Safety of topical estrogen therapy during adjuvant endocrine treatment among patients with breast cancer: A meta-analysis based expert panel discussion.

Importance: Endocrine treatments, such as Tamoxifen (TAM) and/or Aromatase inhibitors (AI), are the adjuvant therapy of choice for hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. These agents are associated with menopausal symptoms, adversely affecting drug compliance. Topical estrogen (TE) has been proposed for symptom management, given its' local application and presumed reduced bioavailability, however its oncological safety remains uncertain.

One hundred thirty-four germ line PU.1 variants and the agammaglobulinemic patients carrying them.

Leukopoiesis is lethally arrested in mice lacking the master transcriptional regulator PU.1. Depending on the animal model, subtotal PU.

Opportunities and Challenges of a Cap-and-Trade System for Plastics.

Recently, the rapid increase in global plastics production has caused various ecological and economic issues, worsened by poor material and waste management. Among the market-based instruments that could help mitigate the environmental impacts of plastics throughout their life-cycle, we evaluate the advantages and limitations of incorporating a cap-and-trade (CAT) system into future policy mixes. Our aim is to inspire further investigation of CAT's feasibility rather than presenting it as the ultimate solution.

Genomic Characterization and Prognostic Significance of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Low, Hormone Receptor-Positive, Early Breast Cancers From the BIG 1-98 and SOFT Clinical Trials.

Purpose: To investigate whether hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-low (HR+HER2-low) versus HR+HER2-zero early breast cancers have distinct genomic and clinical characteristics.

Methods: This study included HR+, HER2-negative early breast cancers from patients enrolled in the phase III, randomized BIG 1-98 and SOFT clinical trials that had undergone tumor genomic sequencing. Tumors were classified HR+HER2-low if they had a centrally reviewed HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) score of 1+ or 2+ with negative in situ hybridization and HR+HER2-zero if they had an HER2 IHC score of 0.

Psycho-physiological foundations of human physical activity behavior and motivation: Theories, systems, mechanisms, evolution, and genetics.

Physical activity is a meaningful part of life, which starts before birth and lasts until death. There are many health benefits to be derived from physical activity, hence, regular engagement is recommended on a weekly basis. However, these recommendations are often not met.

A Set of Three Gd Spin Labels with Methanethiosulfonyl Groups for Bioconjugation Covering a Wide Range of EPR Line Widths.

Spin labels based on Gd complexes are important tools for the elucidation of the structure, dynamics and interaction of biomolecules by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Their EPR spectroscopic properties line width and relaxation times influence their performance in a particular application. To be able to apply a complex well-suited for a specific application, a set of Gd complexes with different EPR spectroscopic properties ready-made for spin labeling will be highly useful.

Flamingo participates in multiple models of cell competition.

The growth and survival of cells with different fitness, such as those with a proliferative advantage or a deleterious mutation, is controlled through cell competition. During development, cell competition enables healthy cells to eliminate less fit cells that could jeopardize tissue integrity, and facilitates the elimination of pre-malignant cells by healthy cells as a surveillance mechanism to prevent oncogenesis. Malignant cells also benefit from cell competition to promote their expansion.

Assessment of scattered and leakage radiation from ultra-portable X-ray systems in chest imaging: An independent study.

Ultraportable (UP) X-ray devices are ideal to use in community-based settings, particularly for chest X-ray (CXR) screening of tuberculosis (TB). Unfortunately, there is insufficient guidance on the radiation safety of these devices. This study aims to determine the radiation dose by UP X-ray devices to both the public and radiographers compared to international dose limits.

Low-profile double plating versus conventional single plating in midshaft clavicle fractures: A retrospective study and initial experience with this novel technique.

Background: Low-profile double plating seems a viable alternative to conventional single plating for fixation of midshaft clavicle fractures. This study aims to compare the two techniques regarding healing, complications, and removal rate.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all patients >16 years that underwent plate fixation for midshaft clavicle fractures between 2020 and 2022 at one trauma-center.

Functional traits mediate the effect of land use on drivers of community stability within and across trophic levels.

