Prominent features of HD neuropathology are the intranuclear and cytoplasmic inclusions of huntingtin and striatal and cortical neuronal cell death. Recently, synaptic defects have been reported on HD-related studies, including impairment of neurotransmitter release and alterations of synaptic components. However, the definite characteristics of synapse dysfunction and the underlying mechanisms re

Background: Several neurotransmitters are expressed in the neurons of the trigeminal ganglion. One such signalling molecule is the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP). PACAP signalling has been suggested to have a possible role in the pathophysiology of primary headaches. Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between PACAP and calcitonin gene-

Differences in public health approaches to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could largely explain substantial variations in epidemiological indicators (such as incidence and mortality) between the West and the East. COVID-19 revealed vulnerabilities of most western countries' healthcare systems in their response to the ongoing public health crisis. Hence, western countries

In this work, compliant mechanisms are designed by using multi-objective topology optimization, where maximization of the output displacement and minimization of the strain are considered simultaneously. To quantify the strain, we consider typical measures of strain, which are based on the p-norm, and a new class of strain quantifying functions, which are based on the variance of the strain. The t

Background: The lack of access to essential surgical care in low-income countries is aggravated by emigration of locally-trained surgical specialists to more affluent regions. Yet, the global diaspora of surgeons, obstetricians, and anesthesiologists from low-income and middle-income countries has never been fully described and compared with those who have remained in their country of origin. It i

Purpose: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is used for (re)staging prostate cancer (PCa) and as a biomarker for evaluating response to therapy, but lacks established response criteria. A panel of PCa experts in nuclear medicine, radiology, and/or urology met on February 21, 2020, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to formulate criteri

The pandemic of COVID-19 is a global challenge for health care, and dermatologists are not standing apart from trying to meet this challenge. The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) has collected recommendations from its Task Forces (TFs) related to COVID-19. The Journal of the EADV has established a COVID-19 Special Forum giving free access to related articles. The psychosocial

In warm humid tropical climates, the outdoor environment defines the lives of the majority of the population in terms of social and economic aspects. Improvement of the outdoor thermal environment encourages social and economic prosperity of the urbanites. This paper explores urbanites’ thermal comfort in the informal urban fabric of warm humid Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Simultaneously, the study co

The association between contextual factors and health inequalities is well documented, also in Brazil. However, questions about how contextual factors actually affect health and well-being persist. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how contextual factors-i.e., social stratification and neighborhood opportunity structures-are manifested in the lives of the residents of a vulnerable d

The purpose of the study is to identify and explore different applications of blockchain technology in supply chain management and suggest a framework for their analysis. The study addresses researchers' conflicting opinions regarding the hype of blockchain and clarifies which minor applications are hyped and which are currently more applicable. That helps supply chain practitioners appraise the d

In high-income countries, parental age at first birth has increased and this postponement increases the risk of involuntary childlessness or having fewer children than desired. This interview study was conducted in Denmark and Sweden among childless men (n = 29) in their last year of an education. The aim was to explore the role of individual and societal factors on fertility decision-making and m

Objective: This study aims to test a Chinese cross-cultural adaptation of the English version of the Person-Centred Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT)and evaluate its psychometric properties. Design: P-CAT was translated/back-translated using established procedures before the psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version was made. Setting: Two hospitals covering urban and suburban areas of Kunming in tOBJECTIVE: This study aims to test a Chinese cross-cultural adaptation of the English version of the Person-Centred Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT) and evaluate its psychometric properties.DESIGN: P-CAT was translated/back-translated using established procedures before the psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version was made.SETTING: Two hospitals covering urban and suburban areas of Kunming in th

Background: ECG changes after revascularization predicts improved outcome for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Worst lead residual (WLR) ST deviation and resolution of worst lead ST elevation (rST elevation) are simple measures that can be obtained early after PCI. The objective of the current study was to investigate whether simple ECG measures, obtained one hour followin

Background: Melanoma is a type of superficial tumor. As advanced melanoma has a poor prognosis, early detection and therapy are essential to reduce melanoma-related deaths. To that end, there is a need to develop a quantitative method for diagnosing melanoma. This paper reports the development of such a diagnostic system using hyperspectral data (HSD) and a convolutional neural network, which is a

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are nonmaterial benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. The CES subcategories cover a wide range of domains (e.g. recreation, conservation of cultural heritage, human-nature relations). The CES concept has been proposed to acknowledge the nonmaterial values linking people and nature in social-ecological systems. Agricultural landscapes are outstanding example

Developing and evaluating scientific knowledge and its value requires a clear – or at least not too unclear – understanding of what ‘theory’ means. We argue that common definitions of theory are too restrictive, as they do not acknowledge the existence of multiple kinds of scientific knowledge, but largely recognize only one kind as ‘theory’, namely explanatory knowledge. We elaborate a typology t

Introduction: Dilute Russell viper venom time (dRVVT) assays can be affected by direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), which may cause false-positive results. However, there are conflicting results indicating significant differences between different reagents and DOACs. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of DOACs on dRVVT assays. Material and Methods: Samples were prepared by adding DOAC (dabigatran,

A high quality benchmark for small variants encompassing 88 to 90% of the reference genome has been developed for seven Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) reference samples. However a reliable benchmark for large indels and structural variants (SVs) is more challenging. In this study, we manually curated 1235 SVs, which can ultimately be used to evaluate SV callers or train machine learning models. We deve