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Purpose: Radiation therapy (RT) causes tissue damage and inflammation. Because cytokines play a key role in such processes, their expression levels can be an indicator of cell and tissue toxicity. This critical review aims to explore whether levels of circulating inflammatory biomarkers in peripheral blood are associated with proton- or photon-based therapy in the pelvic area and how these levels
BACKGROUND: Local resection of early rectal cancer (RC) is a desirable treatment option compared with surgery, offering reduced morbidity, mortality, health care costs and avoidance of stoma. However, local resection is restricted to cases without suspicion of lymph node metastases (LNM). Current methods to diagnose LNM and risk estimations based on histopathology cannot reliably identify patients
We assessed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk associated with smoking and alcohol consumption and their interactions, using both questionnaire data and objective serum biomarkers. Information on smoking and alcohol consumption was collected at baseline from 450,112 participants of the EPIC cohort, among whom 255 developed HCC after a median follow-up of 14 years. In a nested case–control subset
The major challenges faced by confectionery supply chain are lack of information, traceability, managing the ownership of goods across supply chains, inability to track vendors in real-time. Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) in Industry 4.0 era help organisations to overcome these challenges by guaranteeing authentic information, real-time visibility, and transparency across the supply chain
UNLABELLED: Herein we present a system to obtain fibers from clickable elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) that crosslink in situ during the electrospinning process itself, with no need for any further treatment to stabilize them. These ELR-click fibers are completely stable under in vitro conditions. A wrinkled fiber morphology is obtained. In addition to a random fiber orientation, oriented fibers
BACKGROUND: Accurate risk stratification in older adults presenting to the emergency department (ED) is essential but challenging due to atypical presentations and age-related physiological changes. While vital signs are central to triage, their predictive value for short-term mortality in this population remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the association between initial vital signs and
Large language models can transform individuals’ mental health descriptions into scores that correlate with rating scales approaching theoretical upper limits. However, such analyses have combined word- and text responses with little known about their differences. We develop response formats ranging from closed-ended to open-ended: (a) select words from lists, write (b) descriptive words, (c) phra
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Treatment of cancer with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) entails a risk of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Data on the treatment of immune-related enterocolitis (irEC) in patients with inadequate symptom control after treatment with standard therapy including corticosteroids, infliximab, and vedolizumab are scarce. Based on limited data, recommendations include t
BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) clearance via the olfactory pathway is well-documented in animal models. However, results from in vivo human studies appear inconsistent. Studies using intrathecal (IT) Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA) enhanced MRI showed minimal tracer pass-through from intracranial to extracranial olfactory regions such as the nasal mucosa. Conversely, human imaging s
Background: Opioid use disorder is a chronic disorder with a high risk of overdose-related morbidity and mortality where a large proportion of these can be averted by timely administration of the antidote naloxone. For naloxone to be present when and where overdoses occur, broad-scale overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) must be established. A regional naloxone program was implement
BACKGROUND: Prior research has established a positive association between the single-measured triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and hypertension. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies addressing the enduring impact of TyG index on incident hypertension are lacking. This study sought to explore the association between cumulative TyG index (cum-TyG) and incident hypertension, especially obesity-related
AIMS: Metformin has hitherto not been proven superior to other type 2 diabetes (T2D) medications for the prevention of organ complications. The aim of this study is to report baseline data and blinded interim analyses in the register-based randomised clinical trial (RRCT) SMARTEST, which compares metformin and the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin in early T2D. We also present learnings from the novel
BACKGROUND: Differences in cardiac sarcoidosis between racial groups remain understudied. Therefore, this study aims to explore race differences in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Cardiac Sarcoidosis Consortium, an international registry including over 25 centers. The primary clinical outcome was a composite end point of all-cause mortality, left ventricular a
Objective: Evaluate the impact of adrenalectomy on metabolic parameters and quality of life (QoL) in patients with mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS). Method: A multicenter prospective randomized clinical trial compared adrenalectomy with conservative management. Metabolic parameters and QoL were assessed at baseline and after 2 years. Results: Forty-three MACS patients with a single adrena
A combination of searches for the single production of vectorlike top quarks ((Formula presented)) is presented. These analyses are based on proton-proton collisions at (Formula presented) recorded in 2015-2018 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of (Formula presented). The (Formula presented) decay modes considered in this combination ar
Background: Inadequate health literacy increases medical costs and leads to poor health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence of such associations in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates how the household cost of malaria in children under five in Ghana varies based on different levels of health literacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving 1270 caregivers of ch
Background: Hearing loss is estimated to affect more than 20% of the global population. Hearing aid fitting is a common intervention in audiological rehabilitation; however, there are still those who struggle with remaining communication difficulties that require additional intervention. The group rehabilitation program Active Communication Education (ACE) has been shown to be an effective alterna
Background: People with intellectual disabilities experience significant health inequities. Digital interventions for health promotion are rarely designed from their specific needs. This study aimed to uncover core qualities of digital interventions for health promotion by exploring factors influencing health behaviours amongst people with intellectual disabilities. Methods: This study was conduct
BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that artificial intelligence (AI) can improve mammography screening by increasing cancer detection and reducing screen reading workload, but its effect on interval cancers (primary breast cancers diagnosed between two screening rounds or within 2 years after the last scheduled screening that were not detected at screening) is unknown. We aimed to compare the interval
