REPORT We report a case of a 27-year-old African-American man who developed sarcoidosis with pulmonary involvement after 4 years of unexplained thromboembolism. CONCLUSIONS This report discusses the relationship between sarcoidosis and venous thromboembolism.

Effects of energy drinks on the cardiovascular system.

Throughout the last decade, the use of energy drinks has been increasingly looked upon with caution as potentially dangerous due to their perceived strong concentration of caffeine aside from other substances such as taurine, guarana, and L-carnitine that are largely unknown to the general public. In addition, a large number of energy drink intoxications have been reported all over the world including cases of seizures and arrhythmias. In this paper, we focus on the effect of energy drinks on the cardiovascular system and whether the current ongoing call for the products' sales and regulation of their contents should continue.

Sex Differences in Tobacco Use Among Persons Living With HIV/AIDS: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) smoke at higher rates than other adults and experience HIV-related and non-HIV-related adverse smoking consequences. This study conducted a systematic review to synthesize current knowledge about sex differences in smoking behaviors among PLWH.

Methods: Over 3000 abstracts from MEDLINE were reviewed and 79 publications met all the review inclusion criteria (ie, reported data on smoking behaviors for PLWH by sex).

Synthesis and characterization of PEGylated bolaamphiphiles with enhanced retention in liposomes.

Long-circulating liposomes are typically prepared with poly(ethylene glycol)- (PEG-) modified lipids, where the lipid portion is inserted in the lipid bilayers as an anchor and the hydrophilic PEG coats the surface to prevent liposome aggregation and rapid clearance in vivo. However, these steric protection effects are compromised upon systemic administration due to low retention of PEGylated lipids within liposome membranes upon dilution. Hence, a series of PEGylated bolaamphiphiles (PEG-bolas) were for the first time developed to increase retention in the lipid bilayer, presumably leading to enhanced integrity of the PEG protective layer upon dilution.

Exposure to TiO2 nanoparticles increases Staphylococcus aureus infection of HeLa cells.

Background: Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most common nanoparticles found in industry ranging from food additives to energy generation. Approximately four million tons of TiO2 particles are produced worldwide each year with approximately 3000 tons being produced in nanoparticulate form, hence exposure to these particles is almost certain.

Results: Even though TiO2 is also used as an anti-bacterial agent in combination with UV, we have found that, in the absence of UV, exposure of HeLa cells to TiO2 nanoparticles significantly increased their risk of bacterial invasion.

RSK-mediated down-regulation of PDCD4 is required for proliferation, survival, and migration in a model of triple-negative breast cancer.

The p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK) is a family of MAPK-activated serine/threonine kinases (RSK1-4) whose expression and/or activity are deregulated in several cancers, including breast cancer. Up-regulation of RSKs promotes cellular processes that drive tumorigenesis in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) cells. Although RSKs regulate protein synthesis in certain cell types, the role of RSK-mediated translational control in oncogenic progression has yet to be evaluated.

Mechanisms of amphetamine action illuminated through optical monitoring of dopamine synaptic vesicles in Drosophila brain.

Amphetamines elevate extracellular dopamine, but the underlying mechanisms remain uncertain. Here we show in rodents that acute pharmacological inhibition of the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT) blocks amphetamine-induced locomotion and self-administration without impacting cocaine-induced behaviours. To study VMAT's role in mediating amphetamine action in dopamine neurons, we have used novel genetic, pharmacological and optical approaches in Drosophila melanogaster.

Development of a Rapid Insulin Assay by Homogenous Time-Resolved Fluorescence.

Direct measurement of insulin is critical for basic and clinical studies of insulin secretion. However, current methods are expensive and time-consuming. We developed an insulin assay based on homogenous time-resolved fluorescence that is significantly more rapid and cost-effective than current commonly used approaches.