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Background: Joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) includes erosions and joint space narrowing (JSN). Predictors of these processes, and the underlying mechanisms, require further study1.Objectives: To investigate the relation between patient characteristics at RA diagnosis and progression of erosions and JSN, over 5 years. Methods: Consecutive early RA patients (symptom duration Results: 233 e

Objective: To determine the independent impact of different definitions of remission and low disease activity (LDA) on damage accrual. Methods: Patients with ≥2 annual assessments from a longitudinal multinational inception lupus cohort were studied. Five mutually exclusive disease activity states were defined: remission off-treatment: clinical Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (

An ambient pressure cell is described for conducting synchrotron-based x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements during atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes. The instrument is capable of true in situ and operando experiments in which it is possible to directly obtain elemental and chemical information from the sample surface using XPS as the deposition process is ongoing. The setup is

BACKGROUND: Prior to COVID-19, >90% of caregivers of people with brain health challenges (dementia, mental ill health, intellectual disability) experienced high levels of distress, burden, loneliness and social isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased these impacts, particularly since these caregivers are often older and physically vulnerable themselves. The aim of this cross-s

Adolescence can be a stressful period in life. The period contains challenges associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood (body changes, changes in interpersonal relationships, and identity changes). The aim was to investigate experiences of stress among adolescents in addition to stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group interviews (n = 8) were conducted with girls (n =

Bile acids (BAs) play different roles in cancer development. Some are carcinogenic and BA signaling is also involved in various metabolic, inflammatory and immune-related processes. The liver is the primary site of BA synthesis. Liver dysfunction and microbiome compositional changes, such as during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, may modulate BA metabolism increasing concentration of c

Background: In early stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dyspnea has been reported as the main symptom; but at the end of life, patients dying from COPD have a heavy symptom burden. Still, specialist palliative care is seldom offered to patients with COPD; they more often receive end of life care in hospitals. Furthermore, symptoms, symptom relief and care activities in the last we

BackgroundThe problem with substandard and falsified (SF) medical products may grow in high-income countries when e-commerce of medicines increases. Unauthorized websites offer medicines of insufficient quality. This underscores the importance of evaluating how the problem with SF medical products can be prevented from escalating. However, little is known about what knowledge and experience profes

BackgroundCerebral small vessel disease can be identified using magnetic resonance imaging, and includes white matter hyperintensities, lacunar infarcts, cerebral microbleeds, and brain atrophy. Cerebral small vessel disease and chronic kidney disease share many risk factors, including hypertension. This study aims to explore an association between chronic kidney disease and cerebral small vessel

Cognitive skills affect individual choices. Researchers commonly use Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) tests and the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) to assess the relationship between cognitive abilities and economic decision making. In this paper, we study the relationship between these measures, and investigate the extent to which they are correlated and whether they are best described as subst

Purpose: Forensic populations have high prevalence rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACE), but specific pathways from childhood victimization to adult victimizing behavior remain unclear. Difficulties in emotion regulation may prove to be a more proximal risk factor that functions as a pathway between ACE and aggressive antisocial behavior (AAB). In this study, we investigated concurrent ass

Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals that have gained attention during the last years. There are about 10,000 different PFAS compounds, and due to their unique chemical characteristics, PFAS has been used in a variety of industrial applications and household products since the 1950s. Today, concerns about their toxicity and persistence have led to the regulation and banni

A quarter of ischaemic strokes are lacunar subtype, typically neurologically mild, usually resulting from intrinsic cerebral small vessel pathology, with risk factor profiles and outcome rates differing from other stroke subtypes. This European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guideline provides evidence-based recommendations to assist with clinical decisions about management of lacunar ischaemic stroke

Background: Evidence on the distribution of pre-treatment HIV-1 drug resistance (HIVDR) among risk groups is limited in Africa. We assessed the prevalence, trends and transmission dynamics of pre-treatment HIVDR within and between MSM, people who inject drugs (PWID), female sex workers (FSWs), heterosexuals (HETs) and perinatally infected children in Kenya. Methods: HIV-1 partial pol sequences fro

Deep learning has allowed for remarkable progress in many medical scenarios. Deep learning prediction models often require 105–107 examples. It is currently unknown whether deep learning can also enhance predictions of symptoms post-stroke in real-world samples of stroke patients that are often several magnitudes smaller. Such stroke outcome predictions however could be particularly instrumental i

Background: The body mass index (BMI) is prone to misclassification of obesity due to age-related height loss and resulting measurement errors. Knee-height based BMI (KH-BMI) has not been previously studied in relation to mortality risk in older adults. Aim: To evaluate the age- and sex-specific mortality risk relationship using classic BMI and knee height predicted BMI (KH-BMI) overweight and obe

Experiences of loneliness are common during adolescence and previous research has shown these experiences to be related to physical and mental ill-being. However, there is limited knowledge of one kind of loneliness during adolescence–existential loneliness–which can challenge the possibilities of offering adequate support. Narrations of experiences in retrospect may lead to a deepened understandi