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Background: The Prime Time Sister Circles®, a randomized controlled trial (PTSC-RCT), assessed the impact of a community-based peer support program on hypertension management among African American women 40–75 years of age. While the PTSC-RCT was designed to evaluate changes in blood pressure control, subsequent sub-analyses revealed a high proportion of self-reported depressive symptoms in our sample. Accordingly, we conducted an ancillary investigation of the PTSC intervention on depression to ascertain its impact on reduced depressive symptoms in the study population. Method: Depressive symptoms were measured using an adapted version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CES-D-10). We used unadjusted and adjusted fixed effect models. Data for this study came from the PTSC-RCT. We collected data between 2017 and 2018 in Washington, DC. We used a balanced analytical sample of 172 African American, English-speaking women between 40 to 75 years old with uncontrolled hypertension. Intervention: The intervention group participated in a 2-h, peer-based support group once a week for 13 weeks. A trained PTSC facilitator facilitated sessions with experts who delivered content on various topics, including psychosocial wellness (e.g., stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety management, and self-esteem), physical health (e.g., hypertension, inflammation, and heart disease), physical activity, and healthy nutrition. Results: Results from the fixed-effects models indicated that participants in the PTSC program exhibited a greater reduction in CES-D-10 score at three months (Coeff: -1.99, 95% CI: -3.49, -0.49) and at 15 months (Coeff: -2.38, 95% CI: -3.94, -0.83), as compared to those in the control group. Conclusions: Evidence suggests that the Prime Time Sister Circles® intervention reduced depressive symptoms among African American women with low socioeconomic status and hypertension. Trial Registration: NCT04371614. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-profit hospitals are expected to provide charity care and other community benefits to adjust their tax exemption status. Using the Medicare Hospital Cost Report, American Hospital Association Annual Survey, and the American Community Survey datasets, we examined if church-affiliated hospitals spent more on charity care and community benefit. For this analysis, we defined five main categories of community benefits were measured: total community benefit; charity care; Medicaid shortfall; unreimbursed other means-tested services; and the total of unreimbursed education and unfunded research. Multiple regression was used to examine the effect of church ownership, controlling for other factors, on the level of community benefit in 2644 general acute care non-profit hospitals. Descriptive analyses and multiple regression were used to show the relationship between the provision of community benefits and church affiliation including Catholic (CH), other church-affiliated hospitals (OCAH), and non-church affiliated hospitals (NCAH). The non-profit hospital on average spent 6.5% of its total expenses on community benefits. NCAH spent 6.09%, CH spent 7.5%, and OCAH spent 9.4%. Non-profits spent 2.8% of their total expenses on charity care, with the highest charity care spending for OCAH (5.2%), followed by CH (3.9%), and NCAH (2.4%). Regression results showed that CH and OCAH, on average, spent 1.08% and 2.16% more on community benefits than NCAHs. In addition, CH and OCAH spent more on other categories of community benefits except for education and research. Church-affiliated hospitals spend more on community benefits and charity care than non-church affiliated nonprofit hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule, effective January 1, 2021, requires hospitals to post online a machine-readable file that includes payer-specific negotiated commercial prices for all services. The regulation aims to improve the affordability of hospital care by promoting price competition. However, a low compliance level among hospitals would compromise the operational effectiveness of this regulation. Understanding hospitals' compliance status to the regulation has important implications for its enforcement effort and effectiveness assessment. OBJECTIVE: To analyze nationwide hospitals' compliance status to the Hospital Price Transparency Rule. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3558 Medicare-certified general acute-care hospitals were examined. MAIN MEASURES: A binary compliance rating was generated by using data collected by Turquoise Health. "Noncompliance" means that no machine-readable file was posted or the posted file contains no commercial negotiated prices. "Compliance" means that a machine-readable file was posted with commercial negotiated prices for at least one insurance plan. KEY RESULTS: As of June 1, 2021, 55% of the 3558 Medicare-certified general acute-care hospitals we examined had not posted a machine-readable file containing commercial negotiated prices. Wide variations of compliance existed across states and hospital referral regions. A hospital's compliance status is strongly associated with the average compliance status of peer hospitals in the same market. Hospitals with greater IT preparedness, for-profit hospitals, system-affiliated hospitals, large hospitals, and non-urban hospitals had greater compliance. More concentrated hospital markets had greater average compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals take into consideration the behavior of their peers in the same market when making price disclosure decisions. Compliant hospitals are likely to have better IT preparedness, more financial resources and personnel expertise to mitigate the cost required for the implementation of the Price Transparency Rule. The compliance cost, therefore, might be a barrier for some hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total least squares (TLS) method is a well-known technique for solving an overdetermined linear system of equations Ax ≈ b, that is appropriate when both the coefficient matrix A and the right-hand side vector b are contaminated by some noise. For ill-posed TLS poblems, regularization techniques are necessary to stabilize the computed solution; otherwise, TLS produces a noise-dominant output. In this paper, we show that the regularized total least squares (RTLS) problem can be reformulated as a nonlinear least squares problem and can be solved by the Gauss–Newton method. Due to the nature of the RTLS problem, we present an appropriate method to choose a good regularization parameter and also a good initial guess. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed method is examined by some test problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD47, a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, is an important "Don't Eat-Me" signal in phagocytosis process [clearance of apoptotic cells] as well as a regulator of the adaptive immune response. The lower level of CD47 on the cell surface leads to the clearance of apoptotic cells. Dysregulation of CD47 plays a critical role in the development of disorders, particularly cancers. In cancers, recognition of CD47 overexpression on the surface of cancer cells by its receptor, SIRPα on the phagocytic cells, inhibits phagocytosis of cancer cells. Thus, blocking of CD47‐SIRPα signaling axis might be as a promising therapeutic target, which promotes phagocytosis of cancer cells, antigen‐presenting cell function as well as adaptive T cell‐mediated anti‐cancer immunity. In this respect, it has been reported that CD47 expression can be regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs can regulate phagocytosis of macrophages apoptotic process, drug resistance, relapse of disease, radio-sensitivity, and suppress cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through post-transcriptional regulation of CD47-SIRPα signaling axis. Moreover, the regulation of CD47 expression by miRNAs and combination with conventional cytotoxic drugs together with the help of nano-delivery represent a valuable opportunity for effective cancer treatment. In this review, we review studies that evaluate the role of miRNAs in the regulation of CD47-SIRPα in disorders to achieve a novel preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategy.Please confirm if the author names are presented accurately and in the correct sequence (given name, middle name/initial, family name). Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct. Confirmed.Journal standard instruction requires a structured abstract; however, none was provided. Please supply an Abstract with subsections..Not confirmed. This is a review article. According to submission guidelines: "The abstract should be presented divided into subheadings (unless it is a mini or full review article)". Kindly check and confirm whether the corresponding authors and mail ID are correctly identified. Confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fully adjusted model, including sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and other health status factors, black women had 2.4 times the prevalence of hypertension (PR: 2.4 95% CI: 1.7-3.3). In addition, even before conception, hypertension leads to an increased risk of pregnancy complications as well as poorer long-term cardiovascular outcomes for mother and baby.[1] Despite these potential transgenerational effects, hypertension among young women remains understudied and undertreated. Although we found that young women generally have blood pressures well below treatment thresholds, black women had higher average blood pressures and were more than twice as likely to have hypertension adjusting for other sociodemographic and health factors. [Extracted from the article]

In the present study, microstructural and mechanical properties of diffusion bonding of AZ31-Mg with Al 5754, Al 6061, and Al 7039 alloys were compared under same conditions. The vacuum diffusion processes were performed at a temperature of 440 °C, the pressure of 29 MPa, and a vacuum of 1 × 10−4 torr for 60 min. The microstructural characterizations were investigated using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with EDS analysis and linear scanner. The XRD analysis was performed to study phase figures near the interface zone. The results revealed the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds like Al12Mg17, Al3Mg2, and their other combinations at bonding interfaces of all samples. Additionally, the hardness of Al alloys seemed to play a key role in increasing diffusion rate of magnesium atoms toward the aluminum atoms, with Al 6061 alloy having the highest diffusion rate. It consequently led to an increase in diffusion rate and thus formation of a strong diffusion bonding between magnesium and aluminum alloys. The highest strength was about 42 MPa for the diffusion bonding between Mg AZ31 and Al 6061. Further investigations on surfaces indicated that the brittle phases especially Al3Mg2 caused brittle fracturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteorological drought indices associated with soil moisture status have potential for varying applications including predictive power for crop yields estimation. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) was initially developed to estimate forest flammability, based on quantification of the moisture deficiency in upper soil layer as a function of daily precipitation and maximum air temperature. In this study, we characterized the utility of KBDI to accurately trace and monitor vegetation change and crop yield fluctuation in a semi-arid environment. It is tried to find any temporal association for both the 16-day MODIS-derived NDVI and KBDI from 2002 to 2012 and the correlation between KBDI and wheat and barley yield from 1984 to 2010. Correlation between KBDI and NDVI showed a general seasonal pattern with strongest correlation in mid-growing season, but this varied across study locations. Warmer locations with very sparse vegetation showed weaker association between KBDI and NDVI. Although a robust correlation between KBDI and winter cereal crop yield was not achieved based on winter (wet and cold season) data, spring cereal crop yield was correlated with KBDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel has been subjected to plasma nitriding and oxidation- nitridation heat treatment at several temperatures for different times. Plasma nitriding of the samples was performed in N2/H2 = 1/3 atmosphere at temperatures of 425, 450, and 475°C for 5 h. To study the effects of the combined nitridation-oxidation process on mechanical and physical properties, the samples have been exposed in O2/H2 = 1/5 oxidating atmosphere at 425, 450, and 500°C for 