Bladder exstrophy is a rare congenital malformation leaving the urinary bladder open in the midline of the abdomen at birth. There is a clear genetic background with chromosome aberrations, but so far, no consistent findings apart from 22q11-duplications detected in about 2%–3% of all patients. Some genes are implicated like the LZTR1, ISL1, CELSR3, and the WNT3 genes, but most are not explained m

Materials displaying metal-insulator transitions (MITs) as a function of external parameters such as temperature, pressure, or composition are most intriguing from the fundamental point of view and also hold high promise for applications. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is one of the most prominent examples of MIT having prospective applications ranging from intelligent coatings, infrared sensing, or imagi

Opportunities and barriers for occupational engagement among residents in supported housing. Background: Research shows that people with psychiatric disabilities view supported housing (SH) as a possibility for social contact, but also as entailing a risk of deprived self-determination. There is, however, little research on the target group’s engagement in everyday occupations. Aim: To explore SH

The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) represents the greatest increase in marine animal biodiversity ever recorded. What caused this transformation is heavily debated. One hypothesis states that rising atmospheric oxygen levels drove the biodiversification based on the premise that animals require oxygen for their metabolism. Here, we present uranium isotope data from a Middle Ordov

Faster bacterial biomass turnover is expected in water compared to soil, which would result in more rapid community adaption to changing environmental conditions, including temperature. Bacterial community adaptation for growth is therefore predicted to have larger seasonal amplitudes in lakes than in soil. To test this prediction, we compared the seasonal variation in temperature adaptation of ba

Last June, the stem cell community came together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), one of the leading organizations in the field. The hybrid event mixed a varied program filled with plenary talks, concurrent track sessions, poster presentations, exhibit booths, and plenty of opportunities to enhance stem cell research through bonding bet

Budding off from the broader developmental biology and stem cell research fields, cellular reprogramming is now established as a prominent discipline in its own right. Direct cell reprogramming is defined as the cell fate conversion of a somatic cell toward another identity without a pluripotent intermediate state. In addition to the opportunity for mechanistic dissection of lineage commitment in

Background:Growing evidence suggests that individuals with transfemoral amputation or knee disarticulation using a prosthesis equipped with a microprocessor-controlled knee (MPK) benefit from enhanced mobility and safety, including less falls. In elderly individuals, high mortality rates are assumed to reduce the expected useful life of MPKs, and this raises concerns regarding their economic effec

The European Academy of Andrology (EAA) celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022. An important part of the Academy's history is its scientific publishing activity, which started with the International Journal of Andrology (Int J Androl), and continued with Andrology, the journal created and overseen jointly by the EAA and the American Society of Andrology (ASA). The year 2022 marks the first decade

Background: Harmful glucose exposure and absorption remain major limitations of peritoneal dialysis. We previously showed that inhibition of sodium glucose cotransporter 2 did not affect glucose transport during peritoneal dialysis in rats. However, more recently we found that phlorizin, a dual blocker of sodium glucose co-transporter 1 and 2, reduces glucose diffusion in peritoneal dialysis. Ther

BACKGROUND: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is useful for selected clinical indications in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) but it may have broader clinical utility owing to the emergence of lutetium-177-PSMA-617 ([177Lu]Lu-PSMA) therapy. However, robust data regarding the impact of PSMA PET/CT on patient management and treat

OBJECTIVE: To investigate to what extent individuals participated in guideline-based first-line treatments before being assigned to a wait list for knee replacement for osteoarthritis (OA), and to what extent they were recommended such treatments once on the list. Factors associated with participation in first-line management were also investigated.DESIGN: All patients on the waiting list ≥ three

The output of a 200 kHz, 34 W, 300 fs ytterbium amplifier is compressed to 31 fs with >88% efficiency to reach a peak power of 2.5 GW, which to date is a record for a single-stage bulk multi-pass cell. Despite operation 80 times above the critical power for self-focusing in bulk material, the setup demonstrates excellent preservation of the input beam quality. Extensive beam and pulse characteriza

The aim of this pilot study was to preliminary test the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Measure of Parasocial Relationships (MMPR), a self-report that assess people's attitude (affect, cognition, and behavior) towards social media figures and to what extent people perceive that media figures influence their daily life decisions (e.g., consumption, exercise, nutrition). In short, th

BACKGROUND: Concerns remain about the human reproductive toxicity of the widespread per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during early stages of development. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations between maternal plasma PFAS levels during early pregnancy and male offspring reproductive function in adulthood. METHODS: The study included 864 young men (age range:18.9-21.2 y) from the Fetal Progr

Knowledge about stroke and its management is growing rapidly and stroke systems of care must adapt to deliver evidence-based care. Quality improvement initiatives are essential for translating knowledge from clinical trials and recommendations in guidelines into routine clinical practice. This review focuses on issues central to the measurement of the quality of stroke care, including selection an

The structural and morphological properties of gadolinium oxide (Gd 2O 3) grown at high temperatures with molecular beam epitaxy on Si(001) were investigated for different stages of growth. The Gd 2O 3 layers were grown at 850 °C with different oxygen partial pressures and substrate miscuts. RHEED and XRD investigations indicate an initial formation of silicide and a subsequent transformation into

Microgravity-induced bone loss is a major concern for space travelers. Ground-based microgravity simulators are crucial to study the effect of microgravity exposure on biological systems and to address the limitations posed by restricted access to real space. In this work, for the first time, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach to characterize the morphological, biochemical, and molecular change

The thermal stability of monoclinic Gd2O3 grown on Si(001) as well as changes of the interfacial layer formed during the growth are investigated during rapid thermal annealing in nitrogen atmosphere between 600 °C and 1000 °C using x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The monoclinic Gd2O3 layer was grown at 400 °C and oxygen partial pressure of 5 × 10−7 mbar. The Gd2O3 lay

Examples of Fell algebras with compact spectrum and trivial Dixmier-Douady invariant are constructed to illustrate differences with the case of continuous-trace C∗-algebras. At the level of the spectrum, this translates to only assuming the spectrum is locally Hausdorff (rather than Hausdorff). The existence of (full) projections is the fundamental question considered. The class of Fell algebras s