Evaluating plasma biomarkers NfL, GFAP, GDF15, and FGF21 as indicators of disease severity in Charcot-Marie Tooth patients.

Background: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), a slowly advancing hereditary nerve disorder, presents a significant challenge in the medical field. Effective drugs for treatment are lacking, and we struggle to find sensitive markers to track the disease's severity and progression. In this study, our objective was to investigate the levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21) and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) in individuals with CMT and to compare them to a control group.

Prospective study of food intake changes in adolescent elite athletes.

Background: Inadequate energy intake among athletes can lead to low energy availability (LEA) which in turn can result in negative effects on athletic performance and physical and psychological health. This syndrome is known as relative energy deficiency in sports (REDs).

Objective: To map perceived changes in overall food intake among adolescent athletes during the previous year, as well as weekly changes during a 3-month period and to examine how these changes are associated with mental health, physical load and sex.

Diet quality, psychological factors and their associations with risk factors of cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional pilot study.

Background: Several modifiable risk factors, including dietary habits, are linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) progression. However, lifestyle changes remain notoriously challenging, perhaps due to psychosocial factors. This pilot study aims to investigate the relationship between adherence to a healthy diet, CVD risk factors, psychological factors and sociodemographic variables among middle-aged adults in Sweden.

Useful Learning From Bachelor's Thesis to Professional Nursing Practice: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Introduction: It is well-established in research that clinical learning during nursing education is a foundational preparation for future practice. However, the role of academic tasks, such as writing a bachelor's thesis, is less recognized for its contributions to nurses' working lives and overall professional development.

Objective: This study aimed to explore registered nurses' perceptions of the process of bachelor's thesis and its perceived usefulness in professional nursing careers.

The temperate forest phyllosphere and rhizosphere microbiome: a case study of sugar maple.

The interactions between sugar maple (, Marshall) and its microbial communities are important for tree fitness, growth, and establishment. Despite recent progress in our understanding of the rhizosphere and phyllosphere microbial communities of sugar maple, many outstanding knowledge gaps remain. This review delves into the relationships between sugar maple and its microbes, as climate change alters plant species distributions.

How does the medicines retail sector ensure continued access to medicines during public health emergencies? Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.

Background: The medicines retail sector (MRS) enables access to life-saving health commodities. Despite efforts to harness this market for public health goals, in low- and middle-income countries it is rarely incorporated into pandemic preparedness. This paper analyses the role of the MRS in the response to COVID-19 in Uganda, the extent to which it was incorporated into national planning and in the continuity of essential services.

The efficacy and safety of first-line monotherapies in primary therapy of invasive aspergillosis: a systematic review.

Objective: Several antifungals are available for the treatment of patients with invasive aspergillosis (IA). This study aims to evaluate the relative efficacy and safety of the first-line monotherapies in primary therapy of IA through network meta-analysis (NMA).

Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP database, Wanfang database, and China Biology Medicine for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) up to July 2023 that evaluated the efficacy and safety of monotherapies.

Trochanteric hip fractures treated surgically-outcome in a ten-year cohort of 46,121 patients from the Swedish National Hip Fracture Registry.

Objectives: To compare postoperative mortality regarding 2 techniques in the treatment of trochanteric hip fractures (THFs).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: National databases.

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.

Real-world treatment patterns and survival outcomes in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in Finland: a national, population-based cohort study.

Background: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) treatment is advancing yet Nordic, real-world evidence for its use is scarce. In this population-based cohort study, we describe characteristics of patients with mCRPC, and their treatment patterns and survival outcomes in Finland.

Methods: Incident patients with mCRPC diagnosed during 2013-2021 were identified from data lakes in two large and representative, Finnish hospital districts, and linked to data on drug purchases and causes of death from national registries.

B-phosphatidylethanol testing to identify hazardous alcohol use in primary health care-a game changer and a challenge for general practitioners: a qualitative study.

Background And Aims: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and hazardous alcohol use are common but underdiagnosed in primary health care (PHC). This study aimed to explore general practitioners' (GPs') experiences and perceptions of using B-Phosphatidylethanol (PEth), a specific quantitative biomarker for alcohol use, in their clinical work with patient consultations and treatment follow-up in Swedish PHC.

Design, Participants, And Setting: Individual interviews were conducted with GPs and resident GPs (n 20) in Swedish PHC and analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Circumstantial risk factors for death after intensive care unit-to-unit inter-hospital transfer-a Swedish registry study.

Background: Unit-to-unit transfer of critically ill patients infers hazards that may cause adverse events. Circumstantial factors associated with mortality after intensive care include days in the ICU, night-time or weekend discharge and capacity transfer as compared to other reasons for transfer. Distance travelled may also constitute an indirect risk.

Maintaining operability at a high personal cost - a mixed method study on maternal healthcare workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic forced leaders and employees in health care services to take difficult decisions to manage risks associated with employee health and the organizations' functioning. This study aims to identify the changes in employee working routines, job demands, and job resources within Swedish maternal healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these changes affected workload and health.

