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Association studies have linked microbiome alterations with many human diseases. However, they have not always reported consistent results, thereby necessitating cross-study comparisons. Here, a meta-analysis of eight geographically and technically diverse fecal shotgun metagenomic studies of colorectal cancer (CRC, n = 768), which was controlled for several confounders, identified a core set of

Background: Emerging literature suggests that boredom is a frequent problem experienced by homeless persons that may influence their health and well-being. Purpose: The range and breadth of literature exploring boredom among homeless persons is unknown. We initiated this study to fill this gap in existing literature. Method: Using the method advanced by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), and furthered by

Pebble accretion is an efficient mechanism that is able to build up the core of the giant planets within the lifetime of the protoplanetary disc gas-phase. The core grows via this process until the protoplanet reaches its pebble isolation mass and starts to accrete gas. During the growth, the protoplanet undergoes a rapid, large-scale, inward migration due to the interactions with the gaseous prot

On-surface synthesis has emerged in the last decade as a method to create graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomic precision. The underlying premise of this bottom-up strategy is that precursor molecules undergo a well-defined sequence of inter- and intramolecular reactions, leading to the formation of a single product. As such, the structure of the GNR is encoded in the precursors. However, recent

Background: The uterine environment may influence telomere length at birth, which is essential for cellular function, aging, and disease susceptibility over the lifespan. However, little is known about the impact of toxic chemicals on early-life telomeres. Therefore, we assessed the potential impact of multiple toxic metals on relative telomere length (rTL) in the maternal blood, cord blood, and

The Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition ({HCCI}) combustion principle lacks direct ignition timing control, instead the auto-ignition depends on the operating condition and fast combustion phasing control is necessary for reliable operation. A six-cylinder heavy-duty HCCI engine was controlled on a cycle-to-cycle basis in real time using a variety of sensors, actuators and control structures f

A combination therapy approach is required to improve tumor immune infiltration and patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors that target negative regulatory receptors. Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding lectin that is highly expressed within the tumor microenvironment of aggressive cancers and whose expression correlates with poor survival particularly in patients with non-small cell l

The impact of many unfavorable childhood traits or diseases, such as low birth weight and mental disorders, is not limited to childhood and adolescence, as they are also associated with poor outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease. Insight into the genetic etiology of childhood and adolescent traits and disorders may therefore provide new perspectives, not only on how to improve well

High resolution 100 kV electron beam lithography in thin layers of the negative resist SU-8 is demonstrated. Sub-30 nm lines with a pitch down to 300 nm are written in 100 nm thick SU-8. Two reactive ion etch processes are developed in order to transfer the SU-8 structures into a silicon substrate, a Soft O-2-Plasma process to remove SU-8 residues on the silicon surface after development and a hig

Context. Aims. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the outstanding quality of the second data release of the Gaia mission and its power for constraining many different aspects of the dynamics of the satellites of the Milky Way. We focus here on determining the proper motions of 75 Galactic globular clusters, nine dwarf spheroidal galaxies, one ultra-faint system, and the Large and Small Mage

Context. The second release of Gaia data (Gaia DR2) contains the astrometric parameters for more than half a million quasars. This set defines a kinematically non-rotating reference frame in the optical domain. A subset of these quasars have accurate VLBI positions that allow the axes of the reference frame to be aligned with the International Celestial Reference System (ICRF) radio frame. Aims. W

Pythia version 6 represents a merger of the Pythia 5, Jetset 7 and SPythia programs, with many improvements. It can be used to generate high-energy-physics 'events', i.e. sets of outgoing particles produced in the interactions between two incoming particles. The objective is to provide as accurate as possible a representation of event properties in a wide range of reactions. The underlying physics

We study QCD radiation in decay processes involving heavy particles. As input, the first-order gluon emission rate is calculated in a number of reactions, and comparisons of the energy flow patterns show a non-negligible process dependence. To proceed further, the QCD parton shower language offers a convenient approach to include multi-gluon emission effects, and to describe exclusive event proper

Heavy long-lived quarks, i.e. charm and bottom, are frequently studied both as tests of QCD and as probes for other physics aspects within and beyond the standard model. The long lifetime implies that charm and bottom hadrons are formed and observed. This hadronization process cannot be studied in isolation, but depends on the production environment. Within the framework of the string model, a maj

The production of jets is studied in collisions of virtual photons, γ* and γ*γ*, specifically for applications at HERA and LEP2. Photon flux factors are convoluted with matrix elements involving either direct or resolved photons and, for the latter, with parton distributions of the photon. Special emphasis is put on the range of uncertainty in the modeling of the resolved component. The resulting

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), produced by various Clostridium strains, are a family of potent bacterial toxins and potential bioterrorism agents. Here we report that an Enterococcus faecium strain isolated from cow feces carries a BoNT-like toxin, designated BoNT/En. It cleaves both VAMP2 and SNAP-25, proteins that mediate synaptic vesicle exocytosis in neurons, at sites distinct from known BoNT

With a diverse network of substrates, NUDIX hydrolases have emerged as a key family of nucleotide-metabolizing enzymes. NUDT5 (also called NUDIX5) has been implicated in ADP-ribose and 8-oxo-guanine metabolism and was recently identified as a rheostat of hormone-dependent gene regulation and proliferation in breast cancer cells. Here, we further elucidate the physiological relevance of known NUDT5

The introduction of standardized APIs for ray tracing, together with hardware acceleration, opens up possibilities for physically based lighting in real-time rendering. Light importance sampling is one of the fundamental operations in light transport simulations, applicable to both direct and indirect illumination. This chapter describes a bounding volume hierarchy data structure and associated sa

Background Increased vitamin B6 catabolism related to inflammation, as measured by the PAr index (the ratio of 4-pyridoxic acid over the sum of pyridoxal and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate), has been positively associated with lung cancer risk in two prospective European studies. However, the extent to which this association translates to more diverse populations is not known. Materials and methods For th

To write about clients is an established routine in countless institutional settings, regardless of the fact that clients themselves seldom feel that the produced texts mirror or summarize their experiences. But what, more specifically, is left unwritten when staff starts typing on the keyboard to insert a piece of daily life into the computer? This article draws on data on violent events in Swedi