Bacterial colonization is mediated by fimbriae, which are thin hair-like appendages dispersed from the bacterial surface. The aggregative adherence fimbriae from enteroaggregative E. coli are secreted through the outer membrane and consist of polymerized minor and major pilin subunits. Currently, the understanding of the structural morphology and the role of the minor pilin subunit in the polymeri

All-small-molecule organic solar cells (ASM OSCs) hold great promise in OSCs owing to their defined structures, simple purification, and good reproducibility, but are challenging for further improved efficiency. The energy level strategy has been broadly applied to obtain a better performance; however, a comprehensive understanding of the effects of energy level offset on photoexcitation dynamics

BackgroundProenkephalin A 119-159 (PENK) is freely filtered in the glomerulus with plasma levels correlating with glomerular filtration rate. Therefore, PENK has been proposed as an early indicator of acute kidney injury (AKI) although its performance is dependent on the clinical setting. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the correlation between PENK levels and the development of AKI.Methods

Low-coordinate surface sites, such as those present on high-index step edges, often exhibit chemical reactivity that markedly differs from more close-packed facets. To understand the site-specific reactivity, insight into the three-dimensional atomic arrangement of step edges is needed. Here, we employ atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of nanoparticles in combination with sc

Surface redox processes involving oxygen atom exchange are fundamental in catalytic reactions mediated by metal oxides. These processes are often difficult to uncover due to changes in the surface stoichiometry and atomic arrangement. Here we employ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to study vanadium oxide supported on titanium dioxide, which is of relevance as a catalyst in, e.g.,

The introduction of gaseous atmospheres in transmission electron microscopy offers the possibility of studying materials in situ under chemically relevant environments. The presence of a gas environment can degrade the resolution. Surprisingly, this phenomenon has been shown to depend on the electron-dose-rate. In this article, we demonstrate that both the total and areal electron-dose-rates work

Coherence estimation between speech envelope and electroencephalography (EEG) is a proven method in neural speech tracking. This paper proposes an improved coherence estimation algorithm which utilises phase sensitive multitaper cross-spectral estimation. Estimated EEG coherence differences between attended and ignored speech envelopes for a hearing impaired (HI) population are evaluated and compa

This work establishes a computational framework for the quantification of the effect of uncertainty of material model parameters on extremal stress triaxiality and Lode angle values in plastically deformed devices, whereby stress triaxiality and Lode angle are accepted as key indicators for damage initiation in metal forming processes. Attention is paid to components, the material response of whic

Purpose The study aims to develop easy-to-implement concomitant field-compensated gradient waveforms with varying velocity-weighting (M1) and acceleration-weighting (M2) levels and to evaluate their efficacy in correcting signal dropouts and preserving the black-blood state in liver diffusion-weighted imaging. Additionally, we seek to determine an optimal degree of compensation that minimizes sign

High-resolution time-frequency (TF) images of multi-component signals are of great interest for visualization, feature extraction and estimation. The matched Gaussian multitaper spectrogram has been proposed to optimally resolve multi-component transient functions of Gaussian shape. Hermite functions are used as multitapers and the weights of the different spectrogram functions are optimized. For

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is characterized by a dysregulated immune response against platelets, affecting both their destruction and production. A role for an abnormal T-cell compartment has been established in ITP pathogenesis and treatments that increase platelet counts in patients with ITP have shown improvements in T-cell profiles. On the other hand, patients who were refractory to treatme

Rationale & Objective: Use of cystatin C in addition to creatinine to estimate glomerular filtration rate (estimated glomerular filtration rate based on cystatin C [eGFRcys] and estimated glomerular filtration rate based on creatinine [eGFRcr], respectively) is increasing. When eGFRcr and eGFRcys are discordant, it is not known which is more accurate, leading to uncertainty in clinical decisio

This article is a reaction to previous appeals to widen the conceptual remit of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). It proposes research bricolage as means for critical engagement with conceptual constructs originating from adjacent social science disciplines. Borrowing such concepts as far-right metapolitics from political science, superordinate intersectionality from gender studies, and Web 2.0 so

Severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections are caused by microvascular sequestration of parasites binding to the human endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) via the multi-domain P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) adhesion ligands. Using cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) and PfEMP1 sequence diversity analysis, we found that group A PfEMP1 CIDRα1 domains interact with t

Background: Adverse events induced by intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) to treat high-grade non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) often lead to treatment discontinuation. The EAU-RF NIMBUS trial found a reduced number of standard-dose BCG instillations to be inferior with the standard regimen. Nonetheless, it remains important to evaluate whether patients in the reduced BCG treatmen

Urbanisation is one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time, yet we still lack an integrative understanding of how cities affect behaviour, physiology and parasite susceptibility of free-living organisms. In this study, we focus on carotenoids, strictly dietary micronutrients that can either be used as yellow-red pigments, for integument colouration (signalling function), or as antioxi

Background: The diagnostic accuracy of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography (DM) in breast cancer screening may vary per breast density subgroup. The purpose of this study was to evaluate which women, based on automatically assessed breast density subgroups, have the greatest benefit of DBT compared with DM in the prospective Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial. Materi

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory joint disease that affects all aspects of life. Rheumatology care strives to achieve optimal health based on person-centred care (PCC). Effective treatment is available, but patients still experience unmet needs.Aims: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore patients' perspectives of PCC and preferred outcomes in early RA. Specifi