PLoS ONE最新文献

Background: Video-based action observation (AO) of exercise/motor-action content is increasingly delivered via social media. This expands reach and ecological validity but may shape motor simulation, perceived safety, and engagement. How people with chronic low back pain (CLBP) interpret and intend to use such videos remains underexplored.

Methods: We conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled adults (n = 20; 10 CLBP, 10 asymptomatic). Interviews probed perceptions of exercise/motor-action AO videos drawn from common platforms. Analysis followed IPA procedures with iterative coding, constant comparison, and team reflexivity, and is reported according to COREQ.

Results: Three interrelated themes were identified: (1) Emotional & motivational impact: CLBP participants frequently appraised bending, load and fast tempo as threatening and described protective avoidance rules. Motivation was present in both groups when videos felt safe and adaptable; (2) Self-assessment of physical capacity: Perceived competence increased when videos provided graded options and explicit safety cues. Anticipated task demand decreased with appropriate pacing/tempo, egocentric viewpoint, and credible modeling; (3) Cognitive movement assessment: Viewers attended to posture, tempo, breathing and error-avoidance cues. Action comprehension faltered when instructions were dense/fast or goals were unclear. Judgments about delivery (goal clarity, safety cues, pacing, viewpoint, modeling fidelity) shaped internal rehearsal and willingness to attempt.

Conclusions: Individuals with and without CLBP perceive social-media-delivered exercise AO as useful when videos are tailored (graded options, clear safety messaging, appropriate pacing/viewpoint) and contextualized to pain-related concerns and digital literacy. These insights inform clinically oriented AO exercise-video libraries and implementation strategies (e.g., curated playlists, level-tagging, therapist-mediated briefing) to enhance acceptability and adherence in CLBP rehabilitation.

Background: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune liver disease characterized by cholestasis caused by intrahepatic small bile duct injury. Promoting the molecular mechanism of OTU deubiquitinase 5 (OTUD5) in the treatment of PBC requires further exploration. This study unraveled the molecular underpinnings of PBC through bio-informatics analysis and experimental verification for the development of targeted therapeutic strategies.

Methods: This study screened immune-related genes and validated their expression patterns in whole blood of patients with PBC using microarray based on GEO datasets. The expression level of OTU deubiquitinase 5 (OTUD5) was validated in peripheral blood samples using RT-qPCR and immunofluorescence. Subsequently, proteomic bioinformatics analyses were conducted utilizing STRING and InBio Discover databases to predict interactions with the mitochondrial antiviral signalling protein (MAVS). Furthermore, immunochemical and immunofluorescence analyses of MAVS expression in liver tissues were conducted with a thorough analysis of immune cell infiltration specific to the disease by utilizing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from both patients with PBC and healthy controls.

Results: Compared with those of healthy controls, the liver tissues of patients with PBC presented increased NK cell activation, monocyte/mast cell numbers, and eosinophil numbers. Compared with those in 10 healthy controls, the expression of OTUD5 and MAVS was increased in 16 tissues of patients with PBC. High expression of OTUD5-MAVS in subpopulation 11 mononuclear macrophages was screened by PBMC scRNA-seq, and mononuclear cells with the subgroup 11 phenotype presented highly differentiated characteristics. The expression of OTUD5 and MAVS was inhibited in RAW264.7 cells when OTUD5 was knocked down (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: This study focused on the overexpression of OTUD5 and its interaction with MAVS within macrophage subset 11 in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). The expression of OTUD5 and MAVS is increased in patients with PBC and is a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of PBC.

