Integrating Retinal Segmentation Metrics with Machine Learning for Predictions from Mouse SD-OCT Scans.

Purpose: This study aimed to initially test whether machine learning approaches could categorically predict two simple biological features, mouse age and mouse species, using the retinal segmentation metrics.

Methods: The retinal layer thickness data obtained from C57BL/6 and DBA/2J mice were processed for machine learning after segmenting mouse retinal SD-OCT scans. Twenty-two models were trained to predict the mouse groups.

Rats and mice rapidly update timed behaviors.

Keeping track of time intervals is a crucial aspect of behavior and cognition. Many theoretical models of how the brain times behavior make predictions for steady-state performance of well-learned intervals, but the rate of learning intervals in these models varies greatly, ranging from one-shot learning to learning over thousands of trials. Here, we explored how quickly rats and mice adapt to changes in interval durations using a serial fixed-interval task.

Evaluating the Immunogenicity Risk of Protein Therapeutics by Augmenting T Cell Epitope Prediction with Clinical Factors.

Protein-based therapeutics may elicit undesired immune responses in a subset of patients, leading to the production of anti-drug antibodies (ADA). In some cases, ADAs have been reported to affect the pharmacokinetics, efficacy and/or safety of the drug. Accurate prediction of the ADA response can help drug developers identify the immunogenicity risk of the drug candidates, thereby allowing them to make the necessary modifications to mitigate the immunogenicity.

A STRONG call for intensive oral heart failure therapy in acute heart failure patients.

Heart failure (HF), a chronic and progressive disease, is increasing in prevalence worldwide and is associated with increased hospitalizations and death. Despite notable improvements in medical therapy for HF, patients are still at risk of future negative outcomes. Current guidelines recommend four classes of medication for treating patients with HF, deemed guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT).

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and atrial fibrillation: epidemiology, pathophysiology, and diagnosis interplay.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are increasingly prevalent cardiovascular conditions, particularly among the elderly population. These two conditions share common risk factors and often coexist, leading to a complex interplay that alters the clinical course of each other. The pathophysiology of HFpEF is multifaceted and intricately linked, with atrial disease serving as a common pathophysiological pathway.

Screening and Referral for Social Needs Among Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Healthcare-based social need screening and referral (S&R) among adult populations has produced equivocal results regarding social need resource connection.

Objective: Assess the efficacy of S&R on resource connection (primary outcome) and unmet need reduction (secondary outcome).

Design: Intention-to-treat randomized controlled trial.

Multiplexed single-cell imaging reveals diverging subpopulations with distinct senescence phenotypes during long-term senescence induction.

Cellular senescence is a phenotypic state that contributes to the progression of age-related disease through secretion of pro-inflammatory factors known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Understanding the process by which healthy cells become senescent and develop SASP factors is critical for improving the identification of senescent cells and, ultimately, understanding tissue dysfunction. Here, we reveal how the duration of cellular stress modulates the SASP in distinct subpopulations of senescent cells.

Fixation-related potentials during a virtual navigation task: The influence of image statistics on early cortical processing.

Historically, electrophysiological correlates of scene processing have been studied with experiments using static stimuli presented for discrete timescales where participants maintain a fixed eye position. Gaps remain in generalizing these findings to real-world conditions where eye movements are made to select new visual information and where the environment remains stable but changes with our position and orientation in space, driving dynamic visual stimulation. Co-recording of eye movements and electroencephalography (EEG) is an approach to leverage fixations as time-locking events in the EEG recording under free-viewing conditions to create fixation-related potentials (FRPs), providing a neural snapshot in which to study visual processing under naturalistic conditions.

Performance of Radiomics-based machine learning and deep learning-based methods in the prediction of tumor grade in meningioma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) grade of meningiomas is determined based on the biopsy results. Therefore, accurate non-invasive preoperative grading could significantly improve treatment planning and patient outcomes. Considering recent advances in machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), this meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the performance of these models in predicting the WHO meningioma grade using imaging data.

Evaluating the risk of extrusion with laser-activated irrigation techniques in root canal systems: a cadaver-based study.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the incidence and volume of contrast medium extrusion when activated with a laser and to compare these outcomes with those of other irrigation techniques.

Materials And Methods: Sixteen cadaver mandibles containing 116 single-rooted teeth were prepared using conventional rotary instrumentation. The teeth were randomly assigned to four irrigation groups: side-vented needle, sonic irrigation, laser activation at the orifice, and laser activation at the middle third of the canal.

Stromal PDGFR-beta expression is a prognostic factor in high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients but is it also predictive for response to antiangiogenic treatment?

Objective: In advanced ovarian cancer, the majority of patients receive anti-angiogenic treatment with bevacizumab. However, its use is often associated with severe side effects, and not all patients benefit from the therapy. Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers to predict response to treatment.

CT angiography of acute aortic syndrome in patients with chronic kidney disease.

The term acute aortic syndrome (AAS) refers to a range of different entities, including dissection, intramural haematoma and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer. Patients with chronic renal disease and particularly those with dominant polycystic kidney disease are susceptible to this pathology, given the underlying renal arteriopathy and hypertension. Imaging plays a crucial role in diagnosing, grading and guiding management of these patients, with computed tomography angiography (CTA) being on the frontline.

