Immune Cell Interplay in the Fight Against GBM.

Despite multimodal therapies, the treatment of glioblastoma remains challenging. In addition to the very complex mechanisms of cancer cells, including specialized phenotypes that enable them to proliferate, invade tissues, and evade immunosurveillance, they exhibit a pronounced resistance to chemo- and radiotherapy. More advanced tumors create a hypoxic environment that supports their proliferation and survival, while robust angiogenesis ensures a constant supply of nutrients.

Multi-Center Benchmarking of a Commercially Available Artificial Intelligence Algorithm for Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) Score Assignment and Lesion Detection in Prostate MRI.

Background: The increase in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) examinations as a fundamental tool in prostate cancer (PCa) diagnostics raises the need for supportive computer-aided imaging analysis. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of a commercially available AI-based algorithm for prostate cancer detection and classification in a multi-center setting.

Methods: Representative patients with 3T mpMRI between 2017 and 2022 at three different university hospitals were selected.

Development of a Scoring Instrument for Identification of Pneumonitis in Older Lung Cancer Patients After Radiotherapy (POLCAR): A Protocol for a Prospective Trial.

: Pneumonitis caused by radiotherapy for lung cancer may be missed since it often occurs only several months later. In a previous trial including patients of any age, a scoring system was tested to facilitate the correct diagnosis of radiation pneumonitis. Since elderly lung cancer patients have a greater risk of developing this complication, a separate scoring system for this group appears useful.

H2AJ Is a Direct Androgen Receptor Target Gene That Regulates Androgen-Induced Cellular Senescence and Inhibits Mesenchymal Markers in Prostate Cancer Cells.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a significant public health issue, particularly in developed countries. The androgen receptor (AR) plays a key role in regulating both the normal development and the proliferation of PCa. Bipolar androgen therapy, which involves treatment with supraphysiological androgen levels (SALs), has been shown to inhibit PCa growth.

ctDNA as an Objective Marker for Postoperative Residual Disease in Primary Advanced High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer.

Background/objectives: The surgeon's subjective intraoperative evaluation is the standard of care to assess postoperative residual disease (RD) in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). We investigated the feasibility of ctDNA as an objective marker for postoperative RD.

Methods: This prospective study included 27 patients with advanced ovarian cancer (FIGO IIIA1-IVB) who underwent primary surgery between July 2021 and July 2022.

Detection of Genomic Copy Number Variations in Ovarian Cancer in the Peripheral Blood System.

Ovarian cancer has an incidence of 11 [...

Population-Adjusted Indirect Treatment Comparisons of Repotrectinib Among Patients with NSCLC.

Background: Head-to-head evidence comparing repotrectinib against other approved ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is not currently available. The objective of this study was to indirectly compare progression-free survival (PFS), the objective response rate (ORR), and the duration of response (DoR) for repotrectinib vs. crizotinib and vs.

Revolutionizing MASLD: How Artificial Intelligence Is Shaping the Future of Liver Care.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is emerging as a leading cause of chronic liver disease. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has attracted significant attention in healthcare, particularly in diagnostics, patient management, and drug development, demonstrating immense potential for application and implementation. In the field of MASLD, substantial research has explored the application of AI in various areas, including patient counseling, improved patient stratification, enhanced diagnostic accuracy, drug development, and prognosis prediction.

Secretome Analysis of Prostate Cancer Cell Lines Reveals Cell Cycle-Dependent PSA Secretion and Potential Biomarkers.

Metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) is marked by heterogeneity and therapy resistance, which arise from prolonged therapy regimens. This heterogeneity is reflected in various morphologic and genetic characteristics, biomarker expression, and other molecular mechanisms, thereby contributing to the complexity of the disease. To investigate tumor heterogeneity, the effects of androgen targeting therapy (ADT) on single-cell PSA secretion was assessed by analyzing the prostate cancer cell lines using a modified ELISpot platform.

AI Model for Predicting Anti-PD1 Response in Melanoma Using Multi-Omics Biomarkers.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated significantly improved clinical efficacy in a minority of patients with advanced melanoma, whereas non-responders potentially suffer from severe side effects and delays in other treatment options. Predicting the response to anti-PD1 treatment in melanoma remains a challenge because the current FDA-approved gold standard, the nonsynonymous tumor mutation burden (nsTMB), offers limited accuracy.

Methods: In this study, we developed a multi-omics-based machine learning model that integrates genomic and transcriptomic biomarkers to predict the response to anti-PD1 treatment in patients with advanced melanoma.

Implicit Motor Learning Under Anodal or Cathodal tDCS During fMRI Induces Partially Distinct Network Responses.

How anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) and cathodal tDCS (ctDCS) affect brain networks is still unclear. Previous fMRI studies have yielded controversial results regarding the effects of atDCS and ctDCS on fMRI activation. The present study hypothesizes that the choice of fMRI paradigm may be a contributing factor to this divergence.

Theoretical background of the game design element "chatbot" in serious games for medical education.

Background: The use of virtual patients enables learning medical history taking in a safe environment without endangering patients' safety. The use of a chatbot embedded in serious games provides one way to interact with virtual patients. In this sense, the chatbot can be understood as a game design element, whose implementation should be theory driven and evidence based.

