Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset-with data collected between 2020 and 2022 -to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions.

Type 2 diabetes pathway-specific polygenic risk scores elucidate heterogeneity in clinical presentation, disease progression and diabetic complications in 18,217 Chinese individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: Type 2 diabetes is a complex and heterogeneous disease and the aetiological components underlying the heterogeneity remain unclear in the Chinese and East Asian population. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether specific pathophysiological pathways drive the clinical heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes.

Methods: We employed newly developed type 2 diabetes hard-clustering and soft-clustering pathway-specific polygenic risk scores (psPRSs) to characterise individual genetic susceptibility to pathophysiological pathways implicated in type 2 diabetes in 18,217 Chinese patients from Hong Kong.

Proteomic Characterization of Corneal Epithelial and Stromal Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles.

Communication between the different layers of the cornea (epithelium and stroma) is a complex, yet crucial element in the corneal healing process. Upon corneal injury, it has been reported that the bi-directional cross talk between the epithelium and stroma via the vesicular secretome, namely, extracellular vesicles (EVs), can lead to accelerated wound closure upon injury. However, the distinct protein markers of EVs derived from human corneal epithelial (HCE) cells, keratocytes (HCKs), fibroblasts (HCFs), and myofibroblasts (HCMs) remain poorly understood.

Ocular tear fluid biomarkers collected by contact lenses.

Purpose: To collect tear fluid biomarkers from contact lenses (CLs) and determine the impact of CL wear duration.

Methods: Rabbits were fitted with commercial etafilcon A CLs, which were collected after 1 min, 4 and 8 h (n = 4/time point). Tear fluid proteins and cytokines were extracted from the CLs and quantified.

High economic inequality is linked to greater moralization.

Throughout the 21st century, economic inequality is predicted to increase as we face new challenges, from changes in the technological landscape to the growing climate crisis. It is crucial we understand how these changes in inequality may affect how people think and behave. We propose that economic inequality threatens the social fabric of society, in turn increasing moralization-that is, the greater tendency to employ or emphasize morality in everyday life-as an attempt to restore order and control.

Enhancing placebo analgesia: Unravelling the powerful interplay of ownership and verbal suggestion.

Background: Placebo analgesic research demonstrates pain reduction after using a placebo analgesic. Recent studies have documented that sometimes possessing a placebo analgesic induces placebo analgesia. These prior studies used a 'cream' as the stimulus and proposed that the effect is driven by an expectancy of obtaining benefits from the owned analgesic.

Synergistic activities of Panobinostat and doxorubicin in soft tissue sarcomas.

Background: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare diseases typically arising from connective tissues in children and adults. However, chemotherapies involved in the treatment of STS may cause toxic side effects and multi-drug chemoresistance, making the treatment even more challenging. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are epigenetic agents which have shown anti-tumor effects as single agent as well as combination use with other drugs.

Contact lenses as novel tear fluid sampling vehicles for total RNA isolation, precipitation, and amplification.

The tear fluid is a readily accessible, potential source for biomarkers of disease and could be used to monitor the ocular response to contact lens (CL) wear or ophthalmic pathologies treated by therapeutic CLs. However, the tear fluid remains largely unexplored as a biomarker source for RNA-based molecular analyses. Using a rabbit model, this study sought to determine whether RNA could be collected from commercial CLs and whether the duration of CL wear would impact RNA recovery.

Adverse jaw outcomes from immune checkpoint inhibitors for head and neck cancer? Case reports.

Radiation treatment plays a mainstream role in the management of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Adverse effects from radiation therapy include osteoradionecrosis of the jaw, and rarely, pathologic fracture. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) such as pembrolizumab are of growing relevance to the management of metastatic and recurrent HNSCCs.

Circulating metabolomic markers linking diabetic kidney disease and incident cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes: analyses from the Hong Kong Diabetes Biobank.

Aims/hypothesis: The aim of this study was to describe the metabolome in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and its association with incident CVD in type 2 diabetes, and identify prognostic biomarkers.

Methods: From a prospective cohort of individuals with type 2 diabetes, baseline sera (N=1991) were quantified for 170 metabolites using NMR spectroscopy with median 5.2 years of follow-up.

