The effect of sevelamer on serum calcification propensity in patients with chronic kidney disease: the results of a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial.

Background: The serum calcification propensity test (or T50 test) might become a standard tool for the assessment of vascular calcification risk and T50 might be a valuable biomarker in clinical trials of treatments intended to slow the progression of vascular calcification. Literature data suggest that non-calcium-containing phosphate binders can influence T50 in chronic dialysed patients. However, it is not clear whether similar interventions are effective in patients at earlier stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

PDE11A is a phenotype modulator of Primary Bilateral Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia: results of a 334 patients' series.

Purpose: Primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH), the most common cause of Cushing's syndrome due to bilateral nodules, is a heterogeneous disease at the clinical, hormonal and morphological levels. ARMC5 inactivating pathogenic variants are causative of PBMAH and rare variants of PDE11A have been associated with PBMAH.

Methods: Leukocyte DNA of 354 PBMAH index cases was sequenced for ARMC5 and PDE11A genes by Next generation sequencing (NGS).

The effects of recent stressful life events on outcomes in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: results from the longitudinal EU-GEI high-risk study.

Background: Recent stressful life events (SLE) are a risk factor for psychosis, but limited research has explored how SLEs affect individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. The current study investigated the longitudinal effects of SLEs on functioning and symptom severity in CHR individuals, where we hypothesized CHR would report more SLEs than healthy controls (HC), and SLEs would be associated with poorer outcomes.

Methods: The study used longitudinal data from the EU-GEI High Risk study.

Evaporation-Induced Reticular Growth of UiO-66_NH in Chitosan Films: Adsorption of Iodine.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) combined with polymers as hybrid materials offer numerous advantages such as enhanced performances through synergistic effects at their interface. The primary challenge in developing polymer/MOF hybrid matrix films is ensuring optimal dispersion and strong adhesion of crystalline MOFs to the polymer without aggregation, weak interaction, or phase separation. In this study, hierarchically porous UiO-66_NH/chitosan (ZrCSx-) films were designed by crystallizing UiO-66_NH within a chitosan (CS) skeleton.

Conformational effects in the identification and quantification of ketohydroperoxides in the oxidation of -pentane.

Stereochemistry plays a key role in both fundamental chemical processes and the dynamics of a large set of molecular systems of importance in chemistry, medicine and biology. Predicting the chemical transformations of organic precursors in such environments requires detailed kinetic models based on laboratory data. Reactive intermediates play a critical role in constraining the models but their identification and especially their quantification remain challenging.

CAR T-Cell Therapy for Rheumatic Diseases: What Does the Future Hold?

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, initially successful in treating hematological malignancies, is emerging as a potential treatment for autoimmune diseases, including rheumatic conditions. CAR T cells, engineered to target and eliminate autoreactive B cells, offer a novel approach to managing diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), and inflammatory myopathies, where B cells play a pivotal role in disease pathology. Early case reports have demonstrated promising results, with patients achieving significant disease remission, normalization of serological markers, and the ability to discontinue traditional immunosuppressive therapies, which supported the initiation of several clinical trials.

Expression of Yes-associated protein in endothelial cells of human corneas before and after storage in organ culture.

The cornea, the anterior meniscus-shaped transparent and refractive structure of the eyeball, is the first mechanical barrier of the eye. Its functionality heavily relies on the health of its endothelium, its most posterior layer. The treatment of corneal endothelial cells (CECs) deficiency is allogeneic corneal graft using stored donor corneas.

Upregulation of haematopoetic cell kinase (Hck) activity by a secreted parasite effector protein (Ta9) drives proliferation of Theileria annulata-transformed leukocytes.

Reversible transformation of bovine leukocytes by the intracellular parasites Theileria annulata and Theileria parva is central to pathogenesis of the diseases they cause, tropical theileriosis and East Coast Fever, respectively. Parasite-dependent constitutive activation of major host transcription factors such as AP-1 (Activating Protein 1) and NF-κB (Nuclear Factor-Kappa B) sustains the transformed state. Although parasite interaction with host cell signaling pathways upstream of AP-1 have been studied, the precise contribution of Theileria encoded factors capable of modulating AP-1 transcriptional activity, and other infection-altered signaling pathways is not fully understood.

Hepatocellular carcinoma hosts cholinergic neural cells and tumoral hepatocytes harboring targetable muscarinic receptors.

Background & Aims: Owing to unexplained interpatient variation and treatment failure in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), novel therapeutic approaches remain an urgent clinical need. Hepatic neurons, belonging to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), mediate liver/whole body crosstalk. Pathological innervation of the ANS has been identified in cancer, nurturing tumor stroma and conferring stronger carcinogenic properties.

Different disease activity trajectories in early axial spondyloarthritis lead to significantly different long-term outcomes: a trajectory-based analysis of the DESIR cohort over 10 years.

Introduction: The study aimed to identify and describe disease activity trajectories over 10 years in patients with recent-onset axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and determine their impact on long-term outcomes.

Methods: This prospective, multicentre study (Devenir des Spondylarthropathies Indifférenciées Récentes cohort, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT) followed patients with early axSpA for 10 years.

