Large language models for pretreatment education in pediatric radiation oncology: A comparative evaluation study.

Background And Purpose: Pediatric radiotherapy patients and their parents are usually aware of their need for radiotherapy early on, but they meet with a radiation oncologist later in their treatment. Consequently, they search for information online, often encountering unreliable sources. Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to serve as an educational pretreatment tool, providing reliable answers to their questions.

Lung cancer screening program quality indicators - review & recommendations - An International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Delphi process study.

Introduction: Lung cancer screening (LCS) using low-dose-computed tomography reduces lung cancer mortality in high-risk individuals. Evaluating and monitoring LCS programs are important to ensure and improve quality, efficiency and participant outcomes. There is no agreement on LCS quality indicators (QIs).

Long-term exposure to air pollution and greenness in association with respiratory emergency room visits and hospitalizations: The Life-GAP project.

Background: Air pollution has been linked to respiratory diseases, while the effects of greenness remain inconclusive.

Objective: We investigated the associations between exposure to particulate matter (PM and PM), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O), and greenness (normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) with respiratory emergency room visits and hospitalizations across seven Northern European centers in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) study.

Methods: We used modified mixed-effects Poisson regression to analyze associations of exposure in 1990, 2000 and mean exposure 1990-2000 with respiratory outcomes recorded duing ECRHS phases II and III.

Intellectual inflation: one way for scientific research to degenerate.

This paper aims to analyze a specific way in which a scientific programme or area can, in Lakatosian terms, degenerate: namely, through a developmental process of intellectual inflation. Adopting a pluralist approach to the notion of scientific progress, we propose that the historical development of a particular scientific area can be analyzed as being intellectually inflationary during a bounded period of time if it has considerably increased its productive output (thus demonstrating productive progressive) while the overall semantic or epistemic value of those products have not improved in a significant fashion (thus lacking progress in a semantic or epistemic sense). Then, we apply this concept to thoroughly assess whether there have been some intellectually inflationary patterns in the development of (i) information-theoretical evolutionary biology in 1961-2023, and (ii) ensemblist non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in 1938-2023.

Amyloid-β and tau deposition in traumatic brain injury: a study of Vietnam War veterans.

Traumatic brain injury is widely viewed as a risk factor for dementia, but the biological mechanisms underlying this association are still unclear. In previous studies, traumatic brain injury has been associated with the hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer's disease, i.e.

Synthesis and Structure of Methylated Acetylenic Nitriles.

Cyanoacetylene and dicyanoacetylene react in the ternary methylation system CHF/SbF/SO under the formation of its corresponding -monomethylated and -dimethylated species, respectively. Additionally, in the case of dicyanoacetylene, an -dimethylated HF-addition product was obtained. The salts were characterized by low-temperature vibrational spectroscopy.

Radiation exposure during cardiac interventions in CHD: German Registry 2012-2020.

Background: Since patients with congenital heart defects (CHD) frequently require life-long medical care and repeat invasive treatment, radiation exposure during interventional procedures is a relevant issue concerning potential radiation related risks. Therefore, an analysis on radiation data from the German Registry for Cardiac Operations and Interventions in patients with CHD was performed.

Methods: From January 2012 until December 2020 a total of 28,374 cardiac catheter interventions were recorded.

The Role of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase in Skin Cancer Metabolism: A Paradigm Shift in Treatment Approaches.

Skin cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in the world, with increasing incidence. In 2022, the World Health Organization estimated over 1.5 million new diagnoses of skin malignancies, primarily affecting the older population.

Revealing the Complexity of Host-Parasite Relationships Between Syringophilid Mites and Sunbirds in Their Global Range.

This article emphasises the importance of parasitological research in understanding ecological dynamics and biodiversity conservation through a global analysis of quill mites (Syringophilidae) parasitising Sunbirds (Nectariniidae). Data from 764 Sunbird individuals across seventy-six species revealed twelve quill mite species, including three newly described species: Sikora and Unsoeld sp. n.

Studying attention to IPCC climate change maps with mobile eye-tracking.

Many visualisations used in the climate communication field aim to present the scientific models of climate change to the public. However, relatively little research has been conducted on how such data are visually processed, particularly from a behavioural science perspective. This study examines trends in visual attention to climate change predictions in world maps using mobile eye-tracking while participants engage with the visualisations.

Pseudomonas in the spotlight: emerging roles in the nodule microbiome.

While rhizobia have long been recognised as the primary colonisers of legume nodules, microbiome studies have revealed the presence of other bacteria in these organs. This opinion delves into the factors shaping the nodule microbiome and explores the potential roles of non-rhizobial endophytes, focusing particularly on Pseudomonas as prominent players. We explore the mechanisms by which Pseudomonas colonise nodules, their interactions with rhizobia, and their remarkable potential to promote plant growth and protect against pathogens.

