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• 01GS8A0A6Y7M3YW78PAJR2C7HN abstract "Beira, the biggest city of Mozambique's Sofala province, was struck by Cyclone Idai on 14 March 2019, with devastating impacts. The floods along with the cyclone destroyed road infrastructure and health facilities and disrupted primary health care (PHC) service delivery. In addition, destruction of farmland and food stocks resulted in malnutrition; the abundance of water fostered the reproduction of mosquitos, exacerbating the burden of malaria; and problems with water and sanitation led to epidemics of cholera. The exact role and contribution of human-induced climate change is very difficult to quantify, but there is little doubt that climate change is driving more frequent and severe cyclones, such as Idai. Considering the current climatic changes, it is expected that climate hotspots such as Beira will only experience more frequent extreme weather events. In these settings, with high risks but low adaptive capacity, dedicated efforts are required to strengthen PHC with a focus on preparedness for disasters. This should entail community awareness and education, strengthening infrastructure and service provision, as well as collaboration with important stakeholders across other sectors.".
• 01GS8E1WG1PWDJXP3Q3X3AB0RT abstract "Introduction Effective male contraceptive options are condoms and vasectomy. Vasectomy should not be considered a reversible method of contraception even if vasovasostomy can be offered to men to restore fertility after vasectomy. Therefore, there is a real questioning among urologists concerning cryopreservation before vasectomy. We carried out an international survey concerning the practice of cryopreservation before vasectomy and during vasovasostomy. Material and methods An online anonymous survey was submitted from January to June 2021 to six European urological societies. The 31-items questionnaire included questions about demography, habits of cryopreservation before vasectomy or during vasectomy reversal, and in case of urogenital cancers. Results 228 urologists from six urological societies in five different countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Finland) answered the questionnaire. French urologists were more in favor of cryopreservation before vasectomy than other European urologists (p < 0.0001). They also significantly found that not talking about cryopreservation before vasectomy is a medical fault unlike other urologists (p < 0.0001). The specialization in andrology did not influence the choice of cryopreservation before vasectomy (p = 0.9452). The majority of urologists did not perform intraoperative sperm extraction during vasovasostomy (81%; n = 127) with a significant difference between urologists with or without andrology training (p = 0.0146). Success rates after vasovasostomy are significantly better for robot-assisted surgery (p = 0.0159) or with a microscope (p = 0.0456) versus without a microscope. Conclusion Cryopreservation before definitive sterilization significantly varies among European urologists and seems to be mostly dictated by habits than by knowledge. An international consensus is needed to standardize practices and guide patients' choices.".
• 01GS8E7CEAVP012B5QRPT9WQ4S abstract "Background Many different internal factors have been proven to influence urine production such as age, weight, and quality of sleep. External factors such as consumption of caffeine and fluid consumption have been shown to have an impact on urine production. Aim To investigate the impact of movement, physical activity and position on urine production. Methods This prospective observational study was executed at Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. Study participation was open for anyone visiting the hospital. Participants collected one basic and two extended 24-hour urine collections and filled in questionnaires concerning their general health and physical activity. Urinary levels of osmolality, sodium and creatinine were determined. Data on movement, physical activity and position was described. Results An increase in body movement leads to a significant increase in diuresis during daytime, night-time, and 24 hours (P = .002, P < .001, and P < .001, respectively). An increase in body movement leads to a significant decrease in osmolality during night-time and 24 hours (P = .009, and P = .004, respectively). However, no significant influence of movement on osmolality was found during daytime (P = .12). An increase in body movement leads to a significant decrease in creatinine during daytime, night-time and 24 hours (P = .001, <0.001, and P < .001, respectively). An increase in body movement leads to a significant increase in sodium during daytime (P = .046) but this was statistically significant during night-time and 24 hours (P = .32, and P = .84 respectively). Conclusion Our study demonstrates a statistically significant association of movement, physical activity, and position with urine production. It would therefore be interesting to explore this association further with the use of new technology to have more accurate data. Here, lays a potential role for conservative measurements and lifestyle adaptations in the management of patients with bothersome LUTS and more precisely nocturia.".
• 01GS8EXAPTB1SJDGHAVJRQ7C2F abstract "INTRODUCTION: Urological cancers can be challenging in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological diseases. As a result, there are still uncertainties regarding the incidence and risk factors favouring the development of urological cancers in these patients. The aim of this study was to review the available evidence regarding the incidence for the development of urological cancers in neurological patients to provide a basis for future recommendations and research. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A narrative review of the literature in Medline and Scopus up to June 2019 was performed. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: After screening 1729 records, 30 retrospective studies were retained. For bladder cancer (BC), 21 articles were identified, including a total of 673,663 patients. Among these patients, 4744 had a diagnosis of BC (1265 females, 3214 males, gender not reported in 265). In this group, 2514 were diagnosed with BC associated with a neurological disease. For prostate cancer (PC), 14 articles were identified, including a total of 831,889 men. Among these patients, 67,543 had a diagnosis of PC and 1457 had PC and a neurological disease. Two articles reported kidney cancer (KC), one reported testicular cancer (TC) and none described penile cancer or urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract in neurological patients. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of urological cancers, especially BC and PC, in patients with neurological diseases appears comparable to the general population. However due to the paucity of studies, specific recommendations for the management are lacking in neurologically disabled patients. In this report we investigated the frequency of urinary tract cancers in patients with neurological diseases. We conclude that urological cancers, especially bladder and prostate can-cer, in patients with neurological diseases occur with similar frequency as in the general population.".
• 01GS8F726XC1MXPRYQJVHS23QF abstract "The use of robot-assisted technology has been widely adopted in urological oncological surgery and its benefits have been well established. In recent years, robotic technology has also been used in several functional reconstructive and neuro-urology (FRNU) procedures. The aim of this review was to evaluate the current evidence in the use of robotic technology in the field of FRNU. We performed a PubMed-based literature search between July and August 2022. The keywords we included were 'robotic assisted', 'ureteric reimplantation', 'cystoplasty', 'ileal conduit', 'neobladder', 'sacrocolpopexy', 'colposuspension', 'artificial urinary sphincter', 'genitourinary fistula' and 'posterior urethral stenoses'. We identified the latest available evidence in the use of robotic technology in specific FRNU procedures such as the reconstruction of the ureters, bladder and urinary sphincter, urinary diversion, and repair of genitourinary prolapse and fistula. We found that there is a lack of prospective studies to assess the robotic-assisted approach in the field of FRNU. Despite this, the advantages that robotic technology can bring to the field of FRNU are evident, including better ergonomics and visual field, less blood loss and shorter hospital stays. There is therefore a need for further prospective studies with larger patient numbers and longer follow-up periods to establish the reproducibility of these results and the long-term efficacy of the procedures, as well as the impact on patient outcomes. Common index procedures and a standardized approach to these procedures should be identified to enhance training.".
• 01GS8G7YMDD3E6VA8MZWYD5C3B abstract "In this manuscript, which is a report from the workshop conducted by the neurourology promotion committee of the ICS, at the last meeting in Vienna, special considerations in patients with nLUTD are discussed. An update is given about the evaluation and treatment of stress urinary incontinence and (recurrent) urinary tract infections in patients with nLUTD. In addition, sacral neuromodulation is discussed. The last part of the manuscript is about fertility issues in patients with neurological disease.".
• 01GS8H7351N1435RQA7T2WG6C7 abstract "Most existing Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) protocols for privacy-preserving training of decision trees over distributed data assume that the features are categorical. In real-life applications, features are often numerical. The standard “in the clear” algorithm to grow decision trees on data with continuous values requires sorting of training examples for each feature in the quest for an optimal cut-point in the range of feature values in each node. Sorting is an expensive operation in MPC, hence finding secure protocols that avoid such an expensive step is a relevant problem in privacy-preserving machine learning. In this paper we propose three more efficient alternatives for secure training of decision tree based models on data with continuous features, namely: (1) secure discretization of the data, followed by secure training of a decision tree over the discretized data; (2) secure discretization of the data, followed by secure training of a random forest over the discretized data; and (3) secure training of extremely randomized trees (“extra-trees”) on the original data. Approaches (2) and (3) both involve randomizing feature choices. In addition, in approach (3) cutpoints are chosen randomly as well, thereby alleviating the need to sort or to discretize the data up front. We implemented all proposed solutions in the semi-honest setting with additive secret sharing based MPC. In addition to mathematically proving that all proposed approaches are correct and secure, we experimentally evaluated and compared them in terms of classification accuracy and runtime. We privately train tree ensembles over data sets with thousands of instances or features in a few minutes, with accuracies that are at par with those obtained in the clear. This makes our solution more efficient than the existing approaches, which are based on oblivious sorting.".
• 01GS8HS99ZRAND610WC7HS31JQ abstract "Introduction and hypothesisThe aim of this review is to discuss the link between menopause and nocturia and to give an overview of the increasing prevalence, risk factors, causative factors, treatment needs and options for nocturia in peri-menopausal women.MethodsThis opinion article is a narrative review based on the expertise and consensus of a variety of key opinion leaders, in combination with an extensive literature review. This literature search included a thorough analysis of potential publications on both the PubMed Database and the Web of Science and was conducted between November 2022 and December 2022. The following key words were used "nocturia" and "menopause" or "nocturnal frequency and menopause." Moreover, key words including "incidence," "prevalence," "insomnia," "estrogen therapy," "metabolic syndrome," and "hot flushes" were used in combination with the aforementioned key words. Last, the reference lists of articles obtained were screened for other relevant literature.ResultsThe perimenopause can be a trigger for inducing nocturia. Typically, obesity, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference are risk factors for developing peri-menopausal nocturia. Presumably the development of peri-menopausal nocturia is multifactorial, with interplay among bladder, sleep, and kidney problems due to estrogen depletion after the menopause. First, impaired stimulation of estrogen receptors in the urogenital region leads to vaginal atrophy and reduced bladder capacity. Moreover, menopause is associated with an increased incidence of overactive bladder syndrome. Second, estrogen deficiency can induce salt and water diuresis through blunted circadian rhythms for the secretion of antidiuretic hormone and the activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Additionally, an increased incidence of sleep disorders, including vasomotor symptoms and obstructive sleep apnea signs, is observed. Oral dryness and a consequent higher fluid intake are common peri-menopausal symptoms. Higher insulin resistance and a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases may provoke nocturia. Given the impact of nocturia on general health and quality of life, bothersome nocturia should be treated. Initially, behavioral therapy should be advised. If these modifications are inadequate, specific treatment should be proposed. Systemic hormone replacement is found to have a beneficial effect on nocturia, without influencing sodium and water clearance in patients with nocturnal polyuria. It is presumed that the improvement in nocturia from hormonal treatment is due to an improvement in sleep disorders.".
• 01GS9BC3KXMNM57Y6555TG4F8G abstract "Limited information on monitoring adulteration in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) by hyperspectral imaging (HSI) exists. This work presents a comparative study of chemometrics for the authentication and quantification of adulteration in EVOO with cheaper edible oils using GC-MS, HSI, FTIR, Raman and UV-Vis spectroscopies. The adulteration mixtures were prepared by separately blending safflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and sesame oil with authentic EVOO in different concentrations (0-20%, m/m). Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and PLS regression models were then built for the classification and quantification of adulteration in olive oil, respectively. HSI, FTIR, UV-Vis, Raman, and GC-MS combined with PLS-DA achieved correct classification accuracies of 100%, 99.8%, 99.6%, 96.6%, and 93.7%, respectively, in the discrimination of authentic and adulterated olive oil. The overall PLS regression model using HSI data was the best in predicting the concentration of adulterants in olive oil with a low root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 1.1%, high R-pred(2) (0.97), and high residual predictive deviation (RPD) of 6.0. The findings suggest the potential of HSI technology as a fast and non-destructive technique to control fraud in the olive oil industry.".
• 01GS9YCREENXSFR3MEEZTJQP1N abstract "Coxevac (R) is the EMA-approved veterinary vaccine for the protection of cattle and goats against Q fever, a zoonotic bacterial disease due to Coxiella burnetii. Since Coxevac (R) reduces bacterial shedding and clinical symptoms but does not prevent infection, novel, ready-to-use vaccine formulations are needed to increase its immunogenicity. Here, a goat vaccination-challenge model was used to evaluate the impact of the commercially available saponin-based QuilA (R) adjuvant on Coxevac (R) immunity. Upon challenge, the QuilA (R)-Coxevac (R) group showed a stronger immune response reflected in a higher magnitude of total IgG and an increase in circulating and splenic CD8(+) T-cells compared to the Coxevac (R) and challenged-control groups. The QuilA (R)-Coxevac (R) group was characterized by a targeted Th1-type response (IFN gamma, IP10) associated with increased transcripts of CD8(+) and NK cells in spleens and gamma delta T cells in bronchial lymph nodes. Coxevac (R) vaccinated animals presented an intermediate expression of Th1-related genes, while the challenged-control group showed an immune response characterized by pro-inflammatory (IL1 beta, TNF alpha, IL12), Th2 (IL4 and IL13), Th17 (IL17A) and other immunoregulatory cytokines (IL6, IL10). An intriguing role was observed for gamma delta T cells, which were of TBX21- and SOX4-types in the QuilA (R)-Coxevac (R) and challenged control group, respectively. Overall, the addition of QuilA (R) resulted in a sustained Th1-type activation associated with an increased vaccine-induced bacterial clearance of 33.3% as compared to Coxevac (R) only. QuilA (R) could be proposed as a readily-applied veterinary solution to improve Coxevac (R) efficacy against C. burnetii infection in field settings.".
• 01GSA0BV9YDNXG5GP828HPQHME abstract "Cooled storage of semen after thawing can expand the use of frozen semen, providing the possibility of thawing and evaluating the semen at the storage site and subsequently shipping the semen. Our objec-tives were (1) to examine the motility and viability of frozen-thawed semen after cooled storage and (2) to compare two cooled-storage protocols for frozen-thawed semen. The samples (n = 31) were either placed immediately in a passive cooling box for 8 or 24 hours (CB) or placed in a refrigerator at 4 degrees C for 30 minutes and then transferred to a passive cooling box (REF). Total and progressive motility were similar at T0 and T8-REF and at T0.5 and T8.5-REF. However, a significant reduction was observed in total motility (-8.12%) between T0 and T8-CB, and in total (-9.96%) and progressive motility (-8.52%) between T0.5 and T8.5-CB ( P < .05). A significant reduction was also observed in total and progressive motility between T0 and T24, and between T0.5 and T24.5 for both storage protocols (CB and REF). Viability was lower in T8.5-CB (-11.87%), in T8.5-REF (-9.65%), in T24.5-CB (-13.52%), and in T24.5-REF (-12.32%) com-pared to T0.5 ( P < .05). Our results demonstrate that sperm motility and viability decrease during cooled storage. However, storing the samples at 4 degrees C for 30 minutes before placing the semen in a passive cool-ing box could mitigate the adverse effect of cooling during short-term storage (8 hours). Additionally, we observed individual variation between samples indicating that this protocol might not be suitable for all stallions. Our data shows that slow cooling and storage of frozen-thawed semen is a valid alternative that allows the expansion of frozen semen in breeding programs.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.".
• 01GSA134PFMNM78BFTJN28MZCJ abstract "The paper aims at characterizing the influence of particle placement and clustering in lattice discrete particle models (LDPM) on structural response. More specifically, the meso-structural features are mimicked by the proposed particle placement schemes for LDPM, which are no longer independent and random but are correlated to prescribed fields. The study is based on high-dimensional Monte Carlo (MC) LDPM simulations of three classical concrete tests in which the inherent variability and production process are represented by the proposed particle placement schemes with varying parameters, and constant material and composition properties.".
• 01GSA1TY6TC82TMD5GPDDX5YP0 abstract "This study investigated the potential use of the String Test (ST) for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in children and adolescents. This is a case series of patients aged 4-15 years presenting with clinically presumed PTB and submitted to ST in three pediatric TB referral centers in Brazil, between November 2017 and July 2020. The ST was performed in the morning, after 4-12 h of fasting, followed by ingestion of the capsule by the patient, which was attached to the patient's malar region. The material was collected for simultaneous smear microscopy (acid-fast bacilli - AFB), culture and the molecular investigation by the GeneXpert MTB/RIF (R). Thirty-three patients with presumed PTB were included and ST was performed in 26 (78.8%) of them and 7 (21.2%) patients could not swallow the cord. The diagnosis of PTB was established in 11 (42.3%) of the 26 patients who underwent the ST. The diagnosis of PTB was confirmed (by culture or GeneXpert MTB/ RIF (R)) in 5 patients, 4 of whom were also positive by the ST. Two of them showed positivity by the GeneXpert MTB/RIF (R) only in the ST sample. Two other patients had a positive ST following the induced sputum test (AFB, GeneXpert MTB/RIF (R), and positive culture in both specimens). Thus, ST was positive in 36.4% of the patients in whom PTB was diagnosed. ST could be a useful test for diagnosing PTB in children and adolescents.".
