Game-Theoretic Motion Planning with Perception Uncertainty and Right-of-Way Constraints.

This paper addresses two challenges in AV motion planning: adherence to right-of-way and handling uncertainties, using two game-theoretic frameworks, namely Stackelberg and Nash Bayesian (Bayesian). By modeling the interactions between road users as a hierarchical relationship, the proposed approach enables the AV to strategically optimize its trajectory while considering the actions and priorities of other road users. Additionally, the Bayesian equilibrium aspect of the framework incorporates probabilistic beliefs and updates them based on sensor measurements, allowing the AV to make informed decisions in the presence of uncertainty in the sensory system.

A digitally supported multimodal lifestyle program to promote brain health among older adults (the LETHE randomized controlled feasibility trial): study design, progress, and first results.

Background: The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) multimodal lifestyle intervention yielded cognitive and other health benefits in older adults at risk of cognitive decline. The two-year multinational randomized controlled LETHE trial evaluates the feasibility of a digitally supported, adapted FINGER intervention among at-risk older adults. Technology is used to complement in-person activities, streamline the intervention delivery, personalize recommendations, and collect digital biomarkers.

Effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and seasonal weather conditions on Aedes aegypti infestation in the State of São Paulo (Brazil): A Bayesian spatio-temporal study.

Background: Seasonal fluctuations in weather are recognized as factors that affect both Aedes (Ae.) aegypti mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, such as dengue fever. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is widely regarded as one of the most impactful atmospheric phenomena on Earth, characterized by the interplay of shifting ocean temperatures, trade wind intensity, and atmospheric pressure, resulting in extensive alterations in climate conditions.

Accelerating human-computer interaction through convergent conditions for LLM explanation.

The article addresses the accelerating human-machine interaction using the large language model (LLM). It goes beyond the traditional logical paradigms of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) by considering poor-formalizable cognitive semantical interpretations of LLM. XAI is immersed in a hybrid space, where humans and machines have crucial distinctions during the digitisation of the interaction process.

Preclinical and Clinical Applications of Photobiomodulation Therapy in Sperm Motility: A Narrative Review.

About 50% of infertility problems are related to male factors and reduced sperm motility. The important factor that affects the structure and function of sperm is reactive oxygen species (ROS), and over-concentration of ROS reduces the quality and motility of sperm. Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) using red to near-infrared (NIR) light is useful in oxidative stress restoration.

A dependent Bayesian Dirichlet process model for source apportionment of particle number size distribution.

The relationship between particle exposure and health risks has been well established in recent years. Particulate matter (PM) is made up of different components coming from several sources, which might have different level of toxicity. Hence, identifying these sources is an important task in order to implement effective policies to improve air quality and population health.

Endoplasmic Reticulum as a Therapeutic Target in Cancer: Is there a Role for Flavonoids?

Flavonoids are classified into subclasses of polyphenols, a multipurpose category of natural compounds which comprises secondary metabolites extracted from vascular plants and are plentiful in the human diet. Although the details of flavonoid mechanisms are still not realized correctly, they are generally regarded as antimicrobial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative; anti-mutagenic; anti-neoplastic; anti-aging; anti-diabetic, cardio-protective, etc. The anti-cancer properties of flavonoids are evident in functions such as prevention of proliferation, metastasis, invasion, inflammation and activation of cell death.

Rivaroxaban Versus Enoxaparin for Thromboprophylaxis After major Gynecological Cancer Surgery: The VALERIA Trial : enous thromboembolism prophylxis after gynecoogical plvic cancer surgery with varoxaban versus enoxparin (VALERIA trial).

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention after major gynecological cancer surgery might be an alternative to parenteral low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH). Patients undergoing major gynecological cancer surgery were randomized at hospital discharge to receive rivaroxaban 10 mg once daily or enoxaparin 40 mg once daily for 30 days. The primary efficacy outcome was a combination of symptomatic VTE and VTE-related death or asymptomatic VTE at day 30.

Trends in Temperature-associated Mortality in São Paulo (Brazil) between 2000 and 2018: an Example of Disparities in Adaptation to Cold and Heat.

Exposure to non-optimal temperatures remains the single most deathful direct climate change impact to health. The risk varies based on the adaptation capacity of the exposed population which can be driven by climatic and/or non-climatic factors subject to fluctuations over time. We investigated temporal changes in the exposure-response relationship between daily mean temperature and mortality by cause of death, sex, age, and ethnicity in the megacity of São Paulo, Brazil (2000-2018).

Mitigating the impact of air pollution on dementia and brain health: Setting the policy agenda.

Background: Emerging research suggests exposure to high levels of air pollution at critical points in the life-course is detrimental to brain health, including cognitive decline and dementia. Social determinants play a significant role, including socio-economic deprivation, environmental factors and heightened health and social inequalities. Policies have been proposed more generally, but their benefits for brain health have yet to be fully explored.

Elderberry Diet Restores Spermatogenesis in the Transient Scrotal Hyperthermia-Induced Mice.

