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An evaluation of an educational intervention for improving concussion knowledge among medical students
Background There are significant gaps in concussion education in the undergraduate medical curriculum, contributing to poor concussion management in clinical practice. Objective The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention for improving concussion knowledge among undergraduate medical students. Methods An interventional pre-post study was conducted wherein participants first completed a pre-survey, followed by a didactic lecture about concussions and two post-surveys; one assessing short-term knowledge retention (within 48 hours of the lecture delivery) and long-term knowledge retention (within 2 weeks of the lecture delivery). Results A one-way ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference in concussion knowledge scores between the three time points, F(2, 156) = 77.38, p < .001, with the mean score for the pre-lecture group being significantly lower than both the immediate and the two-week post-lecture groups (p < .001). There was no statistically significant difference between the immediate and two-week post-lecture groups (p = .975, 95% CI = [−.57, .68]), suggesting knowledge retention over time. Conclusion The improvement in concussion knowledge scores following a didactic lecture demonstrates the importance of the inclusion of teaching time dedicated to concussion education, which may in turn, contribute to improvements in clinical care and patient satisfaction.
Association of AQP5 gene variants and mRNA expression with caries severity in a dental practice cohort: a randomized trial
Abstract Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) is crucial for salivary secretion, composition and enamel mineralization. Genetic variations in AQP5 may influence susceptibility to dental diseases such as caries. This study investigated the association between AQP5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), AQP5 mRNA expression, and caries severity in a dental practice cohort. A total of 246 patients were enrolled. Caries experience was assessed using the decayed, missing, and filled (DMF) index, and salivary AQP5 mRNA expression was quantified by RT-qPCR. Genotyping included rs2878771, rs296763, rs3736309, and rs3759129. Statistical analyses comprised Chi-square testing, ROC analysis with Youden Index determination, and binary logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. The A allele of rs3736309 was associated with an increased risk of severe caries, particularly in patients over 60 years of age. AQP5 mRNA expression was higher in individuals with severe caries and in carriers of the C allele of rs2878771. ROC analysis identified an AQP5 expression cut-off (0.11274) that discriminated between severe and non-severe caries (AUC = 0.578, p = 0.048). Logistic regression confirmed AQP5 expression as an independent predictor of severe caries ( p = 0.005). AQP5 expression and genetic variation appear to contribute to caries susceptibility in an age-dependent manner with moderate effects. The intronic variant rs3736309 was associated with caries severity. The biological mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear and require functional investigation. These findings support a potential role of AQP5 as an exploratory biomarker candidate for caries risk, particularly in elderly individuals. Trial registration : German Clinical Trial Registry No. DRKS00032425, date of registration: 2023-08-16.
Targeting the Ip6k2–Runx2 axis disrupts osteoblast–osteoclast coupling to treat osteoporosis
Global land footprint of UK food and feed imports under future socioeconomic scenarios
Globalisation in the food system has led to interdependencies between countries for food security and has distributed the environmental impacts of the food consumption. In the UK, food imports account for nearly half of domestic consumption. However, there has been limited research quantifying the UK’s current global land use footprint, and no previous work has explored how this might evolve under future scenarios. We provide an update on the historical land footprint of UK food and feed imports from 2010 to 2020 and produce spatially explicit estimates of the land footprint from 2020 to 2100. Food and feed demand, agricultural production and trade are simulated using a food system model under four global socioeconomic and climate scenarios. Using biophysical accounting, we estimate that 11 Mha of agricultural land is currently linked to UK food and feed imports. Across all scenarios, we estimate that the global land footprint of UK food and feed imports will reach 10–12 Mha of agricultural land by 2050 and 10–16 Mha by 2100. With 17 Mha of UK land currently used for agriculture, the land footprint of food and feed imports should be an important focus when evaluating the environmental consequences of UK food consumption.
Six-month statin therapy and short-term MASLD progression: a prospective cohort study adjusted for abdominal obesity and glycemic control
Bora, CEP192 and Cenexin regulate distinct Plk1-dependent cell and centrosome cycle transitions
Abstract Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) regulates multiple steps of the cell and centrosome cycle, including mitotic entry, DNA-damage recovery, centrosome maturation and centriole disengagement. Plk1 activity depends on several independent cofactors, such as the cytoplasmic Bora, and the centrosomal proteins Cep192 and Cenexin. However, whether these Plk1 coactivators differentially regulate the Plk1-dependent processes is unknown. Here, we show that each Plk1 coactivator controls different cell and centrosome cycle transitions in human cells. We find that Plk1 already acts in S-phase, where under the control of Cep192 and Aurora A it promotes replication origin firing. Bora is the main Plk1 activator driving mitotic entry, DNA-damage recovery and centrosome maturation in G2, while centriole disengagement is mainly regulated by Cep192 and Cenexin. Our results thus uncover a complex Plk1 activation regulatory network, in which distinct upstream activators dictate its activity in a context-dependent manner.