Quantitative Investigation of Nitrosamine Drug Substance-Related Impurities (NDSRIs) Under Artificial Gastric Conditions by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis.

The presence of nitrosamines in numerous human medicinal products (HMP) has recently emerged as a cause for concern. Following the initial discovery of carcinogenic low molecular weight nitrosamines such as nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in HMP, regulatory authorities worldwide requested marketing authorization holders to perform risk assessments for the presence of nitrosamines in their products. The initially observed contaminations-mainly low molecular weight nitrosamines-were generated by organic solvent impurities or by-products from synthesis and nitrite carried over to finished products (FP).

Physical illness in schizophrenia and the role of tolerability in antipsychotic selection: an expert consensus with a focus on cariprazine.

Background: Schizophrenia is a highly heterogeneous disease, and a high percentage of patients are at high risk of developing somatic comorbidities, which must be taken into account in disease management and treatment selection.

Main Body: Antipsychotics are often associated with side effects that worsen the somatic comorbidities. Among the different options, cariprazine is generally safe and usually well tolerated in both acute and long-term treatment and is often a good choice when balancing clinical benefits and side effects.

Genetic transformation of the oilseed crop camelina using immature zygotic embryos.

Background: Camelina is an oilseed crop with particularly useful fatty acid and amino acid profiles of its seeds, high resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses, and a short life cycle. Previous genetic engineering approaches in camelina have largely relied on the floral dip method which is, however, associated with genotype-dependent efficiency and incompatibility with methods of direct biomolecule delivery.

Results: Here, we established a novel method of transgenesis for camelina, taking advantage of the high regenerative capacity of immature embryos.

Scientific highlights of the 8th world one health Congress, Cape Town, South Africa 2024.

The 8th World One Health Congress took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 20-23 September 2024 to address all cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary aspects of the One Health paradigm, integrating human, animal, and environmental health. It brought together more than 1400 participants from 87 countries, and 400 speakers across 70 sessions. We summarize here the fourteen keynote lectures, which emphasized the need for a One Health approach to better integrate plant and agricultural health against food insecurity; the continuing challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious threats; a paradigm shift towards health risk prevention; and approaches to further strengthen and expand the impact of the One Health movement.

Tandem LTR-retrotransposon structures are common and highly polymorphic in plant genomes.

Background: LTR-retrotransposons (LTR-RT) are a major component of plant genomes and important drivers of genome evolution. Most LTR-RT copies in plant genomes are defective elements found as truncated copies, nested insertions or as part of more complex structures. The recent availability of highly contiguous plant genome assemblies based on long-read sequences now allows to perform detailed characterization of these complex structures and to evaluate their importance for plant genome evolution.

Analyzing dietary exposure to critical nutrients on a plant-based diet using the food- and total nutrient index.

Background: Unfortified plant-based diets are devoid of vitamin B12, and supply low intakes of iodine, zinc, selenium, and calcium. To disentangle the complex interplay between nutritional adequacy and nutrient intakes from supplements and foods in plant-based diets, data from a Germany-based cross-sectional study examining the nutritional status of omnivores, lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans was re-analyzed. Special emphasis was put on potentially under-consumed nutrients in plant-based diets, including vitamin A and choline.

Part II: understanding pain in pigs-pain assessment in pigs with spontaneously occurring diseases or injuries.

Background: Pain in pigs needs to be managed and treated to the benefit of individual pigs. It is imperative for veterinarians and farmers to assure that pigs do not suffer from unnecessary pain that can be relieved. This review focusses on pain related to spontaneously occurring diseases and injuries since this topic is often neglected.

Decreased complement 4 and interleukin-10 as biomarkers in aqueous humour for non-exudative age-related macular degeneration: a case control study.

Background: The development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is influenced by risk factors that contribute to inflammatory processes, cellular stress responses, and a dysregulation of the complement system. Given the incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of AMD and the necessity for novel therapeutics, biomarker studies investigating aqueous humour from the anterior chamber of the eye serve as a valuable tool. This pilot study aimed to assess inflammatory mediators and complement components in aqueous humour of non-exudative AMD patients in comparison with a control group.

Pseudonymization tools for medical research: a systematic review.

Background: Pseudonymization is an important technique for the secure and compliant use of medical data in research. At its core, pseudonymization is a process in which directly identifying information is separated from medical research data. Due to its importance, a wide range of pseudonymization tools and services have been developed, and researchers face the challenge of selecting an appropriate tool for their research projects.

Parallel privacy preservation through partitioning (P4): a scalable data anonymization algorithm for health data.

Background: Sharing health data holds great potential for advancing medical research but also poses many challenges, including the need to protect people's privacy. One approach to address this is data anonymization, which refers to the process of altering or transforming a dataset to preserve the privacy of the individuals contributing data. To this, privacy models have been designed to measure risks and optimization algorithms can be used to transform data to achieve a good balance between risks reduction and the preservation of the dataset's utility.

Mental health of university students twenty months after the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.

Background: Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 led to an increase of anxiety and depressive states, psychosomatic manifestations, and a tendency to abuse alcohol and psychoactive substances in the population. The aim of this paper is to examine the mental health burden among university students twenty months after war and to identify risk and protective factors for mental health problems.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Ukrainian students in October 2023 (n = 1398).