Estimating the contribution of early and late noise in vision from psychophysical data.

Human performance in psychophysical detection and discrimination tasks is limited by inner noise. It is unclear to what extent this inner noise arises from early noise (e.g.

Tendon Transfer Procedures for Correction of Foot Drop Due to Injury to the Peripheral Nerves or Muscles.

 Foot drop is a challenging condition that significantly impacts the affected patient's mobility and quality of life. Tendon transfer has emerged as a viable treatment option. We hereby present data of the tendon transfer procedures in patients with foot drop in our department.

Incidence and prevalence of traumatic and non-traumatic wounds and burns and access to wound care in Sierra Leone; data from a nationwide household survey (PRESSCO) 2020.

Objectives: This wound section of the PREvalence Study on Surgical COnditions (PRESSCO) determines the incidence and prevalence of wounds and burns in Sierra Leone. It further describes access to wound care and wound-related healthcare-seeking behaviour.

Methods: Between October 2019 and March 2020, a nationwide cross-sectional household survey was performed.

Locus coeruleus signal intensity and emotion regulation in agitation in Alzheimer's disease.

Hyperphosphorylated tau accumulation is seen in the noradrenergic locus coeruleus from the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease onwards and has been associated with symptoms of agitation. It is hypothesized that compensatory locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system overactivity and impaired emotion regulation could underlie agitation propensity, but to our knowledge this has not previously been investigated. A better understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of agitation would help the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies.

TIPPo: A User-Friendly Tool for De Novo Assembly of Organellar Genomes with High-Fidelity Data.

Plant cells have two major organelles with their own genomes: chloroplasts and mitochondria. While chloroplast genomes tend to be structurally conserved, the mitochondrial genomes of plants, which are much larger than those of animals, are characterized by complex structural variation. We introduce TIPPo, a user-friendly, reference-free assembly tool that uses PacBio high-fidelity long-read data and that does not rely on genomes from related species or nuclear genome information for the assembly of organellar genomes.

Dropping out of a peripartum depression mHealth study: participants' motives and suggestions for improvement.

Background: Peripartum depression is a common but potentially debilitating pregnancy complication. Mobile applications can be used to collect data throughout the pregnancy and postpartum period to improve understanding of early risk indicators.

Aim: This study aimed to improve understanding of why women drop out of a peripartum depression mHealth study, and how we can improve the app design.

DNA-binding affinity and specificity determine the phenotypic diversity in BCL11B-related disorders.

BCL11B is a Cys2-His2 zinc-finger (C2H2-ZnF) domain-containing, DNA-binding, transcription factor with established roles in the development of various organs and tissues, primarily the immune and nervous systems. BCL11B germline variants have been associated with a variety of developmental syndromes. However, genotype-phenotype correlations along with pathophysiologic mechanisms of selected variants mostly remain elusive.

Aryl-Acetylene Layered Hybrid Perovskites in Photovoltaics.

Metal halide perovskites have shown exceptional potential in converting solar energy to electric power in photovoltaics, yet their application is hampered by limited operational stability. This stimulated the development of hybrid layered (two-dimensional, 2D) halide perovskites based on hydrophobic organic spacers, templating perovskite slabs, as a more stable alternative. However, conventional organic spacer cations are electronically insulating, resulting in charge confinement within the inorganic slabs, thus limiting their functionality.

Longitudinal analysis of anthropometric measures over 5 years in patients with Friedreich ataxia in the EFACTS natural history study.

Background: Friedreich ataxia is a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by frataxin deficiency. Both underweight and overweight occur in mitochondrial disorders, each with adverse health outcomes. We investigated the longitudinal evolution of anthropometric abnormalities in Friedreich ataxia and the hypothesis that both weight loss and weight gain are associated with faster disease progression.

Prospective Multicenter Evaluation of the MDS "Suggestive of PSP" Diagnostic Criteria.

Background: The recent Movement Disorders Society (MDS)-progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) diagnostic criteria conceptualized three clinical diagnostic certainty levels: "suggestive of PSP" for sensitive early diagnosis based on subtle clinical signs, "possible PSP" balancing sensitivity and specificity, and "probable PSP" highly specific for PSP pathology.

Objective: The aim of this study was to prospectively validate the criteria against long-term clinical follow-up and characterize the diagnostic certainty increase over time.

Methods: Patients with "possible PSP" or "suggestive of PSP" diagnosis and clinical follow-up were recruited in two German multicenter longitudinal observational studies (ProPSP and DescribePSP).

Exploring the utility of unretouched lithic flakes as markers of cultural change.

Lithic artefacts provide the principal means to study cultural change in the deep human past. Tools and cores have been the focus of much prior research based on their perceived information content and cultural relevance. Unretouched flakes rarely attract comparable attention in archaeological studies, despite being the most abundant assemblage elements and featuring prominently in ethnographic and experimental work.

StretchView - A Multi-Axial Cell-Stretching Device for Long-Term Automated Videomicroscopy of Living Cells.

Incorporating mechanical stretching of cells in tissue culture is crucial for mimicking (patho)-physiological conditions and understanding the mechanobiological responses of cells, which can have significant implications in areas like tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Despite the growing interest, most available cell-stretching devices are not compatible with automated live-cell imaging, indispensable for characterizing alterations in the dynamics of various important cellular processes. In this work, StretchView is presented, a multi-axial cell-stretching platform compatible with automated, time-resolved live-cell imaging.

