Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplements for Sarcopenia in Liver Cirrhosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Sarcopenia, a key aspect of malnutrition in liver cirrhosis (LC), affects 30-70% of LC patients. Given the inconsistent results from RCTs on branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) for treating sarcopenia in LC, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of BCAAs for sarcopenia management in LC patients.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing evidence from RCTs obtained from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to April 2024.

Intranasal delivery of metformin using metal-organic framework (MOF)-74-Mg nanocarriers.

Dosage tolerance is one of the translational challenges of using metformin (Met) in brain therapeutics. This paper presents metal-organic framework (MOF)-74-Mg nanocarriers (NCs) for intranasal (IN) delivery of brain-specific agents with a prolonged release time. We confirmed their excellent biocompatibility (5 mg/mL) and intrinsic fluorescence properties (370/500 nm excitation/emission peak) in Neuro-2A cells.

Evolutionary Genomics of Two Co-occurring Congeneric Fore Reef Coral Species on Guam (Mariana Islands).

Population structure provides essential information for developing meaningful conservation plans. This is especially important in remote places, such as oceanic islands, where limited population sizes and genetic isolation can make populations more susceptible and self-dependent. In this study, we assess and compare the relatedness, population genetics and molecular ecology of two sympatric Acropora species, A.

Artificial Intelligence Decision Support Systems in Resource-Limited Environments to Save Lives and Reduce Moral Injury.

Future military conflicts are likely to involve peer or near-peer adversaries in large-scale combat operations, leading to casualty rates not seen since World War II. Casualty volume, combined with anticipated disruptions in medical evacuation, will create resource-limited environments that challenge medical responders to make complex, repetitive triage decisions. Similarly, pandemics, mass casualty incidents, and natural disasters strain civilian health care providers, increasing their risk for exhaustion, burnout, and moral injury.

Association between procedure duration and adverse events in congenital cardiac catheterization.

Background: Procedure duration is an important predictor of patient outcomes in surgery. However, the relationship between procedure duration and adverse events in congenital cardiac catheterization is largely unexplored.

Methods: All cases entered into the Congenital Cardiac Catheterization Project on Outcomes from 2014 to 2017 were included.

A novel case of glial transdifferentiation in renal medullary carcinoma brain metastasis.

Renal medullary carcinoma is a rare undifferentiated tumor of the kidney associated with sickle cell trait and characterized by INI1 (SMARCB1) loss. Although metastasis to lungs, lymph nodes, and bone is commonly reported, distant spread to the central nervous system almost never occurs. Here we present an unusual case of a patient with renal medullary carcinoma with metastasis to the brain following treatment which included tazemetostat, an EZH2 inhibitor.

Mixed vulnerabilities: the biological risk of high parity is aggravated by emergency referral in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda.

Identification of interacting vulnerabilities is essential to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). High parity (≥ 5 previous births) is an underemphasized biological vulnerability linked to poverty and affecting a sizeable proportion of SSA births. Despite increased risk, high parity women rarely use hospitals for childbirth.

How do staff work in NHS hospital operations management meetings to support resilience in everyday service delivery? A qualitative study.

Background: Operations Management meetings in NHS hospitals provide an opportunity for operational and clinical staff to monitor demand and capacity and manage patient flow. These meetings play an important role in the achievement of resilient performance over time. However, little is known about the work that takes place within these meetings in the United Kingdom's National Health Service.

Federally qualified health center patients' experiences with remote patient monitoring as part of telehealth services for self-measured blood pressure monitoring.

Background: Remote patient monitoring (RPM) for hypertension management has become increasingly popular, demonstrating benefits for both clinics and patients. However, patient engagement in self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring remains low despite healthcare providers' efforts. This study aimed to assess adherence and acceptance of RPM for SMBP among Texas Federally Qualified Health Center patients.

Systematic ocular phenotyping of 8,707 knockout mouse lines identifies genes associated with abnormal corneal phenotypes.

Purpose: Corneal dysmorphologies (CDs) are typically classified as either regressive degenerative corneal dystrophies (CDtrs) or defective growth and differentiation-driven corneal dysplasias (CDyps). Both eye disorders have multifactorial etiologies. While previous work has elucidated many aspects of CDs, such as presenting symptoms, epidemiology, and pathophysiology, the genetic mechanisms remain incompletely understood.

Population genomics of premature termination codons in cavefish with substantial trait loss.

Loss-of-function alleles are a pertinent source of genetic variation with the potential to contribute to adaptation. Cave-adapted organisms exhibit striking loss of ancestral traits such as eyes and pigment, suggesting that loss-of-function alleles may play an outsized role in these systems. Here, we leverage 141 whole genome sequences to evaluate the evolutionary history and adaptive potential of single nucleotide premature termination codons (PTCs) in Mexican tetra.

Exploring the Different Impacts of Ketamine on Neurotrophic Factors and Inflammatory Parameters in a Cecal Ligation and Puncture-Induced Sepsis Model.

Given ketamine's conflicting impacts on the central nervous system, investigating its effects within an inflammatory context becomes crucial. This study aimed to assess the impact of varying ketamine doses on neurotrophin and inflammatory cytokine levels within the brains of rats submitted to the sepsis model. Wistar rats were submitted to the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model of sepsis.

