Some Lessons From Participatory Evaluation of the COVID-19 Response in the African Region.

This summary report describes partners' experiences and reflections on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in selected countries in the African Region. Using a common protocol for participatory evaluation and sensemaking, it communicates country partners' experiences with the COVID-19 response in Gabon, Kenya, and Senegal as well as a regional perspective from partners in the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO). This report describes factors identified as associated with decreases (bending the curve) of new cases of COVID-19 over time, as well those associated with increases (worsening) of new cases, seen during the study period (2020-2021).

Homo historicus: History as psychological science.

Historical myths are indeed a mystery in need of explanation, and we elaborate on the present adaptationist account. However, the same analysis can also be applied to motivations to produce and consume history in general: That humans produce and consume history is also a mystery in need of psychological explanation. An adaptationist psychological science of history is needed.

Vestibular Implant Surgery: How to Deal With Obstructed Semicircular Canals-A Diagnostic and Surgical Guide.

Background: A vestibular implant can partially restore vestibular function by providing motion information through implanted electrodes. During vestibular implantation, various obstructions of the semicircular canals, such as protein deposits, fibrosis, and ossification, can be encountered. The objective was to explore the relationship between preoperative imaging and intraoperative findings of semicircular canal obstruction and to develop surgical strategies for dealing with obstructions of the semicircular canal(s) in patients eligible for vestibular implantation.

Preclinical investigation of [Tb]Tb-DOTATATE and [Tb]Tb-DOTA-LM3 for tumor-targeted alpha therapy.

Purpose: Terbium-149 is a short-lived α-particle emitter, potentially useful for tumor-targeted therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate terbium-149 in combination with the somatostatin receptor (SSTR) agonist DOTATATE and the SSTR antagonist DOTA-LM3. The radiopeptides were evaluated to compare their therapeutic efficacy in vitro and in vivo.

Association between the EAT-Lancet Diet, Incidence of Cardiovascular Events, and All-Cause Mortality: Results from a Swiss Cohort.

Background: An unhealthy diet is a major contributor to several noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide. Additionally, our food system has significant impacts on the environment. The EAT-Lancet Commission has recommended a healthy diet that preserves global environmental resources.

Functional monocentricity with holocentric characteristics and chromosome-specific centromeres in a stick insect.

Centromeres are essential for chromosome segregation in eukaryotes, yet their specification is unexpectedly diverse among species and can involve major transitions such as those from localized to chromosome-wide centromeres between monocentric and holocentric species. How this diversity evolves remains elusive. We discovered within-cell variation in the recruitment of the major centromere protein CenH3, reminiscent of variation typically observed among species.

Can brain network connectivity facilitate the clinical development of disease-modifying anti-Alzheimer drugs?

The preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease represents a crucial time window for therapeutic intervention but requires the identification of clinically relevant biomarkers that are sensitive to the effects of disease-modifying drugs. Amyloid peptide and tau proteins, the main histological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, have been widely used as biomarkers of anti-amyloid and anti-tau drugs. However, these biomarkers do not fully capture the multiple biological pathways of the brain.

Implementation of Mass Drug Administration for Lymphatic Filariasis in Madagascar: The Progress, Effectiveness and Financial Savings of Integrating into an Existing Polio Campaign.

Introduction: This paper presents (a) the progress made towards achieving the 2023 Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign goals, (b) the estimated financial savings resulting from integrating LF MDA into Polio immunization campaigns, and (c) the best practices, challenges, and recommendations.

Methods: In 2023, 21,336,057 people in 83 districts were affected by LF and required Preventive Chemotherapy (PC). The National NTD Control Programme (NTDCP) conducted three phases of LF MDA campaigns in those districts.

Identification of a T2-hyperintense Perivascular Space in Brain Arteriovenous Malformations.

Background/aim: Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are vascular malformations characterized by dysmorphic, aberrant vasculature. During previous surgeries of compact nidus brain AVMs (representing the majority of cases), we have observed a "shiny" plane between nidal and perinidal AVM vessels and the surrounding grey and white matter and hypothesized that preoperative neuroimaging of brain AVMs may show a neuroradiological correlate of these intraoperative observations.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed multiplanar and multisequence 3-Tesla magnetic resonance (3T MR) imaging in five consecutive brain AVMs with special attention on imaging characteristics of the brain-AVM interface, i.

Efficacy and Safety of Low Molecular Weight Heparin and Mechanical Thromboprophylaxis in Immediate Implant-based Breast Reconstruction: A Retrospective Comparative Analysis.

Background/aim: Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is widely employed to prevent postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE). This study aimed at analyzing LMWH use and evaluating its efficacy and safety in immediate implant-based post-mastectomy breast reconstruction.

Patients And Methods: A monocentric retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent immediate implant-based breast reconstruction (IBR) from January 2021 to December 2023.

2D echocardiography video to 3D heart shape reconstruction for clinical application.

Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) is a crucial tool for assessing cardiac morphology and function quickly and non-invasively without ionising radiation. However, the examination is subject to intra- and inter-user variability and recordings are often limited to 2D imaging and assessments of end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes. We have developed a novel, fully automated machine learning-based framework to generate a personalised 4D (3D plus time) model of the left ventricular (LV) blood pool with high temporal resolution.

