Cyclization Decoded: Engineering Amylomaltase for Efficient α-Glucan Transformations.

α-Glucan, broadly distributed in nature or produced artificially by biotransformation, is fundamental to life. Amylomaltases (AMs) can modulate the biochemical properties of α-glucan through a distinctive cyclization feature to form α-1,4-glucoside-linked large-ring polysaccharides (cycloamyloses; CAs), endowing α-glucan with significant health benefits and medical value. While the industrial application of CAs continues to progress, the mechanistic intricacies of the cyclization process─and its nuanced interplay with hydrolysis─remain only partially understood.

Friend or foe: the gut microbiota as a modulator of disease trajectory in trauma, surgery, and critical illness.

The connections between host physiology and the gut microbiome continue to grow as we learn how both the composition and function of the microbiota can impact organ systems beyond the gastrointestinal tract (e.g. the liver, lungs, kidneys, brain).

The role of maintenance therapy and its cessation in patients with multiple myeloma.

Lenalidomide maintenance therapy remains a cornerstone of post-induction treatment in multiple myeloma (MM), supported by various landmark trials demonstrating improved outcomes with lenalidomide maintenance over observation or placebo following autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Despite advancements in the MM treatment landscape, including the integration of quadruplet induction therapies and measurable residual disease (MRD) assessment to define deep responses, most maintenance strategies continue to focus on maintenance intensification rather than de-escalation. With an increasing number of patients achieving sustained deep responses, the optimal application and duration of maintenance therapy deserve reevaluation.

The ethics of surgical advocacy.

Physician advocacy continues to be controversial. The concept of social medicine is long-standing, though its optimal, even permissible, contemporary application remains dubious. Physicians may be motivated to become active advocates but ought to appreciate ethical concerns regarding the impact of their actions, both on patients and the larger healthcare landscape.

Economic Stressors, Alcohol Use, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Middle-aged Adults.

The present study explored associations between individual economic stressors, community disadvantage, alcohol use, and physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in middle adulthood. We analyzed two waves of survey and census tract data from a national sample of = 1359 adults ages 40-61 (65.0% women).

Race and Privacy in Broadcast Police Communications.

Radios are essential for the operations of modern police departments, and they function as both a collaborative communication technology and a sociotechnical system. However, little prior research has examined their usage or their connections to individual privacy and the role of race in policing, two growing topics of concern in the US. As a case study, we examine the Chicago Police Department's (CPD's) use of broadcast police communications (BPC) to coordinate the activity of law enforcement officers (LEOs) in the city.

Erratum: Tuning the Contractility and Deformation Modes of Active Actin-Based Assemblies In Vitro: From Two-Dimensional Active Networks to Liquid Crystal Drops.

This corrects the article 10.3791/68127.

Multirod Constructs in Spine Surgery.

➢ The use of multirod constructs (≥3 rods) in complex spine surgery has increased as its utility has been recognized over the past decade.➢ There are multiple different rod configurations that may be utilized on the basis of the desired supplemental rod function, with each type having its own advantages and clinical indications.➢ Literature has continued to demonstrate a reduced incidence of pseudarthrosis, rod fracture, and reoperation when comparing multirod constructs with traditional dual-rod constructs.

Development and Preclinical Evaluation of Next-generation ΔsigH-based Live Candidate Vaccines.

To radically diminish TB incidence and mortality by 2035, as set out by the WHO End TB Strategy, there is a desperate need for improved TB therapies and a more effective vaccine against the deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Aerosol vaccination with the MtbΔsigH mutant protects two different species of NHPs against lethal TB challenge by invoking vastly superior T and B cell responses in the lungs through superior antigen-presentation and interferon-conditioning. Since the Geneva consensus on essential steps towards the development of live mycobacterial vaccines recommends that live TB vaccines must incorporate at least two independent gene knock outs, we have now generated several rationally designed, double (DKO)- and triple (TKO) knock-out mutants in Mtb, each containing the ΔsigH deletion.

A dendritic cell population responsible for transglutaminase 2-mediated gluten antigen presentation in celiac disease.

In celiac disease (CeD), a gluten-dependent autoimmune disorder, transglutaminase 2 (TG2) deamidates selected glutamine residues in gluten peptides, while HLA-DQ2 presents deamidated antigens to inflammatory T cells. The cellular sources of pathogenic TG2 and DQ2 are unclear. Using chemical biology tools, we show that intestinal CD103+ dendritic cells (DCs) couple cell-surface TG2 to the endocytic LRP1 receptor to simultaneously deamidate gluten antigens and concentrate them in lysosomes.

Expertise in Gynecological Pathology Impacts Diagnosis of Atypical Glandular Cell Category in Cervical Cytology.

