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IntroductionSilent pauses are regarded as integral components of the temporal organization of speech. However, it has also been hypothesized that they serve as markers for internal cognitive processes, including word access, monitoring, planning, and memory functions. Although existing evidence across various pathological populations underscores the importance of investigating silent pauses’ characteristics, particularly in terms of frequency and duration, there is a scarcity of data within the domain of post-stroke aphasia.MethodsThe primary objective of the present study is to scrutinize the frequency and duration of silent pauses in two distinct narrative tasks within a cohort of 32 patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia, in comparison with a control group of healthy speakers. Subsequently, we investigate potential correlation patterns between silent pause measures, i.e., frequency and duration, across the two narrative tasks within the patient group, their performance in neuropsychological assessments, and lesion data.ResultsOur findings showed that patients exhibited a higher frequency of longer-duration pauses in both narrative tasks compared to healthy speakers. Furthermore, within-group comparisons revealed that patients tended to pause more frequently and for longer durations in the picture description task, while healthy participants exhibited the opposite trend. With regard to our second research question, a marginally significant interaction emerged between performance in semantic verbal fluency and the narrative task, in relation to the location of silent pauses—whether between or within clauses—predicting the duration of silent pauses in the patient group. However, no significant results were observed for the frequency of silent pauses. Lastly, our study identified that the duration of silent pauses could be predicted by distinct Regions of Interest (ROIs) in spared tissue within the left hemisphere, as a function of the narrative task.DiscussionOverall, this study follows an integrative approach of linguistic, neuropsychological and neuroanatomical data to define silent pauses in connected speech, and illustrates interrelations between cognitive components, temporal aspects of speech, and anatomical indices, while it further highlights the importance of studying connected speech indices using different narrative tasks.

A novel optical label-free biosensing approach is introduced aiming to remove the current limitations of optical biosensors in their application of on-site food analysis. The proposed methodology (GRADual thin film IntErferometry, GRADE) is based on light interferometry employing an illumination source of a few nm spectral width and a 3D micro-patterned sensor surface consisting of multilevel staircase structures, fabricated through grayscale electron beam lithography and appropriate pattern transfer on thick dielectric layer. The formation of the biomolecular adlayer on the 3D structured surface sensor, is monitored with a 2D camera, without the need for broadband illumination sources and spectral analysis instrumentation. Consequently, this novel sensing approach has the potential to enable the cost-efficient monitoring of bioreactions employing a simple optical setup, a low-cost photodetector and light source, thus being an ideal platform for use at the Point-of-Need. In the present study the system is demonstrated for the detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a very potent carcinogen detected in various food categories.

Background: Induction chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is almost universally complicated by febrile neutropenia(FN). Empirical broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy (EBAT) strategies advocated by guidelines result in long periods of broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. We compared the outcome of AML/MDS patients treated with a 3-day versus a prolonged (until neutrophil recovery) regimen. Methods: This is a retrospective comparative cohort study in AML or MDS patients undergoing remission-induction chemotherapy from 2011 to 2019, comparing 2 tertiary care hospitals with different strategies regarding antibiotic treatment for FN. At Erasmus University medical center(EMC), EBAT was stopped after 3 days of FN, in absence of a clinically or microbiologically documented infection. In the University Hospitals Leuven(UZL), a prolonged strategy was used, where EBAT was given until neutrophil recovery. The primary endpoint was a serious medical complication(SMC) defined as death or ICU admission in the 30 days after the start of chemotherapy. Findings: 305 and 270 AML or MDS patients received chemotherapy at EMC and UZL, respectively. Broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment was given for a median of 19 days (IQR13-25) at UZL versus 9 days at EMC (IQR5–13) (p

The optimization of the development conditions in a lithography process is crucial for the overall lithographic performance while the study of the development step provides useful information regarding the properties of the lithographic material. In this work, high resolution e-beam resists are studied through in-situ monitoring of resist thickness evolution during the development step. In-situ monitoring of the resist thickness is conducted through fitting of the spectroscopic reflectance of resist films coated on dielectric layers on Si wafers and by using light at wavelengths that do not modify the lithographic properties of the resist film. The methodology was applied in the case of two selected commercially available high resolution e-beam resists and the dissolution process was monitored in depth. The recorded results prove that in-situ dissolution monitoring is a powerful tool for the generation of experimentally based development models for the lithographic materials employed in high resolution lithography. These dissolution rate (DR) values could be correlated with energy deposition profiles due to e-beam exposure and used as input in e-beam lithography (EBL) simulation tools in order to improve the accuracy of the simulation and decrease the number of actual test exposures for process optimization.