Synaptic vesicle characterization of iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons provides insight into distinct secretory vesicle pools.

The dysfunction of dopaminergic (DA) neurons is central to Parkinson's disease. Distinct synaptic vesicle (SV) populations, differing in neurotransmitter content (dopamine vs. glutamate), may vary due to differences in trafficking and exocytosis.

Multifaceted confidence in exploratory choice.

Our choices are typically accompanied by a feeling of confidence-an internal estimate that they are correct. Correctness, however, depends on our goals. For example, exploration-exploitation problems entail a tension between short- and long-term goals: finding out about the value of one option could mean foregoing another option that is apparently more rewarding.

Atrial Fibrillation and Retinal Stroke.

Importance: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common, chronic, cardiac arrythmia in older US adults. It is not known whether AF is independently associated with increased risk of retinal stroke (central retinal artery occlusion), a subtype of ischemic stroke that causes severely disabling visual loss in most cases and is a harbinger of further vascular events.

Objective: To determine whether there is an association between AF and retinal stroke.

Nitric oxide modulates contrast suppression in a subset of mouse retinal ganglion cells.

Neuromodulators have major influences on the regulation of neural circuit activity across the nervous system. Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be a prominent neuromodulator in many circuits and has been extensively studied in the retina. Here, it has been associated with the regulation of light adaptation, gain control, and gap junctional coupling, but its effect on the retinal output, specifically on the different types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), is still poorly understood.

Girls and Boys Typically Have Similar Math Value Beliefs: Replication Evidence Across Historical Time, High School, and Racial/Ethnic Groups.

Introduction: Individuals' math value beliefs are theorized to influence who persists in STEM. However, the existing findings on gender differences in adolescents' math value beliefs are inconsistent. The goal of this study was to use three existing datasets to help clarify when gender differences emerge for high school adolescents and for whom (i.

Recipient sex and donor leukemic cell characteristics determine leukemogenesis in patient-derived models.

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), leukemogenesis depends on cell-intrinsic genetic aberrations and thus, studies on AML require investigations in an in vivo setting as provided by patient derived xenografts (PDX) models. Here we report that, next to leukemic cell characteristics, recipient sex highly influences the outgrowth of AML cells in PDX models, with females being much better repopulated than males in primary as well as secondary transplantation assays. Testosterone may be the more important player since, strikingly, better engraftment was seen in castrated versus control male recipients, while ovariectomy did not significantly impair engraftment in females.

Prognostic factors in patients with localized and metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. A report from two studies and two registries of the Cooperative Weichteilsarkom Studiengruppe CWS.

Background: The histologic classification of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) as alveolar (aRMS) or embryonal (eRMS) is of prognostic importance, with the aRMS being associated with a worse outcome. Specific gene fusions (PAX3/7::FOXO1) found in the majority of aRMS have been recognized as markers associated with poor prognosis and are included in current risk stratification instead of histologic subtypes in localized disease. In metastatic disease, the independent prognostic significance of fusion status has not been definitively established.

One and only SNARC? Spatial-Numerical Associations are not fully flexible and depend on both relative and absolute number magnitude.

Numbers are associated with space, but it is unclear how flexible these associations are. We investigated whether the SNARC effect (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes; Dehaene . 1993 .

Environmental enrichment is associated with favorable memory-related functional brain activity patterns in older adults.

Background: In humans, environmental enrichment (EE), as measured by the engagement in a variety of leisure activities, has been associated with larger hippocampal structure and better memory function. The present cross-sectional study assessed whether EE during early life (13-30 years) and midlife (30-65 years) is associated with better preserved memory-related brain activity patterns in older age.

Methods: In total, 372 cognitively unimpaired older adults (aged ≥60 years old) of the DZNE-Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (DELCODE; DRKS00007966) were investigated.

Nf-Root: A Best-Practice Pipeline for Deep-Learning-Based Analysis of Apoplastic pH in Microscopy Images of Developmental Zones in Plant Root Tissue.

Hormonal mechanisms associated with cell elongation play a vital role in the development and growth of plants. Here, we report Nextflow-root (nf-root), a novel best-practice pipeline for deep-learning-based analysis of fluorescence microscopy images of plant root tissue from A. thaliana.

The burden of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) on patient experience and patient-reported outcomes (PROs): findings from the EXPLORE XLRP-2 study.

Background/aims: X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) is considered one of the most severe forms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), accounting for 5-15% of all RP cases and primarily affecting males. However, the real-world humanistic impacts of this disease on patients are poorly investigated, especially with respect to burdens faced by patients with varying disease severities.

Methods: EXPLORE XLRP-2 was an exploratory, multicentre, non-interventional study.

SarkoLife: quality of life in patients undergoing multimodal soft tissue sarcoma treatment.

Objective: To assess the tolerability of multimodal therapy in soft tissue sarcoma patients, particularly with regard to their quality of life and level of distress.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective cohort study enrolled individuals receiving sarcoma therapy at the sarcoma center of the University of Tuebingen between 2017 and 2022. Participants completed an online survey that included the EORTC's questionnaire (QLQ-C30), coupled with the distress thermometer and demographic inquiries.