The impact of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on anterior cingulate cortex activity in a cognitive control task.

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) offers a non-invasive method to enhance noradrenergic neurotransmission in the human brain, thereby increasing cognitive control. Here, we investigate if changes in cognitive control induced by tVNS are mediated through locus coeruleus-induced modifications of neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. Young healthy participants engaged in a simple cognitive control task focusing on response inhibition and a more complex task that involved both response inhibition and working memory, inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

[Digitally based clinically oriented anatomy: the future of teaching].

University teaching is undergoing radical changes. Rising student numbers and the progressive digitalization of routine daily life are also leading to the testing of various new teaching and learning formats. This article provides an overview of the reasons for and approaches used to effectively and efficiently organize teaching of anatomy using digital learning methods and to fulfil the expectations of students.

Study of Graphene Oxide and Silver Nanowires Interactions and Its Association with Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness.

Technological development has led to the need for materials able to block electromagnetic waves (EMWs) emitted from various devices. EMWs could negatively affect the working performance and lifetime of multiple instruments and measuring devices. New EMW shielding materials are being developed, while among nanomaterials, graphene-based composites have shown promising features.

Two decades of bacterial ecology and evolution in a freshwater lake.

Ecology and evolution are considered distinct processes that interact on contemporary time scales in microbiomes. Here, to observe these processes in a natural system, we collected a two-decade, 471-metagenome time series from Lake Mendota (Wisconsin, USA). We assembled 2,855 species-representative genomes and found that genomic change was common and frequent.

Exploring Relevant Features for EEG-Based Investigation of Sound Perception in Naturalistic Soundscapes.

A comprehensive analysis of everyday sound perception can be achieved using Electroencephalography (EEG) with the concurrent acquisition of information about the environment. While extensive research has been dedicated to speech perception, the complexities of auditory perception within everyday environments, specifically the types of information and the key features to extract, remain less explored. Our study aims to systematically investigate the relevance of different feature categories: discrete sound-identity markers, general cognitive state information, and acoustic representations, including discrete sound onset, the envelope, and mel-spectrogram.

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation and adoption of computerised clinical decision support systems: an umbrella review protocol.

Background: The implementation of computerised clinical decision support systems has the potential to enhance healthcare by improving patient safety, practitioner performance, and patient outcomes. Notwithstanding the numerous advantages, the uptake of clinical decision support systems remains constrained, thereby impeding the full realisation of their potential. To ensure the effective and successful implementation of these systems, it is essential to identify and analyse the reasons for their low uptake and adoption.

[Live-in care in Germany: A qualitative content analysis of social and political discourses].

Background: In Germany, Eastern European live-in carers are filling a gap in home-based long-term care for older persons. As a care reality fraught with diverse problems, live-in care is an unregulated care format bordering between formal and informal structures and has so far received little attention from health services research. The aim of the qualitative study described here was to analyze the current discourses among stakeholders from care practice, politics, and associations, as well as the arguments contained therein regarding the status quo and future of live-in care.

[Telemedicine and AI-supported diagnostics in the daily routine of visceral medicine].

Advances in telemedicine, exemplified by augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), are rapidly progressing. For instance, AR available over long distances has already been successfully utilized in crisis intervention, such as in war zones. The potential of telemedicine also appears promising in structurally weak areas or in the involvement of experts in emergency situations.

How does the coral microbiome mediate its natural host fitness under climate stress conditions? Physiological, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms.

Although the symbiotic partnership between corals and algal endosymbionts has been extensively explored, interactions between corals, their algal endosymbionts and microbial associates are still less understood. Screening the response of natural microbial consortiums inside corals can aid in exploiting them as markers for dysbiosis interactions inside the coral holobiont. The coral microbiome includes archaea, bacteria, fungi, and viruses hypothesized to play a pivotal vital role in coral health and tolerance to heat stress condition via different physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms.

The Multi-Component Structure of Core Strength.

Background/objectives: Core strength diagnostics often focus on measuring core endurance rather than maximal core strength or core power. This study investigates whether core strength can be considered as a general ability that can be measured by a single core strength test or whether it needs to be differentiated into several components.

Methods: Forty-two adult sports students ( = 20; = 22; age: 24.

Long-term associations between ambient air pollution and self-perceived health status: Results from the population-based KORA-Fit study.

Background: Little is known about the association between air pollution and self-perceived health (including both health-related quality of life [HRQoL] and self-rated health [SRH]). The aim of this study was therefore to explore whether long-term air pollution exposure is associated with worse self-perceived health, as measured by different tools.

Methods: We used a land-use regression model to determine the annual average levels of particulate matter with a diameter <10 μm (PM), coarse particles (PM), fine particles (PM), fine particle absorbances (PM), particle number concentration (PNC), ozone (O), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and nitrogen oxide (NO) for geocoded residential addresses (2014-2015).

Preprocessing choices for P3 analyses with mobile EEG: A systematic literature review and interactive exploration.

Preprocessing is necessary to extract meaningful results from electroencephalography (EEG) data. With many possible preprocessing choices, their impact on outcomes is fundamental. While previous studies have explored the effects of preprocessing on stationary EEG data, this research delves into mobile EEG, where complex processing is necessary to address motion artifacts.

Migratory movements of bats are shaped by barrier effects, sex-biased timing and the adaptive use of winds.

Background: Migratory bats perform seasonal movements between their summer and winter areas. When crossing ecological barriers, like the open sea, they are exposed to an increased mortality risk due to energetically demanding long-distance flights and unexpected inclement weather events. How such barriers affect bat migratory movements is still poorly known.

Analysis of systemic serum vancomycin levels following intraarticular application in primary total joint arthroplasty.

