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Uracil derivatives/ursolic acid hybrids - naturally derived compounds as anticancer agents

Limited predictive value of traditional comorbidities for readmission in acute decompensated heart failure

Background Common comorbidities in heart failure (HF), including chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes mellitus (DM), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and atrial fibrillation, are frequently presumed to predict hospital readmission. However, recent studies have challenged their predictive strength, raising questions about their clinical utility for risk stratification. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 7,652 patients admitted with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) at a tertiary center between 2007 and 2017. Associations between comorbidities and readmission at 30 and 100 days were assessed using Fine-Gray competing risk models, with death as a competing event. Subdistribution hazard ratios (sHRs) were reported. Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and area under the curve (AUC) values, assessing individual comorbidities and incremental combinations. All comorbidities were included irrespective of univariable significance, based on clinical relevance. Results Several comorbidities were significantly associated with readmission, including CKD (sHR 1.16–1.23), DM (sHR 1.18–1.27), IHD (sHR 1.10–1.15), and anemia (sHR 1.11). However, predictive power was poor. For 30-day readmission, AUC values ranged from 0.516 (COPD) to 0.529 (CKD), with a maximal AUC of 0.555 when combining the four strongest predictors. For 100-day readmission, AUC values ranged from 0.528 (DM) to 0.545 (CKD), with a maximal combined AUC of 0.593. Conclusions Despite consistent statistical associations, common comorbidities perform poorly as predictive tools for identifying individual patients at risk of HF readmission. These findings highlight the need for more robust risk models integrating dynamic clinical, laboratory, and patient-centered factors.

Inverse Trans Influence and Uranium-Arene σ-Bonding Drive Molecular Geometry: Ligand Modification from Hard to Soft Flips the Oxide from Axial to Equatorial

Comparison of machine learning models for mucopolysaccharidosis early diagnosis using UAE medical records

HU to RGB transformation with automatic windows selection for intracranial hemorrhage classification using ncCT

This work focuses on preprocessing for classifying five categories of Intracranial Hemorrhage (ICH) using non-contrast computed tomography (ncCT). It involves assigning suitable values to window-width (WW) and window-level (WL) parameters to map Hounsfield Units on ncCT to compatible color components like RGB for display. However, clear visualization is hindered by brain component variations, individual patient conditions, and time elapsed since stroke onset. This paper introduces a preprocessing technique called HU to RGB Transformation (HRT), aimed at enhancing the visualization of hemorrhage on ncCT scans. HRT dynamically selects optimal WW and WL values from predefined settings to accentuate hemorrhage visibility. Furthermore, it leverages multiple brain components, including cerebrospinal fluid and white-and-gray matter, to further refine the delineation of hemorrhagic regions. Experimental results from a deep neural network-based image classification model are utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. This method, serving as an image preprocessing step, demonstrates remarkable capability in classifying five distinct types of Intracranial Hemorrhage and normal slice, achieving an average sensitivity of 89.35% and an average specificity of 96.03%. Moreover, direct assessment of HRT preprocessed images leads to enhanced type classification accuracy by residents, with a sensitivity of 97.39% and a specificity of 96.19%. These results surpass those obtained from reading DICOM files achieving 93.31% sensitivity and 94.81% specificity.

Chemically Inducible Cyclic Dinucleotides as Self-Deliverable STING Agonists with Enhanced Antitumor Immunity

Green synthesis of Mn-doped iron oxide nanoparticles using sugarcane juice for magnetic hyperthermia applications

Abstract In this study, ecofriendly un-doped (0%), 5%, and 9% Mn-doped iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using sugarcane juice as reducing agents. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the high purity and crystalline nature of the undoped and Mn-doped iron oxide nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate the surface functional groups involved during the reducing and capping process. The internal structure of the particles was examined using high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). The particles exhibited semi-spherical shapes, with mean particle size of 9.3, 9.5 and 13.5 nm for the 0, 5 and 9% Mn-doped samples, respectively. The magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were measured by studying the magnetic field dependence of magnetization at 300 K and 2 K up to 4 T. The samples displayed hysteretic behavior characteristic of ferromagnetic materials at 2 K and typical superparamagnetic features at 300 K. The magnetic heating properties under AC magnetic fields were investigated to assess the feasibility of the synthesized NPs for magnetic hyperthermia application. The specific absorption rate (SAR) values of the iron oxide nanoparticles increased with the Mn-doping level. The results suggest that the green synthesis of un-doped and Mn-doped iron oxide nanoparticles holds promising potential for magnetic hyperthermia treatment.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnancy complications and conceptions resulting in births following spontaneous conception and in-vitro fertilization in British Columbia: A population-based study

