Endothelial dysfunction in adults with congenital heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) can face a lifelong risk of premature cardiovascular events. Endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness may be some of the key mechanisms involved. Early identification of endothelial damage in ACHD could be crucial to mitigate the adverse events.

High Shear Stress Reduces ERG Causing Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Background: Computational modeling indicated that pathological high shear stress (HSS; 100 dyn/cm) is generated in pulmonary arteries (PAs; 100-500 µm) in congenital heart defects causing PA hypertension (PAH) and in idiopathic PAH with occlusive vascular remodeling. Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a feature of PAH. We hypothesize that HSS induces EndMT, contributing to the initiation and progression of PAH.

Dual-Stage Cross-Flow Filtration: Integrated Capture and Purification of Virus-Like Particles.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are a versatile technology for the targeted delivery of genetic material through packaging and potential surface modifications for directed delivery or immunological issues. Although VLP production is relatively simple as they can be recombinantly produced using microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, their current downstream processing often relies on individually developed purification strategies. Integrating size-selective separation techniques may allow standardized platform processing across VLP purification.

The role of vorasidenib in the treatment of isocitrate dehydrogenase-mutant glioma.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors in young adults. This condition imposes a substantial burden on patients and their caregivers, marked by neurocognitive deficits and high mortality rates due to tumor progression, coupled with significant morbidity from current treatment modalities. Although surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy improve survival, these treatments can adversely affect cognitive function, quality of life, finances, employment status, and overall independence.

Semantic Integration Demands Modulate Large-Scale Network Interactions in the Brain.

The ability to integrate semantic information into the context of a sentence is essential for human communication. Several studies have shown that the predictability of a final keyword based on the sentence context influences semantic integration on the behavioral, neurophysiological, and neural level. However, the architecture of the underlying network interactions for semantic integration across the lifespan remains unclear.

Metabolic Mode of Alginate-Encapsulated Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as a Background for Storage at Ambient Temperature.

Human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are attractive for both medical practice and biomedical research. Nonfreezing short-term storage may provide safe and simple transportation and promote the practical use of MSCs. We aimed to determine the duration of efficient storage at ambient temperature (22°C) of human dermal MSCs in different three-dimensional organization and to investigate the role of cell metabolic mode in the resistance to the ambient storage damaging factors.

Light Environment of Arctic Solstices is Coupled With Melatonin Phase-Amplitude Changes and Decline of Metabolic Health.

Light environment in the Arctic differs widely with the seasons. Studies of relationships between objectively measured circadian phase and amplitude of light exposure and melatonin in community-dwelling Arctic residents are lacking. This investigation combines cross-sectional (n = 24-62) and longitudinal (n = 13-27) data from week-long actigraphy (with light sensor), 24-h salivary melatonin profiles, and proxies of metabolic health.

Interlaboratory Measurement of Adeno-Associated Virus: Comparative Quantification of Full and Empty Capsids.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) is one of the main viral vector-based gene therapy platforms. AAV is a virus consisting of a ≈25 nm diameter capsid with a ≈4.7 kb cargo capacity.

Impact of genetic test interpretation on a missense variant in Cohen syndrome.

Introduction: Cohen syndrome (CS) is an early-onset pediatric neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by postnatal microcephaly and intellectual disability. An accurate diagnosis for individuals with CS is crucial, particularly for their caretakers and future prospects. CS is predominantly caused by rare homozygous or compound heterozygous pathogenic variants in the vacuolar protein sorting-associated 13B () gene, which disrupt protein translation and lead to a loss of function (LoF) of the encoded VPS13B protein.

Long-term patient-reported outcomes following congenital heart surgery in adults.

Objective: To investigate the long-term impact of cardiac surgery on the quality of life in adults with congenital heart disease (ACHDs).

Methods: Patients who had undergone cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) at the age of 18 years or more were recruited in a single-center, cross-sectional study. The enrolled subjects completed online questionnaires to assess patient-reported outcomes: perceived health status and life satisfaction, psychological functioning, health behaviors, and illness perception.

Boredom and curiosity: the hunger and the appetite for information.

Boredom and curiosity are common everyday states that drive individuals to seek information. Due to their functional relatedness, it is not trivial to distinguish whether an action, for instance in the context of a behavioral experiment, is driven by boredom or curiosity. Are the two constructs opposite poles of the same cognitive mechanism, or distinct states? How do they interact? Can they co-exist and complement each other? Here, we systematically review similarities and dissimilarities of boredom and curiosity with respect to their subjective experience, functional role, and neurocognitive implementation.

