MRI-based Middle Neck Involvement in Stage N1-N2 Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Marker for Risk Stratification.

Background The prognostic implications of middle neck involvement, defined as cervical lymph node metastasis between the caudal border of the hyoid bone and the cricoid cartilage, remain unclear in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Purpose To investigate the prognostic significance of middle neck involvement in patients with N1 or N2 NPC. Materials and Methods This retrospective analysis included patients with N1 or N2 NPC without distant metastasis treated between April 2009 and December 2017.

Microwave pretreatment of Camellia oleifera seed enhances the oil releasing and decreases lipase activity in wet extraction technology.

Heat pretreatment plays a crucial role in enhancing both oil yield and quality during Camellia oleifera seed processing. This present study investigates the effects of four heat pretreatments on the microstructure and physicochemical properties of Camellia oleifera seed. All pretreatments altered the appearance and compositions of the seeds.

Unmasking the rising global burden of depression: A 32-year GBD analysis of gender disparities and regional hotspots in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Aims: Depression, a leading contributor to the global disease burden, exhibits alarming increases in incidence and prevalence, with pronounced disparities across regions and genders. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of depression burden from 1990 to 2021, integrating the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 data to identify critical hotspots and policy-relevant trends.

Methods: Estimated global, regional, and national burden of disease for depression from 1990-2021 by extracting incidence, prevalence, and DALYS from the Global Burden of Disease(GBD) database 2021.

Comorbidity patterns and immune-metabolic differences in patients with acute-episode of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) face multiple health challenges due to the complication of chronic diseases and psychiatric disorders. Among these, cardiovascular comorbidities are the leading cause of their life expectancy being 15-20 years shorter than that of the general population. Identifying comorbidity patterns and uncovering differences in immune and metabolic function are crucial steps toward improving prevention and management strategies.

Simultaneous two-color imaging with a dual-channel miniscope in freely behaving mice.

Miniaturized fluorescence microscopes (miniscopes) enable imaging of calcium events from a large population of neurons in freely behaving animals. Traditionally, miniscopes have only been able to record from a single fluorescence wavelength. Here, we present an open-source dual-channel miniscope that simultaneously records two wavelengths in freely behaving animals.

Refocal Loss in Transformer for Long-Tailed Multi-Granularity Cataract Classification.

Different cataract types and various severities usually require different countermeasures. For automatic cataract diagnosis, existing cataract classification methods group cataracts into common types, such as nuclear cataract, cortical cataract, and posterior subcapsular cataract, while existing cataract grading works aim to achieve fine-grained evaluation of the severity of the most common types of cataract. The severity assessment differs among various types of cataracts.

Identifying factors related to sertraline concentrations in child/adolescent and adult patients: insights from a therapeutic drug monitoring service.

Introduction: Sertraline, a widely prescribed antidepressant, has considerable variability in serum concentrations. This retrospective study aimed to identify key determinants influencing sertraline concentrations, with a special focus on age-related differences.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of TDM data from 1076 patients (474 children/adolescents and 602 adults) collected between 2018 and 2024.

Ultrafast Cointercalation Chemistry for Low-Temperature Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) offer a sustainable and promising solution for large-scale energy storage because of their low cost and abundant element resources, especially in cold environments, where traditional batteries struggle. The cointercalation chemistry for graphite anode presents a potential avenue due to its fast intercalation kinetics, but it faces significant challenges at low temperatures. Herein, we first unravel a previously overlooked desolvation behavior in the cointercalation system, a key factor in performance decay under low temperatures.

Synthesis of chiral germanium center enabled by poly-deborylative alkylation and desymmetrization.

Chiral germanium centers are historically undervalued due to their extremely limited synthetic accessibility. Although germanium shares similar chemical properties with silicon, synthesizing chiral germanium centers proves significantly more challenging. To facilitate rapid access to chiral germanium centers, we develop two synthetic strategies: deborylative alkylation of germanium chlorides and copper-catalyzed diol desymmetrization.

