Role of oxidative balance score in staging and mortality risk of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome: Insights from traditional and machine learning approaches.

Objectives: To evaluate the roles of oxidative balance score (OBS) in staging and mortality risk of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome (CKM).

Methods: Data of this study were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2018. We performed cross-sectional analyses using multinomial logistic regression to investigate the relationship between OBS and CKM staging.

Tiny shifts, major ripples: Unravelling micro-mechanisms in the building of mother-infant attachment and psychophysiological regulation.

Parental nurturing touch plays a crucial role in early infant development by activating C-Tactile afferents, which trigger neurobiological pathways essential for parent-infant bonding and the building of attachment. This process is said to regulate the infant's parasympathetic nervous system, fostering emotional and physiological connection with the caregiver. Research has consistently shown that CT-mediated touch enhances infant parasympathetic tone, yet no clear patterns of mutual co-regulation between parent and infant have been reported.

The child behind the victim: Survivor experiences of children's harmful sexual behavior.

Background: At least 50 % of child sexual abuse involves perpetration by children, referred to as "harmful sexual behavior". Recently, the sexual abuse sector has focused, importantly, on the child behind the "perpetrator" to support developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed practice. However, the experiences of victim-survivors of children's sexually abusive behavior are underexplored.

A floating collagen matrix triggers ring formation and stemness characteristics in human colorectal cancer organoids.

Intestinal organoids reflect the 3D structure and function of their original tissues. Organoid are typically cultured in Matrigel, an extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking the basement membrane, which is suitable for epithelial cells but does not accurately mimic the tumour microenvironment of colorectal cancer (CRC). The ECM and particularly collagen type I is crucial for CRC progression and invasiveness.

SpinFlowSim: A blood flow simulation framework for histology-informed diffusion MRI microvasculature mapping in cancer.

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) sensitises the MRI signal to spin motion. This includes Brownian diffusion, but also flow across intricate networks of capillaries. This effect, the intra-voxel incoherent motion (IVIM), enables microvasculature characterisation with dMRI, through metrics such as the vascular signal fraction f or the vascular Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) D.

Evolution of intimate partner violence impacts from cash transfers, food transfers, and behaviour change communication: Mixed-method experimental evidence from a nine-year post-programme follow-up in Bangladesh.

Cash or food transfers can reduce intimate partner violence (IPV), but knowledge gaps remain on how impacts evolve over time, and the role of complementary 'plus' activities and contextual factors. We conducted a mixed-method analysis of how the Transfer Modality Research Initiative in Bangladesh affected IPV over time. The programme was implemented from 2012 to 2014, following a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design, across Northern and Southern Bangladesh.

Midlife financial stress and cognitive and physical impairments in older age: The role of potentially modifying factors.

Background: Financial stress is an important source of chronic stress and has been associated with cognitive and physical impairments. The goal of this study was to investigate whether financial stress is associated with cognitive and physical impairment and their combination, the role of potential modifiable factors and potential sex differences.

Methods: The Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia population-based cohort study from Finland was used (n = 1497) (baseline data collected 1972-1987, mean age 50 years).

Symmetry-Adapted Models for the Hyperpolarizability of Water.

Accurately modelling nonlinear optical experiments such as second-harmonic scattering and hyper-Raman scattering requires the hyperpolarizability $\boldsymbol{\beta}$, a nonlinear dielectric response to an applied electric field. The hyperpolarizability tensor is a computationally expensive quantity to calculate, making it a natural target for machine-learning methods. We test a family of recently developed models for the hyperpolarizability of water, trained on small clusters containing up to 8 water molecules.

A Longitudinal Study of Reading and Mental Health Development in Children With Reported Ear and Hearing Difficulties.

Purpose: Reported ear and hearing difficulties (rEHD) are known to be associated with reading difficulties as well as mental health problems. In this study, we aim to examine the relationship between reading and mental health in children with rEHD.

Method: In this study, we used structural equation modeling to measure the strength of longitudinal relationships between reading and mental health-related variables in children with rEHD-aged 5-11 years-in four large longitudinal databases from the United Kingdom ( = 5,254), the United States (s = 1,541 and 6,401), and Australia ( = 2,272).

Long term latency of highly mutated cells in normal mouse skin is reversed by exposure to tumor promoters and chronic tissue damage.

Historical studies performed nearly a century ago using mouse skin models identified two key steps in cancer evolution: initiation, a likely mutational event, and promotion, driven by inflammation and cell proliferation. Initiation was proposed to be permanent, with promotion as the critical rate-limiting step for cancer development. Here, we carried out whole genome sequencing to demonstrate that initiated cells with thousands of mutagen-induced mutations can persist for long periods and are not removed by cell competition or by immune intervention, thus mimicking the persistence of cells with cancer driver mutations in normal human tissues.

Exploring the Views of Young People, Including Those With a History of Self-Harm, on the Use of Their Routinely Generated Data for Mental Health Research: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Background: Secondary use of routinely collected health care data has great potential benefits in epidemiological studies primarily due to the large scale of preexisting data.

Objective: This study aimed to engage respondents with and without a history of self-harm, gain insight into their views on the use of their data for research, and determine whether there were any differences in opinions between the 2 groups.

Methods: We examined young people's views on the use of their routinely collected data for mental health research through a web-based survey, evaluating any differences between those with and without a history of self-harm.

Incidence of Scrub Typhus in Rural South India.

