Ultrasonographic Measurement of Muscle and Subcutaneous Fat Thickness for the Objective Assessment of the Nutritional Status of Alpacas.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ultrasonographic measurement of the subcutaneous fat and muscle layers at two different body locations as an objective tool with which to determine the nutritional status of alpacas. The results of ultrasonographic measurement were related to body weight, determined by scale, and body condition score (BCS), determined by a scoring system. Differences between gender (female/male) and different reproductive statuses (castrated/intact males, pregnant, and early or non-pregnant females) were evaluated.

A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain.

Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya).

Bone quality relies on hyaluronan synthesis - Insights from mice with complete knockout of hyaluronan synthase expression.

Bone consists of a complex mineralised matrix that is maintained by a controlled equilibrium of synthesis and resorption by different cell types. Hyaluronan (HA) is an important glycosaminoglycan in many tissues including bone. Previously, the importance of HA synthesis for bone development during embryogenesis has been shown.

Dysregulated S100A9 Expression Impairs Matrix Deposition in Chronic Wounds.

Chronic non-healing wounds are characterized by persistent inflammation, excessive matrix-degrading proteolytic activity and compromised extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. Previous studies showed that S100A8/A9 are strongly dysregulated in delayed wound healing and impair the proper function of immune cells. Here, we demonstrate an unrecognized pathological function of overexpression in wounds with impaired healing that directly affects ECM functions in fibroblasts.

Small field chaos in spin glasses: Universal predictions from the ultrametric tree and comparison with numerical simulations.

Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) for spin glasses predicts that the equilibrium configuration at two different magnetic fields are maximally decorrelated. We show that this theory presents quantitative predictions for this chaotic behavior under the application of a external magnetic field, in the crossover region where the field intensity scales proportionally to [Formula: see text], being the system size. We show that RSB theory provides universal predictions for chaotic behavior: They depend only on the zero-field overlap probability function [Formula: see text] and are independent of other system features.

Step-By-Step Procedure to Identify Previously Unknown Compounds by LC-QTOF-MS Exemplified by an Intoxication With the Methaqualone Analog SL-164.

In September 2019, a 22-year-old man with a history of drug abuse presented to the hospital with altered mental status. Due to a suspected drug overdose, a blood sample taken on admission and a urine sample collected 30 h thereafter were submitted to our laboratory to test for illegal drugs, pharmaceutical substances, and designer drugs. During the routine toxicological analysis of the serum sample, morphine and phenobarbital were identified by liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS).

Semantic Mapping of Named-Entities in openEHR Templates and Ad-hoc Generation of Compositions.

Integration of free texts from reports written by physicians to an interoperable standard is important for improving patient-centric care and research in the medical domain. In the context of unstructured clinical data, NLP Information Extraction serves in finding information in unstructured text. To our best knowledge, there is no efficient solution, in which extracted Named-Entities of an NLP pipeline can be ad-hoc inserted in openEHR compositions.

Maximizing efficiency in sedimentary ancient DNA analysis: a novel extract pooling approach.

In the last few decades, the field of ancient DNA has taken a new direction towards using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) for studying human and mammalian population dynamics as well as past ecosystems. However, the screening of numerous sediment samples from archaeological sites remains a time-consuming and costly endeavor, particularly when targeting hominin DNA. Here, we present a novel high-throughput method that facilitates the fast and efficient analysis of sediment samples by applying a pooled testing approach.

World views on shortage in nursing resource: Challenges and opportunities.

Background: Shortage in nursing resource results from the combination of a lack of nurses, an increased patient volume and workload, and other factors. This seems to be a worldwide phenomenon, leading to multiple health care related challenges and a decreased quality of care, but is different in extent in high- vs. low-income countries.

Dermal White Adipose Tissue-Derived Il-33 Regulates Il-4/13 Expression in Myeloid Cells during Inflammation.

Effective tissue response to infection and injury essentially relies on the fine-tuned induction and subsequent resolution of inflammation. Recent research highlighted multiple functions of dermal white adipose tissue (dWAT) beyond its traditional role as an energy reservoir. However, in contrast to other fat depots, there are only limited data about putative immune-regulatory functions of dWAT.

Contribution of mechanoreceptors to spinal cord injury-induced mechanical allodynia.

Evidence from previous studies supports the concept that spinal cord injury (SCI)-induced neuropathic pain (NP) has its neural roots in the peripheral nervous system. There is uncertainty about how and to which degree mechanoreceptors contribute. Sensorimotor activation-based interventions (eg, treadmill training) have been shown to reduce NP after experimental SCI, suggesting transmission of pain-alleviating signals through mechanoreceptors.

Advancing SSP-aligned scenarios of shipping toward 2050.

Developing comprehensive scenarios for the shipping sector has been a challenge for the Integrated Assessment Model (IAMs) community, influencing how attainable decarbonization is in the sector, and for Earth System Models (ESMs), impacting the climate contribution of shipping emissions. Here we present an approach to develop spatially explicit energy demand projections for shipping in alignment with the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways framework and IAMs projections of global fossil fuel demand. Our results show that shipping could require between 14 and 20 EJ by 2050, corresponding to a 3% and 44% increase from 2018 for the SSP1-1.

