An analysis of national news coverage of semaglutide for weight loss.

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists like semaglutide have risen significantly in use in recent years as a therapeutic option for the management of obesity. Popular media serves as an information source for many patients, and depending on the content, may influence how a patient views a particular therapy.

Objective: To describe the content of online/print news articles published about semaglutide for weight loss.

Nature-based approaches: a mixed methods study of facilitators and barriers to implementation in CAMHS.

Background: There is growing evidence that spending time with or in nature can be beneficial for health and wellbeing. Emerging evidence suggests potential benefits for staff and service users in healthcare settings, yet little is known about how to put Nature-based approaches (NBAs) into practice within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) setting. The CAMHS Goes Wild project in Southwest England aimed to explore the implementation of NBAs within CAMHS, examining staff attitudes and understanding to identify potential benefits and challenges through a mixed methods study.

From adsorption to crystallization of proteins: Evidence for interface-assisted nucleation.

Protein crystallization is among the key processes in biomolecular research, but the underlying mechanisms are still elusive. Here, we address the role of inevitable interfaces for the nucleation process. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) with simultaneously optical microscopy, confocal microscopy, and grazing-incidence small angle X-rays scattering (GISAXS) were employed to investigate the temporal behavior from the initial stage of protein adsorption to crystallization.

Short-term effects of Pilates-based exercise on upper limb strength and function in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: People with Parkinson's disease (PD) have impaired upper limb motor coordination, limiting the execution of activities of daily living. This study investigated the feasibility and safety of a short-term Pilates-based exercise program in the treatment of upper limb motor coordination for people with PD.

Methods: Fifteen patients - n (%) 4 women/11 men (27/73), median [interquartile range] age 66 [9] years - participated in this quasi-experimental (before-and-after) clinical trial.

Mixed-magnesium/zinc calix[4]arene complexes: structure, and ring opening polymerisation studies.

Different combinations of organomagnesium reagents and zinc bromide react with either 1,3-dimethoxy-4--butylcalix[4]areneH (L(OMe)H) or trialkoxycalix[4]arenes (L(OR)H) (R = -Pr, -pentyl) to afford mixed-metal calix[4]arene systems. Intriguing molecular structures are formed and the systems are capable of the ring opening polymerisation of ε-caprolactone under N, air, or as melts.

Using big data and Population Health Management to assess care and costs for patients with severe mental disorders and move toward a value-based payment system.

Background: Mental health (MH) care often exhibits uneven quality and poor coordination of physical and MH needs, especially for patients with severe mental disorders. This study tests a Population Health Management (PHM) approach to identify patients with severe mental disorders using administrative health databases in Italy and evaluate, manage and monitor care pathways and costs. A second objective explores the feasibility of changing the payment system from fee-for-service to a value-based system (e.

A qualitative exploration of fear of cancer recurrence in caregivers.

Objective: Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is one of the most common unmet needs for cancer patients and caregivers. Yet little is known about the potentially unique nature of caregiver FCR. Our research aimed to address this gap by qualitatively exploring the features and impact of caregiver FCR.

A Comparison of Mathematical and Statistical Modeling with Longitudinal Data: An Application to Ecological Momentary Assessment of Behavior Change in Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been broadly used to collect real-time longitudinal data in behavioral research. Several analytic methods have been applied to EMA data to understand the changes of motivation, behavior, and emotions on a daily or within-day basis. One challenge when utilizing those methods on intensive datasets in the behavioral field is to understand when and why the methods are appropriate to investigate particular research questions.

DM management in HIV patients: the adoption of population health management to transform the chronic management of HIV.

Background: The success of antiretroviral therapies has made human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) a chronic disease, changing the care scenario dramatically. This study aimed to measure adherence to diabetes mellitus standards of care provided for people living with HIV (PLWH). Diabetes represents a paradigmatic case for tackling chronic care management in this target group.

Using ultrasonic attenuation in cortical bone to infer distributions on pore size.

In this work we infer the underlying distribution on pore radius in human cortical bone samples using ultrasonic attenuation data. We first discuss how to formulate polydisperse attenuation models using a probabilistic approach and the Waterman Truell model for scattering attenuation. We then compare the Independent Scattering Approximation and the higher-order Waterman Truell models' forward predictions for total attenuation in polydisperse samples.

Beyond body size-new traits for new heights in trait-based modelling of predator-prey dynamics.

Food webs map feeding interactions among species, providing a valuable tool for understanding and predicting community dynamics. Using species' body sizes is a promising avenue for parameterizing food-web models, but such approaches have not yet been able to fully recover observed community dynamics. Such discrepancies suggest that traits other than body size also play important roles.

Avoidable hospitalizations and access to primary care: comparisons among Italians, resident immigrants and undocumented immigrants in administrative hospital discharge records.

Background: Immigrants face multiple barriers in accessing healthcare; however, empirical assessment of access presents serious methodological issues, and evidence on undocumented immigrants is scant and based mainly on non-representative samples. We examine avoidable hospitalization (AH) as an indicator of poor access to primary care (PC) in Italy, where a universal healthcare system guarantees access but fails to assign general practitioners to undocumented immigrants.

