Tag: nevin manimala

mSphere. 2026 Apr 20:e0008626. doi: 10.1128/msphere.00086-26. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Built environment surveillance is a proven approach for tracking disease burden of some viruses within hospitals and long-term care facilities. However, studies in clinical settings are lacking for simultaneously surveying targets in a built environment using targeted metatranscriptomics. We swabbed six discrete floor locations within an acute care center’s emergency department (ED) in Ottawa, Canada, and sequenced cDNA using a 132 viral taxa panel, identifying viral burden across sampling locations and time. The determined SARS-CoV-2 variant profile across time was matched to provincial variant prevalence. The correlation between metatranscriptomic read abundances and reported cases of influenza A, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV was assessed. We quantified these via qPCR and assessed the correlation of Cq versus metatranscriptomic reads for these viruses. We sequenced a median of 1,302,882 reads per sample from 38 floor swabs collected during peak respiratory viral season (November 2022-February 2023). Diversity of viral communities varied significantly across locations in the ED. SARS-CoV-2 variant abundance shifts matched the changing infection landscape concurrently reported in Ontario. Relationships between targeted metatranscriptomic read ratios and clinical burden were not statistically significant, although we found modest correspondence between qPCR signal and read depth for RSV and SARS-CoV-2. This approach characterized the viral communities and the within-species diversity within an ED. Correlating sequencing-derived data with disease burden for three key respiratory viruses was inconsistent, with the exception of significant correlation between metatranscriptomic reads and Cq data for SARS-CoV-2. We were able to recover the distribution of clinically reported SARS-CoV-2 variants from the floor swab data.

IMPORTANCE: Environmental surveillance is useful for estimating the disease burden for certain viruses. qPCR is commonly used for surveillance of wastewater and built environments, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, but single, multiplexed reaction targets are limited. Targeted metagenomic or metatranscriptomic approaches can accurately quantify microbial populations of interest in an environment, reduce off-target sequencing, and evaluate a broader number of targets than qPCR assays. Here, we assessed the capacity of a targeted viral metatranscriptomic panel to correlate viral abundance in the hospital built environment with key pathogens of interest, including influenza A, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that targeted metatranscriptomics may identify viral communities in healthcare facilities, including strain-level detection capability. However, this approach must be validated for its effectiveness in viral surveillance that accurately reflects disease burden. This work contributes to a growing toolkit for pathogen surveillance, a critical endeavor to safeguard against outbreaks of known and emerging pathogens.

PMID:42007699 | DOI:10.1128/msphere.00086-26

J Acoust Soc Am. 2026 Apr 1;159(4):3448-3463. doi: 10.1121/10.0042760.

ABSTRACT

Humans perceive non-linguistic sounds (NLSs) by associating auditory events with corresponding physical sources in a complex acoustic environment. However, previous studies have shown that cochlear implant (CI) users, vs normal hearing (NH) listeners, can face more severe challenges in identifying and tracking NLS. For CI listeners, this leads to limited autonomy, environmental awareness, safety, contextual navigation and daily engagement with individuals, society, and environmental situations. In earlier work, we studied NLS classification among CI and NH listeners and proposed a NLS enhancement solution to benefit CI/NH listeners. Building on this foundation, we propose here an experimental framework to investigate competing environmental sounds or NLS perception among CI and NH listeners. We introduce a two-source mixture model featuring “target” and “interference” source characteristics and develop an experimental setup for listener evaluation in three conditions: (i) mixed-baseline, (ii) source separation (SS) using the SUccessive DOwnsampling and Resampling of Multi-Resolution Features network, and (iii) source separation with non-linguistic sound enhancement (SSE) achieved by cascading SS output with our previously developed NLS enhancement technique. CI and NH listener evaluations were based on subjective ratings and forced-choice preference test based on perceptual measures: (i) interference, (ii) audio quality, and (iii) distortion. Our study shows a statistically significant improvement in interference reduction, with CI listeners demonstrating reduction for “nature” sounds with “category-matched” interference [F(2,21) = 4.935, p = 0.0175], and NH listeners exhibiting reductions across all NLS categories, with F-values ranging from [F(2,135) = 8.481, p = 0.000 339] to [F(2,135) = 32.37, p = 3.29 × 10-12]. Pairwise forced-choice test revealed preferences for SSE-processed nature and “domestic noises” among both CI and NH listeners. Our proposed experimental framework addresses key challenges in competing environmental sound perception among CI and NH listeners: (1) evaluation of SS for interference-characterized NLS mixture, (2) evaluation of environmental sound or NLS enhancement framework to improve perceptual outcomes with speech-targeted CI processing, and (3) perceptual measures to characterize NH and CI listener experience.