Retraction: Pharmacological Inhibition of Microsomal Prostaglandin E Synthase-1 Suppresses Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mediated Tumor Growth and Angiogenesis
Clinical and genomic characteristics of primary resistant disease to first-line immuno-oncology plus VEGFR inhibitor therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma
Visible Light-Induced Intermolecular Dearomatization for Constructing Angularly Fused Tetracyclic Scaffolds
Expression of Concern: How innovation funding leads enterprises to engage in research and development: Small and medium enterprises’ perspective
Awareness, knowledge, and preventive practices regarding cytomegalovirus among pregnant and previously pregnant women in Palestine: a cross-sectional study
Divergent roles of SPOP and CHD1 in ACSL4 regulation reveal context-dependent vulnerabilities for targeting ferroptosis
Abstract Genetic heterogeneity contributes to the variable therapeutic responses in cancers. Frequent SPOP mutations and recurrent CHD1 deletions define distinct molecular subtypes of prostate cancer (PCa) with differential responses to anti-androgen therapy. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death mechanism driven by lipid peroxidation, has emerged as a promising anticancer strategy. Here, we identify SPOP mutations and CHD1 deletion as key genetic determinants of ferroptosis susceptibility in PCa. Using genetically engineered human and murine models, we show that SPOP mutations enhance, whereas CHD1 deletion impairs, the efficacy of ferroptosis inducers targeting GPX4. Mechanistically, SPOP and CHD1 exert opposing effects on ferroptosis by antagonistically regulating the MYC–ACSL4 axis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that targeting cholesterol metabolism with cholesterol-lowering agents restores ACSL4 expression and re-sensitizes SPOP/CHD1 co-deficient tumors to ferroptosis-inducing therapy. Our findings establish SPOP/CHD1 as upstream genetic regulators of ferroptosis and provide biomarker-driven combinatorial strategies to enhance ferroptosis-based therapy in men with advanced PCa.
Avoidance of simultaneous patch use in Japanese large-footed bats
Group foraging can enhance prey detection, but depending on resource availability, it may also generate conflicts among conspecifics. To understand how animals balance these benefits and costs, foraging performance must be evaluated together with inter-individual interactions. However, under fully natural conditions, it remains challenging to quantify both simultaneously. Here, we investigated how individual foraging efficiency and pairwise interactions are shaped when more than one individual simultaneously exploit the same foraging patch, using the Japanese large-footed bat ( Myotis macrodactylus ) as a model system. We monitored an entire pond functioning as a natural foraging patch using two thermal cameras and an eight-channel microphone array, and reconstructed the arrival, prey-attack, and exit times of individual bats. Using a Poisson generalized linear mixed model (GLMM), we found that prey-attack rates were approximately 25% lower during paired flights than during solitary flights. We then constructed a null model in which arrival, attack, and departure events followed independent Poisson processes parameterized from the empirical data. Compared with null-model predictions, both the total duration and the duration of individual paired flights in the empirical data were significantly shorter, indicating that bats limited the time spent co-using the same patch relative to solitary foraging. In addition, the probability that the first exiting individual was the one that arrived earlier or later did not deviate from chance levels, providing no evidence for a prior residence advantage. Together, these results indicate that co-use duration was shorter than expected under the null model regardless of arrival order and was accompanied by a reduced prey-attack rate during simultaneous patch use. These findings suggest that bats tend to avoid prolonged shared patch use, which may help maintain prey-attack efficiency. Our findings highlight bats as an excellent model system for non-invasively linking individual behavior and foraging performance via echolocation, and for elucidating the dynamics of foraging behavior and sensory interference in the wild.
