Many natural underwater adhesives harness hierarchically assembled amyloid nanostructures to achieve strong and robust interfacial adhesion under dynamic and turbulent environments. Despite recent ...advances, our understanding of the molecular design, self-assembly and structure-function relationships of these natural amyloid fibres remains limited. Thus, designing biomimetic amyloid-based adhesives remains challenging. Here, we report strong and multi-functional underwater adhesives obtained from fusing mussel foot proteins (Mfps) of Mytilus galloprovincialis with CsgA proteins, the major subunit of Escherichia coli amyloid curli fibres. These hybrid molecular materials hierarchically self-assemble into higher-order structures, in which, according to molecular dynamics simulations, disordered adhesive Mfp domains are exposed on the exterior of amyloid cores formed by CsgA. Our fibres have an underwater adhesion energy approaching 20.9 mJ m(-2), which is 1.5 times greater than the maximum of bio-inspired and bio-derived protein-based underwater adhesives reported thus far. Moreover, they outperform Mfps or curli fibres taken on their own and exhibit better tolerance to auto-oxidation than Mfps at pH ≥ 7.0.
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IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Our understanding of the risk factors and complications of atrial fibrillation (AF) is based mostly on studies that have evaluated AF in a binary fashion (present or absent) and have not investigated ...AF burden. This scientific statement discusses the published literature and knowledge gaps related to methods of defining and measuring AF burden, the relationship of AF burden to cardiovascular and neurological outcomes, and the effect of lifestyle and risk factor modification on AF burden. Many studies examine outcomes by AF burden classified by AF type (paroxysmal versus nonparoxysmal); however, quantitatively, AF burden can be defined by longest duration, number of AF episodes during a monitoring period, and the proportion of time an individual is in AF during a monitoring period (expressed as a percentage). Current guidelines make identical recommendations for anticoagulation regardless of AF pattern or burden; however, a review of recent evidence suggests that higher AF burden is associated with higher risk of stroke. It is unclear whether the risk increases continuously or whether a threshold exists; if a threshold exists, it has not been defined. Higher burden of AF is also associated with higher prevalence and incidence of heart failure and higher risk of mortality, but not necessarily lower quality of life. A structured and comprehensive risk factor management program targeting risk factors, weight loss, and maintenance of a healthy weight appears to be effective in reducing AF burden. Despite this growing understanding of AF burden, research is needed into validation of definitions and measures of AF burden, determination of the threshold of AF burden that results in an increased risk of stroke that warrants anticoagulation, and discovery of the mechanisms underlying the weak temporal correlations of AF and stroke. Moreover, developments in monitoring technologies will likely change the landscape of long-term AF monitoring and could allow better definition of the significance of changes in AF burden over time.
Cancer remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with metastasis significantly contributing to its lethality. The metastatic spread of tumor cells, primarily through the bloodstream, ...underscores the importance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in oncological research. As a critical component of liquid biopsies, CTCs offer a non-invasive and dynamic window into tumor biology, providing invaluable insights into cancer dissemination, disease progression, and response to treatment. This review article delves into the recent advancements in CTC research, highlighting their emerging role as a biomarker in various cancer types. We explore the latest technologies and methods for CTC isolation and detection, alongside novel approaches to characterizing their biology through genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and epigenetic profiling. Additionally, we examine the clinical implementation of these findings, assessing how CTCs are transforming the landscape of cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and management. By offering a comprehensive overview of current developments and potential future directions, this review underscores the significance of CTCs in enhancing our understanding of cancer and in shaping personalized therapeutic strategies, particularly for patients with metastatic disease.
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•A deep learning-based method for pixel-level pavement crack image segmentation.•An efficient solution for the problem of quantity imbalance between crack and non-crack pixels.•Two-dimensional and ...three-dimensional pavement images are both used for model evaluation.•Detection accuracy and processing speed of the proposed method are competitive compared with several advanced models.
Crack detection is important to pavement condition surveys. The convolutional neural network (CNN) is one of the most powerful tools in computer vision. However, pixel-perfect crack segmentation based on CNNs is still challenging. This paper proposes an encoder-decoder network (EDNet) for crack segmentation to overcome the quantity imbalance between crack and non-crack pixels, which causes many false-negative errors. The decoder of the proposed EDNet is an autoencoder and self-encodes the ground-truth image to corresponding feature maps that are completely abstract, resulting in significantly reduced quantity imbalance between crack and non-crack pixels. Therefore, instead of fitting crack images directly with ground-truth images, EDNet’s encoder fits crack images with corresponding feature maps to overcome the quantity imbalance problem. EDNet achieves overall F1-scores of 97.80% and 97.82% on 3D pavement images and the CrackForest dataset, respectively. Experimental results show that EDNet outperforms other state-of-the-art models.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The interest of scientists in the carbazole core has risen steadily over the last 30 years, particularly over the last decade given its presence in several active pharmaceutical ingredients, ...functional materials and a wide range of biologically active natural products. The continuous development of more efficient, more (regio-)selective and "greener" methodologies to access the carbazole core is thus imperative. This review compares and evaluates synthetic strategies towards the carbazole core that have been reported since 2013, with a focus on their applicability towards the total synthesis of carbazole-containing natural products.
