Are three zebras more than three frogs: examining conceptual and physical congruency in numerosity judgements of familiar objects.

Researchers in numerical cognition have extensively studied the number sense-the innate human ability to extract numerical information from the environment quickly and effortlessly. Much of this research, however, uses abstract stimuli (e.g.

Therapy response monitoring in blood plasma from esophageal adenocarcinoma patients using cell-free DNA methylation profiling.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is an aggressive cancer characterized by a high risk of relapse post-surgery. Current follow-up methods (serum carcinoembryonic antigen detection and PET-CT) lack sensitivity and reliability, necessitating a novel approach. Analyzing cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood plasma emerges as a promising avenue.

A Belgian single centre outcome study of radioiodine treatment in adolescents with Graves' disease.

Up to 80% of children/adolescents with Graves' disease (GD) may require second-line treatment with either surgery or radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy after treatment with antithyroid drugs. These interventions aim to induce permanent hypothyroidism, but are not always successful. We aimed to evaluate the initial success rate (within the first year) of RAI treatment and its determining factors as second-line treatment in teenagers with GD.

Magnetoacoustic wave propagation in the solar corona and filament dynamics.

The formation of a S-shaped filament was investigated to determine if and how magnetoacoustic waves in the solar corona can trigger filament excitation. The study investigated how magnetoacoustic waves interact with two magnetic null points in the solar corona. Since the solar corona has a complex magnetic field structure, it is expected that magnetic structures are predominantly responsible for the occurrence of coronal events.

Identifying the main drivers of transmission in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal.

In this study, we employed a modeling approach to describe how changes in age-specific epidemiological characteristics, such as behaviour, i.e. contact patterns, susceptibility and infectivity, influence the basic reproduction number , while accounting for heterogeneity in transmission.

Mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ radiosensitizes tumors by decreasing mitochondrial oxygen consumption.

Hypoxic tumors are radioresistant stemming from the fact that oxygen promotes reactive oxygen species (ROS) propagation after water radiolysis and stabilizes irradiation-induced DNA damage. Therefore, an attractive strategy to radiosensitize solid tumors is to increase tumor oxygenation at the time of irradiation, ideally above a partial pressure of 10 mm-Hg at which full radiosensitization can be reached. Historically, the many attempts to increase vascular O delivery have had limited efficacy, but mathematical models predicted that inhibiting cancer cell respiration would be more effective.

The endoplasmic reticulum as a cradle for virus and extracellular vesicle secretion.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membranous carriers of protein, lipid, and nucleic acid cargoes and play a key role in intercellular communication. Recent work has revealed the previously under-recognized participation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated proteins (ERAPs) during EV secretion, using pathways reminiscent of viral replication and secretion. Here, we present highlights of the literature involving ER/ERAPs in EV biogenesis and propose mechanistic parallels with ERAPs exploited during viral infections.

Right ventricular reserve in cardiopulmonary disease: a simultaneous hemodynamic and three-dimensional echocardiographic study.

Background: RV reserve has been linked to exercise capacity and prognosis in cardiopulmonary diseases. However, evidence in this setting is limited, due to the complex shape and load dependency of the RV. We sought to study right ventricular (RV) adaptation to exercise by simultaneous three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and right heart catheterization (RHC).

Development of a New Score Based on Image Defined Risk Factors to Standardize Surgical Risk in Neuroblastoma Resection - A SIOPEN Collaborative Study.

Background And Aims: Image Defined Risk Factors (IDRFs) assess surgical risk in neuroblastoma (NB) and guide neoadjuvant therapy. Despite chemotherapy IDRFs may persist in 70 % of cases. Several studies have suggested that not all IDRFs hold equal significance and that the presence of an IDRF does not inherently signify unresectability.

Time to talk about stuttering: A cross-sectional study about the beliefs and attitude of adolescents toward stuttering.

Introduction: This study investigated the attitude of Belgian (Flemish) high school students of 15 years and older toward stuttering, compared them with international samples and evaluated the impact of an attitude program about stuttering.

Method: Nine schools participated in this study. The students completed the POSHA-S before and after the program.

Addressing the role of surgery in brain tumour trials: A report from the neurosurgery committee of the EORTC brain tumour group.

The Brain Tumor Group (BTG) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) conducts academic clinical trials and translational research to improve clinical management of patients with primary and secondary brain tumors. The EORTC BTG has traditionally played an important role in providing evidence and thus advancing the field, albeit with a main focus on radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy in gliomas. Although examples of well-designed neuro-oncological surgical trials can be found, evidence in surgical neuro-oncology predominantly includes data from uncontrolled prospective series or retrospective cohorts.

Study of the influence of beer composition on the amount of bubbles in beer: CO, alcohol, protein and iso-alpha-acid contents as primary predictors.

Due to compositional differences, the mouthfeel of non-alcoholic beers (NABs) is considered inferior to that of alcoholic beers (ABs). Carbonation properties are a key sensation regarding mouthfeel. This study quantified the amount of bubbles in ABs (n = 10) and NABs (n = 9), ranging from 3.

Implementing digital respiratory technologies for people with respiratory conditions: A protocol for a scoping review.

