Diet Quality and Risk of Parkinson's Disease: A Prospective Study and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Several dietary components have been shown to be neuroprotective against risk of neurodegeneration. However, limited observational studies have examined the role of overall diet quality on risk of Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: We examined the associations between diet quality and risk of Parkinson's disease in a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis.

Echocardiographic abnormalities and predictors of mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: the ECHOVID-19 study.

Aims: The present study had two aims: (i) compare echocardiographic parameters in COVID-19 patients with matched controls and (2) assess the prognostic value of measures of left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function in relation to COVID-19 related death.

Methods And Results: In this prospective multicentre cohort study, 214 consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients underwent an echocardiographic examination (by pre-determined research protocol). All participants were successfully matched 1:1 with controls from the general population on age, sex, and hypertension.

Threading-Unthreading Transition of Linear-Ring Polymer Blends in Extensional Flow.

Adding small amounts of ring polymers to a matrix of their linear counterparts is known to increase the zero-shear-rate viscosity because of linear-ring threading. Uniaxial extensional rheology measurements show that, unlike its pure linear and ring constituents, the blend exhibits an overshoot in the stress growth coefficient. By combining these measurements with ex-situ small-angle neutron scattering and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, this overshoot is shown to be driven by a transient threading-unthreading transition of rings embedded within the linear entanglement network.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mortality in Late Midlife: Have They Narrowed in Recent Years?

Objectives: To examine whether racial/ethnic differences in mortality rates have changed in recent years among adults in late midlife, and if so, how.

Methods: We analyze Health and Retirement Study data on non-Hispanic Whites (Whites), non-Hispanic Blacks (Blacks), and English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanics (Hispanic-English and Hispanic-Spanish), aged 50-64 from 2 periods: 1998-2004 (Period 1, n = 8,920) and 2004-2010 (Period 2, n = 7,224). Using survey-generalized linear regression techniques, we model death-by-end-of-period as a function of race/ethnicity and sequentially adjust for a series of period-specific baseline risk factors including demographics, health status, health insurance, health behaviors, and social networks.

[Injuries of the sternoclavicular joint].

Injuries of the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) are rare accounting for 3% of all injuries to the shoulder girdle and are often overlooked. The SCJ is surrounded by tight ligamentous structures, thus substantial energy with corresponding force vectors is needed to cause dislocation. Causative are mostly high-energy traumas.

CryoEM structure of the type IVa pilus secretin required for natural competence in Vibrio cholerae.

Natural transformation is the process by which bacteria take up genetic material from their environment and integrate it into their genome by homologous recombination. It represents one mode of horizontal gene transfer and contributes to the spread of traits like antibiotic resistance. In Vibrio cholerae, a type IVa pilus (T4aP) is thought to facilitate natural transformation by extending from the cell surface, binding to exogenous DNA, and retracting to thread this DNA through the outer membrane secretin, PilQ.

PilY1 and minor pilins form a complex priming the type IVa pilus in Myxococcus xanthus.

Type IVa pili are ubiquitous and versatile bacterial cell surface filaments that undergo cycles of extension, adhesion and retraction powered by the cell-envelope spanning type IVa pilus machine (T4aPM). The overall architecture of the T4aPM and the location of 10 conserved core proteins within this architecture have been elucidated. Here, using genetics, cell biology, proteomics and cryo-electron tomography, we demonstrate that the PilY1 protein and four minor pilins, which are widely conserved in T4aP systems, are essential for pilus extension in Myxococcus xanthus and form a complex that is an integral part of the T4aPM.

Analyzing One Cell at a TIME: Analysis of Myeloid Cell Contributions in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment.

Tumor-mediated regulation of the host immune system involves an intricate signaling network that results in the tumor's inherent survival benefit. Myeloid cells are central in orchestrating the mechanisms by which tumors escape immune detection and continue their proliferative programming. Myeloid cell activation has historically been classified using a dichotomous system of classical (M1-like) and alternative (M2-like) states, defining general pro- and anti-inflammatory functions, respectively.

Effects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy on antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli.

This study used Electron Cryo-tomography (ECT) and fluorescent images to evaluate antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) on the envelope architecture of a Gram-negative bacteria and the effects of combined therapy of aPDT and antibiotics. Standard and clinical suspension of Escherichia coli were submitted to photodynamic treatment with methylene blue solution (100μM) and a 100 mW LED emitting at 660 nm with 3 and 18 J of energy. As a control group, a suspension of E.

Hyaluronic Acid Biomaterials for Central Nervous System Regenerative Medicine.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a primary component of the brain extracellular matrix and functions through cellular receptors to regulate cell behavior within the central nervous system (CNS). These behaviors, such as migration, proliferation, differentiation, and inflammation contribute to maintenance and homeostasis of the CNS. However, such equilibrium is disrupted following injury or disease leading to significantly altered extracellular matrix milieu and cell functions.

Dietary Pattern, Diet Quality, and Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.

Background: Diet is an important lifestyle factor that may prevent or slow the onset and progression of neurodegeneration. Some, but not all, recent studies have suggested that adherence to a healthy dietary pattern may be associated with reduced risk of dementia.

Objective: In this meta-analysis, we systematically examined the associations between overall dietary patterns, assessed a priori and a posteriori, and risk of dementia.

Innovative Surgical Concept for Septic Sternoclavicular Arthritis: Case Presentation of a Simultaneous Joint Resection and Stabilization with Gracilis Tendon Graft Including Literature Review.

