Oral conditions are associated with salt taste disability among American adults

AIM

To explore the association between oral conditions and their interaction with salt taste disability among American adults.

METHODS

Data from the 2013-2014 NHANES cycle were used (n = 2373). The exposures were periodontitis, defined by the 2017 EFP-AAP classification, dental caries, missing teeth, and edentulism, as per the DMF-T index, and xerostomia. The outcome was salt taste disability, objectively assessed. Covariates included sex, age, educational level, poverty index, obesity, diabetes, smoking, alcohol consumption, and medications related to mouth dryness. Weighted multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to evaluate the relationship between oral conditions and their interaction and salt taste disability.

RESULTS

Participants who reported xerostomia were more likely to have salt taste disability (OR 2.42; 95%CI 1.44-4.07), especially those older than 60 years (OR 3.63; 95%CI 1.72-7.63). Among participants aged 40-59, xerostomia increased the chance of salt taste disability; however, the confidence interval included the null value. The interactions between xerostomia and edentulism increased the chance of salt taste disability.

CONCLUSION

Oral conditions seem to influence the ability to taste salt. Dental professionals may help identify individuals with taste alterations and raise their awareness of the risk of systemic diseases that require the reduction of salt intake.

The impact of CHOP versus bendamustine on bone mineral density in patients with indolent lymphoma enrolled in the GALLIUM study

Standard CHOP treatment includes a high cumulative dose of prednisone, and studies have shown increased fracture risk following CHOP. It is unclear whether reductions in bone mineral density (BMD) are caused by glucocorticoids or by the combination with chemotherapy. Our objective was to determine the effect of obinutuzumab (G)/rituximab (R)-bendamustine versus G/R-CHOP on BMD in follicular lymphoma patients. Patients in this GALLIUM post hoc study were ≥60 years old and in complete remission at induction treatment completion (ITC), following treatment with G or R in combination with bendamustine or CHOP. To assess BMD, Hounsfield units (HU) were measured in lumbar vertebra L1 on annual computed tomography. Furthermore, vertebral compression fractures were recorded. Of 173 patients included, 59 (34%) received CHOP and 114 (66%) received bendamustine. At baseline, there was no difference in HU between groups. The mean HU decrease from baseline to ITC was 27.8 after CHOP and 17.3 after bendamustine, corresponding to a difference of 10.4 (95% CI: 3.2-17.6). Vertebral fractures were recorded in 5/59 patients receiving CHOP and in 2/114 receiving bendamustine. CHOP was associated with a significant greater decrease in BMD and more frequent fractures. These results suggest that prophylaxis against BMD loss should be considered.

Increased lesion detectability in patients with locally advanced breast cancer-A pilot study using dynamic whole-body [18F]FDG PET/CT

BACKGROUND

Accurate diagnosis of axillary lymph node (ALN) metastases is essential for prognosis and treatment planning in breast cancer. Evaluation of ALN is done by ultrasound, which is limited by inter-operator variability, and by sentinel lymph node biopsy and/or ALN dissection, none of which are without risks and/or long-term complications. It is known that conventional 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has limited sensitivity for ALN metastases. However, a recently developed dynamic whole-body (D-WB) [18F]FDG PET/CT scanning protocol, allowing for imaging of tissue [18F]FDG metabolic rate (MRFDG), has been shown to have the potential to increase lesion detectability. The study purpose was to examine detectability of malignant lesions in D-WB [18F]FDG PET/CT compared to conventional [18F]FDG PET/CT.

RESULTS

This study prospectively included ten women with locally advanced breast cancer who were referred for an [18F]FDG PET/CT as part of their diagnostic work-up. They all underwent D-WB [18F]FDG PET/CT, consisting of a 6 min single bed dynamic scan over the chest region started at the time of tracer injection, a 64 min dynamic WB PET scan consisting of 16 continuous bed motion passes, and finally a contrast-enhanced CT scan, with generation of MRFDG parametric images. Lesion visibility was assessed by tumor-to-background and contrast-to-noise ratios using volumes of interest isocontouring tumors with a set limit of 50% of SUVmax and background volumes placed in the vicinity of tumors. Lesion visibility was best in the MRFDG images, with target-to-background values 2.28 (95% CI: 2.04-2.54) times higher than target-to-background values in SUV images, and contrast-to-noise values 1.23 (95% CI: 1.12-1.35) times higher than contrast-to-noise values in SUV images. Furthermore, five imaging experts visually assessed the images and three additional suspicious lesions were found in the MRFDG images compared to SUV images; one suspicious ALN, one suspicious parasternal lymph node, and one suspicious lesion located in the pelvic bone.

CONCLUSIONS

D-WB [18F]FDG PET/CT with MRFDG images show potential for improved lesion detectability compared to conventional SUV images in locally advanced breast cancer. Further validation in larger cohorts is needed.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

The trial is registered in clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05110443, https://www.

CLINICALTRIALS

gov/study/NCT05110443?term=NCT05110443&rank=1 .

Dynamic whole-body [18F]FES PET/CT increases lesion visibility in patients with metastatic breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Correct classification of estrogen receptor (ER) status is essential for prognosis and treatment planning in patients with breast cancer (BC). Therefore, it is recommended to sample tumor tissue from an accessible metastasis. However, ER expression can show intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity. 16α-[18F]fluoroestradiol ([18F]FES) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) allows noninvasive whole-body (WB) identification of ER distribution and is usually performed as a single static image 60 min after radiotracer injection. Using dynamic whole-body (D-WB) PET imaging, we examine [18F]FES kinetics and explore whether Patlak parametric images ( K i ) are quantitative and improve lesion visibility.

RESULTS

This prospective study included eight patients with metastatic ER-positive BC scanned using a D-WB PET acquisition protocol. The kinetics of [18F]FES were best characterized by the irreversible two-tissue compartment model in tumor lesions and in the majority of organ tissues. K i values from Patlak parametric images correlated with K i values from the full kinetic analysis, r2 = 0.77, and with the semiquantitative mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), r2 = 0.91. Furthermore, parametric K i images had the highest target-to-background ratio (TBR) in 162/164 metastatic lesions and the highest contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in 99/164 lesions compared to conventional SUV images. TBR was 2.45 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.25-2.68) and CNR 1.17 (95% CI: 1.08-1.26) times higher in K i images compared to SUV images. These quantitative differences were seen as reduced background activity in the K i images.

CONCLUSION

[18F]FES uptake is best described by an irreversible two-tissue compartment model. D-WB [18F]FES PET/CT scans can be used for direct reconstruction of parametric K i images, with superior lesion visibility and K i values comparable to K i values found from full kinetic analyses. This may aid correct ER classification and treatment decisions. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04150731, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04150731.

Rifampicin does not reduce moxifloxacin concentrations at the site of infection and may not improve treatment outcome of a one-stage exchange surgery protocol of implant-associated osteomyelitis lesions in a porcine model

We aimed to evaluate moxifloxacin steady-state concentrations in infected bone and soft tissue and to explore the additive microbiological and pathological treatment effect of rifampicin to standard moxifloxacin treatment of implant-associated osteomyelitis (IAO). 16 pigs were included. On Day 0, IAO was induced in the proximal tibia using a susceptible Staphylococcus aureus strain. On Day 7, the pigs underwent one-stage exchange surgery of the IAO lesions and were randomized to receive seven days of intravenous antibiotic treatment of either rifampicin combined with moxifloxacin or moxifloxacin monotherapy. On Day 14, microdialysis was applied for continuous sampling (8 h) of moxifloxacin concentrations. Microbiological, macroscopical pathology, and histopathological analyses were performed postmortem. Steady-state moxifloxacin area under the concentration-time curve was lower in the combination therapy group in plasma (total) and subcutaneous tissue compartments (infected and noninfected) (p < 0.04), while no differences were found in bone compartments. No additional treatment effect of rifampicin to moxifloxacin treatment was found (p = 0.57). Conclusive, additive rifampicin treatment does not reduce moxifloxacin concentrations at the infection site. Rifampicin treatment may not be necessary in a one-stage exchange treatment of IAO. However, our sample size and treatment period may have been too small and short to reveal true clinical differences.

