Athena Group (United States)

Conventional ultrasound (US) has long been central to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance in cirrhotic patients, due to its low cost, wide availability, non-invasiveness, and adequate sensitivity for detecting small nodules. However, its specificity in distinguishing HCC from other lesions is limited. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has significantly improved the characterization of nodules first identified on conventional US. Yet, when CEUS is performed using sulfur hexafluoride (SonoVue)-the only contrast agent available in Western countries-assessment remains restricted to a single nodule per examination, and enhanced CT or MRI is still required for full characterization and staging. In clinical settings, such as hepatology, internal medicine, infectious diseases, and surgery, CEUS offers the advantage of immediate availability, enabling rapid characterization of suspicious nodules in cirrhotic livers and facilitating timely therapeutic decisions. Although the introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has substantially reduced HCV-related HCC, HCC incidence is increasingly driven by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Evidence on surveillance strategies for MASH patients remains limited, and current EASL guidelines recommend monitoring only patients with >F2 fibrosis. Additionally, the effectiveness of US in obese or diabetic/obese populations is under ongoing investigation; abbreviated non-contrast MRI has been proposed as an alternative surveillance tool, but its adoption would entail significant economic implications for healthcare systems. HCC arising from MASH-sometimes even without cirrhosis-exhibits different sonographic and pathological features. Instead of small, hypoechoic nodules, typically seen in HCV-related cirrhosis, clinicians increasingly encounter larger or multiple lesions, often accompanied by macrovascular invasion, limiting access to curative treatments. Furthermore, typical CEUS LI-RADS patterns are less frequently observed. This review summarizes the evolving US findings in the era of MASH-related HCC and underscores the continued importance of US as the primary imaging tool in routine clinical practice.

We introduce BoltzGen, an all-atom generative model for designing proteins and peptides across all modalities to bind a wide range of biomolecular targets. BoltzGen builds strong structural reasoning capabilities about target-binder interactions into its generative design process. This is achieved by unifying design and structure prediction, resulting in a single model that also reaches state-of-the-art folding performance. BoltzGen’s generation process can be controlled with a flexible design specification language over covalent bonds, structure constraints, binding sites, and more. We experimentally validate these capabilities in a total of eight diverse wetlab design campaigns with functional and affinity readouts across 26 targets. The experiments span binder modalities from nanobodies to disulfide-bonded peptides and include targets ranging from disordered proteins to small molecules. For instance, we test 15 nanobody and protein binder designs against each of nine novel targets with low similarity to any protein with a known bound structure. For both binder modalities, this yields nanomolar binders for 66% of targets. We release model weights, data, and both inference and training code at: https://github.com/HannesStark/boltzgen.

Vitamin D is obtained by the body from UV radiation from the sun and is compulsory for bone formation.Insufficient intake of Vitamin D results in fragile bones.Insufficient intake is more common among immigrant populations in Canada due to decrease in sun exposure.Immigrants and refugees from non-Western countries are more likely than the general population to suffer from vitamin D deficiency and rickets.Up to 50% of people with non-Western origins may have severe vitamin D insufficiency.Due to the sometimes overwhelming sunshine in their country of origin, they are not used to sunlight exposure.A study looked at the vitamin D status, bone mineral content, and vitamin D consumption of immigrant kids in Saskatchewan.The prevalence of inadequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D was 76% and 89.4%, respectively, in the sample.The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) also demonstrated the prevalence of the deficiency in the immigrant population in Canada.A quantitative survey was conducted with 82 participants -exploring their awareness and intake of vitamin D in daily life.It was found that with age the diagnosis of the deficiency increased.Moreover, sun exposure had an inverse relationship with diagnosis of the deficiency.The study confirmed the work conducted by CHMS in the immigrant population from India in Oakville, Canada.

Gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men (SMM) face more barriers to accessing health care compared to other men. In comparison to other SMM populations, Latinx SMM (LSMM) report having less access to health care. The purpose of the present study is to elucidate how theorized environmental-societal-level (i.e., immigration status, education level, and income level), community-interpersonal-level (i.e., social support and neighborhood collective efficacy [NCE]), and social-cognitive-behavioral-level factors (i.e., age, heterosexual self-presentation [HSP], sexual identity commitment, sexual identity exploration [SIE], and ethnic identity commitment [EIC]) may relate with perceived access to health care (PATHC) in a sample of 478 LSMM. We conducted a hierarchical regression analysis examining the hypothesized predictors of PATHC, as well as EIC as a moderator of the direct association between predictors and PATHC. We hypothesized that Latinx EIC would moderate relations between the aforementioned multilevel factors and PATHC. LSMM perceived greater access to care when indicating the following: higher education level, more NCE, more HSP, more SIE, and more EIC. Latinx EIC acted as a moderator of four predictors of PATHC, including education, NCE, HSP, and SIE. Findings inform outreach interventions of researchers and health care providers about psychosocial and cultural barriers and facilitators of health care access. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Abstract Immunodeficient NCG mice were unable to reconsituted human NK cells, but after knockin of human IL-15 (hIL-15), the NCG-hIL15 mice could assist the reconstitution of human NK cells. Compared with NCG, the level of hIL-15 was significantly increased in heterozygous and homozygous NCG-hIL15 mice. After transplanting human PBMC (huPBMC-NCG-hIL15) or NK cells into NCG-hIL15 (huNK-NCG-IL15), the level of peripheral blood hCD56+ NK cells in huNK-NCG-hIL15 mice were much higher than that in huPBMC-NCG-hIL15 mice. However, the reconstituted proportion of human CD3+ T cells in huNK-NCG-hIL15 mice was not comparable in huPBMC-NCG-hIL15 mice. The level of NK cell reconstitution is also highly dependent on the donor NK cells. The expression of perforin in the peripheral blood of huNK-NCG-hIL15 mice was significantly higher than that in huPBMC-NCG-hIL15 mice. In vitro functional analysis of NK cells from huPBNK-NCG-hIL15 and huPBMC-NCG-hIL15 showed Granzyme B expression in peripheral blood were comparable and human NK cells purified from splenocytes of huPBNK-NCG-hIL15 mice were cytotoxic upon coculture with Raji cells in the presence of Rituximab. Based on these in vitro data, we established huNK-NCG-hIL15 mice subcutaneously engrafted with Raji cells, and the in vivo efficacy of rituximab was evaluated. Efficacy study data showed that rituximab significantly inhibited the Raji tumor cells growth in huNK-NCG-hIL15 mice. Both huPBMC-NCG-hIL15 and huNK-NCG-hIL15 mouse model can rapidly reconstitute functional human NK cells compared to CD34+ HSC engrafted NCG-hIL15 mice. The development of huNK-NCG-hIL15 is an ideal mouse model to specifically evaluate the anti-tumor efficacy of drugs targeting human NK cells.