This review discusses last decade's developments in carbazole synthesis. Aspects of selectivity and functional group tolerance are evaluated, as well as the applicability of such protocols towards the total synthesis of natural products.
Sweet taste receptors are composed of a heterodimer of taste 1 receptor member 2 (T1R2) and taste 1 receptor member 3 (T1R3). Accumulating evidence shows that sweet taste receptors are ubiquitous ...throughout the body, including in the gastrointestinal tract as well as the hypothalamus. These sweet taste receptors are heavily involved in nutrient sensing, monitoring changes in energy stores, and triggering metabolic and behavioral responses to maintain energy balance. Not surprisingly, these pathways are heavily regulated by external and internal factors. Dysfunction in one or more of these pathways may be important in the pathogenesis of common diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Objective The objective of the study was to provide information on overall medication use throughout pregnancy, with particular focus on the first trimester and specific prescription medications. ...Study Design The study design included the Slone Epidemiology Center Birth Defects Study, 1976-2008, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2003, which together interviewed more than 30,000 women about their antenatal medication use. Results Over the last 3 decades, first-trimester use of prescription medication increased by more than 60%, and the use of 4 or more medications more than tripled. By 2008, approximately 50% of women reported taking at least 1 medication. Use of some specific medications markedly decreased or increased. Prescription medication use increased with maternal age and education, was highest for non-Hispanic whites, and varied by state. Conclusion These data reflect the widespread and growing use of medications by pregnant women and reinforce the need to study their respective fetal risks and safety.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder. A leading hypothesis is that SZ is a brain dysconnection syndrome, involving abnormal interactions between widespread brain networks. Resting ...state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) is a powerful tool to explore the dysconnectivity of brain networks in SZ and other disorders. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis, spatial independent component analysis (ICA), and graph theory-based analysis are popular methods to quantify brain network connectivity in R-fMRI data. Widespread network dysconnectivity in SZ has been observed using both seed-based analysis and ICA, although most seed-based studies report decreased connectivity while ICA studies report both increases and decreases. Importantly, most of the findings from both techniques are also associated with typical symptoms of the illness. Disrupted topological properties and altered modular community structure of brain system in SZ have been shown using graph theory-based analysis. Overall, the resting-state findings regarding brain networks deficits have advanced our understanding of the underlying pathology of SZ. In this article, we review aberrant brain connectivity networks in SZ measured in R-fMRI by the above approaches, and discuss future challenges.
The brain must dynamically integrate, coordinate, and respond to internal and external stimuli across multiple time scales. Non-invasive measurements of brain activity with fMRI have greatly advanced ...our understanding of the large-scale functional organization supporting these fundamental features of brain function. Conclusions from previous resting-state fMRI investigations were based upon static descriptions of functional connectivity (FC), and only recently studies have begun to capitalize on the wealth of information contained within the temporal features of spontaneous BOLD FC. Emerging evidence suggests that dynamic FC metrics may index changes in macroscopic neural activity patterns underlying critical aspects of cognition and behavior, though limitations with regard to analysis and interpretation remain. Here, we review recent findings, methodological considerations, neural and behavioral correlates, and future directions in the emerging field of dynamic FC investigations.
•Imaging studies have recently begun to examine dynamic properties of FC.•Dynamic FC may yield novel insights into brain function and dysfunction.•We review results, methods, interpretations, and limitations in this emerging field.
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Bitumen/styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer composite material (also coded as polymer modified bitumen, PMB) is one of the most employed composite materials in the pavement industry. PMB is ...viscoelastic and exhibits temperature-dependent modulus. Abundant researches have investigated the influence of temperature on the PMB modulus, however few have attempted to establish a model to describe the direct relationship between the PMB modulus and the temperature. This paper aims to use a kinetic model for fiber reinforced composite to describe the inherent relationship between the PMB modulus and temperature. Furthermore, a modified model is proposed to find better fitting results specifically for PMB composite. Considering the fact that PMB has a much higher polydispersity, the modified model uses nonlinear least squares regression instead of the original Coats–Redfern method to determine the kinetic parameters (activation energy and pre-exponential factor). The determination of glassy state modulus and rubbery state modulus is also replaced by numerical optimization instead of visual inspection. The predicted modulus was compared with experimental results obtained by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), and a good agreement was found. The method introduced by this study could be a promising approach to study the temperature-dependent properties and state transition behaviors of PMB composite.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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