Comparison of whole genome sequencing performance from fish swabs and fin clips.

Objective: Fin clipping is the standard DNA sampling technique for whole genome sequencing (WGS) of small fish. The collection of fin clips requires anaesthesia or even euthanisation of the individual. Swabbing may be a less invasive, non-lethal alternative to fin-clipping.

Identification and characterization of tumor and stromal derived liquid biopsy analytes in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Background: The lack of predictive biomarkers contributes notably to the poor outcomes of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the key components of the prominent PDAC stroma. Data on clinical relevance of CAFs entering the bloodstream, known as circulating CAFs (cCAFs) are scarce.

Effectiveness of workplace health promotion programs for industrial workers: a systematic review.

Background: Workplace health promotion is essential for individual and organisational well-being and disease prevention, also in industrial workers. As the transfer of the evidence on the effectiveness of such programs into practice is limited due to scattered effects, the need for a consolidation of the available studies is given. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesise the evidence on the effectiveness of workplace health promotion programs for industrial workers.

Patient perspectives on stress after ICU and a short primary care based psychological intervention - results from a qualitative sub‑study of the PICTURE trial.

Background: Approximately 20-25% of patients who survive medical treatment at an intensive care unit (ICU) develop post-traumatic stress symptoms. There is currently a gap in follow-up care for them. As part of the PICTURE study, general practitioners (GPs) carried out a brief interview-based intervention.

Incidence of seroma and postoperative complications after breast surgery before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: results from a retrospective multicenter analysis.

Background: In recent years, there has been a growing number of case reports documenting delayed seroma in patients with a history of breast surgery and reconstruction. The occurrence of these seromas has been associated with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection or SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. So far, there are few systematic analyses on postoperative complications in breast surgery since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Copper Tantalate by a Sodium-Driven Flux-Mediated Synthesis for Photoelectrochemical CO Reduction.

Copper-tantalate, CuTaO (CTO), shows significant promise as an efficient photocathode for multi-carbon compounds (C) production through photoelectrochemical (PEC) CO reduction, owing to its suitable energy bands and catalytic surface. However, synthesizing CTO poses a significant challenge due to its metastable nature and thermal instability. In this study, this challenge is addressed by employing a flux-mediated synthesis technique using a sodium-based flux to create sodium-doped CTO (Na-CTO) thin films, providing enhanced nucleation and stabilization for the CTO phase.

Quantitative Assessment of Microbial Transmission onto Environmental Surfaces Using Thermoresponsive Gelatin Hydrogels as a Finger Mimetic under In Situ-Mimicking Conditions.

Surface-mediated transmission of pathogens plays a key role in healthcare-associated infections. However, proper techniques for its quantitative analysis are lacking, making it challenging to develop novel antimicrobial and anti-fouling surfaces to reduce pathogen spread via environmental surfaces. This study demonstrates a gelatin hydrogel-based touch transfer test, the HydroTouch test, to evaluate pathogen transmission on high-touch surfaces under semi-dry conditions.

Small and medium-scale biorefineries: biomass quantification and its bioeconomic potential in the Southern Coastal Territory of Bahia.

Small and medium-scale biorefineries are processing facilities designed to produce a portfolio of value-added products with applications in different productive sectors. The Territory of the Southern Coast (TSC) of Bahia in Brazil has a high potential to provide agricultural and forest biomass for these bioindustries. This study focuses on quantifying the biomass of key agricultural crops in the TSC from 1999 to 2019, utilizing data from the Municipal Agricultural Production (MAP) survey conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Resolving tissue complexity by multimodal spatial omics modeling with MISO.

Spatial molecular profiling has provided biomedical researchers valuable opportunities to better understand the relationship between cellular localization and tissue function. Effectively modeling multimodal spatial omics data is crucial for understanding tissue complexity and underlying biology. Furthermore, improvements in spatial resolution have led to the advent of technologies that can generate spatial molecular data with subcellular resolution, requiring the development of computationally efficient methods that can handle the resulting large-scale datasets.

Biomechanical simulation of bed turning post-acetabular fracture fixation.

Before patients begin out-of-bed exercises following internal fixation surgery for acetabular fractures, turning over in bed serves as a crucial intervention to mitigate complications associated with prolonged bed rest. However, data on the safety of this maneuver post-surgery are limited, and the biomechanical evidence remains unclear. This study aims to introduce a novel loading protocol designed to preliminarily simulate the action of turning over in bed and to compare the biomechanical properties of two fixation methods for acetabular fractures under this new protocol.

Autophagy regulator ATG5 preserves cerebellar function by safeguarding its glycolytic activity.

Dysfunctions in autophagy, a cellular mechanism for breaking down components within lysosomes, often lead to neurodegeneration. The specific mechanisms underlying neuronal vulnerability due to autophagy dysfunction remain elusive. Here we show that autophagy contributes to cerebellar Purkinje cell (PC) survival by safeguarding their glycolytic activity.

