Use of Alternatives to Animal Testing for Environmental Safety Assessment (ESA): Report from the 2023 EPAA Partners' Forum.

Environmental Safety Assessments (ESA) are mandatory for several regulatory purposes and are an important component of stewardship/sustainability initiatives. Fish testing is used for assessing chemical toxicity and bioaccumulation potential; amphibians are included in some jurisdictions and their use is increasing to assess endocrine disruption. Alternative methods are becoming more available, covering the principles of the 3Rs (i.

Plant secondary metabolites against biotic stresses for sustainable crop protection.

Sustainable agriculture practices are indispensable for achieving a hunger-free world, especially as the global population continues to expand. Biotic stresses, such as pathogens, insects, and pests, severely threaten global food security and crop productivity. Traditional chemical pesticides, while effective, can lead to environmental degradation and increase pest resistance over time.

Focal mandibular osteonecrosis following intraosseous anesthesia: A case report.

Introduction And Importance: Intraosseous anesthesia (IOA), an important technique in dental anesthesia, delivers anesthetic directly into the bone, enhancing patient comfort and minimizing side effects. Despite advantages, several disadvantages are known such as injection discomfort, root damage, mechanical obstructions and needle fractures. This report highlights a rare yet significant complication of focal mandibular osteonecrosis following IOA.

Effect of by-products-based diet and intramuscular fat content on volatile compounds from pork.

This study evaluated the effects of a fibre- and fat-rich by-products-based diet and the intramuscular fat (IMF) content on volatile compounds in pork. Meat samples were collected from sixteen gilts included in a feeding trial. Half of the animals were fed a conventional diet based on wheat, maize, barley and soybean meal, whereas the other half were fed a by-products-based diet that contained corn germ meal, malt sprouts, crispbread meal and proticorn, but no cereals or soya.

Synergizing bioprinting and 3D cell culture to enhance tissue formation in printed synthetic constructs.

Bioprinting is currently the most promising method to biofabricate complex tissues in vitro with the potential to transform the future of organ transplantation and drug discovery. Efforts to create such tissues are, however, almost exclusively based on animal-derived materials, like gelatin methacryloyl, which have demonstrated efficacy in bioprinting of complex tissues. While these materials are already used in clinical applications, uncertainty about their safety still remains due to their animal origin.

Tumour-infiltrating Lymphocytes and Radiation Therapy in Rectal Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Aim: Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) represent a promising cancer biomarker. Different TILs, including CD8+, CD4+, CD3+, and FOXP3+, have been associated with clinical outcomes. However, data are lacking regarding the value of TILs for patients receiving radiation therapy (RT).

Fertility in transgender and gender diverse people: systematic review of the effects of gender-affirming hormones on reproductive organs and fertility.

Background: Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people seek gender-affirming care at any age to manage gender identities or expressions that differ from their birth gender. Gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) and gender-affirming surgery may alter reproductive function and/or anatomy, limiting future reproductive options to varying degrees, if individuals desire to either give birth or become a biological parent.

Objective And Rationale: TGD people increasingly pursue help for their reproductive questions, including fertility, fertility preservation, active desire for children, and future options.

TCR transgenic clone selection guided by immune receptor analysis and single-cell RNA expression of polyclonal responders.

Since the precursor frequency of naive T cells is extremely low, investigating the early steps of antigen-specific T cell activation is challenging. To overcome this detection problem, adoptive transfer of a cohort of T cells purified from T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic donors has been extensively used but is not readily available for emerging pathogens. Constructing TCR transgenic mice from T cell hybridomas is a labor-intensive and sometimes erratic process, since the best clones are selected based on antigen-induced CD69 upregulation or IL-2 production in vitro, and TCR chains are polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-cloned into expression vectors.

Natural exposure to Chikungunya virus in golden-headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas, Kuhl, 1820) from non-protected areas in southern Bahia, Brazil: Implications and significance.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is primarily associated with non-human-primates (NHPs) in Africa, which also infect humans. Since its introduction to Brazil in 2014, CHIKV has predominantly thrived in urban cycles, involving Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Limited knowledge exists regarding CHIKV occurrence and implications in rural and sylvatic cycles where neotropical NHPs are potential hosts, from which we highlight Leontopithecus chrysomelas (Kuhl, 1820), the golden-headed lion tamarin (GHLT), an endangered species endemic to the Atlantic Forest (AF) in Southern Bahia State, Brazil.

Community and familial dynamics influencing risk behavior for HIV acquisition among adolescent girls and young women in Uganda: Qualitative analysis using Protective Motivation Theory.

Background: In Uganda, adolescent girls', and young women's (AGYW-15-24 years) current HIV prevalence is fourfold compared with their male counterparts due to compounded social, economic, and environmental factors. Using the Protective Motivation Theory (PMT), we explored HIV-acquisition risk sources and perceived protective factors from AGYW and caregivers' perspective.

Materials And Methods: During 2018, we conducted a qualitative study guided by PMT to explore factors influencing HIV acquisition among AGYW.

Ascertaining the Environmental Advantages of Pavement Designs Incorporating Recycled Content through a Parametric and Probabilistic Approach.

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is a widely used end-of-life (EoL) material in asphalt pavements to increase the material circularity. However, the performance loss due to using RAP in the asphalt binder layer often requires a thicker layer, leading to additional material usage, energy consumption, and transportation effort. In this study, we developed a parametric and probabilistic life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to robustly compare various pavement designs incorporating recycled materials.

Anatomical description and digital reconstruction of the skull of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from China.

