Relationship between profitability and financial factors of hospitals after a period of austerity and health care reforms: evidence from Greece.

PURPOSE: The reduction of government expenditure in the healthcare system, the difficulty of finding new sources of funding and the reduction in disposable income per capita are the most important problems of the healthcare system in Greece over the last decade. Therefore, studying the profitability of health structures is a crucial factor in making decisions about their solvency and corporate sustainability. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of economic liquidity, debt and business size on profitability for the Greek general hospitals (GHs) during the period 2016-2018. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Financial statements (balance sheets and income statements) of 84 general hospitals (GHs), 52 public and 32 private, over a three-year period (2016-2018), were analyzed. Spearman's Rs correlation was carried out on two samples. FINDINGS: The results revealed that there is a positive relationship between the investigated determinants (liquidity, size) and profitability for both public and private GHs. It was also shown that debt has a negative effect on profitability only for private GHs. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Increasing the turnover of private hospitals through interventions such as expanding private health insurance and adopting modern financial management techniques in public hospitals would have a positive effect both on profitability and the efficient use of limited resources. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: These results, in conjunction with the findings of the low profitability of private hospitals and the excess liquidity of public hospitals, can shape the appropriate framework to guide hospital administrators and government policymakers.

An assessment of the sensory drivers influencing consumer preference in infant formula, assessed via sensory evaluation and GC-O-MS.

Consumer partiality for food products is related to purchase and consumption behavior, and are influenced by sensory preferences. The sensory and chemical drivers behind consumer preference in the infant formula (IF) were analyzed. A total of 31 aroma-active compounds were identified, playing an important role in the production of off-flavors (especially fishy). Combined with the correlation analysis, the key aroma substances affecting the sensory attributes of IF were initially identified. A21, A22, B9 represented the key substances responsible for producing milky and creamy, while A2, A5, A11, A12, B5, C15, H5 primarily produced fishy. In addition, the two sensory attributes namely milky and creamy, and the T-sweet were more strongly correlated with consumer preference. Therefore, it can be concluded that consumers are more interested in the main flavor of the product than the off-flavor. These findings will inform the quality control of IF and the maintenance of sensory quality.

Solanum nigrum L. berries extract ameliorated the alcoholic liver injury by regulating gut microbiota, lipid metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Solanum nigrum L. (SN) berry is an edible berry containing abundant polyphenols and bioactive compounds, which possess antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. However, the effects of SN on alcohol-induced biochemical changes in the enterohepatic axis remain unclear. In the current study, a chronic ethanol-fed mice ALD model was used to test the protective mechanisms of SN berries. Microbiota composition was determined via 16S rRNA sequencing, we found that SN berries extract (SNE) improved intestinal imbalance by reducing the Firmicutes to Bacteroides ratio, restoring the abundance of Akkermansia microbiota, and reducing the abundance of Allobaculum and Shigella. SNE restored the intestinal short-chain fatty acids content. In addition, liver transcriptome data analysis revealed that SNE primarily affected the genes involved in lipid metabolism and inflammatory responses. Furthermore, SNE ameliorated hepatic steatosis in alcohol-fed mice by activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPAR-α). SNE reduced the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88) nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), which can indicate that SNE mainly adjusted LPS/TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway to reduce liver inflammation. SNE enhanced hepatic antioxidant capacity by regulating NRF2-related protein expression. SNE alleviates alcoholic liver injury by regulating of gut microbiota, lipid metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress. This study may provide a reference for the development and utilization of SN resources.

Impact on prime animal beef merit from breeding solely for lighter dairy cows.

