Background/aim: Solar ultraviolet radiation represents the most important environmental risk factor for skin cancer. However, vitamin D synthesis from sun exposure has been reported to exert anti-carcinogenic effects on melanocytes in vitro. This justifies the ongoing debate whether vitamin D status can be considered a risk and prognostic for primary cutaneous malignant melanoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn ecological niche is a field in a landscape of affordances, rich in information inviting its inhabitants to develop functionality and effectiveness of their behavior. This idea means that, in sports like soccer, the playing area encapsulates an ecological niche, replete with affordances inviting collective and individual technical-tactical actions, contextualized with associated psychological and physical demands. To examine the co-adaptive relationships framing players' actions in their ecological niche, the present study employed a crossover design with repeated measures to compare the players' transactions within 11 vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuntington's disease (HD) arises from a CAG expansion in the () gene beyond a critical threshold. A major thrust of current HD therapeutic development is lowering levels of mutant mRNA (m) and protein (mHTT) with the aim of reducing the toxicity of these product(s). Human genetic data also support a key role for somatic instability (SI) in 's CAG repeat - whereby it lengthens with age in specific somatic cell types - as a key driver of age of motor dysfunction onset.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human microbiome emerges as a promising reservoir for diagnostic markers and therapeutics. Since host-associated microbiomes at various body sites differ and diseases do not occur in isolation, a comprehensive analysis strategy highlighting the full potential of microbiomes should include diverse specimen types and various diseases. To ensure robust data quality and comparability across specimen types and diseases, we employ standardized protocols to generate sequencing data from 1931 prospectively collected specimens, including from saliva, plaque, skin, throat, eye, and stool, with an average sequencing depth of 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Twenty years after the 2004 European Union (EU) enlargement, life expectancy differences between established (EMS) and new member states (NMS) remain large. Contributing to this gap are deaths that can be avoided through preventive services or adequate medical treatment. We estimate the impact of reducing avoidable mortality on life expectancy and lifespan disparities in the enlarged EU.
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