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Major Depressive Disorder is a mental disorder that’s common among adolescents, while anhedonia, characterized by the diminish in ability to enjoy pleasurable activities and loss of interest. The essay is written to examine factors that can contribute to onset of adolescent anhedonia in the context of MDD and its impacts on adolescents. The author read and analyze scientific studies pulished in National Library of Medicine, then combine her personal observation and experience with knowledge she had gained online. Past studies concluded that adolescent anhedonia is a result of a combination of varying factors such as reduced activities in the reward system, emotional neglect in childhood, social pressure. Adolescents who have anhedonia tend to be less motivated and have less expectation of future events, which will hinder their performance in school or outside of school. Despite of past studies that are conducted to help finding a cure for adolescent anhedonia, more research is needed to be conducted concentrating on adolescent with anehdonia as an individual.

Herein, we report hybrid fibrous artificial muscles with reversible actuation, i.e., expansion upon cooling and contraction upon heating, under external compression. Although many fibrous polymeric artificial muscles by twist insertion in precursor fibers have been developed, most of them cannot reversibly actuate without an external tensile load. While heterochiral Nylon muscles can reversibly actuate under external compressive load, the compressive stress applied is low (0.078 MPa). In this study, we inserted pre-tensioned polymeric fibers with reversible actuation into pre-compressed helical metallic spring and obtained hybrid fibrous artificial muscles. We employed two types of two-way shape memory polymers, one type of fishing line artificial muscle, and seven types of helical springs in preparing seven types of hybrid muscles. A structural mechanics model was developed, and numerical simulation was conducted to evaluate the effect of the design parameters on the actuation strain. It is found that all the hybrid muscles were free-standing (reversibly actuate without external load) and beyond free-standing (reversibly actuate under external compression load). As an example, one hybrid muscle actuated reversibly under 24 MPa compressive stress without buckling. We expect that this study will open new opportunities for the use of fibrous artificial muscles as linear actuators in soft robotics or other applications that need reversible actuation under external compression.

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of publicly available large language models (LLMs), ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4o Mini and Perplexity AI, in responding to research-related questions at the undergraduate nursing level. The evaluation was conducted across different platforms and prompt structures. The research questions were categorized according to Bloom’s taxonomy, to compare the quality of AI-generated responses across cognitive levels. Additionally, the study explored the perspectives of research members on using AI tools in teaching foundational research concepts to undergraduate nursing students. Large Language Models (LLMs) could help nursing students learn foundational research concepts but their performance in answering research-related questions has not been explored. An exploratory case study was conducted to evaluate the performance of ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4o Mini and Perplexity AI in answering 41 research-related questions. Three different prompts (Prompt-1: Unstructured with no context; Prompt-2: Structured from professor’s perspective; Prompt-3: Structured from student’s perspective) were tested. A 5-point Likert-type valid author-developed scale was used to assess all AI-generated responses across six domains: Accuracy, Relevance, Clarity & Structure, Examples Provided, Critical Thinking and Referencing. All three AI models generated higher-quality responses when structured prompts were used compared with unstructured prompts and responded well across the different Bloom’s taxonomy levels. ChatGPT-4o and ChatGPT-4o Mini performed better at answering research-related questions than Perplexity AI. AI models hold promise as supplementary tools for enhancing undergraduate nursing students’ understanding of foundational research concepts. Further studies are warranted to evaluate their impact on specific research-related learning outcomes within nursing education.

We present a case of a small bowel obstruction secondary to a rare plastic bezoar. A man in their early 20s with autism and an intellectual disability presented with symptoms of small bowel obstruction. CT revealed very subtle signs and, despite passage of gastrografin, ongoing clinical suspicion led to operative management which confirmed the diagnoses of plastic bezoar.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a central aspect of the innate immune response. Different TLRs are associated with the immune response to different infectious pathogens. In this retrospective analysis, an increased susceptibility to invasive aspergillosis was associated with certain polymorphisms in donor TLR4 in patients who received an allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplant from an unrelated donor. An increased susceptibility to invasive aspergillosis was associated with certain polymorphisms in donor TLR4 in patients who received an allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplant from an unrelated donor. Over the past 20 years, invasive aspergillosis has become increasingly frequent among recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic-cell transplants, with an incidence rate of up to 12%. 1 Despite the availability of new azole and echinochandin antifungal drugs, the outcome remains poor, with a 1-year mortality of 50 to 80%, making invasive aspergillosis one of the leading infection-related causes of death among recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic-cell transplants. 1 , 2 Identification of patients who are at increased risk for infection before transplantation could facilitate the development of effective prevention strategies. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are transmembrane proteins on the surface of immune cells that detect conserved . . .

