Background: The C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) seems to mirror disease severity and prognosis in several acute disorders particularly in elderly patients, yet less is known about if CAR is superior to C-reactive protein (CRP) in the general population. Methods: Prospective study design on the UK Biobank, where serum samples of CRP and Albumin were used. Cox regression analyses were conduct

Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that lead to muscle wasting and loss of muscle function. Identifying genetic modifiers that alleviate symptoms or enhance the severity of a primary disease helps to understand mechanisms behind disease pathology and facilitates discovery of molecular targets for therapy. Several muscular dystrophies are caused by genetic defects in the components

The crossing of aridity thresholds triggers abrupt changes in multiple functional and structural ecosystem attributes across global drylands. While we understand the consequences associated with aridity thresholds, the key factors influencing dryland vegetation resistance when crossing them remain unclear. Here, we used field observations from 58 dryland sites across five continents and satellite

Understanding the factors controlling spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric methane concentration (XCH4) is crucial for mitigating its impacts and implementing emission reduction strategies. This study comprehensively investigates XCH4 and its driving factors (environmental, meteorological, and anthropogenic activity) across Iran over 20 years, from 2003 to 2022. It combines multi-source

In this paper, we revisit the problem of estimating the relative pose from a sparse set of point-correspondences. For each point-correspondence we also estimate the relative depth, i.e. the relative distance to the scene point in the two images. This yields an additional constraint, allowing us to use fewer matches in RANSAC to generate the pose candidates. In the paper we propose two novel minima

The Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration (JASMINE) is a planned M-class science space mission by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. JASMINE has two main science goals. One is Galactic archaeology with a Galactic Center survey, which aims to reveal the Milky Way's central core structure and formation history from Gaia-lev

This article examines the combination of gurlesque aesthetics and existentialist themes of anxiety in Mare Kandre’s Bübins unge (1987) and Aliide, Aliide (1991). My ambition is to enable a deeper understanding of what I call “the Dark Girlhood”, that is, the existential pain that Kandre’s female characters constantly seem to experience. While previous readings take the social conditions of the cha

This thesis presents development in optical diagnostics for studies of energy conversion processes. Work has been done in characterization of electrode wear in spark plugs, multi-species high-speed tomographic laser-induced fluorescence, high-speed diagnostics in lab-scale gas turbine burners, and surface temperature measurements on gas turbine burner injection nozzles.A new method of monitoring e

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) systems can potentially aid the diagnostic pathway of prostate cancer by alleviating the increasing workload, preventing overdiagnosis, and reducing the dependence on experienced radiologists. We aimed to investigate the performance of AI systems at detecting clinically significant prostate cancer on MRI in comparison with radiologists using the Prostate Im

Changes in the net carbon sink of boreal forests constitute a major source of uncertainty in the future global carbon budget and, hence, climate change projections. The annual net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) controlling the terrestrial carbon stock results from the small difference between respiratory CO2 release and the photosynthetic CO2 uptake by vegetation. The boreal forest, an

The European Environmental Research Infrastructures (ENVRI) community, in its pursuit of enabling seamless and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) access to environmental research data and services, has realised the ENVRI Catalogue of Services. This paper provides an in-depth look into the creation of this tool, highlighting the process, the challenges faced, and the scientifi

The reduction of greenhouse gas emission and the effort of carbon neutrality require the improvement of spark-ignition (SI) engines in terms of efficiency and capability to operate on renewable fuels. The electrode wear of spark plugs, used for ignition of novel fuels and lean mixtures, emerges as a significant challenge in this transition. Understanding the physical mechanism and influence from s

Purpose: When a child needs a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, the seriousness of the child's illness is highlighted. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' experiences of the transplantation process when two children in the family are involved, one severely ill child as the recipient and the other as the donor. Methods: In this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 18 pa

Background To identify childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) at risk of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and impaired fertility is important given its impact on quality of life. The aim of this study was to assess ovarian markers and fertility outcomes in adult female CCSs. We used the Swedish and the PanCareLIFE classifications for infertility risk grouping. Methods 167 CCSs, at median age 34.6

Primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening disorder associated with autosomal recessive variants in genes required for perforin-mediated lymphocyte cytotoxicity. A rapid diagnosis is crucial for successful treatment. Although defective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) function causes pathogenesis, quantification of natural killer (NK)–cell exocytosis triggered by K562 targe