Multistage deep learning methods for automating radiographic sharp score prediction in rheumatoid arthritis.

The Sharp-van der Heijde score (SvH) is crucial for assessing joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through radiographic images. However, manual scoring is time-consuming and subject to variability. This study proposes a multistage deep learning model to predict the Overall Sharp Score (OSS) from hand X-ray images.

American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) as wetland ecosystem carbon stock regulators.

Blue carbon refers to organic carbon sequestered by oceanic and coastal ecosystems. This stock has gained global attention as a high organic carbon repository relative to other ecosystems. Within blue carbon ecosystems, tidally influenced wetlands alone store a disproportionately higher amount of organic carbon than other blue carbon systems.

Relationship between functional structures and horizontal connections in macaque inferior temporal cortex.

Horizontal connections in anterior inferior temporal cortex (ITC) are thought to play an important role in object recognition by integrating information across spatially separated functional columns, but their functional organization remains unclear. Using a combination of optical imaging, electrophysiological recording, and anatomical tracing, we investigated the relationship between stimulus-response maps and patterns of horizontal axon terminals in the macaque ITC. In contrast to the "like-to-like" connectivity observed in the early visual cortex, we found that horizontal axons in ITC do not preferentially connect sites with similar object selectivity.

Characteristics and paleoclimate significance of authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals in the Xuancheng red earth, southern China.

Soil magnetic records in Quaternary red earth (QRE) deposits contain a valuable record of paleoclimate information, providing insights into controls on Earth's climate system in the past and potentially helping to predict its response to perturbations in the future. Here, analysis of the environmental magnetism and mineralogy of the Xuancheng QRE (Anhui Province, South China) shows that magnetic variation was strongly linked to production of authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals such as maghemite. Fine-grained maghemite formed during the weathering-related transformation of iron-bearing illite to vermiculite, generating aggregates of vermiculite or mixed-layer illite-vermiculite.

A novel label-free method to determine equilibrium dissociation constants of antibodies binding to cell surface proteins.

Solution-based affinity assays are used for the selection and characterization of proteins that could be developed into therapeutic molecules. However, these assays have limitations for cell-surface proteins as in most cases their purification requires detergent solubilization and are unlikely to assume conformations in solution that resemble their native states in cell membranes. This report describes a novel electrochemiluminescence-based method, called MSD-CAT, for the affinity analysis of antibodies binding to cell-surface receptors.

The role of homogenization cycles and Poloxamer 188 on the quality of mitochondria isolated for use in mitochondrial transplantation therapy.

Mitochondrial transplantation (MTx) offers a promising therapeutic approach to mitigate mitochondrial dysfunction in conditions such as ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. The quality and viability of donor mitochondria are critical to MTx success, necessitating the optimization of isolation protocols. This study aimed to assess a rapid mitochondrial isolation method, examine the relationship between mitochondrial size and membrane potential, and evaluate the potential benefits of Poloxamer 188 (P-188) in improving mitochondrial quality during the isolation process.

NIRS-BIDS: Brain Imaging Data Structure Extended to Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an increasingly popular neuroimaging technique that measures cortical hemodynamic activity in a non-invasive and portable fashion. Although the fNIRS community has been successful in disseminating open-source processing tools and a standard file format (SNIRF), reproducible research and sharing of fNIRS data amongst researchers has been hindered by a lack of standards and clarity over how study data should be organized and stored. This problem is not new in neuroimaging, and it became evident years ago with the proliferation of publicly available neuroimaging datasets.

NAD World 3.0: the importance of the NMN transporter and eNAMPT in mammalian aging and longevity control.

Over the past five years, systemic NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) decline has been accepted to be a key driving force of aging in the field of aging research. The original version of the NAD World concept was proposed in 2009, providing an integrated view of the NAD-centric, systemic regulatory network for mammalian aging and longevity control. The reformulated version of the concept, the NAD World 2.

Waste marble sludge and calcined clay brick powders in conventional cement farina production for cleaner built environment.

In the manufacturing of some sectors, such as marble and brick, certain byproducts, such as sludge, powder, and pieces containing valuable chemical compounds, emerge. Some concrete plants utilize these byproducts as mineralogical additives in Turkey. The objective of the experimental study is to ascertain whether the incorporation of waste from the marble and brick industries, in powder form, into cement manufacturing as a mineralogical additive or substitute is a viable option.

Developing anti-TDE vaccine for sensitizing cancer cells to treatment and metastasis control.

Tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs) mediate oncogenic communication, which modifies target cells to reinforce a tumor-promoting microenvironment. TDEs support cancer progression by suppressing anti-tumor immune responses, promoting metastasis, and conferring drug resistance. Thus, targeting TDEs could improve the efficacy of anti-cancer treatments and control metastasis.

A compendium of Amplification-Related Gain Of Sensitivity genes in human cancer.

While the effect of amplification-induced oncogene expression in cancer is known, the impact of copy-number gains on "bystander" genes is less understood. We create a comprehensive map of dosage compensation in cancer by integrating expression and copy number profiles from over 8000 tumors in The Cancer Genome Atlas and cell lines from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia. Additionally, we analyze 17 cancer open reading frame screens to identify genes toxic to cancer cells when overexpressed.

Simultaneous aerobic and anaerobic respiration in hot spring chemolithotrophic bacteria.

