Background: Both anti-viral and anti-inflammatory bronchial effects are warranted to treat viral infections in asthma. We sought to investigate if imiquimod, a TLR7 agonist, exhibits such dual actions in ex vivo cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs), targets for SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Objective: To investigate bronchial epithelial effects of imiquimod of potential importance for anti-

The viscosity of ionanofluids consisting of the two ionic liquids (ILs), 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([emim][DCA]) and 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ([emim][TCM]), and aluminium oxide and magnesium oxide nanoparticles has been measured. The pure ionic liquids were also measured, and a simple Andrade equation and a Vogel-Tammann-Fulcher equation were presented to predict

Hair can record chemical information reflecting our living conditions, and, therefore, strands of hair have become a potent analytical target within the biological and forensic sciences. While early efforts focused on analyzing complete hair strands in bulk, high spatial resolution mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has recently come to the forefront of chemical hair-strand analysis. MSI techniques o

Massive bird migration across continents and seas is one of the most spectacular phenomena in nature, involving billions of birds annually. In the autumn, most birds on migration are juveniles migrating for the first time while adults are repeating their migrations. Migration syndrome in individual bird migrants involves multiple behavioural, morphological and physiological adaptations, and migrat

Pulmonary vasodilator therapy is still often an off-label treatment for pulmonary hypertension in children. The aim of this nationwide register-based study was to assess patient characteristics and strategies for pulmonary vasodilator therapy in young Swedish children. Prescription information for all children below seven years of age at treatment initiation, between 2007 and 2017, was retrieved f

Background: Nail psoriasis (NP) is common and of high importance in patients with psoriasis. Complete resolution of NP at week 24‒26 is an unambiguous nail outcome accessible for indirect treatment comparison of biologics. Objective: To evaluate the comparative efficacy of approved biologics in achieving complete resolution of NP at week 24‒26. Methods: A network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted

The growing understanding of the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change demands action. Locally, measures to adapt must be taken without knowing exactly what will happen, where it will happen or what the consequences will be. To meet this need, a number of decision support tools have been developed and this article investigates how municipalities can imple

Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is today incurable. Conventional imaging methods have limited detection, affecting their ability to give an accurate outcome prognosis, and current therapies for metastatic prostate cancer are insufficient. This inevitably leads to patients relapsing with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Targeting prostate-specific antigens whose expression is c

Soil temperature (ST) as a vital variable of soil plays a key role in agriculture products, surface energy transactions, soil moisture balance, etc. In developing countries like Iran, access to the ST data may be limited. Hence, estimating this parameter by an appropriate alternative approach is of great importance. Two novel hybrid models are developed in this study based on Elman neural network

In 2006, a new species of non-calcified dasycladalean alga, Chaetocladus gracilis, from the upper Silurian of Skåne (Scania), southernmost Sweden, was erected. The original description was based on a single incomplete fossil recovered from the abandoned limestone quarry at Bjärsjölagård, a classic geologic locality in Scania. Here we present four additional and, importantly, more complete specimen

Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors are commonly used in pulmonary arterial hypertension but, as suggested by the RESPITE study, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor therapy (mono-/combination) does not always have a satisfactory treatment effect. This study aimed to investigate the clinical course of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients not at treatment goal after at least 90 days of treatment with phosp

PurposeSleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is a relatively common disorder, but many patients with SAS are still undiagnosed. Using Japanese annual health check and medical claims data, we analyzed the association between hemoglobin upswing, defined as an increase in hemoglobin level within the reference range, and the incidence of SAS.MethodsIn this study, we used the Japan Medical Database Center (JMDC)

This paper presents theoretical and practical analyses of four different design options for an electrically excited synchronous machine (EESM) with hollow field winding conductors for internal air cooling. This cooling concept allows for effective direct cooling of the windings.Simulations are performed for the electromagnetic evaluation of the proposed designs, while a plastic 3D printed rotor mo

Background: People with severe mental illness (SMI) living in supported housing (SH) struggle in everyday life and we currently lack a comprehensive body of knowledge concerning how the residents experience their day. This paper aimed to gain knowledge about how people with SMI describe a day in SH in Sweden, in particular the activities they most frequently engage in and how they experience what

Decay spectroscopy of the long-lived states in Tl186 has been performed at the ISOLDE Decay Station at ISOLDE, CERN. The α decay from the low-spin (2-) state in Tl186 was observed for the first time and a half-life of 3.4-0.4+0.5 s was determined. Based on the α-decay energy, the relative positions of the long-lived states were fixed, with the (2-) state as the ground state, the 7(+) state at 77(5

Background: Short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) bronchodilators help alleviate symptoms in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and may be a useful marker of symptom severity. This analysis investigated whether SABA use impacts treatment differences between maintenance dual- and mono-bronchodilators in patients with COPD. Methods: The Early MAXimisation of bronchodilation for improving COPD sta

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) poses severe threats to women’s health and rights. This study investigates the role of country context and gender equality in shaping individual perceptions of the severity of IPVAW. Multilevel logistic regression analyses of a Eurobarometer survey on attitudes toward IPVAW from 27 EU states showed that male gender, young age, low education, low self

We present a framework for measurement dimension reduction in Gaussian filtering, defined in terms of a linear operator acting on the measurement vector. This operator is optimized to minimize the Cramér-Rao bound of the estimate's mean squared error (MSE), yielding a measurement subspace from which elements minimally worsen the filter MSE performance, as compared to filtering with the original me

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest to increase dietary fiber (DF) consumption due to the health benefits associated with this nutrient. Pulses are considered a good source of non-digestible carbohydrates. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of substituting semolina with chickpea flour to increase the indigestible carbohydrate content without altering the texture of the pa