Filtration and tubular handling of EWE-hC3Nb1, a complement inhibitor nanobody, in wild type mice and a mouse model of proteinuric kidney disease

Tubular activation and deposition of filtered complement proteins have been implicated in the progression of proteinuric kidney disease. The potent C3b-specific nanobody inhibitor of the alternative pathway, EWE-hC3Nb1, is likely freely filtered in the glomerulus to allow complement inhibition in the tubular lumen and may provide a novel treatment option to prevent tubulointerstitial injury. However, more information on the pharmacokinetic properties and renal tubular handling of EWE-hC3Nb1 nanobody is required for its pharmacological application in relation to kidney disease. Here, we examined the pharmacokinetic properties of free EWE-hC3Nb1 in mouse plasma and urine, following subcutaneous injection in wild-type control and podocin knock out (KO) mice with severe proteinuria. Tubular handling of filtered EWE-hC3Nb1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on kidney tissue from control, proteinuric mice, and KO mice deficient in the proximal tubule endocytic receptor megalin. Rapid plasma absorption and elimination of EWE-hC3Nb1 was observed in both control and proteinuric mice; however, urinary excretion of EWE-hC3Nb1 was markedly increased in proteinuric mice. Urinary EWE-hC3Nb1 excretion was amplified in megalin KO mice, and substantial accumulation of EWE-hC3Nb1 was observed in megalin-expressing renal proximal tubules by IHC. Moreover, free EWE-hC3Nb1 was found to be rapidly cleared from plasma. In conclusion, filtered EWE-hC3Nb1 is reabsorbed by a megalin-dependent process in the proximal tubules. Increased load of filtered proteins in the tubular fluid may inhibit the megalin-dependent uptake of EWE-hC3Nb1 in proteinuric mice. Treatment with EWE-hC3Nb1 may allow investigation of the effects of complement inhibition in the tubular fluid.

The exometabolome of microbial communities inhabiting bare ice surfaces on the southern Greenland Ice Sheet

Microbial blooms colonize the Greenland Ice Sheet bare ice surface during the ablation season and significantly reduce its albedo. On the ice surface, microbes are exposed to high levels of irradiance, freeze-thaw cycles, and low nutrient concentrations. It is well known that microorganisms secrete metabolites to maintain homeostasis, communicate with other microorganisms, and defend themselves. Yet, the exometabolome of supraglacial microbial blooms, dominated by the pigmented glacier ice algae Ancylonema alaskanum and Ancylonema nordenskiöldii, remains thus far unstudied. Here, we use a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics workflow to identify metabolites in the exometabolome of microbial blooms on the surface of the southern tip of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Samples were collected every 6 h across two diurnal cycles at 5 replicate sampling sites with high similarity in community composition, in terms of orders and phyla present. Time of sampling explained 46% (permutational multivariate analysis of variance [PERMANOVA], pseudo-F = 3.7771, p = 0.001) and 27% (PERMANOVA, pseudo-F = 1.8705, p = 0.001) of variance in the exometabolome across the two diurnal cycles. Annotated metabolites included riboflavin, lumichrome, tryptophan, and azelaic acid, all of which have demonstrated roles in microbe-microbe interactions in other ecosystems and should be tested for potential roles in the development of microbial blooms on bare ice surfaces.

Contesting the conventional wisdom of periodontal risk assessment

Over the years, several reviews of periodontal risk assessment tools have been published. However, major misunderstandings still prevail in repeated attempts to use these tools for prognostic risk prediction. Here we review the principles of risk prediction and discuss the value and the challenges of using prediction models in periodontology. Most periodontal risk prediction models have not been properly developed according to guidance given for the risk prediction model development. This shortcoming has led to several problems, including the creation of arbitrary risk scores. These scores are often labelled as 'high risk' without explicit boundaries or thresholds for the underlying continuous risk estimates of patient-important outcomes. Moreover, it is apparent that prediction models are often misinterpreted as causal models by clinicians and researchers although they cannot be used as such. Additional challenges like the critical assessment of transportability and applicability of these prediction models, as well as their impact on clinical practice and patient outcomes, are not considered in the literature. Nevertheless, these instruments are promoted with claims regarding their ability to deliver more individualized and precise periodontitis treatment and prevention, purportedly resulting in improved patient outcomes. However, people with or without periodontitis deserve proper information about their risk of developing patient-important outcomes such as tooth loss or pain. The primary objective of disseminating such information should not be to emphasize assumed treatment efficacy, hype individualization of care, or promote business interests. Instead, the focus should be on providing individuals with locally validated and regularly updated predictions of specific risks based on readily accessible and valid key predictors (e.g. age and smoking).

Material insecurity and religiosity: A causal analysis

Some cultural evolutionary models predict that under stressful reductions of well-being, individuals will be more attracted and fastidiously adhere to traditional systems of norms that promote solidarity and cooperation. As religious systems can bolster human relationships with a variety of mechanisms, the material insecurity hypothesis of religion posits that individual religiosity will increase under conditions of material insecurity. The bulk of the literature up to this point has been correlational and cross-national. Here, across 14 field sites, we examine the causal role that educational attainment and food insecurity play in religiosity. We find that years of formal education and food insecurity do not consistently contribute to individual religiosity cross-culturally. We conclude with a discussion of some theoretical and methodological implications. As a general workflow for cross-cultural causal research in the quantitative social sciences, the present work is a modest but necessary first step in reliably estimating causation in the material insecurity hypothesis of religiosity.

Autophagy as an innate immunity response against pathogens: a Tango dance

Intracellular infections as well as changes in the cell nutritional environment are main events that trigger cellular stress responses. One crucial cell response to stress conditions is autophagy. During the last 30 years, several scenarios involving autophagy induction or inhibition over the course of an intracellular invasion by pathogens have been uncovered. In this review, we will present how this knowledge was gained by studying different microorganisms. We intend to discuss how the cell, via autophagy, tries to repel these attacks with the objective of destroying the intruder, but also how some pathogens have developed strategies to subvert this. These two fates can be compared with a Tango, a dance originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which the partner dancers are in close connection. One of them is the leader, embracing and involving the partner, but the follower may respond escaping from the leader. This joint dance is indeed highly synchronized and controlled, perfectly reflecting the interaction between autophagy and microorganism.

In vitro investigation of the effect of proinflammatory cytokines on mouse choroid plexus membrane transporters Ncbe and NKCC1

Intraventricular hemorrhage is a potentially life-threatening condition. Approximately 20% of patients develop posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus with increased ventricular volume and intracranial pressure. Hydrocephalus develops partially due to increased secretion of cerebrospinal fluid by the choroid plexus. During hemorrhage a multitude of factors are released into the cerebrospinal fluid. Many of these have been implicated in the hypersecretion. In this study, we have investigated the isolated effect of inflammatory components, on the abundance of two membrane transporters involved in cerebrospinal fluid secretion by the choroid plexus: the Na+-dependent Cl-/HCO3- exchanger, Ncbe, and the Na+, K+, 2Cl- cotransporter, NKCC1. We have established a primary choroid plexus epithelial cell culture from 1 to 7 days old mouse pups. Seven days after seeding, the cells formed a monolayer. The cells were treated with either tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), or interleukin 6 (IL-6) to mimic inflammation. The data show that treatment with TNFα, and IL-1β only transiently increased NKCC1 abundance whereas the effect on Ncbe abundance was a transient decrease. IL-6 however significantly increased NKCC1 (242%), the phosphorylated NKCC1 (147%), as well as pSPAK (406%) abundance, but had no effect on Ncbe. This study suggests that the inflammatory pathway involved in hypersecretion primarily is mediated by activation of basolateral receptors in the choroid plexus, mainly facilitated by IL-6. This study highlights the complexity of the pathophysiological circumstances occurring during intraventricular hemorrhage.

Phi fluctuates with surprisal: An empirical pre-study for the synthesis of the free energy principle and integrated information theory

The Free Energy Principle (FEP) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT) are two ambitious theoretical approaches. The first aims to make a formal framework for describing self-organizing and life-like systems in general, and the second attempts a mathematical theory of conscious experience based on the intrinsic properties of a system. They are each concerned with complementary aspects of the properties of systems, one with life and behavior, the other with meaning and experience, so combining them has potential for scientific value. In this paper, we take a first step towards such a synthesis by expanding on the results of an earlier published evolutionary simulation study, which show a relationship between IIT-measures and fitness in differing complexities of tasks. We relate a basic information theoretic measure from the FEP, surprisal, to this result, finding that the surprisal of simulated agents' observations is inversely related to the general increase in fitness and integration over evolutionary time. Moreover, surprisal fluctuates together with IIT-based consciousness measures in within-trial time. This suggests that the consciousness measures used in IIT indirectly depend on the relation between the agent and the external world, and that it should therefore be possible to relate them to the theoretical concepts used in the FEP. Lastly, we suggest a future approach for investigating this relationship empirically.