Aerobic and anaerobic organisms and their functions are spatially or temporally decoupled at scales ranging from individual cells to ecosystems and from minutes to hours. This is due to competition for energy substrates and/or biochemical incompatibility with oxygen (O). Here we report a chemolithotrophic Aquificales bacterium, Hydrogenobacter, isolated from a circumneutral hot spring in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) capable of simultaneous aerobic and anaerobic respiration when provided with hydrogen (H), elemental sulfur (S), and O.

Who is American? A comprehensive analysis of the American = White/Foreign = Asian stereotype (2007-2023).

Against the backdrop of increasing ethnic diversity in the U.S., we replicate, extend, and challenge previous examinations of the American = White/Foreign = Asian stereotype in the largest sample to date (N = 666,623 respondents) over 17 years (2007-2023).

Strengthening biopolymer adhesives through ureolysis-induced calcium carbonate precipitation.

Common adhesives for nonstructural applications are manufactured using petrochemicals and synthetic solvents. These adhesives are associated with environmental and health concerns because of their release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Biopolymer adhesives are an attractive alternative because of lower VOC emissions, but their strength is often insufficient.

A global dataset of freshwater fish trophic interactions.

Freshwater management and research frequently rely on trophic data to manage freshwater fishes, yet it is difficult to perform a simple search of dietary information for any one species. FishBase represents the largest effort to organize freshwater dietary data into a singular, navigable dataset. Nonetheless, FishBase excludes a large portion of the ecological literature because it was developed before the creation of most modern scientific search engines.

Optimal life-cycle adaptation of coastal infrastructure under climate change.

Climate change-related risk mitigation is typically addressed using cost-benefit analysis that evaluates mitigation strategies against a wide range of simulated scenarios and identifies a static policy to be implemented, without considering future observations. Due to the substantial uncertainties inherent in climate projections, this identified policy will likely be sub-optimal with respect to the actual climate trajectory that evolves in time. In this work, we thus formulate climate risk management as a dynamic decision-making problem based on Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and Partially Observable MDPs (POMDPs), taking real-time data into account for evaluating the evolving conditions and related model uncertainties, in order to select the best possible life-cycle actions in time, with global optimality guarantees for the formulated optimization problem.

GPX modulation promotes regenerative axonal fusion and functional recovery after injury through PSR-1 condensation.

Axonal fusion represents an efficient way to recover function after nerve injury. However, how axonal fusion is induced and regulated remains largely unknown. We discover that ferroptosis signaling can promote axonal fusion and functional recovery in C.

Phosphorylation-dependent WRN-RPA interaction promotes recovery of stalled forks at secondary DNA structure.

The WRN protein is vital for managing perturbed replication forks. Replication Protein A strongly enhances WRN helicase activity in specific in vitro assays. However, the in vivo significance of RPA binding to WRN has largely remained unexplored.

Short-term evolutionary implications of an introgressed size-determining supergene in a vulnerable population.

The Thorny Skate (Amblyraja radiata) is a vulnerable species displaying a discrete size-polymorphism in the northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA). We conducted whole genome sequencing of samples collected across its range. Genetic diversity was similar at all sampled sites, but we discovered a ~ 31 megabase bi-allelic supergene associated with the size polymorphism, with the larger size allele having introgressed in the last ~160,000 years B.

Utilizing TP53 hotspot mutations as effective predictors of gemcitabine treatment outcome in non-small-cell lung cancer.

TP53 mutations are recognized to correlate with a worse prognosis in individuals with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There exists an immediate necessity to pinpoint selective treatment for patients carrying TP53 mutations. Potential drugs were identified by comparing drug sensitivity differences, represented by the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), between TP53 mutant and wild-type NSCLC cell lines using database analysis.

Automatic speech recognition predicts contemporaneous earthquake fault displacement.

Significant progress has been made in probing the state of an earthquake fault by applying machine learning to continuous seismic waveforms. The breakthroughs were originally obtained from laboratory shear experiments and numerical simulations of fault shear, then successfully extended to slow-slipping faults. Here we apply the Wav2Vec-2.

msiFlow: automated workflows for reproducible and scalable multimodal mass spectrometry imaging and microscopy data analysis.

Multimodal imaging by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) and microscopy holds potential for understanding pathological mechanisms by mapping molecular signatures from the tissue microenvironment to specific cell populations. However, existing software solutions for MALDI MSI data analysis are incomplete, require programming skills and contain laborious manual steps, hindering broadly applicable, reproducible, and high-throughput analysis to generate impactful biological discoveries. Here, we present msiFlow, an accessible open-source, platform-independent and vendor-neutral software for end-to-end, high-throughput, transparent and reproducible analysis of multimodal imaging data.

Helioseismic inference of the solar radiative opacity.

The Sun is the most studied of all stars, and thus constitutes a benchmark for stellar models. However, our vision of the Sun is still incomplete, as illustrated by the current debate on its chemical composition. The problem reaches far beyond chemical abundances and is intimately linked to microscopic and macroscopic physical ingredients of solar models such as radiative opacity, for which experimental results have been recently measured that still await theoretical explanations.

The transcriptional response of cortical neurons to concussion reveals divergent fates after injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a risk factor for neurodegeneration, however little is known about how this kind of injury alters neuron subtypes. In this study, we follow neuronal populations over time after a single mild TBI (mTBI) to assess long ranging consequences of injury at the level of single, transcriptionally defined neuronal classes. We find that the stress-responsive Activating Transcription Factor 3 (ATF3) defines a population of cortical neurons after mTBI.