Introduction: Septic arthritis of the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) is a rarity in everyday surgical practice with 0.5 - 1% of all joint infections. Although there are several risk factors for the occurrence of this disease, also healthy people can sometimes be affected.

SnakeStrike: A Low-Cost Open-Source High-Speed Multi-Camera Motion Capture System.

Current neuroethological experiments require sophisticated technologies to precisely quantify the behavior of animals. In many studies, solutions for video recording and subsequent tracking of animal behavior form a major bottleneck. Three-dimensional (3D) tracking systems have been available for a few years but are usually very expensive and rarely include very high-speed cameras; access to these systems for research is limited.

Prognostic value of 12 novel cardiological biomarkers in stable coronary artery disease. A 10-year follow-up of the placebo group of the Copenhagen CLARICOR trial.

Objective: To assess if 12 novel circulating biomarkers, when added to 'standard predictors' available in general practice, could improve the 10-year prediction of cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with stable coronary heart disease.

Design: The patients participated as placebo receiving patients in the randomised clarithromycin for patients with stable coronary artery disease (CLARICOR) trial at a random time in their disease trajectory.

Setting: Five Copenhagen University cardiology departments and a coordinating centre.

Multi-Step Unfolding and Rearrangement of α-Lactalbumin by SDS Revealed by Stopped-Flow SAXS.

Interactions between proteins and surfactants are both of fundamental interest and relevant for applications in food, cosmetics and detergency. The anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) denatures essentially all proteins. Denaturation typically involves a number of distinct steps where growing numbers of SDS molecules bind to the protein, as seen in multidisciplinary approaches combining several complementary techniques.

Opportunities and challenges in commercial pharmaceutical liposome applications.

In the 1980s, the center of entrepreneurial activity for the application of liposome science to medicine took the form of a company called Vestar Inc. (which became NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., and eventually a division of Gilead Sciences, with merger and acquisition activity).

Progression in risk factors during 36 years of follow-up and prediction of carotid intima-media thickness in a large cohort of adults with and without diabetes.

Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) can assess the cumulative effect of atherosclerotic risk factors and provides an independent predictor of future cardiovascular (CV) risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the progression of conventional risk factors in 933 long-term survivors from a Danish cohort with and without diabetes mellitus (DM) as predictors for attained carotid IMT during 35.6 (0.

Changes in Insurance Coverage and Healthcare Use Among Immigrants and US-Born Adults Following the Affordable Care Act.

Objectives: Immigrants to the USA have disparate access to health insurance coverage and healthcare services. We evaluate the effects of gaining insurance following the January 2014 Affordable Care Act's (ACA) key provisions implementation on health services use among foreign- (FB) and US-born (USB) adults.

Methods: Longitudinal data from two panels (2013/2014 and 2014/2015) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey on FB and USB adults, ages 26-64 (unweighted n = 15,232), and difference-in-differences analysis using generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the effects of insurance gain.

Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM): Guidance on validation of the operational criteria for the diagnosis of protein-energy malnutrition in adults.

Background: The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) created a consensus-based framework consisting of phenotypic and etiologic criteria to record the occurrence of malnutrition in adults. This is a minimum set of practicable indicators for use in characterizing a patient/client as malnourished, considering the global variations in screening and nutrition assessment, and to be used across different health care settings. As with other consensus-based frameworks for diagnosing disease states, these operational criteria require validation and reliability testing as they are currently based solely on expert opinion.

Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM): Guidance on Validation of the Operational Criteria for the Diagnosis of Protein-Energy Malnutrition in Adults.

Background: The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) created a consensus-based framework consisting of phenotypic and etiologic criteria to record the occurrence of malnutrition in adults. This is a minimum set of practicable indicators for use in characterizing a patient/client as malnourished, considering the global variations in screening and nutrition assessment, and to be used across different healthcare settings. As with other consensus-based frameworks for diagnosing disease states, these operational criteria require validation and reliability testing, as they are currently based solely on expert opinion.

Learned Representation of Implied Serial Order in Posterior Parietal Cortex.

Monkeys can learn the implied ranking of pairs of images drawn from an ordered set, despite never seeing all of the images simultaneously and without explicit spatial or temporal cues. We recorded the activity of posterior parietal cortex (including lateral intraparietal area LIP) neurons while monkeys learned 7-item transitive inference (TI) lists with 2 items presented on each trial. Behavior and neuronal activity were significantly influenced by the ordinal relationship of the stimulus pairs, specifically symbolic distance (the difference in rank) and joint rank (the sum of the ranks).

Military civilian partnerships: International proposals for bridging the Walker Dip.

The Walker Dip refers to the cycle of the improvement of care for the battle injured soldier over the course of a conflict, followed by the decline in the skills needed to provide this care during peacetime, and the requisite need to relearn those skills during the next conflict. As the operational tempo of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq has declined, concerns have arisen regarding whether US military surgeons are prepared to meet the demands of future conflicts. This problem is not unique to the US military, and allied nations have taken creative steps to address the Walker Dip in their own surgical communities.

The impact of cardiovascular risk factors on global longitudinal strain over a decade in the general population: the copenhagen city heart study.

Global longitudinal strain (GLS) declines throughout adult-life as the LV remodels and adapts. Information on the impact of cardiac risk factors such as male sex, obesity, smoking status, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes on GLS. over time has not yet been investigated.