Cardiorespiratory fitness, cardiac morphology and function, and cardiovascular risk factors in long-term breast cancer survivors compared with non-cancer controls.

Background: Although anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity is widely studied, only a limited number of echocardiographic studies have assessed cardiac function in breast cancer survivors (BCSs) beyond ten years from anthracycline treatment, and the knowledge of long-term cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in this population is scarce. This study aimed to compare CRF assessed as peak oxygen uptake (V̇O), cardiac morphology and function, and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors between long-term BCSs treated with anthracyclines and controls with no history of cancer.

Methods: The CAUSE (Cardiovascular Survivors Exercise) trial included 140 BCSs recruited through the Cancer Registry of Norway, who were diagnosed with breast cancer stage II to III between 2008 and 2012 and had received treatment with epirubicin, and 69 similarly aged activity level-matched controls.

Factors influencing communication issues during hospital discharge for older adults in 11 high-income countries: a secondary analysis of the 2021 International Health Policy Survey.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hospital discharge communication problems with older adults, compare them across countries and determine factors associated with those problems.

Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data.

Setting: 2021 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy (IHP) Survey of Older Adults conducted across 11 high-income countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

P-ecing together brain calcification mechanisms for therapeutic advancement.

Seven primary familial brain calcification genes have been identified but their role in disease mechanisms has been less explored. Cheng et al. recently demonstrated that astrocyte-mediated regulation of brain phosphate (P) involves direct and functional interactions among three of these proteins, paving the way for new strategies to combat brain calcification.

Malaysia outbreak survivors retain detectable Nipah antibodies and memory B cells after 25 years.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term humoral immune response to Nipah virus (NiV) in a cohort of 25 survivors after 25 years of post-infection.

Methods: A total of 25 survivors of NiV infection from the 1998 outbreak were recruited for sample collection. The serum IgG antibody response to NiV antigens, specifically nucleocapsid (N), fusion glycoprotein (F) and attachment glycoprotein (G) was evaluated using ELISA.

The RNA-binding properties of Annexins.

Annexins are a family of calcium-dependent phospholipid-binding proteins involved in crucial cellular processes such as cell division, calcium signaling, vesicle trafficking, membrane repair, and apoptosis. In addition to these properties, Annexins have also been shown to bind RNA, although this function is not universally recognized. In the attempt to clarify this important issue, we employed an integrated combination of experimental and computational approaches.

Co-existence of two bla and bla on distinct plasmids in a carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae from a tertiary hospital, Tanzania.

Purpose: To understand the mechanisms of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) from Tanzania and characterize the genomes carrying the carbapenemase genes.

Methods: Clinical CRKP isolates were selected from ongoing antimicrobial-resistant surveillance at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Whole-genome sequencing was performed utilizing Illumina and Nanopore platforms.

Adoptive T cell therapy targeting an inducible and broadly shared product of aberrant mRNA translation.

Prolonged exposure to interferon-gamma (IFNγ) and the associated increased expression of the enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) create an intracellular shortage of tryptophan in the cancer cells, which stimulates ribosomal frameshifting and tryptophan to phenylalanine (W>F) codon reassignments during protein synthesis. Here, we investigated whether such neoepitopes can be useful targets of adoptive T cell therapy. Immunopeptidomic analyses uncovered hundreds of W>F neoepitopes mainly presented by the HLA-A24:02 allele.

How important is girls' 'Biological Head Start' in explaining gender differences in education and the labour market?

We investigate whether gender differences in physical maturity during adolescence can explain gender differences in educational and labour market performance. Using survey data with measures of physical maturity linked to register data on education and labour market outcomes, we analyse the importance of physical maturity for gender differences in both the short and long terms. The results show that gender differences in physical maturity partially explain both the gender gap in educational performance (in girls' favour) and the gender gap in labour market outcomes at age 33 (in boys' favour).

The Aberrant Behavior Checklist in a Clinical Sample of Autistic Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and Co-Occurring Mental Health Problems: Psychometric Properties, Factor Structure, and Longitudinal Measurement Invariance.

The Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) was originally developed to evaluate interventions, and is a well-established assessment tool for challenging behaviours in people with intellectual disabilities and autistic people. However, whether the ABC displays longitudinal measurement invariance (i.e.

Fine-Tuning Genetic Circuits via Host Context and RBS Modulation.

The choice of organism to host a genetic circuit, the chassis, is often defaulted to model organisms due to their amenability. The chassis-design space has therefore remained underexplored as an engineering variable. In this work, we explored the design space of a genetic toggle switch through variations in nine ribosome binding site compositions and three host contexts, creating 27 circuit variants.

Behind the scenes of EQA-characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

The main stakeholders in external quality assessment (EQA) programs are the participants, in whose interests these challenges are ultimately organised. EQA schemes in the medical field contribute to improving the quality of patient care by evaluating the analytical and diagnostic quality of laboratory and point-of-care tests (POCT) by independent third parties and, if necessary, pointing out erroneous measurement results and analytical or diagnostic improvement potential. Other benefits include the option of using EQA samples for other important laboratory procedures, such as the verification or validation of diagnostic medical devices (IVD-MDs), a contribution to the estimation of measurement uncertainty, a means of training and educating laboratory staff through educational EQA programmes or samples, or even for independent and documented monitoring of staff competence, such as on samples with unusual or even exceptional characteristics.

