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PloS One 2024In this study, we characterize the exopolymer produced by Halomonas sp. strain TGOS-10 -one of the organisms found enriched in sea surface oil slicks during the...
In this study, we characterize the exopolymer produced by Halomonas sp. strain TGOS-10 -one of the organisms found enriched in sea surface oil slicks during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The polymer was produced during the early stationary phase of growth in Zobell's 2216 marine medium amended with glucose. Chemical and proton NMR analysis showed it to be a relatively monodisperse, high-molecular-mass (6,440,000 g/mol) glycoprotein composed largely of protein (46.6% of total dry weight of polymer). The monosaccharide composition of the polymer is typical to that of other marine bacterial exopolymers which are generally rich in hexoses, with the notable exception that it contained mannose (commonly found in yeast) as a major monosaccharide. The polymer was found to act as an oil dispersant based on its ability to effectively emulsify pure and complex oils into stable oil emulsions-a function we suspect to be conferred by the high protein content and high ratio of total hydrophobic nonpolar to polar amino acids (52.7:11.2) of the polymer. The polymer's chemical composition, which is akin to that of other marine exopolymers also having a high protein-to-carbohydrate (P/C) content, and which have been shown to effect the rapid and non-ionic aggregation of marine gels, appears indicative of effecting marine oil snow (MOS) formation. We previously reported the strain capable of utilising aromatic hydrocarbons when supplied as single carbon sources. However, here we did not detect biodegradation of these chemicals within a complex (surrogate Macondo) oil, suggesting that the observed enrichment of this organism during the Deepwater Horizon spill may be explained by factors related to substrate availability and competition within the complex and dynamic microbial communities that were continuously evolving during that spill.
Topics: Halomonas; Petroleum Pollution; Polysaccharides, Bacterial; Petroleum; Seawater; Surface-Active Agents; Biodegradation, Environmental
PubMed: 38805414
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299235 -
Nature Methods Jun 2024The dynamics of cellular membrane tension and its role in mechanosensing, which is the ability of cells to respond to physical stimuli, remain incompletely understood,...
The dynamics of cellular membrane tension and its role in mechanosensing, which is the ability of cells to respond to physical stimuli, remain incompletely understood, mainly due to the lack of appropriate tools. Here, we report a force-controlled nanopipette-based method that combines fluidic force microscopy with fluorescence imaging for precise manipulation of the cellular membrane tension while monitoring the impact on single-cell mechanosensitivity. The force-controlled nanopipette enables control of the indentation force imposed on the cell cortex as well as of the aspiration pressure applied to the plasma membrane. We show that this setup can be used to concurrently monitor the activation of Piezo1 mechanosensitive ion channels via calcium imaging. Moreover, the spatiotemporal behavior of the tension propagation is assessed with the fluorescent membrane tension probe Flipper-TR, and further dissected using molecular dynamics modeling. Finally, we demonstrate that aspiration and indentation act independently on the cellular mechanobiological machinery, that indentation induces a local pre-tension in the membrane, and that membrane tension stays confined by links to the cytoskeleton.
Topics: Ion Channels; Cell Membrane; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Humans; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Calcium; Animals
PubMed: 38802520
DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02277-8 -
BMJ Open May 2024Fatigue is prevalent across a wide range of medical conditions and can be debilitating and distressing. It is likely that fatigue is experienced differently according to...