The role of endoscopy in bovine internal medicine - A review of current indication fields.

Endoscopy in bovine internal medicine has come a long way from the first profound research papers in the 1980s to its present-day use. This paper reviews the progress in the 2000s and identifies the main application fields for diagnostic and therapeutic use. Inclusion criteria for scientific papers and reports encompassed focus on endoscopic examination techniques in cattle in the field of internal medicine and publication in a peer reviewed journal (case report/review/original research paper/short communication).

Measuring Early Relational Health Using PediaTrac TM in a Diverse Sample of Infant-Caregiver Dyads.

Objective: Early relational health (ERH) is a key developmental predictor and outcome in infancy and early childhood that reflects social-emotional well-being and promotes resilience throughout childhood. Currently, there is no gold-standard developmental screening tool for ERH in pediatric care settings. This study examined the psychometric properties of items assessing ERH that are part of a web-based, caregiver-report screening tool called PediaTrac TM .

Magnetic resonance neurography in spinal cord injury: Imaging findings and clinical significance.

Background And Purpose: It is unknown whether changes to the peripheral nervous system following spinal cord injury (SCI) are relevant for functional recovery or the development of neuropathic pain below the level of injury. Magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) at 3 T allows detection and localization of structural and functional nerve damage. This study aimed to combine MRN and clinical assessments in individuals with chronic SCI and nondisabled controls.

The future demand of renewable fuels in Germany: Understanding the impact of electrification levels and socio-economic developments.

The Climate Change Act recently enacted in Germany highlights the urgency of understanding the future demand for renewable fuels. In this study, we combine technological progress and socio-economic pathways in an energy system analysis to assess future renewable fuel demands in Germany. We apply the whole-system optimisation model, TIMES, to investigate transition pathways with varying electrification levels and socio-economic developments.

Darcy's law of yield stress fluids on a treelike network.

Understanding the flow of yield stress fluids in porous media is a major challenge. In particular, experiments and extensive numerical simulations report a nonlinear Darcy law as a function of the pressure gradient. In this letter we consider a treelike porous structure for which the problem of the flow can be resolved exactly due to a mapping with the directed polymer (DP) with disordered bond energies on the Cayley tree.

Noxious radiant heat evokes bi-component nociceptive withdrawal reflexes in spinal cord injured humans-A clinical tool to study neuroplastic changes of spinal neural circuits.

Investigating nocifensive withdrawal reflexes as potential surrogate marker for the spinal excitation level may widen the understanding of maladaptive nociceptive processing after spinal cord injury (SCI). The aim of this prospective, explorative cross-sectional observational study was to investigate the response behavior of individuals with SCI to noxious radiant heat (laser) stimuli and to assess its relation to spasticity and neuropathic pain, two clinical consequences of spinal hyperexcitability/spinal disinhibition. Laser stimuli were applied at the sole and dorsum of the foot and below the fibula head.

Programming techniques for improving rule readability for rule-based information extraction natural language processing pipelines of unstructured and semi-structured medical texts.

Background: Extraction of medical terms and their corresponding values from semi-structured and unstructured texts of medical reports can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. Methods of natural language processing (NLP) can help define an extraction pipeline for accomplishing a structured format transformation strategy.

Objectives: In this paper, we build an NLP pipeline to extract values of the classification of malignant tumors (TNM) from unstructured and semi-structured pathology reports and import them further to a structured data source for a clinical study.

Multicentric investigation on the safety, feasibility and usability of the ABLE lower-limb robotic exoskeleton for individuals with spinal cord injury: a framework towards the standardisation of clinical evaluations.

Background: Robotic lower-limb exoskeletons have the potential to provide additional clinical benefits for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, high variability between protocols does not allow the comparison of study results on safety and feasibility between different exoskeletons. We therefore incorporated key aspects from previous studies into our study protocol and accordingly conducted a multicentre study investigating the safety, feasibility and usability of the ABLE Exoskeleton in clinical settings.

Job demands at the patient's bedside and their effects on stress and satisfaction of nurses.

Aim: The study aimed to assess job demands at the patient's bedside and to evaluate the contribution of this central workplace to the stress and satisfaction of nurses.

Design: In this cross-sectional survey study, a questionnaire was compiled and all registered nurses from intensive, general and intermediate care wards at a large German hospital were invited to participate.

Methods: The questionnaire used a list of care activities to assess nurses' workload at the patient's bed.

Requirements for a maritime transition in line with the Paris Agreement.

The shipping industry is a hard-to-abate sector in today's society. Although past studies have looked at levels of carbon pricing, fuel savings, and the upscaling of green fuel availability separately, we combine these critical parameters for a green transition of the shipping industry to show what it takes to reach sectoral emissions reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement. We utilize a least-cost optimization model drawing on data on, e.