Photonic axion insulator.

Axions, hypothetical elementary particles that remain undetectable in nature, can arise as quasiparticles in three-dimensional crystals known as axion insulators. Previous implementations of axion insulators have largely been limited to two-dimensional systems, leaving their topological properties in three dimensions unexplored in experiment. Here, we realize an axion insulator in a three-dimensional photonic crystal and probe its topological properties.

Recruitment, follow-up and survival in an 11-country cohort study of patients at the end of life and their relatives.

Background: Large, international cohort studies generate high-level evidence, but are resource intense. In end-of-life care such studies are scarce. Hence, planning for future studies in terms of data on screening, recruitment, retention and survival remains a challenge.

Like milk on the stove: Healthcare professionals navigating uncertainty when caring for families with 22q11DS.

Introduction: 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) results from a microdeletion on chromosome 22 and is the most common microdeletion disorder in humans, affecting 1 in 2148 live births. Clinical manifestations vary widely among individuals and across different life stages. Effective management requires the involvement of a specialized multidisciplinary team.

Futility in TAVI: A scoping review of definitions, predictive criteria, and medical predictive models.

Background: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures are rapidly expanding, necessitating a more extensive stratification of patients with aortic stenosis. Especially in the high-risk group, some patients fail to derive optimal or any benefits from TAVI, leading to the risk of futile interventions. Despite consensus among several experts regarding the importance of recognizing and anticipating such interventions, the definition, and predictive criteria for futility in TAVI remain ambiguous.

Familiarity of an environment prevents song suppression in isolated zebra finches.

Despite the wide use of zebra finches as an animal model to study vocal learning and production, little is known about impacts on their welfare caused by routine experimental manipulations such as changing their social context. Here we conduct a post-hoc analysis of singing rate, an indicator of positive welfare, to gain insights into stress caused by social isolation, a common experimental manipulation. We find that isolation in an unfamiliar environment reduces singing rate for several days, indicating the presence of an acute stressor.

The Moderating Role of Context Processing in the Intergenerational Transmission of Posttraumatic Stress.

This pilot study aimed to understand the moderating role of context processing (i.e. encoding and memorizing) when mothers are confronted with threatening stimuli and undergo physiologic monitoring in order to understand a possible mechanism favoring intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress.

Multiplicity of type 6 secretion system toxins limits the evolution of resistance.

The bacterial type 6 secretion system (T6SS) is a toxin-injecting nanoweapon that mediates competition in plant- and animal-associated microbial communities. Bacteria can evolve de novo resistance against T6SS attacks, but resistance is far from universal in natural communities, suggesting key features of T6SS weaponry may act to limit its evolution. Here, we combine ecoevolutionary modeling and experimental evolution to examine how toxin type and multiplicity in attackers shape resistance evolution in susceptible competitors.

The role of lin-12 notch in C. elegans anchor cell proliferation.

The gonadal anchor cell (AC) is an essential organizer for the development of the egg-laying organ in the C. elegans hermaphrodite. Recent work has investigated the mechanisms that control the quiescent state the AC adopts while fulfilling its functions.

Eye posture and screen alignment with simulated see-through head-mounted displays.

When rendering the visual scene for near-eye head-mounted displays, accurate knowledge of the geometry of the displays, scene objects, and eyes is required for the correct generation of the binocular images. Despite possible design and calibration efforts, these quantities are subject to positional and measurement errors, resulting in some misalignment of the images projected to each eye. Previous research investigated the effects in virtual reality (VR) setups that triggered such symptoms as eye strain and nausea.

Implant-based reconstruction and adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients-current status and DEGRO recommendations.

Purpose: The aim of this review is to give an overview of the results of prospective and retrospective studies using allogenic reconstruction and postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in breast cancer and to make recommendations regarding this interdisciplinary approach.

Materials And Methods: A PubMed search was conducted to extract relevant articles from 2000 to 2024. The search was performed using the following terms: (breast cancer) AND (reconstruction OR implant OR expander) AND (radiotherapy OR radiation).

A dataset and benchmark for hospital course summarization with adapted large language models.

Objective: Brief hospital course (BHC) summaries are clinical documents that summarize a patient's hospital stay. While large language models (LLMs) depict remarkable capabilities in automating real-world tasks, their capabilities for healthcare applications such as synthesizing BHCs from clinical notes have not been shown. We introduce a novel preprocessed dataset, the MIMIC-IV-BHC, encapsulating clinical note and BHC pairs to adapt LLMs for BHC synthesis.

Predictors and outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for acute type A aortic dissection requiring concomitant veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support-a retrospective multicenter cohort study.

Objectives: The study aim was to investigate the outcomes and risk factors for mortality in patients undergoing surgery for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) receiving concomitant veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support.

Methods: Patients from five European centers who underwent surgery for ATAAD and received perioperative veno-arterial ECMO support were included. A multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for thirty-day mortality.

