A municipality-specific analysis to investigate persistent increased incidence rates of childhood leukaemia near the nuclear power plant of Krümmel in Germany.

Increased incidence rates for childhood leukaemia have been reported in municipalities close to the nuclear power plant (NPP) Krümmel (Geesthacht, Germany). Methodological challenges arise when analysing this association at ecological level. They include the use of an appropriate reference population, unstable estimates of standardised incidence ratios (SIRs), and the potential role of prevailing winds.

Intra-individual radiomic analysis of pericoronary adipose tissue: Photon-counting detector vs energy-integrating detector CT angiography.

Background: The impact of novel photon-counting detector (PCD)-CT technology on in-vivo radiomics is not fully understood. This study aimed to compare the intra-individual stability and reproducibility of pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT) radiomic features between PCD-CT and energy-integrating detector (EID)-CT in patients undergoing coronary CT angiography (CCTA) on both systems.

Methods: Patients undergoing clinically indicated CCTA on an EID-CT were prospectively enrolled for research PCD-CCTA within 30 days.

Additive effect of high transportation noise exposure and socioeconomic deprivation on stress-associated neural activity, atherosclerotic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease events.

Background: Noise exposure and lower socioeconomic status (SES) are both independently linked to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Although these factors frequently coexist, their combined impact and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the joint effects of high transportation noise exposure and lower SES on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and the role of the neural-arterial axis in mediating this relationship.

EXCELLENT Registry: A Prospective, Multicenter, Global Registry of Endovascular Stroke Treatment With the EMBOTRAP Device.

Background: The EXCELLENT registry aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the EMBOTRAP Revascularization Device in an all-comer population in a real-world setting, with a focus on the composition of retrieved clots.

Methods: EXCELLENT is a prospective, global registry of patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with EMBOTRAP as the first-line mechanical thrombectomy device conducted at 34 sites (25 sites contributing clot) from September 2018 to March 2021, utilizing core imaging and central histology laboratories blinded to clinical data, independent 90-day modified Rankin Scale assessment and Clinical Events Committee.

Results: After screening 3799 patients, a total of 997 subjects (mean age, 70.

Counterfactual Diffusion Models for Mechanistic Explainability of Artificial Intelligence Models in Pathology.

Deep learning can extract predictive and prognostic biomarkers from histopathology whole slide images, but its interpretability remains elusive. We develop and validate MoPaDi (Morphing histoPathology Diffusion), which generates counterfactual mechanistic explanations. MoPaDi uses diffusion autoencoders to manipulate pathology image patches and flip their biomarker status by changing the morphology.

Major Heel Reconstructions Through Small Incisions.

A variety of osteotomies on the calcaneus have been described in the past to adapt the shape of the calcaneus to specific needs. Newer osteotomy and fixation methods allow the procedure to be as minimally invasive as possible. Recent data suggest that the minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques allow for fewer complications, particularly with regard to wound healing.

New insights for the development of efficient DNA vaccines.

Despite the great potential of DNA vaccines for a broad range of applications, ranging from prevention of infections, over treatment of autoimmune and allergic diseases to cancer immunotherapies, the implementation of such therapies for clinical treatment is far behind the expectations up to now. The main reason is the poor immunogenicity of DNA vaccines in humans. Consequently, the improvement of the performance of DNA vaccines in vivo is required.

3-year quality of life, functional performance, and long-term survival after acute pulmonary embolism; A prospective study.

Our prospective study investigates the 3-year trajectory of disease-specific quality of life (QoL) using the PEmb-QoL questionnaire, functional performance via 6-min walk tests, and the 5-year survival following acute pulmonary embolism (PE) and explores their association with patient demographics and clinical characteristics. We highlight that PE-specific QoL improves over time despite no significant changes in cardiopulmonary performance.

Monocytes give rise to Langerhans cells that preferentially migrate to lymph nodes at steady state.

