Age- and sex-specific reference percentile curves for accelerometry-measured physical activity in healthy European children and adolescents.

Unlabelled: Physical activity measured by accelerometry (PA-accelerometry) is used as an indicator of physical capacity in chronic diseases. Currently, only fragmented age ranges of reference percentile curves are available for European children and adolescents. This study aimed to provide age- and sex-specific percentiles for physical activity measured by hip-worn accelerometry derived throughout the full age range of European children and adolescents.

Modeling severe uncontrolled asthma: Transitioning away from health states.

Background: Models developed to date to simulate long-term outcomes of asthma have been criticized for lacking granularity and ignoring disease heterogeneity.

Objective: To propose an alternative approach to modeling asthma and apply it to model long-term outcomes in a population with moderate-to-severe type 2 asthma (patients with raised fractional exhaled nitric oxide or eosinophils) and treated with conventional therapy.

Methods: A discretely integrated condition event (DICE) approach was adopted, simulating individual profiles with asthma over patients' lifetime in terms of exacerbations, asthma-related death, and death unrelated to asthma.

A Novel Variant in an Asymptomatic Adolescent Girl with Progressive Cavitating Leukoencephalopathy.

Introduction: Pathogenic variants in several genes encoding components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain have been linked to various clinical phenotypes such as progressive cavitating leukoencephalopathy (PCL). The association between PCL, previously linked to numerous gene mutations in the literature, and the gene mutations has emerged as a recent and noteworthy discovery. PCL is generally diagnosed in symptomatic patients during the early years of life, mostly in infancy.

Unique Needs and Challenges Experienced by Young People With Stroke: An International Qualitative Analysis.

Background And Objectives: Stroke in young adults has a lifelong impact on activities of daily life, including driving, leisure, and community-based activities; social participation; and reduced productivity. The needs of young people with stroke (YPwS) are likely to vary across different countries, and the development of age-adapted information and interventions is therefore critical in addressing those needs. This study aims to (1) identify the unmet needs of people with stroke aged 18 to 55 years across countries with varied income levels and cultural backgrounds and (2) determine their preferred means to access knowledge and information about stroke in the young.

New particle formation from isoprene under upper-tropospheric conditions.

Aircraft observations have revealed ubiquitous new particle formation in the tropical upper troposphere over the Amazon and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Although the vapours involved remain unknown, recent satellite observations have revealed surprisingly high night-time isoprene mixing ratios of up to 1 part per billion by volume (ppbv) in the tropical upper troposphere. Here, in experiments performed with the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets) chamber, we report new particle formation initiated by the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with isoprene at upper-tropospheric temperatures of -30 °C and -50 °C.

Isoprene nitrates drive new particle formation in Amazon's upper troposphere.

New particle formation (NPF) in the tropical upper troposphere is a globally important source of atmospheric aerosols. It is known to occur over the Amazon basin, but the nucleation mechanism and chemical precursors have yet to be identified. Here we present comprehensive in situ aircraft measurements showing that extremely low-volatile oxidation products of isoprene, particularly certain organonitrates, drive NPF in the Amazonian upper troposphere.

Dosimetric comparison of Acuros BV and AAPM TG-43 formalism for interstitial iridium-192 high-dose-rate brachytherapy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was a retrospective dosimetric comparison of iridium-192 (Ir) high-dose-rate (HDR) interstitial brachytherapy plans using model-based dose calculation algorithm (MBDCA) following TG-186 recommendations and TG-43 dosimetry protocol for breast, head-and-neck, and lung patient cohorts, with various treatment concepts and prescriptions.

Material And Methods: In this study, 59 interstitial Ir HDR brachytherapy cases treated in our center (22 breast, 22 head and neck, and 15 lung) were retrospectively selected and re-calculated with TG-43 dosimetry protocol as well as with Acuros BV dose calculation algorithm, with dose to medium option based on computed tomography images. Treatment planning dose volume parameter differences were determined and their significance was assessed.

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) derived from melon seed husk ameliorate Ni/Al mixture-mediated cognitive impairment in rats.

This study evaluated the protective effects of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) derived from melon seed husk ash against the neurotoxic effects of common environmental pollutants, aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni), and their combination in Wistar rats. Ninety-one male Sprague Dawley rats (220-250 g; 6-8 weeks old) were divided into 13 experimental groups. Key findings revealed that exposure to nickel, aluminum, or their combination significantly impaired spatial learning and memory, as evidenced by prolonged latency periods in treated rats.

