Nectar-Feeding Behavior in the Mallee Ringneck, .

Opportunistic nectarivory occurs in many avian lineages around the world. In order to understand the implications of this behavior to plant reproduction via pollination and to other nectarivores via competition, more thorough descriptions of opportunistic nectar-feeding behavior are necessary. We observed nectar feeding of the mallee ringneck, , on flowers of the spotted emu bush, , in the temperate mallee of South Australia.

Maintenance of Genetic Diversity Despite Population Fluctuations in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken ().

Assessments of genetic diversity, structure, history, and effective population size ( ) are critical for the conservation of imperiled populations. The lesser prairie-chicken () has experienced declines due to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation in addition to substantial population fluctuations with unknown effects on genetic diversity. Our objectives were to: (i) compare genetic diversity across three temporally discrete sampling periods (2002, 2007-2010, and 2013-2014) that are characterized by low or high population abundance; (ii) examine genetic diversity at lek and lek cluster spatial scales; (ii) identify potential bottlenecks and characterize genetic structure and relatedness; and (iii) estimate the regional .

Biogeographic Insights Into the Late Miocene Diversification of the Giant Deep-Ocean Amphipod .

Mechanisms driving the spatial and temporal patterns of species distribution in the Earth's largest habitat, the deep ocean, remain largely enigmatic. The late Miocene to the Pliocene (~23-2.58 Ma) is a period that was marked by significant geological, climatic, and oceanographic changes.

Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Probing the transient and time-variable sky.

The study of transient and variable events, including novae, active galactic nuclei, and black hole binaries, has historically been a fruitful path for elucidating the evolutionary mechanisms of our universe. The study of such events in the millimeter and submillimeter is, however, still in its infancy. Submillimeter observations probe a variety of materials, such as optically thick dust, which are hard to study in other wavelengths.

MambaTab: A Plug-and-Play Model for Learning Tabular Data.

Despite the prevalence of images and texts in machine learning, tabular data remains widely used across various domains. Existing deep learning models, such as convolutional neural networks and transformers, perform well however demand extensive preprocessing and tuning limiting accessibility and scalability. This work introduces an innovative approach based on a structured state-space model (SSM), MambaTab, for tabular data.

Glucocorticoid Resistance Syndrome in 2 Patients With Diverse Genotype.

Glucocorticoid resistance syndrome (GRS) is caused by inactivating pathogenic variants in the glucocorticoid receptor gene . Reduced glucocorticoid receptor signaling leads to decreased tissue sensitivity to cortisol and resultant biochemical hypercortisolism without the classic clinical features of Cushing syndrome. Patients variably present with signs and symptoms of mineralocorticoid and androgen excess from ACTH overstimulation of the adrenal cortex.

Google Glass Indirect Ophthalmoscopy.

Background: Google Glass is a wearable, head-mounted computer with display, photographic and videographic imaging capability, and connectivity to other devices through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signaling.

Aims: To describe for the first time the use of Google Glass for use in indirect ophthalmoscopy and modification techniques to assist with its use.

Methods: A lightweight, portable light source was installed above the Glass aperture, a small tissue paper used to diffuse the light, and the arm of the headset was taped to the examiner's glasses in order to bring the display into the right eye's central visual field.

Dermoscopic Features of Diaper Dermatoses in Children: A Descriptive Pilot Study.

Background: Diaper dermatoses broadly refer to skin disorders that occur in the diaper area. Dermoscopy is a non-invasive diagnostic tool that magnifies subsurface structures of the skin that are invisible to the unaided eye.

Aim: To identify and describe the dermoscopic features of dermatoses in the diaper area.

Biologics and Small Molecules for Inflammatory Nail Disorders: A Narrative Review.

Background: Inflammatory dermatological conditions, including psoriasis, lichen planus, eczema, and alopecia areata, are frequently accompanied by nail findings and can have a significant impact on quality of life. Biologic and small-molecule medications have been approved over the past several decades in treating patients with these inflammatory nail disorders. They may be used in conjunction with longstanding mainstays of treatment (topical and intralesional corticosteroids, topical vitamin D3 analogs).

Effects of vitamin D supplementation on cardiac biomarkers: Results from the STURDY trial.

Objectives: In observational studies, older adults with low serum vitamin D levels are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but randomized trials have failed to demonstrate reduction in CVD risk from vitamin D supplementation, possibly because the doses of vitamin D supplements tested were too low. Our objective was to determine if higher doses of vitamin D supplementation reduce high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnI) and N-terminal pro-b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), markers of subclinical CVD.

Methods: The Study to Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY) was a double-blind, randomized, response-adaptive trial that tested the effects of 4 doses of vitamin D3 supplementation (200, 1000, 2000, 4000 IU/day) on fall risk among older adults with low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations (10-29 ng/mL).

Sex, ethnicity and language differences in statin prescribing in community health center patients.

Background: Statins have been shown to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). In the United States, statins are underutilized, and the literature suggests women and Latine individuals received even fewer prescriptions than men even when eligible. No study has shown how statins are prescribed when looking at language, ethnicity, and considering sex.

Visual-textual integration in LLMs for medical diagnosis: A preliminary quantitative analysis.

Background And Aim: Visual data from images is essential for many medical diagnoses. This study evaluates the performance of multimodal Large Language Models (LLMs) in integrating textual and visual information for diagnostic purposes.

Methods: We tested GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.

EquiRank: Improved protein-protein interface quality estimation using protein language-model-informed equivariant graph neural networks.

