Incidence of ANCA associated vasculitis and polyarteritis nodosa in Norfolk, UK, from 2011-2020.

Objective: To report the annual and age-specific incidence of ANCA associated vasculitis and polyarteritis nodosa in the adult population of Norfolk County, UK.

Methods: Individuals newly diagnosed with ANCA associated vasculitis or polyarteritis nodosa between 1st Jan 2011 and 31st December 2020, residing in the postal areas of NR1-NR30 were included. Patients were classified according to the European Medicines Agency algorithm.

Plasma proteomics for risk prediction and identification of novel drug targets in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: The relationship between proteomic profiles and incident systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remains unclear. We aimed to identify candidate plasma proteins for SLE risk in women, discover potential treatment targets for SLE, and develop and validate a protein-based prediction model for SLE risk.

Methods: 28 220 women from the UK Biobank were randomly split into training (70%) and testing (30%) sets.

Progress and prospects in antisense oligonucleotide-mediated exon skipping therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Recent years have seen enormous progress in the field of advanced therapeutics for the progressive muscle wasting disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In particular, four antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies targeting various DMD-causing mutations have achieved FDA approval, marking major milestones in the treatment of this disease. These compounds are designed to induce alternative splicing events that restore the translation reading frame of the dystrophin gene, leading to the generation of internally-deleted, but mostly functional, pseudodystrophin proteins with the potential to compensate for the genetic loss of dystrophin.

Exploring RNA modifications in infectious non-coding circular RNAs.

Viroids, small circular non-coding RNAs, act as infectious pathogens in higher plants, demonstrating high stability despite consisting solely of naked RNA. Their dependence of replication on host machinery poses the question of whether RNA modifications play a role in viroid biology. Here, we explore RNA modifications in the avocado sunblotch viroid (ASBVd) and the citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), representative members of viroids replicating in chloroplasts and the nucleus, respectively, using LC - MS and Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) direct RNA sequencing.

Multi-sample long-read nanopore sequencing of Agabus bipustulatus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Agabinae) mitogenome produces effectively reliable data for downstream analyses.

Mitochondrial genomes are a rich source of data for various downstream analyses such as population genetics, phylogeny, and systematics. Today it is possible to assemble rapidly large numbers of mitogenomes, mainly employing next-generation sequencing and third-generation sequencing. However, verification of the correctness of the generated sequences is often lacking, especially for noncoding, length-variable parts.

Single-Site Local-Density Potentials for the Mesoscopic Representation of Water Based on the SAFT-VR Mie Equation of State.

In this article, we present three mesoscopic models for water. All three models make use of local density-dependent interaction potentials, as employed within the Pagonabarraga-Frenkel framework [Pagonabarraga, I.; Frenkel, D.

It's Not Too Late: Physical and Social Activity Slow Cognitive Decline in Those Living With Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Current evidence concerning the effect of physical activity and social engagement on cognitive functioning in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is underdeveloped. Drawing upon cognitive reserve theory, we used linear mixed models to investigate the impact of physical activity and social engagement on cognitive functioning in older adults living with MCI utilizing 16 years of data from the Health and Retirement Study ( = 1462). The average cognitive score (sum of immediate and delayed word recall, serial seven subtraction test, counting backwards, range: 0-27) at baseline was 9.

Transfusion in trauma: empiric or guided therapy?

A state of the art lecture titled "Transfusion therapy in trauma-what to give? Empiric vs guided" was presented at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Congress in 2024. Uncontrolled bleeding is the commonest preventable cause of death after traumatic injury. Hemostatic resuscitation is the foundation of contemporary transfusion practice for traumatic bleeding and has 2 main aims: to immediately support the circulating blood volume and to treat/prevent the associated trauma-induced coagulopathy.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Long COVID: Mapping the Condition-Specific C19-YRSm Measure Onto the EQ-5D-5L.

Background: Long COVID (LC) is a clinical syndrome with persistent, fluctuating symptoms subsequent to COVID-19 infection. LC has significant detrimental effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), activities of daily living (ADL), and work productivity. Condition-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), such as the modified COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRSm) do not provide the health utility data required for cost-utility analyses of LC interventions.