Adverse jaw outcomes from immune checkpoint inhibitors for head-and-neck cancer? Case reports.

Radiation treatment plays a mainstream role in the management of head and neck cancers (HNSCC). Adverse effects from radiation therapy include osteoradionecrosis of the jaw, and rarely, pathological fracture. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) such as pembrolizumab are of growing relevance to the management of metastatic and recurrent HNSCC.

Disparities in lung cancer short- and long-term outcomes after surgery: Analysis from the national cancer database.

Introduction: Social determinants of health are particularly important in lung cancer epidemiology. Previous studies have primarily associated social determinants with long-term outcomes, such as survival, but fail to include short-term outcomes after surgery. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was used to draw associations between social factors of patients with lung cancer and short-term post-surgical outcomes, while comparing them to prognostic factors, including stage at diagnosis and survival.

Impact of a high sensitivity troponin accelerated diagnostic protocol on the safety and emergency department length of stay of chest pain in an academic tertiary hospital: a quality improvement study.

Purpose: High-sensitivity troponin (hsTn) accelerated diagnostic protocols are highly recommended for evaluating acute coronary syndromes. Our goal was to improve care for chest pain patients through the safe adoption of an accelerated diagnostic protocol in our academic Emergency Department (ED) with an aim to reduce mean ED length of stay for chest pain patients by 1 h over 1.5 years.

Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age.

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

High levels of expression of Trop-2 in thymic epithelial tumors.

Background: Trophoblastic antigen 2 (Trop2) is a cell surface glycoprotein expressed in multiple types of cancers, including breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and gastrointestinal cancers. Trop2 expression and the use of Trop2-directed therapy such as antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) have not yet been investigated in thymic epithelial tumors (TETs).

Methods: Patients with TETs treated at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital were retrospectively identified.

Identification of a Common Variant for Coronary Heart Disease at PDE1A Contributes to Individualized Treatment Goals and Risk Stratification of Cardiovascular Complications in Chinese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

Objective: In this study we aim to unravel genetic determinants of coronary heart disease (CHD) in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and explore their applications.

Research Design And Methods: We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study for CHD in Chinese patients with T2D (3,596 case and 8,898 control subjects), followed by replications in European patients with T2D (764 case and 4,276 control subjects) and general populations (n = 51,442-547,261). Each identified variant was examined for its association with a wide range of phenotypes and its interactions with glycemic, blood pressure (BP), and lipid controls in incident cardiovascular diseases.

Social mindfulness predicts concern for nature and immigrants across 36 nations.

People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice - known as social mindfulness. It is not yet clear whether and how these complex and more simple forms of cooperation relate. Prior work has found that countries with individuals who made more socially mindful choices were linked to a higher country environmental performance - a proxy for complex cooperation.

Doxorubicin-Loaded Extracellular Vesicles Enhance Tumor Cell Death in Retinoblastoma.

Chemotherapy is often used to treat retinoblastoma; however, this treatment method has severe systemic adverse effects and inadequate therapeutic effectiveness. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important biological information carriers that mediate local and systemic cell-to-cell communication under healthy and pathological settings. These endogenous vesicles have been identified as important drug delivery vehicles for a variety of therapeutic payloads, including doxorubicin (Dox), with significant benefits over traditional techniques.

Late effects and treatment related morbidity associated with treatment of neuroblastoma patients in a tertiary paediatric centre.

Background: Survival of neuroblastoma patients has improved over recent decades, but chronic health issues and treatment related late effects cause significant morbidity in survivors.

Aims: We aimed to describe late effects and long-term toxicity in neuroblastoma patients treated at a tertiary, paediatric institution in Australia.

Methods & Results: Patients with neuroblastoma treated primarily at The Children's hospital at Westmead were eligible for inclusion.

Osimertinib and Capmatinib Combination Therapy to Overcome Y1003N-Mediated Resistance in -Mutant NSCLC: A Case Report.

Osimertinib, a third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is the frontline standard in the treatment of metastatic -mutant NSCLC. Although osimertinib is effective, disease progression occurs in virtually all patients, mediated by a heterogeneous array of resistance mechanisms. Activation of the signaling pathway by means of amplification has been implicated in resistance to osimertinib, but activation caused by point mutations in has not been well described.