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Background: The understanding of risk factors related to severe anaphylaxis is key to implementing prevention strategies. We present the first French population-based nine-year anaphylaxis hospitalization study evaluating specific trends and factors related to severe anaphylaxis (SA), to support identification of phenotypes at-risk. Methods: This study used descriptive data from the French hospitalization database for the years 2012–2021, and included all patients hospitalized with anaphylaxis using International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes listed as a primary diagnosis. SA were cases that either required a hospitalization in intensive care units or resulted in death. Potential risk factors were identified according to corresponding ICD codes, available as secondary data during the patient's hospitalization. Results: The average hospitalization rate of all cases of anaphylaxis (SA and non-SA) was 1.34/100,000/year, and rate of admissions for SA was 0.08/100,000/year. Among the 5463 SA, 37.7% had unspecified coding label, when trigger was not identified. For SA cases in which trigger was identified, most were related to drugs (45.6%), followed by food (9.3%) and insect sting (7.2%). Overall, admissions due to anaphylaxis (SA and non-SA) were more frequent in males (57%). However, when the trigger was drugs, the proportion was significantly higher in females. For children aged 5–9 years, the most common trigger for SA was food. Patients for which SA was triggered by insect stings were identified exclusively in the 10–14 years age group. Chronic spontaneous urticaria was associated with insect sting-induced anaphylaxis, regardless of the severity. Angioedema was associated with all causes of SA. Cases of anaphylaxis presenting with urticaria and angioedema included cases with identified and unidentified triggers. Asthma and a personal history of allergy were associated with drug- and food-induced anaphylaxis. Conclusion: This is the first study to provide data on severe phenotypes of anaphylaxis in France. Data presented is key to the implementation of public health actions and preventive strategies to improve quality care.

Objectives. To identify factors associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH) at 28 days of life in preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Methods . This observational study included 128 premature infants with BPD between January 2022 and February 2023 from the neonatal intensive care unit of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital. Results . PH was observed using echocardiography in 29 patients (22.66%). The prevalence of severe BPD in the PH group (62.07%) was significantly higher than that in the non-PH group (18.18%). The multivariate logistic regression showed 2 predictors of PH in BPD: invasive mechanical ventilation up to 28 days of life (odds ratio [OR]:9.440; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.090-28.833; P

Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine) is one of the most widely used herbicides on agricultural land with an annual consumption is about 826 million kg in 2014, resulting in considerable amounts of water and soil pollution. Great attention has been paid to the removal of glyphosate in aqueous solution and many techniques have been developed. Among them, adsorption offers itself as a viable option for glyphosate removal and the searching of low cost adsorbent is always desired. Coffee drinking generates a massive volume of spent coffee grounds. Therefore, using spent coffee as feedstock for making adsorbent is investigated in this study. The activated carbon was prepared from spent coffee ground using chemical, Zn(CH3COO)2 and H2O2, then followed by heat treatment. The coffee grounds activated carbon was characterized by scanning electron microscope, BET Surface Area Analyzer. The effects of preparation conditions of obtained spent coffee ground powder on glyphosate removal were investigated using one variable at a time method. The adsorption tests were conducted in batch mode.

ObjectivesTo investigate factors associated with severe COVID-19 in people with psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).MethodsDemographic data, clinical characteristics and COVID-19 outcome severity of adults with PsO, PsA and axSpA were obtained from two international physician-reported registries. A three-point ordinal COVID-19 severity scale was defined: no hospitalisation, hospitalisation (and no death) and death. ORs were estimated using multivariable ordinal logistic regression.ResultsOf 5045 cases, 18.3% had PsO, 45.5% PsA and 36.3% axSpA. Most (83.6%) were not hospitalised, 14.6% were hospitalised and 1.8% died. Older age was non-linearly associated with COVID-19 severity. Male sex (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.83), cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, metabolic and cancer comorbidities (ORs 1.25-2.89), moderate/high disease activity and/or glucocorticoid use (ORs 1.39-2.23, vs remission/low disease activity and no glucocorticoids) were associated with increased odds of severe COVID-19. Later pandemic time periods (ORs 0.42-0.52, vs until 15 June 2020), PsO (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.65, vs PsA) and baseline exposure to TNFi, IL17i and IL-23i/IL-12+23i (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.73; OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.87; OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.98; respectively; vs no disease-modifying antirheumatic drug) were associated with reduced odds of severe COVID-19.ConclusionOlder age, male sex, comorbidity burden, higher disease activity and glucocorticoid intake were associated with more severe COVID-19. Later pandemic time periods, PsO and exposure to TNFi, IL17i and IL-23i/IL-12+23i were associated with less severe COVID-19. These findings will enable risk stratification and inform management decisions for patients with PsO, PsA and axSpA during COVID-19 waves or similar future respiratory pandemics.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a tauopathy associated with repetitive mild head impacts characterized by perivascular hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) in neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and neurites in the depths of the neocortical sulci. In moderate to advanced CTE, NFTs accumulate in the hippocampus, potentially overlapping neuroanatomically with primary age-related tauopathy (PART), an age-related tauopathy characterized by Alzheimer disease-like tau pathology in the hippocampus devoid of amyloid plaques. We measured p-tau burden using positive-pixel counts on immunohistochemically stained and neuroanatomically segmented hippocampal tissue. Subjects with CTE had a higher total p-tau burden than PART subjects in all sectors (p = 0.005). Within groups, PART had significantly higher total p-tau burden in CA1/subiculum compared to CA3 (p = 0.02) and CA4 (p = 0.01) and total p-tau burden in CA2 trended higher than CA4 (p = 0.06). In CTE, total p-tau burden in CA1/subiculum was significantly higher than in the dentate gyrus; and CA2 also trended higher than dentate gyrus (p = 0.01, p = 0.06). When controlling for p-tau burden across the entire hippocampus, CA3 and CA4 had significantly higher p-tau burden in CTE than PART (p

