Crude

PURPOSE: Retinal and optic nerve diseases have become the primary cause of irreversible vision loss and blindness. However, there is still a lack of thorough evaluation regarding their prevalence in China. METHODS: This artificial intelligence-based national screening study applied a previously developed deep learning algorithm, named the Retinal Artificial Intelligence Diagnosis System (RAIDS). De-identified personal medical records from January 2019 to December 2021 were extracted from 65 examination centers in 19 provinces of China...

Microorganisms have long captivated researchers for their potential to produce enzymes with diverse industrial applications. Efficient production of proteases from new strains is crucial as these enzymes play a vital role in breaking down protein bonds, enabling their use in industrial applications. Therefore, a novel Exiguobacterium indicum 1.2.3 was isolated (Istanbul, Turkiye) and characterized in this study. This strain produced alkaline serine protease, which works in lower temperatures (20-40 °C) with casein as a specific substrate...

This study examined potential of the extracts obtained from the byproducts generated at commercial pecan nut-shelling operations in cancer treatment. The subcritical water extracts obtained from two varieties, Native and Pawnee, were analyzed for their phenolic contents and compositions. Effects of the extracts on viability and IC50 of the human cell lines representing a broad range of cancer types, cervical, lung, skin, breast, colon and prostate cancers, were investigated. Although the effect of the temperature on the phenolic contents and compositions of the extracts was not statistically significant, the influence of the variety was extensive...

The sulfolipid sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol (SQDG), produced by plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, constitutes a major sulfur reserve in the biosphere. Microbial breakdown of SQDG is critical for the biological utilization of its sulfur. This commences through release of the parent sugar, sulfoquinovose (SQ), catalyzed by sulfoquinovosidases (SQases). These vanguard enzymes are encoded in gene clusters that code for diverse SQ catabolic pathways. To identify, visualize and isolate glycoside hydrolase CAZY-family 31 (GH31) SQases in complex biological environments, we introduce SQ cyclophellitol-aziridine activity-based probes (ABPs)...

Aminopeptidases with varied substrate specificities are involved in different crucial physiological processes of cellular homeostasis. They also have wide applications in food and pharma industries. Within the bacterial cell, broad specificity aminopeptidases primarily participate in the recycling of amino acids by degrading oligopeptides generated via primary proteolysis mediated by cellular ATP-dependent proteases. However, in bacteria, a truly broad specificity enzyme, which can cleave off acidic, basic, Gly and hydrophobic amino acid residues, is extremely rare...

OBJECTIVE: In 2018, the United States Preventive Services Task Force promoted shared decision making between healthcare provider and patient for men aged 55 to 69. This study aimed to analyze rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing across racial and ethnic groups following this new recommendation. METHODS: A secondary analysis was conducted of the 2020-2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System database to assess men aged 55 or older without a history of prostate cancer...

This study explored the impacts of supplementation of different levels of coated methionine (Met) in a high-plant protein diet on growth, blood biochemistry, antioxidant capacity, digestive enzymes activity and expression of genes related to TOR signaling pathway in gibel carp ( Carassius auratus gibeilo). A high-plant protein diet was formulated and used as a basal diet and supplemented with five different levels of coated Met at 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, 0.60 and 0.75%, corresponding to final analyzed Met levels of 0...

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 and malaria cause significant morbidity and mortality globally. Co-infection of these diseases can worsen their impact on public health. This review aims to synthesize literature on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 and malaria co-infection to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using MeSH terms and keywords from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to January 2023. The review included original articles on COVID-19 and malaria co-infection, evaluating their methodological quality and certainty of evidence...

Background Rates of COVID-19 hospitalization are an important measure of the health system burden of severe COVID-19 disease and have been closely followed throughout the pandemic. The highly transmittable, but often less severe, Omicron COVID-19 variant has led to an increase in hospitalizations with incidental COVID-19 diagnoses where COVID-19 is not the primary reason for admission. There is a strong public health need for a measure that is implementable at low cost with standard electronic health record (EHR) datasets that can separate these incidental hospitalizations from non-incidental hospitalizations where COVID-19 is the primary cause or an important contributor...

The biotechnological process called solid-state fermentation (SSF) was applied for hyper production of protease by using a fungal strain called Aspergillus oryzae . From screening of 9 different local substrates (peanut shell, wheat bran, guava leaves, sugar cane bagasse, rice polish, wheat straw, corn straw, reed grass, and rice straw), peanut shells serve as the best substrates for protease production under optimized cultured conditions. The varying physiochemical parameters such as pH (2-9.5), temperature (30-52 °C), incubation time (1-10 days), inoculum size (1-8 mL), moisture level (20-125%), and substrate concentration (1-7 g) were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM)...

