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The segmentation of nanoparticles with a novel approach of HRU2-Net†
Abstract Nanoparticles have great potential for the application in new energy and aerospace fields. The distribution of nanoparticle sizes is a critical determinant of material properties and serves as a significant parameter in defining the characteristics of zero-dimensional nanomaterials. In this study, we proposed HRU2-Net†, an enhancement of the U2-Net† model, featuring multi-level semantic information fusion. This approach exhibits strong competitiveness and refined segmentation capabilities for nanoparticle segmentation. It achieves a Mean intersection over union (MIoU) of 87.31%, with an accuracy rate exceeding 97.31%, leading to a significant improvement in segmentation effectiveness and precision. The results show that the deep learning-based method significantly enhances the efficacy of nanomaterial research, which holds substantial significance for the advancement of nanomaterial science.
Influenza Vaccination Strategies in Patients with Hematologic Cancer
Daily walking habits can mitigate age-related decline in static balance: a longitudinal study among aircraft assemblers
Abstract Improving physical balance among older workers is essential for preventing falls in workplace. We aimed to elucidate the age-related decline in one-leg standing time with eyes closed, an indicator of static balance, and mitigating influence of daily walking habits on this decline in Japan. This longitudinal study involved 249 manufacturing workers, including seven females, aged 20–66 years engaged in tasks performed at height in the aircraft and spacecraft machinery industry. The participants underwent a one-leg standing test and annual health checkups through the Kanagawa Health Service Association between 2017 and 2019. The outcome measure was one-leg standing time up to 30 s. The coefficient (β) of one-leg standing time against aging was estimated using two-level multilevel linear regression with random intercepts. We also estimated the β of daily walking habits at least one hour per day. The quadratic spline curve showed an almost linear trend of one-leg standing time with age. The one-leg standing time significantly decreased with age (adjusted β = − 0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI] − 0.31 to − 0.14). Meanwhile, walking habits showed a preventive effect (β = 1.76; 95% CI 0.49 to 3.04). Age-related decline in one-leg standing time may be mitigated by simple daily walking habits.
Inavolisib Therapy in Advanced Breast Cancer
Treatment of patients with tumor/treatment-related hypothalamic obesity in the first two years following surgical treatment or radiotherapy
Abstract Survivors of sellar/suprasellar tumors involving hypothalamic structures face a risk of impaired quality of life, including tumor- and/or treatment-related hypothalamic obesity (TTR-HO) defined as abnormal weight gain resulting in severe persistent obesity due to physical, tumor- and/or treatment related damage of the hypothalamus. We analyze German claims data to better understand treatment pathways for patients living TTR-HO during the two years following the index surgical treatment. A database algorithm identified patients with TTR-HO in a representative German payer claims database between 2010 and 2021 (n = 5.42 million patients). Claims from 37 patients with TTR-HO were analyzed on a quarterly basis over 2 years. The analysis considered inpatient, outpatient, and prescription data. In the follow-up period, patients with TTR-HO are hospitalized 3.68 times on average; 37% of hospitalizations in year 1 and 31% in year 2 are due to TTR-HO. On average, patients see a general practitioner 12.27 times and various specialists 20.45 times. The need for complex neuroendocrine therapy develops quickly, with most patients having 2–3 neuroendocrine prescriptions in any given quarter. The management of patients with TTR-HO requires frequent inpatient and outpatient visits for tumor follow-up and management of incident comorbidities, and most patients with TTR-HO require intense polytherapy.
Survival with Trastuzumab Emtansine in Residual HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
An in-depth study of indolone derivatives as potential lung cancer treatment
Infrequent Zoledronate — Small Individual Gain, Larger Population Gain
Sex disparities in the association between rare earth elements exposure and genetic mutation frequencies in lung cancer patients
Abstract The ubiquitous use of rare earth elements (REEs) in modern living environments raised concern about their impact on human health. With the detrimental and beneficial effects of REEs reported by different studies, the genuine role of REEs in the human body remains a mystery. This study explored the association between REEs and genetic mutations in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). A cohort of 53 LUAD patients underwent tumor DNA sequencing (1123 cancer-related genes) and plasma REE (lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and yttrium (Y)) quantification. We found divergent relationships between plasma REE levels and mutation load between sexes. Specifically, Ce levels and mutation load were positively correlated in males but negatively correlated in females, while La exposure exhibited opposite associations in the two sexes. This observation was validated using the Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) model. Additionally, plasma REE levels was associated with specific mutation types and variant allele frequencies (VAFs) of particular genes in a sex-dependent manner. Mutational signature analysis revealed sex-specific associations of La with indel signatures. These findings highlight the intricate interplay between plasma REE levels and genetic mutations in LUAD, emphasizing the need for a personalized, sex-oriented approach to understand and treat this disease.
Asymptomatic Severe Aortic-Valve Stenosis — To Wait or Not to Wait
Metabolomics identifies plasma biomarkers of localized radiation injury
Abstract A radiological accident may result in the development of a local skin radiation injury (LRI) which may evolve, depending on the dose, from dry desquamation to deep ulceration and necrosis through unpredictable inflammatory waves. Therefore, early diagnosis of victims of LRI is crucial for improving medical care efficiency. This preclinical study aims to identify circulating metabolites as biomarkers associated with LRI using a C57BL/6J mouse model of hind limb irradiation. More precisely, two independent mice cohorts were used to conduct a broad-spectrum profiling study followed by a suspect screening analysis performed on plasma metabolites by mass spectrometry. An integrative analysis was conducted through a multi-block sparse partial least square discriminant analysis (sPLS-DA) to establish multi-scale correlations between specific metabolites levels and biological, physiological (injury severity), and functional parameters (skin perfusion). The identified biomarker signature consists in a 6-metabolite panel including putrescine, uracil, 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, 3-hydroxybenzoate, L-alanine and pyroglutamate, that can discriminate mice according to radiation dose and injury severity. Our results demonstrate relevant molecular signature associated with LRI in mice and support the use of plasma metabolites as suitable molecular biomarkers for LRI prognosis and diagnosis.
Exogenous Lipoid Pneumonia
Effect of trimetazidine on left ventricular functions and cardiac biomarkers in diabetic patients with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction: a randomized controlled trial
Abstract We investigated the impact of trimetazidine treatment on left ventricular (LV) functions and cardiac biomarkers in diabetic patients with diastolic dysfunction as an early stage of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Sixty-three patients were randomly assigned to receive either trimetazidine or a placebo for 3 months. At baseline and after 3-months of treatment, measurements of serum levels of glycemic control parameters, lipid profile, tumor necrosis factor alpha, transforming growth factor beta 1, n-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide and assessment of modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea score, echocardiographic indices of LV functions and LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) were performed. After 3-months, trimetazidine group exhibited a significant reduction in left atrial volume index by 6.99% versus an increase by 0.66% in placebo group, p = 0.034. Moreover, average e’ increased by a significantly higher percentage in trimetazidine versus placebo group (8.46 ± 18.64 vs. -2.49 ± 14.52, respectively. p = 0.015). Trimetazidine treatment resulted in a significant increase in LVGLS by 6.66% versus LVGLS reduction by 2.79% in placebo group (p = 0.004). Trimetazidine group had a significantly lower median mMRC dyspnea score compared to placebo (0 vs. 1, respectively, p = 0.015) and a significantly lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) (103.43 ± 28.31 vs. 125.34 ± 45.27, respectively, p = 0.032). There was no significant difference between both groups in levels of other biomarkers. Three-months treatment with trimetazidine improved diastolic function parameters, LVGLS, dyspnea severity and LDL-C levels in diabetic patients with diastolic dysfunction.