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  • Article
    Bachwenkizi J, Liu C, Meng X, Zhang L, Wang W, van Donkelaar A, Martin RV, Hammer MS, Chen R, Kan H.
    Environ Int. 2022 02;160:107053.
    BACKGROUND: Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure has been reported to adversely affect birth outcomes, but the evidence is limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We assessed the associations between maternal PM2.5 exposure and low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) in Africa.
    METHODS: We used standard Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data (2005-2015) from 15 countries in Africa to conduct a cross-sectional study. The study population was composed of 131,594 births with detailed information on maternal and household variables. LBW was defined as a birth weight of < 2500 g after 37 weeks, and PTB was defined as live birth occurring before 37 weeks of gestation. Average exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy was estimated using satellite-based models. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed, and analyses of data by region (Western, Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa) and data stratified by potential effect modifiers were conducted.
    RESULTS: A total of 13,214 (10%) LBW and 4,377 (3.3%) PTB cases were identified. An interquartile range (IQR) (33.9 μg/m3) increase in PM2.5 during pregnancy was associated with increased odds of LBW and PTB, with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.28 (95% CI: 1.23, 1.34) and 1.08 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.16), respectively. Region-specific analyses revealed significant associations between PM2.5 and LBW in all regions, and significant associations between PM2.5 and PTB in Western and Southern Africa. Subgroup analyses revealed that the association between PM2.5 and LBW was present in all subgroups, and stronger associations were observed in female infants, while the association between PM2.5 and PTB was larger in subgroups of older individuals living in urban areas.
    CONCLUSION: This multicountry study in Africa demonstrated significant associations between maternal exposure to PM2.5 and higher odds of LBW and PTB. Our findings may facilitate air quality control strategies that address adverse birth outcomes in LMICs.
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  • Article
    Pinilla I, Garcia-Martin E, Idoipe M, Sancho E, Fuertes I.
    J Ophthalmol. 2012;2012:107053.
    Purpose. To compare the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurements using two different ocular coherence tomography (OCT) devices: Cirrus Fourier domain OCT and Stratus time domain OCT. To analyze reproducibility of Fourier domain measurements in healthy subjects. Methods. One hundred and thirty-two eyes of 132 healthy subjects were scaned on the same day with both instruments, separated by 10 minutes from each other. Thickness of quadrant, average and the 12 different areas around the optic nerve were compared between Cirrus and Stratus. Repeatability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and coefficients of variation (COVs) were calculated in RNFL measurements provided by Fourier domain device. Results. The average thickness in the optic cube was 95.50 μm using Cirrus and 97.85 μm using Stratus. Average thickness and temporal quadrant showed significant differences using Cirrus and Stratus methods. Reproducibility was better with Fourier domain OCT (mean COV of 4.54%) than with Stratus time-domain OCT (mean COV of 5.57%). Conclusions. Both scan options give reproducible RNFL thickness measurement, but there are differences between them. Measurements obtained using Fourier domain device show better reproducibility.
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  • Article
    Archibald WJ, Baran AM, Williams AM, Salloum RM, Richard Burack W, Evans AG, Syposs CR, Zent CS.
    Leuk Res. 2023 05;128:107053.
    INTRODUCTION: Splenic B-cell lymphomas are rare and understudied entities. Splenectomy is frequently required for specific pathological diagnosis in patients with splenic B-cell lymphomas other than classical hairy cell leukemia (cHCL), and can be effective and durable therapy. Our study investigated the diagnostic and therapeutic role of splenectomy for non-cHCL indolent splenic B-cell lymphomas.
    METHODS: Observational study of patients with non-cHCL splenic B-cell lymphoma undergoing splenectomy between 1 August 2011 and 1 August 2021 at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The comparison cohort was patients categorized as having non-cHCL splenic B-cell lymphoma who did not undergo splenectomy.
