Validity of a Consumer-Based Wearable to Measure Clinical Parameters in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Healthy Controls: Observational Study.

Background: Consumer-based wearables are becoming more popular and provide opportunities to track individual's clinical parameters remotely. However, literature about their criterion and known-groups validity is scarce.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the validity of the Fitbit Charge 4, a wrist-worn consumer-based wearable, to measure clinical parameters (ie, daily step count, resting heart rate [RHR], heart rate variability [HRV], respiratory rate [RR], and oxygen saturation) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy controls in free-living conditions in Belgium by comparing it with medical-grade devices.

From Pluripotent Stem Cells to Organoids and Bioprinting: Recent Advances in Dental Epithelium and Ameloblast Models to Study Tooth Biology and Regeneration.

Ameloblasts are the specialized dental epithelial cell type responsible for enamel formation. Following completion of enamel development in humans, ameloblasts are lost and biological repair or regeneration of enamel is not possible. In the past, in vitro models to study dental epithelium and ameloblast biology were limited to freshly isolated primary cells or immortalized cell lines, both with limited translational potential.

Development and feasibility of an exercise training program in primary care for patients with COPD experiencing an acute exacerbation.

Background: Starting rehabilitation soon after an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is crucial to diminish the detrimental effects of this acute event on muscle function. However, uptake in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation is low.

Objectives: To design and test a feasible, acceptable and accessible exercise training program (ETP) in primary care for patients experiencing an AECOPD.

Assessment of cervical softening and the prediction of preterm birth (STIPP): protocol for a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Preterm birth (PTB) is among the leading causes of perinatal and childhood morbidity and mortality. Therefore, accurate identification of pregnant women at high risk of PTB is key to enable obstetric healthcare professionals to apply interventions that improve perinatal and childhood outcomes. Serial transvaginal cervical length measurement is used to screen asymptomatic pregnant women with a history of PTB and identify those at high risk for a recurrent PTB.

Observing the computational concept of abstraction in blind and low vision learners using the Bee-bot and Blue-bot.

Background And Context: In order to fully include learners with visual impairments in early programming education, it is necessary to gain insight into specificities regarding their experience of and approach to abstract computational concepts.

Objective: In this study, we use the model of the layers of abstraction to explore how learners with visual impairments approach the computational concept of abstraction, working with the Bee-bot and Blue-bot.

Method: Six blind and three low vision learners from the elementary school level were observed while completing programming assignments.

The association of weather conditions with day-to-day variability in physical activity in patients with COPD.

Background: While patients with COPD often cite weather conditions as a reason for inactivity, little is known about the relationship between physical activity (PA) and weather conditions. The present study investigated the association of day-to-day weather changes on PA in patients with COPD and investigated patient characteristics related to being more or less influenced by weather conditions.

Methods: In this longitudinal analysis, device-based day-by-day step counts were objectively measured in COPD patients for up to 12 months.

Factors associated to physical activity in patients with COPD: An ecological approach.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is low in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Identifying modifiable and non-modifiable correlates of PA give understanding of the individual behavior and provide future directions for PA enhancing interventions. As PA is complex and multidimensional, it should be embedded within a thorough framework.

Organoids from mouse molar and incisor as new tools to study tooth-specific biology and development.

Organoid models provide powerful tools to study tissue biology and development in a dish. Presently, organoids have not yet been developed from mouse tooth. Here, we established tooth organoids (TOs) from early-postnatal mouse molar and incisor, which are long-term expandable, express dental epithelium stem cell (DESC) markers, and recapitulate key properties of the dental epithelium in a tooth-type-specific manner.

Progestogen maintenance therapy for prolongation of pregnancy after an episode of preterm labour: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Evidence for progestogen maintenance therapy after an episode of preterm labour (PTL) is contradictory.

Objectives: To assess effectiveness of progestogen maintenance therapy after an episode of PTL.

Search Strategy: An electronic search in Central Cochrane, Ovid Embase, Ovid Medline and clinical trial databases was performed.

Establishment of inclusive single-cell transcriptome atlases from mouse and human tooth as powerful resource for dental research.

Single-cell (sc) omics has become a powerful tool to unravel a tissue's cell landscape across health and disease. In recent years, sc transcriptomic interrogation has been applied to a variety of tooth tissues of both human and mouse, which has considerably advanced our fundamental understanding of tooth biology. Now, an overarching and integrated bird's-view of the human and mouse tooth sc transcriptomic landscape would be a powerful multi-faceted tool for dental research, enabling further decipherment of tooth biology and development through constantly progressing state-of-the-art bioinformatic methods as well as the exploration of novel hypothesis-driven research.

Decoding the activated stem cell phenotype of the neonatally maturing pituitary.