Introduction: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a serious complication following primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA). PJI accounts for 15-25% of revision surgeries, therefore it is associated with PJI is associated with substantial patient morbidity and mortality as well as increased healthcare expenditures due to complex treatment strategies. Recently, intraoperative local application of vancomycin powder is increasingly being used in primary total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA, TKA) as an additive strategy for PJI prevention.

In and beyond the Griffiths phase: A large-deviation study of the magnetic susceptibility of the two-dimensional bond-diluted Ising model.

The Griffiths phase in systems with quenched disorder occurs below the ordering transition of the pure system down to the ordering transition of the actual disordered system. While it does not exhibit long-range order, large fluctuations in the disorder degrees of freedom result in exponentially rare, long-range ordered states and hence the occurrence of broad distributions in response functions. Inside the Griffiths phase of the two-dimensional bond-diluted Ising model the distribution of the magnetic susceptibility is expected to have such a broad, exponential tail.

Carbonized Apples and Quinces Stillage for Electromagnetic Shielding.

Electromagnetic waves (EMWs) have become an integral part of our daily lives, but they are causing a new form of environmental pollution, manifesting as electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency signal leakage. As a result, the demand for innovative, eco-friendly materials capable of blocking EMWs has escalated in the past decade, underscoring the significance of our research. In the realm of modern science, the creation of new materials must consider the starting materials, production costs, energy usage, and the potential for air, water, and soil pollution.

Synthesis, characterization and functionalization of titanium κ amidinato complexes from carbodiimides.

A series of titanium amidinato complexes were synthesized by stoichiometric insertion reactions of carbodiimides into bis(π-η:σ-η-pentafulvene)titanium complexes. NMR studies and single-crystal X-ray diffraction showed κ coordination of the former carbodiimides to the metal center. DFT calculations were performed, confirming the clear preference for a single nitrogen atom coordinating to the metal center with a high energy transition state for the formation of a chelating heteroallyl ligand.

Provision of hospice and palliative care and implementation of advance care planning for residents in German nursing homes - a cross-sectional study.

Background: Demographic changes are leading to a rise in the demand for care services, with nursing homes (NHs) playing an increasingly important role in end-of-life care. Evidence suggests that NH residents at the end of life significantly benefit from hospice and palliative care and the implementation of advance care planning (ACP). In 2018, Germany passed a law to promote the implementation of ACP in NHs and to enable the refinancing of ACP services by the statutory health insurance funds.

Profiling trace organic chemical biotransformation genes, enzymes and associated bacteria in microbial model communities.

Microbial biotransformation of trace organic chemicals (TOrCs) is an essential process in wastewater treatment to eliminate environmental pollution. Understanding TOrC biotransformation mechanisms, especially at their original concentrations, is important to optimize treatment performance, whereas our current knowledge is limited. Here, we investigated the biotransformation of seven TOrCs by 24 model communities.

A Survey on Hearing Health of Musicians in Professional and Amateur Orchestras.

Hearing health, a cornerstone for musical performance and appreciation, often stands at odds with the unique acoustical challenges that musicians face. Utilizing a cross-sectional design, this survey-based study presents an in-depth examination of self-rated hearing health and its contributing factors in 370 professional and 401 amateur musicians recruited from German-speaking orchestras. To probe the nuanced differences between these groups, a balanced subsample of 200 professionals and 200 amateurs was curated, matched based on age, gender, and instrument family.

Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass.

Spatial orientation based on the geomagnetic field (GMF) is a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom, predominantly observed in long-distance migrating birds, sea turtles, lobsters, and Lepidoptera. Although magnetoreception has been studied intensively, the mechanism remains elusive. A crucial question for a mechanistic understanding of magnetoreception is whether animals rely on inclination or polarity-based magnetic information.

Testing the Ce Limit of Mass Bias Correction Using Nd/Nd as Normalizing Ratio in Radiogenic Neodymium Isotope Analysis by MC-ICP-MS.

Rationale: Neodymium isotopes are a powerful geochemical tool that has widely been used in terrestrial and extraterrestrial studies. Modern multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (MC-ICP-MS) allow fast, accurate, and precise analysis of the radiogenic Nd isotope ratio Nd/Nd. These analyses comprise relatively high instrumental mass bias that is typically corrected for using the stable Nd/Nd of 0.

Association of anaesthesia-directed sedation with unplanned discharge to a nursing home following non-ambulatory interventional radiology and endoscopic procedures: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Interventional radiology procedures and endoscopies are performed commonly worldwide, often necessitating pharmacological sedation to optimise patient comfort. It is unclear to what extent non-anaesthetists should provide procedural sedation.

Methods: We studied adult patients who previously lived independently and underwent a non-ambulatory interventional radiology or gastroenterology procedure under anaesthetist-directed or non-anaesthetist-directed sedation at a large healthcare network.

Synthesis of Optically Active Spirocycles by a Sequence of Decarboxylative Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation and Heck Reaction.

Optically active spirocycles were prepared in a sequence of two palladium-catalyzed reactions. In the first step, racemic α-(-iodophenyl)-β-oxo allyl esters were submitted to the palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction, furnishing the α-allylated products with a quaternary stereocenter with good yields and enantioselectivities. Subsequently, these intermediate products were converted in a Heck reaction yielding the spirocyclic structures as a mixture of - and -cyclic regioisomers.

Development and verification of non-supervised smartphone-based methods for assessing pure-tone thresholds and loudness perception.

Objective: The benefit of using smartphones for hearing tests in a non-supervised, rapid, and contactless way has drawn a lot of interest, especially if supra-threshold measures are assessed that go beyond audiogram-based measures alone. It is unclear, nevertheless, how well these measures compare to more supervised and regulated manual audiometric assessments. The aim of this study is to validate such smartphone-based methods against standardised laboratory assessments.