Defining the Zone of Acute Peripheral Nerve Injury Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging in a Crush Injury Sheep Model.

Purpose: Current technologies to define the zone of acute peripheral nerve injury intraoperatively are limited by surgical experience, time, cumbersome electrodiagnostic equipment, and interpreter reliability. In this pilot study, we evaluated a real-time, label-free optical technique for intraoperative nerve injury imaging. We hypothesize that fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) will detect a difference between the time-resolved fluorescence signatures for acute crush injuries versus uninjured segments of peripheral nerves in sheep.

Identification of Cannabis Product Characteristics and Pricing on Dark Web Markets.

Growing cannabis use has made it the most widely cultivated and trafficked illicit drug globally according to the World Health Organization, with 147 million people consuming cannabis-derived products (CDPs) in various product forms and constituency. Despite restrictions in certain countries, unregulated access can still be found on the dark web which specializes in trafficking of illicit goods. The objective was to systematically collect data from multiple marketplaces to identify types of cannabis products offered for sale.

Managing xylazine-involved overdoses in a community harm reduction setting: lessons from Tijuana, Mexico.

Background: Xylazine is a α2-adrenergic receptor agonist, used for sedation in veterinary contexts. Although it is increasingly found in overdose deaths across North America, the clinical management of xylazine-involved overdoses has not been extensively studied, especially in community-based harm reduction settings. Here we present a clinical series of xylazine-involved overdose and share the clinical approach and lessons learned by a community overdose response team in Tijuana, Mexico amidst the arrival of xylazine.

Integrating social learning, social networks, and non-parental transgenerational plasticity.

Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) has largely focused on how parental exposure to ecological conditions shapes the phenotypes of future generations. However, organisms acquire information about their ecological environment via social learning, which can also shape TGP in profound ways. We demonstrate that non-parents alter how parents detect and respond to environmental cues in ways that spillover to affect offspring, non-parents influence offspring even without direct physical interactions, and parental cues received by offspring can alter the phenotypes of other juveniles.

Boosting CAR-T cell therapy through vaccine synergy.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has transformed the treatment landscape for hematological cancers. However, achieving comparable success in solid tumors remains challenging. Factors contributing to these limitations include the scarcity of tumor-specific antigens (TSAs), insufficient CAR-T cell infiltration, and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME).

The public health risks of counterfeit pills.

Synthetic illicit drugs, such as nitazenes and fentanyls, are becoming commonplace in countries around the world, including in Europe, Australia, and Latin America, which raises concern for overdose crises like those seen in North America. An important dimension of the risk represented by synthetic drugs is the fact that they are increasingly packaged in counterfeit pill form. These pills-often indistinguishable from authentic pharmaceuticals-have substantially widened the scope of populations susceptible to synthetic drug overdose in North America (eg, among adolescents experimenting with pills or tourists from the USA seeking psychoactive medications from pharmacies in Mexico).

Bowel regimens before radical cystectomy: An analysis of a modern cohort.

Introduction: Bowel regimens (BR) before radical cystectomy (RC) are currently not recommended by Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols, as prior studies have shown BRs lead to worsened outcomes. However, many of those studies have used historic literature before recent surgical advancements such as minimally invasive RC and have not investigated the impact BRs have by type of urinary diversion. Our goal is to determine the outcomes of preoperative BR in patients undergoing RC based on diversion type using a modern patient cohort.

Racial disparity in preoperative C-reactive protein level for predicting prognosis of patients with non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma: INMARC study.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a prognostic biomarker for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). However, there may be potential racial heterogeneity in distribution and prognostic impact of CRP level. We investigated potential racial differences in distribution and prognostic impact of preoperative CRP among Asian (AS), African American (AA), and Caucasian (CAUC) patients with non-metastatic ccRCC (nmccRCC).

Implications of an Off-Hours Setting in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Mitral Regurgitation.

Background: - Little is known about mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) performed outside of usual working hours. We aimed to explore the prevalence, correlates, and outcomes of mitral TEER initiated off-hours, i.e.

Oxidized hyaluronic acid/ε-polylysine/quaternized chitosan hydrogel with shear thinning injectability and self-healing properties for full-time and multipurpose wound healing.

Complex wound closure scenarios necessitate the development of advanced wound dressings that can effectively address the challenges of filling irregularly shaped wounds and managing fatigue failures encountered in daily patient activities. To tackle these issues, we develop a multifunctional hydrogel from natural polysaccharides and polypeptides with injectability and self-healing properties for promoting full-time and multipurpose wound healing. Synthesized through dynamic Schiff base linkages between oxidized hyaluronic acid (OHA), ε-polylysine (ε-PL), and quaternized chitosan (QCS), the OHA/ε-PL/QCS hydrogel can gel rapidly within 50 s.

Correlating Disordered Activation Domain Ensembles with Gene Expression Levels.

Transcription factor proteins bind to specific DNA promoter sequences and initiate gene transcription. These proteins often contain intrinsically disordered activation domains (ADs) that regulate their transcriptional activity. Like other disordered protein regions, ADs do not have a fixed three-dimensional structure and instead exist in an ensemble of conformations.

Pelvic regional control with 25Gy in 5 fractions in SBRT for high risk prostate cancer: Pooled prospective outcomes from the SHARP consortium.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of 25Gy/5# prophylactic pelvic nodal irradiation for regional control during stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) for high risk prostate cancer.

