advance research

This article introduces a significant advancement with the "Theory of Employee Planned Behavior" (TEPB), a novel extension of the well-established Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The TEPB uniquely positions job satisfaction as a central determinant in driving organizational performance. Using data from county-level government institutions in the United States, this research offers a nuanced exploration into how employee satisfaction influences organizational commitment and citizenship behaviors, which, in turn, substantially impact organizational performance...

DNA nanostructures exhibit versatile geometries and possess sophisticated capabilities not found in other nanomaterials. They serve as customizable nanoplatforms for orchestrating the spatial arrangement of molecular components, such as biomolecules, antibodies, or synthetic nanomaterials. This is achieved by incorporating oligonucleotides into the design of the nanostructure. In the realm of drug delivery to cancer cells, there is a growing interest in active targeting assays to enhance efficacy and selectivity...

Critical-size bone defects pose a formidable challenge in clinical treatment, prompting extensive research efforts to address this problem. In this study, an inorganic-organic multifunctional composite hydrogel denoted as PLG-g-TA/VEGF/Sr-BGNPs is developed, engineered for the synergistic management of bone defects. The composite hydrogel demonstrated the capacity for mineralization, hydroxyapatite formation, and gradual release of essential functional ions and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and also maintained an alkaline microenvironment...

Electromagnetic (EM) metamaterials have garnered considerable attention due to their capacity to achieve negative parameters, significantly influencing the integration of natural materials with artificially structural media. The emergence of carbon aerogels (CAs) offers an opportunity to create lightweight EM metamaterials, notable for their promising EM shielding or absorption effects. This paper introduces an efficient, low-cost method for fabricating CAs without requiring stringent drying conditions. By finely tuning the ZnCl2 /lignin ratio, the porosity is controlled in CAs...

Gut microbiota can influence host gene expression and physiology through metabolites. Besides, the presence or absence of gut microbiome can reprogram host transcriptome and epitranscriptome as represented by N6 -methyladenosine (m6 A), the most abundant mammalian mRNA modification. However, which and how gut microbiota-derived metabolites reprogram host transcriptome and m6 A epitranscriptome remain poorly understood. Here, investigation is conducted into how gut microbiota-derived metabolites impact host transcriptome and m6 A epitranscriptome using multiple mouse models and multi-omics approaches...

In their classic accounts, anthropological ethnographers developed causal arguments for how specific sociocultural structures and processes shaped human thought, behavior, and experience in particular settings. Despite this history, many contemporary ethnographers avoid establishing in their work direct causal relationships between key variables in the way that, for example, quantitative research relying on experimental or longitudinal data might. As a result, ethnographers in anthropology and other fields have not advanced understandings of how to derive causal explanations from their data, which contrasts with a vibrant "causal revolution" unfolding in the broader social and behavioral sciences...

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people, individuals whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, face unique challenges in accessing gender-affirming care and often experience disparities in a variety of health outcomes. Clinical research on TGD health is limited by a lack of standardization on how to best identify these individuals. The objective of this retrospective cohort analysis was to accurately identify and describe TGD adults and their use of gender-affirming care from 2003-2023 in a healthcare system in Utah, United States...

3D Gaussian Splatting (3D-GS) has emerged as a significant advancement in the field of Computer Graphics, offering explicit scene representation and novel view synthesis without the reliance on neural networks, such as Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF). This technique has found diverse applications in areas such as robotics, urban mapping, autonomous navigation, and virtual reality/augmented reality, just name a few. Given the growing popularity and expanding research in 3D Gaussian Splatting, this paper presents a comprehensive survey of relevant papers from the past year...

Astrocyte activation is a common feature of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the ways in which dying neurons influence the activity of astrocytes is poorly understood. Receptor interacting protein kinase-3 (RIPK3) signaling has recently been described as a key regulator of neuroinflammation, but whether this kinase mediates astrocytic responsiveness to neuronal death has not yet been studied. Here, we used the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) model of Parkinson's disease to show that activation of astrocytic RIPK3 drives dopaminergic cell death and axon damage...

In the realm of healthcare and the advancing field of medical sciences, the development of efficient drug delivery systems become an immense promise to cure several diseases. Despite considerable advancements in drug delivery systems, numerous challenges persist, necessitating further enhancements to optimize patient outcomes. Smart nano-carriers, for instance, 2D sheets nano-carriers are the recently emerging nanosheets that may garner attention for targeted delivery of bioactive compounds, drugs, and genes to kill cancer cells...