PMID:42007671 | DOI:10.1121/10.0042760

Birth Defects Res. 2026 Apr;118(4):e70032. doi: 10.1002/bdr2.70032.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Small intestinal atresia (SIA) consists of a congenital obstruction of the lumen of the duodenum, jejunum, or ileum with varying severity. The aim of the investigation was to analyze the prevalence and mortality of SIA, using data from the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research (ICBDSR).

METHODS: Data on SIA cases were collected from 25 ICBDSR members’ surveillance programs in 17 countries over 1974-2015. All pregnancy outcomes were included, but terminations of pregnancy were not available for 11 programs. Statistical analysis is descriptive, and the prevalence is established by the total of SIA cases divided by the total of births. The survival time was calculated, and mortality was analyzed individually using the Kaplan-Meier method for comparison.

RESULTS: The total prevalence of SIA was 2.1 per 10,000 births. Iran had the highest prevalence with 11.5 per 10,000 total births (95% CI: 9-14.1); on the other hand, the lowest prevalence of SIA was in Mexico-Nuevo Leon with 0.5 per 10,000 births (95% CI: 0.3-0.8), and Cali-Colombia had zero cases. In South America, a higher prevalence of SIA was estimated compared to what was reported in 2000. Most deaths occurred between Day 2 and 6, except in Bogotá-Colombia, Spain, UK-Wales, and Mexico, where the deaths occurred on Day 1. The mortality in the first year was 4.3%, but the specific causes of death were not determined in this study.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of SIA was about 2.1 per 10,000 births during a 41-year period in 25 centers, with variations in prevalence according to geographical locations. Future research is suggested to analyze changes in trends and the impact of early diagnosis and treatment in mortality.

PMID:42007667 | DOI:10.1002/bdr2.70032

Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 2026 May;67(3):e70175. doi: 10.1111/vru.70175.

ABSTRACT

Portal vein velocity (PVV) is a useful indirect indicator of portal pressure. Reference values for PVV have been previously established in healthy, non-sedated dogs with reported ranges of 14.7 ± 2.5 and 18.1 ± 7.6 cm/s. PVV may be influenced by physiological and pathological factors; for example, a correlation between body weight and PVV has been documented; however, the effect of other factors is unknown. The primary aims of this prospective comparative study were to investigate the effect of standardized intravenous sedation protocol of medetomidine (2-3 µg/kg) and butorphanol (0.3 mg/kg) on PVV and to determine whether post-sedation PVV results would fall below the portal hypertension threshold of 10 cm/s. Six triplex-Doppler PVV measurements were obtained pre- and post-sedation on 15 client-owned dogs undergoing abdominal ultrasonography for conditions unrelated to primary liver disease. The mean PVV pre-sedation was 14.9 ± 3.98 cm/s and 3-min post-sedation was 10.4 ± 3.73 cm/s, representing a statistically significant reduction in PVV (p < 0.001). The mean PVV was below 10 cm/s in 3/15 (20%) dogs pre-sedation and below 10 cm/s in 9/15 (60%) dogs post-sedation. There was no effect of age, sex, or weight on PVV before and/or after sedation. Sedation with medetomidine and butorphanol caused a significant reduction in PVV at 3-min post-administration. This finding should be considered when evaluating hepatic and portal hemodynamics in dogs, as 60% (9/15) of the sedated cases with presumed normal hepatic function exhibited post-sedation PVV at levels seen with portal hypertension.

