Evaluating Disparities in COVID-19 Clinical Outcomes Among Patients With Cirrhosis in North America and Europe-An International Registry Study.

Background: Patients with decompensated cirrhosis have a higher risk of hospitalization, ICU admission, and death from COVID-19. The impact of demographics on these outcomes remains uncertain.

Methods: The SECURE-Liver and COVID-Hep databases were utilized to evaluate disparities in COVID-19 outcomes.

A multicenter randomized control trial: Point-of-care syndromic assessment versus standard testing in urgent care center patients with acute respiratory illness.

Objective: Syndromic assessment with multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) testing in patients with acute respiratory illness (ARI) allows for simultaneous identification of multiple possible infectious etiologies. Point-of-care (POC) syndromic assessment can be conducted in a clinical setting, such as an urgent care center (UCC), without requiring certified laboratories. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether POC syndromic assessment improved patient satisfaction for patients seen at an UCC with ARI; secondary objectives included whether syndromic assessment reduced self-isolation time, increased diagnostic confidence, and reduced overall antibiotic utilization.

Cannabis Users' and Non-Users' Differential Responses to Two Anti-Cannabis Campaigns.

Even though multiple states have approved legal recreational use of cannabis, the expansion of recreational cannabis legalization has led to public health concerns in the United States. Young adults (18-25 years old) have the highest percentage of cannabis use disorder compared to all other age groups. The purpose of this study is to compare cognitive and emotional responses of young adults who use cannabis and non-users to two anti-cannabis media campaigns that employed different message strategies.

A machine learning decision criterion for reducing scan time for hyperspectral neutron computed tomography systems.

We present the first machine learning-based autonomous hyperspectral neutron computed tomography experiment performed at the Spallation Neutron Source. Hyperspectral neutron computed tomography allows the characterization of samples by enabling the reconstruction of crystallographic information and elemental/isotopic composition of objects relevant to materials science. High quality reconstructions using traditional algorithms such as the filtered back projection require a high signal-to-noise ratio across a wide wavelength range combined with a large number of projections.

Correction: Ferguson et al. Soil, Hand, and Body Adherence Measures across Four Beach Areas: Potential Influence on Exposure to Oil Spill Chemicals. 2020, , 4196.

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Sample Size Considerations for Fine-Tuning Large Language Models for Named Entity Recognition Tasks: Methodological Study.

Background: Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to support promising new applications in health informatics. However, practical data on sample size considerations for fine-tuning LLMs to perform specific tasks in biomedical and health policy contexts are lacking.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate sample size and sample selection techniques for fine-tuning LLMs to support improved named entity recognition (NER) for a custom data set of conflicts of interest disclosure statements.

Care in nursing as a contested concept? A Bergsonian perspective.

The concept of care has occupied a central place in nursing philosophy and scholarship since the modern formation of the profession. Perhaps the defining character of the scholarship has been the recognition not only of the complexity of the concept of care, its elusiveness and ambiguity, but also the lack of consensus or agreement regarding its meaning and value. I will make two interconnected arguments: first, I will argue that disputes around care are not an accidental feature or an unfortunate condition of its applicability.

Targeted mutagenesis of the vacuolar H translocating pyrophosphatase gene reduces grain chalkiness in rice.

Grain chalkiness is a major concern in rice production because it impacts milling yield and cooking quality, eventually reducing market value of the rice. A gene encoding vacuolar H translocating pyrophosphatase (V-PPase) is a major quantitative trait locus in indica rice, controlling grain chalkiness. Higher transcriptional activity of this gene is associated with increased chalk content.

A review of caracal and jungle cat diets across their geographical ranges during 1842-2021.

Co-occurring carnivore species that are phylogenetically related or of similar size, morphology, and ecological needs often reduce competition by partitioning shared resources through temporal, spatial, and dietary niche segregation via behavioral adaptations. Caracals () and jungle cats () co-occur in portions of their geographical ranges and are expected to display resource segregation in these ranges. We compiled scat, stomach content, and prey remains found data from published and unpublished sources to summarize information on the diets of caracals and jungle cats across their geographical ranges during 1842-2021.

The informed consent form navigator: a tool for producing readable and compliant consent documents.

Background/objective: Informed consent forms (ICFs) and practices vary widely across institutions. This project expands on previous work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Health Literacy to develop a plain language ICF template. Our interdisciplinary team of researchers, comprised of biomedical informaticists, health literacy experts, and stakeholders in the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process, has developed the ICF Navigator, a novel tool to facilitate the creation of plain language ICFs that comply with all relevant regulatory requirements.

Environmental Impacts of Coal Combustion Residuals: Current Understanding and Future Perspectives.

On-site solid-waste impoundments, landfills, and receiving water bodies have served as long-term disposal sites for coal combustion residuals (CCRs) across the United States for decades and collectively contain billions of tons of CCR material. CCR components include fine particulate material, minerals, and trace elements such as mercury, arsenic, selenium, lead, etc., which can have deleterious effects on ecosystem functioning and public health.

External validity of teamwork and leadership behavior in academic labs: evidence from samples in Peru and the U.S.

In this investigation, we tested hypotheses concerning how external validity, in relation to leadership and teamwork, was affected as participants moved from organizational to academic settings. Participants consisted of working business students ( = 159) from two countries, Peru and the United States, who adopted leader/teammate roles across settings. Results indicated that (a) transactional leadership and teamwork behavior demonstrated in organizational contexts were predictive of similar behavior in academic contexts, (b) the cultural setting of the study moderates the carry over effect of teamwork and leadership behavior from organizations to laboratories, and (c) for several leadership and teamwork behaviors, role identity and self-awareness incrementally added to the prediction of similar behaviors in academic contexts.