Methods: Data were derived from the longitudinal COPE Staff study involving midwives and physicians within maternal healthcare.

Mechanistic insights and approaches for beta cell regeneration.

Diabetes is characterized by variable loss of insulin-producing beta cells, and new regenerative approaches to increasing the functional beta cell mass of patients hold promise for reversing disease progression. In this Review, we summarize recent chemical biology breakthroughs advancing our knowledge of beta cell regeneration. We present current chemical-based tools, sensors and mechanistic insights into pathways that can be targeted to enhance beta cell regeneration in model organisms.

Increased plasma DOPA decarboxylase levels in Lewy body disorders are driven by dopaminergic treatment.

DOPA Decarboxylase (DDC) has been proposed as a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker with increased concentrations in Lewy body disorders (LBDs) and highest levels in patients receiving dopaminergic treatment. Here we evaluate plasma DDC, measured by proximity extension assay, and the effect of dopaminergic treatment in three independent LBD (with a focus on dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease (PD)) cohorts: an autopsy-confirmed cohort (n = 71), a large multicenter, cross-dementia cohort (n = 1498) and a longitudinal cohort with detailed treatment information (n = 66, median follow-up time[IQR] = 4[4, 4] years). Plasma DDC was not altered between different LBDs and other disease groups or controls in absence of treatment.

The question of strains in AA amyloidosis.

The existence of transmissible amyloid fibril strains has long intrigued the scientific community. The strain theory originates from prion disorders, but here, we provide evidence of strains in systemic amyloidosis. Human AA amyloidosis manifests as two distinct clinical phenotypes called common AA and vascular AA.

Precession modulates the poleward expansion of atmospheric circulation to the Arctic Ocean.

Under sustained global warming, Arctic climate is projected to become more responsive to changes in North Pacific meridional heat transport as a result of teleconnections between low and high latitudes, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we reconstruct subarctic humidity changes over the past 400 kyr to investigate the role of low-to-high latitude interactions in regulating Arctic hydroclimate. Our reconstruction is based on precipitation-driven sediment input variations in the Subarctic North Pacific (SANP), which reveal a strong precessional cycle in subarctic humidity under the relatively low eccentricity variations that dominated the past four glacial-interglacial cycles.

Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss.

Mitigating loss of genetic diversity is a major global biodiversity challenge. To meet recent international commitments to maintain genetic diversity within species, we need to understand relationships between threats, conservation management and genetic diversity change. Here we conduct a global analysis of genetic diversity change via meta-analysis of all available temporal measures of genetic diversity from more than three decades of research.

Variable stressor exposure shapes fitness within and across generations.

Environmental variation has long been considered a key driver of evolutionary change, predicted to shape different strategies, such as genetic specialization, plasticity, or bet-hedging to maintain fitness. However, little evidence is available with regards to how the periodicity of stressors may impact fitness across generations. To address this gap, I conducted a reciprocal split-brood experiment using the freshwater crustacean, Daphnia magna, and an ecologically relevant environmental stressor, ultraviolet radiation (UVR).

Non-fullerene acceptors with high crystallinity and photoluminescence quantum yield enable >20% efficiency organic solar cells.

The rational design of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) with both high crystallinity and photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) is of crucial importance for achieving high-efficiency and low-energy-loss organic solar cells (OSCs). However, increasing the crystallinity of an NFA tends to decrease its PLQY, which results in a high non-radiative energy loss in OSCs. Here we demonstrate that the crystallinity and PLQY of NFAs can be fine-tuned by asymmetrically adapting the branching position of alkyl chains on the thiophene unit of the L8-BO acceptor.

Modulation of biological activities in adipose derived stem cells by histone deacetylation.

Difficult-to-heal wounds management accounts for about 4% of healthcare costs, highlighting the need for innovative solutions. Extracellular signals drive cell proliferation during tissue regeneration, while epigenetic mechanisms regulate stem cell homeostasis, differentiation, and skin repair. Exploring epigenetic regulation in adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) holds promise for improving skin injury treatments.

CODE-ACCORD: A Corpus of building regulatory data for rule generation towards automatic compliance checking.

Automatic Compliance Checking (ACC) within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector necessitates automating the interpretation of building regulations to achieve its full potential. Converting textual rules into machine-readable formats is challenging due to the complexities of natural language and the scarcity of resources for advanced Machine Learning (ML). Addressing these challenges, we introduce CODE-ACCORD, a dataset of 862 sentences from the building regulations of England and Finland.

Distributed multi-agent reinforcement learning for multi-objective optimal dispatch of microgrids.

The distributed microgrids cooperate to accomplish economic and environmental objectives, which have a vital impact on maintaining the reliable and economic operation of power systems. Therefore a distributed multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithm is put forward incorporating the actor-critic architecture, which learns multiple critics for subtasks and utilizes only information from neighbors to find dispatch strategy. Based on our proposed algorithm, multi-objective optimal dispatch problem of microgrids with continuous state changes and power values is dealt with.