As the proportion of prime carcasses originating from dairy herds increases, the focus is shifting to the beef merit of the progeny from dairy herds. Several dairy cow total merit indexes include a negative weight on measures of cow size. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the impact of genetic selection, solely for lighter or smaller-sized dairy cows, on the beef performance of their progeny. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify the genetic correlations among cow size traits (i.e., cow body weight (BW), cow carcass weight (CW)), cow body condition score (BCS), cow carcass conformation (CC), and cow carcass fat cover (CF), as well as the correlations between these cow traits and a series of beef performance slaughter-related traits (i.e., CW, CC, CF, and age at slaughter (AS)) in their progeny. After data editing, there were 52,950 cow BW and BCS records, along with 57,509 cow carcass traits (i.e., CW, CC, and CF); carcass records from 346,350 prime animals along with AS records from 316,073 prime animals were also used. Heritability estimates ranged from moderate to high (0.18 to 0.62) for all cow and prime animal traits. The same carcass trait in cows and prime animals were strongly genetically correlated with each other (0.76 to 0.85), implying that they are influenced by very similar genomic variants. Selecting exclusively for cows with higher BCS (i.e., fatter) will, on average, produce more conformed prime animals carcasses, owing to a moderate genetic correlation (0.30) between both traits. Genetic correlations revealed that selecting exclusively for lighter BW or CW cows will, on average, result in lighter prime animal carcasses of poor CC, while also delaying slaughter age. Nonetheless, selective breeding through total merit indexes should be successful in breeding for smaller dairy cows, and desirable prime animal carcass traits concurrently, because of the non-unity genetic correlations between the cow and prime animal traits; this will help to achieve a more ethical, environmentally sustainable, and economically viable dairy-beef industry.

Temporal Patterns of Angular Displacement of Endosomes: Insights into Motor Protein Exchange Dynamics.

The material transport system, facilitated by motor proteins, plays a vital role in maintaining a non-equilibrium cellular state. However, understanding the temporal coordination of motor protein activity requires an advanced imaging technique capable of measuring 3D angular displacement in real-time. In this study, a Fourier transform-based plasmonic dark-field microscope has been developed using anisotropic nanoparticles, enabling the prolonged and simultaneous observation of endosomal lateral and rotational motion. A sequence of discontinuous 3D angular displacements has been observed during the pause and run phases of transport. Notably, a serially correlated temporal pattern in the intermittent rotational events has been demonstrated during the tug-of-war mechanism, indicating Markovian switching between the exploitational and explorational modes of motor protein exchange prior to resuming movement. Alterations in transition frequency and the exploitation-to-exploration ratio upon dynein inhibitor treatment highlight the relationship between disrupted motor coordination and reduced endosomal transport efficiency. Collectively, these results suggest the importance of orchestrated temporal motor protein patterns for efficient cellular transport.

Encapsulation of Alpinia leaf essential oil in nanophytosome-embedded gel as novel strategy to treat periodontal infections: evaluation of antimicrobial effectiveness, pharmacokinetic, in vitro-ex vivo correlation and in silico studies.

AIM: The work reports a novel nanophytosomal gel encapsulating Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd leaf essential oil to treat periodontal infections. METHODS: Alpinia oil-loaded nanophytosomes (ANPs) were formulated by lipid layer hydration technique and were evaluated by FESEM, cryo-TEM, loading efficiency, zeta potential, particle size, release profile etc. Selected ANPs-loaded gel (ANPsG) was evaluated by both in vitro and in vivo methods. RESULTS: Selected ANPs were spherical, unilamellar, 49.32 ± 2.1 nm size, 0.45 PDI, -46.7 ± 0.8 mV zeta potential, 9.8 ± 0.5% (w/w) loading, 86.4 ± 3.02% (w/w) loading efficiency with sustained release profile. ANPsG showed good spreadability (6.8 ± 0.3 gm.cm/sec), extrudability (79.33 ± 1.5%), viscosity (36522 ± 0.82 cps), mucoadhesive strength (44.56 ± 3.5 gf) with sustained ex vivo release tendency. Satisfied ZOI and MIC was observed for ANPsG against periodontal bacteria vs. standard/control. ANPsG efficiently treated infection in ligature induced periodontitis model. Key pharmacokinetic parameters like AUC, MRT, Vd were enhanced for ANPsG. CONCLUSION: ANPsG may be investigated for futuristic clinical studies.

Linking patient-reported oral and general health-related quality of life.