LncRNA OIP5-AS1/miR-186-5p/NLRP3 Axis Contributes to Sepsis-Induced Kidney Injury Through Enhancing NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation.

Today, acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by sepsis, with its high incidence and rising mortality, is becoming a global problem. Many previous studies have proved that NLRP3 is a critical role in NLRP3 inflammasome activation to regulate inflammatory responses in a variety of diseases including AKI. Our study is aimed to explore the role and upstream regulatory mechanism of NLRP3 in AKI.

A comprehensive suite for extracting neuron signals across multiple sessions in one-photon calcium imaging.

We developed CaliAli, a comprehensive suite designed to extract neuronal signals from one-photon calcium imaging data collected across multiple sessions in free-moving conditions in mice. CaliAli incorporates information from blood vessels and neurons to correct inter-session misalignments, making it robust against non-rigid brain deformations even after substantial changes in the field of view across sessions. This also makes CaliAli robust against high neuron overlap and changes in active neuron population across sessions.

Testing the feasibility of multi-modular design in an HTR-PM nuclear plant.

Small modular reactors are the nuclear fission reactors with electric power output less than 300 MWe. To apply the enhanced safety of small modular reactors to build large-scale nuclear plants with any desired power ratings, the multi-modular scheme is recommended to be adopted, where multiple reactor modules are utilized to drive the common load equipment for power generation or cogeneration. The feasibility of multi-modular scheme is not verified until several plant-wide tests were carried out recently on the high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM) nuclear plant.

Long Non-coding RNA MIR22HG Alleviates Ischemic Acute Kidney Injury by Targeting the miR-134-5p/NFAT5 axis.

Acute kidney injury (AKI), often triggered by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, is a critical condition characterized by rapid loss of renal function, leading to high morbidity and mortality. Despite extensive research, therapeutic options for ischemic AKI remain limited, and understanding the molecular mechanisms involved is crucial for developing targeted therapies. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as pivotal regulators of gene expression and cellular processes in various diseases, including cancer and renal injury.

Pembrolizumab as an effective treatment for diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with long‑term survival: A case report and literature review.

Primary diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPEM) is a malignant disease without standard treatments recommended. Recently, immunotherapy has revolutionized the field of tumor therapy. According to current clinical evidence, advanced MPEM may gain potential clinical benefits from immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Thyroid volumes after intensity-modulated radiotherapy as predictors of radiation-induced hypothyroidism in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A retrospective study.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the ability of thyroid volumes after intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to predict the incidence of radiation-induced hypothyroidism/primary hypothyroidism (HT)/(PHT) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.

Methods And Materials: 404 NPC patients were retrospectively enrolled from January 2015 to January 2019. Thyroid volumes were calculated based on magnetic resonance imaging.

Anchor Peptide-Based Immobilization Strategy Promote the Applications of Pickering Emulsion System in Natural Products Glycosylation.

Pickering emulsion systems serve as an advanced platform for efficient fine chemical production in biphasic enzymatic catalysis, though their applications are currently limited to a few commercial enzyme classes. Herein, we designed an anchor peptide-based immobilization strategy for Pickering emulsions to achieve efficient glycosylation of natural products by glycosyltransferases (GTs). Firstly, through enzyme mining, natural GTs were utilized to synthesize pharmaceutically important acacetin glucoside and galactoside.

Cardiovascular comorbidities in Chinese inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of premature mortality in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). However, the detailed categorization of these conditions remains insufficiently explored. This study aims to identify CVDs comorbidity patterns among inpatients with SSDs and to investigate associated factors.

Chemical Design of Magnetic Nanomaterials for Imaging and Ferroptosis-Based Cancer Therapy.

Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulatory cell death, has garnered significant interest as a therapeutic target in cancer treatment due to its distinct characteristics, including lipid peroxide generation and redox imbalance. However, its clinical application in oncology is currently limited by issues such as suboptimal efficacy and potential off-target effects. The advent of nanotechnology has provided a new way for overcoming these challenges through the development of activatable magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs).

Lesion-based grading system using clinicopathological and MRI features for predicting positive surgical margins in prostate cancer.