Fucose modifies short chain fatty acid and H2S formation through alterations of microbial cross-feeding activities

Algae are a rich but unexplored source of fibers with the potential to contribute to the next generation of prebiotics. The sulfated brown algae polysaccharide, fucoidan, is mainly composed of the deoxy-hexose L-fucose, which can be metabolized to 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) or lactate by gut microbes as precursors of propionate and butyrate. It was the aim of this study to investigate the impact of fucoidan on the fermentation capacity of the fecal microbiota and to compare to fucose. In batch fermentations of fecal microbiota collected from 17 donor samples, fucose promoted the production of propionate while no consistent effect was observed for commercial fucoidan and Fucus vesiculosus extract prepared in this study containing laminarin and fucoidan. H2S production was detected under all tested conditions, and levels were significantly lower in the presence of fucose in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of high fucose levels led to higher relative abundance of microbial 1,2-PD and lactate cross-feeders. Our results highlight that fucose and not fucoidan addition impacted fermentation capacity and increased the proportions of propionate and butyrate, which allows for precise modulation of intestinal microbiota activity.

Anesthesia-related brain microstructure modulations detected by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging

Recent studies have shown significant changes to brain microstructure during sleep and anesthesia. In vivo optical microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have attributed these changes to anesthesia and sleep-related modulation of the brain's extracellular space (ECS). Isoflurane anesthesia is widely used in preclinical diffusion MRI (dMRI) and it is therefore important to investigate if the brain's microstructure is affected by anesthesia to an extent detectable with dMRI. Here, we employ diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) to assess brain microstructure in the awake and anesthetized mouse brain (n = 22). We find both mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) to be significantly decreased in the anesthetized mouse brain compared with the awake state (p < 0.001 for both). This effect is observed in both gray matter and white matter. To further investigate the time course of these changes we introduce a method for time-resolved fast DKI. With this, we show the time course of the microstructural alterations in mice (n = 5) as they transition between states in an awake-anesthesia-awake paradigm. We find that the decrease in MD and MK occurs rapidly after delivery of gas isoflurane anesthesia and that values normalize only slowly when the animals return to the awake state. Finally, time-resolved fast DKI is employed in an experimental mouse model of brain edema (n = 4), where cell swelling causes the ECS volume to decrease. Our results show that isoflurane affects DKI parameters and metrics of brain microstructure and point to isoflurane causing a reduction in the ECS volume. The demonstrated DKI methods are suitable for in-bore perturbation studies, for example, for investigating microstructural modulations related to sleep/wake-dependent functions of the glymphatic system. Importantly, our study shows an effect of isoflurane anesthesia on rodent brain microstructure that has broad relevance to preclinical dMRI.

Spatial transformation of multi-omics data unlocks novel insights into cancer biology

The application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has transformed cancer research. As costs have decreased, NGS has increasingly been applied to generate multiple layers of molecular data from the same samples, covering genomics, transcriptomics, and methylomics. Integrating these types of multi-omics data in a combined analysis is now becoming a common issue with no obvious solution, often handled on an ad hoc basis, with multi-omics data arriving in a tabular format and analyzed using computationally intensive statistical methods. These methods particularly ignore the spatial orientation of the genome and often apply stringent p-value corrections that likely result in the loss of true positive associations. Here, we present GENIUS (GEnome traNsformatIon and spatial representation of mUltiomicS data), a framework for integrating multi-omics data using deep learning models developed for advanced image analysis. The GENIUS framework is able to transform multi-omics data into images with genes displayed as spatially connected pixels and successfully extract relevant information with respect to the desired output. We demonstrate the utility of GENIUS by applying the framework to multi-omics datasets from the Cancer Genome Atlas. Our results are focused on predicting the development of metastatic cancer from primary tumors, and demonstrate how through model inference, we are able to extract the genes which are driving the model prediction and are likely associated with metastatic disease progression. We anticipate our framework to be a starting point and strong proof of concept for multi-omics data transformation and analysis without the need for statistical correction.

Sequence dependencies and mutation rates of localized mutational processes in cancer

BACKGROUND

Cancer mutations accumulate through replication errors and DNA damage coupled with incomplete repair. Individual mutational processes often show nucleotide sequence and functional region preferences. As a result, some sequence contexts mutate at much higher rates than others, with additional variation found between functional regions. Mutational hotspots, with recurrent mutations across cancer samples, represent genomic positions with elevated mutation rates, often caused by highly localized mutational processes.

METHODS

We count the 11-mer genomic sequences across the genome, and using the PCAWG set of 2583 pan-cancer whole genomes, we associate 11-mers with mutational signatures, hotspots of single nucleotide variants, and specific genomic regions. We evaluate the mutation rates of individual and combined sets of 11-mers and derive mutational sequence motifs.

RESULTS

We show that hotspots generally identify highly mutable sequence contexts. Using these, we show that some mutational signatures are enriched in hotspot sequence contexts, corresponding to well-defined sequence preferences for the underlying localized mutational processes. This includes signature 17b (of unknown etiology) and signatures 62 (POLE deficiency), 7a (UV), and 72 (linked to lymphomas). In some cases, the mutation rate and sequence preference increase further when focusing on certain genomic regions, such as signature 62 in transcribed regions, where the mutation rate is increased up to 9-folds over cancer type and mutational signature average.

CONCLUSIONS

We summarize our findings in a catalog of localized mutational processes, their sequence preferences, and their estimated mutation rates.

Trade-offs in carbon-degrading enzyme activities limit long-term soil carbon sequestration with biochar addition

Biochar amendment is one of the most promising agricultural approaches to tackle climate change by enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration. Microbial-mediated decomposition processes are fundamental for the fate and persistence of sequestered C in soil, but the underlying mechanisms are uncertain. Here, we synthesise 923 observations regarding the effects of biochar addition (over periods ranging from several weeks to several years) on soil C-degrading enzyme activities from 130 articles across five continents worldwide. Our results showed that biochar addition increased soil ligninase activity targeting complex phenolic macromolecules by 7.1%, but suppressed cellulase activity degrading simpler polysaccharides by 8.3%. These shifts in enzyme activities explained the most variation of changes in soil C sequestration across a wide range of climatic, edaphic and experimental conditions, with biochar-induced shift in ligninase:cellulase ratio correlating negatively with soil C sequestration. Specifically, short-term (<1 year) biochar addition significantly reduced cellulase activity by 4.6% and enhanced soil organic C sequestration by 87.5%, whereas no significant responses were observed for ligninase activity and ligninase:cellulase ratio. However, long-term (≥1 year) biochar addition significantly enhanced ligninase activity by 5.2% and ligninase:cellulase ratio by 36.1%, leading to a smaller increase in soil organic C sequestration (25.1%). These results suggest that shifts in enzyme activities increased ligninase:cellulase ratio with time after biochar addition, limiting long-term soil C sequestration with biochar addition. Our work provides novel evidence to explain the diminished soil C sequestration with long-term biochar addition and suggests that earlier studies may have overestimated soil C sequestration with biochar addition by failing to consider the physiological acclimation of soil microorganisms over time.

Fibrinolytic and antibiotic treatment of prosthetic vascular graft infections in a novel rat model

OBJECTIVES

We developed a rat model of prosthetic vascular graft infection to assess, whether the fibrinolytic tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) could increase the efficacy of antibiotic therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Rats were implanted a polyethylene graft in the common carotid artery, pre-inoculated with approx. 6 log10 colony forming units (CFU) of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Ten days after surgery, rats were randomized to either: 0.9% NaCl (n = 8), vancomycin (n = 8), vancomycin + tPA (n = 8), vancomycin + rifampicin (n = 18) or vancomycin + rifampicin + tPA (n = 18). Treatment duration was seven days. Approximately 36 hours after the end of treatment, the rats were euthanized, and grafts and organs were harvested for CFU enumeration.

