Assessment of Atmospheric and Surface Energy Budgets Using Observation-Based Data Products.

Accurate diagnosis of regional atmospheric and surface energy budgets is critical for understanding the spatial distribution of heat uptake associated with the Earth's energy imbalance (EEI). This contribution discusses frameworks and methods for consistent evaluation of key quantities of those budgets using observationally constrained data sets. It thereby touches upon assumptions made in data products which have implications for these evaluations.

Closure of Earth's Global Seasonal Cycle of Energy Storage.

The global seasonal cycle of energy in Earth's climate system is quantified using observations and reanalyses. After removing long-term trends, net energy entering and exiting the climate system at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) should agree with the sum of energy entering and exiting the ocean, atmosphere, land, and ice over the course of an average year. Achieving such a balanced budget with observations has been challenging.

North Atlantic Heat Transport Convergence Derived from a Regional Energy Budget Using Different Ocean Heat Content Estimates.

This study uses an oceanic energy budget to estimate the ocean heat transport convergence in the North Atlantic during 2005-2018. The horizontal convergence of the ocean heat transport is estimated using ocean heat content tendency primarily derived from satellite altimetry combined with space gravimetry. The net surface energy fluxes are inferred from mass-corrected divergence of atmospheric energy transport and tendency of the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis combined with top-of-the-atmosphere radiative fluxes from the clouds and the Earth's radiant energy system project.

Diffusion time effects over the adult lifespan indicates persistent zone-specific microstructural alterations in the human prostate with aging.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate microstructural changes in the aging adult prostate by comparing the effects of varying diffusion times using diffusion MRI, and to provide an age-related benchmark for future prostate cancer studies.

Methods: The prostates of normal male volunteers (n = 70, 19-69 years) were scanned at 3 T with an oscillating gradient spin echo (OGSE: 6 ms), pulsed gradient spin echo (PGSE: 40 ms) and pulsed gradient stimulated echo (PGSTE: 100 ms), and anatomical T-weighted image. Volume and mean diffusivity (MD) were measured in the peripheral (PZ) and transition zones (TZ), which were assessed versus age.

Polygenic score distribution differences across European ancestry populations: implications for breast cancer risk prediction.

Background: The 313-variant polygenic risk score (PRS) provides a promising tool for clinical breast cancer risk prediction. However, evaluation of the PRS across different European populations which could influence risk estimation has not been performed.

Methods: We explored the distribution of PRS across European populations using genotype data from 94,072 females without breast cancer diagnosis, of European-ancestry from 21 countries participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 223,316 females without breast cancer diagnosis from the UK Biobank.

Understanding Adipose Tissue Dysfunction.

Diseases affecting adipose tissue (AT) function include obesity, lipodystrophy, and lipedema, among others. Both a lack of and excess AT are associated with increased risk for developing diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, and some types of cancer. However, individual risk of developing cardiometabolic and other 'obesity-related' diseases is not entirely determined by fat mass.

Novel Insights on the Biology and Immunological Effects of Histamine: A Road Map for Allergists and Mast Cell Biologists.

Histamine (CHN, molecular weight 111.15 g/mol) is a well-studied endogenous biogenic amine composed of an imidazole ring attached to an ethylamine side chain. It has a limited half-life of a few minutes within tissues and in circulation.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Persister Cells and Biofilms.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a hard-to-treat human pathogen for which new antimicrobial agents are urgently needed. P. aeruginosa is known for forming biofilms, a complex aggregate of bacteria embedded in a self-generated protective matrix that enhance its resistance to antibiotics and the immune system.

Investigating Associations Between the Physical Environment and Hippocampus in Adulthood and Older Age.

It is by now well known that the environment has a major impact on people's life, but the neural structures involved in this relationship remain to be explored. Most studies investigating this relationship only focus on single environmental predictors. In order to understand how the multitude of factors constituting the living environment relate to brain structure we used data from the UK Biobank (n= 21,094; age Mean=63.

A review on the recovery of humic substances from anaerobic digestate of sludge as a potential fertilizer: Quantification, efficiency and interaction with pollutants.

This study reviewed the recovery of humic substances (HS) from anaerobic digestate of sludge as a potential fertilizer, focusing on the quantification of HS, the efficiency of HS recovery, and its interaction with pollutants. The potential pitfalls of current misunderstanding for HS quantification in sludge were pointed out. HS present in sludge showed potential to be used as a fertilizer, which solubilized insoluble phosphates for enhanced soil fertility.

Treatment Effects in Pharmacological Clinical Randomized Controlled Trials are Mainly Due to Placebo.

Objectives: The placebo response in clinical trials has four components: regression to the mean (RTM), measurement artefacts, natural tendency (NT) of the disease, and the genuine placebo effect. Our objective is to determine what contributes to the size of the placebo-effect in clinical trials by meta-regressions of randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials.

Study Design And Setting: We identified five diseases where data on the rates of NT were available to search for a sample of n=150 (5x30) RCTs.

Clinical validation of a prognostic preclinical magnetic resonance imaging biomarker for radiotherapy outcome in head-and-neck cancer.

Purpose: To retrain a model based on a previously identified prognostic imaging biomarker using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in a preclinical setting and validate the model using clinical DW-MRI data of patients with locally advanced head-and-neck cancer (HNC) acquired before radiochemotherapy.

Material And Methods: A total of 31 HNC patients underwent T2-weighted and DW-MRI using 3 T MRI before radiochemotherapy (35x2Gy). Gross tumor volumes (GTV) were delineated based on T2-weighted and b500 images.

