Integration of Apolipoprotein B into the SCORE2 Framework: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk Prediction.

Aim: To evaluate whether integrating Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) into the SCORE2 cardiovascular risk prediction framework improves its predictive accuracy and clinical applicability within the UK Biobank population.

Method: A 10-year prospective cohort study was conducted with 448,303 UK Biobank participants eligible for SCORE2 calculation. Three approaches were employed: (1) threshold analysis to determine the optimal ApoB cutoff for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction using Youden's Index, (2) assessment of the synergistic effect of SCORE2 and ApoB through concordant and discordant classifications, and (3) recalibration of the SCORE2 model by incorporating ApoB as an additional predictor.

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.

Background: Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are handheld electronic vaping devices that produce an aerosol by heating an e-liquid. People who smoke, healthcare providers, and regulators want to know if ECs can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This is a review update conducted as part of a living systematic review.

Endocrine alterations in patients with pachydermoperiostosis.

Context: Pachydermoperiostosis (primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, PHO) usually due to biallelic loss-of-function variants in HPGD and SLCO2A1, has some features overlapping with acromegaly and often referred to endocrinologists. A detailed endocrine assessment is not available for these patients.

Objective: To assess the genetic and endocrine characteristics of PHO patients referred to endocrine centres with a possible diagnosis of acromegaly.

Models and simulations of structural DNA nanotechnology reveal fundamental principles of self-assembly.

DNA is not only a centrally important molecule in biology: the specificity of bonding that allows it to be the primary information storage medium for life has also allowed it to become one of the most promising materials for designing intricate, self-assembling structures at the nanoscale. While the applications of these structures are both broad and highly promising, the self-assembly process itself has attracted interest not only for the practical applications of designing structures with more efficient assembly pathways, but also due to a desire to understand the principles underlying self-assembling systems more generally, of which DNA-based systems provide intriguing and unique examples. Here, we review the fundamental physical principles that underpin the self-assembly process in the field of DNA nanotechnology, with a specific focus on simulation and modelling and what we can learn from them.

Time-varying reproduction number estimation: fusing compartmental models with generalized additive models.

The reproduction number, the mean number of secondary cases infected by each primary case, gives an indication of the effort required to control the disease. Beyond the well-known reproduction number, there are two natural extensions, namely the and reproduction numbers. As behaviour, population immunity and viral characteristics can change with time, these reproduction numbers can vary over time.

Antileishmanial and Antitrypanosomal Trends of Synthetic Tetralone Derivatives.

Leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis are parasitic diseases that are closely linked to poverty, pose significant local burdens, and are common in tropical and subtropical regions. Various synthetic tetralone derivatives were studied as potential scaffolds for antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activities. The compounds were studied for their effectiveness against multiple kinetoplastid protozoan pathogens: Leishmania major, Leishmania mexicana, and bloodstream trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma brucei brucei.

Elderly Patients With Aplastic Anemia: Treatment Patterns and Outcomes in the Real World.

We retrospectively analyzed a large international cohort of 1113 patients with aplastic anemia to evaluate treatment choice and outcome in elderly patients as compared with a younger population. Overall, 319 (29%) patients were > 60 years old at diagnosis (60-64 years (n = 85), 106 65-69 years (n = 106), and 128 > 70 years (n = 128)). Elderly patients showed a more severe thrombocytopenia at onset and a significantly lower overall response (complete plus partial) to first-line therapy at 6 months as compared to younger patients (47% vs.

Sex-dependent modulation of caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis in C57BL/6J mice.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a life-threatening condition, with a higher mortality rate in men than women and in which estrogens might play a protective role. This study aimed to investigate sex-dependent differences in a mouse model of caerulein-induced AP. Thirty-six C57BL/6J mice (19 females and 17 males) were treated intraperitoneally with phosphate-buffered saline or caerulein, and sacrificed 12 hours, 2 days, or 7 days after the last injection.

Supervised Toothbrushing Programmes: Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation.

Objectives: Supervised toothbrushing programmes (STPs), whereby children brush their teeth at nursery or school with a fluoride toothpaste under staff supervision, are a clinically and cost-effective intervention to reduce dental caries. However, uptake is varied, and the reasons unknown. The aim was to use an implementation science approach to explore the perspectives of key stakeholders on the barriers and facilitators at each level of implementation of STPs.

Field measurement of spray drift from a spray application by UAV.

Background: To use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver pesticides, new data are needed to allow regulators to conduct risk assessments. A field trial was conducted to obtain spray drift data relating to ground deposits and airborne spray resulting from a spray application delivered by a small UAV.

Results: A 12 m width area was sprayed with four passes of the UAV and spray deposits were collected within the sprayed area and up to 50 m downwind.

Investigation of the effect of solvation on J(Metal-P) spin-spin coupling.

