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Background Incessant ovulation is the main etiologic factor of ovarian high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSC), which mostly originate from the fallopian tube epithelium (FTE). Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands essential for follicle development and ovulation wound repair were abundant in the follicular fluid (FF) and promoted the transformation of FTE cells. This study determined whether RTK ligands are present in FF exosomes and whether epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is essential for oncogenic activity. Methods The FF of women undergoing in vitro fertilization was fractionated based on the richness of exosomes and tested for transformation toward FTE cells under different RTK inhibitors. EGFR ligands in FF exosomes were identified, and downstream signaling proteins in FTE cells were characterized. Results The transforming activity of FF was almost exclusively enriched in exosomes, which possess a high capacity to induce anchorage-independent growth, clonogenicity, migration, invasion, and proliferation of FTE cells. EGFR inhibition abolished most of these activities. FF and FF exosome exposure markedly increased EGFR phosphorylation and the downstream signal proteins, including AKT, MAPK, and FAK. Multiple EGF family growth factors, such as amphiregulin, epiregulin, betacellulin, and transforming growth factor-alpha, were identified in FF exosomes. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that FF exosomes serve as carriers of EGFR ligands as well as ligands of other RTKs that mediate the transformation of FTE cells and underscore the need to further explore the content and roles of FF exosomes in HGSC development.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology not only offers tracking capability to locate equipment, supplies and people in real time, but also provides efficient and accurate access to medical data for health professionals. However, the reality of RFID adoption in healthcare is far behind earlier expectation. This study reviews literature on the use of RFID in healthcare/hospitals following a formal innovation-decision framework. We aim to identify the common applications, potential benefits, barriers, and critical success factors. Our study facilitates quick assessment and provides guidance for researchers and practitioners in adopting RFID in medical arenas. Many earlier adopters in healthcare found RFID to be functional and useful in such areas as asset tracking and patient identification. Major barriers to adoption include technological limitations, interference concerns, prohibitive costs, lack of global standards and privacy concerns. Better designed RFID systems with low cost and privacy issues addressed are needed to increase acceptance of RFID in healthcare.

The research describes the recognition and classification of the acoustic characteristics of amphibians using deep learning of deep neural network (DNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) for biological applications. First, original data is collected from 32 species of frogs and 3 species of toads commonly found in Taiwan. Secondly, two digital filtering algorithms, linear predictive coding (LPC) and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), are respectively used to collect amphibian bioacoustic features and construct the datasets. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm is applied to achieve dimensional reduction of the training model datasets. Next, the classification of amphibian bioacoustic features is accomplished through the use of DNN and LSTM. The Pytorch platform with a GPU processor (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti) realizes the calculation and recognition of the acoustic feature classification results. Based on above-mentioned two algorithms, the sound feature datasets are classified and effectively summarized in several classification result tables and graphs for presentation. The results of the classification experiment of the different features of bioacoustics are verified and discussed in detail. This research seeks to extract the optimal combination of the best recognition and classification algorithms in all experimental processes.

No-fault vaccine injury compensation schemes provide financial redress for adverse effects from vaccines without establishing fault. Due to the rapid vaccine development and distribution, these programs are crucial for vaccinees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigating the performance differences of these schemes worldwide and finding a more balanced approach is essential to responses to future pandemics. This study examines the structure and effectiveness of 14 no-fault vaccine injury compensation schemes, analyzing data on approval rates for COVID-19 vaccine injury claims. Data sources include government reports and academic studies to compare diverse operational models and funding sources. This study included 167,532 COVID-19 vaccine injury compensation applications, with up to 137,076 claims reviewed and up to 38,658 approved, incorporating both exact and approximate official numbers. Approval rates for the reviewed claims vary widely across jurisdictions, with Japan (74.29 %) having the highest rates, and the United States (3 %) and the United Kingdom (2.64 %) the lowest. The median approval rate across all 14 jurisdictions is 26.76 %, between South Korea's 26.09 % and France's 27.42 %. These variations reflect diverse standards and policies. No clear correlation exists between funding sources and approval rates. For example, government-funded schemes in France and Japan show higher approval rates, while similar models in the United States and the United Kingdom have low rates. In New Zealand and other countries with broader medical compensation schemes, approval rates are higher than the international median. Governments may adopt more flexible standards to redress vaccine injuries by referring to international practices and the latest medical evidence. High-approval-rate countries offer insights into inclusive criteria, while low-approval-rate countries may need to reassess stringent criteria. Middle-ground countries could incorporate new medical findings to refine standards, ensuring equitable outcomes for those affected by vaccine injuries.