Background Faecal incontinence is a common debilitating condition associated with poor quality of life that generates substantial economic strain on healthcare systems. Objectives We aimed to evaluate, in a tertiary referral population presenting with faecal incontinence, the impact of suffering additional disorders of gut‐brain interaction (DGBI) on symptom severity, anxiety, depression and quality of life. Methods Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary referral Neurogastroenterology centre. Patients: All patients presenting with faecal incontinence from 2007 to 2020 were included. Main Outcome Measures: The results from structured medical and surgical questionnaires including Rome III Integrative Questionnaire, Faecal Incontinence Severity Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, SF‐36, and anorectal physiology were analysed using Stata version 17. Patients were categorised into 3 groups: 0–1 additional DGBI, 2 DGBIs, and 3+ DGBI. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05 (two‐tailed). Key Results Faecal incontinence patients (n = 249; mean age 63.4 ± 12.6 years; 93.6% female, 48.1% urge subtype) met diagnostic criteria for mean 2.2 additional DGBI each, mostly affecting bowel (n = 231, 42.4%) and anorectal (n = 150, 27.5%) regions. A greater number of DGBIs was associated with higher faecal incontinence symptom severity (p < 0.001), higher anxiety (p = 0.002) and depression (p = 0.003), and worse quality of life in areas of mental health (p = 0.037) and social effect (p < 0.001). Patients with a greater number of concurrent DGBI demonstrated a greater family history of gastrointestinal problems (p = 0.004). There were no associations found between a greater amount of DGBIs and anorectal physiology. Conclusions and Inferences A greater number of additional DGBIs in faecal incontinence patients was associated with worse faecal incontinence symptoms, higher anxiety and depression scores, and worse quality of life but was unrelated to physiology. This highlights the need to proactively search for comorbid DGBI in patients presenting with faecal incontinence.

Schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease of medical and veterinary importance, transmitted through specific freshwater snail intermediate hosts, is targeted for elimination in several endemic regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Multi-disciplinary methods are required for both human and environmental diagnostics to certify schistosomiasis elimination when eventually reached. Molecular xenomonitoring protocols, a DNA-based detection method for screening disease vectors, have been developed and trialed for parasites transmitted by hematophagous insects, such as filarial worms and trypanosomes, yet few have been extensively trialed or proven reliable for the intermediate host snails transmitting schistosomes. Here, previously published universal and Schistosoma-specific internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA primers were adapted into a triplex PCR primer assay that allowed for simple, robust, and rapid detection of Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis in Bulinus snails. We showed this two-step protocol could sensitively detect DNA of a single larval schistosome from experimentally infected snails and demonstrate its functionality for detecting S. haematobium infections in wild-caught snails from Zanzibar. Such surveillance tools are a necessity for succeeding in and certifying the 2030 control and elimination goals set by the World Health Organization.

