Nevin Manimala

Phys Rev Lett. 2022 Nov 4;129(19):198101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.198101.

ABSTRACT

Spontaneous fluctuations and stimulus response are essential features of neural functioning, but how they are connected is poorly understood. I derive fluctuation-dissipation relations (FDR) between the spontaneous spike and voltage correlations and the firing rate susceptibility for (i) the leaky integrate-and-fire (IF) model with white noise and (ii) an IF model with arbitrary voltage dependence, an adaptation current, and correlated noise. The FDRs can be used to derive thus far unknown statistics analytically [model (i)] or the otherwise inaccessible intrinsic noise statistics [model (ii)].

PMID:36399734 | DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.198101

Phys Rev Lett. 2022 Nov 4;129(19):192002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.192002.

ABSTRACT

Using a sample of (10.09±0.04)×10^{9} J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring, a partial wave analysis of the decay J/ψ→γηη^{‘} is performed. The first observation of an isoscalar state with exotic quantum numbers J^{PC}=1^{-+}, denoted as η_{1}(1855), is reported in the process J/ψ→γη_{1}(1855) with η_{1}(1855)→ηη^{‘}. Its mass and width are measured to be (1855±9_{-1}^{+6}) MeV/c^{2} and (188±18_{-8}^{+3}) MeV, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic, and its statistical significance is estimated to be larger than 19σ.

PMID:36399732 | DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.192002

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2022 Nov 18:2132082. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2132082. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the major global health impedances. Due to the unprecedented developing rate, the COVID-19 vaccine engendered a high level of hesitancy worldwide. The aim of this study is to assess hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Sudan. An online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Sudan between May and June 2021 using conventional sampling. An anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to healthcare workers (HCW) through different social media platforms and 930 healthcare workers agreed to participate. Data were cleaned in excel sheet and then statistically analyzed using R software version 4.0.2. Of total participants, 67.3% of them were females. Over three-fifths of the study participants agreed that COVID-19 vaccine is important and should be mandatory. A total of 570 (61.3%) agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, whilst 584 (62.8%) had concerns regarding side effects of the vaccine and 533 (57.3%) believe insufficient trials were conducted. A total of 375 (40.3%) accept vaccination absolutely, while 292 (31.4%) accept with some hesitation and only 48 (5.2%) refuse absolutely. Insufficient information about side effects (42.6%) and the vaccine (39.9%) were the most common concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Majority of Sudanese healthcare workers believed that COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory. A high reliance on social media was observed among healthcare workers in Sudan for information on the COVID-19 pandemic.

PMID:36399718 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2022.2132082

J Chem Theory Comput. 2022 Nov 18. doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00453. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We present the second part of a two-part paper series intended to address a gap in computational capability for coarse-grain particle modeling and simulation, namely, the simulation of phenomena in which diffusion via mass transfer is a contributing mechanism. In part 1, we presented a formulation of a dissipative particle dynamics method to simulate interparticle mass transfer, termed generalized energy-conserving dissipative particle dynamics with mass transfer (GenDPDE-M). In the GenDPDE-M method, the mass of each mesoparticle remains constant following the interparticle mass exchange. In part 2 of this series, further verification and demonstrations of the GenDPDE-M method are presented for mesoparticles with embedded binary mixtures using the ideal gas (IG) and van der Waals (vdW) equation-of-state (EoS). The targeted readership of part 2 is toward practitioners, where applications and practical considerations for implementing the GenDPDE-M method are presented and discussed, including a numerical discretisztion algorithm for the equations-of-motion. The GenDPDE-M method is verified by reproducing the particle distributions predicted by Monte Carlo simulations for the IG and vdW fluids, along with several demonstrations under both equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. GenDPDE-M can be generally applied to multi-component mixtures and to other fundamental EoS, such as the Lennard-Jones or Exponential-6 models, as well as to more advanced EoS models such as Statistical Associating Fluid Theory.

PMID:36399703 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00453

J Orthop Trauma. 2022 Dec 1;36(12):e442-e448. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000002440.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the effect of intravenous tranexamic acid (TXA) on blood transfusion requirements in adult patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. Secondary aim was to evaluate the safety by assessing thromboembolic events.

DATA SOURCES: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, PubMed, and Embase were searched for randomized controlled trials published in English from 2010.

STUDY SELECTION: Studies eligible for inclusion were randomized controlled trials that analyzed the use of intravenous TXA on blood transfusion requirement in hip fracture surgery.

DATA EXTRACTION: Titles and abstracts were screened and assessed for eligibility by 2 independent reviewers. Quality and risk of bias was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (RoB2).