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Relation to Leiomyoma Volume, Location, and Position in Reproductive-aged Women in the USA.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Uterine leiomyomata are widely believed to contribute to lower urinary tract symptoms in women, but it is unclear whether leiomyoma size, position, and location have important implications for these symptoms. We assessed whether greater leiomyoma volume, anterior position, and subserosal location were associated with urinary incontinence and frequent urination in a racially diverse, nationwide sample of premenopausal women in the USA.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 477 premenopausal women from 12 USA sites undergoing evaluation for laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation or myomectomy for leiomyomata was carried out.

Exposure to Crime at Food Stores: Implications for Nutrition and Health among Black Americans.

Crime is a public health issue that disproportionately affects racially-marginalized populations. Studies have reported that food stores (e.g.

A potential VEGF-driven hypothesis of calvarial centripetal proliferation in cerebral proliferative angiopathy.

Cerebral proliferative angiopathy (CPA) is a rare subtype of cerebral arteriovenous malformation, characterized by unique angiographic features and clinical presentations. Although the clinical and angiographic characteristics of CPA have been well described, their impact on the surrounding tissues remains underexplored. Herein, we investigated the presence of calvarial thickening in patients with CPA, and discuss its potential pathogenesis.

MyEcoReporter: a prototype for artificial intelligence-facilitated pollution reporting.

Background: Many chemical releases are first noticed by community members, but reporting these concerns often involves considerable hurdles. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, especially large language models (LLMs), can potentially reduce these barriers.

Objective: We hypothesized that AI-powered chatbots can facilitate reporting of pollution incidents through text messaging.

Examining the affordable connectivity program and telehealth use: a pilot survey of the affordable connectivity program, telehealth, video and audio visits in a racially diverse, lower-income population.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) aimed to narrow the digital divide by providing discounted internet services for millions of low-income households during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined associations between enrollment in the ACP and Telehealth visits in a racially diverse low-income population. Data were obtained via a cross-sectional survey of 213 respondents.

Electro-tactile modulation of muscle activation and intermuscular coordination in the human upper extremity.

Electro-tactile stimulation (ETS) can be a promising aid in augmenting sensation for those with sensory deficits. Although applications of ETS have been explored, the impact of ETS on the underlying strategies of neuromuscular coordination remains largely unexplored. We investigated how ETS, alone or in the presence of mechano-tactile environment change, modulated the electromyogram (EMG) of individual muscles during force control and how the stimulation modulated the attributes of intermuscular coordination, assessed by muscle synergy analysis, in human upper extremities.

Association between chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and cardiovascular disease.

Chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a medical condition characterized by severe and prolonged fatigue that is not relieved by rest or attributed to any underlying medical or psychological condition. Individuals with CFS/ME are considered to have an increased risk of a wide range of comorbid conditions, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). The association between CFS/ME and CVD is not fully understood.

Airborne Escherichia coli bacteria biosynthesize lipids in response to aerosolization stress.

Gram-negative bacteria pose an increased threat to public health because of their ability to evade the effects of many antimicrobials with growing antibiotic resistance globally. One key component of gram-negative bacteria resistance is the functionality and the cells' ability to repair the outer membrane (OM) which acts as a barrier for the cell to the external environment. The biosynthesis of lipids, particularly lipopolysaccharides, or lipooligosaccharides (LPS/LOS) is essential for OM repair.

A customizable multiplex protein microarray for antibody testing and its application for tick-borne and other infectious diseases.

Tick-borne infections are the most common vector-borne diseases in the USA. Ticks harbor and transmit several infections with Lyme disease being the most common tickborne infection in the US and Europe. Lack of awareness about tick populations, specific diagnostic tests, and overlapping signs and symptoms of tick-borne infections can often lead to misdiagnosis affecting treatment and the prevalence data reported especially for non-Lyme tick-borne infections.

A dual role of Cohesin in DNA DSB repair.

Cells undergo tens of thousands of DNA-damaging events each day. Defects in repairing double-stranded breaks (DSBs) can lead to genomic instability, contributing to cancer, genetic disorders, immunological diseases, and developmental defects. Cohesin, a multi-subunit protein complex, plays a crucial role in both chromosome organization and DNA repair by creating architectural loops through chromatin extrusion.

Spatiotemporal transcriptome and metabolome landscapes of cotton somatic embryos.

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a developmental process related to the regeneration of tissue-cultured plants, which serves as a useful technique for crop breeding and improvement. However, SE in cotton is difficult and elusive due to the lack of precise cellular level information on the reprogramming of gene expression patterns involved in somatic embryogenesis. Here, we investigate the spatial and single-cell expression profiles of key genes and the metabolic patterns of key metabolites by integrated single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), spatial transcriptomics (ST), and spatial metabolomics (SM).

Spatiotemporal transcriptome and metabolome landscapes of cotton fiber during initiation and early development.

Cotton fibers are single cells that develop from the epidermal cells in the outer integument of developing seeds. The processes regulating fiber cell development have been extensively studied; however, the spatiotemporal transcriptome and metabolome profiles during the early stages of fiber development remain largely unknown. In this study, we profile the dynamics of transcriptome and metabolome during the early stages of cotton fiber cell development using a combination of spatial transcriptomic, single-cell transcriptomic, and spatial metabolomic analyses.

SCARB1 links cholesterol metabolism-mediated ferroptosis inhibition to radioresistance in tumor cells.

Introduction: Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death triggered by the excessive accumulation of lipid peroxides. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis and developing strategies to target this process hold significant clinical applications in tumor therapy.

Objective: Our study aims to search for novel candidate genes involved in the regulation of ferroptosis and to investigate their mechanism of action in ferroptosis and tumor therapy.