• 01GSA280D3EYS46832RMZA9V2J abstract "Co-creation is a process in which multiple stakeholders - who would be affected by the outcome of a design process - come together and share ideas to reach innovative solutions. Nowadays, co-creation is seen as the key to innovation. However, due to its complexity and unfamiliarity to non-designers, co-creation requires the support of a facilitator. A facilitator is the person who makes a process easier by utilizing generative tools and techniques to help people express themselves in a more efficient way during a co-creation process. This paper reports on the facilitation of co-creation processes during three mobility exchange programmes carried out in the scope of an Erasmus+ KA2 project. The main aim of this project has been to co-develop with industry and academia an online learning platform based on the Design Thinking methodology, game-based learning, and constructionism. The goal has been to guide and facilitate co-creation among stakeholders in various contexts and schemes. In the context of co-creation, the mobility of students and staff among four higher education institutions from Greece, Belgium and Finland (consortium partners), was envisioned as a way to exchange ideas and co-create value together. Three cycles of mobility have been completed among the institutions. This paper focuses on the role of the facilitator for achieving meaningful co-creation experiences during mobility, as well as, the tools that have been utilized. Furthermore, the feedback received through 4 interviews and an online questionnaire from students and staff members (n=10), who visited a partner institution for 1-2 weeks, is presented. Suggestions are provided for researchers who would like to take up the facilitator role to increase the efficiency of co-creation processes. For instance, it is advised to combine physical (e.g., analogue, low-tech prototyping tools) and digital facilitation tools (e.g., Miro boards), and prepare templates beforehand to facilitate collaborative idea generation. It is argued that the results of this study would shed light into more fruitful co-creation processes among people from different backgrounds, countries and disciplines.".
• 01GSA3C3HK13HEPFK0TQTM3CQJ abstract "Prostate cancer is the most frequent genitourinary tumor worldwide. Maintaining an optimum bone health throughout the natural course of prostate cancer is an important aspect in the management of this disease, particularly in this at risk population of older and frail patients who experience bone loss related to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and/or patients who develop bone metastases. The number of treatment options for advanced prostate cancer that combine ADT with docetaxel, new hormonal agents and/or radiotherapy has increased substantially in recent years. Bisphosphonates and other bone targeted agents such as denosumab have shown an improvement in bone mineral density and are suited for patients with treatment-related osteoporosis and/or bone metastases with an increased risk of skeletalrelated events (SREs). In this context, the aim of this review is to analyse key aspects of bone health and therapies that can prevent the occurrence of SREs throughout the clinical course of prostate cancer, and how to combine them with new available treatments in this setting.".
• 01GSA3GMDASYVE2XAHCDZ94AMD abstract "Background Circadian rhythm impacts broad biological processes, including response to cancer treatment. Evi-dence conflicts on whether treatment time affects risk of radiotherapy side-effects, likely because of differing time analyses and target tissues. We previously showed interactive effects of time and genotypes of circadian genes on late toxicity after breast radiotherapy and aimed to validate those results in a multi-centre cohort.Methods Clinical and genotype data from 1690 REQUITE breast cancer patients were used with erythema (acute; n=340) and breast atrophy (two years post-radiotherapy; n=514) as primary endpoints. Local datetimes per fraction were converted into solar times as predictors. Genetic chronotype markers were included in logistic regressions to identify primary endpoint predictors.Findings Significant predictors for erythema included BMI, radiation dose and PER3 genotype (OR 1.27(95%CI 1.03-1.56); P < 0.03). Effect of treatment time effect on acute toxicity was inconclusive, with no interaction between time and genotype. For late toxicity (breast atrophy), predictors included BMI, radiation dose, surgery type, treatment time and SNPs in CLOCK (OR 0.62 (95%CI 0.4-0.9); P < 0.01), PER3 (OR 0.65 (95%CI 0.44-0.97); P < 0.04) and RASD1 (OR 0.56 (95%CI 0.35-0.89); P < 0.02). There was a statistically significant interaction between time and genotypes of circadian rhythm genes (CLOCK OR 1.13 (95%CI 1.03-1.23), P < 0.01; PER3 OR 1.1 (95%CI 1.01-1.2), P < 0.04; RASD1 OR 1.15 (95%CI 1.04-1.28), P < 0.008), with peak time for toxicity determined by genotype.Interpretation Late atrophy can be mitigated by selecting optimal treatment time according to circadian genotypes (e.g. treat PER3 rs2087947C/C genotypes in mornings; T/T in afternoons). We predict triple-homozygous patients (14%) reduce chance of atrophy from 70% to 33% by treating in mornings as opposed to mid-afternoon. Future clini-cal trials could stratify patients treated at optimal times compared to those scheduled normally.Funding EU-FP7.Copyright (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)".
• 01GSA3KC2JBDR4SAE6680Z7EKK abstract "Purpose Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common and debilitating consequence of cancer and its treatment. Numerous supportive care interventions have been developed to alleviate CRF; however, the diversity of outcome measures used to assess CRF limits comparability of findings. We aimed to evaluate the content and psychometric properties of measures used to assess CRF in interventions targeting fatigue, to inform the selection of suitable measures in future research. Methods Included measures were identified from a systematic review of interventions targeting CRF. General characteristics of each measure were extracted, and item content was assessed against domains specified by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) definition of CRF. Psychometric properties were evaluated against COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of heath Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) criteria. Results Of 54 measures identified, 25 met inclusion criteria. Seventeen were fatigue-specific and eight a fatigue subscale or single item within a broader measure. Only 14 (56%) were specifically developed for cancer populations. Content coverage according to the NCCN CRF definition ranged from 0 to 75%. Evidence for fulfilment of COSMIN criteria in cancer populations ranged from 0 to 93%, with only five measures meeting > 70% of the COSMIN criteria. Conclusion The Piper Fatigue Scale-Revised had good content coverage, but did not comprehensively address COSMIN criteria. The EORTC-FA12 and FACIT/FACT-F had excellent psychometric properties, with each capturing different aspects of fatigue. Ultimately, the choice of CRF measure should be guided by the research question and the CRF domains most relevant to the particular research context.".
• 01GSA3MQ3B6FT32T0GEC8G9VFH abstract "IntroductionWe hypothesized that increasing the pelvic integral dose (ID) and a higher dose per fraction correlate with worsening fatigue and functional outcomes in localized prostate cancer (PCa) patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). MethodsThe study design was a retrospective analysis of two prospective observational cohorts, REQUITE (development, n=543) and DUE-01 (validation, n=228). Data were available for comorbidities, medication, androgen deprivation therapy, previous surgeries, smoking, age, and body mass index. The ID was calculated as the product of the mean body dose and body volume. The weekly ID accounted for differences in fractionation. The worsening (end of radiotherapy versus baseline) of European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 scores in physical/role/social functioning and fatigue symptom scales were evaluated, and two outcome measures were defined as worsening in >= 2 (WS2) or >= 3 (WS3) scales, respectively. The weekly ID and clinical risk factors were tested in multivariable logistic regression analysis. ResultsIn REQUITE, WS2 was seen in 28% and WS3 in 16% of patients. The median weekly ID was 13.1 L center dot Gy/week [interquartile (IQ) range 10.2-19.3]. The weekly ID, diabetes, the use of intensity-modulated radiotherapy, and the dose per fraction were significantly associated with WS2 [AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve) =0.59; 95% CI 0.55-0.63] and WS3 (AUC=0.60; 95% CI 0.55-0.64). The prevalence of WS2 (15.3%) and WS3 (6.1%) was lower in DUE-01, but the median weekly ID was higher (15.8 L center dot Gy/week; IQ range 13.2-19.3). The model for WS2 was validated with reduced discrimination (AUC=0.52 95% CI 0.47-0.61), The AUC for WS3 was 0.58, ConclusionIncreasing the weekly ID and the dose per fraction lead to the worsening of fatigue and functional outcomes in patients with localized PCa treated with EBRT.".
• 01GSA3P9HKKJ256W571XZWMP12 abstract "Background and purpose: To investigate the association between clinician-scored toxicities and patient -reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL), in early-stage (ES-) and locally-advanced (LA-) non -small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving loco-regional radiotherapy, included in the international real-world REQUITE study.Materials and methods: Clinicians scored eleven radiotherapy-related toxicities (and baseline symptoms) with the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4. HRQoL was assessed with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer core HRQoL questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30). Statistical analyses used the mixed-model method; statistical significance was set at p = 0.01. Analyses were performed for baseline and subsequent time points up to 2 years after radiotherapy and per treatment modality, radiotherapy technique and disease stage. Results: Data of 435 patients were analysed. Pre-treatment, overall symptoms, dyspnea, chest wall pain, dysphagia and cough impacted overall HRQoL and specific domains. At subsequent time points, cough and dysphagia were overtaken by pericarditis in affecting HRQoL. Toxicities during concurrent chemo-radiotherapy and 3-dimensional radiotherapy had the most impact on HRQoL. Conversely, toxicities in sequential chemo-radiotherapy and SBRT had limited impact on patients' HRQoL. Stage impacts the cor-relations: LA-NSCLC patients are more adversely affected by toxicity than ES-NSCLC patients, mimicking the results of radiotherapy technique and treatment modality.Conclusion: Pre-treatment symptoms and acute/late toxicities variously impact HRQoL of ES-and LA-NSCLC patients undergoing different treatment approaches and radiotherapy techniques. Throughout the disease, dyspnea seems crucial in this association, highlighting the additional effect of co-existing comorbidities. Our data call for optimized radiotherapy limiting toxicities that may affect patients' HRQoL.Crown Copyright (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Radiotherapy and Oncology 176 (2022) 127-137".
• 01GSA3PXV4RXP5EZ8GESCGC2Y5 abstract "The study of populist radical-right parties has boomed in recent years. Analyses of the discourse of these parties have gone beyond the focus of immigration policies and have turned to their climate communication. Previous research identified populism and the radical-right host ideology as key ideological drivers of their climate scepticism. This study questions which of these ideological features are dominant in the climate discourse of the Belgian populist radical-right party Vlaams Belang. A qualitative data analysis shows that their ideology is most aptly described as conservative and authoritarian. Populism is not salient, in contrast to what previous research has found for other populist radical-right parties. The presence of nationalism is confirmed, but nativism is irrelevant. The results indicate that Vlaams Belang adapts and transplants its core ideology to its climate discourse, but we cannot take the prevalence of populism or nativism in their climate discourse for granted.".
• 01GSA3TCNNBEGMM6V29JTV82NP abstract "Introduction: Previous studies showed that healthcare professionals and patients had only moderate to low agreement on their assessment of treatment-related symptoms. We aimed to determine the levels of agreement in a large cohort of prostate cancer patients. Methods: Analyses were made of data from 1,756 prostate cancer patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (RT) and/or brachytherapy in Europe and the USA and recruited into the prospective mul-ticentre observational REQUITE study. Eleven pelvic symptoms at the end of RT were compared after translating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into CTCAE-based healthcare professional ratings. Gwet's AC2 agreement coefficient and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each symptom. To compare severity of grading between patients and healthcare professionals, percent agreement and deviations for each symptom were graphically depicted. Stratified and sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify potential influencing factors and to assess heterogeneity and robustness of results.Results: The agreement for the 11 pelvic symptoms varied from very good (AC2 > 0.8: haematuria, rectal bleeding, management of sphincter control) to poor agreement (AC2 <= 0.2: proctitis and urinary urgency). Fatigue had a negative impact on the agreement. Patients tended to grade symptoms more severely than healthcare professionals. Information on sexual dysfunction was missing more frequently in healthcare professional assessment than PROs. Conclusion: Agreement was better for observable than subjective symptoms, with patients usually grad-ing symptoms more severely than healthcare professionals. Our findings emphasize that PROs should complement symptom assessment by healthcare professionals and be taken into consideration for clin-ical decision-making to incorporate the patient perspective.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Radiotherapy and Oncology 176 (2022) 109426 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).".
• 01GSA5ZE6E1NHPXW0E6QZBKGA1 abstract "Role of preconditioning with oxygen and glucose deprivation in promoting differentiation of dental pulp stem cells in 3D culture Irina A. Okkelman, Winter Vandenberghe, Ruslan I. Dmitriev Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Group, Department of Human Structure and Repair, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium Dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) are promising for bone tissue engineering and repair. To support angiogenesis and long-term viability within microfabricated and 3D-printed tissue constructs, they are often grown and differentiated together with endothelial cells in multicellular spheroids. However, this is often associated with the decline of endothelial cells and slow rate of DPSC differentiation towards osteoblasts. Interestingly, hypoxia affects cell viability and at the same time promotes angiogenesis with osteoblast differentiation. Here, we hypothesized that oxygen and glucose deprivation pre-conditioning can improve the process of DPSC differentiation in 3D culture with endothelial HUVEC cells. To do this, we performed oxygen and glucose deprivation experiments with 2D cultures of DPSC and HUVEC and tested effects on cell viability, redox potential and morphology. Interestingly, glucose deprivation did not significantly affect redox state of both HUVEC and DPSC. We therefore preconditioned these cell types with 0% O2, followed by 24 h reperfusion, and produced heterocellular spheroids. To understand the effects of preconditioning in this 3D culture, we performed fluorescence microscopy analysis of cell death (Sytox Green) together with monitoring of spheroid oxygenation (ratiometric red/near-infrared O2-sensing nanoparticles) during 7 days of differentiation. We found that cell death was not significantly different in the spheroids from non-differentiated and differentiated groups of cells. However, the periphery-to-core O2 gradients were significantly lower (p=0.05) in non-differentiated hDPSC 21% / HUVEC 0% and hDPSC 0% / HUVEC 0% groups in comparison to hDPSC 21% / HUVEC 21% spheroids. During differentiation, this difference in spheroid oxygenation was slightly ameliorated, keeping the same trend as in non-differentiated spheroids. Thus under the deeper hypoxia, the heterocellular spheroids formed with 0% O2-preconditioned endothelial cells demonstrated cell viability comparable to spheroids formed from non-preconditioned cells. This data correlates with the results on the alteration of redox potential in adherent (2D) DPSC and HUVEC cultures, where hypoxia-conditioned HUVEC cells demonstrated more profound response. We also found that preconditioned cells displayed stronger accumulation of hydroxyapatite and osteogenic differentiation. Collectively, our preliminary data indicates that hypoxia preconditioning, combined with imaging of oxygenation and cell death, can improve the quality of the spheroid-based ‘tissue building blocks’ in biofabrication. Funding: supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) grant of Ghent University (BOF/STA/202009/003).".
• 01GSA6H0EZMBJGYPYQ8ZTC8Z3P abstract "Probing tumor spheroid hypoxia using red/near-infrared ratiometric O2-sensitive nanoparticles Angela C. Debruyne1, Irina A. Okkelman1, Sergey M. Borisov2, Ruslan I. Dmitriev1 1Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Group, Department of Human Structure and Repair, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium 2Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria The role of the tumor microenvironment is paramount in supporting cell survival, promoting local invasion and metastatic dissemination. While the limited nutrient availability and hypoxia are known to be important contributors of the ‘niche’ environment and leading to metabolic cell heterogeneity, their quantitative non-destructive analysis is rather difficult. For instance, analysis of real-time oxygenation in such 3D cell cultures as spheroids and organoids, is rarely performed. To address this, we produced cell-penetrating O2-sensitive nanoparticle probes, which can enable measurements of spheroid oxygenation and consumption rate on a conventional fluorescence microscope. We used near-infrared O2-sensitive (PtTPTBPF) metalloporphyrin and red aza-BODIPY reference dyes to increase the light penetration depth and used well-known biocompatible polymer nanoparticles (Eudragit RL100 and PMMA-AA) to achieve efficient cell staining. The resulting probe, termed ‘MMIR’ (multi-modal infrared) enables measuring oxygenation gradients via fluorescence emission ratiometric measurements or the phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (PLIM). To test the brightness, photostability, phototoxicity, and reproducibility of MMIR, we evaluated different reference:sensing dye (1:1, 1:0,5 and 0,5:0,5) ratio and the presence of nanoparticle charge groups. We examined multiple cell lines including HCT116, PANC-1, dental pulp stem cells, HUVEC, MCF-7, and SKOV-3. Preliminary results showed cell line-dependent staining and lower aggregation in case of negatively charged probe. No significant toxicity was found and after optimizations of the staining protocol, nanoparticle probes were used for staining 3D spheroid cultures and subsequent analysis of O2 gradients. Surprisingly, the human colon cancer HCT116 spheroids displayed an “inverted” oxygenation gradient, with elevated oxygenation at the spheroid core, compared to the cells located at the periphery. This can be explained by the presence of necrotic core and the large size of spheroids (~700 µm), which cannot consume O2. In addition, using the MMIR probe we studied how the growth medium composition can influence the oxygenation gradients. Collectively, presented ratiometric O2-sensing nanoparticle probes provide means for multi-parameter quantitative oxygenation measurements and characterization of 3D cultures. Funding: supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) grant of Ghent University (BOF/STA/202009/003).".
• 01GSA6Y41ZMZ3PEWRT97C4PSHK abstract "Objective. Determining elastic properties of materials from observations of shear wave propagation is difficult in anisotropic materials because of the complex relations among the propagation direction, shear wave polarizations, and material symmetries. In this study, we derive expressions for the phase velocities of the SH and SV propagation modes as a function of propagation direction in an incompressible, hyperelastic material with uniaxial stretch. Approach. Wave motion is included in the material model by adding incremental, small amplitude motion to the initial, finite deformation. Equations of motion for the SH and SV propagation modes are constructed using the Cauchy stress tensor derived from the strain energy function of the material. Group velocities for the SH and SV propagation modes are derived from the angle-dependent phase velocities. Main results. Sample results are presented for the Arruda-Boyce, Mooney-Rivlin, and Isihara material models using model parameters previously determined in a phantom. Significance. Results for the Mooney-Rivlin and Isihara models demonstrate shear splitting in which the SH and SV propagation modes have unequal group velocities for propagation across the material symmetry axis. In addition, for sufficiently large stretch, the Arruda-Boyce and Isihara material models show cusp structures with triple-valued group velocities for the SV mode at angles of roughly 15 degrees to the material symmetry axis.".