DATA SYNTHESIS: Meta-analysis with random and fixed effect models was performed. Risk ratio (RR) was calculated for dichotomous outcomes and estimated with a 95% confidence interval (CI). For continuous data, the risk difference (RD) was estimated with a 95% CI.

RESULTS: A total of 13 trials involving 1194 patients were included. Pooled results showed that patients in the TXA group had significantly lower transfusion requirements (RR 0.50, 95%CI 0.30-0.84, P = 0.009). Similar findings were observed in the subcohort of patients with transfusion threshold of Hb < 8g/dL, (RR 0.42, 95%CI 0.31-0.56, P < 0.0001). This risk reduction was not observed in the subcohort of patients with transfusion threshold of Hb 8.1-10g/dL who received TXA (RR 0.77, 95%CI 0.51-1.18, P = 0.23) and no statistically significant differences were found for total thromboembolic events (RR 0.01, 95%CI -0.02-0.04, P = 0.47).

CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis demonstrated that intravenous TXA reduced blood transfusion rates and did not increase the risk of thromboembolic events.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

PMID:36399681 | DOI:10.1097/BOT.0000000000002440

J Orthop Trauma. 2022 Dec 1;36(12):623. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000002442.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To examine if rates of appropriate thromboprophylaxis prescribing at the time of discharge would be higher in patients admitted to the orthopaedic service. Second, to see if improvements could be made in the rates of these missed events after a structured intervention.

DESIGN: Retrospective Cohort Study, Prospective Interventional.

SETTING: Level 1 Academic Hospital.

PATIENTS: Two hundred forty-six patients undergoing a hip hemiarthroplasty for femoral neck fracture discharged to an extended care facility.

INTERVENTION: A letter was sent to the internal quality control committee detailing our preintervention study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: We looked at the differences among admitting services for missed thromboembolic prophylaxis (TPx) at the time of hospital discharge and rates of appropriate TPx after a structured intervention.

RESULTS: No statistically significant differences existed in relation to patient age, gender, body mass index, or postoperative discharge day in the preintervention group. Orthopaedic surgery prescribed adequate TPx at discharge for 76 of 77 patients (98.7%), general trauma surgery for 26 of 30 patients (86.7%), and internal medicine for 85 of 96 patients (86.7%) in the preintervention group. There was a statistically significant difference when comparing adequate TPx between orthopaedic surgery and other services (P < 0.013 and <0.021, respectively). Our postintervention data found a significant decrease in the rates of missed TPx on discharge. In our preintervention sample group compared with our postintervention sample group, we saw a decrease in missed TPx of 5/39 versus 0/43 events (P = 0.021).

CONCLUSIONS: We found that a letter sent to all members of a hospital internal quality committee decreased incidences of missed TPx. Specifically, this letter explained the details of our study that kept track of rates of missed TPx among different admitting services. We found that after our intervention, which consisted of a letter and a multidisciplinary discussion, the rate of missed thromboembolic prophylaxis events improved from 5/39 (12%) to 0/43 (0%) (P = 0.021).

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

PMID:36399674 | DOI:10.1097/BOT.0000000000002442

J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022 Nov 16. doi: 10.1097/j.jcrs.0000000000001090. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of mask wear on corneal topography and tomography readings. Setting: Tertiary ophthalmic center. Design: Prospective, observational, comparative study.

METHODS: Subjects underwent imaging with the Tomey® TMS-4a topographer and the OCULUS Pentacam® HR tomographer. Imaging was performed without a mask and then testing was repeated while wearing three different masks: Halyard Level 2, Halyard Level 3 and KN95. Measurements during mask wear were compared to measurements without a mask. Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA grouped test was used to compare mean differences without vs with mask wear on measurements. Chi-square test was used to compare frequency of differences between different masks and against-the-rule versus with-the-rule astigmatism. The frequencies of clinically significant changes in axis of astigmatism, magnitude of astigmatism and mean keratometry values were calculated.

RESULTS: 52 eyes were included in the study with a mean age of 34.71. Mask wear did not show statistically significant differences in mean topography and tomography measurements compared to without mask wear for all parameters. However, the majority, 53% (83/156) had a >10 degrees and 41% (64/156) had >15 degrees change in axis of astigmatism on topography when wearing a mask compared to no mask wear.

CONCLUSIONS: Mask wear did not result in statistically significant mean changes in keratometry readings on topography and tomography. However, axis of astigmatism varied >10 degrees in the majority of patients. Axis determination should be interpreted with caution with respect to refractive surgery and/or toric intraocular lens planning in individuals whose measurements were obtained while wearing a mask.