Background: The relationship between oral and overall health is of interest to health care professionals and patients alike. This study investigated the correlation between oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a general adult population. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a convenience sample of adult participants (N = 607) attending the 2022 Minnesota County and State fairs in USA, the 5-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-5) assessed OHRQoL, and the 10-item PROMIS v.1.2 Global Health Instrument assessed HRQoL. Spearman and Pearson correlations were used to summarize the bivariable relationship between OHRQoL and HRQoL (both physical and mental health dimensions). A structural equation model determined OHRQoL-HRQoL correlations (r). Correlations' magnitude was interpreted according to Cohen's guidelines (r = 0.10, 0.30, and 0.50 to demarcate "small," "medium," and "large" effects, respectively). Results: OHRQoL and HRQoL correlated with r = 0.52 (95% confidence interval, CI: [0.50-0.55]), indicating that the two constructs shared 27% of their information. According to Cohen, this was a "large" effect. OHRQoL, and the physical and mental HRQoL dimensions correlated with r = 0.55 (95% CI: [0.50-0.59]) and r = 0.43 (95% CI: [0.40-0.46]), respectively, indicating a "large" and a "medium" effect. OHRQoL and HRQoL were substantially correlated in an adult population. Conclusion: Using OHIP-5 to assess their dental patients' oral health impact allows dental professionals to gain insights into patients' overall health-related wellbeing.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping of multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease correlates with neurotransmitter reference maps.

BACKGROUND: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by α-synuclein pathology, disrupted iron homeostasis and impaired neurochemical transmission. Considering the critical role of iron in neurotransmitter synthesis and transport, our study aims to identify distinct patterns of whole-brain iron accumulation in MSA and PD, and to elucidate the corresponding neurochemical substrates. METHODS: A total of 122 PD patients, 58 MSA patients and 78 age-, sex-matched health controls underwent multi-echo gradient echo sequences and neurological evaluations. We conducted voxel-wise and regional analyses using quantitative susceptibility mapping to explore MSA or PD-specific alterations in cortical and subcortical iron concentrations. Spatial correlation approaches were employed to examine the topographical alignment of cortical iron accumulation patterns with normative atlases of neurotransmitter receptor and transporter densities. Furthermore, we assessed the associations between the colocalization strength of neurochemical systems and disease severity. RESULTS: MSA patients exhibited increased susceptibility in the striatal, midbrain, cerebellar nuclei, as well as the frontal, temporal, occipital lobes, and anterior cingulate gyrus. In contrast, PD patients displayed elevated iron levels in the left inferior occipital gyrus, precentral gyrus, and substantia nigra. The excessive iron accumulation in MSA or PD correlated with the spatial distribution of cholinergic, noradrenaline, glutamate, serotonin, cannabinoids, and opioid neurotransmitters, and the degree of this alignment was related to motor deficits. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence of the interaction between iron accumulation and non-dopamine neurotransmitters in the pathogenesis of MSA and PD, which inspire research on potential targets for pharmacotherapy.

Compact and cost-effective laser-powered speckle contrast optical spectroscopy fiber-free device for measuring cerebral blood flow.

Significance: In the realm of cerebrovascular monitoring, primary metrics typically include blood pressure, which influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) and is contingent upon vessel radius. Measuring CBF noninvasively poses a persistent challenge, primarily attributed to the difficulty of accessing and obtaining signal from the brain. Aim: Our study aims to introduce a compact speckle contrast optical spectroscopy device for noninvasive CBF measurements at long source-to-detector distances, offering cost-effectiveness, and scalability while tracking blood flow (BF) with remarkable sensitivity and temporal resolution. Approach: The wearable sensor module consists solely of a laser diode and a board camera. It can be easily placed on a subject's head to measure BF at a sampling rate of 80 Hz. Results: Compared to the single-fiber-based version, the proposed device achieved a signal gain of about 70 times, showed superior stability, reproducibility, and signal-to-noise ratio for measuring BF at long source-to-detector distances. The device can be distributed in multiple configurations around the head. Conclusions: Given its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and simplicity, this laser-centric tool offers significant potential in advancing noninvasive cerebral monitoring technologies.

Stubborn Swellings: A Rare Case of Kimura's Disease Presenting as Parotid Swellings.

