Effect of a Narrative-Based Online Course Aimed at Reducing Stigma Toward Transgender Children and Adolescents: Longitudinal Observational Study.

Background: Stigma toward transgender children and adolescents negatively impacts their health and educational outcomes. Contact with members of stigmatized groups can dismantle stereotypes and reduce stigma by facilitating exposure to the unique cognitive and emotional perspectives of individuals within the group. Recent evidence suggests that video-based contact interventions can be as effective as face-to-face encounters, but challenges lie in protecting the identities of transgender youth, since many of them live in stealth.

Transcription factor prediction using protein 3D secondary structures.

Motivation: Transcription factors (TFs) are DNA-binding proteins that regulate gene expression. Traditional methods predict a protein as a TF if the protein contains any DNA-binding domains (DBDs) of known TFs. However, this approach fails to identify a novel TF that does not contain any known DBDs.

sp. nov., isolated from human epidermis.

Five pink-pigmented bacterial strains, isolated from human skin and classified within the genus , were examined. Among them, four were identified as , while strain OT10 was deemed to be a potential novel species. Strain OT10 exhibited characteristics, such as Gram-stain-negative, oxidase positive, motile, strictly aerobic and rod shaped.

Atrial Fibrillation and Retinal Stroke.

Importance: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common, chronic, cardiac arrythmia in older US adults. It is not known whether AF is independently associated with increased risk of retinal stroke (central retinal artery occlusion), a subtype of ischemic stroke that causes severely disabling visual loss in most cases and is a harbinger of further vascular events.

Objective: To determine whether there is an association between AF and retinal stroke.

miRNA Expression Profile in Primary Limbal Epithelial Cells of Aniridia Patients.

Purpose: This study evaluates the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile in primary limbal epithelial cells (pLECs) of patients with aniridia.

Methods: Primary human LECs were sampled and isolated from 10 patients with aniridia and 10 healthy donors. The miRNA profile was analyzed using miRNA microarrays.

Automated Lesion and Feature Extraction Pipeline for Brain MRIs with Interpretability.

This paper introduces the Automated Lesion and Feature Extraction (ALFE) pipeline, an open-source, Python-based pipeline that consumes MR images of the brain and produces anatomical segmentations, lesion segmentations, and human-interpretable imaging features describing the lesions in the brain. ALFE pipeline is modeled after the neuroradiology workflow and generates features that can be used by physicians for quantitative analysis of clinical brain MRIs and for machine learning applications. The pipeline uses a decoupled design which allows the user to customize the image processing, image registrations, and AI segmentation tools without the need to change the business logic of the pipeline.

COping with Rheumatic Stressors (CORS) questionnaire: validated German translation and cross-cultural adaptation for patients with axSpA.

Background: Patients with Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases, including axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), may suffer from stressors like pain and functional impairments leading to limitations in their self-perceived health status. The COping with Rheumatic Stressors (CORS) questionnaire was developed to analyze how patients cope with these stressors. The CORS is currently not available in German.

Microwave therapy for the treatment of resistant plantar warts: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Plantar warts, or verrucae plantares, are skin lesions on the soles of the feet caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). These warts are prevalent and affect up to 33% of children and 3.5% of adults.

The tumor distance to the main hepatic vessels is a predictor of recurrence-free survival and overall survival in hepatocellular cancer.

Introduction: The impact of the distance of the tumor from the main hepatic vessels (DTV), such as the Glissonean pedicle or hepatic veins, on oncological outcomes for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is relatively understudied. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the correlation between DTV and survival in patients with HCC after curative hepatic resection.

Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent curative-intent liver surgery for HCC between April 2018 and May 2023 were identified from a prospective database.

Dynamics in zebrafish development define transcriptomic specificity after angiogenesis inhibitor exposure.

Testing for developmental toxicity is an integral part of chemical regulations. The applied tests are laborious and costly and require a large number of vertebrate test animals. To reduce animal numbers and associated costs, the zebrafish embryo was proposed as an alternative model.

Implant-based reconstruction and adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients-current status and DEGRO recommendations.

Purpose: The aim of this review is to give an overview of the results of prospective and retrospective studies using allogenic reconstruction and postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in breast cancer and to make recommendations regarding this interdisciplinary approach.

Materials And Methods: A PubMed search was conducted to extract relevant articles from 2000 to 2024. The search was performed using the following terms: (breast cancer) AND (reconstruction OR implant OR expander) AND (radiotherapy OR radiation).

C-Reactive Protein Levels and Outcomes in Infarct-Related Cardiogenic Shock: Data from the ECLS-SHOCK Trial.