• 01GSA7CPJKHRZ90Y2XQD96TY6D abstract "Bi-allelic mutations in the gene coding for human trans-membrane anterior–posterior transformation protein 1 (TAPT1) result in a broad phenotypic spectrum, ranging from syndromic disease with severe skeletal and congenital abnormalities to isolated early-onset cataract. We present here the first patient with a frameshift mutation in the TAPT1 gene, resulting in both bilateral early-onset cataract and skeletal abnormalities, in addition to several dysmorphic features, in this way further expanding the phenotypic spectrum associated with TAPT1 mutations. A tapt1a/tapt1b double knock-out (KO) zebrafish model generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing revealed an early larval phenotype with eye malformations, loss of vision, increased photokinetics and hyperpigmentation, without visible skeletal involvement. Ultrastructural analysis of the eyes showed a smaller condensed lens, loss of integrity of the lens capsule with formation of a secondary lens and hyperplasia of the cells in the ganglion and inner plexiform layers of the retina. Transcriptomic analysis pointed to an impaired lens development with aberrant expression of many of the crystallin and other lens-specific genes. Furthermore, the phototransduction and visual perception pathways were found to be significantly disturbed. Differences in light perception are likely the cause of the increased dark photokinetics and generalized hyperpigmentation observed in this zebrafish model. In conclusion, this study validates TAPT1 as a new gene for early-onset cataract and sheds light on its ultrastructural and molecular characteristics.".
• 01GSA8M6B9HQ3V5WXX790BH8JZ abstract "This paper offers insights into 3,576 initial equity crowdfunding offerings in the UK and US markets from 2012 to 2019. We investigate the factors influencing three outcomes: the success of the offering, the fundraising target, and matching between entrepreneurial ventures and crowdfunding platforms. In all markets, higher equity retention by original entrepreneurs positively affects the chances of success of the offerings and amount of capital raised. However, there are differences across platforms. Patents do not have a significant impact in entrepreneur-led platforms, while they matter in the UK investor-led platform SyndicateRoom. By separately observing the capital demand set by entrepreneurs and the capital supply by investors, we find that entrepreneurs in financial centers set higher targets in UK markets. There is no difference in the amount of capital raised by female and male entrepreneurs, conditional on female founders setting lower targets in UK markets.".
• 01GSA90WVKWXWD30RYFKKK1XC6 abstract "A supermassive black hole, obscured by cosmic dust, powers the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068. Neutrinos, which rarely interact with matter, could provide information on the galaxy's active core. We searched for neutrino emission from astrophysical objects using data recorded with the IceCube neutrino detector between 2011 and 2020. The positions of 110 known gamma-ray sources were individually searched for neutrino detections above atmospheric and cosmic backgrounds. We found that NGC 1068 has an excess of 79(-20)(+22) neutrinos at tera-electron volt energies, with a global significance of 4.2 sigma, which we interpret as associated with the active galaxy. The flux of high-energy neutrinos that we measured from NGC 1068 is more than an order of magnitude higher than the upper limit on emissions of tera-electron volt gamma rays from this source.".
• 01GSA90WW2HC9QDY75HT6GVMYM abstract "We present a search for an unstable sterile neutrino by looking for a resonant signal in eight years of atmospheric mu(mu) data collected from 2011 to 2019 at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Both the (stable) three-neutrino and the 3 + 1 sterile neutrino models are disfavored relative to the unstable sterile neutrino model, though with p values of 2.8% and 0.81%, respectively, we do not observe evidence for 3 + 1 neutrinos with neutrino decay. The best-fit parameters for the sterile neutrino with decay model from this study are Delta m(2) (41) = 6.7(-2.5)(+3.9) eV(2), sin(2)2 theta(24) = 0.33(-0.17)(+0.20), and g(2)=2.5 pi +/- 1.5 pi, where g is the decaymediating coupling. The preferred regions of the 3 thorn 1 thorn decay model from short-baseline oscillation searches are excluded at 90% C.L.".
• 01GSA90WWEN048E87Y68T6351X abstract "Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are considered as promising sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) due to their large power output. Observing a neutrino flux from GRBs would offer evidence that GRBs are hadronic accelerators of UHECRs. Previous IceCube analyses, which primarily focused on neutrinos arriving in temporal coincidence with the prompt gamma-rays, found no significant neutrino excess. The four analyses presented in this paper extend the region of interest to 14 days before and after the prompt phase, including generic extended time windows and targeted precursor searches. GRBs were selected between 2011 May and 2018 October to align with the data set of candidate muon-neutrino events observed by IceCube. No evidence of correlation between neutrino events and GRBs was found in these analyses. Limits are set to constrain the contribution of the cosmic GRB population to the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux observed by IceCube. Prompt neutrino emission from GRBs is limited to less than or similar to 1% of the observed diffuse neutrino flux, and emission on timescales up to 10(4) s is constrained to 24% of the total diffuse flux.".
• 01GSABRTGWG0X3R88ATGKF8ENF abstract "We introduce and study new modules and spaces of generalized functions that are related to the classical Besov spaces. Various Schwartz distribution spaces are naturally embedded into our new generalized function spaces. We obtain precise criteria for detecting Besov regularity of distributions.".
• 01GSABZMCASTKMZEVCW5Y2TAAQ abstract "As liberal norms promoted by the EU are fiercely contested, human rights groups in the South Caucasus face huge insecurity. Some propose alternatives to human rights promotion that challenge the EU’s development paradigms and competing authoritarian agendas. Laura Luciani argues that we should take them seriously.".
• 01GSACEX19G3QEWRGWMQM8KAA5 abstract "We provide a projective description of the space E{M}(Ω) of ultradifferentiable functions of Roumieu type, where Ω is an arbitrary open set in Rd and M is a weight matrix satisfying the analogue of Komatsu’s condition (M.2)′. In particular, we obtain in a unified way projective descriptions of ultradifferentiable classes defined via a single weight sequence (Denjoy-Carleman approach) and via a weight function (Braun-Meise-Taylor approach) under considerably weaker assumptions than in earlier versions of these results.".
• 01GSAG1MVTR7XCBACR0TQ47AKJ abstract "Together with its mineral resources, ‘the Area’ – comprising the seabed and subsoil beyond the boundaries of national jurisdiction – is designated as the ‘common heritage of mankind’. This abstract concept, indirectly derived from the legal notion of ‘res communis’, provided a solution for several issues surrounding the anticipated exploration and exploitation of the deep seabed resources. Indeed, it reconciles the conflicting ambitions of exploitation and conservation and serves to avoid a ’tragedy of the commons’ scenario, as the absence of an specific management regime would pose a significant risk of unbridled exploitation and drastic ecological decline. Nevertheless, one of the predominant motivations behind the principle of the common heritage of mankind was to ensure fair sharing of the benefits derived from the Area by preventing a first-come first-serve race to the bottom of the ocean, which would mainly entitle developed nations – possessing the necessary expertise, technology and financial means to engage in deep sea mining – to the mineral resources of the deep seabed and would exclude most developing states from these economic opportunities. This important objective ought to be implemented through a number of mechanisms (including the establishment of the Enterprise, the system of reserved areas and the adoption of equitable sharing procedures), but most of these have not yet been operationalized by the International Seabed Authority or seem to be undermined by current developments. This reveals an apparent imbalance between two of the main ambitions associated with the common heritage of the mankind: while the prominent focus on marine environmental protection and the widespread scrutiny in this regard is appropriate, since the precise impact of seabed mining on deep sea ecosystems remains largely unknown and is a major concern, the seeming neglect of the interests of developing states in the Area and the lack of urgency to address these issues should not be overlooked.".
• 01GSAGB95N123QVZC88DDWVD1D abstract "The failure of many approximate electronic structure methods can be traced to their erroneous description of fractional charge and spin redistributions in the asymptotic limit toward infinity, where violations of the flat-plane conditions lead to delocalization and static correlation errors. Although the energetic consequences of the flat-planes are known, the underlying quantum phase transitions that occur when (spin)charge is redistributed have not been characterized. In this study, we use open subsystems to redistribute (spin)charges in the tilted Hubbard model by imposing suitable Lagrange constraints on the Hamiltonian. We computationally recover the flat-plane conditions and quantify the underlying quantum phase transitions using quantum entanglement measures. The resulting entanglement patterns quantify the phase transition that gives rise to the flat-plane conditions and quantify the complexity required to accurately describe charge redistributions in strongly correlated systems. Our study indicates that entanglement patterns can uncover those phase transitions that have to be modeled accurately if the delocalization and static correlation errors of approximate methods are to be reduced.".
• 01GSAH8VQNKJ3095SJRV08ZR8E abstract "The status of the Area and its mineral resources as the common heritage of mankind constitutes the guiding principle of the international deep seabed regime. Although its implications and objectives are wide-ranging, one of the crucial components of this abstract concept consists of a general premise to carry out activities in the Area for the benefit of mankind as a whole. This ambition can be pursued through various mechanisms, and one of the most direct ways is to share the proceeds of deep sea mining among all states on an equitable basis. In accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is tasked with developing a suitable payment and distribution system, which takes the needs and interests of developing states into particular consideration. This article analyses the overarching rules and principles, discusses prominent issues and evaluates the available options, offering an insightful look at a complex process which will shape some of the most important aspects of the international deep seabed regime.".
• 01GSAHEZF4HWMJPXEZ932CEKJP abstract "Despite notable scientifc and medical advances, broader political, socioeconomic and behavioural factors continue to undercut the response to the COVID-19 pandemic1,2 . Here we convened, as part of this Delphi study, a diverse, multidisciplinary panel of 386 academic, health, non-governmental organization, government and other experts in COVID-19 response from 112 countries and territories to recommend specifc actions to end this persistent global threat to public health. The panel developed a set of 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations to governments, health systems, industry and other key stakeholders across six domains: communication; health systems; vaccination; prevention; treatment and care; and inequities. In the wake of nearly three years of fragmented global and national responses, it is instructive to note that three of the highest-ranked recommendations call for the adoption of whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches1 , while maintaining proven prevention measures using a vaccines-plus approach2 that employs a range of public health and fnancial support measures to complement vaccination. Other recommendations with at least 99% combined agreement advise governments and other stakeholders to improve communication, rebuild public trust and engage communities3 in the management of pandemic responses. The fndings of the study, which have been further endorsed by 184 organizations globally, include points of unanimous agreement, as well as six recommendations with >5% disagreement, that provide health and social policy actions to address inadequacies in the pandemic response and help to bring this public health threat to an end.".
• 01GSAHK7WJ8HPRQ525AR34CDK6 abstract "Samen met zijn minerale rijkdommen wordt ‘het Gebied’, dat de zeebodem en ondergrond voorbij de grenzen van de nationale jurisdictie omvat, beschouwd als het gemeenschappelijk erfgoed van de mensheid. Dit abstract concept zorgt er niet alleen voor dat de conflicterende ambities van ontginning en bescherming verzoend worden en een tragedy-of-the-commons-scenario vermeden, maar stelt bovenal een billijke verdeling van de baten van het Gebied voorop. Door het tegengaan van een first-come-first-serve-benadering wordt getracht om ontwikkelde landen en ontwikkelingslanden gelijke aanspraken te geven op de rijkdommen en economische opportuniteiten die de diepzeebodem biedt. Deze belangrijke doelstelling zou geïmplementeerd moeten worden via een aantal mechanismen, maar de meeste daarvan staan nog niet op poten of lijken ondermijnd te worden door recente ontwikkelingen. Dit onthult een schijnbaar onevenwicht tussen twee van de belangrijkste ambities gekoppeld aan het gemeenschappelijk erfgoed van de mensheid: hoewel de prominente focus op mariene milieubescherming en streng toezicht in dit opzicht gepast is, mag de veronachtzaming van de belangen van ontwikkelingslanden en het gebrek aan enige drang om deze kwesties aan te pakken niet over het hoofd worden gezien.".
• 01GSAHTPM2TSM1450RNVSM4P86 abstract "Introduction COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented increase in demand on health systems to care for people infected, necessitating the allocation of significant resources, especially medical resources, towards the response. This, compounded by the restrictions on movement instituted may have led to disruptions in the provision of essential services, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. This study aims to assess the availability of contraception, comprehensive abortion care, sexually transmitted infection prevention and treatment and sexual and gender-based violence care and support services in local health facilities during COVID-19 pandemic. This is a standardised generic protocol designed for use across different global settings. Methods and analysis This study adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods to assess health facilities’ SRH service availability and readiness, and clients’ and providers’ perceptions of the availability and readiness of these services in COVID-19-affected areas. The study has two levels: (1) perceptions of clients (and the partners) and healthcare providers, using qualitative methods, and (2) assessment of infrastructure availability and readiness to provide SRH services through reviews, facility service statistics for clients and a qualitative survey for healthcare provider perspectives. The health system assessment will use a cross-sectional panel survey design with two data collection points to capture changes in SRH services availability as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic. Data will be collected using focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and a health facility assessment survey. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the WHO Scientific and Ethics Review Committee (protocol ID CERC.0103). Each study site is required to obtain the necessary ethical and regulatory approvals that are required in each specific country.".
• 01GSAK8A2VF8NEQW2E708HTE6E abstract "Analytic functions defined on a tube domain $T^{C}\subset \mathbb{C}^{n}$ and taking values in a Banach space $X$ which are known to have $X$-valued distributional boundary values are shown to be in the Hardy space $H^{p}(T^{C},X)$ if the boundary value is in the vector valued Lebesgue space $L^{p}(\mathbb{R}^{n},X)$, where $1\leq p \leq \infty$ and $C$ is a regular open convex cone. Poisson integral transform representations of elements of $H^{p}(T^{C}, X)$ are also obtained for certain classes of Banach spaces, including reflexive Banach spaces.".
• 01GSAKQFERZR3RMY8JERVXV4CF abstract "Study design: Scoping review.Aim of the study: To obtain an overview of initiatives, organisational components, and stakeholders' perspectives on PU prevention in transitional care.Methods: Scoping review searching the databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE), CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and SCOPUS in May 2022. Inclusion of English-written research on pressure ulcer prevention in adult people with spinal cord injury in transition from hospital or rehabilitation centre to the home care environment. Results: Fifteen studies of different types are included in this study: six qualitative studies, four randomized controlled trials, three cohort studies, one cross-sectional study and an interventional study. The included studies are relatively low-level evidence but of acceptable quality.Conclusion: Continuous tailored education and information about PU prevention and follow-up services are essential components in preventing PUs and rehabilitating people with SCI. The complexity of SCI requires adaptations, equipment and access to specialist care and treatment after discharge. However, there is a discrepancy between the international recommendations, the perceived needs, and the delivered healthcare services. The consequences are a lower quality of life and a higher risk of PUs for people with SCI.".
• 01GSAQX31PKT0KT7EEGCWEGG2Z abstract "Sornatosensory function plays an important role for upper limb motor learning. However, knowledge about underlying mechanisms of sensorimotor therapy is lacking. We aim to investigate differences in therapy-induced resting-state functional connectivity changes between additional sensorimotor compared with motor therapy in the early-phase post stroke. Thirty first-stroke patients with a sensorimotor impairment were induded for an assessor-blinded multi-centre randomized controlled trial within 8 weeks post stroke [13 (43%) females; mean age: 67 +/- 13 years; mean time post stroke: 43 +/- 13 days]. Patients were randomly assigned to additional sensorimotor (n = 18) or motor (n = 12) therapy, receiving 16 h of additional therapy within 4 weeks. Sensorimotor evaluations and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging were performed at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2) and after 4 weeks follow-up (T3). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was also performed in an age-matched healthy control group (n = 19) to identify patterns of aberrant connectivity in stroke patients between hemispheres, or within ipsilesional and contralesional hemispheres. Mixed model analysis investigated session and treatment effects between stroke therapy groups. Non-parametric partial correlations were used to investigate brain-behaviour associations with age and frame-wise displacement as nuisance regressors. Connections within the contralesional hemisphere that showed hypo-connectivity in subacute stroke patients (compared with healthy controls) showed a trend towards a more pronounced pre-to-post normalization (less hypo-connectivity) in the motor therapy group, compared with the sensorimotor therapy group (mean estimated difference = -0.155 +/- 0.061; P = 0.02). Further, the motor therapy group also tended to show a further pre-to-post increase in functional connectivity strength among connections that already showed hyper-connectivity in the stroke patients at baseline versus healthy controls (mean estimated difference = -0.144 +/- 0.072; P= 0.06). Notably, these observed increases in hyper-connectivity of the contralesional hemisphere were positively associated with improvements in functional activity (r= 0.48), providing indications that these patterns of hyper-connectivity are compensatory in nature. The sensorimotor and motor therapy group showed no significant differences in terms of pre-to-post changes in inter-hemispheric connectivity or ipsilesional intrahemispheric connectivity. While effects are only tentative within this preliminary sample, results suggest a possible stronger normalization of hypo-connectivity and a stronger pre-to-post increase in compensatory hyper-connectivity of the contralesional hemisphere after motor therapy compared with sensorimotor therapy. Future studies with larger patient samples are however recommended to confirm these trend-based preliminary findings.".
• 01GSAQX31WQ89H93NBS12TJBQ5 abstract "Background: Somatosensory function plays an important role in motor learning. More than half of the stroke patients have somatosensory impairments in the upper limb, which could hamper recovery. Question: Is sensorimotor upper limb (UL) therapy of more benefit for motor and somatosensory outcome than motor therapy? Design: Randomized assessor- blinded multicenter controlled trial with block randomization stratified for neglect, severity of motor impairment, and type of stroke. Participants: 40 first-ever stroke patients with UL sensorimotor impairments admitted to the rehabilitation center. Intervention: Both groups received 16 h of additional therapy over 4 weeks consisting of sensorimotor (N = 22) or motor (N = 18) UL therapy. Outcome measures: Action Research Arm test (ARAT) as primary outcome, and other motor and somatosensory measures were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and after 4 weeks follow-up. Results: No significant between-group differences were found for change scores in ARAT or any somatosensory measure between the three time points. For UL impairment (Fugl-Meyer assessment), a significant greater improvement was found for the motor group compared to the sensorimotor group from baseline to post-intervention [mean (SD) improvement 14.65 (2.19) vs. 5.99 (2.06); p = 0.01] and from baseline to follow-up [17.38 (2.37) vs. 6.75 (2.29); p = 0.003]. Conclusion: UL motor therapy may improve motor impairment more than UL sensorimotor therapy in patients with sensorimotor impairments in the early rehabilitation phase post stroke. For these patients, integrated sensorimotor therapy may not improve somatosensory function and may be less effective for motor recovery.".