Kimura disease (KD) is a rare chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by the development of painless subcutaneous nodules, predominantly in the head and neck region. Diagnosis relies on a high index of clinical suspicion and clinicopathological correlation, with core biopsy serving as the gold standard for a definitive diagnosis. While the disease itself is benign, it can cause significant morbidity if left untreated. This case report describes a 48-year-old male who presented with bilateral infraauricular swellings, pruritus, and elevated serum IgE levels along with eosinophilia. Imaging and histopathological correlation confirmed the diagnosis of KD. Combination therapy of corticosteroids and cyclosporine resulted in significant clinical improvement, highlighting the efficacy of the approach while avoiding surgical resection. This case emphasizes the importance of radiologic-pathologic correlation along with the use of serology to effectively diagnose KD, even in atypical presentations.

Multimodal sensorimotor assessment of hand and forearm asymmetries: a reliability and correlational study.

Background: Effective rehabilitation of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders requires multimodal assessment to guide clinicians' decision-making. Furthermore, a comprehensive assessment must include reliable tests. Nevertheless, the interrelationship among various upper limb tests remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of easily applicable upper extremity assessments, including absolute values and asymmetries of muscle mechanical properties, pressure pain threshold, active range of motion, maximal isometric strength, and manual dexterity. A secondary aim was to explore correlations between different assessment procedures to determine their interrelationship. Methods: Thirty healthy subjects participated in two experimental sessions with 1 week between sessions. Measurements involved using a digital myotonometer, algometer, inclinometer, dynamometer, and the Nine-Hole Peg test. Intraclass correlation coefficients, standard error of the mean, and minimum detectable change were calculated as reliability indicators. Pearson's correlation was used to assess the interrelationship between tests. Results: For the absolute values of the dominant and nondominant sides, reliability was 'good' to 'excellent' for muscle mechanical properties, pressure pain thresholds, active range of motion, maximal isometric strength, and manual dexterity. Similarly, the reliability for asymmetries ranged from 'moderate' to 'excellent' across the same parameters. Faster performance in the second session was consistently found for the Nine-Hole Peg test. No systematic inter-session errors were identified for the values of the asymmetries. No significant correlations were found between tests, indicating test independence. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the sensorimotor battery of tests is reliable, while monitoring asymmetry changes may offer a more conservative approach to effectively tracking recovery of upper extremity injuries.

Relationship between learners' L2 Motivational Self System and parental investment behavior in learners' English learning.

Students' motivation and learning behavior are significantly impacted by parents' participation and investment. It has been demonstrated that parental investment behavior could exert a direct effect on students' L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) mediated by parental investment belief. Nevertheless, the relationship between components of parental investment behavior and students' language learning motivation remains a topic necessitating further scholarly investigation. In response to this gap, we conducted a quantitative study involving a survey of 900 high school students to explore the relationship between students' English learning motivation, as conceptualized by the L2 Motivational Self System and parental investment behavior based on a four-component model. The findings in this study indicated that high school students exhibited moderate levels of L2MSS and relatively low levels of parental investment behavior. Moreover, students' L2MSS was found to have a significant positive correlation with the global parental investment behavior, with parental emotional investment behavior emerging as a positive predictor of high school students' L2MSS. These results underscore the importance of parental provision of sufficient economic, relationship, knowledge, and emotional support in cultivating a nurturing and supportive familial context conducive to the development of students' positive future selves.

Utilizing co-abundances of antimicrobial resistance genes to identify potential co-selection in the resistome.

The rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to global health, and the nature of co-occurring antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) may cause collateral AMR effects once antimicrobial agents are used. Therefore, it is essential to identify which pairs of ARGs co-occur. Given the wealth of next-generation sequencing data available in public repositories, we have investigated the correlation between ARG abundances in a collection of 214,095 metagenomic data sets. Using more than 6.76∙108 read fragments aligned to acquired ARGs to infer pairwise correlation coefficients, we found that more ARGs correlated with each other in human and animal sampling origins than in soil and water environments. Furthermore, we argued that the correlations could serve as risk profiles of resistance co-occurring to critically important antimicrobials (CIAs). Using these profiles, we found evidence of several ARGs conferring resistance for CIAs being co-abundant, such as tetracycline ARGs correlating with most other forms of resistance. In conclusion, this study highlights the important ARG players indirectly involved in shaping the resistomes of various environments that can serve as monitoring targets in AMR surveillance programs. IMPORTANCE: Understanding the collateral effects happening in a resistome can reveal previously unknown links between antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Through the analysis of pairwise ARG abundances in 214K metagenomic samples, we observed that the co-abundance is highly dependent on the environmental context and argue that these correlations can be used to show the risk of co-selection occurring in different settings.

Multi-view graph-based interview representation to improve depression level estimation.

Depression is a serious mental illness that affects millions worldwide and consequently has attracted considerable research interest in recent years. Within the field of automated depression estimation, most researchers focus on neural network architectures while ignoring other research directions. Within this paper, we explore an alternate approach and study the impact of input representations on the learning ability of the models. In particular, we work with graph-based representations to highlight different aspects of input transcripts, both at the interview and corpus levels. We use sentence similarity graphs and keyword correlation graphs to exemplify the advantages of graphical representations over sequential models for binary classification problems within depression estimation. Additionally, we design multi-view architectures that split interview transcripts into question and answer views in order to take into account dialogue structure. Our experiments show the benefits of multi-view based graphical input encodings over sequential models and provide new state-of-the-art results for binary classification on the gold standard DAIC-WOZ dataset. Further analysis establishes our method as a means for generating meaningful insights and visual summaries of interview transcripts that can be used by medical professionals.

An in-depth investigation of global sea surface temperature behavior utilizing chaotic modeling.

Sea surface temperature (SST), with its complex and dynamic behavior, is a major driver of ocean-atmosphere interactions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of SST and its prediction using a chaotic approach. Average mutual information (AMI) and Cao methods were used to reconstruct the phase space. The Lyapunov exponent and correlation dimension were used to investigate chaos. The Lyapunov exponent index was used to predict SST with a 5-year average prediction horizon using the local prediction method between 2023 and 2027. The results showed a 3-month delay time for the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans, and a 2-month delay time for the Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans. The optimal embedding dimension for all oceans is between 6 and 7. Our analysis reveals that the dynamics of SST in all oceans exhibit varying degrees of chaos, as indicated by the correlation dimension. The local prediction method achieves relatively accurate short-term SST predictions due to the clustering of SST points around specific attractors in the phase space. However, in the long term, the accuracy of this method decreases as the points in the phase space of SST can spread randomly. The model performance ranking with a Percent Mean Relative Absolute Error shows that the Indian Ocean has the best performance compared to other oceans, while the Atlantic, Pacific, and Antarctic and Arctic Oceans are in the next ranks. This study contributes to understanding the dynamics of SST and has practical value for use in the development of climate models.

Correlation Between Coronal Position Sequence of Lumbar and WOMAC Score in Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) in Standard Standing Position.

INTRODUCTION: Sagittal sequences of the spine have been shown to correlate with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but coronal sequences and KOA have never been studied before. The study required patients to use a standard standing posture and aimed to explore the relationship between coronal position of lumbar spine and WOMAC score in KOA. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational study. Data on a total of 268 patients with KOA were collected. Patients were photographed in a standard standing position and lumbar-sacrum offset distance (L-SOD) and lumbar-knee offset distance (ΔL-KOD) were calculated. Patients were then divided into different groups according to different critical values and differences were compared. RESULTS: In the L-SOD of L1-3, WOMAC function (P = 0.021, P = 0.032, P = 0.001) and total score (P = 0.039, P = 0.034, P < 0.001) were different. In the L-SOD of L3-4, WOMAC pain score were different (P = 0.001, P = 0.032). At a cutoff of 13 mm, ΔL-KOD of L1-2 showed significant differences in pain part (P = 0.025, P = 0.039) and total score (P = 0.036, P = 0.050). There were significant differences in pain (P = 0.023, P = 0.027, P = 0.022), function (P = 0.048, P = 0.038, P = 0.047), and total score (P = 0.030, P = 0.027, P = 0.029) of L3-5. In the 18-mm cutoff group, only L1 and L2 have differences in the pain part (P = 0.050, P = 0.038). CONCLUSION: Coronal balance of the lumbar spine is associated with knee pain and function. The pelvis plays an important role in maintaining the coronal balance. Both the lumbar spine and the knee joint should be considered when developing the surgical strategy.