INTRODUCTION
Fatigue is prevalent across a wide range of medical conditions and can be debilitating and distressing. It is likely that fatigue is experienced differently according to the underlying aetiology, but this is poorly understood. Digital health technologies present a promising approach to give new insights into fatigue.The aim of this study is to use digital health technologies, real-time self-reports and qualitative interview data to investigate how fatigue is experienced over time in participants with myeloma, long COVID, heart failure and in controls without problematic fatigue. Objectives are to understand which sensed parameters add value to the characterisation of fatigue and to determine whether study processes are feasible, acceptable and scalable.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS
An ecological momentary assessment study will be carried out over 2 or 4 weeks (participant defined). Individuals with fatigue relating to myeloma (n=10), heart failure (n=10), long COVID (n=10) and controls without problematic fatigue or a study condition (n=10) will be recruited. ECG patches will measure heart rate variability, respiratory rate, body temperature, activity and posture. A wearable bracelet accompanied by environment beacons will measure physical activity, sleep and room location within the home. Self-reports of mental and physical fatigue will be collected via smartphone app four times daily and on-demand. Validated fatigue and affect questionnaires will be completed at baseline and at 2 weeks. End-of-study interviews will investigate experiences of fatigue and study participation. A feedback session will be offered to participants to discuss their data.Data will be analysed using multilevel modelling and machine learning. Interviews and feedback sessions will be analysed using content or thematic analyses.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION
This study was approved by the East of England-Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee (22/EE/0261). The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
NCT05622669.
Topics: Humans; Fatigue; COVID-19; Ecological Momentary Assessment; Heart Failure; Digital Technology; Multiple Myeloma; SARS-CoV-2; Self Report; Research Design; Wearable Electronic Devices
PubMed: 38802273
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-081416 -
Journal of Epidemiology May 2024Despite the high frequency of tinnitus and its impact on wellbeing, little is known about its economic burden and no data to our knowledge are available on out-of-pocket...
BACKGROUND
Despite the high frequency of tinnitus and its impact on wellbeing, little is known about its economic burden and no data to our knowledge are available on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses.
METHODS
In 2022 a survey was conducted on OOP costs of tinnitus. We enrolled 679 participants with slight, moderate and severe tinnitus in Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. We estimated annual OOP expenses for tinnitus-related healthcare visits, treatments, medications and alternative medicine practices. Prevalence of tinnitus in the general population, obtained from a representative survey we conducted in Europe in 2017-2018, was used to generalise costs for people with any tinnitus at the national level.
RESULTS
OOP expenses were 368€ (95% confidence intervals (CI), 78€-690€), 728€ (95% CI, 316€-1,288€), and 1,492€ (95% CI, 760€-2,688€) for slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus, respectively, with annual expenditure of 565€ for people with any tinnitus: 209€ for healthcare visits, 93€ for treatments, 16€ for drugs, 64€ for hearing supporting systems and 183€ for acupuncture, homeopathy and osteopathy. Individuals with slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus expressed a willingness to invest 1.6, 4.3, and 7.0 times their monthly income, respectively, to achieve complete relief from tinnitus.
CONCLUSIONS
This study offers for the first time insights into the OOP expenses incurred by individuals with tinnitus. OOP expenses exhibited substantial variations based on severity status, accounting for more than 17 thousand million€ in the countries considered. In terms of financial burden, these findings align tinnitus to the recognised leading disabilities, including back pain and migraine.
PubMed: 38797674
DOI: 10.2188/jea.JE20230358 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine May 2024Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a standard-of-care treatment in the rhythm control strategy of symptomatic atrial fibrillation...
Pulmonary Vein Isolation for Atrial Fibrillation: Comparison of a Very High-Power Very Short-Duration (vHPvSD) Ablation Protocol versus a Hybrid Ablation Approach-Procedural and Mid-Term Outcome Data.
Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a standard-of-care treatment in the rhythm control strategy of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). Ablation protocols, varying in the power and duration of energy delivery, have changed rapidly in recent years. Very high-power very short-duration ablation (vHPvSD) is expected to shorten procedural times compared to conventional ablation approaches. However, the existing data suggest that this might come at the cost of lower first-pass isolation rates, a predictor of poor ablation long-term outcomes. This study aims to compare a vHPvSD protocol to a hybrid strategy, in which the power and duration of the energy transfer are adapted depending on the anatomical location. We retrospectively analyzed procedural and outcome data from 93 patients (55 vHPvSD vs. 38 hybrid) scheduled for de novo pulmonary vein isolation. A vHPvSD ablation protocol (90 Watt (W), 4 s) was compared to a hybrid protocol using vHPvSD on the posterior wall and 50 W HPSD (high-power short-duration) ablation guided by the Ablation Index along the remaining spots. Ablation times were significantly shorter in the vHPvSD cohort (5.4 min. vs. 14.2 min, < 0.001), thus resulting in a significant reduction in the overall procedural duration (91 min vs. 106 min, = 0.003). The non-significant slightly higher first-pass isolation rates in the vHPvSD cohort (85% vs. 76%, = 0.262) did not affect freedom from AF 6 months after the procedure (83% vs. 87%, = 0.622). vHPvSD helps in shortening the PVI procedural duration, thus neither affecting first-pass isolation rates nor freedom from atrial tachyarrhythmia recurrence at 6 months after the index procedure.
