搜索结果：Facial

Approximately 40% of the global population experiences at least one syncope episode during their lifetime. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. In this study, facial administration of formalin in mice was used to induce painful syncope. Whole-brain atlas analysis of 116,283 c-Fos+ neurons in 856 brain regions revealed 11 key brain regions associated with painful syncope. Subsequent analysis of approximately 300,000 mitochondrial networks revealed that their morphology in the locus coeruleus (LC), nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), gigantocellular reticular nucleus (GR), lateral reticular nucleus (LRN), and parabrachial nucleus, spinal trigeminal nucleus pars caudalis (SPVC) underwent significant changes during syncope. Furthermore, downregulation of the mitochondrial dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) in the NTS could mediate the exacerbation of weakly lying on the ground in painful syncope. Our findings reveal that abnormal neuronal activity and mitochondrial network remodeling may serve as key mechanisms underlying painful syncope.

In cases of alveolar bone atrophy prior to implant treatment, sinus floor elevation remains the treatment of choice. During a sinus lift procedure, a stabilizing grafting material is required. Among the many available options, xenografts and allografts are widely used. Owing to their different properties, they can be applied in various clinical settings. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is an increasingly popular adjunctive tool in regenerative dentistry. Its beneficial effects on the healing process are well established. However, its ability to influence bone healing following sinus floor elevation remains insufficiently investigated. The primary objective was to compare 2 bone grafts of different origins (allograft and xenograft) used in sinus lift procedures. The secondary objective was to evaluate the influence of LLLT on postoperative recovery in terms of pain, trismus, and soft tissue response. Twenty patients were randomly allocated to 2 groups. A xenograft was used in half of the patients, whereas an allograft was used in the remaining patients. In each group, 5 patients were randomly selected to receive adjunctive LLLT using a diode laser with a wavelength of 635 nm and an energy density of 6 J/cm2. All patients underwent clinical and radiological examinations before surgery. Subsequently, a standard lateral sinus lift procedure was performed. Follow-up visits were conducted on postoperative days 3 and 7, during which pain, trismus, and swelling were assessed. After 135 days, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and clinical examinations were performed to evaluate bone gain, density, and homogeneity. Low-level laser therapy significantly reduced trismus. Trismus was also less pronounced in male patients. Low-level laser therapy was associated with increased facial swelling. Pain levels were low, with no significant differences between the study groups. After 135 days, allografts demonstrated greater homogeneity, whereas xenografts exhibited higher radiographic density. Low-level laser therapy may improve recovery following sinus lift surgery by reducing postoperative trismus. No significant differences were observed between the grafting materials in terms of bone gain. However, differences in radiodensity suggest distinct resorption patterns, with xenografts exhibiting higher density values after 135 days.

The ability to differentiate between rewarding and aversive stimuli is crucial for survival, yet the underlying neural mechanisms allowing animals to make such a distinction remain elusive. Here, using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we uncovered how the activity of dopamine-sensitive neurons in the medial nucleus of the central amygdala (CeM) is associated with appetitive and aversive experiences. We found that cocaine and sucrose strongly activated DRD1(+) neurons while suppressing DRD2(+) activity, whereas the aversive quinine stimulus predominantly engaged DRD2(+) neurons, particularly those not previously recruited by sucrose. Our findings suggest that DRD1(+) and DRD2(+) neurons differentially contribute to the processing of appetitive and aversive stimuli. Furthermore, by simultaneously monitoring facial expressions, we identified stimulus-specific behavioral responses to sucrose, quinine, and cocaine.

WDR83OS-related neurodevelopmental disorder is a rare autosomal recessive condition characterized by developmental delay, dysmorphic features and variable hepatic involvement, particularly hypercholanaemia. Here, we report a female patient presenting with global developmental delay, syndromic facial features and scaphocephaly due to sagittal craniosynostosis, representing a previously unreported phenotypic feature. The patient was born to consanguineous parents and exhibited delayed motor and language milestones. Physical examination revealed characteristic dysmorphic features, whereas routine laboratory findings, including liver function tests, were within normal limits. Serum bile acid levels were not assessed. Cranial imaging confirmed sagittal craniosynostosis. Whole exome sequencing identified a novel homozygous nonsense variant in WDR83OS, classified as likely pathogenic according to ACMG criteria. No additional candidate variants, including those associated with craniosynostosis, were detected. This case possibly expands the phenotypic spectrum of WDR83OS-related disorder by identifying scaphocephaly as a novel feature. Our findings highlight the importance of comprehensive genomic evaluation in syndromic neurodevelopmental disorders and suggest that WDR83OS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with craniosynostosis and developmental delay, even in the absence of overt hepatic involvement.

