Telomere length is a biomarker of ageing(1). A shorter telomere length is associated with an increased risk of age-related diseases and mortality. Oxidative stress and inflammation are predominant mechanisms leading to telomere shortening(2). Diets and food groups high in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are shown to be protective against telomere shortening(3). The nut and seed food group is rich in nutrients such as unsaturated fats, vitamins, and minerals, and contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals. Evidence is emerging on the beneficial effects of nuts and seeds in the prevention and management of age-related chronic conditions. This review aims to evaluate the role of nut and seed intake on telomere length in humans using the evidence from observational and interventional studies. Four databases, including Medline, CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science, were systematically searched from inception to 12 March 2024 for observational and interventional studies assessing the intake of nut or seed or applied nut or seed interventions and measured telomere length as an outcome in adult human participants (age ≥ 18 years). The quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Evidence Analysis Library® November 2022: Quality Criteria Checklist. Nine observational and four interventional studies were included. A positive association between nut and seed intake and telomere length was reported in three of the nine observational studies. None of the interventional studies reported a significant positive effect of nuts on telomere length. Three of the observational and interventional studies were classified as high quality, and the remaining studies were of neutral quality. Meta-analysis was not warranted due to the high heterogeneity in the telomere length measurements across the studies. The findings are inconsistent across these studies, and the evidence is insufficient to establish a beneficial role of nut and seed intake on telomere length. Larger epidemiological studies and adequately powered long-term randomised controlled trials are needed to establish the positive role of nut and seed on telomere length. However, nut and seed should continue to be recommended as a part of a healthy diet, given their proven benefits against age-related conditions.

This paper reports an expansion of the English as a second language (L2) component of the Multilingual Eye Movement Corpus (MECO L2), an international database of eye movements during text reading. While the previous Wave 1 of the MECO project (Kuperman et al., 2023) contained English as a L2 reading data from readers with 12 different first language (L1) backgrounds, the newly collected dataset adds eye-tracking data on English text reading from 13 distinct L1 backgrounds (N = 660) as well as participants’ scores on component skills of English proficiency and information about their demographics and language background and use. The paper reports reliability estimates, descriptive statistics, and correlational analyses as means to validate the expansion dataset. Consistent with prior literature and the MECO Wave 1, trends in the MECO Wave 2 data include a weak correlation between reading comprehension and oculomotor measures of reading fluency and a greater L1-L2 contrast in reading fluency than reading comprehension. Jointly with Wave 1, the MECO project includes English reading data from more than 1,200 readers representing a diversity of native writing systems (logographic, abjad, abugida, and alphabetic) and 19 distinct L1 backgrounds. We provide multiple pointers to new venues of how L2 reading researchers can mine this rich publicly available dataset.

We examined the efficacy of cognitive and behavioral interventions for improving symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults with neurological disorders. A pre-registered systematic search of Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and Neurobite was performed from inception to May 2024. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which examined the efficacy of cognitive and behavioral interventions in treating depression and/or anxiety among adults with neurological disorders were included. Estimates were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression were performed on categorical and continuous moderators, respectively. Main outcomes were pre- and post-intervention depression and anxiety symptom scores, as reported using standardized measures. Fifty-four RCTs involving 5372 participants with 11 neurological disorders (including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, stroke) were included. The overall effect of interventions yielded significant improvements in both depression (57 arms, Hedges' g = 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.35–0.54) and anxiety symptoms (29 arms, g = 0.38, 95% CI 0.29–0.48), compared to controls. Efficacy was greater in studies which employed a minimum baseline symptom severity inclusion criterion for both outcomes, and greater in trials using inactive controls for depression only. There was also evidence of differential efficacy of interventions across the neurological disorder types and the outcome measure used. Risk of bias, intervention delivery mode, intervention tailoring for neurological disorders, sample size, and study year did not moderate effects. Cognitive and behavioral interventions yield small-to-moderate improvements in symptoms of both depression and anxiety in adults with a range of neurological disorders.

