Associations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with neuropsychological outcomes and cerebral white matter hyperintensities in older adults at risk of dementia.

Inflammation is becoming increasingly recognised as a core feature of dementia with evidence indicating that its role may vary and adapt across different stages of the neurodegenerative process. This study aimed to investigate whether the associations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) with neuropsychological performance (verbal memory, executive function, processing speed) and cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) differed between older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD;  = 179) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI;  = 286). Fasting serum hs-CRP concentrations were grouped into low (<1.

International trends in the implementation of assessment for learning : Implications for policy and practice in a post-COVID world.

This paper discusses the evolution of assessment for learning (AfL) across the globe with particular attention given to Western educational jurisdictions. Scholars from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States discuss prominent assessment reforms within their respective countries over the last decade. Particular attention is given to the impact of the pandemic as well as technological developments for classroom assessment policies and practices.

Do national cancer control plans address care and research for children, adolescents, and young adults? A review of status, priorities, and recommendations across 41 European countries.

Paediatric cancers, although rare, are the leading cause of disease-related mortality in European children above one year. A key pillar of the European Health Union, Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) puts a spotlight on childhood cancer. National Cancer Control Plans (NCCPs) have a key role but did not address childhood cancers sufficiently previously.

A Two-in-One Strategy to Simultaneously Boost the Site Density and Turnover Frequency of Fe-N-C Oxygen Reduction Catalysts.

Site density and turnover frequency are the two fundamental kinetic descriptors that determine the oxygen reduction activity of iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) catalysts. However, it remains a grand challenge to simultaneously optimize these two parameters in a single Fe-N-C catalyst. Here we show that treating a typical Fe-N-C catalyst with ammonium iodine (NH4I) vapor via a one-step chemical vapor deposition process not only increases the surface area and porosity of the catalyst (and thus enhanced exposure of active sites) via the etching effect of the in-situ released NH3, but also regulates the electronic structure of the Fe-N4 moieties by the iodine dopants incorporated into the carbon matrix.

Coupling of single nanodiamonds hosting SiV color centers to plasmonic double bowtie microantennas.

Color centers are promising single-photon emitters owing to their operation at room temperature and high photostability. In particular, using nanodiamonds as a host material is of interest for sensing and metrology. Furthermore, being a solid-state system allows for incorporation to photonic systems to tune both the emission intensity and photoluminescence spectrum and therefore adapt the individual color center to desired properties.

Magnetic chromatography improves colloidal and MRI attributes of magnetoliposomes enabling evaluation of the impact of size on bio-distribution in an model of pancreatic cancer.

Magnetic chromatography was exploited to fractionate suspensions of magnetoliposomes (SML: lumen-free lipid-encapsulated clusters of multiple magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles) improving their colloidal properties and relaxivity (magnetic resonance image contrast capability). Fractionation (i) removed sub-populations that do not contribute to the MRI response, and thus (ii) enabled evaluation of the size-dependence of relaxivity for the MRI-active part, which was surprisingly weak in the 55-90 nm range. MC was therefore implemented for processing multiple PEGylated SML types having average sizes ranging from 85 to 105 nm, which were then shown to have strongly size-dependent uptake in an pancreatic cancer model.

The PANDEM-2 Simulation Exercise: Training the Coordinated Response to a Large-Scale Pandemic in 2 European Public Health Emergency Operations Centers.

Objective: In the course of the EU funded Pandemic Preparedness and Response (PANDEM-2) project, a functional exercise (FX) was conducted to train the coordinated response to a large-scale pandemic event in Europe by using new IT solutions developed by the project. This report provides an overview of the steps involved in planning, conducting, and evaluating the FX.

Methods: The FX design was based on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) simulation exercise cycle for public health settings and was carried out over 2 days in the German and Dutch national public health institutes (PHI), with support from other consortium PHIs.

Predicting Reliable Improvements in Primary Care Youth Mental Health.

Background: Amid a youth mental health crisis, community-based early intervention services have shown promising outcomes. Understanding the specific factors that predict clinical outcomes is crucial for enhancing intervention efficacy, yet these factors remain insufficiently understood.

Aim: This study examined the individual and service-related factors associated with reliable improvement for young people (n = 4565) aged 12-25 years attending a brief primary care youth talk therapy mental health service across 14 sites.

Safeguarding older adults in residential care settings: lessons from Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership model.

Various styles and models of leadership can be used in nursing practice, with transformational leadership generally considered to be the most effective style. This article explores the application of Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework to the safeguarding of residents from abuse in residential care settings in the Republic of Ireland. The authors outline and critically evaluate Kouzes and Posner's five fundamental leadership practices in this context.

Voice of the nurse in paediatric intensive care: a scoping review.

Objectives: The objective was to explore how the voice of the nurse in paediatric intensive care units (PICU) is portrayed in the literature.