• 01GSAQX3215NVGT2MJTGKG1MEK abstract "Purpose: To investigate the relation between observed and perceived upper limb motor function in patients with chronic stroke. Material and methods: We investigated 32 patients at six months after stroke with the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (observed function) and hand subscale of the Stroke Impact Scale (perceived function). Spearman correlation was calculated to relate observed and perceived function. Through cut-off scores, we divided our sample in low (Fugl-Meyer Assessment <31/66) and good observed function, and low (hand subscale of Stroke Impact Scale <61/100) and good perceived function. Scatterplot and hierarchical clustering analysis was conducted to detect distinct groups. Results: A strong positive relation was found between observed and perceived function (r = 0.84). Three groups could be identified; a "low match group" of patients with low observed and low perceived function (n = 11, 34%), a "good match group" containing patients with good observed and good perceived function (n = 15, 47%), and a "mismatch group" comprising patients with good observed but low perceived function (n = 6, 19%). Conclusions: In our chronic sample, one in five patients showed good upper limb observed but low perceived function. Measuring both observed and perceived arm and hand function seems warranted together with considering a differential therapy approach for the distinct groups.".
• 01GSAQX324X2R91KZTVTYH5P5W abstract "Background Aberrant functional connectivity in brain networks associated with motor impairment after stroke is well described, but little is known about the association with somatosensory impairments. Aim The objective of this cross-sectional observational study was to investigate the relationship between brain functional connectivity and severity of somatosensory impairments in the upper limb in the acute phase post stroke. Methods Nineteen first-ever stroke patients underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and a standardized clinical somatosensory profile assessment (exteroception and higher cortical somatosensation) in the first week post stroke. Integrity of interand intrahemispheric (ipsilesional and contralesional) functional connectivity of the somatosensory network was assessed between patients with severe (Em-NSA< 13/32) and mild to moderate (Em-NSA> 13/32) somatosensory impairments. Results Patients with severe somatosensory impairments displayed significantly lower functional connectivity indices in terms of interhemispheric (p = 0.001) and ipsilesional intrahemispheric (p = 0.035) connectivity compared to mildly to moderately impaired patients. Significant associations were found between the perceptual threshold of touch assessment and interhemispheric (r = -0.63) and ipsilesional (r = -0.51) network indices. Additional significant associations were found between the index of interhemispheric connectivity and light touch (r = 0.55) and stereognosis (r = 0.64) evaluation. Conclusion Patients with more severe somatosensory impairments have lower inter-and ipsilesional intrahemispheric connectivity of the somatosensory network. Lower connectivity indices are related to more impaired exteroception and higher cortical somatosensation. This study highlights the importance of network integrity in terms of inter-and ipsilesional intrahemispheric connectivity for somatosensory function. Further research is needed investigating the effect of therapy on the re-establishment of these networks.".
• 01GSAQX324X2R91KZTVTYH5P5W abstract "Background".
• 01GSAQX32849HTGH62XAQ8V99S abstract "Background. Proportional motor recovery in the upper limb has been investigated, indicating about 70% of the potential for recovery of motor impairment within the first months poststroke. Objective. To investigate whether the proportional recovery rule is applicable for upper-limb somatosensory impairment and to study underlying neural correlates of impairment and outcome at 6 months. Methods. A total of 32 patients were evaluated at 4 to 7 days and 6 months using the Erasmus MC modification of the revised Nottingham Sensory Assessment (NSA) for impairment of (1) somatosensory perception (exteroception) and (2) passive somatosensory processing (sharp/blunt discrimination and proprioception); (3) active somatosensory processing was evaluated using the stereognosis component of the NSA. Magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained within 1 week poststroke, from which lesion load (LL) was calculated for key somatosensory tracts. Results. Somatosensory perception fully recovered within 6 months. Passive and active somatosensory processing showed proportional recovery of 86% (95% CI = 79%-93%) and 69% (95% CI = 49%-89%), respectively. Patients with somatosensory impairment at 4 to 7 days showed significantly greater thalamocortical and insulo-opercular tracts (TCT and IOT) LL (P < .05) in comparison to patients without impairment. Sensorimotor tract disruption at 4 to 7 days did not provide significant contribution above somatosensory processing score at 4 to 7 days when predicting somatosensory processing outcome at 6 months. Conclusions. Our sample of stroke patients assessed early showed full somatosensory perception but proportional passive and active somatosensory processing recovery. Disruption of both the TCT and IOT early after stroke appears to be a factor associated with somatosensory impairment but not outcome.".
• 01GSAQX32CHDXAE8N870TXDH0W abstract "Background: The role of somatosensory feedback in motor performance has been warranted in the literature. Although sensorimotor deficits are common after stroke, current rehabilitation approaches primarily focus on restoring upper limb motor ability. Evidence for integrative sensorimotor rehabilitation approaches is scarce, as is knowledge about neural correlates of somatosensory impairments after stroke and the effect of rehabilitation on brain connectivity level. Therefore, we aim to investigate changes in sensorimotor function and brain connectivity following a sensorimotor therapy program compared to an attention-matched motor therapy program for the upper limb after stroke. Methods: An assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial will be conducted. Sixty inpatient rehabilitation patients up to eight weeks after stroke will be included. Patients will be randomized to either an experimental group receiving sensorimotor therapy or a control group receiving attention-matched motor therapy for the upper limb, with both groups receiving conventional therapy. Thus, all patients will receive extra therapy, a total of 16 1-h sessions over four weeks. Patients will be assessed at baseline, after four weeks of training, and after four weeks of follow-up. Primary outcome measure is the Action Research Arm Test. Secondary outcome measures will consist of somatosensory, motor and cognitive assessments, and a standardized resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol. Discussion: The integration of sensory and motor rehabilitation into one therapy model might provide the added value of this therapy to improve sensorimotor performance post stroke. Insight in the behavioral and brain connectivity changes post therapy will lead to a better understanding of working mechanisms of therapy and will provide new knowledge for patient-tailored therapy approaches.".
• 01GSAR197KKHR4J4DJQKT0C3PS abstract "Beyond the characteristics of a brain lesion, such as its etiology, size or location, lesion network mapping (LNM) has shown that similar symptoms after a lesion reflects similar dis-connectivity patterns, thereby linking symptoms to brain networks. Here, we extend LNM by using a multimodal strategy, combining functional and structural networks from 1000 healthy participants in the Human Connectome Project. We apply multimodal LNM to a cohort of 54 stroke patients with the aim of predicting sensorimotor behavior, as assessed through a combination of motor and sensory tests. Results are two-fold. First, multimodal LNM reveals that the functional modality contributes more than the structural one in the prediction of sensorimotor behavior. Second, when looking at each modality individually, the performance of the structural networks strongly depended on whether sensorimotor performance was corrected for lesion size, thereby eliminating the effect that larger lesions generally produce more severe sensorimotor impairment. In contrast, functional networks provided similar performance regardless of whether or not the effect of lesion size was removed. Overall, these results support the extension of LNM to its multimodal form, highlighting the synergistic and additive nature of different types of network modalities, and their corresponding influence on behavioral performance after brain injury.".
• 01GSATTKVFCHTEHF8DCE15AFW0 abstract "Implantable loop recorders allow continuous monitoring of the cardiac rhythm and facilitate detection of arrhythmias in equine patients. The current limitations of ILRs include the presence of motion artefacts which impede detection of exercise-associated arrhythmias, the lack of early arrhythmia detection when manual interrogation is necessary and the burden of false-positive alerts in case of remote monitoring. ILRs are therefore very useful to study the pathophysiology of equine arrhythmias such as paroxysmal AF, but remote monitoring is required to allow early diagnosis and treatment of this arrhythmia. ILRs are also useful to detect or exclude pathological bradyarrhythmias in horses with a history of collapse and to detect whether the initiating mechanism of AF recurrence after cardioversion is atrial tachycardia as these horses may benefit from radiofrequency ablation.".
• 01GSAVPD39QCV9KMFB95SSXY16 abstract "Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging pollutant of concern in all known aquatic ecosystems. However, studies at a regional scale on MP pollution in freshwater systems and the necessary risk assessments are limited. Therefore, in this study, we examined microplastic concentrations, size distributions, and polymer types in surface waters and sediments in the geographic region Flanders (Belgium), as a case study for a densely populated region and one of the most developed parts of Europe. Samples have been taken on nine different locations, of which five were repeated in a different weather condition. In total 43 aqueous and nine sediment samples have been collected. The quantity and identity of the microplastics in the samples were determined with μFTIR spectroscopy in the range of 25–1000 μm. The MPs' abundances in surface waters and sediments ranged from 0 to 4.8 MP L−1 (average = 0.48 MP L−1) and from 0 to 9558 MP kg−1 dry weight (average = 2774.57 ± 2317.93 MP kg−1 DW), respectively. Polystyrene and polypropylene were the most common polymer compositions found. No correlations were observed between microplastic concentrations in the sediment/the surface water samples and the measured environmental variables rainfall, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen content, waterway flow rate and width, and surrounding land use. Risk assessment results for the measured surface water concentrations through the risk quotient (RQ) method and the probabilistic risk assessment framework suggest that most of the sampled sites in Flanders posed negligible risks to freshwater biota, while this was not the case for some of the sediment concentrations. Our results illustrate the need to urgently develop analytical methods that can routinely measure the full size range of MP in environmental samples to adequately assess risks for the environment.".
• 01GSAW9V037WREP4AGA9STFV9A abstract "Many teachers report to experience difficulties in feelings of burnout (Abos et al., 2018), in their motivation to teach (Deci & Ryan, 1985), and the way they interact with their students (Roth et al., 2007). To mentor and support teachers it is crucial to understand whether such problems are more likely to occur in specific phases of their career. A focus is generally placed on differences between novice and more experienced teachers, with studies revealing that burnout is higher among novice teachers (e.g. Goddard & Goddard, 2006) and that autonomous motivation is higher among experienced teachers (Roness and Smith, 2009). Yet, the phases beyond the novice phase received far less attention. Day et al., (2007), concluded that burnout and a lack of motivation may be more prevalent in the intermediate phase between 8 and 15 years of experiences. The present study aim is to examine whether differences can be noted in teachers’ burnout, motivation and (de-)motivating style according to six professional life phases. In a sample of 913 teachers, we found that teachers burnout started to increase when teachers had more than 8 years of experience and was the highest when they had 16-30 years of experience. Teachers’ controlled motivation was the highest in the latest phase of their career when they had 24-31+ years of experience. For teachers’ motivating style, teachers with 0-3 years of experience were less structuring than those with 8 or more years of experience and less controlling than those with 24-31+ years of experience.".
• 01GSAZM6YGMJMK2K09MXJ6XQHT abstract "Purpose: This study investigates the short- and longer-term effects of glottoplasty up to six months after surgery on acoustic voice parameters, listener perceptions, and client's satisfaction in trans women. Secondly, the impact of chondrolaryngoplasty and voice therapy on the glottopasty outcomes was investigated. Method: A prospective longitudinal non-controlled trial was used. Thirty-five trans women undergoing glottoplasty or a combination of glottopasty and chondrolaryngoplasty were included in this study. A voice assessment was conducted before surgery and 1 week, 1 month and 6 months after surgery. The following outcome parameters were measured: fundamental frequency (fo), intensity, frequency and intensity range, Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI), Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI), Voice Handicap Index (VHI), Trans Woman Voice Questionnaire (TWVQ), and visual analogue scales (VAS) measuring client's satisfaction. Listener perceptions of masculinity-femininity were collected using a listening experiment. Results: Significant differences over time were found for all fo and intensity parameters, DSI, AVQI, VHI and TWVQ scores. Listener perception and self-perception of femininity was higher after surgery. Significant differences in evolution of listener perceptions were found between the groups with and without voice therapy. Conclusion: Glottoplasty improves voice related quality of life and is an effective method to increase the fo and associated perceptual femininity. After glottoplasty an immediate and short-term decrease in voice quality, vocal capacity and frequency range was measured with a progressive recovery on the longer term. Long term side effects of glottoplasty are a reduction in speaking intensity and intensity range. Voice therapy seems to improve the outcomes of glottoplasty, but should be further investigated in future studies.".
• 01GSCMD81CR56MVYKVGS37TQ1T abstract "Liquid crystalline polymers are attractive materials for untethered minia- ture soft robots. When they contain azo dyes, they acquire light-responsive actuation properties. However, the manipulation of such photoresponsive polymers at the micrometer scale remains largely unexplored. Here, uni- and bidirectional rotation and speed control of polymerized azo-containing chiral liquid crystalline photonic microparticles powered by light is reported. The rotation of these polymer particles is first studied in an optical trap experi- mentally and theoretically. The micro-sized polymer particles respond to the handedness of a circularly polarized trapping laser due to their chirality and exhibit uni- and bidirectional rotation depending on their alignment within the optical tweezers. The attained optical torque causes the particles to spin with a rotation rate of several hertz. The angular speed can be controlled by small structural changes, induced by ultraviolet (UV) light absorption. After switching o' the UV illumination, the particle recovers its rotation speed. The results provide evidence of uni- and bidirectional motion and speed control in light-responsive polymer particles and o'er a new way to devise light- controlled rotary microengines at the micrometer scale.".
• 01GSCMFD080K2RHYX55JXWRVF6 abstract "Objective Although multimodal interventions are generally recommended in patients with long-term somatic symptom disorders (SSD), available evidence is limited. The current study evaluates the effectiveness of an outpatient secondary care interdisciplinary multimodal integrative healthcare program for patients with SSD and predominant (spinal) pain. Method The healthcare program consisted of two active treatment phases: main 20-week program and a 12-month relapse prevention program. Participants were 4453 patients diagnosed with SSD. The primary outcome was health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessed using the RAND-36 (i.e., mental/physical component summary) and secondary outcomes included physical and psychological symptoms assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and RAND-36 subscales. Mixed linear models were used to examine the effects of the multimodal healthcare program on primary/secondary outcomes over four time points: before start 20-week program (T0), halfway 20-week program (T1), end of 20-week program (T2) and end of relapse prevention program (T3). Results Significant improvements were found from T0 to T2 for all primary variables (i.e., mental/physical component summary) and secondary variables (i.e., BSI/RAND-36 subscales), which were maintained until the end of the relapse prevention program (T3). Conclusion An interdisciplinary multimodal integrative treatment for SSD is effective for improving HRQoL and reducing physical and psychological symptoms. Keywords: somatic symptom disorder; multimodal intervention; spinal pain; behavioral therapy; psychosomatic; interdisciplinary".
• 01GSCMFD080K2RHYX55JXWRVF6 abstract "Titel: Interdisciplinaire totaalaanpak bij somatische-symptoomstoornis en aanhoudende wervelkolom gerelateerde pijnklachten Introductie: Hoewel multimodale interventies worden aanbevolen voor cliënten met een langdurige somatische-symptoomstoornis (SSD), is hiervoor nog onvoldoende wetenschappelijk bewijs. Deze studie evalueerde de effectiviteit van een interdisciplinaire totaalaanpak in de poliklinische S-GGZ, voor cliënten met een SSD en wervelkolom gerelateerde pijnklachten. De totaalaanpak kan het best beschreven worden als een multimodale cognitieve gedragstherapie, waarbij verschillende therapeutische technieken worden ingezet, afhankelijk van persoonlijke behoeften en problemen van de cliënt. Het verbeteren van kwaliteit van leven en stimuleren van eigenregievoering staan centraal in de totaalaanpak. Methode: Het gezondheidsprogramma bestaat uit 2 componenten: 20 weken intensief behandelprogramma en een aansluitend 12 maanden terugval preventieprogramma. Deelnemers waren 4453 cliënten met een SSD. Gezondheidsgerelateerde kwaliteit van leven (HRQoL), gemeten met de RAND-36 (mental/physical component summary), was de primaire uitkomstmaat en psychische en lichamelijke klachten, gemeten met de BSI en RAND-36 subschalen, waren secundaire uitkomstmaten. Mixed linear models zijn gebruikt om het effect te onderzoeken van het gezondheidsprogramma op primaire/secundaire uitkomstmaten, gemeten over 4 tijdpunten: start 20 weken programma (T0), halverwege 20 weken programma (T1), einde 20 weken programma (T2) en einde terugval preventieprogramma (T3). Resultaten: Resultaten laten een significante vooruitgang zien van T0 naar T2 voor alle primaire (mental/physical component summary) en secundaire uitkomstmaten (BSI/RAND-36 subschalen). Resultaten bleken duurzaam te zijn tot aan het einde van het terugval preventieprogramma (T3). Conclusie & Discussie: Een interdisciplinaire multimodale totaalaanpak voor cliënten met SSD en aanhoudende wervelkolom gerelateerde pijnklachten lijkt een effectieve behandeling te zijn voor het verbeteren van HRQoL en verminderen van psychische en lichamelijke klachten.".
