Multimessenger Detection of Black Hole Binaries in Dark Matter Spikes.

We investigate the inspiral of a high mass-ratio black hole binary located in the nucleus of a galaxy, where the primary central black hole is surrounded by a dense dark matter spike formed through accretion during the black hole growth phase. Within this spike, dark matter undergoes strong self-annihilation, producing a compact source of γ-ray radiation that is highly sensitive to spike density, while the binary emits gravitational waves at frequencies detectable by LISA. As the inspiraling binary interacts with the surrounding dark matter particles, it alters the density of the spike, thereby influencing the γ-ray flux from dark matter annihilation.

Small Interfering RNA Therapy Targeting the Long Noncoding RNA SMILR for Therapeutic Intervention in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Failure.

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery remains the gold standard of care to prevent myocardial ischemia in patients with advanced atherosclerosis; however, poor long-term graft patency remains a considerable and long-standing problem. Excessive vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation in the grafted tissue is recognized as central to late CABG failure. We previously identified SMILR, a human-specific SMC-enriched long noncoding RNA that drives SMC proliferation, suggesting that targeting SMILR expression could be a novel way to prevent neointima formation, and thus CABG failure.

Emotional and behavioural difficulties in gender minority compared to cisgender adolescents: identity specific findings from a contemporary national study.

Background: Gender minority adolescents are more likely to report emotional and behavioural difficulties compared to their cisgender peers. However, little is known about these experiences for adolescents with specific gender minority identities.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were obtained from the 2021/22 Student Health and Well-being survey, a national survey of 11-16-year-olds in Wales, UK.

Delineation of the post-operative primary tumour and nodal clinical target volumes in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma: European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) clinical guidelines.

Background And Purpose: To date, no consensus guidelines have been published that systematically guide delineation of primary and nodal Clinical Target Volumes (CTVs) in patients who require post-operative radiotherapy (PORT) for mucosal Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). As a result, significant individual, institutional and national variation exists in the way that CTVs are delineated in the post-operative setting, leading to considerable heterogeneity in radiotherapy treatment.

Methods: A multi-disciplinary group of experts convened by the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) set-out principles for the multi-disciplinary management of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC).

Surface-Driven Electron Localization and Defect Heterogeneity in Ceria.

The exceptional performance of ceria (CeO) in catalysis and energy conversion is fundamentally governed by its defect chemistry, particularly oxygen vacancies. The formation of each oxygen vacancy (V) is assumed to be compensated by two localized electrons on cations (Ce). Here, we show by combining theory with experiment that while this 1 V: 2Ce ratio accounts for the global charge compensation, it does not apply at the local scale, particularly in nanoparticles.

Formal and informal mental health support in young adults with recurrently depressed parents.

Background: A family history of mental illness, particularly parental depression, is a risk factor for mental health difficulties in young people, with this heightened risk extending into adulthood. Evidence suggests low rates of formal mental health support in children/adolescents with depressed parents, but it is unknown whether this pattern persists into adulthood and applies to informal support.

Aims: We examined the prevalence of formal and informal mental health support accessed by young adults with recurrently depressed parents.

Word length vs. lexical factors: Re-examining what causes the word-length effect in serial recognition.

The word-length effect refers to the finding that memory on many short-term/working memory tasks is better for words with fewer syllables than words with more syllables. The standard account attributes this result to a combination of decay offset by rehearsal: More short words can be rehearsed because they take less time to articulate. However, most studies have confounded length with lexical and other long-term memory factors that covary with length.

Variation in costs to complete surgical training: a cross-sectional observation analysis.

Introduction: Surgical training is expensive. The aim of this study was to quantify the costs surgical trainees are expected to pay related to the ten surgical specialties in a single Statutory Education Body (SEB).

Methods: Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) and Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) certification requirements including mandatory and highly recommended courses, related to specialty, along with professional registration and examination fees were estimated.

Associations between psychotic experience dimensions and polygenic liability to schizophrenia in a longitudinal birth cohort.

Background: Some psychotic experiences in the general population show associations with higher schizophrenia and other mental health-related polygenic risk scores (PRSs), but studies have not usually included interviewer-rated positive, negative and disorganised dimensions, which show distinct associations in clinical samples.

Aims: To investigate associations of these psychotic experience dimensions primarily with schizophrenia PRS and, secondarily, with other relevant PRSs.

Method: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort participants were assessed for positive, negative and disorganised psychotic experience dimensions from interviews, and for self-rated negative symptoms, at 24 years of age.

A Novel Approach for Quantifying the Carbon Footprint of Different Medical Education Teaching Modalities in an NHS Hospital Trust.

Introduction: Climate health is gaining prominence in medical curricula worldwide, with academic and healthcare institutions setting targets to reach carbon net zero. However, the integration of evidence-based strategies to reduce carbon footprint in medical education is constrained by a scarcity of research. This research study uses a novel approach to quantifying the carbon footprint of three teaching modalities within an undergraduate medical curriculum.

Pridopidine in early-stage manifest Huntington's disease: a phase 3 trial.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare, neurodegenerative disorder for which only symptomatic treatments are available. The PROOF-HD study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of pridopidine, a selective Sigma-1 receptor agonist, in HD. The primary and key secondary endpoints, change in total functional capacity (TFC) and composite Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (cUHDRS) score at week 65, were not met in the overall population.

Acute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents.