15, 30, and 60 min, respectively. The mechanical and physical properties of the samples were studied after nitridation-oxidation heat treatment. The microstructural properties were examined by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy; the phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The wear behavior of the oxidized-nitrided samples was studied using pin-on-disk tribotesting. The hardness and depth of the nitrided layer were measured by a Vickers hardness tester. The corrosion resistance of both untreated and treated samples was tested by the Tafel polarization and potentiodynamic polarization in 3.5% NaCl solution at ambient temperature. The results indicate that the combined nitridation-oxidation heat treatment improves both the pitting corrosion and wear resistances of AISI 316L steel and further increases its hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer cachexia is a devastating metabolic syndrome characterized by systemic inflammation and massive muscle and adipose tissue wasting. Although it is responsible for approximately one-third of cancer deaths, no effective therapies are available and the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. We previously identified the bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) protein BRD4 as an epigenetic regulator of muscle mass. Here we show that the pan-BET inhibitor (+)-JQ1 protects tumor-bearing mice from body weight loss and muscle and adipose tissue wasting. Remarkably, in C26-tumor-bearing mice (+)-JQ1 administration dramatically prolongs survival, without directly affecting tumor growth. By ChIP-seq and ChIP analyses, we unveil that BET proteins directly promote the muscle atrophy program during cachexia. In addition, BET proteins are required to coordinate an IL6-dependent AMPK nuclear signaling pathway converging on FoxO3 transcription factor. Overall, these findings indicate that BET proteins may represent a promising therapeutic target in the management of cancer cachexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyaniline- co-phenylenediamine (PAn/PDA) nanocomposite has been prepared in the aqueous medium using sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DBSNa) and hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) as a surfactant. The tests used in this research to characterize the products were SEM, TEM, FTIR, UV-Visible and TGA for morphology, particle size, chemical structure and stability. The results confirm that the spherical nanocomposites (40-90 nm) were formed with high thermal stability. It is shown in the results that the physicochemical properties of poly(alkyl substituted anilines) are depended on the substituent groups that are bonded to N-position. The prepared nanocomposites were then tested for the antibacterial properties against three pathogenic strains. The antibacterial properties of nanocomposites were investigated by disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC), and bactericidal kinetic methods. The disk diffusion result indicated that the diameter of the inhibition zones of PAn/PDA-HPC nanocomposite was 9, 11, and 10 mm against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus respectively. It was found that the value of MIC of PAn/PDA-HPC nanocomposite against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were 2.5, 1.25 and 2.5 mg/mL respectively. The evaluation results revealed the PAn/PDA-HPC nanocomposite exhibited excellent inhibitory activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through their functional diversification, distinct lineages of CD4+ T cells can act to either drive or constrain immune-mediated pathology. Transcription factors are critical in the generation of cellular diversity, and negative regulators antagonistic to alternate fates often act in conjunction with positive regulators to stabilize lineage commitment. Genetic polymorphisms within a single locus encoding the transcription factor BACH2 are associated with numerous autoimmune and allergic diseases including asthma, Crohn's disease, coeliac disease, vitiligo, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes. Although these associations point to a shared mechanism underlying susceptibility to diverse immune-mediated diseases, a function for BACH2 in the maintenance of immune homeostasis has not been established. Here, by studying mice in which the Bach2 gene is disrupted, we define BACH2 as a broad regulator of immune activation that stabilizes immunoregulatory capacity while repressing the differentiation programs of multiple effector lineages in CD4+ T cells. BACH2 was required for efficient formation of regulatory (Treg) cells and consequently for suppression of lethal inflammation in a manner that was Treg-cell-dependent. Assessment of the genome-wide function of BACH2, however, revealed that it represses genes associated with effector cell differentiation. Consequently, its absence during Treg polarization resulted in inappropriate diversion to effector lineages. In addition, BACH2 constrained full effector differentiation within TH1, TH2 and TH17 cell lineages. These findings identify BACH2 as a key regulator of CD4+ T-cell differentiation that prevents inflammatory disease by controlling the balance between tolerance and immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films with high photocatalytic activity and photo-induced wettability were successfully deposited on a glass slide. Crystal phase transformations and particle size of TiO2 were investigated. Structural and morphological properties of the films were investigated. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 films was evaluated. It is found that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films is significantly decreased by increasing the annealing temperature, which results in a decrease in BET surface area and an increase in crystal size. In addition, increasing film thickness within a certain range significantly improves the photocatalytic activity without causing crack formation of the TiO2 films. Photocatalytic oxidation and photo-induced wettability conversion on the films were investigated. It is found that photo-induced hydrophilic conversion is observed even on the samples annealed at high temperature. The best photo-generated activities are obtained by optimization of dip-coating cycles and annealing temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]