Over the past years, several studies have also reported the adverse effects of hyperthermia on normal testicular tissues in several species including mice, rats, and humans. These deleterious impacts include temporarily drop in relative weight of testis along with a temporary partial or complete infertility. Sambucus nigra, also known as elderberry or sweet elder, is a source of bioactive compounds that has drawn growing attention for its potential beneficial effects in preventing and treating several diseases.

Regional excess mortality during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in five European countries.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess mortality from all causes in 2020 varied across and within European countries. Using data for 2015-2019, we applied Bayesian spatio-temporal models to quantify the expected weekly deaths at the regional level had the pandemic not occurred in England, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. With around 30%, Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon (Spain) and Lombardia (Italy) were the regions with the highest excess mortality.

A framework for estimating and visualising excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 related deaths underestimate the pandemic burden on mortality because they suffer from completeness and accuracy issues. Excess mortality is a popular alternative, as it compares observed with expected deaths based on the assumption that the pandemic did not occur. Expected deaths had the pandemic not occurred depend on population trends, temperature, and spatio-temporal patterns.

Non-apoptotic cell death such as pyroptosis, autophagy, necroptosis and ferroptosis acts as partners to induce testicular cell death after scrotal hyperthermia in mice.

Cell death is a biologically uncontrollable and regulated process associated with human diseases which usually occur in response to oxidative stress that activates signalling pathways in multiple forms and can therefore contribute to human diseases. Thus, the current study aims to evaluate the signalling pathway involved in cell death after testicular hyperthermia. For this purpose, 32 mice were equally divided into four groups; I: Control; II, III and IV, Scrotal hyperthermia in which the testes are exposed to water at 43°C for 20 min every other day, respectively, 15, 10 and 5 times.

Long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 incidence: A multi-country study.

The study of the impacts of air pollution on COVID-19 has gained increasing attention. However, most of the existing studies are based on a single country, with a high degree of variation in the results reported in different papers. We attempt to inform the debate about the long-term effects of air pollution on COVID-19 by conducting a multi-country analysis using a spatial ecological design, including Canada, Italy, England and the United States.

Protective Effects of Fisetin in the Mice Induced by Long-Term Scrotal Hyperthermia.

Exposure to heat in the male reproductive system can lead to transient periods of partial or complete infertility. The current study aimed to examine the beneficial effects of  Fisetin against spermatogenic disorders in mice affected by long-term scrotal hyperthermia. For this purpose, hyperthermia was induced daily by exposure to the temperature of 43 °C for 20 min for 5 weeks.

An effective method for establishing animal models of azoospermia and oligospermia.

The current study aims to develop a validated animal model to predict successful spermatogenesis retrieval in azoospermia and oligospermia men. Thirty-two mice were equally divided into 4 groups: control, scrotal hyperthermia (15 times), scrotal hyperthermia group (10 times), scrotal hyperthermia group (5 times). In the scrotal hyperthermia groups, their scrotum exposed to water at a temperature of 43°C for 20 min every other day.

Ameliorating effects of curcumin-loaded superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) on the mouse testis exposed to the transient hyperthermia: A molecular and stereological study.

Background: Testicular hyperthermia can have negative effects on male fertility. Despite reported therapeutic benefits of curcumin, several factors often limit its application such as low water solubility and instable structure. Curcumin-loaded superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were designed to solve its limitation of use.

Estimating weekly excess mortality at sub-national level in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this study we present the first comprehensive analysis of the spatio-temporal differences in excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. We used a population-based design on all-cause mortality data, for the 7,904 Italian municipalities. We estimated sex-specific weekly mortality rates for each municipality, based on the first four months of 2016-2019, while adjusting for age, localised temporal trends and the effect of temperature.

A flexible hierarchical framework for improving inference in area-referenced environmental health studies.

Study designs where data have been aggregated by geographical areas are popular in environmental epidemiology. These studies are commonly based on administrative databases and, providing a complete spatial coverage, are particularly appealing to make inference on the entire population. However, the resulting estimates are often biased and difficult to interpret due to unmeasured confounders, which typically are not available from routinely collected data.

A hierarchical modelling approach to assess multi pollutant effects in time-series studies.

When assessing the short-term effect of air pollution on health outcomes, it is common practice to consider one pollutant at a time, due to their high correlation. Multi pollutant methods have been recently proposed, mainly consisting of collapsing the different pollutants into air quality indexes or clustering the pollutants and then evaluating the effect of each cluster on the health outcome. A major drawback of such approaches is that it is not possible to evaluate the health impact of each pollutant.

Using ecological propensity score to adjust for missing confounders in small area studies.

Small area ecological studies are commonly used in epidemiology to assess the impact of area level risk factors on health outcomes when data are only available in an aggregated form. However, the resulting estimates are often biased due to unmeasured confounders, which typically are not available from the standard administrative registries used for these studies. Extra information on confounders can be provided through external data sets such as surveys or cohorts, where the data are available at the individual level rather than at the area level; however, such data typically lack the geographical coverage of administrative registries.