Prognostic impact of albuminuria in early-stage chronic kidney disease on cardiovascular outcomes: a cohort study.

Background: The impact of early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) on cardiovascular outcomes, particularly when albuminuria is present, remains unclear. This study examined the associations between early CKD (stages 1 and 2) with and without albuminuria and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), heart failure (HF) and all-cause mortality.

Methods: A cohort of 456 015 participants from the UK Biobank was categorised by CKD stage using serum creatinine to calculate estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (≥3 mg/mmol) to define albuminuria.

Cophylogeny, narrow host breadth and local conditions drive highly specialized bird-haemosporidian associations in West-Central African sky islands.

The parasite island syndrome denotes shifts in parasite life histories on islands, which affect parasite diversity, prevalence and specificity. However, current evidence of parasite island syndromes mainly stems from oceanic islands, while sky islands (i.e.

A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare.

The concept of animal welfare is evolving due to progress in our scientific understanding of animal biology and changing societal expectations. Animal welfare science has been primarily concerned with minimizing suffering, but there is growing interest in also promoting positive experiences, grouped under the term positive animal welfare (PAW). However, there are discrepancies in the use of the term PAW.

Nudging Strategies to Promote Plant-Based and Sustainable Food Consumption in Canteens.

Transitioning towards a more plant-based diet can promote sustainable food consumption while simultaneously addressing environmental and health-related issues. Integrated nudging strategies are effective in promoting healthy eating behaviours. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of an integrated nudging intervention to promote plant-based meals and determine its effect on promoting sustainable food consumption behaviour.

Physical Activity and Life Expectancy Free of Cancer: Prospective Evidence From the UK Biobank Study.

Background: Life expectancy free of cancer (LEFC) is a novel measure that considers both morbidity and mortality and could be a useful metric for disease surveillance and risk communication. We aimed to examine the association between physical activity and LEFC in British adults.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 292,559 apparently healthy UK Biobank participants (mean [SD] age, 56.

Optimization, validation, and greenness assessment of a capillary zone electrophoresis method for analysis of inorganic and organic anions in human milk oligosaccharides.

The development and validation of an accurate, selective, and eco-friendly capillary zone electrophoretic detection (CZE) method has been presented for concurrent measurement of inorganic and organic anions including chloride, sulfate, formic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, phosphate, and glutamic acid in Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) for the first time. An electrolyte composed of an aqueous solution of benzoic acid, 16.38 mM; l-histidine, 24.

The window of opportunity: Estimating the role of climate finance on urban-rural electricity inequality.

Access to electricity is vital for enhancing human welfare; however, it is not equally distributed between rural and urban demographics. This paper, for the first time, examine the impact of climate finance on electricity accessibility, and the inequality of electricity accessibility between urban and rural areas. Based on the dataset covering 125 countries during 2002-2020, and by using the instrumental Variables-Generalized Method of Moments model, we mainly arrive at the following conclusions.

Temperate grassland conversion to conifer forest destabilises mineral soil carbon stocks.

Tree-planting is increasingly presented as a cost-effective strategy to maximise ecosystem carbon (C) storage and thus mitigate climate change. Its success largely depends on the associated response of soil C stocks, where most terrestrial C is stored. Yet, we lack a precise understanding of how soil C stocks develop following tree planting, and particularly how it affects the form in which soil C is stored and its associated stability and resistance to climate change.

Eco-nano solutions for rapid phosphorus recovery: Closing the loop for sustainable agriculture.

Efficient phosphorus (P) removal from agricultural drainage is crucial for making its removal and recovery economically viable and operationally feasible. This study evaluated cost-effective, green-synthesized nanoparticles (using grass extract) for rapid and efficient P adsorption. Batch experiments were conducted to assess the effect of pH, P concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and temperature on P adsorption.

VLDL triglycerides and cholesterol in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and myocardial infarction.

Background And Aims: Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of death in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The two diseases share elevated very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) carrying both triglycerides and cholesterol; however, in NAFLD mainly triglycerides accumulate in liver cells while in myocardial infarction mainly cholesterol accumulates in the atherosclerotic plaque. We hypothesized that VLDL triglycerides preferentially associate with risk of NAFLD, while VLDL cholesterol preferentially associates with risk of myocardial infarction.

'Care as capital': Developing theory about school investment in mental health and wellbeing.

Recent years have seen an emphasis on delivering mental health and wellbeing support in school settings. However, the process by which schools meet this resource allocation challenge is largely undocumented. Our study used theory-building process tracing to develop a mechanistic understanding of the process of mental health investment in schools.

PFAS concentrations in the blood of Danish surfers.

Background: Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) have been used for decades in countless households and industrial products. Many PFAS do not degrade and are thus ubiquitous in the environment and within organisms. Humans are primarily exposed to PFAS through ingestion and inhalation, and such exposure has been associated with several health effects.

Minimal Basis Iterative Stockholder Decomposition with Multipole Constraints.

The minimal basis iterative Stockholder (MBIS) decomposition of molecular electron densities into atomic quantities is an attractive approach for deriving electrostatic parameters in force fields. The MBIS-derived atomic charges, however, in general tend to overestimate the molecular dipole and quadrupole moments by ∼10%. We show that it is possible to derive a constrained MBIS model where the atomic charges or a combination of atomic charges and dipoles exactly reproduce the molecular dipole and quadrupole moments for molecules.

