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In this study, the electronic and the optical properties of monolayer black phosphorus (BP) doped with Gold (Au), Tin (Sn) and Iodine (I) atoms have been investigated by the density-functional theory (DFT) method. In the calculations, the electronic and the optical properties of monolayer BP have been substantially changed with doping. Monolayer BP has a narrow bandgap as 0.85 eV, BP doped with these atoms, results in a metallic behaviour and nearly spin gapless band gap behaviour. The dielectric constant of BP which shows anisotropic optical properties due to different edge states as zigzag and armchair has been changed with doping especially with Au. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a severe medical condition that can lead to illness and death. A disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) protein family is a potential treatment target for AKI due to its involvement in inflammation, growth, and differentiation. While ADAM10 and ADAM17 have been identified as significant contributors to inflammation, it is unclear whether they play a critical role in AKI. In this study, we induced AKI in male and female mice using lipopolysaccharide, a bacterial endotoxin that causes inflammation and oxidative stress. The role of kaempferol, which is found in many natural products and known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in many pre-clinical studies, was investigated through ADAM10/17 enzymes in AKI. We also investigated the efficacy of a selective synthetic inhibitor named GW280264X for ADAM10/17 inhibition in AKI. Blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels were measured in serum, while tumor necrosis factor-α, vascular adhesion molecule, interleukin (IL)-1β, glucose regulatory protein-78, IL-10, nuclear factor κ-B, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, total thiol, ADAM10, and ADAM17 levels were measured in kidney tissue. We also evaluated kidney tissue histologically using hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-schiff, and caspase-3 staining. This research demonstrates that GW280264X and kaempferol reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, as evidenced by biochemical and histopathological results in AKI through ADAM10/17 inhibition. These findings suggest that inhibiting ADAM10/17 may be a promising therapeutic approach for treating acute kidney injury., 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 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In typical adults, recognizing both spoken and written words is thought to be served by a process of competition between candidates in the lexicon. In recent years, work has used eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm to characterize this competition process over development. It has shown that both spoken and written word recognition continue to develop through adolescence (Rigler et al., 2015). It is still unclear what drives these changes in real-time word recognition over the school years, as there are dramatic changes in language, the onset of reading instruction, and gains in domain general function during this time. This study began to address these issues by asking whether changes in real-time word recognition derive from changes in overall language and reading ability or reflect more general age-related development. This cross-sectional study examined 278 school-age children (Grades 1-3) using the Visual World Paradigm to assess both spoken and written word recognition, along with multiple measures of language, reading and phonology. A structural equation model applied to these ability measures found three factors representing language, reading, and phonology. Multiple regression analyses were used to understand how these three factors relate to real-time spoken and written word recognition as well as a non-linguistic variant of the VWP intended to capture decision speed, eye-movement factors, and other non-language/reading differences. We found that for both spoken and written word recognition, the speed of activating target words in both domains was more closely tied to the relevant ability (e.g., reading for written word recognition) than was age. We also examined competition resolution (how fully competitors were suppressed late in processing). Here, spoken word recognition showed only small, developmental effects that were only related to phonological processing, suggesting links to developmental language disorder. However, in written word recognition, competitor resolution showed large impacts of development which were strongly linked to reading. This suggests the dimensionality of real-time lexical processing may differ across domains. Importantly, neither spoken nor written word recognition is fully described by changes in non-linguistic skills assessed with non-linguistic VWP, and the non-linguistic VWP was linked to differences in language and reading. These findings suggest that spoken and written word recognition continue past the first year of life and are mostly driven by ability and not only by overall maturation., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The current study examined the extent to which labels shape visuocortical processing during the first year of life during a brief (~6-min) associative learning task. Images of computer-generated artificial objects were paired with either individual-level (e.g., Jimmy, Boris) or category-level labels (e.g., Hitchel) while event-related potentials were recorded in response to the onset of the visual stimulus in 6- (n = 41), 9- (n = 27), and 12-month-old (n = 28) infants. Analyses examined experience-dependent visuocortical changes within and across trials, label conditions, and ages. Overall, results demonstrate that infants deploy greater visuocortical resources during the first half of associative learning trials and to stimuli paired with category-level relative to individual-level labels. Waveform morphologies also differed between stimuli paired with individual- and category-level labels and across the age groups, with more complex deflections and amplitude differences between label type at 9- and 12-month-olds, but not 6-month-old infants. The present results highlight the importance of associative learning during infancy and suggest that category- versus individual-level labels differentially direct infant attention and visuocortical processing., (© 2024 International Congress of Infant Studies.)