Human-machine interactions with clinical phrase prediction system, aligning with Zipf's least effort principle?

The essence of language and its evolutionary determinants have long been research subjects with multifaceted explorations. This work reports on a large-scale observational study focused on the language use of clinicians interacting with a phrase prediction system in a clinical setting. By adopting principles of adaptation to evolutionary selection pressure, we attempt to identify the major determinants of language emergence specific to this context.

Systematic literature review and meta-analysis informing the EULAR points to consider on the initiation of targeted therapies in patients with inflammatory arthritis and a history of cancer.

Background: Targeted therapies have been associated with potential risk of malignancy, which is a common concern in daily rheumatology practice in patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) and a history of cancer.

Objectives: To perform a systematic literature review to inform a Task Force formulating EULAR points to consider on the initiation of targeted therapies in patients with IA and a history of cancer.

Methods: Specific research questions were defined within the Task Force before formulating the exact research queries with a librarian.

2024 EULAR points to consider on the initiation of targeted therapies in patients with inflammatory arthritis and a history of cancer.

Background: Potential associations between targeted therapies and a new cancer in patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) and a previous malignancy are a frequent concern in daily rheumatology practice.

Objectives: To develop points to consider (PTC) to assist rheumatologists when initiating a targeted therapy in the context of a previous malignancy.

Methods: Following EULAR standardised operating procedures, a task force met to define the research questions for a systematic literature review and to formulate the overarching principles (OPs) and the PTC.

Coefficients in Taylor's law increase with the time scale of water clarity measurements in a global suite of lakes.

Identifying the scaling rules describing ecological patterns across time and space is a central challenge in ecology. Taylor's law of fluctuation scaling, which states that the variance of a population's size or density is proportional to a positive power of the mean size or density, has been widely observed in population dynamics and characterizes variability in multiple scientific domains. However, it is unclear if this phenomenon accurately describes ecological patterns across many orders of magnitude in time, and therefore links otherwise disparate observations.

The Theranostic Genome.

Theranostic drugs represent an emerging path to deliver on the promise of precision medicine. However, bottlenecks remain in characterizing theranostic targets, identifying theranostic lead compounds, and tailoring theranostic drugs. To overcome these bottlenecks, we present the Theranostic Genome, the part of the human genome whose expression can be utilized to combine therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Concurrent optoacoustic tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of resting-state functional connectivity in the mouse brain.

Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) has been essential to elucidate the intricacy of brain organization, further revealing clinical biomarkers of neurological disorders. Although functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) remains a cornerstone in the field of rsFC recordings, its interpretation is often hindered by the convoluted physiological origin of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast affected by multiple factors. Here, we capitalize on the unique concurrent multiparametric hemodynamic recordings of a hybrid magnetic resonance optoacoustic tomography platform to comprehensively characterize rsFC in female mice.

WALINET: A water and lipid identification convolutional neural network for nuisance signal removal in MR spectroscopic imaging.

Purpose: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ( -MRSI) provides noninvasive spectral-spatial mapping of metabolism. However, long-standing problems in whole-brain -MRSI are spectral overlap of metabolite peaks with large lipid signal from scalp, and overwhelming water signal that distorts spectra. Fast and effective methods are needed for high-resolution -MRSI to accurately remove lipid and water signals while preserving the metabolite signal.

The prevalence of radiographic trochlear dysplasia in patients with patellar fractures.

Purpose: Trochlear dysplasia is found in 3.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-6.

A 3-dimensional comparative assessment of the dentoskeletal effects of clear aligners vs temporary skeletal anchorage device-assisted posterior intrusion in adolescents with anterior open bite: A single-center, retrospective, cohort study.

Introduction: The dentoskeletal effects of clear aligner treatment (CAT) with Invisalign vs temporary skeletal anchorage device-anchored Sydney intrusion spring (SIS) were compared in consecutively treated growing patients with anterior open bite using cone-beam computed tomography scans.

Methods: Fifteen adolescents treated exclusively with Invisalign, and 14 with SIS (first-phase treatment) were assessed retrospectively. Rigid-wise, voxel-based registration of pretreatment and posttreatment cone-beam computed tomography scans were performed using the anterior cranial base, maxillary plane, and mandibular body as reference regions.

Subseasonal Prediction of Heat-Related Mortality in Switzerland.

Heatwaves pose a range of severe impacts on human health, including an increase in premature mortality. The summers of 2018 and 2022 are two examples with record-breaking temperatures leading to thousands of heat-related excess deaths in Europe. Some of the extreme temperatures experienced during these summers were predictable several weeks in advance by subseasonal forecasts.

Connectome embedding in multidimensional graph spaces.

Connectomes' topological organization can be quantified using graph theory. Here, we investigated brain networks in higher dimensional spaces defined by up to 10 graph theoretic nodal properties. These properties assign a score to nodes, reflecting their meaning in the network.

Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women.

Introduction: Research has shown that women's vocal characteristics change during the menstrual cycle. Further, evidence suggests that individuals alter their voices depending on the context, such as when speaking to a highly attractive person, or a person with a different social status. The present study aimed at investigating the degree to which women's voices change depending on the vocal characteristics of the interaction partner, and how any such changes are modulated by the woman's current menstrual cycle phase.