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Pulp and paper wastewater sludges are waste streams produced in major quantities across the world. The recycling of these organic sludges, for example to soil amendments, is desired in the circular economy but carries the risk of potential pollutants to be also introduced into the environment. Pulp and paper wastewater sludges have been scarcely studied matrices in the microplastic research due to their complex composition. In this study, we optimized an extraction process for microplastics from pulp and paper wastewater sludges, and quantified and characterized microplastics down to 20 μm in primary sludge and biosludge generated at the wastewater treatment plant of a multi-product pulp and paper mill in Finland. The occurrence of microplastics was high in primary sludge, 900-1600 microplastics g -1 dry weight, while the maximum number of detected microplastics in biosludge samples remained at 210 g -1 dry weight. Biosludge samples suffered from larger amounts of remaining solids after the extraction process, thus compromising the detection of smaller microplastics (<100 μm) and increasing the uncertainty related to the interpretation of the results. The most prevalent microplastic shape in all samples was fragment, and the most recurring polymer types were polyethylene and polypropylene, while a polystyrene-based copolymer represented approximately 10% of identified microplastics in primary sludge. The present study advances the development of microplastic analysis of the challenging pulp and paper wastewater sludges and brings novel information to the progressing discussion of their circulation potential., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device is emerging as a novel therapy for intracranial aneurysms, but its use for off-label indications requires further study. Using machine learning, we aimed to develop predictive models for complete occlusion after off-label WEB treatment and to identify factors associated with occlusion outcomes., Methods: This multicenter, retrospective study included 162 patients who underwent off-label WEB treatment for intracranial aneurysms. Baseline, morphological, and procedural variables were utilized to develop machine-learning models predicting complete occlusion. Model interpretation was performed to determine significant predictors. Ordinal regression was also performed with occlusion status as an ordinal outcome from better (Raymond Roy Occlusion Classification [RROC] grade 1) to worse (RROC grade 3) status. Odds ratios (OR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were reported., Results: The best performing model achieved an AUROC of 0.8 for predicting complete occlusion. Larger neck diameter and daughter sac were significant independent predictors of incomplete occlusion. On multivariable ordinal regression, higher RROC grades (OR 1.86, 95 % CI 1.25-2.82), larger neck diameter (OR 1.69, 95 % CI 1.09-2.65), and presence of daughter sacs (OR 2.26, 95 % CI 0.99-5.15) were associated with worse aneurysm occlusion after WEB treatment, independent of other factors., Conclusion: This study found that larger neck diameter and daughter sacs were associated with worse occlusion after WEB therapy for aneurysms. The machine learning approach identified anatomical factors related to occlusion outcomes that may help guide patient selection and monitoring with this technology. Further validation is needed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Height is an important health parameter employed across domains, including healthcare, aesthetics, and athletics. Numerous non-contact methods for height measurement exist; however, most are limited to assessing height in an upright posture. This study presents a non-contact approach for measuring human height in 2D space across different postures. The proposed method utilizes computer vision techniques, specifically the MediaPipe library and the YOLOv8 model, to analyze images captured with a smartphone camera. The MediaPipe library identifies and marks joint points on the human body, while the YOLOv8 model facilitates the localization of these points. To determine the actual height of an individual, a multivariate linear regression model was trained using the ratios of distances between the identified joint points. Data from 166 subjects across four distinct postures: standing upright, rotated 45 degrees, rotated 90 degrees, and kneeling were used to train and validate the model. Results indicate that the proposed method yields height measurements with a minimal error margin of approximately 1.2%. Future research will extend this approach to accommodate additional positions, such as lying down, cross-legged, and bent-legged. Furthermore, the method will be improved to account for various distances and angles of capture, thereby enhancing the flexibility and accuracy of height measurement in diverse contexts.

Background: We developed a simplified ABC/2-derived method to estimate total subarachnoid hemorrhage volume (SAHV) on noncontrast computed tomography in patients with aneurysmal SAH and compared the clinical and radiographic outcomes., Methods and Results: In this retrospective observational cohort study, we analyzed 277 patients with SAH admitted to our Comprehensive Stroke Center between 2012 and 2022. We derived a mathematical model (model 1) by measuring SAH basal cisternal blood volume using an ABC/2-derived ellipsoid formula (A=width/thickness, B=length, C=vertical extension) on head noncontrast computed tomography in 5 major SAH cisternal compartments. We compared model 1 against a manual segmentation method (model 2) on noncontrast computed tomography. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis, t test, receiver operator characteristic curves, and area under the curve analysis. There was no significant difference in cisternal SAHV analysis between the 2 models ( P =0.14). Mean SAHV by the simplified method was 7.0 mL (95% CI, 5.89-8.09) for good outcome and 16.6 mL (95% CI, 13.49-19.77) for poor outcome. Patients with delayed cerebral ischemia had higher SAHV, with a cutoff value of 10 mL., Conclusions: Our simplified ABC/2-derived method to estimate SAHV is comparable to manual segmentation and can be performed in low-resource settings. Higher total SAHV was associated with worse outcomes and higher risk of delayed cerebral ischemia. A potential dose-response relationship was observed, with SAHV >10 mL predicting worse outcomes and higher risk of DCI.

Objective: Many patients recruited in the Treatment of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations Study (TOBAS) are managed conservatively. The aim of this study was to monitor what happened to those patients., Methods: TOBAS comprises two randomized controlled trials and multiple prospective registries. All patients with brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) can participate. This report concerns patients selected for conservative management. The primary trial outcome measure is related death or dependency (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score > 2) at 10 years. Secondary outcomes include intracranial hemorrhages, nonhemorrhagic neurological events, and serious adverse events (SAEs). For this report, outcome results are presented using patient-years, Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and Cox log-rank tests. There was no blinding., Results: From June 2014 to May 2021, 1010 patients were recruited, of whom 498 (49%) were proposed the prospective observation registry. After exclusions, 434 (87%) patients remained for analysis. The majority of patients had unruptured AVMs (378/434 [87%]), of which 195 (52%) were low grade (Spetzler-Martin grade I or II). During a mean follow-up period of 3.2 years (total 1368 patient-years), the primary outcome occurred in 23 of 434 (5%) patients, corresponding to an incidence of 1.7 (95% CI 1.1-2.5) per 100 patient-years. For unruptured AVMs the incidence was 1.1 (95% CI 0.7-1.9) per 100 patient-years, and for low-grade unruptured AVMs it was 0.6 (95% CI 0.2-1.7) per 100 patient-years. Poor outcomes were more frequent in patients with a history of rupture (HR 5.6 [95% CI 2.4-13.0], p < 0.001), infratentorial AVMs (HR 2.9 [95% CI 1.1-7.3], p = 0.027), and age ≥ 55 years (HR 3.2 [95% CI 1.4-7.6], p = 0.007). Major intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 35 of 434 (8%) patients (incidence of 2.6 [95% CI 1.9-3.6] per 100 patient-years; 2.0 [95% CI 1.3-2.9] per 100 patient-years for unruptured AVMs and 1.3 [95% CI 0.6-2.6] per 100 patient-years for low-grade unruptured AVMs). Major AVM hemorrhages were more frequent in ruptured (HR 4.4 [95% CI 2.1-8.9], p < 0.001), large (HR 2.6 [95% CI 1.1-6.6], p = 0.039), and high-grade (HR 2.5 [95% CI 1.2-5.3], p = 0.013) AVMs and those with deep venous drainage (HR 2.1 [95% CI 1.1-4.2], p = 0.032). SAEs occurred in 48 of 434 (11%) patients (incidence of 3.6 [95% CI 2.7-4.8] per 100 patient-years). For unruptured AVMs the incidence was 2.8 (95% CI 2.0-4.0) per 100 patient-years, and for low-grade unruptured AVMs it was 1.8 (95% CI 1.0-3.2) per 100 patient-years., Conclusions: Nearly half of TOBAS participants were observed. Rates of untoward neurological events were within expected boundaries.