The Effect of Resistance and/or Aerobic Training on Quality of Life, Fitness, and Body Composition in Prostate Cancer Patients-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

: Prostate cancer (PC) and its treatment are often associated with side effects such as fatigue, muscle loss, and diminished quality of life (QoL). Physical exercise, particularly resistance training (RT) and aerobic training (AT), has been suggested as a strategy to mitigate these effects. However, the comparative efficacy of RT, AT, and combined RT/AT on QoL, body composition, physical fitness, and laboratory markers in PC patients is still insufficiently understood.

Proteomic and Metabolomic Signatures in Prediabetes Progressing to Diabetes or Reversing to Normoglycemia Within 1 Year.

Objective: Progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes has been associated with β-cell dysfunction, whereas its remission to normoglycemia has been related to improvement of insulin sensitivity. To understand the mechanisms and identify potential biomarkers related to prediabetes trajectories, we compared the proteomics and metabolomics profile of people with prediabetes progressing to diabetes or reversing to normoglycemia within 1 year.

Research Design And Methods: The fasting plasma concentrations of 1,389 proteins and the fasting, 30-min, and 120-min post-oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) plasma concentrations of 152 metabolites were measured in up to 134 individuals with new-onset diabetes, prediabetes, or normal glucose tolerance.

The case for neurons: a no-go theorem for consciousness on a chip.

We apply the methodology of no-go theorems as developed in physics to the question of artificial consciousness. The result is a no-go theorem which shows that under a general assumption, called dynamical relevance, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that run on contemporary computer chips cannot be conscious. Consciousness is dynamically relevant, simply put, if, according to a theory of consciousness, it is relevant for the temporal evolution of a system's states.

ProQ-associated small RNAs control motility in Vibrio cholerae.

Gene regulation at the post-transcriptional level is prevalent in all domains of life. In bacteria, ProQ-like proteins have emerged as important RNA chaperones facilitating RNA stability and RNA duplex formation. In the major human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, post-transcriptional gene regulation is key for virulence, biofilm formation, and antibiotic resistance, yet the role of ProQ has not been studied.

Structural variant allelic heterogeneity in MECP2 duplication syndrome provides insight into clinical severity and variability of disease expression.

Background: MECP2 Duplication Syndrome, also known as X-linked intellectual developmental disorder Lubs type (MRXSL; MIM: 300260), is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by copy number gains spanning MECP2. Despite varying genomic rearrangement structures, including duplications and triplications, and a wide range of duplication sizes, no clear correlation exists between DNA rearrangement and clinical features. We had previously demonstrated that up to 38% of MRXSL families are characterized by complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs) of intermediate complexity (2 ≤ copy number variant breakpoints < 5), yet the impact of these genomic structures on regulation of gene expression and phenotypic manifestations have not been investigated.

Computational Psychotherapy System for Mental Health Prediction and Behavior Change with a Conversational Agent.

Background: The importance of computational psychotherapy is increasing due to the record high prevalence of mental health issues worldwide. Despite advancements, current computational psychotherapy systems lack advanced prediction and behavior change mechanisms using conversational agents.

Purpose: This work presents a computational psychotherapy system for mental health prediction and behavior change using a conversational agent.

Predicting success with reduced dosing frequency of tralokinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

Background: Approved tralokinumab maintenance dosing regimens for treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) include 300 mg every two weeks (Q2W) and every four weeks (Q4W), that clinicians may consider for patients who achieved clear or almost clear skin at Week 16 with initial Q2W dosing.

Objectives: To identify predictive factors associated with maintained response after switching to tralokinumab Q4W, evaluate recapture of treatment response after relapse on Q4W, and assess treatment-emergent immunogenicity with tralokinumab Q4W.

Methods: These post hoc analyses utilized machine learning to identify predictive factors for maintained treatment response at Week 52 using data from the Week 16 responder population (ie, patients who met Investigator's Global Assessment of clear/almost clear skin [IGA 0/1] and/or ≥75% improvement in Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI-75) at Week 16 with tralokinumab Q2W monotherapy) of the phase 3 ECZTRA 1 and 2 trials.

Sexual selection promotes reproductive isolation in barn swallows.

Despite the well-known effects of sexual selection on phenotypes, links between this evolutionary process and reproductive isolation, genomic divergence, and speciation have been difficult to establish. We unravel the genetic basis of sexually selected plumage traits to investigate their effects on reproductive isolation in barn swallows. The genetic architecture of sexual traits is characterized by 12 loci on two autosomes and the Z chromosome.

Optical Control of TRPM8 Channels with Photoswitchable Menthol.

Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) channels are well known as sensors for cold temperatures and cooling agents such as menthol and icilin and these channels are tightly regulated by the membrane lipid phosphoinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP). Since TRPM8 channels emerged as promising drug targets for treating pain, itching, obesity, cancer, dry eye disease, and inflammation, we aimed at developing a high-precision TRPM8 channel activator, to achieve spatiotemporal control of TRPM8 activity with light. In this study, we designed, synthesized and characterized the first photoswitchable TRPM8 activator azo-menthol (AzoM).