Phase separation of EEF1E1 promotes tumor stemness via PTEN/AKT-mediated DNA repair in hepatocellular carcinoma.

This study aimed to investigate the associations of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and tumor stemness in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). LLPS-related genes were extracted from DrLLPS, LLPSDB and PhaSepDB databases. Stemness index (mRNAsi) was calculated based on the data from TCGA and Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium.

Advanced profiling and structural analysis of anencephaly gangliosides by ion mobility tandem mass spectrometry.

Anencephaly, the most severe type of neural tube defects (NTDs) in humans, occurs between the third and fourth gestational weeks (GW), involves the cranial part of the NT and results in the absence of the forebrain and skull. Exposed to amniotic fluid toxicity, neural tissue is degraded and prevented from development. Currently, little is known about the molecular bases of the disease and the possible involvement of glycans.

Shorter weeknight sleep duration mediates the relationship between earlier adrenarche and depressed mood in adolescents.

Background: Shorter weeknight sleep duration has not been assessed as a mediating mechanism linking earlier pubertal timing to a greater burden of adolescent depression symptoms.

Methods: Among 1138 participants (48.6 % female) from Project Viva, a pre-birth longitudinal cohort, we examined relationships among pubertal timing measures, actigraphy-captured and self-reported weeknight sleep duration across mid-adolescence, and depression symptoms in late adolescence.

Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells (ECFCs) in Cerebrovascular Aging: Focus on the Pathogenesis of Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID), and Treatment Prospects.

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs), a unique endothelial progenitor subset, are essential for vascular integrity and repair, providing significant regenerative potential. Recent studies highlight their role in cerebrovascular aging, particularly in the pathogenesis of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). Aging disrupts ECFC functionality through mechanisms such as oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and cellular senescence, leading to compromised vascular repair and reduced neurovascular resilience.

Associations of Child Amygdala Development with Borderline Personality Symptoms in Adolescence.

Background: The understanding of the neural correlates of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is limited, but suggests alterations in limbic structures play a role in adult BPD. The developmental course of structural neural differences in BPD is unknown. Whether there is specificity for structural alterations in BPD compared with other psychiatric presentations, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), remains unexplored.

Exposure to Ambient Temperature and Functional Connectivity of Brain Resting-State Networks in Preadolescents.

Objective: Exposure to extreme temperatures has been linked to acute mental-health events in young populations, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging allows for the assessment of connectivity patterns in brain functional networks, which have been associated with mental-health disorders. We investigated the short-term effects of ambient temperature on functional connectivity of brain resting-state networks in preadolescents.

Outcome measures in rodent models for spinal cord injury and their human correlates.

Pre-clinical research is intended to inform clinical research, however, communication between these researchers is lacking. A better understanding of what can be learned from animal and human models and what cannot, is essential. This includes a better understanding of where underlying constructs in outcome measures in rodents and humans align and where they diverge to improve dialogue between human and animal researchers.

Unlocking insights: Clinical associations from the largest 6-minute walk test collection via the my Heart Counts Cardiovascular Health Study, a fully digital smartphone platform.

Background: The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a prognostic sub-maximal exercise test used clinically as a measure of functional capacity. With the emergence of advanced sensors, 6MWTs are being performed remotely via smartphones and other devices. The My Heart Counts Cardiovascular Health Study is a smartphone application that serves as a digital platform for studies of human cardiovascular health, and has been used to perform 30,475 6MWTs on 8922 unique participants.

Responses of skeletal muscle to mechanical stimuli in female rats following and during muscle disuse atrophy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of mechanotherapy to enhance recovery or prevent loss of muscle size with atrophy, in female rats. Female F344/BN rats were assigned to weight bearing (WB), hindlimb suspended (HS) for 14 days with reambulation for 7 days without (RA) or with (RAM) mechanotherapy (study 1), or to WB, HS for 7 days, with (HSM) or without mechanotherapy (study 2) to gastrocnemius. Muscle fiber cross sectional area (CSA) and type, collagen, satellite cell number, and protein synthesis (K) and degradation (K) were assessed.

HIV immune evasin Nef enhances allogeneic CAR T cell potency.

Autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a genetically engineered therapy that is highly effective against B cell malignancies and multiple myeloma. However, the length and cost of personalized manufacturing limits access and leaves patients vulnerable to disease progression. Allogeneic cell therapies have the potential to increase patient access and improve treatment outcomes but are limited by immune rejection.

Dying in a Homophobic Nation: Addressing Healthcare Disparities, Advance Care Planning and Surrogate Decision-Making Challenges for Sexual and Gender Minority Older Adults at End-of-Life.

Promoting autonomy in medical decision-making is an essential part of palliative care. Therefore, palliative care providers should prioritize supporting the autonomy of sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults, a community that has historically suffered from healthcare disparities. This support is particularly significant when an illness or injury renders a patient unable to make medical decisions, necessitating the designation of a surrogate decision-maker.

Vaccine efficacy of NVX-CoV2373 against SARS-CoV-2 infection in adolescents in the USA: an ancillary study to a phase 3, observer-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Although existing COVID-19 vaccines are known to be highly effective against severe disease and death, data are needed to assess their ability to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aimed to estimate the efficacy of the NVX-CoV2373 protein subunit vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection, regardless of symptoms, among adolescents.

Methods: We performed an ancillary observational study (SNIFF) to the phase 3, observer-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled PREVENT-19 trial that assessed vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 in the USA.

Automated insulin delivery during the first 6 months postpartum (AiDAPT): a prespecified extension study.

Background: Clinical guidelines in the UK and elsewhere do not specifically address hybrid closed loop (HCL) use in the postpartum period when the demands of caring for a newborn are paramount. Our aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of HCL use during the first 6 months postpartum compared with standard care.

Methods: In this prespecified extension to a multicentre, randomised controlled trial, pregnant women with type 1 diabetes at nine UK sites were followed up for 6 months postpartum.

Trauma-informed HIV prevention for forcibly displaced adolescents and young adults.

The number of people forcibly displaced due to conflict is rising rapidly each year. Previous studies have documented associations between mental ill health, HIV risk, and poor engagement with HIV care in conflict-affected populations. Most people forced to migrate are adolescents and young adults, who might already be affected by a high burden of mental ill health due to factors such as high trauma exposure during the developmental period.

The Addition of Thoracic Spine Manipulation or Mobilization to Exercise in Adults With Subacromial Impingement Syndrome: A Critically Appraised Topic.

Clinical Scenario: Shoulder pain is the third most common musculoskeletal complaint. The most common type of shoulder pain is subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS). The concept of regional interdependence demonstrates that body regions are interrelated, affecting how they function.

Experience using conventional compared to ancestry-based population descriptors in clinical genomics laboratories.

Various scientific and professional groups, including the American Medical Association (AMA), American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), have appropriately clarified that certain population descriptors, such as race and ethnicity, are social and cultural constructs with no basis in genetics. Nevertheless, these conventional population descriptors are routinely collected during the course of clinical genetic testing and may be used to interpret test results. Experts who have examined the use of population descriptors, both conventional and ancestry based, in human genetics and genomics have offered guidance on using these descriptors in research but not in clinical laboratory settings.

A multi-modal transformer for cell type-agnostic regulatory predictions.

Sequence-based deep learning models have emerged as powerful tools for deciphering the cis-regulatory grammar of the human genome but cannot generalize to unobserved cellular contexts. Here, we present EpiBERT, a multi-modal transformer that learns generalizable representations of genomic sequence and cell type-specific chromatin accessibility through a masked accessibility-based pre-training objective. Following pre-training, EpiBERT can be fine-tuned for gene expression prediction, achieving accuracy comparable to the sequence-only Enformer model, while also being able to generalize to unobserved cell states.

Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association.

Emotional arousal plays a critical role in determining what is remembered from experiences. It is hypothesized that activation of the amygdala by emotional stimuli enhances memory consolidation in its downstream brain regions. However, the physiological basis of the inter-regional interaction and its functions remain unclear.

Male secreted short glycoproteins link sperm competition to the reproductive isolation of species.

Sperm competition is found across multicellular organisms using both external and internal fertilization. Sperm competition and post-copulatory cryptic female choice can promote incompatibility between species due to the antagonistic coevolution of the sexes within a species. This between-species incompatibility is accelerated and markedly asymmetrical when sexual mode differs, producing the "weak inbreeder, strong outcrosser" (WISO) pattern.