Applying evolutionary theory to understand host-microbiome evolution.

All plants and animals are host to a community of microorganisms, their microbiotas, which have crucial influences on the life history and performance of their hosts. Despite the importance of such host-microbiota relationships, relatively little is known about the role microbiotas have in mediating evolution of the host and entire host-microbe assemblages. This knowledge gap is partly due to the lack of theoretical frameworks that generate testable predictions on the evolutionary dynamics of host-microbiota systems.

Healthcare workers' sustainable employability in relation to quality of care: an umbrella review.

Objectives: There is a wealth of reviews investigating the relations between healthcare worker (HCW) variables and quality of care (QoC) outcomes. Individually, these reviews predominantly focus on one aspect relevant to HCWs' functioning at work, unintentionally contributing to a scattered body of evidence. This umbrella review uses the concept of sustainable employability (SE)-a multidimensional construct that captures an individual's long-term ability to function adequately at work and in the labour market-to integrate existing reviews on the topic, and to examine if and how HCWs' SE is related to QoC.

Randomized clinical efficacy and safety study of peltopepimut-S plus cemiplimab compared to cemiplimab alone in patients with recurrent/metastatic HPV16-positive head and neck cancer.

Background: Peltopepimut-S is a therapeutic vaccine, which induces specific expansion of both CD4+helper and CD8+cytotoxic T-cells against human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) E6/E7 oncoproteins.

Patients And Methods: In a randomized phase 2 trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of peltopepimut-S plus cemiplimab compared with cemiplimab alone as first-line or second-line therapy in recurrent/metastatic HPV16-positive head and neck cancer. The primary efficacy endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR) by an independent review (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.

Digital respiratory technologies across the lifespan: an overview of opportunities and challenges from children to older adults.

Topic Importance: Digital health technologies (DHT) such as mobile health technologies, wearables, telehealth and telemonitoring are increasingly used in healthcare. This is particularly true for respiratory conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, interstitial lung disease and COPD as DHTs can support diagnosis, self-management, and ongoing care. However, respiratory conditions change across an individual's lifespan in both their presentation and management priorities for the clinician and patient.

Impact of centre experience on complete clinical and haemodynamic response after alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Background: Alcohol septal ablation (ASA) is an established therapy for symptomatic hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) in patients unresponsive to medical treatment. However, comprehensive assessment of ASA outcomes remains challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of institutional experience and patient characteristics on achieving complete clinical and haemodynamic response (CCHR), a novel composite outcome integrating long-term symptomatic, haemodynamic, safety, and major clinical endpoints, including survival and resuscitation.

Delineating coronary epicardial stenosis status from microvascular dysfunction using pressure-drop coefficient from multicenter ILIAS registry.

Introduction: Pressure-based fractional flow reserve (FFR) and flow-based coronary flow reserve (CFR) assess the functional status of coronary artery disease (CAD) during cardiac catheterization. Complex hemodynamics may not be adequately explained by either pressure or flow alone. Consequently, pressure-drop coefficient (CDP, the ratio between pressure-drop across a stenosis and distal dynamic pressure) that combines both pressure and flow measurements has been developed to distinguish between epicardial stenosis (ES) and microvascular disease (MVD).

Rostro-caudal TMS mapping of immediate transcranial evoked potentials reveals a pericentral crescendo-decrescendo pattern.

Background: We recently demonstrated that single-pulse TMS of the primary sensorimotor hand area (SM1) elicits an immediate transcranial evoked potential (iTEP). This iTEP response appears within 2-8 ms post-TMS, featuring high-frequency peaks superimposed on a slow positive wave. Here, we used a linear TMS-EEG mapping approach to characterize the rostro-caudal iTEP expression and compared it to that of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs).

Bridging Planarian Bioassays and AOP-Based Environmental Assessment: Toward Mechanistic Insights into Pollutant-Induced Disruptions.

