Warfarin reduces circulating white blood cell count: Post-hoc analysis of two randomized trials.

Warfarin is a widely used vitamin K antagonist (VKA) with known pleiotropic effects beyond anticoagulation. Preclinical and case-control evidence suggests that warfarin may affect hematopoiesis, but longitudinal human evidence is lacking. To explore this potential effect, we conducted a post-hoc analysis of participants in the Hokusai-VTE and ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 trials, which randomized patients to warfarin or the direct oral anticoagulant edoxaban with routine laboratory testing at predefined follow-up visits.

Evaluating Posterior Vitreous Detachment Annotation Consistency on OCT Scans in Patients with Disease of the Vitreomacular Interface.

Purpose: To evaluate inter-grader variability in posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) classification in patients with epiretinal membrane (ERM) and macular hole (MH) on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and identify challenges in defining a reliable ground truth for artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools.

Methods: A total of 437 horizontal SD-OCT B-scans were retrospectively selected and independently annotated by six experienced ophthalmologists adopting four categories: 'full PVD', 'partial PVD', 'no PVD', and 'ungradable'. Inter-grader agreement was assessed using pairwise Cohen's kappa scores.

Impact of sleep disturbances on health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women: a systematic review.

Importance: Sleep disturbances are common during and after the menopause transition, with potential effects on morbidity and quality of life; however, they may be underdiagnosed and undertreated.

Objective: We carried out a systematic literature review to investigate the prevalence and impact of sleep disturbances associated with menopause on women's health-related quality of life across the stages of menopause.

Evidence Review: Searches were conducted in PubMed and Excerpta Medica Database to identify articles published between 2013 and 2023 containing evidence for the impact of sleep quality on health-related quality of life and the epidemiology of sleep disturbances in women in menopause.

High-resolution electrophysiological mapping of effective connectivity of lateral prefrontal cortex.

The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) serves as a critical hub for higher-order cognitive and executive functions in the human brain, coordinating brain networks whose disruption has been implicated in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. While transcranial brain stimulation treatments often target the LPFC, our current understanding of connectivity profiles guiding these interventions based on electrophysiology remains limited. Here, we present a high-resolution probabilistic map of bidirectional effective connectivity between the LPFC and widespread cortical and subcortical regions.

Tense production in French-speaking participants with Alzheimer's disease: What about discourse? Contribution of a storytelling-in-sequence task.

BackgroundThe production of verbal tenses is impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), as shown by several studies focusing on time reference and using sentence completion tasks. However, there is currently a limited understanding of how tense is produced in discourse with this disease. Discourse is interesting as it involves building a mental representation of the event to be narrated with its temporal framework and translating this framework into language using tense.

Shrinking to bird size with dinosaur-level cancer defences: Evolution of cancer suppression over macroevolutionary time.

Ubiquity of cancer across the tree of life yields opportunities to understand variation in cancer defences across species. Peto's paradox, the finding that large-bodied species do not suffer from more cancer despite having more cells at risk of oncogenic mutations compared to small species, can be explained if large size selects for better cancer defences. Since birds live longer than non-flying mammals of equivalent size, and are descendants of moderate-sized dinosaurs, we ask whether ancestral cancer defences are retained if body size shrinks in a lineage.

The Influence of Single-Stranded or Double-Stranded DNA Tags on Ligand Binding Affinity in DNA-Encoded Libraries.

DNA-encoded libraries have become widely used in drug discovery, and several different setups to link chemical compounds to DNA have been employed in the field, including single-stranded and double-stranded DNA tags as well as a variety of linker chemistries. In our previous study, we observed distinct differences in binding affinities between ligands coupled either to single-stranded or double-stranded DNA; however, the molecular basis for these differences remained unclear. Here, we present a native ion mobility mass spectrometry approach that incorporates gas- and solution-phase activation techniques to systematically investigate these differences, specifically the impact of DNA tags on binding performance in protein-ligand interactions.