This study employed Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to determine the chemical composition of brain tissues and the changes induced by irisin at doses of 50 mg and 100 mg. Brain tissues were collected from control rats and those administered with irisin, and key vibrational peaks were analyzed. In the 50 mg irisin group, all described vibrations decreased compared to control tissues, while the 100 mg group showed a decrease only in lipid vibrations. Comparatively, the 50 mg group had lower absorbance of phospholipids, amides, and lipid functional groups than the 100 mg group. Lower amounts of these compounds were found in treated tissues compared to controls, with higher levels in the 100 mg group. Ratios between amide peaks revealed significant differences between groups. Principal component analysis (PCA) differentiated control and irisin-treated tissues, primarily using PC1 and PC3. The decision tree model exhibited high classification accuracy, especially in the 800-1800 cm⁻ 1 range, with high sensitivity and specificity. FTIR spectroscopy effectively highlighted chemical changes in brain tissues due to irisin, demonstrating dose-dependent variations. The combination of PCA, ROC analysis, and decision tree modeling underscored the potential of FTIR spectroscopy for studying the biochemical effects of compounds like irisin., 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 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Word recognition is a gateway to language, linking sound to meaning. Prior work has characterized its cognitive mechanisms as a form of competition between similar-sounding words. However, it has not identified dimensions along which this competition varies across people. We sought to identify these dimensions in a population of cochlear implant users with heterogenous backgrounds and audiological profiles, and in a lifespan sample of people without hearing loss. Our study characterizes the process of lexical competition using the Visual World Paradigm. A principal component analysis reveals that people's ability to resolve lexical competition varies along three dimensions that mirror prior small-scale studies. These dimensions capture the degree to which lexical access is delayed ("Wait-and-See"), the degree to which competition fully resolves ("Sustained-Activation"), and the overall rate of activation. Each dimension is predicted by a different auditory skills and demographic factors (onset of deafness, age, cochlear implant experience). Moreover, each dimension predicts outcomes (speech perception in quiet and noise, subjective listening success) over and above auditory fidelity. Higher degrees of Wait-and-See and Sustained-Activation predict poorer outcomes. These results suggest the mechanisms of word recognition vary along a few underlying dimensions which help explain variable performance among listeners encountering auditory challenge., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: People are shaped holistically by dynamic and interrelated individual and social-ecological systems. This perspective has been discussed in the context of varied aspects of bilingual experiences, namely language acquisition and development. Here, we applied a Systems Framework of Bilingualism to language attitudes, which may be especially responsive to social-ecological influences., Methodology: One hundred twenty-three French-English bilingual adults ( M age  = 21.20, SD  = 3.21) completed self-report questionnaires on demographic information and their attitudes toward languages. A subset of these bilinguals ( n  = 73) completed a social network survey., Data and Analysis: We used language-tagged social network analysis and geospatial demographic analysis to examine the role of individual characteristics (i.e., first language), interpersonal language dynamics (i.e., person-to-person interactions), and ecological language dynamics (i.e., neighborhood language exposure)., Findings and Conclusions: At an individual level, we found that bilinguals' language background (i.e., first language) predicted attitudes of solidarity toward a language (i.e., whether a language is associated with personal identity and belongingness). When considering sociolinguistic layers of influence, we found that bilinguals' social network and neighborhood-level language exposure jointly predicted their attitudes of solidarity toward a language, as well as their attitudes toward the protection of minority languages., Originality: While most studies have examined language experience in a unidimensional nature, the present study investigated multilingual language attitudes by considering multiple systems within a social-ecological framework., Implications: Taken together, the results suggest that several interrelated interpersonal and ecological systems are associated with language attitudes, which could have important implications for planning future language policies in multilingual societies such as Montréal., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