Objectives: To develop and validate a lesion-based grading system using clinicopathological and MRI features for predicting positive surgical margin (PSM) following robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) among prostate cancer (PCa) patients.

Methods: Consecutive MRI examinations of patients undergoing RALP for PCa were retrospectively collected from two medical institutions. Patients from center 1 undergoing RALP between January 2020 and December 2021 were included in the derivation cohort and those between January 2022 and December 2022 were allocated to the validation cohort.

Distinct changes to hippocampal and medial entorhinal circuits emerge across the progression of cognitive deficits in epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) causes pervasive and progressive memory impairments, yet the specific circuit changes that drive these deficits remain unclear. To investigate how hippocampal-entorhinal dysfunction contributes to progressive memory deficits in epilepsy, we performed simultaneous in vivo electrophysiology in the hippocampus (HPC) and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) of control and epileptic mice 3 or 8 weeks after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (Pilo-SE). We found that HPC synchronization deficits (including reduced theta power, coherence, and altered interneuron spike timing) emerged within 3 weeks of Pilo-SE, aligning with early-onset, relatively subtle memory deficits.

DNA logic nanomachine for the accurate identification of multiple microRNAs in tumor cells.

The use of dynamic DNA logic circuits for disease diagnosis at the molecular level plays a considerable role in biomedical fields. Nevertheless, how to create programmable nanomachines based on molecular logical gates to accurately identify multiple biomarkers from tumor cells remains a pivotal challenge. Herein, we developed a DNA-based nanomachine for analyzing and imaging multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancerous cells with a logical AND operation.

Promoting Positive Leadership: Examining the Long-Term Dynamics of Anti-Bullying Programs.

Anti-bullying programs can create more positive classroom environments by fostering the development of positive leaders who establish constructive norms. The social identity theory of leadership addresses stability and change within different leader profiles and identifies leader group prototypicality: the extent to which leaders are perceived to embody the group identity, including standards, values, and norms. This study focuses on two key areas: (1) examining stability and change within positive and negative leader profiles, and (2) comparing transition probabilities between the KiVa anti-bullying intervention condition and a control condition.

Au-Catalyzed 5C Reaction of Type II Diene-Ynenes toward Dihydrosemibullvalenes: Reaction Development and Mechanistic Study.

We report an unexpected gold-catalyzed 5C reaction of type II diene-ynenes to synthesize dihydrosemibullvalenes, which are potential bioisosteres for drug discovery. This 5C reaction occurs through a sequence of elementary reactions of cyclopropanation/Cope rearrangement/carbon shift/cyclopropanation/C-H insertion (shortened here as the 5C reaction), supported by quantum chemistry calculations. Mechanistic studies have also been applied to answer why type-II diene-ynenes cannot access seven-membered carbocycles-embedded bridged molecules under the gold catalysis, finding that the chair-like Cope rearrangement transition state (not the traditional boat-like transition state) is the key to the change of regiochemistry.

Effect of thermal pretreatment on quality of Camellia oleifera seed oil by wet extraction: Focusing on bioactive components, flavor and lipid composition.

Appropriate pretreatment before wet extraction is beneficial to destroy the structure of Camellia oleifera seeds and facilitate lipid release, which can improve the oil yield and quality characteristics. This study investigated the effect of various thermal pretreatments (microwave, infrared, roasting, and frying) on the bioactive components, antioxidant capacity, flavor and lipid composition of wet-processed Camellia oleifera seed oil (COSO). The results showed that COSO pretreated by microwave had an oil yield of 36.

Unveiling the potential of fine arts education in enhancing resilience among Chinese gifted students.

Introduction: The current study aimed to explore the complex dynamics influencing the resilience of gifted Chinese students, emphasizing the interconnected roles of fine arts education (FAE), creativity, and self-efficacy (SE). By examining the transformative potential of FAE, this research highlighted creativity and SE as key mediating factors for resilience among Chinese gifted students.

Methods: This study involves administering a structured set of questions to a sample of gifted young adults, thus achieving a high response rate of 93.