Objectives To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset on clinical and demographic characteristics, pregnancy complications, and monthly conception rates resulting in births through spontaneous conceptions and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Materials and methods This retrospective population-based cohort study examined individuals who gave birth (both live births and stillbirths) in BC between June 1, 2010, and March 31, 2021, with estimated conception dates from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2020. Data were obtained from the BC Perinatal Data Registry. Two groups were identified based on the estimated conception date: the pre-pandemic conception group (conception from January-1–2010 to February-29–2020) and the pandemic conception group (conception from March-1–2020 to June-30–2020). A time series forecasting method (ARIMA) was employed to observe trends in conception rates during the study period. Results 304,244 individuals with pregnancies resulting in live births or stillbirths during the study period were evaluated. A total of 429,843 such conceptions were included in the study: 417,753 (97.2%) occurring before the onset of the pandemic and 12,090 (2.8%) in the pandemic period. In June 2020, conceptions resulting in births decreased by 26.6% compared with June 2019. Trends in conceptions resulting in live births were similar, with a conception rate of 235.2 per 100,000 women of reproductive age in June 2020, compared with the expected rate of 305.0 per 100,000. In March 2020, 0.5% of conceptions that resulted in births ended in stillbirths, compared to 1.7% in March 2019. IVF conceptions ending in births declined during the pandemic, dropping to 2.5 and 2.8 per 100,000 in March and April 2020, respectively, compared with the expected 13.1 per 100,000. However, by June 2020, these rates began to recover toward the expected levels. Rates of gestational diabetes mellites (GDM), gestational hypertension (GHTN), and postpartum intensive care unit (ICU) admissions were similar before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions During the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic in BC, couples may have chosen to delay conception. Rates of conceptions resulting in stillbirths remained relatively unchanged. IVF conception rates were impacted by the suspension of elective procedures. Preterm birth rates slightly exceeded expected levels but remained within normal fluctuations, and small increases in GDM and GHTN prevalence were also observed.

Enantio- and Diastereoselective Reductive Propargylic Sulfinamidation Enabled by Synergistic Bimetallic Catalysis

Author Correction: Activated α2-macroglobulin binding to cell surface GRP78 induces trophoblastic cell fusion

Radioactive contamination and climate warming affect physiological performance of Chornobyl barn swallows

Global warming and degradation of natural habitats are the two main factors causing ecophysiological stress on individuals and risk for biodiversity. Hyperthermia is a common response to stress in homeothermic animals, in particular to heat, pathogens and environmental contamination. Resilience of biological systems to global warming may be deteriorated in polluted habitats. Here we investigated how body temperature of a wild bird, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), responded to global warming while simultaneously exposed to radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl accident. Our results showed that both high air temperatures (t = 15.55, df = 335, p < 0.0001) and elevated environmental radioactive contamination (t = 5.18, df = 8.09, p = 0.0008) increased internal body temperature of individuals. The additive effect suggests that birds might suffer hyperthermia in locally contaminated habitat (1.47% body temperature increase) while simultaneously exposed to globally rising temperatures (1.95% body temperature increase), potentially reducing the fitness of individual and the maintenance of breeding colonies. The cumulative and interactive negative effects of multiple stressors, such as those emerging from increasing habitat degradation and climate change, will likely contribute to biodiversity losses globally.

Strain-Release-Driven Synthesis of Pentafluorosulfanylated Four-Membered Rings under Energy Transfer Photocatalysis

Composition analysis of ultrapyrolytic recycled products from various brands of ultra-heavy mining truck waste tires

Primary determinants of water yield services in arid NW China: An empirical analysis of Gansu Province