Prioritising Relevant Polychlorinated Naphthalene (PCN) Congeners for Human Dietary Exposure Studies.

Following a decline in the production and use of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and the restrictions introduced by the Stockholm Convention, dietary intake represents the most significant pathway of human exposure to these dioxin-like contaminants. PCNs occur ubiquitously in foods, originating from the legacy of historical production that is now globally redistributed, as well as from ongoing industrial and domestic combustion sources which have a stronger influence on occurrence patterns in countries where they were not produced. Recent studies have benefited from a wider set of available PCN reference standards, enabling more accurate reporting of a diverse range of congeners.

The efficacy of longer-term lebrikizumab treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis who did not meet protocol-defined response criteria at week 16 in two randomized controlled clinical trials.

Background: Lebrikizumab demonstrated statistically significant improvements in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis at week 16 with a durable response up to week 52.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of lebrikizumab-treated patients at 52 weeks who did not achieve the ADvocate1 and ADvocate2 protocol-defined response criteria (≥75% improvement in the Eczema Area and Severity Index [EASI 75] or Investigator Global Assessment [IGA] 0/1 with ≥2-point improvement without rescue medication) after 16 weeks.

Methods: This analysis includes observed data for patients who received lebrikizumab every 2 weeks during the induction period, did not achieve the protocol-defined response, and subsequently received open-label lebrikizumab treatment.

NFATc1 fosters allergic contact dermatitis responses by enhancing the induction of IL-17-producing CD8 cells.

A plethora of data supports a major role of CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes for the initiation, progression and maintenance of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). However, in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms is still limited. NFATc1 plays an essential role in T cell activation.

Tralokinumab Treatment of Atopic Dermatits Induces A Progressive Transcriptomic Response.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is characterized by a complex epidermal barrier deficiency and exaggerated immune responses dominated by type-2-mechanisms with variable contributions of additional immune axes. Interleukin (IL)-13 is overexpressed in AD skin and a key driver of both barrier dysfunction and inflammation. We here prospectively studied the effects of IL-13 inhibition with tralokinumab on cutaneous transcriptome profiles using RNA sequencing of biopsies from 16 moderate-to-severe AD patients obtained at baseline, week 2 and week 16.

"Estrogens and human brain networks: A systematic review of structural and functional neuroimaging studies".

Estrogen fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, puberty, postpartum, or in the menopausal transition are associated with cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects. Additionally, estrogens are essential in hormonal contraception, menopausal hormone therapy, or gender-affirming hormone therapy. This systematic review summarizes findings on the role of estrogens for structure, function, and connectivity of human brain networks.

The Molecular Bacterial Load Assay predicts treatment responses in patients with pre-XDR/XDR-tuberculosis more accurately than GeneXpert Ultra MTB/Rif.

Objectives: Early detection of treatment failure is essential to improve the management of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). We evaluated the molecular bacterial load assay (MBLA) in comparison to standard diagnostic tests for monitoring therapy of patients affected by drug-resistant TB.

Methods: The performance of MBLA in tracking treatment response in a prospective cohort of patients with pulmonary MDR/RR- and pre-XDR/XDR-TB was compared with mycobacterial culture, mycobacterial DNA detection using GeneXpert (Xpert) and microscopy detection of sputum acid-fast-bacilli.

Treating anxiety comorbidity: lessons from exposure generalization studies.

Comorbidity is a characteristic hallmark of anxiety disorders. Presence of comorbid anxiety and depression is challenging to the diagnosis and treatment. Conventional and transdiagnostic treatment options for anxiety disorders strongly depend on the use of exposure.

The PAC1 receptor risk genotype does not influence fear acquisition, extinction, or generalization in no trauma/low trauma women.

Women are known to have twice as much lifetime prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as men do. It has been reported that the risk genotype (CC) of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs2267735) in the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP-PAC1R) system is associated with PTSD risk and altered fear conditioning and fear extinction in women. Surprisingly, no previous work has studied the effect of this SNP on fear conditioning, extinction, or generalization in non-traumatized/low trauma load women.

From the lab to the clinic: Advancing pain exposure using principles of functional analysis.

In this article, we use the example of pain exposure therapy to illustrate how behavioral pain treatments can be systematically personalized following the principles of functional analysis. Based on the fear-avoidance model, pain exposure therapy has evolved as a mechanistically-based treatment to modify the mechanism of avoidance learning with the aim to reduce disability levels. We first present experimental evidence on avoidance learning from a general psychological perspective.

Task-modulated neural responses in scene-selective regions of the human brain.

The study of scene perception is crucial to the understanding of how one interprets and interacts with their environment, and how the environment impacts various cognitive functions. The literature so far has mainly focused on the impact of low-level and categorical properties of scenes and how they are represented in the scene-selective regions in the brain, PPA, RSC, and OPA. However, higher-level scene perception and the impact of behavioral goals is a developing research area.

Tackling ALT-positive neuroblastoma: is it time to redefine risk classification systems? A systematic review with IPD meta-analysis.

Background: The heterogeneous prognosis in neuroblastoma, shaped by telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMMs), notably the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway, necessitates a refined risk classification for high-risk patients. Current systems often lack precision, hindering tailored treatment approaches. This individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of survival among ALT-positive patients aims to improve risk classification systems, enhancing therapeutic strategies and patient outcomes.