The potential clinical application of gadolinium-neutron capture therapy (Gd-NCT) for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment has been compromised by the fast clearance and nonspecific biodistribution of gadolinium-based agents. We have developed a stem cell–nanoparticle system (SNS) to actively target GBM for advanced Gd-NCT by magnetizing umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UMSCs) using gadodiamide-concealed magnetic nanoparticles (Gd-FPFNP). Nanoformulated gadodiamide shielded by a dense surface composed of fucoidan and polyvinyl alcohol demonstrates enhanced cellular association and biocompatibility in UMSCs. The SNS preserves the ability of UMSCs to actively penetrate the blood brain barrier and home to GBM and, when magnetically navigates by an external magnetic field, an 8-fold increase in tumor-to-blood ratio is achieved compared with clinical data. In an orthotopic GBM-bearing rat model, using a single dose of irradiation and an ultra-low gadolinium dose (200 μg kg −1 ), SNS significantly attenuates GBM progression without inducing safety issues, prolonging median survival 2.5-fold compared to free gadodiamide. The SNS is a cell-based delivery system that integrates the strengths of cell therapy and nanotechnology, which provides an alternative strategy for the treatment of brain diseases. Gadolinium-neutron capture therapy (Gd-NCT) in glioblastoma shows promise but is limited by toxicity and short-half life in the brain. Here, the authors present a magnetised stem cell-nanoparticle system to facilitate brain penetrance of Gd-NCT and demonstrate its utility in an orthotopic rat glioblastoma model.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a heterogeneous hematopoietic stem cell disorder with thrombocytopenia. Flow cytometric immunophenotyping of blood cells has been instrumental in diagnosis as co-criteria, but the data regarding platelets remains lacking. This study aims to determine if there is a difference in surface antigen levels on platelets by comparing surface antigen levels in MDS patients and healthy control subjects. Concurrently, as flow cytometric gating can reveal the diameter of cells, this study will investigate differences in giant platelet percentage by comparing these percentages in high- and low-risk MDS patients. Twenty newly diagnosed MDS patients were enrolled in this study. Platelet surface antigen levels were determined by measuring the binding capacity of antibodies with flow cytometry. Platelets of MDS patients were shown to have a lower level of CD61 and higher levels of CD31 and CD36 than healthy controls. Judged by forward scatter (FSC), MDS patients' platelets appeared to be larger than those of healthy control subjects, whereas the MFI adjusted by diameter (MFI/FSC ratio) of CD31, CD41a, CD42a, CD42b and CD61 on platelets were lower in MDS patients than in healthy control subjects. There was a significant quantity of giant platelets found in MDS patients, and the high-risk MDS patients tended to have a higher percentage of giant platelets than low-risk patients. Conclusions: All the results indicate that MDS patients exhibit a lower antigen presentation (MFI) adjusted by diameter on platelets than healthy controls and the giant platelets detected by flow cytometry might correlate with the condition of MDS.