Methods: The multinational XXXX consortium database of patients treated with curative-intent prostate SBRT for high risk prostate cancer was queried for prophylactic radiotherapy 25Gy/5# to the pelvic lymph nodes. Details of Phoenix-defined biochemical failure, and location of recurrence (local, regional, or distant) were extracted.

Development and Application of a Polycationic Soybean Protein-Based Flocculant for Enhanced Flocculation and Dewatering of Dairy Manure.

In agricultural and waste management systems, dairy manure wastewater is often recycled for irrigation. However, a key challenge lies in handling suspended solids (SS) and effectively dewatering sludge. To address this, an innovative polycationic soybean protein-based flocculant (SPI+) was developed and applied to enhance flocculation and sludge dewatering efficiency.

Rice extracellular vesicles send defense proteins into fungus Rhizoctonia solani to reduce disease.

The exchange of molecular information across kingdoms is crucial for the survival of both plants and their pathogens. Recent research has identified that plants transfer their small RNAs and microRNAs into fungal pathogens to suppress infection. However, whether and how plants send defense proteins into pathogens remains unknown.

Associations between maternal plasma concentrations of corticotrophin releasing hormone and the placental transcriptome.

Introduction: The placenta produces corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH), which rises exponentially in maternal plasma across pregnancy. CRH plays a functional role in fetal development, labor initiation, and the regulation of gestational length. We aimed to understand how maternal plasma CRH during pregnancy reflects placental physiology during parturition by characterizing placental transcriptomic signatures of maternal plasma CRH and comparing to transcriptomic signatures of gestational age at birth.

Development and validation of the BRief Eating Disorder Screener (BREDS) for US veterans in healthcare and community settings.

Objective: To develop a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) eating disorder screener.

Method: Veterans enrolled in VA healthcare (N = 344) completed a survey of screening items and established measures. A validation subset (n = 166) participated in diagnostic interviews to confirm an eating disorder diagnosis.

Comparative overall survival of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus an aromatase inhibitor in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer in the US real-world setting.

Background: Randomized controlled trials have shown inconsistent overall survival (OS) benefit among the three cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) as first-line (1L) treatment of patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Several real-world studies compared CDK4/6i effectiveness, with inconsistent findings. This study compared overall survival (OS) of patients with HR+/HER2- mBC receiving 1L palbociclib, ribociclib, or abemaciclib, in combination with an aromatase inhibitor (AI), in US clinical practice.

Salivary cortisol and affective responses to acute psychosocial stress among adolescents.

Background: Acute psychosocial stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and triggers the release of cortisol, a commonly used biomarker of stress reactivity. Yet only 25 % of studies have reported a correlation between cortisol and affective responses to stress. This study aimed to examine whether cortisol reactivity following an acute psychosocial stressor in the laboratory correlated with concurrent positive and negative affect in adolescents, and whether early life adversity (ELA) moderated this relationship.

Evaluating the psychosocial experiences of participants in HIV cure research before, during, and after analytical treatment interruptions: A longitudinal qualitative study in the United States.

The lack of socio-behavioral research on stress and psychosocial experiences among research participants who undergo analytical treatment interruption (ATI) in HIV cure studies underscores a critical gap in cure science. Existing literature acknowledges mixed and potentially adverse mental health impacts of ATIs among trial participants, but empirical insights before, during, and after clinical studies are scarce. We used longitudinal in-depth interviews with 11 participants in HIV cure-related research to explore their experiences with stress, coping, and psychological well-being before, during, and after an ATI.

Multi-functional electrochemiluminescence biosensor for efficient capture, elimination, and sensitive monitoring of Staphylococcus aureus.

In this study, we developed a novel strategy for effective bacteria capture, elimination, and detection. The aptamer of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was immobilized on FeO NPs and partly hybridized with the T strand, which exhibited good bacterial capture efficiency.

Deposition history of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tibetan lakes indicate the effectiveness of protected area establishment.

The effectiveness of protected areas in mitigating human impacts remains uncertain due to limited in-situ data; however, atmospheric micropollutant deposition in alpine lakes may provide a quantitative approach to evaluate anthropogenic pressures and threats. In this study, the temporal changes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) inside/outside the Siling Co protected area, Tibet were reconstructed. The varying anthropogenic impact history suggested that, unlike the dominance of residential activities (i.

4D light sheet imaging, computational reconstruction, and cell tracking in mouse embryos.

As light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) becomes widely available, reconstruction of time-lapse imaging will further our understanding of complex biological processes at cellular resolution. Here, we present a comprehensive workflow for in toto capture, processing, and analysis of multi-view LSFM experiments using the ex vivo mouse embryo as a model system of development. Our protocol describes imaging on a commercial LSFM instrument followed by computational analysis in discrete segments, using open-source software.

Dual α-globin-truncated erythropoietin receptor knockin restores hemoglobin production in α-thalassemia-derived erythroid cells.

The most severe form of α-thalassemia results from loss of all four copies of α-globin. Postnatally, patients face challenges similar to β-thalassemia, including severe anemia and erythrotoxicity due to the imbalance of β-globin and α-globin chains. Despite progress in genome editing treatments for β-thalassemia, there is no analogous curative option for α-thalassemia.