Developing Topics.

Background: Shortcomings in primary and specialty healthcare access in rural communities create substantial health disparities among older adults, especially in areas of modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Telehealth stations in community centers increase healthcare access to patients thereby improving modifiable risk factors for ADRD. The objective of this project was to assess facilitators, barriers, and opportunities of telehealth use for older adults within rural community centers.

Quantum key distribution implemented with d-level time-bin entangled photons.

High-dimensional photon states (qudits) are pivotal to enhance the information capacity, noise robustness, and data rates of quantum communications. Time-bin entangled qudits are promising candidates for implementing high-dimensional quantum communications over optical fiber networks with processing rates approaching those of classical telecommunications. However, their use is hindered by phase instability, timing inaccuracy, and low scalability of interferometric schemes needed for time-bin processing.

Do instrument kinematics and the apical preparation limit influence canal disinfection and bacterial extrusion?

This in vitro research assessed the influence of the instrument kinematics (rotary and reciprocating) and the apical preparation limit on the root canal disinfection and apical bacterial extrusion. After 21 days of Enterococcus faecalis biofilm formation in 72 mesial root canals of mandibular molars, the root canals were distributed into 2 groups (n = 36) according to the systems used for preparation: ProDesign S and Reciproc. The groups were redistributed according to the limit of apical preparation (n = 11): (a) 1 mm up to the apical foramen (TL-1); (b) at the apical foramen (TL = 0); (c) 1 mm beyond the apical foramen (TL + 1).

Risk thresholds for the frequency of cannabis use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal outcomes: protocol for a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.

Background: Cannabis use during pregnancy has been increasing and is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes, such as low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB). It remains largely unknown whether the association between cannabis use in pregnancy and increased risk of adverse neonatal outcomes is impacted by the frequency of cannabis use and whether thresholds exist below which risk is not significantly increased. The objective of this systematic review is to assess whether the association between cannabis use during pregnancy and the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes is dependent on the frequency of use and whether risk thresholds exist.

Growth Effects as a Function of pH and Temperature of serovar Choleraesuis in In Vitro Tests and Chicken Meat: Prediction and Modeling.

The present study aimed to predict and model the growth of serovar Choleraesuis as a function of pH and temperature in in vitro tests and raw chicken meat. To describe the growth, the data were adjusted by the Modified Gompertz primary model. After comparison, they presented R values > 0.

The impact of long axial field of view (LAFOV) PET on oncologic imaging.

The development of long axial field of view (LAFOV) positron emission tomography coupled with computed tomography (PET/CT) scanners might be considered the biggest step forward in PET imaging since it became a mainstream clinical modality. Despite increased capital and maintenance costs and data storage requirements, the improvement in image quality, significantly faster acquisition times and lower radiopharmaceutical administered activities, allow a high quality and more efficient clinical service. This step change in technology overcomes some of the limitations of standard short axial field of view scanners.

Aging enacted in practice: How unloved objects thrive in the shadows of care.

In this paper, we explore the seeming stability of aging. More precisely, we offer an empirical account of how aging - images of aging, embodiments of aging, feelings about aging - is enacted in company practice, both in place and across time. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at SMCare, a small-to-medium sized company active in the care technology sector, we show how aging achieves its stability not through practices that are characterized by affection, or purposefully targeted at maintaining or caring for aging, but due to ongoing re-enactments in the shadows of other care practices.

Search for Soft Unclustered Energy Patterns in Proton-Proton Collisions at 13 TeV.

The first search for soft unclustered energy patterns (SUEPs) is performed using an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV, collected in 2016-2018 by the CMS detector at the LHC. Such SUEPs are predicted by hidden valley models with a new, confining force with a large 't Hooft coupling. In events with boosted topologies, selected by high-threshold hadronic triggers, the multiplicity and sphericity of clustered tracks are used to reject the background from standard model quantum chromodynamics.

Online coupling of size exclusion chromatography to capillary-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for the identification of protein classes in hemolyzed blood serum.

The analysis of serum for biomarkers is a standard method in clinical diagnosis and health assessment. The application of Raman spectroscopy to probe biomarkers in serum is increasingly investigated due to its time- and cost-efficiency. However, time-consuming sample preparation is often required to analyze the serum samples.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation with SAPIEN 3 versus surgical aortic valve replacement in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis at low risk of surgical mortality: a cost-utility analysis for Switzerland.