• 01GSCMM46325AT0BRDVXMFR4Z8 abstract "In developing countries, the evidence regarding the direct and indirect effects of FDI on economic and financial performance at the firm level is mixed. To contribute to this literature, we provide empirical evidence of direct and indirect effects of FDI on firm’s performance, using return on assets (ROA), gross revenues and gross revenues growth rate as performance measures. We examine the private formal enterprise sector in Ecuador from 2007 to 2018. Our identification strategy relies on the use of the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) methodology for dynamic panel data which allows us to control for potential endogeneity, autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity issues. The results suggest that firms with inward FDI grow faster than their counterparts, and firms with higher amounts of FDI as a share of total revenues have on average higher levels of gross revenues. Moreover, we find negative horizontal wages and gross revenues spillover effects on gross revenues growth rates, but positive horizontal gross revenues spillover effects on ROA. There is also significant evidence of negative horizontal spillover effects in all economic sectors, whereas evidence for forward and backward spillovers is heterogeneous across them.".
• 01GSCMT8R13N601SMVDSPB354E abstract "Background and aim(s): Nowadays, workplace learning in healthcare education is often guided by competency-based educational methods. Various competence frameworks have been constructed but have not been interdisciplinary validated in undergraduate healthcare education. Therefore, we conducted a Delphi study 1) to validate the CanMEDS roles (7) and key competencies (27) in 8 different undergraduate healthcare educational programs, and 2) to provide recommendations for the validation of the CanMEDS competence framework. Methods: A three round online Delphi method with experts i.e. teachers, mentors, internship coordinators and educational experts from audiology, dental hygiene, midwifery, nursing (bachelor and associate degree), occupational therapy, podiatry and speech therapy, was used. Experts scored the relevance, clarity and measurability of each key competency (27). Consensus was defined as 70% or more of the experts scoring positively on a 6-point Likert scale. The level of consensus was calculated and quantitatively analyzed using SPSS26. Differences in scoring behavior between expert groups (e.g. healthcare profession, experience level etc.) were explored after each round using a one-way-ANOVA design. In round 1, experts could also give qualitative comments to clarify their score, adjust key competencies without consensus and form recommendations. In round 2, we presented the non-validated key competencies to the experts for further validation using the same scoring methods as used in round 1. Round three is still ongoing. Results: Round 1 and 2 respectively included 38 and 37 experts. After quantitative analysis of round 1, there was no consensus about the relevance of 2 key competencies, the clarity of 3 key competencies and the measurability of 19 key competencies. Qualitative remarks were used to clarify (21) or adjust (3) key competencies. After round 2, 3 of the 27 competencies were not validated. There was no significant difference in scoring behavior between expert groups. The analysis further revealed that: 1) key competencies needed concrete enabling competencies to maximize measurability, that 2) not all key competencies could be assessed at any moment during the program, 3) some key competencies could never be assessed during the program which emphasizes the importance of continuous professional development (CPD). Discussion and conclusions: The CanMEDS competence framework might be used to support interprofessional education across 8 different undergraduate healthcare professions. Thereby, we can conclude that with this Delphi study, we can confirm the possibility of successfully validating a generalizable competence framework to support workplace learning processes. Future research: Future research is necessary to validate (newly) formulated enabling competencies to optimize measurability. Keywords: CanMEDS, undergraduate healthcare education, interdisciplinary, online Delphi.".
• 01GSCNFDCGHZ2FT0M6SPAEVAKX abstract "Background and aim(s): EPortfolios have attained an established position in healthcare education and studies exploring the use of ePortfolios increased exponentially. Yet, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of the literature is lacking. This review aimed at developing a benchmark about ePortfolio use in 8 undergraduate healthcare professions in order to help optimizing future ePortfolio practices. Methods: A state-of-the-art-review was conducted about the use of ePortfolios in audiology, dental hygiene, midwifery, nursing (bachelor and associate degree), occupational therapy, podiatry and speech therapy. A systematic search strategy of eight literature databases was adopted to track literature about ePortfolio use in educational as well as workplace learning settings. Journal articles and conference papers about ePortfolio use in undergraduate educational programs were included. Non-English texts, book sections, news articles and literature within medical and postgraduate educational contexts were excluded. We identified 8 major themes to structure the data: terminology, samples, contexts, objectives, ePortfolio-platforms, advantages, challenges and recommendations. Results: Thirty-seven of the 384 analysed articles were included. Samples mostly involved students, both in educational and workplace learning contexts. Studies explored students’ perceptions and satisfaction, outlined characteristics of successful ePortfolio use, overviewed challenges adopting ePortfolios and evaluated ePortfolio implementation. There were no studies investigating the effect of ePortfolios on quality of patient care. Remarkably, advantages of ePortfolios pit forward in one study were sometimes entitled as challenges in other studies, possibly caused by using different ePortfolio-platforms aiming different objectives. For example, one ePortfolio aimed data storage while another had reflection and feedback as main objectives. Finally, we overviewed reported recommendations for example integrating artificial intelligence; using ePortfolios not only to assess, but also to support lifelong learning; not introducing too much ePortfolio functions to mentors and considering the privacy of the student as a major concern. Discussion and conclusions: The large variety of samples, contexts, objectives and ePortfolio-platforms complicated the comparability between studies. It could be important to properly deal with this variety because the success of ePortfolios might be dependent on the choice of ePortfolio-platform for a specific target group to serve the appropriate objectives in the appropriate context, applying evidence-based insights. This first interdisciplinary review might help ePortfolios to keep their established position in healthcare education by overviewing available evidence. Future research: Future research should consider reported recommendations, involve all ePortfolio-users and focus on quality of patient care.".
• 01GSCNM2RRTD7977NJ9GN1RF44 abstract "Background: Fathers are important in establishing healthy behaviors in their children, but are rarely engaged in lifestyle programs. Focusing on physical activity (PA) of both fathers and their children by engaging them together in PA (i.e. “co-PA”) is therefore a promising novel strategy for interventions. The study aim was to investigate the effect of the ‘Run Daddy Run’ on co-PA and PA of fathers and their children, and secondary outcomes such as weight status and sedentary behaviour (SB). Methods: This study is a non-randomized controlled trial (nRCT), including 98 fathers and one of their 6 to 8 years old children (intervention=35, control=63). The intervention was implemented over a 14-week period, and consisted of six (inter)active father-child sessions and an online component. Due to COVID-19, only 2/6 sessions could be implemented as planned, the remaining sessions were delivered online. In November 2019-January 2020 pre-test measurements took place, and post-test measurements in June 2020. Additional follow-up test was conducted in November 2020. PA (i.e. LPA, MPA, VPA and volume) of fathers and children were objectively measured using accelerometry, co-PA and the secondary outcomes were questioned using an online questionnaire. Results: Significant intervention effects were found for co-PA (+24 min./day in the intervention compared to the control group, p=0.002), and MPA of the father (+17 min./day, p=0.035). For children, a significant increase in LPA (+35 min./day, p<0.001) was found. However, an inverse intervention effect was found for their MPA and VPA (-15 min./day, p=0.005 and −4 min./day, p=0.002, respectively). Also decreases in fathers’ and children’s SB were found (-39 min./day, p=0.022 and −40 min./day, p=0.003, respectively), but no changes in weight status, the fatherchild relationship, and the PA-family health climate (all p>0.05). Conclusion: The Run Daddy Run intervention was able to improve co-PA, MPA of fathers and LPA of children, and decreasing their SB. Inverse intervention effects were however found for MPA and VPA of children. These results are unique given their magnitude and clinical relevance. Targeting fathers together with their children might be a novel and potential intervention strategy to improve overall physical activity levels, however, further efforts should however be made to target children’s MPA and VPA. Last, replicating these findings in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is recommended for future research".
• 01GSCNV8EG0EC48ZNQ4QSCFYFT abstract "Background and aim(s) – Nowadays, workplace learning in healthcare education is often guided by competency-based educational methods. Various competence frameworks have been constructed but have not been interdisciplinary validated in undergraduate healthcare education. Therefore, we conducted a Delphi study 1) to validate the CanMEDS roles (7) and key competencies (27) in 8 different undergraduate healthcare educational programs, and 2) to provide recommendations for the validation of the CanMEDS competence framework. Methods – A three round online Delphi method with experts i.e. teachers, mentors, internship coordinators and educational experts from audiology, dental hygiene, midwifery, nursing (bachelor and associate degree), occupational therapy, podiatry and speech therapy, was used. Experts scored the relevance, clarity and measurability of each key competency (27). Consensus was defined as 70% or more of the experts scoring positively on a 6-point Likert scale. The level of consensus was calculated and quantitatively analyzed using SPSS26. Differences in scoring behavior between expert groups (e.g. healthcare profession, experience level etc.) were explored after each round using a one-way-ANOVA design. In round 1, experts could also give qualitative comments to clarify their score, adjust key competencies without consensus and form recommendations. In round 2, we presented the non-validated key competencies to the experts for further validation using the same scoring methods as used in round 1. Round three is still ongoing. Results – Round 1 and 2 respectively included 38 and 37 experts. After quantitative analysis of round 1, there was no consensus about the relevance of 2 key competencies, the clarity of 3 key competencies and the measurability of 19 key competencies. Qualitative remarks were used to clarify (21) or adjust (3) key competencies. After round 2, 3 of the 27 competencies were not validated. There was no significant difference in scoring behavior between expert groups. The analysis further revealed that 1) key competencies needed concrete enabling competencies to maximize measurability, that 2) not all key competencies could be assessed at any moment during the program, and that 3) some key competencies could never be assessed during the program which emphasizes the importance of continuous professional development (CPD). Discussion and conclusions – The CanMEDS competence framework might be used to support interprofessional education across 8 different undergraduate healthcare professions. Thereby, we can conclude that with this Delphi study, we can confirm the possibility of successfully validating a generalizable competence framework to support workplace learning processes. Future research - Future research is necessary to validate (newly) formulated enabling competencies to optimize measurability.".
• 01GSCP456G2X4S70VVYWB9YGV1 abstract "Background and aim(s) – EPortfolios have attained an established position in healthcare education and studies exploring the use of ePortfolios increased exponentially. Yet, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of the literature is lacking. This review aimed at developing a benchmark about ePortfolio use in 8 undergraduate healthcare professions in order to help optimizing future ePortfolio practices. Methods – A state-of-the-art-review was conducted about the use of ePortfolios in audiology, dental hygiene, midwifery, nursing (bachelor and associate degree), occupational therapy, podiatry and speech therapy. A systematic search strategy of eight literature databases was adopted to track literature about ePortfolio use in educational as well as workplace learning settings. Journal articles and conference papers about ePortfolio use in undergraduate educational programs were included. Non-English texts, book sections, news articles and literature within medical and postgraduate educational contexts were excluded. We identified 8 major themes to structure the data: terminology, samples, contexts, objectives, ePortfolio-platforms, advantages, challenges and recommendations. Results – Thirty-seven of the 384 analysed articles were included. Samples mostly involved students, both in educational and workplace learning contexts. Studies explored students’ perceptions and satisfaction, outlined characteristics of successful ePortfolio use, overviewed challenges adopting ePortfolios and evaluated ePortfolio implementation. There were no studies investigating the effect of ePortfolios on quality of patient care. Remarkably, advantages of ePortfolios pit forward in one study were sometimes entitled as challenges in other studies, possibly caused by using different ePortfolio-platforms aiming different objectives. For example, one ePortfolio aimed data storage while another had reflection and feedback as main objectives. Finally, we overviewed reported recommendations for example integrating artificial intelligence; using ePortfolios not only to assess, but also to support lifelong learning; not introducing too much ePortfolio functions to mentors and considering the privacy of the student as a major concern. Discussion and conclusions – The large variety of samples, contexts, objectives and ePortfolio-platforms complicated the comparability between studies. It could be important to properly deal with this variety because the success of ePortfolios might be dependent on the choice of ePortfolio-platform for a specific target group to serve the appropriate objectives in the appropriate context, applying evidence-based insights. This first interdisciplinary review might help ePortfolios to keep their established position in healthcare education by overviewing available evidence. Future research – Future research should consider reported recommendations, involve all ePortfolio-users and focus on quality of patient care.".
• 01GSCPBBAGPKNRWZ081WK85C03 abstract "Objectives or purposes This presentation aims to introduce the benefits, challenges, and recommendations of current ePortfolio use in healthcare education by providing an easy-to-use overview, in order to optimize future ePortfolio practices. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework EPortfolios have obtained an established position in healthcare education as they might solve the paper-burden associated with earlier portfolios, optimize competency development, foster communication, optimize collaboration between different stakeholders, and support Continuous Professional Development (CPD) (Andre, 2010; Cordier et al., 2016; Dening et al., 2018; Duncan-Pitt & Sutherland, 2006; Garrett et al., 2013; Hall et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2007; Karsten, 2012; Karsten et al., 2015; Rezgui et al., 2018; Sidebotham et al., 2018). Although an ePortfolio might be a promising tool, several challenges still exist as ePortfolios often lack user training and usage procedures, are not well integrated in the wider curriculum, and contain weak proofs of competence mastery (Driessen, 2017; Pearson et al., 2018). Currently, there is no overview of the benefits and challenges, and corresponding recommendations, in relation to current ePortfolio use. In order to fill this void, the aim of this study was two-fold: (1) to explore the benefits and challenges of current ePortfolio use and (2) to provide an easy-to-use handle, composed of practical recommendations. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry A scoping review was conducted in order to capture the full scope of evidence (Arksey, Hilary; O’Malley, 2005). Journal articles or conference papers were included if they explored ePortfolio use in audiology, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, nursing (associate degree and bachelor), midwifery, podiatry, or speech therapy. Data sources, evidence, objects, materials or the equivalent for theoretical or methodological papers/presentations. After searching 8 databases, 36 articles were included, meeting all inclusion criteria. Most of the studies were conducted in Australia (n=10/36), and involved a student population (n=25/36). Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view A large amount of ePortfolio-platforms could be distinguished. Analysis revealed that 2 types could be differentiated: (1) the ‘store and communicate’ ePortfolios, focusing on uploading and storing pieces of evidence of learning, and (2) the ‘work and learn’ ePortfolios, providing more structure to the users by building on a fixed format and offering a range of features such as uploading multimedia. The multiplicity of ePortfolio-platforms is also reflected in the variety of benefits and challenges, allocated to 1 of the 5 inductively constructed themes: technology, collaboration, competency development, employment, and quality of patient care. A large amount of recommendations, derived from literature, was allocated to the 5 themes, supplemented by 8 sub-themes. Some important technological recommendations are: to engage ePortfolio-users during ePorfolio design (Foucault et al., 2018; Kardos et al., 2009; Pincombe et al., 2010), to provide simple navigation within the tool (Garrett et al., 2013), to take a sufficient time frame for implementation (Mather, 2012; Stewart, 2013), to implement the tool gradually (Andrews & Cole, 2015), to educate about the pedagogical aspect of ePortfolio use (Wassef et al., 2012), to offer ongoing support (Stewart, 2013; Wassef et al., 2012), to scaffold the digital literacy needs of ePortfolio-users (Stewart, 2013; Wassef et al., 2012), and to make clear what parts will be shared and what parts will stay private (Andrews & Cole, 2015). Recommendations in relation to competency development are: to not only provide summative feedback but also formative feedback (Andrews & Cole, 2015), to provide an open format for reflection (Garrett & Jackson, 2006), and to use ePortfolios not only for assessment but also to support CPD (Andrews & Cole, 2015). Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work EPortfolio usage supports learning processes, necessary in providing high-quality healthcare education (Dening et al., 2018; Duncan-Pitt & Sutherland, 2006; Hall et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2007; Karsten, 2012). The recommendation of engaging ePortfolio-users during ePortfolio design could optimize ePortfolio practices for example, by improving the controversial ease of use. This review might be a lead to plan future research in order to optimize ePortfolio practices scaffolding healthcare education and multidisciplinary collaboration through the independence of location, time or discipline.".
• 01GSCV0GVNMT6AF9B6D9G6Y5CQ abstract "Requests for homemade diets are becoming more common in general practice. It is essential that general practice veterinarians understand the advantages, drawbacks and risks of these diets to facilitate evidence-based discussions in the consult room. In the veterinary literature, it has been shown that many clients are choosing to feed homemade diets without consulting a qualified veterinary nutritionist. This may put their pets at risk of nutrient deficiencies. Calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D deficiencies appear to be common as evidenced by selected case studies. In this article, an overview is given of current homemade diet use in general practice, answers to why clients are interested in using them and how to have better discussions with clients about their use.".
• 01GSD1Y5DPFRHP6QYRM31F8DTW abstract "Background Patients with dental and skeletal Class II growth patterns present typical facial characteristics. Functional appliance (FA) therapy is one of the conventional orthodontic treatment modalities used to harmonize these facial imbalances. Objectives The aim of this systematic review was to investigate and summarize the effects of FAs on the facial soft tissues captured in three dimensions. Search methods A systematic search was conducted up to December 2020. Databases Medline (via PubMed), Embase (via Ovid), Web of Science, and Cochrane Central were searched without language restrictions. Selection criteria Randomized clinical trial (RCT)'s investigating the influence of FA therapy on the facial soft tissues in a non-cephalometric and three-dimensional (3D) manner, were included. Data collection and analysis Data extraction was independently undertaken by two authors. In case of conflict, a third author was consulted. RoB 2.0 tool was used to assess the risk of bias. A meta-analysis was performed for total facial height, upper lip length, lower lip length, commissural width, and facial depth. The single-step activation versus incremental approach was compared using a random effects model. Results Five studies were included in the qualitative synthesis of the systematic review. Facial height increased after FA therapy. Three studies met the criteria for the meta-analysis. The mean facial depth increased significantly (P < 0.003) with 1.39 mm (0.46 to 2.32). Conclusions Current evidence suggests a positive influence of the FA therapy on the soft tissues in Class II patients. However, conclusions were drawn based on a two-dimensional analysis of 3D images, suggesting that more controlled studies using a comprehensive 3D analysis are necessary to confirm these results. Registration PROSPERO registration (CRD 42021224016).".
