Browse Articles

Eyes and movement differences in unconscious state during microscopic procedures

Abstract Microsurgery is one of the techniques that is increasingly being adopted in many surgical fields. However, the acquisition and transfer of microsurgical skills primarily depend on experience. Additionally, opportunities to improve microsurgical skills are limited and a uniform evaluation system is lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand the physical characteristics of experienced and novice surgeons and to propose efficient training and evaluation methods from an educational perspective. In this study, nine hand surgeons and six orthopedic surgeons were included in expert group E and novice group N, respectively. An eye tracker and surface electromyography were used. They were asked to perform the suturing procedure under the same conditions. The viewpoint distribution area was larger in group N than in group E ( p  < 0.01). In group E, the pupil diameter increased only in a limited phase. The standard deviation of the distance between gaze and hand movements was smaller in group E, especially for gaze. Group E used the synergy of the same muscles to create movement. This study showed that there are differences in eye movements and unconscious body control during suturing techniques under the microscope between experienced users and novices.

Weaving a new web: gregarious parasitism in Idris Förster (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) attacking spider eggs

The present study, conducted in West Bengal, India, explored the unique ‘multi-chambered’ appearance of certain spider eggs, leading to the discovery of gregarious parasitism in the idiobiont endoparasitoid Idris Förster (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae). Little is known about the roles of parasitoid Hymenoptera in regulating spider populations. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I marker identified five distinct species of Idris. These five gregarious species, identified in association with various spider hosts across multiple locations during a two-year study, offer new insights into host-parasitoid interactions and their adaptability in different host systems. Additionally, six novel host associations between egg parasitoids and five spider species from two families are documented. Under the family Scelionidae, Idris is the second genus, after Telenomus Haliday, adapting to gregarious development. Our findings emphasize the existence of diverse trophic interactions and life strategies in nature that are yet to be documented.

Field-free spin hall oscillator based on giant magnetoresistance effect and its potential for electrical synchronization

Capsicum chinense Jacq. fruit plays an immunomodulatory role in cytokine attenuation and DNA damage protection

Capsicum chinense (C. chinense) Jacq., recognized for its bioactive compounds, has attracted interest due to its possible immunomodulatory and DNA-damage-protective effects. This study aimed to assess the immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and DNA protection abilities of organic extracts (methanol, ethyl acetate, and petroleum ether) from C. chinense. The immunomodulatory effects were evaluated in Long Evans rats induced with SRBC. At the same time, the anti-inflammatory potential was investigated in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages by quantifying pro-inflammatory mediators such as COX-2, iNOS, TNF-α, IL-β, and IL-6. Protective activity against DNA damage was assessed using a method that induces damage with a Fenton reagent. Cytotoxicity was tested on the Hela cell line to gauge the cellular effects of the extracts. The results demonstrated that higher doses (200 mg) of C. chinense methanol extract inhibited immune responses, whereas lower doses helped restore them. The extracts significantly decreased pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines in LPS-activated macrophages. Both petroleum ether and methanol extracts showed higher cytotoxicity against Hela cells compared to the ethyl acetate extract. The protein levels recorded in the serological parameters were 5.74 ± 0.19, 5.36 ± 0.11, 5.74 ± 0.26, 6.02 ± 0.16, 6.18 ± 0.18, and 6.22 ± 0.20 gm/dL for NC, DC, ML, MLMExCC100, MLMExCC200, and MExCC100, respectively. These findings suggest that C. chinense extracts possess strong immunomodulatory effects and potential protection against DNA damage, supporting their therapeutic application in regulating the innate immunity system.

Hybrid nanocarriers with different densities of silver nanoparticles formation features and antimicrobial properties

Implications of tissue specific STING protein flux and abundance on inflammation and the development of targeted therapeutics

Drugs targeting the ER-resident innate immune receptor Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) are in development for treatments of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Accurate determination of STING receptor levels in normal and disease tissue is an essential component of modeling pharmacology and drug-target disposition. Using metabolic labeling with deuterium oxide paired with high resolution mass spectrometry, we report the protein fractional synthesis rates and turnover of STING in wild-type (C57BL/6) and inflamed mice carrying the Trex1 D18N mutation (Trex1D18N) as a STING-dependent model of human Acardi-Goutiéres syndrome. Remarkably, STING protein half-life is tissue specific with the shortest half-life of 4 days in colon and lymph node and longest half-life of 24 days in skeletal muscle. Despite the relative increase in STING protein abundance in the inflamed Trex1D18N mouse, the overall kinetics of protein degradation and resynthesis was similar between Trex1D18N and WT mice. The extent of tissue specific interferon stimulated gene transcription, a hallmark of SLE linked pathophysiology, correlates with the extend of increased STING levels in Trex1D18N tissues and appears inversely proportional to the turnover rate of STING. Understanding STING’s fractional protein synthesis rate and half-life provides a valuable component of quantitative modeling of drug pharmacology, dose frequency and targeting tissues of STING directed therapies.