Η κοινωνική αλληλεπίδραση είναι παρούσα σε πολλές πτυχές της καθημερινότητας μας, ιδιαίτερα δε στον τομέα της εκπαίδευσης. Όπως δείχνουν οι έρευνες επηρεάζει θετικά τη μάθηση σε μουσειακό περιβάλλον, ενώ ο διάλογος, ως μια συνηθισμένη μορφή κοινωνικής αλληλεπίδρασης, αποτελεί αναπόσπαστο μέρος της συνεργατικής μάθησης, ειδικότερα στο πλαίσιο της εκπαίδευσης της Ιστορίας. Στο άρθρο αυτό εξετάζουμε τη χρήση συνεργατικών και διαλογικών εμπειριών σε χώρους πολιτισμού, παρουσιάζοντας δύο εμπειρίες που δημιουργήθηκαν για τον αρχαιολογικό χώρο της Αρχαίας Αγοράς της Αθήνας. Η πρώτη είναι μια δραστηριότητα συνεργατικής διαδραστικής ψηφιακής αφήγησης (storytelling) που αφορά τον χώρο της Αγοράς, στο πλαίσιο της οποίας οι χρήστες συζητούν στα σημεία επιλογών και παίρνουν αποφάσεις από κοινού. Η δεύτερη είναι μια συζήτηση με chatbot, το οποίο λειτουργεί ως διαμεσολαβητής, οδηγώντας τους συμμετέχοντες σε διάλογο γύρω από θέματα που σχετίζονται με την προαναφερόμενη ψηφιακή αφήγηση και την αρχαία Αθήνα, ενώ παράλληλα είναι σύμφυτα με σύγχρονους προβληματισμούς του ανθρώπου, όπως η ελευθερία, η θρησκεία, η κοινωνική δομή κ.α. Οι μαθητές εμπλέκονται σε εποικοδομητικό διάλογο μεταξύ τους, μέσα από τη λήψη προοπτικής, τη συλλογική δημιουργία νοήματος και τις συνδέσεις με το παρόν, με διαφορετικό τρόπο στην κάθε εμπειρία. Η συγκριτική παρουσίαση των δύο εμπειριών έχει ως στόχο να συμβάλει στην κατανόηση του τρόπου με τον οποίο τα χαρακτηριστικά κάθε εμπειρίας συνδέονται με την ανάπτυξη ιστορικού αναστοχασμού, ενώ παράλληλα υπογραμμίζει την αξία των διαλογικών και συνεργατικών προσεγγίσεων για την επαφή των μαθητών με τα πολιτιστικά αγαθά.

Intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents are used routinely in the management of neovascular conditions including proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema. While the efficacy of anti-VEGF agents has been well-validated, their ocular and systemic adverse events should always be considered and discussed with patients. The aim of this review is to discuss the most recent literature reports regarding the various ocular and systemic adverse events associated with intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment in diabetic retinopathy. The most frequently reported adverse ocular events include subconjunctival hemorrhage, vitreous hemorrhage, increased intraocular pressure, uveitis, endophthalmitis, ocular surface disease, and traumatic cataract. Subconjunctival hemorrhage and vitreous hemorrhage are the most common ocular adverse events reported with intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment. The most serious (though rare) ocular adverse events include endophthalmitis and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. A consensus regarding the association of systemic adverse events (such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and death) with intravitreal anti-VEGF treatments has not been established. Intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy is used in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and other diseases. These agents are associated with a variety of ocular and systemic adverse events that ophthalmologists should always consider.

Realizou-se, no dia 29 de agosto de 2020, um encontro virtual com gestores, representantes de associações de pacientes e médicos prescritores envolvidos no tratamento da asma, com o objetivo de discutir a necessidade e a viabilidade da incorporação de novas tecnologias para o tratamento dessa patologia. A asma é uma enfermidade caracterizada pela inflamação crônica das vias aéreas. É a principal causa de absenteísmo escolar e laboral e estima-se que seja responsável por até cinco mortes diárias em nosso país. Em pesquisa efetuada em operadora de autogestão, com vidas espalhadas por todo o país, observou-se que essa patologia (associada à doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica – DPOC) acomete quase 7% dos seus segurados e que a utilização do plano foi, nesse grupo, 1,9x maior para consultas, 1,6x maior para exames, 2,5x maior para terapias e 2,9x maior para internações, resultando em um aumento de 25,5% nos gastos assistenciais. Observou-se que é de elevada importância que o gestor tenha um profundo conhecimento de sua carteira e que priorize toda a linha de cuidado do paciente. Dessa maneira, atuando diretamente no controle da severidade da patologia, terão os melhores resultados de qualidade de vida e restringirão os doentes que necessitarão de medicações mais modernas e, também, mais caras, com resultado óbvio no controle de custos. A asma ainda não tem, em geral, para os gestores de operadoras de saúde privadas, no Brasil, uma importância tão grande na sinistralidade das suas carteiras. Os novos imunobiológicos são úteis e efetivos e alguma contrapartida por parte do fabricante, como, por exemplo, o compartilhamento de riscos, pode ser necessária para uma incorporação desse arsenal no Rol de produtos que serão disponibilizados para os pacientes que deles necessitarem.