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Purpose of Review. Since the original publication on the quadratus lumborum (QL) block, the technique has evolved significantly during the last decade. This review highlights recent advances in various approaches for administering the QL block and proposes directions for future research. Recent Findings. The QL block findings continue to become clearer. We now understand that the QL block has several approach methods (anterior, lateral, posterior, and intramuscular) and the spread of local anesthetic varies with each approach. In particular, dye injected using the anterior QL block approach spread to the L1, L2, and L3 nerve roots and within psoas major and QL muscles. Summary. The QL block is an effective analgesic tool for abdominal surgery. However, the best approach is yet to be determined. Therefore, the anesthetic spread of the several QL blocks must be made clear.

Magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) is a novel reliable technique with excellent potential for thermal therapies and treating breast tumours. This method involves injecting a magnetic nanofluid into the tumour and applying an external AC magnetic field to induce heat in the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and raise the tumour temperature to ablation temperature ranges. Because of the complexity of considering and coupling all different physics involves in this phenomenon and also due to the intricacy of a thorough FEM numerical study, few FEM-based studies address the entire MFH process as similar to reality as possible. The current study investigates a FEM-based three-dimensional numerical simulation of MFH of breast tumours as a multi-physics problem. An anatomically realistic breast phantom (ARBP) is considered, some magnetic nanofluid is injected inside the tumour, and the diffusion phenomenon is simulated. Then, the amount of heat generated in the MNP-saturated tumour area due to an external AC magnetic field is simulated. In the end, the fraction of tumour tissue necrotized by this temperature rise is evaluated. The study’s results demonstrate that by injecting nanofluid and utilizing seven circular copper windings with each coil carrying 400 A current with a frequency of 400 kHz for generating the external AC magnetic field, the temperature in tumour tissue can be raised to a maximum of about 51.4°C, which leads to necrosis of entire tumour tissue after 30 minutes of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure. This numerical platform can depict all four various physics involved in the MFH of breast tumours by numerically solving all different equation sets coupled together with high precision. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized by clinicians as a reliable tool for predicting and identifying the approximate amount of temperature rise and the necrotic fraction of breast tumour, which can be very useful to opt for the best MFH therapeutic procedure and conditions based on various patients. In future works, this numerical platform’s results should be compared with experimental in-vivo results to improve and modify this platform in order to be ready for clinical applications.

Activation of the Nod-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is important for activation of innate immune responses, but improper and excessive activation can cause inflammatory disease. We previously showed that glycolysis, a metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate, is essential for NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages. Here, we investigated the role of metabolic pathways downstream glycolysis – lactic acid fermentation and pyruvate oxidation—in activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Using pharmacological or genetic approaches, we show that decreasing lactic acid fermentation by inhibiting lactate dehydrogenase reduced caspase-1 activation and IL-1β maturation in response to various NLRP3 inflammasome agonists such as nigericin, ATP, monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, or alum, indicating that lactic acid fermentation is required for NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase with GSK2837808A reduced lactate production and activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome regulator, phosphorylated protein kinase R (PKR), but did not reduce the common trigger of NLRP3 inflammasome, potassium efflux, or reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. By contrast, decreasing the activity of pyruvate oxidation by depletion of either mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 2 (MPC2) or pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunit alpha 1 (PDHA1) enhanced NLRP3 inflammasome activation, suggesting that inhibition of mitochondrial pyruvate transport enhanced lactic acid fermentation. Moreover, treatment with GSK2837808A reduced MSU-mediated peritonitis in mice, a disease model used for studying the consequences of NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Our results suggest that lactic acid fermentation is important for NLRP3 inflammasome activation, while pyruvate oxidation is not. Thus, reprograming pyruvate metabolism in mitochondria and in the cytoplasm should be considered as a novel strategy for the treatment of NLRP3 inflammasome-associated diseases.