Human activities have introduced a wide range of contaminants into aquatic ecosystems, posing substantial ecological and health risks. Robust bioindicators are essential for accurately predicting these impacts. Since the early 1980s, planarians-freshwater flatworms known for their remarkable regenerative ability and neurologically relevant system-have been used in ecotoxicology, witnessing renewed scientific interest post-2010.

Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in women with high-risk endometrial cancer (PORTEC-3): 10-year clinical outcomes and post-hoc analysis by molecular classification from a randomised phase 3 trial.

Background: The PORTEC-3 trial investigated the benefit of chemoradiotherapy versus pelvic radiotherapy alone for women with high-risk endometrial cancer. We present the preplanned long-term analysis of the randomised PORTEC-3 trial with a post-hoc analysis including molecular classification of the tumours.

Methods: PORTEC-3 was an open-label, multicentre, randomised, international phase 3 trial.

Impurity Profiling of ATS Synthesized From Ring-Substituted APAAN and MAPA Analogs.

Designer precursors for the synthesis of amphetamine-type stimulants pose a significant challenge to law enforcement. The precursors APAAN (α-phenylacetoacetonitrile) and MAPA (methyl α-acetylphenylacetate) became popular in the previous decade and have since been restricted. Recently, a ring-substituted analog of MAPA used for the synthesis of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) was detected, highlighting the potential for criminal misuse of substituted analogs of these designer precursors.

Addressing Missingness in Predictive Models That Use Electronic Health Record Data.

Electronic health record (EHR) data are increasingly used to develop prediction models that guide clinical decision making at the point of care. These include algorithms that use high-frequency data, like in sepsis prediction, as well as simpler equations, such as the Pooled Cohort Equations for cardiovascular outcome prediction. Although EHR data used in prediction models are often highly granular and more current than other data, there is systematic and nonsystematic missingness in EHR data as there is with most data.

Quality indicator survey of clinical practice guidelines for esophagogastric junction cancer 2023.

Clinical practice guidelines for esophagogastric junction cancer (EGJ GLs) were published in 2023. In order to evaluate how EGJ GLs have been adopted into clinical practice worldwide and to identify any outstanding clinical questions to be addressed in the next edition, this survey was conducted. An electronic questionnaire was developed.

Personalized Interactive Music Systems for Physical Activity and Exercise: Exploratory Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Personalized Interactive Music Systems (PIMSs) are emerging as promising devices for enhancing physical activity and exercise outcomes. By leveraging real-time data and adaptive technologies, PIMSs align musical features, such as tempo and genre, with users' physical activity patterns, including frequency and intensity, enhancing their overall experience.

Objective: This exploratory systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the effectiveness of PIMSs across physical, psychophysical, and affective domains.

Reciprocity in dynamics of supramolecular biosystems for the clustering of ligands and receptors.

Multivalent binding and the resulting dynamical clustering of receptors and ligands are known to be key features in biological interactions. For optimizing biomaterials capable of similar dynamical features, it is essential to understand the first step of these interactions, namely the multivalent molecular recognition between ligands and cell receptors. Here, we present the reciprocal cooperation between dynamic ligands in supramolecular polymers and dynamic receptors in model cell membranes, determining molecular recognition and multivalent binding via receptor clustering.

A geometric condition for robot-swarm cohesion and cluster-flock transition.

We present a geometric design rule for size-controlled clustering of self-propelled particles. We show that active particles that tend to rotate under an external force have an intrinsic, signed parameter with units of curvature which we call curvity, that can be derived from first principles. Experiments with robots and numerical simulations show that properties of individual robots (radius and curvity) control pair cohesion in a binary system, and the stability of flocking and self-limiting clustering in a swarm, with applications in metamaterials and in embodied decentralized control.

Randomized Sham Controlled Trial of Targeted Lung Denervation in Patients with COPD (AIRFLOW-3).

Rationale: AIRFLOW-3 was a 1:1 randomized, double blind, sham controlled trial of the d'Nerva Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD) System in patients with COPD.

