Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Saharan Africa and western Europe: a retrospective, population-based, cross-sectional study.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with a higher proportion of asymptomatic infections and lower mortality in sub-Saharan Africa than high-income countries. However, there is currently a lack of data on cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in people living in Africa compared with people in high-income regions of the world. We aimed to assess geographical variation in peripheral and mucosal immune responses.

Temperature adaptation of yeast phospholipid molecular species at the acyl chain positional level.

Yeast is a poikilothermic organism and adapts its lipid composition to the environmental temperature to maintain membrane physical properties. Studies addressing temperature-dependent adaptation of the lipidome have described changes in the phospholipid composition at the level of sum composition (e.g.

Greater exposure to PM and PM was associated with lower corneal nerve measures: the Maastricht study - a cross-sectional study.

Background: Epidemiological and toxicological studies indicate that increased exposure to air pollutants can lead to neurodegenerative diseases. To further confirm this relationship, we evaluated the association between exposure to ambient air pollutants and corneal nerve measures as a surrogate for neurodegeneration, using corneal confocal microscopy.

Methods: We used population-based observational cross-sectional data from The Maastricht Study including N = 3635 participants (mean age 59.

Different Measures of Hyperglycemia Are Negatively Associated With Skin Microvascular Flowmotion: The Maastricht Study.

Objective: Diabetes can lead to microvascular complications such as diabetic neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy. Hyperglycemia may initiate microvascular function impairment early in the course of diabetes, even prior to its clinical establishment during the pre-diabetes stage. Microvascular vasomotion, that is, the rhythmic arteriolar constriction and dilation, is an important function that regulates oxygen and nutrient delivery within the tissue and regulates peripheral resistance.

Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity Decreases With Higher Blood Pressure: A 7T DCE-MRI Study.

Background: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity is presumed to be impaired in hypertension, resulting from cerebral endothelial dysfunction. Hypertension precedes various cerebrovascular diseases, such as cerebral small vessel disease, and is a risk factor for developing neurodegenerative diseases for which BBB disruption is a preceding pathophysiological process. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relation between hypertension, current blood pressure, and BBB leakage in human subjects.

High-resolution topographic surveying and change detection with the iPhone LiDAR.

This paper introduces a comprehensive protocol leveraging open-access techniques to create small- to medium-scale 3D representations of the environment by using iPhone and iPad light detection and ranging (LiDAR). The protocol focuses on two capabilities of the iPhone LiDAR. The first capability is 3D modeling: iPhone LiDAR rapidly generates detailed indoor and outdoor 3D models, providing insights into object size, volume and geometry.

Associations of between- and within-day patterns of physical activity accumulation with arterial stiffness and indices of microvascular health-Evidence from The Maastricht study.

While physical activity (PA) is understood to promote vascular health, little is known about whether the daily and weekly patterns of PA accumulation associate with vascular health. Accelerometer-derived (activPAL3) 6- or 7-day stepping was analyzed for 6430 participants in The Maastricht Study (50.4% women; 22.

Good Intentions Aside: Stereotype Threat in the Face of Media Strategies to Counter Age Bias.

The current study shifts the focus of research on media's role in facilitating and inhibiting self-stereotyping among the members of stigmatized groups. More specifically, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model explaining (un)intentional effects of a real-world anti-ageism social media campaign among stereotyped targets: Older workers. Drawing on an experiment among older Dutch adults ( = 649), we test the effects of two message strategies for reducing prejudice: the media-literacy and the counter stereotypical information strategy.

Cerebral Microvascular Perfusion Assessed in Elderly Adults by Spin-Echo Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI at 7 Tesla.

Perfusion measures of the total vasculature are commonly derived with gradient-echo (GE) dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MR images, which are acquired during the early passes of a contrast agent. Alternatively, spin-echo (SE) DSC can be used to achieve specific sensitivity to the capillary signal. For an improved contrast-to-noise ratio, ultra-high-field MRI makes this technique more appealing to study cerebral microvascular physiology.

Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of intradermal mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: a non-inferiority, randomized-controlled trial.

Fractional dosing can be a cost-effective vaccination strategy to accelerate individual and herd immunity in a pandemic. We assessed the immunogenicity and safety of primary intradermal (ID) vaccination, with a 1/5th dose compared with the standard intramuscular (IM) dose of mRNA-1273 in SARS-CoV-2 naïve persons. We conducted an open-label, non-inferiority, randomized controlled trial in the Netherlands between June and December 2021.