Hyperuricemia, the physiological prerequisite for gout, is linked to the presence and severity of multiple comorbidities that affect longevity and well-being. By using the baseline data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey, the prevalence of hyperuricemia in general middle-aged and older Chinese was estimated. The potential effects of health behaviours and comorbidities on hyperuricemia were also explored. In 2010, the prevalence of hyperuricemia among middle-aged and older Chinese was 6.4%. Hyperuricemia was more prevalent in males than in females (7.9% vs. 4.9%). The risk of hyperuricemia increased with advanced age in both sexes. In males, current drinking, obesity and dyslipidemia were positively associated with hyperuricemia, whereas singles males and males living in North China were with lower odds of having hyperuricemia. For females, being single, at a higher economic level, living in the Southwest China, smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia were all significant risk factors for hyperuricemia, but females living in North China and Northwest China were with a lower hyperuricemia prevalence than females in East China. Therefore, hyperuricemia in China was not as prevalent as in developed countries, its prevalence varied greatly according to demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. Rapidly distinguishing COVID-19 from other respiratory infections is a challenge for first-line health care providers. This retrospective study was conducted at the Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taiwan. Patients who visited the outdoor epidemic prevention screening station for respiratory infection from February 19 to April 30, 2020, were evaluated for blood biomarkers to distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory infections. Monocyte distribution width (MDW) ≥ 20 (odds ratio [OR]: 8.39, p = 0.0110, area under curve [AUC]: 0.703) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) < 3.2 (OR: 4.23, p = 0.0494, AUC: 0.673) could independently distinguish COVID-19 from common upper respiratory tract infections (URIs). Combining MDW ≥ 20 and NLR < 3.2 was more efficient in identifying COVID-19 (AUC: 0.840). Moreover, MDW ≥ 20 and NLR > 5 effectively identified influenza infection (AUC: 0.7055). Thus, MDW and NLR can distinguish COVID-19 from influenza and URIs.

Although Hi-C technology is one of the most popular tools for studying 3D genome organization, due to sequencing cost, the resolution of most Hi-C datasets are coarse and cannot be used to link distal regulatory elements to their target genes. Here we develop HiCPlus, a computational approach based on deep convolutional neural network, to infer high-resolution Hi-C interaction matrices from low-resolution Hi-C data. We demonstrate that HiCPlus can impute interaction matrices highly similar to the original ones, while only using 1/16 of the original sequencing reads. We show that the models learned from one cell type can be applied to make predictions in other cell or tissue types. Our work not only provides a computational framework to enhance Hi-C data resolution but also reveals features underlying the formation of 3D chromatin interactions. Despite its popularity for measuring the spatial organization of mammalian genomes, the resolution of most Hi-C datasets is coarse due to sequencing cost. Here, Zhang et al. develop HiCPlus, a computational approach based on deep convolutional neural network, to infer high-resolution Hi-C interaction matrices from low-resolution Hi-C data.

Monocyte distribution width (MDW) may serve as an infection marker in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), where infection rates range from 2.4% to 16.6%. We evaluated the association of increased MDW levels with infection occurrence and to assess MDW-based models for predicting infection risk and prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS) ≥ 7 days. This retrospective cohort study included AMI patients undergoing PCI at a Taiwanese tertiary teaching hospital from January 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Logistic regression models incorporating MDW, Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score, age, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were compared to the Canada Acute Coronary Syndrome (C-ACS) score and stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR). Among 252 patients, 12.7% developed infections, a rate that falls within the expected range. Infections were more frequent among patients with LOS ≥ 7 days (42.9% vs. 1.1%). A three-parameter model (qSOFA score ≥2, age ≥ 65, and MDW ≥ 20) demonstrated good performance for new infection (AUC: 0.834) and LOS ≥ 7 days (AUC: 0.714). Adding CRP ≥ 2 mg/dL improved predictions for infection (AUC: 0.909) and LOS ≥ 7 days (AUC: 0.798), outperforming the C-ACS score (AUC: 0.807) and SHR (AUC: 0.784). MDW emerges as a promising biomarker for assessing the risks of infection and prolonged hospital LOS in patients with AMI. Its early use may facilitate timely clinical interventions, including earlier initiation of antibiotic therapy.