Protein therapeutics face intracellular delivery barriers due to poor membrane permeability and lysosomal entrapment. While carriers incorporating cationic motifs enable direct cytosolic delivery, their inherent systemic toxicity and propensity for nonspecific adsorption of biological interferents redirect the internalization pathway to inefficient endocytosis. Herein, we report a cation-free motif, lipoic acid-modified carboxylated azocalix[4]arene (LC4A), which was polymerized into carboxylated azocalix[4]arene poly(disulfide)s (CAPS) for direct intracellular proteins delivery. CAPS leverages the recognition of azocalixarenes and the multivalent interactions of its polymers to enable multiple protein binding and structural stabilization. Critically, the cation-free nature of CAPS minimizes nonspecific adsorption and ensures a consistent direct cytosolic delivery. Moreover, the hypoxia responsiveness of azocalixarenes and the glutathione cleavable of poly(disulfide)s enable controllable intracellular proteins activation. The cation-free LC4A-based platform in the screen library exhibits high efficiency in the delivery of diverse proteins and shows significant antitumor effects for Ribonuclease A (RNase A) delivery in vivo.

Precision livestock farming technologies require individual animal identification to integrate specific animal data with farm processes, including health, milk recording, and feeding management. Identification methods, such as physical marks and ear tags, require manual handling and are prone to loss or wear. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags enable contactless identification, but still face limitations under farm conditions, including tag loss, maintenance costs, and proximity to the sensor. Recent advances in computer vision and deep learning have led to alternative approaches for animal identification. Earlier studies in small ruminants reported face or tag-based identification, while cattle studies explored multifeature fusion from different body parts. Our study developed an automated system for individual identification of sheep during drinking visits without human intervention, based on computer vision and deep learning techniques. The aims were to evaluate whether sheep could be identified using visual features from separate body regions (face, back, legs), and whether combining predictions from multiple regions with visual tag recognition improved visit-level identification. Data were collected at the Ivry Dairy Farm in Azarya, central Israel, using a water trough with an overhead Intel RealSense D435 RGB-D (red, green, blue and depth) camera and a Jetson Orin device. A total of 287 visits from 85 sheep were recorded. YOLOv8, an object detection model, was used to detect body parts (face, back, leg) and ear tags. ResNet50, a convolutional neural network (CNN) used for visual feature extraction, was applied to generate image embeddings, and the GLASS text spotting and recognition algorithm was used for visual tag text recognition. Leg-based features alone reported a peak accuracy of 0.64, which was lower than other body regions, and their inclusion in combinations yielded only minor and inconsistent effects. Back-based features alone reported a peak accuracy of 0.79, while combining back and face features reported 0.91, and integration of back, face, and visual tag features reported 0.93. The results suggest that sheep could be identified using multiple body regions, and that combining predictions from these regions provided complementary information and higher accuracy. Adding visual tag recognition further improved prediction results under typical farm conditions without human involvement.

To describe a surgical technique for the correction of entropion and macroblepharon in cats, which combines Hotz-Celsus and lateral canthus wedge resection ("lateral continuous blepharo-canthoplasty"). A retrospective study on cats with entropion and macroblepharon undergoing surgery was carried out. A Hotz-Celsus procedure on the lower eyelid was merged with a lateral canthal excision via a wedge resection. Thirty-nine cats were treated. Average age was 2.92 years (range 1-6.83 years). Surgery was performed bilaterally in 19 cats (48.7%), and unilaterally in 20 cats (51.3%) for a total of 58 eyes. The most represented breed was Maine Coon (28 cats, 71.8%). Median follow-up was 287.5 days (range 30-809 days). Minor complication was wound dehiscence (n = 2 eyes) by self-injury. All the patients had favorable outcome, resolution of clinical signs and excellent eyelid conformation. The technique resulted in an effective procedure for combined entropion and macroblepharon in cats, with the benefits of eyelid shortening and lateral canthus stabilization.

