A single gene orchestrates androgen variation underlying male mating morphs in ruffs.

Androgens are pleiotropic and play pivotal roles in the formation and variation of sexual phenotypes. We show that differences in circulating androgens between the three male mating morphs in ruff sandpipers are linked to 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (HSD17B2), encoded by a gene within the supergene that determines the morphs. Low-testosterone males had higher expression in blood than high-testosterone males, as well as in brain areas related to social behaviors and testosterone production.

Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) Classes in MASK-air Users.

Background And Objectives: The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines classify rhinitis as "intermittent" or "persistent" and "mild" or "moderate-severe". To assess ARIA classes in a real-world study in terms of phenotypic differences and their association with asthma.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional real-world study based on users of the MASK-air® app who reported data for at least 3 different months.

Flexibility between immersion and distancing: Relationship with depressive symptoms and therapeutic alliance.

Objectives: High levels of change are linked to the flexibility between immersion and distancing, as well as to higher levels of therapeutic alliance. This study aims to explore the evolution of flexibility between immersion and distancing throughout the entire therapeutic process and its relationship with therapeutic alliance and depressive symptoms in a clinical case.

Method: We analyzed five sessions of a good outcome case of depression undergoing cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Integrating literature and family insights: exploring the needs of families supporting adults with diabetes.

Introduction: The considerable influence that family members can have on diabetes management is well recognized. Therefore, it is crucial for professionals to acknowledge the impact of the diagnosis on family members. This study aimed to comprehensively identify and understand the needs of family members with an adult diagnosed with diabetes using a two-phased research design.

Totally implantable venous access devices: A restrospective analysis of morbidity and risk factors in a hospital with multi-technique approaches.

Background: Totally implantable venous central access devices (TIVADs) can be implanted by open surgery or by direct puncture in the subclavian (ScV), internal jugular (IJV) or cephalic (CephV) veins.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 201 patients. Thirty-day follow-up data was analyzed to compare the outcomes of different techniques and evaluation of risk factors.

Diversity in the medical research ecosystem: a descriptive scientometric analysis of over 49 000 studies and 150 000 authors published in high-impact medical journals between 2007 and 2022.

Objectives: Health research that significantly impacts global clinical practice and policy is often published in high-impact factor (IF) medical journals. These outlets play a pivotal role in the worldwide dissemination of novel medical knowledge. However, researchers identifying as women and those affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been largely under-represented in high-IF journals across multiple fields of medicine.

Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset-with data collected between 2020 and 2022 -to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions.

FLT3 is genetically essential for ITD-mutated leukemic stem cells but dispensable for human hematopoietic stem cells.

Leukemic stem cells (LSCs) fuel acute myeloid leukemia (AML) growth and relapse, but therapies tailored towards eradicating LSCs without harming normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are lacking. FLT3 is considered an important therapeutic target due to frequent mutation in AML and association with relapse. However, there has been limited clinical success with FLT3 drug targeting, suggesting either that FLT3 is not a vulnerability in LSC, or that more potent inhibition is required, a scenario where HSC toxicity could become limiting.

Adverse childhood experiences and health outcomes: a 20-year real-world study.

Introduction: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to traumatic life events occurred in childhood that comprise abuse (e.g., psychological, physical, sexual), neglect (psychological and physical), indirect violence or household dysfunctions.

Beyond LDL cholesterol: remnant cholesterol is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in children.

Background: Recent evidence from both randomized controlled trials and cohort studies in adults suggests that plasma remnant cholesterol (RC) levels predict cardiovascular disease. In children, studies are scarce, although high levels of RC might represent a marker of early atherosclerotic damage. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the cardiometabolic risk associated with RC, which extends beyond low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) in children.

Adaptive Planning Approaches for Coastal Climate Adaptation: Process and Key-elements.

The paradigm of Adaptive Planning and Management provides several methodological approaches for designing robust adaptive plans to cope with uncertain future changes, namely the Adaptation Pathways' method (APs). These approaches, particularly those containing APs, have captured increasing interest in the field of coastal climate adaptation as useful for guiding its planning and management. While these approaches have been tested in several research cases, there are still few real cases of application into coastal spatial planning instruments.

Tackling antineoplastic drugs' contamination in healthcare settings: New insights on surface cleaning approaches.

Effective decontamination of hospital surfaces is crucial to protect workers from antineoplastic drugs (ADs) since dermal absorption is the main exposure route to these hazardous medicinal products. Sampling after daily cleaning in oncologic settings from a tertiary hospital was initially performed and exhibited low contamination levels; however, cyclophosphamide was still found (up to 957 pg/cm) above the guidance value (100 pg/cm) in four locations, evidencing the need to properly assess and update the cleaning protocols. Then, cleaning efficiencies of six solutions and different protocols were evaluated (including, for the first time, four commercial cleaning solutions/disinfectants not designed specifically for AD removal) after deliberate contamination of three model surfaces with 13 pharmaceuticals: bicalutamide, capecitabine, cyclophosphamide, cyproterone, doxorubicin, etoposide, flutamide, ifosfamide, imatinib, megestrol, mycophenolate mofetil, paclitaxel, and prednisone.