Pacific‐Panthalassa plate tectonics are the most challenging on Earth to reconstruct during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras due to extensive subduction, which has resulted in large (>9,000 km length) unconstrained gaps between the Pacific and Laurasia (now NE Asia) back to the Early Jurassic. We build four contrasted NW Pacific‐Panthalassa global plate reconstructions and assimilate their velocity fields into global geodynamic models. We compare our predicted present mantle structure, synthetic geoid and dynamic topography to Earth observations. P‐wave tomographic filtering of predicted mantle structures allows for more explicit comparisons to global tomography. Plate reconstructions that include intra‐oceanic subduction in NW Pacific‐Panthalassa fit better to the observed geoid and residual topography, challenging popular models of Andean‐style subduction along East Asia. Our geodynamic models predict significant SE‐ward lateral slab advections within the NW Pacific basin lower mantle (∼2,500 km from Mesozoic times to present) that would confound “vertical slab sinking”‐style restorations of imaged slabs and past subduction zone locations. Plain Language Summary Our knowledge of Earth's past tectonic plate configurations becomes increasingly uncertain going back into geologic time. Northwest Pacific‐Panthalassa plate tectonics along East Asia and the northern Pacific margin are among the most uncertain place on Earth to reconstruct during the Mesozoic‐Cenozoic eras. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed: one popular hypothesis suggests a large oceanic plate subducted continuously and exclusively under the eastern margin of Asia throughout Jurassic and Cretaceous times (i.e., Andean‐type subduction); a second hypothesis assumes that a number of smaller plates existed within the Northwestern Pacific that subducted both under the Asian margin and at offshore subduction zones (i.e., intra‐oceanic subduction). Using numerical models of mantle convection, we computed where each hypothesis predicts the subducted lithospheric plates to be at present in the Earth's interior. We compared these predictions against tomographic images of the Earth's mantle. We also calculated the gravitational attraction caused by the predicted mass distributions and compared them against the observed geoid. The warping of the Earth's surface caused by mantle flow was also computed and compared against non‐hydrostatic topography measurements. Our results favor plate reconstructions featuring intra‐oceanic subduction within Northwestern Pacific‐Panthalassa, with implications for past global CO2 and reconstructing disappeared ocean basins. Key Points Six fully kinematic, end‐member western Pacific plate tectonic reconstructions were assimilated into global geodynamic models Intra‐oceanic subduction in western Pacific produces synthetic geoid and dynamic topography best fit observed geoid and residual topography Geodynamic models predict significant SE‐ward lateral slab advections within NW Pacific lower mantle (∼2,500 km from Jurassic to present)

Numerous substrates have been identified for Type I and II arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). However, the full substrate spectrum of the only type III PRMT, PRMT7, and its connection to type I and II PRMT substrates remains unknown. Here, we use mass spectrometry to reveal features of PRMT7-regulated methylation. We find that PRMT7 predominantly methylates a glycine and arginine motif; multiple PRMT7-regulated arginine methylation sites are close to phosphorylations sites; methylation sites and proximal sequences are vulnerable to cancer mutations; and methylation is enriched in proteins associated with spliceosome and RNA-related pathways. We show that PRMT4/5/7-mediated arginine methylation regulates hnRNPA1 binding to RNA and several alternative splicing events. In breast, colorectal and prostate cancer cells, PRMT4/5/7 are upregulated and associated with high levels of hnRNPA1 arginine methylation and aberrant alternative splicing. Pharmacological inhibition of PRMT4/5/7 suppresses cancer cell growth and their co-inhibition shows synergistic effects, suggesting them as targets for cancer therapy. Arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) are involved in the regulation of various physiological and pathological conditions. Using proteomics, the authors here profile the methylation substrates of PRMTs 4, 5 and 7 and characterize the roles of these enzymes in cancer-associated splicing regulation.

Although macroeconomic news has a major impact on corporate earnings, anecdotal evidence suggests that financial analyst research is inefficient with respect to such news. Examining analysts' earnings research, we find that they underreact to negative macroeconomic news. Analysts are not all equal, though, as analysts employed at the same firm as an active macroeconomist underreact much less. We find that the benefit of analyst access to an economist is concentrated in firms that are high in cyclically relative to their industry, high in cyclically in general, and that are smaller in size. In addition, analysts who are exposed to more accurate or awardwinning in-house macroeconomists benefit more. Investors appear to recognize the advantage of access to macroeconomists, reacting more strongly to these analysts' forecast revisions. Overall, our results suggest that the presence of an active in-house macroeconomist improves the efficiency and credibility of analyst research.