The enhancement of oil recovery (EOR) through low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) and the emerging hybrid with a polymer (LSP) has proven to be effective at microscale investigations and cost-effective with ease of operation at field-scale tests. Their application in carbonate oil reservoirs, which typically occur oil-wet, presents a particularly essential capacity given that over half of the global oil reserves are hosted in carbonate formation. However, modeling the mechanisms involved to predict and evaluate the performance of low salinity-based EOR at a large scale is complex and requires the integration of geochemistry in reservoir simulation to upscale the interfacial interactions of crude oil, brine, and rock observed at the micrometer scale...

The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and the mental health of pregnant women from the South of Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study carried out in Criciúma, Brazil, through face-to-face interviews, from April to December 2022. Pregnant women aged 18 or older who underwent prenatal care in the 48 Basic Health Units of the municipality and who were in their third trimester of pregnancy were included. High consumption of UPF was considered as 6 or more items or subgroups of UPF consumed on the day before the interview, using the Nova-UPF screener...

PURPOSE: To investigate breast cancer (BC) incidence and mortality rates among specific racial groups in Brazil. METHODS: BC incidence was evaluated from 2010 to 2015, using Brazilian Population-Based Cancer Registries, incorporating crude ratios and annual average percentage change (AAPC). Clinical and sociodemographic data from 2000 to 2019 were obtained from Hospital-Based Cancer Registries. Mortality data from 2000 to 2020 were sourced from the National Mortality Information System, comparing White women and Black women...

Delivering functional gene into targeted skin cells or tissues to modulate the genes expression, has the potential to treat various hereditary cutaneous disorders. Nevertheless, the lack of safe and effective gene delivery vehicles greatly limits the clinical translation of gene therapy for inherited skin diseases. Herein, we developed a facile elution fractionation strategy to isolate eight HPAEs with Mw ranging from 7.6 to 131.8 kg/mol and Đ < 2.0 from the one crude HPAE23.7k , and investigated the expression efficiency for TGM1 and COL7A1 plasmids...

Alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are abundant in crude oil and are enriched during petroleum refinement but knowledge of their cardiotoxicity remains limited. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered the main hazardous components in crude oil and the tricyclic PAH phenanthrene, has been singled out for its direct effects on cardiac tissue in mammals and fish. Here we test the impact of the monomethylated phenanthrene, 3-methylphenanthrene (3-MP), on the contractile and electrical function of the atria and ventricle of a polar fish, the navaga cod (Eleginus nawaga)...

PURPOSE: Postoperative shoulder pain is a common problem after laparoscopic surgery. This study aimed to investigate the association between operative side and postoperative shoulder pain following urologic laparoscopic surgery performed in the lateral recumbent position. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at a single tertiary care center. A total of 506 patients who underwent urologic laparoscopic surgery (including adrenalectomy, radical nephrectomy, partial nephrectomy, and pyeloplasty) between January 2010 and December 2019 were included...

BACKGROUND: Concurrent chemo-radiation followed by high dose rate brachytherapy is the standard of care for locally advanced cervical cancer. The proximity of the ureters to the tumor volume risks ureteric stenosis. Here we outline the current understanding of radiotherapy induced ureteric stenosis in patients treated for cervical cancer, focusing on the incidence, risk factors, clinical consequences, and management. METHODS: Searches on EMBASE, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were performed for publications reporting on radiotherapy, cervix cancer and ureteric stenosis...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Overactive bladder (OAB) and depression are both common disorders and there is research suggesting an association between the two, but there is a lack of studies with large samples. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between OAB and depressive symptoms. METHODS: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database for the period 2005 to 2018. OAB was characterized by the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS, score > 3) and depression was diagnosed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, score ≥ 10)...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Medicinal plants have shown promise in the search for new treatments of pulmonary emphysema. Anadenanthera colubrina, a species native to the Caatinga biome in northeastern Brazil, is widely recognized and traditionally employed in the treatment of pulmonary diseases. Many studies corroborate popular knowledge about the medicinal applications of A. colubrina, which has demonstrated a remarkable variety of pharmacological properties, however, its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties are highlighted...

OBJECTIVE: Adenomyosis is associated with female infertility worldwide. With improvements in imaging methods, such as pelvic magnetic resonance imaging, the diagnosis and treatment of adenomyosis have changed. This study aimed to evaluate the overall prevalence, incidence, and treatment trends of adenomyosis in South Korea using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service Database (NHIS). METHODS: Data were collected from the Korean NHIS, a population-based complete enumeration database...