• 01GSD2T4BG9J0GJGHG902PE4QE abstract "Objectives: To compare the dentoalveolar outcomes of slow maxillary expansion (SME) and rapid maxillary expansion (RME) used for maxillary expansion before secondary alveolar bone grafting in patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P). Secondarily, the advantages and disadvantages of SME vs RME were reviewed.Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted up to November 2021, including Medline (via PubMed), Embase (via Ovid), Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed. Risk-of-bias assessment was performed using the Risk of Bias (RoB 2.0) and Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS I) tool. Overall quality was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tool.Results: Of 4007 records, five studies met the inclusion criteria. The randomized control trial (RCT) had a low risk of bias, the non-RCTs presented with a moderate risk of bias. Arch width and perimeter increased significantly with both SME and RME treatments. No difference in the increase in palatal depth was found. The meta-analysis showed a greater anterior-to-posterior expansion ratio for the Quad Helix (QH) appliance. The results for dental tipping were not conclusive.Conclusions: SME and RME promote equal posterior expansion in cleft patients. The anterior differential expansion is greater with SME (QH appliance). No clear evidence exists concerning the amount of dental adverse effects of SME and RME in cleft patients. (Angle Orthod. 2022;93:95-103.)".
• 01GSD380QMX4C55RY8CQMNWXAG abstract "Recent educational policies have set out that Flemish education will implement large-scale government-lead standardized testing, including Dutch reading comprehension and writing. This study focuses on the possibilities of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) to consistently, fairly and practically assess a large number of writing products. AES systems automatically score a text using machine learning and by extracting linguistic characteristics from a text (Allen et al., 2016). While research has shown AES can be used to assess writing, previous research has focused almost exclusively on one particular language (English) and genre (essays) mostly written for higher education purposes (Strobl et al., 2019). This exploratory study investigates the possibilities of AES to obtain reliable scoring for Dutch-speaking learners in the first stage of secondary education. A corpus of 5,110 writing products of 2,613 pupils aged 13-14, based on six prompts, was holistically scored by 852 in-service and pre-service teachers, using pairwise comparison. This assessed corpus was used to train machine learning models and, as such, create a first AES system to assess Dutch writing products of learners in the first stage of secondary education. We experimented with two flavours of machine learning: a traditional feature-based approach and a deep learning one. For the first approach, all writing was processed with T-Scan (Pander Maat et al., 2014) to derive linguistic text characteristics including lexical and syntactic measures. The second deep learning approach relies on Dutch state-of-the-art pre-trained language models (Delobelle et al., 2020), which have been fine-tuned on the task of AES. The predictions of the AES system will be discussed in relation to previous studies that have investigated the role of AES in assessing writing in education, as well as implications for the use of AES in the context of language testing, and zoom in on challenges? when working with data of young learners.".
• 01GSD3VX3898AXG232SN4KG2S5 abstract "Progress in the identification and characterization of uremic retention solutes has refined our understanding of the pathophysiology of the uremic syndrome. Furthermore, the evolution of dialysis and other techniques designed to remove uremic retention solutes offers opportunities to provide a more personalized and targeted treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with an aim to improve outcomes. Considering these developments, a consensus report was recently published that readdressed the 2003 definition and classification of uremic toxins and formulated recommendations for future research to enhance the understanding of uremic retention solutes. In the present work, the authors of a work group that contributed to the consensus report provide a more detailed rationale for the recommendations related to their theme "Critical appraisal of limitations in the current definition/classification of uremic toxins." In summary, the authors propose that the current definition of uremic toxins should remain organized on hemodialysis strategies, membranes, and removal patterns since hemodialysis is the most frequently applied therapeutic strategy to reduce their concentration in advanced CKD. Nevertheless, the work group also acknowledges that any classification based on cutoff values and/or molecular spatial configurations is arbitrary and will likely need to be changed with therapeutic advancements. Furthermore, the current physicochemical classification might be extended to reflect the degree of toxicity of a specific toxin that is likely to support more personalized and targeted dialysis prescriptions and improve the outcomes for patients with CKD.".
• 01GSD3ZJ4EZ6ST2MM5TN9XM01F abstract "Computational insight into the impact of cooperative phenomena and correlated spatial disorder on the macroscopic behaviour of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is essential in order to consciously engineer these phenomena for targeted applications. However, the spatial extent of these effects, ranging over hundreds of nanometres, limits the applicability of current state-of-the-art computational tools in this field. To obtain a fundamental understanding of these long-range effects, the micromechanical model is introduced here. This model overcomes the challenges associated with conventional coarse-graining techniques by exploiting the natural partitioning of a MOF material into unit cells. By adopting the elastic deformation energy as the central quantity, the micromechanical model hierarchically builds on experimentally accessible input parameters that are obtained from atomistic quantum mechanical or force field simulations. As a result, the here derived micromechanical equations of motion can be adopted to shed light on the effect of long-range cooperative phenomena and correlated spatial disorder on the performance of mesoscale MOF materials.".
• 01GSD3ZJ4EZ6ST2MM5TN9XM01F abstract "Through the here introduced micromechanical equations of state, long-range dynamic phenomena in MOFs can be investigated starting from atomistic information.".
• 01GSD477RPX4FQVP0826HS650K abstract "Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) made from norbomene-functionalized terpenoid-based monomers are reported as a possible alternative to the conventional petrochemically based PSAs. For this, tetrahydrogeranyl, menthyl, and isobornyl norbornenate monomers, with a renewable carbon content up to 72%, are synthesized and copolymerized via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with cyclooctadiene and 5-norbornene-2-carboxylic acid. ROMP enables a much faster and controlled polymerization process in comparison to free radical polymerization techniques when targeting high molecular weights and therefore unlocks a potential to design a unique class of PSA materials. The moduli at bonding and debonding frequencies of the obtained PSAs are plotted in the Chang classification system and are used to predict their adhesive performance. Tack and peel measurements indicate that the terpenoid-based norbornenate formulations show similar adhesive properties in comparison to the previously investigated acrylic counterparts.".
• 01GSD47Q6KBE7V3ADNEK3R80PV abstract "Background A functioning vascular access (VA) is crucial to providing adequate hemodialysis (HD) and considered a critically important outcome by patients and healthcare professionals. A validated, patient-important outcome measure for VA function that can be easily measured in research and practice to harvest reliable and relevant evidence for informing patient-centered HD care is lacking. Vascular Access outcome measure for function: a vaLidation study In hemoDialysis (VALID) aims to assess the accuracy and feasibility of measuring a core outcome for VA function established by the international Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) initiative. Methods VALID is a prospective, multi-center, multinational validation study that will assess the accuracy and feasibility of measuring VA function, defined as the need for interventions to enable and maintain the use of a VA for HD. The primary objective is to determine whether VA function can be measured accurately by clinical staff as part of routine clinical practice (Assessor 1) compared to the reference standard of documented VA procedures collected by a VA expert (Assessor 2) during a 6-month follow-up period. Secondary outcomes include feasibility and acceptability of measuring VA function and the time to, rate of, and type of VA interventions. An estimated 612 participants will be recruited from approximately 10 dialysis units of different size, type (home-, in-center and satellite), governance (private versus public), and location (rural versus urban) across Australia, Canada, Europe, and Malaysia. Validity will be measured by the sensitivity and specificity of the data acquisition process. The sensitivity corresponds to the proportion of correctly identified interventions by Assessor 1, among the interventions identified by Assessor 2 (reference standard). The feasibility of measuring VA function will be assessed by the average data collection time, data completeness, feasibility questionnaires and semi-structured interviews on key feasibility aspects with the assessors. Discussion Accuracy, acceptability, and feasibility of measuring VA function as part of routine clinical practice are required to facilitate global implementation of this core outcome across all HD trials. Global use of a standardized, patient-centered outcome measure for VA function in HD research will enhance the consistency and relevance of trial evidence to guide patient-centered care.".
• 01GSD4JNNRNSBAT9VDQB8A0THT abstract "The high trauma load and prevalence of mental distress in unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) who resettle in Western (European) countries is well documented. However, the lack of studies investigating the potentially most vulnerable population, URMs who are currently on the move in transit countries such as Libya, is alarming. AimsTo document the mental health of URMs detained in Libya and the possible associations with trauma, flight and daily hardships. MethodIn total n = 99 (94.9% male; n = 93) URMs participated in this cross-sectional study conducted in four detention centres near the Libyan capital Tripoli. Data were collected via standardised questionnaires in an interview format and analysed using structured equation modelling. ResultsParticipants reported high rates of trauma, especially within Libya itself. Reports of daily hardships in detention ranged between 40 and 95% for basic needs and between 27 and 80% for social needs. Higher social needs were associated with increased anxiety symptoms (beta = 0.59; P = 0.028) and increased pre-migration (beta = 0.10; P = 0.061) and peri-migration trauma (beta = 0.16; P = 0.017) with symptoms of depression. Similarly, higher levels of pre-migration trauma were associated with higher post-traumatic stress disorder levels (beta = 0.17; P = 0.010). ConclusionsThe rates of daily hardships and traumatic events are higher compared with those recorded for URMs living in asylum centres in Europe. The emotional, social and cognitive development of detained URMs is severely threatened in both the short and long term. This paper outlines some of the most detrimental effects of migration policies on URMs transiting through Libya.".
• 01GSD4JS35AERVHGE30KEDK5Q6 abstract "The storage of information in synthetic (macro)molecules provides an attractive alternative for current archival storage media, and the advancements made within this area have prompted the investigation of such molecules for numerous other applications (e.g., anti-counterfeiting tags, steganography). While different strategies have been described for storing information at the molecular level, this Perspective aims to provide a critical overview of the most prominent approaches that can be utilized for retrieving the encoded information. The major part will focus on the sequence determination of synthetic macromolecules, wherein information is stored by the precise arrangement of constituting monomers, with an emphasis on chemically aided strategies, (tandem) mass spectrometry, and nanopore sensing. In addition, recent progress in utilizing (mixtures of) small molecules for information storage will be discussed. Finally, the closing remarks aim to highlight which strategy we believe is the most suitable for a series of specific applications, and will also touch upon the future research avenues that can be pursued for reading (macro)molecular information.".
• 01GSD4R6G4AR4ZNKBFVZE75MVY abstract "BackgroundDiabetes mellitus is a major global public health problem. Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) is a key laboratory index in the assessment of insulin resistance. The calculation of HOMA-IR and its updated version HOMA2-IR are partly based on plasma glucose determinations, which are prone to important pre-analytical errors. As glycated hemoglobin (Hb) fractions strongly correlate with fasting glucose levels and are more stable analytes, we explored the possibilities of using glycated Hb fractions for calculating HOMA-IR.MethodsLabile Hb and HbA(1c) fractions were simultaneously assayed on a Tosoh G8 analyzer and expressed as %. Fasting glucose was measured in fluoride plasma using a hexokinase method. A Lumipulse G1200 luminescence immunoassay was used to measure serum insulin. The HOMA-IR and HOMA2-IR values were compared to corresponding indices calculated using glucose and glycated Hb fractions.ResultsLabile Hb could be measured with between-run CVs of 2.2-2.3%. Labile Hb correlated with both glycemia (r = 0.80) and HbA(1c) results (r = 0.73). HbA1c-derived estimated average glucose (eAG)-based HOMA calculation correlated very well with HOMA-IR (r(2) = 0.9972). Based on eAG calculations, HOMA2-IR (%B, %S, and IR) gave comparable results, as compared to labile Hb-based calculations, in particular for fasting plasma glucose values between 4.44 and 6.67 mmol/L.ConclusionsHbA1c and eAG are practical alternatives for glucose for estimating HOMA-IR. The use of glycated Hb enables home sampling for HOMA-IR and HOMA2-IR calculation.".
• 01GSD4XRN5AQJN1K086ENPAM36 abstract "Dynamic covalent networks present a unique opportunity to exert molecular-level control on macroscopic material properties, by linking their thermal behaviour to the thermodynamics and kinetics of the underlying chemistry. Yet, existing methods do not allow for the extraction and analysis of the influence of local differences in chemical reactivity caused by available reactants, catalysts, or additives. In this context, we present a rheological paradigm that allows us to correlate the composition of a reactive polymer segment to a faster or slower rate of network rearrangement. We discovered that a generalised Maxwell model could separate and quantify the dynamic behaviour of each type of reactive segment individually, which was crucial to fully comprehend the mechanics of the final material. More specifically, Eyring and Van 't Hoff analysis were used to relate possible bond catalysis and dissociation to structural changes by combining statistical modelling with rheology measurements. As a result, precise viscosity changes could be measured, allowing for accurate comparison of various dynamic covalent network materials, including vitrimers and dissociative networks. The herein reported method therefore facilitated the successful analysis of virtually any type of rate-enhancing effect and will allow for the design of functional and fast (re)processable materials, as well as improve our ability to predict and engineer their properties for future applications.".
• 01GSD4YC5KPS3KSMT5JK58GGZ6 abstract "Interest in gut microbiome dysbiosis and its potential association with the development and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has increased substantially in the past 6 years. In parallel, the microbiome field has matured considerably as the importance of host-related and environmental factors is increasingly recognized. Past research output in the context of CKD insufficiently considered the myriad confounding factors that are characteristic of the disease. Gut microbiota-derived metabolites remain an interesting therapeutic target to decrease uraemic (cardio)toxicity. However, future studies on the effect of dietary and biotic interventions will require harmonization of relevant readouts to enable an in-depth understanding of the underlying beneficial mechanisms. High-quality standards throughout the entire microbiome analysis workflow are also of utmost importance to obtain reliable and reproducible results. Importantly, investigating the relative composition and abundance of gut bacteria, and their potential association with plasma uraemic toxins levels is not sufficient. As in other fields, the time has come to move towards in-depth quantitative and functional exploration of the patient's gut microbiome by relying on confounder-controlled quantitative microbial profiling, shotgun metagenomics and in vitro simulations of microorganism-microorganism and host-microorganism interactions. This step is crucial to enable the rational selection and monitoring of dietary and biotic intervention strategies that can be deployed as a personalized intervention in CKD. Gut microbiome studies have potential to provide novel therapeutic targets in chronic kidney disease. Here, the authors not only examine the current state of the field and discuss potential gut-related therapies for targeting uraemic metabolites, but also provide guidelines for improving microbiome study design, and data collection and analysis.".
• 01GSD55XVRY56SR4Z6T5SAAGJW abstract "For this study, creep-resistant covalent adaptable networks were prepared by making use of the reversible beta-amino ester chemical platform and starting from biobased raw materials with an overall biobased carbon content of >90%. The investigated materials were synthesized with different cross-linking densities in a solvent-free fashion. The applied building blocks consisted of an easily obtained acrylate, based on a biobased diol, and a commercially available biobased multifunctional amine. Following their synthesis, the materials were investigated with regard to their thermal, thermomechanical, and rheological properties, which were preserved after up to three reprocessing cycles. Moreover, the obtained elastomers showed high thermal stability, in combination with good reprocessability at 180 degrees C and excellent creep resistance at elevated temperatures of up to 120 degrees C.".
• 01GSD5E3CYK73VRP036BP4GCMG abstract "Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of clonal myeloid disorders distinguished by dysplastic bone marrow and peripheral blood cells, ineffective hematopoiesis, and an increased risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MDS with ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS) is a favorable outcome subtype with a lower frequency of AML transformation. The FDA recently approved luspatercept for the treatment of patients with very-low-, low-, and intermediate-risk MDS-RS who have failed to correct anemia with an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) and require two units of red blood cells over an eight-week period. This drug's pharmacology is based on the critical role of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) pathway in regulating erythropoiesis. In this case report, we describe for the first time an acute kidney injury caused by membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) in a patient with MDS-RS who was treated with luspatercept. We propose that a multi-hit hypothesis could explain the immunopathogenesis. A first unknown hit may stimulate IgA immune complex production, whereas luspatercept administration acts as a second hit, causing Smad1-5-8 phosphorylation. This intriguing case report on immune-complex-mediated proliferative glomerulonephritis following luspatercept treatment generates hypotheses and stimulates further research in this area.".
• 01GSD5MEQDW10SCN7PG3F9DREF abstract "We present a simple method for increasing the reprocessability of vinylogous urethane (VU) vitrimers while decreasing the possibility of creep deformation at lower temper-atures. In particular, varying amounts of triethylenetetramine were added as a comonomer to the curing VU formulation to ensure that all of the primary amines reacted to form enaminone cross -links, resulting in a network without reactive primary amine chain -ends. As a result, transamination was significantly slowed down because secondary amines are much less reactive to VU exchange. On the other hand, at higher temperatures, pendent primary amines can be released via a dynamic, endothermic exchange with a nearby less-reactive secondary amine, thereby (re)activating material flow. As a result, ambivalent viscoelastic behavior could be achieved without depolymerization by dynamically releasing pendent primary amines from vinylogous urethane polymer chains. Through careful comonomer selection, VU vitrimers with low viscosity at processing temperatures and at the same time high viscosity at service temperatures could be prepared without the use of catalysts or additives, leveraging the synergistic effects of mildly reactive functionalities through neighboring group participation.".
• 01GSD5XVD3R4H9QFRZQ1AFB1XX abstract "Herein, a monodisperse soluble support is explored and used as an effective tool for the large-scale, liquid-phase synthesis of sequence-defined macromolecules. This support, based on a benzyl derivative with three long hydrophobic alkyl chains, combines the advantages of solid-phase and soluble support- based synthesis by allowing a straightforward workup after each coupling step and a direct characterisation of the intermediates, without prior cleavage from the support. While the soluble support is used for the multi-gram synthesis of thiolactone-based sequence-defined macromolecules, it can be applied for numerous other synthetic strategies too. Additionally, as it is uniform, it leads to a single peak in mass spectrometry and thus not to a molecular weight distribution as typically observed for standard polymeric soluble supports, thus facilitating the characterisation. To demonstrate the potential for the synthesis of sequence-defined macromolecules on a scale that is sufficient for their introduction in bulk material synthesis, a hexamer is prepared on a 14 g scale. Furthermore, two different cleavable linkers have been attached to the uniform soluble support, hence emphasizing the versatility of this strategy.".