Objective: Evaluate the impact of TLD on COPD exacerbations compared to optimal medical treatment.

Methods: AIRFLOW-3 patients were symptomatic (CAT ≥10) with moderate to very severe airflow obstruction (25% ≤ FEV ≤ 80% predicted) and GOLD E status (≥2 moderate or ≥1 severe exacerbation over prior 12 months).

A causal framework for the drivers of animal social network structure.

A major goal of behavioural ecology is to explain how phenotypic and ecological factors shape the networks of social relationships that animals form with one another. This inferential task is notoriously challenging. The social networks of interest are generally not observed, but must be approximated from behavioural samples.

Evaluating Long-Term Effectiveness of Cystic Fibrosis Modulator Therapies After Rapid Adoption: A Dual-Approach Study.

Rationale: Modulator therapies like ivacaftor have revolutionized clinical management of cystic fibrosis (CF), showing marked short-term benefits in trials but heterogeneous findings in long-term observational studies. Since newer modulators have become the standard of care for the majority living with CF in the U.S.

Microtubule-based nucleation results in a large sensitivity to cell geometry of the plant cortical array.

Many plant cell functions, including cell morphogenesis and anisotropic growth, rely on the self-organisation of cortical microtubules into aligned arrays with the correct orientation. An important ongoing debate is how cell geometry, wall mechanical stresses, and other internal and external cues are integrated to determine the orientation of the cortical array. Here, we demonstrate that microtubule-based nucleation can markedly shift the balance between these often competing directional cues.

The Dino Study: Rationale and protocol for a randomized controlled trial of the Incredible Years Dinosaur Program with daily assessments.

Background: Children with conduct problems vary considerably in how they respond to behavioral interventions. Although group-based, child-focused programs are increasingly implemented, research still relies on retrospective parent or teacher reports and group-level outcomes. These traditional approaches often obscure individual differences in treatment response and reduce the potential for individualized behavioral support tailored to each child's unique profile.

Evaluating the predictive accuracy of cognitive screeners BAMCOG and MoCA in identifying postoperative delirium risk in aortic valve replacement patients: A cohort study.

Postoperative delirium (POD) and postoperative encephalopathy (POE) are common complications in older adults undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR), yet the predictive accuracy of cognitive screening tools remains uncertain. In this prospective cohort study, 50 patients aged 65 years and older scheduled for AVR between January and October 2022 underwent preoperative assessment with the Brain Aging Monitor Cognitive Assessment (BAMCOG) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Postoperatively, POD was evaluated with the Delirium Observation Screening (DOS) scale and POE with electroencephalography (EEG).

Breaking the reproducibility barrier with standardized protocols for plant-microbiome research.

Inter-laboratory replicability is crucial yet challenging in microbiome research. Leveraging microbiomes to promote soil health and plant growth requires understanding underlying molecular mechanisms using reproducible experimental systems. In a global collaborative effort involving five laboratories, we aimed to help advance reproducibility in microbiome studies by testing our ability to replicate synthetic community assembly experiments.

Cost-effectiveness of Targeted Next Generation Sequencing for TB drug-resistance testing as an alternative to the standard of care in South Africa.

Background: South Africa faces emerging resistance to TB drugs like bedaquiline. Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST), the current reference standard for bedaquiline DST, has long turnaround times. Targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) offers a comprehensive alternative, potentially delivering faster results.

Fixed-Duration Epcoritamab Plus R2 Drives Favorable Outcomes in Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma.

Epcoritamab is a subcutaneous CD3xCD20 bispecific antibody approved as monotherapy for relapsed/refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL). We evaluated fixed-duration epcoritamab with rituximab plus lenalidomide (R2) in R/R FL in arm 2 of EPCORE® NHL-2 (phase 1b/2; NCT04663347). Patients received epcoritamab (2 step-up doses, then 48-mg full doses) for up to 2 years and R2 for up to 12 cycles (28 days/cycle).