A novel excretory–secretory (ES) protein of Trichinella pseudospiralis was produced. A cDNA library was constructed from mRNA of muscle larvae at 30 days post infection (p.i.) and immunoscreened with the antibody against ES products. A clone, designated Tp22-3, contained a cDNA transcript of 815 bp in length with a single open reading frame which encoded 244-amino acids (28407 Da in the estimated molecular mass). A database search revealed that no sequences had a homology to this predicted protein. The recombinant protein was produced in an Escherichia coli expression system. Stage specific expression of this protein was suggested from the following experiments. An antibody against the recombinant protein could stain proteins migrating at about 28 kDa (which is the expected size from the sequence) on Western blotting of crude extracts or ES products from 30 days p.i. muscle larvae, but failed to stain any proteins in crude extracts from newborn larvae or 15 days p.i. muscle larvae. The antibody reacted to the stichocytes of larvae at 30 days p.i., but did not react to 15 days p.i. muscle larvae. The production of an mRNA transcript for Tp22-3 gene was restricted largely to the 30 days p.i. muscle larvae and adult worms.

Recombinant protein was produced from the cDNA library of Trichinella pseudospiralis, which seemed to form part of the excretory–secretory (ES) products. The library was constructed from cDNA of muscle larvae at 1 month post-infection, and immunoscreened with antibody against T. pseudospiralis ES products. A clone, designated Tp21-3, contained a cDNA transcript of 657 bp in length with a single open reading frame, which encoded 172 amino acids (19617 Da in the estimated molecular mass). The predicted amino acid sequence of clone Tp21-3 had a similarity of 76% to that of clone ORF 17.20 (GenBank under accession number U88239) from T. spiralis. The recombinant fusion proteins encoded by clone Tp21-3 were produced in an Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purified. On Western blotting analysis, Tp21-3 recombinant proteins migrated at 40 kDa and reacted to antibody against T. pseudospiralis ES products and T. pseudospiralis-infected sera. Sera were developed against Tp 21-3 recombinant proteins, which reacted to a single band migrating at 21 kDa in crude worm extract and ES products from T. pseudospiralis on Western blotting analysis, and reacted with stichocytes of T. pseudospiralis on immunohistochemical staining.

The nurse cell in the cyst of Trichinella spiralis comprises at least two kinds of cytoplasm, derived from muscle or satellite cells, as indicated by the pattern of staining using regular dye (haematoxylin and eosin, or toluidine blue), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression, acid phosphatase (ACP) expression and immunostaining with an anti-intermediate filament protein (desmin or keratin). Muscle cells undergo basophilic changes following a T. spiralis infection and transform to the nurse cells, accompanied by an increase in ACP activity and the disappearance of desmin. Satellite cells are activated, transformed and joined to the nurse cells but remain eosinophilic. The eosinophilic cytoplasm is accompanied by an increase in desmin and ALP expression but not an increase in ACP activity. Differences in the staining results for ALP or ACP suggest that the two kinds of cytoplasm have different functions. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection results in an increase of ACP activity at a later stage than T. spiralis. There is also a difference in the location pattern of ACP in the cyst of T. spiralis compared with T. pseudospiralis. In T. spiralis, ACP is diffused within the cell, but in T. pseudospiralis, ACP distribution is spotty corresponding to the location of the nucleus. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection is accompanied by a slight increase in ALP activity. Activated satellite cells following a T. pseudospiralis infection exhibit an increase in desmin expression. The present study therefore reveals that nurse cell cytoplasm differs between the two Trichinella species and between the two origins of cytoplasm in the cyst of T. spiralis.

A clone, designated as TsTM, was selected from the cDNA library of newborn larvae (NBL) of Trichinella spiralis through immunoscreening against infected sera. The clone contained a cDNA transcript of 855 bp in length with a single open reading frame, which encoded 285-amino acids (33 kDa in the estimated molecular weight). A sequence analysis revealed that the clone TsTM encoded the full-length of tropomyosin gene. The phylogenetic analysis of the tropomyosin gene was in good agreement with the classical taxonomical position of T. spiralis. The fusion proteins encoded by the clone TsTM were produced in an Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purified, and the antibody was raised against the protein for the following studies. The antibody against the fusion protein positively bound to the hypodermal muscle layer in immunolocalization analysis, and the 35 kDa band in crude extracts of muscle larvae but not in excretory and secretory (ES) products on Western blots. The antigenicity of the clone TsTM was recognized by host mice but exhibited little species specificity.