FcRγ-dependent NK cell licensing through CD244 promotes antitumour immunity.

Natural killer (NK) cell licensing is an educational process that enhances responsiveness to activating signals in maturing NK cells and is predominantly regulated by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-specific inhibitory signals. However, the role of non-MHC signalling in this process remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of FcRγ, an adaptor protein associated with activating receptors, in the regulation of NK cell responsiveness.

Assembly of the mitochondrial outer membrane module of the trypanosomal tripartite attachment complex.

The parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma brucei has a single mitochondrial nucleoid, anchored to the basal body of the flagellum via the tripartite attachment complex (TAC). The detergent-insoluble TAC is essential for mitochondrial genome segregation during cytokinesis. The TAC assembles de novo in a directed way from the probasal body towards the kDNA.

Protocol for a core outcome set for pharmacological treatments in hospitalised patients with acute viral respiratory infections (COSAVRI).

Background: Acute viral respiratory infections (AVRIs) rank among the most common causes of hospitalisation worldwide, imposing significant healthcare burdens and driving the development of pharmacological treatments. However, inconsistent outcome reporting across clinical trials limits evidence synthesis and its translation into clinical practice. A core outcome set (COS) for pharmacological treatments in hospitalised adults with AVRIs is essential to standardise trial outcomes and improve research comparability.

Validation of the German Emotional Contagion Scale and development of a mimicry brief version.

The susceptibility to emotional contagion has been psychometrically addressed by the self-reported Emotional Contagion Scale. With the present research, we validated a German adaptation of this scale and developed a mimicry brief version by selecting only the four items explicitly addressing the overt subprocess of mimicry. Across three studies (N1 = 195, N2 = 442, N3 = 180), involving various external measures of empathy, general personality domains, emotion recognition, and other constructs, the total German Emotional Contagion Scale demonstrated sound convergent and discriminant validity.

Vaccine Immunity Against Pneumococcus in Children With Sickle Cell Disease: A Retrospective Single-center Study.

Background And Aims: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are at a higher risk of pneumococcal invasive diseases. Vaccination is the central strategy for protecting these children, along with penicillin prophylaxis. However, it is unclear how often these children should be revaccinated with pneumococcal vaccines.

The Association Between Obesity and COVID-19 Severity in Children Differed Between SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Multicountry Hospital-Based Observational Study.

Background: Obesity was a risk factor for severe COVID-19 in children during early outbreaks of ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the Delta variant. However, the relationship between obesity and COVID-19 severity during the Omicron wave remains unclear.

Methods: This multicenter, observational study included polymerase chain r eaction-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children and adolescents from Australia, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States hospitalized between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022.

Perceived Chronic Stress prior to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Predicts Ongoing Symptomatic COVID-19: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: Understanding chronic stress as a potential risk factor for COVID-19 progression could inform public health measures and personalized preventive interventions. Therefore, we investigated the influence of chronic stress prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection on symptom persistence 1 month after COVID-19 onset.

Methods: The participants of this prospective cohort study named "StressLoC" were adults with COVID-19 who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection within the last 7 days.

Strategic Targets in Acne, Update 2025: The Microcomedone Is Not Just a Plug, It Is an Egg.

Background: Maintaining homeostasis in the upper pilosebaceous unit in acne-prone skin has emerged as the primary goal for effective and long-term acne management.

Summary: In this review, we describe advances in acne research that have helped redefine the strategic targets for new topical acne treatments, providing the basis for new therapeutic strategies that may allow this goal to be achieved.

Key Messages: First, we describe the results of studies analyzing apparently uninvolved skin from individuals with acne, using sequential skin surface biopsies.

Patients as partners in medical publications: the ISMPP journey of engagement.

Patient engagement (PE) has evolved from an emerging concept to a fundamental ethos underpinning healthcare research and communication. In this commentary, we explore the historical evolution in medical research from patients being participants in clinical trials to becoming integral partners in communicating medical research findings. The progression from "why" to "how" PE should occur represents a fundamental shift in the medical publication landscape.

