Polymer-based nanocarriers to transport therapeutic biomacromolecules across the blood-brain barrier.

Therapeutic biomacromolecules such as genetic material, antibodies, growth factors and enzymes represent a novel therapeutic alternative for neurological diseases and disorders. In comparison to traditional therapeutics, which are mainly based on small molecular weight drugs that address the symptoms of these disorders, therapeutic biomacromolecules can reduce undesired side effects and target specific pathological pathways, thus paving the way towards personalized medicine. However, these biomacromolecules undergo degradation/denaturation processes in the physiological environment and show poor capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Reported severity of psychotic, depressive and anxiety symptoms in relation to bilingual language profile: An exploratory study and the validation of Basque versions of the PQ-B, DASS-42, PHQ-9 and GAD-7.

Background: Language plays a crucial role in health care and especially in mental health, since the use of the native language helps to make a good diagnosis as several studies have shown.

Aim: We studied the influence of language on the accurate detection of psychotic and affective symptoms, exploring differences in the severity of reported symptomatology in a bilingual Basque-Spanish population.

Methods: The study uses the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief for the detection of psychosis and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-42 for the assessment of stress, anxiety and depression.

Toward a Circular Economy of Heteroatom Containing Plastics: A Focus on Heterogeneous Catalysis in Recycling.

Plastics play a vital role in modern society, but their accumulation in landfills and the environment presents significant risks to ecosystems and human health. In addition, the discarding of plastic waste constitutes to a loss of valuable material. While the usual mechanical recycling method often results in reduced material quality, chemical recycling offers exciting opportunities to valorize plastic waste into compounds of interest.

Fully Recyclable Pluripotent Networks for 3D Printing Enabled by Dissociative Dynamic Bonds.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has risen in popularity due to its ability to produce complex shapes in a material-efficient way. However, to produce objects with advanced properties, complex multimaterial strategies are often employed. This one-polymer-one-property paradigm significantly slows down the application of AM, and in particular of fused deposition modeling (FDM), for manufacturing of functional objects.

Home Sweet Court? Examining Disparities in Individual Performance Between All-NBA and Non-All-NBA Players: Home Versus Away Games Comparison Across 23 Seasons (1997-2023).

In this study, we assessed players' technical and tactical performance, based on home or away venues and examined whether these differences varied between All-NBA and Non-All-NBA players. We analyzed data from 23 NBA seasons (1997-1998 to 2022-2023), excluding seasons impacted by lockouts and pandemic restrictions. The dataset, sourced from open-access NBA records, included 243,067 games and variables such as points per game, rebounds (offensive and defensive), shooting percentages (2-points %, 3-points %, free-throw %), assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, personal fouls, and efficiency, normalized per 48 minutes of play.

Corrigendum to "3D-printed placental-derived bioinks for skin tissue regeneration with improved angiogenesis and wound healing properties" [Mater. Today Bio. (2023) 100666].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.

Actionable Forecasting as a Determinant of Biological Adaptation.

Organisms continuously adapt to changing environments to survive. Here, contrary to the prevailing view that predictive strategies are essential for perfect adaptation, it is shown that biological systems can precisely track their optimal state by adapting to a non-anticipatory actionable target that integrates the current optimum with its rate of change. Predictive mechanisms, such as circadian rhythms, are beneficial for accurately inferring the actionable target when environmental sensing is slow or unreliable.

Efficient crystal structure prediction based on the symmetry principle.

Crystal structure prediction (CSP) is an evolving field aimed at discerning crystal structures with minimal prior information. Despite the success of various CSP algorithms, their practical applicability remains circumscribed, particularly for large and complex systems. Here, to address this challenge, we show an evolutionary structure generator within the MAGUS (Machine Learning and Graph Theory Assisted Universal Structure Searcher) framework, inspired by the symmetry principle.

Impaired unfolded protein response, BDNF and synuclein markers in postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate nucleus of patients with depression and Parkinson's disease.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by significant impairment in social, emotional, and cognitive functioning. Its precise pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Alterations in protein homeostasis and some misfolded proteins have been identified within the brains of patients diagnosed with neuropsychiatric disorders.

Neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning profiles in bipolar disorder and comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Bipolar disorder (BD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are chronic psychiatric conditions with significant impacts on neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning. Co-occurrence of BD and ADHD (BD-ADHD) presents unique clinical challenges and could exacerbate cognitive and functional impairments. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide an updated synthesis of the differences in neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning between patients with BD-ADHD, BD, ADHD, and healthy controls (HC).

Determining the Molecular Shape of Progesterone: Insights from Laser Ablation Rotational Spectroscopy.

Herein, we present the first experimental observation of isolated progesterone, an endogenous steroid, placed in the gas phase by laser ablation and characterized in a supersonic expansion by Fourier transform microwave techniques. Guided by quantum-chemical calculations, we assigned the rotational spectrum of the most stable structure. The internal rotation of the acetyl methyl group led to the observation of A-E doublets in the spectrum, which were analyzed, resulting in a V barrier of 2.

Multi-material Volumetric Bioprinting and Plug-and-play Suspension Bath Biofabrication via Bioresin Molecular Weight Tuning and via Multiwavelength Alignment Optics.

Volumetric Bioprinting (VBP), enables to rapidly build complex, cell-laden hydrogel constructs for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Light-based tomographic manufacturing enables spatial-selective polymerization of a bioresin, resulting in higher throughput and resolution than what is achieved using traditional techniques. However, methods for multi-material printing are needed for broad VBP adoption and applicability.

SUBTLEX-AR: Arabic word distributional characteristics based on movie subtitles.

This article presents SUBTLEX-AR, a digital database providing an extensive collection of attributes related to Modern Standard Arabic words (Arabic for short). SUBTLEX-AR combines a novel dataset of 120 million word tokens from movie subtitles with 40 million tokens from newspaper articles originally collected in ARALEX (Boudelaa & Marslen-Wilson, Behavior Research Methods, 42, 481-487, 2010), ensuring comprehensive coverage. SUBTLEX-AR provides information about the statistical properties of Arabic words at the orthographic, phonological, morphological, and semantic levels.

What Is "Zone 2 Training"?: Experts' Viewpoint on Definition, Training Methods, and Expected Adaptations.

Background: The role of high-volume low-intensity training for enhancing endurance performance has gained growing interest in recent years. Specifically, so-called "zone 2 training" is currently receiving much attention, and many propose that this is the target intensity at which a large proportion of total endurance training should be performed. However, despite the popularity of this concept, there is no clear consensus among coaches, athletes, and scientists regarding the definition of zone 2 training.

The comparison of pupillometry to standard clinical practice for pain and preemptive analgesia before endotracheal suctioning: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Pain during endotracheal aspiration (ETA) is frequent in critically ill patients. Managing pre-emptive analgesia before procedures remains a crucial aspect of care. We compared pupillometry to standard clinical practice for assessing preemptive-analgesia administration and pain before ETA according to Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS), the Behavioural Pain Indicator Scale (ESCID), and the Pupillary Dilation Reflex (PDR).

Chemical Activation of a Single Melamine Molecule via Isomerization Followed by Metalation with a Copper Atom.

Scanning probe methods have very successfully been used for inducing on-surface reactions and imaging with high resolution the reaction partners at the single-molecule level. However, the entire sequence of chemically activating an educt, identifying its reactive site, running a chemical reaction, and quantifying the involved forces and energies has been missing to date. Here, the organic molecule melamine adsorbed on Cu(100) serves as a single-molecule model system for activation via tautomerization and subsequent metalation with a single Cu atom.

European general practitioners' attitudes towards person-centred care and factors that influence its implementation in everyday practice: The protocol of the cross-sectional PACE GP/FP study in 24 European countries.

Background: Person-centred care (PCC) is a fundamental principle in general practice, emphasising practices tailored to individual patient preferences, needs, and values. Despite the importance of PCC, general practitioners (GPs) face obstacles in effectively implementing it, with associated factors remaining unclear.

