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Backgrounds: The effectiveness of oral antiviral therapy including nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir and molnupiravir in managing COVID-19 among individuals with pre-existing lung cancer was unclear. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of antiviral agents in the management of COVID-19 among patients with lung cancer., Methods: Utilizing data from the TriNetX - a global health research network, a retrospective cohort study was conducted involving 2484 patients diagnosed with both lung cancer and COVID-19. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to create well-balanced cohorts. The study assessed the primary outcome of all-cause hospitalization or mortality within a 30-day follow-up., Results: After PSM, the oral antiviral group exhibited a significantly lower risk of the primary composite outcome compared to the control group (6.1 % vs. 9.9 %; HR: 0.60; 95 % CI: 0.45-0.80). This association was consistent across various subgroups according to age, sex, vaccine status, type of oral antiviral agent, and lung cancer characteristics. Additionally, the oral antiviral group showed a lower risk of all-cause hospitalization (HR: 0.73; 95 % CI: 0.54-0.99) and a significantly lower risk of mortality (HR: 0.16; 95 % CI: 0.06-0.41)., Conclusion: The study suggests a favorable impact of oral antiviral therapy on the outcomes of COVID-19 in individuals with lung cancer and support the potential utility of oral antiviral agents in improving outcomes in this vulnerable population., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Study Objective: This meta-analysis aimed at identifying the risk factors for and their strengths in predicting difficult mask ventilation (MV) through a systematic approach., Design: Meta-analysis of observational studies., Setting: Operating room., Intervention: Airway- or patient-related risk factors for difficult MV reported in over 20% of eligible studies identified through literature review., Patients: Adults receiving anesthetic induction with requirement of MV., Measurements: Databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to July 2022. The primary outcomes were the identification of commonly reported risk factors for MV and a comparison of their strengths in difficult MV prediction, while the secondary outcomes were the prevalence of difficult MV in the general population and those with obesity., Main Results: Meta-analysis of 20 observational studies involving 335,846 patients identified 13 risk factors with predictive strengths (all p < 0.05): neck radiation (OR = 5.0, five studies, n = 277,843), increased neck circumference (OR = 4.04, 11 studies, n = 247,871), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (OR = 3.61, 12 studies, n = 331,255), presence of beard (OR = 3.35, 12 studies, n = 295,443), snoring (OR = 3.06, 14 studies, n = 296,105), obesity (OR = 2.99, 11 studies, n = 278,297), male gender (OR = 2.76, 16 studies, n = 320,512), Mallampati score III-IV (OR = 2.36, 17 studies, n = 335,016), limited mouth opening (OR = 2.18, six studies, n = 291,795), edentulous (OR = 2.12, 11 studies, n = 249,821), short thyroid-mental distance (OR = 2.12, six studies, n = 328,311), old age (OR = 2, 11 studies, n = 278,750), and limited neck movement (OR = 1.98, nine studies, n = 155,101). The prevalence of difficult MV was 6.1% (16 studies, n = 334,694) and 14.4% (four studies, n = 1152) in the general population and those with obesity, respectively., Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the strengths of 13 most common risk factors for predicting difficult MV, which may serve as an evidence-based reference for clinicians to incorporate into their daily practice., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None declared., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Although overweight and obese people have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes incidence than normal-weight individuals, the efficacy of zinc supplementation in blood sugar control in overweight and obese people remained unknown. This meta-analysis attempted to address this issue., Methods: Databases including PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception until May 2022 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of zinc supplementation among participants who were overweight or obese without language restriction. It is a random-effect meta-analysis that analyzed the impact of zinc supplementation on fasting glucose (FG) (i.e., primary outcome) and other variables including fasting insulin (FI), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and 2-hour postprandial glucose (2 h- PG)., Results: Analysis of 12 eligible RCTs involving 651 overweight/obese participants demonstrated that zinc supplementation significantly improves FG (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -8.57 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -14.04 to -3.09 mg/dL, p = 0.002), HOMA-IR (WMD: -0.54; 95% CI: -0.78 to -0.30, p < 0.001), HbA1c (WMD: -0.25%; 95% CI: -0.43% to -0.07%, p = 0.006), and 2 h-PG (WMD: -18.42 mg/dL; 95% CI: -25.04 to -11.79 mg/dL, p < 0.001) compared to those in the control group. After conducting subgroup analyses, we found that the primary outcome, FG, showed more significant results in the subgroups with Asia, Zinc supplementation alone, higher dose (≥30 