Association between the C-reactive protein-triglyceride-glucose index and endometriosis: a cross-sectional study using data from the national health and nutrition examination survey, 1996-2006.

Background: The C-reactive protein-triglyceride glucose index (CTI) is a promising new marker for evaluating the severity of inflammation. Endometriosis (EM) is a prevalent chronic inflammatory condition influenced by estrogen, primarily affecting women of reproductive age. However, no study has demonstrated an association between the CTI and EM.

Perceived wildfire risk and past experiences with wildfire smoke influence public support for prescribed burning in the western conterminous United States.

Background: Prescribed burning is an important fuel management tool to prevent severe wildfires. There is a pressing need to increase its application to reduce dry fuels in the western United States, a region that has experienced many damaging wildfires. Public support for this practice is tempered by concern around smoke impacts and escape risks.

L-shaped association of dietary inflammatory index (DII) and chronic diarrhea: results from NHANES 2005-2010.

Background: Since diet is a known modulator of inflammation, the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), which quantifies the inflammatory potential of an individual's diet, becomes a significant parameter to consider. Chronic diarrhea is commonly linked to inflammatory processes within the gut. Thus, this study aimed to explore the potential link between DII and chronic diarrhea.

Sulfate Promotes Compact CaCO Formation and Protects Portland Cement from Supercritical CO Attack.

Supercritical (sc) CO in geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) can chemically and mechanically deteriorate wellbore cement, raising concerns for long-term operations. In contrast to the conventional view of "sulfate attack" on cement, we found that adding 0.15 M sulfate to the acidic brine can significantly reduce the impact of scCO attack on Portland cement, resulting in stronger cement than that found in a sulfate-free system.

Persistent Aggressive Behaviour From Childhood to Adolescence: The Influence of Environmental Tobacco Exposure and the Protective Role of Fish Consumption.

Background: Understanding changes in aggressive behaviour throughout child development is crucial for identifying effective intervention strategies. This study investigates children's aggressive behaviour in a longitudinal cohort and explores the role of environmental tobacco exposure and fish consumption as potential risk and protective factors, respectively, for persistent aggression in children.

Methods: This study involved 452 children from the Chinese Jintan Cohort.

Gender Differences in the Effects of Trust on Substance Abuse Severity Among Incarcerated Stimulant Offenders in Japan.

Background: Treatment of stimulant offenders in Japan is an urgent issue. One of the more recent support approaches for stimulant offenders in Japan is to understand and support them based on a self-medication hypothesis; however, the effect of trust on substance abuse severity among incarcerated stimulant offenders has not been examined. Additionally, while accounting for gender differences is essential when providing support for them, these differences have not also been examined.

Structural polymorphism and diversity of human segmental duplications.

Segmental duplications (SDs) contribute significantly to human disease, evolution and diversity but have been difficult to resolve at the sequence level. We present a population genetics survey of SDs by analyzing 170 human genome assemblies (from 85 samples representing 38 Africans and 47 non-Africans) in which the majority of autosomal SDs are fully resolved using long-read sequence assembly. Excluding the acrocentric short arms and sex chromosomes, we identify 173.

Tandem kinase proteins across the plant kingdom.

Plant pathogens pose a continuous threat to global food production. Recent discoveries in plant immunity research unveiled a unique protein family characterized by an unusual resistance protein structure that combines two kinase domains. This study demonstrates the widespread occurrence of tandem kinase proteins (TKPs) across the plant kingdom.

Toward expert-level medical question answering with large language models.

Large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in medical question answering, with Med-PaLM being the first to exceed a 'passing' score in United States Medical Licensing Examination style questions. However, challenges remain in long-form medical question answering and handling real-world workflows. Here, we present Med-PaLM 2, which bridges these gaps with a combination of base LLM improvements, medical domain fine-tuning and new strategies for improving reasoning and grounding through ensemble refinement and chain of retrieval.

Identification of CT based radiomic biomarkers for progression free survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

This study addresses the limited noninvasive tools for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) progression-free survival (PFS) prediction by identifying Computed Tomography (CT)-based biomarkers for predicting prognosis. A retrospective analysis was conducted on data from 203 HNSCC patients. An ensemble feature selection involving correlation analysis, univariate survival analysis, best-subset selection, and the LASSO-Cox algorithm was used to select functional features, which were then used to build final Cox Proportional Hazards models (CPH).

Cellular and organismal function of choline metabolism.

Choline is an essential micronutrient critical for cellular and organismal homeostasis. As a core component of phospholipids and sphingolipids, it is indispensable for membrane architecture and function. Additionally, choline is a precursor for acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter, and betaine, a methyl donor important for epigenetic regulation.

Streptomyces secretes a siderophore that sensitizes competitor bacteria to phage infection.

To overtake competitors, microbes produce and secrete secondary metabolites that kill neighbouring cells and sequester nutrients. This metabolite-mediated competition probably evolved in complex microbial communities in the presence of viral pathogens. We therefore hypothesized that microbes secrete natural products that make competitors sensitive to phage infection.

A super-resolution algorithm to fuse orthogonal CT volumes using OrthoFusion.

OrthoFusion, an intuitive super-resolution algorithm, is presented in this study to enhance the spatial resolution of clinical CT volumes. The efficacy of OrthoFusion is evaluated, relative to high-resolution CT volumes (ground truth), by assessing image volume and derived bone morphological similarity, as well as its performance in specific applications in 2D-3D registration tasks. Results demonstrate that OrthoFusion significantly reduced segmentation time, while improving structural similarity of bone images and relative accuracy of derived bone model geometries.

