Meeting report - Alpine desmosome disease meeting 2024: advances and emerging topics in desmosomes and related diseases.

Desmosomes are adhesive cell contacts abundant in tissues exposed to mechanical strain, such as the stratified and simple epithelia of the epidermis and mucous membranes, as well as the myocardium. Besides their role in mechanical cell cohesion, desmosomes also modulate pathways important for tissue differentiation, wound healing and immune responses. Dysfunctional desmosomes, resulting from pathogenic variants in genes encoding desmosomal components, autoantibodies targeting desmosomal adhesion molecules or inflammation, cause the life-threatening diseases arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and pemphigus and contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Investigating the associations between personality functioning, cognitive biases, and (non-)perceptive clinical high-risk symptoms of psychosis in the community.

Background: Beyond psychosis prediction, clinical high-risk (CHR-P) symptoms show clinical relevance by their association with functional impairments and psychopathology, including personality pathology. Impaired personality functioning is prioritized in recent dimensional personality disorder models (DSM-5, ICD-11), yet underexplored in CHR-P, as are associations with cognitive biases, which early studies indicate as possibly linking CHR-P-symptoms and personality pathology.

Methods: A community sample ( 444, 17-60 years, 61.

Standardized Approach for Diversification of Complex Small Molecules via Aryl Thianthrenium Salts.

Thianthrenation is a useful strategy for the late-stage diversification of complex small molecules owing to the positional selectivity and the synthetic versatility of thianthrenium salts as electrophilic linchpins. However, substrate-dependent identification of suitable reaction conditions for thianthrenation can be difficult. Reported reaction conditions for the functionalization of thianthrenium salts vary significantly and, in some instances, lack robustness and practicality.

When neck lymph nodes metastases do not origin from a head and neck unknown primary.

Purpose Of Review: The evidence for a standardized approach to the management of cervical metastasis from a distant primary tumour is limited. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the current status of research in this field and to present the latest diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Recent Findings: Although infraclavicular tumours are typically observed to metastasise to levels IV and V of the neck, all levels may potentially be affected.

The decision to tell or not to tell is associated with experiences of stigma and hearing aid use among adults with hearing loss.

Objectives: To explore the extent to which an international sample of adults with hearing loss experience and respond to stigma-induced identity threat; and the associations between experiences of hearing loss stigma, responses to hearing loss stigma (concealment of hearing loss), and hearing aid use.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey comprising published questionnaires and multiple response questions designed to capture five of seven constructs of the Major and O'Brien model of stigma-induced identity threat. Multivariate modelling examined factors associated with hearing aid use and concealment of hearing loss.

Revealing trends in measles immunity during periods of varying measles circulation in Madagascar.

Estimating the durability of immunity from vaccination is complicated by unreported re-vaccination, and unobserved natural infection or reexposure, which could result in overestimation of protection longevity. We tested serial cross-sectional serum samples from 2005 to 2015 (N=2,530) for IgG to examine measles seroprevalence, spatiotemporal patterns of titers across regions and antibody dynamics among children aged 1-9 years who grew up during varying measles circulation in Madagascar under a one-dose vaccination schedule. We found that measles seroprevalence has generally decreased over this time period.

Artificial intelligence assisted risk prediction in organ transplantation: a UK Live-Donor Kidney Transplant Outcome Prediction tool.

Predicting the outcome of a kidney transplant involving a living donor advances donor decision-making donors for clinicians and patients. However, the discriminative or calibration capacity of the currently employed models are limited. We set out to apply artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to create a highly predictive risk stratification indicator, applicable to the UK's transplant selection process.

Shewanella oneidensis and Methanosarcina barkerii augmentation and conductive material effects on long-term anaerobic digestion performance.

This study explores the use of conductive material in scaling up anaerobic digestion for enhanced biogas production. Focusing on Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer (DIET), the research employs a syntrophic DIET-able consortium formed by Shewanella oneidensis and Methanosarcina barkerii in 3.8-L experiments utilizing reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) as conductive material.

Interprofessional collaboration between pharmacists and community health workers: a scoping review.

Introduction: Community health workers (CHWs) help bridge the cultural gap between health services and the communities they serve. CHWs work with physicians, nurses and social workers, but little is known about their collaboration with pharmacists. This scoping review aims to describe the interprofessional collaboration between CHWs and pharmacists, the types of interventions they deliver and CHWs' and pharmacists' specific roles within these interventions.

Health professionals' willingness to share responsibility and strengthen interprofessional collaboration: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Doctors' unwillingness to share responsibility acts as a major barrier to interprofessional collaboration (IPC). Educating both doctors and allied health professionals in taking on or relinquishing responsibility could enhance IPC. Yet there is no evidence that these educational efforts increase IPC willingness.

Genome sequences of four Ixodes species expands understanding of tick evolution.

Background: Ticks, hematophagous Acari, pose a significant threat by transmitting various pathogens to their vertebrate hosts during feeding. Despite advances in tick genomics, high-quality genomes were lacking until recently, particularly in the genus Ixodes, which includes the main vectors of Lyme disease.

Results: Here, we present the genome sequences of four tick species, derived from a single female individual, with a particular focus on the European species Ixodes ricinus, achieving a chromosome-level assembly.