Simulation of the biocide distribution in soil using PELMO coupled with COMLEAM.

Biocides, applied in building materials as antimicrobial protectants, can be leached out by rain, presenting substantial environmental risks as confirmed by studies on aquatic environments. However, these biocides are consistently released throughout the year in a diluted form, posing unique challenges for the prediction of transport, transformation, and ecotoxicity assessment in soil. To address this challenge, we combined COMLEAM, which predicts leaching from facades into the soil, with the FOCUS PELMO pesticide model to predict biocide distribution in soil.

Major role of dolutegravir in the emergence of the S147G integrase resistance mutation.

Background: The S147G mutation is associated with high-level resistance to the integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) elvitegravir. In several poorly documented cases, it was also selected in patients on dolutegravir. Given the widespread use of dolutegravir, further studies of S147G are required.

The plaque reducing efficacy of oil pulling with sesame oil: a randomized-controlled clinical study.

Objectives: To compare the plaque reducing efficacy of oil pulling with sesame oil compared to distilled water in a randomized, controlled, examiner-blinded parallel group study.

Materials And Methods: Forty probands without advanced periodontal disease of the University Hospital for Restorative Dentistry and Periodontology, Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria) were randomized allocated to test- (sesame oil) or control group (distilled water) and asked to pull daily in the morning for eight weeks with their allotted fluid for 15 min. Rustogi Modified Navy Plaque Index (RMNPI) and gingival bleeding index were assessed at baseline and after four and eight weeks.

Resting-State Cortico-Cerebellar Connectivity Correlates with Post-Stroke Motor Recovery - A Prospective Functional MRI Study.

Cerebellar functional and structural connectivity are likely related to motor function after stroke. Less is known about motor recovery, which is defined as a gain of function between two time points, and about the involvement of the cerebellum. Fifteen patients who were hospitalized between 2018 and 2020 for a first cerebral ischemic event with persistent upper limb deficits were assessed by resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) and clinical motor score measurements at 3, 9 and 15 weeks after stroke.

Automated Detection of Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Using Computer Vision.

Objective: Isolated rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is, in most cases, an early stage of Parkinson's disease or related disorders. Diagnosis requires an overnight video-polysomnogram (vPSG), however, even for sleep experts, interpreting vPSG data is challenging. Using a 3D camera, automated analysis of movements has yielded high accuracy.

Biomarkers.

Background: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is associated with sleep disturbances. Moreover, individuals with sleep disturbances have been reported to have a higher risk for developing AD. The measurement of sleep behavior therefore opens the opportunity for a potential digital biomarker of AD.

Biomarkers.

Background: Use of neuroimaging [e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), or computed tomography (CT) scan], cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and blood biomarker tests can contribute to a more accurate and earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Biomarkers.

Background: This study investigated microstructural features of the locus coeruleus to entorhinal cortex pathway (LC-EC) in relation to amyloid (A), tau (T), neurodegeneration (N) markers and cognitive impairment in memory clinic patients.

Method: 124 participants were recruited from the Geneva Memory Clinic (n=30 cognitively unimpaired - CU; n=80 MCI and n=14 dementia - CI) and underwent clinical assessment, 3T MRI scan including diffusion weighted imaging, amyloid PET, and tau PET. Diffusivity indices (fractional anisotropy - FA, mean, axial and radial diffusivities - MD, AxD, RD) were assessed in the LC-EC pathway using a probabilistic atlas.

Biomarkers.

Background: The amplitude of resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms is a promising neurophysiological biomarker to investigate the abnormalities of oscillatory neurophysiological thalamocortical mechanisms related to the general cortical arousal and vigilance in wakefulness in patients with dementia due to neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's disease (ADD), Parkinson's disease (PDD) and Lewy Body disease (DLB). Here, we tested the hypothesis that the reactivity of posterior rsEEG alpha (about 8-12 Hz) rhythms during the transition from eyes-closed to -open condition may be lower in PDD patients than in DLB patients.

Methods: A Eurasian database provided clinical-demographic-rsEEG datasets in 35 ADD patients, 65 PDD patients, 30 DLB patients, and 25 matched cognitively unimpaired (Healthy) persons.

Biomarkers.

Background: Tau protein phosphorylation and aggregation are the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Multiple phosphorylation sites in Tau protein at serine (S), threonine (T), and tyrosine result in high heterogeneity and enhanced aggregation kinetics.

Method: Here, we used nanopores coated with a fluid lipid bilayer to characterize native and hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins on a single-molecule level.

Biomarkers.

Background: As new anti-amyloid immunotherapies emerge for Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is clear that early diagnosis of AD pathology is crucial for treatment success. This can be challenging in atypical presentations of AD and, together with our reliance on CSF or PET scans, can, at times, lead to delayed diagnosis. Here, we further explore the possible role of plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (P-tau217) for the detection of primary AD or AD co-pathology when frontotemporal dementia spectrum disorders are the main clinical presentation.