mergers

Although findings related to codominant coronary artery circulation, patent foramen ovale (PFO), and Chiari network (CN) have been documented in isolation, there is a gap in literature detailing the unique case with the presence of all three cardiac anomalies concomitantly present in a single heart. The purpose of this case report is to detail a unique cadaveric heart case, to serve as reference to provide useful data for interventionalists and clinicians. This observational cadaveric study assessed a single donor heart obtained through the University of Houston College of Medicine's Willed Donor Program...

The intricate nature of the brain necessitates the application of advanced probing techniques to comprehensively study and understand its working mechanisms. Neurophotonics offers minimally invasive methods to probe the brain using optics at cellular and even molecular levels. However, multiple challenges persist, especially concerning imaging depth, field of view, speed, and biocompatibility. A major hindrance to solving these challenges in optics is the scattering nature of the brain. This perspective highlights the potential of complex media optics, a specialized area of study focused on light propagation in materials with intricate heterogeneous optical properties, in advancing and improving neuronal readouts for structural imaging and optical recordings of neuronal activity...

Based on long-term monitoring data of the blazar, a new model for determining the parameters of this close binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) is proposed. The model uses the laws of celestial mechanics and results of harmonic analysis of observational data obtained mainly in the radio and optical wavelength ranges. Within the framework of the proposed model, the masses of SMBH companions, the values of their orbital elements, the parameters of the accretion disk, and its dimensions and thickness were determined...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the early emergence of viral variants repeatedly undermined the effects of vaccination. Our aim here is to explore strategies for improving spike vaccine gene antigenicity by merging mutations from different variants of concern (VOCs) in a single vaccine gene. To this end, newly developed recombinant vaccine genes were designed, cloned into adenoviral vectors, and applied to C57BL/6 mice; then, serum-neutralizing antibodies against the wildtype SARS-CoV-2 strains were determined in neutralization assays...

A method for the approximate merging of disk Wang-Ball (DWB) curves based on the modified snake optimizer (BEESO) is proposed in this paper to address the problem of difficulties in the merging of DWB curves. By extending the approximate merging problem for traditional curves to disk curves and viewing it as an optimization problem, an approximate merging model is established to minimize the merging error through an error formulation. Considering the complexity of the model built, a BEESO with better convergence accuracy and convergence speed is introduced, which combines the snake optimizer (SO) and three strategies including bi-directional search, evolutionary population dynamics, and elite opposition-based learning...

Until recently, about three-quarters of all monogenic Parkinson's disease (PD) studies were performed in European/White ancestry, thereby severely limiting our insights into genotype-phenotype relationships at global scale. The first systematic approach to embrace monogenic PD worldwide, the Michael J. Fox Foundation Global Monogenic PD (MJFF GMPD) Project, contacted authors of publications reporting individuals carrying pathogenic variants in known PD causing genes. In contrast, the Global Parkinson's Genetics Program's (GP2) Monogenic Network took a different approach by targeting PD centers not yet represented in the medical literature...

We use multimessenger observations of the neutron star merger event GW170817 to derive new constraints on axionlike particles (ALPs) coupling to photons. ALPs are produced via Primakoff and photon coalescence processes in the merger, escape the remnant, and decay back into two photons, giving rise to a photon signal approximately along the line of sight to the merger. We analyze the spectral and temporal information of the ALP-induced photon signal and use the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) observations of GW170817 to derive our new ALP constraints...

The precise modeling of binary black hole coalescences in generic planar orbits is a crucial step to disentangle dynamical and isolated binary formation channels through gravitational-wave observations. The merger regime of such coalescences exhibits a significantly higher complexity compared to the quasicircular case, and cannot be readily described through standard parametrizations in terms of eccentricity and anomaly. In the spirit of the effective one body formalism, we build on the study of the test-mass limit, and introduce a new modeling strategy to describe the general-relativistic dynamics of two-body systems in generic orbits...

The electron donor-acceptor complex-enabled asymmetric photochemical alkylation strategy holds potential to attain elusive chiral α-alkylated aldehydes without an external photoredox catalyst. The photosensitizer-free conditions are beneficial concerning process costs and sustainability. However, lengthy organocatalyst preparation steps as well as limited productivity and difficult scalability render the current approaches unsuitable for synthesis on enlarged scales. Inspired by these limitations, a protocol was developed for the enantioselective α-alkylation of aldehydes based on the synergistic combination of visible light-driven asymmetric organocatalysis and a controlled continuous flow reaction environment...

