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PURPOSE: The Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) tool, validated for measuring postoperative recovery following scheduled surgeries, has not been psychometrically assessed in emergency contexts. Moreover, the QoR-15s associations with long-term outcomes remain underexplored. This study aimed to confirm the validity and reliability of the QoR-15 following emergency surgery and assess its association with three-month postoperative quality of life. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study (August 2021-April 2022) on adult patients who underwent emergency surgery. The QoR-15 questionnaire was administered before surgery (H0) and at 24 hr (H24) and 48 hr (H48) after surgery. We examined the H24 scores associations with both the three-month quality of life, as assessed by the EQ-5D scale, and the number of days spent at home at 30 (DAH30) and 90 (DAH90) days. RESULTS: Of the 375 included patients, 352 (94%) completed the QoR-15 at H24 and 338 (90%) were followed up at three months. The population represented the following diverse surgical specialties: orthopedic (51%), gastrointestinal (27%), urologic (13%), and others (9%). The QoR-15 questionnaire confirmed all psychometric qualities (internal consistency, reproducibility, responsiveness, acceptability, construct, and convergent validities) in the emergency context. The average minimum clinical difference was 8.0 at H24. There was an association between QoR-15 at H24 and the three-month quality of life (r = 0.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14 to 0.34; P

Abstract Background Caveolae are invaginated plasma membrane domains of 50–100 nm in diameter involved in many important physiological functions in eukaryotic cells. They are composed of different proteins, including the membrane-embedded caveolins and the peripheric cavins. Caveolin-1 has already been expressed in various expression systems (E. coli, insect cells, Toxoplasma gondii, cell-free system), generating intracellular caveolin-enriched vesicles in E. coli, insect cells and T. gondii. These systems helped to understand the protein insertion within the membrane and its oligomerization. There is still need for fundamental insights into the formation of specific domains on membrane, the deformation of a biological membrane driven by caveolin-1, the organization of a caveolar coat, and the requirement of specific lipids and proteins during the process. The aim of this study was to test whether the heterologously expressed caveolin-1β was able to induce the formation of intracellular vesicles within a Gram+ bacterium, Lactococcus lactis, since it displays a specific lipid composition different from E. coli and appears to emerge as a good alternative to E. coli for efficient overexpression of various membrane proteins. Results Recombinant bacteria transformed with the plasmid pNZ-HTC coding for the canine isoform of caveolin-1β were shown to produce caveolin-1β, in its functional oligomeric form, at a high expression level unexpected for an eukaryotic membrane protein. Electron microscopy revealed several intracellular vesicles from 30 to 60 nm, a size comparable to E. coli h-caveolae, beneath the plasma membrane of the overexpressing bacteria, showing that caveolin-1β is sufficient to induce membrane vesiculation. Immunolabelling studies showed antibodies on such neo-formed intracellular vesicles, but none on plasma membrane. Density gradient fractionation allowed the correlation between detection of oligomers on Western blot and appearance of vesicles measurable by DLS, showing the requirement of caveolin-1β oligomerization for vesicle formation. Conclusions Lactococcus lactis cells can heterologously overexpress caveolin-1β, generating caveolin-1β enriched intracellular neo-formed vesicles. These vesicles might be useful for potential co-expression of membrane proteins of pharmaceutical interest for their simplified functional characterization.

Background and aim: Hydrocotyle bonariensis Comm ex Lamm (Araliaceae) is one of these plants sufficiently exploited in traditional African medicine for its hypotensive effect. However, the pharmacological effects of those plants on cardiac functions are not well known. The potassium currents IKs and IKr, responsible for the repolarization of cardiac cell action potential, strongly influence the human cardiac rhythm. Therefore, modulators of these currents have a beneficial or undesirable medical importance in relation to cardiac arrhythmias. In order to optimize the therapeutic use of this medicinal plant, we studied the effects of hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of Hydrocotyle bonariensis on both potassium currents. Experimental procedure: The patch clamp experiments for IK currents recording were performed on the HEK 293 (Human Embryonic Kidney 293) cell line, stably transfected with either KCNQ1 and KCNE1 genes encoding the channel responsible for the ''IKs'' current (HEK293 IKs), or with hERG (human ether-a-go-go related gene) gene encoding ''IKr'' current (HEK293 IKr). Results and conclusion: This study revealed that the hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of H. bonariensis significantly inhibits the slow potassium component (IKs) without altering the fast potassium component (IKr). The extract at 0.5 mg/ml decreases IKs conductance by 24 ± 4.1% (n = 6) without modifying its activation threshold suggesting a direct blockade of the slow potassium channel. This selective action of the extract on the IKs current reflects a class III anti-arrhythmic effect.