Objective: The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device was approved to treat wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms. The device is designed as an intrasaccular flow disruptor covering aneurysm widths up to 10 mm. Although prior studies combined all aneurysm sizes, it is known that aneurysms behave differently in response to endovascular treatment based on their size. Therefore, the authors' objective was to identify ideal middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm width and neck sizes most suitable for WEB treatment., Methods: The WorldWideWEB consortium is a large multicenter retrospective database that analyzes intracranial aneurysms treated with the WEB device. In this study, all unruptured MCA bifurcation aneurysms with available measurements were included. Cutoff values based on aneurysm width and neck in relation to aneurysm occlusion status were measured using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Propensity score matching (PSM) was then used to compare treatment outcomes between aneurysms smaller and larger than the cutoff value for both width and neck size., Results: The ideal cutoff values for MCA bifurcation aneurysm width and neck were 6.1 mm and 4.6 mm, respectively. On PSM, 87 matched pairs were compared based on width size (≤ 6.1 mm and > 6.1 mm), and 77 matched pairs were compared based on neck size (≤ 4.6 mm and > 4.6 mm). There was a significant difference in adequate aneurysm occlusion between aneurysms smaller and larger than those cutoff values for both widths (93% vs 76%, p = 0.0017) and neck sizes (90% vs 70%, p = 0.0026). The retreatment rate was also significantly higher for larger aneurysms in both parameters., Conclusions: This study shows that MCA bifurcation aneurysms ≤ 6.1 mm in width and ≤ 4.6 mm in neck size are significantly better candidates for WEB treatment, leading to improved occlusion status and reduced retreatment rate, which are important considerations when using WEB devices.

Poor placental development and placental defects can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and stillbirth. This study introduces two sensors, which use a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique to measure placental oxygen saturation transabdominally. The first one, an NIRS sensor, is a wearable device consisting of multiple NIRS channels. The second one, a Multimodal sensor, which is an upgraded version of the NIRS sensor, is a wireless and wearable device, integrating a motion sensor and multiple NIRS channels. A pilot clinical study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the two sensors in measuring transabdominal placental oxygenation in 36 pregnant women (n = 12 for the NIRS sensor and n = 24 for the Multimodal sensor). Among these subjects, 4 participants had an uncomplicated pregnancy, and 32 patients had either maternal pre-existing conditions/complications, neonatal complications, and/or placental pathologic abnormalities. The study results indicate that the patients with maternal complicated conditions (69.5 ± 5.4%), placental pathologic abnormalities (69.4 ± 4.9%), and neonatal complications (68.0 ± 5.1%) had statistically significantly lower transabdominal placental oxygenation levels than those with an uncomplicated pregnancy (76.0 ± 4.4%) ( F (3,104) = 6.6, p = 0.0004). Additionally, this study shows the capability of the Multimodal sensor in detecting the maternal heart rate and respiratory rate, fetal movements, and uterine contractions. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of the two sensors in the real-time continuous monitoring of transabdominal placental oxygenation to detect at-risk pregnancies and guide timely clinical interventions, thereby improving pregnancy outcomes.

The utilization of full-fat high-oleic soybean meal in layer diets could lead to value-added poultry products. To test this idea, 336 hens were randomly assigned to 4 isonitrogenous (18.5% CP) and isocaloric (2,927 kcal/kg) formulated diets and fed the following diets for eight weeks: conventional control solvent-extracted defatted soybean meal (CON); extruded-expelled defatted soybean meal (EENO); full fat normal-oleic soybean meal (FFNO); or full fat high-oleic soybean meal (FFHO). Body weights (BW) were collected at week 0 and week 8. Eggs were collected daily, and the totals counted each week. Feed consumption was measured weekly, and egg quality was measured bi-weekly. Eggs were collected at wk 0 and wk 8 for fatty acid analysis. There were no significant treatment differences in any of the production parameters measured, BW, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio or egg production (P > 0.05). Eggshell strength was significantly greater in eggs produced from the EENO group as compared to the control (P < 0.01), while egg yolk color was significantly darker in eggs of the control and EENO treatment groups relative to the FFNO and FFHO treatments (P < 0.0001). Eggs produced by hens fed the FFHO diet had a 52% increase in monounsaturated n-9 oleic acid content (P < 0.0001) and reduced palmitic (P < 0.01) and stearic (P < 0.0001) saturated fatty acid levels as compared to the conventional controls. These results validate the utilization of FFHO as a value-added poultry feed ingredient to enrich the eggs and/or poultry meat produced., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The marine red alga, Gracilaria eucheumatoides , is economically significant for its agar production and pharmacologically active compounds. This study reveals its complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome), sequenced using Illumina's next-generation technology. The mitogenome is a 25,909 bp circular molecule with a G + C content of 27.21%, comprising 24 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 24 transfer RNA genes, and one open reading frame (ORF) with an unidentified function. Both gene structure and composition are highly conserved within Gracilaria . The phylogenetic analyses fully support a close relationship of G. eucheumatoides with other Gracilaria species, as well as its sister relationship with G. urvillei . This mitogenome sequencing effort of G. eucheumatoides provides crucial data for future phylogenetic research on marine red algae., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)., (© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

In recent years, we and others have identified a number of enhancers that, when incorporated into rAAV vectors, can restrict the transgene expression to particular neuronal populations. Yet, viral tools to access and manipulate fine neuronal subtypes are still limited. Here, we performed systematic analysis of single cell genomic data to identify enhancer candidates for each of the cortical interneuron subtypes. We established a set of enhancer-AAV tools that are highly specific for distinct cortical interneuron populations and striatal cholinergic neurons. These enhancers, when used in the context of different effectors, can target (fluorescent proteins), observe activity (GCaMP) and manipulate (opto- or chemo-genetics) specific neuronal subtypes. We also validated our enhancer-AAV tools across species. Thus, we provide the field with a powerful set of tools to study neural circuits and functions and to develop precise and targeted therapy., Competing Interests: DECLARATION OF INTERESTS G.F. is a founder of Regel Therapeutics, which has no competing interests with the present manuscript. G.F. is an advisor for Neuron and Annual Review of Neuroscience. J.D. and K.A. are employees of Regel Therapeutics and J.D. is also a founder. A.I. is the founder of Tibbling Technologies. Patents are pending on all enhancers present in this manuscript. For BiCHATe27 and BiSSTe10 G.F. and J.D hold this patent. For the remainder of enhancer patents they are held by G.F., M.D. and Y.W.

In the intricate landscape of multiple myeloma, a hematologic malignancy of plasma cells, bone disease presents a pivotal and often debilitating complication. The emergence of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has marked a pivotal shift in the therapeutic landscape, offering novel avenues for the management of MM, particularly for those with relapsed or refractory disease. This innovative treatment modality not only targets malignant cells with precision but also influences the bone microenvironment, presenting both challenges and opportunities in patient care. In this comprehensive review, we aim to examine the multifaceted aspects of bone disease in patients with multiple myeloma and concurrent CAR-T therapy, highlighting its clinical ramifications and the latest advancements in diagnostic modalities and therapeutic interventions. The article aims to synthesize current understanding of the interplay between myeloma cells, CAR-T cells, and the bone microenvironment in the context of current treatment strategies in this challenging and unique patient population., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The majority of severe early-onset and juvenile cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are caused by mutations in the FUS gene, resulting in rapid disease progression. Mutant FUS accumulates within stress granules (SGs), thereby affecting the dynamics of these ribonucleoprotein complexes. Here, we define the interactome of the severe mutant FUS P525L variant in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived motor neurons. We find increased interaction of FUS P525L with the PARP1 enzyme, promoting poly-ADP-ribosylation (PARylation) and binding of FUS to histone H1.2. Inhibiting PARylation or reducing H1.2 levels alleviates mutant FUS aggregation, SG alterations, and apoptosis in human motor neurons. Conversely, elevated H1.2 levels exacerbate FUS-ALS phenotypes, driven by the internally disordered terminal domains of H1.2. In C. elegans models, knockdown of H1.2 and PARP1 orthologs also decreases FUS P525L aggregation and neurodegeneration, whereas H1.2 overexpression worsens ALS-related changes. Our findings indicate a link between PARylation, H1.2, and FUS with potential therapeutic implications., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

