Association between sleep quality and serum biomarkers among long-term hot spring bathers: a cross-sectional study.

Previous studies investigating the influence of hot spring bathing on sleep quality have predominantly focused on the short-term effects through questionnaire surveys without blood collection for biochemical tests. Here, we undertook a comprehensive investigation of the long-term health effects of hot spring bathing among the residents of Hot Spring Village. A total of 140 participants were enrolled, and their demographic characteristics and the patterns of hot spring bathing were obtained via face-to-face interview, and sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Optimal life-cycle adaptation of coastal infrastructure under climate change.

Climate change-related risk mitigation is typically addressed using cost-benefit analysis that evaluates mitigation strategies against a wide range of simulated scenarios and identifies a static policy to be implemented, without considering future observations. Due to the substantial uncertainties inherent in climate projections, this identified policy will likely be sub-optimal with respect to the actual climate trajectory that evolves in time. In this work, we thus formulate climate risk management as a dynamic decision-making problem based on Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and Partially Observable MDPs (POMDPs), taking real-time data into account for evaluating the evolving conditions and related model uncertainties, in order to select the best possible life-cycle actions in time, with global optimality guarantees for the formulated optimization problem.

Finding gaps in the national electric vehicle charging station coverage of the United States.

The United States federal government has invested $7.5 billion into charging infrastructure, including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, to build fast charging stations along designated highways for long-distance car travel. We develop a consecutive coverage metric to compute the percent of United States roads (traffic-weighted) that are consecutively accessible within 500 miles of each county.

Scaling of ventral hippocampal activity during anxiety.

The hippocampus supports a multiplicity of functions, with the dorsal region contributing to spatial representations and memory, and the ventral hippocampus (vH) being primarily involved in emotional processing. While spatial encoding has been extensively investigated, how the vH activity is tuned to emotional states, e.g.

The Association of Epstein-Barr Virus Donor and Recipient Serostatus With Outcomes After Kidney Transplantation : A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Prior studies indicate that 1% to 4% of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-seronegative recipients of EBV-seropositive donor (EBV D+/R-) kidneys develop posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). However, these estimates are based on limited data that lack granularity.

Objective: To determine the associations between pretransplant EBV D+/R- and recipient EBV-seropositive status (R+) and the outcomes of PTLD and graft and patient survival among adult kidney transplant recipients.

Ultralight wheelchair part failures are associated with sensor-monitored road shocks: A pilot study.

Wheelchair part failures and repairs have significantly increased over the last decade, leading to severe consequences for wheelchair users. Servicing these devices by wheelchair repair technicians has reduced part failures. However, no tools or technologies have been developed to support servicing in practice.

White matter connections within the central sulcus subserving the somato-cognitive action network.

The somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) consists of three nodes interspersed within Penfield's motor effector regions. The configuration of the somato-cognitive action network nodes resembles the one of the 'plis de passage' of the central sulcus: small gyri bridging the precentral and postcentral gyri. Thus, we hypothesize that these may provide a structural substrate of the somato-cognitive action network.

Translating PK-PD principles into improved methodology for clinical trials which compare intermittent with prolonged infusion of beta-lactam antibiotics.

Based on the fact that beta-lactam antibiotics demonstrate time-dependent killing, different dosing strategies have been implemented to increase the time that free (f) (unbound) antibiotic concentrations remain above the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), including prolonged and continuous infusion. Multiple studies have been performed that compared continuous with traditional intermittent infusion to improve outcomes in patients with severe sepsis and/or septic shock. These studies have yielded inconsistent results for patients as measured by clinical response to treatment and mortality due to heterogeneity of included patients, pathogens, dosing strategies and the absence of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM).

Comparison of Bicortical versus Unicortical Medial Malleolus Fixation.

Background: Ankle fractures continue to increase in incidence and severity in an older, more challenging geriatric population. Medial malleolus fixation with partially threaded cancellous 4.0-mm screws, a common fixation method, has been shown to fail due to pullout strength.

Identifying the Strongest Correlates of Condom Use Among US Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Condoms are effective at preventing sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy; however, only 52% of sexually active US adolescents used a condom at last intercourse.

Objective: To examine (1) the association between 36 psychosocial variables and adolescent condom use to determine the strongest correlates of condom use behavior across the literature, (2) heterogeneity of these effects, and (3) the moderating roles of age, gender/sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and year of study.

Data Sources: A systematic search was conducted of studies published between January 2000 and February 2024 using Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Communication Source databases, plus relevant review articles and unpublished data.

Anxiety and Depression Affect Sleep Quality: A Preliminary Investigation in Crowdsourced Samples of Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.

We aimed to compare sleep problems in autistic and non-autistic adults with co-occurring depression and anxiety. The primary research question was whether autism status influences sleep quality, after accounting for the effects of depression and anxiety. We hypothesized that autistic adults would report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and sleep problems compared to non-autistic adults, after controlling for these covariates.

The impact of sleep interventions combined with enhanced nutritional support on sleep quality, nutritional status, pain management, psychological well-being, and quality of life in postoperative colon cancer patients.

