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Response of carbon storage to land use change and multi-scenario predictions in Zunyi, China

Antiferromagnetic semimetal terahertz photodetectors enhanced through weak localization

Optimizing concrete crack detection an echo state network approach with improved fish migration optimization

Impaired cardiac pumping function and increased afterload as determinants of early hemodynamic alterations in Cushing disease

PhpCNF-Y transcription factor infiltrates heterochromatin to generate cryptic intron-containing transcripts crucial for small RNA production

AbstractThe assembly of repressive heterochromatin in eukaryotic genomes is crucial for silencing lineage-inappropriate genes and repetitive DNA elements. Paradoxically, transcription of repetitive elements within constitutive heterochromatin domains is required for RNA-based mechanisms, such as the RNAi pathway, to target heterochromatin assembly proteins. However, the mechanism by which heterochromatic repeats are transcribed has been unclear. Using fission yeast, we show that the conserved trimeric transcription factor (TF) PhpCNF-Y complex can infiltrate constitutive heterochromatin via its histone-fold domains to transcribe repeat elements. PhpCNF-Y collaborates with a Zn-finger containing TF to bind repeat promoter regions with CCAAT boxes. Mutating either the TFs or the CCAAT binding site disrupts the transcription of heterochromatic repeats. Although repeat elements are transcribed from both strands, PhpCNF-Y-dependent transcripts originate from only one strand. These TF-driven transcripts contain multiple cryptic introns which are required for the generation of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) via a mechanism involving the spliceosome and RNAi machinery. Our analyses show that siRNA production by this TF-mediated transcription pathway is critical for heterochromatin nucleation at target repeat loci. This study reveals a mechanism by which heterochromatic repeats are transcribed, initiating their own silencing by triggering a primary cascade that produces siRNAs necessary for heterochromatin nucleation.

Unveiling chemical industry secrets: Insights gleaned from scientific literatures that examine internal chemical corporate documents—A scoping review

Objective Examine peer-reviewed scientific articles that used internal industry documents in the chemical sector to reveal corporate influence. Summarize sources of internal documents used in prior scientific papers to identify ongoing corporate strategies within the chemical field. Compare the corporate strategies identified in the chemical sector with the ones identified already identified in the pharmaceutical sector. Propose a theoretical framework for categorizing and examining the different form of corporate capture at play. Design Performed a scoping review to pinpoint scientific papers employing internal industry/corporate documents within the chemical sector. Methods We conducted a systematic search using broad and case study-derived keywords, detailed in the S1 Appendix. This resulted in 351 sources from 28 databases, encompassing peer-reviewed articles analyzing internal documents of chemical corporations. We complemented our efforts with a snowball sampling method to uncover additional case studies and journal articles not initially captured by our search. Results were categorized and analyzed using Marc-Andre Gagnon and Sergio Sismondo’s ghost management framework. Results The final results included and analyzed 18 scientific papers. Legal proceedings served as the primary source of internal document data for all examined articles. We uncovered and categorized dynamic strategies employed by chemical corporations to protect and advance their interests, including scientific capture (n = 16), regulatory capture (n = 15), professional capture (n = 7), civil society capture (n = 6), media capture (n = 4), legal capture (n = 4), technological capture (n = 3), and market capture (n = 2). Comparative analysis The limited scientific literature meeting our criteria confirms early findings by Wieland et al, highlighting a research gap in the chemical industry. Our analysis, building on the ghost-management framework, shows a different emphasis in the way internal documents were used in scientific literature to understand corporate strategies at play in the chemical sector as compared to the pharmaceutical sector. In contrast to Gagnon and Dong’s pharmaceutical corporate capture review, which identified 37 papers before 2022, our chemical industry findings reveal a lower count, with only 18 papers identified. Notably, the vast majority of the papers in both sectors shows an emphasis on analyzing strategies used for scientific capture. However, the area of regulatory capture reveals a significant distinction: only 6 of the 37 articles related to the pharmaceutical industry analyzed this dimension, as compared to 15 of the 18 articles related to the chemical industry. This body of work suggests that existing research on the chemical industry is particularly concerned with analyzing how the sector navigates and circumvents regulatory oversight. Both industries employ strategies involving conflicts of interest and the legitimization of their actions to shield themselves from public policy scrutiny and protect their interests. However, their goals seem to be significantly different. The scientific literature analyzing the pharmaceutical industry’s internal document tends to identify strategies maximizing profits through the biased promotion of health products, whereas the scientific literature analyzing the chemical industry’s internal documents is more inclined in identifying strategies institutionalizing ignorance about existing risks, evading accountability, and preventing regulatory actions. Strengths Our scoping review shows how internal documents can reveal how the chemical industry strategically institutionalizes ignorance to manage business risks. It exposes intentional efforts by chemical corporations to promote ignorance and foster conflicts of interest, thereby legitimizing their business models and safeguarding corporate interests. We shared our research findings on the Dataverse/ Borealis platform (https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/EOIOAU), making them accessible for future studies to apply the same analytical framework seamlessly. Limitations We excluded papers that did not meet our research criteria, prioritizing those that analyzed internal corporate documents for uncovering covert ghost management captures. Beyond scientific literature, various grey literature sources have conducted quality investigations on ghost management strategies in the chemical industry, and many leaked internal documents in the chemical industry, often available through toxicdocs.org, were not analyzed in the scientific literature. Also, market concentration and other corporate captures can be investigated using publicly available resources. Despite searching scientific papers in various languages, no relevant publications were found outside of English. This presents an opportunity for future research to conduct a separate scoping review.