Objectives: The Pap test is effective for detecting squamous neoplasia, but the interpretation of atypical glandular cell (AGC) remains challenging because of its rarity, complex cytologic features, and interobserver variability. Although AGC represents a small proportion of Pap test diagnoses, it often leads to extensive follow-up. This study aimed to assess whether gynecologic pathology expertise improves diagnostic accuracy and reduces unnecessary interventions in AGC interpretation.

Arbitrary stimuli are not devalued by stopping action: A registered replication of Wessel et al. (2014).

There is a sizable literature on inhibition-induced devaluation (IID), in which withholding a behavioral response in the context of a specific stimulus reduces the value of that stimulus and reduces the likelihood of choosing or using that stimulus in the future. IID holds great promise for behavior change and improving public health, because a variety of public health problems, including unhealthy eating and substance abuse, involve the inability to control the use of something of inherent, perceived, or associated value. Wessel et al.

Usefulness and Limitations of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the Diagnosis and Management of Toxoplasmosis Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant: Single-center Experience With 31 Patients Over 16 Years.

Background: Toxoplasmosis is an early post-transplant complication in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), typically arising from reactivation of latent infection. polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has improved detection.

Methods: Single-center, retrospective review of allogeneic HCT recipients who developed toxoplasmosis from August 2008 to November 2024.

People calibrate future expectations to past performance when predicting transparently random events.

We report on five experiments studying people's ( > 12,000) responses to a prototypical random process: predicting the outcomes in a sequence of five fair coin tosses. "Success" rates in making predictions followed the binomial distribution, and randomly assigned participants to zero to five success experiences, capturing the entire distribution of possible performance outcomes without deception. We found that more successful predictions led to more optimistic expectations of future performance and an increased propensity for risk-taking behaviors, whereas more unsuccessful predictions led to more pessimistic expectations and risk-averse behavior, demonstrating the tendency to believe that there is a signal in performance predicting random sequences of events.

The Role of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Treating Hypertriglyceridemia-Associated Acute Pancreatitis: A Real-World Effectiveness Analysis Using the TriNetX Global Collaborative Network.

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is used to lower triglyceride levels in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia-associated acute pancreatitis (HTG-AP). However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of TPE in preventing end-organ damage remains limited. This retrospective cohort study was conducted using the TriNetX database to evaluate adults with acute pancreatitis, triglyceride levels > 1000 mg/dL, and "worrisome criteria", defined as clinical indicators of disease severity such as fever, leukocytosis, elevated lactate, or signs of shock.

The interaction between neck pain and known determinates of delayed return to play among NCAA student-athletes: a CARE consortium study.

Background: Acute neck pain following a concussion has been identified as a symptom associated with a delay in symptom resolution and persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS), but little is known about the relationship between the presence of acute neck pain and other known risk factors of delayed return to play (RTP) such as sex, sport contact level, and race.

Methods: This study reports the findings of a secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study sample from the Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium. We examined the possible mediating effects of neck pain severity on known factors of delayed RTP (sex, sport contact level, and race) following a suspected concussion.

Allogeneic CD19-targeting T cells for treatment-refractory systemic lupus erythematosus: a phase 1 trial.

Commercial autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapies are effective in B cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases but are limited by personalized manufacturing, high costs and the risk from random chimeric antigen receptor insertion into the genome. To overcome these challenges, we developed YTS109, a hypoimmune allogeneic T cell product engineered using CRISPR-Cas9 to knock out TRAC, PD1, HLA-A, HLA-B and CIITA, with a CD19-targeting synthetic TCR and antigen receptor (STAR) precisely integrated into the TRAC locus to enable physiological, TCR-like signaling. As part of a multi-disease cohort trial, this article includes all enrolled five patients with severe, refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) complicated by lupus nephritis, who received lymphodepletion followed by YTS109 at 3 × 10 STAR⁺ T cells per kg body weight.

Connectome-based encoding of subjective drug responses to acute oral methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine is a widely abused drug, and its chronic use is associated with significant negative physical and mental health consequences. Individual differences in subjective responses to acute methamphetamine have been previously linked to vulnerability for future misuse. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these individual differences remain poorly understood, particularly at the functional connectome level.

Using telematics data to evaluate safety policies: a case study of Chicago's red-light camera programme.

Background: Mobile telematics offers a promising new data source for evaluating safety interventions, providing detailed information about driving behaviour and safety events. We examined whether telematics data could effectively evaluate the impact of red-light cameras on driver behaviour and crash risk.

Methods: We analysed mobile telematics data from over 770 000 users in Chicago to assess how the presence of a red-light camera at an intersection approach affected the likelihood of collisions and harsh braking.