Purpose: Added sugar is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, but its association with kidney stones is unclear. This study was to determine whether added sugar is associated with kidney stones. Materials and methods: This nationally representative study used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) datasets from 2007 to 2018 for analysis. People aged ≥20 years who

Mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis, are a major health problem globally. Prevention and treatments of tuberculosis are challenging due to the poor efficacy of the current vaccine and the emergence of drug-resistant strains. Therefore, it is critical to increase our basic understanding of mycobacterial virulence strategies as well as the host immune response during infection in the co

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a serious complication of diabetes, where skin biopsy assessing intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) plays an important diagnostic role. In vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus has been proposed as a noninvasive diagnostic modality for DPN. Direct comparisons of skin biopsy and IVCM in controlled cohorts are lacking, as

Local geometric control of basic synthesis parameters, such as elemental composition, is important for bottom-up synthesis and top-down device definition on-chip but remains a significant challenge. Here, we propose to use lithographically defined metal stacks for regulating the surface concentrations of freely diffusing synthesis elements on compound semiconductors. This is demonstrated by geomet

Tailoring the surface composition and morphology of materials to enable new electronic devices is important for a wide range of applications such as quantum computing or spintronics. A fundamental understanding of the changes induced in the surface during different process steps can help to establish new synthesis routes as well as devices. This thesis focuses on the manipulation of III-V semicond

The chemical bonding at the interface between compound semiconductors and metals is central in determining electronic and optical properties. In this study, new opportunities for controlling this are presented for nanostructures. We investigate Bi adsorption on 2D wurtzite InAs (112̄0) nanosheets and find that temperature-controlled Bi incorporation in either anionic- or cationic-like bonding is p

A new methodology was developed to support contaminant mass discharge (CMD)-based risk assessment of groundwater contamination downgradient of point source zones. Geoelectrical cross-borehole induced polarization (IP) data were collected at a site undergoing in situ remediation of chlorinated solvents for determining 2D hydraulic conductivity (K) distributions with an inversion model resolution of

People in Sweden who commit at least one crime and suffer from a severe mental disorder can be sentenced to forensic psychiatric care. The aim of this study was to describe and gain a greater understanding of the female patients' experiences of their life situation while being cared for in forensic psychiatric care. Interviews with 15 women were conducted and analyzed with a phenomenological herme

Background: Temperament and character have been shown to be important factors in understanding psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorder. Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have repeatedly been shown to have a distinct temperament and character, but this has not been evaluated in relation to psychiatric comorbidity and ASD diagnostic stability. Aims: To examine temperament and character

Urban flooding has increased in response to impervious surface intensification, the loss of green areas, and high-intensity rainfall associated with climate change. Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are an appealing option for stormwater management; however, their hydraulic control capabilities have received little attention. We developed a comparative model-based approach with 24 scenario

The increasing attention on halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) stems from their outstanding optoelectronic properties, especially the intriguing photoluminescence (PL) features. The high photoluminescence quantum yields (up to unity) of PNCs, and the tunability of their optical bandgaps by composition engineering and quantum confinement effects, account for the demonstrated great potential in s

Electron transporting layers facilitating electron extraction and suppressing hole recombination at the cathode are crucial components in any thin-film solar cell geometry, including that of metal–halide perovskite solar cells. Amorphous tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) deposited by spin coating was explored as an electron transport material for perovskite solar cells, achieving power conversion efficiency

How do men and women differ in their persistence after experiencing failure in a competitive environment? We tackle this question by combining a large online experiment (N=2,086) with machine learning. We find that when losing is unequivocally due to merit, both men and women exhibit a significant decrease in subsequent tournament entry. However, when the prior tournament is unfair, i.e., a loss i

This paper explores whether the experience of a severe recession during early adulthood shapes individuals’ prosocial attitudes. The analysis uses survey responses to experimentally validated questions that measure prosocial attitudes for approximately 65,000 respondents in 75 countries. The identification approach exploits variation in recession experiences across 78 different birth cohorts. We f

Conservation and consistency are fundamental properties of discretizations of systems of hyperbolic conservation laws. Re- cently, these concepts have been extended to the realm of iterative methods by defining locally conservative and flux consistent iterations. In this note, the current status of such iterative methods is summarized. In particular, it has been shown that Krylov subspace methods

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BACKGROUND: Clinical Record (CR) writing is a fundamental skill for healthcare professionals, but the best e-learning methods for teaching it remain unstudied. Therefore, we investigated speech therapy students' differences in the quality production of CR at the placement and their experience after following asynchronous or synchronous e-learning courses.METHODS: A multi-method randomised controll

OBJECTIVE: To explore the experience of using audience response systems (ARS) in postgraduate physiotherapy training.DESIGN: Qualitative interview study following the 'reflexive thematic analysis' by Braun and Clarke.SETTING: Higher education university.PARTICIPANTS: Ten Italian students (60% men, N=6; 40% women, N=4) agreed to partake in the interviews.RESULTS: We generated four themes. Specifica