RESULTS

All animals in the control group had significantly higher CFU at the time of euthanization compared to bacterial load found on the grafts prior to inoculation (6.45 vs. 4.36 mean log10 CFU/mL, p = 0.0011), and both the procedure and infection were well tolerated. Vancomycin and rifampicin treatment were superior to monotherapy with vancomycin, as it lead to a marked decrease in median bacterial load on the grafts (3.50 vs. 6.56 log10 CFU/mL, p = 0.0016). The addition of tPA to vancomycin and rifampicin combination treatment did not show a further decrease in bacterial load (4.078 vs. 3.50 log10 CFU/mL, p = 0.26). The cure rate was 16% in the vancomycin + rifampicin group vs. 37.5% cure rate in the vancomycin + rifampicin + tPA group. Whilst interesting, this trend was not significant at our sample size (p = 0.24).

CONCLUSION

We developed the first functional model of an arterial prosthetic vascular graft infection in rats. Antibiotic combination therapy with vancomycin and rifampicin was superior to vancomycin monotherapy, and the addition of tPA did not significantly reduce bacterial load, nor significantly increase cure rate.

Enrichment strategies to enhance genome editing

Genome editing technologies hold great promise for numerous applications including the understanding of cellular and disease mechanisms and the development of gene and cellular therapies. Achieving high editing frequencies is critical to these research areas and to achieve the overall goal of being able to manipulate any target with any desired genetic outcome. However, gene editing technologies sometimes suffer from low editing efficiencies due to several challenges. This is often the case for emerging gene editing technologies, which require assistance for translation into broader applications. Enrichment strategies can support this goal by selecting gene edited cells from non-edited cells. In this review, we elucidate the different enrichment strategies, their many applications in non-clinical and clinical settings, and the remaining need for novel strategies to further improve genome research and gene and cellular therapy studies.

High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography for the evaluation of bone erosions of metatarsophalangeal joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVES

To compare if the 4th and 5th metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints evaluated by high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) could classify more patients with erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with conventional radiography (CR) of the hands, wrists, and feet. Furthermore, we characterize and quantify bone erosions in the two MTP joints by HR-pQCT.

METHODS

This single-center cross-sectional study included patients with established RA (disease duration ≥5 years). Blinded to patient data, the number and volume of erosions in the 4th and 5th MTP joints were measured by HR-pQCT, whereas the erosive scores by CR of 44 joints in the hands, wrists, and feet were assessed according to the Sharp/van der Heijde method.

RESULTS

Among 42 participants, 30 patients were classified with erosive RA and 12 with non-erosive RA by CR. HR-pQCT of two MTP joints could classify more patients with erosive RA compared with CR of 44 joints (p = .03). The optimal cut-off value for the number and volume of erosions per patient in the 4th and 5th MTP joints by HR-pQCT was 7.5 erosions and 11.7 mm³ , respectively, for detecting erosive disease by CR. Erosions in the two MTP joints by HR-pQCT were found most frequently and were largest at the lateral quadrant of the 5th metatarsal head.

CONCLUSION

The superiority of HR-pQCT of the 4th and 5th MTP joints compared with CR of 44 joints for classifying erosive RA provides a basis for larger studies evaluating if HR-pQCT could be used for diagnosing erosive RA in the future.

Self-reported periodontitis association with impaired smell and taste: A multicenter survey

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the association between self-reported periodontitis and the senses of taste and smell among employees of one Danish and two American universities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data were collected through a digital survey. A total of 1239 individuals from Aarhus University - Denmark, the University of Iowa, and the University of Florida - USA were included. Self-reported periodontitis was the exposure. The perceived senses of taste and smell were the outcomes and were measured through a visual analog scale (VAS). Self-perceived halitosis was the mediator. Confounders were age, sex, income, education, xerostomia, COVID-19, smoking, body mass index, and diabetes. The total effect was decomposed into direct and indirect using a counterfactual approach.

RESULTS

The total effect of periodontitis on an impaired sense of taste was OR 1.56 (95% CI [1.02, 2.09]), of which 23% was mediated by halitosis (OR 1.13; 95% CI [1.03, 1.22]). Additionally, individuals with self-reported periodontitis had a 53% higher chance of having impaired smell (OR 1.53; 95% CI [1.00, 2.04]), with halitosis mediating 21% of the total effect (OR 1.11; 95% CI [1.02, 1.20]).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that periodontitis is associated with distorted senses of taste and smell. Additionally, this association appears to be mediated by halitosis.

Six weeks of high-load resistance and low-load blood flow restricted training increase Na/K-ATPase sub-units α2 and β1 equally, but does not alter ClC-1 abundance in untrained human skeletal muscle

Contractile function of skeletal muscle relies on the ability of muscle fibers to trigger and propagate action potentials (APs). These electrical signals are created by transmembrane ion transport through ion channels and membrane transporter systems. In this regard, the Cl^- ion channel 1 (ClC-1) and the Na⁺/K^--ATPase (NKA) are central for maintaining ion homeostasis across the sarcolemma during intense contractile activity. Therefore, this randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the changes in ClC-1 and specific NKA subunit isoform expression in response to six weeks (18 training sessions) of high-load resistance exercise (HLRE) and low-load blood flow restricted resistance exercise (BFRRE), respectively. HLRE was conducted as 4 sets of 12 repetitions of knee extensions performed at 70% of 1 repetition maximum (RM), while BFRRE was conducted as 4 sets of knee extensions at 30% of 1RM performed to volitional fatigue. Furthermore, the potential associations between protein expression and contractile performance were investigated. We show that muscle ClC-1 abundance was not affected by either exercise modality, whereas NKA subunit isoforms [Formula: see text]² and [Formula: see text]¹ increased equally by appx. 80-90% with BFRRE (p < 0.05) and 70-80% with HLRE (p < 0.05). No differential impact between exercise modalities was observed. At baseline, ClC-1 protein expression correlated inversely with dynamic knee extensor strength (r=-0.365, p = 0.04), whereas no correlation was observed between NKA subunit content and contractile performance at baseline. However, training-induced changes in NKA [Formula: see text]² subunit (r = 0.603, p < 0.01) and [Formula: see text]¹ subunit (r = 0.453, p < 0.05) correlated with exercise-induced changes in maximal voluntary contraction. These results suggest that the initial adaptation to resistance-based exercise does not involve changes in ClC-1 abundance in untrained skeletal muscle, and that increased content of NKA subunits may facilitate increases in maximal force production.

Cerebral palsy and bisphosphonates - and what can be learned from other types of secondary osteoporosis in children: A scoping review

AIM

We aimed to improve bone health management of children with cerebral palsy (CP) by reviewing studies investigating bisphosphonate therapy in children with CP and other types of secondary osteoporosis.

METHODS

We included trials on bisphosphonate treatment reporting any direct bone measurement or fracture outcome. All studies of patients with CP were included. We also included all controlled trials of children with secondary bone fragility as well as observational studies with ≥20 participants or at least 3 years of follow-up. Studies were assessed according to PRISMA guidelines using the RoB2-tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

RESULTS

We reviewed 1104 studies and found 37 eligible. Some studies were sufficiently homogeneous to include in a meta-analysis, and we found a 1-year effect on lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) Z-score of +0.65 after oral and + 1.21 after intravenous bisphosphonates in children with secondary osteoporosis. Further, data on adverse events and post-treatment follow-up were reviewed. Limitations were heterogeneity and small size of the included studies.

CONCLUSION

Meta-analysis consistently showed significant BMD increases with bisphosphonates in children with secondary osteoporosis. Direct evidence of the effect of bisphosphonates on reducing fractures is lacking. We found no reports of long-term adverse events yet longer studies are needed.

Quantifying the movement, behaviour and environmental context of group-living animals using drones and computer vision

Methods for collecting animal behaviour data in natural environments, such as direct observation and biologging, are typically limited in spatiotemporal resolution, the number of animals that can be observed and information about animals' social and physical environments. Video imagery can capture rich information about animals and their environments, but image-based approaches are often impractical due to the challenges of processing large and complex multi-image datasets and transforming resulting data, such as animals' locations, into geographical coordinates. We demonstrate a new system for studying behaviour in the wild that uses drone-recorded videos and computer vision approaches to automatically track the location and body posture of free-roaming animals in georeferenced coordinates with high spatiotemporal resolution embedded in contemporaneous 3D landscape models of the surrounding area. We provide two worked examples in which we apply this approach to videos of gelada monkeys and multiple species of group-living African ungulates. We demonstrate how to track multiple animals simultaneously, classify individuals by species and age-sex class, estimate individuals' body postures (poses) and extract environmental features, including topography of the landscape and animal trails. By quantifying animal movement and posture while reconstructing a detailed 3D model of the landscape, our approach opens the door to studying the sensory ecology and decision-making of animals within their natural physical and social environments.

Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features

Little is known about expertise-related plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. Here, we contrast two diverging hypotheses that musical expertise is associated with more independent or more integrated predictive processing of acoustic features relevant to melody perception. Mismatch negativity (MMNm) was recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG) from 25 musicians and 25 non-musicians, exposed to interleaved blocks of a complex, melody-like multi-feature paradigm and a simple, oddball control paradigm. In addition to single deviants differing in frequency (F), intensity (I), or perceived location (L), double and triple deviants were included reflecting all possible feature combinations (FI, IL, LF, FIL). Following previous work, early neural processing overlap was approximated in terms of MMNm additivity by comparing empirical MMNms obtained with double and triple deviants to modeled MMNms corresponding to summed constituent single-deviant MMNms. Significantly greater subadditivity was found in musicians compared to non-musicians, specifically for frequency-related deviants in complex, melody-like stimuli. Despite using identical sounds, expertise effects were absent from the simple oddball paradigm. This novel finding supports the integrated processing hypothesis whereby musicians recruit overlapping neural resources facilitating more integrative representations of contextually relevant stimuli such as frequency (perceived as pitch) during melody perception. More generally, these specialized refinements in predictive processing may enable experts to optimally capitalize upon complex, domain-relevant, acoustic cues.

Public trust and mistrust of climate science: A meta-narrative review

This systematic meta-narrative literature review aims to explore the narratives of trust evident in literature on public (mis)trust relating to climate science published up until May 2021, and to present the main findings from these papers. We identified six narratives of trust: attitudinal trust, cognitive trust, affective trust, contingencies of trust, contextual trust and communicated trust. The papers' main findings spanned theoretical conclusions on the importance of positionality to trust and morality to trustworthiness, to qualitative findings that the scientific community was mainly trusted, to quantitative findings that explored how trust functioned as an independent, dependent or mediating variable. This literature review sheds important light on the interrelationship between climate science and publics, highlights areas for further research, and in its characterisation of trust narratives provides a language for conceptualising trust that can further interdisciplinary engagement.

A Clathrin light chain A reporter mouse for in vivo imaging of endocytosis

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is one of the best studied cellular uptake pathways and its contributions to nutrient uptake, receptor signaling, and maintenance of the lipid membrane homeostasis have been already elucidated. Today, we still have a lack of understanding how the different components of this pathway cooperate dynamically in vivo. Therefore, we generated a reporter mouse model for CME by fusing eGFP endogenously in frame to clathrin light chain a (Clta) to track endocytosis in living mice. The fusion protein is expressed in all tissues, but in a cell specific manner, and can be visualized using fluorescence microscopy. Recruitment to nanobeads recorded by TIRF microscopy validated the functionality of the Clta-eGFP reporter. With this reporter model we were able to track the dynamics of Alexa594-BSA uptake in kidneys of anesthetized mice using intravital 2-photon microscopy. This reporter mouse model is not only a suitable and powerful tool to track CME in vivo in genetic or disease mouse models it can also help to shed light into the differential roles of the two clathrin light chain isoforms in health and disease.

Food security in Roman Palmyra (Syria) in light of paleoclimatological evidence and its historical implications

Food security in ancient urban centers is often discussed but rarely formally modelled. Despite its location in an inhospitable desert where food production is a constant challenge ancient Palmyra grew from a small oasis settlement in to a major geopolitical player. Here, we present a spatially explicit reconstruction of the land use and agricultural yield expectations of its hinterland determining the maximum feasible population of the city. Coupling the hinterland carrying capacity model with palaeoclimatic data allowed us to track changes in the food security of the city in the face of changing climate. While initially the hinterland could provide ample food resources for the small settlement with time the deteriorating climate conditions after the Roman Optimum (100 BCE-200 CE) collided with rapidly growing population of the city. The nexus of these two processes fall at mid third century–a period of profound changes in the structure of Palmyrene society, its geopolitical situation and its historical trajectory. The results point to increasingly precarious subsistence levels as a likely factor behind rapid militarization, shift towards an autocratic regime and military expansion of the city in the late third century CE. As a well-established causal mechanism in many modern conflicts and crises, food security is also a potential causal factor behind historical events, if a hard one to prove due to the difficulty of identifying relevant data patterns. The methods presented establishes a robust research pipeline that can be used on other ancient urban centers, contributing to the construction of an empirically supported model of how food security shaped human history, past and present.

Drinking water nitrate and risk of pregnancy loss: a nationwide cohort study

BACKGROUND

Nitrate contamination is seen in drinking water worldwide. Nitrate may pass the placental barrier. Despite suggestive evidence of fetal harm, the potential association between nitrate exposure from drinking water and pregnancy loss remains to be studied. We aimed to investigate if nitrate in drinking water was associated with the risk of pregnancy loss.

METHODS

We conducted a nationwide cohort study of 100,410 pregnancies (enrolled around gestational week 11) in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) during 1996-2002. Spontaneous pregnancy losses before gestational week 22 were ascertained from the Danish National Patient Registry and DNBC pregnancy interviews. Using the national drinking water quality-monitoring database Jupiter, we estimated the individual and time-specific nitrate exposure by linking geocoded maternal residential addresses with water supply areas. The nitrate exposure was analyzed in spline models using a log-transformed continuous level or classified into five categories. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate associations between nitrate and pregnancy loss and used gestational age (days) as the time scale, adjusting for demographic, health, and lifestyle variables.

RESULTS

No consistent associations were found when investigating the exposure as a categorical variable and null findings were also found in trimester specific analyses. In the spline model using the continuous exposure variable, a modestly increased hazard of pregnancy loss was observed for the first trimester at nitrate exposures between 1 and 10 mg/L, with the highest. adjusted hazard ratio at 5 mg/L of nitrate of 1.16 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.34). This trend was attenuated in the higher exposure ranges.

CONCLUSION

No association was seen between drinking water nitrate and the risk of pregnancy loss when investigating the exposure as a categorical variable. When we modelled the exposure as a continuous variable, a dose-dependent association was found between drinking water nitrate exposure in the first trimester and the risk of pregnancy loss. Very early pregnancy losses were not considered in this study, and whether survival bias influenced the results should be further explored.

Running on empty: a longitudinal global study of psychological well-being among runners during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES

There are indications that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound negative effect on psychological well-being. Here, we investigated this hypothesis using longitudinal data from a large global cohort of runners, providing unprecedented leverage for understanding how the temporal development in the pandemic pressure relates to well-being across countries.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study.

SETTING

Global.

PARTICIPANTS

We used data from the worldwide Garmin-RUNSAFE cohort that recruited runners with a Garmin Connect account, which is used for storing running activities tracked by a Garmin device. A total of 7808 Garmin Connect users from 86 countries participated.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

From 1 August 2019 (prepandemic) to 31 December 2020, participants completed surveys every second week that included the five-item WHO Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Pandemic pressure was proxied by the number of COVID-19-related deaths per country, retrieved from the Coronavirus Resource Centre at Johns Hopkins University. Panel data regression including individual- and time-fixed effects was used to study the association between country-level COVID-19-related deaths over the past 14 days and individual-level self-reported well-being over the past 14 days.

RESULTS

The 7808 participants completed a total of 125 409 WHO-5 records over the study period. We found a statistically significant inverse relationship between the number of COVID-19-related deaths and the level of psychological well-being-independent of running activity and running injuries (a reduction of 1.42 WHO-5 points per COVID-19-related death per 10 000 individuals, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on the psychological well-being of the affected populations, which is concerning from a global mental health perspective.

Graphene as an Adsorption Template for Studying Double Bond Activation in Catalysis

Hydrogenated graphene (H-Gr) is an extensively studied system not only because of its capabilities as a simplified model system for hydrocarbon chemistry but also because hydrogenation is a compelling method for Gr functionalization. However, knowledge of how H-Gr interacts with molecules at higher pressures and ambient conditions is lacking. Here we present experimental and theoretical evidence that room temperature O₂ exposure at millibar pressures leads to preferential removal of H dimers on H-functionalized graphene, leaving H clusters on the surface. Our density functional theory (DFT) analysis shows that the removal of H dimers is the result of water or hydrogen peroxide formation. For water formation, we show that the two H atoms in the dimer motif attack one end of the physisorbed O₂ molecule. Moreover, by comparing the reaction pathways in a vacuum with the ones on free-standing graphene and on the graphene/Ir(111) system, we find that the main role of graphene is to arrange the H atoms in geometrical positions, which facilitates the activation of the O=O double bond.

