1,180 results match your criteria: "the Cyprus Institute[Affiliation]"

Introduction: Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis manifests various motor symptoms including impairments in corticospinal tract integrity, whose symptoms can be assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Several factors, such as exercise and interlimb coordination, can influence the plastic changes in corticospinal tract. Previous work in healthy and chronic stroke survivors showed that the greatest improvement in corticospinal plasticity occurred during in-phase bilateral exercises of the upper limbs.

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Polygenic risk scores stratify breast cancer risk among women with benign breast disease.

J Natl Cancer Inst

October 2024

Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA, and Rochester, MN, USA.

Purpose: Most breast biopsies are diagnosed as benign breast disease (BBD), with 1.5- to fourfold increased breast cancer (BC) risk. Apart from pathologic diagnoses of atypical hyperplasia, few factors aid in BC risk assessment of these patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • Research data management (RDM) is crucial for implementing FAIR and Open Science principles, leading to the development of valuable tools and resources for effective data management in scientific research.
  • Despite the valuable resources produced by ELIXIR Platforms and Nodes, they are currently scattered, creating challenges in their application and dissemination, highlighting the need for coordinated RDM efforts.
  • The proposed ELIXIR RDM Community aims to unify RDM experts, enhance knowledge exchange, provide training, and develop best practices, thereby strengthening RDM skills and addressing the evolving needs within the scientific community.
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Stature estimation is central in forensic anthropology and very important in bioarchaeology. For this reason, several different methods have been proposed, employing different skeletal elements and statistical approaches. A major issue with skeletonized individuals is that their bones are often found fragmented, a taphonomic parameter that limits the application of many available methods.

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Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) constitute a diverse superfamily of NAD(P)-dependent enzymes pivotal in oxidizing endogenous and exogenous aldehydes to carboxylic acids. Beyond metabolic roles, ALDHs participate in essential biological processes, including differentiation, embryogenesis and the DNA damage response, while also serving as markers for cancer stem cells (CSCs). Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1B1 (ALDH1B1) is a mitochondrial enzyme involved in the detoxification of lipid peroxidation by-products and metabolism of various aldehyde substrates.

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Inhalation of nanosized metal oxides may occur at the workplace. Thus, information on potential hazardous effects is needed for risk assessment. We report an investigation of the genotoxic potential of different metal oxide nanomaterials.

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Unveiling the organic chemical composition and sources of organic carbon in PM at an urban site in Greater Cairo (Egypt): A comprehensive analysis of primary and secondary compounds.

Environ Res

December 2024

Emissions, Measurements, and Modelling of the Atmosphere (EMMA) Laboratory, CAR, Faculty of Science, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon; Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzed the organic components of fine particulate matter collected in urban Cairo over two months, highlighting the area's severe pollution levels.
  • Key findings included significant contributions from cooking (31%) and biomass burning (18%), with newly identified pollutants such as phthalates linked to open waste burning.
  • The research used advanced methods to determine the sources of organic carbon and assessed the associated uncertainties, providing insights into urban air quality and pollution sources in one of the world's most polluted cities.
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We analyze the displacements of the particles of a glass-forming molecular liquid perpendicular to a confining solid surface using extensive molecular dynamics simulations with atomistic models. In the vicinity of an attractive surface, the liquid molecules are trapped. Transient localization of liquid molecules near the surface introduces a relaxation process related to the escape of molecules from the surface into the dynamics of the interfacial liquid layer.

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Background: Despite functional connectivity network dysfunction among individuals with headaches, no studies have examined functional connectivity neural correlates and anatomical differences in coping with headaches.

Methods: This study investigated inter-individual variability in whole-brain functional connectivity and anatomical differences among 37 individuals with primary headaches and 24 age- and gender-matched controls, and neural correlates of psychological flexibility (PF) that was previously found to contribute to headache adjustment. Participants (84% women; M headache severity = 4/10; M age = 43 years) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and completed questionnaires to examine global and subnetwork brain areas, and their relations with PF components, controlling for age, gender, education, and head-motion.

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This study provides a detailed picture of how a protein (lysozyme) complexes with a poly(acrylic acid) polyelectrolyte (PAA) in water at the atomic level using a combination of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations and experiments. The effect of PAA and temperature on the protein's structure is explored. The simulations reveal that a lysozyme's structure is relatively stable except from local conformational changes induced by the presence of PAA and temperature increase.

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Background: The health benefits of the Mediterranean diet are partially attributed to the polyphenols present in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), which have been shown to have anti-cancer properties. However, the possible effect that EVOO could have on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) has not been fully explored.

Methods:  This study investigates the anti-CLL activity of EVOO through a computational multi-level data analysis procedure, focusing on the identification of shared biological functions between them.

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Antibiotics resistance is expanding amongst pathogenic bacteria. Phage therapy is a revived concept for targeting bacteria with multiple antibiotics resistances. In the present study, we isolated and characterized a novel phage from hospital treatment plant input, using () as host bacterium.

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Background And Objective: The standard of care in Acute Myeloid Leukemia patients has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 40 years. Due to the complicated mutational patterns within and between individual patients and a lack of targeted agents for most mutational events, implementing individualized treatment for AML has proven difficult. We reanalysed the BeatAML dataset employing Machine Learning algorithms.

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Polymer nanocomposites have found ubiquitous use across diverse industries, attributable to their distinctive properties and enhanced mechanical performance compared to conventional materials. Elucidating the elastic-to-plastic transition in polymer nanocomposites under diverse mechanical loads is paramount for the bespoke design of materials with desired mechanical attributes. In the current work, the elastic-to-plastic transition is probed in model systems of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and silica, SiO, nanoparticles, through detailed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations.

