Background: Recent studies show a high prevalence in hospital populations and best practice evidence indicates that people living with obesity should receive dietetic advice. However, patients often do not receive this care in acute settings. Understanding the experiences of people living with obesity is crucial to designing successful strategies for management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BPD) is difficult in clinical practice, with an average delay between symptom onset and diagnosis of about 7 years. A depressive episode often precedes the first manic episode, making it difficult to distinguish BPD from unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD).
Aims: We use genome-wide association analyses (GWAS) to identify differential genetic factors and to develop predictors based on polygenic risk scores (PRS) that may aid early differential diagnosis.
Background: Many techniques have been described for lateral ankle ligament reconstruction. Although the biomechanical properties of gracilis tendons are different from those of ligaments, the use of a gracilis tendon autograft is a popular option for anatomical reconstruction. Graft maturation and the biomechanical processes over time remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThorac Cardiovasc Surg
January 2025
Background: Since patients with congenital heart defects (CHD) frequently require life-long medical care and repeat invasive treatment, radiation exposure during interventional procedures is a relevant issue concerning potential radiation related risks. Therefore, an analysis on radiation data from the German Registry for Cardiac Operations and Interventions in patients with CHD was performed.
Methods: From January 2012 until December 2020 a total of 28,374 cardiac catheter interventions were recorded.
Objective: The effects of sex hormones remain largely unexplored in pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) and gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).
Methods: We evaluated the effects of estradiol, progesterone, Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and testosterone on human patient-derived PPGL/GEP-NET primary culture cell viability (n = 38/n = 12), performed next-generation sequencing and immunohistochemical hormone receptor analysis in patient-derived PPGL tumor tissues (n = 36).
Results: In PPGLs, estradiol and progesterone (1 µm) demonstrated overall significant antitumor effects with the strongest efficacy in PPGLs with NF1 (cluster 2) pathogenic variants.
Objectives: To survey physicians' views on the risks and benefits of computed tomography (CT) in the management of septic patients and indications for and contraindications to contrast media use in searching for septic foci.
Methods: A web-based questionnaire was administered to physicians at a large European university medical center in January 2022. A total of 371 questionnaires met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed with physicians' work experience, workplace, and medical specialty as independent variables.
Recently, a novel African ancestry specific Parkinson's disease (PD) risk signal was identified at the gene encoding glucocerebrosidase ( ). This variant (rs3115534-G) is carried by ∼50% of West African PD cases and imparts a dose-dependent increase in risk for disease. The risk variant has varied frequencies across African ancestry groups, but is almost absent in European and Asian ancestry populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Standardized evaluation of [F]PI-2620 tau-PET scans in 4R-tauopathies represents an unmet need in clinical practice. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of visual evaluation of [F]PI-2620 images for diagnosing 4R-tauopathies and to develop a straight-forward reading algorithm to improve objectivity and data reproducibility.
Methods: A total of 83 individuals with [F]PI-2620 PET scans were included.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
January 2025
The default mode network (DMN) is intricately linked with processes such as self-referential thinking, episodic memory recall, goal-directed cognition, self-projection, and theory of mind. Over recent years, there has been a surge in examining its functional connectivity, particularly its relationship with frontoparietal networks (FPN) involved in top-down attention, executive function, and cognitive control. The fluidity in switching between these internal and external modes of processing-highlighted by anti-correlated functional connectivity-has been proposed as an indicator of cognitive health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most spheroid models use size measurements as a primary readout parameter; some models extend analysis to T cell infiltration or perform caspase activation assays. However, to our knowledge, T cell motility analysis is not regularly included as an endpoint in imaging studies on cancer spheroids.
Methods: Here, we intend to demonstrate that motility analysis of macrophages and T cells is a valuable functional endpoint for studies on molecular interventions in the tumor microenvironment.