Smartwatches and other wearable technologies have become increasingly popular for health monitoring, offering potential benefits in the early detection of cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite their expanding use, limited data exist regarding public perceptions and usage patterns of these devices in Saudi Arabia. Understanding these perceptions is essential to inform strategies for digital health integration and preventive cardiovascular care. This study aimed to evaluate public perceptions, usage patterns, and factors influencing acceptance of smartwatches for early detection of cardiac arrhythmias among adults in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted between May and October 2023 across five major regions of Saudi Arabia. A total of 459 adults aged&#x2009;&#x2265;&#x2009;22 years participated through structured face-to-face interviews using a validated questionnaire adapted from prior studies. Descriptive statistics summarized demographic characteristics and usage trends, while Poisson regression analysis identified determinants of positive perceptions toward wearable technologies. Nearly half of the respondents (46.4%) reported using wearable devices for health monitoring, with smartwatches being the most preferred (42.0%). Among smartwatch users, (35.2%) had received notifications of cardiac arrhythmia through their devices. Most participants (76.5%) expressed willingness to use smartwatches for arrhythmia detection, and (48.1%) strongly agreed that wearable technologies could contribute to the early diagnosis and monitoring of arrhythmia. Younger adults (22-51 years) demonstrated significantly more positive perceptions compared to those&#x2009;>&#x2009;51 years (p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.05). Previous experience with wearables was also a significant predictor of favorable perception (p&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.015). Educational level showed a positive but non-significant trend (p&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.061), while gender and cardiovascular history were not associated with perception. The Saudi public shows a high level of awareness and positive perception toward using smartwatches for early cardiac arrhythmia detection. Younger age and prior experience with wearables were the strongest predictors of acceptance, underscoring the importance of digital literacy and user familiarity. Integrating smartwatches into preventive cardiology and public health initiatives-supported by education and clinical validation-may enhance early arrhythmia detection and promote proactive heart health management in Saudi Arabia.

Brain metastases (BrM) affect up to 30% of patients with solid tumors, yet durable intracranial control remains rare, and the biological drivers of this poor prognosis are incompletely understood. Patient-derived resources, such as clinical cohorts, biobanks, functional ex vivo models, and multi-omic platforms, are central to closing this gap, but their generation and integration face substantial logistical and technical hurdles. Drawing on the RISEbrain consortium's experience, this Perspective examines BrM-focused cohorts and biobanks, highlighting the underused potential of rapid autopsy programs to capture early metastatic seeding. We discuss patient-derived organotypic cultures and emerging organoid-based "avatar" systems as functional platforms for therapeutic profiling, alongside the complementary strengths of bulk and single-cell/-nucleus transcriptomics. We outline how spatial transcriptomics and proteomics are resolving the architecture of the BrM microenvironment, and assess liquid biopsy approaches, including emerging photonic biosensors, for non-invasive monitoring. Together, these resources form an interdependent toolkit whose coordinated deployment will advance early detection, prevention, and precision treatment of BrM.

Marsupials are a unique group of mammals widely used in clinical and evo-devo research for their unusual reproductive traits. The ability to edit marsupial genomes would vastly improve their utility as research models, as well as potentially alleviate the complex and pressing ecological challenges marsupials face. To date, however, genome editing has only been achieved for a single species (Monodelphis domestica), despite the recent influx of high-quality genomes, largely due to this species' similarity to rodent models. In this review, we outline the marsupial-specific challenges and opportunities of both zygote-based and germ cell transplantation approaches to genome editing and summarise current efforts to fill this critical gap in the marsupial research and conservation toolkit.

Children with disabilities attending special education schools face significantly higher risks of oral diseases, particularly dental caries, due to physiological, cognitive, and environmental challenges. However, school-based oral health interventions targeting this population are limited in China. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of fluoride varnish (FV) application, delivered alongside oral health education for parents and teachers, in improving the oral health of students in special education schools in Guangdong Province. This is a stratified, cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in Guangdong Province, China. Schools will be stratified by regional economic development level and randomly assigned to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group will receive annual dental examinations, biannual FV applications, and oral health education. The control group will receive standard annual examinations and comparable oral health education. Participants will be students aged 5 to 22 years enrolled in selected special education schools. Baseline assessments and 12-month follow-ups will include oral examinations and questionnaires assessing oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The primary outcome is the difference in caries prevalence between the intervention and control groups at follow-up. Secondary outcomes include changes in oral hygiene behaviors and caregiver knowledge. Data will be analyzed using multivariable regression models adjusting for potential confounders and clustering effects. This trial was funded by the Department of Education of Guangdong Province in 2025 (grant YCKJ-2025-30). As of June 2025, 12 special education schools across 3 cities had been enrolled (n=7, 58.3% intervention and n=5, 41.7% control schools), and more than 1100 students had been recruited. Baseline data collection and the first FV application are complete. Follow-up data collection is ongoing and is expected to conclude in June 2026. Data analysis has not yet started, and results are expected to be published in 2027. Biannual application of FV is expected to significantly reduce caries prevalence and improve oral hygiene behaviors among students in special education schools. This school-based intervention model aims to provide a scalable and evidence-based strategy to mitigate oral health inequities for children with disabilities in China.

