Temporal trends and spatial variations of chlorinated paraffins and olefins in sewage sludge from eight Swiss wastewater treatment plants from 1993 to 2020.

High production rates of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and their widespread use resulted in a global contamination. Since 2017, short-chain CPs (SCCPs, C-C) are listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Stockholm Convention. Technical CP mixtures contain hundreds of homologues and side products such as chlorinated olefins (COs), diolefins (CdiOs) and triolefins (CtriOs).

Biological brain age and resilience in cognitively unimpaired 70-year-old individuals.

Introduction: This study investigated the associations of brain age gap (BAG)-a biological marker of brain resilience-with life exposures, neuroimaging measures, biological processes, and cognitive function.

Methods: We derived BAG by subtracting predicted brain age from chronological age in 739 septuagenarians without dementia or neurological disorders. Robust linear regression models assessed BAG associations with life exposures, plasma inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of neurodegeneration and vascular brain injury, and cognitive performance.

CSF levels of brain-derived proteins correlate with brain ventricular volume in cognitively healthy 70-year-olds.

Background: The effect of varying brain ventricular volume on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome has been discussed as possible confounding factors in comparative protein level analyses. However, the relationship between CSF volume and protein levels remains largely unexplored. Moreover, the few existing studies provide conflicting findings, indicating the need for further research.

MRI markers of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus in a population study with 791 participants: Exploring reference values and associations.

Purpose: Epidemiological studies on idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) imaging markers and their normal values are scarce. This population-based study aimed to analyze several morphologic and volumetric iNPH-related imaging markers in a large sample, determining their distribution, diagnostic accuracy, suggested cut-offs, and associations with iNPH symptoms.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 791 70 year olds, 40 with radiologically probable iNPH (iNPH) and 751 without iNPH features (reference).

Advancing pharmacometrics in Africa-Transition from capacity development toward job creation.

Trained pharmacometricians remain scarce in Africa due to limited training opportunities, lack of a pharmaceutical product development ecosystem, and emigration to high-income countries. The Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) fellowship program was established to address these gaps and specifically foster job creation for talent retention. We review the APT program's progress over 3 years and encourage collaboration to enhance local clinical data analysis in Africa.