Aims Of The Study: The 2021 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines on valvular heart disease recommend transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis at low surgical risk and age ≥75 years who are suitable for a transfemoral approach (recommendation class IA) based on two large randomised controlled trials (PARTNER 3 and Evolut Low Risk) comparing transcatheter aortic valve implantation with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Whether such an approach is cost-effective in Switzerland remains unclear. The aim of this cost-utility analysis was to compare transcatheter aortic valve implantation with SAPIEN 3 versus surgical aortic valve replacement in symptomatic severe aortic stenosis patients at low risk of surgical mortality from the perspective of Swiss compulsory health insurance using data from the PARTNER 3 trial (reflecting specifically the safety and efficacy of the SAPIEN 3 TAVI device).

Supplementary methods for filling material removal: A systematic review and meta-analysis of micro-CT imaging studies.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of supplementary methods, including Passive Ultrasonic Irrigation (PUI), ultrasonic inserts, XP-Endo Finisher, XP-Endo Finisher R, Easy Clean, sonic activation, and the Er:YAG laser (SWEEPS), in removing residual filling material (RFM) during endodontic retreatment.

Method: Five electronic databases and gray literature were searched on May 5, 2024. Two independent reviewers selected laboratory studies that assessed the efficacy of supplementary methods for RFM removal using micro-CT imaging.

Search for the Z Boson Decay to ττμμ in Proton-Proton Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV.

The first search for the Z boson decay to ττμμ at the CERN LHC is presented, based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1}. The data are compatible with the predicted background. For the first time, an upper limit at the 95% confidence level of 6.

Auditory Competition and Stimulus Selection across Spatial Locations from Midbrain to Forebrain in Barn Owls.

Barn owls enable investigation of neural mechanisms underlying stimulus selection of concurrent stimuli. The audiovisual space map in the optic tectum (OT), avian homolog of the superior colliculus, encodes relative strength of concurrent auditory stimuli through spike response rate and interneuronal spike train synchrony (STS). Open questions remain regarding stimulus selection in downstream forebrain regions lacking topographic coding of auditory space, including the functional consequences of interneuronal STS on interregional signaling.

Observation of the decay.

Using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of collected by the CMS experiment at , the decay is observed for the first time, with a statistical significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The relative branching fraction, with respect to the decay, is measured to be , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is related to the uncertainties in and .

Observation of Enhanced Long-Range Elliptic Anisotropies Inside High-Multiplicity Jets in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV.

A search for collective effects inside jets produced in proton-proton collisions is performed via correlation measurements of charged particles using the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The analysis uses data collected at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13  TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1}. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-k_{T} algorithm with a distance parameter of 0.

Ethical issues in lethal insect monitoring.

Animal monitoring involves acquiring information about animals or their activities. Changes in available monitoring technologies, global biodiversity, and sociocultural norms have raised novel ethical challenges for biologists engaged in animal monitoring, including efforts aimed at monitoring insects. A growing amount of attention has been paid to the ethical challenges associated with lethal insect monitoring to include unclear environmental risks, welfare harms to insects, concerns about taking life, and more.

Single-voxel delay map from long-axial field-of-view PET scans.

Objective: We present an algorithm to estimate the delay between a tissue time-activity curve and a blood input curve at a single-voxel level tested on whole-body data from a long-axial field-of-view scanner with tracers of different noise characteristics.

Methods: Whole-body scans of 15 patients divided equally among three tracers, namely [O]HO, [F]FDG and [Cu]Cu-DOTATATE, which were used in development and testing of the algorithm. Delay times were estimated by fitting the cumulatively summed input function and tissue time-activity curve with special considerations for noise.

QUALIPAED-A retrospective quality control study evaluating pediatric long axial field-of-view low-dose FDG-PET/CT.

Introduction: Pediatric patients have an increased risk of radiation-induced malignancies due to their ongoing development and long remaining life span. Thus, optimization of PET protocols is an important task in pediatric nuclear medicine. Long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT has shown a significant increase in sensitivity, which provides an ideal opportunity for reduction of injected tracer activity in the pediatric population.

Device-Less Data-Driven Cardiac and Respiratory Gating Using LAFOV PET Histo Images.

The outstanding capabilities of modern Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to highlight small tumor lesions and provide pathological function assessment are at peril from image quality degradation caused by respiratory and cardiac motion. However, the advent of the long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) scanners with increased sensitivity, alongside the precise time-of-flight (TOF) of modern PET systems, enables the acquisition of ultrafast time resolution images, which can be used for estimating and correcting the cyclic motion. 0.