Speed-dependent changes in the arm swing during independent walking in individuals after stroke.

Background: Increasing one's walking speed is an important goal in post-stroke gait rehabilitation. Insufficient arm swing in people post-stroke might limit their ability to propel the body forward and increase walking speed.

Purpose: To investigate the speed-dependent changes (and their contributing factors) in the arm swing of persons post-stroke.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Published data have highlighted associations between Alzheimer's disease (AD) susceptibility loci and AD-related brain changes. The amyloid imaging to prevent AD (AMYPAD) consortium is a European collaboration consisting of several parent cohorts, four of which had raw genotype array data available. We sought to integrate and harmonise the genetic data, calculate AD polygenic risk scores (PRS), and investigate their association with global amyloid deposition.

Prevalence and risk factors of antibiotic resistance for urinary tract infections in patients presenting to a Belgian tertiary care emergency department: testing the national guidelines against the local setting.

Objectives: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are an important cause of empiric antibiotic (over)treatment at the emergency department (ED). To enhance empiric antibiotic choices, mapping the national and local microbiology and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns is crucial. This study aims to examine resistance patterns at a Brussels ED and to identify risk factors for AMR to evaluate current treatment guidelines and help combat AMR.

3D Breast Scanning in Plastic Surgery Utilizing Free iPhone LiDAR Application: Evaluation, Potential, and Limitations.

Background: Three-dimensional (3D) imaging enhances surgical planning and documentation in plastic surgery, but high costs limit accessibility. Mobile Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology offers a potential cost-effective alternative.

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy and clinical utility of iPhone-based LiDAR scanning for breast measurements compared to traditional methods, and to establish standardized protocols for clinical implementation.

Does rehabilitation improve work participation in patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery: a systematic review.

Objective: Patients with therapy-refractory chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery experience increased disability, resulting in substantial loss of employment and consequently lower quality of life. Despite findings that rehabilitation improves socio-economic outcomes in other chronic pain conditions, evidence for patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery is limited. A systematic review was conducted to provide an overview of rehabilitation interventions and their effectiveness to improve work participation for patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery.

Diagnostic accuracy of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in screening for cognitive impairment in initially hospitalized COVID-19 patients: Findings from the prospective multicenter NeNeSCo study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and nature of cognitive impairment among severely ill COVID-19 patients and the effectiveness of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in detecting it.

Method: We evaluated cognition in COVID-19 patients hospitalized during the first wave (March to June 2020) from six Dutch hospitals, nine months post-discharge, using a comprehensive multi-domain neuropsychological test battery. Test performance was corrected for sex, age, and education differences and transformed into -scores.

Informal caregiving and mental health: results from the Belgian health interview survey 2013 and 2018.

Background: Due to a globally ageing population, the demand for informal caregivers is increasing. This study investigates the socio-demographic profile of informal caregivers in Belgium and assesses the relationship between informal care (intensity and care recipients) and mental health, considering potential moderators like education, age, and gender.

Methods: Using population-based data from the 2013 and 2018 waves of the Belgian Health Interview Survey (N = 14,661), we conducted multivariate (multinomial/ordinal) logistic and linear regression analyses to examine the socio-demographic profile of informal caregivers and their psychological distress, measured through the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12).

Examining Arginase-1 Trimerization Uncovers a Promising Allosteric Site for Inhibition.

Arginase-1 (ARG-1) is a promising target for cancer immunotherapy, but the small size and the highly polar nature of its catalytic site present significant challenges for inhibitor development. An alternative strategy to induce enzyme inhibition by targeting protein oligomerization has been developed recently, offering several advantages such as increased selectivity, promotion of protein degradation, and potential substoichiometric inhibition. In this study, we demonstrated that only trimeric ARG-1 is active, which was confirmed by producing monomeric arginase-1.

Fostering consensus for the implementation of a clinical pharmacy specialization: a nominal group technique approach with pharmacy stakeholders.

Objectives: To explore the need for a specialization in clinical pharmacy and the model to be adopted, as perceived by Portuguese stakeholders.

Methods: A nominal group technique through two online meetings addressed four questions: pros and cons of specialization models used internationally; preferred model for Portugal; and success factors for implementation.

Key Findings: All nine stakeholders recognized the need to train pharmacists in clinical pharmacy and agreed specialization is essential, through a model including strong clinical undergraduate education, supplemented with postgraduate training.

Down the "Black Hole" of Sexual Violence in the Brussels Nightlife: A Qualitative Exploration of Social Media Testimonials.

The Instagram account (@Balance_ton_bar) highlighted the issue of sexual violence in Brussels nightlife sharing testimonials from victim-survivors. Set up in response to reports of drug-facilitated sexual assault at nightlife establishments, the account aimed to raise awareness and hold establishments accountable. This study examines these testimonials to explore how violence was perpetrated-through chemical drugging, alcohol use, isolation, and social power-the socio-emotional consequences for victim-survivors, and their journeys in seeking support.

Phenotyping atherosclerotic plaque and perivascular adipose tissue: signalling pathways and clinical biomarkers in atherosclerosis.

Computed tomography coronary angiography provides a non-invasive evaluation of coronary artery disease that includes phenotyping of atherosclerotic plaques and the surrounding perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). Image analysis techniques have been developed to quantify atherosclerotic plaque burden and morphology as well as the associated PVAT attenuation, and emerging radiomic approaches can add further contextual information. PVAT attenuation might provide a novel measure of vascular health that could be indicative of the pathogenetic processes implicated in atherosclerosis such as inflammation, fibrosis or increased vascularity.