MANF overexpression ameliorates oxidative stress-induced apoptosis of human nucleus pulposus cells by facilitating mitophagy through promoting MFN2 expression

Effectiveness of tacrolimus therapy in refractory ulcerative colitis compared to infliximab with propensity score matching

AbstractThere is insufficient evidence comparing the outcomes of tacrolimus-based remission induction therapy with infliximab in refractory ulcerative colitis (UC) and evidence regarding optimal strategies after tacrolimus-based remission induction therapy. We conducted a multi-institutional retrospective study of patients with UC treated with tacrolimus or infliximab between January 2010 and March 2019. The proportion of clinical remission at week 8 and cumulative colectomy-free rate were examined using propensity score matching analysis. The predictors for colectomy after tacrolimus induction were also investigated. Ninety patients in the tacrolimus group and 151 in the infliximab group were enrolled. The proportion of patients in clinical remission at week 8 was 65.2% in the matched tacrolimus group and 37.3% in the matched infliximab group (P = 0.0016), and the long-term colectomy-free rate was lower in the matched tacrolimus group than in the matched infliximab group (P = 0.0003). After clinical remission with tacrolimus, a serum albumin level of ≤ 3.5 g/dL at week 8 was extracted as a factor predicting colectomy (area under the curve: 0.94). Tacrolimus showed a higher remission induction effect for UC compared to infliximab. However, a high rate of colectomy after transition to maintenance treatment was found to be a concern for tacrolimus therapy.

Molecular insights into a distinct class of terpenoid cyclases

Patterns and predictors of mortality in the first 24 hours of admission among children aged 1–59 months admitted at a Regional Referral Hospital in South Western Uganda

Most deaths among children under 5 years occur within the first 24 hours of hospital admission from preventable causes such as diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. The predictors of these deaths are not yet well documented in our setting. This study aimed to describe the patterns and predictors of these mortalities among children aged 1–59 months at a regional hospital in South Western Uganda. We conducted a prospective cohort study among 208 children aged 1–59 months admitted to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. The mortality rate within the first 24 hours was 7.7% (95% CI 4–12) and the median time to death was 7.3(2.62–8.75) hours. Most deaths occurred in infants, with severe pneumonia, severe acute malnutrition, and malaria as leading causes. Factors predicting mortality included admission during the night (AHR: 3.7, 95% CI 1.02–13.53, p-value 0.047) and abnormal neutrophil count(AHR: 3.5, 95% CI 1.10–11.31, p-value 0.034). The study highlights the importance of timely interventions, particularly for infants, and suggests extra monitoring for those admitted at night or with abnormal neutrophil counts.

