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Integrated fusion approach for multi-class heart disease classification through ECG and PCG signals with deep hybrid neural networks
Insights into putative alginate lyases from epipelagic and mesopelagic communities of the global ocean
Identification of novel COL4A5 variants and prenatal diagnosis in three large families
Italian screening protocol and genotypes characterization for HCV elimination (2022–2023) in Ferrara’s province: a real-world study
Abstract Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a worldwide health hazard, and in chronic form (nowadays affecting 50 million people – World Health Organization data) can be lethal. To forestall it, preventive screening is a mandatory approach. Since 2021, Italy conducts a national-wide screening program to eliminate the virus from its population. The team perfected an innovative method throughout the period between 2022 and 2023, to answer that medical necessity and map HCV genotypes. The medical protocol has introduced a dedicated double invitation model for the adherents, with consequential pre-prepared medical consumables allocated. The population was divided in three separate groups: born between 1969 and 1989, addiction services, and prison. Two screening levels were carried out: anti-HCV antibodies (indirect chemiluminescence immunoassay) and quantitative HCV RNA reverse transcription. 51,283 adherents were registered: 447 resulted positive to the first screening round, and 88 to the second (393 and 77 patients respectively from population born between 1969 and 1989). The medical protocol introduced allowed to substantially increase patients and medical staff compliance to HCV screening (adherence: 51.83%, the highest in Italy). HCV genotypes’ distribution was mapped by patients’ age, biological sex and origin over five groups comprehending subtypes 1a(35.06% of the positive population), 1b(27.27%), 2a/2c(10.39%), 3a(22.08%), 4a/4c/4d(5.19%).
Disulfidptosis related immune genes drive prognostic model development and tumor microenvironment characterization in bladder urothelial carcinoma
A new approach for the detection of genetic alterations utilizing modified loop-mediated isothermal amplification reaction (LAMP)
Abstract The increasing use of genetic testing for personalised therapy, highlights the need for rapid, reliable diagnostics. Current methods are hindered by complex workflows, requiring advanced equipment, skilled personnel, and invasive tissue sampling. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has emerged as a more efficient alternative to traditional PCR. LAMP eliminates thermal cycling, allowing faster, more cost-effective tests, and is less sensitive to inhibitors, enabling testing from minimally processed samples. Although LAMP is newer and has a longer assay development time than PCR, its potential in oncology, particularly for detecting genetic changes, is promising. We have developed a LAMP-based method for detecting genetic variations, optimized for point-of-care testing. This technique uses modified primers with alterations at the 3’ end of either F2 or B2 primers, ensuring specificity for altered sequences. The assay only produces a positive signal when the genetic variant is present, distinguishing it from wild-type DNA. Our findings demonstrate that this method has high specificity and sensitivity, even in samples with both wild-type and mutated material. Paired with a portable device, this LAMP-based diagnostic method could revolutionize genetic alteration detection, offering quicker results and improving treatment outcomes, particularly for targeted therapies.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Predicting the compressive strength of polymer-infused bricks: A machine learning approach with SHAP interpretability
Abstract The rapid increase in global waste production, particularly Polymer wastes, poses significant environmental challenges because of its nonbiodegradable nature and harmful effects on both vegetation and aquatic life. To address this issue, innovative construction approaches have emerged, such as repurposing waste Polymers into building materials. This study explores the development of eco-friendly bricks incorporating cement, fly ash, M sand, and polypropylene (PP) fibers derived from waste Polymers. The primary innovation lies in leveraging advanced machine learning techniques, namely, artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), Random Forest and AdaBoost to predict the compressive strength of these Polymer-infused bricks. The polymer bricks’ compressive strength was recorded as the output parameter, with cement, fly ash, M sand, PP waste, and age serving as the input parameters. Machine learning models often function as black boxes, thereby providing limited interpretability; however, our approach addresses this limitation by employing the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interpretation method. This enables us to explain the influence of different input variables on the predicted outcomes, thus making the models more transparent and explainable. The performance of each model was evaluated rigorously using various metrics, including Taylor diagrams and accuracy matrices. Among the compared models, the ANN and RF demonstrated superior accuracy which is in close agreement with the experimental results. ANN model achieves R 2 values of 0.99674 and 0.99576 in training and testing respectively, whereas RMSE value of 0.0151 (Training) and 0.01915 (Testing). This underscores the reliability of the ANN model in estimating compressive strength. Age, fly ash were found to be the most important variable in predicting the output as determined through SHAP analysis. This study not only highlights the potential of machine learning to enhance the accuracy of predictive models for sustainable construction materials and demonstrates a novel application of SHAP to improve the interpretability of machine learning models in the context of Polymer waste repurposing.