As a result of population aging, the number of patients suffering from both knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine is increasing. It has been reported that patients with KOA have less symptomatic recovery after lumbar surgery, and that patients with lumbar degenerative disease have less symptomatic improvement after knee surgery than those without lumbar disease. So the knee and lumbar must be interacting in some way. Previous studies have confirmed the correlation between lumbar sagittal position sequence and KOA. However, no studies have been conducted on coronal sequences and KOA of the lumbar spine. We believe that it is because patients are required to stand naturally when taking coronal x-rays, and natural standing will lead to individual differences in the distance between the feet of patients, thereby preventing analysis. In our study, for the first time, we used a uniform stance to avoid this effect. The advantage of uniform stance is that individual differences can be excluded, and the same patient can be compared before and after treatment (because the natural stance of the patient's feet will be different before and after treatment), which is greatly conducive to the study. Our research found that the offset of the lumbar spine in the coronal position and the distance between the central vertical line of the lumbar spine and the bilateral knee joint are significantly correlated with knee pain and function. This may have some guiding significance for lumbar and knee surgery. For lumbar surgery (such as degenerative scoliosis), previous studies have suggested that short segment fixation is sufficient for patients with small Cobb angle. However, according to our conclusion, this may cause accelerated knee joint degeneration in the patient's later stages, which requires the surgeon to comprehensively evaluate the condition of the patient's knee and lumbar spine, and then formulate surgical strategies. The same is true for knee surgery: previous studies have shown no significant correlation between knee deformity and pain. Therefore, for patients with knee deformity and accompanying pain, knee surgery may not be the best choice, and it is more important to correct the deviation of the spine.

Seasonal studies of aquatic humic substances from Amazon rivers: characterization and interaction with Cu (II), Fe (II), and Al (III) using EEM-PARAFAC and 2D FTIR correlation analyses.

Aquatic humic substances (AHS) are defined as an important components of organic matter, being composed as small molecules in a supramolecular structure and can interact with metallic ions, thereby altering the bioavailability of these species. To better understand this behavior, AHS were extracted and characterized from Negro River, located near Manaus city and Carú River, that is situated in Itacoatiara city, an area experiencing increasing anthropogenic actions; both were characterized as blackwater rivers. The AHS were characterized by 13C nuclear magnetic ressonance and thermochemolysis GC-MS to obtain structural characteristics. Interaction studies with Cu (II), Al (III), and Fe (III) were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy applied to parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (2D-COS FTIR). The AHS from dry season had more aromatic fractions not derived from lignin and had higher content of alkyls moities from microbial sources and vegetal tissues of autochthonous origin, while AHS isolated in the rainy season showed more metals in its molecular architecture, lignin units, and polysacharide structures. The study showed that AHS composition from rainy season were able to interact with Al (III), Fe (III), and Cu (II). Two fluorescent components were identified as responsible for interaction: C1 (blue-shifted) and C2 (red-shifted). C1 showed higher complexation capacities but with lower complexation stability constants (KML ranged from 0.3 to 7.9 × 105) than C2 (KML ranged from 3.1 to 10.0 × 105). 2D-COS FTIR showed that the COO- and C-O in phenolic were the most important functional groups for interaction with studied metallic ions.

Large phenotypic diversity by genotype in patients with GNE myopathy: 10 years after the establishment of a national registry in Japan.