On a global scale, the poultry industry expands its wings in terms of meat and egg production to the masses. However, this industry itself requires a sustainable and permanent supply of different inputs, one of which is poultry feed and nutrition. Soybean is a versatile protein that is offered to poultry in different inclusion rates in commercial diets after being processed using various thermal and mechanical processing methods. Conventional commercial soybean meal is usually prepared by the extraction of oil from whole soybeans using solvents, producing a meal that has approximately 1% crude fat. Without oil extraction, full-fat soybean (FFSBM) is produced, and it is an excellent source of dietary energy and protein for poultry with a nutritional profile of 38-40% protein and 18-20% crude fat, on average. FFSBM has less crude protein (CP) than solvent-extracted soybean meal (SE SBM) but higher metabolizable energy due to higher fat content. Alternatively, extruded expeller processing produces defatted soybean meal containing approximately 6-7% crude fat. Studies have demonstrated that FFSBM can be used in poultry diets to improve poultry nutrition, performance, and quality of the poultry meat and eggs produced. This review aims to evaluate the nutrition and use of meals prepared from conventional and high-oleic soybeans using various feed processing methods.

Background: Endovascular treatment with the woven endobridge (WEB) device has been widely utilized for managing intracranial aneurysms. However, predicting the probability of achieving adequate occlusion (Raymond-Roy classification 1 or 2) remains challenging., Objective: Our study sought to develop and validate a predictive calculator for adequate occlusion using the WEB device via data from a large multi-institutional retrospective cohort., Methods: We used data from the WorldWide WEB Consortium, encompassing 356 patients from 30 centers across North America, South America, and Europe. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed on a variety of demographic and clinical factors, from which predictive factors were selected. Calibration and validation were conducted, with variance inflation factor (VIF) parameters checked for collinearity., Results: A total of 356 patients were included: 124 (34.8%) were male, 108 (30.3%) were elderly (≥65 years), and 118 (33.1%) were current smokers. Mean maximum aneurysm diameter was 7.09 mm (SD 2.71), with 112 (31.5%) having a daughter sac. In the multivariate regression, increasing aneurysm neck size (OR 0.706 [95% CI: 0.535-0.929], p  = 0.13) and partial aneurysm thrombosis (OR 0.135 [95% CI: 0.024-0.681], p  = 0.016) were found to be the only statistically significant variables associated with poorer likelihood of achieving occlusion. The predictive calculator shows a c -statistic of 0.744. Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test indicated a satisfactory model fit with a p -value of 0.431. The calculator is available at: https://neurodx.shinyapps.io/WEBDEVICE/., Conclusion: The predictive calculator offers a substantial contribution to the clinical toolkit for estimating the likelihood of adequate intracranial aneurysm occlusion by WEB device embolization., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) are widely used in medical application. However, the relevant health risk has not been completely assessed, the potential of inducing arterial thrombosis (AT) in particular., Methods: Alterations in platelet function and susceptibility to arterial thrombosis induced by TiO 2 NPs were examined using peripheral blood samples from healthy adult males and an in vivo mouse model, respectively., Results: Here, using human platelets (hPLTs) freshly isolated from health volunteers, we demonstrated TiO 2 NP treatment triggered the procoagulant activity of hPLTs through phosphatidylserine exposure and microvesicles generation. In addition, TiO 2 NP treatment increased the levels of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa and P-selectin leading to aggregation and activation of hPLTs, which were exacerbated by providing physiology-mimicking conditions, including introduction of thrombin, collagen, and high shear stress. Interestingly, intracellular calcium levels in hPLTs were increased upon TiO 2 NP treatment, which were crucial in TiO 2 NP-induced hPLT procoagulant activity, activation and aggregation. Moreover, using mice in vivo models, we further confirmed that TiO 2 NP treatment a reduction in mouse platelet (mPLT) counts, disrupted blood flow, and exacerbated carotid arterial thrombosis with enhanced deposition of mPLT., Conclusions: Together, our study provides evidence for an ignored health risk caused by TiO 2 NPs, specifically TiO 2 NP treatment augments procoagulant activity, activation and aggregation of PLTs via calcium-dependent mechanism and thus increases the risk of AT., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Despite their growing use in health care, pretrained language models (PLMs) often lack clinical relevance due to insufficient domain expertise and poor interpretability. A key strategy to overcome these challenges is integrating external knowledge into PLMs, enhancing their adaptability and clinical usefulness. Current biomedical knowledge graphs like UMLS (Unified Medical Language System), SNOMED CT (Systematized Medical Nomenclature for Medicine-Clinical Terminology), and HPO (Human Phenotype Ontology), while comprehensive, fail to effectively connect general biomedical knowledge with physician insights. There is an equally important need for a model that integrates diverse knowledge in a way that is both unified and compartmentalized. This approach not only addresses the heterogeneous nature of domain knowledge but also recognizes the unique data and knowledge repositories of individual health care institutions, necessitating careful and respectful management of proprietary information., Objective: This study aimed to enhance the clinical relevance and interpretability of PLMs by integrating external knowledge in a manner that respects the diversity and proprietary nature of health care data. We hypothesize that domain knowledge, when captured and distributed as stand-alone modules, can be effectively reintegrated into PLMs to significantly improve their adaptability and utility in clinical settings., Methods: We demonstrate that through adapters, small and lightweight neural networks that enable the integration of extra information without full model fine-tuning, we can inject diverse sources of external domain knowledge into language models and improve the overall performance with an increased level of interpretability. As a practical application of this methodology, we introduce a novel task, structured as a case study, that endeavors to capture physician knowledge in assigning cardiovascular diagnoses from clinical narratives, where we extract diagnosis-comment pairs from electronic health records (EHRs) and cast the problem as text classification., Results: The study demonstrates that integrating domain knowledge into PLMs significantly improves their performance. While improvements with ClinicalBERT are more modest, likely due to its pretraining on clinical texts, BERT (bidirectional encoder representations from transformer) equipped with knowledge adapters surprisingly matches or exceeds ClinicalBERT in several metrics. This underscores the effectiveness of knowledge adapters and highlights their potential in settings with strict data privacy constraints. This approach also increases the level of interpretability of these models in a clinical context, which enhances our ability to precisely identify and apply the most relevant domain knowledge for specific tasks, thereby optimizing the model's performance and tailoring it to meet specific clinical needs., Conclusions: This research provides a basis for creating health knowledge graphs infused with physician knowledge, marking a significant step forward for PLMs in health care. Notably, the model balances integrating knowledge both comprehensively and selectively, addressing the heterogeneous nature of medical knowledge and the privacy needs of health care institutions., (©Qiuhao Lu, Andrew Wen, Thien Nguyen, Hongfang Liu. Originally published in JMIR AI (https://ai.jmir.org), 06.08.2024.)

Capturing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere is a scientific and technological challenge. CO 2 can be captured by forming carbamate bonds with amines, most notably monoethanolamine (MEA). Regenerating MEA by releasing captured CO 2 requires that the carbamate solution be heated. Recently, photoacids were used to induce a pH change to release CO 2 from aqueous carbonate solutions. We report a merocyanine photoacid that releases CO 2 from nonaqueous carbamate solutions of MEA, which has a CO 2 loading capacity that is higher than that of water. On the basis of the absorption spectra of the photoacid in the presence of acids and CO 2 , we show that the photoacid cycle and the CO 2 capture of MEA are two separate equilibria coupled to each other via protons. We demonstrate that irradiating the sample with 405 nm light induces the release of CO 2 , which we detect using an in-line mass spectrometer. This work highlights an alternative path for optimizing a photoinduced CO 2 capture and release system.

Sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) recently emerges as a promising cathode for high-energy lithium (Li) metal batteries owing to its high capacity, extended cycle life, and liberty from costly transition metals. As the high capacities of both Li metal and SPAN lead to relatively small electrode weights, the weight and specific energy density of Li/SPAN batteries are particularly sensitive to electrolyte weight, highlighting the importance of minimizing electrolyte density. Besides, the large volume changes of Li metal anode and SPAN cathode require inorganic-rich interphases that can guarantee intactness and protectivity throughout long cycles. This work addresses these crucial aspects with an electrolyte design where lightweight dibutyl ether (DBE) is used as a diluent for concentrated lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI)-triethyl phosphate (TEP) solution. The designed electrolyte (d = 1.04 g mL -1 ) is 40%-50% lighter than conventional localized high-concentration electrolytes (LHCEs), leading to 12%-20% extra energy density at the cell level. Besides, the use of DBE introduces substantial solvent-diluent affinity, resulting in a unique solvation structure with strengthened capability to form favorable anion-derived inorganic-rich interphases, minimize electrolyte consumption, and improve cell cyclability. The electrolyte also exhibits low volatility and offers good protection to both Li metal anode and SPAN cathode under thermal abuse., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device is primarily used for treating wide-neck intracranial bifurcation aneurysms under 10 mm. Limited data exists on its efficacy for large aneurysms. We aim to assess angiographic and clinical outcomes of the WEB device in treating large versus small aneurysms. We conducted a retrospective review of the WorldWide WEB Consortium database, from 2011 to 2022, across 30 academic institutions globally. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to compare small and large aneurysms on baseline characteristics. A total of 898 patients were included. There was no significant difference observed in clinical presentations, smoking status, pretreatment mRS, presence of multiple aneurysms, bifurcation location, or prior treatment between the two groups. After PSM, 302 matched pairs showed significantly lower last follow-up adequate occlusion rates (81% vs 90%, p = 0.006) and higher retreatment rates (12% vs 3.6%, p < 0.001) in the large aneurysm group. These findings may inform treatment decisions and patient counseling. Future studies are needed to further explore this area., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

A two-stream convolutional neural network (TCNN) for breathing pattern classification has been devised for the continuous monitoring of patients with infectious respiratory diseases. The TCNN consists of a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based autoencoder and classifier. The encoder of the autoencoder generates deep compressed feature maps, which contain the most important information constituting data. These maps are concatenated with feature maps generated by the classifier to classify breathing patterns. The TCNN, single-stream CNN (SCNN), and state-of-the-art classification models were applied to classify four breathing patterns: normal, slow, rapid, and breath holding. The input data consisted of chest tissue hemodynamic responses measured using a wearable near-infrared spectroscopy device on 14 healthy adult participants. Among the classification models evaluated, random forest had the lowest classification accuracy at 88.49%, while the TCNN achieved the highest classification accuracy at 94.63%. In addition, the proposed TCNN performed 2.6% better in terms of classification accuracy than an SCNN (without an autoencoder). Moreover, the TCNN mitigates the issue of declining learning performance with increasing network depth, as observed in the SCNN model. These results prove the robustness of the TCNN in classifying breathing patterns despite using a significantly smaller number of parameters and computations compared to state-of-the-art classification models.

Background and Purpose: Despite the numerous studies evaluating the occlusion rates of aneurysms following WEB embolization, there are limited studies identifying predictors of occlusion. Our purpose was to identify predictors of aneurysm occlusion and the need for retreatment., Materials and Methods: This is a review of a prospectively maintained database across 30 academic institutions. We included patients with previously untreated cerebral aneurysms embolized using the WEB who had available intraprocedural data and long-term follow-up., Results: We studied 763 patients with a mean age of 59.9 (SD, 11.7) years. Complete aneurysm occlusion was observed in 212/726 (29.2%) cases, and contrast stasis was observed in 485/537 (90.3%) of nonoccluded aneurysms. At the final follow-up, complete occlusion was achieved in 497/763 (65.1%) patients, and retreatment was required for 56/763 (7.3%) patients. On multivariable analysis, history of smoking, maximal aneurysm diameter, and the presence of an aneurysm wall branch were negative predictors of complete occlusion (OR, 0.5, 0.8, and 0.4, respectively). Maximal aneurysm diameter, the presence of an aneurysm wall branch, posterior circulation location, and male sex increase the chances of retreatment (OR, 1.2, 3.8, 3.0, and 2.3 respectively). Intraprocedural occlusion resulted in a 3-fold increase in the long-term occlusion rate and a 5-fold decrease in the retreatment rate ( P < .001), offering a specificity of 87% and a positive predictive value of 85% for long-term occlusion., Conclusions: Intraprocedural occlusion can be used to predict the chance of long-term aneurysm occlusion and the need for retreatment after embolization with a WEB device. Smoking, aneurysm size, and the presence of an aneurysm wall branch are associated with decreased chances of successful treatment., (© 2024 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.)

Hierarchically porous materials containing sub-nm ultramicropores with molecular sieving abilities and microcavities with high gas diffusivity may realize energy-efficient membranes for gas separations. However, rationally designing and constructing such pores into large-area membranes enabling efficient H 2 separations remains challenging. Here, we report the synthesis and utilization of hybrid carbon molecular sieve membranes with well-controlled nano- and micro-pores and single zinc atoms and clusters well-dispersed inside the nanopores via the carbonization of supramolecular mixed matrix materials containing amorphous and crystalline zeolitic imidazolate frameworks. Carbonization temperature is used to fine-tune pore sizes, achieving ultrahigh selectivity for H 2 /CO 2 (130), H 2 /CH 4 (2900), H 2 /N 2 (880), and H 2 /C 2 H 6 (7900) with stability against water vapor and physical aging during a continuous 120-h test., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Stroke constitutes a significant public health concern due to its impact on mortality and morbidity. This study investigates the utility of machine learning algorithms in predicting stroke and identifying key risk factors using data from the Suita study, comprising 7389 participants and 53 variables. Initially, unsupervised k-prototype clustering categorized participants into risk clusters, while five supervised models including Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosted Machine (LightGBM) were employed to predict stroke outcomes. Stroke incidence disparities among identified risk clusters using the unsupervised k-prototype clustering method are substantial, according to the findings. Supervised learning, particularly RF, was a preferable option because of the higher levels of performance metrics. The Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method identified age, systolic blood pressure, hypertension, estimated glomerular filtration rate, metabolic syndrome, and blood glucose level as key predictors of stroke, aligning with findings from the unsupervised clustering approach in high-risk groups. Additionally, previously unidentified risk factors such as elbow joint thickness, fructosamine, hemoglobin, and calcium level demonstrate potential for stroke prediction. In conclusion, machine learning facilitated accurate stroke risk predictions and highlighted potential biomarkers, offering a data-driven framework for risk assessment and biomarker discovery.

