Chitin nanocrystal/carboxymethyl cellulose bilayer emulsion with rigid inner layer and flexible outer shell for ultra-stable encapsulation of fish oil.

The polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oil are prone to oxidation and have poor dispersibility, which limits their use in the food sector. In this work, oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by chitin nanocrystals (ChNC) were prepared via high-speed homogenization. Anionic carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was assembled onto cationic ChNC-stabilized emulsion droplet surfaces via layer-by-layer self-assembly technology to construct ChNC/CMC (Ch-C) bilayer emulsions with rigid inner layer and flexible outer shell structures.

'For the love of God, just refer me': a co-produced qualitative study of the experiences of people with Tourette Syndrome and tic disorders accessing healthcare services in the UK.

Objectives: Chronic tic disorders (CTDs)-such as Tourette Syndrome (TS)-are neurodevelopmental disorders affecting at least 1% of the population, causing repetitive involuntary movements and vocalisations known as tics. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of accessing healthcare for people with CTD or TS and their families in the United Kingdom (UK), as part of a larger programme of work to inform change to healthcare services for this population.

Design: Informed and designed with extensive patient and public involvement, the design utilised qualitative research using focus groups.

The gut-liver axis in progressive steatotic liver disease: A focus on bile acid dysregulation.

Introduction: The gut-liver axis regulates metabolic homeostasis, with bile acids (BAs) serving as key signalling molecules. BA dysregulation is implicated in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction- and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD), yet consistent identification of BA markers and their mechanistic roles across different stages of these diseases remain elusive.

Methods: We integrated three complementary studies to examine BA dysregulation: a population-based cohort (1522 females from TwinsUK with serum BA and liver biomarker data), a clinical cohort (30 patients with steatotic liver disease, fibrosis stages F0-F4, and 4 controls), and rodent models (20 rats with MASLD/MetALD vs.

Working across religions, cultures, settings, and development: Protocol for wave 2 data collection with children and parents by the developing belief network.

The Developing Belief Network is a global research collaborative studying religious development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the intersection of cognitive mechanisms and cultural beliefs and practices in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's second wave of data collection, which aims to further explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior using a multi-time point approach. This protocol is designed to investigate three key research questions-how children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents, how children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity, and how religious and supernatural beliefs are transmitted within and between generations-via a set of eight tasks for children between the ages of 5 and 13 years and a survey completed by their parents/caregivers.

trials in ocular drug development: a new frontier in ophthalmology.

Introduction: In silico trials represent an unprecedented opportunity for ocular drug development. These trials not only promise significant reductions in costs and development timelines but also meaningful improvements in both patient safety and compliance.

Areas Covered: This critical perspective gives discussion to the value of in silico trials for novel ocular drug discovery and development.

Cholangiocarcinoma in Denmark: time-trends in mortality following resection.

Background: Cholangiocarcinomas have a poor prognosis, and resection is the only curative-intent treatment. We examined time-trends in mortality risk after resection in a nationwide Danish cohort.

Methods: We identified all Danish citizens diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in 2004-2022 who subsequently underwent liver resection, biliary tract resection, or a combination of the two.

Genetic and Cellular Architecture of Breast Cancer Risk in Multi-Ancestry Studies of 159,297 Cases and 212,102 Controls.

Breast cancer genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over 200 independent genome-wide significant susceptibility markers. However, most studies have focused on one or two ancestral groups. We examined breast cancer genetic architecture using GWAS summary statistics from African (AFR), East Asian (EAS), European (EUR) and Hispanic/Latina (H/L) samples, totaling 159,297 cases and 212,102 controls, comprising the largest multi-ancestry study of breast cancer to date.

A multi-frequency whole-brain neural mass model with homeostatic feedback inhibition.

Whole-brain models are valuable tools for understanding brain dynamics in health and disease by enabling the testing of causal mechanisms and identification of therapeutic targets through dynamic simulations. Among these models, biophysically inspired neural mass models have been widely used to simulate electrophysiological recordings, such as MEG and EEG. However, traditional models face limitations, including susceptibility to hyperexcitation, which constrains their ability to capture the full richness of neural dynamics.

Pharyngeal electrical stimulation to treat dysphagia in acute stroke: learnings from cases in the PhEED clinical trial.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of pharyngeal electrical stimulation in improving dysphagia post-stroke.

Design: A randomized, sham-controlled, blinded multicentre clinical trial.

Subjects/patients: Seventeen patients with acute ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke experiencing dysphagia, indicated by a penetration aspiration scale score of 4-8 on videofluoroscopy.

Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems.

