Neutralizing GDF-15 can overcome anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 resistance in solid tumours.

Cancer immunotherapies with antibodies blocking immune checkpoint molecules are clinically active across multiple cancer entities and have markedly improved cancer treatment. Yet, response rates are still limited, and tumour progression commonly occurs. Soluble and cell-bound factors in the tumour microenvironment negatively affect cancer immunity.

Education-based differences in alcohol health literacy in Germany.

Introduction: Alcohol health literacy is critical for informed consumer decision making but has yet received limited attention in public health research. We therefore seek to measure alcohol health literacy and its educational distribution in Germany.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we developed and applied a brief nine-item questionnaire on alcohol health literacy in an adult convenience sample (n = 391; February to April 2023).

Identification of 4'-Demethyl-3,9-dihydroeucomin as a Bitter-Masking Compound from the Resin of .

Masking the bitter taste of foods is one of the key strategies to improve their taste and palatability, particularly in the context of clean labeling, where natural compounds are preferred. Despite the demand, the availability of natural bitter-masking compounds remains limited. Here, we identified the bitter-masking compound 4'-demethyl-3,9-dihydroeucomin () isolated from the resin of by means of an activity-guided in vivo (sensory bitterness rating of quinine) and in vitro (cell-based bitter response assays) approach.

Mature congenital intraventricular intracranial teratoma: A case report and literature review.

Background: Intracranial teratomas represent a rare subset of neoplasms characterized by tissues derived from multiple germ layers within the cranial cavity. These tumors, originating from primordial germ cells, exhibit diverse clinical presentations and histopathological features. While predominantly located along the midline axis, including the suprasellar cistern and pineal region, they can also manifest in less common areas such as ventricles and hypothalamic regions.

The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at Northern Plains.

The USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network aims to enhance sustainable agricultural management practices through a coordinated, cross-site common experiment involving 18 locations across the United States. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at the Northern Plains (NP) site, where an experiment was initiated in 2019 to answer producers' and researchers' questions about whether the tactical application of fire or grazing can reduce the dominance of invasive Kentucky bluegrass in northern Great Plains ecosystems. As part of the LTAR common experiment, we contrast a prevailing practice (season-long grazing at moderate stocking rate) with four alternative practices at a half-hectare plot scale: (1) mob grazing by cattle, (2) multi-species grazing (mob grazing by cattle, with goats foraging at key times of the year), (3) prescribed fire, and (4) prescribed fire followed by cattle grazing.

The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Cropland Common Experiment at Northern Plains.

Cropland agriculture in the northern Great Plains is challenged by variable weather, agricultural intensification, and competing use for energy development. Innovative cropland practices that address these challenges are needed to ensure regional agriculture can sustainably meet future food, fuel, and fiber demand. In response to this need, the Northern Plains Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network site established a cropland experiment in 2019 that contrasts prevailing and alternative practices at plot and field scales over a proposed 30-year time frame.

Cover crop inclusion and residue retention improves soybean production and physiology in drought conditions.

Soybean ( max (L.) Merr.) planting has increased in central and western North Dakota despite frequent drought occurrences that limit productivity.

7 Tesla MRI Liver Fat Quantification in Mice: Data Quality Assessment.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the robustness of proton density fat fraction (PDFF) data determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) via spatially resolved error estimation.

Materials And Methods: Using standard T2* relaxation time measurement protocols, and MRI data with water and fat nominally in phase or out of phase relative to each other were acquired on a 7 T small animal scanner. Based on a total of 24 different echo times, PDFF maps were calculated in a magnitude-based approach.

Uncertainty in phosphorus fluxes and budgets across the US long-term agroecosystem research network.

Phosphorus (P) budgets can be useful tools for understanding nutrient cycling and quantifying the effectiveness of nutrient management planning and policies; however, uncertainties in agricultural nutrient budgets are not often quantitatively assessed. The objective of this study was to evaluate uncertainty in P fluxes (fertilizer/manure application, atmospheric deposition, irrigation, crop removal, surface runoff, and leachate) and the propagation of these uncertainties to annual P budgets. Data from 56 cropping systems in the P-FLUX database, which spans diverse rotations and landscapes across the United States and Canada, were evaluated.

Variation in methodology obscures clarity of cropland global warming potential estimates.

Global warming potential (GWP) estimates from agroecosystems are valuable for understanding management effects on climate regulation services. However, GWP estimates are complex, including attributes with high spatiotemporal variability. Published GWP estimates from cropland were compiled and methodological attributes known to influence GWP were extracted.

How Modelers Model: the Overlooked Social and Human Dimensions in Model Intercomparison Studies.

There is a growing realization that the complexity of model ensemble studies depends not only on the models used but also on the experience and approach used by modelers to calibrate and validate results, which remain a source of uncertainty. Here, we applied a multi-criteria decision-making method to investigate the rationale applied by modelers in a model ensemble study where 12 process-based different biogeochemical model types were compared across five successive calibration stages. The modelers shared a common level of agreement about the importance of the variables used to initialize their models for calibration.

P-FLUX: A phosphorus budget dataset spanning diverse agricultural production systems in the United States and Canada.

Quantifying spatial and temporal fluxes of phosphorus (P) within and among agricultural production systems is critical for sustaining agricultural production while minimizing environmental impacts. To better understand P fluxes in agricultural landscapes, P-FLUX, a detailed and harmonized dataset of P inputs, outputs, and budgets, as well as estimated uncertainties for each P flux and budget, was developed. Data were collected from 24 research sites and 61 production systems through the Long-term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network and partner organizations spanning 22 U.