Quality estimation of the predicted interaction interface of protein complex structural models is not only important for complex model evaluation and selection but also useful for protein-protein docking. Despite recent progress fueled by symmetry-aware deep learning architectures and pretrained protein language models (pLMs), existing methods for estimating protein complex quality have yet to fully exploit the collective potentials of these advances for accurate estimation of protein-protein interface. Here we present EquiRank, an improved protein-protein interface quality estimation method by leveraging the strength of a symmetry-aware E(3) equivariant deep graph neural network (EGNN) and integrating pLM embeddings from the pretrained ESM-2 model.

Double bowtie design for high sensitivity pediatric spectral CT.

Despite the evident benefits of spectral computed tomography (CT) in delivering qualitative imaging superior to that of conventional CT in adults, its application in pediatric diagnostic imaging is still relatively limited due to various reasons, including design limitations and radiation dose considerations. The use of specialized K-edge filters, in conjunction with other spectral technologies, has been demonstrated to improve spectral quantification accuracy. X-ray flux limitations generally pose challenges in these concepts when applied to adults.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink: A Mixed Methods Approach to Health IT Usability Testing.

Usability testing has become a necessary step to successfully implement health information technology, but despite the expanded variety of usability methods, systems still are not guaranteed to meet user needs in a hectic and dynamic healthcare environment. The present work discusses some of the metrics employed with the intent of usability testing clinical decision support alerts for the early identification of sepsis patients. By utilizing methods such as eye tracking, think aloud protocols, human computer interaction, and more, health information technology can be adequately developed to ensure effective, efficacious, and optimal integration.

Clarifying the Relation between Alcohol Demand and Alcohol-Related Relative Reinforcement and Driving after Drinking in a Canadian Community Sample.

Objective: Previous studies examining associations between elevated behavioural economic alcohol demand and rates of driving after drinking (DAD) have primarily focused on university students in the United States. It is unclear whether similar associations exist in community adults and in other locations. Furthermore, the role of proportionate alcohol reinforcement (e.

Novel introductions of human-origin H3N2 influenza viruses in swine, Chile.

Influenza A virus (IAV) continuously threatens animal and public health globally, with swine serving as a crucial reservoir for viral reassortment and evolution. In Chile, H1N2 and H3N2 subtypes were introduced in the swine population before the H1N1 2009 pandemic, and the H1N1 was introduced from the H1N1pdm09 by successive reverse zoonotic events. Here, we report two novel introductions of IAV H3N2 human-origin in Chilean swine during 2023.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Real World Data Infrastructure: A Big-Data Resource for Study of the Impact of COVID-19 in Patient Populations With Immunocompromising Conditions.

Background: We developed a United States-based real-world data resource to better understand the continued impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on immunocompromised patients, who are typically underrepresented in prospective studies and clinical trials.

Methods: The COVID-19 Real World Data infrastructure (CRWDi) was created by linking and harmonizing de-identified HealthVerity medical and pharmacy claims data from 1 December 2018 to 31 December 2023, with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virologic and serologic laboratory data from major commercial laboratories and Northwell Health; COVID-19 vaccination data; and, for patients with cancer, 2010 to 2021 National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry data.

Results: The CRWDi contains 4 cohorts: patients with cancer; patients with rheumatic diseases receiving pharmacotherapy; noncancer solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients; and people from the general population including adults and pediatric patients.

Prime Editing by Lipid Nanoparticle Co-delivery of Chemically Modified pegRNA and Prime Editor mRNA.

Prime editing has gained significant attention as a next-generation gene editing technology, owing to its unique advantages. However, realizing its potential requires effective delivery strategies. While adeno-associated virus (AAV) has been employed for delivery of prime editors in research settings, it presents inherent limitations related to vector size, ongoing expression, and inability to re-dose patients.

Advancing neural computation: experimental validation and optimization of dendritic learning in feedforward tree networks.

Objectives: This study aims to explore the capabilities of dendritic learning within feedforward tree networks (FFTN) in comparison to traditional synaptic plasticity models, particularly in the context of digit recognition tasks using the MNIST dataset.

Methods: We employed FFTNs with nonlinear dendritic segment amplification and Hebbian learning rules to enhance computational efficiency. The MNIST dataset, consisting of 70,000 images of handwritten digits, was used for training and testing.

Activity-Regulated Cytoskeleton-Associated Protein Gene Expression Is Associated With High Infiltration of Stromal Cells and Immune Cells, but With Less Cancer Cell Proliferation and Better Overall Survival in Estrogen Receptor-Positive/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Negative Breast Cancers.

Background: Peritumoral lidocaine infiltration prior to excision is associated with better survival in breast cancer (BC), which led us to hypothesize that innervation to the tumor affects its biology and patient survival. Activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC) gene expression is known to be regulated by neuronal activity. Therefore, we studied the clinical relevance of ARC gene expression as a surrogate of neuronal activity in BC.

Gene Expression in Breast Cancer Is Associated With Worse Prognosis, but Better Response to Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) is a key inducer of angiogenesis, responsible for generating new blood vessels in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and facilitating metastasis. Notably, Avastin, which targets VEGFA, failed to demonstrate any significant benefit in clinical trials for breast cancer (BC). This study aimed to investigate the clinical relevance of gene expression in BC.

Machine learning for antimicrobial peptide identification and design.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models are being deployed in many domains of society and have recently reached the field of drug discovery. Given the increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance, as well as the challenges intrinsic to antibiotic development, there is an urgent need to accelerate the design of new antimicrobial therapies. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are therapeutic agents for treating bacterial infections, but their translation into the clinic has been slow owing to toxicity, poor stability, limited cellular penetration and high cost, among other issues.

Lifetime stressors relate to invisible symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Aim: Childhood stressors can increase adult stress perception and may accumulate over the lifespan to impact symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Growing evidence links childhood stressors (e.g.