Psychophysiological responses to hookah tobacco public education messages among young adults.

Objective: Hookah tobacco use among young adults may be driven by misperceptions of health harms and addictiveness, appealing flavors, and social use. This study examined the effects of hookah prevention messages on participants' cognitive and emotional processing in a lab setting.

Method: One hundred twenty participants (61 susceptible never-users, 59 current users) were exposed to messages representing six categories: health risks only, health risks of social use, health risks of flavors, addiction risks only, addiction risks of social use, and addiction risks of flavors.

Cognitive and affective responses to marijuana prevention and educational messaging.

Background: Perceptions of risk of using marijuana have decreased significantly in the US over the last decade, while marijuana use has increased. In order to educate people on the risks associated with marijuana use, large-scale health messaging campaigns have been deployed to educate the public about the risks associated with marijuana use, particularly in states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal. Few studies have examined how messages about marijuana affect the audiences' cognitive and emotional responsivity to these messages.

BiO nano-flakes as a cost-effective antibacterial agent.

Bismuth oxide is an important bismuth compound having applications in electronics, photo-catalysis and medicine. At the nanoscale, bismuth oxide experiences a variety of new physico-chemical properties because of its increased surface to volume ratio leading to potentially new applications. In this manuscript, we report for the very first time the synthesis of bismuth oxide (BiO) nano-flakes by pulsed laser ablation in liquids without any external assistance (no acoustic, electric field, or magnetic field).

Genetics and genomics of SARS-CoV-2: A review of the literature with the special focus on genetic diversity and SARS-CoV-2 genome detection.

The outbreak of 2019-novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, started in late 2019; in a short time, it has spread rapidly all over the world. Although some possible antiviral and anti-inflammatory medications are available, thousands of people are dying daily. Well-understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 genome is not only essential for the development of new treatments/vaccines, but it also can be used for improving the sensitivity and specificity of current approaches for virus detection.

Assessment of silver release and biocidal capacity from silver nanocomposite food packaging materials.

In this study, silver release from commercially available food-contact materials in food simulants (water, acetic acid, ethanol-water and olive oil) and meats (tuna, ham, and turkey) was assessed. Additionally, the antimicrobial capacity of migrated silver was examined in meats. Largest silver release was observed in simulants from food touch papers (25 ± 11 mg/kg) as compared to bag, cutting board and containers.

Optimal time-varying postural control in a single-link neuromechanical model with feedback latencies.

Maintaining balance during quiet standing is a challenging task for the neural control mechanisms due to the inherent instabilities involved in the task. The feedback latencies and the lowpass characteristics of skeletal muscle add to the difficulty of regulating postural dynamics in real-time. Inverted-pendulum (IP) type robotic models have served as a popular paradigm to investigate control of postural balance.

Soil, Hand, and Body Adherence Measures across Four Beach Areas: Potential Influence on Exposure to Oil Spill Chemicals.

Skin adherence (SA) of soil affects exposure from soil contaminants through dermal routes via loading on the skin and through ingestion routes through hand to mouth activities. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationships between adherence versus child-specific and environmental factors. Two sets of soil-to-skin adherence were evaluated.

Metabolism, CB1 cannabinoid receptor binding and in vivo activity of synthetic cannabinoid 5F-AKB48: Implications for toxicity.

AKB48 and its fluorinated derivative 5F-AKB48 are synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) which have caused hospitalizations and deaths in human users. Abuse of SCs is dangerous because users may mistake them for natural cannabis, which is generally considered to be unlikely to elicit adverse effects. The present studies were designed to investigate the in vitro oxidative metabolism of 5F-AKB48 by human microsomal fractions from different organs and sexes as well as recombinant human cytochrome P450s (P450s).

Chronic Disease, the Built Environment, and Unequal Health Risks in the 500 Largest U.S. Cities.

Health is increasingly subject to the complex interplay between the built environment, population composition, and the structured inequity in access to health-related resources across communities. The primary objective of this paper was to examine cardiometabolic disease (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke) markers and their prevalence across relatively small geographic units in the 500 largest cities in the United States. Using data from the American Community Survey and the 500 Cities Project, the current study examined cardiometabolic diseases across 27,000+ census tracts in the 500 largest cities in the United States.

Dimension Reduction and Clustering Models for Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Data: A Comparative Study.

With recent advances in single-cell RNA sequencing, enormous transcriptome datasets have been generated. These datasets have furthered our understanding of cellular heterogeneity and its underlying mechanisms in homogeneous populations. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data clustering can group cells belonging to the same cell type based on patterns embedded in gene expression.

Pathogenic and protective roles of cytokines in pemphigus: A systematic review.

Pemphigus is a rare and life-threatening group of blistering autoimmune diseases that affects the skin and mucous membranes. There are two major subtypes of pemphigus, including pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF); each has different clinical manifestations. Pemphigus cannot be considered as a single disease and each patient may have a specific immunological profile.

Identifying cytochrome P450s involved in oxidative metabolism of synthetic cannabinoid N-(adamantan-1-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamide (STS-135).

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs), designer drugs marketed as legal alternatives to marijuana, act as ligands to cannabinoid receptors; however, they have increased binding affinity and potency, resulting in toxicity symptoms such as cardiovascular incidents, seizures, and potentially death. N-(adamantan-1-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamide (STS-135) is a third generation SCB. When incubated with hepatocytes, it undergoes oxidation, hydrolysis, and glucuronidation, resulting in 29 metabolites, with monohydroxy STS-135 (M25) and dihydroxy STS-135 (M21) being the predominant metabolites.