System medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a supremely valuable resource for the development of drug discovery. Few methods are capable of hunting for potential molecule ligands from TCM towards more than one single protein target. In this study, a novel dual-target surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor was developed to perform targeted compound screening of two key proteins involved in the cellular invasion process of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): the spike (S) protein receptor binding domain (RBD) and the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)...

INTRODUCTION: Acute pancreatitis is an acute inflammatory process of the pancreas with a high prevalence rate and varying degrees of severity that can be potentially life threatening. Much is still unknown about which mechanisms determine the course and severity of acute pancreatitis. The primary objective of this review is to identify the potential association between circulating B and T lymphocytes and the severity of acute pancreatitis. Subgroup analyses will be done according to the severity classification of the Revised Atlanta Classification System as well as according to the distinction between B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes and the severity of acute pancreatitis...

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OBJECTIVE: Body mass index (BMI) is known to contribute to outcomes for patients with knee OA. Furthermore, BMI influences the protein expression of orthobiologic treatments like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and microfragmented adipose tissue (MFAT). We performed a secondary analysis of the association of BMI with PROs for patients with knee OA who received either PRP or MFAT injections. METHODS: Seventy-one patients with knee OA were randomized to receive a single ultrasound-guided injection of PRP or MFAT...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Bladder cancer (BC) is a highly heterogenous disease comprising tumours of various molecular subtypes and histologic variants. This heterogeneity represents a major challenge for the development of novel therapeutics. Preclinical models that closely mimic in vivo tumours and reflect their diverse biology are indispensable for the identification of therapies with specific activity in various BC subtypes. In this review, we summarize efforts and progress made in this context during the last 24 months...

Endoscopy is the primary modality for detecting asymptomatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and precancerous lesions. Improving detection rate remains challenging. We developed a system based on deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for detecting esophageal cancer and precancerous lesions [high-risk esophageal lesions (HrELs)] and validated its efficacy in improving HrEL detection rate in clinical practice (trial registration ChiCTR2100044126 at www.chictr.org.cn). Between April 2021 and March 2022, 3117 patients ≥50 years old were consecutively recruited from Taizhou Hospital, Zhejiang Province, and randomly assigned 1:1 to an experimental group (CNN-assisted endoscopy) or a control group (unassisted endoscopy) based on block randomization...

Snakes of the genus Boa are outstanding elements of the New World biota with a broad sociological influence on pop culture. Historically, several taxa have been recognized in the past 300 years, being mostly described in the early days of binomial nomenclature. As a rule, these taxa were recognized based on a suite of phenotypic characters mainly those from the external morphology. However, there is a huge disagreement with respect to the current taxonomy and available molecular phylogenies. In order to reconcile both lines of evidence, we investigate the phylogenetic reconstruction (using mitochondrial and nuclear genes) of the genus in parallel to the detailed study of some phenotypic systems from a geographically representative sample of the cis-Andean mainland Boa constrictor...

BACKGROUND: Typhoid fever is a common cause of febrile illness in low- and middle-income countries. While multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi) has spread globally, fluoroquinolone resistance has mainly affected Asia. METHODS: Consecutively, 1038 blood cultures were obtained from patients of all age groups with fever and/or suspicion of serious systemic infection admitted at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Zanzibar in 2015-2016. S. Typhi were analyzed with antimicrobial susceptibility testing and with short read (61 strains) and long read (9 strains) whole genome sequencing, including three S...

Filariasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by roundworms, is a significant public health concern in many tropical countries. Microscopic examination of blood samples can detect and differentiate parasite species, but it is time consuming and requires expert microscopists, a resource that is not always available. In this context, artificial intelligence (AI) can assist in the diagnosis of this disease by automatically detecting and differentiating microfilariae. In line with the target product profile for lymphatic filariasis as defined by the World Health Organization, we developed an edge AI system running on a smartphone whose camera is aligned with the ocular of an optical microscope that detects and differentiates filarias species in real time without the internet connection...

Systems for disease vector control should be effective, efficient, and flexible to be able to tackle contemporary challenges and threats in the control and elimination of vector-borne diseases. As a priority activity towards the strengthening of vector control systems, it has been advocated that countries conduct a vector-control needs assessment. A review was carried out of the perceived needs for disease vector control programs among eleven countries and subnational states in South Asia and the Middle East...