Recent experimental results showed that an electron gas in an asymmetrical double barrier heterostructure can be effectively cooled down under resonant tunneling condition, thus leading to the realization of an electronic cooler. The cooling process is a multi-parameters phenomenon and it is desirable to handle this problem through a reasonably simple approach, in order to understand the role of each parameter. To this end, we present a rate equation modeling of the electron cooling. We model the resonant tunnel injection of the electrons in the well and their thermionic emission assisted by Longitudinal Optical (LO) phonons absorption and emission. The influence of several parameters on the electronic temperature is discussed. This simple model compares rather well to the predictions of non-equilibrium Green function approach and to the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Thermal transport in amorphous materials has remained one of the fundamental questions in solid state physics while involving a very large field of applications. Using a heat conduction theory incorporating coherence, we demonstrate that the strong phase correlation between local and non-propagating modes, commonly named diffusons in the terminology of amorphous systems, triggers the conduction of heat. By treating the thermal vibrations as collective excitations, the significant contribution of diffusons, predominantly relying on coherence, further reveals interesting temperature and length dependences of thermal conductivity. The propagation length of diffuson clusters is found to reach the micron, overpassing the one of propagons. The explored wavelike behavior of diffusons uncovers the unsolved physical picture of mode correlation in prevailing models and further provides an interpretation of their ability to transport heat. This work introduces a framework for understanding thermal vibrations and transport in amorphous materials, as well as an unexpected insight into the wave nature of thermal vibrations.

In this work, a methodology is presented for city-wide road traffic noise indicator mapping. The need for direct access to traffic data is bypassed by relying on street categorization and a city microphone network. The starting point for the deterministic modeling is a previously developed but simplified dynamic traffic model, the latter necessary to predict statistical and dynamic noise indicators and to estimate the number of noise events. The sound propagation module combines aspects of the CNOSSOS and QSIDE models. In the next step, a machine learning technique—an artificial neural network in this work—is used to weigh the outcomes of the deterministic predictions of various traffic parameter scenarios (linked to street categories) to approach the measured indicators from the microphone network. Application to the city of Barcelona showed that the differences between predictions and measurements typically lie within 2–3 dB, which should be positioned relative to the 3 dB variation in street-side measurements when microphone positioning relative to the façade is not fixed. The number of events is predicted with 30% accuracy. Indicators can be predicted as averages over day, evening and night periods, but also at an hourly scale; shorter time periods do not seem to negatively affect modeling accuracy. The current methodology opens the way to include a broad set of noise indicators in city-wide environmental noise impact assessment.

Haspin is a mitotic protein kinase required for proper cell division by modulating Aurora B kinase localisation and activity as well as histone phosphorylation. Here a series of imidazopyridazines based on the CHR-6494 and Structure Activity Relationship was established. An assessment of the inhibitory activity of the lead structures on human Haspin and several other protein kinases is presented. The lead structure was rapidly optimised using a combination of crystal structures and effective docking models, with the best inhibitors exhibiting potent inhibitory activity on Haspin with IC50 between 6 and 100 nM in vitro. The developed inhibitors displayed anti-proliferative properties against various human cancer cell lines in 2D and spheroid cultures and significantly inhibited the migration ability of osteosarcoma U-2 OS cells. Notably, we show that our lead compounds are powerful Haspin inhibitors in human cells, and did not block G2/M cell cycle transition due to improved selectivity against CDK1/CyclinB.

