The Italian version of the Surgical Fear Questionnaire: validation of its measurement properties.

Background: Surgical fear is present in many patients awaiting surgery. However, a validated Italian version of the Surgical Fear Questionnaire (SFQ) was not available yet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to translate the SFQ into Italian and to test its reliability and validity.

2021 European Society of Cardiology guidelines on cardiac pacing and cardiac resynchronisation therapy : Statement of endorsement by the NVVC.

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has updated its guidelines on cardiac pacing and cardiac resynchronisation. As the majority are class II recommendations (61%) and based on expert opinion (59%), a critical appraisal for the Dutch situation was warranted. A working group has been established, consisting of specialists in cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, geriatrics, allied professionals in cardiac pacing, and patient organisations with support from the Knowledge Institute of the Dutch Association of Medical Specialists.

Vertebral osteomyelitis in patients with infective endocarditis: prevalence, risk factors and mortality.

Purpose: Infective endocarditis (IE) can be complicated by vertebral osteomyelitis (VO). This study investigates risk factors associated with VO in patients with infective endocarditis, and 6-month mortality and relapse rates in patients with IE and concomitant VO.

Methods: We performed a observational study in two hospitals between September 2016 and October 2022.

The Role of Cross-Institutional and Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Defining and Executing a Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Strategy.

The application of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) has enabled substantial progress and impact in many areas of therapeutic discovery and development. This new technology is increasingly accepted by industry, academia, and solution providers, and is enjoying greater interest from regulators. In this chapter, we summarize key aspects regarding how effective collaboration among institutions and disciplines can support the growth of QSP and expand its application domain.

Double-stranded RNA orbivirus disrupts the DNA-sensing cGAS-sting axis to prevent type I IFN induction.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is a DNA sensing cellular receptor that induces IFN-I transcription in response to pathogen and host derived cytosolic DNA and can limit the replication of some RNA viruses. Some viruses have nonetheless evolved mechanisms to antagonize cGAS sensing. In this study, we evaluated the interaction between Bluetongue virus (BTV), the prototypical dsRNA virus of the Orbivirus genus and the Sedoreoviridae family, and cGAS.

Surgical intervention in traumatic brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of decompressive craniotomy.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered a major cause of death globally, resulting from trauma. Decompressive craniectomy (DC) may improve functional outcomes in patients with TBI and its associated complications. This study was designed to determine safety and efficacy of DC in improving clinical outcomes in TBI patients compared to standard therapy.

Early vs. Delayed Switching from Controlled to Assisted Ventilation: A Target Trial Emulation.

Rationale: In critically ill patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, switching from controlled to assisted ventilation is a crucial milestone towards ventilator liberation. The optimal timing for switching to assisted ventilation has not been studied.

Objectives: Our objective was to determine whether a strategy of early as compared to delayed switching affects the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, ICU length of stay, and mortality.

Bidirectional associations between smartphone usage and momentary well-being in young adults: Tackling methodological challenges by combining experience sampling methods with passive smartphone data.

Given the pervasive role of smartphones in modern life, research into their impact on well-being has flourished. This study addresses existing methodological shortcomings using smartphone log data and experience sampling methods (ESM) to explore the bidirectional within-person relationship between smartphone usage and momentary well-being variables (i.e.

Highly accurate real-space electron densities with neural networks.

Variational ab initio methods in quantum chemistry stand out among other methods in providing direct access to the wave function. This allows, in principle, straightforward extraction of any other observable of interest, besides the energy, but, in practice, this extraction is often technically difficult and computationally impractical. Here, we consider the electron density as a central observable in quantum chemistry and introduce a novel method to obtain accurate densities from real-space many-electron wave functions by representing the density with a neural network that captures known asymptotic properties and is trained from the wave function by score matching and noise-contrastive estimation.

Improved Annotation of Asthma Gene Variants with Cell Type Deconvolution of Nasal and Lung Expression-Quantitative Trait Loci.

Asthma is a genetically complex inflammatory airway disease associated with over 200 Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, the functional effects of many asthma-associated SNPs in lung and airway epithelial samples are unknown. Here, we aimed to conduct expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis using a meta-analysis of nasal and lung samples.

Thermodynamics of Surfactant-Enriched Binary-Fluid Systems.

Surface-active agents (surfactants) release potential energy as they migrate from one of two adjacent fluids onto their fluid-fluid interface, a process that profoundly impacts the system's energy and entropy householding. The continuum thermodynamics underlying such a surfactant-enriched binary-fluid system has not yet been explored comprehensively. In this article, we present a mathematical description of such a system, in terms of balance laws, equations of state, and permissible constitutive relations and interface conditions, that satisfies the first and second law of thermodynamics.