"If that would have lessened my symptoms, that would have been great...": a qualitative study about the acceptability of tecovirimat as treatment for mpox.

Background: Tecovirimat, an antiviral treatment for smallpox, was approved as a treatment for mpox by the European Medicines Agency in January 2022. Approval was granted under "exceptional circumstances" based on effectiveness found in pre-clinical challenge studies in animals and safety studies in humans showing minimal side effects. As clinical efficacy studies are still ongoing, there is currently limited information with regard to the acceptability of tecovirimat to treat mpox.

Theoretical impact of a bedside decision-making tool on antibiotic use for suspected neonatal healthcare-associated infection: an observational study.

Background And Objectives: Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality in hospitalised neonates. Diagnosing neonatal HAI is challenging owing to non-specific symptoms and lack of definitive diagnostic markers, contributing to high rates of inappropriate antibiotic use. This study evaluated the theoretical impact of implementing a bedside tool for decision-making on antibiotic length of therapy (LOT).

Frequency of consumption and factors associated with hookah use in Curitiba, Brazil: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To analyze the consumption frequency and factors associated with hookah usage.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved adults, hookah users, residing in the city of Curitiba. Hookah groups were contacted on social networking sites via an invitation that contained a link to the questionnaire, which comprised 21 questions covering demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, user profiles, use of cigarettes and alcohol, symptoms, and perceptions of the risks of hookah use.

Intervention to systematize fall risk assessment and prevention in older hospitalized adults: a mixed methods study.

Background: Fall-prevention interventions are efficient but resource-requiring and should target persons at higher risk of falls. We need to ensure that fall risk is systematically assessed in everyday practice. We conducted a quality improvement (QI) intervention to systematize fall risk assessment and prevention in older adults hospitalized on general internal medicine wards.

General practitioners' clinical decision-making in patients that could have cancer: a vignette study comparing the Baltic states with four Nordic countries.

Objective: Relative one-year cancer survival rates in the Baltic states are lower than the European mean; in the Nordic countries they are higher than the mean. This study investigated the likelihood of General Practitioners (GPs) investigating or referring patients with a low but significant risk of cancer in these two regions, and how this was affected by GP demographics.

Design: A survey of GPs using clinical vignettes.

Fungal Disease Response Centre: Pioneering Diagnostic Approach for Regions With Dispersed Hospital Centres.

Background: Access to fungal disease diagnosis is crucial for reducing mortality, yet it varies widely across Argentina, especially outside Buenos Aires. In regions like Santa Fe and Paraná, where most healthcare facilities are under 150 beds, maintaining specialised mycology labs is challenging.

Objectives: This work describes the establishment and first-year results of a centralised Fungal Disease Response Centre (FDRC) and referral network serving this region, covering approximately 1 million inhabitants.

Diagnostic delay in cerebral creatine deficiency disorders: lessons learned from a cross-sectional single center study, and guanidinoacetate and creatine measurements in Switzerland between 2015 and 2023.

Background: Cerebral creatine deficiency disorders (CCDD) are rare diseases caused by defects in the enzymes L-arginine: glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT) or guanidinoacetate-N-methyltransferase (GAMT), which are involved in synthesis of creatine; or by a defect in the creatine transporter (CRTR), which is essential for uptake of creatine as important energy source into the target cells. Patients with CCDD can present with a variety of unspecific symptoms: global developmental delay, speech-language disorder, behavioral abnormalities and seizures. Early treatment initiation is essential in AGAT and GAMT deficiencies to achieve a favorable outcome.

Current applications and challenges in large language models for patient care: a systematic review.

Background: The introduction of large language models (LLMs) into clinical practice promises to improve patient education and empowerment, thereby personalizing medical care and broadening access to medical knowledge. Despite the popularity of LLMs, there is a significant gap in systematized information on their use in patient care. Therefore, this systematic review aims to synthesize current applications and limitations of LLMs in patient care.

Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands.

Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth's land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables.

Prognostic value of CT-based skeletal muscle and adipose tissue mass and quality parameters in patients with liver metastases and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma undergoing Yttrium-90 radioembolization.

Objectives: To investigate baseline patient characteristics associated with the risk of computed tomography (CT)-based sarcopenia and assess whether sarcopenia and other morphometric parameters influence survival outcomes in patients with liver metastases and cholangiocarcinoma after Yttrium-90 radioembolization.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 120 cancer patients (mean age, 62 ± 13.3 years, 61 men) who underwent preprocedural CT.

Molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of disappearing Plasmodium vivax in southern Thailand.

The evolution of genetic diversity and population structure of Plasmodium vivax as malaria elimination approaches remains unclear. This study analyzed the genetic variation and molecular epidemiology of P. vivax from Yala Province in southern Thailand, an area in the pre-elimination phase.

Vital signs-based healthcare kiosks for screening chronic and infectious diseases: a systematic review.

Background: Increasing demands, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have presented substantial challenges to global healthcare systems, resulting in staff shortages and overcrowded emergency rooms. Health kiosks have emerged as a promising solution to improve overall efficiency and healthcare accessibility. However, although kiosks are commonly used worldwide for access to information and financial services, the health kiosk industry, valued at $800 million, accounts for just 1.