Validation of gender-equity model for liver allocation (GEMA) and its sodium variant (GEMA-Na) in candidates for liver transplantation.

Background: The current allocation system for liver transplantation (LT) is based on the sickest-first policy, using objective variables to ensure equal priority. However, under-prioritization of female patients for LT, compared to males, is well demonstrated and new scores have been proposed to overcome this systematic bias. This study evaluated the ability of these new scores to predict the long-term outcomes of patients with cirrhosis.

Long-Term Postoperative Donor Site Musculoskeletal Morbidity after Osseous Free Flap Harvest.

Objective: Complex ablative maxillary and mandibular defects often require osseous free flap reconstruction. Workhorse options include the fibula, scapula, and osteocutaneous radial forearm flap (OCRFF). The choice of donor site for harvest should be driven not only by reconstructive goals but also by donor site morbidity.

Association of sleep duration and all-cause and cancer-specific mortality: results of 2004 national health interview survey (NHIS).

Epidemiologic research has demonstrated a connection between the duration of sleep and the risk of overall mortality. This research investigates the correlation between sleep duration (SD) and the likelihood of all-cause and cancer-specific mortality among cancer patients, exploring the association between SD and mortality risk. The study used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2004, a U.

Visual image reconstructed without semantics from human brain activity using linear image decoders and nonlinear noise suppression.

In recent years, substantial strides have been made in the field of visual image reconstruction, particularly in its capacity to generate high-quality visual representations from human brain activity while considering semantic information. This advancement not only enables the recreation of visual content but also provides valuable insights into the intricate processes occurring within high-order functional brain regions, contributing to a deeper understanding of brain function. However, considering fusion semantics in reconstructing visual images from brain activity involves semantic-to-image guide reconstruction and may ignore underlying neural computational mechanisms, which does not represent true reconstruction from brain activity.

Changes in Cardiovascular Health at Midlife and Subsequent Cardiovascular Outcomes in Individuals With Diabetes.

Background: Whether improvements in cardiovascular health (CVH) in midlife mitigate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in patients with diabetes remains underexplored.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between changes in CVH during midlife and subsequent risks of CVD events and all-cause mortality among individuals with and without diabetes.

Methods: The study utilized data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Interplay Between Residential Nature Exposure and Walkability and Their Association with Cardiovascular Health.

Background: Green space has been linked with cardiovascular (CV) health. Nature access and quality may have significant impact on CV risk factors and health.

Objectives: The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between NatureScore, a composite score for natural environment exposure and quality of green spaces, with CV risk factors and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD).

Neurokinin-1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens shell influence sensitivity to social defeat stress and stress-induced alcohol consumption in male mice.

Chronic social defeat stress (SDS) is a widely employed preclinical model of depression involving repeated exposure to physical defeats using a resident-intruder model in male mice. Exposure to SDS induces depressive-like phenotypes including anhedonia, social withdrawal, and increased drug and alcohol consumption. Previously, we found that expression of the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R) is increased in the nucleus accumbens (NAC) of mice that are sensitive to this stressor and increase their alcohol intake.

Cardiovascular Risk in Prostate Cancer: State-of-the-Art Review.

Cardiovascular disease is common in patients with prostate cancer and is a significant cause of death. Cardiovascular risk factors are frequent in this population and are often not addressed to thresholds recommended by cardiovascular practice guidelines. Androgen deprivation therapy reduces muscle strength and increases adiposity, increasing the risk for diabetes and hypertension, although its relationship with adverse cardiovascular events requires confirmation.

A registry-based approach for estimating county-level race disparities in breast cancer mortality: an analysis in Georgia.

Despite similar incidence rates, nationwide breast cancer mortality is 40% higher among non-Hispanic Black (NHB) than non-Hispanic White (NHW) women. The racial disparity persists even among women with early-stage disease, prognostically favorable subtypes, and indicators of high socioeconomic status and is not evenly distributed throughout the US. Understanding geographic differences may provide additional insight into the drivers of the disparity.

A habitat suitability analysis for three Culicoides species implicated in bluetongue virus transmission in the Southeastern United States.

Culicoides biting midges adversely impact animal health through transmission of multiple orbiviruses, such as bluetongue virus (BTV). This study used light trapping data collected in the Southeastern United States for three Culicoides midge species that are confirmed or suspected BTV vectors: Culicoides insignis, Culicoides stellifer and Culicoides venustus. Midge presence datasets were combined with meteorological data and ecological data to model habitat suitability for each species.

Kartogenin Enhances Chondrogenic Differentiation of iPSC Derived MSCs (iMSCs) and Improves Outcomes in an Osteochondral Defect Model in Male Rats.