The pituitary represents the endocrine master regulator. In mouse, the gland undergoes active maturation immediately after birth. Here, we in detail portrayed the stem cell compartment of neonatal pituitary.

The genetic control of polyacetylenes involved in bitterness of carrots (Daucus carota L.): Identification of QTLs and candidate genes from the plant fatty acid metabolism.

Background: Falcarinol-type polyacetylenes (PAs) such as falcarinol (FaOH) and falcarindiol (FaDOH) are produced by several Apiaceae vegetables such as carrot, parsnip, celeriac and parsley. They are known for numerous biological functions and contribute to the undesirable bitter off-taste of carrots and their products. Despite their interesting biological functions, the genetic basis of their structural diversity and function is widely unknown.

Organoids from human tooth showing epithelial stemness phenotype and differentiation potential.

Insight into human tooth epithelial stem cells and their biology is sparse. Tissue-derived organoid models typically replicate the tissue's epithelial stem cell compartment. Here, we developed a first-in-time epithelial organoid model starting from human tooth.

Who participates in computer science education studies? A literature review on K-12 subjects.

Computer science education (CSEd) research within K-12 makes extensive use of empirical studies in which children participate. Insight in the demographics of these children is important for the purpose of understanding the representativeness of the populations included. This literature review studies the demographics of subjects included in K-12 CSEd studies.

Intertwined Signaling Pathways Governing Tooth Development: A Give-and-Take Between Canonical Wnt and Shh.

Teeth play essential roles in life. Their development relies on reciprocal interactions between the ectoderm-derived dental epithelium and the underlying neural crest-originated mesenchyme. This odontogenic process serves as a prototype model for the development of ectodermal appendages.

Interleukin-6 is an activator of pituitary stem cells upon local damage, a competence quenched in the aging gland.

Stem cells in the adult pituitary are quiescent yet show acute activation upon tissue injury. The molecular mechanisms underlying this reaction are completely unknown. We applied single-cell transcriptomics to start unraveling the acute pituitary stem cell activation process as occurring upon targeted endocrine cell-ablation damage.

The amino acid permease (AAP) genes CsAAP2A and SlAAP5A/B are required for oomycete susceptibility in cucumber and tomato.

Cucurbit downy mildew (DM), caused by the obligate biotroph Pseudoperonospora cubensis, is a destructive disease in cucumber. A valuable source of DM resistance is the Indian cucumber accession PI 197088, which harbours several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) contributing to quantitatively inherited DM resistance. With a combination of fine-mapping and transcriptomics, we identified Amino Acid Permease 2A (CsAAP2A) as a candidate gene for QTL DM4.

Severe metabolic ketoacidosis as a primary manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in non-diabetic pregnancy.

We present a case of a metabolic acidosis in a term-pregnant woman with SARS-CoV-2 infection.Our patient presented with dyspnoea, tachypnoea, thoracic pain and a 2-day history of vomiting, initially attributed to COVID-19 pneumonia. Differential diagnosis was expanded when arterial blood gas showed a high anion gap metabolic non-lactate acidosis without hypoxaemia.

Change in cervical length after arrested preterm labor and risk of preterm birth.

Objective: To assess the association between preterm birth and cervical length after arrested preterm labor in high-risk pregnant women.

Methods: In this post-hoc analysis of a randomized clinical trial, transvaginal cervical length was measured in women whose contractions had ceased 48 h after admission for threatened preterm labor. At admission, women were defined as having a high risk of preterm birth based on a cervical length of < 15 mm or a cervical length of 15-30 mm with a positive fetal fibronectin test.

Analysis of QTL DM4.1 for Downy Mildew Resistance in Cucumber Reveals Multiple subQTL: A Novel as Candidate Gene for the Most Important subQTL.

One of the biggest problems in cucumber cultivation is cucurbit downy mildew (DM), caused by the obligate biotroph . Whereas DM in cucumber was previously efficiently controlled by the gene from Indian cucumber accession PI 197087, this resistance was broken by new DM strains, prompting the search for novel sources of resistance. A promising source of resistance is the wild cucumber accession PI 197088.

Developing Organoids from Ovarian Cancer as Experimental and Preclinical Models.

Ovarian cancer (OC) represents the most dismal gynecological cancer. Pathobiology is poorly understood, mainly due to lack of appropriate study models. Organoids, defined as self-developing three-dimensional in vitro reconstructions of tissues, provide powerful tools to model human diseases.

Effects of Corticosteroid Treatment and Antigen Avoidance in a Large Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Cohort: A Single-Centre Cohort Study.

Background: Although the third most frequent interstitial lung disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) remains an enigmatic disease without clear diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines. We assessed the effect of the commonly used therapeutic interventions (i.e.