The solvent effect on the indirect J(M-P) spin-spin coupling constant in phosphine selenoether -substituted acenaphthene complexes LMCl is studied at the PP86 level of nonrelativistic and four-component relativistic density functional theory. Depending on the metal, the solvent effect can amount to as much as 50% or more of the total -value. This explains the previously found disagreement between the J(Hg-P) coupling in LHgCl, observed experimentally and calculated without considering solvent effects.

"We are made of time": reverberation and the elasticity of time in psychoanalysis. Negotiating different temporalities in the session.

Inspired by Dana Birksted-Breen's ideas on reverberation time, the author explores the changeability and transformation of the sensations of time and space and their connection to early embodied phantasies in the treatment of a 10-year-old boy. The experience of time changes (summarized under "time elasticity" to reflect the various forms this can take) is lived out in the transference relationship from the beginning of the therapeutic encounter. The author proposes the simultaneous development of the capacity to accept "objective" time, the establishment of a tri-dimensional space within the self and between objects and tolerating separateness and separation.

Molecular and Electronic Structures at Electrochemical Interfaces from Resonant X-Ray Diffraction.

An original approach to characterize electrochemical interfaces at the atomic level, a challenging topic toward the understanding of electrochemical reactivity, is reported. We employed surface resonant X-ray diffraction experiments combined with their simulation using first-principle density functional theory calculations and were thus able to determine the molecular and electronic structures of the partially ionic layer facing the electrode surface, as well as the charge distribution in the surface metal layers. Pt(111) in an acidic medium at an applied potential excluding specific adsorption was studied.

APP antisense oligonucleotides are effective in rescuing mitochondrial phenotypes in human iPSC-derived trisomy 21 astrocytes.

Introduction: Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have shown promise in reducing amyloid precursor protein (APP) levels in neurons, but their effects in astrocytes, key contributors to neurodegenerative diseases, remain unclear. This study evaluates the efficacy of APP ASOs in astrocytes derived from an individual with Down syndrome (DS), a population at high risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from a healthy individual and an individual with DS were differentiated into astrocytes.

Current practices of pain assessment and analgesic use in laboratory mice: A 2022 FELASA Working Group survey.

Assessing and alleviating pain in animals involved in research is critically important. However, the effective implementation of pain management depends on the knowledge and attitudes of the personnel involved. Following a Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations 'Pain in Mice' working group initiative, a questionnaire to survey current practices concerning analgesic use in laboratory mice was distributed to several professional groups in the field of laboratory animal science.

Diffusive evaporation dynamics in polymer solutions is ubiquitous.

Recent theory and experiments have shown how the buildup of a high-concentration polymer layer at a one-dimensional solvent-air interface can lead to an evaporation rate that scales with time as and that is insensitive to the ambient humidity. Using phase field modelling we show that this scaling law constitutes a naturally emerging robust regime, diffusion-limited evaporation (DLE). This regime dominates the dynamical state diagram of the system, which also contains regions of constant and arrested evaporation, confirming and extending understanding of recent experimental observations and theoretical predictions.

Quantifying Bone Collagen Fingerprint Variation Between Species.

Collagen is the most ubiquitous protein in the animal kingdom and one of the most abundant proteins on Earth. Despite having a relatively repetitive amino acid sequence motif that enables its triple helical structure, in type 1 collagen, that dominates skin and bone, there is enough variation for its increasing use for the biomolecular species identification of animal tissues processed or degraded beyond the amenability of DNA-based analyses. In recent years, this has been most commonly achieved through the technique of collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) known as ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry), applied to the analysis of tens of thousands of samples across over one hundred studies in the past decade alone.

Prevalence, risk and resilience factors of mental health conditions among female sex workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Female sex workers are a vulnerable hard-to-reach group. Research in this field is scarce due to several issues, such as methodological difficulties or societal stigmatization. Most of the available literature focuses on sexually transmittable diseases.

Cognitive interventions for healthy older adults: A systematic meta-review.

Objectives: With increasing global life expectancy, cognitive interventions hold promise in mitigating cognitive decline and fostering healthy aging. Despite the demand for evidence-based interventions, there have been few attempts to summarize existing evidence. This study aims to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of unimodal and multimodal cognitive interventions for cognitively healthy older adults.

Plasma Circulating Metabolites Associated With Steatotic Liver Disease and Liver Enzymes: A Multiplatform Population-Based Study.

Background And Aims: Steatotic liver disease (SLD) is the most common chronic liver disease strongly associated with metabolic dysfunction, but its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Exploring plasma circulating metabolites may help in elucidating underlying mechanisms and identifying new biomarkers for SLD.

Methods: We examined cross-sectionally the association between plasma metabolites and SLD as well as liver enzymes using data from 4 population-based cohort studies (Rotterdam study, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Family Study, and Study of Latinos).