Browse Articles

Coordinatively stiffen and toughen polymeric gels via the synergy of crystal-domain cross-linking and chelation cross-linking

Remote epitaxy and exfoliation of vanadium dioxide via sub-nanometer thick amorphous interlayer

Correction: Validation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) emotional subscale in assessing depression and anxiety across development

Four-dimensional anatomical spinal reconstruction using pre-bent rods in thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

PEGDA-based HistoBrick for increasing throughput of cryosectioning and immunohistochemistry in organoid and small tissue studies

RUNX1 promotes proliferation of cervical cancer through TGFB2-MAPK pathway

Stabilization of oxygen vacancy ordering and electrochemical-proton-insertion-and-extraction-induced large resistance modulation in strontium iron cobalt oxides Sr(Fe,Co)Oy

Atomically distributed Al-F3 nanoparticles towards precisely modulating pore size of carbon membranes for gas separation

A generalised catalytic model to assess changes in risk for multiple reinfections with SARS-CoV-2

Background Monitoring trends in multiple infections with SARS-CoV-2, following several pandemic waves, provides insight into the biological characteristics of new variants, but also necessitates methods to understand the risk of multiple reinfections. Objectives We generalised a catalytic model designed to detect increases in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection, to assess the population-level risk of multiple reinfections. Methods The catalytic model assumes the risk of reinfection is proportional to observed infections and uses a Bayesian approach to fit model parameters to the number of nth infections among individuals that occur at least 90 days after a previous infection. Using a posterior draw from the fitted model parameters, a 95% projection interval of daily nth infections is calculated under the assumption of a constant nth infection hazard coefficient. An additional model parameter was incorporated for the increased reinfection risk detected during the Omicron wave. The generalised model’s performance was then assessed using simulation-based validation. Key findings No additional increase in the risk of third infection was detected after the increase detected during the Omicron wave. Using simulation-based validation, we show that the model can successfully detect increases in the risk of third infections under different scenarios. Limitations Even though the generalised model is intended to detect the risk of nth infections, it is validated specifically for third infections, with its applicability for four or more infections being unconfirmed. Furthermore, the method’s sensitivity to low counts of nth infections, limits application in settings with small epidemics, limited testing coverage or early in an outbreak. Conclusions The catalytic model was successfully adapted to detect increases in the risk of nth infections, enhancing our capacity to identify future changes in the risk of nth infections by SARS-CoV-2 or other similar pathogens.

Analysis of user behavior and satisfaction under the elderly adaptation mode of an APP based on the fuzzy-IPA model

Age-related morphological changes of the pubic symphyseal surface: using three-dimensional statistical shape modeling

AbstractComputational analysis of the pubic symphyseal surface is widely used for accurate age estimation, offering quantitative precision through the detection of subtle morphological changes. However, these methods often lack insights into the underlying morphological changes across different age groups. To bridge this gap, the study utilizes statistical shape modeling (SSM), a versatile tool capable of describing diverse morphological variations within populations. This study aimed to elucidate the direction and extent of these morphological changes, identify the contributing factors, and pinpoint key variations crucial for distinguishing between age groups. Computed tomography (CT) scans of 252 subjects from the National Forensic Service of South Korea were employed, subjected to preprocessing and landmark-based alignment. Through this approach, the study visualized and validated significant age-related morphological changes and highlighted the shape variations essential for differentiating between consecutive age groups. This study holds significance in elucidating the intricate nature of age-related morphological changes in the pubic symphyseal surface. Thus, these findings can serve as valuable cornerstones for enhancing age-at-death estimation techniques in forensic anthropology.

Epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria related to international travel in the Republic of Korea from 2009 to 2018

General (hetero)polyaryl amine synthesis via multicomponent cycloaromatization of amines

Functional large-conductance calcium and voltage-gated potassium channels in extracellular vesicles act as gatekeepers of structural and functional integrity

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are associated with intercellular communications, immune responses, viral pathogenicity, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, and cancer progression. EVs deliver proteins, metabolites, and nucleic acids into recipient cells to effectively alter their physiological and biological response. During their transportation from the donor to the recipient cell EVs face differential ionic concentrations, which can be detrimental to their integrity and impact their cargo content. EVs are known to possess ion channels and transporters in their membrane but neither the function nor the role of these channels in EVs is known. In this study, we discover a functional calcium-activated large-conductance potassium channel (BKCa) in the membrane of EVs. Furthermore, we establish that BKCa is essential for the structural and functional integrity of EVs. Together, these findings establish the critical role of ion channels such as BKCa in functioning as gatekeepers and maintaining EV-mediated signaling.

Extraction of compression indices from maternal-fetal heart rate simultaneous signals

Intrapartum asphyxia is responsible for approximately 900 000 deaths per year worldwide. These numbers show the urgency of investing in the quality of fetal health care. The heart rate signal is a complex signal and sometimes behaves unpredictably. Thus, it becomes relevant to study approaches that take into account their complexity, namely non-linear compression-based methods. In this work, feature extraction was based on two approaches: univariate and bivariate. The univariate approach is concerned with the extraction of fetal, maternal and maternal-fetal compression ratios and the bivariate approach aims to extract compression indices from maternal-fetal heart rate simultaneous signals and of each of the signals individually over time. To understand how the features calculated in this work can be useful in distinguishing acidemic and non-acidemic cases, a classifier was applied. Three different classifiers were tested, and the one that proved to be more effective was the Support-Vector Machine. Furthermore, it was also possible to conclude that the input set of variables that provides a better performance (f1-score = 0.793) of the classifier is composed of the variables of maternal-fetal compression ratio, maternal-fetal normalized relative compression and maternal-fetal normalized compression distance, obtained through trend and residual signal, which indicates that slow and fast fluctuations on the heart rate time series are important in acidemia assessment.

Model-free current control solution employing intelligent control for enhanced motor drive performance

Perspective from NHANES data: synergistic effects of visceral adiposity index and lipid accumulation products on diabetes risk

A pre-clinical MRI-guided all-in-one focused ultrasound system for murine brain studies

Orthologous marker groups reveal broad cell identity conservation across plant single-cell transcriptomes

A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain

Abstract Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya). Therefore, it is a key location for understanding human and animal population dynamics during this event. We recover and analyse sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) data from the lower archaeological stratigraphic sequence of El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain), encompassing the (1) Late Mousterian period, associated with Neanderthals, and (2) the Gravettian (c. 31.5 cal kya), Solutrean (c. 24.5–22 cal kya), and Initial Magdalenian (d. 21–20.5 cal kya) periods, associated with anatomically modern humans. We identify 28 animal taxa including humans. Fifteen of these taxa had not been identified from the archaeozoological (i.e., faunal) record, including the presence of hyenas in the Magdalenian. Additionally, we provide phylogenetic analyses on 70 sedaDNA mtDNA genomes of fauna including the densest Iberian Pleistocene sampling of C. lupus. Finally, we recover three human mtDNA sequences from the Solutrean levels. These sequences, along with published data, suggest mtDNA haplogroup continuity in Iberia throughout the Solutrean/Last Glacial Maximum period.