Comparison of clinical outcomes between double arterial cannulation and single arterial cannulation in type A aortic dissection

Assessing habitat selection parameters of Arabica coffee using BWM and BCM methods based on GIS

Mismatch prime editing gRNA increased efficiency and reduced indels

Why the gaze behavior of expert physicians and novice medical students differ during a simulated medical interview: A mixed methods study

Human cognition is reflected in gaze behavior, which involves eye movements to fixate or shift focus between areas. In natural interactions, gaze behavior serves two functions: signal transmission and information gathering. While expert gaze as a tool for gathering information has been studied, its underlying cognitive processes remain insufficiently explored. This study investigated differences in gaze behavior and cognition between expert physicians and novice medical students during a simulated medical interview with a simulated patient, drawing implications for medical education. This study employed an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. During the simulated medical interview, participants’ gaze behavior was measured across five areas: the patient’s eyes, face, body trunk, medical chart, and medical questionnaire. A hierarchical Bayesian model analyzed differences in gaze behavior between expert physicians and novice medical students. Then, a semi-structured interview was conducted with participants to discern their perceptions during their gaze behavior; their recorded gaze behavior was presented to them, and analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach. Model analyses indicated that experts looked at the simulated patient’s eyes less frequently compared to novices during the simulated medical interview. Expert physicians stated that because of the potential for discomfort, looking at the patient’s eyes was less frequent, despite its importance for obtaining diagnostic findings. Conversely, novice medical students did not provide narratives for obtaining such findings, but increased the number of times they did so to improve patient satisfaction. This association between different perceptions of gaze behavior may lead to new approaches in medical education. This study highlights the importance of understanding gaze behavior in the context of medical education and suggests that different motivations underlie the gaze behavior of expert physicians and novice medical students. Incorporating training in effective gaze behavior may improve the quality of patient care and medical students’ learning outcomes.

Creation of a stable vector vortex beam with dual fractional orbital angular momentum

A case-crossover study of air pollution exposure during pregnancy and the risk of stillbirth in Tehran, Iran

Observation of 1/3 fractional quantum Hall physics in balanced large angle twisted bilayer graphene

Correlation analysis between micro and macro indicators of high modulus modified asphalt for asphalt pavement

The relationship between the micro technical indexes and the macro road performance of high modulus asphalt (HMA) is helpful for understanding its mechanism and performance, and promoting its application. To explore the relationship, two kinds of high modulus asphalt (HMA), LLDPE/SBS composite modified asphalt and rubber/PPA composite modified asphalt were prepared according to the HMA requirements. Secondly, Molecular models of two kinds of HMA were established through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and the high temperature parameters of LLDPE/SBS composite modified asphalt were obtained with the two methods, namely the micro molecular dynamics simulation and high temperature rheological test, respectively. Then, through correlation analysis and regression calculation, the estimation formula was established between the results of molecular dynamics simulation and high temperature rheological test. Finally, in order to evaluate and verify the rationality of the estimation formula, the two methods were carried out on the other HMA (rubber/PPA composite modified asphalt). The results show that the shear modulus obtained by molecular dynamics simulation has a good correlation with the high temperature rheological properties. The estimation formula based on molecular dynamics simulation can be used to estimate the high temperature shear modulus of high modulus asphalt, and the relative error is less than 7%, which means that the formula can be used to effectively predict the high temperature performance of high modulus asphalt.

Irregular seeds DEM parameters prediction based on 3D point cloud and GA-BP-GA optimization

Risk factors for photic phenomena in two different multifocal diffractive intraocular lenses

AbstractPhotic phenomena are more pronounced in presbyopia-corrected than in monofocal intraocular lens (IOL), causing dissatisfaction after cataract surgery. Photic Phenomena Test (PPT) quantifies photic phenomena in eyes with two types of presbyopia-corrected IOL. We examined the relationship between preoperative eye shape and pupil diameter. We included patients with PanOptix IOLs (PanOptix group, n = 38; 65.7 ± 9.2 years old) and Synergy IOLs (Synergy group, n = 39; 61.9 ± 9.6 years old), who underwent the PPT between 1 and 3 months after cataract surgery, from January 2021 to April 2023. The relationships between age, sex, pupil diameter, and higher-order corneal aberrations were examined and mean values for PPT measurements were compared between the groups. There was no difference in glare between the two groups. The halo was larger and thicker, and the starburst was larger and stronger in the Synergy group (P < 0.01). Postoperative halo brightness was positively correlated with the corneal coma aberration in the PanOptix group (P < 0.05). The Synergy group showed a positive correlation between the size and brightness of the postoperative halo and starburst and pupil diameter (P < 0.01). PPT, thus, revealed risk factors in eyes with two types of presbyopia-corrected IOL, which can be examined before cataract surgery to provide critical information for IOL selection.