The reductive lactonization strategy provides an efficient access to stereoenriched polycyclic γ-lactones. However, it is still a formidable challenge to develop an efficient and versatile protocol with excellent levels of diastereocontrol. Herein we provide a highly diastereoselective and efficient route to diastereopure bi- and polycyclic γ-lactones, by means of an iridium-catalyzed hy-dride transfer strategy. This method features high levels of stereocontrol, broad substrate scope, and high catalyst efficiency (S/C = up to 5000). Mechanistic studies suggested that the iridium hydride formation be the rate-determining step, and that the hydride transfer step be the diastereo-determining step. The large steric hindrance of the iridium hydride species and intramolecular hydro-gen bonding are critically key to the diastereocontrol of the hydride transfer process. From the perspectives of configurational anal-ysis and Duniz angles of attack, the nature of diastereocontrol is well rationalized. A more general empirical rule based on facial se-lectivity analysis for explaining and predicting the stereochemistry is also proposed.

Rapid urbanization presents multifaceted challenges to urban mobility, necessitating innovative solutions for environmental and social well-being. Despite extensive research, identifying critical urban hotspots and proposing effective interventions remain active research areas. This paper presents a knowledge engineering framework leveraging urban data repositories to identify key infrastructure points and promote sustainable, accessible mobility. Utilizing advanced data science techniques, the study focuses on factors influencing pedestrian and cyclist movements, aiming to foster active transportation and improve citizens' health. Through a case study in Barcelona, the paper demonstrates the efficacy of the approach while maintaining generalizability. The data-driven analysis explores variations in accessibility and mobility, addressing affordability issues and barriers in emerging micro-mobility solutions. These insights contribute to informed decision-making and policy formulation, facilitating global transitions towards sustainable urban futures.

Anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ARCAPA) is a very rare disease. Echocardiographic diagnosis can be very challenging, especially in both asymptomatic children with no history of cardiac disease or critically ill newborns in the setting of intensive care unit. We report a case of ARCAPA in a neonate with congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM), whose echocardiographic diagnosis was particularly challenging due to the critical status at presentation.

A document by Luca Rapparini. Click on the document to view its contents.

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of organisms to respond to environmental changes. Understanding and leveraging crop phenotypic plasticity is crucial for mitigating the threats caused by climate change. Here, we assessed phenotypic plasticity in multi-environment trials over 4 years, covering a wide geographical area, using 505 inbred lines from a Brassica napus genetic diversity panel. The observed phenotypic variation for seed oil content (SOC) was influenced by three environmental indices (precipitation, diurnal temperature range, and ultraviolet B) during the flowering or pod-filling stage alongside five plasticity genes. Leveraging this information with climate records, we developed a predictive model to estimate SOC for various planting dates in seven major production regions, and validated the accuracy of our predictions in new environments. With the quantified plasticity conferred by genetic variation in the five plasticity genes, we identified an optimal haplotype for each production region for adaptability to future climate projections. This study offers valuable insights and selection of materials to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture.

Predictions arising from deep neural networks may be very accurate but not very robust, leading to uncertainty in their outcome. This critical problem is receiving growing attention from the Machine Learning (ML) community. A practical solution that is increasingly applied is calculating confidence bounds for the ML predictions. Most confidence bounds available in the literature are theoretically sound but unfeasible from a practical viewpoint. In this paper, we contribute to the literature with probabilistic confidence bounds based on conditional probabilities, and we demonstrate their operational validity by means of a real-world application that concerns the prediction of the sleeping states of car drivers.

IntroductionAn obstructive lesion of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) has typically been described on the electrocardiogram (ECG) as a generalised ST segment depression (SST) (maximum in V4-V6) associated with inverted T waves in the same leads and elevation. of the SST in aVR1. Likewise, elevated SST in aVR is associated with multivessel coronary artery disease 1. The presence of these findings, together with an adequate clinical correlation, should alert medical personnel to promptly rule out these conditions and prevent possible adverse outcomes.However, these electrocardiographic changes are not 100% specific for an obstructive lesion of the LMCA, since elevated SST in AVR could be observed in multivessel coronary disease (three or more vessels), occlusion of the proximal segment of the anterior descending artery, and diffuse subendocardial ischemia 2.Regarding the pathophysiology of hypokalemia, at the level of the cardiomyocytes, an increase in the resting membrane potential is generated, and the duration of the action potential and the refractory period increase. Changes that are potentially arrhythmogenic, such as ST segment depression, T wave flattening, and prominent U waves, which have been described as a “hallmark” of hypokalemia 3.However, an elevation of the SST in AVR simulating an LMCA lesion is a rare finding within the electrocardiographic alterations described in hypokalemia, which include: premature atrial and ventricular complexes, sinus bradycardia, prolonged QTc, junctional tachycardia, AV block, ventricular tachyarrhythmias, as well as SST depression, with a decrease in the amplitude and inversion of the T wave and an increase in the amplitude of the U wave, usually from V4 to V6 4. Below, we describe a clinical case of severe hypokalemia simulating on an ECG an obstructive lesion pattern of the LMCA.

