Low-voltage-tunable electromechanical photonic directional coupler in silicon nitride for telecom wavelengths.

Silicon nitride is a low-loss photonic integrated circuit (PIC) platform. However, silicon nitride also shows small nonlinear optical properties and is dielectric, which makes the implementation of programmability challenging. Typically, the thermo-optic effect is used for this, but modulators based on this effect are often slow and cross talk-limited.

Obesity-associated non-oxidative genotoxic stress alters trophoblast turnover in human first-trimester placentas.

Placental growth is most rapid during the first trimester (FT) of pregnancy, making it vulnerable to metabolic and endocrine influences. Obesity, with its inflammatory and oxidative stress, can cause cellular damage. We hypothesized that maternal obesity increases DNA damage in the FT placenta, affecting DNA damage response and trophoblast turnover.

Approach for Phased Sequence-Based Genotyping of the Critical Pharmacogene Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase ().

Pre-treatment genotyping of four well-characterized toxicity risk-variants in the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene () has been widely implemented in Europe to prevent serious adverse effects in cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidines. Current genotyping practices are largely limited to selected commonly studied variants and are unable to determine phasing when more than one variant allele is detected. Recent evidence indicates that common variants modulate the functional impact of deleterious variants in a phase-dependent manner, where a - or a -configuration translates into different toxicity risks and dosing recommendations.

The RhoA guanine exchange factor ABR: a glucose-sensitive mediator of actin reorganization in feto-placental arterial endothelial cells altered by gestational diabetes mellitus.

In utero exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) programs the fetus, increasing offspring risk for endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease later in life. Hyperglycaemia is widely recognized as the driving force of diabetes-induced programming. We have previously shown that GDM exposure alters DNA methylation and gene expression associated with actin remodelling in primary feto-placental arterial endothelial cells (fpEC).

[No Differences in Testis Cancer Outcomes between urban and rural regions in the Canton of Berne].

Testis cancer is highly curable. However, historical data point to differences between urban and rural areas with more advanced diseases at presentation and worse outcomes in the latter. In a cohort of 296 men with testis cancer diagnosed and treated at the Inselspital Berne between 2010 and 2020, we found no clinically relevant differences in presentation and outcomes depending on their residential area.