Post-Traumatic Stress Across Color Lines: A History of Anti-Black Exclusion & PTSD.

Black Americans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder have less access to mental healthcare compared to White Americans. Many factors contribute to this inequity, including broader disparities within the healthcare system driven by systemic racism, and an underutilization of mental health services by Black Americans due to provider bias and stigma around mental health care. These disparities are rooted in a racist historical context of exclusion and abuse of the Black community by the White psychiatric establishment, and a perpetration of further trauma on Black clients, a context that is largely missing from traditional mental health education and literature on Black mental health today.

Factors predicting manipulation under anaesthesia after total knee replacement.

Introduction: Manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) is a standard and effective treatment to correct stiffness and improve range of motion (ROM) following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Delayed MUA has been associated with increased rates of revision surgeries and infections. Early MUA has been shown to double the mean gain in flexion compared to delayed interventions.

Pharmacokinetics of Nivolumab and Erythropoietin in a Rat Model of Diet-Induced Obesity.

Purpose: To investigate how obesity affects the pharmacokinetics of biologics in a rat model.

Method: Male Long-Evans rats were fed a high-fat diet from the age of 3 weeks and development of obesity was monitored by measuring body size and composition (fat and lean mass). The animals received nivolumab (1 and 8 mg/kg) or recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO, 1000 IU/kg) by intravenous or subcutaneous injection.

Rapid human oogonia-like cell specification via transcription factor-directed differentiation.

The generation of germline cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) represents a milestone toward in vitro gametogenesis. Methods to recapitulate germline development beyond primordial germ cells in vitro have relied on long-term cell culture, such as 3-dimensional organoid co-culture for ~four months. Using a pipeline with highly parallelized screening, this study identifies combinations of TFs that directly and rapidly convert hiPSCs to induced oogonia-like cells (iOLCs).

Unlocking the Power of 3D Convolutional Neural Networks for COVID-19 Detection: A Comprehensive Review.

The advent of three-dimensional convolutional neural networks (3D CNNs) has revolutionized the detection and analysis of COVID-19 cases. As imaging technologies have advanced, 3D CNNs have emerged as a powerful tool for segmenting and classifying COVID-19 in medical images. These networks have demonstrated both high accuracy and rapid detection capabilities, making them crucial for effective COVID-19 diagnostics.

The efficacy and safety of Bevacizumab-based treatments in Optic Pathway Glioma among pediatric population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The optimal therapeutic intervention for pediatrics with optic pathway glioma (OPG) remained controversial in the literature. Recently, due to substantial adverse events (AEs) of chemotherapy and its impact on children's lives, the efficacy of other options has been investigated. Bevacizumab (BVZ) is an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agent that alters the lesion microenvironment.

Comparative genomic prediction of resistance to Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum race 2) in watermelon: parametric and nonparametric approaches.

Complex traits influenced by multiple genes pose challenges for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in breeding. Genomic selection (GS) is a promising strategy for achieving higher genetic gains in quantitative traits by stacking favorable alleles into elite cultivars. Resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f.

Efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for phantom limb pain- a meta analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Introduction: Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a neuropathic syndrome experienced by the majority of amputees. Various treatment options are available for amputees suffering from PLP including pharmacological, psychological and neuromodulation techniques. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that has proven its efficacy in alleviating PLP.

Risk of hospital inpatient opioid overdose (RHINOO): a review of factors impacting naloxone administration in patients receiving opioids.

Purpose: Opioid medications remain a common treatment for acute pain in hospitalized patients. This study aims to identify factors contributing to opioid overdose in the inpatient population, addressing the gap in data on which patients are at higher risk for opioid-related adverse events in the hospital setting.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of inpatients receiving at least one opioid medication was performed at a large academic medical center from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

The outcomes of the obesity paradox in pulmonary embolism: a study of the national inpatient sample database from 2016 to 2020.

The "obesity paradox" suggests that, despite a higher baseline risk for adverse health outcomes, obese patients can experience a lower complication and mortality rate in conditions such as pulmonary embolisms (PE). This study aims to examine the association between obesity and inpatient outcomes of PE patients, utilizing the data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. We conducted a retrospective study analysis of obese adult PE patients (aged ≥ 18) using the NIS database from 2016 to 2020.

Comparisons of neurodegenerative disease biomarkers across different biological fluids from patients with Huntington's disease.

Fluid biomarkers play important roles in many aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's disease (HD). However, a main question relates to how well levels of biomarkers measured in CSF are correlated with those measured in peripheral fluids, such as blood or saliva. In this study, we quantified levels of four neurodegenerative disease-related proteins, neurofilament light (NfL), total tau (t-tau), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and YKL-40 in matched CSF, plasma and saliva samples from Huntingtin (HTT) gene-positive individuals (n = 21) using electrochemiluminescence assays.

Unbound bilirubin and risk of severe neurodevelopmental impairment in extremely low birthweight newborns.

Background: Unbound bilirubin (UB) was measured on day 5 ± 1 in 1101 ELBW newborns in the Aggressive vs Conservative Phototherapy randomized controlled trial. We accessed this dataset to quantify the UB-mediated risk of severe neurodevelopmental impairment (sNDI) in extremely low birthweight (ELBW) newborns.

Methods: UB levels were standardized within laboratories as z-score percentiles.