MOMENT registry: Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer harboring exon 14 skipping treated with systemic therapy.

exon 14 ex14) skipping occurs in 3-4% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Low frequency of this alteration necessitated open-label, single-arm trials to investigate MET inhibitors. Since broad MET biomarker testing was only recently introduced in many countries, there is a lack of historical real-world data from patients with ex14 skipping NSCLC receiving conventional therapies.

Gesture screening in young infants: Highly sensitive to risk factors for communication delay.

Introduction: Children's early language and communication skills are efficiently measured using parent report, for example, communicative development inventories (CDIs). These have scalable potential to determine risk of later language delay, and associations between delay and risk factors such as prematurity and poverty. However, there may be measurement difficulties in parent reports, including anomalous directions of association between child age/socioeconomic status and reported language.

Abrupt transformation of west Greenland lakes following compound climate extremes associated with atmospheric rivers.

Arctic ecosystems are affected by accelerated warming as well as the intensification of the hydrologic cycle, yet understanding of the impacts of compound climate extremes (e.g., simultaneous extreme heat and rainfall) remains limited, despite their high potential to alter ecosystems.

The evolution of signaling and monitoring in plant-fungal networks.

Experiments have shown that when one plant is attacked by a pathogen or herbivore, this can lead to other plants connected to the same mycorrhizal network up-regulating their defense mechanisms. It has been hypothesized that this represents signaling, with attacked plants producing a signal to warn other plants of impending harm. We examined the evolutionary plausibility of this and other hypotheses theoretically.

Endovascular robotics: technical advances and future directions.

Endovascular interventions excel in treating cardiovascular diseases in a minimally invasive manner, showing improved outcomes over open techniques. However, challenges related to precise navigation - still relying on 2D fluoroscopy - persist. This review examines the role of robotics, highlighting commercial and research platforms, while exploring emerging trends like MRI compatibility, enhanced navigation, and autonomy.

Sound enrichment helps persons suffering from low frequency phantom sounds.

Low frequency noise (LFN) of unknown origin can be disturbing, especially at night, and affect sleep and relaxation. If reduction of the LFN is impossible, adding sound can mask the troubling noise or detract attention from it to reduce distress. To assess the effectiveness of this, a survey was set up consisting of three questionnaires: the first when a person requested a masking sound and follow-ups after 1 and 3 months.

The affective iconicity of lexical tone: Evidence from standard Chinesea).

Previous studies suggested that pitch characteristics of lexical tones in Standard Chinese influence various sensory perceptions, but whether they iconically bias emotional experience remained unclear. We analyzed the arousal and valence ratings of bi-syllabic words in two corpora (Study 1) and conducted an affect rating experiment using a carefully designed corpus of bi-syllabic words (Study 2). Two-alternative forced-choice tasks further tested the robustness of lexical tones' affective iconicity in an auditory nonce word context (Study 3).

Multicenter validation of a galactomannan chemiluminescence immunoassay for the diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis on serum of patients with hematological disease.

An accurate diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in patients with underlying hematological malignancies relies heavily on galactomannan detection. In this study, we compared the VirCLIA chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) with the frequently used Platelia enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on serum from hematology patients with suspected IA. Patients were categorized according to EORTC/MSGERC 2020 definitions into proven/probable IA and possible/no IA.

The role of M2 proteins of pneumoviruses in transcription regulation, prevention of hypermutation, and activation of the type I interferon pathway.

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is an important causative agent of respiratory tract disease. Fundamental knowledge of the interaction between HMPV and the innate immune system could lead to the design of novel antiviral therapies. Previously, we demonstrated that HMPV M2-2 deletion mutants had hypermutated genomes and contained defective interfering particles (DIs), which are potent inducers of the IFN response.

Deciphering Plant NLR Genomic Evolution: Synteny-Informed Classification Unveils Insights into TNL Gene Loss.

Nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor (NLR) genes encode a pivotal class of plant immune receptors. However, their rampant duplication and loss have made inferring their genomic evolutionary trajectory difficult, exemplified by the loss of TNL family genes in monocots. In this study, we introduce a novel classification system for angiosperm NLR genes, grounded in network analysis of micro-synteny information.

Effectiveness of an intensive outpatient treatment programme combining prolonged exposure and EMDR therapy for adolescents and young adults with PTSD in a naturalistic setting.

Psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents and young adults are hampered by high dropout rates. Looking at the results from adult treatments, short, intensive, outpatient treatment programmes may offer a promising alternative, but it has yet to be tested in this young population. To assess the results of a six-day intensive outpatient trauma-focused treatment programme for young individuals (12-25 years) with PTSD.

Psychometric accuracy of the Dutch Child and Adolescent Trauma Screener.

The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometrics of the Dutch version of the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screener (CATS-2). By this, an international recognized instrument to screen symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTSS) in children and adolescents according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) becomes available for Dutch youth. Based on the validated CATS-2 we established the Dutch version, named the KJTS.