PubMed: 38792421
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13102879 -
Nature Communications May 2024The fundamental properties of an exciton are determined by the spin, valley, energy, and spatial wavefunctions of the Coulomb-bound electron and hole. In van der Waals...
The fundamental properties of an exciton are determined by the spin, valley, energy, and spatial wavefunctions of the Coulomb-bound electron and hole. In van der Waals materials, these attributes can be widely engineered through layer stacking configuration to create highly tunable interlayer excitons with static out-of-plane electric dipoles, at the expense of the strength of the oscillating in-plane dipole responsible for light-matter coupling. Here we show that interlayer excitons in bi- and tri-layer 2H-MoSe crystals exhibit electric-field-driven coupling with the ground (1s) and excited states (2s) of the intralayer A excitons. We demonstrate that the hybrid states of these distinct exciton species provide strong oscillator strength, large permanent dipoles (up to 0.73 ± 0.01 enm), high energy tunability (up to ~200 meV), and full control of the spin and valley characteristics such that the exciton g-factor can be manipulated over a large range (from -4 to +14). Further, we observe the bi- and tri-layer excited state (2s) interlayer excitons and their coupling with the intralayer excitons states (1s and 2s). Our results, in good agreement with a coupled oscillator model with spin (layer)-selectivity and beyond standard density functional theory calculations, promote multilayer 2H-MoSe as a highly tunable platform to explore exciton-exciton interactions with strong light-matter interactions.
PubMed: 38782967
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48476-x -
PloS One 2024This study examines the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sufficiency of government support. Based on an online survey with 920 respondents, the...
This study examines the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sufficiency of government support. Based on an online survey with 920 respondents, the cross-tabulation and binary logistic regression results show: firstly, in terms of loss of income, male respondents are more likely to have a loss of income as compared to female counterparts, and secondly, among different categories of employment status, the self-employed respondents are the most vulnerable group, given that more than 20 percent of them experienced loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, respondents working in small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and the informal sector are more likely to face loss of income as compared to respondents working in other sectors of employment. Likewise, respondents without tertiary education level are more likely to have a loss of income as compared to respondents with university certification. The baseline results highlight the insufficiency of government financial support programs based on the perspective of Malaysians from different demographic backgrounds. As a policy implication, the findings could guide the State in formulating the right policies for target groups who need more assistance than others in the community.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Male; Female; Adult; Retrospective Studies; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Socioeconomic Factors; Government; Income; Employment; Financial Support; SARS-CoV-2; Surveys and Questionnaires; Financing, Government; Young Adult
PubMed: 38781248
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302979 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2024Detailed and invasive clinical investigations are required to identify the causes of haematuria. Highly unbalanced patient population (predominantly male) and a wide...
BACKGROUND
Detailed and invasive clinical investigations are required to identify the causes of haematuria. Highly unbalanced patient population (predominantly male) and a wide range of potential causes make the ability to correctly classify patients and identify patient-specific biomarkers a major challenge. Studies have shown that it is possible to improve the diagnosis using multi-marker analysis, even in unbalanced datasets, by applying advanced analytical methods. Here, we applied several machine learning algorithms to classify patients from the haematuria patient cohort (HaBio) by analysing multiple biomarkers and to identify the most relevant ones.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We applied several classification and feature selection methods (k-means clustering, decision trees, random forest with LIME explainer and CACTUS algorithm) to stratify patients into two groups: healthy (with no clear cause of haematuria) or sick (with an identified cause of haematuria e.g., bladder cancer, or infection). The classification performance of the models was compared. Biomarkers identified as important by the algorithms were also analysed in relation to their involvement in the pathological processes.
