The potential of lower limb exoskeletons to enhance life-space mobility and to leverage green exercise in the rehabilitation of older adults: an expert perspective.

Purpose: As the global population aged 60+ grows, ensuring mobility and independence for older adults is a critical public health goal. This paper examines barriers to life-space mobility in older adults and explores wearable lower limb exoskeletons (LLEs) and green exercise as innovative solutions.

Methods: Literature search and interdisciplinary expert input were utilized.

Dry needling in people with fibromyalgia: A randomized controlled trial of its effects on pain sensitivity and pain catastrophizing influence.

Background: Dry needling (DN) has been demonstrated as an effective treatment for patients with fibromyalgia (FM). It is crucial to take into consideration catastrophizing, a psychological construct that could potentially undermine the short-term efficacy of DN.

Objective: To analyze the effects of DN in the infraspinatus muscle on both local and remote pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) and its relationship with baseline levels of pain catastrophizing in patients with FM.

Tracking fructose 1,6-bisphosphate dynamics in liver cancer cells using a fluorescent biosensor.

HYlight is a genetically encoded fluorescent biosensor that ratiometrically monitors fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (FBP), a key glycolytic metabolite. Given the role of glucose in liver cancer metabolism, we expressed HYlight in human liver cancer cells and primary mouse hepatocytes. Through , , and experiments, we showed HYlight's ability to monitor FBP changes linked to glycolysis, not gluconeogenesis.

Intratumoral delivery of lipid nanoparticle-formulated mRNA encoding IL-21, IL-7, and 4-1BBL induces systemic anti-tumor immunity.

Local delivery of mRNA-based immunotherapy offers a promising avenue as it enables the production of specific immunomodulatory proteins that can stimulate the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells while limiting systemic exposure and toxicities. Here, we develop and employ lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) to intratumorally deliver an mRNA mixture encoding the cytokines interleukin (IL)-21 and IL-7 and the immunostimulatory molecule 4-1BB ligand (Triplet LNP). IL-21 synergy with IL-7 and 4-1BBL leads to a profound increase in the frequency of tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells and their capacity to produce granzyme B and IFN-γ, leading to tumor eradication and the development of long-term immunological memory.

MolGraph: a Python package for the implementation of molecular graphs and graph neural networks with TensorFlow and Keras.

Molecular machine learning (ML) has proven important for tackling various molecular problems, such as predicting molecular properties based on molecular descriptors or fingerprints. Since relatively recently, graph neural network (GNN) algorithms have been implemented for molecular ML, showing comparable or superior performance to descriptor or fingerprint-based approaches. Although various tools and packages exist to apply GNNs in molecular ML, a new GNN package, named MolGraph, was developed in this work with the motivation to create GNN model pipelines highly compatible with the TensorFlow and Keras application programming interface (API).

Exercise into Pain in Chronic Rotator Cuff-Related Shoulder Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial with 6-Month Follow-Up.

Purpose: Exercise therapy is the first-line treatment in rotator cuff-related shoulder pain (RCRSP), and diverse types of exercise seem effective. However, it is not still clear if painful exercise should be allowed or avoided during exercises. The objective of this study was to investigate if exercise into pain is more effective than no pain in RCRSP.

Balancing security and economics: domestic state-firm relations and investment screening mechanisms in Europe.

In an era of intense geopolitical competition, concerns about the impact of foreign investments in strategic sectors of the European economy have led policymakers to review European investment screening mechanisms (ISMs). In doing so, European institutions and member states have to find a balance between security and economics, maintaining a favorable environment for potential investors while simultaneously protecting specific sectors that they deem important for European and national security. We argue that the existing structure of state-firm relations decisively shapes the institutional configuration of European ISMs at the national level.

Dataset with updated ozone depletion characterization factors for life cycle impact assessment.