Ornithopod dinosaurs appeared during the Middle Jurassic, but it was in the Lower Cretaceous they started their successful evolutionary history. Different phylogenies describing the evolutionary relationships of Ornithopoda are mostly based on cranial features, however there is a lack of well-preserved and complete skulls for the basal member of the clade, hampering our knowledge on the mode and tempo of these herbivorous dinosaurs. Here we describe YLSNHM 01942, a well-preserved skull of a juvenile neornithischian from the Liaoning Province of China.

Deterministic and stochastic effects drive the gut microbial diversity in cucurbit-feeding fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae).

Insect diversity is closely linked to the evolution of phytophagy, with most phytophagous insects showing a strong degree of specialisation for specific host plants. Recent studies suggest that the insect gut microbiome might be crucial in facilitating the dietary (host plant) range. This requires the formation of stable insect-microbiome associations, but it remains largely unclear which processes govern the assembly of insect microbiomes.

Young, female and scientist: exploring barriers, challenges and opportunities.

Different societal, systemic and personal barriers exist at various stages along a female researcher's career that can potentially undermine their success. The equation for women to reach higher positions in STEM is a multivariable one, and while there has been considerable progress towards addressing some of these compared with the past, current solutions are inadequate and do not address all facets. Here, we asked female winners of the FEBS Open Bio poster prize about their experiences regarding barriers they have faced at the predoctoral and postdoctoral stages, their opinions on how these can be addressed and their advice to new students entering a PhD degree.

Effectiveness of Mobile Health-Based Gamification Interventions for Improving Physical Activity in Individuals With Cardiovascular Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Gamification refers to using game design elements in nongame contexts. Promoting physical activity (PA) through gamification is a novel and promising avenue for improving lifestyles and mitigating the advancement of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, evidence of its effectiveness remains mixed.

Exploratory Research: Patient-Reported Factors Contributing to Decreased Oral Intake During Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer.

Background: Radiotherapy (RT) in head and neck cancer (HNC) can cause multiple side effects such as nausea, pain, taste loss, fatigue, oral mucositis, xerostomia, and acute radiation-associated dysphagia (RAD). These factors threaten patients' oral intake (OI) during this RT. Reduced OI can cause weight loss, dehydration, malnutrition, and various comorbidities.

Vegetation-climate feedbacks across scales.

Vegetation is often viewed as a consequence of long-term climate conditions. However, vegetation itself plays a fundamental role in shaping Earth's climate by regulating the energy, water, and biogeochemical cycles across terrestrial landscapes. It exerts influence by consuming water resources through transpiration and interception, lowering atmospheric CO concentration, altering surface roughness, and controlling net radiation and its partitioning into sensible and latent heat fluxes.

Decoding Plant-Pathogen Interactions: A Comprehensive Exploration of Effector-Plant Transcription Factor Dynamics.

In the coevolutionary process between plant pathogens and hosts, pathogen effectors, primarily proteinaceous, engage in interactions with host proteins, such as plant transcription factors (TFs), during the infection process. This review delves into the intricate interplay between TFs and effectors, a key aspect in the prolonged and complex battle between plants and pathogens. Effectors strategically manipulate TFs using diverse tactics.

Measuring self-similarity in empirical signals to understand musical beat perception.

Experiencing music often entails the perception of a periodic beat. Despite being a widespread phenomenon across cultures, the nature and neural underpinnings of beat perception remain largely unknown. In the last decade, there has been a growing interest in developing methods to probe these processes, particularly to measure the extent to which beat-related information is contained in behavioral and neural responses.

Congenital Titinopathy: Comprehensive Characterization of the Most Severe End of the Disease Spectrum.

Unlabelled: Congenital titinopathy has recently emerged as one of the most common congenital muscle disorders.

Objective: To better understand the presentation and clinical needs of the under-characterized extreme end of the congenital titinopathy severity spectrum.

Methods: We comprehensively analyzed the clinical, imaging, pathology, autopsy, and genetic findings in 15 severely affected individuals from 11 families.

Organoid Ethical Typology: varieties of three-dimensional stem cell constructs and the many issues they raise in bioethics.

The advancement of and prospects for stem cell research raise a number of specific ethical issues. While navigating the ethical landscape of stem cell research is often challenging for biology researchers and biotechnology innovators, it is also difficult for the public and other persons of concern (from ethicists to policy-makers) to grasp the technicalities of a burgeoning field that develops in many directions. Organoids are one of these new biotechnological constructs that are currently eliciting a rich debate in bioethics.

International Validation of a Novel PEACE Scale to Improve the Quality of Upper Gastrointestinal Mucosal Inspection During Endoscopy.

Introduction: The performance of a high quality esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is dependent on the mucosal cleanliness. Recently, the Polprep: Effective Assessment of Cleanliness in EGD (PEACE) scale was created to assess the degree of mucosal cleanliness during EGD. The aim of this study was to validate this scoring system in a cohort of international endoscopists.

Defining Health Management: A Conceptual Foundation for Excellence Through Efficiency, Sustainability and Equity.

The practice of healthcare management is essential for the efficient operation of health services, encompassing leadership, management, and direction within healthcare organisations. 'Health management' extends beyond healthcare management by integrating principles of public health and health policy. As health management is commonly practised but not cohesively recognised, the European Health Management Association (EHMA) conducted this study to develop a cohesive definition of health management.

Identification of Cell Fate Determining Transcription Factors for Generating Brain Endothelial Cells.

Reliable models of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), wherein brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) play a key role in maintenance of barrier function, are essential tools for developing therapeutics and disease modeling. Recent studies explored generating BMEC-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) by mimicking brain-microenvironment signals or genetic reprogramming. However, due to the lack of comprehensive transcriptional studies, the exact cellular identity of most of these cells remains poorly defined.