In psychophysics and psychometrics, an integral method to the discipline involves charting how a person's response pattern changes according to a continuum of stimuli. For instance, in hearing science, Visual Analog Scaling tasks are experiments in which listeners hear sounds across a speech continuum and give a numeric rating between 0 and 100 conveying whether the sound they heard was more like word "a" or more like word "b" (i.e. each participant is giving a continuous categorization response). By taking all the continuous categorization responses across the speech continuum, a parametric curve model can be fit to the data and used to analyze any individual's response pattern by speech continuum. Standard statistical modeling techniques are not able to accommodate all of the specific requirements needed to analyze these data. Thus, Bayesian hierarchical modeling techniques are employed to accommodate group-level non-linear curves, individual-specific non-linear curves, continuum-level random effects, and a subject-specific variance that is predicted by other model parameters. In this paper, a Bayesian hierarchical model is constructed to model the data from a Visual Analog Scaling task study of mono-lingual and bi-lingual participants. Any nonlinear curve function could be used and we demonstrate the technique using the 4-parameter logistic function. Overall, the model was found to fit particularly well to the data from the study and results suggested that the magnitude of the slope was what most defined the differences in response patterns between continua., 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.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and sudden cardiac death worldwide and is an important public health problem. The presence of ischemia in clinical applications can be detected by ECG, biochemical markers, and radiological methods. Myocardial infarction is also frequently encountered in forensic autopsies. Postmortem diagnosis is determined as a result of histopathological examinations and additional exclusionary examinations (toxicology, microbiology, etc.). However, routine histopathological examinations are insufficient, especially when death occurs in the early period of ischemia. It creates a problem for forensic pathologists and forensic medicine specialists in such cases of sudden cardiac death. Postmortem biochemistry is one of the important and promising disciplines in which forensic applications work in order to diagnose these cases correctly. The issue of whether biomarkers used in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction in clinical studies can be used reliably in postmortem cases has been discussed by forensic medicine researchers for some time. This manuscript aims to review and summarize biomarkers belonging to various categories that have been studied in IHD-related deaths, in biological fluids taken at autopsy, or in animal experiments. Our study shows that the postmortem use of biochemical markers in the diagnosis of IHD yields promising results. However, it should not be forgotten that postmortem biochemistry is different from clinical applications due to its dynamics and that the body causes unpredictable changes in markers in the postmortem process. Therefore, comprehensive studies are needed to evaluate the postmortem stability of these markers in different biological fluids, their significance among various causes of death, and whether they are affected by any variable (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Postmortem interval, medications, etc.) before they are routinely applied. It is suggested by the authors that the cut-off values of biomarkers whose significance has been proven by these studies should be determined and that they should be used in this way in routine applications., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: The evaluation of soft tissues in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment plays a critical role in diagnosis and treatment planning. This study aims to evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on facial soft tissues in skeletal Class I patients with normal vertical growth., Methods: The study included 72 patients with a normal vertical growth pattern (SN-GoGn 26-38°) and skeletal Class I (ANB 2‒4°) malocclusion. According to their BMI (kg/m 2 ) values, the patients were divided into three groups of 24 individuals each: underweight (>5th percentile) (13 females, 11 males; mean age, 11.58 ± 1.95 years), normal weight (5‒85th percentile) (12 females, 12 males; mean age, 11.54 ± 1.95 years), overweight (85‒95th percentile) (12 females, 12 males; mean age, 11.62 ± 2.01 years). Soft tissue thickness and height measurements were made on lateral cephalometric radiographs., Results: In all soft tissue thickness measurements, except for the nasion, the overweight weight group had higher values. In comparing the underweight and normal weight groups, statistically significant differences were found in the thickness measurements at the nasion and gnathion ( p < 0.05). The differences in thickness measurements at the glabella, labiale superius, stomion, labiale inferius, pogonion, gnathion, and menton are statistically significant between the underweight and overweight groups ( p < 0.005). Comparing the normal and overweight groups revealed statistically significant differences the thickness measurements at the glabella, labiale superius, stomion, pogonion and menton ( p < 0.05)., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2023 Karsli and Tuhan Kutlu.)