RESULTS
Results showed that a high unbalance in the datasets significantly affected the classification by random forest and decision trees, leading to the overestimation of the sick class and low model performance. CACTUS algorithm was more robust to the unbalance in the dataset. CACTUS obtained a balanced accuracy of 0.747 for both genders, 0.718 for females and 0.803 for males. The analysis showed that in the classification process for the whole dataset: microalbumin, male gender, and tPSA emerged as the most informative biomarkers. For males: age, microalbumin, tPSA, cystatin C, BTA, HAD and S100A4 were the most significant biomarkers while for females microalbumin, IL-8, pERK, and CXCL16.
CONCLUSIONS
CACTUS algorithm demonstrated improved performance compared with other methods such as decision trees and random forest. Additionally, we identified the most relevant biomarkers for the specific patient group, which could be considered in the future as novel biomarkers for diagnosis. Our results have the potential to inform future research and provide new personalised diagnostic approaches tailored directly to the needs of the individuals.
PubMed: 38779086
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1401071 -
JACC. Advances Feb 2024Takotsubo syndrome is an increasingly common cardiac emergency with no known evidence-based treatment.
BACKGROUND
Takotsubo syndrome is an increasingly common cardiac emergency with no known evidence-based treatment.
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to investigate cardiovascular mortality and medication use after takotsubo syndrome.
METHODS
In a case-control study, all patients with takotsubo syndrome in Scotland between 2010 and 2017 (n = 620) were age, sex, and geographically matched to individuals in the general population (1:4, n = 2,480) and contemporaneous patients with acute myocardial infarction (1:1, n = 620). Electronic health record data linkage of mortality outcomes and drug prescribing were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models.
RESULTS
Of the 3,720 study participants (mean age, 66 years; 91% women), 153 (25%) patients with takotsubo syndrome died over the median of 5.5 years follow-up. This exceeded mortality rates in the general population (N = 374 [15%]; HR: 1.78 [95% CI: 1.48-2.15], < 0.0001), especially for cardiovascular (HR: 2.47 [95% CI: 1.81-3.39], < 0.001) but also noncardiovascular (HR: 1.48 [95% CI: 1.16-1.87], = 0.002) deaths. Mortality rates were lower for patients with takotsubo syndrome than those with myocardial infarction (31%, 195/620; HR: 0.76 [95% CI: 0.62-0.94], = 0.012), which was attributable to lower rates of cardiovascular (HR: 0.61 [95% CI: 0.44-0.84], = 0.002) but not non-cardiovascular (HR: 0.92 [95% CI: 0.69-1.23], = 0.59) deaths. Despite comparable medications use, cardiovascular therapies were consistently associated with better survival in patients with myocardial infarction but not in those with takotsubo syndrome. Diuretic ( = 0.01), anti-inflammatory ( = 0.002), and psychotropic ( < 0.001) therapies were all associated with worse outcomes in patients with takotsubo syndrome.
CONCLUSIONS
In patients with takotsubo syndrome, cardiovascular mortality is the leading cause of death, and this is not associated with cardiovascular therapy use.
PubMed: 38774915
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2023.100797 -
Case Reports in Veterinary Medicine 2024Sternal luxation/dislocation is a rare condition and is most often the result of trauma. Medical and surgical management have been described, with scarce information...
Sternal luxation/dislocation is a rare condition and is most often the result of trauma. Medical and surgical management have been described, with scarce information regarding the best treatment option for these cases. A 1-year-old domestic shorthair cat was presented for severe sternal dislocation and a left humeral fracture. Given the displacement observed at the level of the sternum and pain associated, surgical stabilization was elected. A partial lung lobe hernia was identified during the open stabilization of the sternum. Management of the hernia and sternal luxation stabilization were performed with the aid of video-assisted thoracoscopy. The cat recovered uneventfully, and no postoperative complications were reported.
PubMed: 38774560
DOI: 10.1155/2024/3719641