Calderonblum9022

9634 on the training part and an R2 of 0.9577 on the testing part, using the best architecture. In addition, a sensitivity analysis using the optimal ANN model over 500 Monte Carlo simulations is performed to interpret the influence of reinforcement type on the stability and accuracy of ANN model in predicting shear strength. The results of this investigation could facilitate and enhance the use of ANN model in different real-world problems in the field of civil engineering.

Leprosy and leprosy-related stigma can have a major impact on psychosocial wellbeing of persons affected and their family members. Resilience is a process that incorporates many of the core skills and abilities which may enable people to address stigma and discrimination. The current study aimed to develop and pilot an intervention to strengthen individual and family resilience against leprosy-related discrimination.

We used a quasi-experimental, before-after study design with a mixed methods approach. The 10-week family-based intervention was designed to strengthen the resilience of individuals and families by enhancing their protective abilities and capacity to overcome adversity. The study was conducted in two sites, urban areas in Telangana state, and in rural areas in Odisha state, India. Persons affected and their family members were included using purposive sampling. Two questionnaires were used pre-and post-intervention the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC, maximum score 100, with high scdisha state. No families dropped out of the study. IU1 In the qualitative feedback, all participants described drawing benefit from the programme. Participants especially appreciated the social dimensions of the intervention.

This pilot study showed that the 10-week family-based intervention to strengthen resilience among persons affected by leprosy and their family members was feasible, and has the potential to improve resilience and quality of life. A large-scale efficacy trial is necessary to determine the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of the intervention.

This pilot study showed that the 10-week family-based intervention to strengthen resilience among persons affected by leprosy and their family members was feasible, and has the potential to improve resilience and quality of life. A large-scale efficacy trial is necessary to determine the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of the intervention.

One-fourth of women experience substantially higher weight years after childbirth. We examined weight change from prepregnancy to 18 months postpartum according to subsequent maternal risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

We conducted a cohort study of 47,966 women with a live-born singleton within the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC; 1997-2002). Interviews during pregnancy and 6 and 18 months postpartum provided information on height, gestational weight gain (GWG), postpartum weights, and maternal characteristics. Information on pregnancy complications, incident hypertension, and CVD was obtained from the National Patient Register. Using Cox regression, we estimated adjusted hazard ratios (HRs; 95% confidence interval [CI]) for hypertension and CVD through 16 years of follow-up. During this period, 2,011 women were diagnosed at the hospital with hypertension and 1,321 with CVD. The women were on average 32.3 years old (range 18.0-49.2) at start of follow-up, 73% had a prepregnancy BMI0.03, respectively). The limitations of this observational study include potential confounding by prepregnancy metabolic health and self-reported maternal weights, which may lead to some misclassification.

Postpartum weight retention/new gain in all mothers and postpartum weight loss in mothers with normal-/underweight may be associated with later adverse cardiovascular health.

