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Biomarkers that aid in early detection of neurodegeneration are needed to enable early symptomatic treatment and enable identification of people who may benefit from neuroprotective interventions. Increasing evidence suggests that sleep biomarkers may be useful, given the bi-directional relationship between sleep and neurodegeneration and the prominence of sleep disturbances and altered sleep architectural characteristics in several neurodegenerative disorders. This study aimed to demonstrate that sleep can accurately characterize specific neurodegenerative disorders (NDD). A four-class machine-learning algorithm was trained using age and nine sleep biomarkers from patients with clinically-diagnosed manifest and prodromal NDDs, including Alzheimers disease dementia (AD = 27), Lewy body dementia (LBD = 18), and isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD = 15), as well as a control group (CG = 58). The algorithm was validated in a total of 381 recordings, which included the training data set plus an additional AD = 10, iRBD = 18, Parkinson disease without dementia (PD = 29), mild cognitive impairment (MCI = 78) and CG = 128. Test-retest consistency was then assessed in LBD = 10, AD = 9, and CG = 46. The agreement between the NDD profiles and their respective clinical diagnoses exceeded 75% for the AD, LBD, and CG, and improved when NDD participants classified Likely Normal with NDD indications consistent with their clinical diagnosis were considered. Profiles for iRBD, PD and MCI participants were consistent with the heterogeneity of disease severities, with the majority of overt disagreements explained by normal sleep characterization in 27% of iRBD, 21% of PD, and 26% of MCI participants. For test-retest assignments, the same or similar NDD profiles were obtained for 88% of LBD, 86% in AD, and 98% of CG participants. The potential utility for NDD subtyping based on sleep biomarkers demonstrates promise and requires further prospective development and validation in larger NDD cohorts.

INTRODUCTION: Autonomic dysfunction is common in α-synucleinopathies such as Lewy Body dementias (LBD), Parkinsons disease (PD), and isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (iRBD). We analyzed pulse-rate changes during sleep to index autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction in patients with α-synucleinopathies vs. non-synucleinopathy groups expected to have normal ANS function. METHODS: Patients with LBD (n = 16), PD (PD, n = 14) or iRBD (n = 12) were compared to the non-synucleinopathy groups Alzheimers disease dementia (ADem, n = 26), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 34) or controls (CG, n = 54). Sleep Profiler was used to derive a sleep autonomic activation index (AAI), i.e., ≥6 beat-per-minute increase/decrease, pulse rate coefficient of variation (PR-CV), and automated sleep staging with sleep-spindles and non-REM hypertonia (NRH). Analysis included statistical group comparisons and receiver operating characteristics curves to determine optimal classification of groups. RESULTS: AAI and PR-CV were moderately correlated across all recordings (rs = 0.58, P

Introduction and Objectives: With increases in obesity and metabolic syndrome because of lifestyle-related factors, the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) also is increasing worldwide. In a subset of patients with NAFLD, an inflammatory process arises in the steatotic liver, known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, that leads to liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis. In selected patients with obesity, bariatric surgery, and bariatric endoscopy are important therapeutic options. Materials and Methods: This prospective interventional pilot study was conducted to investigate two types of intragastric balloons (IGB). The IGBs were the Orbera and the Spatz3. Liver fibrosis changes were monitored non-invasively using point and 2D shear wave ultrasound elastography (SWE) and transient elastography that allowed for quantification of liver steatosis using the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). Patients were followed for 12 months. Results: Of 34 patients implanted with an IGB, 30 completed follow-up at month 12; results for one patient were excluded because of initiation of obesity pharmacotherapy. Fifteen patients received the Orbera IGB, and nineteen patients received the Spatz3 type. In month 12, total and excess weight loss was 7.88 % and 30.13 %. Elastography values decreased from baseline (3.88 kPa) to 3.61 kPa at month 12 (p 0.024). 2D SWE values decreased from baseline (5.42 kPa) to a value of 4.91 kPa at month twelve (p 0.135). Transient elastography values decreased from baseline (5.62 kPa) to a value of 4.17 kPa at month twelve (p 0.009). Conclusions: Bariatric endoscopy in the form of IGB implantation leads to weight reduction and improvement of liver fibrosis and steatosis. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT04895943