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Staff-Reported EOLD-CAD Measure Among Nursing Home Residents With Cognitive Impairment.

Objectives: The End-of-Life Dementia-Comfort Assessment in Dying (EOLD-CAD) scale is one of the few outcome instruments designed to capture symptom burden and well-being among nursing home residents with dementia; however, psychometric evaluations of the EOLD-CAD are limited. Although the instrument is often used to assess outcomes prospectively, it was originally developed and tested as a postmortem assessment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the instrument properties of the EOLD-CAD using staff reports from a large sample of nursing home residents with cognitive impairment prior to death.

Immune-inflammatory effects of the multicomponent intervention FIBROWALK in outdoor and online formats for patients with fibromyalgia.

The multicomponent intervention FIBROWALK integrates pain science education (PSE), therapeutic exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness training for treating fibromyalgia (FM). This study investigated the effects of the FIBROWALK in online (FIBRO-On) and outdoor (FIBRO-Out) formats compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU) on core clinical variables along with serum immune-inflammatory biomarkers and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Furthermore, the predictive value of these biomarkers on clinical response to FIBROWALK was also evaluated.

Evidence for bottom-up effects of moth abundance on forest birds in the north-boreal zone alone.

Insect declines are raising alarms regarding cascading effects on ecosystems, especially as many insectivorous bird populations are also declining. Here, we leveraged long-term monitoring datasets across Finland to investigate trophic dynamics between functional groups of moths and birds in forested habitats. We reveal a positive association between the biomass of adult- or egg-overwintering moths and the biomasses of resident and long-distance migrant birds reliant on caterpillars as breeding-season food in the north-boreal zone.

Complex intervention including pain science education and patient-led goal setting-based self-management strategies for management of aromatase inhibitor-induced musculoskeletal symptoms: a single-arm feasibility and pilot study.

Purpose: Up to 74% of breast cancer survivors (BCS) treated with aromatase inhibitor (AI) experience AI-induced musculoskeletal symptoms (AIMSS). AIMSS is the predominant cause of poor adherence to AI therapy, yet no definitive treatment exists. The primary research objectives of this study were (1) to develop a novel BCS-specific complex intervention to alleviate AIMSS, and to assess its feasibility.

A qualitative study on facilitators and barriers to adoption and implementation of nutrition interventions in higher education settings in Flanders.

The transition from secondary school to college or university is a well-known and well-studied risk period for weight and/or fat gain and not meeting the dietary recommendations. Higher education acts as a promising setting to implement nutrition interventions. An important condition for intervention success is that interventions are implemented as intended by the protocol and integrated in the institutional policy.

Fear of hypoglycemia and sleep in children with type 1 diabetes and their parents.

Aims: To compare impact of pump treatment and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with predictive low glucose suspend (SmartGuard) or user initiated CGM (iscCGM) on sleep and hypoglycemia fear in children with type 1 Diabetes and parents.

Methods: Secondary analysis of data from 5 weeks pump treatment with iscCGM (A) or SmartGuard (B) open label, single center, randomized cross-over study was performed. At baseline and end of treatment arms, sleep and fear of hypoglycemia were evaluated using ActiGraph and questionnaires.

Primary Care Academy: lessons learned from a large-scale innovative primary care project.

Introduction And Context: The social and healthcare system faces numerous challenges, with primary care playing a key role in achieving universal and equitable health coverage. However, the primary care field often struggles with limited research capacity, activity, and funding.

The Primary Care Academy: To address these gaps, the Primary Care Academy (PCA) - a large-scale, innovative, interdisciplinary research and networking organization, encompassing then organization in the primary care field, was established and funded in 2019 by the Fund Dr.

- a large-scale dataset of 3D medical shapes for computer vision.

Objectives: The shape is commonly used to describe the objects. State-of-the-art algorithms in medical imaging are predominantly diverging from computer vision, where voxel grids, meshes, point clouds, and implicit surface models are used. This is seen from the growing popularity of ShapeNet (51,300 models) and Princeton ModelNet (127,915 models).

Compensating elastic faults in a torque-assisted knee exoskeleton: functional evaluation and user perception study.

Wearable robots are often powered by elastic actuators, which can mimic the intrinsic compliance observed in human joints, contributing to safe and seamless interaction. However, due to their increased complexity, when compared to direct drives, elastic actuators are susceptible to faults, which pose significant challenges, potentially compromising user experience and safety during interaction. In this article, we developed a fault-tolerant control strategy for torque assistance in a knee exoskeleton and investigated user experience during a walking task while emulating faults.

M13 bacteriophage based fluorescence immunoassay against food allergens of Ara h 3 and Mac i 1.

Food allergy is increasingly prevalent and poses notable health risks, which underscores the urgent need to develop reliable and sensitive detection methods for effective identification of food allergens. This study aims to address the limitations of existing methods by developing an immunoassay utilizing bacteriophage/carbon dots (CDs)@silica core-shell nanospheres. Two CDs with different emission wavelengths (513 nm for Green CDs, 645 nm for Red CDs) were synthesized for signal development and amplification.

Mixed mathematics and metaphysical physics: Descartes and the mechanics of the flow of water.

Descartes' systematic physics had little to do with his quantitative accounts of natural phenomena. The former was metaphysical and was concerned with uncovering the causes operating in nature, while the latter dealt with establishing mathematical relations between various natural quantities. I reconstruct a dominant interpretation in recent literature which argues that the two practices are autonomous, and that quantitative problem-solving is normatively subordinated to metaphysical physics.