Delivery of interventions within student mental health services has undergone considerable digital transformation in recent years. Traditional face-to-face meetings are being substituted with autonomous digital tools with evident advantages in terms of accessibility and scalability. Despite an increasing array of digital options, there is also a growing recognition that digital tools offer limited effectiveness without some degree of human support. For example, for mental well-being, completely digitally delivered interventions show approximately half the effect sizes of interventions delivered in a traditional format. Blended forms of delivery that use both digital advantages and recognized effects of human contact are therefore promising. Hitherto, the effects of blended delivery have not been evaluated for mental well-being. Hence, investigating how digitalization in intervention delivery impacts intervention effects on mental well-being is important. This is especially relevant among emerging adults enrolled in higher education, going through a critical, transformative life phase. This systematic review and meta-analysis will primarily aim to investigate differences in effect due to the degree of digitalization in the mode of delivery of interventions on mental well-being among higher education students. This work will adhere to the Cochrane Collaboration methodology, and results will be reported according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. A systematic literature search will be conducted across 9 databases (Scopus, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane, and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform). The population, intervention, comparator, and outcome framework will inform both the search strategy and eligibility criteria. For inclusion, studies should be randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of individually delivered interventions on positive affect or life satisfaction among mentally healthy higher education students aged 18 to 29 years. Studies will be independently screened, and data will be extracted, including the standardized mean difference as the effect measure. Risk of bias assessment will be conducted using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 instrument. The Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random effects meta-analysis will be applied, and study biases will be analyzed by funnel-plot assessment and Egger test. Finally, certainty of evidence for positive affect and life satisfaction will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach. Results will be presented in a summary of findings table. The search was finalized in March 2026, generating 6603 records after duplicate removal. Study selection and data extraction were conducted during April 2026, resulting in 41 eligible studies. Risk of bias assessment, data analysis, and manuscript preparation are planned before submission for peer review in August 2026. The principal findings of this study will highlight differences in effect due to the mode of delivery of interventions on mental well-being among higher education students. This will be relevant for the management of student mental health promotion services. PROSPERO CRD420251131950; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251131950. PRR1-10.2196/88458.

Bencomia exstipulata is a broad-leaved evergreen shrub endemic to the high-altitude harsh landscapes of the Canary Islands. Whether the extremely reduced distribution of its wild specimens (at around 2000&#x2009;m&#x2009;a.s.l. in the National Parks of 'El Teide' and 'Caldera de Taburiente') responds to specific microclimatic needs remains undetermined. None of its ecophysiological aspects has been evaluated to date. To fill this gap of knowledge, we have (1) characterised its leaf phenology and physiology, (2) evaluated its tolerance to drought at leaf and xylem levels, and (3) investigated its response to freezing stress at biophysical and photochemical levels. Our results revealed that B. exstipulata has a fast leaf turnover with high rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance and high xanthophylls per chlorophyll ratios. Leaves had thin cuticle, high minimum leaf conductance, and encrypted and abaxial stomata. Adult leaves lost 50% of their rehydration capacity at around 45% relative water content, and stem xylem was relatively vulnerable to embolism (with -3&#x2009;MPa of water potential at 50% loss of conductivity), but no native embolism was found. Under freezing temperatures, leaves showed a supercooling strategy (ice nucleation at -14&#xb0;C) and low photoprotective responsiveness. We conclude that B. exstipulata lacks clear adaptations to drought, has high constitutive photoprotection, low photoprotective responsivity, and a supercooling strategy to face freezing. In its native montane ecosystem, with a Mediterranean-type climate, severe drought could induce significant xylem-embolism, while severe freezing could lead to irreparable leaf damage, being both risks potentially lethal in the mid- to long term.