Choroid plexus volume is enlarged in long COVID and associated with cognitive and brain changes.

Patients with post-COVID condition (PCC) present with diverse symptoms which persist at long-term after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among these symptoms, cognitive impairment is one of the most prevalent and has been related to brain structural and functional changes. The underlying mechanisms of these cognitive and brain alterations remain elusive but neuroinflammation and immune mechanisms have been majorly considered.

Daratumumab plus lenalidomide/dexamethasone in untreated multiple myeloma: analysis of key subgroups of the MAIA study.

In the MAIA study (median follow-up, 56.2 months), daratumumab plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (D-Rd) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival versus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (Rd) alone in transplant-ineligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM). In this post hoc analysis of clinically important subgroups in MAIA (median follow-up, 64.

Prognostic impact of expression of CD2, CD25, and/or CD30 in/on mast cells in systemic mastocytosis: a registry study of the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis.

Expression of CD2, CD25 and/or CD30 in extracutaneous mast cells (MC) is a minor diagnostic criterion for systemic mastocytosis (SM) in the classification of the World Health Organization and International Consensus Classification. So far, it remains unknown whether expression of these antigens on MC is of prognostic significance in SM. We performed a retrospective multi-center study of patients with SM using the data set of the registry of the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis, including 5034 patients with various MC disorders.

The translational landscape of HIV-1 infected cells reveals key gene regulatory principles.

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) uses a number of strategies to modulate viral and host gene expression during its life cycle. To characterize the transcriptional and translational landscape of HIV-1 infected cells, we used a combination of ribosome profiling, disome sequencing and RNA sequencing. We show that HIV-1 messenger RNAs are efficiently translated at all stages of infection, despite evidence for a substantial decrease in the translational efficiency of host genes that are implicated in host cell translation.

Eco-friendly sensing of hexavalent chromium ions via copper-doped carbon quantum dots: a fluorescent probe for water safety.

The hydrothermal synthesis is presented of copper-doped carbon dots (Cu-CDs) from citric acid, urea, and copper chloride, resulting in blue-fluorescent particles with stable emission at 438 nm when excited at 340 nm. Through comprehensive spectroscopic and microscopic characterization (FTIR, XPS, UV, and HRTEM), the Cu-CDs demonstrated remarkable stability across varying pH levels, ionic strengths, temperatures, and UV exposure. Notably, Cu-CDs exhibit ultra-sensitive and selective detection of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] ions in aqueous environments driven by fluorescence quenching.

GestaltGAN: synthetic photorealistic portraits of individuals with rare genetic disorders.

The facial gestalt (overall facial morphology) is a characteristic clinical feature in many genetic disorders that is often essential for suspecting and establishing a specific diagnosis. Therefore, publishing images of individuals affected by pathogenic variants in disease-associated genes has been an important part of scientific communication. Furthermore, medical imaging data is also crucial for teaching and training deep-learning models such as GestaltMatcher.

Clinical practice recommendations for the diagnosis and management of X-linked hypophosphataemia.

X-linked hypophosphataemia (XLH) is a rare metabolic bone disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the PHEX gene, which is predominantly expressed in osteoblasts, osteocytes and odontoblasts. XLH is characterized by increased synthesis of the bone-derived phosphaturic hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which results in renal phosphate wasting with consecutive hypophosphataemia, rickets, osteomalacia, disproportionate short stature, oral manifestations, pseudofractures, craniosynostosis, enthesopathies and osteoarthritis. Patients with XLH should be provided with multidisciplinary care organized by a metabolic bone expert.

Single and multitarget stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) with single isocenter in the treatment of multiple brain metastases (BM): institutional experience.

Introduction: SRS for the treatment of limited brain metastases (BM) is widely accepted, but there are still limitations in the management of numerous BM. Frameless single-isocenter multitarget SRS is a novel technique that allows for rapid treatment delivery to multiple BM. We report our preliminary clinical, dosimetric, and patient´s shifts outcomes with this technique.

Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain.

Roman writers found the relative empowerment of Celtic women remarkable. In southern Britain, the Late Iron Age Durotriges tribe often buried women with substantial grave goods. Here we analyse 57 ancient genomes from Durotrigian burial sites and find an extended kin group centred around a single maternal lineage, with unrelated (presumably inward migrating) burials being predominantly male.

All-solid-state Li-S batteries with fast solid-solid sulfur reaction.

With promises for high specific energy, high safety and low cost, the all-solid-state lithium-sulfur battery (ASSLSB) is ideal for next-generation energy storage. However, the poor rate performance and short cycle life caused by the sluggish solid-solid sulfur redox reaction (SSSRR) at the three-phase boundaries remain to be solved. Here we demonstrate a fast SSSRR enabled by lithium thioborophosphate iodide (LBPSI) glass-phase solid electrolytes (GSEs).