Theory predicts that high population density leads to more strongly connected spatial and social networks, but how local density drives individuals' positions within their networks is unclear. This gap reduces our ability to understand and predict density-dependent processes. Here we show that density drives greater network connectedness at the scale of individuals within wild animal populations.

SNAP-3: characteristics of specific subgroups of older patients undergoing surgery in the UK.

Background: The SNAP-3 study reported one in five older surgical patients in the UK were living with frailty and two in three with multimorbidity. We now report characteristics and outcomes of specific subgroups of patients including individuals aged ≥85 yr, undergoing day or inpatient surgery and elective or emergency surgery, and undergoing common specialty procedures including orthopaedics, urology, colorectal surgery, and hip arthroplasty.

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study recruited patients aged ≥60 yr undergoing surgery during five days in March 2022 across 214 UK hospitals.

Safety and Efficacy of Perispinal Etanercept for Chronic Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background And Objectives: Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability. Etanercept, a competitive tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor, has been proposed as a potential treatment for post-stroke impairments when given through a perispinal subcutaneous injection. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of perispinal etanercept in patients with chronic stroke.

Preferences and Listening Efficiency of Adults With Cochlear Implants During Online Communication.

Objectives: In recent years, there has been a profound increase in the use of remote online communication as a supplement to, and in many cases a replacement for, in-person interactions. While online communication tools hold potential to improve accessibility, previous studies have suggested that increased reliance on remote communication poses additional challenges for people with hearing loss, including those with a cochlear implant (CI). This study aimed to investigate the preferences and speech-reception performance of adults with a CI during online communication.

Exploring the genetic variation of wheat- introgression lines for flowering morphology traits for hybrid wheat use.

Introduction: The autogamous nature of wheat presents a significant challenge for hybrid wheat breeding, which relies on cross-pollination. To facilitate hybrid wheat production, it is essential to modify the floral morphology of wheat to promote outbreeding rather than inbreeding. While some genetic diversity for flower morphology exists within wheat, it is limited compared to the vast and largely untapped genetic variation found in its wild relatives for potentially all agronomically important traits, including flowering characteristics.

The Causal Mechanism Between the Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4, Heart Failure, and Other Cardiovascular Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization and Mediation Study.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors are commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes. However, the causality of it on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is controversial. This study aimed (1) to investigate the causal mechanisms of DPP4 gene expression at the mRNA level on CVDs, including all-cause heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke in a European population; (2) to assess the direct effect of DPP4 at the mRNA level on CVD, which is independent of type-2 diabetes; and (3) to explore the causality of DPP4 inhibition on CVDs and type-2 diabetes.

Chemically-Fueled Time-Gated Luminescent Metamorphosis.

Recent quest for emulating lifelike smart materials for developing functional outcomes has been spurred by the unparalleled spatiotemporal control of natural systems. However, it is still highly challenging to replicate the progressive time-dependent programmable features of biological systems, such as adaptive broad-spectrum luminescence accompanying functions. Here in, a chemically-fueled transient hydrogel is created based on an aggregation-induced emission-active peptide conjugate (NI-VD).

Brain-Behavior Associations During Interactions Between Caregivers and Infants.

Previous research has shown that infants' abilities to sustain attention are influenced by caregivers' attentional behaviors. Here, we inquired whether brain function in infants was linked to brain function in caregivers during attention periods in dyadic interactions, and whether this brain function was associated with visual short-term memory in infants. Caregivers (n = 90, mean age = 33.

Indirect Comparison of Epcoritamab Versus Axicabtagene Ciloleucel in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell-Eligible and -Naive Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.

Background: In the absence of a head-to-head trial of off-the-shelf subcutaneous epcoritamab, a novel CD3xCD20 bispecific antibody, versus chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR T), a matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) of epcoritamab versus axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) efficacy was conducted in patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with ≥ 2 prior lines of systemic therapy.

Methods: The MAIC used epcoritamab patient-level data from EPCORE NHL-1 (NCT03625037; April 2023 data cutoff) and axi-cel aggregated data from ZUMA-1 (NCT02348216). Patients without prior CAR T were matched to the ZUMA-1 population; weighted regression models were used to estimate absolute differences in overall response rate (ORR) and complete response (CR) rate, and weighted Cox proportional-hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

Response to biologics along a gradient of T2 involvement in patients with severe asthma: a data-driven biomarker clustering approach.

Background: Asthma with low levels of T2-biomarkers is poorly understood.

Objective: To characterize severe asthma phenotypes and compare pre- to post-biologic change in asthma outcomes along a gradient of T2-involvement.

Methods: This was a registry-based, cohort study including data from 24 countries.