PMID:42007642 | DOI:10.1111/vru.70175

Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2026 Apr 20:10892532261446150. doi: 10.1177/10892532261446150. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The t-test is a mainstay statistical test that allows researchers to use the observed averages (arithmetic means) of data samples to draw evidence-supported conclusions about the corresponding averages in the populations they represent. This article serves as an introduction to this common and useful technique for clinicians with a limited statistical background, who seek to deepen their understanding of the t-test, its reasoning, and its implications in clinical research. We describe the three basic forms of the t-test, its applications and alternatives, and some related concepts while avoiding technical concepts and jargon as much as possible.

PMID:42007607 | DOI:10.1177/10892532261446150

Mutagenesis. 2026 Apr 20:geag017. doi: 10.1093/mutage/geag017. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death globally, posing a major public health challenge due to their increasing prevalence and complex etiology. Natural products from medicinal mushrooms have gained attention for their cardioprotective properties. To evaluate whether the aqueous extract of Lenzites betulinus can protect mononuclear cells of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and heart failure (HF) patients from therapy-induced DNA damage and to determine its polyphenolic composition. The study included 30 healthy controls, 30 ACS and 30 HF patients. The genoprotective potential of aqueous mushroom extract at concentrations of 50, 100, 150, and 200 mg/mL was examined in vitro using the comet assay on human blood mononuclear cells. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined spectrophotometrically, while polyphenolic profiling was performed using UHPLC-DAD-MS/MS. The mean level of DNA damage in treated cell cultures from healthy donors increased in a concentration-dependent manner compared with the negative control, but without statistical significance. The extract significantly reduced therapy-induced level of DNA damage in mononuclear cells of ACS and HF patients (p < 0.0005). DNA damage level was significantly higher in HF patients. In ACS patients, %DNA damage was significantly reduced at the three highest concentrations, while genetic damage index (GDI) decreased at all concentrations. In HF patients, %DNA damage decreased at the two highest concentrations, and GDI at all except the lowest. Phytochemical analysis revealed high levels of phenolics and flavonoids, with chlorogenic acid and quercetin as dominant compounds. L. betulinus possesses significant nutritional and functional value. Its rich phytochemical profile likely underlies its chemoprotective effects against therapy-induced DNA damage, suggesting potential as a natural agent for genome stability support in CVD patients.

PMID:42007559 | DOI:10.1093/mutage/geag017

J Chem Theory Comput. 2026 Apr 20. doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.6c00418. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

While recent advances in AI have transformed protein structure prediction, protein function is also strongly influenced by the thermodynamic and kinetic features encoded in its underlying free-energy surface. Here, we propose a framework to rationally reshape this landscape in order to control conformational transition rates, built on the Collective Variables for Free Energy Surface Tailoring (CV-FEST) framework, and validate it on point mutations of the miniprotein Chignolin. The framework relies on Harmonic Linear Discriminant Analysis (HLDA)-based collective variables (CVs) constructed from short molecular dynamics trajectories confined to metastable basins, requiring only limited sampling within each basin. Notably, the HLDA CV derived solely from the wild-type system already provides residue-level scores that predict whether mutations at specific positions are likely to accelerate or slow unfolding transitions. Furthermore, we find that the leading HLDA eigenvalue associated with the derived CV, a quantitative measure of the one-dimensional statistical separation between folded and unfolded ensembles, is significantly correlated with transition rates across mutations. Together, these results suggest that kinetic effects of point mutations can be inferred from minimal local sampling, providing a practical route for guiding the engineering of transition rates without exhaustive simulations or large training data sets.

PMID:42007551 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jctc.6c00418

Clin Oral Implants Res. 2026 Apr 20. doi: 10.1111/clr.70130. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This laboratory study investigated the effect of two different retentive heights of Ti-base abutments (3.5 and 5.5 mm) and crown heights (13 and 16 mm) on the load at failure and survival of monolithic zirconia implant-supported crowns replacing a maxillary central incisor.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: Forty implant-supported crowns were divided into four groups (n = 10 each): short crown/long abutment (SCLA), short crown/short abutment (SCSA), long crown/long abutment (LCLA), and long crown/short abutment (LCSA). Specimens underwent thermal cycling and incremental mechanical cyclic loading starting at 450 N increasing by 50 N until failure. Load and cycles at failure, Weibull analysis, mode of failure, and fractographic assessments were performed.