Human monkeypox (MPX) is a zoonose variola virus, causing widespread infection in humans since the 1980 eradication of smallpox. Unvaccinated individuals are vulnerable to MPXV infection. The virus’s increased effectiveness in human-to-human spread, biological terrorism warnings, and increased scavenger populations make it a potential public health hazard due to its widespread prevalence and potential for scavenger populations.

Background: Hydroxyurea remains underutilized in the pediatric sickle cell population despite its well-known efficacy in decreasing sickle cell complications and hospitalizations. Access to refills and liquid formulation remains a critical barrier to adherence to hydroxyurea regimens. This study was undertaken to determine the clinical impact of home-delivering compounded liquid hydroxyurea (LHU) to pediatric patients with sickle cell disease. Procedure/Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using electronic health records and pharmacy databases. Pediatric patients younger than 21 years of hydroxyurea initiation from March 2016 to July 2020 who received compounded LHU from Boston Medical Center Pharmacy were included. The primary outcomes of the study were drug adherence (assessed by evaluating the proportion of days covered), rates of acute care utilization, laboratory values, and growth metrics before and after enrolling in the LHU delivery program. Results: The final cohort included 41 patients. Significant increases in hemoglobin 0.34 g/dl (95% CI: 0.04-0.63, p=0.02) and mean corpuscular volume 3.2 FI (95% CI: 0.92-5.4, p=0.007) occurred. Hospitalizations decreased by 51.3% (p=0.01), and acute chest syndrome episodes decreased by 86.4% (p=0.02) post-initiation of the LHU delivery program. Drug adherence had a median value of 0.95 one-year post-initiation of LHU. Conclusions: Home delivery of compounded LHU improved drug adherence, decreased hospitalizations, and improved laboratory outcomes in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease by overcoming barriers to access. Nationwide implementation of similar home delivery programs can significantly improve outcomes among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease.

Due to the strong visual impact and color contrast inherent in woodcut style design, it has been applied in animation and comics. However, traditional woodcuts, hand-drawn, and previous computer-aided methods have yet to address the issues of dwindling design inspiration, lengthy production times, and complex adjustment procedures. We propose a novel network framework, the Woodcut-style Design Assistant Network (WDANet), to tackle these challenges. Notably, our research is the first to utilize diffusion models to streamline the woodcut-style design process. We curate the Woodcut-62 dataset, which features works from 62 renowned historical artists, to train WDANet in absorbing and learning the aesthetic nuances of woodcut prints, offering users a wealth of design references. Based on a denoising network, our WDANet effectively integrates text and woodcut-style image features. WDANet allows users to input or slightly modify a text description to quickly generate accurate, high-quality woodcut-style designs, saving time and offering flexibility. As confirmed by user studies, quantitative and qualitative analyses show that WDANet outperforms the current state-of-the-art in generating woodcut-style images and proves its value as a design aid.

The development of dendritic cells (DCs) depends on signaling via FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (Flt3) receptor. How Flt3 signaling impacts terminally differentiated DC function is unknown. This is important given the increasing interest in exploiting Flt3 for vaccination and tumor immunotherapy. Here, we examined DCs in mice harboring constitutively activated Flt3 (Flt3-ITD). Flt3ITD/ITD mice possessed expanded splenic DC subsets including plasmacytoid DC, conventional DC (cDC)1, cDC2, double positive (DP) cDC1 (CD11c+ CD8+ CD11b- CD103+ CD86+), noncanonical (NC) cDC1 (CD11c+ CD8+ CD11b- CD103- CD86-) and single positive (SP) cDC1 (CD11c+ CD8+ CD11b- CD103- CD86+). Outcomes of constitutive Flt3 signaling differed depending on the cDC subset examined. In comparison to wild type (WT) DCs, all Flt3ITD/ITD cDCs displayed an altered surface phenotype with changes in costimulatory molecules, major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) and II (MHC II). Cytokine secretion patterns, antigen uptake, antigen proteolysis and antigen presenting function differed between WT and Flt3ITD/ITD subsets, particularly cDC2. In summary, Flt3 signaling impacts the function of terminally differentiated cDCs with important consequences for antigen presentation.

