Characterisation of heritable TP53-related cancer syndrome in Sweden-a nationwide study of genotype-phenotype correlations in 90 families.

We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of families with heritable TP53-related cancer (hTP53rc) syndrome in Sweden with class 4 and 5 germline TP53 variants (gTP53), and to evaluate the genotype-phenotype correlation. These results were also used to evaluate our previously published phenotype prediction model based on TP53 missense variants and their impact on protein conformation. 90 families with hTP53rc were initially identified in Sweden.

Enhancing adipose tissue plasticity: progenitor cell roles in metabolic health.

Adipose tissue demonstrates considerable plasticity and heterogeneity, enabling metabolic, cellular and structural adaptations to environmental signals. This adaptability is key for maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Impaired adipose tissue plasticity can lead to abnormal adipose tissue responses to metabolic cues, which contributes to the development of cardiometabolic diseases.

18 kDa TSPO targeting drives polarized human microglia towards a protective and restorative neurosteroidome profile.

An aberrant pro-inflammatory microglia response has been associated with most neurodegenerative disorders. Identifying microglia druggable checkpoints to restore their physiological functions is an emerging challenge. Recent data have shown that microglia produce de novo neurosteroids, endogenous molecules exerting potent anti-inflammatory activity.

ATG8 delipidation is not universally critical for autophagy in plants.

Intracellular recycling via autophagy is governed by post-translational modifications of the autophagy-related (ATG) proteins. One notable example is ATG4-dependent delipidation of ATG8, a process that plays critical but distinct roles in autophagosome formation in yeast and mammals. Here, we aim to elucidate the specific contribution of this process to autophagosome formation in species representative of evolutionarily distant green plant lineages: unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, with a relatively simple set of ATG genes, and a vascular plant Arabidopsis thaliana, harboring expanded ATG gene families.

Chemical, biological and nerve gas attacks: need for education among healthcare personnel and medical students; a Swedish regional cross-sectional web-survey.

Background: Chemical, biological and nerve gas events have a significant impact on public health, necessitating proper education and training. This study investigated the educational needs as perceived by two groups, frontline healthcare workers and medical students, in relation to chemical, biological, and nerve gas events.

Methods: Three distinct web-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted, one each for chemical, biological, and nerve gas events, with each survey following the same structural format including sections on (a) theoretical knowledge assessment, using multiple-choice questions regarding identification, protection, and treatment, (b) perception of threat, using questions based on a 5-point Likert scale to gauge views on threat/preparedness and (c) perception of existing competency, with questions regarding prior education and the need for additional education and training.

Attraction and aversion of noctuid moths to fermented food sources coordinated by olfactory receptors from distinct gene families.

Background: Alternative food sources are crucial for the survival and reproduction of moths during nectar scarcity. Noctuid moths make a better use of fermented food sources than moths from other families, while the underlying molecular and genetic basis remain unexplored. As the fermentation progresses, yeasts lysis and the accumulation of metabolic byproducts alter the composition and the volatile release of the sugary substrates.

The subventricular zone neurogenic niche provides adult born functional neurons to repair cortical brain injuries in response to diterpenoid therapy.

Introduction: Neural stem cells from the subventricular zone (SVZ) neurogenic niche provide neurons that integrate in the olfactory bulb circuitry. However, in response to cortical injuries, the neurogenic activity of the SVZ is significantly altered, leading to increased number of neuroblasts with a modified migration pattern that leads cells towards the site of injury. Despite the increased neurogenesis and migration, many newly generated neurons fail to survive or functionally integrate into the cortical circuitry.

Advancing a machine learning-based decision support tool for pre-hospital assessment of dyspnoea by emergency medical service clinicians: a retrospective observational study.

Background: In Sweden with about 10 million inhabitants, there are about one million primary ambulance missions every year. Among them, around 10% are assessed by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) clinicians with the primary symptom of dyspnoea. The risk of death among these patients has been reported to be remarkably high, at 11,1% and 13,2%.

Development of point-of-care tests for urinary bladder cancer - an historic review and view to future prospectives.

Urine is an attractive biospecimen for noninvasive tests to facilitate bladder tumor diagnostics. Three different point-of-care (POC) tests based on lateral flow immunoassays (LFAs) are currently commercially available: UBC® Rapid Test, BTA stat®, and NMP22 BladderChek. The present review discusses these different tests based on their performance, clinical utility and the nature of the respective analytes.

Revising EU pharmaceutical legislation: will it foster drug repurposing?

Repurposing off-patent drugs can be a potential source of low-cost treatments for patients with unmet medical needs. Here, we review the proposed new European Union (EU) pharmaceutical legislation in which two articles address drug repurposing. We find certain barriers hindering the adoption of these new incentives by academic and not-for-profit stakeholders, including lack of knowledge on regulatory aspects, pharmacovigilance, and restrictions in data protection.

Aging-related losses in dopamine D2/3 receptor availability are linked to working-memory decline across five years.

Although age differences in the dopamine system have been suggested to contribute to age-related cognitive decline based on cross-sectional data, recent large-scale cross-sectional studies reported only weak evidence for a correlation among aging, dopamine receptor availability, and cognition. Regardless, longitudinal data remain essential to make robust statements about dopamine losses as a basis for cognitive aging. We present correlations between changes in D2/3 dopamine receptor availability and changes in working memory measured over 5 yr in healthy, older adults (n = 128, ages 64 to 68 yr at baseline).