• 01GSD68QBTR8XJ5GK79E85FAV9 abstract "This chapter discusses teachers’ professional development (PD) in Flanders (Belgium). The chapter starts with a brief overview of the culture and context of the Flemish education system. Next, the PD culture in Flanders is reviewed, followed by a short discussion of the main critiques of Flemish PD based on current (inter)national PD research. Derived from this cutting-edge literature, two recent innovative projects related to PD are introduced. One focusing on informal professional networks and one detailing professional learning communities. Both projects focus on one of the main critiques of PD in Flanders, namely the lack of collaborative PD initiatives. Finally, some closing remarks – focused on the COVID-19 pandemic – are outlined.".
• 01GSD6E068C5TE74BCE2WKNDHZ abstract "This open access book critically examines how discourses and policies target and exclude migrants and their families in Europe and North America along racial, gender and sexuality lines, and how these exclusions are experienced and resisted. Building on the influential notion of intersectional borderings, it delves deep into how these discourses converge and diverge, highlighting the underlying normative constructs of family, gender, and sexuality. First, it examines how radical-right and conservative political movements perpetuate exclusionary practices and how they become institutionalized in migration, welfare, and family policies. Second, it examines the dynamic responses they provoke—both resistance and reinforcement—among those affected in their everyday lives. Bringing together studies from political and social sciences, it offers a vital contribution to the expanding field of migrant family governance and exclusion and is essential for understanding the complex processes of exclusion and the movements that challenge and sustain them. It expands academic discussions on populism and the politics of exclusion by linking them to the politicization of intimacy and family life. With diverse case studies from Europe, North, and Central America, it appeals to students, academics, and policymakers, informing future mobilizations against discriminatory and exclusionary tendencies in politics and society.".
• 01GSD71QJ35RN9KYWQNXX9QD7A abstract "This study examines how the identity orientation of founders, i.e., the extent to which they define themselves in terms of their relationships to others and to social groups, is imprinted by their professional logic and influences their ambitions for venture growth. We draw on existing insights regarding the Darwinian, Communitarian, and Missionary orientation of entrepreneurs and on interviews with 29 founders to develop our hypotheses, which we then test in a sample of 58 academic and 113 non-academic founders that participated in a venture competition. We argue that, compared to non-academic institutional logics, academic logics are tied to a stronger Commu-nitarian and Missionary orientation and a weaker Darwinian orientation in founders. A stronger Darwinian orientation values venture growth, whereas a stronger Communitarian orientation appraises the benefit of the technology for a restricted set of people at the expense of such growth ambitions. A stronger Missionary orientation values welfare maximization for society which may to some degree entail higher growth aspirations. We argue and empirically confirm that these identity orientations explain why academic founders hold lower growth aspirations for their start-up than non-academic founders. Our findings can at least partially clarify why academic start-ups do not grow according to expectancies. They theoretically advance our insights in academic entrepreneurship and founders' growth aspirations while also extending the literature on founders' identity orientation.".
• 01GSD911N5V3WVKK7K9Z02YE32 abstract "When Indigenous communities in the United States become involved in a legal effort to reclaim and safeguard ancestral lands, they face a double bind: the process of evidence production runs counter to their structural organization around oral history and cultural secrecy. The research and notational systems presented in this article try to respond to the urgent need for alternative approaches to evidence. ".
• 01GSD911NAA0J7X1NXEFR9YD8B abstract "The South African Highveld is recognised as a region having significant negative ambient air quality impacts with its declaration as an Air Quality Priority Area in 2007. Such areas require the implementation of specific air quality intervention strategies to address the air quality situation. A greater understanding of the composition of the atmospheric aerosol loading and the contributing air pollution sources will assist with the formulation and implementation of these strategies. This study aims to assess the composition and sources of the aerosol loading in Embalenhle and Kinross located on the Highveld. Fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM.25-10) aerosol samples were collected during summer and winter, which were quantified by gravimetry. Wavelength-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectrometry and Ion Chromatography (IC) analysis were applied to determine the chemical compositions of aerosol samples on filters. Mean PM2.5 concentrations in Embalenhle and Kinross ranged from 16.3 to 34.1 ug/m³ during winter and 7.4 to 19.0 ug/m³ during summer. Mean PM2.5-10 concentrations ranged from 10.3 to 114 ug/m³ during winter and 5.9 to 11.2 μg/m³ during summer. Si, Al, S, SO4(2-) and NH4+ were the most abundant species in PM2.5 during both seasons. The elements Na and Ca were also abundant at both sites during winter and summer, respectively. In PM2.5-10, Si, Al, SO4(2-) and F- were the most abundant species during both seasons. The element Na was also abundant at both sites during winter with S and Ca also having high abundances at Embalenhle and Kinross, respectively, during summer. Source apportionment was performed by Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF), which resolved five sources. Dust, secondary aerosols, residential combustion, wood and biomass burning, and industry were determined to be the contributing sources. Any measures to mitigate particulate air pollution on the Highveld should consider these key sources. ".
• 01GSD95R5R4D59P5KX7QPQXMPZ abstract "Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion variants in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) consist of numerous dimerizing fusion partners. Retrospective investigations suggest that treatment benefit in response to ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) differs dependent on the fusion variant present in the patient tumor. Therefore, under -standing the oncogenic signaling networks driven by different ALK fusion variants is important. To do this, we developed controlled inducible cell models expressing either Echinoderm Microtubule Associated Protein Like 4 (EML4)-ALK-V1, EML4-ALK-V3, Kinesin Family Member 5B (KIF5B)-ALK, or TRK-fused gene (TFG)-ALK and investi-gated their transcriptomic and proteomic responses to ALK activity modulation together with patient-derived ALK-positive NSCLC cell lines. This allowed identification of both common and isoform-specific responses downstream of these four ALK fusions. An inflammatory signature that included upregulation of the Serpin B4 serine protease inhibitor was observed in both ALK fusion inducible and patient-derived cells. We show that Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), Nuclear Factor Kappa B (NF-kappa B) and Activator protein 1 (AP1) are major transcriptional regulators of SERPINB4 downstream of ALK fusions. Upregulation of SERPINB4promotes survival and inhibits natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, which has potential for therapeutic impact targeting the immune response together with ALK TKIs in NSCLC.".
• 01GSD9HR8TEJ91Q3XGH5FFVM0Q abstract "Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are a promising research paradigm for low power edge-based computing. Recent works in SNN backpropagation has enabled training of SNNs for practical tasks. However, since spikes are binary events in time, standard loss formulations are not directly compatible with spike output. As a result, current works are limited to using mean-squared loss of spike count. In this paper, we formulate the output probability interpretation from the spike count measure and introduce spike-based negative log-likelihood measure which are more suited for classification tasks especially in terms of the energy efficiency and inference latency. We compare our loss measures with other existing alternatives and evaluate using classification performances on three neuromorphic benchmark datasets: NMNIST, DVS Gesture and N-TIDIGITS18. In addition, we demonstrate state of the art performances on these datasets, achieving faster inference speed and less energy consumption.".
• 01GSDFBQ53Y0G93FTB3BWNA3SW abstract "Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have attracted great attention as potential biomarkers for cancer diagnostics. Although several technologies have been developed for EV detection, many of them are still not applicable to clinical settings as they rely on complex EV isolation processes, while lacking sensitivity, specificity or standardization. To solve this problem, we have developed a sensitive breast cancer-specific EV detection bioassay directly in blood plasma using a fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) biosensor, previously calibrated with recombinant EVs. First, we established a sandwich bioassay to detect SK-BR-3 EVs by functionalizing the FO-SPR probes with anti-HER2 antibodies. A calibration curve was built using an anti-HER2/Banti-CD9 combination, resulting in an LOD of 2.1 × 107 particles/mL in buffer and 7 × 108 particles/mL in blood plasma. Next, we investigated the potential of the bioassay to detect MCF7 EVs in blood plasma using an anti-EpCAM/Banti-mix combination, obtaining an LOD of 1.1 × 10 8 particles/mL. Finally, the specificity of the bioassay was proven by the absence of signal when testing plasma samples from 10 healthy people unknown to be diagnosed with breast cancer. The remarkable sensitivity and specificity of the developed sandwich bioassay together with the advantages of the standardized FO-SPR biosensor highlight outstanding potential for the future of EV analysis.".
• 01GSDGN3050FEEZXCN17T6CNVX abstract "Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with markers of accelerated aging. Estimates of brain age, compared to chronological age, may clarify the effects of PTSD on the brain and may inform treatment approaches targeting the neurobiology of aging in the context of PTSD. Method Adult subjects (N = 2229; 56.2% male) aged 18-69 years (mean = 35.6, SD = 11.0) from 21 ENIGMA-PGC PTSD sites underwent T1-weighted brain structural magnetic resonance imaging, and PTSD assessment (PTSD+, n = 884). Previously trained voxel-wise (brainageR) and region-of-interest (BARACUS and PHOTON) machine learning pipelines were compared in a subset of control subjects (n = 386). Linear mixed effects models were conducted in the full sample (those with and without PTSD) to examine the effect of PTSD on brain predicted age difference (brain PAD; brain age - chronological age) controlling for chronological age, sex, and scan site. Results BrainageR most accurately predicted brain age in a subset (n = 386) of controls (brainageR: ICC = 0.71, R = 0.72, MAE = 5.68; PHOTON: ICC = 0.61, R = 0.62, MAE = 6.37; BARACUS: ICC = 0.47, R = 0.64, MAE = 8.80). Using brainageR, a three-way interaction revealed that young males with PTSD exhibited higher brain PAD relative to male controls in young and old age groups; old males with PTSD exhibited lower brain PAD compared to male controls of all ages. Discussion Differential impact of PTSD on brain PAD in younger versus older males may indicate a critical window when PTSD impacts brain aging, followed by age-related brain changes that are consonant with individuals without PTSD. Future longitudinal research is warranted to understand how PTSD impacts brain aging across the lifespan.".
• 01GSDH896EZMZ7XE4W43AFYSAM abstract "Chewing khat during pregnancy adversely afects maternal and fetal health, but available studies are scarce and inconsistent, and it is difcult to conclude the relationship between khat consumption and perinatal outcomes. We aimed to investigate the available studies on the efect of khat use during pregnancy on perinatal and maternal outcomes. For this meta-analysis, we conducted a thorough search of articles published in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science up to the date this search was undertaken (03.01.2022). We used random efect model with the Mantel–Haenszel method to calculate the pooled odds ratio and mean diference. We found that khat use during pregnancy was signifcantly associated with increased odds of low birth weight (OR:2.51; 95% CI: 1.60 to 3.94), congenital anomalies (OR:3.17; 95% CI: 1.30 to 7.73), premature rupture of membrane (OR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.59 to 2.50), perinatal mortality (OR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.26 to 3.03), and lower APGAR scores at the ffth minute (MD: −1.7; 95% CI: −2.32 to −1.07). Also, increased odds for developing maternal psychological stress and anemia were reported in women using khat during pregnancy. There were no statistically signifcant diferences in stillbirth and preterm birth between women using khat during pregnancy and their counterparts. Since prenatal khat use is associated with adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes, we strongly recommend equitable and easily accessible health services through the implementation of integrated addiction treatment with maternity services to address khat use during pregnancy and encourage the practice of healthy behavior of women.".
• 01GSDHTVE7R07CDDQ2QN0NS3V4 abstract "Recent progress in spectral classification is dominated by the use of deep learning models. While various learning architectures have been developed, they all extract spectral features from a single-view input. In this article, we investigate a different perspective and develop a unified multiview spectral feature learning framework, which extracts discriminative spectral features from multiple views of inputs. To our knowledge, this is the first reported multiview spectral feature learning method based on deep learning. In this framework, we introduce a multiview spectrum construction method by transforming the input spectral vector into multiple 3-D image patches with different sizes, termed multiview spectrum. This multiview spectrum is fed to a well-designed triple-stream architecture, where global and two local spectral feature learning networks operate in parallel, thus capturing both global and local spectral contextual features simultaneously. Another important contribution of this work is a novel interactive attention mechanism to identify the most informative spectral contextual features. The model is trained in an end-to-end fashion from scratch with a joint loss. Experimental results on four datasets demonstrate excellent performance compared to the current state of the art.".
• 01GSDXJZ1T0Y5GVFZ6NEJKPNR0 abstract "The presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients suffering from chronic lung infections contributes to the failure of antimicrobial therapy. Conventionally, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) is determined to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of a pathogen, however this parameter fails to predict success in treating biofilm-associated infections. In the present study we developed a high throughput method to determine the antimicrobial con-centration required to prevent P. aeruginosa biofilm formation, using a synthetic cystic fibrosis sputum medium (SCFM2). Biofilms were grown in SCFM2 for 24 h in the presence of antibiotics (tobramycin, ciprofloxacin or colistin), whereafter biofilms were disrupted and a resazurin staining was used to quantify the number of surviving metabolically active cells. In parallel, the content of all wells was plated to determine the number of colony forming units (CFU). Biofilm preventing concentrations (BPCs) were compared to MICs and minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) determined according to EUCAST guidelines. Correlations between the resazurin-derived fluorescence and CFU counts were assessed with Kendall's Tau Rank tests. A significant correlation between fluorescence and CFU counts was observed for 9 out of 10 strains investigated, suggesting the fluorometric assay is a reliable alternative to plating for most P. aeruginosa isolates to determine biofilm susceptibility in relevant conditions. For all isolates a clear difference between MICs and BPCs of all three antibiotics was observed, with the BPCs being consistently higher than the MICs. Additionally, the extent of this difference appeared to be antibiotic -dependent. Our findings suggest that this high throughput assay could be a valuable addition to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility in P. aeruginosa biofilms in the context of CF.".
• 01GSDY1ANEM15J4MGFTDMH88KQ abstract "In the present study we evaluated the fitness, antimicrobial susceptibility, metabolic activity, gene expression, in vitro production of virulence factors and in vivo virulence of experimentally evolved Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. These strains were previously evolved in the presence of tobramycin and the quorum sensing inhibitor furanone C-30 (C-30) and carried mutations in mexT and fusA1. Compared to the wild-type (WT), the evolved strains show a different growth rate and different metabolic activity, suggesting they have an altered fitness. mexT mutants were less susceptible to C-30 than WT strains; they also show reduced susceptibility to chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin, two substrates of the MexEF-OprN efflux pump. fusA1 mutants had a decreased susceptibility to aminoglycoside antibiotics, and an increased susceptibility to chloramphenicol. The decreased antimicrobial susceptibility and decreased susceptibility to C-30 was accompanied by a changed metabolic activity profile during treatment. The expression of mexE was significantly increased in mexT mutants and induced by C-30, suggesting that MexEF-OprN exports C-30 out of the bacterial cell. The in vitro production of virulence factors as well as virulence in two in vivo models of the strains evolved in the presence of C-30 was unchanged compared to the virulence of the WT. Finally, the evolved strains were less susceptible towards tobramycin (alone and combined with C-30) in an in vivo mouse model. In conclusion, this study shows that mutations acquired during experimental evolution of P. aeruginosa biofilms in the presence of tobramycin and C-30, are accompanied by an altered fitness, metabolism, mexE expression and in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial susceptibility.".
• 01GSDY5J0B07RKZTXGK5P5TJF0 abstract "Background: Balance impairment is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). As opposed to the effects of appendicular motor symptoms, the effects of Levodopa on balance impairment in idiopathic PD are less clear. Objective: To review the literature on the effects of oral Levodopa on clinical balance test performance, posturography, step initiation, and responses to perturbation in people with idiopathic PD (PwPD). Methods: A systematic search of three scientific databases (Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science) was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. For the pilot meta-analysis, standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using an inverse variance random effects model. Data not suitable for implementation in the meta-analysis (missing means or standard deviations, and non-independent outcomes) were analyzed narratively. Results: A total of 2772 unique studies were retrieved, of which 18 met the eligibility criteria and were analyzed, including data of 710 idiopathic PwPD. Levodopa had a significant positive effect on the Berg Balance Scale, the Push and Release test, and jerk and frequency parameters during posturography. In contrast, some significant negative effects on velocity-based sway parameters were found during posturography and step initiation. However, Levodopa had no significant effect on most step initiation- and all perturbation parameters. Conclusion: The effects of Levodopa on balance in PwPD vary depending on the outcome parameters and patient inclusion criteria. A systematic approach with well-defined outcome parameters, and prespecified, sensitive and reliable tests is needed in future studies to unravel the effects of oral Levodopa on balance.".
• 01GSDZ3C0E1SS8AZVG8B460900 abstract "In this review, we summarize the main points that were raised and highlighted during the pre-conference meeting to the 17(th) European Cystic Fibrosis Society Basic Science Conference, held from 30 March to 2 April, 2022 in Albufeira, Portugal. Keynote lectures provided an update on the latest information regarding the phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in cystic fibrosis (CF). Traditional themes such as in vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing and its clinical value, AMR evolution in persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection and the impact of biofilm on AMR were discussed. In addition, the report gives an overview on very recent AMR-related topics that include an ecological view of AMR in CF lung, referred to as resistome, and novel anti-infective approaches in preclinical or early clinical research such as antibiofilm drugs and bacteriophages. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Cystic Fibrosis Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)".