To address the challenges of high miss rates in subcentimeter nodules, false positives caused by vascular adhesion, and insufficient multi-scale feature fusion in lung CT analysis, a multi-stage detection model named MLND-IU, which incorporates an improved U-Net++ architecture, is proposed. The three-stage framework begins with an enhanced RetinaNet optimized by a dynamic focal loss to generate candidate regions with high sensitivity while mitigating class imbalance. The second stage introduces AG-UNet++ with a novel Dense Attention Bridging Module (DABM), which employs a tensor product fusion of channel and deformable spatial attention across densely connected skip pathways to amplify feature representation for 3-5 mm nodules. The final stage employs a 3D Contextual Pyramid Module (3D-CPM) to integrate multi-slice morphological and contextual features, thereby reducing vascular false positives. Ablation studies indicated that the second stage improved the Dice coefficient by 21.1% compared with the first stage (paired t-test, p < 0.01, independent validation on LIDC-IDRI). The third stage further reduced the false positives per scan (FP/Scan) to 1.4, corresponding to an 87.3% reduction compared to the baseline. Multicenter validation on the LIDC-IDRI (n = 1,018) and DSB2017 (n = 1,595) datasets resulted in a segmentation Dice coefficient of 92.7%, a sensitivity of 93.4% for nodules smaller than 6 mm (compared to radiologists' sensitivity of 68.5%, p = 0.003), and an AUC of 0.84 for malignancy classification, representing a 19.2% improvement over conventional methods. With a processing time of 2.3 seconds per case, the proposed framework presents a clinically viable solution for early lung cancer screening by simultaneously improving small nodule detection and suppressing false positives.

The World Health Organization has recommended the development of new antimicrobials against Acinetobacter baumannii, one of the six highly significant pathogens. In this study, 28 wastewater samples were collected from the Goranchatbari sub-catchment area in Dhaka city over several periods. The samples were characterized for the presence of Acinetobacter spp. The isolates showing cream, opaque colonies on CHROMagarTM ESBL plates were considered positive for ESBL production. They were further characterized for major antibiotic resistance and pathogenic genes, biofilm production and antibiotic susceptibility testing. Furthermore, the isolates were phylogenetically clustered based on their Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC) profiles and correlation matrix analysis was performed. Out of 28 samples, 27 were positive for Acinetobacter spp. and a total of 106/249 (42.6%) sample representative isolates were positive for ESBL production. Out of these 106 isolates, 97 (91.5%) were genotypically confirmed to belong to the Acinetobacter spp. and of which, 72 (74.2%) were genotypically confirmed as Acinetobacter baumannii. Among the distribution of β-lactamase genes, blaTEM was the most prevalent being present in 40/72 (55.6%) isolates, followed by blaSHV in 3/72 (4.2%) isolates. With respect to the pathogenic genes, pgaB and bfmS were the most prevalent being present in 80.6% and 69.4% of the isolates, respectively. The antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed a diverse range of resistance patterns with high levels of intermediate resistance being observed for cefotaxime and ceftriaxone. The biofilm formation screening revealed that 48.6% and 44.4% of isolates formed strong biofilms at 37°C and 25°C, respectively. The phylogenetic clustering of the A. baumannii isolates resulted in the formation of 10 clusters at 60% similarity index, and the correlation matrix helped reveal important associations between genotypic and phenotypic traits. These results demonstrate the continued prevalence of A. baumannii within these environmental reservoirs and its ability to persist despite seasonal variations, prioritizing changes in environmental health policies that aim to reduce the widespread prevalence of these pathogens.

BiP chaperones are central regulators of protein folding, endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, and stress response across eukaryotes, but their client networks remain largely uncharacterized in Symbiodiniaceae. Here, we performed an initial yeast two-hybrid screening using a spliced-leader-based cDNA library to explore the interactome and regulatory dynamics of the Symbiodiniaceae BiP homolog, SBiP1, from Symbiodinium microadriaticum CassKB8. Using this approach, we identified eight candidate interactors with functions in translation, redox balance, RNA processing, and photosynthesis. AlphaFold2 structural modeling and Foldseek similarity analysis supported the plausibility of these candidates as BiP clients, revealing shared structural features such as globular folds and exposed hydrophobic or basic surfaces. Notably, two of the eight candidates, POX18 and TARBP1 were recovered in multiple independent clones, and even unannotated candidates displayed BiP-compatible surfaces. Gene expression analysis by RT-qPCR revealed dynamic transcriptional regulation of SBiP1, HSP70, and POX18 over an 18-day growth time course. All three genes peaked between days 6 and 12, suggesting coordination with intrinsic cellular cycles. SBiP1 expression was not significantly affected by light availability while HSP70 showed a modest but statistically significant increase following cycloheximide treatment, indicating transcript stabilization. In contrast, SBiP1 and POX18 expressions under the latter condition remained stable, suggesting their regulation may occur post-transcriptionally. Together, our findings highlight SBiP1 as a central player in ER proteostasis, bridging multiple cellular pathways essential for stress resilience. This work provides the first structural and functional map of a BiP-centered interaction network in a photosynthetic dinoflagellate, contributing to our molecular understanding of stress adaptation in these microorganisms.

