Soluble Proteoglycans and Proteoglycan Fragments as Biomarkers of Pathological Extracellular Matrix Remodeling.

Proteoglycans and their proteolytic fragments diffuse into biological fluids such as plasma, serum, urine, or synovial fluid, where they can be detected by antibodies or mass-spectrometry. Neopeptides generated by the proteolysis of proteoglycans are recognized by specific neoepitope antibodies and can act as a proxy for the activity of certain proteases. Proteoglycan and proteoglycan fragments can be potentially used as prognostic, diagnostic, or theragnostic biomarkers for several diseases characterized by dysregulated extracellular matrix remodeling such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, thoracic aortic aneurysms, central nervous system disorders, viral infections, and cancer.

A decade of outsourcing in health and social care in England: What was it meant to achieve?

The increased private provision of publicly funded health and social care over the last 75 years has been one of the most contentious topics in UK public policy. In the last decades, health and social care policies in England have consistently promoted the outsourcing of public services to private for-profit and non-profit companies with the assumption that private sector involvement will reduce costs and improve service quality and access. However, it is not clear why outsourcing often fails to improve quality of care, and which of the underlying assumptions behind marketising care are not supported by research.

Exploring vision transformers for classifying early Barrett's dysplasia in endoscopic images: A pilot study on white-light and narrow-band imaging.

Background And Aim: Various deep learning models, based on convolutional neural network (CNN), have been shown to improve the detection of early esophageal neoplasia in Barrett's esophagus. Vision transformer (ViT), derived from natural language processing, has emerged as the new state-of-the-art for image recognition, outperforming predecessors such as CNN. This pilot study explores the use of ViT to classify the presence or absence of early esophageal neoplasia in endoscopic images of Barrett's esophagus.

Fortification of Pea and Potato Protein Isolates in Oat-Based Milk Alternatives; Effects on the Sensory and Volatile Profile.

Oat-based milk alternatives (OMAs) are an important alternative to bovine milk, with prevalence of lactose intolerance, as well as soy and nut allergies limiting consumers options. However, OMAs are typically lower in protein content than both bovine milk and soy-based alternatives, with protein quality limited by low lysine levels, which can reduce protein digestibility. Addition of alternative plant proteins may increase the quantity of protein, as well as balancing the amino acid profile.

Biomimetic electrospun PVDF/self-assembling peptide piezoelectric scaffolds for neural stem cell transplantation in neural tissue engineering.

Piezoelectric materials can provide electrical stimulation without external chemical or physical support, opening new frontiers for future bioelectric therapies. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) possesses piezoelectricity and biocompatibility, making it an electroactive biomaterial capable of enhancing bioactivity through instantaneous electrical stimulation, which indicates significant potential in tissue engineering. In this study, we developed electroactive and biomimetic scaffolds made of electrospun PVDF and self-assembling peptides (SAPs) to enhance stem cell transplantation for spinal cord injury regeneration.

Minimally invasive power sources for implantable electronics.

As implantable medical electronics (IMEs) developed for healthcare monitoring and biomedical therapy are extensively explored and deployed clinically, the demand for non-invasive implantable biomedical electronics is rapidly surging. Current rigid and bulky implantable microelectronic power sources are prone to immune rejection and incision, or cannot provide enough energy for long-term use, which greatly limits the development of miniaturized implantable medical devices. Herein, a comprehensive review of the historical development of IMEs and the applicable miniaturized power sources along with their advantages and limitations is given.

Applications of ambient ionization mass spectrometry in 2022: An annual review.

The development of ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) has transformed analytical science, providing the means of performing rapid analysis of samples in their native state, both in and out of the laboratory. The capacity to eliminate sample preparation and pre-MS separation techniques, leading to true real-time analysis, has led to AIMS naturally gaining a broad interest across the scientific community. Since the introduction of the first AIMS techniques in the mid-2000s, the field has exploded with dozens of novel ion sources, an array of intriguing applications, and an evident growing interest across diverse areas of study.

Enhancing spatial inference of air pollution using machine learning techniques with low-cost monitors in data-limited scenarios.