Head holder and cranial window design for sequential magnetic resonance imaging and optical imaging in awake mice

Medical imaging techniques are widely used in preclinical research as diagnostic tools to detect physiological abnormalities and assess the progression of neurovascular disease in animal models. Despite the wealth of imaging options in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), interpretation of imaging-derived parameters regarding underlying tissue properties is difficult due to technical limitations or lack of parameter specificity. To address the challenge of interpretation, we present an animal preparation protocol to achieve quantitative measures from both MRI and advanced optical techniques, including laser speckle contrast imaging and two-photon microscopy, in murine models. In this manner, non-translatable methods support and improve interpretation of less specific, translatable methods, i.e., MRI. Combining modalities for improved clinical interpretation involves satisfying the requirements of various methods. Furthermore, physiology unperturbed by anesthetics is a prerequisite for the strategy to succeed. Awake animal imaging with restraint provides an alternative to anesthesia and facilitates translatability of cerebral measurements. The method outlines design requirements for the setup and a corresponding reproducible surgical procedure for implanting a 3D printed head holder and cranial window to enable repeated multimodal imaging. We document the development, application, and validation of the method and provide examples confirming the usefulness of the design in acquiring high quality data from multiple modalities for quantification of a wide range of metrics of cerebral physiology in the same animal. The method contributes to preclinical small animal imaging, enabling sequential imaging of previously mutually exclusive techniques.

Exploring the epidemiology of disseminated intravascular coagulation: protocol for the DANish Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DANDIC) Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

Since disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) was first described, it has been considered a serious disease of the coagulation system and a major challenge to clinicians. Currently, several important knowledge gaps remain. The DANish Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DANDIC) Cohort Study will aim to answer questions regarding the incidence and mortality of patients with DIC including time trends. The study will also identify prognostic factors that may guide personalised prevention and treatment. Furthermore, the study will describe treatment patterns and the safety and effectiveness of various treatment modalities.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will establish the DANDIC Cohort using data collected in daily clinical practice from the Central Denmark Region, which covers approximately 1.3 million residents. The study period will encompass 1 January 2011 through 1 July 2021. Potential DIC cases will be identified from the hospital laboratory database, based on coagulation biomarkers, and diagnoses will be adjudicated by medical experts. The dataset will be enriched with detailed clinical data from electronic medical charts on aetiologies, bleeding, microthrombus formation, organ failure, thrombosis, treatments and comorbidities. The dataset will also take advantage of in-hospital data with longitudinal information on laboratory records, transfusions, microbiology and treatments. It will be possible to merge this dataset with other unique Danish health registries with more than 10 years of virtually complete follow-up. The project will use state-of-the-art epidemiological and biostatistical methods.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The project has been approved by the Danish Patient Safety Authority (31-1521-452), the Central Denmark Region (1-45-70-83-21), the Danish Data Protection Agency (1-16-02-258-21) and all the hospital chairs. Register-based studies require no ethical approval in Denmark. The results will be disseminated in international peer-reviewed journals.

Division of labor, specialization and diversity in the ancient Roman cities: A quantitative approach to Latin epigraphy

Recent empirical studies on the division of labor in modern cities indicate a complex web of relationships between sectoral specialization of cities and their productivity on one hand and sectoral diversification and resilience on the other. Emerging scholarly consensus suggests that ancient urbanism has more in common with modern urban development than previously thought. We explore whether modern trends in urban division of labor apply to the cities of the Western Roman Empire from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. We analyze occupational data extracted from a large body of Latin epigraphic evidence by computer-assisted text-mining, subsequently mapped onto a dataset of ancient Roman cities. We detect a higher frequency of occupation terms on inscriptions from cities led by Rome than from rural areas and identify an accumulation of tertiary sector occupations in large cities. The temporal dimension of epigraphic data allows us to study aspects of the division of labor diachronically and to detect trends in the data in a four centuries-long period of Roman imperial history. Our analyses reveal an overall decrease in the frequency of occupational terms between the first half and second half of the third century CE; the maximum frequency of occupational terms shifts over time from large cities to medium and small towns, and finally, rural areas. Our results regarding the specialization and diversity of cities and their respective impact on productivity and resilience remain inconclusive, possibly as a result of the socio-economic bias of Latin inscriptions and insufficient representativeness of the data. Yet, we believe that our formalized approach to the research problem opens up new avenues for research, both in respect to the economic history of the Roman Empire and to the current trends in the science of cities.

Greenland Ice Sheet Surfaces Colonized by Microbial Communities Emit Volatile Organic Compounds

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted by organisms for a range of physiological and ecological reasons. They play an important role in biosphere–atmosphere interactions and contribute to the formation of atmospheric secondary aerosols. The Greenland ice sheet is home to a variety of microbial communities, including highly abundant glacier ice algae, yet nothing is known about the VOCs emitted by glacial communities. For the first time, we present VOC emissions from supraglacial habitats colonized by active microbial communities on the southern Greenland ice sheet during July 2020. Emissions of C5–C30 compounds from bare ice, cryoconite holes, and red snow were collected using a push–pull chamber active sampling system. A total of 92 compounds were detected, yielding mean total VOC emission rates of 3.97 ± 0.70 μg m–2 h–1 from bare ice surfaces (n = 31), 1.63 ± 0.13 μg m–2 h–1 from cryoconite holes (n = 4), and 0.92 ± 0.08 μg m–2 h–1 from red snow (n = 2). No correlations were found between VOC emissions and ice surface algal counts, but a weak positive correlation (r = 0.43, p = 0.015, n = 31) between VOC emission rates from bare ice surfaces and incoming shortwave radiation was found. We propose that this may be due to the stress that high solar irradiance causes in bare ice microbial communities. Acetophenone, benzaldehyde, and phenylmaleic anhydride, all of which have reported antifungal activity, accounted for 51.1 ± 11.7% of emissions from bare ice surfaces, indicating a potential defense strategy against fungal infections. Greenland ice sheet microbial habitats are, hence, potential sources of VOCs that may play a role in supraglacial microbial interactions, as well as local atmospheric chemistry, and merit future research efforts.

Seed Moisture Isotherms, Sorption Models, and Longevity

Seed moisture sorption isotherms show the equilibrium relationship between water content and equilibrium relative humidity (eRH) when seeds are either losing water from a hydrated state (desorption isotherm) or gaining water from a dry state (adsorption isotherm). They have been used in food science to predict the stability of different products and to optimize drying and/or processing. Isotherms have also been applied to understand the physiological processes occurring in viable seeds and how sorption properties differ in relation to, for example, developmental maturity, degree of desiccation tolerance, or dormancy status. In this review, we describe how sorption isotherms can help us understand how the longevity of viable seeds depends upon how they are dried and the conditions under which they are stored. We describe different ways in which isotherms can be determined, how the data are modeled using various theoretical and non-theoretical equations, and how they can be interpreted in relation to storage stability.

Risk of atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma after initial diagnosis of non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia: A long-term follow-up study

OBJECTIVES

The strong association between atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma is well established, but data on the risk of atypical hyperplasia and carcinoma in Danish women with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia are almost non-existent. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma diagnosed within 3 months of initial diagnosis (defined as concurrent disease) and the risk of atypical hyperplasia and carcinoma more than 3 months after initial diagnosis (classified as progressive disease) in Danish women initially diagnosed with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia.

DESIGN

This cohort study recruited 102 women diagnosed with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia at Randers Regional Hospital in Randers, Denmark, between 2000 and 2015.

METHODS

The endometrium was evaluated by transvaginal ultrasound examination and office mini-hysteroscopy with biopsies in all non-hysterectomized women. Data regarding subsequent hysterectomy or endometrial sampling were obtained from medical records and the Danish Pathology Registry (Patobank).

RESULTS

A total of 15 women were diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia or carcinoma during follow-up. Concurrent atypical hyperplasia or carcinoma was seen in 2.9% (3/102), and among women who remained at risk for more than 3 months after initial diagnosis of non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia (n = 94), progression to atypical hyperplasia or carcinoma was seen in 13% (median follow-up 5.2 years, range 3.6 months to 15.1 years). Sixty-six percent of the women with progressive disease were diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia or carcinoma more than 1 year after initial diagnosis, but only two were diagnosed later than 5 years (5.2 and 9 years).

