Control of toxicity of fine particulate matter emissions in China.

Fine particulate matter (particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less; PM) causes millions of premature deaths globally, but not all particles are equally harmful. Current air-pollution control strategies, prioritizing PM mass reduction, have provided considerable health benefits but further refinements based on differences in the toxicity of various emission sources may provide greater benefits.

Utility of Computed Tomography Imaging in Assessing Soleus Muscle Viability for Flap Coverage.

Background: The use of soleus muscle flaps for traumatic middle-third injuries to the lower leg can have variable viability, as there is no standardized way to evaluate the muscle before flap selection. This case series investigated both the utility and accuracy of computed tomography angiogram (CTA) imaging in determining the viability of the soleus muscle for reconstructive use after traumatic injuries of the lower extremity.

Methods: An international review board-approved retrospective chart review was conducted of patients who underwent lower extremity soleus-based flap reconstruction by a single surgeon from January 2020 to December 2022.

Clinical Outcomes of Perioperative Immunotherapy in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for 40% to 45% of new diagnoses. Despite the adoption of perioperative chemoimmunotherapy, clinical data on its use and outcomes remain limited.

Objective: To evaluate clinical practice patterns and outcomes associated with neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy use in patients with resectable stage II to IIIA NSCLC.

Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Basal/Correctional Vs Basal/Bolus/Correctional Insulin Regimens in Medical Intensive Care Unit Patients Receiving Continuous Enteral Nutrition.

Background: While glycemic control is essential in critically ill patients, the optimal insulin regimen for patients receiving continuous enteral nutrition (CEN) is unknown.

Objective: This study compares glycemic control in basal/correctional vs basal/bolus/correctional insulin regimens in intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving CEN.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients ≥18 years old, admitted to the medical critical care service with administration of CEN and ≥20 units of insulin detemir daily for ≥48 hours.

Dark Personality Traits and Situational Factors in Social Media Addiction: Insights From Turkish Users.

Social media addiction (SMA) has become a global phenomenon, affecting individuals worldwide. It has adverse effects not only on those who are addicted but also on those related to them. This study examines the relationship between Dark Tetrad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) and SMA in Türkiye, a typical collectivist society.

Sand and dust storms: a growing global health threat calls for international health studies to support policy action.

Sand and dust storms increasingly threaten global environmental and public health. To date, 150 countries are directly affected, with more than 100 classified as non-dust source regions. With climate change, these storms are expected to become more frequent and severe.

Menopause in adult women with human papillomavirus: health-related quality of life and determinants.

Objective: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and menopause entail a considerable impairment in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The objective of the present study was to analyze the impact of the menopause status on HRQoL in women with HPV infection.

Methods: A cross-sectional, nationwide, multicenter sample of women with HPV infection was conducted throughout clinics of gynecology representative of the Spanish population with regard to age, geographic density, and autonomous regions.

A-Kinase-Anchoring Protein Subtypes Differentially Regulate GPCR Signaling and Function in Human Airway Smooth Muscle.

AKAPs (A-kinase-anchoring proteins) act as scaffold proteins that anchor the regulatory subunits of the cAMP-dependent PKA (protein kinase A) to coordinate and compartmentalize signaling elements and signals downstream of Gs-coupled GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors). The βAR (β-2-adrenoceptor), as well as the Gs-coupled EP2 and EP4 (E-prostanoid) receptor subtypes of the EP receptor subfamily, are effective regulators of multiple airway smooth muscle (ASM) cell functions whose dysregulation contributes to asthma pathobiology. Here, we identify specific roles of the AKAPs Ezrin and Gravin in differentially regulating PKA substrates downstream of the βAR, EP2R (EP2 receptor) and EP4R.

Investigating hair cues as a mechanism underlying Black women's intersectional invisibility.

Children psychologically exclude Black women from their representations of women, but the mechanisms underlying this marginalization remain unclear. Across two studies ( = 129; 49 boys, 78 girls, two gender unreported; 79 White, 27 Black, six Latinx, five Asian, and 12 unreported), the present work tests hair texture as one possible perceptual mechanism by which this might occur. In both studies, children gender-categorized Black, White, and Asian men and women using MouseTracker.

A framework for evaluating clinical artificial intelligence systems without ground-truth annotations.

A clinical artificial intelligence (AI) system is often validated on data withheld during its development. This provides an estimate of its performance upon future deployment on data in the wild; those currently unseen but are expected to be encountered in a clinical setting. However, estimating performance on data in the wild is complicated by distribution shift between data in the wild and withheld data and the absence of ground-truth annotations.

A Machine Learning-Driven Virtual Biopsy System For Kidney Transplant Patients.