Current evidence suggests that ontogeny may account for the functional heterogeneity of some tissue macrophages, but not others. Here, we asked whether developmental origin drives different functions of skin Langerhans cells (LCs), an embryo-derived mononuclear phagocyte with features of both tissue macrophages and dendritic cells. Using time-course analyses, bone marrow chimeras, and fate tracing models, we found that the complete elimination of embryo-derived LCs at steady state results in their repopulation from circulating monocytes.

Assessing cytotoxicity: a comparative analysis of biodegradable and conventional 3D-printing materials post-steam sterilization for surgical guides.

Ecological concerns and the depletion of petroleum resources have driven the exploration of biodegradable 3D-printing materials derived from bio-renewable sources, such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). This study aimed to compare the potential cytotoxic effects of a biodegradable PLA/PHA blend filament, a conventional photopolymer (MED610), and a combination of MED610 with a support material (SUP705) before and after steam sterilization in vitro, with a focus on their application in the production of surgical guides.PLA/PHA, MED610, and SUP705 (both in their pure and steam-sterilized forms;= 6 per group) were assessed for their cytotoxic effects on human fibroblasts using the neutral red uptake assay.

Big Data, Big Insights: Leveraging Data Analytics to Unravel Cardiovascular Exposome Complexities.

The exposome encompasses the full range of environmental exposures throughout a person's lifetime and plays an important role in cardiovascular health. Interactions with the social, natural, and built components of the exposome significantly impact cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality. Robust data analytics, including machine learning and geospatial analysis, have advanced our understanding of how these factors converge to influence cardiovascular disease risk.

Epidermal maintenance of Langerhans cells relies on autophagy-regulated lipid metabolism.

Macroautophagy (often-named autophagy), a catabolic process involving autophagy-related (Atg) genes, prevents the accumulation of harmful cytoplasmic components and mobilizes energy reserves in long-lived and self-renewing cells. Autophagy deficiency affects antigen presentation in conventional dendritic cells (DCs) without impacting their survival. However, previous studies did not address epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs).

Differential contributions of the gut microbiota and metabolome to pathomechanisms in ulcerative colitis: an analysis.

The gut microbiota has been implicated in onset and progression of ulcerative colitis (UC). Here, we assess potential causal involvement of the microbiota and -associated fecal water (FW) metabolome in altering key functional parameters of the colonic epithelium. Fecal samples were collected from  = 51 healthy controls (HC),  = 36 patients with active UC (UC-A), and  = 41 subjects in remission  = 41 (UC-R).

Resilience to major life events: Advancing trajectory modeling and resilience factor identification by controlling for background stressor exposure.

Resilience has been defined as the maintenance or quick recovery of mental health during and after stressor exposure. One popular operationalization of this concept is to model prototypical trajectories of mental health in response to an adverse event, where trajectories of undisturbed low or rapidly recovering symptoms both comply with the resilience definition. However, mental health responses are likely also influenced by other stressors occurring before or during the observation time window.

Sex-Disaggregated Analysis of Central Venous Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in Patients with Cancer.

Introduction: Men are generally more susceptible to bacterial infections than women. Central venous catheters (CVCs), often used to administer systemic treatment in patients with cancer, are an important source of infection. However, little is known about sex-specific differences of CVC-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) in patients with cancer.

Meta-Analysis of Renal Denervation Therapy During Pulmonary Vein Isolation in Atrial Fibrillation.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has been established as a first-line therapy for symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) in selected patients with symptomatic AF and in those whose antiarrhythmic drug treatment failed. However, AF recurrence rates after PVI remain high, prompting the exploration of adjunct therapies, such as renal denervation (RDN), to improve outcomes. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy of RDN as an adjunct to PVI in reducing AF recurrence.

Functionally distinct anticoagulant mechanisms of endothelial cells.

Antithrombin and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) provide different anticoagulant mechanisms. Having established a potent anticoagulant role of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vessel-on-a-chip microfluidic models, we now investigated how these cells modulated thrombin generation under stasis through antithrombin and TFPI pathways. We observed that endothelial monolayers in 96 well-plates strongly delayed and suppressed the thrombin generation process induced by tissue factor, regardless of the presence of whole blood, platelet-rich plasma or platelet-free plasma.