Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive vascular disease, due to vasoconstriction and remodelling of pulmonary arteries. Survival has from diagnosis, if untreated, been found to be 1 to 2.8 years, depending on whether related to rheumatic disease or not. The ESC/ERS risk stratification tool provides a new approach to evaluate the clinical status of PAH patients. It supports a refine

Background: High-latitude bird migration has evolved after the last glaciation, in less than 10,000-15,000years. Migrating songbirds rely on an endogenous migratory program, encoding timing, fueling, and routes, but it is still unknown which compass mechanism they use on migration. We used geolocators to track the migration of willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus yakutensis) from their eastern

Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and the Avatar, a single PDX mirroring an individual patient, are emerging tools in preclinical cancer research. However, the consequences of intratumor heterogeneity for PDX modeling of biomarkers, target identification, and treatment decisions remain underexplored. In this study, we undertook serial passaging and comprehensive molecular analysis of neuroblastoma

The aim of this research was to use indole as a new sustainable aromatic unit for polyesters. A series of new polyesters were synthesised by the polycondensation of an indole-based dicarboxylate and five potentially bio-based diols. The new polyesters are amorphous, have superior thermal quality, and can form clear transparent films.

We study spin transport in the one- and two-electron regimes of parallel-coupled double quantum dots (DQDs). The DQDs are formed in InAs nanowires by a combination of crystal-phase engineering and electrostatic gating, with an interdot tunnel coupling (t) tunable by one order of magnitude. Large single-particle energy separations (up to 10 meV) and |g∗| factors (∼10) enable detailed studies of the

Background: The Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) is a self-administered hip-specific questionnaire intended to evaluate symptoms and functional limitations, and it is commonly used to evaluate interventions in individuals with hip dysfunction or hip osteoarthritis. The HOOS consists of 43 questions in five subscales: Pain, Symptoms, Function in daily living, Function in sport

Background: Evidence has shown that there are several physical and mental advantages of exercise during pregnancy. Despite this, the recommendations for exercise during pregnancy are poorly fulfilled. The aim of this study was to illuminate non-exercising pregnant women's views and experiences concerning exercise before and during pregnancy. Method: The study had a qualitative design with an induc

CO2 reduction reactions, which provide one route to limit the emission of this greenhouse gas, are commonly performed over Cu-based catalysts. Here, we use ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy together with density functional theory to obtain an atomistic understanding of the dissociative adsorption of CO2 on Cu(100). We find that the process is dominated by the presence of steps, whi

It is a well-known fact that sustainable development goals are difficult to achieve without a proper water resources management strategy. This study tries to implement some state-of-the-art statistical and data mining models i.e., weights-of-evidence (WoE), boosted regression trees (BRT), and classification and regression tree (CART) to identify suitable areas for artificial recharge through flood

Background. Arterial spin labeling is an MR imaging technique that measures cerebral blood flow (CBF) noninvasively. The aim of the study is to assess the diagnostic performance of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MR imaging for differentiation between high-grade glioma and low-grade glioma. Methods. Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched. Study selection e

To develop effective therapeutic strategies for protein misfolding diseases, a promising route is to identify compounds that inhibit the formation of protein oligomers. To achieve this goal, we report a structure.activity relationship (SAR) approach based on chemical kinetics to estimate quantitatively how small molecules modify the reactive flux toward oligomers. We use this estimate to derive ch

Climate change is expected to severely affect cropping systems and food production in many parts of the world unless local adaptation can ameliorate these impacts. Ensembles of crop simulation models can be useful tools for assessing if proposed adaptation options are capable of achieving target yields, whilst also quantifying the share of uncertainty in the simulated crop impact resulting from th

Chromosomal rearrangements (e.g., fusions/fissions) have the potential to drive speciation. However, their accumulation in a population is generally viewed as unlikely, because chromosomal heterozygosity should lead to meiotic problems and aneuploid gametes. Canonical meiosis involves segregation of homologous chromosomes in meiosis I and sister chromatid segregation during meiosis II. In organism

Although democratic innovations (DIs) are spread all over the world, there is little research on the institutional outcomes of implementing such innovations in governmental organisations. To remedy this, it is important to focus on cases where DIs have been implemented and formally connected to the policymaking process over a longer period. Reykjavik provides such a case. Drawing on observations a

Meteorological extreme events such as El Niño events are expected to affect tropical forest net primary production (NPP) and woody growth, but there has been no large-scale empirical validation of this expectation. We collected a large high-temporal resolution dataset (for 1-13 years depending upon location) of more than 172 000 stem growth measurements using dendrometer bands from across 14 regio

There are many indicators that the representative democratic system is currently facing serious legitimacy challenges. Two central indicators of these challenges are changing patterns of political participation and a decline in system support. Against this backdrop, a growing number of governments claim that democratic innovations (DIs) could reconnect institutions with citizens. This thesis focus

STUDY QUESTION: Does chemotherapy exposure (with or without alkylating agents) or primary diagnosis affect spermatogonial quantity in human prepubertal testicular tissue? SUMMARY ANSWER: Spermatogonial quantity is significantly reduced in testes of prepubertal boys treated with alkylating agent therapies or with hydroxyurea for sickle cell disease. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Cryopreservation of sperma

The Estonian Citizens’ Assembly (ECA) was initiated in late 2012 as a direct consequence of a legitimacy crisis of Estonian political parties and representative institutions. The spark igniting this crisis was the unravelling of a scheme of illegal party financing. The response from the governmental institutions took the form of a democratic innovation drawing on public crowd-sourcing and delibera

We demonstrate covariant beam-physics simulation through multipole magnets using Hamiltonians relying on canonical momentum. Space-charge interaction using the Lienard-Wiechert potentials is also discussed. This method is compared with conventional nonlinear Lie-operator tracking and the TraceWin software package.