The value of 'data-enabled', digital healthcare is evolving rapidly, as demonstrated in the COVID-19 pandemic, and its successful implementation remains complex and challenging. Harmonisation (within/between healthcare systems) of infrastructure and implementation strategies has the potential to promote safe, equitable and accessible digital healthcare, but guidance for implementation is lacking. Using respiratory technologies as an example, our scoping review process will capture and review the published research between 12th December 2013 to 12th December 2023.

A novel strain of Leishmania braziliensis harbors not a toti- but a bunyavirus.

Leishmania is a genus of the family Trypanosomatidae that unites obligatory parasitic flagellates causing a variety of vector-borne diseases collectively called leishmaniasis. The symptoms range from relatively innocuous skin lesions to complete failures of visceral organs. The disease is exacerbated if a parasite harbors Leishmania RNA viruses (LRVs) of the family Pseudototiviridae.

Prognostic and predictive implications of sterile alpha motif and HD domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) expression in breast cancer.

Sterile alpha motif and HD domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) is a dNTP hydrolase important for intracellular dNTP homeostasis and serves as tumor suppressor and modulator of antimetabolite efficacy in cancer, though largely unexplored in breast cancer (BC). A cohort of patients with early BC (n = 564) with available gene expression data (GEP) was used. SAMHD1 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry performed on tissue microarrays.

Prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriage among men who have sex with men at a sexual health clinic in Brussels, Belgium: a cross-sectional study.

To assess the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) carriage among men who have sex with men (MSM) and examine potential risk factors associated with colonization. This was an observational, cross-sectional, monocentric study. Inclusion criteria were asymptomatic adult MSM.

Circulating Endocannabinoids Are Associated with Mental Alertness During Ultra-Endurance Exercise.

Ultra-endurance exercise events result in central fatigue, impacting on mental alertness and decision making. Endocannabinoids are typically elevated during endurance exercise and have been implicated in central processes such as learning and memory, but their role in central fatigue has never been studied. Twenty-four recreational male ultrarunners participated in a 100-km trail run, and 18 of them completed at least 60 km and were included in the analyses.

Biodistribution and dosimetry of the PET radioligand [F]CHDI-650 in mice for detection of mutant huntingtin aggregates.

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of the CAG trinucleotide repeat in the huntingtin gene which encodes the mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT) that is associated with HD-related neuropathophysiology. Noninvasive visualization of mHTT aggregates in the brain, with positron emission tomography (PET), will allow to reliably evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in HD. This study aimed to assess the radiation burden of [F]CHDI-650, a novel fluorinated mHTT radioligand, in humans based on both in vivo and ex vivo biodistribution in mice and subsequent determination of dosimetry for dosing in humans.

A stratified treatment algorithm in psychiatry: a program on stratified pharmacogenomics in severe mental illness (Psych-STRATA): concept, objectives and methodologies of a multidisciplinary project funded by Horizon Europe.

Schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar (BD) and major depression disorder (MDD) are severe psychiatric disorders that are challenging to treat, often leading to treatment resistance (TR). It is crucial to develop effective methods to identify and treat patients at risk of TR at an early stage in a personalized manner, considering their biological basis, their clinical and psychosocial characteristics. Effective translation of theoretical knowledge into clinical practice is essential for achieving this goal.

Health-Economic Impact Attributable to Occurrence of Pleurisy and Pneumonia Lesions in Finishing Pigs.

Respiratory diseases, such as pleurisy and pneumonia, cause significant health and economic losses in pig production. This study evaluated 867 finishing pigs from a farm with a history of respiratory issues, using macroscopic lesion scoring (SPES and CVPC), histopathological analysis, qPCR diagnostics, and economic modeling. Severe pleurisy (scores 3 and 4) was observed in 42.

Birth of a Healthy Monozygotic Twin Foal with Hydrops and a Dead Co-Twin.

Transfer of in vitro-produced (IVP) equine embryos is associated with a higher incidence of monozygotic multiple pregnancies, but this remains a rarity. The outcome of monozygotic twin gestation is poor, and good management techniques are lacking. In addition, hydrops conditions are exceptional in horses, with hydroallantois occurring more frequently than hydramnion.

Assessing Acute Pericarditis with T1 Mapping: A Supportive Contrast-Free CMR Marker.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of pericardial T1 mapping as a potential supportive non-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) parameter in the diagnosis of acute pericarditis. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between T1 mapping values in acute pericarditis patients and their demographic data, cardiovascular risk factors, clinical parameters, cardiac biomarkers, and cardiac function.

Method: This retrospective study included CMR scans in 35 consecutive patients with acute pericarditis (26 males, 45.

Abundance and Distribution of (Diptera: Psychodidae) Across Various Habitat Types in Endemic Foci of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the Mid-Highlands of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

is a vector of , the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis. This study assessed the abundance and distribution of in different habitats and human houses situated at varying distances from hyrax (reservoir host) dwellings, in Wolaita Zone, southern Ethiopia. Sandflies were collected from January 2020 to December 2021 using CDC light traps, sticky paper traps, and locally made emergence traps.