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Examination of the action of the iliocapsularis: Focusing on changes in shear elastic modulus owing to muscle elongation

The iliocapsularis (IC) muscle contributes to hip stability and understanding its function in vivo is important. A previous study investigated the functional role of the IC by using electromyography. However, muscle can activate during not only their primary action, which is the direction to the moment arm, but also the stabilizers and fixators. As a result, clarifying the action of the muscle by measuring electromyography alone is a challenge. This study aimed to examine the action, namely the direction of the moment arm, of the IC using shear wave elastography. In total, 23 young healthy individuals (8 men and 15 women) participated in the study. The shear elastic modulus (G) of the right IC was measured in the following positions: (1) resting (hip flexion 0º, addiction 0º, and external rotation 0º), (2) hip flexion at 15º, (3) hip extension at 15º, (4) hip abduction at 15º, (5) hip adduction at 15º, (6) hip external rotation at 15º, and (7) hip internal rotation at 15º. Higher G values correspond to increased muscle elongation, assuming that the muscle acts in the opposite direction of the elevated G. Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Holm correction was performed to compare G between the resting position and each subsequent posture and between hip flexion–extension, hip abduction–adduction, and hip external–internal rotation. As a result, the G in extension (p < 0.001) and external rotation (p = 0.021) were significantly higher than that in the resting position. G in extension was higher than in flexion (p < 0.001), and G in external rotation was higher than in internal rotation (p = 0.007). These findings suggest that the IC is involved in hip flexion and internal rotation.

Orientational Geometry, Surface Density, and Binding Free Energy of Intermediates as Full Descriptors for Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction at Metal Surfaces

Advancing medical AI: GPT-4 and GPT-4o surpass GPT-3.5 in Taiwanese medical licensing exams

Background Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), launched by OpenAI in November 2022, features advanced large language models optimized for dialog. However, the performance differences between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o in medical contexts remain unclear. Objective This study evaluates the accuracy of GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o across various medical subjects. GPT-4o’s performances in Chinese and English were also analyzed. Methods We retrospectively compared GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o in Stage 1 of the Taiwanese Senior Professional and Technical Examinations for Medical Doctors (SPTEMD) from July 2021 to February 2024, excluding image-based questions. Results The overall accuracy rates of GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o were 65.74% (781/1188), 95.71% (1137/1188), and 96.72% (1149/1188), respectively. GPT-4 and GPT-4o outperformed GPT-3.5 across all subjects. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between GPT-3.5 and the other models (p < 0.05) but no significant difference between GPT-4 and GPT-4o. Among subjects, physiology had a significantly higher error rate (p < 0.05) than the overall average across all three models. GPT-4o’s accuracy rates in Chinese (98.14%) and English (98.48%) did not differ significantly. Conclusions GPT-4 and GPT-4o exceed the accuracy threshold for Taiwanese SPTEMD, demonstrating advancements in contextual comprehension and reasoning. Future research should focus on responsible integration into medical training and assessment.

TRPM8 Protein Dynamics Correlates with Ligand Structure and Cellular Function

Comparative analysis of extracellular vesicles from induced and adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Implications for regenerative medicine

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which include exosomes (Exos) and microvesicles (MVs), play a crucial role in intercellular communication and exert various biological activities by delivering specific cargoes of functional molecules, such as RNAs and proteins, to target cells. EVs secreted by human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have demonstrated their capacity to replace intact MSCs in tissue repair and regeneration. Induced mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) present a promising alternative to traditional MSCs for producing EVs. This study aimed to establish an alternative source of EVs from iMSCs and compare them with EVs from adipose-derived MSCs (ADMSCs). Both iMSCs and ADMSCs were expanded under xeno-free culture conditions, and conditioned media were collected for EV isolation and characterization. The effects of the isolated EVs on cellular viability, apoptosis, senescence, and cell migration were evaluated. Results indicated that iMSC-EVs had a larger particle size (~1.5-fold) with no significant differences in morphology or surface markers compared to ADMSC-EVs. Furthermore, both iMSC- and ADMSC-derived EVs significantly increased HDF viability at 48 and 72 hours (p ≤ 0.01, p ≤ 0.05). Both types of EVs significantly reduced apoptosis levels (p ≤ 0.01) in both HDFs and ADMSCs, while having no effect on senescence induction (p > 0.9999). Additionally, iMSC-EVs significantly enhanced ADMSC migration (p < 0.0001), whereas the effect was less pronounced with ADMSC-EVs. iMSC-EVs present a promising and a scalable option for regenerative applications, offering advantages over ADMSC-EVs. However, further investigation is needed to fully understand their effects and underlying mechanisms.