Nitrite and nitrate in meat products may be perceived negatively by consumers. These compounds can react to form carcinogenic volatile N-nitrosamines. "Nitrite-free" (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYKL-40 is structurally similar to chitotriosidase (CHIT1), an active chitinase, but it lacks chitin-degrading activity while retaining chitin-binding capability. Elevated YKL-40 levels are associated with inflammatory diseases and cancers, making it a valuable biomarker. We previously reported that the W69T substitution in YKL-40 significantly reduces its chitin-binding affinity, identifying W69 as a crucial binding site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs) are at higher risk for infectious diseases. This may partly be due to frequent hospital stays and the associated exposure to pathogens. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of immunisation coverage among twins in which at least one twin has CHD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Blood-brain barrier dysfunction is one characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is recognized as both a cause and consequence of the pathological cascade leading to cognitive decline. The goal of this study was to assess markers for barrier dysfunction in postmortem tissue samples from research participants who were either cognitively normal individuals (CNI) or diagnosed with AD at the time of autopsy and determine to what extent these markers are associated with AD neuropathologic changes (ADNC) and cognitive impairment.
Methods: We used postmortem brain tissue and plasma samples from 19 participants: 9 CNI and 10 AD dementia patients who had come to autopsy from the University of Kentucky AD Research Center (UK-ADRC) community-based cohort; all cases with dementia had confirmed severe ADNC.
Objectives: To evaluate the in vitro susceptibility of recent Gram-negative pathogens collected from pediatric patients to imipenem/relebactam (IMI/REL) and comparator agents.
Methods: From 2018 to 2022, 254 hospitals in 62 countries collected Enterobacterales or P. aeruginosa isolates from patients <18 years old as part of the SMART global surveillance program.
Microbiota composition regulates colitis severity, yet the innate immune mechanisms that control commensal communities and prevent disease remain unclear. We show that the innate immune receptor, Clec12a, impacts colitis severity by regulating microbiota composition. Transplantation of microbiota from a Clec12a animal is sufficient to worsen colitis in wild-type mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUtilizing the sparsity of the electronic structure problem, fragmentation methods have been researched for decades with great success, pushing the limits of ab initio quantum chemistry ever further. Recently, this set of methods has been expanded to include a fundamentally different approach called excitonic renormalization, providing promising initial results. It builds a supersystem Hamiltonian in a second-quantized-like representation from transition-density tensors of isolated fragments, contracted with biorthogonalized molecular integrals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Despite the overwhelming evidence for profound and longstanding effects of early-life stress (ELS) on inflammation, brain structure, and molecular aging, its impact on human brain aging and risk for neurodegenerative disease is poorly understood. We examined the impact of ELS severity in interaction with age on blood-based markers of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, brain volumes, and cognitive function in middle-aged women.
Methods: We recruited 179 women (aged 30-60 years) with and without ELS exposure before the onset of puberty.
Objectives: This study aims to investigate the association between interatrial conduction block and postoperative atrial fibrillation, which can precipitate acute cardiopulmonary instability and is associated with subsequent heart failure, stroke, and mortality following cardiac surgery.
Methods: Perioperative 12-channel electrocardiograms from 3405 patients undergoing myocardial revascularization, valve surgery, aortic surgery, or combinations thereof, were considered. Clinical and electrographic parameters were compared between patients with and without atrial fibrillation, and significant variables were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.
While the effect of time-of-day (morning versus evening) on hormones, lipids and lipolysis has been studied in relation to meals and exercise, there are no studies that have investigated the effects of time-of-day on ice bath induced hormone and lipidome responses. In this crossover-designed study, a group of six women and six men, 26 ± 5 years old, 176 ± 7 cm tall, weighing 75 ± 10 kg, and a BMI of 23 ± 2 kg/mhad an ice bath (8-12 °C for 5 min) both in the morning and evening on separate days. Absence from intense physical exercise, nutrient intake and meal order was standardized in the 24 h prior the ice baths to account for confounders such as diet or exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of the in vitro acute exposure to diesel oil (0.001%, 0.01%, 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProblem: Although it is still uncertain whether Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) placental infection and vertical transmission occur, inflammation during early pregnancy can have devastating consequences for gestation itself and the growing fetus. If and how SARS-CoV-2-specific immune cells negatively affect placenta functionality is still unknown.
Method Of Study: We stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from women of reproductive age with SARS-CoV-2 peptides and cocultured them with trophoblast spheroids (HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3) to dissect if SARS-CoV-2-activated immune cells can interfere with trophoblast functionality.
Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health problem, affecting over 840 million individuals. CKD is linked to higher mortality and morbidity, partially mediated by higher cardiovascular risk and worsening kidney function. This study aimed to identify risk factors and develop risk prediction models for selected cardiorenal clinical outcomes in patients with non-diabetic CKD.
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