In this work, a comprehensive study on how to combine purely chemical, bottom-up solution-based synthesis with advanced e-beam lithography for the controllable production of ZnO-nanostructure periodic arrays on Si and SiO2 substrates is presented. The study was complemented with micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrating the latter's great potential as a rapid, non-destructive and enabling nanometrology technique that can leverage the development of novel nanofabrication processes. The study resulted in a fabrication process framework that not only can help in relating the process parameters to the desired geometrical feature of the periodic nanoarchitectures, but that is also compatible with standard microfabrication techniques and large-scale production.

In the past 2 decades silsesquioxane has gained attention in the Electron Beam Lithography community as a negative tone electron-sensitive resist (HSQ) whose advantages (sub-20 nm resolution, high contrast, low Line Edge Roughness, good shape fidelity and high etch resistance) outnumber its associated drawbacks (limited shelf-life, chemical instability issues, process residuals, low sensitivity, cost). The new silsesquioxane based resist, developed by Allresist GmbH, Medusa 82 (official product name: SX AR-N 8200) and Medusa 82 UV (SX AR-N 8250), its highly sensitive counterpart, have been designed to address all these issues. The objective of this work is to use fundamental Contrast Curve analysis, Dissolution Monitoring and parametric e-beam lithography experiments to study the influence of processing conditions (Post Exposure Bake Temperature, Development duration and developer strength) on the lithographic performance of sub-40 nm thick films.

Background/Objective: Learning difficulties (LDs) are lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders with multifactorial causes, including perinatal factors like mode of delivery. This study aims to explore whether cesarean section (CS) delivery is linked to the occurrence of specific learning disabilities (SLDs), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or their comorbidity. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed via Google Forms to Greek mothers and parents of children with and without diagnoses, shared through school-related groups and various Greek pages focused on child development, special education, and learning difficulties. Conducted over eight months (October 2023–May 2024), this cross-sectional study involved 256 children, 137 with LDs diagnoses, and 119 controls. Results: In total, 59.9% of CS-born children had a diagnosis, compared to 40.1% of those born vaginally (X²(1) = 4.19, p = 0.045). CS delivery was associated with a 68% increased likelihood of LDs (OR = 1.68, 95% CI [1.02, 2.76]), with higher risks for ADHD (OR = 2.25, 95% CI [1.06, 4.79]) and comorbid SLD/ADHD diagnoses (OR = 2.75, 95% CI [1.17, 6.46]). Stratified analyses showed birthweight and gestational age as effect modifiers rather than confounders. Key postnatal risk factors identified were family history (OR = 4.65, 95% CI [2.41, 8.94]) and language acquisition difficulties (OR = 5.28, 95% CI [1.36, 20.47]). Conclusions: The findings suggest a possible association between CS and LDs, along with a novel link between CS and increased comorbidities. These results underscore the need for further research and provide valuable insights into how CS delivery may influence the risk of LDs, depending on the type of diagnosis.

The present study was undertaken in order to examine whether pyridoxine may be used as an inhibitor of thymidylate synthase, and thus, as an antiproliferative agent. It has already been shown by others that pyridoxal phosphate binds thymidylate synthase in vitro . Phytohemagglutinin-stimulated T lymphocytes were cultured in the presence of pyridoxine in various concentrations. Enzyme activity was measured in supernatants of sonicated cell extracts. Our results show that pyridoxine effectively inhibits thymidylate synthase (up to 60–70%) and therefore DNA synthesis (up to 42%) and cell division. We also present evidence that pyridoxine must be phosphorylated to PLP in order to exert its inhibitory effect. Our results suggest that pyridoxal phosphate, in addition to its function as a coenzyme, may have a role in regulating DNA synthesis through modulation of thymidylate synthase activity. Our findings also indicate that pyridoxal phosphate might be tested for its potential immunosuppressive and/or chemotherapeutic action, alone or in combination with other antiproliferative agents.

The concept of “predatory” publishing, despite many studies of the phenomenon, continues to be unclear. This paper visualizes this topic through an epistemological perspective, claiming that these limitations emerge from an impressionism of idealization, the entrapment of cause and effect induced by a journalology-based perspective, and entrenched fantasized extraction, imagination and divination of what constitutes the truth, in essence, a path never followed by an epistēmōn. Reality, proof, verification, recorded observations and their interpretations have been pivoted to fit the theoretical flavor of the day, an entity one day being predatory, the next not. Perhaps ephemeral judgements of predatory have been built on boundless disregard for common sense. Yet, these have led to scientists’ apotheosis, almost oblivious of the intangibility of “valid”, or the infinitesimal continuum of “predatory”. Perhaps their fault-ridden authoritarian argumentative disabilities is at fault.