Background: Hospital studies suggest that scrub typhus is a leading cause of severe undifferentiated fever in regions across Asia where the disease is endemic, but the population-based incidence of infection and illness has been little studied.

Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study to assess epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of scrub typhus in 37 villages in Tamil Nadu, India, where the disease is highly endemic. Study participants were visited every 6 to 8 weeks over a period of 2 years; a venous blood sample was obtained from those who had had fever since the last visit.

Spatial Distribution of Brain PET Tracers by MALDI Imaging.

Evaluating tissue distribution of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) tracers during their development conventionally involves autoradiography techniques, where radioactive compounds are used for visualization and quantification in tissues during preclinical development stages. Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) offers a potential alternative, providing spatial information without the need for radioactivity with a similar spatial resolution. This study aimed to optimize a MSI sample preparation protocol for assessing PET tracer candidates with a focus on two compounds: UCB-J and UCB2400.

Literature review of occurrence, effectiveness, safety, and hospitalization burden of blood transfusion in the management of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Introduction: Cases of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA) often present with life-threatening levels of hemoglobin requiring red blood cell (RBC) transfusion support.

Aim: This literature review assessed the occurrence, safety, effectiveness, and hospitalization burden of RBC transfusions in the management of patients with wAIHA.

Methods: Electronic databases (Embase, MEDLINE) were searched from inception to December 2021 along with additional searches conducted up to March 2024.

UnifiedGreatMod: A New Holistic Modelling Paradigm for Studying Biological Systems on a Complete and Harmonious Scale.

Motivation: Computational models are crucial for addressing critical questions about systems evolution and deciphering system connections. The pivotal feature of making this concept recognisable from the biological and clinical community is the possibility of quickly inspecting the whole system, bearing in mind the different granularity levels of its components. This holistic view of system behaviour expands the evolution study by identifying the heterogeneous behaviours applicable, for example, to the cancer evolution study.

Four-Centre, Multi-Electron Bonding in Rare-Earth Germole Sandwich Complexes.

Reduction of the germole-ligated sandwich complexes [(η5-CpGe)M(η5-Cpttt)]2 (1M, M = Y, Gd, Dy) with one or two equivalents of KC8/2.2.2-cryptand produces [(η5-CpGe)M(η5-Cpttt)2]- (2M) and [(η5-CpGe)M(η5-Cpttt)2]2- (3M), respectively, as salts of [K(2.

Genetically supported targets and drug repurposing for brain aging: A systematic study in the UK Biobank.

Brain age gap (BAG), the deviation between estimated brain age and chronological age, is a promising marker of brain health. However, the genetic architecture and reliable targets for brain aging remains poorly understood. In this study, we estimate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based brain age using deep learning models trained on the UK Biobank and validated with three external datasets.

The cellular factors that impair the germinal center in advanced age.

Long-lasting immunological memory is a core feature of the adaptive immune system that allows an organism to have a potent recall response to foreign agents that have been previously encountered. Persistent humoral immunity is afforded by long-lived memory B cells and plasma cells, which can mature in germinal centers (GCs) in secondary lymphoid organs. The development of new GC-derived immunity diminishes with age, thereby impairing our immune system's response to both natural infections and vaccinations.

Comparison of human macrophages derived from peripheral blood and bone marrow.

Macrophage differentiation, phenotype, and function have been assessed extensively in vitro by predominantly deriving human macrophages from peripheral blood. It is accepted that there are differences between macrophages isolated from different human tissues; however, the importance of anatomical source for in vitro differentiation and characterization is less clear. Here, phenotype and function were evaluated between human macrophages derived from bone marrow or peripheral blood.

Dual-filament regulation of relaxation in mammalian fast skeletal muscle.

Muscle contraction is driven by myosin motors from the thick filaments pulling on the actin-containing thin filaments of the sarcomere, and it is regulated by structural changes in both filaments. Thin filaments are activated by an increase in intracellular calcium concentration [Ca] and by myosin binding to actin. Thick filaments are activated by direct sensing of the filament load.

A family of bacterial actin homologs forms a three-stranded tubular structure.

The cytoskeleton is crucial for cell organization and movement. In Eukaryotes, it largely consists of the protein actin, that forms a double-stranded linear filamentous structure in the presence of ATP and disassemble upon ATP hydrolysis. Bacteria also possess actin homologs, that drive fundamental cellular processes, including cell division, shape maintenance, and DNA segregation.

Comparative analysis of protein expression between oesophageal adenocarcinoma and normal adjacent tissue.

Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is the 7th most common cancer in the United Kingdom (UK) and remains a significant health challenge. This study presents a proteomic analysis of seven OAC donors complementing our previous neoantigen identification study of their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) immunopeptidomes. Our small UK cohort were selected from donors undergoing treatment for OAC.

Micronutrient-deficient diets and possible environmental enteric dysfunction in Buruli ulcer endemic communities in Ghana: Lower dietary diversity and reduced serum zinc and vitamin C implicate micronutrient status a possible susceptibility factor.

Background: The nutritional status of communities susceptible to Buruli ulcer (BU, a skin NTD caused by infection with Mycobacterium ulcerans) remains almost completely obscure. We have assessed the diets of BU patients vs. controls from the same BU-endemic communities, and compared their circulating biomarkers of nutrients and inflammation.

Effects of energy drinks on mental health and academic performance of university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

Objectives: Energy drink (ED) consumption is frequently observed among higher education students and is often associated with increased concentration and academic performance. However, the purported benefits are not fully supported by scientific evidence. This protocol details methods for a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of ED on university students' mental health and academic performance.