The GLOB-cAGE Consortium: A Global Cardiovascular Collaborative Network of Older Adults with Cardiovascular Disease.

Background: GLOB-cAGE is a newly established unprecedented consortium that brings together cohorts of older persons with cardiovascular disease worldwide. GLOB-cAGE aims to harmonize non-identifiable data from longitudinal cohorts examining cardiovascular health and cardiovascular disease diagnosis and management in older individuals to perform meta-regression analyses using combined repositories of standardized subject-level data points.

Methods And Design: Studies registered into GLOB-cAGE are population-based longitudinal cohort studies or clinical trials, either ongoing or completed, that involve assessing cardiovascular health as a central objective.

Structure-function relationships in the human aging brain: An account of cross-sectional and longitudinal multimodal neuroimaging studies.

The patterns of brain activation and functional connectivity, task-related and task-free, as a function of age have been well documented over the past 30 years. However, the aging brain undergoes structural changes that are likely to affect the functional properties of the brain. The relationship between brain structure and function started to be investigated more recently.

A new form of hazardous microparticulate contamination to the marine environment from ships using heavy fuel oil with exhaust gas scrubbers - Characterization and implications for fate, transport and ecotoxicity.

Aiming to reduce sulfur oxides emission in the atmosphere, the International Maritime Organization developed regulations on shipping that came into effect in 2020. The new rules incentivized many owners to install scrubber systems on thousands of ships. However, the overall environmental implications of scrubbers is a controversial subject, largely due to the release of acids, metals, and chemicals in the oceans and impact on marine life.

Evaluating seagrass lipid biomarkers as indicator for organic carbon provenance and storage capacity in Zostera marina (L.) sediments.

Seagrass meadows are vital blue carbon habitats, with sedimentary organic carbon (OC) originating from both the seagrass itself and external sources. In this study, lipid biomarkers (n-alkanes), a well-known proxy for tracing OC sources, were used to indicate seagrass presence in sediment records and to correlate with sedimentary OC in cold-temperate seagrass (Zostera marina) sediments. We calculated a Zostera-ratio (seagrass/algae and terrestrial plants-ratio) using identified seagrass biomass n-alkanes (C, C, C, C, C) as a fingerprint for seagrass-derived OC.

How does forest fertilization influence tree productivity of boreal forests? An analysis of data from commercial forestry across Sweden.

Forest fertilization is a forest management practice that is often claimed to increase productivity in boreal forests. Although regarded as an efficient way to increase profitability, it is also costly, and associated with risks such as biodiversity loss and nitrogen leaching from the soil. To be both cost-efficient and sustainable, potential enhanced productivity due to fertilization should be balanced against the adverse environmental impact.

Amplified impacts of human activities: Non-linear responses of riverine microbial communities to distribution of land use.

Rapid global urbanization poses considerable ecological risks to freshwater systems, notably leading to substantial reductions in microbial communities. To assess the impacts of human activities on these communities, we applied the high-throughput amplicon DNA sequencing to examine spatial variations in riverine microbial communities within an urbanized watershed. Coupled with the Geographical Detector Model, the effects of the land use were identified across the watershed.

SegRap2023: A benchmark of organs-at-risk and gross tumor volume Segmentation for Radiotherapy Planning of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Radiation therapy is a primary and effective treatment strategy for NasoPharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC). The precise delineation of Gross Tumor Volumes (GTVs) and Organs-At-Risk (OARs) is crucial in radiation treatment, directly impacting patient prognosis. Despite that deep learning has achieved remarkable performance on various medical image segmentation tasks, its performance on OARs and GTVs of NPC is still limited, and high-quality benchmark datasets on this task are highly desirable for model development and evaluation.

Gas and vapor phase detection of chemical threats on cooled SERS substrates.

Detection of airborne chemical threats is an emerging challenge amidst the prevailing tumultuous global milieu. Extensive investigation has showcased the substantial promise of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the on-site identification of hazardous chemicals present in liquid mediums, whether directly from a fluid source or through methodologies such as swab sampling. Nonetheless, exploration into the applicability of SERS for the detection of gas or vapor-phase chemical threats remains severely constrained.

Environmental impacts on childhood rhinitis: The role of green spaces, air pollutants, and indoor microbial communities in Taiyuan, a city in Northern China.

Rhinitis is one of the most common respiratory diseases, influenced by various environmental factors such as green space, air pollution and indoor microbiomes. However, their interactions and combined effects have not been reported. We recruited 1121 preschool children from day care centers in a northern city of China.

Patient activation improves with a multi-component personalized mHealth intervention in older patients at risk of cardiovascular disease: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Aims: This study aimed to determine the effect of a multi-component mHealth intervention on patient activation and examine its predictors among older adults at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods And Results: This pilot randomized controlled trial compared two groups: Get FIT (control), who received healthy lifestyle counselling from a licensed health coach, a mHealth app (MyFitnessPal) with push alerts, and an activity tracker, and Get FIT + (intervention), who received the same interventions and had personalized text messages with 3- and 6-month follow-up periods. Patient activation was measured using the 13-item Patient Activation Measure; higher scores indicated better activation.