MoCloro: an extension of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii modular cloning toolkit for microalgal chloroplast engineering.

Photosynthetic microalgae are promising green cell factories for the sustainable production of high-value chemicals and biopharmaceuticals. The chloroplast organelle is being developed as a chassis for synthetic biology as it contains its own genome (the plastome) and some interesting advantages, such as high recombinant protein titers and a diverse and dynamic metabolism. However, chloroplast engineering is currently hampered by the lack of standardized cloning tools and Design-Build-Test-Learn workflows to ease genomic and metabolic engineering.

Age-threshold for increased risk of developing back disorders: prospective cohort with 74 000 individuals from the UK Biobank.

Objective: To investigate the prospective associations between age and the risk of low back disorders (LBD), dorsal disorders (DD), and cervical disorders (CD), and to identify a potential age-threshold for increased risk of back disorders.

Methods: Prospective cohort from the UK Biobank comprising adults with no history of back disorders. We examined different ages and their association with the risk of back disorders derived from diagnoses of hospital registers.

c-di-GMP inhibits rRNA methylation and impairs ribosome assembly in the presence of kanamycin.

Cyclic diguanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP) is a ubiquitous bacterial secondary messenger with diverse functions. A previous Escherichia coli proteome microarray identified that c-di-GMP binds to the 23S rRNA methyltransferases RlmI and RlmE. Here we show that c-di-GMP inhibits RlmI activity in rRNA methylation assays, and that it modulates ribosome assembly in the presence of kanamycin.

Preventing the progression of cirrhosis to decompensation and death.

Two main stages are differentiated in patients with advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD), one compensated (cACLD) with an excellent prognosis, and the other decompensated (dACLD), defined by the appearance of complications (ascites, variceal bleeding and hepatic encephalopathy) and associated with high mortality. Preventing the progression to dACLD might dramatically improve prognosis and reduce the burden of care associated with ACLD. Portal hypertension is a major driver of the transition from cACLD to dACLD, and a portal pressure of ≥10 mmHg defines clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) as the threshold from which decompensating events may occur.

Implementation of intraoperative procedures to prevent anastomotic leak in low anterior rectal resections: a pilot study for a novel technique to evaluate anastomotic vascularization.

Introduction: Altered vascular microcirculation is recognized as a risk factor for anastomotic leakage (AL) in colorectal surgery. However, few studies evaluated its impact on AL using different devices, with heterogeneous results. The present study reported the initial experience measuring gut microcirculatory density and flow with the aid of incidence dark-field (IDF) videomicroscopy (Cytocam, Braedius, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) comparing its operative outcome using a propensity score matching (PSM) model based on age, gender, and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).

Estimating future heat-related and cold-related mortality under climate change, demographic and adaptation scenarios in 854 European cities.

Previous health impact assessments of temperature-related mortality in Europe indicated that the mortality burden attributable to cold is much larger than for heat. Questions remain as to whether climate change can result in a net decrease in temperature-related mortality. In this study, we estimated how climate change could affect future heat-related and cold-related mortality in 854 European urban areas, under several climate, demographic and adaptation scenarios.

Comparison of aesthetic perception and acceptability of silver diamine fluoride staining between Spanish and Italian parents.

Assessing parental aesthetic acceptability of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) staining is crucial for its potential implementation in paediatric dentistry in different regions. This study aimed to compare aesthetic perceptions and acceptance of SDF staining between Spanish and Italian parents, and assess weather acceptability is influenced by location, child's cooperation, or demographic background. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among Spanish and Italian parents at three university dental clinics, using a validated Italian version of the questionnaire "Parental perceptions of Silver Diamine Fluoride Dental Color Changes".

Descriptive study on oral health and pathologies in vulnerable migrant adolescents from North and West Africa.

This descriptive study focuses on the oral health of African migrants, especially adolescents, arriving in the Canary Islands. Notably, these patients show a high prevalence of caries and oral mucosal alterations. These are influenced by multifactorial factors, such as living conditions in their country of origin, hygiene habits, and sugar-rich diets.

Optimizing photovoltaic power plant forecasting with dynamic neural network structure refinement.

Reliable prediction of photovoltaic power generation is key to the efficient management of energy systems in response to the inherent uncertainty of renewable energy sources. Despite advances in weather forecasting, photovoltaic power prediction accuracy remains a challenge. This study presents a novel approach that combines genetic algorithms and dynamic neural network structure refinement to optimize photovoltaic prediction.

NIRS-BIDS: Brain Imaging Data Structure Extended to Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an increasingly popular neuroimaging technique that measures cortical hemodynamic activity in a non-invasive and portable fashion. Although the fNIRS community has been successful in disseminating open-source processing tools and a standard file format (SNIRF), reproducible research and sharing of fNIRS data amongst researchers has been hindered by a lack of standards and clarity over how study data should be organized and stored. This problem is not new in neuroimaging, and it became evident years ago with the proliferation of publicly available neuroimaging datasets.

