Transport-based transfer learning on Electronic Health Records: application to detection of treatment disparities.

Objectives: Electronic Health Records (EHRs) sampled from different populations can introduce unwanted biases, limit individual-level data sharing, and make the data and fitted model hardly transferable across different population groups. In this context, our main goal is to design an effective method to transfer knowledge between population groups, with computable guarantees for suitability, and that can be applied to quantify treatment disparities.

Materials And Methods: For a model trained in an embedded feature space of one subgroup, our proposed framework, Optimal Transport-based Transfer Learning for EHRs (OTTEHR), combines feature embedding of the data and unbalanced optimal transport (OT) for domain adaptation to another population group.

Engineering natural microbial communities: harnessing synthetic communities for bioremediation.

Microbial bioremediation, a technology using microbial metabolism to degrade or transform environmental pollutants, has garnered significant attention in recent years due to its eco-friendly and cost-effective advantages. In comparison with traditional single-strain-based bioremediation, microbial communities can remarkably enhance bioremediation. However, natural microbial communities are not optimally structured for bioremediation purposes.

Evolution of geochemical processes driven by hydrogeological processes in the hierarchically nested groundwater flow system in the Ordos Basin, China.

In large basins in arid and semi-arid regions, hierarchically nested groundwater flow systems are generally formed. Due to the great thickness of aquifers, the depth and number of boreholes are limited, which makes understanding the evolution of hydrogeochemical processes in hierarchically nested groundwater flow systems challenging. This study reveals the evolutionary mechanisms of geochemical processes driven by hydrogeological processes in the thick aquifer in the endorheic region of the Ordos Basin, China, based on samples collected stratified from deep boreholes in the recharge and discharge zones, combined with samples from domestic and artesian wells.

Liver transcriptome analysis reveals genes and pathways involved in the ovarian development in spotted scat (Scatophagus argus).

Scatophagus argus is a highly valuable aquaculture fish. Its artificial breeding faces problems in the induction of high quality eggs, thus necessitating studies on the regulation of ovarian development. As the centre of nutrient metabolism in fish, the liver provides the material basis for ovarian development.

PuUBL5-mediated ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 1 stability is critical for root development under drought stress in Populus ussuriensis.

C2H2-type zinc finger protein (ZFP) transcription factors influence root growth and development. However, their potential roles in inhibiting adventitious root (AR) and lateral root (LR) formation in trees remain unclear. Here, we report that the ABA-responsive C2H2-type zinc finger protein transcription factor (PuZFP1) regulates Populus ussuriensis root development to enhance drought tolerance.

Molecular Insights Into Salt Stress Adaptation in Plants.

The significant rise in soil salinity has had detrimental effects on global agricultural production, negatively impacting overall plant health and leading to a decline in productivity. As a protective response, plants have developed diverse regulatory mechanisms to counteract these adverse conditions. The mechanisms help mitigate damage caused by both osmotic and ionic stress resulting from high salinity.

Comparison of gastric microbiota in patients with different gastric lesions in high and low risk areas of gastric cancer.

Background: Variation in gastric cancer (GC) incidence across different geographic areas persists, even when there are similar prevalence rates of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. An extensive examination of the gastric microbiota in populations from both high- and low-risk regions of GC could help explain the geographical disparities in GC incidence.

The Mediation Role of Insulin Resistance and Chronic Systemic Inflammation in the Association Between Obesity and NAFLD: Two Cross-Sectional and a Mendelian Randomization Study.

Purpose: We aimed to identify the association between obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to quantify the mediating effects of insulin resistance (IR) and chronic inflammation through observational studies and Mendelian randomization (MR).

Patients And Methods: In the current study, three IR-related indicators and three indicators of inflammation were included. The individual and combined mediated effects of IR and inflammation in the association between obesity and NAFLD were investigated in two cross-sectional studies, the Fuqing Cohort from China and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Characterizing Public Sentiments and Drug Interactions in the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Social Media: Natural Language Processing and Network Analysis.

Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic has induced massive discussion of available medications on social media, traditional studies focused only on limited aspects, such as public opinions, and endured reporting biases, inefficiency, and long collection times.

Objective: Harnessing drug-related data posted on social media in real-time can offer insights into how the pandemic impacts drug use and monitor misinformation. This study aimed to develop a natural language processing (NLP) pipeline tailored for the analysis of social media discourse on COVID-19-related drugs.

Short-chain fatty acids mediate gut microbiota-brain communication and protect the blood-brain barrier integrity.

