Heritability of children's Secure Base Script Knowledge in middle childhood: a twin study with the Attachment Script Assessment.

Background: Are individual differences in attachment security inborn or shaped by the social environment? In infancy and early childhood, the evidence points to a substantial role of the environment, but a large twin study in early adolescence showed considerable heritability. Here we examined the twin heritability of attachment in middle childhood. We hypothesized that in middle childhood some heritability would emerge.

Orthostatic intolerance with tachycardia (postural tachycardia syndrome) and without (hypocapnic cerebral hypoperfusion) represent a spectrum of the same disorder.

Background: Spectrum of chronic orthostatic intolerance without orthostatic hypotension includes postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), with orthostatic tachycardia and hypocapnic cerebral hypoperfusion (HYCH), without orthostatic tachycardia. This study compared autonomic, cerebrovascular, and neuropathic features of POTS and HYCH.

Methods: This retrospective study evaluated patients with orthostatic intolerance referred for autonomic testing.

"Surgery First" vs. "Endoscopy First" for Pediatric Choledocholithiasis Presenting at the End of the Week - A CARES Working Group Study.

Background: Choledocholithiasis in children is commonly managed with an "endoscopy-first" (EF) strategy (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC)). Because ERCP availability is often limited at the end of the week (EoW), we hypothesized that a "surgery-first" (SF) approach (LC with intraoperative cholangiogram (IOC) ± transcystic laparoscopic common bile exploration (LCBDE)) would decrease length of stay (LOS) and time to definitive intervention (TTDI).

Methods: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted on pediatric patients from 2018 to 2023 with suspected choledocholithiasis.

Multi-Institutional Analysis of Choledocholithiasis in Pediatric vs Adult Patients.

Background: In adults, upfront intraoperative cholangiogram with laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) is well accepted for management of choledocholithiasis. Despite recent evidence supporting LCBDE utility in children, there has been hesitation to adopt this surgery first (SF) approach over ERCP first (EF) due to perceived technical challenges. We compared rates of successful stone clearance during LCBDE between adult and pediatric patients to evaluate if pediatric surgeons could anticipate similar rates of successful clearance.

Reducing MRCP Utilization Through a "Surgery First" Approach for Pediatric Choledocholithiasis: A CARES Working Group Retrospective Study.

Background: Choledocholithiasis in children is rising and frequently managed with an endoscopy-first (EF) approach that utilizes endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a resource intensive modality that often precedes ERCP to gain further assurance of choledocholithiasis prior to intervention. MRCP can lead to a longer length of stay (LOS) and strain healthcare resources.

Patient Safety and Radiation Exposure in Transcystic Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration: A CARES Working Group Multicenter Study.

Background: Treatment of choledocholithiasis with laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and intraoperative cholangiogram (IOC) ± transcystic laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) is associated with fewer procedures and shorter length of stay (LOS) compared to preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) followed by LC. Fluoroscopy is required for both LCBDE and ERCP but fluoroscopic time (FT) and radiation dose (RD) in LCBDE has not been studied.

Methods: The Choledocholithiasis Alliance for Research, Education, and Surgery (CARES) Working Group conducted this retrospective study on pediatric patients with suspected choledocholithiasis who received IOC.

Item-validity analysis of the SED-S in a multicentre study of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Background: Valid and reliable instruments for measuring emotional development are critical for a proper diagnostic assignment in individuals with intellectual disabilities. This exploratory study examined the psychometric properties of the items on the Scale of Emotional Development-Short (SED-S).

Method: The sample included 612 adults with intellectual disabilities (M = 37.

Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in High-Risk Pediatric Trauma Patients.

Importance: The indications, safety, and efficacy of chemical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (cVTE) in pediatric trauma patients remain unclear. A set of high-risk criteria to guide cVTE use was recently recommended; however, these criteria have not been evaluated prospectively.

Objective: To examine high-risk criteria and cVTE use in a prospective multi-institutional study of pediatric trauma patients.

Robust, credible, and interpretable AI-based histopathological prostate cancer grading.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is among the most common cancers in men and its diagnosis requires the histopathological evaluation of biopsies by human experts. While several recent artificial intelligence-based (AI) approaches have reached human expert-level PCa grading, they often display significantly reduced performance on external datasets. This reduced performance can be caused by variations in sample preparation, for instance the staining protocol, section thickness, or scanner used.

Effects of a Baby Carrier Intervention on Fathers' Sensitivity, Involvement, and Hormonal Levels: Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Study.

Fathers are of great importance for healthy child development. This randomized controlled study investigated the longer-term effects of an intervention using a soft baby carrier on fathers' observed sensitive caregiving, involvement, and oxytocin and cortisol levels. First-time fathers were randomly assigned to use a baby carrier ( = 41) or baby seat ( = 39) and were asked to use the carrier or seat for at least 6 h per week for 3 weeks.