Objectives: The PACE GP/FP study aims to explore GPs' attitudes towards PCC and the factors facilitating or hindering its implementation in daily practice across European countries.

Anticholinergic Burden and Cognitive Function in Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The authors synthesized evidence from studies quantifying the relationship between anticholinergic medication and cognitive function in psychosis, and additionally explored studies that investigated whether reducing anticholinergic medications affects cognitive function in individuals with psychosis.

Methods: A database search was conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO, from database inception to October 2023, for studies reporting objective cognitive assessment and quantification of anticholinergic burden using clinical scales, serological anticholinergic activity, or tapering of anticholinergic medications. Analyses were carried out in R using the package.

The Effect of Alginate/Hyaluronic Acid Proportion on Semi-Interpenetrating Hydrogel Properties for Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering.

One of the emergent regenerative treatments for the restoration of the articular cartilage is tissue engineering (TE), in which hydrogels can functionally imitate the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the native tissue and create an optimal microenvironment for the restoration of the defective tissue. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is known for its potential in the field of TE as a regenerative material for many tissues. It is one of the major components of the articular cartilage ECM contributing to cell proliferation and migration.

Polycarbonate Nanofiber Filters with Enhanced Efficiency and Antibacterial Performance.

The need for clean and safe air quality is a global priority that extends to diverse environments, including households, industrial spaces, and areas requiring respiratory personal protection. In this study, polycarbonate (PC) nanofiber filters coated with a coating containing a silver salt were prepared by the electrospinning process and a subsequent dipping-extraction method. These nanofiber filters presented the enhancement of air filtration efficiency and reinforcement of antibacterial properties.

Functionalization of Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Hydrogen Production Applications.

This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the pivotal role that nanomaterials, particularly graphene and its derivatives, play in advancing hydrogen energy technologies, with a focus on storage, production, and transport. As the quest for sustainable energy solutions intensifies, the use of nanoscale materials to store hydrogen in solid form emerges as a promising strategy toward mitigate challenges related to traditional storage methods. We begin by summarizing standard methods for producing modified graphene derivatives at the nanoscale and their impact on structural characteristics and properties.

Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Identification in Illiterate and Low-Educated People: Systematic Review About the Use of Brief Cognitive Screening Tools.

The rising prevalence of dementia, particularly in low-income and developing countries, highlights the urgent need for effective cognitive screening tools. However, the existing tools often fail to address the unique needs of low-educated and illiterate populations, leading to diagnostic disparities. This review aimed to evaluate cognitive screening tests and domains employed globally to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in low-educated and illiterate older adults.

Academic Anxiety in Spanish Higher Education: A Systematic Review.

Background: Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health issues of the 21st century, significantly impacting individuals and healthcare systems worldwide. Within higher education research, academic anxiety is particularly significant, as it encompasses the specific anxieties students face within academic environments, such as exams and public speaking. This study aims to provide a contemporary overview of academic anxiety within Spanish universities by addressing three key questions: (1) How has research on academic anxiety evolved in Spain? (2) What tools have been used to measure academic anxiety? (3) What factors and variables have been analyzed in relation to academic anxiety, and what are the main findings?

Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines for study selection, data extraction, and synthesis.

Exposure to different types of residential greenness during pregnancy and early childhood and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis: A nested case-control study.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that exposure to greenness may protect children attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis. However, evidence to date is limited while no previous research has independently investigated exposure to prenatal greenness.

Objective: We conducted a nested case-control study with data from Born in Bradford (BiB) and INfancia y Medio Ambiente (INMA) birth cohorts to investigate the association between exposure to various types of residential greenness and ADHD diagnosis, considering both pregnancy and early childhood exposure periods independently.

Special needs of refugees with substance use disorders from conflict-affected countries: a comparison with German-born individuals.

Background: Refugees seem to be at enhanced risk for substance use disorders. At the same time, they have less access to services and their health needs remain poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the specific needs of refugees as compared to German-born individuals seeking help for substance use disorders.