Deep neural networks in medical and edge environments often face computational and memory constraints, which necessitate effective model compression. Neural network pruning is a widely used solution, but conventional methods often rely on magnitude-based or random criteria that can remove entire functional groups of neurons and reduce model performance. This study introduces Graph-Community Cluster Pruning (GCCP), a structured pruning framework that constructs neuron activation similarity graphs and employs Louvain community detection to identify functionally cohesive groups. Within each community, neurons are ranked using gradient-weighted saliency, enabling the removal of redundancies while retaining representative units essential for preserving functional diversity. We applied proposed GCCP to Parkinson's disease detection using the publicly available UCI benchmark voice dataset and achieved a 37.23% reduction in parameters and a 37.84% reduction in Floating Point Operations (FLOPs), while maintaining test accuracy (94.87%) and AUC (0.969). Comparative evaluations demonstrate that GCCP consistently outperforms conventional pruning methods, particularly under high compression ratios, and provides interpretable insights into neural specialization through community visualization. These results show that GCCP is a robust and interpretable compression method for developing resource-efficient and clinically reliable diagnostic models.

The emergence of spatial transcriptomics, which integrates spatial and gene expression information, has greatly advanced research in disease mechanisms and developmental biology. A core task in this field is spatial domain identification, which reveals regions with shared molecular signatures and histological features, thereby facilitating the study of tissue function and pathology. Although existing methods have achieved promising performance, many of them still face limitations in effectively integrating heterogeneous information from multiple views, such as gene expression, spatial coordinates, and spatially informed expression profiles. In particular, discrepancies across views may lead to inconsistent representations and distorted similarity relationships, which can reduce the accuracy and robustness of spatial domain recognition. To address these limitations, we propose MCFST, a graph neural network framework that integrates multi-view graph convolution with a fusion module guided by mutual information maximization. By incorporating diverse views of spatial data and aligning their representations, MCFST effectively captures latent patterns and achieves robust domain recognition. We evaluated MCFST against state-of-the-art methods on two simulated datasets with varying sparsity and noise levels, as well as three real spatial transcriptomics datasets. Results show that MCFST consistently outperforms baselines in spatial domain identification, highlighting its robustness and efficiency. Moreover, spatially variable genes detected from MCFST-derived domains exhibited clear spatial expression patterns, further confirming the accuracy and utility of MCFST. The code implementation of the MCFST algorithm is publicly available at https://github.com/dw666666/MCFST. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Underground coal mine operations face significant challenges due to the complex and uncertain environments in which they operate. Efficient decision-making in this context is critical for ensuring both safety and productivity. This study addresses the problem of selecting the most suitable operational strategy under uncertainty by applying a multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) framework. We utilize circular Pythagorean fuzzy sets (CPyFS) to better model the vagueness inherent in decision-makers' ([Formula: see text]) judgments, offering enhanced flexibility over traditional fuzzy sets (FS) through their circular membership structure. To determine the weights of criteria objectively, we employ the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method, and we integrate these weights within the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPA) method for final ranking. Five alternative strategies are evaluated against five operational criteria. The proposed CRITIC-WASPAS method under the CPyFS approach identifies the second alternative as the most effective, with the highest performance score value among all options, and demonstrates competitive performance in terms of accuracy and consistency within the considered case study. A hypothetical case study demonstrates the applicability of the hybrid model in underground coal mining. Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of the rankings against changes in criteria weights and various parametric values. Comparative analysis shows that the proposed hybrid model yields identical rankings to other ranking methods. The study offers a methodological decision-support framework for mine managers, enhancing risk assessment and operational planning in uncertain and complex mining environments.

The advent of telemedicine has significantly transformed the healthcare landscape, offering enhanced accessibility to specialised wound care. By integrating digital health solutions, complementary to face-to-face care, in a personalised care pathway telemedicine facilitates timely interventions, reduces unnecessary hospital visits and optimises medical resources. Developing recommendations on the effective use of telemedicine in wound care can encourage good practice. The model proposed by the Haute Autorit&#xe9; de Sant&#xe9; (the French National Authority of Health) consists of developing recommendations for good clinical practice through formal consensus. To this end, and following a Delphi process, a panel of wound care experts was convened, including physicians and nurses of various disciplines involved in wound management (wound healing; dermatology; geriatrics; vascular medicine; vascular surgery; physical and rehabilitation medicine; and plastic and reconstructive surgery); and from a range of organisations (public/state, private, collaborative, independent). As a first step, an extensive review of the evidence-based literature was conducted on the use of telemedicine. Questions were developed by the strategic committee (formed of 10 experts) and proposed to a scoring committee composed of 20 experts in wound healing who established a consensus agreement. Levels of consensus were determined through two successive rounds of consultation. The resulting document was proposed to the lecture committee, composed of 50 experts and non-experts, which reviewed and amended the proposed text. This document reflects the importance of e-health technologies which have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic in complex wounds.