Exploratory study of patients' and carers' preferences for postdischarge surgical wound monitoring using survey and interviews.

Objectives: To explore patients' and carers' preferences for postdischarge surgical wound monitoring.

Design: Explanatory mixed methods study with an online survey followed by online interviews.

Setting: The online survey was distributed via the Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research Network and cardiac surgery patient and public involvement groups in London and Leicester, UK.

The effect of sleep disturbances on the incidence of dementia for varying lag times.

Background: Few studies have addressed the association of sleep disturbances with incident dementia with long lag times. We add to this literature by investigating how lag times varying from 2.2 to 23.

Roles for Exosomes in the Pathogenesis, Drug Delivery and Therapy of Psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent and inflammatory skin disease. Although conventional immunosuppressants can ameliorate psoriatic symptoms, it tends to relapse over time. Previous studies have shown that exosomes from both immune and non-immune cells participate in psoriatic immunopathology.

Establishing a Pan-European, multi-disciplinary taphonomic research Infrastructure: The 'UK-Netherlands decomposition experimental research (UNDER) Group'.

This study unveils the establishment of the United Kingdom-Netherlands Decomposition Experimental Research (UNDER) working group, marking a pioneering initiative in practical Forensic Taphonomy within the UK. Our primary objective was to craft a cohesive multidisciplinary framework, designed to ethically orchestrate, execute, and assess human decomposition. Concurrently, we aimed to amass data through human burials, fostering collaboration among diverse forensic experts across Europe.

Positive sputum fungal culture, fungal sensitisation and airway microbial diversity in asthmatic children.

Sensitisation to thermotolerant fungi such as Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans which can colonise the airways is associated with poor lung function in children with asthma. Dysbiosis of bacteria and fungi in the airway microbiome has been reported between health and asthma but has yet to be characterised for fungal sensitised asthmatic children. We investigated if microbial diversity of the airways is altered in fungal sensitised school-age asthmatic children.

Understanding disorders of the human nervous system: How fish models reveal disease mechanisms from single molecules to behavior (part 2).

The usefulness of zebrafish for understanding the human nervous system is exemplified by the articles in part 1. The virtual special issue part 2 not only covers more work using this well-established species, but also highlights that other fish species may serve as alternative or more appropriate models, due to unique biological or evolutionary characteristics, to explore genetic and molecular mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Distinct Neutralising and Complement-Fixing Antibody Responses Can Be Induced to the Same Antigen in Haemodialysis Patients After Immunisation with Different Vaccine Platforms.

: Generalised immune dysfunction in chronic kidney disease, especially in patients requiring haemodialysis (HD), significantly enhances the risk of severe infections. Vaccine-induced immunity is typically reduced in HD populations. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic provided an opportunity to examine the magnitude and functionality of antibody responses in HD patients to a previously unencountered antigen-Spike (S)-glycoprotein-after vaccination with different vaccine platforms (viral vector (VV); mRNA (mRV)).

Environmental Performance, Financial Constraints, and Tax Avoidance Practices: Insights from FTSE All-Share Companies.

Through its initiative known as the Climate Change Act (2008), the Government of the United Kingdom encourages corporations to enhance their environmental performance with the significant aim of reducing targeted greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. Previous research has predominantly assessed this encouragement favourably, suggesting that improved environmental performance bolsters governmental efforts to protect the environment and fosters commendable corporate governance practices among companies. Studies indicate that organisations exhibiting strong corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, or high levels of environmental performance often engage in lower occurrences of tax avoidance.

Osteopontin as a Biomarker for Coronary Artery Disease.

Osteopontin (OPN) is a sialylated phosphoprotein highly expressed in atherosclerosis and upregulated in settings of both acute and chronic inflammation. It is hypothesised that plasma levels of OPN may correlate with the presence of coronary artery disease, "CAD". This offers potential as a point-of-care testing biomarker for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and prognosis.

Where is the voice of lived experience in interprofessional education? A scoping review.

The main goal of interprofessional education (IPE) is to improve services and the quality of care for patients, their families, and communities. Enabling different professional learners, or others with relevant care roles, to learn together, is expected to advance care delivery. For both pre and post-registration learning, it therefore follows that listening to and working with service users is essential to underpin interprofessional learning.

Genome-wide analysis of TCP family genes and their constitutive expression pattern analysis in the melon (Cucumis melo).

Background: TCP proteins are plant-specific transcription factors that play essential roles in various developmental processes, including leaf morphogenesis and senescence, flowering, lateral branching, hormone crosstalk, and stress responses. However, a comprehensive analysis of genome-wide TCP genes and their expression patterns in melon is yet to be done.

Objective: The present study aims to identify and analyze the TCP genes in the melon genome and understand their putative functions.

Interplay between genetics and epigenetics in lung fibrosis.

Lung fibrosis, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is a complex and devastating disease characterised by the progressive scarring of lung tissue leading to compromised respiratory function. Aberrantly activated fibroblasts deposit extracellular matrix components into the surrounding lung tissue, impairing lung function and capacity for gas exchange. Both genetic and epigenetic factors have been found to play a role in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis, with emerging evidence highlighting the interplay between these two regulatory mechanisms.