    RESULTS: Forty-nine patients (median age 68 years) had splenectomy (SMZL n = 33, HCLv n = 9, SDRPL n = 7) with median follow up of 3.9 years post splenectomy. One patient had fatal post-operative complications. Post-operative hospitalization was ≤ 4 days for 61% and ≤ 10 days for 94% of patients. Splenectomy was initial therapy for 30 patients. Of the 19 patients who had previous medical therapy, splenectomy changed their lymphoma diagnosis in 5 (26%). Twenty-one patients without splenectomy were clinically categorized as having non-cHCL splenic B-cell lymphoma. Nine required medical treatment for progressive lymphoma and of these 3 (33%) required re-treatment for lymphoma progression compared to 16% of patients following first line splenectomy.
    CONCLUSION: Splenectomy is useful for the diagnosis of non-cHCL splenic B-cell lymphomas with comparable risk/benefit profile and remission duration to medical therapy. Patients with suspected non-cHCL splenic lymphomas should be considered for referral to a high-volume center with experience in performing splenectomies for definitive diagnosis and treatment.
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  • Article
    Ercelebi H, Ozbudak P, Hirfanoglu T, Serdaroğlu A, Yilmaz U, Arhan E.
    Epilepsy Res. 2022 12;188:107053.
    BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to examine the semiological features of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES) in children and to evaluate interobserver reliability (IR) of two different classifications. to identify the sources of any variance in agreement and to estimate the IR of the classification systems METHODS: Semiological features of 137 pediatric patients with PNES with and without epilepsy were analyzed. Two different, blinded observers evaluated these semiological features according to A. Asadi-Pooya and Seneviratne et al. classifications. The interobserver reliability was measured using a kappa (κ) coefficient for each PNES classification.
    RESULTS: The mean age of patients with PNES was 14.3 (SD: 2.9) years. Ninety five patients were female (69.3 %), 42 were male (30.6 %). Ictal eye closure (n:109, 79.5 %), was the most common seizure semiology. Asymmetric limb movements (n: 71, 51.8 %), motor phenomenon lasting> two minutes (n:69, 50.3 %), and closed mouth (n:53, 38.6 %) were other common seizure semiologies of PNES. Kappa value was higher in A. Asadi-Pooya classification than Seneviratne classification (k = 0.697 and k = 0.433; p < 0.05). Kappa values were higher in the motor and non-motor categories of A. Asadi-Pooya classification than in the mixed category (k = 0.713, k = 0.799 and k = 0.455; p < 0.05).
    CONCLUSION: The added value of the new classification scheme with respect to uniform application by experienced pediatric neurologists seems to be reliable and influential, as interobserver reliability of the new classification system was higher than the early classification. Our findings suggest that a simple but comprehensive classification would be useful in the management of PNES.
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  • Article
    Piolanti A, Foran HM.
    Prev Med. 2022 06;159:107053.
    Teen Psychological Dating Violence (TPDV) is a serious public health concern. However, there is limited evidence on the capacity of programs to prevent this form of violence. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs to evaluate the efficacy of prevention programs for TPDV. PsycINFO/Eric/PsycArticles, PubMed and Web of Science were searched from inception through January 2021 to identify RCTs of prevention programs for adolescents that reported a measure of TPDV. The effect sizes were computed as the difference between the prevention program and control group at post or follow-up assessment by calculating Hedges's g with a random-effect model. Thirteen trials met inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. There was a small but significant effect size in favor of the prevention group as compared to the control condition for victimization (g = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.10 to 0.37; p < 0.001) and perpetration (g = 0.24; 95% CI, 0.12 to 0.37; p < 0.001) of TPDV. Overall, the combined effect size for any TPDV perpetration/victimization was 0.22 (95% CI, 0.11 to 0.34; p < 0.001). Exploratory subgroup analysis showed that programs implemented at multiple levels (such as home, school, community) reported significantly larger effect sizes compared to single-level interventions. Significant differences in effect sizes were also associated with the type of scale used to assess TPDV. Current evidence suggests that intervention programs for TPDV may be effective, particularly when implemented at multiple levels. Further research focusing on refining tools to assess TPDV is needed.