Sociodemographic predictors of acute corneal hydrops in patients with unstable keratoconus

Objective To determine whether sociodemographic factors affect the outcomes of patients with unstable keratoconus. Design Retrospective case control study. Subjects All patients diagnosed with unstable keratoconus at Mass Eye and Ear between January 2016 and October 2022. Those who experienced acute corneal hydrops during the study period were considered cases, and those who did not were considered controls. Methods Potential subjects were identified by billing code and verified with review of clinical documentation. Charts were reviewed for pertinent sociodemographic, medical, and ocular risk factors. Main outcome measures Clinical diagnosis of acute corneal hydrops was the primary outcome. Receipt of corneal crosslinking (CXL) was a secondary outcome. Results Of 762 patients diagnosed with unstable keratoconus, we identified 128 episodes of hydrops in 113 patients (14.9%). Compared to controls, cases were a significantly higher proportion Black (27.6% vs 14.6%, P  < 0.0001), unemployed (22.4% vs 12.5%, P  < 0.01), and/or covered by public health insurance plans (50.4% vs 27.7%, P  < 0.0001). Body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in cases (34.1 ± 10.0) than controls (29.2 ± 8.1, mean±SD, P  < 0.0001). Developmental delay (17.7% vs 3.4%, P  < 0.0001), atopy (48.9% vs 30.4%, P  = 0.0001), sleep apnea (9.7% vs 1.2%, P  < 0.0001), and eye rubbing (85.5% vs 67.7%, P  < 0.01) were all more common in the hydrops group. In a stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis, Black race [2.10 (1.02–4.27), P  = 0.041], public health insurance coverage [2.06 (1.12–3.80), P  = 0.020], BMI [1.05 (1.02–1.08), P  = 0.003], and developmental delay [16.42 (5.62–56.30), P  < 0.001] were each associated with a higher odds of incident hydrops [OR (95%CI)]. Similar trends were found to influence the receipt of CXL, with male sex [0.34 (0.13–0.77), P  = 0.015], Black race [0.39 (0.16–0.97), P  = 0.038], and public health insurance [0.37 (0.16–0.82), P  = 0.014] negatively influencing the odds of receiving CXL. Conclusions This study establishes several sociodemographic (Black race, unemployment, and publicly insured) and medical (high BMI and developmental delay) factors as independent risk factors influencing the incidence of hydrops and/or the receipt of CXL in a large group of patients with unstable keratoconus. Special attention is warranted when caring for patients within these subpopulations with unstable keratoconus, and further study into the mechanisms of these associations is warranted.

Associations between death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Fear of progression or recurrence of chronic physical illness has been associated with negative mental health outcomes across several conditions. Qualitative research suggests that the fear of death (i.e., death anxiety) may be associated with fear of illness progression or recurrence. However, a systematic evaluation of the relationship between fear of illness progression or recurrence and death anxiety is currently lacking. This protocol is for a systematic review of peer-reviewed, quantitative research examining associations between death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence of chronic physical illnesses. Where possible, the strength of these associations will be tested through meta-analysis. Method A systematic search of quantitative studies written in English will be conducted across six academic databases: MEDLINE; PsycINFO; PubMed; Web of Science; CINAHL; EMBASE. Each record will be screened for eligibility by two authors. Data extraction and quality assessment, using the Joanna Briggs Inventory Risk of Bias tool, will similarly be performed by two authors, with discrepancies being resolved through discussion and consensus with a third author, REM. Data will be synthesised narratively, according to Cochrane guidelines, by which sample characteristics, measurement tools for both death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence, and associations between death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence will be described. Where sufficient data are available, meta-analysis will be conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 4. If there are sufficient studies (k = 4), additional analyses may examine whether the size of the relationship differs between illness types (e.g., life-threatening vs. non-life-threatening). Gender and age may also be examined as potential moderators of the effect, based on available reported data in the studies. The protocol has been registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024583393). Discussion This systematic review will further the understanding of how death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence interact, and will help to shape future fear of illness progression or recurrence research with the aim of improving the wellbeing of individuals living with chronic physical illness.