In visual perception and information processing, a cascade of associations is hypothesized to flow from the structure of the visual stimulus to neural activity along the retinogeniculostriate visual system to behavior and action. Do visual perception and information processing adhere to this cascade near the beginning of life? To date, this three-stage hypothetical cascade has not been comprehensively tested in infants. In two related experiments, we attempted to expose this cascade in 6-month-old infants. Specifically, we presented infants with two levels of visual stimulus intensity, we measured electrical activity at the infant cortex, and we assessed infants' preferential looking behavior. Chromatic saturation provided a convenient stimulus dimension to test the cascade because greater saturation is known to excite increased activity in the primate visual system and is generally hypothesized to stimulate visual preference. Experiment 1 revealed that infants prefer (look longer) at the more saturated of two colors otherwise matched in hue and brightness. Experiment 2 showed increased aggregate neural cortical excitation in infants (and adults) to the more saturated of the same pair of colors. Thus, experiments 1 and 2 taken together confirm a cascade: Visual stimulation of relatively greater intensity evokes relatively greater levels of bioelectrical cortical activity which in turn is associated with relatively greater visual attention. As this cascade obtains near the beginning of life, it helps to account for early visual preferences and visual information processing., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests., (Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)

Background The characteristics of amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) are associated with neurological outcomes in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). We perform a longitudinal analysis of continuous monitoring of aEEG during therapeutic hypothermia and explore the association between aEEG interpretation and clinical neurological outcomes. Method We conducted a prospective cohort study on HIE neonates undergoing hypothermia with aEEG monitoring. Results A total of 37 HIE infants underwent hypothermia with improved aEEG background activity in 28 (75.7%) neonates, of which 18 (48.6%) neonates had background activity returned to a continuous pattern, and the median recovery time was 26.5 hours. Sleep-wake cycle (SWC) appeared in 14 (37.8%) cases, with a median onset time of 34.5 hours. Seizure activity on aEEG was present in 26 (70.3%) infants. Factors associated with poor outcomes at discharge included low voltage or flat trace background activity, a lack of improvement in background activity after hypothermia, and the absence of SWC. Neonates who took longer than 62 hours to return to continuous background activity (time to normal trace) or did not have SWC before the end of hypothermia were more likely to have unfavorable outcomes at discharge. Conclusions Longitudinal analysis of aEEG during hypothermia should be implemented in neonatal care units. The progression of these features on aEEG may predict neurological outcomes for HIE neonates., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Hua et al.)

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important pathogen in both community-acquired and hospital-acquired pneumonia. S. aureus pneumonia has a high mortality rate and serious complications. Resistance to multiple antibiotics is a major challenge in the treatment of S. aureus pneumonia. Understanding the antibiotic resistance profile of S. aureus and the risk factors for mortality can help optimize antibiotic regimens and improve patient outcomes in S. aureus pneumonia., Methods: A prospective cohort study of 118 patients diagnosed with S. aureus pneumonia between May 2021 and June 2023 was conducted, with a 30-day follow-up period. Demographic information, comorbidities, Charlson Comorbidity Index, clinical characteristics, outcomes, and complications were collected for each enrolled case. The data were processed and analyzed using R version 3.6.2., Results: S. aureus pneumonia has a 30-day mortality rate of approximately 50%, with complication rates of 22% for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), 26.3% for septic shock, and 14.4% for acute kidney injury (AKI). Among patients with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) pneumonia treated with vancomycin (n = 40), those with a vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≤ 1 had significantly higher cumulative survival at day 30 compared to those with MIC ≥ 2 (log-rank test p = 0.04). The prevalence of MRSA among S. aureus isolates was 84.7%. Hemoptysis, methicillin resistance, acidosis (pH < 7.35), and meeting the Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) criteria for severe pneumonia were significantly associated with mortality in a multivariate Cox regression model based on the adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)., Conclusions: S. aureus pneumonia is a severe clinical condition with high mortality and complication rates. MRSA has a high prevalence in Can Tho City, Vietnam. Hemoptysis, methicillin resistance, acidosis (pH < 7.35), and meeting the IDSA/ATS criteria for severe pneumonia are risk factors for mortality in S. aureus pneumonia., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Anions have a profound effect on the properties of soluble proteins. Such Hofmeister effects have implications in biologics stability, protein aggregation, amyloidogenesis, and crystallization. However, the interplay between the important noncovalent interactions (NCIs) responsible for Hofmeister effects is poorly understood. To contribute to improving this state of affairs, we report on the NCIs between anions and ammonium and guanidinium hosts 1 and 2 , and the consequences of these. Specifically, we investigate the properties of cavitands designed to mimic two prime residues for anion-protein NCIs─lysines and arginines─and the solubility consequences of complex formation. Thus, we report NMR and ITC affinity studies, X-ray analysis, MD simulations, and anion-induced critical precipitation concentrations. Our findings emphasize the multitude of NCIs that guanidiniums can form and how this repertoire qualitatively surpasses that of ammoniums. Additionally, our studies demonstrate the ease by which anions can dispense with a fraction of their hydration-shell waters, rearrange those that remain, and form direct NCIs with the hosts. This raises many questions concerning how solvent shell plasticity varies as a function of anion, how the energetics of this impact the different NCIs between anions and ammoniums/guanidiniums, and how this affects the aggregation of solutes at high anion concentrations.

The Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis was conducted in Kusatsu City, Shiga, Japan, from 2006 to 2008. Participants were measured for LDL-p through nuclear magnetic resonance technology. 740 men participated in follow-up and underwent 1.5 T brain magnetic resonance angiography from 2012 to 2015. Participants were categorized as no-ICAS, and ICAS consisted of mild-ICAS (1 to < 50%) and severe-ICAS (≥ 50%) in any of the arteries examined. After exclusion criteria, 711 men left for analysis, we used multiple logistic regression to examine the association between lipid profiles and ICAS prevalence. Among the study participants, 205 individuals (28.8%) had ICAS, while 144 individuals (20.3%) demonstrated discordance between LDL-c and LDL-p levels. The discordance "low LDL-c-high LDL-p" group had the highest ICAS risk with an adjusted OR (95% CI) of 2.78 (1.55-5.00) in the reference of the concordance "low LDL-c-low LDL-p" group. This was followed by the concordance "high LDL-c-high LDL-p" group of 2.56 (1.69-3.85) and the discordance "high LDL-c-low LDL-p" group of 2.40 (1.29-4.46). These findings suggest that evaluating LDL-p levels alongside LDL-c may aid in identifying adults at a higher risk for ICAS., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the impact of antiplatelet administration in the periprocedural period on the occurrence of thromboembolic complications (TECs) in patients undergoing treatment using the Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device for intracranial wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms. The primary objective was to assess whether the use of antiplatelets in the pre- and postprocedural phases reduces the likelihood of developing TECs, considering various covariates., Methods: A retrospective multicenter observational study was conducted within the WorldWideWEB Consortium and comprised 38 academic centers with endovascular treatment capabilities. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between antiplatelet use and TECs, adjusting for covariates. Missing predictor data were addressed using multiple imputation., Results: The study comprised two cohorts: one addressing general thromboembolic events and consisting of 1412 patients, among whom 103 experienced TECs, and another focusing on symptomatic thromboembolic events and comprising 1395 patients, of whom 50 experienced symptomatic TECs. Preprocedural antiplatelet use was associated with a reduced likelihood of overall TECs (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.19-0.53, p < 0.001) and symptomatic TECs (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25-0.95, p = 0.036), whereas postprocedural antiplatelet use showed no significant association with TECs. The study also revealed additional predictors of TECs, including stent use (overall: OR 4.96, 95% CI 2.38-10.3, p < 0.001; symptomatic: OR 3.24, 95% CI 1.26-8.36, p = 0.015), WEB single-layer sphere (SLS) type (overall: OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.04-0.74, p = 0.017), and posterior circulation aneurysm location (symptomatic: OR 18.43, 95% CI 1.48-230, p = 0.024)., Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the preprocedural administration of antiplatelets is associated with a reduced likelihood of TECs in patients undergoing treatment with the WEB device for wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms. However, postprocedural antiplatelet use did not show a significant impact on TEC occurrence.

Direct air capture (DAC) of CO 2 is a carbon-negative technology to mitigate carbon emissions, and it requires low-cost sorbents with high CO 2 sorption capacity that can be easily manufactured on a large scale. In this work, we develop highly porous membrane adsorbents comprising branched polyethylenimine (PEI) impregnated in low-cost, porous Solupor supports. The effect of the PEI molecular mass and loading on the physical properties of the adsorbents is evaluated, including porosity, degradation temperature, glass transition temperature, and CO 2 permeance. CO 2 capture from simulated air containing 400 ppm of CO 2 in these sorbents is thoroughly investigated as a function of temperature and relative humidity (RH). Polymer dynamics was examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), showing that CO 2 sorption is limited by its diffusion in these PEI-based sorbents. A membrane adsorbent containing 48 mass% PEI (800 Da) with a porosity of 72% exhibits a CO 2 sorption capacity of 1.2 mmol/g at 25 °C and RH of 30%, comparable to the state-of-the-art adsorbents. Multicycles of sorption and desorption were performed to determine their regenerability, stability, and potential for practical applications.

