DNA-binding affinity and specificity determine the phenotypic diversity in BCL11B-related disorders.

BCL11B is a Cys2-His2 zinc-finger (C2H2-ZnF) domain-containing, DNA-binding, transcription factor with established roles in the development of various organs and tissues, primarily the immune and nervous systems. BCL11B germline variants have been associated with a variety of developmental syndromes. However, genotype-phenotype correlations along with pathophysiologic mechanisms of selected variants mostly remain elusive.

Mechanistic basis of temperature adaptation in microtubule dynamics across frog species.

Cellular processes are remarkably effective across diverse temperature ranges, even with highly conserved proteins. In the context of the microtubule cytoskeleton, which is critically involved in a wide range of cellular activities, this is particularly striking, as tubulin is one of the most conserved proteins while microtubule dynamic instability is highly temperature sensitive. Here, we leverage the diversity of natural tubulin variants from three closely related frog species that live at different temperatures.

PTSD and CPTSD in the new ICD-11 - A latent profile analysis.

In the 11th version of the WHO´s International Classification of Diseases, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is newly recognized as a variant of PTSD, characterized by additional and more severe symptoms and typically arising from prolonged or multiple traumatic experiences. Despite recent research supporting the differentiation between PTSD and CPTSD, studies also identify a third or even a fourth latent profile in trauma patients. This study employs latent profile analysis to identify the number of latent profiles within a clinical trauma population in Germany (N = 588) and aims to investigate their distinct symptomatology.

Dissociative episodes and concurrent heart rate in patients with PTSD - An ecological momentary assessment.

Dissociative symptoms are a frequent complication in posttraumatic stress disorders affecting about a third of all PTSD patients. While theoretical models predict a physiological hypoarousal during posttraumatic dissociations, empirical evidence is lacking. We addressed this by studying spontaneously occurring dissociative symptoms and related heart rate changes in an ecological momentary assessment.

Immunogenicity of yellow fever vaccine co-administered with 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in rural Gambia: A cluster-randomised trial.

Introduction: Because booster doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) may be given at a similar time to yellow fever vaccine (YF), it is important to assess the immune response to YF when co-administered with PCV. This has been investigated during a reduced-dose PCV trial in The Gambia.

Methods: In this phase 4, parallel-group, cluster-randomized trial, healthy infants aged 0-10 weeks were randomly allocated to receive either a two-dose schedule of PCV13 with a booster dose co-administered with YF vaccine at age 9 months (1 + 1 co-administration) or YF vaccine administered separately at age 10 months (1 + 1 separate) or the standard three early doses of PCV13 with YF vaccine at age 9 months (3 + 0 separate).

Nivolumab combination therapies in patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer: the phase II FRACTION gastric cancer study.

Background: Nivolumab-based therapies are efficacious with acceptable safety in patients with gastric cancer (GC) and gastroesophageal junction cancer (GEJC). Novel nivolumab-based combination immunotherapies may offer enhanced efficacy in these indications. FRACTION-GC was a signal-seeking, randomized, open-label, phase II adaptive-design trial assessing efficacy and safety of nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab [cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody], relatlimab (lymphocyte-activation gene 3 antibody), or IDO1i (BMS986205, an indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase-1 inhibitor) in patients with unresectable, advanced/metastatic GC/GEJC.

Imagery rehearsal therapy for the treatment of nightmares in individuals with borderline personality disorder - A pilot study.

Insomnia and nightmares are present in up to 45 % of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and can contribute to challenges with emotion regulation, low sleep quality, dream anxiety, increased arousal and self-control. Despite their prevalence, nightmares are usually not addressed in classical BPD treatment. Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) is considered first in line treatment for nightmares, however, there are no studies to date that investigate its effects in individuals with BPD.

Influence of antifreeze protein III on canine sperm cryopreservation.

Sperm cryopreservation is crucial in reproductive biotechnology; however, the longevity of frozen and thawed semen is limited by the deterioration of sperm cell integrity. This study aimed to examine the effects of adding antifreeze protein III (AFP III) to the diluent, using samples from eight healthy mature dogs. The ejaculates were divided into aliquots and diluted with a standard Tris-fructose-egg yolk extender containing AFP III at concentrations of 0, 0.

Rye secalin isolates to develop reference materials for gluten detection.

Gluten-free products must not contain more than 20 mg/kg of gluten to be safe for consumption by celiac disease patients. Almost all analytical methods are calibrated to wheat, wheat gluten or gliadin, and there is no rye-specific reference material available. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the harvest year on rye gluten composition and to generate distinct rye isolates to serve as calibration standards.

Subthreshold nanosecond laser therapy for chronic central serous chorioretinopathy: A prospective study.

Purpose: To investigate the morphologic and functional outcomes of nanosecond subthreshold (ST) laser treatment for patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

Methods: In this prospective study, 44 patients were treated with the ST nanosecond laser with a follow-up period of 12 months. All target variables were measured at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the first laser treatment.

Blood-brain barrier water permeability across the adult lifespan: A multi-echo ASL study.