The human gut, with a complex community of microbes, is essential for maintaining overall health. This gut microbiota engages in two-way communication with the central nervous system, collectively known as the gut microbiota-brain axis. Alterations in gut microbiota have been associated with various neurological disorders, and disruptions to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) may be crucial, though the exact mechanisms remain unknown.

Inpatient preferences among patients with multiple chronic conditions in China: A discrete choice experiment.

Background: Multiple chronic conditions (MCC) have become a leading cause of low vitality and high mortality among the Chinese population. Although a series of policies has been implemented to promote patients' rational access to health care, patients still prefer a higher level of inpatient service, hampering the efficient utilization of resources in county hospitals, which are the first point of contact for inpatient care. Thus, this study aimed to identify the factors that affect MCC patients' inpatient preferences and the extent to which these factors influence their decisions, thereby guiding inpatient service utilization among MCC patients.

Analysis of longitudinal social media for monitoring symptoms during a pandemic.

Objective: Current studies leveraging social media data for disease monitoring face challenges like noisy colloquial language and insufficient tracking of user disease progression in longitudinal data settings. This study aims to develop a pipeline for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing large-scale longitudinal social media data for disease monitoring, with a focus on COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials And Methods: This pipeline initiates by screening COVID-19 cases from tweets spanning February 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022.

Ultralong waveguide grating antenna enabled by evanescent field modulation: publisher's note.

This publisher's note contains a correction to Opt. Lett.47, 5397 (2022)10.

A brain-to-text framework for decoding natural tonal sentences.

Speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) directly translate brain activity into speech sound and text. Despite successful applications in non-tonal languages, the distinct syllabic structures and pivotal lexical information conveyed through tonal nuances present challenges in BCI decoding for tonal languages like Mandarin Chinese. Here, we designed a brain-to-text framework to decode Mandarin sentences from invasive neural recordings.

The association between abdominal obesity and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: Evidence from national and regional communities.

Background: The association between body shape and depressive symptoms has been reported in adults. The present study aimed to investigate the association between body shape-specific abdominal obesity and depressive symptoms among multi-regional Asian adults.

Methods: The 2011-2012 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and 2022-2023 Hangzhou study were used as the discovery and validation datasets, respectively.

Enhancement and Predictable Guidance of Coalescence-Induced Droplet Jumping on V-Shaped Superhydrophobic Surfaces with a Ridge.

Coalescence-induced droplet jumping has attracted significant attention in recent years. However, achieving a high jumping velocity while predictably regulating the jumping direction of the merged droplets by simple superhydrophobic structures remains a challenge. In this work, a novel V-shaped superhydrophobic surface with a ridge is conceived for enhanced and predictably guided coalescence-induced droplet jumping.

A novel role of AURKA kinase in erythroblast enucleation.

Generation of mammalian red blood cells requires the expulsion of polarized nuclei late in terminal erythroid differentiation. However, the mechanisms by which spherical erythroblasts determine the direction of nuclear polarization and maintain asymmetry during nuclear expulsion are poorly understood. Given the analogy of erythroblast enucleation to asymmetric cell division and the key role of Aurora kinases in mitosis, we sought to investigate the function of Aurora kinases in erythroblast enucleation.

PEPCK Mediates Florfenicol Resistance through Lysine Succinylation Modification.

Protein succinylation modification is a common post-translational modification (PTM) that plays an important role in bacterial metabolic regulation. In this study, quantitative analysis was conducted on the succinylated proteome of wild-type and florfenicol-resistant to investigate the mechanism of succinylation regulating antibiotic resistance. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the differentially succinylated proteins were mainly enriched in energy metabolism, and it was found that the succinylation level of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxyl kinase (PEPCK) was highly expressed in the florfenicol-resistant strain.

An effective and rapidly degradable disinfectant from disinfection byproducts.

Chloroxylenol is a worldwide commonly used disinfectant. The massive consumption and relatively high chemical stability of chloroxylenol have caused eco-toxicological threats in receiving waters. We noticed that chloroxylenol has a chemical structure similar to numerous halo-phenolic disinfection byproducts.

Endoscopic Dyeing and Plasma Coblation-Assisted Open Neck Surgery for Pyriform Fossa Branchial Apparatus Anomalies in Adults.

Pyriform fossa (PF) branchial apparatus anomalies (PFBAA) are rare congenital third or fourth branchial apparatus anomalies (TBAA or FBAA). This article summarizes our paradigm in managing this condition by combining endoscopic procedures and open neck surgery. A retrospective review was undertaken concerning PFBAA cases treated at our tertiary medical institution between July 2020 and November 2023.