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  • Article
    Kang B, Shin J, Kang D, Chang S, Rhyou C, Cho SW, Lee H.
    Ultrason Sonochem. 2024 Nov;110:107053.
    Ultrasound is gaining attention as an alternative tool to regulate chemical processes due to its advantages such as high cost-effectiveness, rapid response, and contact-free operation. Previous studies have demonstrated that acoustic bubble cavitation can generate energy to synthesize functional materials. In this study, we introduce a method to control the spatial distribution of physical and chemical properties of hydrogels by using an ultrasound-mediated particle manipulation technique. We developed a surface acoustic wave device that can localize micro-hydrogel particles, which are formed during gelation, in a hydrogel solution. The hydrogel fabricated with the application of surface acoustic waves exhibited gradients in mechanical, mass transport, and structural properties. We demonstrated that the gel having the property gradients could be utilized as a cell-culture substrate dictating cellular shapes, which is beneficial for interfacial tissue engineering. The acoustic method and fabricated hydrogels with property gradients can be applied to design flexible polymeric materials for soft robotics, biomedical sensors, or bioelectronics applications.
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  • Article
    Rowland BHP, Palfai TP, Simons JS, Maisto SA.
    Addict Behav. 2021 12;123:107053.
    INTRODUCTION: Heavy episodic drinking poses a risk for HIV-infection, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM). Previous research suggests implicit associations may play a role in heavy episodic drinking and that various executive functions (EF) may moderate the relation between implicit associations and heavy episodic drinking. This study investigated the role of two EF - working memory (maintaining and updating information) and response inhibition (inhibiting prepotent responses) - as moderators of the relation between implicit alcohol approach associations and heavy episodic drinking among moderate-to-heavy drinking MSM.
    METHODS: Two-hundred and fifty-one participants completed measures of implicit alcohol associations (the implicit alcohol approach association test - IAT), working memory, and response inhibition, as well as a self-report questionnaire assessing heavy episodic drinking. Regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the association between the IAT and heavy episodic drinking was moderated by working memory and response inhibition.
    RESULTS: Results showed that working memory moderated the relation between the alcohol IAT and heavy episodic drinking such that IAT alcohol approach scores were positively associated with heavy episodic drinking among those low in working memory but not those high in working memory. Response inhibition did not moderate the association between IAT scores and heavy episodic drinking.
    CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the relation between implicit alcohol approach associations and heavy episodic drinking is stronger among moderate-to-heavy drinking MSM with lower working memory capacity compared to those with higher working memory capacity, and these individuals may particularly benefit from alcohol intervention approaches that target automatic alcohol responses.
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  • Article
    Levison JH, Krane D, Donelan K, Aschbrenner K, Trieu HD, Chau C, Wilson A, Oreskovic NM, Irwin K, Iezzoni LI, Xie H, Samuels R, Silverman P, Batson J, Fathi A, Gamse S, Holland S, Wolfe J, Shellenberger K, Cella E, Bird B, Skotko BG, Bartels S.
    Contemp Clin Trials. 2023 02;125:107053.
    BACKGROUND: People with serious mental illness (SMI) and intellectual disabilities and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) living in group homes (GHs) and residential staff are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death compared with the general population.
    METHODS: We describe a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized trial to assess evidence-based infection prevention practices to prevent COVID-19 for residents with SMI or ID/DD and the staff in GHs. The trial will use a cluster randomized design in 400 state-funded GHs in Massachusetts for adults with SMI or ID/DD to compare effectiveness and implementation of "Tailored Best Practices" (TBP) consisting of evidence-based COVID-19 infection prevention practices adapted for residents with SMI and ID/DD and GH staff; to "General Best Practices" (GBP), consisting of required standard of care reflecting state and federal standard general guidelines for COVID-19 prevention in GHs. External (i.e., community-based research staff) and internal (i.e., GH staff leadership) personnel will facilitate implementation of TBP. The primary effectiveness outcome is incident SARS-CoV-2 infection and secondary effectiveness outcomes include COVID-19-related hospitalizations and mortality in GHs. The primary implementation outcomes are fidelity to TBP and rates of COVID-19 vaccination. Secondary implementation outcomes are adoption, adaptation, reach, and maintenance. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, and 15-months post-randomization.