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  • Ammonia emissions in Southeast Asia significantly impact air pollution and the development of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL), particularly during summer when the South Asian monsoon is active.
  • The study utilizes the EMAC chemistry-climate model to analyze how ammonia influences particle formation, revealing a tenfold increase in particle creation during the day, especially within the monsoon's upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS).
  • Findings indicate that while ammonia enhances cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations and aerosol optical depth (AOD), its effect on aerosol mass in the ATAL is comparatively limited, suggesting a complex relationship between ammonia, particle growth, and aerosol composition.
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  • Clinical genetic testing helps find cancer risks by identifying gene changes, but some of these changes are confusing because we don't know what they mean (called VUS).
  • Researchers studied a huge number of breast cancer patients and healthy people to understand these confusing gene changes better.
  • They found that their method of analyzing data closely matches what other experts say about which gene changes are harmless or harmful, giving more information about 785 unclear changes.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a supplement rich in ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and antioxidant vitamins on physical performance and body composition following a period of high-intensity functional training (HIFT). Nineteen healthy young adults (nine males, ten females) underwent an 8-week HIFT program (3 days·week) where they were randomized 1:1 into either the supplement group (SG)- = 10, receiving a 20 mL daily dose of a dietary cocktail formula (Neuroaspis™ PLP10) containing a mixture of ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs (12,150 mg), vitamin A (0.6 mg), vitamin E (22 mg), and γ-tocopherol (760 mg)-or the placebo group (PG)- = 9, receiving a 20 mL daily dose of virgin olive oil.

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Polymer nanocomposites are characterized by heterogeneous mechanical behavior and performance, which is mainly controlled by the interaction between the nanofiller and the polymer matrix. Optimizing their material performance in engineering applications requires understanding how both the temperature and strain rate of the applied deformation affect mechanical properties. This work investigates the effect of strain rate and temperature on the mechanical properties of poly(ethylene oxide)/silica (PEO/SiO) nanocomposites, revealing their behavior in both the melt and glassy states, via atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and continuum models.

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Even though several highly effective treatments have been developed for multiple sclerosis (MS), the underlying pathological mechanisms and drivers of the disease have not been fully elucidated. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in studying neuroinflammation in the context of glial cell involvement as there is increasing evidence of their central role in disease progression. Although glial cell communication and proper function underlies brain homeostasis and maintenance, their multiple effects in an MS brain remain complex and controversial.

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Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) have significant phenotypic overlap and a similar genetic background, both caused mainly by variants in sarcomeric genes. HCM is the most common cardiomyopathy, while RCM is a rare and often underdiagnosed heart condition, with a poor prognosis. This study focuses on a large family with four infants diagnosed with fatal RCM associated with biventricular hypertrophy.

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Global Globin Network and adopting genomic variant database requirements for thalassemia.

Database (Oxford)

September 2024

Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, Jalan Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan 16150, Malaysia.

Thalassemia is one of the most prevalent monogenic disorders in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). There are an estimated 270 million carriers of hemoglobinopathies (abnormal hemoglobins and/or thalassemia) worldwide, necessitating global methods and solutions for effective and optimal therapy. LMICs are disproportionately impacted by thalassemia, and due to disparities in genomics awareness and diagnostic resources, certain LMICs lag behind high-income countries (HICs).

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Positive and negative ions produced by radioactive sources and corona discharges in gases find a number of applications, including charging aerosol particles prior to their measurement by electrical and/or electrical mobility techniques. The degree to which these ions can charge aerosol particles depends on their mobility and mass; properties that are strongly affected by the composition of the carrier gas and the impurities that it contains. We show that when the purity of the carrier gas is increased, the mobility of both positive and negative ions increases by more than 50%, whereas the respective masses reduce by more than 50%.

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Characterization of PM emissions from on-road vehicles in the tunnel of a major Middle Eastern city.

Environ Pollut

November 2024

EMMA Research Group, Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche, Faculty of Sciences, Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon; Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus. Electronic address:

Traffic emissions are an important source of air pollution worldwide, but in the Middle East, this problem is exacerbated by weak or no enforcement of emission regulations. Comprehensive measurements of fine PM emission factors (EFs) from road transport in the region have not yet been conducted, but such data are necessary for quantitative assessments of the health impact of transport emissions in the region. To address this need, PM samples collected inside the Salim Slam tunnel in Beirut, Lebanon were analyzed for carbonaceous matter (organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC)), water-soluble ions, elements, and selected organic compounds.

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Source apportionment of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs), and their associated long-term health risks in a major European city.

Sci Total Environ

November 2024

Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, Lofos Koufou, P. Penteli, Athens, 15236, Greece; Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, Heraklion, 71003, Greece. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • This study highlights the health risks associated with oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs) and their need for monitoring alongside traditional PAHs to evaluate urban health impacts.
  • An extensive sampling campaign in Athens, Greece, revealed seasonal variations in polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), primarily influenced by residential wood burning, especially during winter.
  • The impact of external factors like biomass burning and the COVID-19 lockdown on PAC levels was significant, emphasizing the importance of regulating biomass burning to improve urban air quality.
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Co-observation of germline pathogenic variants in breast cancer predisposition genes: Results from analysis of the BRIDGES sequencing dataset.

Am J Hum Genet

September 2024

Population Health Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia; Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • * Analysis of data from over 55,000 breast cancer patients showed that co-observation of variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 with other breast cancer genes occurred less frequently than expected, suggesting a potential correlation with pathogenicity.
  • * The findings indicate that identifying a variant of uncertain significance alongside a known pathogenic variant supports evidence against the variant's pathogenicity, which could improve variant classification in clinical settings and for other genetic conditions.
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