Selection of stable reference genes in Prunus persica fruit infected with Monilinia laxa for normalisation of RT-qPCR gene expression data

Couple-centered HIV prevention and care: Endorsement, practice and uncertainty among us healthcare providers in western-central upstate New York

Given the influence of provider perspective and practice in the uptake of HIV/STI prevention and care strategies, this qualitative descriptive design study sought to illuminate perspectives of couples HIV testing and counseling (CHTC) and describe couple/partner-based practices among health providers in New York State. We utilized a purposive sampling strategy to recruit health providers (N = 27). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted from Sept. 2019 to Feb. 2021. Four themes emerged: perspectives on engaging partners and couples-centered sexual health promotion; providers’ experiences with patients and partners in HIV prevention and care; provider endorsement of CHTC; and perceived CHTC implementation determinants. CHTC endorsement was prominently due to the perception of CHTC as a facilitator to enhance patient-provider engagement in HIV/STI treatment and care, especially in the communication and dissemination of information among partners. Providers reported that health literacy needs regarding HIV/STI testing and diagnosis, but primarily STIs treatment regimens warranted a joint approach. CHTC endorsement entailed the strategy’s perceived ability to enhance sexual health literacy among patients and patient’s partners. Lastly, CHTC endorsements entailed provider beliefs that it ensured knowledge equity and joint literacy in the communication of health information among health consumers. Determinants of CHTC implementation were factors that providers perceived to have a bearing on the facilitation or posed as barriers to jointly engage partners in HIV/STI prevention and care and was subsequently a source of provider uncertainty. These determinants ranged from provider-level factors to organizational capacity issues that could impact CHTC implementation. Recommendations for CHTC are discussed.

Microencapsulation of antioxidant phenolics from tamarind seed peels using chia gum and maltodextrin

Abstract Tamarindus indica seeds/seed peels (TSP) are the main waste products from the tamarind industry and contain valuable bioactive antioxidant-phenolic compounds that promote human health; however, their application is limited due to their instability and poor solubility. Encapsulation is becoming more important in several industries due to its potential for preserving and delivering valuable and delicate bioactive compounds. This study targets the microencapsulation of TSP-phenolic compounds for incorporation into functional food formulations. By employing the freeze-drying method, three microcapsule formulations were developed using chia gum (CG), maltodextrin (M), and a mixture of the two (M/CG) as coating materials. The formed M-, M/CG-, and CG-microcapsules showed remarkable encapsulation efficiency of 88.0, 90.0, and 95.0%, respectively. They preserved most of the TSP-phenolic content (87.5–96.3%) and antioxidant activity (86.0-98.8%). They demonstrated higher digestibility percentages in the intestinal media (53.0–70.0%) than in the gastric media (29.0–36.0%), especially the microcapsules coated with CG. They kept the TSP-antioxidant-phenolic content safe at 40 °C for 2 months. The microcapsules demonstrated improved microstructures, swelling, solubility, and moisture content. Crosslinking and enhanced thermal stability were also proven for microcapsules via FTIR and thermogravimetric studies. In addition, the prepared microcapsules displayed better antimicrobial activity against the examined bacterial strains, with minimum bactericidal concentrations ranging from 0.61 to 1.4 mg/mL. In conclusion, the encapsulation improved the stability, bioavailability, and antibacterial properties of TSP-phenolic compounds, making them suitable for food and pharmaceutical applications.