Tunable Self-Assembly of Decanuclear Ni(II) Carbonato Clusters with a Hydroxyquinolinato Shell: Robust Porous Networks with Reversible Solvent-/Temperature-Driven Phase Transitions and Selective Gas Separation

A novel ferroptosis-related signature for predicting prognosis, immune characteristics, and treatment prediction in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor with a high incidence and fatality. The occurrence and progression of HCC are tightly linked to ferroptosis, a unique type of cell death. To accurately predict the prognosis, immunological traits, treatment sensitivity, and drug prediction for patients with HCC, this work attempts to develop a novel ferroptosis-related gene signature (nFRGs). Several machine learning techniques were applied to build the nFRGs model utilizing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and GSE14520 datasets. Different analysis packages in R version 4.4.1 were also used for prognosis analysis, molecular function analysis, somatic mutation analysis, immunotherapy response analysis, immunotherapy evaluation, drug sensitivity analysis, and drug prediction to compare the differences between the low-risk and high-risk groups. The nFRGs model includes five ferroptosis-related genes (KIF20A, NT5DC2, G6PD, SLC7A11, and EZH2). The results indicate that nFRGs are an independent prognostic risk factor for HCC patients, and patients in the high-risk group have a worse prognosis. Our nFRGs model shows better accuracy and reliability in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients than other existing ferroptosis-related gene models. Both the high- and low-risk groups of nFRGs had differentially expressed genes (DEGs) enriched in pathways mostly associated with immunological traits and tumor progression. The high-risk group exhibited clear immune escape characteristics, with significant upregulation in the expression of immune checkpoints and TIDE scores. Furthermore, IPS analysis also revealed that the high-risk group is less responsive to immunotherapy, while the low-risk group showed a better potential for immune therapy response, which further highlights the potential of nFRGs as a predictor for immunotherapy outcomes. This suggests a stronger immune suppression status in high-risk patients, potentially leading to a poorer response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In contrast, the low-risk group displayed lower immune escape features, making them potentially more susceptible to immune responses. Additionally, there were significant differences in gene mutations, molecular functions, and other factors between the low-risk and high-risk groups. Lastly, our investigation predicted possible medications that would work well for the model and found sensitive chemotherapeutic and targeted medications for both high-risk and low-risk groups. In conclusion, nFRGs could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker, providing valuable insights for personalized treatment strategies.

Surface-Controlled TiO₂ Nanocrystals with Catalytically Active Single-Site Co Incorporation for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Economic factors associated with county-level mental health – United States, 2019

A better understanding of whether and how economic factors impact mental health can inform policy and program decisions to improve mental health. This study looked at the association between county-level economic factors and the prevalence of self-reported poor mental health among adults in United States counties in 2019, overall and disaggregated for urban and rural counties. General dominance analyses were completed to rank-order the relative influence of the selected variables in explaining county prevalence of adults reporting > 14 poor mental health days in the last 30 days (“poor mental health”). The highest weighted variables were assessed for the statistical significance of their relationships with county-level poor mental health through multiple linear regression. Across all models, the four highest-ranked economic factors were household income, receipt of Supplemental Security Income, population with a college degree, and receipt of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The overall, rural, and urban models explained over 68% of the variation in poor mental health prevalence between counties. Urban and rural models showed notable differences in the top factors associated with poor mental health and opposite associations between poor mental health and population with public insurance. The findings from this study indicate a significant association between several economic factors and poor mental health, which may inform decision makers in addressing mental health in the United States.

calibmsm: An R package for calibration plots of the transition probabilities in a multistate model

Background and objective Multistate models, which allow the prediction of complex multistate survival processes such as multimorbidity, or recovery, relapse and death following treatment for cancer, are being used for clinical prediction. It is paramount to evaluate the calibration (as well as other metrics) of a risk prediction model before implementation of the model. While there are a number of software applications available for developing multistate models, currently no software exists to aid in assessing the calibration of a multistate model, and as a result evaluation of model performance is uncommon. calibmsm has been developed to fill this gap. Methods Assessing the calibration of predicted transition probabilities between any two states is made possible through three approaches. The first two utilise calibration techniques for binary and multinomial logistic regression models in combination with inverse probability of censoring weights, whereas the third utilises pseudo-values. All methods are implemented in conjunction with landmarking to allow calibration assessment of predictions made at any time beyond the start of follow up. This study focuses on calibration curves, but the methodological framework also allows estimation of calibration slopes and intercepts. Results This article serves as a guide on how to use calibmsm to assess the calibration of any multistate model, via a comprehensive example evaluating a model developed to predict recovery, adverse events, relapse and survival in patients with blood cancer after a transplantation. The calibration plots indicate that predictions of relapse made at the time of transplant are poorly calibrated, however predictions of death are well calibrated. The calibration of all predictions made at 100 days post transplant appear to be poor, although a larger validation sample is required to make stronger conclusions. Conclusions calibmsm is an R package which allows users to assess the calibration of predicted transition probabilities from a multistate model. Evaluation of model performance is a key step in the pathway to model implementation, yet evaluation of the performance of predictions from multistate models is not common. We hope availability of software will help model developers evaluate the calibration of models being developed.