An emerging biomarker of blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is the time of exchange (Tex) of water from the blood to tissue, as measured by multi-echo arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI. This new non-invasive sequence, already tested in mice, has recently been adapted to humans and optimized for clinical scanning time. In this study, we studied the normal variability of Tex over age and sex, which needs to be established as a reference for studying changes in neurological disease.

A Phase 2b, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous prasinezumab in early-stage Parkinson's disease (PADOVA): Rationale, design, and baseline data.

Introduction: Prasinezumab was shown to potentially delay motor progression in individuals with early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) who were either treatment-naïve or on monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor (MAO-Bi) therapy in the PASADENA study. We report the rationale, design, and baseline patient characteristics of the PADOVA study, designed to evaluate prasinezumab in an early-stage PD population receiving standard-of-care (SOC) symptomatic medications.

Methods: PADOVA (NCT04777331) is a Phase 2b, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, in which individuals with early-stage PD on SOC stable symptomatic monotherapy (levodopa or MAO-Bi) receive intravenous prasinezumab 1500 mg every 4 weeks.

Arithmetic is not arithmetic: Paradigm matters for arithmetic effects.

Research on arithmetic uses different experimental paradigms. So far, it is unclear whether these different paradigms lead to the same effects or comparable effect sizes. Therefore, this study explores how different experimental paradigms influence mental arithmetic performance, focusing on understanding the potential differences and similarities in cognitive processes between paradigms.

Feasibility, trueness and precision of intraoral scanners in digitizing maxillectomy defects with exposed zygomatic implants in situ: An in vitro 3D comparative study.

Objectives: To in-vitro evaluate the feasibility and accuracy (trueness and precision) of various intraoral scanners (IOS) to digitize maxillectomy defect models with exposed zygomatic implants in situ.

Material And Methods: Six partially edentulous and edentulous maxillectomy defect models with 2 zygomatic implants each were obtained. References scans were obatined by using a laboratory scanner (inEos X5; Dentsply Sirona).

Microcomputed tomographic analysis of the trabecular and cortical architecture of the proximal femur and hip bone of cats and small breed dogs.

This study aims to provide an initial database to gain more detailed knowledge of the trabecular and cortical bone structure of pelvic and femur bones in cats and smaller dogs. Additionally, the bony microarchitecture between cats and smaller dogs was compared to identify possible differences between those species. These findings could potentially improve the development of non-cemented total hip replacement (THR).

PD-L1-Expression in in primary and recurrent vulvar squamous cell cancer.

Background: Squamous cell vulvar carcinoma is a rare malignant disease of women. In higher tumor stages survival rates are poor. Therapy options are limited.

Multiple sclerosis twin study reveals distinct genetic, disease-specific, and psychometric impact on coping with critical life events.

Background: Critical life events challenge our competence to develop coping strategies. In people with multiple sclerosis (MS), the impact of genetics, disease-specific, and psychometric factors on coping strategies have not been explored to date.

Methods: In a unique cohort of 56 monozygotic twins discordant for MS, we applied comprehensive psychometric and clinical testing to measure factors influencing the psychosocial impact (including stressors and coping strategies) of a critical life event, exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic (measured by the COVID-19 Pandemic Mental Health Questionnaire, CoPaQ).

CircWaveDL: Modeling of optical coherence tomography images based on a new supervised tensor-based dictionary learning for classification of macular abnormalities.

Modeling Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images is crucial for numerous image processing applications and aids ophthalmologists in the early detection of macular abnormalities. Sparse representation-based models, particularly dictionary learning (DL), play a pivotal role in image modeling. Traditional DL methods often transform higher-order tensors into vectors and then aggregate them into a matrix, which overlooks the inherent multi-dimensional structure of the data.

Neural invasion severity is a strong predictor of local recurrence in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Background: In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, neural invasion is being increasingly recognized as an unfavorable predictor of patient outcomes. Neural invasion severity seems to have a stronger clinical impact on patient prognosis than neural invasion status alone. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of severity of neural invasion on overall survival and disease-free survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Impact of resection margin status on recurrence and survival in patients with resectable, borderline resectable, and locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Background: To improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, a complete resection is crucial. However, evidence regarding the impact of microscopically positive surgical margins (R1) on recurrence is conflicting due to varying definitions and limited populations of patients with borderline-resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Therefore, we aimed to determine the impact of the resection margin status on recurrence and survival in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma stratified by local tumor stage.

Disparities in cervical cancer elimination timeframes in the United States: a comparative modeling study.

Population-level estimates in timeframes for reaching cervical cancer (CC) elimination (ie, <4 cases per 100,000 women) in the United States may mask potential disparities in achieving elimination among sub-populations. We used three independent Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) models to estimate differences in the time to CC elimination across seven strata of correlated screening and human papillomavirus vaccination uptake, based on national survey data. Compared to the average population, elimination was achieved ≥22 years earlier for the high-uptake strata and ≥27 years later for the most extreme low-uptake strata.