The use of cannabidiol as adjunctive therapy in adult patients with drug-resistant epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Highly purified cannabidiol (CBD), recently approved for various neurological disorders, is explored as a potential therapeutic avenue for drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) among adult people with epilepsy (PWE) in this systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: To conduct an extensive literature review and meta-analysis of CBD use for DRE in adult PWE.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Associations of neighbourhood food retail with disability and death in older adults: Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: A healthier diet is associated with lower chronic disease burden, but the impact of neighbourhood food environments on disability and death in older adults is not known.

Methods: In the Cardiovascular Health Study, a cohort study of adults aged 65+, we calculated study years until death (years of life (YOL)), study years without activities of daily living (ADL) difficulty (years of able life; YoAL) and percent of study years without ADL difficulty (compression of disability). Linear regression quantified associations of food establishments within 5 km of baseline home address (as a z-score) with each outcome, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics.

Predicting conversion to psychosis using machine learning: response to Cannon.

Background: We previously reported that machine learning could be used to predict conversion to psychosis in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis with up to 90% accuracy using the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study-3 (NAPLS-3) dataset. A definitive test of our predictive model that was trained on the NAPLS-3 data, however, requires further support through implementation in an independent dataset. In this report we tested for model generalization using the previous iteration of NAPLS-3, the NAPLS-2, using the identical machine learning algorithms employed in our previous study.

Going 'meta': a systematic review of metacognition and functional neurological disorder.

In functional neurological disorder (FND), there is a fundamental disconnect between an apparently intact nervous system and the individuals' ability to consistently perform motor actions, perceive sensory signals and/or access effective cognition. Metacognition, the capacity to self-evaluate cognitive performance, appears highly relevant to FND pathophysiology. Poor metacognition is a potential mechanism via which abnormal models of self and the state of the world could arise and persist unchecked.

SARS-CoV-2 infection in microglia and its sequelae: What do we know so far?

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the COVID-19 pandemic. After the success of therapeutics and worldwide vaccination, the long-term sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infections are yet to be determined. Common symptoms of COVID-19 include the loss of taste and smell, suggesting SARS-CoV-2 infection has a potentially detrimental effect on neurons within the olfactory/taste pathways, with direct access to the central nervous system (CNS).

Antibiotic duration for common bacterial infections-a systematic review.

Background: Reducing antibiotic duration is a key stewardship intervention to mitigate antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We examined current evidence informing antibiotic duration for common bacterial infections to identify any gaps in terms of settings, patient populations and infectious conditions. Trial methodologies were assessed to identify areas for improvement.

Assessment of improvement in functional outcomes between a novel knee replacement design and conventional designs in 240 patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Background And Purpose:  The introduction and development of new total knee arthroplasty (TKA) implant designs are industry driven. To date, an adequately powered randomized controlled trial (RCT) to provide evidence of the superiority of novel implant designs over conventional ones is often lacking. The aim of our RCT was to investigate the functional outcomes of a novel TKA implant design compared with 2 conventional TKA designs.

Arthroplasty registries at a glance: an initiative of the International Society of Arthroplasty Registries (ISAR) to facilitate access, understanding, and reporting of registry data from an international perspective.

Background And Purpose:  The amount of information publicly available from arthroplasty registries is large but could be used more effectively. This project aims to improve the knowledge concerning existing registries to facilitate access, transparency, harmonization, and reporting.

Methods: Within the International Society of Arthroplasty Registries (ISAR) we aimed at developing, testing, adopting, and making publicly available a short, standardized registry description with items considered relevant for stakeholders using a cross-sectional study survey.

A comprehensive bibliographic study on mental illness.

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of recent mental illness research by utilizing an advanced bibliographic method capable of analyzing up to 12,965 papers indexed in the Web of Science database, overcoming the limitations of traditional tools like VOSviewer, which typically analyze fewer than 1,000 papers. By examining a vast dataset, this study identifies key trends, significant keywords, and prominent contributors, including leading researchers, universities, and countries/regions, in the field of mental illness research. Additionally, the study highlights eight major contributors to mental health problems, offering critical insights into the field’s current state.

Niche-derived Semaphorin 4A safeguards functional identity of myeloid-biased hematopoietic stem cells.

Somatic stem cell pools comprise diverse, highly specialized subsets whose individual contribution is critical for the overall regenerative function. In the bone marrow, myeloid-biased hematopoietic stem cells (myHSCs) are indispensable for replenishment of myeloid cells and platelets during inflammatory response but, at the same time, become irreversibly damaged during inflammation and aging. Here we identify an extrinsic factor, semaphorin 4A (Sema4A), which non-cell-autonomously confers myHSC resilience to inflammatory stress.