Chemotherapeutic agents used for most common cancers are frequently associated with neurotoxicity, which often include debilitating side effects such as seizures. Docetaxel, one of the most widely and effectively used chemotherapeutic drugs, is associated with an array of symptoms referred to as Docetaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathies (DIPNs), including motor neuropathy, tingling, muscle weakness, and numbness. In this study, we use the electroconvulsive assay to model DIPN-related muscle weakness in C. elegans, via shock induction. We show that acutely or chronically exposing nematodes to docetaxel increases time to recovery from shock-induced seizure-like behaviors. Additionally, we find that sildenafil citrate, a PDE-5 inhibitor, and a novel bicyclic bridge compound, Resveramorph-3 (RVM-3), are both effective at rescuing the animals from prolonged seizure-like movement duration following acute and chronic exposure to docetaxel. The results demonstrate that sildenafil citrate and RVM-3 are potential candidates for mitigating the neurological deficits resulting from DIPNs.

Background: The sudden onset of the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted access to in-person nutrition consultation and prompted the rapid adoption of telehealth by dietitians.

Objective: This study investigates the use of telehealth among Lebanese Licensed Dietitians (LDs) during COVID-19, in the absence of national telehealth practical guidelines (TPG), and offers insights into its application amid overlapping crises including a pandemic, economic crisis, and infrastructure disruption in Lebanon.

Design: A cross-sectional study conducted in March 2023, using an anonymous 44-question online survey, distributed via the Lebanese Order of Dietitians and social media platforms. Participants: Ninety-four dietitians participated (98.9% female, mean(SD) age: 30.54(6.41) years); mean(SD) experience: 7.89(5.7) years). Most reported practicing clinical nutrition as their primary practice area (87.2%), primarily in weight management (84%). Main outcome: Measures included Dietitians' experience with telehealth, tools used in remote consultations, perceived barriers and facilitators, and perspectives on future application. Statistical analyses: Descriptive analysis (counts, frequencies) were analyzed using SPSS version 28.

Results: Telehealth use rose from 48.4% before COVID-19 to 97.8% during it. Commonly used platforms included WhatsApp (90.3%), Zoom (72.0%), and e-mails (41.9%). Reported barriers included bad internet connection (74.2%), patients preferring face-to-face consultation (61.3%), and patients unfamiliar with emerging videoconferencing technologies (33.3%). Benefits included scheduling and time flexibility (83.9%), decrease in practice-related costs (77.4%), and compliance with social distancing measures (53.8%). Most respondents acknowledged that Telehealth is needed (78.5%) and applicable in the Lebanese context (64.6%) and called for telehealth trainings (78.5%) and national TPG development (74.2%).

Conclusion: This study recognizes the growing use of telehealth in Lebanon, underscoring the need for telehealth with national regulations and evidence-based guidelines. Despite limited infrastructure, LDs continued delivering care, emphasizing the urgency for secure and standardized frameworks to support ethical and sustainable digital health practice.

Purpose: To evaluate the visual outcomes and vision-related quality of life among three intraocular lens (IOL) implantation strategies: bilateral extended depth of field (EDoF) IOL, bilateral bifocal IOL, and a mix-and-match approach.

Methods: In this prospective, non-randomized, observational study, patients with bilateral age-related cataracts selected their preferred IOL implantation type and were categorized into three groups accordingly. Three months after surgery, assessments of corrected and uncorrected binocular visual acuity at far, intermediate, and near distances were conducted, along with refraction, defocus curve, stereoacuity, vision-related quality of life, and photic symptoms.