Background: Parents, who make the final decision regarding their child's treatment, play a significant role in their dental care. Parental approval is important for each stage of treatment and may affect the physician's approach to the treatment. Therefore, it is essential for pediatric dentists to comprehend which behavior management techniques (BMTs) are acceptable to parents and to identify the factors that influence their acceptability., Methods: Parents who were bringing their children for dental treatment answered a survey on the acceptance of twenty contemporary BMTs. The sociodemographic data of the parents and the age, gender, and Frankl behavior rating scale (Frankl) scores of their children were recorded. Parents were asked to indicate their level of acceptance of each BMT. Binary logistic regression analysis was designed to see the predictors of "accepted" and "declined" answers., Results: According to acceptance frequencies, the most accepted technique was communication and communicative guidance. The most declined technique was parental absence. The child's age, gender, Frankl score, parental educational status, and parent type predict the acceptability of some BMTs., Conclusion: This study revealed that pediatric dentists must consider parent and child factors when selecting BMTs for children. We believe that this study can provide a basis for determining which factors pediatric dentists should consider when selecting individualized BMTs.

Although radiotherapy is widely employed in the treatment of various malignancies in oncology patients, its use is limited by the toxic effects it causes in surrounding tissues, including the gastrointestinal system. Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) is a traditional drug reported to possess antioxidant and restorative properties in various studies. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of KRG against radiation-associated small intestinal damage. Twenty-four male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned into three groups. No procedure was performed on Group 1 (control) during the experiment, while Group 2 (x-irradiation) was exposed to radiation only. Group 3 (x-irradiation + ginseng) received ginseng via the intraperitoneal route for a week prior to x-irradiation. The rats were killed 24 h after radiation. Small intestinal tissues were evaluated using histochemical and biochemical methods. An increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and a decrease in glutathione (GSH) were observed in the x-irradiation group compared to the control group. KRG caused a decrease in MDA and caspase-3 activity and an increase in GSH. Our findings show that it can prevent damage and apoptotic cell death caused by x-irradiation in intestinal tissue and can therefore play a protective role against intestinal injury in patients receiving radiotherapy., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: The timing of pubertal development is closely related to metabolic status and energy reserves. It is thought that irisin, which is involved in the regulation of energy metabolism and is shown to be present in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, may play a role in this process. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of irisin administration on pubertal development and HPG axis in rats., Design-Methods: 36 female rats were included in the study were divided into 3 groups: 100 ng/kg/day irisin treatment group (irisin-100), 50 ng/kg/day irisin treatment group (irisin-50), and control group. On the 38th day, serum samples were taken to determine levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol and irisin. Brain hypothalamus samples were taken to determine levels of pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), kisspeptin, neurokinin-B, dynorphin (Dyn), and makorin ring finger protein-3 (MKRN3)., Results: Vaginal opening and estrus were seen firstly in the irisin-100 group. At the end of the study, the highest rate of vaginal patency was found in the irisin-100 group. Hypothalamic protein expression levels of GnRH, NKB and Kiss1 in homogenates; serum FSH, LH, and estradiol levels were the highest in the irisin-100 group, followed by the irisin-50 and control groups, respectively. Ovarian sizes were significantly greater in the irisin-100 group compared to the other groups. The hypothalamic protein expression levels of MKRN3 and Dyn were the lowest in the irisin-100 group., Conclusions: In this experimental study, irisin triggered the onset of puberty in a dose-dependent manner. Irisin administration caused the excitatory system to dominate in the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The most common cause in the etiology of sudden cardiac death (SCD) is ischemic heart disease due to atherosclerosis. Postmortem diagnosis can be made by histopathological examinations, but routine histopathological examinations are limited, especially in the early period of postmortem ischemia. For this reason, many methods are being investigated for the postmortem diagnosis of ischemia, and postmortem biochemical studies are promising. In our study, we evaluated the biochemical markers; hs-cTnT, NT-proBNP, H-FABP, pentraxin-3, copeptin, ischemic modified albumin (IMA), and PAPP-A in postmortem serums. In forensic pathology practice, it was investigated whether it would be useful to go to the diagnosis by measuring more than one marker in a single biological fluid in SCD cases. The study included 35 sudden cardiac death cases and 24 control cases and as a result of our study, hs-cTnT, NT-proBNP, and H-FABP values were found to be significantly higher in the SCD group than in the control group. Within the scope of the multi-marker strategy, models were tried to be developed in which the markers were used together, and it was concluded that the model consisting of the myocardial ischemia marker hs-cTnT, the myocardial stress marker NT-proBNP, and the inflammation marker pentraxin 3 was the most accurate combination by correctly classifying the cases at a rate of 94.9%. As a result, it was thought that it would be appropriate to use the multi-marker strategy which is widely used in clinical applications, also in forensic medicine applications., 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.)

