Diagnostic Value of Serum Biomarkers for Invasive Aspergillosis in Haematologic Patients.

Background: Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with haematological malignancies. Accurate diagnosis of IA is challenging due to non-specific symptoms and the impact of antifungal prophylaxis on biomarker sensitivity.

Methods: This retrospective study evaluated the diagnostic performance of three serum biomarkers: Galactomannan Ag VirClia Monotest (VirClia), Wako β-D-Glucan Test (Wako BDG), and MycoGENIE Real-Time PCR (MycoGENIE PCR).

Distinct Substrates of Idiopathic Ventricular Fibrillation Revealed by Arrhythmia Characteristics on Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator.

Background: Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF) can be associated with undetected distinct conditions such as microstructural cardiomyopathic alterations (MiCM) or Purkinje (Purk) activities with structurally normal hearts.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the characteristics of recurrent VF recorded on implantable defibrillator electrograms, associated with these substrates.

Methods: This was a multicenter collaboration study.

Nivolumab-Induced Cytokine Release Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND CRS (cytokine release syndrome) is a massive activation of the inflammatory system characterized by a supra-physiological rate of inflammatory cytokines. The interleukin 6 cytokine plays a central role in CRS. The main clinical sign of CRS is fever, but CRS can lead to multiple organ failure in severe cases.

Diagnosis and Management of Catastrophic Antiphospholipid Syndrome and the Potential Impact of the 2023 ACR/EULAR Antiphospholipid Syndrome Classification Criteria.

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is a rare and life-threatening condition characterized by the persistence of antiphospholipid antibodies and occurrence of multiple vascular occlusive events. CAPS currently remains a diagnostic challenge and requires urgent treatment. The diagnosis of CAPS is made difficult by classification criteria used as diagnostic criteria in clinical practice, knowledge derived from retrospective data and case reports, confounding clinical and biological features, and its rapid onset and mortality.

Neonatal mortality risk of vulnerable newborns by fine stratum of gestational age and birthweight for 230 679 live births in nine low- and middle-income countries, 2000-2017.

Objective: To describe the mortality risks by fine strata of gestational age and birthweight among 230 679 live births in nine low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017.

Design: Descriptive multi-country secondary data analysis.

Setting: Nine LMICs in sub-Saharan Africa, Southern and Eastern Asia, and Latin America.

Neonatal mortality risk of vulnerable newborns: A descriptive analysis of subnational, population-based birth cohorts for 238 203 live births in low- and middle-income settings from 2000 to 2017.

Objective: We aimed to understand the mortality risks of vulnerable newborns (defined as preterm and/or born weighing smaller or larger compared to a standard population), in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Design: Descriptive multi-country, secondary analysis of individual-level study data of babies born since 2000.

Setting: Sixteen subnational, population-based studies from nine LMICs in sub-Saharan Africa, Southern and Eastern Asia, and Latin America.

Self-Induced and Progressive Photo-Oxidation of Organophosphonic Acid Grafted Titanium Dioxide.

While synthesis-properties-performance correlations are being studied for organophosphonic acid grafted TiO , their stability and the impact of the exposure conditions on possible changes in the interfacial surface chemistry remain unexplored. Here, the impact of different ageing conditions on the evolution of the surface properties of propyl- and 3-aminopropylphosphonic acid grafted mesoporous TiO over a period of 2 years is reported, using solid-state P and C NMR, ToF-SIMS and EPR as main techniques. In humid conditions under ambient light exposure, PA grafted TiO surfaces initiate and facilitate photo-induced oxidative reactions, resulting in the formation of phosphate species and degradation of the grafted organic group with a loss of carbon content ranging from 40 to 60 wt %.

Chemistry must respond to the crisis of transgression of planetary boundaries.

Recent assessments alarmingly indicate that many of the world's leading chemicals are transgressing one or more of the nine planetary boundaries, which define safe operating spaces within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. The unfolding crisis cannot be ignored and there is a once-in-a-century opportunity for chemistry - the science of transformation of matter - to make a critical difference to the future of people and planet. How can chemists contribute to meeting these challenges and restore stability and strengthen resilience to the planetary system that humanity needs for its survival? To respond to the wake-up call, three crucial steps are outlined: (1) urgently working to understand the nature of the looming threats, from a chemistry perspective; (2) harnessing the ingenuity and innovation that are central to the practice of chemistry to develop sustainable solutions; and (3) transforming chemistry itself, in education, research and industry, to re-position it as 'chemistry for sustainability' and lead the stewardship of the world's chemical resources.

Social representations of intellectual disability; a comparison between cultures.

Objectives: People with Intellectual disability consistently appear to be one of the most looked-down upon and repressed subgroups of society in many cultures. The main aim of this study was to compare social representations of intellectual disability in its various aspects between different cultures.

Materials And Methods: The study was conducted in four different sites: Beirut-Lebanon, Algiers-Algeria, Tours-France and Namur-Belgium.

Impact on quitting smoking of cognitive impairment in stroke patients.

Introduction: Smoking is a well-established risk factor for strokes, leading to a high incidence of cognitive deficits. Since the impact of cognitive impairment on the effectiveness of interventions for smoking cessation is not yet known, we considered important to assess it.