BACKGROUND: GNE myopathy is an ultra-rare autosomal recessive distal myopathy caused by pathogenic variants of the GNE gene, which encodes a key enzyme in sialic acid biosynthesis. The present study aimed to examine the long-term progression of GNE myopathy, genotype-phenotype correlations, and complications to provide useful information for predicting patient progression and designing clinical trials using a large collection of registry data over a 10-year period. METHODS: We analyzed 220 Japanese patients with GNE myopathy from a national registry in Japan. Diagnoses were confirmed by genetic curators based on genetic analysis reports. We analyzed registration sheets and annually updated items completed by attending physicians. RESULTS: In total, 197 of 220 participants (89.5%) carried p.D207V or p.V603L in at least one allele. The median disease duration to loss of ambulation was estimated to be 10 years in p.V603L homozygotes (n = 48), whereas more than 90% of p.D207V/p.V603L compound heterozygotes were estimated to be ambulatory even 20 years after disease onset according to Kaplan-Meier analysis (p < 0.001). Moreover, participants with a younger age of onset lost ambulation earlier regardless of genotype. A decline in respiratory function was observed as the disease progressed, particularly in p.V603L homozygotes, whereas none of the p.D207V/p.V603L compound heterozygotes showed a decline. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated large differences in disease progression and respiratory function between genotypes. Moreover, age of onset was found to be an indicator of disease severity regardless of genotype in GNE myopathy patients. These results may help stratify patients in clinical trials and predict disease progression.

The possible causal relationship between COVID-19 and imaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease: a Mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVES: Observational studies have suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection may increase the burden of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). This study aims to explore the causal correlation between COVID-19 and the imaging markers of CSVD using Mendelian randomization (MR) methods. METHODS: Summary-level genome-wide association study (GWAS) statistics for COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity were utilized as proxies for exposure. Large-scale meta-analysis GWAS data on three neuroimaging markers of white matter hyperintensity, lacunar stroke, and brain microbleeds, were employed as outcomes. Our primary MR analysis employed the inverse variance weighted (IVW) approach, supplemented by MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-PRESSO methods. We also conducted multivariable MR analysis to address confounding bias and validate the robustness of the established causal estimates. Comprehensive sensitivity analyses included Cochran's Q test, Egger-intercept analysis, MR-PRESSO, and leave-one-out analysis. RESULTS: The MR analysis revealed a significant causal correlation between the severity of COVID-19 and an increased risk of lacunar stroke, as demonstrated by the IVW method (ORivw = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03-1.16, pivw = 0.005, FDR = 0.047). Nevertheless, no causal correlations were observed between COVID-19 susceptibility or hospitalization and any CSVD imaging markers. The robustness and stability of these findings were further confirmed by multivariable MR analysis and comprehensive sensitivity analyses. DISCUSSION: This study provides compelling evidence of a potential causal effect of severe COVID-19 on the incidence of lacunar stroke, which may bring fresh insights into the understanding of the comorbidity between COVID-19 and CSVD.

Ecological disturbance effects of surface vegetation during coal mining in arid regions of Western China.

Coal mining in arid western regions is damaging the fragile ecology, causing problems such as surface damage, vegetation destruction, and soil erosion. These issues are obstacles to the development of green coal, as mining activities can disrupt the distribution of surface vegetation, leading to its spread outside the mining area and affecting surrounding areas. Based on Landsat data, the binary pixel model was used to calculate the vegetation coverage (FVC) in mining area from 2005 to 2021. Through vegetation coverage classification and regression trend analysis, the temporal and spatial changes and evolution trends of vegetation disturbance caused by coal mining and climate were analyzed. Correlation analysis revealed the range of ecological disturbance caused by coal mining at the coal mine scale and mining area scale. The results show that the vegetation coverage of the mining area showed a decreasing trend from 2005 to 2021. Winter and spring precipitation was the primary factor affecting vegetation growth in the area, while coal mining had indirect and secondary effects on vegetation. Human activities played a significant role in improving vegetation, and between 2015 and 2018, the area of vegetation improvement increased by 133.41% compared to that of 2009-2014. Compared to the reference area, the impact range of vegetation disturbance in the mining area is 2.5-5 km, while the impact range of vegetation disturbance in the coal mine is less than 500 m. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical basis for studying the impact of mining activities on vegetation and boundary identification.