Flávia Oliveira FreitasDoctoral candidate in Linguistic StudiesUniversidade Federal de Sergipe/Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letrasfla5882freitas@academico.ufs.brhttps://orcid.org/0009-0008-1795-6822AuthorGislane Evangelista dos SantosMaster’s student in Linguistic StudiesUniversidade Federal de Sergipe/Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letrasopsgislane@gmail.comhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5232-3405Co-authorRaquel Meister Ko. Freitag, Ph. D.Universidade Federal de Sergipe/Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letrasrkofreitag@academico.ufs.brhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4972-4320Co-author

Livestock grazing can strongly determine how grasslands function and their role in carbon cycle. However, how ecosystem carbon exchange responds to grazing and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We measured ecosystem carbon fluxes to explore the changes in carbon exchange and their driving mechanisms in a 16-year long term experiment with different grazing intensities in a desert steppe grassland. We found that grazing intensity influenced above- and belowground biomass during the peak growing season, primarily by decreasing shrubs and semi-shrubs and perennial forbs. Furthermore, alter patterns of net ecosystem exchange primarily via their negative influence on the biomass of shrub and semi-shrub. In addition, grazing-induced reduction belowground biomass, as well as in total plant nitrogen and soil ammonium nitrogen, can strongly influence ecosystem carbon exchange and soil respiration. When nitrogen is lost from the soil due to grazing, plants reallocate resources belowground to maintain growth and development, thus promoting photosynthesis and respiration. Our study indicates that soil available nitrogen and shrubs and semi-shrubs are important factors in regulating ecosystem carbon exchange under grazing disturbance in the desert steppe, which provide a basis for grazing management.

Preterm labor is one of the major public health problems in the developing countries, where accessibility to health facilities is low in some areas. Home monitoring devices could be good options in this situations. Therefore, we developed a tool for early detection of contractions. The type of signal, artifacts removing way, a method for sending signals safely, detecting abnormal contractions method, and evaluation methods were determined. EHG signals were applied to send contractions to mobile application. Alarms were displayed if abnormal contraction is detected. Relative Error and Co-efficient of variation were calculated for evaluation of accuracy and repeatability of device, respectively, which were acceptable. This portable, low weight, low cost and easy to use uterine contraction-monitoring device could be used in urban and rural health centers, at home and by pregnant women who are living in hard-to-reach places. This may help early awareness and take action to prevent premature birth.

Bilateral Semicircular Canal Dehiscence Analyzed Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) Framework: Case report.Ignacio Novoa-Cornejo1 , Vijaya Prakash Krishnan Muthaiah1*, Victor Mercado-Martinez2,Gustavo Ulloa-Alvarado 2,3,Carlos Pino-Urrutia2 , Krishnamoorthy Gunasekaran1Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Professions, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States.2 Instituto de Neurorrehabilitación y Balance, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, Chile.3 Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago 7591538, Chile.4Department of Medical Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, Dambi Dollo University, Dambi Dollo Ethiopia.* Represents equal first authorship.Abstract A severe case of bilateral superior semicircular dehiscence was presented in Instituto de Neurorrehabilitación y Balance, Chile. The patient reports hearing and vestibular problems in certain situations; a complete analysis is carried out from the clinical history to neurological laboratory studies and imaging to diagnose bilateral semicircular canal dehiscence finally. Health condition management is under the ICF model, which will allow for determining and classifying the problems and possible interventions for this interesting clinical case.Keywords Bilateral semicircular canal dehiscence, ICF framework, vestibular disorder.

In this paper, we investigate a class of anisotropic initial-boundary value problems, involving the Finsler-Laplacian. Firstly, by using a first-order differential inequality technique, we provide some appropriate conditions on the data which guarantee the blow-up of the solution at some explicit finite time. Next, under different appropriate conditions on the data, we will make use of a comparison principle to prove the global boundedness of the solution. Finally, by using a maximum principle for an appropriate P-function, in the sense of L.E. Payne, we derive some explicit exponential time decay bounds for the solution and its derivatives..

Erika RamirezUniversidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Chile, ramirez.moya.erika@gmail.comKEYWORDS: emergent literacy, materials, young learners, cognitive development, literacy, oral skills.