Chest computed tomography in severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia: Comparing quantitative scoring methods.

Purpose: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common complication of extreme preterm birth and structural lung abnormalities are frequently found in children with BPD. To quantify lung damage in BPD, three new Hounsfield units (HU) based chest-CT scoring methods were evaluated in terms of 1) intra- and inter-observer variability, 2) correlation with the validated Perth-Rotterdam-Annotated-Grid-Morphometric-Analysis (PRAGMA)-BPD score, and 3) correlation with clinical data.

Methods: Chest CT scans of children with severe BPD were performed at a median of 7 months corrected age.

Doxapram versus placebo in preterm newborns: a study protocol for an international double blinded multicentre randomized controlled trial (DOXA-trial).

Background: Apnoea of prematurity (AOP) is one of the most common diagnoses among preterm infants. AOP often leads to hypoxemia and bradycardia which are associated with an increased risk of death or disability. In addition to caffeine therapy and non-invasive respiratory support, doxapram might be used to reduce hypoxemic episodes and the need for invasive mechanical ventilation in preterm infants, thereby possibly improving their long-term outcome.

Antihypertensive drug concentration measurement combined with personalized feedback in resistant hypertension: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Adherence to antihypertensive drugs (AHDs) is crucial for controlling blood pressure (BP). We aimed to determine the effectiveness of measuring AHD concentrations using a dried blood spot (DBS) sampling method to identify nonadherence, combined with personalized feedback, in reducing resistant hypertension.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial (RHYME-RCT, ICTRP NTR6914) in patients with established resistant hypertension.

Thinner inner retinal layers are associated with lower cognitive performance, lower brain volume, and altered white matter network structure-The Maastricht Study.

Introduction: The retina may provide non-invasive, scalable biomarkers for monitoring cerebral neurodegeneration.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from The Maastricht study (n = 3436; mean age 59.3 years; 48% men; and 21% with type 2 diabetes [the latter oversampled by design]).

(Pre)diabetes and a higher level of glycaemic measures are continuously associated with corneal neurodegeneration assessed by corneal confocal microscopy: the Maastricht Study.

Aims/hypothesis: To assess the associations between glucose metabolism status and a range of continuous measures of glycaemia with corneal nerve fibre measures, as assessed using corneal confocal microscopy.

Methods: We used population-based observational cross-sectional data from the Maastricht Study of N=3471 participants (mean age 59.4 years, 48.

The association of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes with hippocampal subfields volume: The Maastricht study.

Aims/hypothesis: We investigated whether prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and continuous measures of hyperglycemia are associated with tissue volume differences in specific subfields of the hippocampus.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from 4,724 participants (58.7 ± 8.

Prediction model for hypertension in first decade after pre-eclampsia in initially normotensive women.

Objective: To develop a prediction model for the development of hypertension in the decade following pre-eclampsia in women who were normotensive shortly after pregnancy.

Methods: This was a longitudinal cohort study of formerly pre-eclamptic women attending a university hospital in The Netherlands between 1996 and 2019. We developed a prediction model for incident hypertension using multivariable logistic regression analysis.

Accelerometer-derived physical activity and sedentary time and cardiac biomarkers: The Maastricht Study.

Background: Cardiac troponins and NT-proBNP are biomarkers of cardiac injury that are used clinically in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction and heart failure. It is not known whether the amount, types and patterns of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour are associated with levels of cardiac biomarkers.

Methods: In the population-based Maastricht Study ( = 2,370, 51.

Retinal Functional and Structural Neural Indices: Potential Biomarkers for the Monitoring of Cerebral Neurodegeneration: The Maastricht Study.

Background: If retinal indices of neurodegeneration are to be biomarkers for the monitoring of cerebral neurodegeneration, it is important to establish whether potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia are associated with retinal neurodegenerative changes.

Objective: To study associations of dementia risk factors with retinal sensitivity, an index of retinal neural function, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, an index of retinal neural structure.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from The Maastricht Study (up to 5,666 participants, 50.

Alcohol consumption and microvascular dysfunction: a J-shaped association: The Maastricht Study.

Background: Microvascular dysfunction (MVD) is an important contributor to major clinical disease such as stroke, dementia, depression, retinopathy, and chronic kidney disease. Alcohol consumption may be a determinant of MVD.

Objective: Main objectives were (1) to study whether alcohol consumption was associated with MVD as assessed in the brain, retina, skin, kidney and in the blood; and (2) to investigate whether associations differed by history of cardiovascular disease or sex.