Ensuring environmental justice necessitates equitable access to air quality data, particularly for vulnerable communities. However, traditional air quality data from reference monitors can be costly and challenging to interpret without in-depth knowledge of local meteorology. Low-cost monitors present an opportunity to enhance data availability in developing countries and enable the establishment of local monitoring networks.

Impact of mindfulness-based and health self-management interventions on mindfulness, self-compassion, and physical activity in older adults with subjective cognitive decline: A secondary analysis of the SCD-Well randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Older adults experiencing subjective cognitive decline (SCD) have a higher risk of dementia. Reducing this risk through behavioral interventions, which can increase emotional well-being (mindfulness and compassion) and physical activity, is crucial in SCD.

Methods: SCD-Well is a multicenter, observer-blind, randomized, controlled, superiority trial.

Multi-Objective Self-Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization for Large-Scale Feature Selection in Classification.

Feature selection (FS) is recognized for its role in enhancing the performance of learning algorithms, especially for high-dimensional datasets. In recent times, FS has been framed as a multi-objective optimization problem, leading to the application of various multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) to address it. However, the solution space expands exponentially with the dataset's dimensionality.

Hexavalent chromium waste removal bioelectrochemical systems - a life cycle assessment perspective.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) such as microbial fuel cells (MFCs) present numerous benefits for the removal and recovery of heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater. This study evaluated the life cycle environmental impact of simultaneous hexavalent chromium (Cr(vi)) removal and bioelectricity generation in a dual chamber MFC. Results indicate a global warming potential (GWP) of -0.

Apolipoprotein M gene polymorphisms in childhood-onset type 1 diabetes in southern Brazil.

Unlabelled: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), associated with autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells, is observed in children and adolescents.

Objective: We investigated the potential association of the apolipoprotein M () polymorphisms rs707921, rs805264, rs805296, rs805297, and rs9404941 in childhood-onset T1DM ( = 144) and compared them to those in healthy (mostly Euro-Brazilian) children ( = 168).

Methods: This project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Parana (CAAE 24676613.

Encapsulation and thermal properties of composite phase change materials based on cobalt/nitrogen double-doped ZIF-67 derived carbon.

To solve the problems of easy leakage and weak thermal conductivity of single-phase change material, in this experiment, cobalt/nitrogen-doped ZIF-67 derived carbon (CoN-ZIF-C) was constructed as the carrier material, and paraffin was used as the phase change core material to construct thermally enhanced shaped composite phase change materials (P@CoN-ZIF-C). The composite PCMs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, isothermal nitrogen adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier infrared spectroscopy, and their performance was evaluated using transient planar heat source techniques, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermal cycling tests. The results indicated that the impurities of the acid-washed porous carbon material were reduced and the loading of the paraffin was 60%, and the prepared P@CoN-ZIF-C had an excellent thermal performance.

Iron-loaded carbon black prepared chemical vapor deposition as an efficient peroxydisulfate activator for the removal of rhodamine B from water.

The excessive use of organic pollutants like organic dyes, which enter the water environment, has led to a significant environmental problem. Finding an efficient method to degrade these pollutants is urgent due to their detrimental effects on aquatic organisms and human health. Carbon-based catalysts are emerging as highly promising and efficient alternatives to metal catalysts in Fenton-like systems.

Research progress on MOFs and their derivatives as promising and efficient electrode materials for electrocatalytic hydrogen production from water.

Hydrogen energy is considered to be the most potential "ultimate energy source" due to its high combustion calorific value, cleanliness, and pollution-free characteristics. Furthermore, the production of hydrogen the electrolysis of water has the advantages of simplicity, high efficiency, environmentally safe, and high-purity hydrogen. However, it is also associated with issues such as high-power consumption for the reaction and limited large-scale application of noble metal catalysts.

Highly porous phosphate-based glasses for controlled delivery of antibacterial Cu ions prepared sol-gel chemistry.