Density tunable dispersive solid phase extraction of four organochlorine pesticides from edible oil sample using rhodamine B as a sorbent prior to GC-MS analysis.

In this study, a new method was used to evaluate the levels of four organochlorine pesticides in edible samples. In this method, a density tunable dispersive solid phase extraction procedure was coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Rhodamine B was used as a sorbent, which was distributed throughout the oil matrix with the aid of evaporation of methanol.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk based on SCORE algorithms and reclassification based on preclinical atherosclerotic plaques.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the number of carotid and common femoral bifurcations with plaque (NBP) detected by ultrasound in reclassifying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk obtained from SCORE algorithms. Data from the cohort of 1000 individuals free from ASCVD in the Cyprus Epidemiological Study on Atherosclerosis was used.

Methods: In each predicted ASCVD risk class (low, moderate, high) based on SCORE algorithms and baseline data, the observed 10-year risk of subgroups according to the NBP was used to reclassify participants.

Are attitudes towards infertility associated with gender perception?

Infertility is not life-threatening but is nevertheless an important problem that threatens a couple's wellbeing due to its negative impact on their emotional health and quality of life. This descriptive, correlational study aimed to determine the relationship between university students' attitudes towards infertility and their gender perceptions. The study was conducted in a state university with a total of 602 students.

The round-robin approach applied to nanoinformatics: consensus prediction of nanomaterials zeta potential.

A key step in building regulatory acceptance of alternative or non-animal test methods has long been the use of interlaboratory comparisons or round-robins (RRs), in which a common test material and standard operating procedure is provided to all participants, who measure the specific endpoint and return their data for statistical comparison to demonstrate the reproducibility of the method. While there is currently no standard approach for the comparison of modelling approaches, consensus modelling is emerging as a "modelling equivalent" of a RR. We demonstrate here a novel approach to evaluate the performance of different models for the same endpoint (nanomaterials' zeta potential) trained using a common dataset, through generation of a consensus model, leading to increased confidence in the model predictions and underlying models.

Assessment of breeding nuclei contributions to the genetic diversity and population structure of the Cyprus Chios sheep.

Cyprus, facing climate change and desertification, has Europe's second highest population growth. Halloumi cheese's Protected Designation of Origin status boosted goat and sheep milk demand. Optimizing primary sector production is key to balancing food production and environmental sustainability.

Integrating Micro- and Nanostructured Platforms and Biological Drugs to Enhance Biomaterial-Based Bone Regeneration Strategies.

Bone defects resulting from congenital anomalies and trauma pose significant clinical challenges for orthopedics surgeries, where bone tissue engineering (BTE) aims to address these challenges by repairing defects that fail to heal spontaneously. Despite numerous advances, BTE still faces several challenges, i.e.

Synthesis, Biological Evaluation and in Silico Studies of Novel Urea/Thiourea Derivatives of Lenalidomide.

Designing new compounds from existing chemotherapeutic drugs to enhance inhibitory effects on tumor cells while overcoming multidrug resistance is one of the important strategies for new drug discovery in medicinal chemistry. A new series of urea and thiourea derivatives based on Lenalidomide as potential anticancer agents have been designed and synthesized. In vitro anticancer activity assay against Caki cancer cells and HUVEC endothelial cells revealed that 1-(4-methylphenyl)-3-[2-(2,6-dioxopiperidin-3-yl)-1-oxoisoindolin-4-yl]urea (11) exhibited the highest anticancer activity and selectivity in the series with IC values of 9.

Do patients with axial spondyloarthritis with active disease suffer from greater disease burden and work impairment? Results from the International Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (IMAS).

Background: To assess the prevalence of clinically active disease in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and its associated factors in a large global sample of patients from the International Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (IMAS) study.

Methods: IMAS is a cross-sectional online survey (2017-2022) of 5557 axSpA patients. Patients were divided between those with active disease (BASDAI ≥4) and without active disease (BASDAI <4).

Factors influencing the prescription of add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonists in real-world asthma management: Insights from a national registry.

Current guidelines recommend adding long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) in patients with uncontrolled asthma, despite the use of moderate to high doses of inhaled steroid-long-acting beta agonists (ICS/LABA). This study aims to analyze the factors related to the prescription of add-on LAMA in clinical practice for asthma patients, shedding light on physicians' preferences. This study included adult asthma patients on add-on LAMA and ICS/LABA monitored for at least one year in a national registry comprising 2053 asthmatics.