    CONCLUSIONS: This study will advance knowledge on comparative effectiveness and implementation of two different strategies to prevent COVID-19-related infection, morbidity, and mortality and promote fidelity and adoption of these interventions in high-risk GHs for residents with SMI or ID/DD and staff.
    CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04726371.
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  • Article
    Xu J, Liu T, Shao Y, Liu Q, Zhang Z, Yuan Y, Zhang S, Wang Y, Sun L, Zhou S, Hao M, Xiu H, Xing X, Xing D.
    Microb Pathog. 2024 Dec;197:107053.
    Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by abdominal pain, diarrhea, and rectal bleeding. This study aims to explore the protective effects of a phage cocktail (108 PFU/mL of Clostridium perfringens phage, 108 PFU/mL of Escherichia coli phage, and 108 PFU/mL of Salmonella phage) on a mouse colitis model induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and its potential toxic effects on normal mice. The results demonstrate that the phage cocktail significantly alleviates clinical symptoms in mice, reduces colon shortening, weight loss, and colonic pathological damage. Furthermore, the phage cocktail markedly suppresses the inflammatory response and safeguards intestinal barrier integrity in the colonic tissues of the mouse colitis model. Preliminary investigation of the toxic effects of the phage cocktail in mice indicates that continuous administration for 14 days does not yield statistically significant differences in hematological and blood biochemical parameters, and specific pathological changes are absent in histopathological examination results. The aforementioned findings suggest that the phage cocktail exhibits anti-inflammatory and intestinal barrier protective effects in the mouse colitis model, and it does not exert significant toxic side effects on mice.
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  • Article
    Yodsawat P, Nuanpirom J, Sathapondecha P, Sangket U.
    Data Brief. 2021 Jun;36:107053.
    Banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) is an economically important shrimp in marine aquaculture. Although there is plenty of transcriptome research for this species, the molecular mechanisms in thoracic ganglia of banana shrimp during ovarian maturation have not yet been investigated. Here we report the transcriptomic data of female banana shrimp obtained from thoracic ganglia during ovarian developmental stages. The samples were collected from four stages of ovarian development with two individual shrimps per stage. Total RNA was extracted and used to prepare the sequencing library. Approximately 188 million pair-end raw reads, ranging from 21 to 31 million reads for each library, were generated using an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Quality control was applied to the raw reads before the assembly process. After de novo assembly, the final transcript assembly was generated by vector decontamination, coding regions prediction, redundancy reduction, and foreign sequence depletion. A total of 77,681 transcripts, ranging between 255 and 23,016 bp with an N50 value of 1,167 were obtained to the final assembly. Finally, the final transcripts assembly was evaluated by calculated assembly completeness with Arthropoda orthologous genes dataset. A total of 92.1% of Arthropoda orthologous genes were found in our final assembly. These data might provide benefits for gene discovery, gene annotation, transcript profiling, and other research topics in the context of banana shrimp.
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  • Article
    Burmeister M, Kerscher E.
    Ultrasonics. 2023 Sep;134:107053.
    High-frequency vibrations in the ultrasonic range influence the plasticity of metals during metal forming: there is stress and force reduction during ultrasonic treatment compared to metal forming without ultrasound. Different reasons for this behavior are discussed: a combination of stress superposition, energy absorption in dislocations, temperature increase, and frictional changes. This investigation shows the influence of partially superimposed ultrasonic vibrations with amplitudes in the range of ∼ 1.7to12 µm on the mean true stress reduction during compression test of the steels C15E and X6CrNiMoTi17-12-2 with diameters from 2 mm to 5 mm at a height/diameter ratio of one. Results show that the overall stress reduction is linearly proportional to acoustic energy or intensity for both investigated steels. The best-founded approximation of the size influence of the stress reduction is by the true diameter. In addition, an infrared camera and thermocouples were used to investigate and prove the temperature increase of the sample, which can occur at a magnitude of over 175 °C. The temperature increase due to the heating of ultrasound shows a sample size effect, too.