Background Chemoresistance is a major factor involved in a poor response and reduced overall survival in patients with advanced breast cancer. Although extensive studies have been carried out to understand the mechanisms of chemoresistance, many questions remain unanswered. Methods In this research, we used two isogenic MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines selected for resistance to doxorubicin (MCF-7 DOX ) or docetaxel (MCF-7 TXT ) and the wild type parental cell line (MCF-7 CC ) to study mechanisms underlying acquired resistance to taxanes in MCF-7 TXT cells. Cytotoxicity assay, immunoblotting, indirect immunofluorescence and live imaging were used to study the drug resistance, the expression levels of drug transporters and various tubulin isoforms, apoptosis, microtubule formation, and microtubule dynamics. Results MCF-7 TXT cells were cross resistant to paclitaxel, but not to doxorubicin. MCF-7 DOX cells were not cross-resistant to taxanes. We also showed that multiple mechanisms are involved in the resistance to taxanes in MCF-7 TXT cells. Firstly, MCF-7 TXT cells express higher level of ABCB1. Secondly, the microtubule dynamics of MCF-7 TXT cells are weak and insensitive to the docetaxel treatment, which may partially explain why docetaxel is less effective in inducing M-phase arrest and apoptosis in MCF-7 TXT cells in comparison with MCF-7 CC cells. Moreover, MCF-7 TXT cells express relatively higher levels of β2- and β4-tubulin and relatively lower levels of β3-tubulin than both MCF-7 CC and MCF-7 DOX cells. The subcellular localization of various β-tubulin isoforms in MCF-7 TXT cells is also different from that in MCF-7 CC and MCF-7 DOX cells. Conclusion Multiple mechanisms are involved in the resistance to taxanes in MCF-7 TXT cells. The high expression level of ABCB1, the specific composition and localization of β-tubulin isoforms, the weak microtubule dynamics and its insensitivity to docetaxel may all contribute to the acquired resistance of MCF-7 TXT cells to taxanes.

Bi- and multistable mechanisms have gained significant attention in the field of soft and compliant robotics due to their distinctive mechanical and dynamic properties, which enable complex motion, adaptability, and energy-efficient actuation for various applications. This study investigates the Hair Clip Mechanism (HCM), defined as a kinked ribbon with its two extremities pinned together, analogous to a snap hair clip. While previous studies have explored similar concepts, they have not specifically investigated the snapping behavior of hair clip-like mechanisms as robotic actuators, leaving a critical gap in the understanding and application of this unique bistable structure. This paper systematically analyzes the static and dynamic properties of a generalized HCM, validates the theoretical models through experimentation, and demonstrates its application in the design of two distinct versions of carangiform fish robots. The first, a tethered pneumatic fish robot, achieves a swimming speed of 1.40 body lengths per second (BL/s) or 26.54 cm/s, approximately twice the velocity of a conventionally designed counterpart. The second, an untethered motor-driven HCM-based fish robot, attains a speed of 2.03 BL/s or 42.6 cm/s, thrust of 245.66 mN, cost of transport (CoT) of 5.14, energy efficiency of 3.89%, and thrust-to-power ratio of 79.46 mN/W at 3 Hz undulation. These metrics position it among the fastest soft robotic swimmers reported. Notably, its performance is 40% (in BL/s) higher than that of the previously documented record-holding design. These findings highlight the potential of HCM-based structures to enhance the adaptability and performance of soft robotic systems, paving the way for innovative applications in bio-inspired locomotion and compliant mechanism design.

Elucidating the relationships between a class I peptide antigen, a CD8 T cell receptor (TCR) specific to that antigen, and the T cell phenotype that emerges following antigen stimulation, remains a mostly unsolved problem, largely due to the lack of large data sets that can be mined to resolve such relationships. Here, we describe Antigen-TCR Pairing and Multiomic Analysis of T-cells (APMAT), an integrated experimental-computational framework designed for the high-throughput capture and analysis of CD8 T cells, with paired antigen, TCR sequence, and single-cell transcriptome. Starting with 951 putative antigens representing a comprehensive survey of the SARS-CoV-2 viral proteome, we utilize APMAT for the capture and single cell analysis of CD8 T cells from 62 HLA A*02:01 COVID-19 participants. We leverage this comprehensive dataset to integrate with peptide antigen properties, TCR CDR3 sequences, and T cell phenotypes to show that distinct physicochemical features of the antigen-TCR pairs strongly associate with both T cell phenotype and T cell persistence. This analysis suggests that CD8 T cell phenotype following antigen stimulation is at least partially deterministic, rather than the result of stochastic biological properties. Combinatorial experimental and bioinformatics methods can be used to analyse function and specificity of CD8 T cells. Here the authors propose a multiomic analysis framework Antigen-TCR Pairing and Multiomic Analysis of T cell (APMAT) to relate TCR specificity to transcriptomic phenotype indicating associations with physicochemical features.