Notes

Successful detoxification of Cr(VI)-containing effluents by simply step by step adsorption along with lowering using a novel cysteine-doped PANi@faujasite composite: New research based on innovative mathematical physics idea.
Interestingly, one mutation in the receptor binding domain of the S protein results in the change of an asparagine to tyrosine residue at position 501 (N501Y). This mutation is also present in the newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant viruses reported in the U.K. (20B/501Y.V1, B1.1.7 lineage) that is epidemiologically associated with high human to human transmission. We show that human convalescent and post vaccination sera can neutralize the newly emerging N501Y virus variant with similar efficiency as that of the reference USA-WA1/2020 virus, suggesting that current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will protect against the 20B/501Y.V1 strain.
Large-scale deployment of safe and durably effective vaccines can halt the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the high vaccine efficacy reported by ongoing phase 3 placebo-controlled clinical trials is based on a median follow-up time of only about two months
and thus does not pertain to long-term efficacy. To evaluate the duration of protection while allowing trial participants timely access to efficacious vaccine, investigators can sequentially cross placebo recipients to the vaccine arm according to priority groups. Here, we show how to estimate potentially time-varying placebo-controlled vaccine efficacy in this type of staggered vaccination of placebo recipients. In addition, we compare the performance of blinded and unblinded crossover designs in estimating long-term vaccine efficacy.

We show how to estimate potentially waning long-term efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials with staggered enrollment of participants and sequential crossover of placebo recipients.
We show how to estimate potentially waning long-term efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials with staggered enrollment of participants and sequential crossover of placebo recipients.
To detect unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) from voice recordings using an explainable model of machine learning.

Case series - retrospective with a control group.

Patients with confirmed UVFP through endoscopic examination (N=77) and controls with normal voices matched for age and sex (N=77) were included. Two tasks were used to elicit voice samples reading the Rainbow Passage and sustaining phonation of the vowel "a". The 88 extended Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (eGeMAPS) features were extracted as inputs for four machine learning models of differing complexity. SHAP was used to identify important features.

The median bootstrapped Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC AUC) score ranged from 0.79 to 0.87 depending on model and task. After removing redundant features for explainability, the highest median ROC AUC score was 0.84 using only 13 features for the vowel task and 0.87 using 39 features for the reading task. The most important features included intensi accuracy relative to both model architecture and pathophysiology.COVID-19 starts as a respiratory disease that can progress to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and multi-organ failure. Growing evidence suggests that COVID-19 is a systemic illness that primarily injures the vascular endothelium, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. SARS-CoV-2 infection is believed to trigger a cytokine storm that plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of endothelialitis and vascular injury, eventually leading to respiratory and multi-organ failure in COVID-19 patients. We used a multiplex immunoassay to systematically profile and compare 65 inflammatory cytokines/chemokines/growth factors in plasma samples from 24 hospitalized (severe/critical) COVID-19 patients, 14 mild/moderate cases, and 13 healthy controls (HCs). Patients with severe/critical and mild/moderate COVID-19 had significantly higher plasma levels of 20 analytes than HCs. Surprisingly, only one cytokine (MIF) was among these altered analytes, while the rest were chemokines and growth factors. In addition, only MMP-1 and VEGF-A were significantly elevated in hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to mild/moderate cases. Given that excessive MMP-1 plays a central role in tissue destruction in a wide variety of vascular diseases and that elevated VEGF-A, an EC activation marker, increases vascular permeability, we further studied MMP-1 enzymatic activity and other EC activation markers such as soluble forms of CD146, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1. selleck We found that plasma MMP-1 enzymatic activity and plasma levels of MMP-1 and EC activation markers were highly dysregulated in COVID-19 patients. Some dysregulations were associated with patients' age or gender, but not with race. Our results demonstrate that COVID-19 patients have distinct inflammatory profiles that are distinguished from the cytokine storms in other human diseases. Excessive MMP-1 and hyperactivation of ECs occur in COVID-19 patients and are associated with the severity of COVID-19.A Bayesian framework for group testing under dilution effects is introduced. This work has particular relevance given the pressing public health need to enhance testing capacity for COVID-19, and the need for wide-scale and repeated testing for surveillance. The proposed Bayesian approach allows for dilution effects in group testing and for general test response distributions beyond just binary outcomes. It is shown that even with strong dilution effects, an intuitive and simple-to-implement group testing selection rule, referred to as the Bayesian halving algorithm, has attractive optimal properties. A web-based calculator is introduced to assist and guide decisions on when and how to pool under various conditions.Multisensory hypersensitivity (MSH), which refers to persistent discomfort across sensory modalities, is a risk factor for chronic pain. Developing a better understanding of the neural contributions of disparate sensory systems to MSH may clarify its role in the development of chronic pain. We recruited a cohort of women ( n =147) enriched with participants with menstrual pain at risk for developing chronic pain. Visual sensitivity was measured using a periodic pattern-reversal stimulus during EEG. Self-reported visual unpleasantness ratings were also recorded. Bladder pain sensitivity was evaluated with an experimental bladder-filling task associated with early clinical symptoms of chronic pelvic pain. Visual stimulation induced unpleasantness was associated with bladder pain and evoked primary visual cortex excitation; however, the relationship between unpleasantness and cortical excitation was moderated by bladder pain. Thus, future studies aimed at reversing the progression of MSH into chronic pain should prioritize targeting of cortical mechanisms responsible for maladaptive sensory input integration.
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