An intelligent fault diagnosis method for breakers based on instance segmentation and temperature probability density analysis
An interpretable memory forensics framework for unknown attack identification in power grid edge devices
Abstract With the application of domestic trusted operating systems in the field of power grid, the security threats it faces are increasingly complex. Aiming at the security protection requirements of power grid edge equipment operating system, a comprehensive framework integrating memory forensics and malicious attack type discrimination is proposed. In memory forensics, a memory mirroring mechanism based on full encryption is designed to ensure the legal validity and non-repudiation of forensic data. According to the memory-side characteristics, an interpretability model is proposed to analyze the core fields such as process behavior patterns and abnormal kernel objects in the attacked memory image of the power grid edge device, and the unknown attack types are classified by using the core characteristics of the attacked memory image and gradient lifting algorithm. Due to the lack of prior knowledge on the analysis of malicious attacks suffered by memory images, training malicious attack identification models can assist in the efficient automated operation of power grid system memory forensics and provide more reference samples for traceability forensics. Experimental results show that when using only a single type of sample for training, the proposed method has a recognition accuracy of 99.9% for memory subjected to malicious attacks, and a specific classification accuracy of 99.99% for unknown malicious attacks, which is significantly better than traditional machine learning. A classification method for memory subjected to malicious attacks.
An LLM-agent-based framework for calculating nodal carbon intensity in regional power systems
Automated segmentation reveals sex-divergent age-related decline in temporalis muscle volume among Asian adults
Abstract Temporalis muscle measurements are recognized biomarkers of sarcopenia. However, manual assessments on computed tomography (CT) are time-consuming and prone to interobserver variability, and population-specific normative data for Asian populations are limited. A Multi-Scale Residual Dense Attention U-Net was developed for automated temporalis muscle segmentation from head CT images and validated using fivefold cross-validation. Age- and sex-specific normative values were derived from 320 Taiwanese adults (160 males and 160 females) spanning eight age groups from 20 to 99 years. The model achieved a Dice coefficient of 0.914 and an F1 score of 0.958. In males, peak temporalis muscle volume (TMV) was 36.9 mL at 20–29 years, followed by a 38% decline to the oldest age group. In females, peak TMV was 27.9 mL at 30–39 years, with a 60% decline across the lifespan. Females exhibited a markedly faster rate of decline than males during midlife, with rates converging after 65 years of age. Temporalis muscle area showed a strong correlation with TMV ( r = 0.882, p < 0.001). This study establishes the first comprehensive age- and sex-specific normative database for TMV in Taiwanese adults. The proposed approach enables standardized muscle mass assessment from routine head CT scans.
Sustainable green concrete: multi-criteria optimization of bentonite–fly ash–silica fume ternary systems integrating life cycle assessment and mechanical performance analysis
Abstract Global CO₂ emissions from the cement sector account for approximately 8% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the urgent need for sustainable concrete alternatives based on supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). This study evaluates the mechanical performance, durability, and environmental impacts of green concrete mixtures incorporating bentonite, either alone or in combination with fly ash and silica fume as partial replacements for ordinary Portland cement (OPC). An experimental program encompassing 22 mixtures assessed workability, compressive strength at multiple ages, and resistance to seawater sulfate attack. A comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted using One Click LCA(tm) software to quantify environmental–mechanical trade-offs, with a case study application to the Damietta University Hospital project in Egypt. The results demonstrate that cement contributes 83–95% of the global warming potential (GWP) across all mixtures, confirming it as the dominant driver of environmental impact. Mixtures containing 50% fly ash achieved a GWP reduction of up to 50.1%. Mix 20 (4% bentonite + 15% silica fume) exhibited the highest compressive strength (49.0 MPa at 28 days, 54.27 MPa at 56 days) and superior seawater sulfate resistance, emerging as the structural optimum. In contrast, Mix 12 delivered the best environmental performance. Crucially, no single mixture simultaneously optimized both mechanical and environmental indicators, underscoring the need for context-dependent mixture selection guided by the Pareto frontier framework developed in this study.
A novel three parameters extended weibull distribution with application using engineering data
Abstract Weibull distribution is widely used for lifetime modelling in reliability engineering. However, its lack of sufficient tail flexibility often results in poor fit in extreme events. We proposed another three-parameter extension of the Weibull distribution with additional flexibility without sacrificing tractability. We derived and studied its statistical properties, including reliability measures, quantile function, moment, stress-strength, mean waiting time, moment generating function, characteristics function, Rényi entropy, order statistics, mean residual life and mode. We adopted the inverse transform approach in random number generation, and through simulation, we evaluated the performance of the maximum likelihood estimates. The fitness of the distribution was examined using 373/epoxy fatigue fracture dataset and compared with five similar extensions of the Weibull distribution. Our proposed novel distribution fits the data best among the competing models. It is therefore recommended as a better alternative in modelling heavily tailed data due to its flexibility. Future studies could consider other estimation techniques to compare the efficiency and performance of the parameter estimators.