Factors influencing trust among colleagues in hospital settings: a systematic review.

Background: Many studies show positive results of collegial trust in the workplace, e.g. performance, innovation and collaboration.

Correlates of condom use among school-going Thai adolescents: the critical role of bullying victimizations.

Background: Adolescents face numerous challenges that influence their sexual behaviors. Among these, bullying victimization is a critical yet understudied factor that may impact engagement in unprotected sex. This study investigated the correlates of condom use among school-going Thai adolescents, with a main focus on bullying victimization.

Future food prices will become less sensitive to agricultural market prices and mitigation costs.

Agricultural production costs represent less than half of total food prices for higher-income countries and will likely further decrease globally. Added-value components such as transport, processing, marketing and catering show increasing importance in food value chains, especially as countries undergo a nutrition transition towards more complex and industrial food systems. Here, using a combined statistical and process-based modelling framework, we derive and project the value-added component of food prices for 136 countries and 11 different food groups, for food-at-home and food-away-from-home.

The role of adipose and muscle tissue breakdown on interorgan energy substrate fluxes in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa induced sepsis model in female pigs.

Sepsis leads to an acute breakdown of muscle to support increased caloric and amino acid requirements. Little is known about the role of adipose and muscle tissue breakdown and intestinal metabolism in glucose substrate supply during the acute phase of sepsis. In a translational porcine model of sepsis, we explored the across organ net fluxes of gluconeogenic substrates.

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

This is the first in a series of five papers that detail the role and substantial impact that external quality assessment (EQA) and their providers' services play in ensuring diagnostic (IVD) performance quality. The aim is to give readers and users of EQA services an insight into the processes in EQA, explain to them what happens before EQA samples are delivered and after examination results are submitted to the provider, how they are assessed, what benefits participants can expect, but also who are stakeholders other than participants and what significance do EQA data and assessment results have for them. This first paper presents the history of EQA, insights into legal, financing and ethical matters, information technology used in EQA, structure and lifecycle of EQA programs, frequency and intensity of challenges, and unique requirements of extra-examination and educational EQA programs.

Reliability of the OMERACT Giant cell arteritis Ultrasonography Score (OGUS): results of a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography.

Objective: To test the reliability of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Giant cell arteritis (GCA) Ultrasonography Score (OGUS) and other composite scores in a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography.

Methods: Six GCA patients were scanned twice (two rounds separated ≥3 hours) by 12 experts and 12 non-experts. Non-experts received 90 min of theoretical and 240 min of practical training between rounds 1 and 2.

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

External quality assessment (EQA) cycles are the smallest complete units within EQA programs that laboratories can use to obtain external assessments of their performance. In each cycle, several samples are distributed to the laboratories registered for participation, and ideally, EQA programs not only cover the examination procedures but also the pre- and post-examination procedures. The properties and concentration range of measurands in individual samples are selected with regard to the intended challenge for the participants so that each sample fulfils its purpose.

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

External quality assessment (EQA) enhances patient safety through the evaluation of the quality of laboratory-based and point of care testing. Regulatory agencies and accreditation organizations utilize the results and the laboratory's response to them as part of assessing the laboratory's fitness to practice. In addition, where EQA samples are commutable and the assigned value has been determined using reference measurement procedures (RMPs), EQA data contributes to the verification of metrological traceability of assays as part of the post-market surveillance of diagnostic (IVD) medical devices (IVD-MDs).

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

Providers of external quality assessment (EQA) programs evaluate data or information obtained and reported by participant laboratories using their routine procedures to examine properties or measurands in samples provided for this purpose. EQA samples must offer participants an equal chance to obtain accurate results, while being designed to provide results in clinically relevant ranges. It is the responsibility of the EQA provider to meet the necessary requirements for homogeneity, stability and some other properties of the EQA items in order to offer participants a fair, reliable and technically interesting EQA experience.

Local and landscape factors differently influence health and pollination services in two important pollinator groups.

Agricultural management significantly affects insects, especially pollinators, which are crucial for crop pollination and biodiversity. In agricultural landscapes, various factors spanning different spatial scales are known to affect pollinator health, which, in turn, can influence pollination services. However, the importance of these factors in driving the health and performance of different pollinator groups remains unclear.

Disentangling Sources of Momentum Fluctuations in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb Collisions with the ATLAS Detector.

High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.

Crystal Structure, Cation Occupation, and Phase Transitions in Ba(LiNa)NbO Tetragonal Tungsten Bronzes.

The chemical flexibility of the tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) structure offers a large potential for compositional engineering. Cation size and vacancy concentration are known to affect its structure, cation disorder, and functional properties. However, the compositional complexity also makes the TTB structure challenging to understand.

Total wrist arthroplasty: recent advances and current recommendations.

The latest generation of wrist arthroplasties provides good clinical function and pain relief with an acceptable revision/reoperation rate. The procedure is complex and technically demanding, both for the surgeon and the patient. The available implants (with the exception of one) have not been developed or refined in the last decade, which reduces the versatility and ability to adapt to specific patient anatomy, to manage implant/treatment problems and to perform successful revisions.