Understanding how land use affects temporal stability is crucial to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Yet, the mechanistic links between land-use intensity and stability-driving mechanisms remain unclear, with functional traits likely playing a key role. Using 13 years of data from 300 sites in Germany, we tested whether and how trait-based community features mediate the effect of land-use intensity on acknowledged stability drivers (compensatory dynamics, portfolio effect, and dominant species variability), within and across plant and arthropod communities.

Chromosome-scale genome dynamics reveal signatures of independent haplotype evolution in the ancient asexual mite .

Some unique asexual species persist over time and contradict the consensus that sex is a prerequisite for long-term evolutionary survival. How they escape the dead-end fate remains enigmatic. Here, we generated a haplotype-resolved genome assembly on the basis of a single individual and collected genomic data from worldwide populations of the parthenogenetic diploid oribatid mite to identify signatures of persistence without sex.

Nontarget screening of a Siberian ice core reveals changes in the pre-industrial to industrial organic aerosol composition.

Glaciers serve as natural archives for reconstructing past changes of atmospheric aerosol concentration and composition. While most ice-core studies have focused on inorganic species, organic compounds, which can constitute up to 90% of the submicrometer aerosol mass, have been largely overlooked. To our knowledge, this study presents the first nontarget screening record of secondary organic aerosol species preserved in a Belukha ice core (Siberia, Russian Federation), ranging from the pre-industrial to the industrial period (1800-1980 CE).

Factors associated with vitamin D levels in Mongolian patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) onset is caused by genetic and environmental factors. Vitamin D has been identified as contributing environmental risk factor, with higher prevalence at latitudes further from the equator. Mongolia, at 45°N, has limited sunlight exposure, increasing the population's risk for vitamin D deficiency.

The extent of western lowland gorilla social relationships within and between groups.

The nature of western lowland gorilla social relationships within and between groups is largely understudied, partly due to the challenges of monitoring associations between individuals who live in neighboring groups. In this study, we examined the social relationships of four western lowland gorilla groups in the Ndoki landscape of northern Republic of Congo. To do so, we compiled all-occurrence social interaction and silverback nearest neighbor social networks from data collected during daily group follows conducted over several years.

Estimating the prevalence of adults at risk for advanced hepatic fibrosis using FIB-4 in a Swiss tertiary care hospital.

Background & Aims: Chronic liver diseases pose a serious public health issue. Identifying patients at risk for advanced liver fibrosis is crucial for early intervention. The Fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4), a simple non-invasive test, classifies patients into three risk groups for advanced fibrosis.

Low agreement and frequent invalid controls in two SARS-CoV-2 T-cell assays in people with compromised immune function.

T-cell response plays an important role in SARS-CoV-2 immunogenicity. For people living with HIV (PWH) and solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients there is limited evidence on the reliability of commercially available T-cell tests. We assessed 173 blood samples from 81 participants (62 samples from 35 PWH; 111 samples from 46 SOT recipients [lung and kidney]) with two commercial SARS-CoV-2 Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release assays (IGRA; SARS-CoV-2 IGRA by Euroimmun, and IGRA SARS-CoV-2 by Roche).

Romosozumab Improves Tissue Thickness-Adjusted Trabecular Bone Score in Women With Osteoporosis and Diabetes.

Context: Trabecular bone score (TBS), a gray-level texture index derived from lumbar spine (LS) dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans, is decreased in patients with diabetes and is associated with increased fracture risk, independent of areal bone mineral density (aBMD), but potentially influenced by abdominal fat tissue.

Objective: Evaluate effect of romosozumab (210 mg monthly) for 12 months followed by alendronate (70 mg weekly) for 24 months vs alendronate alone (70 mg weekly) for 36 months on LS aBMD and TBS in women with type 2 diabetes (T2D) enrolled in the ARCH study.

Methods: This post hoc analysis included women from ARCH who had T2D at baseline and LS DXA scans at baseline and ≥1 postbaseline visit (romosozumab-to-alendronate, n = 165; alendronate-to-alendronate, n = 195).