The current study examines the extent to which hearing individual-level names (e.g., Jimmy) and category-level labels (e.g., Hitchel) paired with novel objects impacts neural responses across a brief (6 min) learning period. Event-related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded while adult participants (n = 44) viewed and heard exemplars of two different species of named novel objects. ERPs were examined for each labeling condition and compared across the first and second half of the learning trials (∼3 min/half). Mean amplitude decreased for the P1 and increased for the N170 from the first to the second half of trials. The decrease in P1 was right lateralized. In addition, the P1 amplitude recorded over right occipitotemporal regions was greater than left occipitotemporal areas, but only for objects paired with individual-level labels. Category-level labels did not show regional P1 differences. The N250 component was greatest over the right occipitotemporal region and was enhanced for objects labeled with individual-level relative to category-level names during the second half of trials. Overall, these findings highlight the unfolding of label-dependent visual processing across a short training period in adults. The results suggest that linguistic labels have an important, top-down impact, on visual processing and that label specificity shapes visuo-cortical responses within a 6-min learning period., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Bis(4-(4-nitrobenzyl)pyridine)dichloropalladium(II), [PdCl 2 L 1 2 ], bis(2-amino-5-bromopyridine)dichloropalladium(II), [PdCl 2 L 2 2 ], bis(2,4-dimethylpyridine)dichloropalladium(II), [PdCl 2 L 3 2 ], bis(3,4-dimethylpyridine)dichloropalladium(II), [PdCl 2 L 4 2 ] were prepared. The spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR and 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR) were used to characterize the compounds. Theoretical calculations were used to validate the experimental results. The LanL2DZ-based DFT/B3LYP method was used to define the most stable possible molecular structure for the complexes. Potential energy distribution analysis was performed to determine the theoretical vibration bands of the complexes. Molecular electrostatic potential maps, boundary molecular orbitals and Mulliken charge distribution were used to determine the active sites of the molecules. The interaction mechanisms between the complexes and liver cancer protein were investigated via molecular docking. The study on the antiproliferative effects of these complexes on hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) showed that they are potent candidates for use against this liver cancer cell line., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© TÜBİTAK.)

Background: With the development of modern technology, the use of software-based applications in the field of health has become increasingly widespread. For this reason, computer-assisted personal registration forms have been developed using software programs., Objective: The aim of this study was to compare surface contamination during the filling of orthodontic anamnesis-consent forms, traditionally on paper and digitally on a tablet equipped with a software application, measured in confined spaces using the 3M Clean-Trace Luminometer device., Methods: In order for the participants to complete the orthodontic anamnesis-consent forms, two separate identical cabins with standard flat surfaces were prepared. In the first cabin, the participants conventionally completed these forms on paper (conventional group), while in the second cabin, the other group used a tablet equipped with a software program for this purpose (digital group). After the form completion process, surface pollution of the predetermined areas was measured in both cabins using a 3M Clean-Trace Luminometer device., Results: Surface contamination was found to be statistically significantly higher in all measurement areas in the conventional group than in the digital group. Despite a statistically significant difference between the two groups in relation to the measurements performed using the pens (conventional or electronic), this was not as strong as those found for the remaining surfaces., Conclusion: The completion of orthodontic anamnesis-consent forms over tablets significantly reduced surface contamination in the close environment. This study reflects the importance of digitization - which has become beneficial in many fields - in reducing the spread of infections.

Mentalizing, or reasoning about others' mental states, is a dynamic social cognitive process that aids in communication and navigating complex social interactions. We examined whether exposure to diverse perspectives, afforded by occupying influential social network positions, predicted bilingual adults' performances on a behavioral mentalizing rating task in regions of high and low linguistic diversity. We calculated the degree to which respondents' social network position generally bridged unconnected others (i.e., general betweenness) and specifically bridged language communities (i.e., language betweenness). General betweenness predicted mentalizing performance regardless of region, whereas language betweenness only predicted mentalizing in a high linguistic diversity region, where bilingualism is ubiquitous and mentalizing to resolve perspective differences on the basis of language may be an adaptive cognitive strategy. These results indicate that human cognition is sensitive to social context and adaptive to the sociolinguistic demands of the broader environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).