Viruses can infect the brain in individuals with and without HIV-infection: however, the brain virome is poorly characterized. Metabolic alterations have been identified which predispose people to substance use disorder (SUD), but whether these could be triggered by viral infection of the brain is unknown. We used a target-enrichment, deep sequencing platform and bioinformatic pipeline named "ViroFind", for the unbiased characterization of DNA and RNA viruses in brain samples obtained from the National Neuro-AIDS Tissue Consortium...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) that can cause inflammation, demyelination, and axon degeneration. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a single-chain polypeptide mainly synthesized in the liver and brain. IGF-1 causes neuronal and non-neuronal cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation. Therefore, it can be used in treating neuro-demyelinating diseases such as MS. The current systematic review and meta-analysis aims to compare the levels of IGF-1 in MS patients and healthy controls and also investigates IGF binding proteins (IGF-BP) and growth hormone (GH) levels between MS patients and healthy controls...

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this investigation was to identify the main compounds and the pharmacological mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine formulation, Gong Ying San (GYS), by infrared spectral absorption characteristics, metabolomics, network pharmacology, and molecular-docking analysis for mastitis. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities were determined in vitro. METHODS: The chemical constituents of GYS were detected by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q-extractive mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE-MS)...

To satisfy the requirements of modern communication systems and wearables using 2.4/5.8 GHz band this paper presents a simple, compact, and dual-band solution. The antenna is extracted from a circular monopole by inserting various patches and stubs. The genetic algorithm is utilized to optimize the parameters and achieve the best possible results regarding bandwidth and gain. Afterward, a 2-port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configuration is created by positioning an identical second single element perpendicularly to the first one...

The COVID-19 pandemic was a socionatural disaster that unprecedentedly disrupted the daily lives of individuals, families, and communities. Prior research indicates that Black American men living in rural contexts, particularly in Southern parts of the United States of America, were disproportionately affected by the psychological and economic effects of the pandemic. Despite these disparities, few studies have examined the pandemic's impact on rural Black American men's social networks. This study aimed to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural Black American men's interpersonal relationships...

This study tackles the complex task of integrating wind energy systems into the electric grid, facing challenges such as power oscillations and unreliable energy generation due to fluctuating wind speeds. Focused on wind energy conversion systems, particularly those utilizing double-fed induction generators (DFIGs), the research introduces a novel approach to enhance Direct Power Control (DPC) effectiveness. Traditional DPC, while simple, encounters issues like torque ripples and reduced power quality due to a hysteresis controller...

Contrary to North America and Europe, the prevalence of hypertension is rising in West Africa. With a transition from whole foods to processed foods in Nigeria, diet plays a key driver of hypertension. To combat this, the national nutritional guidelines in Nigeria were implemented, but their translation into actionable tools for clinicians remains a challenge. Currently, there are no simple dietary assessment tools that are concise and suitable to be incorporated into clinical care without requiring extensive data analysis while still providing personalised dietary support to their patients...

Movement systems are massively redundant, and there are always multiple movement solutions to any task demand; motor abundance. Movement consequently exhibits 'repetition without repetition', where movement outcomes are preserved but the kinematic details of the movement vary across repetitions. The uncontrolled manifold (UCM) concept is one of several methods that analyses movement variability with respect to task goals, to quantify repetition without repetition and test hypotheses about the control architecture producing a given abundant response to a task demand...

Oral health is a vital indicator of well-being that is influenced by various habits and lifestyles of individuals. Oral diseases are the bottleneck in the effective control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) due to chronic in nature and reciprocal relationship as sharing the common risk factors and habits such as sugar, tobacco, and alcohol consumption that increase the risk of developing various inevitable diseases. However, there is a lack of literature highlighting the relationship between risk factors for oral diseases and general health among individuals...

The world's health, economic, and social systems have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With lockdown measures being a common response strategy in most countries, many individuals were faced with financial and mental health challenges. The current study explored the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being, perception of risk factors and coping strategies of two vulnerable groups in Malaysia, namely women and older adults from low-income households (USD592). A purposive sample of 30 women and 30 older adults was interviewed via telephone during Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) regarding the challenges they faced throughout the pandemic...