Automating alloy design and discovery with physics-aware multimodal multiagent AI.

The design of new alloys is a multiscale problem that requires a holistic approach that involves retrieving relevant knowledge, applying advanced computational methods, conducting experimental validations, and analyzing the results, a process that is typically slow and reserved for human experts. Machine learning can help accelerate this process, for instance, through the use of deep surrogate models that connect structural and chemical features to material properties, or vice versa. However, existing data-driven models often target specific material objectives, offering limited flexibility to integrate out-of-domain knowledge and cannot adapt to new, unforeseen challenges.

Lipid-induced condensate formation from the Alzheimer's Aβ peptide triggers amyloid aggregation.

The onset and development of Alzheimer's disease is linked to the accumulation of pathological aggregates formed from the normally monomeric amyloid-β peptide within the central nervous system. These Aβ aggregates are increasingly successfully targeted with clinical therapies at later stages of the disease, but the fundamental molecular steps in early stage disease that trigger the initial nucleation event leading to the conversion of monomeric Aβ peptide into pathological aggregates remain unknown. Here, we show that the Aβ peptide can form biomolecular condensates on lipid bilayers both in molecular assays and in living cells.

Corrigendum to "Schwann Cell Metabolic Activity in Various Short-Term Holding Conditions: Implications for Improved Nerve Graft Viability".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2012/742183.].

Multifunctional Microflowers for Precise Optoacoustic Localization and Intravascular Magnetic Actuation In Vivo.

Efficient drug delivery remains a significant challenge in modern medicine and pharmaceutical research. Micrometer-scale robots have recently emerged as a promising solution to enhance the precision of drug administration through remotely controlled navigation within microvascular networks. Real-time tracking is crucial for accurate guidance and confirmation of target arrival.

Lifetime age-related changes in clinical laboratory results, aging clocks and mortality predictors in 2412 Golden Retrievers.

In this study, we investigated age-related changes in clinical laboratory data and their association with mortality in dogs from the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study. By analyzing complete blood count (CBC) and biochemistry data from 2'412 Golden Retrievers over 16,678 visits, we observed significant changes during the first 2 years of life and throughout aging. Based on these observations, we developed a biological aging clock using a LASSO model to predict age based on blood markers, achieving an accuracy of R = 0.

Disco-Interacting Protein 2 Homolog B CGG Repeat Expansion in Siblings with Neurodevelopmental Disability and Progressive Movement Disorder.

Background: Trinucleotide repeat expansions are an emerging class of genetic variants associated with various movement disorders. Unbiased genome-wide analyses can reveal novel genotype-phenotype associations and provide a diagnosis for patients and families.

Objective: The aim was to identify the genetic cause of a severe progressive movement disorder phenotype in 2 affected brothers.

Stand density and local climate drive allocation of GPP to aboveground woody biomass.

The partitioning of photosynthate among various forest carbon pools is a key process regulating long-term carbon sequestration, with allocation to aboveground woody biomass carbon (AGBC) in particular playing an outsized role in the global carbon cycle due to its slow residence time. However, directly estimating the fraction of gross primary productivity (GPP) that goes to AGBC has historically been difficult and time-consuming, leaving us with persistent uncertainties. We used an extensive dataset of tree-ring chronologies co-located at flux towers to assess the coupling between AGBC and GPP, calculate the fraction of fixed carbon that is allocated to AGBC, and understand the drivers of variability in this fraction.

Drug-Induced Liver Injury Associated With Emerging Cancer Therapies.

Targeted therapies and immunotherapies have shown great promise as best-in-class treatments for several cancers with respect to efficacy and safety. While liver test abnormalities are rather common in patients treated with kinase inhibitors or immunotherapy, events of severe hepatotoxicity in these patients are rare in comparison with those associated with chemotherapeutics. The underlying mechanisms and risk factors for severe hepatotoxicity with novel oncology therapies are not well understood, complicating the drug-induced liver injury (DILI) risk assessment in the preclinical and clinical phases of drug development.