FXR adapts hepatic mitochondrial function to increased substrate oxidation in patients with obesity.

Metabolic pressure shifts signaling pathways of nuclear receptors, including the bile acid receptor FXR, which are sensitive to nutritional inputs. We performed an FXR ChIP-seq-centered multiomic analysis of liver biopsy samples from individuals with or without obesity, who were treated with either placebo or the FXR agonist obeticholic acid, to define metabolic adaptions of FXR signaling pathways. FXR occupied substantially more DNA binding sites in individuals with obesity, and FXR activation by OCA robustly changed the transcriptional output.

The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics.

Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding US$1·5 trillion annually. These impacts fall disproportionately upon low-income and at-risk populations.

The food-associated resistome is shaped by processing and production environments.

Food production systems may act as transmission routes for antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria and AMR genes (AMRGs) to humans. However, the food resistome remains poorly characterized. Here 1,780 raw-material (milk, brine, fresh meat and so on), end-product (cheese, fish, meat products and vegetables) and surface (processing, cooling, smoking, ripening and packing rooms) samples from 113 food processing facilities were subjected to whole-metagenome sequencing.

A Hazard-Based Approach Enables the Efficient Identification of Chemicals of Concern in Plastics.

Plastics are composed of complex chemical mixtures, resulting in many chemicals being released during plastic's life cycle, alongside a range of actual or potential impacts on human health and the environment. Many plastic chemicals also hinder technological solutions toward a safe and sustainable circular economy. Hence, there is broad agreement to address so-called plastic chemicals of concern, including under the Global Plastics Treaty.

Distinct lactate utilization strategies drive niche differentiation between two co-existing Megasphaera species in the rumen microbiome.

Lactate utilization mitigates rumen acidosis and is associated with decreased methane production in the rumen. While several lactate utilization pathways exist across different microbial species in the rumen, how they are metabolically differentiated remains unclear. Here, we show that the key lactate-utilizing species Megasphaera hexanoica and Megasphaera elsdenii display distinct growth strategies based on their fermentative end products.

CT-Guided Percutaneous Intervention: Reduction of Metal Needle Artifact with Low Atomic Number Materials in Phantom and Porcine Models.

Purpose: To determine whether needle-tip artifact can be reduced by replacing stainless steel stylets with lower atomic number materials.

Materials And Methods: A soft tissue phantom and deceased porcine model (kidney, liver, and lung) were used to analyze computed tomography (CT) beam-hardening artifact with different stylet materials. Carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium, nitinol, stainless steel, copper, brass, and molybdenum were used in the phantom, and aluminum and stainless steel in the porcine model.

Food contact articles as source of micro- and nanoplastics: a systematic evidence map.

Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) in foodstuffs lead to widespread human exposure and are often linked to environmental contamination. However, the role of plastics in food contact articles (FCAs) has received less attention, despite being a known source. Thus, we compiled a systematic evidence map of MNPs present in foodstuffs in contact with all types of plastic FCAs.

Severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is associated with a higher risk of complications after first decompensation than other aetiologies of cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) causes/predisposes to advanced chronic liver disease. However, the role of the Pi∗ZZ genotype in patients with decompensated cirrhosis is unclear. Thus, we evaluated the impact of the Pi∗ZZ genotype on the disease course after the first hepatic decompensation event.

Accuracy and reproducibility of a single-pose image-to-robot registration method for mobile C-arm cone beam CT guided histotripsy.

Purpose: Histotripsy is a focal tumor therapy that utilizes focused ultrasound (US) to mechanically destroy tissue. To overcome visualization limitations of diagnostic US-guidance, C-arm cone beam CT (CBCT)-guided histotripsy is being developed, for which a mobile C-arm could increase accessibility. CBCT-guided histotripsy uses a phantom with a helical fiducial pattern to determine the CBCT-to-histotripsy robot coordinate transformation.

The type of food influences the behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes in a food-gastrointestinal-infection model.

Food contaminated with Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is the main source of human listeriosis, but how different food matrices affect the survival and invasion in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is still unclear. This study examined three ready-to-eat foods - soft-cheese, smoked salmon, and sausage - using a food-GI-infection model.

Force Volume Atomic Force Microscopy-Infrared for Simultaneous Nanoscale Chemical and Mechanical Spectromicroscopy.

Photothermal atomic force microscopy-infrared (AFM-IR) combines the nanoscale spatial resolution of AFM with the chemical identification capability of infrared spectroscopy and has thrived in various applications. Currently executed in three major AFM modes (contact, tapping, and peak force tapping) we introduce a fourth variant built upon force volume mode comprising a defined engage, hold, and retract segment in each pixel. IR laser pulsing at a probe resonance frequency during the constant-force hold segment duplicates the resonance-enhanced AFM-IR detection principle of contact mode.

Plastic chemicals disrupt molecular circadian rhythms via adenosine 1 receptor in vitro.

The adenosine 1 receptor (AR) is a G protein-coupled receptor that transduces signals to regulate sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms. Plastic products contain thousands of chemicals, known to disrupt physiological function. Recent research has demonstrated that some of these chemicals are also AR agonists, however, the extent to which such activation propagates downstream and results in cellular alterations remains unknown.

AutoFRS: an externally validated, annotation-free approach to computational preoperative complication risk stratification in pancreatic surgery - an experimental study.