Objective: To investigate the synergistic effects of combined sleep interventions and enhanced nutritional support on postoperative recovery in colon cancer patients, with a focus on sleep quality, nutritional status, pain management, psychological well-being, and quality of life.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial included 290 postoperative colon cancer patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between May 2021 and May 2023. Participants were randomized into two groups: the intervention group, which received standard care supplemented with sleep and nutritional interventions, and the control group, which received standard care alone.

Sleep Quality Among a Sample of Medical Students and the Association with Academic Performance: An Updated Data.

Sleep is influenced by various factors, including social, economic, genetic, and medical factors, and work and study schedules. Medical students are highly susceptible to sleep-related problems. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sleep patterns and quality of medical students and determine their correlation with academic achievement.

Genetic Services in Appalachia Conference Series.

This study examined the data generated as part of a seven-session webinar series that focused on genetics care provision in the medically underserved, rural Appalachian region and examined how these services have adapted to challenging practice environments. Barriers and facilitators to care in our region were considered. Data included a baseline survey of registrants, transcripts of sessions, and feedback about sessions.

A neuropathology case report of a woman with Down syndrome who remained cognitively stable: Implications for resilience to neuropathology.

Introduction: Aging adults with Down syndrome (DS) accumulate Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, including amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, by age 40.

Methods: We present findings from an individual with DS who remained cognitively stable despite AD neuropathology. Clinical assessments, fluid biomarkers, neuroimaging, and neuropathological examinations were conducted to characterize her condition.

Medication Use Quality and Safety in Older Adults: 2023 Update.

Improving the quality of medication use and medication safety are important priorities for healthcare providers who care for older adults. The objective of this article was to identify four exemplary articles with this focus in 2023. We selected high-quality studies that advanced this field of research.

Identifying gait differences between Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies and their associations with regional amyloid deposition.

Introduction: We aimed to compare gait between individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals and to evaluate the association between gait and regional amyloid beta (Aβ) burden in AD and DLB.

Methods: We included 420 participants (70 AD, 70 DLB, 280 CU) in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA). Gait was assessed using a pressure-sensor walkway.

Molecular hallmarks of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal resilience and resistance to Alzheimer's disease.

Background: A significant proportion of individuals maintain healthy cognitive function despite having extensive Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, known as cognitive resilience. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that protect these individuals can identify therapeutic targets for AD dementia. This study aims to define molecular and cellular signatures of cognitive resilience, protection and resistance, by integrating genetics, bulk RNA, and single-nucleus RNA sequencing data across multiple brain regions from AD, resilient, and control individuals.

A suite of pre-assembled, pET28b-based Golden Gate vectors for efficient protein engineering and expression.

Expression and purification of recombinant proteins in is a bedrock technique in biochemistry and molecular biology. Expression optimization requires testing different combinations of solubility tags, affinity purification techniques, and site-specific proteases. This optimization is laborious and time consuming as these features are spread across different vector series and require different cloning strategies with varying efficiencies.

Liver fibrosis classification on trichrome histology slides using weakly supervised learning in children and young adults.

Background: Traditional liver fibrosis staging via percutaneous biopsy suffers from sampling bias and variable inter-pathologist agreement, highlighting the need for more objective techniques. Deep learning models for disease staging from medical images have shown potential to decrease diagnostic variability, with recent weakly supervised learning strategies showing promising results even with limited manual annotation.

Purpose: To study the clustering-constrained attention multiple instance learning (CLAM) approach for staging liver fibrosis on trichrome whole slide images (WSIs) of children and young adults.

Clinical, immunophenotypic, and genomic findings of acute myeloid leukemia with RAM immunophenotype: Comparison with other CD56-positive acute leukemias.

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with RAM immunophenotype is a newly recognized high-risk AML immunophenotypic subcategory characterized by blasts with bright expression of CD56 and weak to absent expression of CD45, HLA-DR, and CD38, as first described by the Children's Oncology Group (COG). The relationship between AML-RAM and other CD56-positive acute leukemias is unclear. The goal of this study is to characterize the clinicopathological characteristics of AML with RAM phenotype and compare them with other CD56 co-expressing acute leukemias.

A mind-body resilience intervention for emotional distress in cardiac arrest survivors and their informal caregivers - Recovering together after cardiac arrest: Protocol for an open pilot trial.

Background: Chronic emotional distress among cardiac arrest (CA) survivors and their caregivers is prevalent and worsens quality of life and recovery. Interventions to prevent chronic distress post-CA are needed. We developed (RT-CA), an intervention to increase resiliency in CA survivor-caregiver dyads (pairs).

Quantitative assessment of the generalizability of a brain tumor Raman spectroscopy machine learning model to various tumor types including astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma.

Significance: Maximal safe resection of brain tumors can be performed by neurosurgeons through the use of accurate and practical guidance tools that provide real-time information during surgery. Current established adjuvant intraoperative technologies include neuronavigation guidance, intraoperative imaging (MRI and ultrasound), and 5-ALA for fluorescence-guided surgery.

Aim: We have developed intraoperative Raman spectroscopy as a real-time decision support system for neurosurgical guidance in brain tumors.