Metabolic Engineering of Yeast.

Microbial cell factories have been developed to produce various compounds in a sustainable and economically viable manner. The yeast has been used as a platform cell factory in industrial biotechnology with numerous advantages, including ease of operation, rapid growth, and tolerance for various industrial stressors. Advances in synthetic biology and metabolic models have accelerated the design-build-test-learn cycle in metabolic engineering, significantly facilitating the development of yeast strains with complex phenotypes, including the redirection of metabolic fluxes to desired products, the expansion of the spectrum of usable substrates, and the improvement of the physiological properties of strain.

Optimal Predilatation Treatment Before Implantation of a Magmaris Bioresorbable Scaffold in Coronary Artery Stenosis: The OPTIMIS Trial.

Background: Bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) were developed to overcome limitations related to late stent failures of drug-eluting stents, but lumen reductions over time after implantation of BRS have been reported. This study aimed to investigate if lesion preparation with a scoring balloon compared with a standard noncompliant balloon minimizes lumen reduction after implantation of a Magmaris BRS assessed with optical coherence tomography and intravascular ultrasound.

Methods: Eighty-two patients with stable angina were randomized in a ratio of 1:1 to lesion preparation with a scoring balloon versus a standard noncompliant balloon before implantation of a Magmaris BRS.

Synthesis, Pharmacological Characterization, and Binding Mode Analysis of 8-Hydroxy-Tetrahydroisoquinolines as 5-HT Receptor Inverse Agonists.

The serotonin 7 receptor (5-HTR) regulates various processes in the central nervous system, including mood, learning, and circadian rhythm control, among others. Receptor activation can lead to activation of the Gα protein and a subsequent increase of intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Receptor interaction with inverse agonists results in a decrease of basal cAMP levels and therefore a downstream effect of reduced neuronal excitability and neurotransmission.

Manipulating Fano Coupling in an Opto-Thermoelectric Field.

Fano resonances in photonics arise from the coupling and interference between two resonant modes in structures with broken symmetry. They feature an uneven and narrow and tunable lineshape and are ideally suited for optical spectroscopy. Many Fano resonance structures have been suggested in nanophotonics over the last ten years, but reconfigurability and tailored design remain challenging.

The Calcium-Sensing Receptor in the Thick Ascending Limb and the Renal Response to Hypercalcemia.

Background: The parathyroid calcium-sensing receptor (CASR) controls the release of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in response to changes in serum calcium levels. Activation of the renal CASR increases urinary calcium excretion and is particularly important when CASR-dependent reductions in PTH fail to lower serum calcium. However, the role of the renal CASR in protecting against hypercalcemia and the direct effects of chronic CASR activation on tubular calcium handling remains to be fully elucidated.

Clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients initiated on molnupiravir in Denmark - A national registry study.

Background: Molnupiravir (MOV) is an orally bioavailable ribonucleoside with antiviral activity against all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants. We describe the demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics of non-hospitalized Danish patients treated with MOV and their clinical outcomes following MOV initiation.

Method: Among all adults (>18 years) who received MOV between 16 December 2021 and 30 April 2022 in an outpatient setting in Denmark, we summarized their demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline and post-MOV outcomes using descriptive statistics.

Cut-Off Values Able to Identify Migraine Patients With Increased Pressure-Pain Sensitivity Independent of the Migraine Cycle Through a Single Assessment: A Secondary Analysis of a Multicentre, Cross-Sectional, Observational Study.

Aim: Identify values that could predict the presence of increased pressure-pain sensitivity independent of the migraine cycle through a single assessment.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a previous study in which 198 episodic and chronic migraine patients were assessed during all phases of the migraine cycle. Pressure pain threshold (PPT) was assessed over the temporalis, cervical spine, hand, and leg.

Effectiveness of Empagliflozin vs Dapagliflozin for Kidney Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

Importance: No large randomized clinical trial has directly compared empagliflozin with dapagliflozin, leaving their comparative effectiveness regarding kidney outcomes unknown.

Objective: To compare kidney outcomes between initiation of empagliflozin vs dapagliflozin in adults with type 2 diabetes who were receiving antihyperglycemic treatment.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This target trial emulation used nationwide, population-based routinely collected Danish health care data to compare initiation of empagliflozin vs dapagliflozin in adults with type 2 diabetes who received antihyperglycemic treatment between June 1, 2014, and October 31, 2020.

High fatigue levels among psychiatric outpatients - the validity of the Danish Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Fatigue Short-Form (PROMISF-SF).

Background: Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Fatigue Short-Form (PROMIS-F-SF) is a self-administered, patient reported outcome (PRO) designed to assess fatigue in healthy and clinical populations and for tracking progress during treatment for disorders complicated with fatigue.

Methods: Patients in the Mental Health Service Outpatient Clinics and healthy volunteers were invited to complete a survey, which included the Danish translation of the PROMIS-F-SF, the Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS-11), and measures of depression and anxiety. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the previously suggested single-factor structure of the instrument.