Background: The 3-minute constant-rate stair stepping (3-min CRSST) and constant-speed shuttle tests (3-min CSST) were developed to assess breathlessness in response to a standardized exercise stimulus. Estimating the rate of oxygen consumption (V'O2) during these tests would assist clinicians to relate the stepping/shuttle speeds that elicit breathlessness to daily physical activities with a simi

On 6 January 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch (EP) of Constantinople Bartholomew signed a decree on autocephaly that allowed Ukraine to have its canonical independent church a separate from the Russian one. This marked a monumental event for Orthodox Christianity in general and the beginning of a new era for religion in Ukraine in particular. This article briefly examines the process of the making o

Objective: Blind and low-vision individuals often have severely reduced mobility, affecting their quality of life and associated socioeconomic cost. Despite numerous efforts and great technological progress, the only used primary mobility aids are still white canes and seeing-eye dogs. Furthermore, there is a permeating tendency in the field to ignore knowledge of both mobility and the target grou

A numerical model was developed to simulate hydrodynamics (waves, currents, and mean water level), cross-shore sediment transport, and beach profile evolution in the nearshore assuming negligible longshore transport gradients. Particular focus was put on describing the response of the subaerial region of the profile, including the foreshore and the berm, as well as the exchange of material between

In the last two decades, extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the three domains of life, Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryotes, have gained increasing scientific attention. As such, the role of EVs in host-pathogen communication and immune modulation are being intensely investigated. Pivotal to EV research is the determination of how and where EVs are taken up by recipient cells and organs in vivo, which

Objective A connection between prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontitis has been reported. The hypothesis for this association involves increased citrullination in the oral mucosa in patients with periodontitis. Whether ongoing periodontitis has an effect on IgA antibodies to citrullinated peptides (ACPA) in saliva is unknown. We studied IgA ACPA in saliva and serum and their rela

BACKGROUND. Hyperglycemia, insulin insensitivity, and low IGF1 levels in extremely preterm infants are associated with an increased risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), but the interactions are incompletely understood. METHODS. In 117 extremely preterm infants, serum glucose levels and parenteral glucose intake were recoded daily in the first postnatal week. Serum IGF1 levels were measured we

Objective: Pain sensitization contributes to the complex osteoarthritis (OA) pain experience. The relationship between imaging features of hand OA and clinically assessed pain sensitization is largely unexplored. This study was undertaken to examine the association of structural and inflammatory features of hand OA with local pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) in the Nor-Hand study. Methods: The cros

Graphene layers grown on the C-face SiC exhibit quite different structural and electronic properties compared with those grown on the Si-face SiC. Herein, the growth and structural properties of graphene on the off-axis C-face 3C-SiC((Formula presented.)) are studied. The as-grown 4° off-axis 3C-SiC((Formula presented.)) exhibits highly periodic steps with step height of ≈0.75 nm and terrace width

In this review, I summarize recent experimental investigations of surface and friction forces between bottlebrush structure macromolecules including biolubricants and biomimetic ones by direct force measurements. I also discuss recent experimental investigations of synergy in lubrication in which a question, ‘How do lubricants act together?’, is aimed to be answered. Lastly, challenges and opportu

The SHE departments devoted to the research of superheavy elements, operate the recoil separators SHIP and TASCA and their ancillary installations including SHIPTRAP and a laser spectroscopy setup at SHIP as well as chemistry and nuclear spectroscopy setups at TASCA. In 2019, the activities at GSI focused on the UNILAC beamtime within the FAIR Phase-0 program and on the analysis of data obtained i

Using different measures of how the Covid-19 pandemic progresses we find that the level of credit risk among US blue chip companies increases in tandem with the Covid-19 virus spreading. The credit risk increases dramatically during the pandemic, but we find it to be short of the levels seen during the 2008–2009 financial crisis. Furthermore, we find weekly ups and downs in credit risk and virus i

Based on molecular data, the austral lichen genus Austroplaca is shown to be represented in the Northern Hemisphere by the species Caloplaca sibirica. Accordingly, we make the combination Austroplaca sibirica. It grows on detritus and lignum in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, Svalbard and Siberia and its southern range includes Patagonia (Argentina, Chile) and Kerguelen Islands.

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate therapeutic efficacy of single-or two-fraction radiotherapy in conjunction with IDO1-inhibition in a syngeneic rat glioblastoma model. IDO is known to cause immunosuppression through breakdown of tryptophan in the tumor microenvironment. Methods Gene expression analyses of IDO in glioblastoma were performed with data from publicly available datase

BACKGROUND: The Big Five traits (i.e., openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism: OCEAN) have been suggested to provide a meaningful taxonomy for studying the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Nevertheless, current research consists of mixed and inconsistent associations between the Dark Triad and OCEAN. Here we used the Dark Cube (Garcia &a