Background: The risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF), one of the most dreaded complications after pancreatic surgery, can be predicted from preoperative imaging and tabular clinical routine data. However, existing studies suffer from limited clinical applicability due to a need for manual data annotation and a lack of external validation. We propose AutoFRS (automated fistula risk score software), an externally validated end-to-end prediction tool for POPF risk stratification based on multimodal preoperative data.

Technique selection and technical developments for 2D dual-energy subtraction angiography on an interventional C-arm.

Background: Dual-energy (DE) x-ray image acquisition has the potential to provide material-specific angiographic images in the interventional suite. This approach can be implemented with novel detector technologies, such as dual-layer and photon-counting detectors. Alternatively, DE imaging can be implemented on existing systems using fast kV-switching.

Can surgeons trust AI? Perspectives on machine learning in surgery and the importance of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).

Purpose: This brief report aims to summarize and discuss the methodologies of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and their potential applications in surgery.

Methods: We briefly introduce explainability methods, including global and individual explanatory features, methods for imaging data and time series, as well as similarity classification, and unraveled rules and laws.

Results: Given the increasing interest in artificial intelligence within the surgical field, we emphasize the critical importance of transparency and interpretability in the outputs of applied models.

Calibration correction to improve registration during cone-beam CT guided histotripsy.

Background: Histotripsy is a non-invasive, non-ionizing, non-thermal focused ultrasound technique. High amplitude short acoustic pulses converge to create high negative pressures that cavitate endogenous gas into a bubble cloud leading to mechanical tissue destruction. In the United States, histotripsy is approved to treat liver tumors under diagnostic ultrasound guidance but in initial clinical cases, some areas of the liver have not been treated due to bone or gas obstructing the acoustic window for targeting.

Evaluation of targeting accuracy of cone beam CT guided histotripsy in an porcine model.

Purpose: The application of histotripsy, an emerging noninvasive, non-ionizing, and non-thermal tumor treatment, is currently limited by the inherent limitations of diagnostic ultrasound as the sole targeting modality. This study evaluates the feasibility and accuracy of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) guidance for histotripsy treatments in an porcine model.

Materials And Methods: Histotripsy treatments were performed in the liver of seven healthy swine under the guidance of a C-arm CBCT system that was calibrated to the robotic arm of the histotripsy system.

Introducing and Validating the Multiphasic Evidential Decision-Making Matrix (MedMax) for Clinical Management in Patients with Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

Despite the significant advancements of liver surgery in the last few decades, the survival rate of patients with liver and pancreatic cancers has improved by only 10% in 30 years. Precision medicine offers a patient-centered approach, which, when combined with machine learning, could enhance decision making and treatment outcomes in surgical management of ihCC. This study aims to develop a decision support model to optimize treatment strategies for patients with ihCC, a prevalent primary liver cancer.

Listeria monocytogenes colonises established multispecies biofilms and resides within them without altering biofilm composition or gene expression.

Listeria (L.) monocytogenes can survive for extended periods in the food producing environment. Here, biofilms possibly provide a niche for long-term survival due to their protective nature against environmental fluctuations and disinfectants.

Histotripsy of the Proximal Ureter and Renal Pelvis: Evaluation of Urothelial Injury in a Porcine Survival Model.

Purpose: To evaluate the response of the ureter and renal pelvis to direct targeting by histotripsy guided by cone-beam computed tomography (CT) in a human-scale porcine chronic-survival model.

Materials And Methods: Bilateral ureteral histotripsy treatments were completed on 6 female swine (n = 12). Animals were divided into 2 groups: (a) acute (n = 2 animals, 4 treatments, sacrificed at Day 0) and (b) chronic (n = 4 animals, 8 treatments, sacrificed at Day 7 [n = 2] and Day 28 [n = 2]).

Assessment of hemodynamic parameters by PiCCO and PAC in patients treated with the Impella CP.

In 28 patients supported by an Impella pump (Impella CP, Abiomed Inc., Danvers, MA), hemodynamic measurements by PiCCO (PULSION Medical Systems SE, Feldkirchen, Germany) and pulmonary artery catheter (PAC or Swan-Ganz Catheter; Edwards Lifescience, Unterschleissheim, Germany) were compared. There was a significant positive correlation of cardiac output (CO;  = 0.

Photothermal AFM-IR Depth Sensitivity: An Original Pathway to Tomographic Reconstruction.

Photothermal atomic force microscopy-infrared (AFM-IR) enables label-free chemical imaging and spectroscopy with nanometer-scale spatial resolution through the integration of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and infrared radiation. The capability for subsurface and three-dimensional (3D) tomographic material analysis remains, however, largely unexplored. Here, we establish a simple and robust empirical relationship between the probing depth and laser repetition rate for three important modes of AFM-IR operation: resonance-enhanced, tapping, and surface-sensitive AFM-IR.

Chemical composition of anti-microbially active fractions derived from extract of filamentous fungus Keratinophyton Lemmensii including three novel bioactive compounds.

Screening for new bioactive microbial metabolites, we found a novel okaramine derivative, for which we propose the trivial name lemmokaramine, as well as two already known okaramine congeners - okaramine H and okaramine J - responsible for antimicrobial activity of the recently described microscopic filamentous fungus, Keratinophyton lemmensii BiMM-F76 (= CCF 6359). In addition, two novel substances, a new cyclohexyl denominated lemmensihexol and a new tetrahydroxypyrane denominated lemmensipyrane, were purified and characterized. The compounds were isolated from the culture extract of the fungus grown on modified yeast extract sucrose medium by means of flash chromatography followed by preparative HPLC.