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the economic efficiency of Vietnamese 172 higher education (HE) institutions within the 2012-2016 inclusive period through the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The authors also compare public and private, multidisciplinary and mono-disciplinary, non-autonomy and autonomy, non-international and international HE Institutions' efficiency. Design/methodology/approach: This study derived from an unique dataset from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) of Vietnam. The data set comprises financial and academic annual reports of higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors achieved totally 204 Vietnamese HEIs, and the sample for analysis is 172 after the elimination of missing units, accounting for 84.3% entire of Vietnamese HEIs. The authors estimate the efficiency scores relying on these selected inputs and outputs by using the DEA method. Findings: Overall, HEIs in Vietnam decreased their operational efficiency during the 2012-2016. It also seems that public universities operate in the absence of market mechanism so that they tend to be less efficient than their counterparts in private sector. Based on our analysis, the authors observe that the HEIs including the international programmes have higher efficiency scores rather than these without international programmes. Originality/value: This study contributes to the theoretical aspects as follows. First, it enriches the existent efficiency literature on HE using the DEA approach. This stands out among similar studies in Vietnam in terms of duration (from 2012-2016) and data size (172 entities). Second, the research is the first to examine HEIs in terms of disciplinary (mono or multi-disciplinary) and autonomy (autonomous and non-autonomous), internalization (international programmes). These aspects have been silent in previous studies of HEIs in Vietnam.

Primary age-related tauopathy (PART) is a neurodegenerative pathology with features distinct from but also overlapping with Alzheimer disease (AD). While both exhibit Alzheimer-type temporal lobe neurofibrillary degeneration alongside amnestic cognitive impairment, PART develops independently of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques. The pathogenesis of PART is not known, but evidence suggests an association with genes that promote tau pathology and others that protect from Aβ toxicity. Here, we performed a genetic association study in an autopsy cohort of individuals with PART (n = 647) using Braak neurofibrillary tangle stage as a quantitative trait. We found some significant associations with candidate loci associated with AD (SLC24A4, MS4A6A, HS3ST1) and progressive supranuclear palsy (MAPT and EIF2AK3). Genome-wide association analysis revealed a novel significant association with a single nucleotide polymorphism on chromosome 4 (rs56405341) in a locus containing three genes, including JADE1 which was significantly upregulated in tangle-bearing neurons by single-soma RNA-seq. Immunohistochemical studies using antisera targeting JADE1 protein revealed localization within tau aggregates in autopsy brains with four microtubule-binding domain repeats (4R) isoforms and mixed 3R/4R, but not with 3R exclusively. Co-immunoprecipitation in post-mortem human PART brain tissue revealed a specific binding of JADE1 protein to four repeat tau lacking N-terminal inserts (0N4R). Finally, knockdown of the Drosophila JADE1 homolog rhinoceros (rno) enhanced tau-induced toxicity and apoptosis in vivo in a humanized 0N4R mutant tau knock-in model, as quantified by rough eye phenotype and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) in the fly brain. Together, these findings indicate that PART has a genetic architecture that partially overlaps with AD and other tauopathies and suggests a novel role for JADE1 as a modifier of neurofibrillary degeneration.