Postpartum weight retention/new gain in all mothers and postpartum weight loss in mothers with normal-/underweight may be associated with later adverse cardiovascular health.Recent studies have investigated whether the Wnt family of extracellular ligands can signal at long range, spreading from their source and acting as morphogens, or whether they signal only in a juxtacrine manner to neighboring cells. The original evidence for long-range Wnt signaling arose from studies of Wg, a Drosophila Wnt protein, which patterns the wing disc over several cell diameters from a central source of Wg ligand. However, the requirement of long-range Wg for patterning was called into question when it was reported that replacing the secreted protein Wg with a membrane-tethered version, NRT-Wg, results in flies with normally patterned wings. We and others previously reported that Wg spreads in the ovary about 50 μm or 5 cell diameters, from the cap cells to the follicle stem cells (FSCs) and that Wg stimulates FSC proliferation. We used the NRT-wg flies to analyze the consequence of tethering Wg to the cap cells. NRT-wg homozygous flies are sickly, but we found that hemizygous NRT-wg/null flies, carrying only one copy of tethered Wingless, were significantly healthier. Despite their overall improved health, these hemizygous flies displayed dramatic reductions in fertility and in FSC proliferation. Further, FSC proliferation was nearly undetectable when the wg locus was converted to NRT-wg only in adults, and the resulting germarium phenotype was consistent with a previously reported wg loss-of-function phenotype. We conclude that Wg protein spreads from its source cells in the germarium to promote FSC proliferation.Giardia duodenalis, also known as G. intestinalis or G. lamblia, is the major cause of giardiasis leading to diarrheal disease with 280 million people infections annually worldwide. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a ubiquitous mechanism participating in cells communications. The aim of this study is to explore the roles of G. duodenalis EVs (GEVs) in host-pathogen interactions using primary mouse peritoneal macrophages as a model. Multiple methods of electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, proteomic assays, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, qPCR, western blot, ELISA, inhibition assays, were used to characterize GEVs, and explore its effects on the host cell innate immunity as well as the underlying mechanism using primary mouse peritoneal macrophages. Results showed that GEVs displayed typical cup-shaped structure with 150 nm in diameter. GEVs could be captured by macrophages and triggered immune response by increasing the production of inflammatory cytokines Il1β, Il6, Il10, Il12, Il17, Ifng, Tnf, Il18, Ccl20 and Cxcl2. Furthermore, activation of TLR2 and NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathways involved in this process. In addition, CA-074 methyl ester (an inhibitor of cathepsin B) or zVAD-fmk (an inhibitor of pan-caspase) pretreatment entirely diminished these effects triggered by GEVs exposure. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that GEVs could be internalized into mouse peritoneal macrophages and regulate host cell innate immunity via TLR2 and NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathways.Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have been widely used to integrate transcriptomic and genetic data to study complex human diseases. Within a test dataset lacking transcriptomic data, traditional two-stage TWAS methods first impute gene expression by creating a weighted sum that aggregates SNPs with their corresponding cis-eQTL effects on reference transcriptome. Traditional TWAS methods then employ a linear regression model to assess the association between imputed gene expression and test phenotype, thereby assuming the effect of a cis-eQTL SNP on test phenotype is a linear function of the eQTL's estimated effect on reference transcriptome. To increase TWAS robustness to this assumption, we propose a novel Variance-Component TWAS procedure (VC-TWAS) that assumes the effects of cis-eQTL SNPs on phenotype are random (with variance proportional to corresponding reference cis-eQTL effects) rather than fixed. link2 VC-TWAS is applicable to both continuous and dichotomous phenotypes, as well as individual-level and summary-level GWAS data. Using simulated data, we show VC-TWAS is more powerful than traditional TWAS methods based on a two-stage Burden test, especially when eQTL genetic effects on test phenotype are no longer a linear function of their eQTL genetic effects on reference transcriptome. link3 We further applied VC-TWAS to both individual-level (N = ~3.4K) and summary-level (N = ~54K) GWAS data to study Alzheimer's dementia (AD). With the individual-level data, we detected 13 significant risk genes including 6 known GWAS risk genes such as TOMM40 that were missed by traditional TWAS methods. With the summary-level data, we detected 57 significant risk genes considering only cis-SNPs and 71 significant genes considering both cis- and trans- SNPs, which also validated our findings with the individual-level GWAS data. Our VC-TWAS method is implemented in the TIGAR tool for public use.The world continues to face a life-threatening viral pandemic. The virus underlying the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused over 98 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths since January 2020. Although the most recent respiratory viral pandemic swept the globe only a decade ago, the way science operates and responds to current events has experienced a cultural shift in the interim. The scientific community has responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing over 125,000 COVID-19-related scientific articles within 10 months of the first confirmed case, of which more than 30,000 were hosted by preprint servers. We focused our analysis on bioRxiv and medRxiv, 2 growing preprint servers for biomedical research, investigating the attributes of COVID-19 preprints, their access and usage rates, as well as characteristics of their propagation on online platforms. Our data provide evidence for increased scientific and public engagement with preprints related to COVID-19 (COVID-19 preprints are accessed more, cited more, and shared more on various online platforms than non-COVID-19 preprints), as well as changes in the use of preprints by journalists and policymakers. We also find evidence for changes in preprinting and publishing behaviour COVID-19 preprints are shorter and reviewed faster. Our results highlight the unprecedented role of preprints and preprint servers in the dissemination of COVID-19 science and the impact of the pandemic on the scientific communication landscape.Localization of oskar mRNA includes two distinct phases transport from nurse cells to the oocyte, a process typically accompanied by cortical anchoring in the oocyte, followed by posterior localization within the oocyte. Signals within the oskar 3' UTR directing transport are individually weak, a feature previously hypothesized to facilitate exchange between the different localization machineries. We show that alteration of the SL2a stem-loop structure containing the oskar transport and anchoring signal (TAS) removes an inhibitory effect such that in vitro binding by the RNA transport factor, Egalitarian, is elevated as is in vivo transport from the nurse cells into the oocyte. Cortical anchoring within the oocyte is also enhanced, interfering with posterior localization. We also show that mutation of Staufen recognized structures (SRSs), predicted binding sites for Staufen, disrupts posterior localization of oskar mRNA just as in staufen mutants. Two SRSs in SL2a, one overlapping the Egalitarian binding site, are inferred to mediate Staufen-dependent inhibition of TAS anchoring activity, thereby promoting posterior localization.