Introduction The identification of type 1 diabetes at an early presymptomatic stage has clinical benefits. These include a reduced risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at the clinical manifestation of the disease and a significant reduction in clinical symptoms. The European action for the Diagnosis of Early Non-clinical Type 1 diabetes For disease Interception (EDENT1FI) represents a pioneering effort to advance early detection of type 1 diabetes through public health screening. With the EDENT1FI Master Protocol, the project aims to harmonise and standardise screening for early-stage type 1 diabetes and care.Methods and analysis Public health islet autoantibody screening is conducted in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the UK. Between November 2023 (start date) and October 2028 (planned end date), an estimated number of 200 000 children and adolescents aged 1–17 years are expected to be screened. Screening is performed in capillary blood, examining different islet autoantibodies (autoantibodies against insulin, glutamic acid decarboxylase-65, insulinoma-associated antigen-2 and/or zinc transporter-8). Positive screening results undergo confirmation through a second antibody method. A second (venous) blood sample is requested if at least two autoantibodies are detected, to confirm the autoantibody status. Children and adolescents with confirmed two or more autoantibodies are invited to metabolic staging (oral glucose tolerance test, haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), random glucose, optionally continuous glucose monitoring); an educational programme and recommendations for monitoring are provided. The feasibility and acceptability of screening are evaluated by feedback questionnaires. Pseudonymised data is collated in the EDENT1FI Registry. Study outcomes include country-specific screening rates, prevalences of stage 1 and stage 2 type 1 diabetes, number in EDENT1FI Registry, proportion with DKA and symptoms at clinical diagnosis and median HbA1c.Ethics and dissemination Following the EDENT1FI Master Protocol, site-specific protocols are developed and approved by local ethics committees (Technical University of Munich, Medical Faculty, Nr. 70/14; Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Nr. 9588_BO_S_2021; Technische Universität Dresden, Nr. BO-EK-356082020; Center for Sundhed Region Hovedstaden, Nr. H-22053116; Swedish Ethical Review Authority, Nr. 2023-00312-01; National Health Service Health Research Authority and Health Care Research Wales, IRAS (Integrated Research Application System) project ID 309252; Italian National Institute of Health, National ethics committee for clinical trials of public research bodies (EPR) and other national public institutions, Prot. PRE BIO CE Nr. 0059835; Charles University in Prague, Ethics Committee for Multi-Centric Clinical Trials of the University Hopital Motol and 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Nr. 1271/23; Bioethics Committee at the Medical University of Warsaw, Nr. 21/2024 and KB/6/R/2024; Associação Protectora dos Diabéticos de Portugal, Nr. 211/2024). Results are disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations and will be shared openly.

Invasive pests and plant pathogens pose a significant threat to ecosystems and economies worldwide, prompting the need of anticipatory strategies. Preventing their introduction by detection at the ports of entry has been proven extremely difficult. This review explores the potential of biogenic volatile detection as a reliable preventive solution. It underscores the importance of early detection and rapid response as integral components of effective invasive pest management, and it discusses the limitations of current control measures and the increasing globalization that facilitates the spread of pests and pathogens. Through a synthesis of existing literature, this review analyzes the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions in five invasive model species: three insects, Halyomorpha halys, Spodoptera frugiperda, Helicoverpa armigera, a nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, and an oomycete, Phytophthora ramorum. The review focuses on the specific volatiles, released by both the invasive organisms and the infested host plants. If available, the volatiles emitted from similar species were considered for comparison. Ultimately, this review highlights specific pest volatile and shared Herbivore Induced Plant Volatiles (HIPVs) as a reliable and innovative solution in pest detection. If possible, candidate compounds are provided, whilst the lack of some emphasizes the urge of expanding the information available.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This proof-of-concept study aimed to determine whether the combined features of two non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep biomarkers acquired predominantly in-home could characterize different neurodegenerative disorders. METHODS: Sleep spindle duration and non-REM hypertonia (NRH) were evaluated in seven groups including a control group (CG = 61), and participants with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD = 19), mild cognitive impairment (MCI = 41), Parkinson disease (PD = 16), Alzheimer disease dementia (ADem = 29), dementia with Lewy Bodies or Parkinson disease dementia (LBD = 19) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP = 13). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney U, intra-class (ICC) and Spearman ranked correlations, Bland-Altman plots and Kappa scores, Chi-square and Fisher exact probability test, and multiple-logistic regression were focused primarily on spindle duration and NRH and the frequencies assigned to the four normal/abnormal spindle duration/NRH combinations. RESULTS: ANOVA identified group differences in age, sleep efficiency, REM, NRH (p

INTRODUCTION: From an ongoing multicenter effort toward differentiation of Parkinsonian spectrum disorders (PSD) from other types of neurodegenerative disorders, the sleep biomarker non-rapid-eye-movement sleep with hypertonia (NRH) emerged. METHODS: This study included in the PSD group patients with dementia with Lewy bodies/Parkinson disease dementia (DLB/PDD = 16), Parkinson disease (PD = 16), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP = 13). The non-PSD group included patients with Alzheimer disease dementia (AD = 24), mild cognitive impairment (MCI = 35), and a control group with normal cognition (CG = 61). In-home, multi-night Sleep Profiler studies were conducted in all participants. Automated algorithms detected NRH, characterized by elevated frontopolar electromyographic power. Between-group differences in NRH were evaluated using Logistic regression, Mann-Whitney U and Chi-squared tests. RESULTS: NRH was greater in the PSD group compared to non-PSD (13.9 ± 11.0% vs. 3.1 ± 4.7%, P