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  • Article
    Mendy A, Burcham S, Merianos AL, Mersha TB, Mahabee-Gittens EM, Chen A, Yolton K.
    Respir Med. 2022 12;205:107053.
    BACKGROUND: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are associated with adverse respiratory outcomes at high occupational exposures. However, whether exposure levels found in the general population have similar effects is unknown.
    METHODS: We analyzed data on 1342 adult participants in the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey aged ≥18 years old who had urinary VOC metabolites and spirometry measurements available. Linear regression models adjusting for covariates were fitted to estimate the associations of VOC exposures levels and spirometry outcomes, while accounting for survey design and sampling weights to generate nationally representative estimates.
    RESULTS: The urinary metabolites for xylene, acrylamide, acrolein, 1,3-butadiene, cyanide, toluene, 1-bromopropane, acrylonitrile, propylene oxide, styrene, ethylbenzene, and crotonaldehyde in our analysis were all detected in >75% of participants. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio % was lower with urinary metabolites of acrylamide (β: -2.65, 95% CI: -4.32, -0.98), acrylonitrile (β: -1.02, 95% CI: -2.01, -0.03), and styrene (β: -3.13, 95% CI: -5.35, -0.90). FEV1% predicted was lower with the urinary metabolites of acrolein (β: -7.77, 95% CI: -13.29, -2.25), acrylonitrile (β: -2.05, 95% CI: -3.77, -0.34), propylene oxide (β: -2.90, 95% CI: -5.50, -0.32), and styrene (β: -4.41, 95% CI: -6.97, -1.85).
    CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study of a representative sample of the U.S. adult population to reveal associations of acrylonitrile, propylene oxide, and styrene urinary metabolites with reduced lung function at non-occupational exposures. Results also support previous evidence of acrylamide and acrolein's association with adverse respiratory outcomes.
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  • Article
    Hermans N, de Zwaan R, Mulder A, van den Dool J, van Soolingen D, Kremer K, Anthony R.
    J Microbiol Methods. 2024 Dec;227:107053.
    Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) whole genome sequencing (WGS) turnaround time and WGS success rates are highly influenced by DNA extraction protocols even from cultures. Efficient mycobacterial lysis is crucial for obtaining sufficient DNA from cultures to facilitate reliable genomic drug susceptibility prediction and accurate genotyping with WGS. We compared four DNA extraction protocols from BD BACTEC™ Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tubes (MGIT) for WGS with a focus on the lysis step: protocol A) column-based protocol without mechanical lysis; protocol B) an adapted protocol including a bead beating step; protocol C) DNA extraction from primary received cultures using bead beating: and protocol D) DNA extraction from pre MGIT-positive (enriched) cultures. Protocol B increased DNA yield approximately 60-fold, and significantly improved the sequencing success rate. The increased yield also allowed DNA extraction from primary cultures with high success rates (protocol C). Additionally, by using pre-positive enriched MGIT cultures, we demonstrated that bead beating opens the possibility of reliable WGS up to five days before a MGIT tube would be flagged positive (protocol D). The most optimal bead beating-based DNA extraction was also evaluated for Nanopore sequencing. Shortening bead beating duration to 15 s resulted in longer read lengths (N50 from 1.4 kb to 2.6 kb) while still providing efficient lysis. Furthermore, AmpureXP bead beating-based DNA capture / purification proved to be as efficient as Qiagen column-based DNA extraction, further simplifying and shortening the DNA extraction protocol. Adding a mechanical lysis step to our routine MTBC DNA extraction protocol has allowed us to reduce the turnaround time while maintaining DNA quality sequencing success rates.
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  • Article
    Sun Y, Chen Z, Liu G, Chen X, Shi Z, Feng H, Yu L, Li G, Ding K, Huang H, Zhang Z, Xu S.
