The Multicentre Acute ischemic stroke imaGIng and Clinical data (MAGIC) repository: rationale and blueprint.

Purpose: The Multicentre Acute ischemic stroke imaGIng and Clinical data (MAGIC) repository is a collaboration established in 2024 by seven stroke centres in Europe. MAGIC consolidates clinical and radiological data from acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients who underwent endovascular therapy, intravenous thrombolysis, a combination of both, or conservative management.

Participants: All centres ensure accuracy and completeness of the data.

Bioinformatics and Computationally Supported Redesign of Aspartase for β-Alanine Synthesis by Acrylic Acid Hydroamination.

Aspartate ammonia lyases catalyze the reversible amination of fumarate to l-aspartate. Recent studies demonstrate that the thermostable enzyme from sp. YM55-1 (AspB) can be engineered for the enantioselective production of substituted β-amino acids.

Polygenic risk scores for atrial fibrillation and heart failure and the risk of stroke and dementia.

Atrial fibrillation and heart failure have both been suggested to increase stroke and dementia risk. However, in observational studies, reversed causation and unmeasured confounding may occur. To mitigate these issues, this study aims to investigate if higher genetic risk for atrial fibrillation and heart failure increases dementia and stroke risk.

NTRK amplification occurs frequently in pan-TRK immunopositive dedifferentiated liposarcomas.

The () gene family is of rising importance as their fusions are oncogenic, and specific target drugs are available to inhibit the chimera proteins. Pan-TRK antibody, which shows the overexpression of the genes, is a useful tool to detect tumors with or without gene alterations, due to high negative predictive value. Though it is well known that pan-TRK immunopositivity is usually not connected to fusion, the role of other possible genetic alterations is under-researched.

Recommendations for reporting and evaluating proton therapy beyond dose and constant relative biological effectiveness.

Background And Purpose: In proton therapy, a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 1.1 is used to convert proton dose into an equivalent photon dose. However, RBE varies with tissue type, fraction dose, and beam quality parameters beyond dose such as linear energy transfer (LET) raising concerns about increased local effectiveness and potential toxicity.

Current practices in prevention, screening, and treatment of diabetes in kidney transplant recipients: European survey highlights from the ERA DESCARTES Working Group.

Background: Although post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is a common complication after kidney transplantation, there are few data on prevention, optimal screening, and treatment strategies.

Methods: The European Renal Association's DESCARTES working group distributed a web-based survey to European transplant centres to gather information on risk assessment, screening procedures, and management practices for preventing and treating PTDM in kidney transplant recipients.

Results: Answers were obtained from 121/241 transplant centres (50%) across 15 European countries.

Gaps in the ethical governance of pharmaceutical clinical trials in Europe.

The ethical governance of pharmaceutical clinical trials in Europe, particularly under Regulation 536/2014, is intended to ensure the safety, rights, and well-being of participants. Despite this regulatory framework, significant gaps in ethical oversight remain. This paper identifies five key deficiencies: (1) European regulations only partially address ethical imperatives set by international guidelines, thereby restricting the ethical mandate of relevant entities; (2) the role of research ethics committees is largely limited to pre-approval activities, reducing continuous oversight during trials; (3) GCP inspectors operate within a narrow scope regarding ethical oversight, which limits their ability to identify a broad range of unethical practices; (4) there is insufficient transparency and collaboration between RECs and regulators, specifically GCP inspectorates, leading to fragmented oversight; and (5) there is minimal integration of ethical findings into the marketing authorization decision process by entities such as clinical assessors and the CHMP.

Psychometric Validation of the German Version of the Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA): A Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data.

Background And Aims: Regular physical activity holds numerous health benefits for older people, yet the majority of older people do not meet the World Health Organization's physical activity recommendations. Brief physical activity screening tools can support healthcare professionals in identifying patients who would benefit from physical activity promotion and counselling. The Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA) questionnaire is a validated brief physical activity screening tool designed for clinical practice.

Uncovering the hidden mechanics of upper body rotations in tennis serves using wearable sensors on Dutch professional players.

Background: It is assumed that the tennis serve is performed according to the kinetic chain principle in which a proximal-to-distal sequence in peak angular velocities of subsequent body segments can be observed to reach high end point ball velocities. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the magnitude and (intersegmental) timing of peak angular velocities of body segments in professional tennis players are different between first and second serves and if they are associated with serve performance.

Methods: Eight (two female and six male) professional tennis players performed each 48 tennis serves on a tennis court.

Acute aerobic exercise enhances associative learning in regular exercisers but not in non-regular exercisers.

Introduction: Physical exercise has repeatedly been reported to have advantageous effects on brain functions, including learning and memory formation. However, objective tools to measure such effects are often lacking. Eyeblink conditioning is a well-characterized method for studying the neural basis of associative learning.

Reprogramming the melanoma and immunosuppressive myeloid cells with esomeprazole-loaded PLGA nanoparticles.

Proton pump inhibitors have been explored for potentiating cancer therapies via reverting the tumor acidity and promoting the activation of anti-tumor immune responses. To regulate the intracellular pH of melanoma and immunosuppressive myeloid cells, we developed poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles loaded with esomeprazole (ESO-NPs). The effect of ESO-NPs on melanoma cells was observed as alkalinization and reduction of melanin content accompanied by a decrease of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), poliovirus receptor (PVR), and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint expression.

Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy of 2-Cyanoindene Cations.

2-Cyanoindene is one of the few specific aromatic or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules positively identified in Taurus molecular cloud-1 (TMC-1), a cold, dense molecular cloud that is considered the nearest star-forming region to Earth. We report cryogenic mid-infrared (550-3200 cm) and visible (16,500-20,000 cm, over the ← electronic transition) spectra of 2-cyanoindene radical cations (2CNI), measured using messenger tagging (He and Ne) photodissociation spectroscopy. The infrared spectra reveal the prominence of anharmonic couplings, particularly over the fingerprint region.