Waste marble sludge and calcined clay brick powders in conventional cement farina production for cleaner built environment.

In the manufacturing of some sectors, such as marble and brick, certain byproducts, such as sludge, powder, and pieces containing valuable chemical compounds, emerge. Some concrete plants utilize these byproducts as mineralogical additives in Turkey. The objective of the experimental study is to ascertain whether the incorporation of waste from the marble and brick industries, in powder form, into cement manufacturing as a mineralogical additive or substitute is a viable option.

Sustainability metrics targeted optimization and electric discharge process modelling by neural networks.

Aluminium and its alloys, especially Al6061, have gathered significant interest among researchers due to its less density, great durability, and high strength. Due to their lightweight properties, the precise machining of these alloys can become expensive through conventional machining operations for intricate products. Therefore, non-traditional machining such as electric discharge machining (EDM) can potentially be opted for the cutting of Al6061.

Splicing accuracy varies across human introns, tissues, age and disease.

Alternative splicing impacts most multi-exonic human genes. Inaccuracies during this process may have an important role in ageing and disease. Here, we investigate splicing accuracy using RNA-sequencing data from >14k control samples and 40 human body sites, focusing on split reads partially mapping to known transcripts in annotation.

Searching for monogenic autoimmune etiology in patients with type 1 diabetes onset under 30 months of age.

Introduction: The most frequent form of diabetes in pediatric patients is polygenic autoimmune diabetes (T1D), but single-gene variants responsible for autoimmune diabetes have also been described. Both disorders share clinical features, which can lead to monogenic forms being misdiagnosed as T1D. However, correct diagnosis is crucial for therapeutic choice, prognosis and genetic counseling.

Comparison of efficacy between micro-osteoperforations and alveolar corticotomies on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Micro-osteoperforations and corticotomies are two surgical techniques commonly used to increase the rate of tooth movement. The aim of this systematic review was to respond to the question: Which method used for accelerating orthodontic tooth movement, micro-osteoperforations or alveolar corticotomy, produces a higher rate of tooth movement and present less adverse effects? Searches were performed in the electronic databases of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, Lilacs and Science Direct, as well as grey literature (Opengrey), up to March 2024. All the included studies were controlled, randomized clinical trials, cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, and multicentre studies of patients treated with orthodontics and corticotomies or micro-osteoperforations.

Patterns, timing and predictors of recurrence following pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: an international multicentre retrospective cohort study.

Background: Most patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) develop recurrence. No previous studies have investigated predictors of local-only recurrence following PD for PDAC. Our study aimed to determine timing, pattern and predictors of any-site and local-only recurrence following PD for PDAC.

Adnexal torsion in middle childhood: a rare cause of abdominal pain.

Adnexal torsion is a rare cause of abdominal pain in middle childhood and, in general, the diagnosis is often delayed due to the lack of specificity of symptoms and imaging tests. We describe the case of a girl in middle childhood who came to the emergency department for pain in the right iliac fossa of approximately 15 hours of evolution associated with partial refusal of food intake and vomiting. The initial examination showed normal vital signs, a soft abdomen, pain on palpation in the lower region, but no signs of peritoneal irritation, a mild leucocytosis with no other signs of infection and the initial abdominal ultrasound showed no objective pathology.

How to: share and reuse data - challenges and solutions from PrIMAVeRa project.

Background: Data sharing accelerates scientific progress and improves evidence quality. Even though journals and funding institutions require investigators to share data, only a small part of studies made their data publicly available upon publication. The procedures necessary to share retrospective data for re-use in secondary data analysis projects can be cumbersome.

Prospective analysis of biomarkers associated with successful faecal microbiota transplantation in recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection.

Objectives: Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an established treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (R-CDI). This study aimed to identify calprotectin and microbiome characteristics as potential biomarkers of FMT success.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of patients who underwent oral FMT (single dose of 4-5 capsules) for R-CDI (January 2018 to December 2022).

Unexpected cyanobacterial communities in highly heterogeneous toxic blooms from a Mediterranean protected area.

The negative effects associated with cyanobacterial blooms are of particular concern in protected ecosystems, as these areas are ecologically significant and attract a high number of visitors. This study aims to explore the cyanobacterial communities and associated toxicity in three reservoirs located within a Mediterranean National Park with a compromised situation at basin-level. Our results demonstrate the occurrence of dense toxic blooms containing microcystins (reaching values close to 280 μg L) and low levels of anatoxin-a and saxitoxins (up to 0.