Results: A total of 76 patients (152 eyes) were included. All patients achieved uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) and best corrected distance visual acuity (BCDVA) of 20/32 or better in all groups. Binocular uncorrected intermediate visual acuity and distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity were superior in the mix-and-match and bilateral EDoF IOL groups (both P < 0.01). The bilateral bifocal IOL and mix-and-match groups demonstrated better distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity (both P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed among the three groups in UDVA, BCDVA, or uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA) (P > 0.05). All groups reported similar outcomes for stereoacuity, vision-related quality of life, and photic symptoms (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: All three IOL strategies provided favorable vision-related quality of life, with the mix-and-match and bilateral EDoF IOL groups showing superior intermediate vision. The mix-and-match and bilateral bifocal IOL groups demonstrated better distance-corrected bilateral near vision performance, despite comparable UNVA among the three groups. These approaches remain valuable alternatives for providing optimal visual outcomes in regions where full vision range IOL are not yet accessible.

Aims: The gut microbiome (GM) is increasingly recognized for its role in atherosclerosis development. However, its potential as a biomarker for risk-stratification in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) comorbidities remains under-explored. This study aimed to identify distinct GM clusters associated with elevated CV risk.

Methods: In this prospective observational cohort, patients with coronary artery disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes mellitus referring to Mayo Clinic from 2013 to 2018 were enrolled. Bacterial DNA was analyzed in the V3-V5 region of 16S rDNA. Beta-diversity was plotted using Principal Coordinates Analysis. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the GM classified participants into two clusters. Cox regression evaluated the association between clusters and Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE), defined as a composite of cardiac events, heart failure, and all-cause mortality. Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance identified clinical factors contributing to cluster assignment. Linear Discriminant analysis identified GM taxa with differential abundance among clusters and their effect sizes.

Results: Among 211 participants (median age 60 [IQR: 50-70] years; 57.3% male), two distinct GM profiles emerged (Cluster H: N = 104; Cluster L: N = 107, P < 0.001). Cluster L participants were younger (P < 0.001), more likely female (P = 0.009), and had healthier CV profiles, including lower BMI (P = 0.007), hypertension (P = 0.010), hyperlipidemia (P = 0.005), and lower coronary artery disease prevalence (P = 0.003). Over a median follow-up of 7.4 years, Cluster L had a significantly lower incidence of MACE compared to Cluster H (HR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.26-0.91, P = 0.024). Cluster L had higher operational taxonomic units (P < 0.001) and lower Bacillota-to-Bacteroidetes ratio (P < 0.001) compared to Cluster H. The predominant taxa in Cluster L included Bacteroides, Alistipes, and Parabacteroides, whereas Blautia, Agathobacter, and Clostridium sensu stricto-1 were more abundant in Cluster H.

Conclusion: Distinct GM profiles are associated with varying CV risk, highlighting the potential of unsupervised GM profiling as a novel tool for risk stratification and individualized therapy.

The terahertz (THz) frequency range has gained significant attention in recent years, particularly for applications in biological diagnostics, remote sensing, security systems, and wireless communications. One key advantage of THz radiation is that it is safer than X-rays while offering higher data rates and enhanced channel capacity. THz systems encapsulate several components, including absorbers, which play a crucial role in stealth technologies, detection, and high-resolution imaging. Many absorber designs in the literature are based on metamaterials; however, these structures tend to be physically large and thick, limiting their integration into devices. This research introduces an innovative, compact THz-range sensor designed for biomedical applications. The sensor features a geometrically simple structure, utilizing silver (Ag) and nickel (Ni) resonators embedded on a silicon dioxide (SiO2) dielectric substrate. The device measures only 100 × 100 nm², with the Ag, SiO2, and Ni layers totaling just 26 nm thickness. This material and geometric arrangement achieve near-perfect absorptivity (>99.9%) across the operating range up to 30 THz. Extensive numerical studies demonstrate the sensor's excellent performance, analyzed through surface current, electric, and magnetic field distributions. Compared to state-of-the-art benchmarks, comprehensive comparative studies reveal the sensor's superior performance in terms of operating range, compact size, absorption efficiency, and angular stability. Its exceptional sensitivity and ability to detect subtle changes in tissue refractive index make it ideal for early-stage cancer detection and other biomedical applications. Additionally, it is well-suited for real-time detection of environmental pollutants and security screening.