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of being diagnosed with atypical endometrial hyperplasia or endometrial carcinoma more than 5 years after an initial diagnosis of non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia seems to be low in Danish women. Specialized follow-up more than 5 years after diagnosis of non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia may not be warranted.

M-ficolin: a valuable biomarker to identify leukaemia from juvenile idiopathic arthritis

OBJECTIVE

Distinction on clinical grounds between acute lymphoblastic leukaemia presenting with arthropathy (ALLarthropathy) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is difficult, as the clinical and paraclinical signs of leukaemia may be vague. The primary aim was to examine the use of lectin complement pathway proteins as markers to differentiate ALLarthropathy from JIA. The secondary aims were to compare the protein levels at baseline and follow-up in a paired number of children with ALL and to examine the correlation with haematology counts, erythrocyte sedimentation reaction (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), blasts, relapse and death.

STUDY DESIGN

In this observational study, we measured M-ficolin, CL-K1 and MASP-3 in serum from children with ALL (n=151) and JIA (n=238) by time-resolved immunofluorometric assays. Logistic regression was used for predictions of ALL risk, considering the markers as the respective exposures. We performed internal validation using repeated '10-fold cross-validation' with 100 repetitions computing the area under the curve (AUC) as well as positive and negative predictive values in order to evaluate the predictive performance.

RESULTS

The level of M-ficolin was higher in JIA than ALLtotal and the ALLarthropathy subgroup. The M-ficolin level normalised after remission of ALL. M-ficolin could differentiate ALL from JIA with an AUC of 94% and positive predictive value (PPV) of 95%, exceeding CRP and haemoglobin. In a dichotomised predictive model with optimal cut-offs for M-ficolin, platelets and haemoglobin, AUC was 99% and PPV 98% in detecting ALL from JIA.

CONCLUSION

M-ficolin is a valuable marker to differentiate the child with ALL from JIA.

Water Chemistry beneath Graphene: Condensation of a Dense OH-H2O Phase under Graphene

Room temperature oxygen hydrogenation below graphene flakes supported by Ir(111) is investigated through a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory calculations using an evolutionary search algorithm. We demonstrate how the graphene cover and its doping level can be used to trap and characterize dense mixed O-OH-H₂O phases that otherwise would not exist. Our study of these graphene-stabilized phases and their response to oxygen or hydrogen exposure reveals that additional oxygen can be dissolved into them at room temperature creating mixed O-OH-H₂O phases with an increased areal coverage underneath graphene. In contrast, additional hydrogen exposure converts the mixed O-OH-H₂O phases back to pure OH-H₂O with a reduced areal coverage underneath graphene.

Optimizing a Behavioral Sleep Intervention for Gynecologic Cancer Survivors: Study Design and Protocol

Sleep difficulties, particularly symptoms of insomnia and circadian disruption, are among the primary complaints of gynecologic cancer survivors before, during, and after treatment. Moreover, difficulty sleeping has been linked to poorer health-related quality of life and elevated symptom burden in this population. Although leading behavioral sleep interventions have demonstrated efficacy among cancer survivors, up to 50% of survivors are non-adherent to these treatments, likely because these interventions require labor-intensive behavior and lifestyle changes. Therefore, there is a need for more effective and acceptable approaches to diminish sleep disturbance among cancer survivors. This manuscript describes the methodology of a two-part study guided by the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) framework to identify a streamlined behavioral sleep intervention for gynecologic cancer survivors. Three candidate intervention components previously shown to decrease sleep disturbance will be evaluated, including sleep restriction, stimulus control, and systematic bright light exposure. Participants will be adult women with a history of non-metastatic gynecologic cancer who have completed primary treatment and who report current poor sleep quality. Fifteen participants will be recruited for Part 1 of the study, which will utilize qualitative methods to identify barriers to and facilitators of intervention adherence. Results will inform changes to the delivery of the candidate intervention components to promote adherence in Part 2, where 80 participants will be recruited and randomized to one of eight conditions reflecting every possible combination of the three candidate intervention components in a full factorial design. Participants will complete assessments at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-months post-intervention. Part 2 results will identify the combination of candidate intervention components that yields the most efficacious yet efficient 6-week intervention for diminishing sleep disturbance. This is the first known study to apply the MOST framework to optimize a behavioral sleep intervention and will yield a resource-efficient treatment to diminish sleep disturbance, improve health-related quality of life, and decrease symptom burden among gynecologic cancer survivors. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05044975.

Short-Term Supplementation With Fermented Red Clover Extract Reduces Vascular Inflammation in Early Post-menopausal Women

The decline in estrogen at menopause poses a critical challenge to cardiovascular and metabolic health. Recently, a growing interest in the role of phytoestrogens, with a particular focus on isoflavones, has emerged as they can bind to estrogen receptors and may mimic the roles of endogenous estrogen. Fermented red clover extract (RC) contains isoflavones with superior bioavailability compared to non-fermented isoflavones, however little is known regarding the impact of isoflavones on cardiovascular and metabolic health. We assessed markers of vascular health in plasma and skeletal muscle samples obtained from healthy but sedentary early post-menopausal women (n = 10; 54 ± 4 years) following 2 weeks of twice daily treatment with placebo (PLA) or RC (60 mg isoflavones per day). The two interventions were administered using a randomized, double-blind, crossover design with a two-week washout period. Plasma samples were utilized for assessment of markers of vascular inflammation. There was a statistically significant reduction (~5.4%) in vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) following 2 weeks of RC supplementation compared to PLA (p = 0.03). In contrast, there was no effect of RC supplementation compared to PLA on skeletal muscle estrogen receptor content and enzymes related to vascular function, and angiogenesis. Supplementation with RC reduces vascular inflammation in early post-menopausal women and future studies should address the long-term impact of daily supplementation with RC after menopause.

A Vasopressin-Induced Change in Prostaglandin Receptor Subtype Expression Explains the Differential Effect of PGE2 on AQP2 Expression

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) stimulates the concentration of renal urine by increasing the principal cell expression of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channels. Prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) and prostaglandin_2α (PGF_2α) increase the water absorption of the principal cell without AVP, but PGE₂ decreases it in the presence of AVP. The underlying mechanism of this paradoxical response was investigated here. Mouse cortical collecting duct (mkpCCD_c14) cells mimic principal cells as they endogenously express AQP2 in response to AVP. PGE₂ increased AQP2 abundance without desmopressin (dDAVP), while in the presence of dDAVP, PGE₂, and PGF_2α reduced AQP2 abundance. dDAVP increased the cellular PGD₂ and PGE₂ release and decreased the PGF_2α release. MpkCCD cells expressed mRNAs for the receptors of PGE₂ (EP1/EP4), PGF₂ (FP), and TxB₂ (TP). Incubation with dDAVP increased the expression of EP1 and FP but decreased the expression of EP4. In the absence of dDAVP, incubation of mpkCCD cells with an EP4, but not EP1/3, agonist increased AQP2 abundance, and the PGE₂-induced increase in AQP2 was blocked with an EP4 antagonist. Moreover, in the presence of dDAVP, an EP1/3, but not EP4, agonist decreased the AQP2 abundance, and the addition of EP1 antagonists prevented the PGE₂-mediated downregulation of AQP2. Our study shows that in mpkCCD_c14 cells, reduced EP4 receptor and increased EP1/FP receptor expression by dDAVP explains the differential effects of PGE₂ and PGF_2α on AQP2 abundance with or without dDAVP. As the V2R and EP4 receptor, but not the EP1 and FP receptor, can couple to Gs and stimulate the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway, our data support a view that cells can desensitize themselves for receptors activating the same pathway and sensitize themselves for receptors of alternative pathways.

It's not who you lose, it's who you are: Identity and symptom trajectory in prolonged grief

The death of a loved one has been associated with a range of emotional and cognitive impacts, with up to 10% of the bereaved population experiencing a prolonged grief reaction. Direct investigation of the role of self-identity in the maintenance of grief symptoms is limited and has not discriminated between relationship type. This longitudinal study investigated the differences in grief symptoms over time depending on relationship to the deceased person (partner or adult child), as well as the association between long-term grief symptoms and identity, attachment, and cognitive interdependence. Data from bereaved partners and adult children in The Aarhus Bereavement Study at two- and 18-months post-bereavement were included in this study. They completed questionnaires measuring their grief symptoms at both time points, a measure of attachment at Time 1, and measures of the interdependence of their pre- and post-loss identity with the deceased, their cognitive interdependence, and everyday memory retrieval failures at Time 4. Compared with adult children, bereaved partners experienced more intense grief symptoms at both time points. Regression analysis identified that over and above immediate grief symptoms, key predictors of prolonged grief symptoms were a merged post-bereavement identity with the deceased, younger age, and everyday memory retrieval difficulties. Relationship type and pre-bereavement identity contributed to initial but not prolonged grief symptoms. We discuss these findings in terms of the role of interdependence in prolonged grief.