Design: Scoping review using the six-step scoping review framework outlined by Arksey and O'Malley.

Data Sources: PubMed, Nursing (OVID), Medline (OVID), CINHAL (EBSCO), SCOPUS and Web of Science online databases.

Modified Delphi expert elicitation of the clinical and economic burden of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in England and Northern Ireland.

Objective: To estimate the resource use of patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), stratified by New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, in the English and Northern Irish healthcare systems via expert elicitation.

Design: Modified Delphi framework methodology.

Setting: UK HCM secondary care centres (n=24).

3D printing in palliative medicine: systematic review.

Background: Three-dimensional printing (3DP) enables the production of highly customised, cost-efficient devices in a relatively short time, which can be particularly valuable to clinicians treating patients with palliative care intent who are in need of timely and effective solutions in the management of their patients' specific needs, including the relief of distressing symptoms.

Method: Four online databases were searched for articles published by December 2020 that described studies using 3DP in palliative care. The fields of application, and the relevant clinical and technological data were extracted and analysed.

Observational study: effect of varying transport durations and feed withdrawal on the physiological status and health of dairy calves.

Long-distance transport and associated fasting of unweaned calves have the potential to compromise the animals' welfare. This observational study aimed to determine how transport and fasting durations impacted the physiology and health of 115 transported calves in three transport groups; IRE (n = 20, mean age 29.8d; short road transport (~ 29 h incl.

Prevalence and Temporal Trends of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Medication Fills During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Denmark.

Background And Objectives: Females of reproductive age are increasingly using attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, but its use during pregnancy and breastfeeding is largely unknown. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of ADHD medication fills during pregnancy and breastfeeding, including characteristics of these females and cohort differences over time.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive study using Danish nationwide registers.

Genome-wide association study unravels mechanisms of brain glymphatic activity.

Brain glymphatic activity, as indicated by diffusion-tensor imaging analysis along the perivascular space (ALPS) index, is involved in developmental neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, but its genetic architecture is poorly understood. Here, we identified 17 unique genome-wide significant loci and 161 candidate genes linked to the ALPS-indexes in a discovery sample of 31,021 individuals from the UK Biobank. Seven loci were replicated in two independent datasets.

The mutational landscape of Staphylococcus aureus during colonisation.

Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen and a commensal of the human nose and skin. Survival and persistence during colonisation are likely major drivers of S. aureus evolution.

Evaluation of Drug-Drug Interactions in Pharmacoepidemiologic Research.

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) represent a significant concern for clinical care and public health, but the health consequences of many DDIs remain largely underexplored. This knowledge gap underscores the critical need for pharmacoepidemiologic research to evaluate real-world health outcomes of DDIs. In this review, we summarize the definitions commonly used in pharmacoepidemiologic DDI studies, discuss common sources of bias, and illustrate through examples how these biases can be mitigated.

Making sense of sentinels: wildlife as the one health bridge for environmental antimicrobial resistance surveillance.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), arising from decades of imprudent anthropogenic use of antimicrobials in healthcare and agriculture, is considered one of the greatest One Health crises facing healthcare globally. Antimicrobial pollutants released from human-associated sources are intensifying resistance evolution in the environment. Due to various ecological factors, wildlife interact with these polluted ecosystems, acquiring resistant bacteria and genes.

Utility and interpretation of multiple breath washout in children with cystic fibrosis.

Transformative changes in the health of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) mean that more sensitive outcome measures are needed to monitor paediatric CF lung disease. Multiple breath washout (MBW) and its primary readout lung clearance index are gaining increasing traction as an endpoint for clinical trials in the CF space and show promise as a clinical investigation. In this article, we use four clinically based questions to explore what MBW can and cannot (yet) do and highlight some of its strengths and weaknesses as an investigation.

Impact of workflow times on successful reperfusion after endovascular treatment in the late time window.

Background And Purpose: Successful and complete reperfusion should be the aim of every endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) procedure. However, the effect of time delays on successful reperfusion in late window stroke patients presenting 6-to-24 h from onset has not been investigated.

Materials And Methods: We pooled individual patient-level data from seven trials and registries for anterior circulation stroke patients treated with EVT between 6 and 24 h from onset.

Worldwide Policy, Surveillance, and Research on Physical Education and School-Based Physical Activity: The Global Observatory for Physical Education (GoPE!) Conceptual Framework and Research Protocol.

Introduction: The Global Observatory for Physical Education (GoPE!) builds on the Global Observatory for Physical Activity (GoPA!) to address gaps in surveillance, policy, and research on physical education (PE) and activity (PA). GoPE! is a worldwide surveillance system of quality PE and school-based PA that informs policy and interventions and allows comparative analysis so that each country and region can check their status and progress. This paper presents GoPE!'s conceptual framework and describes the research protocol as a cross-continental and evidence-based surveillance system.