The role of renal and liver function in clinical ctDNA testing

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has high clinical potential in early cancer detection. The renal system and the liver are involved in clearing circulating cell free DNA (cfDNA) from the blood. Recent studies on mice show that inhibiting the liver’s ability to clear cfDNA results in elevated ctDNA levels in blood samples. Emphasizing the need for studies in humans exploring if markers of renal and liver function are associated with cfDNA and ctDNA levels in the blood. The present study investigates if cfDNA level, ctDNA level and ctDNA detection is affected in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with clinical biomarkers indicative of low renal and liver function. We requisitioned standard laboratory tests of renal and liver function, measured within thirty days of curative intended surgery from 846 stage I-III CRC patients. For each patient, matching preoperative cfDNA and ctDNA data was available. We investigated the correlation between impaired renal and liver function and cfDNA level, ctDNA level, and ctDNA detection. The findings revealed that variation in renal and liver function in stage I-III CRC patients did not affect cfDNA level, ctDNA level, or ctDNA detection and that ctDNA test results remain stable over a wide range of renal and liver biomarker results.

Non-destructive detection of critical defects in additive manufacturing

Association between cardiometabolic index and albuminuria: Evidence from NHANES 2017–2020

Introduction Albuminuria is a crucial marker of kidney damage and serves as an early indicator of the risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Recent studies have suggested that the cardiometabolic index (CMI), could be valuable for screening renal insufficiency. However, the relationship between CMI and albuminuria remains underexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between CMI and albuminuria, with the goal of providing new insights for the clinical diagnosis, assessment, and early intervention of kidney disease. Methods The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the period between 2017–2020 provided the data for this cross-sectional investigation. Triglyceride (TG) (mmol/L)/High density lipid-cholesterol (HDL-C) (mmol/L) ×  Waist height ratio (WHtR) was the formula used for calculating CMI. Using multifactorial logistic regression, the independent connection between albuminuria and CMI was investigated. The threshold effect was determined by means of a two-stage linear regression model. Additionally, subgroup analysis and interaction tests were carried out. Results A total of 3,339 participants were included, and 12.38% of them had albuminuria. As the CMI quartiles grew (quartile 1: 7.78%, quartile 2: 13.43%, quartile 3: 12.93%, quartile 4: 17.01%), so did the probability of albuminuria. The results of adjusted model 3 showed that a greater probability of albuminuria prevalence was strongly correlated with CMI (OR =  2.26, 95% CI: 1.58–3.23). This association held true for all subgroups (all P for trend >  0.05). Furthermore, with a two-stage linear regression model with an inflection point of 0.92, we discovered a nonlinear relationship between CMI and albuminuria. Conclusions Our findings indicate that CMI levels are significantly associated with the risk of albuminuria prevalence, suggesting that CMI could serve as a valuable biomarker for assessing the risk of albuminuria.

Pressure-induced amorphous-amorphous transition in pre-densified silica glass: an experimental exploration of the potential energy landscape

Fusion of motion smoothing algorithm and motion segmentation algorithm for human animation generation

In the field of human animation generation, the existing technology is often limited by the dependence on large-scale data sets, and it is difficult to capture subtle dynamic changes when processing motion transitions, resulting in insufficient animation fluency and realism. In order to improve the naturalness and diversity of human animation generation, a method combining motion smoothing algorithm and motion segmentation algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the tree-level model based on human skeleton topology and bidirectional unbiased Kalman filter are used for noise reduction pre-processing of motion data to improve the accuracy of motion capture. Then, combining the discriminant analysis algorithm based on sparse reconstruction and the multi-scale temporal association segmentation algorithm, the key motion segments of the behavior pattern change are identified adaptively. The experimental results show that the accuracy of the proposed algorithm reaches 0.96 in coarse-grained segmentation and 0.91 in fine-grained segmentation, and the segmentation time is 15 seconds on average, which significantly exceeds the prior art. In addition, the algorithm shows superior results in color fidelity, detail representation, motion fluency, frame-to-frame coherence, overall animation consistency, action authenticity, and character expressiveness, and the average user satisfaction is above 0.85. The research not only enhances the naturalness and diversity of human body animation, but also provides a new impetus for technological advances in computer graphics, virtual reality and augmented reality.