Water yield services (WYs) play a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and water resource allocation in terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, modeling their dynamic variation characteristics and driving mechanisms is of extensive practical significance in guiding ecological management practices in arid and semi-arid regions. Gansu Province is located in the heart of northern China. It is rich in wildlife resources and has numerous ecological reserves, whose ecological transitions profoundly affect the northern region and the ecological security at the national scale. In recent years, Gansu Province has encountered the severe challenge of water resources. It is enduring pollution and a severe imbalance between supply and demand owing to the twofold influence of global warming trends and high-intensity human activities. Based on this, this study quantitatively analyzed the characteristics of the dynamic variation in WYs in Gansu Province using the InVEST model and revealed the key factors driving this dynamic variation. The results show that the WYs in Gansu Province fluctuated between 278.37 and 381.96 mm during 2000–2022, with an average WY of 61.09 mm. The rate of spatial variation in WYs was mainly concentrated between −2 and 5 mm/yr and increased at a rate of 1.41 mm/yr. The spatial heterogeneity of WYs was differentiated significantly by natural and socio-economic influences, with precipitation explaining the highest degree of spatial heterogeneity in WYs (q = 0.49–0.62) and the strongest interaction between precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (q = 0.94). Meanwhile, the interaction between precipitation and land use increased from 0.68 in 2000 to 0.75 in 2022. Moreover, the explanatory power of the interaction between the two showed an increasing trend. In addition, the correlations between each driver and alterations in the WYs showed spatial variations, and the characteristics of each factor differed at different spatial scales. The GDP, proportion of urban construction land, and proportion of arable land area had significant negative spatial effects on WYs. Meanwhile, precipitation had a positive spatial effect on WYs.

Cobalt-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reductive Coupling of Isocyanates with Tertiary Alkyl Halides for Sterically Bulky Chiral Amide Synthesis

Impact of climate change scenario on sea level rise and future coastal flooding in major coastal cities of India

Features and signals in precocious citation impact: A meta-research study

The current analysis aimed to evaluate the profiles of scientists who reach top citation impact in a very short time once they start publishing. Precocious citation impact was defined as rising to become a top-cited scientist within t ≤ 8 years after the first publication year. Ultra-precocious citation impact was defined similarly for t ≤ 5 years. Top-cited authors included those in the top-2% of a previously validated composite citation indicator across 174 subfields of science or in the top-100,000 authors of that composite citation indicator across all science based on Scopus. Annual data between 2017 and 2023 show a strong increase over time, with 469 precocious and 66 ultra-precocious citation impact author profiles in 2023. In-depth assessment of validated ultra-precocious scientists in 2023, showed significantly higher frequency of less developed country affiliation; clustering in 4 high-risk subfields; high self-citations for their field; being top-cited only when self-citations were included; high citations to citing papers ratio for their field; extreme publishing behavior; extreme citation orchestration metric c/h2; and high percentage of citations given to first-authored papers compared with all top-cited authors (p < 0.005 for all signals). The 17 ultra-precocious citation impact authors in the 2017–2020 top-cited lists who had retractions showed on average 4.1 of these 8 signal indicators at the time they entered the top-cited list. In conclusion, while some authors with precocious citation impact may be stellar scientists, others probably herald massive manipulative or fraudulent behaviors infiltrating the scientific literature.

Writing with Molecules: Tip-Induced Local Chemisorption of N-Heterocyclic Olefins on Cu(111)

A smart pen prototype with adaptive algorithms for stabilizing handwriting tremor signals in Parkinson’s disease

Assessment of implementation challenges of electronic medical record in Yekatit 12 hospital medical college

Background The implementing challenges of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) refer to the difficulties and obstacles faced by healthcare organizations during the process of implementing and integrating electronic medical record systems into their operations. Research indicates that understanding the specific obstacles faced by healthcare organizations in implementing EMR is crucial for effective intervention strategies. Therefore, this study aims at assessing the implementation challenges of EMR. Methods A cross sectional study design with quantitative and qualitative approach was employed in Yekatit 12 hospital medical college (Y12HMC). A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to analyse socio-demographics, knowledge, perceived benefits and usefulness, and challenges of EMR implementation. Descriptive statistics was employed to summarise the quantitative data. Qualitative data was thematically presented. Result In this study 389 participants were surveyed with a response rate of 92.2%. Of the respondents, 54.4% had 1–5 service years, and 45% had no prior EMR system training. According to 89.7% of participants EMR improves practice productivity, and more secure than paper-based systems for storing patient records. Poor project management (62%), less eye contact with clients (57.6%), low users acceptance (55%), slow EMR system (45%), long waiting time for consultation (42.7%), lack of training and follow up (38%), high cost for wrong/repeated lab request (35.5%) and loss of privacy (33.2%) are challenges of implementation of EMR. The majority of the participants hold favorable perceptions and willing to use the system. Conclusion The most common challenges for EMR implementation in Y12HMC are poor project management, less eye contact by physicians with clients, low users acceptance, lack of training and follow up and long waiting time for consultation. The majority of participants hold favorable perceptions and willing to use the system.