Objective: this study seeks to examine the status of female gynecological surgeons in Italy concerning both discriminatory practices and the availability of opportunities of improvement within the operating theatre. Design, setting and population: a National Survey addressed to a group of 3242 female surgeons all over Italy carried out and approved by the members of “Women in Surgery Italia”. Methods: the survey was conducted from November 1 to December 31, 2020, gathering data from 219 female gynecologists out of 3242 surveyed across Italy. The survey focused on various professional aspects, particularly surgical practice. Main outcome measures: we collected data concerning subjective satisfactions by respondents. Satisfaction was evaluated with a 5-points LIKERT scale. Data were described calculating mean, median or frequency. Results: this sub-analysis includes these 207 respondents. Among respondents, 47% reported having children, while 31% opted out of parenthood due to professional reasons. Nearly half of them were trainees (42%). Despite a considerable workload (with a mean workingweek of 45 hours), 96% of the participants reported spending less than half of their worktime in the operating theater. They performed a median of 2 surgical operations per week, compared to 5 for male counterparts. Despite challenges, 65% expressed a commitment to their career path. Conclusions: efforts to address gender bias, promote work-life balance, and enhance female leadership representation are essential. These findings emphasize the need for systemic changes to create a supportive environment for female gynecologists. Further research with broader sampling is warranted to fully understand and address these challenges.

As the mechanism of the microbe-soil-tobacco interaction remains unclear and the contribution of tobacco plant growth is still difficult to predict, the chemical propertie and microbes of soil in tobacco/garlic intercropping system, the relevance of the soil chemical properties and the genes involved in C, N cycling and plant degradation (organic matter turnover) were studied by metagenome sequencing. The results showed that the intercropping treatment (T)significantly enhanced the content of organic matter(OM) ,the available nitrogen (AN) , the available phosphorus(AP) ,the available potassium content(AK), microbe number and the microbial biomass nitrogen,as well as the activity of urease , phosphatase ,invertase compared to monocropping treatment (CK), Especially the content of OM ,AN,AP,AK increased significantly by 29.46%,19.75%, 10.37%,17.42% in rhizosphere of T treatment than CK treatment. The content of polyphenol oxidase activity and microbial biomass carbon significantly decreased in T treatment with by 22.61% and 9.03% relative to CK treatment. Metagenomic analysis showed that the relative abundances of genes related to C cycling (ACA,sdhA,sdhB, sucD, mdh) , N cycling (glnA)and plant degradation (bglX) were higher in the T treatment than the CK treatment. Compared to the CK treatmen, the relative abundance of ACA, sdhA, sdhB, sucD,mdh,glnA and bglX were espectively 26.06%, 39.37%, 48.27%, 32.44%, 57.55%,14.28% and 2.39% higher in the T treatment. The intercropping system changed the chemical properties as well as the abundance of microbes, and subsequently regulate genes involved in C, N cycling and plant degradation, these improved the soil environment and leaded to the increase of tobacco plant biomass.

Background: Vaccination is one of the effective measures to prevent latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) from developing into active tuberculosis (TB). Applying bioinformatics methods to pre-evaluate the biological characteristics and immunogenicity of vaccines can improve the efficiency of vaccine development. Objectives: To evaluate the immunogenicity of tuberculosis vaccine W541 and explore the application of bioinformatics technology in tuberculosis vaccine research. Methods: This study concatenated the immunodominant sequences of Ag85A, Ag85B, Rv3407, and Rv1733c to construct the W541 DNA vaccine. Then, bioinformatics methods were used to analyze the physicochemical properties, antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, and population coverage of the vaccine, identify its epitopes, and perform molecular docking with MHC alleles and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) of the host. Finally, the immunogenicity of the vaccine was evaluated through animal experiments. Results: the W541 vaccine protein is a soluble cytoplasmic protein with a half-life of 1.1 hours in vivo and an instability index of 45.37. It has good antigenicity and wide population coverage without allergenicity and toxicity. It contains 138 HTL epitopes, 73 CTL epitopes, 8 linear and 14 discontinuous epitopes of B cells, and a strong affinity for TLR4. Immune simulations showed it could effectively stimulate innate and adaptive immune responses. Animal experiments have confirmed that the W541 DNA vaccine could effectively activate the Th1- and Th17-type immune responses, producing high levels of IFN-γ and IL-17A, but could not significantly increase antibody levels. Conclusion: the W541 DNA vaccine can induce strong cellular immune responses. However, further optimization of the vaccine design is needed to make the expressed protein more stable in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis could reveal vaccines’ physicochemical and immunological information, which is critical for guiding vaccine design and development.