In kidney transplantation, day-zero biopsies are used to assess organ quality and discriminate between donor-inherited lesions and those acquired post-transplantation. However, many centers do not perform such biopsies since they are invasive, costly and may delay the transplant procedure. We aim to generate a non-invasive virtual biopsy system using routinely collected donor parameters.

Automatically pre-screening patients for the rare disease aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency using knowledge engineering, natural language processing, and machine learning on a large EHR population.

Objectives: Electronic health record (EHR) data may facilitate the identification of rare diseases in patients, such as aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (AADCd), an autosomal recessive disease caused by pathogenic variants in the dopa decarboxylase gene. Deficiency of the AADC enzyme results in combined severe reductions in monoamine neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. This leads to widespread neurological complications affecting motor, behavioral, and autonomic function.

MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Semi-Quantification of Topically Delivered Lactic Acid.

Background: Lactic acid is a common active ingredient in many topical skincare products; however, measuring its delivery into the skin is challenging due to the presence of a large level of endogenous lactic acid. In this study, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) was used to quantitatively and qualitatively measure the delivery of lactic acid into the skin from a range of topical skincare products.

Materials And Methods: Porcine skin samples were treated with various skincare products containing lactic acid.

Approach to machine learning for extraction of real-world data variables from electronic health records.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance with breakthroughs in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML), such as the development of models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, new opportunities are emerging for efficient curation of electronic health records (EHR) into real-world data (RWD) for evidence generation in oncology. Our objective is to describe the research and development of industry methods to promote transparency and explainability. We applied NLP with ML techniques to train, validate, and test the extraction of information from unstructured documents (e.

Incorrect analysis in "Effects of the application of a food processing-based classification system in obese women: A randomized controlled pilot study" has resulted in incorrect conclusions of demonstrated effects where no such effects have been demonstrated.

In their 2023 paper "Effects of the application of a food processing-based classification system in obese women: A randomized controlled pilot study", Giacomello et al. investigated the effects of an educational intervention based on the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population among obese women. The authors concluded that the intervention significantly improved weight loss, quality of life, components of metabolic syndrome, and pain.

Reversal of trends in global fine particulate matter air pollution.

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is the world's leading environmental health risk factor. Quantification is needed of regional contributions to changes in global PM exposure. Here we interpret satellite-derived PM estimates over 1998-2019 and find a reversal of previous growth in global PM air pollution, which is quantitatively attributed to contributions from 13 regions.

Deceased Donor Kidney Nonuse: A Systematic Approach to Improvement.

Unlabelled: A large number of procured kidneys continue not to be transplanted, while the waiting list remains high.

Methods: We analyzed donor characteristics for unutilized kidneys in our large organ procurement organization (OPO) service area in a single year to determine the reasonableness of their nonuse and to identify how we might increase the transplant rate of these kidneys. Five experienced local transplant physicians independently reviewed unutilized kidneys to identify which kidneys they would consider transplanting in the future.

Replication of Real-World Evidence in Oncology Using Electronic Health Record Data Extracted by Machine Learning.

Meaningful real-world evidence (RWE) generation requires unstructured data found in electronic health records (EHRs) which are often missing from administrative claims; however, obtaining relevant data from unstructured EHR sources is resource-intensive. In response, researchers are using natural language processing (NLP) with machine learning (ML) techniques (i.e.

Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review.

National ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are critical tools for controlling air pollution and protecting public health. We designed this study to 1) gather the NAAQS for six classical air pollutants: PM, PM, O, NO, SO, and CO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries, 2) compare those with the updated World Health Organizations Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQGs 2021), 3) estimate the potential health benefits of achieving annual PM NAAQS and WHO AQGs per country, and 4) gather the information on air quality policies and action plans in the EMR countries. To gather information on the NAAQS, we searched several bibliographic databases, hand-searched the relevant papers and reports, and analysed unpublished data on NAAQS in the EMR countries reported from these countries to the WHO/Regional office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment Unit (WHO/EMR/CHE).

Hemodilution in pediatric trauma: Defining the expected hemoglobin changes in patients with liver and/or spleen injury: An ATOMAC+ secondary analysis.

Background: Many children with blunt liver and/or spleen injury (BLSI) never bleed intraperitoneally. Despite this, decreases in hemoglobin are common. This study examines initial and follow up measured hemoglobin values for children with BLSI with and without evidence of intra-abdominal bleeding.

Aminoglycoside-induced lipotoxicity and its reversal in kidney on chip.

Aminoglycosides are an important class of antibiotics that play a critical role in the treatment of life-threatening infections, but their use is limited by their toxicity. In fact, gentamicin causes severe nephrotoxicity in 17% of hospitalized patients. The kidney proximal tubule is particularly vulnerable to drug-induced nephrotoxicity due to its role in drug transport.