Anti-Adenoviral Effect of Human Argonaute 2 Alone and in Combination with Artificial microRNAs.

During infection, adenoviruses inhibit the cellular RNA interference (RNAi) machinery by saturating the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) of the host cells with large amounts of virus-derived microRNAs (mivaRNAs) that bind to the key component of the complex, Argonaute 2 (AGO2). In the present study, we investigated AGO2 as a prominent player at the intersection between human adenovirus 5 (HAdV-5) and host cells because of its ability to interfere with the HAdV-5 life cycle. First, the ectopic expression of AGO2 had a detrimental effect on the ability of the virus to replicate.

Cognitive performance in adults with post-COVID syndrome: Results from a German case-control study.

Numerous studies on post-COVID syndrome (PCS) describe persisting symptoms of cognitive impairment. Previous studies, however, often investigated small samples or did not assess covariates possibly linked to cognitive performance. We aimed to describe 1) global and domain-specific cognitive performance in adults with PCS, controls with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and healthy controls, 2) associations of sociodemographics, depressive symptoms, anxiety, fatigue, somatic symptoms and stress with cognitive performance and subjective cognitive decline (SCD), using data of the LIFE-Long-COVID-Study from Leipzig, Germany.

Improving Accuracy of Administrative Data for Perforated Appendicitis Classification.

Introduction: Reliance on International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis codes may misclassify perforated appendicitis with resultant research, fiscal, and public health implications. We aimed to improve the accuracy of administrative data for perforated appendicitis classification relying on ICD-10-CM codes from 2015 to 2018.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of randomly sampled patients aged ≤18 years diagnosed with acute appendicitis from eight children's hospitals.

Antimicrobial Ionic Liquids: Ante-Mortem Mechanisms of Pathogenic EPEC and MRSA Examined by FTIR Spectroscopy.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have gained considerable attention due to their versatile and designable properties. ILs show great potential as antibacterial agents, but understanding the mechanism of attack on bacterial cells is essential to ensure the optimal design of IL-based biocides. The final aim is to achieve maximum efficacy while minimising toxicity and preventing resistance development in target organisms.

Prednisolone Versus Colchicine for Acute Gout in Primary Care: statistical analysis plan for the pragmatic, multicenter, randomized, and double-blinded COPAGO non-inferiority trial.

Background: To date, colchicine and prednisolone are two effective therapies for the treatment of acute gout but have never been compared directly in a randomized clinical trial. In addition, in previous trials of treating acute gout patients with concomitant comorbidities were often excluded due to contraindications to naproxen.

Study Design: This pragmatic, prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group, randomized, non-inferiority trial compares prednisolone with colchicine in terms of non-inferiority in patients with acute gout.

Deep learning-based BMI inference from structural brain MRI reflects brain alterations following lifestyle intervention.

Obesity is associated with negative effects on the brain. We exploit Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to explore whether differences in clinical measurements following lifestyle interventions in overweight population could be reflected in brain morphology. In the DIRECT-PLUS clinical trial, participants with criterion for metabolic syndrome underwent an 18-month lifestyle intervention.

Synchronous micromechanically resonant programmable photonic circuits.

Programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are emerging as powerful tools for control of light, with applications in quantum information processing, optical range finding, and artificial intelligence. Low-power implementations of these PICs involve micromechanical structures driven capacitively or piezoelectrically but are often limited in modulation bandwidth by mechanical resonances and high operating voltages. Here we introduce a synchronous, micromechanically resonant design architecture for programmable PICs and a proof-of-principle 1×8 photonic switch using piezoelectric optical phase shifters.

Impact on the German asymptomatic screening strategy based on actual user data from SARS-CoV-2 test centers.

Since March 2021, Germany has been providing cost-free severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen tests, and many day-to-day activities following the lockdown have required negative test results. Yet it remains unclear how tests have been used and whether there are patterns connected to mitigation measures. We analyzed over 50,000 anonymized records from eight test centers in a typical medium-sized city, with one of them remaining open continuously from March until December 2021.

Antegrade Continence Enema Alone for the Management of Functional Constipation and Segmental Colonic Dysmotility (ACE-FC): A Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Learning Consortium Study.

Objective:  The purpose of the study was to determine if antegrade continence enema (ACE) alone is an effective treatment for patients with severe functional constipation and segmental colonic dysmotility.

Methods:  A retrospective study of patients with functional constipation and segmental colonic dysmotility who underwent ACE as their initial means of management. Data was collected from six participating sites in the Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Learning Consortium.