The kynurenine pathway (KP) of tryptophan degradation includes several compounds that reveal immunomodulatory properties. The present study aimed to investigate the alteration in KP metabolites in young women with autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) and their associations with thyroid function. The thyroid function tests, antithyroid antibodies measurement and ultrasonography of the thyroid gland have been performed in 57 young women with AIT and 38 age-matched healthy controls. The serum levels of tryptophan, kynurenine (KYN) and its metabolites were determined, and the activity of KP enzymes was calculated indirectly as product-to-substrate ratios...

In this paper I discuss the first "multi-messenger" observations of a binary neutron star merger and kilonova. These observations, touted as "revolutionary," included both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of a single source. I draw on analogies between astrophysics and historical sciences (e.g., paleontology) to explain the significance of this for (gravitational-wave) astrophysics. In particular, I argue that having independent lines of evidence about a target system enables the use of argumentative strategies-the "Sherlock Holmes" method and consilience-that help overcome the key challenges astrophysics faces as an observational and historical science...

CONTEXT: The landscape of medical education in the United States has undergone significant changes, particularly with the rise of osteopathic medical students, constituting a substantial portion of medical school entrants. The merger of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in 2020 opened residency slots to allopathic graduates that were previously historically allocated to osteopathic (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine [DO]) physicians...

When microscopic droplets are placed between fibers held at a fixed angle, the droplets spontaneously move toward the apex of the fibers. The speed of the droplet motion increases both with the angle between the fibers and the distance the droplet spans across the fibers. The speed of these droplets can be described by a simple scaling relationship. Bending these fibers into a sawtooth geometry results in a droplet ratchet where cyclic motion in a fiber results in extended linear motion of the droplet, and can even be used to induce droplet mergers...

PURPOSE: Pelvic gynecological surgeries, whether for malignant or benign conditions, frequently result in functional complications due to injuries to the autonomic nervous system. Recognizing the deep uterine vein (DUV) as an essential anatomical reference can aid in preserving these structures. Despite its significance, the DUV is infrequently studied and lacks comprehensive documentation in Terminologia Anatomica. This research endeavors to elucidate a detailed characterization of the DUV...

Inhomogeneous mixing by stationary convective cells set in a fixed array is a particularly simple route to layering. Layered profile structures, or staircases, have been observed in many systems, including drift-wave turbulence in magnetic confinement devices. The simplest type of staircase occurs in passive-scalar advection, due to the existence and interplay of two disparate timescales, the cell turn-over (τ_{H}), and the cell diffusion (τ_{D}) time. In this simple system, we study the resiliency of the staircase structure in the presence of global transverse shear and weak vortex scattering...

Binary coalescences are known sources of gravitational waves (GWs) and they encompass combinations of black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs). Here we show that when BHs are embedded in magnetic fields (B's) larger than approximately 10^{10}  G, charged particles colliding around their event horizons can easily have center-of-mass energies in the range of ultrahigh energies (≳10^{18}  eV) and become more likely to escape. Such B-embedding and high-energy particles can take place in BH-NS binaries, or even in BH-BH binaries with one of the BHs being charged (with charge-to-mass ratios as small as 10^{-5}, which do not change GW waveforms) and having a residual accretion disk...

Promotion and tenure (P&T) have been common mechanisms to support and nurture faculty at higher education institutions and, therefore, have been of continual interest to medical school faculty and administrators. In the last decade, significant changes in the academic medicine sector have occurred, including new medical schools, mergers and acquisitions of academic hospitals and health systems, and institutional and societal efforts to address systemic racism and inequality. In addition, societal controversies have revived long-dormant concerns about academic freedom for medical school faculty, a bedrock principle of U...

The skull most commonly symbolizes death, mortality, and the unachievable nature of immortality. However, in Korean Buddhist art, skulls are rarely found. The aim of this study was to explore the image and meaning of the skull in the Joseon dynasty (1392 to 1910) of Korea. The terms [Buddhist] and [painting] and [Korea] were used to search Google (www.google.com), and the Research Information Sharing Service of Korea (https://www-riss-kr-ssl.openlink), was also searched for [Buddhism] () and [art] () and [skull] ()...

Following a long stream of literature on the drivers of Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) activities, this study examines the effect of corporate leverage on several decisions of M&A deals in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using M&A data from the Thomson One database for the period between 2005 and 2022, we find that corporate leverage significantly influences the type of M&A target. This study further adds to the prior literature on the contradictory behaviours of high and low leverage firms by examining whether acquisition decisions differ amongst them in M&A deals in the UAE context...

This study examines the relationship between CEO career variety, digital knowledge base extension, and digital transformation in a digital M&A context. An empirical test was conducted using regression analysis with the digital M&A events of the new generation of information technology firms in China as the research sample. The results reveal that CEO career variety has a positive effect on digital transformation in the digital M&A context and that digital knowledge-base extension plays a mediating role...