Mesoporous glasses are a promising class of bioresorbable biomaterials characterized by high surface area and extended porosity in the range of 2 to 50 nm. These peculiar properties make them ideal materials for the controlled release of therapeutic ions and molecules. Whilst mesoporous silicate-based glasses (MSG) have been widely investigated, much less work has been done on mesoporous phosphate-based glasses (MPG).

Nanoreactor Engineering Can Unlock New Possibilities for CO Tandem Catalytic Conversion to C-C Coupled Products.

Climate change is becoming increasingly more pronounced every day while the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues to rise. CO reduction to valuable chemicals is an approach that has gathered substantial attention as a means to recycle these gases. Herein, some of the tandem catalysis approaches that can be used to achieve the transformation of CO to C-C coupled products are explored, focusing especially on tandem catalytic schemes where there is a big opportunity to improve performance by designing effective catalytic nanoreactors.

How proton transfer impacts hachimoji DNA.

Hachimoji DNA is a synthetic nucleic acid extension of DNA, formed by an additional four bases, Z, P, S, and B, that can encode information and sustain Darwinian evolution. In this paper, we aim to look into the properties of hachimoji DNA and investigate the probability of proton transfer between the bases, resulting in base mismatch under replication. First, we present a proton transfer mechanism for hachimoji DNA, analogous to the one presented by Löwdin years prior.

Design and synthesis of atorvastatin derivatives with enhanced water solubility, hepatoselectivity and stability.

Statins are effective 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-R) inhibitors, which are successfully used for cardiovascular disease treatment. Statins' side effects are generally attributed to poor bioavailability and hepatoselectivity, which are closely related to their high lipophilicity. Targeted delivery of statins to the liver is considered as a way to reduce unwanted side effects.

Prognostic implications of microRNA-21 overexpression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: an international multicenter study of 686 patients.

Despite progress in genomic characterization, no single prognostic marker that can be evaluated using an easy-to-perform and relatively inexpensive method is available for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). MicroRNAs, which are stable, tumor- and tissue-specific molecules, are potentially ideal biomarkers, and we established an inter-laboratory validated method to investigate miR-21 as a prognostic biomarker in PDAC. The study samples of PDAC patients were recruited from a test cohort of Glasgow (n = 189) and three validation cohorts of Pisa (n = 69), Sydney (n = 249), and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) (n = 249).

Developing a novel prediction model in opioid overdose using machine learning; a pilot analytical study.

Background And Aims: The opioid epidemic has extended to many countries. Data regarding the accuracy of conventional prediction models including the Simplified Acute Physiologic Score (SAPS) II and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II are scarce in opioid overdose cases. We evaluate the efficacy of adding quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) data to clinical and paraclinical data in the prediction of opioid overdose mortality using machine learning.

Night-to-night variation in sleep associates with day-to-day variation in vigilance, cognition, memory, and behavioral problems in Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Sleep disturbances are commonly reported in people living with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it is currently unknown whether night-to-night variation in sleep predicts day-to-day variation in vigilance, cognition, mood, and behavior (daytime measures).

Methods: Subjective and objective sleep and daytime measures were collected daily for 2 weeks in 15 participants with mild AD, eight participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 22 participants with no cognitive impairment (NCI). Associations between daytime measures and four principal components of sleep (duration, quality, continuity, and latency) were quantified using mixed-model regression.

Microbial electrosynthesis: is it sustainable for bioproduction of acetic acid?

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is an innovative technology for electricity driven microbial reduction of carbon dioxide (CO) to useful multi-carbon compounds. This study assesses the cradle-to-gate environmental burdens associated with acetic acid (AA) production MES using graphene functionalized carbon felt cathode. The analysis shows that, though the environmental impact for the production of the functionalized cathode is substantially higher when compared to carbon felt with no modification, the improved productivity of the process helps in reducing the overall impact.

functions as a potential novel oncopromoter in colorectal cancer: a comprehensive analysis of the gene family.

Pre-B-cell leukaemia (PBX) is a transcription factor family ( and ) that regulates important cellular functions and has been identified to be involved in human cancers. This study aimed to explore the expression of genes and their clinical significance in colorectal cancer (CRC). We analysed the differential expression of genes in CRC vs.