Apolipoprotein-L1 G1 variant contributes to hydrocephalus but not to atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein-E knock-out mice.

Introduction: In USA, six million individuals with Sub-Saharan ancestry carry two high-risk variants, which increase the risk for kidney diseases. Whether APOL1 high-risk variants are independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases is unclear and requires further investigation.

Methods: We characterized a mouse model to investigate the role of APOL1 in dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases.

Kinetic Oscillation Stimulation for the Preventive Treatment of Chronic Migraine: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial.

Background And Objectives: The Chordate System administers kinetic oscillation stimulation (K.O.S) into the nasal cavity thereby potentially modulating the activity of trigemino-autonomic reflex.

Satiety-enhancing placebo intervention decreases selective attention to food cues.

Background: As placebo interventions could influence appetite and satiety in first studies, they are a promising tool for the future treatment of obesity. Furthermore, individuals with heightened body weight show increased selective attention for food cues. This study aimed to investigate whether placebo induced changes of appetite and satiety can affect attention allocation and to examine correlating factors.

The circadian clock gene BMAL1 modulates autoimmunity features in lupus.

Objectives: An important pathogenic role for neutrophils in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been proposed. Neutrophils that lack brain and muscle aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like 1 (), one of the clock genes, are defective in aging and proinflammatory responses. We assessed the role of in clinical and immunologic manifestations of murine lupus and in human SLE neutrophils.

Distributed non-disclosive validation of predictive models by a modified ROC-GLM.

Background: Distributed statistical analyses provide a promising approach for privacy protection when analyzing data distributed over several databases. Instead of directly operating on data, the analyst receives anonymous summary statistics, which are combined into an aggregated result. Further, in discrimination model (prognosis, diagnosis, etc.

Methods to incorporate patient preferences into medical decision algorithms and models, and their quantification, balancing, and evaluation: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to identify and map methods used to incorporate patient preferences into medical algorithms and models as well as to report on their quantification, balancing, and evaluation in the literature. The review will focus on computational methods for incorporating patient preferences into algorithms and models at an individual level as well as the types of medical algorithms and models in which these methods have been applied.

Introduction: Medical algorithms and models are increasingly being used to support clinical and shared decision-making; however, their effectiveness, accuracy, acceptance, and comprehension may be limited if patients' preferences are not considered.

A novel prediction score determining individual clinical outcome 3 months after juvenile stroke (PREDICT-score).

Background: Juvenile strokes (< 55 years) account for about 15% of all ischemic strokes. Structured data on clinical outcome in those patients are sparse. Here, we aimed to fill this gap by systematically collecting relevant data and modeling a juvenile stroke prediction score for the 3-month functional outcome.

Farmer decision making for hybrid maize seed purchases: Effects of brand loyalty, price discounts and product information.

Context: Each year public and private sector maize breeding programs in Kenya deliver high-yielding hybrids that are resistant to drought, pests, and diseases. Yet, most Kenyan maize farmers purchase older, well-known hybrids. While the 'varietal turnover' problem is well known, few solutions have emerged.

EXPRESS: Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development.

The almost-two-centuries history of spectrochemical analysis has generated a body of literature so vast that it has become nearly intractable for experts, much less for those wishing to enter the field. Authoritative, focused reviews help to address this problem but become so granular that the overall directions of the field are lost. This broader perspective can be provided partially by general overviews but then the thinking, experimental details, theoretical underpinnings and instrumental innovations of the original work must be sacrificed.

Navigating One Health in research-for-development: Reflections on the design and implementation of the CGIAR Initiative on One Health.

Adopting One Health approaches is key for addressing interconnected health challenges. Yet, how to best put One Health into practice in research-for-development initiatives aiming to 'deliver impacts' remains unclear. Drawing on the CGIAR Initiative on One Health - a global initiative to address zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and food and water safety - we reflect on challenges during program conception and implementation, prompting us to suggest improvements in multisectoral collaboration, coordination, and communication.

Prospective study validating a multidimensional treatment decision score predicting the 24-month outcome in untreated patients with clinically isolated syndrome and early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the ProVal-MS study.

Introduction: In Multiple Sclerosis (MS), patients´ characteristics and (bio)markers that reliably predict the individual disease prognosis at disease onset are lacking. Cohort studies allow a close follow-up of MS histories and a thorough phenotyping of patients. Therefore, a multicenter cohort study was initiated to implement a wide spectrum of data and (bio)markers in newly diagnosed patients.

[Results of PCR Pool Testing In Primary and Special Needs Schools In Bavaria For The School Year 2021/2022: Sentinel Surveillance In Face-To-Face Teaching During The Sars-CoV-2 Pandemic].

In the school years 2019/20 and 2020/21, children were physically, psychologically, and socially stressed by school closures caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. To ensure attendance with optimal infection protection, PCR pool testing was conducted during the 2021/22 school year at Bavarian elementary schools and schools for pupils with special needs for timely detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study analyzes the results of PCR pool testing over time stratified by region, school type, and age of children.

