Evaluation of a peer support group programme for vulnerable host population and refugees living with diabetes and/or hypertension in Lebanon: a before-after study.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally, and many humanitarian crises occur in countries with high NCD burdens. Peer support is a promising approach to improve NCD care in these settings. However, evidence on peer support for people living with NCDs in humanitarian settings is limited.

Polyp and tumor microenvironment reprogramming in colorectal cancer: insights from mucosal bacteriome and metabolite crosstalk.

Background: Highly frequent colorectal cancer (CRC) is predicted to have 3.2 million novel cases by 2040. Tumor microenvironment (TME) bacteriome and metabolites are proposed to be involved in CRC development.

Loneliness is associated with adverse health behaviour and obesity: a Danish population-based study of 122,258 individuals.

Background: Loneliness is a public health concern associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Adverse health behaviours and a higher body mass index (BMI) have been proposed as key mechanisms influencing this association. The present study aims to examine the relationship between loneliness, adverse health behaviour and a higher BMI, including daily smoking, high alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary habits, and obesity in men and women and across different life stages.

"I surely don't call for fun": experiences of being a "frequent caller" to the Danish emergency helpline.

Background: While most Danish citizens never or very rarely call the national emergency helpline, 1-1-2, a few citizens call very often. In this article, we attend to the often-unheard voices of frequent callers, exploring why these citizens call 1-1-2 and why they often do not feel helped.

Methods: The article is based on a mixed-methods study on citizens in the Central Denmark Region who had called 1-1-2 five or more times during a period of six months in 2023.

Everyday activity strategies perceived by people with advanced cancer: a qualitative explorative study.

Background: Despite growing research on the daily life of people with advanced cancer, more specific knowledge is needed about the specific strategies these people use to manage everyday activities.

Purpose: This study explores how people with advanced cancer manage their everyday activities and describe their specific strategies.

Methods: The qualitative study was designed with an explorative approach.

Precession modulates the poleward expansion of atmospheric circulation to the Arctic Ocean.

Under sustained global warming, Arctic climate is projected to become more responsive to changes in North Pacific meridional heat transport as a result of teleconnections between low and high latitudes, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we reconstruct subarctic humidity changes over the past 400 kyr to investigate the role of low-to-high latitude interactions in regulating Arctic hydroclimate. Our reconstruction is based on precipitation-driven sediment input variations in the Subarctic North Pacific (SANP), which reveal a strong precessional cycle in subarctic humidity under the relatively low eccentricity variations that dominated the past four glacial-interglacial cycles.

Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss.

Mitigating loss of genetic diversity is a major global biodiversity challenge. To meet recent international commitments to maintain genetic diversity within species, we need to understand relationships between threats, conservation management and genetic diversity change. Here we conduct a global analysis of genetic diversity change via meta-analysis of all available temporal measures of genetic diversity from more than three decades of research.

Extreme smells - microbial production of volatile organic compounds at the limits of life.

Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds (MVOCs) are diverse molecules produced by microorganisms, ranging from mere waste by-products to important signalling molecules. While the interest in MVOCs has been increasing steadily, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of MVOCs in extreme environments with e.g.

Advances in systematic conservation planning to meet global biodiversity goals.

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) involves the cost-effective placement and application of management actions to achieve biodiversity conservation objectives. Given the political momentum for greater global nature protection, restoration, and improved management of natural resources articulated in the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, assessing the state-of-the-art of SCP is timely. Recent advances in SCP include faster and more exact algorithms and software, inclusion of ecosystem services and multiple facets of biodiversity (e.

Pathophysiology, Assessment, and Management of Pain Associated with Chronic Pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a fibroinflammatory disease, with pain as its most prominent symptom. This article provides a comprehensive review of the pathophysiology, assessment methodologies, and management strategies pertaining to pain in CP. Pathophysiological mechanisms include inflammatory and neuropathic components, including peripheral and central sensitization.

Haemodynamic profiling: when AI tells us what we already know.

Machine learning (ML) algorithms hold significant potential for extracting valuable clinical information from big data, surpassing the processing capabilities of the human brain. However, it would be naïve to believe that ML algorithms can consistently transform data into actionable insights. Clinical studies suggest that in some instances, they tell clinicians what they already know or can plainly see.

Arginase-1-specific T cells target and modulate tumor-associated macrophages.

