The compact line-focus X-ray tube for microbeam radiation therapy - Focal spot characterisation and collimator design.

Purpose: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) has shown superior healthy tissue sparing at equal tumour control probabilities compared to conventional radiation therapy in many preclinical studies. The limitation to preclinical research arises from a lack of suitable radiation sources for clinical application of MRT due to high demands on beam quality. To overcome these limitations, we developed and built the first prototype of a line-focus X-ray tube (LFXT).

Long-term associations between ambient air pollution and self-perceived health status: Results from the population-based KORA-Fit study.

Background: Little is known about the association between air pollution and self-perceived health (including both health-related quality of life [HRQoL] and self-rated health [SRH]). The aim of this study was therefore to explore whether long-term air pollution exposure is associated with worse self-perceived health, as measured by different tools.

Methods: We used a land-use regression model to determine the annual average levels of particulate matter with a diameter <10 μm (PM), coarse particles (PM), fine particles (PM), fine particle absorbances (PM), particle number concentration (PNC), ozone (O), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and nitrogen oxide (NO) for geocoded residential addresses (2014-2015).

Harnessing multimodal approaches for depression detection using large language models and facial expressions.

Detecting depression is a critical component of mental health diagnosis, and accurate assessment is essential for effective treatment. This study introduces a novel, fully automated approach to predicting depression severity using the E-DAIC dataset. We employ Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract depression-related indicators from interview transcripts, utilizing the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) score to train the prediction model.

Armoring chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells as micropharmacies for cancer therapy.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy has emerged as a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer. However, its efficacy is often hindered by challenges such as limited tumor penetration, antigen escape, and immune suppression within the tumor microenvironment. This review explores the potential of armored CAR-T cells, or 'micropharmacies', in overcoming these obstacles and enhancing the therapeutic outcomes of adoptive T-cell (ATC) therapy.

Impact of drug-resistant tuberculosis on socio-economic status, quality of life and psychological well-being of patients in Bucharest, Romania: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health challenge, with 1.3 million deaths in 2022. Ten countries in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) accounted for 88.

Deceleration capacity derived from a five-minute electrocardiogram predicts mortality in the general population.

In contemporary healthcare, effective risk stratification in the general population is vital amidst rising chronic disease rates and an ageing demographic. Deceleration Capacity of the heart rate (DC), derived from 24-hour Holter electrocardiograms, holds promise in risk stratification for cardiac patients. However, the potential of short-term electrocardiograms of five minutes duration for population screening has not been fully explored.

Cytosolic S100A8/A9 promotes Ca supply at LFA-1 adhesion clusters during neutrophil recruitment.

S100A8/A9 is an endogenous alarmin secreted by myeloid cells during many acute and chronic inflammatory disorders. Despite increasing evidence of the proinflammatory effects of extracellular S100A8/A9, little is known about its intracellular function. Here, we show that cytosolic S100A8/A9 is indispensable for neutrophil post-arrest modifications during outside-in signaling under flow conditions in vitro and neutrophil recruitment in vivo, independent of its extracellular functions.

Synthetic plasma pool cohort correction for affinity-based proteomics datasets allows multiple study comparison.

Proteomics stands as the crucial link between genomics and human diseases. Quantitative proteomics provides detailed insights into protein levels, enabling differentiation between distinct phenotypes. OLINK, a biotechnology company from Uppsala, Sweden, offers a targeted, affinity-based protein measurement method called Target 96, which has become prominent in the field of proteomics.

Low income, being without employment, and living alone: how they are associated with cognitive functioning-Results from the German national cohort (NAKO).

Aim was to investigate to what extent cognitive functioning differs by three socioeconomic conditions: low income, being without employment, and living alone. A total of N = 158,144 participants of the population-based German National Cohort (NAKO) provided data on socioeconomic conditions and completed cognitive tests. Multivariable confounder-adjusted regression analyses indicated that cognitive functioning was lower in those with low income (b = -0.

SLAM-seq reveals independent contributions of RNA processing and stability to gene expression in African trypanosomes.

Gene expression is a multi-step process that converts DNA-encoded information into proteins, involving RNA transcription, maturation, degradation, and translation. While transcriptional control is a major regulator of protein levels, the role of post-transcriptional processes such as RNA processing and degradation is less well understood due to the challenge of measuring their contributions individually. To address this challenge, we investigated the control of gene expression in Trypanosoma brucei, a unicellular parasite assumed to lack transcriptional control.