Methods: We compared, from April 2012 to November 2015, the success rate of quitting smoking in two groups of acutely hospitalised adult smokers.

Non-clinical assessment of lubrication and free radical scavenging of an innovative non-animal carboxymethyl chitosan biomaterial for viscosupplementation: An in-vitro and ex-vivo study.

Objective: Lubrication and free radical scavenging are key features of biomaterials used for viscosupplementation (VS) of joints affected by osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to describe the non-clinical performance characterization of KiOmedine® CM-Chitosan, a non-animal carboxymethyl chitosan, in order to assess its intended action in VS and to compare it to existing viscosupplements based on crosslinked hyaluronan (HA) formulations.

Method: The lubrication capacity of the tested viscosupplements (VS) was evaluated in-vitro and ex-vivo.

Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate by Transesterification of Propylene Carbonate with Methanol on CeO-LaO Oxides Prepared by the Soft Template Method.

In this study, CeO, LaO, and CeO-LaO mixed oxide catalysts with different Ce/La molar ratios were prepared by the soft template method and characterized by different techniques, including inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, N physisorption, thermogravimetric analysis, and Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. NH and CO adsorption microcalorimetry was also used for assessing the acid and base surface properties, respectively. The behavior of the oxides as catalysts for the dimethyl carbonate synthesis by the transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol, at 160 °C under autogenic pressure, was studied in a stainless-steel batch reactor.

Springtail coloration at a finer scale: mechanisms behind vibrant collembolan metallic colours.

The mechanisms and evolution of metallic structural colours are of both fundamental and applied interest, yet most work in arthropods has focused on derived butterflies and beetles with distinct hues. In particular, basal hexapods-groups with many scaled, metallic representatives-are currently poorly studied and controversial, with some recent studies suggesting either that thin-film (lamina thickness) or diffraction grating (longitudinal ridges, cross-ribs) elements produce these colours in early Lepidoptera and one springtail (Collembola) species. Especially the collembolan basal scale design, consisting of a single lamina and longitudinal ridges with smooth valleys lacking cross-ribs, makes them an interesting group to explore the mechanisms of metallic coloration.

Association of Retinal Microvascular Characteristics With Short-term Memory Performance in Children Aged 4 to 5 Years.

Importance: Neurocognitive functions develop rapidly in early childhood and depend on the intrinsic cooperation between cerebral structures and the circulatory system. The retinal microvasculature can be regarded as a mirror image of the cerebrovascular circulation.

Objective: To investigate the association between retinal vessel characteristics and neurological functioning in children aged 4 to 5 years.

Rapid-deployment aortic valve replacement in high-risk patients with severe endocarditis.

Background: Surgical management of aortic valve endocarditis in high risk patients is controversial and the ideal treatment has not been found yet. We describe a selected series of eight patients treated with rapid-deployment aortic valve prosthesis as a therapeutic solution for minimizing the risks associated with annulus manipulation in case of severe aortic infective endocarditis.

Methods: Eight consecutive patients (five men and three women) with a mean age of 74.

Children's microvascular traits and ambient air pollution exposure during pregnancy and early childhood: prospective evidence to elucidate the developmental origin of particle-induced disease.

Background: Particulate matter exposure during in utero life may entail adverse health outcomes later in life. The microvasculature undergoes extensive, organ-specific prenatal maturation. A growing body of evidence shows that cardiovascular disease in adulthood is rooted in a dysfunctional fetal and perinatal development, in particular that of the microcirculation.

Association Between Maternal Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Anthropometric Parameters, Blood Pressure, and Retinal Microvasculature in Children Age 4 to 6 Years.

Importance: Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) has previously been associated with offspring cardiometabolic risk factors, such as fat mass, glucose and insulin levels, and blood pressure, but these associations appear to be largely mediated by offspring BMI. To our knowledge, no studies have assessed alterations in the retinal microvasculature in association with maternal prepregnancy BMI.

Objective: To investigate the association between maternal prepregnancy BMI and anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, and retinal vessel parameters in children age 4 to 6 years.

Establishing reference values for macro- and microvascular measurements in 4-to-5 year-old children of the ENVIRONAGE prospective birth cohort.

Cardiovascular risk factors are usually better tolerated, and can therefore be perceived as less harmful, at a young age. However, over time the effects of these adverse factors may persist or accumulate and lead to excess morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases later in life. Until now, reference values for the basic cardiovascular health characteristics of 4-to-6 year-old children are lacking.

Blocking the Hype-Hypocrisy-Falsification-Fakery Pathway is Needed to Safeguard Science.

In chemistry and other sciences, hype has become commonplace, compounded by the hypocrisy of those who tolerate or encourage it while disapproving of the consequences. This reduces the credibility and trust upon which all science depends for support. Hype and hypocrisy are but first steps down a slippery slope towards falsification of results and dissemination of fake science.

Fake science and the knowledge crisis: ignorance can be fatal.

Computers, the Internet and social media enable every individual to be a publisher, communicating true or false information instantly and globally. In the 'post-truth' era, deception is commonplace at all levels of contemporary life. Fakery affects science and social information and the two have become highly interactive globally, undermining trust in science and the capacity of individuals and society to make evidence-informed choices, including on life-or-death issues.