In this research paper, the electrical properties of an ITO/Al0.7Ga0.3As/ITO solar cell were investigated using SILVACO 2D-Atlas. Characterization was performed through static characteristics (I–V) and (P-V)) at room temperature and under standard spectrum AM1.5 illumination. Open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current (ISC), maximum power (Pmax), and fill factor (FF) were also extracted from these characteristics. To obtain more credible results, mid-gap defects were included in the simulation, and a comparison was made with a silicon-based solar cell. The results showed that the presence of mid-gap defects in the solar cells has a detrimental effect on their electrical performance, increasing recombination and reducing the current of the solar cell. Additionally, the inclusion of defects enhances the realism of the simulation results. Despite the inclusion of defects, the ITO/Al0.7Ga0.3As/ITO solar cell maintains its ideality due to its high fill factor (FF) of 80.73%. The results obtained in this study will serve as a reference for choosing appropriate semiconductor materials for solar cells, especially for use in hostile environments.

This essay outlines a participative team formation process for class projects with resources to support instructors in implementing this process. This hybrid process, integrating self-selection and teacher assigned methods, includes four touch points that foster students' awareness of effective team behaviors and the presence (or absence) of these behaviors within themselves and in team members. The awareness can provide students the foundation for developing team skills--beneficial in both team projects and in organizational teams.

This paper describes an experiential education course designed to enhance student learning while abroad. Studies have shown that students studying abroad need specific interventions in order to profit fully from the immersive experience. The article describes a sequence of task-based interventions designed to prompt students to engage with the host language and culture. A description and rationale for each assignment explains how the tasks target language functions and intercultural development. The language functions relate to ACTFL's proficiency scale. The intercultural development process relates to Bennett and Hammer's Intercultural Development Continuum model (Bennett, 1986; Hammer, 2012). The students involved participated in the five-year dual bachelor's degree International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island and spent a year abroad in China, France, Germany, Chile, or Spain, studying for six months and then interning for six months. Discussion of student work shows the extent to which the tasks elicited interaction with the host culture and reflection on the experience. Results show that the interventions result in greater student engagement with the host culture and greater reflection on the impact of the overseas experience on their linguistic and cultural competency development.

Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep disorder among children and adolescents, impacting their cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical development. The prevalence of insomnia generally increases with age, often persisting into adulthood if unaddressed. Insomnia is exceedingly common among those with developmental disabilities and is frequently comorbid with a great range of psychiatric diagnoses. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the prevalence of insomnia among children and adolescents. Health care providers are routinely called upon to treat insomnia in the pediatric population. Psychoeducation and behavioral interventions, especially cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), remain the first line treatments, given empirical evidence for their efficacy and success in relapse prevention. However, medications are frequently employed in clinical practice, despite the fact that no medications are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of pediatric insomnia. This review was designed to educate and support practitioners who are treating children and adolescents who struggle with insomnia. A thorough narrative review was completed to identify all published medication studies of pediatric insomnia; the identified studies are described and then graded into four categories according to the strength of the evidence supporting their use, side effect profiles, co-morbidities, and overall risk vs. benefit of each pharmacological treatment. This review will help practitioners in making clinical decisions for their pediatric patients who suffer with insomnia.

The cactus is a plant that grows in many rural areas, widely used as a hedge, and has multiple benefits through the manufacture of various cosmetics and other products. However, this crop has been suffering for some time from the attack of the carmine scale Dactylopius opuntia (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae). The infestation can spread rapidly if not treated in the early stage. Current solutions consist of regular field checks by the naked eyes carried out by experts. The major difficulty is the lack of experts to check all fields, especially in remote areas. In addition, this requires time and resources. Hence the need for a system that can categorize the health level of cacti remotely. To date, deep learning models used to categorize plant diseases from images have not addressed the mealy bug infestation of cacti because computer vision has not sufficiently addressed this disease. Since there is no public dataset and smartphones are commonly used as tools to take pictures, it might then be conceivable for farmers to use them to categorize the infection level of their crops. In this work, we developed a system called CactiVIT that instantly determines the health status of cacti using the Visual image Transformer (ViT) model. We also provided a new image dataset of cochineal infested cacti.11 The dataset is open-source and available at: https://github.com/AnasBerka/CactiViT-materials.git Finally, we developed a mobile application that delivers the classification results directly to farmers about the infestation in their fields by showing the probabilities related to each class. This study compares the existing models on the new dataset and presents the results obtained. The VIT-B-16 model reveals an approved performance in the literature and in our experiments, in which it achieved 88.73% overall accuracy with an average of +2.61% compared to other convolutional neural network (CNN) models that we evaluated under similar conditions.

BackgroundIntraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is an important cause of neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants. A number of risk factors for IVH have already been proposed; however, some controversies regarding optimal perinatal management persist. This study aimed to identify perinatal and neonatal attributes associated with IVH in a representative population of preterm infants.MethodsPerinatal data on 1,279 very preterm infants (

BackgroundDespite accessible diagnostics and treatment of hypertension, a high proportion of patients worldwide remain unaware of their diagnosis, and even more remain untreated. Several studies suggest that absence of comorbidities is a predictive factor for unawareness and consequently non-treatment of hypertension. There are only a few studies that have assessed the hypertension prevalence and management among apparently healthy individuals.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to assess and compare hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control among apparently healthy individuals, patients with internal diseases, and patients with non-internal diseases.MethodsData from standardised blood pressure measurements conducted during the Czech European Health Examination Survey 2014 and information on health status and health care use collected during the Czech European Health Interview Survey 2014 were analyzed. We focused on participants aged 25-64. Data were weighted on sex and age to ensure an appropriate sex and age structure of the population. The χ2-test and binary logistic regression analyses were used to compare distribution of cascade of care for hypertension between the health-status groups of respondents.ResultsThe final eligible sample consisted of 1121 participants. The prevalence of hypertension was 32.8% in the healthy group, 29.8% in the non-internal disease group and 52.4% in the internal disease group, (p < 0.001). Awareness was 54.1%, 59.1% and 85.2% respectively, (p < 0.001). Treatment was 44.2%, 52.6% and 86.4%, respectively, (p < 0.001). Among apparently healthy respondents 62.6% had their blood pressure measured by a medical professional in the last year, compared to 71.1% in the non-internal disease group and 91.7% in the internal disease group, (p < 0.001). Differences in hypertension control were not statistically significant.ConclusionsGenerally, our data show a discordance in hypertension management within the Czech population. Apparently healthy individuals are the least aware of their diagnosis and the highest proportion of them remain untreated.

Cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease is associated with electroencephalographic (EEG) biosignatures even at early stages of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The aim of this work is to provide a unified measure of cognitive decline by aggregating biosignatures from multiple EEG modalities and to evaluate repeatability of the composite measure at an individual level. These modalities included resting state EEG (eyes-closed) and two event-related potential (ERP) tasks on visual memory and attention. We compared individuals with MCI (n = 38) to age-matched healthy controls HC (n = 44). In resting state EEG, the MCI group exhibited higher power in Theta (3-7Hz) and lower power in Beta (13-20Hz) frequency bands. In both ERP tasks, the MCI group exhibited reduced ERP late positive potential (LPP), delayed ERP early component latency, slower reaction time, and decreased response accuracy. Cluster-based permutation analysis revealed significant clusters of difference between the MCI and HC groups in the frequency-channel and time-channel spaces. Cluster-based measures and performance measures (12 biosignatures in total) were selected as predictors of MCI. We trained a support vector machine (SVM) classifier achieving AUC = 0.89, accuracy = 77% in cross-validation using all data. Split-data validation resulted in (AUC = 0.87, accuracy = 76%) and (AUC = 0.75, accuracy = 70%) on testing data at baseline and follow-up visits, respectively. Classification scores at baseline and follow-up visits were correlated (r = 0.72, p

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the impact of zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on Escherichia coli. These compounds are commonly used as fertilizers and feed additives and may have unintended consequences on bacteria. We conducted phenotypic and multi-omics analyses of E. coli exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of ZnO and ZnONPs for 40 sub-culturings and 20 sub-culturings with zinc followed by 20 sub-culturings without zinc in an attempt to reverse zinc effects. An extended treatment with ZnO for 40 sub-culturings had the greatest impact leading to bacterial resistance to aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, and sulfonamides while the treatment with ZnONPs for 40 sub-culturings led to the elevated MIC to chloramphenicol only. Cells exposed to these treatments were thicker and had retarded growth in elevated temperatures. Importantly, zinc withdrawal reversed most phenotypic changes. Zinc exposure caused dramatic changes in cell transcripts and proteins with a role in antibiotic response, heat stress, growth regulation, cell shape, and biofilm formation. An extended zinc exposure led to overall major alterations in E. coli biology and resulted in multi-drug resistance.IMPORTANCEA long-term exposure of bacteria to zinc oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles leads to major alterations in bacterial morphology and physiology. These included biochemical and physiological processes promoting the emergence of strains with multi-drug resistance and virulence traits. After the removal of zinc pressure, bacterial phenotype reversed back to the original state; however, certain changes at the genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic level remained. Why is this important? The extensive and intensive use of supplements in animal feed effects the intestinal microbiota of livestock and this may negatively impact the health of animals and people. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and monitor the impact of feed supplements on intestinal microorganisms in order to adequately assess and prevent potential health risks.