PURPOSE: Bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), capable of targeting two antigens simultaneously, represent a significant advancement by employing dual mechanisms of action for tumor suppression. However, how to pair targets to develop effective and safe bispecific drugs is a major challenge for pharmaceutical companies. METHODS: Using machine learning models, we refined the biological characteristics of currently approved or in clinical development BsAbs and analyzed hundreds of membrane proteins as bispecific targets to predict the likelihood of successful drug development for various target combinations...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Acute facial pain presents a complex challenge in medical practice, requiring a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to its management. This narrative review explores the contemporary landscape of treating acute facial pain, delving into pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and advanced interventions. The significance of tailored treatment strategies, rooted in the diverse etiologies of facial pain, such as dental infections, trigeminal neuralgia, temporomandibular joint disorders, sinusitis, or neurological conditions like migraines or cluster headaches, is underscored...

Photoluminescent carbon dots (CDs) have garnered significant interest owing to their distinctive optical and electronic properties. In contrast to semiconductor quantum dots, which incorporated toxic elements in their composition, CDs have emerged as a promising alternative, rendering them suitable for both environmental and biological applications. CDs exhibit astonishing features, including photoluminescence, charge transfer, quantum confinement effect, and biocompatibility. Recently, CDs derived from green sources have drawn a lot of attention due to their strong photostability, reduced toxicity, better biocompatibility, enhanced fluorescence, and simplicity...

The role of food additives is to preserve food by extending shelf life and limiting harmful microorganism proliferation. They prevent spoilage by enhancing the taste and safety of food by utilizing beneficial microorganisms and their antimicrobial metabolites. Current advances in food preservation and processing utilize green technology principles for green preservative formulation, enhancing nutrition and supplying essential micronutrients safely, while also improving quality, packaging, and food safety. Encapsulation is gaining attention for its potential to protect delicate materials from oxidative degradation and extend their shelf life, thereby ensuring optimal nutrient uptake...

As the development of chronic wound therapeutics continues to expand, the demand for advanced assay systems mimicking the inflammatory wound microenvironment in vivo increases. Currently, this is performed in animal models or in in vitro cell-based models such as cell culture scratch assays that more closely resemble acute wounds. Here, we describe for the first time a delayed scratch closure model that mimics some features of a chronic wound in vitro. Chronic wounds such as those suffered by later stage diabetic patients are characterised by degrees of slowness to heal caused by a combination of continued localised physical trauma and pro-inflammatory signalling at the wound...

PURPOSE: The efficacy of induction chemotherapy (IC) as a primary treatment for advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains a topic of debate, with a lack of dependable biomarkers for predicting its efficacy. This study seeks to establish a predictive classifier utilizing plasma metabolomics profiling. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: A total of 166 NPC patients enrolled in the clinical trial NCT05682703 and undergoing IC were included in the study. Plasma lipoprotein profiles were obtained using 1H-NMR before and after IC treatment...

In the dynamic landscape of nanotechnology, atomically precise silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) have emerged as a novel and promising category of materials with their fascinating properties and enormous potential. However, recent research endeavors have surged towards stabilizing Ag-based NCs, leading to innovative strategies like connecting cluster nodes with organic linkers to construct hierarchical structures, thus forming Ag-based cluster-assembled materials (CAMs). This approach not only enhances structural stability, but also unveils unprecedented opportunities for CAMs, overcoming the limitations of individual Ag NCs...

Tumor mutation profiling (MP) is often conducted on tissue from biopsies conducted for clinical purposes (diagnostic tissue). We aimed to explore the views of patients with cancer on who should own tumor biopsy tissue, pay for its storage, and decide on its future use; and determine their attitudes to and predictors of undergoing additional biopsies if required for research purposes. In this mixed methods, cross-sectional study, patients with advanced solid cancers enrolled in the Molecular Screening and Therapeutics Program (n = 397) completed a questionnaire prior to undergoing MP (n = 356/397)...

Invasive fungal pathogens pose a substantial threat to widely cultivated crop species, owing to their capacity to adapt to new hosts and new environmental conditions. Gaining insights into the demographic history of these pathogens and unravelling the mechanisms driving coevolutionary processes are crucial for developing durably effective disease management programmes. Pyrenophora teres is a significant fungal pathogen of barley, consisting of two lineages, Ptt and Ptm, with global distributions and demographic histories reflecting barley domestication and spread...

BACKGROUND: Stratifying patient risk and exploring the tumor microenvironment are critical endeavors in prostate cancer research, essential for advancing our understanding and management of this disease. METHODS: Single-cell sequencing data for prostate cancer were sourced from the pradcellatlas website, while bulk transcriptome data were obtained from the TCGA database. Dimensionality reduction cluster analysis was employed to investigate heterogeneity in single-cell sequencing data...