Autophagy across tissues of aging mice

Autophagy is a ‘waste-disposal’ pathway that protects against age-related pathology. It is widely accepted that autophagy declines with age, yet the role that sex and diet-related obesity play during aging remain unknown. Here, we present the most comprehensive in vivo study of autophagic flux to date. We employed transgenic mice overexpressing tandem-florescent LC3B (RFP-GFP-LC3B) to measure autophagic flux in the blood (PBMCs), heart, and motor cortex neurons of aging mice that were fed regular chow or a high-fat diet for 6-, 12- or 18-months. In male mice, aging decreased autophagic flux in the heart, increased it in the blood, and had no effect in motor cortex neurons. Age-dependent changes autophagic flux were less pronounced in female mice. High-fat diet influenced autophagic flux in the blood and heart of male but not female mice. Overall, we uncovered sexual dimorphisms that underpin how autophagy changes with age across different tissues and in response to a high-fat diet.

Integrated multi-sample transcriptomic analysis of COVID-19 patients against controls using a bioinformatics pipeline

Area-Controllable Nanoplatelets from Rapid Photocontrolled Living Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly of an Alternating Copolymer

How platform leadership stimulates innovative behavior in frontline nurses: a cross-level moderated mediation model

An Electric Molecular Faraday Cage

Elastic‒plastic analysis of rock surrounding a circular roadway considering plastic hardening and dilatancy characteristics

Abstract Excavation of deep roadways induces plastic failure of the surrounding rock, resulting in roof caving and uncoordinated large deformation, which seriously threatens support safety and production efficiency. A four-stage stress‒strain model of the elastic zone‒plastic zone‒softening zone‒fracture zone of the surrounding rock in a deep roadway is established to analyze the range of the roadway fracture zone. The model considers the unified strength criterion, the nonassociated flow rule, and the influence of the intermediate principal stress and dilatancy coefficient. Based on this model, closed solutions for the stress, strain and deformation of the surrounding rock are obtained. Results show that an increase in the value of the strength parameter b can reduce the tangential stress σ θ on the surface of the roadway but increase the values of σ θ and σ r at the plastic-flow interface. The peak value of σ θ increases with increasing b value. Both the tangential strain ε θ and radial strain ε r decrease with increasing strength parameter b , and the radial displacement u r decreases with increasing b . With the increase of initial cohesion, the post-peak failure range of surrounding rock shows a nonlinear increase, With the increase of residual cohesion, the post-peak failure range of surrounding rock shows a nonlinear decrease. The dilatancy coefficient η i is positively correlated with the b value and the dilatancy angle ψ i , revealing that the surrounding rock with high dilatancy is more prone to volume expansion instability. The research results provide a theoretical basis and quantitative parameter support for stability evaluation and differential support design of deep roadways.

Revealing the Crucial Roles of Pore Interconnectivity between Zeolitic and Nonzeolitic Components in Enhancing Diffusion and Catalytic Efficiency of Industrial Zeolite-Based Catalysts

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals genes associated with variation in liver copper concentration in Polish Merino sheep

Abstract Economic gain for sheep farmers is continually affected by incidences of copper intoxication and deficiency. This study assessed the ovine genome for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) influencing within-breed variation in hepatic copper content in Polish Merino sheep. To this end, we compared whole genome RNA sequence expression data from 12 female Polish Merino sheep liver samples (dataset 1) selected and grouped equally into high liver copper (HLC) and low liver copper (LLC) groups. Likewise, dataset 2 (a subset of dataset 1) containing 6 samples (HLC = 3; LLC = 3) was analyzed. The DEG analysis of HLC vs LLC groups for both data sets revealed a lower number of significant DEGs for dataset 1 (n = 64) when compared to dataset 2 (n = 252), respectively. Of the significant DEGs, 53 were jointly identified with both datasets. Identified DEGs downregulated in the HLC group including MVD, DHCR7, LOC101113583 and ERG28 are implicated in cholesterol synthesis, whereas AKR1B10 and CYP26A1 are associated with retinoic acid synthesis. The cholesterol biosynthetic process (GO:0006695) and the retinol metabolism (oas00830) were also observed by analysis of enriched gene ontologies, and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathways, respectively. Our findings provide new information on candidate genes associated with within-breed differences in hepatic copper concentration.