We examined the understanding of emotional speech by deaf children with cochlear implant (CI). Thirty deaf children with CI and 60 typically developing controls (matched on chronological age or hearing age) performed a computerized task featuring emotional prosody, either embedded in a discrepant context or without any context at all. Across the task conditions, the deaf participants with CI scored lower on the prosody-bases responses than their peers matched on chronological age or hearing age. Additionally, we analyzed the effect of age on determining correct prosody-based responses and we found that hearing age was a predictor of the accuracy of prosody-based responses. We discuss these findings with respect to delay in prosody and intermodal processing. Future research should aim to specify the nature of the cognitive processes that would be required to process prosody.

Anderson localization of thermal phonons has been shown only in few nanostructures with strong random disorder by the exponential decay of transmission to zero and a thermal conductivity maximum when increasing the system length. In this work, we present a path to demonstrate the phonon localization with distinctive features in graded superlattices with short-range order and long-range disorder. A thermal conductivity minimum with system length appears due to the exponential decay of transmission to a non-zero constant, which is a feature of partial phonon localization caused by the moderate disorder. We provide clear evidence of localization through the combined analysis of the participation ratio, transmission, and real-space phonon number density distribution based on our quantum transport simulation. The present work would promote heat conduction engineering by localization via the wave nature of phonons.

Nano-phononic crystals have attracted a great deal of research interest in the field of nanoscale thermal transport due to their unique coherent thermal transport behavior. So far, there have been many advances in the theory and simulation studies of coherent thermal transport in nano-phononic crystals. In this paper, we summarize the state-of-the-art studies in this field from the perspective of coherent thermal transport at low temperatures, minimum thermal conductivity, Anderson localization, in various nanosystems, and in the frame of machine learning driven studies. Each part is specifically presented under different simulation methodologies, in which the background theories are also summarized. Accordingly, the controversies between different methodologies in describing wave-like/coherent and particle-like/incoherent thermal phonons are discussed. Various effects on coherent thermal transport are reviewed, including interface roughness, mass disorder, structural randomness, aperiodic ordering, and temperature effect. Finally, an outlook on the future research on coherent thermal transport in nano-phononic crystals is given. This overview provides fundamental and advanced knowledge to understand the coherent thermal transport in nano-phononic crystals, which will be beneficial to the further understanding of the physical picture of thermal phonons and heat transfer related applications.

Hypertensive postmenopausal women are more likely to develop adverse cardiac remodeling and respond less effectively to drug treatment than men. High-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) is a nonpharmacological strategy for the treatment of hypertension; however, the effectiveness in women remains uncertain. This study was designed to evaluate 1) the effects of HIIE training upon morphological and functional markers of cardiovascular health in female SHR and 2) to determine whether the hormonal shift induced by ovariectomy could influence cardiovascular responses to HIIE. Thirty-six SHR were randomly assigned to four groups: ovariectomized sedentary, ovariectomized trained, sham-operated sedentary, and sham-operated trained. The trained rats performed HIIE 5 days/wk for 8 wk. Blood pressure and echocardiographic measurements were performed before and after training in animals. Cardiac response to β-adrenergic stimulation and the expression of calcium regulatory proteins and estrogen receptors in heart samples were assessed. Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in response to acetylcholine was evaluated in aortic rings as well as the expression of nitric oxide synthase isoforms (eNOS and P-eNOS) by Western blotting. In both groups of trained SHR, HIIE induced eccentric cardiac remodeling with greater inotropic and chronotropic effects, as well as an increase in SERCA and β1AR expression. However, although the trained rats showed improved endothelial function and expression of eNOS and P-eNOS in the aorta, there was no demonstrated effect on blood pressure. In addition, the responses to HIIE training were not affected by ovariectomy. This work highlights the importance of assessing the cardiovascular efficacy and safety of different exercise modalities in women. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: This study reports the effects of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) training on cardiac and endothelial function in female hypertensive rats. Despite a lack of effect on blood pressure (BP), HIIE training induces eccentric cardiac remodeling with greater functionals effects. Furthermore, training has beneficial effects on endothelial function. However, ovarian hormones do not seem to modulate cardiac and aortic adaptations to this training modality. All this underlines the need to consider training modalities on the cardiovascular system in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing efficient integrated cooling solutions by controlling heat management in nanodevices remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose evaporative electron cooling in the AlGaAs/GaAs double barrier heterostructures quantum well achieving up to 50 K electron temperature reduction at 300 K.