Most currently available wearable devices to noninvasively detect hypoxia use the spatially resolved spectroscopy (SRS) method to calculate cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (StO 2 ). This study applies the single source-detector separation (SSDS) algorithm to calculate StO 2 . Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data were collected from 26 healthy adult volunteers during a breath-holding task using a wearable NIRS device, which included two source-detector separations (SDSs). These data were used to derive oxyhemoglobin (HbO) change and StO 2 . In the group analysis, both HbO change and StO 2 exhibited significant change during a breath-holding task. Specifically, they initially decreased to minimums at around 10 s and then steadily increased to maximums, which were significantly greater than baseline levels, at 25-30 s ( p -HbO < 0.001 and p -StO 2 < 0.05). However, at an individual level, the SRS method failed to detect changes in cerebral StO 2 in response to a short breath-holding task. Furthermore, the SSDS algorithm is more robust than the SRS method in quantifying change in cerebral StO 2 in response to a breath-holding task. In conclusion, these findings have demonstrated the potential use of the SSDS algorithm in developing a miniaturized wearable biosensor to monitor cerebral StO 2 and detect cerebral hypoxia.

The tumor microenvironment (TME), composed of and influenced by a heterogeneous set of cancer cells and an extracellular matrix, plays a crucial role in cancer progression. The biophysical aspects of the TME (namely, its architecture and mechanics) regulate interactions and spatial distributions of cancer cells and immune cells. In this review, we discuss the factors of the TME-notably, the extracellular matrix, as well as tumor and stromal cells-that contribute to a pro-tumor, immunosuppressive response. We then discuss the ways in which cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems respond to tumors from both biochemical and biophysical perspectives, with increased focus on CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. Building upon this information, we turn to immune-based antitumor interventions-specifically, recent biophysical breakthroughs aimed at improving CAR-T cell therapy., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts to disclose., (© 2024 Author(s).)

Purpose: NF2-related schwannomatosis (NF2) is characterized by bilateral vestibular schwannomas (VS) often causing hearing and neurologic deficits, with currently no FDA-approved drug treatment. Pre-clinical studies highlighted the potential of mTORC1 inhibition in delaying schwannoma progression. We conducted a prospective open-label, phase II study of everolimus for progressive VS in NF2 patients and investigated imaging as a potential biomarker predicting effects on growth trajectory., Methods: The trial enrolled 12 NF2 patients with progressive VS. Participants received oral everolimus daily for 52 weeks. Brain imaging was obtained quarterly. As primary endpoint, radiographic response (RR) was defined as ≥ 20% decrease in target VS volume. Secondary endpoints included other tumors RR, hearing outcomes, drug safety and quality of life (QOL)., Results: Eight participants completed the trial and four discontinued the drug early due to significant volumetric VS progression. After 52 weeks of treatment, the median annual VS growth rate decreased from 77.2% at baseline to 29.4%. There was no VS RR and 3 of 8 (37.5%) participants had stable disease. Decreased or unchanged VS volume after 3 months of treatment was predictive of stabilization at 12 months. Seven of eight participants had stable hearing during treatment except one with a decline in word recognition score. Ten of twelve participants reported only minimal changes to their QOL scores., Conclusions: Volumetric imaging at 3 months can serve as an early biomarker to predict long-term sensitivity to everolimus treatment. Everolimus may represent a safe treatment option to decrease the growth of NF2-related VS in patients who have stable hearing and neurological condition. TRN: NCT01345136 (April 29, 2011)., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

A typical piezoelectric energy harvester is a bimorph cantilever with two layers of piezoelectric material on both sides of a flexible substrate. Piezoelectric layers of lead-based materials, typically lead zirconate titanate, have been mainly used due to their outstanding piezoelectric properties. However, due to lead toxicity and environmental problems, there is a need to replace them with environmentally benign materials. Here, our main efforts were focused on the preparation of hafnium-doped barium titanate (BaHf x Ti 1-x O 3 ; BHT) sol-gel materials. The original process developed makes it possible to obtain a highly concentrated sol without strong organic complexing agents. Sol aging and concentration can be controlled to obtain a time-stable sol for a few months at room temperature, with desired viscosity and colloidal sizes. Densified bulk materials obtained from this optimized sol are compared with a solid-state synthesis, and both show good electromechanical properties: their thickness coupling factor k t values are around 53% and 47%, respectively, and their converse piezoelectric coefficient d33∗ values are around 420 and 330 pm/V, respectively. According to the electromechanical properties, the theoretical behavior in a bimorph configuration can be simulated to predict the resonance and anti-resonance frequencies and the corresponding output power values to help to design the final device. In the present case, the bimorph configuration based on BHT sol-gel material is designed to harvest ambient vibrations at low frequency (<200 Hz). It gives a maximum normalized volumetric power density of 0.03 µW/mm 3 /Hz/g 2 at 154 Hz under an acceleration of 0.05 m/s 2 .

Objective . Lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) scintillation crystals are used in positron emission tomography (PET) due to their high gamma attenuation, fair energy resolution, and fast scintillation decay time. The enduring presence of the 176 Lu isotope, characterized by a half-life of 37.9 billion years, imparts a consistent radiation background (BG) profile that depends on the geometry and composition attributes of the LYSO crystals. Approach . In this work, we proposed a methodology for estimating the composition of LYSO crystals in cases where the exact Lutetium composition remains unknown. The connection between BG spectrum intensity and intrinsic radioactivity enables precise estimation of Lutetium density in LYSO crystal samples. This methodology was initially applied to a well-characterized LYSO crystal sample, yielding results closely aligned with the known composition. The composition estimation approach was extended to several samples of undisclosed LYSO crystals, encompassing single crystal and crystal array configurations. Furthermore, we model the background spectrum observed in the LYSO-based detector and validate the observed spectra via simulations. Main results . The estimated Lutetium composition exhibited adequate consistency across different samples of the same LYSO material, with variations of less than 1%. The result of the proposed approach coupled with the simulation successfully models the background radiation spectra in various LYSO-based detector geometries. Significance . The implications of this work extend to the predictive assessment of system behaviors and the autonomous configuration parameters governing LYSO-based detectors., (Creative Commons Attribution license.)

Background: The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) devices have been used for treating wide neck bifurcation aneurysms (WNBAs) with several generational enhancements to improve clinical outcomes. The original device dual-layer (WEB DL) was replaced by a single-layer (WEB SL) device in 2013. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of these devices in managing intracranial aneurysms., Methods: A multicenter cohort study was conducted, and data from 1,289 patients with intracranial aneurysms treated with either the WEB SL or WEB DL devices were retrospectively analyzed. Propensity score matching was utilized to balance the baseline characteristics between the two groups. Outcomes assessed included immediate occlusion rate, complete occlusion at last follow-up, retreatment rate, device compaction, and aneurysmal rupture., Results: Before propensity score matching, patients treated with the WEB SL had a significantly higher rate of complete occlusion at the last follow-up and a lower rate of retreatment. After matching, there was no significant difference in immediate occlusion rate, retreatment rate, or device compaction between the WEB SL and DL groups. However, the SL group maintained a higher rate of complete occlusion at the final follow-up. Regression analysis showed that SL was associated with higher rates of complete occlusion (OR: 0.19; CI: 0.04 to 0.8, p = 0.029) and lower rates of retreatment (OR: 0.12; CI: 0 to 4.12, p = 0.23)., Conclusion: The WEB SL and DL devices demonstrated similar performances in immediate occlusion rates and retreatment requirements for intracranial aneurysms. The SL device showed a higher rate of complete occlusion at the final follow-up., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