RESULTS: Mean load at failure was highest for the SCSA group (536.9 N ± 78.4 N), then SCLA (493.4 ± 53.2 N) and LCLA (491.3 ± 40.7 N), and lowest for the LCSA group (453.7 N ± 2.8 N). The differences were statistically significant (p = 0.035). Cycles at failure showed significant differences among groups (p < 0.001), with SCSA demonstrating the greatest cycles at failure (72,492 ± 44,551 cycles), then SCLA (43,630 ± 27,579 cycles) and LCLA (37,706 ± 18,826 cycles), and LCSA the lowest (8399 ± 7308 cycles). Short crowns showed abutment/screw fractures, while longer crowns had more crown fractures.

CONCLUSION: Crown height significantly influenced load at failure and survival, with shorter crowns performing better. The retentive height of the Ti-base abutment had less impact; however, shorter abutments provided better mechanical performance when paired with shorter crowns, suggesting careful consideration for anterior restorations.

PMID:42007538 | DOI:10.1111/clr.70130

J Comput Chem. 2026 Apr 30;47(11):e70380. doi: 10.1002/jcc.70380.

ABSTRACT

In molecular research, comprehending the microscopic source of the macroscopic characteristics of polar aprotic solvents continues to be a significant difficulty. In order to bridge the gap between cluster-scale interactions and liquid acetone properties, we present a thorough quantum-chemical and statistical modeling of neutral acetone clusters in this work. The ABCluster algorithm was used to thoroughly explore the potential energy surface. High-level density functional theory calculations at the MN12SX-D3/def2-TZVP level were then performed, benchmarked against DLPNO-CCSD(T)/CBS reference energies. A thorough Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) analysis of the nature and hierarchy of intermolecular interactions revealed a cooperative network dominated by dipole-dipole O⋯C and O⋯O interactions, supplemented by numerous weak C-H⋯O, H⋯C, and H⋯H dispersive contacts. The application of the QCE theory predicts a distribution dominated by trimers at low temperatures (T< 200 K), leading to a predominance of monomers above 260-280 K, reflecting the subtle equilibrium between electrostatic stabilization and entropic effects. The model reproduces experimental thermodynamic properties, such as the thermal capacity (Cp) between 200 and 375 K and infrared spectra at 300 K, with the calculated band of elongation C=O (1710 cm^-1) being just 5 cm^-1 from the experimental value (1715 cm^-1). The thermodynamic properties and infrared spectrum of liquid acetone predicted by QCE show excellent agreement with experimental data, thus validating the integrated DFT-QTAIM-QCE approach. This work provides the first complete QCE characterization of pure liquid acetone, demonstrating that its macroscopic properties emerge from a dynamic equilibrium of small, weakly-bound clusters rather than extended hydrogen-bonded networks, and establishes a validated computational framework for predicting liquid-phase properties from ab initio cluster data.

PMID:42007531 | DOI:10.1002/jcc.70380

Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2026 Apr 20:1-14. doi: 10.1080/01942638.2026.2660349. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: This study aims to evaluate the immediate clinical effect of kinesiotaping in treatment of children with Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease (LCPD).

METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted with 30 participants, ages 6 to 15, who were randomly assigned to either the kinesiotaping or sham taping group. All participants were assessed before and 30 min after the intervention. Primary outcomes included activity-related hip pain measured by a visual analogue scale, pain-limited goniometric range of motion of the affected hip, and maximal isometric force of gluteus medius muscle. Secondary outcomes encompassed functional performance (10-meter walking test and 10-step climbing test durations) and balance (one-leg stance and tandem walk test durations).

RESULTS: Both groups demonstrated significant within-group improvements in activity-related pain, pain-limited range of motion, maximal isometric force, tandem walking test, and 10-meter walking performance (p < 0.05). Improvement in the 10-step climbing test was observed only in the kinesiotaping group. However, no statistically significant between-group differences were detected for any outcome (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Kinesiotaping did not demonstrate superiority over sham taping in children with LCPD. The observed improvements are therefore likely attributable to placebo or nonspecific contextual effects rather than to the taping itself.

PMID:42007529 | DOI:10.1080/01942638.2026.2660349