Semaglutide in obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and type 2 diabetes across baseline HbA levels (STEP-HFpEF DM): a prespecified analysis of heart failure and metabolic outcomes from a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: About half of patients with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) have type 2 diabetes. In the STEP-HFpEF DM trial of adults with obesity-related HFpEF and type 2 diabetes, subcutaneous once weekly semaglutide 2·4 mg conferred improvements in heart failure-related symptoms and physical limitations, bodyweight, and other heart failure outcomes. We aimed to determine whether these effects of semaglutide differ according to baseline HbA.

Evaluating genome-wide and targeted forensic sequencing approaches to kinship determination.

Kinship determination is a valuable tool in forensic genetics, with applications including familial searching, disaster victim identification, and investigative genetic genealogy. Conventional typing of small numbers of autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) confidently identifies only first-degree relatives. Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) can access more STRs and resolve alleles identical by length but differing in sequence (isoalleles), which may increase the power of kinship estimation, particularly when combined with additional sequenced single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci, as in the ForenSeq DNA Signature Prep kit.

Diversity and 'successful ageing': exploring intersectional and existential dimensions to ageing well.

Background And Objectives: This paper aims to add to the literature on successful ageing in minoritized ethnic groups. Concurring with the critiques of 'successful ageing' for focusing on values and abilities more attainable by white middle-class older people, it explores alternative discourses according to which older people from minoritized groups consider themselves to be 'ageing well'.

Research Design And Methods: The paper draws on original empirical material derived from a longitudinal research project focused on five minority ethnic groups living in a city (and surrounding areas) of the UK known for its diverse population.

Are associations of adulthood overweight and obesity with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and obesity-related cancer modified by comparative body weight at age 10 years in the UK Biobank study?

Objective: Adults living with overweight or obesity do not represent a single homogenous group in terms of mortality and disease risks. The aim of our study was to evaluate how the associations of adulthood overweight and obesity with mortality and incident disease are modified by (i.e.

Nature and prevalence of long-term conditions in people with intellectual disability: retrospective longitudinal population-based study.

Objective: Explore the nature and prevalence of long-term conditions in individuals with intellectual disability.

Design: Retrospective longitudinal population-based study.

Setting: Primary and secondary care data across the population of Wales with the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank.

BioClocks UK: driving robust cycles of discovery to impact.

Chronobiology is a multidisciplinary field that extends across the tree of life, transcends all scales of biological organization, and has huge translational potential. For the UK to harness the opportunities presented within applied chronobiology, we need to build our network outwards to reach stakeholders that can directly benefit from our discoveries. In this article, we discuss the importance of biological rhythms to our health, society, economy and environment, with a particular focus on circadian rhythms.

Improving Therapeutic Adherence and Reducing Therapeutic Inertia in the Management of People with Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Call-to-Action from the Middle East.

Hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes are highly prevalent and poorly controlled cardiometabolic diseases in the Middle East. Therapeutic non-adherence and therapeutic inertia are major contributors to this suboptimal disease control. Regardless of the cardiometabolic disease, evidence-based solutions may be used to improve therapeutic non-adherence and overcome inertia, and thereby help to alleviate the heavy burden of cardiovascular disease in the Middle East.

Achievement of HbA1c and weight targets in adults with type 2 diabetes on once weekly injectable glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist therapy in UK primary care: A retrospective, real-world study.

Aims: Evaluate glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and weight changes after 6 months of once-weekly (QW) injectable glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) therapy in UK primary care.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective, non-interventional study, using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum primary care database, identified adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) newly initiating a QW injectable GLP-1 RA between January 2020 and November 2021. Dual primary outcomes were proportion of patients with (1) HbA1c < 7% (<53 mmol/mol) and (2) weight loss categories (from 0% to 15+%) after 6 months of continuous GLP-1 RA therapy.

Age-dependent phenotypes of cognitive impairment as sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Cognitive changes associated with PASC may not be uniform across populations. We conducted individual-level pooled analyses and meta-analyses of cognitive assessments from eight prospective cohorts, comprising 2,105 patients and 1,432 controls from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Greece, India, Italy, Russia, and the UK. The meta-analysis found no differences by country of origin.

GnIH secreted by green light exposure, regulates bone mass through the activation of Gpr147.

Reproductive hormones associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis are closely linked to bone homeostasis. In this study, we demonstrate that Gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH, one of the key reproductive hormones upstream of the HPG axis) plays an indispensable role in regulating bone homeostasis and maintaining bone mass. We find that deficiency of GnIH or its receptor Gpr147 leads to a significant reduction in bone mineral density (BMD) in mice primarily by enhancement of osteoclast activation in vivo and in vitro.

I2Bot: an open-source tool for multi-modal and embodied simulation of insect navigation.

Achieving a comprehensive understanding of animal intelligence demands an integrative approach that acknowledges the interplay between an organism's brain, body and environment. Insects, despite their limited computational resources, demonstrate remarkable abilities in navigation. Existing computational models often fall short in faithfully replicating the morphology of real insects and their interactions with the environment, hindering validation and practical application in robotics.