Our study explored EFL writing skills in relation to self-experience in an authentic learning context with the help of a mobile application. Two authentic writing activities ('Tell your story' and 'Describe your context') were designed and compared to see if they resulted in significant differences in EFL writing performance and writing behavior. The results showed that the experimental group who completed the "tell your story" exercise exhibited significantly better writing performance than the control group who completed the "describe your context" exercise'. More specifically, the experimental group used more vivid words and vocabulary to write about their surrounding contexts than the control group. Our observation and study results showed that using authentic materials in storytelling exercises motivate students to share their experiences, which not only improves students' general EFL writing skills but also enhances their confidence to use English in real situations.

Background: Plant derived isolated compounds or extracts enjoy great popularity among cancer patients, although knowledge about their mode of action is unclear. The present study investigated whether the combination of two herbal drugs, the cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin and the isothiocyanate sulforaphane (SFN), influences growth and proliferation of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cell lines. Methods: A498, Caki-1, and KTCTL-26 cells were exposed to low-dosed amygdalin (1 or 5 mg/mL), or SFN (5 µM) or to combined SFN-amygdalin. Tumor growth and proliferation were analyzed by MTT, BrdU incorporation, and clone formation assays. Cell cycle phases and cell cycle-regulating proteins were analyzed by flow cytometry and Western blotting, respectively. The effectiveness of the amygdalin–SFN combination was determined using the Bliss independence model. Results: 1 mg/mL amygdalin or 5 µM SFN, given separately, did not suppress RCC cell growth, and 5 mg/mL amygdalin only slightly diminished A498 (but not Caki-1 and KTCTL-26) cell growth. However, already 1 mg/mL amygdalin potently inhibited growth of all tumor cell lines when combined with SFN. Accordingly, 1 mg/mL amygdalin suppressed BrdU incorporation only when given together with SFN. Clonogenic growth was also drastically reduced by the drug combination, whereas only minor effects were seen under single drug treatment. Superior efficacy of co-treatment, compared to monodrug exposure, was also seen for cell cycling, with an enhanced G0/G1 and diminished G2/M phase in A498 cells. Cell cycle regulating proteins were altered differently, depending on the applied drug schedule (single versus dual application) and the RCC cell line, excepting phosphorylated Akt which was considerably diminished in all three cell lines with maximum effects induced by the drug combination. The Bliss independence analysis verified synergistic interactions between amygdalin and SFN. Conclusions: These results point to synergistic effects of amygdalin and SFN on RCC cell growth and clone formation and Akt might be a relevant target protein. The combined use of low-dosed amygdalin and SFN could, therefore, be beneficial as a complementary option to treat RCC. To evaluate clinical feasibility, the in vitro protocol must be applied to an in vivo model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radiotherapy has both immunostimulant and immunosuppressive effects, particularly in radiation-induced lymphopenia. Proton therapy has demonstrated potential in mitigating this lymphopenia, yet the mechanisms by which different types of radiation affect the immune system function are not fully characterized. The Circulating Immunes Cells, Cytokines and Brain Radiotherapy (CYRAD) trial aims to compare the effects of postoperative X-ray and proton radiotherapy on circulating leukocyte subpopulations and cytokine levels in patients with head and neck (CNS and ear nose throat) cancer. Methods: CYRAD is a prospective, non-randomized, single-center non interventional study assessing changes in the circulating leukocyte subpopulations and cytokine levels in head and neck cancer patients receiving X-ray or proton radiotherapy following tumor resection. Dosimetry parameters, including dose deposited to organs-at-risk such as the blood and cervical lymph nodes, are computed. Participants undergo 29 to 35 radiotherapy sessions over 40 to 50 days, followed by a 3-month follow-up. Blood samples are collected before starting radiotherapy (baseline), before the 11th (D15) and 30th sessions (D40), and three months after completing radiotherapy. The study will be conducted with 40 patients, in 2 groups of 20 patients per modality of radiotherapy (proton therapy and photon therapy). Statistical analyses will assess the absolute and relative relationship between variations (depletion, recovery) in immune cells, biomarkers, dosimetry parameters and early outcomes. Discussion: Previous research has primarily focused on radiation-induced lymphopenia, paying less attention to the specific impacts of radiation on different lymphoid and myeloid cell types. Early studies indicate that X-ray and proton irradiation may lead to divergent outcomes in leukocyte subpopulations within the bloodstream. Based on these preliminary findings, this study aims to refine our understanding of how proton therapy can better preserve immune function in postoperative (macroscopic tumor-free) head and neck cancer patients, potentially improving treatment outcomes. Protocol version: Version 2.1 dated from January 18, 2023. Trial registration: The CYRAD trial is registered from October 19, 2021, at the US National Library of Medicine, ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05082961. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]