Social connection, a basic human need, is vital during adolescence. How a lack of connection impacts adolescent behaviour is unclear. To address this question, we employed experimental short-term isolation with and without access to virtual social interactions (iso total; iso with media; order counterbalanced, both compared to a separate baseline session).

What makes the human brain special - from cellular function to clinical translation.

What makes the human brain special? Human neurons, glia cells, and cortical circuits have been shown to be significantly different from those of other species, including mammals. This has led to a massive effort by the neuroscience community to directly study these differences in a multimodal approach. The studies conducted include single-cell and network recordings of human tissue samples, single-cell transcriptomics, and morphological analysis of the distinct cells to better understand the underlying differences from the cellular to the systems level.

Association between FDG- and TSPO-PET signals across human and animal studies investigating neurodegenerative conditions: a systematic review.

Background: Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET hypometabolism is considered a biomarker of neurodegeneration. However, recent evidence revealed that glial cells contribute to the FDG-PET signal. In this context, microglial changes have been evaluated with 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO)-PET radiopharmaceuticals.

Towards a trait-based framework for protist ecology and evolution.

Protists comprise the vast majority of eukaryotic genetic and functional diversity. While they have traditionally been difficult to study due to their small size and varied phenotypes, environmental sequencing studies have revealed the stunning diversity and abundance of protists in all ecosystems. Protists are key primary and secondary producers across many biomes, with ecological specializations that range from mutualism to parasitism, complex predation behaviors, mixotrophy, detritivory, and saprotrophy.

Optimising Cardiac Diffusion Tensor Imaging In Vivo: More Directions or Repetitions?

Background: Cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (cDTI) is sensitive to imaging parameters including the number of unique diffusion encoding directions (ND) and number of repetitions (NR; analogous to number of signal averages or NSA). However, there is no clear guidance for optimising these parameters in the clinical setting.

Methods: Spin echo cDTI data with 2 order motion compensated diffusion encoding gradients were acquired in ten healthy volunteers on a 3T MRI scanner with different diffusion encoding schemes in pseudo-randomised order.

"The grief exists in a bubble that the rest of the world doesn't see": Exploring biographical disruption and meaning-making amongst people bereaved during the Covid-19 pandemic.

People bereaved during the Covid-19 pandemic experienced profoundly altered death, mourning and grieving practices. Worsened grief outcomes have been widely reported but less is known about how people coped during these unprecedented times. Using reflexive thematic analysis critically informed by theories of biographical disruption and meaning-making, we analysed 39 interview transcripts from 24 people bereaved during the pandemic in the UK.

Improving cosmological reach of a gravitational wave observatory using Deep Loop Shaping.

Improved low-frequency sensitivity of gravitational wave observatories would unlock study of intermediate-mass black hole mergers and binary black hole eccentricity and provide early warnings for multimessenger observations of binary neutron star mergers. Today's mirror stabilization control injects harmful noise, constituting a major obstacle to sensitivity improvements. We eliminated this noise through Deep Loop Shaping, a reinforcement learning method using frequency domain rewards.

12/15-lipoxygenase orchestrates murine wound healing via PPARγ-activating oxylipins acting holistically to dampen inflammation.

12/15-lipoxygenase (12/15-LOX, ) generates bioactive oxygenated lipids during inflammation, however its homeostatic role(s) in normal healing are unclear. Here, the role of 12/15-LOX in resolving skin wounds was elucidated, focusing on how its lipids act together in physiologically relevant amounts. In mice, wounding caused acute appearance of 12/15-LOX-expressing macrophages and stem cells, coupled to early generation of ~12 monohydroxy-oxylipins and enzymatically oxidized phospholipids (eoxPL).

The invite study: incisional hernia prevention: prophylactic mesh from the patient's perspective.

Purpose: Mesh-augmented abdominal wall closure (Mesh prophylaxis) reduces incisional hernia rates in high-risk patients. In spite of a large body of evidence supporting its efficacy and safety, use of mesh prophylaxis is low in the US and UK, possibly due to negative perceptions of surgical mesh. This study aimed to assess the acceptability of mesh to patients and determine factors that influence acceptability.

Uncovering the impact of the cardiovascular system on cerebrovascular health using MRI.

Human cerebrovasculature is finely tuned to enable local changes in blood flow to meet the brain's demands, whilst protecting the brain from systemic changes in blood pressure, both acutely during a heartbeat and chronically over time. This review summarises cerebrovascular structure and function, their role in disease and neurodegeneration and the part MRI measurements can play in probing them. MRI methods to measure various aspects of cerebrovascular physiology are described and placed in context of applications studying cerebrovascular health.

Polymorph-Induced Reducibility and Electron Trapping Energetics of Nb and W Dopants in TiO.

Controlling the formation of electron polarons in TiO doped with transition metals is important for the design of transparent conducting oxides for high-efficiency photovoltaics and photocatalysts with tunable reaction selectivities. In this work, EPR spectroscopy is combined with Hubbard-corrected density functional theory (DFT+), with refined atomic-like Hubbard projectors, to show the sensitivity of charge compensation in substitutionally doped Nb-TiO and W-TiO with respect to the TiO polymorph (, anatase or rutile). Both EPR magnetic tensors and DFT+predicted Nb 4 and W 5 orbital occupancies show the formation of differing dopant charge states depending on the TiO polymorph, with nonmagnetic Nb and W in doped anatase and paramagnetic Nb and W in doped rutile.