Background: The impact of systemic inflammation in acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock (AMI-CS) is still a matter of debate. The present ECLS-SHOCK sub-study investigates the association of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels with short-term outcomes in patients with AMI-CS.

Methods: Patients with AMI-CS enrolled in the multicenter, randomized ECLS-SHOCK trial between 2019 and 2022 were included.

Predictors and outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for acute type A aortic dissection requiring concomitant veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support-a retrospective multicenter cohort study.

Objectives: The study aim was to investigate the outcomes and risk factors for mortality in patients undergoing surgery for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) receiving concomitant veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support.

Methods: Patients from five European centers who underwent surgery for ATAAD and received perioperative veno-arterial ECMO support were included. A multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for thirty-day mortality.

Animal and vegetal materials of mouse oocytes segregate at first zygotic cleavage: a simple mechanism that makes the 2-cell blastomeres differ reciprocally from the start.

Recent advances in embryology have shown that the sister blastomeres of 2-cell mouse and human embryos differ reciprocally in potency. An open question is whether the blastomeres became different as opposed to originating as different. Here we wanted to test two conflicting models: one proposing that each blastomere contains both animal and vegetal materials in balanced proportions because the plane of first cleavage runs close to the animal-vegetal axis of the fertilized oocyte; and the other model proposing that each blastomere contains variable proportions of animal and vegetal materials because the plane of the first cleavage can vary depending on the topology of fertilization.

Intact Neural Responding to Hearing One's Own Name in Children with Autism.

Diminished responding to one's own name is one of the strongest and earliest predictors of autism. However, research on the neural correlates of this response in autism is scarce. Here we investigate neural responses to hearing the own name in school-aged children with and without autism.

Are we systematically overdosing women? Revisiting standardized contrast protocols for thoracoabdominal CT scans.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the iodine contrast in blood and solid organs differs between men and women and to evaluate the effect of BMI, height, weight, and blood volume (BV) on sex-specific contrast in staging CT.

Materials And Methods: Patients receiving a venous-phase thoracoabdominal Photon-Counting Detector CT (PCD-CT) scan with 100- or 120-mL CM between 08/2021 and 01/2022 were retrospectively included in this single-center study. Image analysis was performed by measuring iodine contrast in the liver, portal vein, spleen, left atrium, left ventricle, pulmonary trunk, ascending and descending aorta on spectral PCD-CT datasets.

Simulation of the biocide distribution in soil using PELMO coupled with COMLEAM.

Biocides, applied in building materials as antimicrobial protectants, can be leached out by rain, presenting substantial environmental risks as confirmed by studies on aquatic environments. However, these biocides are consistently released throughout the year in a diluted form, posing unique challenges for the prediction of transport, transformation, and ecotoxicity assessment in soil. To address this challenge, we combined COMLEAM, which predicts leaching from facades into the soil, with the FOCUS PELMO pesticide model to predict biocide distribution in soil.

A family with gallstone disease: defining inherited risk in the era of clinical genetic testing.

Gallstones are among the most frequent hepatobiliary conditions. Although in most cases, they remain asymptomatic, they can cause complications and, in such cases, invasive treatments like endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) or cholecystectomy are required. Here, we present the results of genetic testing of a single family with a high incidence of symptomatic gallstones and cholestatic liver phenotypes.

A Hitchhiker's Guide Toward CSF Biomarkers for Neuro-Oncology.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has emerged as a valuable liquid biopsy source for glioma biomarker discovery and validation. CSF produced within the ventricles circulates through the subarachnoid space, where the composition of glioma-derived analytes is influenced by the proximity and anatomical location of sampling relative to tumor, in addition to underlying tumor biology. The substantial gradients observed between lumbar and intracranial CSF compartments for tumor-derived analytes underscore the importance of sampling site selection.

Hospitalized upper extremity artery disease patients: treatment and long-term outcomes.

Background And Aims: Current knowledge about upper extremity artery disease (UEAD) is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, treatment patterns, and short- and long-term outcomes of patients suffering from UEAD.

Methods: Retrospective health claims data of patients who were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of UEAD between 2010 and 2017 were analysed.

Activity and safety of avelumab in high-grade neuroendocrine tumors and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas progressive after chemotherapy (AveNEC trial).

Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasias grade 3 (NEN G3) are rare tumors with poor prognosis and no established second-line therapy. The role of immune checkpoint blockade in these aggressive tumors remains unclear.

Methods: The phase II AVENEC study evaluated the effect of avelumab (AVE, 10 mg/kg IV Q2W) in 60 patients with well-differentiated high-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NET G3, N=22) or poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC, N=38) progressing after ≥ one prior chemotherapy (excluding Merkel cell and small-cell lung cancer).