Facing depression: evaluating the efficacy of the EmpkinS-EKSpression reappraisal training augmented with facial expressions - protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Dysfunctional depressogenic cognitions are considered a key factor in the etiology and maintenance of depression. In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the current gold-standard psychotherapeutic treatment for depression, cognitive restructuring techniques are employed to address dysfunctional cognitions. However, high drop-out and non-response rates suggest a need to boost the efficacy of CBT for depression.

Artificial intelligence in tuberculosis: a new ally in disease control.

The challenges to effective tuberculosis (TB) disease control are considerable, and the current global targets for reductions in disease burden seem unattainable. The combination of complex pathophysiology and technical limitations results in difficulties in achieving consistent, reliable diagnoses, and long treatment regimens imply serious physiological and socioeconomic consequences for patients. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in healthcare have significantly improved patient care regarding diagnostics, treatment and basic research.

Multiplexing cortical brain organoids for the longitudinal dissection of developmental traits at single-cell resolution.

Dissecting human neurobiology at high resolution and with mechanistic precision requires a major leap in scalability, given the need for experimental designs that include multiple individuals and, prospectively, population cohorts. To lay the foundation for this, we have developed and benchmarked complementary strategies to multiplex brain organoids by pooling cells from different pluripotent stem cell (PSC) lines either during organoid generation (mosaic models) or before single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) library preparation (downstream multiplexing). We have also developed a new computational method, SCanSNP, and a consensus call to deconvolve cell identities, overcoming current criticalities in doublets and low-quality cell identification.

Comparison of robustness, resilience and intrinsic capacity including prediction of long-term adverse health outcomes: The KORA-Age study.

Background: Frailty, resilience and intrinsic capacity (IC) are concepts to evaluate older person`s health status, but no comparison of their associations with adverse health outcomes exists. We therefore aimed to assess which concept is most useful for determining long-term health of older adults.

Methods: Analyses were based on the KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg)-Age study (n = 940, 65-93 years).

Opportunities and challenges of single-cell and spatially resolved genomics methods for neuroscience discovery.

Over the past decade, single-cell genomics technologies have allowed scalable profiling of cell-type-specific features, which has substantially increased our ability to study cellular diversity and transcriptional programs in heterogeneous tissues. Yet our understanding of mechanisms of gene regulation or the rules that govern interactions between cell types is still limited. The advent of new computational pipelines and technologies, such as single-cell epigenomics and spatially resolved transcriptomics, has created opportunities to explore two new axes of biological variation: cell-intrinsic regulation of cell states and expression programs and interactions between cells.

Disentangling the consequences of type 2 diabetes on targeted metabolite profiles using causal inference and interaction QTL analyses.

Circulating metabolite levels have been associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the extent to which T2D affects metabolite levels and their genetic regulation remains to be elucidated. In this study, we investigate the interplay between genetics, metabolomics, and T2D risk in the UK Biobank dataset using the Nightingale panel composed of 249 metabolites, 92% of which correspond to lipids (HDL, IDL, LDL, VLDL) and lipoproteins. By integrating these data with large-scale T2D GWAS from the DIAMANTE meta-analysis through Mendelian randomization analyses, we find 79 metabolites with a causal association to T2D, all spanning lipid-related classes except for Glucose and Tyrosine.

European Respiratory Society Research Seminar on Preventing Pediatric Asthma.

This report is a summary of the presentations given at the European Respiratory Society's Research Seminar on Asthma Prevention. The seminar reviewed both epidemiological and mechanistic studies and concluded that; (i) reducing exposure of pregnant women and children to air pollution will reduce incident asthma, (ii) there are promising data that both fish oil and a component of raw cow's milk prevent asthma, and (iii) modulating trained immunity by either mimicking helminth infection or oral and sublingual bacterial products is a promising area of research.

Interlaboratory comparison of standardised metabolomics and lipidomics analyses in human and rodent blood using the MxP Quant 500 kit.

Metabolomics and lipidomics are pivotal in understanding phenotypic variations beyond genomics. However, quantification and comparability of mass spectrometry (MS)-derived data are challenging. Standardised assays can enhance data comparability, enabling applications in multi-center epidemiological and clinical studies.

Carrageenan and insulin resistance in humans: a randomised double-blind cross-over trial.

Background: The potential impact of specific food additives, common in Western diets, on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is not well understood. This study focuses on carrageenan, a widely used food additive known to induce insulin resistance and gut inflammation in animal models, and its effects on human health.

Methods: In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial conducted at a university hospital metabolic study centre, 20 males (age 27.