The cognitive buffer hypothesis poses that brain size evolves to buffer individuals from environmental changes, increasing survival. Jiménez-Ortega et al. (2020) explored this hypothesis using a phylogenetic path analysis and showed that there is a direct causal link between brain size and longevity in birds, even when allometric effects are taken into account. Furthermore, a synergistic model was

Background: In any study with voluntary participation, self-selection risks leading to invalid conclusions. If the determinants of selection are observed, it is however possible to restore the parameters of interest by reweighting the sample to match the population, but this approach has seldom been applied in epidemiological research. Methods: We reweighted the Malmö Diet and Cancer (MDC) study b

Air pollution is recognized as the most important environmental factor that adversely affects human and societal wellbeing. Due to rapid urbanization, air pollution levels are increasing in the Sub-Saharan region, but there is a shortage of air pollution monitoring. Hence, exposure data to use as a base for exposure modelling and health effect assessments is also lacking. In this study, low-cost s

Background: Population-based levels of the chronic low-grade systemic inflammation biomarker, C-reactive protein (CRP), vary widely among traditional populations, despite their apparent absence of chronic conditions associated with chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We have previously reported an apparent absence of afor

In the novel and promising radiotherapy technique known as FLASH, ultra-high dose-rate electron beams are used. As a step towards clinical trials, dosimetric advances will be required for accurate dose delivery of FLASH. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a built-in transmission chamber of a clinical linear accelerator can be used as a real-Time dosimeter to monitor the delivery of

HAMLET is a protein-lipid complex with a specific and broad bactericidal and tumoricidal activity, that lacks cytotoxic activity against healthy cells. In this study, we show that HAMLET also has general immune-stimulatory effects on primary human monocyte-derived dendritic cells and macrophages (Mo-DC and Mo-M) and murine RAW264.7 macrophages. HAMLET, but not its components alpha-lactalbumin or o

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) colonizes the human nasopharynx by forming multicellular biofilms. Due to the high level of asymptomatic carriage, transition to infections, such as otitis media, pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis, occurs often enough that the pneumococcus remains a major cause of disease and death globally. Virus infection and virus-induced responses, such as increased

Context. Open clusters are recognised as excellent tracers of Galactic thin-disc properties. At variance with intermediate-age and old open clusters, for which a significant number of studies is now available, clusters younger than ≲ 150 Myr have been mostly overlooked in terms of their chemical composition until recently (with few exceptions). On the other hand, previous investigations seem to in

The formation of biomolecular condensates inside cells often involve intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), and several of these IDPs are also capable of forming dropletlike dense assemblies on their own, through liquid-liquid phase separation. When modeling thermodynamic phase changes, it is well known that finite-size scaling analysis can be a valuable tool. However, to our knowledge, this ap

Fission-fragment mass and total-kinetic-energy (TKE) distributions following fission of even-even nuclides in the region 74 ≤ Z≤ 126 and 92 ≤ N≤ 230 , comprising 896 nuclides have been calculated using the Brownian shape-motion method. The emphasis is the region of superheavy nuclei. To show compatibility with earlier results the calculations are extended to include earlier studied regions. An isl

Background: The role of insulin resistance as a mediator in the association of body mass index (BMI) with site-specific cancer risk has, to our knowledge, never been systematically quantified. Methods: Altogether 510 471 individuals from six European cohorts, with a mean age of 43.1 years, were included. We used the triglyceride glucose product (TyG index) as a surrogate measure for insulin resist

Despite increasing scientific understanding of the global environmental crisis, we struggle to adopt the policies science suggests would be effective. One of the reasons for that is the lack of inclusive engagement and dialogue among a wide range of different actors. Furthermore, there is a lack of consideration of differences between languages, worldviews and cultures. In this paper, we propose t

In this work, ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) is used to study the initial stages of water adsorption on vanadium oxide surfaces. V 2p, O 1s, C 1s, and valence band XPS spectra were collected as a function of relative humidity in a series of isotherm and isobar experiments. Experiments were carried out on two VO2 thin films on TiO2 (100) substrates, prepared with differen

We report an original and straightforward method for both optical and electrical characterization of vertical GaN nanowire arrays epitaxially grown on silicon through visible-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry methods. For the initial purpose of adding new inputs to the ellipsometry model, focused ion-beam tomography experiments were conducted to extract porosity/depth profiles of these systems.

Over the last 50 years, entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly - from a small emerging venture in the 1970s to a global industry today with thousands of people around the world who consider themselves entrepreneurship scholars. In this fast growing field there is always a risk that our history will get lost, with consequences in terms of lack of knowledge accumulation and u

Importance: The use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer is controversial because of the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of indolent cancers. Optimal screening strategies are highly sought. Objective: To estimate the long-term risk of any prostate cancer and clinically significant prostate cancer based on baseline PSA levels among men aged 55 to 60 years. Design

Objectives: The current survival of patients with distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCCA) is poor. There is a need to develop new prognostic and predictive biomarkers to improve the survival of patients. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) expression has been associated with survival in several solid malignancies. The goal of this study was to evaluate the expression pattern and prognostic significance o

The disease COVID-19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic. Hyperinflammation and high levels of several cytokines, for example, IL-6, are observed in severe COVID-19 cases. However, little is known about the cellular origin of these cytokines. Here, we investigated whether circulating leukocytes from patients with COVID-19 had spontaneous cytokine production. Patients with hyperinflammatory COV

Purpose: To investigate case mix in relation to capsule complication, possible associations between case mix and operation volume, and change in case mix over time. Design: Register-based study. Participants: Swedish patients who underwent cataract surgery between 2007 and 2016. Methods: Demographics and data on ocular comorbidity, intraoperative difficulties, and capsule complications were regist