The Staphylococcus aureus non-coding RNA IsrR regulates TCA cycle activity and virulence.

Staphylococcus aureus has evolved mechanisms to cope with low iron (Fe) availability in host tissues. Staphylococcus aureus uses the ferric uptake transcriptional regulator (Fur) to sense titers of cytosolic Fe. Upon Fe depletion, apo-Fur relieves transcriptional repression of genes utilized for Fe uptake.

An advanced light scattering apparatus for investigating soft matter onboard the International Space Station.

Colloidal solids (COLIS) is a state-of-the-art light scattering setup developed for experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS). COLIS allows for probing the structure and dynamics of soft matter systems on a wide range of length scales, from a few nm to tens of microns, and on time scales from 100 ns to tens of hours. In addition to conventional static and dynamic light scattering, COLIS includes depolarized dynamic light scattering, a small-angle camera, photon correlation imaging, and optical manipulation of thermosensitive samples through an auxiliary near-infrared laser beam, thereby providing a unique platform for probing soft matter systems.

Numerical modeling of heterogeneous stimuli-responsive hydrogels.

In this paper, we introduce a computational technique for modeling heterogeneous thermoresponsive hydrogels. The model resolves local fluid-solid interactions in hydrogel pores during the deswelling process. The model is a Lagrangian particle-based technique, which benefits from computational grids that represent polymer beads inside hydrogel scaffolds.

Overexpression of Egr1 Transcription Regulator Contributes to Schwann Cell Differentiation Defects in Neural Crest-Specific Knockout Mice.

Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 1 (ADAR1) is the principal enzyme for the adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing that prevents the aberrant activation of cytosolic nucleic acid sensors by endogenous double stranded RNAs and the activation of interferon-stimulated genes. In mice, the conditional neural crest deletion of reduces the survival of melanocytes and alters the differentiation of Schwann cells that fail to myelinate nerve fibers in the peripheral nervous system. These myelination defects are partially rescued upon the concomitant removal of the Mda5 antiviral dsRNA sensor in vitro, suggesting implication of the Mda5/Mavs pathway and downstream effectors in the genesis of mutant phenotypes.

Nutritionally acquired immunodeficiency must be addressed with the same urgency as HIV to end tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious killer worldwide, with 10.6 million cases and 1.6 million deaths in 2021 alone.

Heterogeneous Catalytic Oxidations with In Situ-Generated Hypervalent Iodine-Based Porous Organic Polymers.

Porous organic polymers (POPs) are novel emergent materials for heterogeneous organocatalysis owing to their remarkable physicochemical stabilities. Through a bottom-up approach entailing diligent design of twisted biaryl building blocks with in-built o-iodobenzoic acid (IA) moieties, a series of POP precatalysts, p-OMeIA-POP, DiMeIA-POP, and m-OMeIA-POP, were synthesized by employing Friedel-Crafts alkylation. These IA-POP precatalysts can undergo in situ oxidation in the presence of Oxone to generate hypervalent iodine(V) species (λ-iodanes), in particular, modified o-iodoxybenzoic acid, popularly termed IBX, which mediates diverse oxidative transformations.

Vaccine policies in France and Europe.

This review outlines the outcome of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in France and assesses the respective roles of information and coercion in its overall success. These data are then put into perspective of the evolution of vaccination acceptance in France.

The First Lugano Workshop on the role of adenomyosis in ART.

Adenomyosis is an important clinical condition with uncertain prevalence, and clinical focus on adenomyosis in patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) has increased during recent years. Recognizing the limited clinical knowledge on the impact of adenomyosis on ART outcomes, the First Lugano Adenomyosis Workshop was a symposium involving experts in the field of adenomyosis, covering basic research, imaging, surgery and infertility to highlight current advances and future research areas over a wide range of topics related to adenomyosis. Adenomyosis is characterized by altered oestrogen and progesterone signalling pathways.

How do we respond to the threat of multidrug-resistant bacteria? Comparison of antibiotic appraisals from 2016 to 2020 of the French, English, and German HTA agencies.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a worldwide growing concern over the past decades. Thus, encouraging manufacturers to develop new antibiotics is needed. We hypothesised that transparency on the regulatory appraisals of antibiotics would provide an incentive to pharmaceutical development.

High-Pressure Low-Temperature Study of CaO(BO) ( = Pr, Nd, Gd, Er, Tm).

We investigated the site-disorder and thermal expansion of O(BO) ( = Pr, Nd, Gd, Er, Tm) through a single crystal structural study conducted between 100 and 300 K. Additionally, a high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction study at low temperatures was conducted to determine the compressibility of both ordered and disordered prototype oxyborate lanthanides, specifically NdCaO(BO) and ErCaO(BO). The study revealed distinct behaviors consistent with their respective ionic radii.

Safety and immunogenicity of CD40.HIVRI.Env, a dendritic cell-based HIV vaccine, in healthy HIV-uninfected adults: a first-in-human randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study (ANRS VRI06).

Background: Current HIV prophylactic vaccines evaluate HIV Env as purified proteins. CD40.HIVRI.