This dataset provides the latest characterization factors for ozone depletion based on the most recent ozone depletion potentials from the 2022 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) scientific assessment. These characterization factors can be used in life cycle assessment (LCA) to convert emissions of ozone-depleting substances to the common unit of the ozone depletion impact category, measured in kg CFC-11-eq. The dataset is formatted for easy import into LCA software such as Brightway, the Activity Browser, and SimaPro.

A biosensor-based phage display selection method for automated, high-throughput Nanobody discovery.

Biopanning methods to select target-specific Nanobodies® (Nbs) involve presenting the antigen, immobilized on plastic plates or magnetic beads, to Nb libraries displayed on phage. Most routines are operator-dependent, labor-intensive and often material- and time-consuming. Here we validate an improved panning strategy that uses biosensors to present the antigen to phage-displayed Nbs in a well.

Targeting Caveolin-1 in Multiple Myeloma Cells Enhances Chemotherapy and Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Immunotherapy.

The cell membrane transport capacity and surface targets of multiple myeloma (MM) cells heavily influence chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Here, it is found that caveolin-1 (CAV1), a primary component of membrane lipid rafts and caveolae, is highly expressed in MM cells and is associated with MM progression and drug resistance. CAV1 knockdown decreases MM cell adhesion to stromal cells and attenuates cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance to bortezomib.

Co-Designing Case Scenarios and Survey Strategies to Examine the Classification and Reporting of Restrictive Care Practices in Adult Mental Health Inpatient Settings: Perspectives From International Stakeholders.

There is a global initiative to reduce the use of restrictive care practices in mental health settings. Variations in the reported rates across regions complicate the understanding of their use and tracking trends over time. However, it remains unclear whether these discrepancies reflect real differences in the implementation of these practices or are sourced from inconsistencies in incident classification and reporting methods.

Isolation and characterization of a novel methanogen Methanosarcina hadiensis sp. nov. from subsurface Boom Clay pore water.

Safe geological disposal of radioactive waste requires a thorough understanding of geochemical conditions in the host formation. Boom Clay is a potential candidate in Belgium, where active methanogenesis has been detected in its deep subsurface, influencing the local geochemistry. However, the pathways driving this process and the characteristics of the methanogenic archaea involved remain unclear.

How fast are viruses spreading in the wild?

Genomic data collected from viral outbreaks can be exploited to reconstruct the dispersal history of viral lineages in a two-dimensional space using continuous phylogeographic inference. These spatially explicit reconstructions can subsequently be used to estimate dispersal metrics that can be informative of the dispersal dynamics and the capacity to spread among hosts. Heterogeneous sampling efforts of genomic sequences can however impact the accuracy of phylogeographic dispersal metrics.

Governing Political Realities in NCD Agenda Setting in LMICS: a Case of the Carrot and the Stick?; Comment on "National Public Health Surveillance of Corporations in Key Unhealthy Commodity Industries: a Scoping Review and Framework Synthesis".

In their scoping review Bennett et al. present a summary framework for public health surveillance of unhealthy commodity industries (UCI) that impact human health, which is important in view of the rising burden of non-communicable diseases, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The authors focus on the tobacco, alcohol and food and beverage industry and discuss who should 'own' the process; where in the public sector administration the responsibility should lie; and how and which practices or organizations to monitor.

Challenges and facilitators to perinatal mental healthcare among first-generation migrant women: A qualitative ethnographic study in Flanders, Belgium.

Introduction: Women with a migration background face significant barriers to accessing perinatal mental health support. This study aims to explore the needs, barriers and facilitators regarding perinatal mental health support in women with a first-generation migration background and how they experience support within their own community.

Methods: We conducted qualitative in-depth face-to-face interviews with mothers who gave birth within 12 months preceding the interview, recruited from an Antwerp maternity ward between August and September 2022.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of a stored-product psocid, Liposcelis tricolor (Psocodea: Liposcelididae).

Liposcelis tricolor (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) is a significant pest affecting stored products globally. However, due to the lack of a detailed genomic reference, the mechanisms of sex determination, stress resistance, and potential control methods for this booklouse remain poorly understood. In this study, the chromosome-level genome of L.