Blood metal levels predict digestive tract cancer risk using machine learning in a U.S. cohort.

Background: Environmental metal exposure has been implicated in the development of digestive tract cancers, although the specific associations remain poorly defined. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between blood metal levels and the risk of digestive tract cancers among U.S.

Exploring the potential association between serum selenium and hypertension in obese adult males in the United States.

Previous studies on the correlation between serum selenium and hypertension have yielded inconsistent results. Our previous analysis of participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018 indicated that elevated serum selenium concentrations were associated with an increased risk of metabolic abnormalities in obese individuals, with the primary effect being on blood pressure in males. The aim of this study was to further elucidate the relationship between serum selenium and the risk of hypertension in obese males.

A national data set of historical US sundown towns for quantitative analysis.

We present a new national data set of historical sundown towns in the United States linked to contemporary spatial information - i.e., the Historical Sundown Towns Linked to US Census Geographies database.

Small variant benchmark from a complete assembly of X and Y chromosomes.

The sex chromosomes contain complex, important genes impacting medical phenotypes, but differ from the autosomes in their ploidy and large repetitive regions. To enable technology developers along with research and clinical laboratories to evaluate variant detection on male sex chromosomes X and Y, we create a small variant benchmark set with 111,725 variants for the Genome in a Bottle HG002 reference material. We develop an active evaluation approach to demonstrate the benchmark set reliably identifies errors in challenging genomic regions and across short and long read callsets.

Qualitative assessment of primary care providers' attitudes toward genetic services and genetics education.

As the role of primary care providers (PCPs) in genetic medicine increases, there is a need for training related to the integration of genetics into primary care. However, little is known about PCPs' attitudes towards and perceived needs for such training. We conducted semi-structured interviews with nine PCPs to capture information about their perceptions of their role in genetics and their continuing medical educational needs related to genetics in primary care, and we conducted thematic analysis.

PET Imaging of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor 1 with [F]TZ4877 in Nonhuman Primates.

Purpose: The sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-1 (S1PR) is involved in regulating responses to neuroimmune stimuli. There is a need for S1PR-specific radioligands with clinically suitable brain pharmcokinetic properties to complement existing radiotracers. This work evaluated a promising S1PR radiotracer, [F]TZ4877, in nonhuman primates.

Eligibility for and reach of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 2018-2021.

Purpose: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) provides access to timely breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services to women who have low incomes and are uninsured or underinsured. Documenting the number of women eligible and the proportion of eligible women who receive NBCCEDP-funded services is important for identifying opportunities to increase screening and diagnostic services among those who would not otherwise have access.

Methods: Using the Census Bureau's Small Area Health Insurance Estimates data, we estimated the number of women who met the NBCCEDP eligibility criteria based on age, income, and insurance status.

Only Children by Choice vs. Only Children by Circumstances: Why Do Some Women Have Only One Child?

In an attempt to stimulate further theory and research on only children, we introduce two conceptual distinctions: Only children as independent variables vs. only children as dependent variables; and only children by choice vs. only children by circumstances.

The Association of HIV Criminalization Law and Disparities in Transplant Education among People with HIV.

While people with HIV (PWH) experience high rates of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), they were historically denied kidney transplantation and prohibited from organ donation, both elements of treating ESKD. It remains unknown to what extent such HIV criminalization laws correlate with the provision of transplantation education to PWH. We conducted this study to elucidate the relationship between these structural-level policies and individual-level outcomes.

Long-Acting Injectable Prep for People Who Inject Drugs at a Syringe Services Program: A Qualitative Acceptability and Feasibility Study.

Although people who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk of acquiring HIV, knowledge and uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among this population remain low due to numerous psychosocial and structural barriers. Multiple implementation strategies have been proposed to address this gap, notably providing long-acting injectable (LAI) formulations of PrEP and offering PrEP at syringe services programs (SSPs). This qualitative study explores the acceptability and feasibility of offering LAI-PrEP for PWID at risk for HIV at Florida's first legal SSP.

The Impacts of Substance Use and Depression on HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Use and Adherence Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents and Young Adults in the Keeping it LITE Cohort.

Substance use and depression are prevalent in sexual and gender minorities (SGM), but evidence about their impacts on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use is mixed. We assessed these impacts in a US-based cohort of 3,330 young SGM who tested negative for HIV and completed baseline and semiannual assessments on substance use (cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin), depression, and PrEP use and adherence. We estimated prevalence differences (PDs) to compare baseline and 12-month PrEP use and adherence between participants with and without substance use and depression, separately and jointly.

Angelica gigas Nakai (Korean Dang-gui) Root Alcoholic Extracts in Health Promotion and Disease Therapy - active Phytochemicals and In Vivo Molecular Targets.

Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN) root is a medicinal herbal widely used in traditional medicine in Korea. AGN root ethanolic extracts have been marketed as dietary supplements in the United States for memory health and pain management. We have recently reviewed the pharmacokinetics (PK) and first-pass hepatic metabolism of ingested AGN supplements in humans for the signature pyranocoumarins decursin (D, C 1x), decursinol angelate (DA, C ~ 10x) and their common botanical precursor and hepatic metabolite decursinol (DOH, C ~ 1000x).