Drug use Risks in Portuguese Rural vs Urban Environments: Harm Reduction Challenges in a Progressive Drug Policy Setting.

Portugal is commonly recognized as one of the best drug policy examples in the world. Nonetheless, contrasts between drug use risks in rural vs urban settings in the country is an understudied topic, even if its specific challenges are commonly affirmed, both by professionals and people who use drugs (PWUD). The aim of this study was to compare rural and urban environments concerning socio-sanitary services availability; illegal drugs availability; risk behaviors related to drug use; stigma associated with illicit drug use; and social support.

Clinical and analytical monitoring of patients with multiple sclerosis on anti-CD20 therapeutics: a real-world safety profile study.

Background: Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies are a class of immunosuppressive drugs widely used in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory diseases, with well-established efficacy and safety. Although rare, these therapies can be associated with serious adverse events including hematological and infectious complications. This study aims to evaluate their safety and tolerability profile in real-world clinical practice.

Physical fitness assessment tools for children with developmental coordination disorder and their feasibility for low-income settings: A systematic review.

Background: This study systematically reviewed the literature on physical fitness assessment tools for children with developmental coordination disorder compared with typically developing children aged 7 to 10 and analyzed the feasibility of these tools for use in low-income settings.

Methods: Searches were conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO/RIC databases. The Newcastle - Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale assessed the methodological quality of the studies, and a checklist adapted from COSMIN assessed the feasibility of the instruments.

Improving protein hydrolysis and digestibility in biomass through recombinant peptidases (EC 3.4): Opportunities for monogastric animal diets.

This study investigates the use of recombinant peptidases (EC 3.4) to improve protein hydrolysis and digestibility in , with a focus on addressing the challenge of reduced protein bioavailability for monogastric animals due to resistant protein-pigment formations, such as phycocyanin, and increased digesta viscosity caused by jellification properties. A library of 192 peptidases was generated, from which 142 soluble peptidases were expressed in and subsequently screened for activity against an suspension .

Circulating growth differentiation factor-15 levels are associated with early echocardiographic signs of diastolic function impairment in the STANISLAS cohort: A 20-year follow-up study.

Aims: Early identification of healthy subjects prone to develop cardiac dysfunction may be instrumental to prevention strategies. Our study aimed to evaluate whether circulating levels of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) could predict adverse changes in echocardiographic indexes of cardiac structure and function in an initially healthy populational familial cohort with a long follow-up (STANISLAS cohort).

Methods And Results: We evaluated 1679 participants (49 ± 14 years, 48% males) included in the fourth visit (V4) of the STANISLAS cohort with available GDF-15 measurements (Olink proteomic analysis) and echocardiographic parameters.

Chronic Offending and Its Relation to Homicide in a Large, Prospective Brazilian Birth Cohort.

Background: Many studies have found that a small group of chronic offenders is responsible for the majority of crimes and tend to be particularly violent. However, there is a major lack of evidence on chronic offending in low- and middle-income countries; understanding these patterns is especially important in settings with very high levels of serious violence, such as Brazil.

Aims: To identify the extent that crime is concentrated in chronic offenders and linked to violence and homicide in a Brazilian cohort.

Overexpression of IL-6 and STAT3 may provide new insights into ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma development.

Background: Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is caused by Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) and is considered an important potential animal model for human lung cancer. The precise mechanisms of OPA oncogenesis are still uncertain. The transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is activated by interleukin-6 (IL-6) in many cancers, but this aspect is unknown in OPA.

Is provisioning rate of parents and helpers influenced by the simulated presence of novel individuals?

Abstract: Cooperative behaviour is widespread in animals and is likely to be the result of multiple selective pressures. A contentious hypothesis is that helping enhances the probability of obtaining a sexual partner (i.e.

Exploring the therapeutic potential of acorn extract in papillomavirus-induced lesions.

Background And Aim: Papillomaviruses (PVs) infections have been documented in numerous animal species across different regions worldwide. They often exert significant impacts on animal health and livestock production. Scientists have studied natural products for over half a century due to their diverse chemical composition, acknowledging their value in fighting cancer.

Adaptation and validation of a tool for the quality assessment of genetic counseling in Brazil: perspectives from clinical geneticists.

In 2018, Portuguese researchers proposed the "Tool for Quality Assessment of Genetic Counseling," a 5-point Likert scale comprising 50 items across five dimensions, designed to assess genetic counseling from the professional's perspective. This descriptive, cross-sectional study aimed to adapt this tool to Brazilian Portuguese, validate it among Brazilian clinical geneticists, and conduct a preliminary assessment of the quality of genetic counseling in Brazil. The adaptation process involved expert-driven content validation and calculation of the Content Validity Index (CVI) to ensure equivalence between the original and adapted versions.