Prolonged survival by combination treatment with a standardized herbal extract from Japanese Kampo-medicine (Juzentaihoto) and gemcitabine in an orthotopic transplantation pancreatic cancer model.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by its poor prognosis. Traditional Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo), such as Juzentaihoto (a standardized combination of 10 herbal extracts), has shown immune modulatory effects, modulation of microcirculation, and amelioration of fatigue. It is administered to patients to prevent deterioration of cachexia and counteract side effects of chemotherapy.

Mucormycosis Causing Splenic Infarction, Gastric Fistula, and Brain Abscess in a Patient With Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Case Report.

Invasive mucormycosis is an aggressive fungal infection characterized by rapid progression, primarily impacting immunocompromised individuals. Herein, we report a case of splenic infarction in association with gastrointestinal fistula and brain abscess as a rare presentation of mucormycosis biopsy, proven in a 56-year-old patient diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. The patient initially sought medical attention with a 3-week history of fever, night sweats, and malaise.

Autoinjectors for Administering Glatiramer Acetate in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in Europe: A Survey of Patient and Nurse Preferences.

Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disorder affecting almost 2.8 million people globally, approximately 80-85% of whom have the relapsing-remitting form of the disease (RRMS). There are several autoinjectors available for the administration of injectable disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of MS.

A new conservation material for gold in heritage wall paintings: polymer-stabilized nanogold gels (NGGs).

Gilded wall paintings such as those in Petra-Jordan undergo deterioration processes such as delamination and loss of the gold layer. The aim of this work is to produce a functioning long-lasting adhesive that compensates for binder and gold loss while stabilising the gold layer. Polymer-stabilised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a conservation material for gilded heritage paintings (Nano Gold Gel (NGG)) were synthesised using two facile and affordable synthesis approaches.

Cytokine screening identifies TNF to potentially enhance immunogenicity of pediatric sarcomas.

Introduction: Pediatric sarcomas, including osteosarcoma (OS), Ewing sarcoma (EwS) and rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) carry low somatic mutational burden and low MHC-I expression, posing a challenge for T cell therapies. Our previous study showed that mediators of monocyte maturation sensitized the EwS cell line A673 to lysis by HLA-A*02:01/CHM1-specific allorestricted T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic CD8 T cells (CHM1 CD8 T cells).

Methods: In this study, we tested a panel of monocyte maturation cytokines for their ability to upregulate immunogenic cell surface markers on OS, EwS and RMS cell lines, using flow cytometry.

Linsitinib inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of both IGF-1R and TSH-R expressing cells.

Background: The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) and the thyrotropin receptor (TSH-R) are expressed on orbital cells and thyrocytes. These receptors are targeted in autoimmune-induced thyroid eye disease (TED). Effective therapeutic treatment of TED inhibits activation of the IGF-1R/TSH-R complex.

SWOOP: top-k similarity joins over set streams.

We provide efficient support for applications that aim to continuously find pairs of similar sets in rapid streams, such as Twitter streams that emit tweets as sets of words. Using a sliding window model, the top- result changes as new sets enter the window or existing ones leave the window. Specifically, when a set arrives, it may form a new top- result pair with any set already in the window.

Toward Supplementation Guidelines for Vegan Complementary Feeding.

Previously published recommendations for vegetarian (including vegan) diets for children have highlighted the need for vitamin B12 supplementation. Increased attention to several other key nutrients (including iodine, vitamin D, calcium, and iron) has also been recommended. However, an overview focusing on supplementation guidelines, specifically for vegan infants, has not been published, and a potential requirement for iodine and/or selenium supplementation in (some) vegan infants has not been discussed.

Lessons for Theory from Scientific Domains Where Evidence is Sparse or Indirect.

In many scientific fields, sparseness and indirectness of empirical evidence pose fundamental challenges to theory development. Theories of the evolution of human cognition provide a guiding example, where the targets of study are evolutionary processes that occurred in the ancestors of present-day humans. In many cases, the evidence is both very sparse and very indirect (e.

From extraction to end-uses and waste management: Modeling economy-wide material cycles and stock dynamics around the world.

Material stocks of infrastructure, buildings, and machinery are the biophysical basis of production and consumption. They are a crucial lever for resource efficiency and a sustainable circular economy. While material stock research has proliferated over the last years, most studies investigated specific materials or end-uses, usually not embedded into an economy-wide perspective.