• 01GSE2YRMNN4W46YXX5J29TWZB abstract "Dit proefschrift bundelt een reeks studies die de opeenvolgende stadia van mijn doctoraatsonderzoek naar verbale constructies met bezittelijke voornaamwoorden in Spaanse dialecten voorstellen. In de afgelopen jaren is het gebruik van bezittelijke complementen in plaats van voorzetselcomplementen in het Spaanse verbale domein (bijv. confía mío vs confía en mí 'hij/zij vertrouwt me') toenemend in de focus van de taalkunde getreden, samen met andere emergente gebruiksvormen van bezittelijke constructies buiten het nominale domein, zoals in bijwoordelijke bepalingen (bijv. detrás mío vs. detrás de mí 'achter mij') of bij bijvoeglijke naamwoorden (bijv. enfrente tuyo vs enfrente de ti 'voor jou'). Dit fenomeen, hoewel het door prescriptieve grammatica’s als niet-normatief beschouwd wordt, ligt nog steeds binnen de mogelijkheden van het Spaanse syntactische systeem. Zoals eerdere analyses aangetoond hebben (Malcuori 2014, Bertolotti 2014, 2017, Mare 2014, 2015), kan de syntactische equivalentie tussen voorzetsel-constructies (de mí, de ti...) en bezittelijke constructies (mío, tuyo...) in het nominale domein naar andere domeinen zoals het verbale uitgebreid worden. Deze gelijkwaardigheid heeft een categoriale reanalyse mogelijk gemaakt (Bertolotti 2014, 2017; cf. Elvira 2015) waarbij tonische bezittelijke voornaamwoorden innovatieve functies aannemen. Terwijl deze structuren in het nominale domein als modificeerders van het lexicale hoofd gecodeerd zijn (recuerdo {de mí, mío}), gedragen ze zich in andere domeinen als de primaire complementen van een bijwoord (detrás), een bijvoeglijk naamwoord (alejado), en een werkwoord (acordarse). Het inleidende hoofdstuk biedt het een overzicht van het system van possessieven in het Spaans en over het hier onderzochte fenomeen evenals zijn distributie in de verschillende Ibero-Romaanse varieteiten (Spaans en Galicisch). Daarna volgt een beknopte samenvatting van de hoofdzakelijke empirische en theoretische bevindingen met betrekking tot het gebruik van tonische bezittelijke voornaamwoorden als niet-nominale argumenten (Bertolotti 2014, 2017, 2018; Mare 2014, 2015; Marttinen Larsson 2022, onder andere). Vervolgens reconstrueer ik het ontstaan van het gebruik van bezittelijke voornaamwoorden in plaats van PP-complementen als een analogische uitbreiding (die gebruik maakt van de analogie van K/P in attributieve constructies zoals casa de ella > casa suya, wat tot habla de ella > habla suyo leidt). Eens een de-PP als KP bij verbale PP-complementen heranalyseerd is onder analogie met possessieve constructies kan deze optie naar PPs met andere voorzetsels uitgebreid worden (de > a, en). Aansluitend wordt, opbouwend op Breitbarth & Farasyn's (2016, 2021) analyse van de interne structuur van voornaamwoorden, een analyse van de structurele verarming van bezittelijke voornaamwoorden geschetst, en worden de implicaties van die verarming voor de ontwikkeling van transitiviteitsfenomenen in het Spaans besproken (Casanova (2021a, 2021b). Dit hoofdstuk dient als verbinding tussen de theoretische analyse en de empirische data, die in de volgende hoofdstukken besproken worden. Verder worden er de data en methodologie en de onderzoeksvragen geïntroduceerd en een korte samenvatting va de verzamelde artikels gegeven. In de hoofdstukken 2 t.e.m. 5 volgen de artikels die tijdens het doctoraatsonderzoek gepubliceerd werden (2018-2022). In de eerste die studies (Casanova 2020, 2021b; Casanova & Pato 2022) ligt de focus op verschillende lexicale en grammaticale aspecten met betrekking tot deze complementen: welke verbale klassen zijn door deze vervanging getroffen? Welke voorzetsels? Welke bezittelijke kenmerken blijven behouden? Gedragen verbale possessieven zich zoals hun nominale tegenhangers? Aangezien dit type constructie niet voorkomt in traditionele corpora, werd het taalgebruik op Twitter, naast online-enquêtes, als databron gebruikt om dit fenomeen te onderzoeken. Naast andere bevindingen laat ik zien dat tonische bezittelijke voornaamwoorden hun gebruik uitbreiden naar andere verbale predicaten die andere voorzetsels selecteren dan de – het voorzetsel dat de functie van de Latijnse genitief overgenomen heeft – zoals a of en. De meeste werkwoorden die door dit herstructureringsproces getroffen zijn, behoren tot semantische klassen die cognitieve processen aanduiden (sensatie, communicatie, verplaatsing, perceptie, geloof en bezit). Van deze werkwoorden hebben atelische predikaten de grootste kans om bezittelijke complementen van het hier onderzochte type te activeren. Aan de andere kant zijn werkwoorden van het type depender ('afhangen'), dus werkwoorden die een intern argument hebben (vgl. Demonte 1991), de enige die de PREP/POSS-alternantie toelaten: bezittelijke naamwoorden zijn afwezig bij werkwoorden van het type consistir ('bestaan uit') die met een small clause verschijnen. De grammaticale kenmerken van verbale bezittelijke naamwoorden zijn ook onderzocht in dit proefschrift. In Rioplatense en Venezolaanse variëteiten – waar de meeste voorbeelden werden gevonden –, behouden de bezittelijke voornaamwoorden het -o-achtervoegsel, ongeacht het geslacht van de referent. In overeenstemming met eerdere bevindingen komt de PREP/POSS-alternantie het vaakst voor in de eerste en tweede persoon enkelvoud – twee voornaamwoorden die de deiktische informatie dragen. Gezien de ambiguïteit van het bezittelijk voornaamwoord in de derde persoon (suyo) krijgen PP's de voorkeur als naar de derde persoon verwezen moet worden (él, ella). Bezittelijke voornaamwoorden in het meervoud (nuestro, vuestro), aan de andere kant, zijn zeldzaam, en de syntactische bewegingsvrijheid die normaal gezien de Spaanse verbale complementatie kenmerkt is afwezig (Confía en mí ~ En mí confía, maar Confía mío ~ *Mío confía). In tegenstelling tot nominale alternanties, die voor alle Spaanse dialecten gedocumenteerd zijn – onafhankelijk van sociopragmatische factoren, vgl. RAE/ASALE 2009; Di Tullio & Pato 2022 –, is de PREP/POSS-alternantie in bijwoordelijke, verbale en bijvoeglijke constructies beperkt tot de omgangstaal van enkele (nationale) variëteiten van het Spaans (vgl. Campos 1978; Silva Domínguez 1995; Bertolotti 2014, 2017; Bouzouita & Casanova 2017, 2018; Casanova 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Bouzouita, Castillo Lluch & Pato 2021). Dit is ook het geval bij Galicische variëteiten, waar bijwoordelijk (en zelfs verbaal) gebruik van bezittelijke naamwoorden ook in spreektaal gedocumenteerd is. Terwijl in het bijwoordelijke domein "a equivalencia entre as dúas unidades establecida polos falantes supera a regulamentación normativa" (Silva Domínguez 1995: 10), wordt de PREP/POSS-alternantie bij het werkwoordelijke predicaat als niet-correct en ongepast ervaren. Desondanks worden verbale bezittelijke voornaamwoorden door sprekers als verstaanbare, functionele eenheden beoordeeld die dezelfde betekenis hebben als de PP's die ze vervangen. In het laatste hoofdstuk vat ik de hoofdzakelijke bevindingen van het onderzoek samen: de uitbreiding van bezittelijke voornaamwoorden naar verbale complementen met andere voorzetsels van de (de > a, en), het type verbale predicaten die een bezittelijk voornaamwoord als intern argument toelaten, het proces van ‘transitivisatie’ waarbij sommige van die predicaten betrokken zijn (abusarme < abusar mío< abusar de mí; ‘abuse me < abuse mine < abuse of me’), en de linguïstische percepties van sprekers, die naar de functionele equivalentie van de alternerende structuren ‘de + persoonlijk voornaamwoord ~ bezittelijk voornaamwoord’ verwijzen. Nadien keer ik terug naar de vraag van de grammaticale status van de bezittelijke voornaamwoorden, na een samenvatting van de theoretische interpretatie van de analogische uitbreiding en de interne structuur van die voornaamwoorden. Tot slot wijs ik op de belangrijkste vragen die nog opengebleven zijn en schets ik de onderzoekslijnen waarmee er in de toekomst antwoorden daarop gezocht zullen worden.".
• 01GSE2YRMNN4W46YXX5J29TWZB abstract "This dissertation compiles a series of studies representing the successive stages on my doctoral research on verbal constructions with possessive pronouns in Spanish dialects. In recent years, the use of possessive complements instead of prepositional ones in the Spanish verbal domain (e.g. confía mío vs confía en mí ‘(s)he trusts me’) has received increased interest among linguists, along with other emergent uses of possessives constructions beyond the nominal domain, such as the adverbial (e.g. detrás mío vs. detrás de mí ‘behind me’) and the adjectival ones (e.g. enfrente tuyo vs enfrente de ti ‘in front of you’). This phenomenon, although considered by prescriptive grammars as non-normative, still lies within the realm of possibilities of the Spanish syntactic system. As previous accounts have shown (Malcuori 2014, Bertolotti 2014, 2017, Mare 2014, 2015), the syntactic equivalence between prepositional (de mí, de ti…) and possessive constructions (mío, tuyo…) in possessive constructions extends to other domains, such as the verbal one. This equivalence has led to a categorial reanalysis (Bertolotti 2014, 2017; cf. Elvira 2015) in which tonic possessives acquire innovative functions. While in the nominal domain these structures are encoded as modifiers of the lexical head (recuerdo {de mí, mío}), in other domains they behave as the primary complements of an adverb (detrás), an adjective (alejado), or a verb (acordarse). The introductory chapter is structured as follows: firstly, it provides an overview on the Spanish possessive system and the phenomenon under study, as well as its distribution across the Ibero-Romance varieties (Spanish and Galician). I then summarize the main empirical and theoretical findings related to the use of tonic possessives as non-nominal arguments (Bertolotti 2014, 2017, 2018; Mare 2014, 2015; Marttinen Larsson 2022, among others), followed by a reconstruction of the analogical extension development of the possessives (explained here as a K/P analogy: casa de ella > casa suya leads to habla de ella > habla suyo). Once a de-PP has been reanalyzed as KP in verbal PP complements under analogy with possessive constructions, this option is extended to PPs with other prepositions (de > a, en). Next, an explanation of the structural impoverishment of the possessive pronouns is sketched, building on Breitbarth & Farasyn's (2016, 2021) analysis of the internal structure of pronouns, and its implications for the development of Spanish transitivity phenomena are discussed (Casanova 2021a, 2021b). This section serves as a theoretical linking to the empirical data, which is presented in the next chapters. The following sections provide an overview on the data/methodology, the research questions, and a summary of the compiled articles. Chapters 2-5 reunite the articles that were published during the doctoral research period (2018-2022). In the first three studies (Casanova 2020, 2021b; Casanova & Pato 2022) we focus on various lexical and grammatical questions regarding these complements: which verbal classes are affected by this replacement? Which prepositions? Which possessive features are kept? Do verbal possessives behave like their nominal counterparts? Since this type of construction does not show up in traditional corpora, we resorted to Twitter data, as well as online surveys, to assess this phenomenon. Among other findings, we demonstrate that tonic possessives are extending their use to other verbal predicates that select prepositions other than de (the preposition that inherits the function of the Latin genitive case) such as a or en. Most of the verbs affected by this restructuring process belong to semantic classes that designate cognitive events (sensation, communication, displacement, perception, belief, and possession). Among these verbs, atelic predicates are most likely to trigger these possessive complements. On the other hand, depender-type verbs (‘to depend’), that is, verbs that take internal arguments (cf. Demonte 1991) are the only ones that admit the PREP/POSS alternation: possessives are absent within the group of consistir-type verbs (‘to consist of’) that appear with a small clause. The grammatical features of verbal possessives where also assessed in this study. In Rioplatense and Venezuelan varieties –where most examples where found–, the possessives maintain the -o suffix regardless of the gender of the possessor. In line with previous findings, the PREP/POSS alternation is most commonly seen with the first and second-singular person – two pronouns that carry the deictic information –. Given the ambiguity of the third-person possessive (suyo), PPs are preferred for referring to the third person (él, ella). Plural possessives (nuestro, vuestro), on the other hand, are rarely attested, and neither is the syntactic freedom of movement that otherwise characterizes Spanish verbal complementation (Confía en mí ~ En mí confía, but Confía mío ~ *Mío confía). Unlike nominal alternations, documented in all Spanish dialects – regardless of sociopragmatic factors, cf. RAE/ASALE 2009; Di Tullio & Pato 2022 –, the PREP/POSS alternation in the adverbial, verbal, and adjectival domains is restricted to the colloquial speech of a few Spanish vernacular varieties (cf. Campos 1978; Silva Domínguez 1995; Bertolotti 2014, 2017; Bouzouita & Casanova 2017, 2018; Casanova 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Bouzouita, Castillo Lluch & Pato 2021), similarly to what happens in Galician varieties, where adverbial (and even verbal) possessives are also documented in oral speech. While in the adverbial domain “a equivalencia entre as dúas unidades establecida polos falantes supera a regulamentación normativa” (Silva Domínguez 1995: 10), in the verbal predicate the PREP/POSS alternation is perceived as non-correct and inappropriate. Still, verbal possessives are perceived by speakers as comprehensible, functional units that carry the same meaning as the PPs they replace. In the final chapter (§ 6 Conclusions), I summarize the main findings of this research, namely, the extension of possessives to complements introduced by other prepositions (de > a, en), the type of verbal predicates that admit a possessive pronoun as an internal argument, the ‘transitivization’ process in which some of these predicates seem to the involved (abusarme < abusar mío< abusar de mí; ‘abuse me < abuse mine < abuse of me’), and the linguistic perceptions of speakers, who point out the functional equivalence of the alternating structures ‘de + personal pronoun ~ possessive pronoun’. Then I return to the discussion on the grammatical status of possessive pronouns, following a recap of our theoretical interpretation on the analogical extension development and the internal structure of these pronouns. Finally, I point out the main questions that remain to be explored and outline the lines of research that will be pursued in future work.".
• 01GSF6R0K3Q9PAVGQRVT71NK5H abstract "The COVID-19 pandemic left no one untouched, and reports of domestic violence (DV) increased during the crisis. DV victims rarely seek professional help, yet when they do so, they often disclose it to their general practitioner (GP), with whom they have a trusting relationship. GPs rarely screen and hence rarely take the initiative to discuss DV with patients, although victims indicate that offering this opportunity would facilitate their disclosure. This paper aims to describe the frequency of screening for DV by GPs and disclosure of DV by patients to the GP during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify key elements that could potentially explain differences in screening for and disclosure of DV. The PRICOV-19 data of 4295 GP practices from 33 countries were included in the analyses, with practices nested in countries. Two stepwise forward clustered ordinal logistic regressions were performed. Only 11% of the GPs reported (much) more disclosure of DV by patients during COVID-19, and 12% reported having screened for DV (much). Most significant associations with screening for and disclosure of DV concerned general (pro)active communication. However, (pro)active communication was performed less frequently for DV than for health conditions, which might indicate that GPs are insufficiently aware of the general magnitude of DV and its impact on patients and society, and its approach/management. Thus, professional education and training for GPs about DV seems highly and urgently needed.".
• 01GSF6YKQ2WTX6Y0SGZYHD1KVB abstract "Marble provenance studies in archaeology have become increasingly popular in recent decades. This has resulted in a large quantity of analytical data becoming available for archaeological marbles. This article presents the results of a quantitative study of the distribution of white marble in the Mediterranean based on an analysis of the available provenance data for the Roman period. The study shows increased distribution of white marble between the late 1st c. BCE and the end of the 2nd c. CE. A decline in distribution from the 3rd c. CE was less abrupt than traditionally believed and shows object-, material-, and region-specific trajectories. The marble distribution data is finally evaluated within a wider socio-economic frame, considering factors such as the marble trade system and broader Roman economy, changes in cultural practices related to statue erection, importance of reuse and recycling, growing ruralization, and reduced interest of the elite in urban capital investment in the later Roman periods.".
• 01GSF6YKQ8E7G7DGJV7E7TJSHE abstract "Idiopathic and acquired pedophilia are two different disorders with two different etiologies. However, the differential diagnosis is still very difficult, as the behavioral indicators used to discriminate the two forms of pedophilia are underexplored, and clinicians are still devoid of clear guidelines describing the clinical and neuroscientific investigations suggested to help them with this difficult task. Furthermore, the consequences of misdiagnosis are not known, and a consensus regarding the legal consequences for the two kinds of offenders is still lacking. The present study used the Delphi method to reach a global consensus on the following six topics: behavioral indicators/red flags helpful for differential diagnosis; neurological conditions potentially leading to acquired pedophilia; neuroscientific investigations important for a correct understanding of the case; consequences of misdiagnosis; legal consequences; and issues and future perspectives. An international and multidisciplinary board of scientists and clinicians took part in the consensus statements as Delphi members. The Delphi panel comprised 52 raters with interdisciplinary competencies, including neurologists, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, forensic psychologists, expert in ethics, etc. The final recommendations consisted of 63 statements covering the six different topics. The current study is the first expert consensus on a delicate topic such as pedophilia. Important exploitable consensual recommendations that can ultimately be of immediate use by clinicians to help with differential diagnosis and plan and guide therapeutic interventions are described, as well as future perspectives for researchers.".

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