Knowledge graphs have become a common approach for knowledge representation. Yet, the application of graph methodology is elusive due to the sheer number and complexity of knowledge sources. In addition, semantic incompatibilities hinder efforts to harmonize and integrate across these diverse sources. As part of The Biomedical Translator Consortium, we have developed a knowledge graph–based question-answering system designed to augment human reasoning and accelerate translational scientific discovery: the Translator system. We have applied the Translator system to answer biomedical questions in the context of a broad array of diseases and syndromes, including Fanconi anemia, primary ciliary dyskinesia, multiple sclerosis, and others. A variety of collaborative approaches have been used to research and develop the Translator system. One recent approach involved the establishment of a monthly “Question-of-the-Month (QotM) Challenge” series. Herein, we describe the structure of the QotM Challenge; the six challenges that have been conducted to date on drug-induced liver injury, cannabidiol toxicity, coronavirus infection, diabetes, psoriatic arthritis, and ATP1A3-related phenotypes; the scientific insights that have been gleaned during the challenges; and the technical issues that were identified over the course of the challenges and that can now be addressed to foster further development of the prototype Translator system. We close with a discussion on Large Language Models such as ChatGPT and highlight differences between those models and the Translator system.

With the dangerous and troublesome nature of hollow defects inside building structures, hollowness inspection has always been a challenge in the field of construction quality assessment. Several methods have been proposed for inspecting hollowness inside concrete structures. These methods have shown great advantages compared to manual inspection but still lack autonomy and have several limitations. In this paper, we propose a range-point migration-based non-contact hollowness inspection system with sensor fusion of ultra-wide-band radar and laser-based depth camera to extract both outer surface and inner hollowness information accurately and efficiently. The simulation result evaluates the performance of the system based on the original range-point migration algorithm, and our proposed one and the result of our system show great competitiveness. Several simulation experiments of structures that are very common in reality are carried out to draw more convincing conclusions about the system. At the same time, a set of laboratory-made concrete components were used as experimental objects for the robotic system. Although still accompanied by some problems, these experiments demonstrate the availability of an automated hollow-core detection system.

Background: Although seizures are a well-recognized phenomena in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with many observational studies reporting its prevalence and incidence, the relative risk of seizures or epilepsy in adults with MS compared to those without is not well-described. Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE and Embase, from their inception to January 1, 2022, using keywords and database-specific terms. We included observational studies that reported risk of seizures or epilepsy in adults with MS and that in a comparison group, consisting of people without MS or the general population. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to report a pooled adjusted risk ratio (RR) of seizures in adults with MS compared to the comparison group. Results: We screened 8,750 articles and included 17 studies, totaling over 192,850 adults with MS of which 6064 (3.1%) had seizures. Compared to a comparison group, the pooled adjusted RR of seizures in adults with MS was 2.86 (95% CI, 2.35-3.47, I2 = 95.8%). Conclusions: MS should be considered an independent risk factor for seizures or epilepsy. Further research should help identify patients with MS who are at risk of seizures, to improve screening and treatment and in turn reduce the burden of epilepsy in this population.

The FNDC5 gene encodes the fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 that is a membrane protein mainly expressed in skeletal muscle, and the FNDC5 rs3480 polymorphism may be associated with liver disease severity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We investigated the influence of the FNDC5 rs3480 polymorphism on the relationship between sarcopenia and the histological severity of NAFLD. A total of 370 adult individuals with biopsy-proven NAFLD were studied. The association between the key exposure sarcopenia and the outcome liver histological severity was investigated by binary logistic regression. Stratified analyses were undertaken to examine the impact of FNDC5 rs3480 polymorphism on the association between sarcopenia and the severity of NAFLD histology. Patients with sarcopenia had more severe histological grades of steatosis and a higher prevalence of significant fibrosis and definite non-alcoholic steatohepatitis than those without sarcopenia. There was a significant association between sarcopenia and significant fibrosis (adjusted OR 2·79, 95 % CI 1·31, 5·95, P = 0·008), independent of established risk factors and potential confounders. Among patients with sarcopenia, significant fibrosis occurred more frequently in the rs3480 AA genotype carriers than in those carrying the FNDC5 rs3480 G genotype (43·8 v. 17·2 %, P = 0·031). In the association between sarcopenia and liver fibrosis, there was a significant interaction between the FNDC5 genotype and sarcopenia status (P value for interaction = 0·006). Sarcopenia is independently associated with significant liver fibrosis, and the FNDC5 rs3480 G variant influences the association between sarcopenia and liver fibrosis in patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD.

Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.