Background: Arginase-1 (Arg1) expressing tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) may create an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), which is a significant challenge for cancer immunotherapy. We previously reported the existence of Arg1-specific memory T cells among peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and described that Arg-1-based immune modulatory vaccines (IMVs) control tumor growth and alter the M1/M2 macrophage ratio in murine models of cancer. In the present study, we investigated how Arg1-specific T cells can directly target TAMs and influence their polarization.

Persistent low concentrations of antiepileptics in a critically ill paediatric patient: an example of multiple potential drug interactions.

A middle childhood boy with epilepsy exhibited persistent low concentrations of valproic acid, lamotrigine and topiramate for over 1 month, primarily due to pharmacokinetic interactions involving fosphenytoin, meropenem and phenobarbital. Awareness of these clinically significant interactions is crucial for ensuring effective seizure control. However, further research is needed to establish optimal evidence-based treatment strategies in complex paediatric cases.

Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among garment workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Garment workers are at high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) due to repetitive physical tasks, long working hours and varying workstations. As there is no existing epidemiological overview of MSDs among garment workers, this systematic review aimed to evaluate the global evidence on prevalence of MSDs in this population.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Barriers and facilitators to global access to life-saving skills training: an international cross-sectional survey.

Introduction: Emergency care begins in the community, who are often the first on the scene. Where emergency care systems are nascent or absent, bystanders represent the only prehospital emergency care that victims might receive. It is important to equip bystanders through life-saving skills training (LST).

Anaphylaxis definition, overview, and clinical support tool: 2024 consensus report.

Background: The 2006 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (NIAID/FAAN) anaphylaxis criteria are widely used in clinical care and research. In 2020, the World Allergy Organization (WAO) published modified criteria that have not been uniformly adopted. Different criteria contribute to inconsistent care and research outcomes.

1-year efficacy results after MR-guided risk-adapted stereotactic radiotherapy of infra-diaphragmatic oligometastases in a multicenter phase II trial.

Background And Purpose: The SOFT (Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy of infra-diaphragmatic sOFT tissue metastases) trial assesses the safety and efficacy of risk-adapted MR-guided stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) of infra-diaphragmatic soft tissue metastasis in patients with oligometastatic disease (OMD) (clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT04407897). This paper reports the one-year efficacy analysis and evaluates associations between local control (LC) and clinical and dosimetric parameters.

The neuroprotective effect of human umbilical cord MSCs-derived secretome against α-synuclein aggregates on the blood-brain barrier.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a specialized network that maintains central nervous system homeostasis. Disruption of the BBB can lead to neuronal damage and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by alpha-synuclein (αSN) aggregation, which forms intracellular inclusions. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown promise in alleviating the severity of neurological diseases through their paracrine secretions.

Disgust, Pleasure, and Convenience in fast-food consumption: Perspectives from Danish Middle-Class Parents.

Family meals are an important topic in food consumption research linked to health, care, morality, etc. Recent consumer surveys show that home cooking and family eating patterns are under pressure due to increasingly busy everyday family lives. Here, fast food meals offer a practical solution.

The Cross-Sectional Association Between Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.

Background And Aims: The prevalence of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease has increased in parallel with a rise in consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF), but little is known about their association.

Methods: We cross-sectionally examined associations of UPF with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in 2,458 (mean age 54 years; 55.9% women) community-dwelling adults who completed vibration-controlled transient elastography and a food frequency questionnaire.

Optical time-lapse microscopy for rapid assessment of microbial quality in hygroscopic food samples.

In the food industry, time-to-result is crucial for faster release of products, minimising recalls, mitigation of microbial contamination problems and, ultimately, food safety. Carrageenan is isolated from red seaweed (Rhodophyta) and applied in various foods and beverages as a gelling, thickening, texturing, or stabilizing agent due to its hygroscopic properties. Currently, the standard industry plate count method entails a one-hundred-fold dilution of the sample before mixing with molten agar for assessment of the level of microbial contamination in carrageenan samples prior to business-to-business shipment.

Integrative in silico and biochemical analyses demonstrate direct Arl3-mediated ODA16 release from the intraflagellar transport machinery.

Outer dynein arms (ODAs) are essential for ciliary motility and are preassembled in the cytoplasm before trafficking into cilia by intraflagellar transport (IFT). ODA16 is a key adaptor protein that links ODAs to the IFT machinery via a direct interaction with the IFT46 protein. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating the assembly, transport, and release of ODAs remain poorly understood.