Improving lung cancer pathological hyperspectral diagnosis through cell-level annotation refinement
Approaching the refinement limit of nano laminated structures in cubic metals by severe plastic deformation
Current and future development of Acrocomia aculeata focused on biofuel potential and climate change challenges
Brain and intracranial volumes are both enlarged and serve as potential risk factors in normal pressure hydrocephalus
Reduced removal of waste products from energy metabolism takes center stage in human brain aging
A concept for fully automated segmentation of bone in ultrasound imaging
Pharmacologic and endotoxic reprogramming of renal vasodilatory, inflammatory, and apoptotic blemishes in weaning preeclamptic rats
Abstract Preeclampsia (PE) and peripartum sepsis are two complications of pregnancy and are often associated with disturbed renal function due possibly to dysregulated renin angiotensin system. Here we evaluated hemodynamic and renal consequences of separate and combined PE and sepsis insults in weaning mothers and tested whether this interaction is influenced by prenatally-administered losartan (AT1-receptor blocker) or pioglitazone (PPARγ agonist). The PE-rises in blood pressure and proteinuria induced by gestational nitric oxide synthase inhibition (L-NAME, 50 mg/kg/day for 7 days) were attenuated after simultaneous treatment with losartan or pioglitazone. These drugs further improved glomerular and tubular structural defects and impaired vasodilatory responses evoked by adenosinergic (N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine) or cholinergic (acetylcholine) receptor activation in perfused kidneys of weaning dams. Likewise, treatment of weaning PE dams with a single 4-h dosing of lipopolysaccharides (LPS, 5 mg/kg) weakened renal structural damage, enhanced renal vasodilations and accentuated the upregulated vasodilatory response set off by losartan or pioglitazone. Molecularly, the favorable effect of pharmacologic or endotoxic intervention was coupled with dampened tubular and glomerular expressions of inflammatory (toll-like receptor 4) and apoptotic signals (caspase-3). Our data unveil beneficial and possibly intensified conditioning effect for endotoxemia when combined with losartan or pioglitazone against preeclamptic renovascular dysfunction and inflammation.
A randomised, double-blind clinical study into the effect of zinc citrate trihydrate toothpaste on oral plaque microbiome ecology and function
Abstract The oral microbiome is a diverse community of microbes residing on all oral surfaces. A balanced oral microbiome is associated with good oral health, and disruption can result in imbalance associated with diseases including gingivitis and dental caries. It is important, therefore, to understand how daily use of oral hygiene products impacts the microbiome. Composition and activity of dental plaque microbiome from 115 participants was analysed after brushing with one of two toothpastes, one containing zinc citrate trihydrate and the other a control toothpaste, in a parallel design. Each participant brushed twice daily for 6-weeks, with samples collected at baseline, 2 and 6-weeks. Metataxonomic analysis demonstrated changes in bacterial communities with use of the zinc toothpaste compared to the control product at community and species level. Increases at the species level were observed for taxa from the genus Veillonella with decrease in a taxon from the genus Fusobacterium for the zinc toothpaste. Analysis of microbiome function based on predicted metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis show that use of the zinc toothpaste is associated with an in-vivo reduction in glycolysis, consistent with the mode of action of zinc and, increases in processes linked to gum-health (lysine biosynthesis), and to whole-body health (nitrate reduction). Our findings provide the first understanding of the beneficial modulation of microbiome composition and function by zinc-containing toothpaste in-vivo for oral care benefits.
Targeted imaging of pulmonary fibrosis by a cyclic peptide LyP-1
Effect of pyrolytic carbon addition on the structural and optical properties of TiO2 composite thin films
Abstract The article deals with the preparation and characterization of titanium dioxide thin films containing pyrolytic carbon as potential UV protection films for photovoltaic devices. The carbon used as an additive was obtained by pyrolysis of methane, the main product of which is turquoise hydrogen, and the carbon is a by-product of the process. The resulting carbon material was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Titanium dioxide/pyrolytic carbon composite thin films were prepared by sol-gel method, followed by dip-coating technique. The sols were examined using the dynamic light scattering method. The optical properties of the composite films, including transmittance, reflectance, energy band gap, Urbach energy, porosity, along with their surface morphology and resistance to UV degradation, were evaluated. The results indicate that incorporation of pyrolytic carbon improves the optical properties of composite thin films compared to the samples without carbon, leading to an increase of about 5% in transmittance in the visible range of spectrum. Microscopic observations confirm the presence of pyrolytic carbon in the films, and surface smoothing is noticeable at higher carbon concentrations. These findings suggest the potential use of composite films as UV-blocking films.
Effect of combined and intensive rehabilitation on cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer’s disease evaluated through a randomized controlled trial
Abstract This study investigates the impact of combined special education and occupational therapy intervention on cognitive functions in Alzheimer’s patients. Specifically, it evaluates changes measured by the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R) after six months compared to a control group receiving standard care. A longitudinal, controlled experiment was conducted with random assignment to experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent three weekly interventions of 45–50 min over eight months in 2021. Cognitive functions were periodically assessed using ACE-R. Power analysis determined a sample size of 128 participants for adequate statistical power; the study included 60 participants (30 per group). Data were analyzed using non-parametric methods due to non-normal data distribution. The experimental group showed significant improvement in ACE-R scores compared to the control group. The mean difference in scores was 10.27 points (SD = 2.83) for the experimental group, indicating improved cognitive function, while the control group showed a mean decrease of 5.67 points (SD = 2.06). Statistical analysis confirmed significant differences between groups at both interim and final assessments (p < 0.001). The combined special education and occupational therapy intervention led to significant cognitive improvements in Alzheimer’s patients compared to standard care. The study supports the efficacy of such interventions in enhancing cognitive functions, as evidenced by the substantial score increases in the experimental group.