Cost-effectiveness of open vs. laparoscopic gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer in China

Policy-mix and SME innovation: Evidence from China

The question of whether and how innovation policy can effectively influence innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has received limited attention in academic research. This study takes a first step towards filling this gap by examining how innovation policy and policy mixes influence innovation in SMEs. This paper takes China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 as the research sample, and uses the Multi-Level Treatment Effect (MLTE) model to investigate the actual impact of different innovation policies on Small and Medium-sized Enterprise innovation and the heterogeneity of policy effects from the perspective of substantive and strategic innovation. It is found that innovation policies can obviously improve the innovation of SMEs, in particular the substantive innovation, and the effect of policy-mix in stimulating SME innovation is stronger than that of single innovation policy. SMEs that show “strong motivation” and “high ability” in innovation are more likely to be favored by relevant government agencies, and have a greater probability of becoming the implementation targets of innovation policies. As far as single innovation policies are concerned, government subsidy is better than tax incentive for high-tech SMEs, while tax incentive has a stronger role in promoting innovation than government subsidy for non-high-tech SMEs. By illuminating these differentiated impacts and the conditions under which innovation policies are most effective, this work not only advances our fundamental understanding of policy-driven innovation ecosystems but also offers actionable guidance to policymakers seeking to optimize the allocation of support to foster transformative innovation in the SME sector.

The abscisic acid signaling negative regulator OsPP2C68 confers drought and salinity tolerance to rice

Poor sleep patterns are associated with the prevalence of benign prostatic hyperplasia in US aged 40 and older: A cross-sectional study based on NHANES

Background The connection between sleep patterns (sleep duration, trouble sleeping and sleep disorders) and benign prostatic hyperplasia, commonly referred to as BPH, is not yet clear. Our aim is to investigate the impact of sleep patterns on BPH risk in US men aged 40 and older. Methods We performed an observational analysis using data from NHANES 2005–2008 on males aged 40 and up, including a total of 2,555 participants. After accounting for confounding variables, we applied weighted multivariable logistic regression to assess the relationship between sleep patterns and BPH risk according to the complex multi-stage sampling design of NHANES. Results In this study, 11.79% of the 2,555 American participants aged over 40 reported to have BPH. after adjusting for confounding variables, multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that short sleep duration, compared to healthy sleep duration (7–9 hours), was linked to a significantly higher risk of BPH (OR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.42–2.41). Trouble sleeping and sleep disorder were also strongly associated with BPH. Moreover, there appears to be a stronger association among those with poor sleep patterns (OR: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.46–2.91). Conclusion Poor sleep patterns in men over 40 in the U.S. is significantly linked to a higher incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Precipitation isotopes and monsoon dynamics in the core monsoon zone of India

Responses of soil labile organic carbon stocks and the carbon pool management index to different vegetation restoration types in the Danxia landform region of southwest China

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important index for evaluating soil quality in the process of ecological restoration. It plays an important role in increasing soil carbon storage, improving soil texture, and promoting plant growth. Nevertheless, dating the variation in SOC and labile SOC fractions (LOCFs) during ecological restoration processes has not been sufficiently elucidated. To enrich our comprehension of the responses of SOC and its labile fractions to different vegetation restoration types, five vegetation restoration types were selected in the Danxia landform region of southwest China, namely, shrub (SH), bamboo forest (BF), Chinese fir forest (CFF), evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBF), and mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest (MCBF). The concentrations and stocks of SOC and LOCFs, such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass organic carbon (MBC), and easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC), and the carbon pool management index (CPMI) were investigated. Results showed that the different vegetation restoration types significantly influenced SOC stocks (P < 0.05), and the concentrations and stocks of SOC and LOCFs decreased with increasing soil depth in different vegetation types, except for MBC in BF and CFF. Additionally, BF and EBF had significantly higher total SOC stocks (92.75 t ha − 1 and 60.13 t ha − 1) compared with the three other vegetation types (26.18–47.48 t ha-1) at a depth of 0–30 cm. The largest total DOC stock was observed in EBF, while BF and EBF had significantly higher MBC and EOC stocks than SH, CFF, and MCBF (P < 0.05). Compared with SH, the CPMI increased by 49.7%, 32.9%, and 35.2% in BF, CFF, and EBF, respectively, except for the MCBF. SOC and LOCFs were closely related to soil physicochemical properties, and total nitrogen, total phosphorus and moisture had a pronounced effect on them. However, higher SOC and LOCFs stocks, and CPMI were observed in BF and EBF than in the other vegetation types. This result suggests that the two plant types exhibited better ability to sequester carbon than the other vegetation types. Overall, vegetation restoration promoted the accumulation of both SOC and its fractions, the results of which varied among the different vegetation types.