PMID:36399667 | DOI:10.1097/j.jcrs.0000000000001090

J Chem Inf Model. 2022 Nov 18. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01115. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The advances in ligand binding affinity prediction have been fostered by system generation tools and improved force fields (FFs). CHARMM-GUI Free Energy Calculator provides input and postprocessing scripts for AMBER-TI free energy calculations with various FFs. In this study, we used 12 different FF combinations (ff14SB and ff19SB for protein, GAFF2.2 and OpenFF for ligand, and TIP3P, TIP4PEW, and OPC for water) to calculate relative binding free energies (ΔΔG_bind) for 80 alchemical transformations (among the JACS benchmark set) with different numbers of λ windows (12 or 21) and simulation times (1, 5, or 10 ns). Our results show that 12 λ windows and 5 ns simulation time for each window are sufficient to obtain reliable ΔΔG_bind with 4 independent runs for the current benchmark set. While there is no statistically noticeable performance difference among 12 different FF combinations compared to the experimental values, a combination of ff14SB + GAFF2.2 + TIP3P FFs appears to be best with a mean unsigned error of 0.87 [0.69, 1.07] kcal/mol, a root-mean-square error of 1.22 [0.94, 1.50] kcal/mol, a Pearson’s correlation of 0.64 [0.52, 0.76], a Spearman’s correlation of 0.73 [0.58, 0.83], and a Kendell’s correlation of 0.54 [0.42, 0.64]. This large-scale ΔΔG_bind calculation study provides useful information about ΔΔG_bind prediction with different AMBER FF combinations and presents valuable suggestions for FF selection in AMBER-TI ΔΔG_bind calculations.

PMID:36399655 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01115

J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022 Nov 18. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2022.0153. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Background: Osteoporosis is common among older adults. Women are more likely to have osteoporosis than men. The prevalence varies with race/ethnicity, with the highest prevalence observed among non-Hispanic, Asian women. Prior studies identified a negative association between smoking and bone mineral density (BMD). The association between smoking and osteoporosis has not been investigated according to race/ethnicity. Materials and Methods: We included 4,226 U.S. adults aged 50 years or older with complete information on smoking history, BMD, and other independent variables from the 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Design-based multinomial logistic regression was utilized to estimate prevalence odds ratios (POR) of osteoporosis (T-score ≤ -2.5) and of low bone density (T-score between -1.0 and -2.5) in relation to lifetime smoking pack-years, stratified by sex and race/ethnicity. Results: Participants were 61.5 (standard error 0.21) years old on average and 48% women (n = 2,027). Among women, a smoking history ≥30 pack-years was positively associated with osteoporosis (POR: 2.40; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.42-4.06). Similar POR were observed among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Mexican American women. However, POR for ≥30 pack-years and low bone density were positive but not statistically significant. Among men, null associations of smoking history, osteoporosis, and low bone density were observed, except for a positive association of ≥30 pack-years and low bone density among non-Hispanic Black men. Conclusion: Osteoporosis was twice as prevalent among women who smoked ≥30 pack-years than among women who never smoked, regardless of race/ethnicity. Smoking history and osteoporosis were not associated among men.

PMID:36399604 | DOI:10.1089/jwh.2022.0153

Mol Pharm. 2022 Nov 18. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.2c00744. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) has been developed as a promising nanoplatform technology for cancer immunotherapy; when applied as in situ vaccine, CPMV exhibits potent, systemic, and durable efficacy. While CPMV is not infectious to mammals, it is infectious to legumes; therefore, agronomic safety needs to be addressed to broaden the translational application of CPMV. RNA-containing formulations are preferred over RNA-free virus-like particles because the RNA and protein, each, contribute to CPMV’s potent antitumor efficacy. We have previously optimized inactivation methods to develop CPMV that contains RNA but is not infectious to plants. We established that inactivated CPMV has reduced efficacy compared to untreated, native CPMV. However, a systematic comparison between native CPMV and different inactivated forms of CPMV was not done. Therefore, in this study, we directly compared the therapeutic efficacies and mechanisms of immune activation of CPMV, ultraviolet- (UV-), and formalin (Form)-inactivated CPMV to explain the differential efficacies. In a B16F10 melanoma mouse tumor model, Form-CPMV suppressed the tumor growth with prolonged survival (there were no statistical differences comparing CPMV and Form-CPMV). In comparison, UV-CPMV inhibited tumor growth significantly but not as well as Form-CPMV or CPMV. The reduced therapeutic efficacy of UV-CPMV is explained by the degree of cross-linking and aggregated state of the RNA, which renders it inaccessible for sensing by Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 to activate immune responses. The mechanistic studies showed that the highly aggregated state of UV-CPMV inhibited TLR7 signaling more so than for the Form-CPMV formulation, reducing the secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-α (IFN-α), cytokines associated with TLR7 signaling. These findings support the translational development of Form-CPMV as a noninfectious immunotherapeutic agent.

PMID:36399598 | DOI:10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.2c00744