Risk-directed management of chronic kidney disease.

The timely and rational institution of therapy is a key step towards reducing the global burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD is a heterogeneous entity with varied aetiologies and diverse trajectories, which include risk of kidney failure but also cardiovascular events and death. Developments in the past decade include substantial progress in CKD risk prediction, driven in part by the accumulation of electronic health records data.

Sensorimotor adaptation reveals systematic biases in 3D perception.

The existence of biases in visual perception and their impact on visually guided actions has long been a fundamental yet unresolved question. Evidence revealing perceptual or visuomotor biases has typically been disregarded because such biases in spatial judgments can often be attributed to experimental measurement confounds. To resolve this controversy, we leveraged the visuomotor system's adaptation mechanism - triggered only by a discrepancy between visual estimates and sensory feedback - to directly indicate whether systematic errors in perceptual and visuomotor spatial judgments exist.

A machine learning decision support tool optimizes WGS utilization in a neonatal intensive care unit.

The Mendelian Phenotype Search Engine (MPSE), a clinical decision support tool using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning, helped neonatologists expedite decisions to whole genome sequencing (WGS) to diagnose patients in the neonatal intensive care unit. After the MPSE was introduced, utilization of WGS increased, time to ordering WGS decreased, and WGS diagnostic yield increased.

Neonatology fellow assessment and evaluation: embracing the word salad of CBME, EPAs, and milestones.

Neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM) fellowship training aims to educate fellows and enable them to move into successful independent neonatal practice. To reach this goal, every fellow must acquire a wide range of clinical, scholarly, and professional skills that require assessment and evaluation by the fellowship program. The assessment and evaluation of fellow progression and promotion must rely on a rigorous educational framework.

A moisture differential technique for extraction and maintenance of imported fire ant colonies under laboratory conditions.

Establishing and maintaining colonies of imported fire ants (IFA) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the laboratory are crucial for research. Dehydration is one of the major mortality factors in IFA, and the ants tend to relocate from dry to moist places. In our laboratory, we developed a moisture differential technique to extract fire ant colonies from mound materials.

Changes in lake sturgeon spawning periodicity is associated with prior reproductive effort.

Long-lived iteroparous organisms vary resource expenditures toward migration and reproduction in response to individual physical factors and conspecific interactions, which can affect future reproductive timing and interval. Reproductive actions can lead to trade-offs associated with allocations to current vs. future reproduction, including longer reproductive interval, require additional study.

Targeting ABCD1-ACOX1-MET/IGF1R axis suppresses multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable hematological malignancy that necessitates the identification of novel therapeutic strategies. Here, we report that intracellular levels of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) control the cytotoxicity of MM chemotherapeutic agents. Inhibition of VLCFA biosynthesis reduced cell death in MM cells caused by the proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib.

Data-driven modeling of background radiation structure utilizing matrix profile in nuclear security.

The inherently stochastic nature of radiation emissions makes modeling background radiation structure a particularly challenging research area. In source identification scenarios, which are critical to nuclear security, the complexity of background radiation modeling is intensified by dynamically changing factors that influence radiation measurements. Consequently, accurately modeling and estimating background radiation can significantly improve our nuclear security capabilities by enhancing the detection of anomalies within radiation data.

Improved constructs for bait RNA display in a bacterial three-hybrid assay.

We have previously developed a transcription-based bacterial three-hybrid (B3H) assay as a genetic approach to probe RNA-protein interactions inside of E. coli cells. This system offers a straightforward path to identify and assess the consequences of mutations in RBPs with molecular phenotypes of interest.

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 3 localized to primary endothelial cilia regulates blood pressure and cognition.

We previously demonstrated that the inability of primary endothelial cilia to sense fluid shear stress can lead to nitric oxide (NO) deficiency and cause hypertension (HTN). Decreased biosynthesis of NO contributes to cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients through increased deposition of amyloid beta (Aβ). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of HTN and AD are incompletely understood.

Non-targeted metabolomics reveals fatty acid and associated pathways driving resistance to whitefly and tomato leafminer in wild tomato accessions.

Wild tomato species exhibit natural insect resistance, yet the specific secondary metabolites and underlying mechanisms governing the resistance remain unclear. Moreover, defense expression dynamically adapts to insect herbivory, causing significant metabolic changes and species-specific secondary metabolite accumulation. The present study aims to identify the resistance-related metabolites in wild tomato accessions that influence the defense mechanism against whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Asia II 7) and leafminer (Phthorimaea absoluta).

An optimized ensemble grey wolf-based pipeline for monkeypox diagnosis.

As the world recovered from the coronavirus, the emergence of the monkeypox virus signaled a potential new pandemic, highlighting the need for faster and more efficient diagnostic methods. This study introduces a hybrid architecture for automatic monkeypox diagnosis by leveraging a modified grey wolf optimization model for effective feature selection and weighting. Additionally, the system uses an ensemble of classifiers, incorporating confusion based voting scheme to combine salient data features.

Neonatal intermittent hypoxemia events are associated with later systemic hypertension.

Background: Approximately 5% of very premature infants delivered at less than 30 weeks' gestation have systemic hypertension. In adult human and animal models, intermittent hypoxemia events are associated with systemic hypertension. In neonates, intermittent hypoxemia events are associated with adverse outcomes, but it is unknown if they are a risk factor for hypertension.

Parallel median consensus clustering in complex networks.

We develop an algorithm that finds the consensus among many different clustering solutions of a graph. We formulate the problem as a median set partitioning problem and propose a greedy optimization technique. Unlike other approaches that find median set partitions, our algorithm takes graph structure into account and finds a comparable quality solution much faster than the other approaches.

Digital twin driven electrode optimization for wearable bladder monitoring via bioimpedance.

Monitoring fluid intake and output for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients is an essential tool to prevent fluid overload, a principal cause of hospital admissions. Addressing this, bladder volume measurement systems utilizing bioimpedance and electrical impedance tomography have been proposed, with limited exploration of continuous monitoring within a wearable design. Advancing this format, we developed a conductivity digital twin from radiological data, where we performed exhaustive simulations to optimize electrode sensitivity on an individual basis.

Essential oils modulate virulence phenotypes in a multidrug-resistant pyomelanogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate.

Pyomelanogenic P. aeruginosa, frequently isolated from patients with urinary tract infections and cystic fibrosis, possesses the ability to withstand oxidative stress, contributing to virulence and resulting in persistent infections. Whole genome sequence analysis of U804, a pyomelanogenic, multidrug-resistant, clinical isolate, demonstrates the mechanism underlying pyomelanin overproduction.

Advancing ex vivo functional whole-organ prostate gland model for regeneration and drug screening.

Model organisms are vital for biomedical research and drug testing but face high costs, complexity, and ethical issues. While newer techniques like organoids and assembloids have shown improvements, they still remain inadequate in addressing all research needs. In this study, we present a new method for maintaining the prostate gland of the earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae ex vivo and examine its potential for regeneration and drug screening.

Mitochondrial KMT9 methylates DLAT to control pyruvate dehydrogenase activity and prostate cancer growth.

Prostate cancer (PCa) growth depends on de novo lipogenesis controlled by the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). In this study, we identify lysine methyltransferase (KMT)9 as a regulator of PDC activity. KMT9 is localized in mitochondria of PCa cells, but not in mitochondria of other tumor cell types.