Osteochondral defects (OCD) pose a significant clinical challenge due to the limited self-repair capacity of cartilage, leading to pain, joint dysfunction, and progression to osteoarthritis. Cellular implantations of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) enhanced with treatment of factors, such as small molecule Kartogenin (KGN) to promote chondrogenic differentiation, are promising but these cells often encounter hypertrophy during differentiation, compromising long-term stability. Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iMSCs) offer greater proliferative and differentiation capacity than MSCs and may provide a superior source of cells for cartilage repair.

Temperature-dependent pathways in carbon dioxide electroreduction.

Temperature affects both the thermodynamics of intermediate adsorption and the kinetics of elementary reactions. Despite its extensive study in thermocatalysis, temperature effect is typically overlooked in electrocatalysis. This study investigates how electrolyte temperature influences CO electroreduction over Cu catalysts.

Insights into the separation, enantioseparation and recognition mechanisms of methamphetamine isotopologues on achiral and polysaccharide-based chiral columns in high-performance liquid chromatography.

Background: Isotopologues resulting from the labelling of molecules with deuterium have attracted interest due to the isotope effect observed in chemistry and biosciences. Isotope effect may also play out in noncovalent interactions and mechanisms leading to intermolecular recognition. In chromatography, differences in retention time between isotopologues, as well as between isotopomers have been observed resulting in two different elution sequences (isotope effects): the normal isotope effect when heavier isotopologues retain longer than lighter analogues, and the inverse isotope effect featuring the opposite elution order.

Interactive effects between yields of Bt and non-Bt corn and planting dates in the southeastern United States.

Transgenic corn (Zea mays L.) expressing insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) helps to control or suppress injury from a range of target insect pests. This study summarizes the yield benefits of Bt corn from field trials in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina evaluating Bt and non-Bt corn hybrids from 2009 to 2023.

Design, optimization, and inference of biphasic decay of infectious virus particles.

Virus population dynamics are driven by counter-balancing forces of production and loss. Whereas viral production arises from complex interactions with susceptible hosts, the loss of infectious virus particles is often approximated as a first-order kinetic process. As such, experimental protocols to measure infectious virus loss are not typically designed to identify non-exponential decay processes.

Molecular biomarkers of glial activation and injury in epilepsy.

Increasing evidence from fluid biopsies suggests activation and injury of glial cells in epilepsy. The prevalence of clinical and subclinical seizures in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and others merits review and comparison of the effects of seizures on glial markers in epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases with concomitant seizures. Herein, we revisit preclinical and clinical reports of alterations in glial proteins in cerebrospinal fluid and blood associated with various types of epilepsy.

Identification of cardiac wall motion abnormalities in diverse populations by deep learning of the electrocardiogram.

Cardiac wall motion abnormalities (WMA) are strong predictors of mortality, but current screening methods using Q waves from electrocardiograms (ECGs) have limited accuracy and vary across racial and ethnic groups. This study aimed to identify novel ECG features using deep learning to enhance WMA detection, referencing echocardiography as the gold standard. We collected ECG and echocardiogram data from 35,210 patients in California and labeled WMA using unstructured language parsing of echocardiographic reports.

Self-Contamination Risk and Failure Modes During High-Level PPE Doffing: A Comparison of Two Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) Hoods: A Pilot Study.

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) doffing protocols can reduce risks of pathogen self-contamination. Powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs) may increase these risks. This study compares viral contamination and errors during simulated doffing of single layer vs double layer hood PAPRs.

Default mode network functional connectivity as a transdiagnostic biomarker of cognitive function.

The default mode network (DMN) is intricately linked with processes such as self-referential thinking, episodic memory recall, goal-directed cognition, self-projection, and theory of mind. Over recent years, there has been a surge in examining its functional connectivity, particularly its relationship with frontoparietal networks (FPN) involved in top-down attention, executive function, and cognitive control. The fluidity in switching between these internal and external modes of processing-highlighted by anti-correlated functional connectivity-has been proposed as an indicator of cognitive health.

Automatic medical imaging segmentation via self-supervising large-scale convolutional neural networks.

Purpose: This study aims to develop a robust, large-scale deep learning model for medical image segmentation, leveraging self-supervised learning to overcome the limitations of supervised learning and data variability in clinical settings.

Methods And Materials: We curated a substantial multi-center CT dataset for self-supervised pre-training using masked image modeling with sparse submanifold convolution. We designed a series of Sparse Submanifold U-Nets (SS-UNets) of varying sizes and performed self-supervised pre-training.

Parametric finite element modeling of reinforced polymeric leaflets for improved durability.

Hyaluronic acid-enhanced polyethylene polymeric TAVR shows excellent in vivo anti-calcific, anti-thrombotic, and in vitro hydrodynamic performance. However, during durability testing, impact wear and fatigue cause early valve failure. Heart valve durability can be improved by strengthening the leaflet with fiber reinforcement.