mg) and patients with diabetes., Conclusion: Our meta-analysis indicated that zinc supplementation benefits blood sugar control in overweight and obese populations, with an especially significant reduction in FG., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs), platelet-rich fibrin releasates (PRFr), and chondrocyte transplantation in rabbit acute osteochondral defects., Methods: Thirty rabbits were randomly assigned to five groups: untreated controls; ADSCs alone; PRFr alone; PRFr + ADSCs; and PRFr + chondrocytes. The critical size osteochondral defects in right knee femoral condyles were injected intra-articularly according to the groups, as listed. The experimental rabbits received treatments once a week for two weeks postoperatively. All evaluations were conducted for 14 weeks following surgery, and the regenerated cartilages were assessed by gross inspection and histological examination., Results: There were no complications encountered in any of the rabbits. The size of the defect decreased and the volume of repaired cartilage increased in the medial femoral condyles of the PRFr + ADSCs group. Relative to the ADSCs or PRFr group, histological examination demonstrated that the PRFr + ADSCs group had thicker hyaline cartilage-specific extracellular matrix. Grading scores revealed that PRFr + ADSCs injection had better matrix, cell distribution, and surface indices than other groups (P < 0.05). However, the histological scores reported for PRFr + chondrocytes on cartilage repair were similar to those of PRFr, and there were no significant between-group differences., Conclusions: These findings showed that intra-articular injections of PRFr + ADSCs into the knee can reduce cartilage defects by regenerating hyaline-like cartilage without complications. This approach may provide an alternative method for functional reconstruction of acute osteochondral defects with an unlimited source of cells and releasates., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Many studies have reported that frontal theta and posterior alpha activities are associated with working memory tasks. However, fewer studies have focused on examining whether or not the frontal alpha or posterior theta can play a role in the working memory task. This study investigates electroencephalography (EEG) dynamics and connectivity among different brain regions' theta and alpha oscillations. The EEG was collected from undergraduate students (n = 64) while they were performing a Sternberg-like working memory task involving chemistry concepts. The results showed that the frontal midline cluster exhibited sustained theta augmentation across the periods of stimulus presentations, maintenance, and probe presentation, suggesting that the frontal midline theta might associate with facilitating the central execute function to maintain information in the working memory. Study of the central parietal and the occipital clusters revealed a sequence of theta augmentation followed by alpha suppression at constant intervals after the onset of stimulus and probe presentations, suggesting that the posterior theta might be associated with sensory processing, theta gating, or stimulus selection. It further suggests that the posterior alpha event-related de-synchronization (ERD) might be linked to direct information flow into and out of the long-term memory (LTM) and precede stimulus recognition. An alternating phasic alpha event-related synchronization (ERS) and ERD following the 1st stimulus and probe presentations were observed at the occipital cluster, in which alpha ERS might be linked to the inhibition of irrelevant information., (© 2013.)

gamma S-Crystallin from shark eye lenses, formerly termed beta s crystallin in mammalian lenses, is structurally characterized in this study by cDNA cloning and sequencing. To facilitate sequence characterization of gamma S-crystallin possessing intermediate structural properties between beta- and gamma-crystallins, cDNA mixture was constructed from the poly(A)+ mRNA isolated from shark eye lenses, and amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out to obtain nucleotide segments encoding multiple shark gamma S-crystallins. Sequencing several positive clones revealed that a multiplicity of isoforms exists in the gamma S-crystallin class of this cartilaginous fish, similar to authentic gamma-crystallin family characterized from the same shark species. Comparison of protein sequences encoded by two representative shark gamma S1 and gamma S2 cDNAs with those published sequences of beta-, gamma-, and gamma S crystallins from bovine, human, bullfrog and carp lenses indicated that there is about 35-64% sequence homology between shark gamma S crystallins and structurally related crystallins from different evolutionary classes, with a higher sequence similarity between shark gamma S and mammalian gamma-crystallins than that of shark gamma S and carp gamma S or bovine gamma S crystallins. A phylogenetic tree constructed on the basis of the sequence divergence among various beta-, gamma-, and gamma S crystallins corroborates the closer relatedness of shark gamma S to authentic gamma-crystallin than to mammalian and teleostean gamma S crystallins. It further strengthens the supposition that ancestral precursors of gamma S-crystallins were present in the shark lens long before the appearance of present-day teleostean and mammalian gamma S-crystallins.