Sarcopenic obesity and brain health: A critical appraisal of the current evidence.

Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is a body composition phenotype derived from the simultaneous presence in the same individual of an increase in fat mass and a decrease in skeletal muscle mass and/or function. Several protocols for the diagnosis of SO have been proposed in the last two decades making prevalence and disease risk estimates of SO heterogeneous and challenging to interpret. Dementia is a complex neurological disorder that significantly impacts patients, carers and healthcare systems.

Personalising glioblastoma medicine: explant organoid applications, challenges and future perspectives.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive adult brain cancer, characterised by poor prognosis and a dismal five-year survival rate. Despite significant knowledge gains in tumour biology, meaningful advances in patient survival remain elusive. The field of neuro-oncology faces many disease obstacles, one being the paucity of faithful models to advance preclinical research and guide personalised medicine approaches.

A UK population-based case-control study of blood tests before cancer diagnosis in patients with non-specific abdominal symptoms.

Background: Abnormal results in commonly used primary care blood tests could be early markers of cancer in patients presenting with non-specific abdominal symptoms.

Methods: Using linked data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and national cancer registry we compared blood test use and abnormal results from the 24-months pre-diagnosis in 10,575 cancer patients (any site), and 52,875 matched-controls aged ≥30 presenting, with abdominal pain or bloating to primary care.

Results: Cancer patients had two-fold increased odds of having a blood test (odds ratio(OR):1.

An integrated framework to guide evidence-informed public health policymaking.

Evidence-informed policymaking emphasizes that policy decisions should be informed by the best available evidence from research and follow a systematic and transparent approach. For public health policymaking we can learn from existing practices of transparent, evidence-informed decision-making for clinical practice, medicines, and medical technology. We review existing evidence-to-decision frameworks, as well as frameworks and theories for policymaking to address the political dimension of policymaking, and use this analysis to propose an integrated framework to guide evidence-informed policymaking.

Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of LTCC promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation through inhibition of calcineurin activity.

Cardiomyocytes (CMs) lost during ischemic cardiac injury cannot be replaced due to their limited proliferative capacity. Calcium is an important signal transducer that regulates key cellular processes, but its role in regulating CM proliferation is incompletely understood. Here we show a robust pathway for new calcium signaling-based cardiac regenerative strategies.

The North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes.

Here, we present the North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes (NARIA), the largest open-access compilation of previously reported isotopic measurements (n = 28,374) from bioarchaeological samples in North America (i.e., Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the United States of America) covering a time-frame of more than 12,000 years.

Emerging and re-emerging viral infections of the central nervous system in Australasia and beyond.

Viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) have been emerging and re-emerging worldwide, and the Australasia region has not been spared. Enterovirus A71 and enterovirus D68, both human enteroviruses, are likely to replace the soon-to-be eradicated poliovirus to cause global outbreaks associated with neurological disease. Although prevalent elsewhere, the newly emergent orthoflavivirus, Japanese encephalitis virus (genotype IV), caused human infections in Australia in 2021, and almost certainly will continue to do so because of spillovers from the natural animal host-vector life cycle endemic in the country.

A co-designed health education model to improve outcomes for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties: a study of acceptability, feasibility and impacts.

Objective: To assess the acceptability and impacts of a co-designed health education model aiming to improve outcomes for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Design: Qualitative focus group study.

Setting: Six primary schools from metropolitan and rural settings in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Ethical Food Consumption in the Digital Age: Consumer Attitudes Towards Digitally Monitored Animal Welfare in Pork Products.

Climate change is an emerging global reality with widespread effects on ecosystems and human communities. However, its significant impact on livestock animals often goes underdiscussed as more focus is given to impact of livestock production on climate change. Implementing high-welfare systems, such as digital monitoring of animals, can help mitigate climate-related challenges by reducing temperature fluctuations and controlling disease spread.

Psychological induction of interoceptive hunger cues and their effect on food desire.

Certain interoceptive hunger cues are caused by gut physiology. These interoceptive cues may have psychological consequences, namely an ability to enhance the desire to eat, which are independent of their physiological cause. Testing this idea is difficult because the physiological processes are normally linked to any consequence.

Systematic Analysis of the Design, Methodology and Patient Population Characteristics of the Pediatric Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC) Trials of Venous Thromboembolism Treatment.

Introduction: The pediatric direct oral anticoagulation (DOAC) trials provide an opportunity to evaluate and characterize challenges in their design and execution to inform future antithrombotic trials.

Objective: To perform a systematic review of pediatric DOAC trials for the treatment of venous thromboembolism to critically appraise their methodology and understand the feasibility and challenges.

Methods: Systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.

Determining the effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation on corticomotor excitability and motor performance: A sham-controlled comparison of four frequencies.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) modulates brain oscillations and corticomotor plasticity. We examined the effects of four tACS frequencies (20 Hz, 40 Hz, 60 Hz, and 80 Hz) on motor cortex (M1) excitability and motor performance. In a randomised crossover design, 12 adults received 20-minute tACS sessions, with Sham as control.