High oleic (HO) soybeans may serve as a value-added feed ingredient; providing amino acids and estimating their dietary energy value for broilers is essential. In this study, we determined the apparent metabolizable energy (AME), AME corrected for zero nitrogen retention (AMEn), digestibility, and nitrogen (N) retention of HO full-fat (HO-FF) soybean as compared to solvent-extracted soybean meal (SE-SBM), normal oleic full-fat (NO-FF) and extruded expeller (NO-EE) soybean. A total of 240 Ross-708 male broilers were selected, with 8 replicates per treatment and 6 chicks per cage. The AME and AMEn were estimated using the difference method with a 30% inclusion of test ingredients using a corn-soy reference diet with partial and total excreta collection. The index method with partial excreta collection used titanium dioxide as an inert marker. The same starter diet was provided for all birds for 14 d, followed by the reference and assay diets for the next 6 adaptation days. Total excreta were collected twice a day for 3 d. The AME and AMEn values determined for the HO-FF and NO-FF were higher (P < 0.001) than the NO-EE and SE-SBM. The AME of SE-SBM and NO-EE were similar with both methods, but the AMEn of SE-SBM was lower than the NO-EE only with the partial collection method. The agreement between AME and AMEn values determined by partial and total excreta collection analysis was 98%. Data from the total excreta collection method yielded higher AME and AMEn values (P < 0.001) than those from the partial collection method. In summary, HO-FF and NO-FF soybean meals had similar AME and AMEn values. The HO-FF soybean had 39 and 24% higher AME and AMEn than SE-SBM. Hence, high oleic full-fat soybean meal could serve as a valuable alternative feed ingredient to conventional SE-SBM meals in broiler diets, providing additional energy while providing amino acids and more oleic acid to enrich poultry meat products., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The effects of high oleic oil full-fat (HO-FF) soybean meal (SBM) on broiler meat quality could lead to value-added food products. This experiment evaluated the effects of dietary normal oleic extruded expelled (NO-EE), normal oleic full-fat (NO-FF), or HO-FF SBM on live performance, carcass and parts yield, and breast fatty acid composition. Diets were formulated to be isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. A total of 540 Ross-708 male broilers were raised on floor pens with 18 broilers/pen and 10 replicates/treatment. Data were analyzed in a completely randomized design. Chickens were fed with a starter (0-14 d), grower (15-35 d), or a finisher diet (36-47 d) up to 47 d. Chickens were weighed at 7, 14, 35, and 47 d. At 48 d, 4 broilers per pen were processed. Breast samples were collected and evaluated for quality and fatty acid content. Broilers fed diets with NO-EE were heavier (P < 0.05) than chickens fed diets with full-fat SBM (NO-FF and HO-FF) at d 7, 14, 35 while feed conversion ratio (FCR) of NO-EE was best (P < 0.05) at 7 and 47 d. Carcass yield was also higher for broilers fed NO-EE than the other treatments. Diet did not affect parts yield, breast meat color, cooking, drip loss, white stripping, or SM quality parameters. More breast fillets without wooden breast (score 1) were observed (P < 0.05) for NO-FF than the other 2 treatments. The breast meat fatty acid profile (g fatty acid/100 g of all fatty acids) was significantly affected (P < 0.001) by diet. Broilers fed the HO-FF SBM diet had 54 to 86% more oleic acid, 72.5% to 2.2 times less linoleic acid, and reduced stearic and palmitic acid levels in the breast meat than NO-FF and NO-EE. In conclusion, feeding HO-FF to broilers enriched the oleic acid content of their breast meat while reducing the saturated fatty acid content relative to the NO-FF and NO-EE treatment groups., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Although cancer and its therapy are well known to be associated with fatigue, the exact nature of cancer-related fatigue remains ill-defined. We previously reported that fatigue-like behavior induced independently by tumor growth and by the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin is characterized by reduced voluntary wheel running and an intact motivation to expand effort for food rewards. The present set of experiments was initiated to characterize the functional consequences of fatigue induced by chemoradiotherapy in tumor-bearing mice and relate them to changes in the expression of genes coding for inflammation, mitochondria dynamics and metabolism. Two syngeneic murine models of cancer were selected for this purpose, a model of human papilloma virus-related head and neck cancer and a model of lung cancer. In both models, tumor-bearing mice were submitted to chemoradiotherapy to limit tumor progression. Two dimensions of fatigue were assessed, the physical dimension by changes in physical activity in mice trained to run in wheels and the motivational dimension by changes in the performance of mice trained to nose poke to obtain a food reward in a progressive ratio schedule of food reinforcement. Chemoradiotherapy reliably decreased wheel running activity but had no effect on performance in the progressive ratio in both murine models of cancer. These effects were the same for the two murine models of cancer and did not differ according to sex. Livers and brains were collected at the end of the experiments for qRT-PCR analysis of expression of genes coding for inflammation, mitochondria dynamics, and metabolism. The observed changes were mainly apparent in the liver and typical of activation of type I interferon and NF-κB-dependent signaling, with alterations in mitochondrial dynamics and a shift toward glycolysis. Although the importance of these alterations for the pathophysiology of cancer-related fatigue remains to be explored, the present findings indicate that fatigue brought on by cancer therapy in tumor-bearing mice is more physical than motivational., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: R Dantzer is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of GoodCapt Pharma, Toronto, Ontario, and receives honoraria for wok not related to the present study., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Rubus yellow net virus (RYNV) belongs to genus Badnavirus. Badnaviruses are found in plants as endogenous, inactive or activatable sequences, and/or in episomal (infectious and active) forms. To assess the state of RYNV in Rubus germplasm, we sequenced the genomes of various cultivars and mined eight raspberry whole genome datasets. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the presence of a diverse array of endogenous RYNV (endoRYNV) sequences that differ significantly in their structure; some lineages have nearly complete, yet non-functional genomes whereas others have rudimentary, short sequence fragments. We developed assays to genotype the main lineages as well as the only known episomal lineage present in the United States. This study discloses the widespread presence of endoRYNVs in commercial raspberries, likely because breeding efforts have focused on a limited pool of germplasm that harbored endoRYNVs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Thien Ho, Janet C. Broome, Jason P. Buhler and Wendy O'Donovan are employees of Driscoll's Inc, a for profit cooperation., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Deodorization and, in a broader sense, the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plastic waste have become increasingly important in the field of plastic recycling, and various new decontamination techniques have been developed. Both in research and industrial practice, the selection of VOCs has been random or unsubstantiated, making it difficult to compare studies and assess decontamination processes objectively. Thus, this study proposes the use of Statistical Molecular Design (SMD) and Quantitative Structure - Activity Relationship (QSAR) as chemometric tools for the selection of representative VOCs, based on physicochemical properties. Various algorithms are used for SMD; hence, several frequently used D-Optimal Onion Design (DOOD) and Space-Filling (SF) algorithms were assessed. Hereby, it was validated that DOOD, by dividing the layers based on the equal-distance approach without so-called 'Adjacent Layer Bias', results in the most representative selection of VOCs. QSAR models that describe VOC removal by water-based washing of plastic waste as a function of molecular weight, polarizability, dipole moment and Hansen Solubility Parameters Distance were successfully established. An adjusted-R 2 value of 0.77 ± 0.09 and a mean absolute error of 24.5 ± 4 % was obtained. Consequently, by measuring a representative selection of VOCs compiled using SMD, the removal of other unanalyzed VOCs was predicted on the basis of the QSAR. Another advantage of the proposed chemometric selection procedure is its flexibility. SMD allows to extend or modify the considered dataset according to the available analytical techniques, and to adjust the considered physicochemical properties according to the intended process., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Aurones are a minor subgroup of flavonoids. Unlike other subgroups such as chalcones, flavones, and isoflavones, aurones have not been extensively explored as pancreatic lipase inhibitors. In this work, we studied the pancreatic lipase inhibitory potency of synthetic aurone derivatives. Thirty-six compounds belonging to four series (4,6-dihydroxyaurone, 6-hydroxyaurone, 4,6-dialkoxyaurone, and 6-alkoxyaurone) were designed and synthesized. Their in vitro inhibitory activities were determined by spectrophotometric assay in comparison with quercetin and orlistat. Alkoxyaurone derivatives with long-chain (6-10 carbons) alkoxy substituents showed greater potency. Of them, 4,6-dialkoxyaurone 8 displayed the highest activity against pancreatic lipase (IC 50 of 1.945 ± 0.520 µM) relative to quercetin (IC 50 of 86.98 ± 3.859 µM) and orlistat (IC 50 of 0.0334 ± 0.0015 µM). Fluorescence quenching measurement confirmed the affinity of alkoxyaurone derivatives to pancreatic lipase. Kinetic study showed that 8 inhibited lipase through a competitive mechanism (K i of 1.288 ± 0.282 µM). Molecular docking results clarified the role of long-chain substituents on ring A in interacting with the hydrophobic pockets and pushing the inhibitor molecule closer to the catalytic triad. The findings in this study may contribute to the development of better pancreatic lipase inhibitors with aurone structure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objective: The Internet of medical things is enhancing smart healthcare services using physical wearable sensor-based devices connected to the Internet. Machine learning techniques play an important role in the core of these services for remotely consulting patients thanks to the pattern recognition from on-device data, which is transferred to the central servers from local devices. However, transferring personally identifiable information data to servers could become a source for hackers to steal from, manipulate and perform illegal activities. Federated learning is a new branch of machine learning that creates directly training models from on-device data and aggregates these learned models on the servers without centralized data. Another way to protect data confidentiality on computer systems is data encryption. Data encryption transforms data into another form that only users with authority to a decryption key can read. In this work, we propose a novel method enabling preservation of client privacy and protection of client biomedical data from illegal hackers while transmitting through the Internet., Methods: We propose a method applying 3-dimensional convolutional neural networks for human activity recognition using multiple sensory data. In order to protect the data, we apply the bitwise XOR operator encryption technique. Then, we extend our 3-dimensional convolutional neural network methods to both traditional federated learning and the federated learning based on multi-key homomorphic encryption using the proposed encrypting data., Results: Based on leave-one-out-cross-validation, the 3-dimensional method obtains an accuracy of 94.6% and of 94.9% (without data encrypting and without federated learning) tested on two different benchmarked datasets, Sport and DaLiAC respectively. Accuracy is decreased slightly to 89.5% (from 94.6% of the baseline) when we use the proposed encrypting data method. However, the encryption-data-based method still has a potential result compared to the state-of-the-art which only uses raw data. In addition, the proposed full federated learning scheme of this work shows that illegal persons who somehow can get the trained model transmitted via networks cannot infer the private result., Conclusions: This novel method for sensory data representation which translates temporal and frequency bio-signal values to voxel intensities that can encode 3-dimensional activity images. Secondly, the proposed 3-dimensional convolutional neural network methods outperform other deep-learning-based human activity recognition approaches. Finally, extensive experiments show the proposed data-encrypted federated learning approach can achieve feasibility in terms of efficiency in privacy preservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