Methods: Using anonymized national hospital discharge records in 2019, undocumented immigrants were identified through an administrative financing code.

Transformation of Cancer Care during and after the COVID Pandemic, a point of no return. The Experience of Italy.

Policymakers everywhere struggle to introduce therapeutic innovation while controlling costs, a particular challenge for the universal Italian National Healthcare System (SSN), which spends only 8.8% of GDP to care for one of the world's oldest populations. Oncology provides a telling example, where innovation has dramatically improved care and survival, transforming cancer into a chronic condition.

Establishing a national HTA program for medical devices in Italy: Overhauling a fragmented system to ensure value and equal access to new medical technologies.

Differing contexts have greatly influenced HTA development in various countries, with considerable effort recently made by international HTA networks (e.g., EUnetHTA) and the European Union (EU) to make HTA a more coherent, equal, and efficient process.

Arrays of Si vacancies in 4H-SiC produced by focused Li ion beam implantation.

Point defects in SiC are an attractive platform for quantum information and sensing applications because they provide relatively long spin coherence times, optical spin initialization, and spin-dependent fluorescence readout in a fabrication-friendly semiconductor. The ability to precisely place these defects at the optimal location in a host material with nano-scale accuracy is desirable for integration of these quantum systems with traditional electronic and photonic structures. Here, we demonstrate the precise spatial patterning of arrays of silicon vacancy ([Formula: see text]) emitters in an epitaxial 4H-SiC (0001) layer through mask-less focused ion beam implantation of Li.

Inferring pore radius and density from ultrasonic attenuation using physics-based modeling.

This work proposes the use of two physics-based models for wave attenuation to infer the microstructure of cortical bone-like structures. One model for ultrasound attenuation in porous media is based on the independent scattering approximation (ISA) and the other model is based on the Waterman Truell (WT) approximation. The microstructural parameters of interest are pore radius and pore density.

Factors influencing adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in breast cancer-treated women: using real-world data to inform a switch from acute to chronic disease management.

Purpose: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) for ≥ 5 years is generally recommended for women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer to reduce cancer recurrence/mortality; however, adherence can be suboptimal. We tested determinants of AET adherence using patient characteristics, treatment pathways, AET initiation timing, and multiple healthcare facility use. An underlying objective was to explore how oncological pathways mirror chronic disease management to monitor adherence and target improvement interventions using administrative datasets.

Leishmania infantum infection reduces the amyloid β-stimulated NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has been shown to play a major role in the neuroinflammation that accompanies Alzheimer's disease (AD); interventions that down regulate the NLRP3 inflammasome could thus be beneficial in AD. Parasite infections were recently shown to be associated with improved cognitive functions in Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4)-expressing members of an Amazonian tribe. We verified in an in vitro model whether Leishmania infantum infection could reduce NLRP3.

Correctly modeling plant-insect-herbivore-pesticide interactions as aggregate data.

We consider a population dynamics model in investigating data from controlled experiments with aphids in broccoli patches surrounded by different margin types (bare or weedy ground) and three levels of insecticide spray (no, light, or heavy spray). The experimental data is clearly aggregate in nature. In previous efforts [1], the aggregate nature of the data was ignored.

Silicon photosensitisation using molecular layers.

Silicon photosensitisation via energy transfer from molecular dye layers is a promising area of research for excitonic silicon photovoltaics. We present the synthesis and photophysical characterisation of vinyl and allyl terminated Si(111) surfaces decorated with perylene molecules. The functionalised silicon surfaces together with Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films based on perylene derivatives were studied using a wide range of steady-state and time resolved spectroscopic techniques.

A scoping review of core outcome sets and their 'mapping' onto real-world data using prostate cancer as a case study.

Background: A Core Outcomes Set (COS) is an agreed minimum set of outcomes that should be reported in all clinical studies related to a specific condition. Using prostate cancer as a case study, we identified, summarized, and critically appraised published COS development studies and assessed the degree of overlap between them and selected real-world data (RWD) sources.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative database to identify all COS studies developed for prostate cancer.

Lethal and sublethal effects of toxicants on bumble bee populations: a modelling approach.

Pollinator decline worldwide is well-documented; globally, chemical pesticides (especially the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids) have been implicated in hymenopteran decline, but the mechanics and drivers of population trends and dynamics of wild bees is poorly understood. Declines and shifts in community composition of bumble bees (Bombus spp.) have been documented in North America and Europe, with a suite of lethal and sub-lethal effects of pesticides on bumble bee populations documented.

Estimation of probability distributions of parameters using aggregate population data: analysis of a CAR T-cell cancer model.

In this effort we explain fundamental formulations for aggregate data inverse problems requiring estimation of probability distribution parameters. We use as a motivating example a class of CAR T-call cancer models in mice. After ascertaining results on model stability and sensitivity with respect to parameters, we carry out first elementary computations on the question how much data is needed for successful estimation of probability distributions.