    Bioorg Chem. 2024 Feb;143:107053.
    Threonine tyrosine kinase (TTK) is a critical component of the spindle assembly checkpoint and plays a pivotal role in mitosis. TTK has been identified as a potential therapeutic target for human cancers. Here, we describe our design, synthesis and evaluation of a class of covalent TTK inhibitors, exemplified by 16 (SYL1073). Compound 16 potently inhibits TTK kinase with an IC50 of 0.016 μM and displays improved selectivity in a panel of kinases. Mass spectrometry analysis reveals that 16 covalently binds to the C604 cysteine residue in the hinge region of the TTK kinase domain. Furthermore, 16 achieves strong potency in inhibiting the growth of various human cancer cell lines, outperforming its relative reversible inhibitor, and eliciting robust downstream effects. Taken together, compound 16 provides a valuable lead compound for further optimization toward the development of drug for treatment of human cancers.
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  • Article
    Chen Y, Wang J, Huang Y, Wu J, Wang Y, Chen A, Guo Q, Zhang Y, Zhang S, Wang L, Zou X, Li X.
    Pharmacol Res. 2024 Jan;199:107053.
    INTRODUCTION: Hypoxia is one of the important reasons for the poor therapeutic efficacy of current pancreatic cancer treatment, and the dense stroma of pancreatic cancer restricts the diffusion of oxygen within the tumor.
    METHODS: A responsive oxygen-self-supplying adv-miRT-CAT-KR (adv-MCK) cascade reaction system to improve hypoxia in pancreatic cancer is constructed. We utilized various experiments at multiple levels (cells, organoids, in vivo) to investigate its effect on pancreatic cancer and analyzed the role of immune microenvironment changes in it through high-throughput sequencing.
    RESULTS: The adv-MCK system is an oncolytic adenovirus system expressing three special components of genes. The microRNA (miRNA) targets (miRTs) enable adv-MCK to selectively replicate in pancreatic cancer cells. Catalase catalyzes the overexpressed hydrogen peroxide in pancreatic cancer cells to generate endogenous oxygen, which is catalyzed by killerRed to generate singlet oxygen (1O2) and further to enhance the oncolytic effect. Meanwhile, the adv-MCK system can specifically improve hypoxia in pancreatic cancer, exert antitumor effects in combination with photodynamic therapy, and activate antitumor immunity, especially by increasing the level of γδ T cells in the tumor microenvironment.
    CONCLUSION: The responsive oxygen-self-supplying adv-MCK cascade reaction system combined with photodynamic therapy can improve the hypoxic microenvironment of pancreatic cancer and enhance antitumor immunity, which provides a promising alternative treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer.
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  • Article
    Wei Y, Chen H, Yu B, Jia C, Cong X, Cong L.
    Comput Biol Med. 2023 08;162:107053.
    Raman spectroscopy (RS) optical technology promises non-destructive and fast application in medical disease diagnosis in a single step. However, achieving clinically relevant performance levels remains challenging due to the inability to search for significant Raman signals at different scales. Here we propose a multi-scale sequential feature selection method that can capture global sequential features and local peak features for disease classification using RS data. Specifically, we utilize the Long short-term memory network (LSTM) module to extract global sequential features in the Raman spectra, as it can capture long-term dependencies present in the Raman spectral sequences. Meanwhile, the attention mechanism is employed to select local peak features that were ignored before and are the key to distinguishing different diseases. Experimental results on three public and in-house datasets demonstrate the superiority of our model compared with state-of-the-art methods for RS classification. In particular, our model achieves an accuracy of 97.9 ± 0.2% on the COVID-19 dataset, 76.3 ± 0.4% on the H-IV dataset, and 96.8 ± 1.9% on the H-V dataset.
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  • Article
    Boyle C, Lansdorp PM, Edelstein-Keshet L.
    iScience. 2023 Jul 21;26(7):107053.