Low physical activity is associated with impaired endothelial function in patients with type 2 diabetes and controls after 5 years of follow-up

BACKGROUND

The long-term association between physical activity and endothelial function has not previously been investigated in patients with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between physical activity and endothelial function, assessed by peripheral arterial tonometry, in patients with type 2 diabetes and non-diabetic controls after 5 years of follow-up.

METHODS

We included 51 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 53 sex- and age matched controls. Participants underwent baseline clinical characterization including objective measurement of physical activity level using accelerometery. After 5 years of follow-up, participants were re-examined, and endothelial function was assessed as natural logarithm of reactive hyperemia index (lnRHI).

RESULTS

Physical activity at baseline was associated with lnRHI after 5 years of follow-up in both patients with type 2 diabetes and controls. An increase of 1 standard deviation (SD) in daytime physical activity corresponded to a 6.7 % increase in RHI (95 % confidence interval: 1.1;12.5 %, p = 0.02). We found no difference in lnRHI between patients with diabetes and controls (0.67 ± 0.29 vs. 0.73 ± 0.31, p = 0.28).

CONCLUSIONS

Daytime physical activity is associated with endothelial function after 5 years of follow-up in patients with type 2 diabetes and controls.

Precision and accuracy of FEV1 measurements from the Vitalograph copd-6 mini-spirometer in a healthy Ugandan population

Objective

Evaluate the accuracy and precision of the copd-6 mini-spirometer for FEV₁ in a rural Ugandan population.

Methods

In a cross-sectional study, 171 smallholder farmers performed spirometry with copd-6, and a diagnostic-quality spirometer.

Results and discussion

The copd-6 underestimated FEV₁ at low flows and overestimated FEV₁ at high flows. Across all participants, the device slightly overestimated FEV₁ by 0.04 [0.02; 0.06] L. Calibration data showed similar patterns.

Conclusion

The copd-6 could be considered as an affordable tool for research on lung function impairment in resource-constrained settings. However, further validation in a study population with obstructive lung disease is needed.

Periphery and brain, innate and adaptive immunity in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder where alpha-synuclein plays a central role in the death and dysfunction of neurons, both, in central, as well as in the peripheral nervous system. Besides the neuronal events observed in patients, PD also includes a significant immune component. It is suggested that the PD-associated immune response will have consequences on neuronal health, thus opening immunomodulation as a potential therapeutic strategy in PD. The immune changes during the disease occur in the brain, involving microglia, but also in the periphery with changes in cells of the innate immune system, particularly monocytes, as well as those of adaptive immunity, such as T-cells. This realization arises from multiple patient studies, but also from data in animal models of the disease, providing strong evidence for innate and adaptive immune system crosstalk in the central nervous system and periphery in PD. Here we review the data showing that alpha-synuclein plays a crucial role in the activation of the innate and adaptive immune system. We will also describe the studies suggesting that inflammation in PD includes early changes in innate and adaptive immune cells that develop dynamically through time during disease, contributing to neuronal degeneration and symptomatology in patients. This novel finding has contributed to the definition of PD as a multisystem disease that should be approached in a more integratory manner rather than a brain-focused classical approach.

Articulatory motor planning and timbral idiosyncrasies as underlying mechanisms of instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert musicians

The study of musical expertise illustrates how intense training in a specialized domain may instigate development of implicit skills. While absolute pitch, or the ability to identify musical pitches without external reference, is rare even in professional musicians and is understood to have a genetic component, anecdotal evidence and pilot data suggest that some musicians without traditional absolute pitch are nonetheless better able to name notes played on their musical instrument of expertise than notes played on less familiar instruments. We have previously termed this particular gain in absolute pitch identification ability “instrument-specific absolute pitch” (ISAP) and have proposed that this skill is related to learned instrument type-specific timbral and intonational idiosyncrasies and articulatory motor planning activated by the timbre of the instrument. In this Registered Report Protocol, we describe two experiments designed to investigate ISAP in professional oboists. Experiment 1 tests for ISAP ability by comparing oboists’ pitch identification accuracies for notes played on the oboe and on the piano. A subset of the participants from Experiment 1 who demonstrate this ability will be recruited for Experiment 2; the purpose of Experiment 2 is to test hypotheses concerning a mechanistic explanation for ISAP. The outcome of these experiments may provide support for the theory that some individuals have ISAP and that the underlying mechanisms of this ability may rely on the perception of subtle timbral/intonational idiosyncrasies and on articulatory motor planning developed through intensive long-term training. In general, this work will contribute to the understanding of specialized expertise, specifically of implicit abilities and biases that are not addressed directly in training, but that may yet develop through practice of a related skill set.

Organophosphate and carbamate insecticide exposure is related to lung function change among smallholder farmers: a prospective study

INTRODUCTION AND AIM

Exposure to some insecticides may cause airway obstruction, but existing evidence is limited by cross-sectional designs and inadequate confounder control. We investigated the relation between organophosphate and carbamate insecticides and pulmonary function in a prospective study accounting for important confounders.

METHODS

In a cohort of 364 smallholder farmers in Uganda (69% women), participants underwent pre-bronchodilator spirometry at baseline (September/October 2018) and at two follow-up visits (November/December 2018 and January/February 2019). Exposure to carbamate and organophosphate insecticides was assessed using haemoglobin-adjusted erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE/Hb). Less than 3% of participants were lost to follow-up. We calculated Z-scores for FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC using the Global Lung Function Initiative equations. Data were analysed in linear mixed and fixed effect models accounting for family relationships and repeated measures of exposure and outcome.

RESULTS

Low AChE/Hb was significantly associated with low FEV1 Z-score in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Compared with individuals with AChE/Hb 25.90 U/g (50th percentile, reference), those with lower AChE/Hb 24.50 U/g (35th percentile) had mean FEV1 Z-score 0.045 (0.003 to 0.087) lower, and persons with higher AChE/Hb 27.30 U/g (65th percentile) had a mean FEV1 Z-score 0.043 (-0.002 to 0.087) higher compared with the reference. Similar, but numerically smaller and statistically non-significant effects were seen for Z-scores of FVC and FEV1/FVC.

CONCLUSION

Exposure to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides may lead to lung function decline. Our results add to the growing evidence of health effects in relation to exposure to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, underlining the importance of minimising exposure.

HemoDownloader: Open source software utility to extract data from HemoCue HbA1c 501 devices in epidemiological studies of diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a serious disease with increasing global prevalence. Point-of-care analysis of glycated hemoglobin A (HbA_1c) holds promise as a diagnostic test for diabetes mellitus in epidemiological studies in challenging environments with limited access to centralized biochemical labs. The HemoCue HbA1c 501 device can be used for point-of-care determination of HbA_1c, but its usability in epidemiological studies is limited by its inability to export results in digital format. We have developed the open source HemoDownloader software to overcome this limitation of the device. HemoDownloader has an easy-to-use graphical user interface and can export data from HemoCue HbA1c 501 to standard spreadsheet file formats. The program has the potential to improve data collection and management in epidemiological studies of diabetes mellitus.

circZNF827 nucleates a transcription inhibitory complex to balance neuronal differentiation

Circular RNAs are important for many cellular processes but their mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. Here, we map circRNA inventories of mouse embryonic stem cells, neuronal progenitor cells and differentiated neurons and identify hundreds of highly expressed circRNAs. By screening several candidate circRNAs for a potential function in neuronal differentiation, we find that circZNF827 represses expression of key neuronal markers, suggesting that this molecule negatively regulates neuronal differentiation. Among 760 tested genes linked to known neuronal pathways, knockdown of circZNF827 deregulates expression of numerous genes including nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR), which becomes transcriptionally upregulated to enhance NGF signaling. We identify a circZNF827-nucleated transcription-repressive complex containing hnRNP-K/L proteins and show that knockdown of these factors strongly augments NGFR regulation. Finally, we show that the ZNF827 protein is part of the mRNP complex, suggesting a functional co-evolution of a circRNA and the protein encoded by its linear pre-mRNA host.