Abstract Background As many interactions between the chemical and genomic space remain undiscovered, computational methods able to identify potential drug-target interactions (DTIs) are employed to accelerate drug discovery and reduce the required cost. Predicting new DTIs can leverage drug repurposing by identifying new targets for approved drugs. However, developing an accurate computational framework that can efficiently incorporate chemical and genomic spaces remains extremely demanding. A key issue is that most DTI predictions suffer from the lack of experimentally validated negative interactions or limited availability of target 3D structures. Results We report DT2Vec, a pipeline for DTI prediction based on graph embedding and gradient boosted tree classification. It maps drug-drug and protein–protein similarity networks to low-dimensional features and the DTI prediction is formulated as binary classification based on a strategy of concatenating the drug and target embedding vectors as input features. DT2Vec was compared with three top-performing graph similarity-based algorithms on a standard benchmark dataset and achieved competitive results. In order to explore credible novel DTIs, the model was applied to data from the ChEMBL repository that contain experimentally validated positive and negative interactions which yield a strong predictive model. Then, the developed model was applied to all possible unknown DTIs to predict new interactions. The applicability of DT2Vec as an effective method for drug repurposing is discussed through case studies and evaluation of some novel DTI predictions is undertaken using molecular docking. Conclusions The proposed method was able to integrate and map chemical and genomic space into low-dimensional dense vectors and showed promising results in predicting novel DTIs.

(1) Background: Considerable inconsistency exists regarding the neural substrates of anosognosia in dementia in previous neuroimaging studies. The purpose of this study was the evaluation of anosognosia perfusion correlates across various types of dementia using automated Brodmann areas (BAs) analysis and comparison with a database of normal subjects. (2) Methods: We studied 72 patients: 32 with Alzheimer’s disease, 26 with frontotemporal dementia—FTD (12 behavioral FTD, 9 semantic FTD, 5 Progressive Non-Fluent Aphasia), 11 with corticobasal syndrome, and 3 with progressive supranuclear palsy. Addenbrook’s Cognitive Examination—Revised (ACE-R) mean(±SD) was 55.6(±22.8). For anosognosia measurement, the Anosognosia Questionnaire—Dementia was used. Total anosognosia score mean(±SD) was 22.1(±17.9), cognitive anosognosia score mean(±SD) was 18.1(±15.1) and behavioral–mood anosognosia score mean(±SD) was 3.3(±4.7). (3) Results: Higher anosognosia total score was associated with hypoperfusion in the inferior temporal, anterior cingulate, and inferior frontal cortices of the right hemisphere (BAs 20R, 24R, 32R, 45R). Higher anosognosia cognitive score was correlated with hypoperfusion in the left middle and anterior temporal cortices, and right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BAs 21L, 22L, 32R). No association was found with behavioral–mood anosognosia. (4) Conclusions: Automated analysis of brain perfusion Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography could be useful for the investigation of anosognosia neural correlates in dementia.

We report results concerning the functionalization of graphene-based nanoplatelets for improving the thermal energy storage capacity of commonly used phase change materials (PCMs). The goal of this study was to enhance the low thermal conductivity of the PCMs, while preserving their specific and latent heats. We focused on wax-based PCMs, and we tested several types of graphene nanoparticles (GNPs) at a set of different concentrations. Both the size and shape of the GNPs were found to be important factors affecting the PCM’s thermal properties. These were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry measurements and a modified enthalpy-based water bath method. We found that a small addition of GNPs (1% weight) with high aspect ratio is sufficient to double the thermal conductivity of several widely used PCMs. Our results suggest a simple and efficient procedure for improving the thermal properties of PCMs used in thermal energy storage applications.

Conventional clinical cognitive assessment has its limitations, as evidenced by the environmental shortcomings of various neuropsychological tests conducted away from an older person’s everyday environment. Recent research activities have focused on transferring screening tests to computerized forms, as well as on developing short screening tests for screening large populations for cognitive impairment. The purpose of this study was to present an exergaming platform, which was widely trialed (116 participants) to collect in-game metrics (built-in game performance measures). The potential correlation between in-game metrics and cognition was investigated in-depth by scrutinizing different in-game metrics. The predictive value of high-resolution monitoring games was assessed by correlating it with classical neuropsychological tests; the area under the curve (AUC) in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was calculated to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the method for detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Classification accuracy was calculated to be 73.53% when distinguishing between MCI and normal subjects, and 70.69% when subjects with mild dementia were also involved. The results revealed evidence that careful design of serious games, with respect to in-game metrics, could potentially contribute to the early and unobtrusive detection of cognitive decline.