SPACE: STRING proteins as complementary embeddings.

Motivation: Representation learning has revolutionized sequence-based prediction of protein function and subcellular localization. Protein networks are an important source of information complementary to sequences, but the use of protein networks has proven to be challenging in the context of machine learning, especially in a cross-species setting.

Results: We leveraged the STRING database of protein networks and orthology relations for 1,322 eukaryotes to generate network-based cross-species protein embeddings.

Bcl6 reactivity is associated with a distinct immune landscape and spatial transcriptome in COVID-19.

The regulation of follicular (F) and germinal center (GC) immune reactivity in human lymph nodes (LNs), particularly during the acute stages of viral infection, remains poorly understood: We have analyzed lung-draining lymph nodes (LD-LNs) from COVID-19 autopsies using multiplex imaging and spatial transcriptomics to examine the immune landscape with respect to follicular immune reactivity. We identified three groups of donors based on the Bcl6 prevalence of their Reactive Follicles (RFs): RF-Bcl6no/low, RF-Bcl6int, and RF-Bcl6high. A distinct B/TFH immune landscape, associated with increased prevalence of proliferating B-cell and TFH-cell subsets, was found in RF-Bcl6high LD-LNs.

Brain activation for language and its relationship to cognitive and linguistic measures.

Language learning and use relies on domain-specific, domain-general cognitive and sensory-motor functions. Using fMRI during story listening and behavioral tests, we investigated brain-behavior associations between linguistic and non-linguistic measures in individuals with varied multilingual experience and reading skills, including typical reading participants (TRs) and dyslexic readers (DRs). Partial Least Square Correlation revealed a main component linking cognitive, linguistic, and phonological measures to amodal/associative brain areas.

Acute Effect of the Bounce Squat on Ground Reaction Force at the Turning Point and Barbell Kinematics.

Achermann, BB, Drewek, A, and Lorenzetti, SR. Acute effect of the bounce squat on ground reaction force at the turning point and barbell kinematics. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2025-The free-weight back squat is a key exercise for developing lower-body strength, with variations that influence muscle activation and performance.

Essentials of the System of Radiological Protection.

The System of Radiological Protection (the "System") developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is built on nearly a century of efforts of numerous scientists and practitioners working together internationally. It rests on three enduring pillars: science, ethics, and experience. These pillars support the three fundamental principles that shape radiological protection strategies: justification, optimisation, and application of dose limits.

Targeting the Epigenetic Remodeler GCN5 Prevents Vascular Oxidative Stress and Endothelial Dysfunction in Obesity: Insights in Patients with Cardiometabolic Disease.

Introduction: Epigenetic changes are important modulators of gene expression. The histone acetyltransferase gene non-derepressible 5 (Gcn5) is emerging as a pivotal epigenetic player in metabolism and cancer, yet its role in obesity and cardiovascular disease remains elusive.

Aims: To investigate Gcn5 role in obesity-related endothelial dysfunction.

Coping Profiles and Functioning During Emerging Adulthood: A Comparative Person-Centered Longitudinal Approach.

Young adults use a combination of coping strategies to deal with challenges. Yet, limited research has focused on these combinations, as they differ across different profiles of youth and their implications during the major life transitions of emerging adulthood. Addressing this gap, the present longitudinal person-centered study assesses the nature, stability, predictors (stressful life events, sex), and outcomes (affect, attitude toward life, physical symptoms) of coping profiles during this period.

Machine learning for myocarditis diagnosis using cardiovascular magnetic resonance: a systematic review, diagnostic test accuracy meta-analysis, and comparison with human physicians.

Myocarditis is an inflammation of heart tissue. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has emerged as an important non-invasive imaging tool for diagnosing myocarditis, however, interpretation remains a challenge for novice physicians. Advancements in machine learning (ML) models have further improved diagnostic accuracy, demonstrating good performance.