The edible fungus Tremella fuciformis was shown to have a high molecular weight (1.87 × 103 kDa) bioactive polysaccharide, denoted as TFP-F1. Monosaccharide composition and NMR analysis of the polysaccharide and its derivatives indicated it contained fucose (Fucp), xylose (Xylp), mannose (Manp), and glucuronic acid (GlcAp) in a ratio of 0.9:1.0:3.2:1.2. Using IR, NMR, and GC-MS spectroscopic data, the structure of TFP-F1 was elucidated as →3)-[β-D-GlcAp-(1→2)]-α-D-Manp-(1→3)-α-D-Manp-(1→3)-[α-L-Fucp-(1→2)-β-D-Xylp-(1→2)]-α-D-Manp-(1→n, with partial acetylation of C6-OH in mannoses. Furthermore, at a concentration of 1 μg/mL, TFP-F1 was found to stimulate the secretion of TNF-α and IL-6 in J774A.1 macrophage cells in vitro via interaction with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). The removal of O-acetyl groups led to the loss of immunomodulatory activities, demonstrating that O-acetyl groups play an essential role in enhancing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Although water‐soluble graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have shown various promising bio‐applications due to their intriguing optical and chemical properties, the large heterogeneity in compositions, sizes, and shapes of these GQDs hampers the better understanding of their structure‐properties correlation and further uses in terms of large‐scale manufacturing practices and safety concerns. It is shown here that a water‐soluble atomically‐precise GQD (WAGQD‐C96) is synthesized and exhibits a deep‐red emission and excellent sonodynamic sensitization. By decorating sterically hindered water‐soluble functional groups, WAGQD‐C96 can be monodispersed in water without further aggregation. The deep‐red emission of WAGQD‐C96 facilitates the tracking of its bio‐process, showing a good cell‐uptake and long‐time retention in tumor tissue. Compared to traditional molecular sonosensitizers, WAGQD‐C96 generates superior reactive oxygen species and demonstrates excellent tumor inhibition potency as an anti‐cancer sonosensitizer in in vivo studies. A good biosafety of WAGQD‐C96 is validated in both in vitro and in vivo assays. A water‐soluble atomically‐precise graphene quantum dot (WAGQD) with deep‐red emission is synthesized and shows a superior sensitizing potency for cancer sonodynamic therapy. The general synthetic strategy will enable the synthesis of WAGQDs with different sizes, edges, and tailored properties for further bio‐applications.

Research shows that despite organisational efforts to achieve privacy compliance, privacy breaches continue to rise. The extant studies on organisational privacy compliance concentrate on the extent to which privacy threats can be alleviated through a combination of technical and human controls and the positive (and often intended) influences of these controls. This focus inadvertently neglects unintended consequences such as impeded workflow in medical practices. To address this research conflict, this study uses an interpretive grounded theory research approach to investigate the consequences of privacy safeguard enactment in medical practices, including whether it influences their ability to meet privacy requirements and whether workflows are impeded. Our central contribution is a theoretical framework, the unintended consequences of privacy safeguard enactment (UCPSE) framework, which explicates the process by which privacy safeguards are evaluated and subsequently bypassed and the resulting influence on organisational compliance. The UCPSE highlights the importance of the imbalance challenge, which is the result of unintended consequences outweighing the intended consequences of privacy safeguard enactment. Failure to address the imbalance challenge leads to the adoption of workarounds that may ultimately harm the organisation's privacy compliance. Despite several research calls, the consequences and effectiveness of organisational privacy efforts are largely missing from both information systems and health informatics research. This study is one of the first attempts to both systematically identify the impacts of privacy safeguard enactment and to examine its implications for privacy compliance in the healthcare domain. The findings also have practical implications for healthcare executives on the UCPSE and how they could alleviate the imbalance challenge to thwart workarounds and the subsequent negative effects on privacy compliance.

Dissection of the physiological interactomes of histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) is crucial for understanding epigenetic regulatory pathways. Peptide- or protein-based histone photoaffinity tools expanded the ability to probe the epigenetic interactome, but in situ profiling in native cells remains challenging. Here, we develop a nucleus-targeting histone-tail-based photoaffinity probe capable of profiling the hPTM-mediated interactomes in native cells, by integrating cell-permeable and nuclear localization peptide modules into an hPTM peptide equipped with a photoreactive moiety. These types of probes, such as histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation and histone H3 Lysine 9 crotonylation probes, enable the probing of epigenetic interactomes both in HeLa cell and hard-to-transfect RAW264.7 cells, resulting in the discovery of distinct interactors in different cell lines. The utility of this probe is further exemplified by characterizing interactome of emerging hPTM, such as AF9 was detected as a binder of histone H3 Lysine 9 lactylation, thus expanding the toolbox for profiling of hPTM-mediated PPIs in live cells. Dissection of the physiological interactomes of histone post-translational modifications is crucial for understanding epigenetic regulatory pathways. Here, authors develop a nucleus-targeting histone-tail-based photoaffinity probe capable of profiling the hPTM-mediated interactomes in native cells.