Coupling of Li-Fe: Li Isotope Fractionation during Sorption onto Fe-Oxides.

Chemical weathering processes play a key role in regulating the global climate over geological time scales. Lithium (Li) isotope compositions have proven to be a robust proxy for tracing weathering processes that produce secondary minerals, such as clays and oxides, with a focus often placed on Li adsorption to, or incorporation into, clay minerals. In addition, the interaction between Li and Fe-oxides has long been assumed and discussed based on field observations, but experimental constraints on this process are lacking.

Towards a sustainable set of European Core Health Indicators (ECHI).

Background: The European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) are a set of 88 indicators that provide a compact overview of the extensive field of European public health and healthcare. The ECHI set adds value to European Union health information systems (HIS) for both Member States and EU-associated countries and the European Commission by providing a solid, comparable information base on national public health and healthcare trends and developments. The indicators allow for learning by comparison and the list supports the organisation of national health information systems.

Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy for grief: a non-randomized clinical trial protocol.

Background: Psychotherapy for Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), a condition characterized by an intense and persistent grief response, has received increased attention over the past decades. Evidence-based approaches to prevent PGD are currently scarce, and not always effective. This paper introduces a protocol for a clinical trial exploring the effectiveness of a Meaning Reconstruction psychotherapy approach (MR) assisted with ayahuasca, a traditional indigenous medicine.

Investigating the impact of acceptance and commitment therapy for mental healthcare professionals: the effect on patients´ self-stigmatization, a pilot study.

Background: A significant proportion of mental health care professionals (MHCPs) hold stigmatizing attitudes about their patients. When patients perceive and internalize these beliefs, self-stigmatization can increase. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may decrease stigmatizing attitudes by changing the 'us' versus 'them' thinking into continuum beliefs.

Developing a translational research framework for MDD: combining biomolecular mechanisms with a spiraling risk factor model.

Objective: The global incidence and burden of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are increasing annually, with current antidepressant treatments proving ineffective for 30-40% of patients. Biomolecular mechanisms within the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) may significantly contribute to MDD, potentially paving the way for novel treatment approaches. However, integrating the MGBA with the psychological and environmental aspects of MDD remains challenging.

Geographical distribution and evolutionary dynamics of H4Nx avian influenza viruses.

H4Nx avian influenza viruses (AIVs) have been isolated from wild birds and poultry and can also cross the species barrier to infect mammals (pigs and muskrats). The widespread presence of these viruses in wild birds and poultry and their ability to be transmitted interspecies make them an undeniable hazard to the poultry farming industry. In the present study, we collected fecal and swab samples from wild birds and poultry in Guangdong Province from January 2019 to March 2024, and various subtypes of AIVs were isolated, including 19 strains of H4 subtype AIVs.

Brain tumor enhancement prediction from pre-contrast conventional weighted images using synthetic multiparametric mapping and generative artificial intelligence.

Background: Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) are usually employed for glioma diagnosis. However, GBCAs raise safety concerns, lead to patient discomfort and increase costs. Parametric maps offer a potential solution by enabling quantification of subtle tissue changes without GBCAs, but they are not commonly used in clinical practice due to the need for specifically targeted sequences.

In functionally aligned total knee arthroplasty, femoral component rotation follows the transepicondylar axis to achieve flexion balance.

Purpose: In functionally aligned (FA) total knee arthroplasty (TKA), femoral component rotation (FCR) is personalised to optimise flexion gap balance. As axial malalignment has been attributed to patellofemoral complications, this study assessed FA FCR in relation to the surgical transepicondylar axis (TEA) and early implant survivorship.

Methods: We analysed 446 robotic-assisted primary TKAs in 393 patients using FA with preresection gap balancing.

Nodewise Parameter Aggregation for Psychometric Networks.

Psychometric networks can be estimated using nodewise regression to estimate edge weights when the joint distribution is analytically difficult to derive or the estimation is too computationally intensive. The nodewise approach runs generalized linear models with each node as the outcome. Two regression coefficients are obtained for each link, which need to be aggregated to obtain the edge weight (i.

Supplemental Screening With MRI in Women With Dense Breasts: The European Perspective.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women in Europe, and while all European countries have some form of screening for breast cancer, disparities in organization and implementation exist. Breast density is a well-established risk factor for breast cancer; however, most countries in Europe do not have recommendations in place for notification of breast density or additional supplementary imaging for women with dense breasts. Various supplemental screening modalities have been investigated in Europe, and when comparing modalities, MRI has been shown to be superior in cancer detection rate and in detecting small invasive disease that may impact long-term survival, as demonstrated in the Dense Tissue and Early Breast Neoplasm Screening (DENSE) trial in the Netherlands.

A 37-Color Spectral Flow Cytometric Panel to Assess Transcription Factors and Chemokine Receptors in Human Intestinal Lymphoid Cells.

We have developed a 37-color spectral flow cytometry panel to assess the phenotypical differentiation of innate and adaptive immune lymphoid subsets within human intestinal tissue. In addition to lineage markers for identifying innate lymphoid cells (ILC), TCRγδ, MAIT (mucosal-associated invariant T), natural killer (NK), CD4 and CD8 T cells, we incorporated markers of differentiation and activation (CD45RA, CD45RO, CD25, CD27, CD38, CD39, CD69, CD103, CD127, CD161, HLA-DR, CTLA-4 [CD152]), alongside transcription factors (Bcl-6, FoxP3, GATA-3, Helios, T-bet, PU.1 and RORγt) and chemokine receptors (CCR4, CCR6, CCR7, CXCR3, and CXCR5).