Zinc metal anodes are gaining popularity in aqueous electrochemical energy storage systems for their high safety, cost-effectiveness, and high capacity. However, the service life of zinc metal anodes is severely constrained by critical challenges, including dendrites, water-induced hydrogen evolution, and passivation. In this study, a protective two-dimensional metal-organic framework interphase is in situ constructed on the zinc anode surface with a novel gel vapor deposition method. The ultrathin interphase layer (~1 µm) is made of layer-stacking 2D nanosheets with angstrom-level pores of around 2.1 Å, which serves as an ion sieve to reject large solvent-ion pairs while homogenizes the transport of partially desolvated zinc ions, contributing to a uniform and highly reversible zinc deposition. With the shielding of the interphase layer, an ultra-stable zinc plating/stripping is achieved in symmetric cells with cycling over 1000 h at 0.5 mA cm-2 and ~700 h at 1 mA cm-2, far exceeding that of the bare zinc anodes (250 and 70 h). Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept demonstration, the full cell paired with MnO2 cathode demonstrates improved rate performances and stable cycling (1200 cycles at 1 A g-1). This work provides fresh insights into interphase design to promote the performance of zinc metal anodes.

Understanding the complex interplay between structure and stability of marine food webs is crucial for assessing ecosystem resilience, particularly in the context of ongoing environmental changes. In the West Antarctic Peninsula, global warming has led to severe alterations in community composition, species distribution, and abundance over the last decades. In this study, we estimate the interaction strength within the Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) food web to elucidate the roles of species in its structure and functioning. We use these estimates to calculate food web stability in response to perturbations, conducting sequential extinctions to quantify the importance of individual species based on changes in stability and food web fragmentation. We explore connections between interaction strength and key topological properties of the food web. Our findings reveal an asymmetric distribution of interaction strengths, with a prevalence of weak interactions and a few strong ones. Species exerting greater influence within the food web displayed higher degree and trophic similarity but occupied lower trophic levels and displayed lower omnivory levels (e.g., macroalgae and detritus). Extinction simulations revealed the key role of certain species, particularly amphipods and the black rockcod Notothenia coriiceps, as their removal led to significant changes in food web stability and network fragmentation. This study highlights the importance of considering species interaction strengths in assessing the stability of polar marine ecosystems. These insights have crucial implications for guiding monitoring and conservation strategies aimed at preserving the integrity of Antarctic marine ecosystems.

Complete Percutaneous Coronary Revascularization: An Elegant Solution to Left Ventricular Dysfunction Caused by Severe Coronary Artery Disease Stefan Milutinovic1, Kamaldeep Singh2, Stevan Oluic3, Juan C. Lopez-Mattei2, Ricardo O. Escárcega1,2,4Florida State University College of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health, Cape Coral, FL, USALee Health Heart Institute, Fort Myers, FL, USADepartment of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mankato, MN, USAFlorida Heart Associates, Fort Myers, FL, USAEmail addresses: SM – smilutinovic@fsu.edu; KS – kamaldeep.singh@leehealth.org; SO – oluic.stevan@mayo.edu; JCLM – juan.lopezmattei@leehealth.org; ROE – orlando.escarcega@leehealth.orgCorrespondence:Stefan Milutinovic, MDFlorida State University College of Medicine Lee Health Heart Institute smilutinovic@fsu.edu+1 (239) 737-02372585 Liberty Park Dr, Apt 8209, Cape Coral, Fl 33909Disclosures: The authors report no relationships that could be construed as a conflict of interestFunding: None.Keywords : High-risk PCI, Chronic Total Occlusion, Mechanical Support , LV dysfunctionWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient to publish this report in accordance with the journal’s patient consent policy

The Xizang plateau (Tibetan Region) is a world-class biogeographic area with diverse landscapes, altitudinal bands, and mountainous habitats as well as a vulnerable home to a diverse range of rare species. The Xizang sheep and goats can withstand the harsh climate due to the presence of rumen and intestine microbes. This study focuses on the unique symbiotic relationship of the host with the bacteria, revealing a complicated network of microbial communities as well as the crucial functions that rumen and intestine microorganisms play in the host’s survival. Important factors such as environment and host genetics which impact the composition of gut microbiota have been hot topics of research recently because microbial ecology drives rumen and intestine development. In this review, the role of omics technology in understanding the mysteries of the microbiome and addressing environmental challenges is also discussed in detail. Moreover, the analysis concludes that focusing on the microorganisms that reside inside ruminants can guide sustainable practices, and nutrient usage management, and boost resilience in a variety of ecological contexts. This study comprehensively highlights the significance of the microbes in the rumen and intestine of the Xizang sheep and goats in environmental resilience.