Browse Articles

Characterization of the secondary structure, renaturation and physical ageing of gelatine adhesives

Prevalence of chemsex and associated factors among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Nepal: findings from an online national survey

Genetic diversity and structure of red handed howler monkeys assessed by mitochondrial and genotyping by sequencing analyses

Low expression of SGCA promotes lung squamous cell carcinoma malignant progression

Comparison of real-time PCR and nCounter NanoString techniques to validate copy number alterations in oral cancer

First human genome from ancient Egypt sequenced from 4,800-year-old teeth

LSTM autoencoder based parallel architecture for deepfake audio detection with dynamic residual encoding and feature fusion

Joint detection and re-identification for occluded person search

Comparison between simulated scenarios and Swedish COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic

Abstract This study assesses the accuracy of COVID-19 scenarios for new infections produced by the Swedish Public Health Agency (PHAS) from December 1, 2020, to March 20, 2023. We introduce a Similarity Error ( $$\:SEr$$ ), which evaluates the dissimilarity between simulated and observed case time series using the following attributes: area under the curves, peak timings, and growth/decline rates before and after peaks. Rather than using an arbitrary cut-off, we used a threshold determined through Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, with performance evaluated using the Area Under the Curve (AUC), based on true positives identified by visual inspection for categorization. To further evaluate $$\:SEr$$ ’s effectiveness, we conducted a sensitivity analysis across the full range of possible threshold values within the unit interval. Applying $$\:SEr$$ with an optimal threshold determined through ROC-analysis 7 rounds out of 11 rounds were classified as having one or more similar scenarios, including the 6 rounds identified by visual inspection. Our findings indicate that, despite the challenges of a rapidly evolving epidemic, PHAS delivered simulations that reflected real-world trends in most of the rounds.

Sexually transmitted infections are not associated with US holidays

Effect of dry ice addition and wilting on the rates of fermentation and proteolysis in ensiled alfalfa

Excitation and electroporation in genetically engineered excitable S-HEK cells exposed to electric pulses of different durations

Abstract Electroporation affects action potential generation in excitable cells such as nerve, muscle and cardiac cells. Since electroporation-based treatments use different pulse protocols, we investigated how electric pulses of different duration (from 500 ns to 1 ms) trigger action potentials and cause electroporation in genetically engineered cultured excitable cell model. Transmembrane voltage was monitored using a fluorescent potentiometric probe and fluorescence microscopy. We triggered similar responses in these cells using electric pulses of all pulse durations. At lower electric fields, we stimulated action potentials and at higher electric fields, electroporation occurred: the action potentials were gradually prolonged and eventually, ended up in sustained depolarization. For shorter pulses, higher electric fields had to be used to achieve the same effect. However, the shape of the action potential was affected by pulse duration. With shorter pulses (500 ns–10 µs), the action potentials were much longer already at the excitation thresholds, due to more prominent effect of electroporation, compared to longer pulses (e.g., 1 ms) where action potentials were triggered by classical electrostimulation (i.e., excitation) without electroporation. Moreover, we detected a complex, biphasic intracellular calcium response in excitable S-HEK cells that was absent in non-excitable NS-HEK version of these cells.

Inhaled nitric oxide as an independent intervention to lower the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants (< 33 weeks) with pulmonary hypertension within the initial 3 days of life

Occurrence and health risk assessment of microplastics in beverages and ice packs

Brain implant decodes neural activity to produce expressive speech

Single-dose radiotherapy is more effective than fractionation when combined with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in glioblastoma

High glucose inhibits proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation of human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells

RNA-seq analysis identifies key genes and signaling pathways involved in androgen promotion of sebaceous gland proliferation in Hetian sheep

Abstract Sebaceous glands (SGs), essential elements of the skin barrier in sheep, are tightly regulated by the androgen signaling pathway. This study investigated how androgens influence SGs hyperplasia in sheep by combining morphological assessments with transcriptomic analysis. Histological examination revealed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in both the number and average size of SGs in the testosterone-treated groups across four concentration gradients compared to the control group. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on fifteen skin samples, revealing that, compared to the control group, 371 genes were upregulated and 115 were downregulated across the four treatment groups. The upregulated genes were predominantly enriched in lipid metabolism pathways, while the downregulated genes were mainly associated with keratin filament structures. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis identified ten hub genes involved in mitochondrial β-oxidation and lipid synthesis. These findings were further supported by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), which indicated significant activation of fatty acid metabolic pathways (P < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that androgens may be involved in SGs hyperplasia in sheep by regulating mitochondrial lipid metabolism-related pathways.

Prognostic poteintial of polyamine metabolism-related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Neutrophil infiltration in peritoneal metastasis affects prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer

Abstract The impact on prognosis of neutrophil infiltration in the microenvironment of ovarian cancer remains to be elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the association between neutrophil infiltration in peritoneal metastasis and prognosis. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation between neutrophil infiltration in peritoneal metastasis and the number of peripheral blood neutrophils, the degree of neutropenia, vascular endothelial area, and the number of stromal cells. Thirty-four specimens each of primary and metastatic advanced ovarian cancer with high-grade serous carcinoma histology were taken. Staining for MPO, CD31, and αSMA was performed on all specimens. We investigated the correlation among tissue neutrophil infiltration, prognosis, and neutrophil indicators from blood tests. Survival analysis showed that neutrophil infiltration in the primary tumor had no impact on prognosis, whereas high neutrophil infiltration in the disseminated tumor significantly shortened progression-free survival and overall survival. No correlation was found between neutrophil infiltration and the number of peripheral blood neutrophils, the degree of neutropenia, area of vascular endothelial cells, and number of stromal cells. Neutrophil infiltration into disseminated lesions of the omentum has a significant impact on prognosis. The results of the present study may provide insights for refining clinical approaches.