Fucoidan/chitosan hydrogels as carrier for sustained delivery of platelet-rich fibrin containing bioactive molecules.

Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF), derived from human blood, rich in wound healing components, has drawbacks in direct injections, such as rapid matrix degradation and growth factor release. Marine polysaccharides, mimicking the human extracellular matrix, show promising potential in tissue engineering. In this study, we impregnated the self-assembled fucoidan/chitosan (FU_CS) hydrogels with PRF obtaining PRF/FU_CS hydrogels.

Lipodystrophy in methylmalonic acidemia associated with elevated FGF21 and abnormal methylmalonylation.

A distinct adipose tissue distribution pattern was observed in patients with methylmalonyl-CoA mutase deficiency, an inborn error of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolism, characterized by centripetal obesity with proximal upper and lower extremity fat deposition and paucity of visceral fat, that resembles familial multiple lipomatosis syndrome. To explore brown and white fat physiology in methylmalonic acidemia (MMA), body composition, adipokines, and inflammatory markers were assessed in 46 patients with MMA and 99 matched controls. Fibroblast growth factor 21 levels were associated with acyl-CoA accretion, aberrant methylmalonylation in adipose tissue, and an attenuated inflammatory cytokine profile.

Anti-PD-L1 therapy altered inflammation but not survival in a lethal murine hepatitis virus-1 pneumonia model.

Introduction: Because prior immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in cancer patients presenting with COVID-19 may affect outcomes, we investigated the beta-coronavirus, murine hepatitis virus (MHV)-1, in a lethal pneumonia model in the absence (Study 1) or presence of prior programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody (PD-L1mAb) treatment (Study 2).

Methods: In Study 1, animals were inoculated intratracheally with MHV-1 or vehicle and evaluated at day 2, 5, and 10 after infection. In Study 2, uninfected or MHV-1-infected animals were pretreated intraperitoneally with control or PD-L1-blocking antibodies (PD-L1mAb) and evaluated at day 2 and 5 after infection.

Inherent Antibacterial Properties of Biodegradable FeMnC(Cu) Alloys for Implant Application.

Implant-related infections or inflammation are one of the main reasons for implant failure. Therefore, different concepts for prevention are needed, which strongly promote the development and validation of improved material designs. Besides modifying the implant surface by, for example, antibacterial coatings (also implying drugs) for deterring or eliminating harmful bacteria, it is a highly promising strategy to prevent such implant infections by antibacterial substrate materials.

Health-related quality of life and associated developmental domains of children provided early with cochlear implants.

Objectives: Quality of life plays an important place in the psychosocial development of children with Cochlear Implants (CI). We assesd health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with CI and in hearing children and determined relationships between HRQoL and other developmental characteristics (social-emotional development, Theory of Mind (ToM), spoken language skills).

Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted including children with CI and hearing children.

Systemic gene therapy using an AAV44.9 vector rescues a neonatal lethal mouse model of propionic acidemia.

Propionic acidemia (PA) is rare autosomal recessive metabolic disorder caused by defects in the mitochondrially localized enzyme propionyl-coenzyme A (CoA) carboxylase. Patients with PA can suffer from lethal metabolic decompensation and cardiomyopathy despite current medical management, which has led to the pursuit of gene therapy as a new treatment option for patients. Here we assess the therapeutic efficacy of a recently described adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid, AAV44.

Embryonic statistical analyses reveal 2 growth phenotypes in mouse models of Down syndrome.

Background: Down syndrome is associated with several comorbidities, including intellectual disability, growth restriction, and congenital heart defects. The prevalence of Down syndrome-associated comorbidities is highly variable, and intellectual disability, although fully penetrant, ranges from mild to severe. Understanding the basis of this interindividual variability might identify predictive biomarkers of in utero and postnatal outcomes that could be used as endpoints to test the efficacy of future therapeutic interventions.

Associations of WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Service Ladder service levels and sociodemographic factors with diarrhoeal disease among children under 5 years in Bishoftu town, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To determine the associations of WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Service Ladder service levels and sociodemographic factors with diarrhoeal disease among children under 5 years in Bishoftu town, Ethiopia.

Design: A community-based cross-sectional study.

Setting: Bishoftu town, Ethiopia, January-February 2022.

Placebo effects on nausea and motion sickness are resistant to experimentally-induced stress.

Nausea often occurs in stressful situations, such as chemotherapy or surgery. Clinically relevant placebo effects in nausea have been demonstrated, but it remains unclear whether stress has an impact on these effects. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the interplay between acute stress and placebo effects in nausea.

Decarbonizing real estate portfolios considering optimal retrofit investment and policy conditions to 2050.

Retrofitting existing buildings is crucial for achieving Net Zero emissions. Institutional real estate owners play a key role because of their significant ownership, especially of large buildings. We utilize an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate cost-optimal decarbonization conditions for three Swiss real estate portfolios owned by a global institutional investor.