Limited potential of resolvin D1 in treatment of cholestatic liver fibrosis.

Background: Several studies suggest a role for EPA- and DHA-derived pro-resolving mediators like resolvins in reversing metabolic and inflammatory disturbances seen in various chronic diseases. Here, we investigated the effects of resolvin D1 (RvD1) on bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced cholestatic liver injury.

Methods: Mice were treated daily with RvD1 or 0.

Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops.

This study evaluates the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) under perennial crops across the globe. It quantifies the effect of change from annual to perennial crops and the subsequent temporal changes in SOC stocks during the perennial crop cycle. It also presents an empirical model to estimate changes in the SOC content under crops as a function of time, land use, and site characteristics.

Endogenously increased n-3 PUFA levels in fat-1 transgenic mice do not protect from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide, ranging from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis. Possible reasons for the NAFLD epidemic in industrialized countries are the high intake of pro-inflammatory n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFAs) and low consumption of healthy n-3 PUFAs. Due to their anti-inflammatory properties, n-3 PUFAs may have the potential to alleviate chronic liver disease.

A novel multi-parametric analysis of non-invasive methods to assess animal distress during chronic pancreatitis.

Ethical responsibility, legal requirements and the need to improve the quality of research create a growing interest in the welfare of laboratory animals. Judging the welfare of animals requires readout parameters, which are valid and sensitive as well as specific to assess distress after different interventions. In the present study, we evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of different non-invasive parameters (body weight change, faecal corticosterone metabolites concentration, burrowing and nesting activity) by receiver operating characteristic curves and judged the merit of a multi-parametric analysis by logistic regression.

n-3 PUFAs reduce tumor load and improve survival in a NASH-tumor mouse model.

Background: With 9.1% of all cancer deaths, hepatocellular carcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Due to the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has evolved into a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma development.

A global, empirical, harmonised dataset of soil organic carbon changes under perennial crops.

A global, unified dataset on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) changes under perennial crops has not existed till now. We present a global, harmonised database on SOC change resulting from perennial crop cultivation. It contains information about 1605 paired-comparison empirical values (some of which are aggregated data) from 180 different peer-reviewed studies, 709 sites, on 58 different perennial crop types, from 32 countries in temperate, tropical and boreal areas; including species used for food, bioenergy and bio-products.

[Decision-making support in Intensive Care to facilitate organ donation : Position paper of the Ethics Section and the Organ Donation and Transplantation Section of the German Interdisciplinary Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) in collaboration with the Ethics Section of the German Society of Medical Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN)].

Background And Challenge: Injuries, especially traumatic brain injury, or specific illnesses and their respective sequelae can result in the demise of the patients afflicted despite all efforts of modern intensive care medicine. If in principle organ donation is an option after a patient's death, intensive therapeutic measures are regularly required in order to maintain the homeostasis of the organs. These measures, however, cannot benefit the patient afflicted anymore-which in turn might lead to an ethical conflict between dignified palliative care for him/her and expanded intensive treatment to facilitate organ donation for others, especially if the patient has opted for the limitation of life-sustaining therapies in an advance directive.

Repin1 deficiency in liver tissue alleviates NAFLD progression in mice.

There is an increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome, which promote the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a disease that can evolve into cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Repin1 loss was previously shown to have beneficial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism and obesity regulation. Herein, we characterized NAFLD in mice with hepatic deletion of Repin1 (LRep1-/-).

Advancing the Sustainability of US Agriculture through Long-Term Research.

Agriculture in the United States must respond to escalating demands for productivity and efficiency, as well as pressures to improve its stewardship of natural resources. Growing global population and changing diets, combined with a greater societal awareness of agriculture's role in delivering ecosystem services beyond food, feed, fiber, and energy production, require a comprehensive perspective on where and how US agriculture can be sustainably intensified, that is, made more productive without exacerbating local and off-site environmental concerns. The USDA's Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network is composed of 18 locations distributed across the contiguous United States working together to integrate national and local agricultural priorities and advance the sustainable intensification of US agriculture.

Liver-specific Repin1 deficiency impairs transient hepatic steatosis in liver regeneration.

Transient hepatic steatosis upon liver resection supposes functional relationships between lipid metabolism and liver regeneration. Repin1 has been suggested as candidate gene for obesity and dyslipidemia by regulating key genes of lipid metabolism and lipid storage. Herein, we characterized the regenerative potential of mice with a hepatic deletion of Repin1 (LRep1-/-) after partial hepatectomy (PH) in order to determine the functional significance of Repin1 in liver regeneration.

[Amendment to the documentation of decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining therapies in consideration of wish to donate organs : Recommendation of the Ethics Section and the Organ Donation and Transplantation Section of the German Interdisciplinary Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) in collaboration with the Ethics Section of the German Society of Medical Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN)].

The Ethics Section of the German Interdisciplinary Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) recently published a documentation for decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining therapies. The wish to donate organs was not considered explicitly. Therefore the Ethics Section and the Organ Donation and Transplantation Section of the DIVI together with the Ethics Section of the German Society of Medical Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine worked out a supplementary footnote for the documentation form to address the individual case of a patient's wish to donate organs.

Effects of storage time and temperature on greenhouse gas samples in Exetainer vials with chlorobutyl septa caps.

Measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) flux using static chamber methods typically occurs immediately following sample collection. However, situations may arise requiring sample storage prior to analysis by gas chromatography. The objective of this study was to determine effects of storage time and temperature on carbon dioxide (CO), methane (CH), and nitrous oxide (NO) concentrations in vials containing "low" and "high" concentrations of certified standards.