Several viruses are transmitted by eriophyid mites (Acariformes: Eriophyoidea) including blackberry leaf mottle-associated emaravirus (BLMaV) (Emaravirus rubi). BLMaV is transmitted by an unidentified eriophyid species and is involved in blackberry yellow vein, a devastating disease in the southeastern United States. In this study, we assessed the eriophyid mite Phylocoptes parviflori as a vector of BLMaV and clarified its taxonomic status as it was previously synonymized with Phyllocoptes gracilis. P. parviflori can efficiently transmit BLMaV. The virus was found to cause yellow vein disease symptoms on 'Ouachita' blackberry marking a paradigm shift as disease symptoms have always been associated with multiple virus infections. Therefore, we propose renaming the virus to blackberry leaf mottle virus. The occurrence of P. parviflori on wild and cultivated blackberries, as well as its ability to colonize other Rubus species, enhances its importance as a major contributor to the spread of yellow vein disease., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interests associated with the research presented here., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Acute appendicitis (AA) is one of the most common surgical emergencies, with a lifetime risk estimated at 7-8%. Pregnant women with appendicitis can have a difficult diagnosis because many signs and symptoms could overlap with other causes of acute abdominal pain. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not contraindicated at all gestational ages for units with a field strength of three Tesla or less, there is still much discussion regarding the best protocol to follow in order to minimize survey time and maximize diagnostic efficiency. The purpose of this study was to assess how well different MR pulse sequences can diagnose AA., Methods: This retrospective study involved 179 pregnant females. All patients treated and admitted to the University Medical Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, between January 2016 and October 2023 had their MR scans and medical data examined. MRI results were assessed and compared with surgical and histopathological findings., Results: The mean age of the population was 29.7 ± 4.8 years (range, 18-46 years). On T1-weighted (T1W) and T2-weighted (T2W) sequences, the appendix was clearly visualized at rates of 81.8% and 89.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the T2W in diagnosing AA were 93.5% and 92.3%, and when combined with T1W and diffusion-weighted (DW) images, the sensitivity and specificity further increased, being 96.8% and 94.9%, respectively. The predictive value of non-AA of the T1 bright appendix sign was 95.6%., Conclusion: Our study supports the use of MRI as an imaging test to identify appendicitis during pregnancy, as it has been shown to be a useful method for diagnosing the condition in pregnant women. The T2W pulse sequence is a useful tool for diagnosing appendicitis because of its high sensitivity and specificity. When identifying appendicitis from T2W alone proves challenging, T1W with the T1 bright sign and DW to take advantage of the appendix lumen and/or wall's diffusion features can yield additional information and boost diagnostic confidence., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Thanh Thi Nguyen et al.)

Most current genotype imputation methods are reference-based, which posed several challenges to users, such as high computational costs and reference panel inaccessibility. Thus, deep learning models are expected to create reference-free imputation methods performing with higher accuracy and shortening the running time. We proposed a imputation method using recurrent neural networks integrating with an additional discriminator network, namely GRUD. This method was applied to datasets from genotyping chips and Low-Pass Whole Genome Sequencing (LP-WGS) with the reference panels from The 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP) phase 3, the dataset of 4810 Singaporeans (SG10K), and The 1000 Vietnamese Genome Project (VN1K). Our model performed more accurately than other existing methods on multiple datasets, especially with common variants with large minor allele frequency, and shrank running time and memory usage. In summary, these results indicated that GRUD can be implemented in genomic analyses to improve the accuracy and running-time of genotype imputation., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

High-grade gliomas are malignant brain tumors that are characteristically hard to treat because of their nature; they grow quickly and invasively through the brain tissue and develop chemoradiation resistance in adults. There is also a distinct lack of targeted treatment options in the pediatric population for this tumor type to date. Several approaches to overcome therapeutic resistance have been explored, including targeted therapy to growth pathways (ie. EGFR and VEGF inhibitors), epigenetic modulators, and immunotherapies such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell and vaccine therapies. One new promising approach relies on the timing of chemotherapy administration based on intrinsic circadian rhythms. Recent work in glioblastoma has demonstrated temporal variations in chemosensitivity and, thus, improved survival based on treatment time of day. This may be due to intrinsic rhythms of the glioma cells, permeability of the blood brain barrier to chemotherapy agents, the tumor immune microenvironment, or another unknown mechanism. We review the literature to discuss chronotherapeutic approaches to high-grade glioma treatment, circadian regulation of the immune system and tumor microenvironment in gliomas. We further discuss how these two areas may be combined to temporally regulate and/or improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Nettnin, Nguyen, Arana, Barros Guinle, Garcia, Gibson and Prolo.)