    How many times does a typical hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) divide to maintain a daily production of over 1011 blood cells over a human lifetime? It has been predicted that relatively few, slowly dividing HSCs occupy the top of the hematopoietic hierarchy. However, tracking HSCs directly is extremely challenging due to their rarity. Here, we utilize previously published data documenting the loss of telomeric DNA repeats in granulocytes, to draw inferences about HSC division rates, the timing of major changes in those rates, as well as lifetime division totals. Our method uses segmented regression to identify the best candidate representations of the telomere length data. Our method predicts that, on average, an HSC divides 56 times over an 85-year lifespan (with lower and upper bounds of 36 and 120, respectively), with half of these divisions during the first 24 years of life.
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  • Article
    Li J, Li H, Zhang C, Zhang C, Wang H.
    Int Immunopharmacol. 2020 Dec;89(Pt A):107053.
    Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is the most common histologic type of smoking-related non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there are no identified potential biomarkers for smoking-related LUSC diagnosis and prognosis. Especially, the characteristics of genetic alteration and tumor microenvironment induced by cigarette smoking remain unknown. Here, we performed integrative analysis of 463 LUSC with smoking history information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Non-smokers had the best prognosis, and current reformed smokers had better overall survival (OS) than current smokers in all and stage I-II cohort. Then, pathway enrichment analysis might suggest that smoking may play a role in regulating tumor metabolism and invasion and metastasis via those pathways. We constructed an eight-gene signature and identified WNT7A, Solute carrier-7A5 (SLC7A5) and Brain‑type glycogen phosphorylase (PYGB), which may be served as biomarkers related to the smoking. Notably, the single copy deletion of WNT7A and SLC17A5 and the low-level amplification of PYGB may be related to the epigenetic mechanism of smoking on tumorigenesis. We also estimated the relative proportion of 24 immune cell subtypes within tumor microenvironment in different smoking status. Interestingly, we found NK cells activated, NK cells resting and endothelial cells might play an important role in immunologic dysfunction and harmful tumor microenvironment induced by cigarette smoking. Our research has identified potential biomarkers for smoking-related LUSC diagnosis and prognosis, which would help to further understand the pathogenesis of LUSC.
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  • Article
    Fernández B, Vidal-Liñán L, Bellas J, Campillo JA, Chaves-Pozo E, Albentosa M.
    Aquat Toxicol. 2024 Oct;275:107053.
    Lately, the role of microplastics (MP) as vectors for dissolved contaminants and as vehicle for their transfer to aquatic organisms has received attention. Similarly to MP, other inorganic and organic particles may act as passive samplers. However, limited comparative knowledge exists at this respect. In the present study we have comparatively investigated the risk for mussel of MP and the pesticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) alone and in combination with MP and phytoplankton particles of microalgae (MP-CPF and MA-CPF, respectively). We selected MP and microalgae of similar size to expose mussel to the same volume of particles (≈1.5 mm3L-1 ≈ equivalent to 1.5 mg MP L-1) and the same concentration of contaminant (CPF, 7.6 μg L-1). MP were virgin HDPE microparticles (≤10 μm) while the microalgae species was Isochrisis galbana (4-8 μm). Mussels were exposed for 21 days to MP, CPF, MP-CPF and MA-CPF. Then, a suite of neurotoxicity, oxidative stress and oxidative damage biomarkers were measured in samples collected at day 7 and 21. Additionally, these biochemical markers were assessed in an integrated manner with others measured at physiological, immune and cell component level in the same organisms, previously published. Overall, MP did not elicit significant alterations on the majority of parameters measured. In contrast, mussels exposed to CPF, MA-CPF and MP-CPF showed evidence of neurotoxicity and oxidant imbalance at day 7, added to a detrimental physiological condition and immune imbalance at day 21. At the latter time MP-CPF mussels showed greater alterations than CPF or MA-CPF mussels. This suggested a synergistic toxicity of MP combined with CPF greater than that produced by the contaminants alone (MP or CPF) or by MA combined with CPF.
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