Schnitzer M

Background: In Alpine regions, which are very similar due to their topographical location and their wide-ranging sports offerings, the restrictions on sports activities during the COVID-19 pandemic differed in type and level: while in some regions (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino), all sports activities were forbidden except for walking near the home, in other regions (Upper Bavaria, Vorarlberg), people were allowed to go hiking and running during the first lockdown. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the change in physical activity (PA) behavior in different Alpine regions (Upper Bavaria, Vorarlberg, Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino) over four periods in 2020, to examine the effects of COVID-19 measures of varying severity on PA behavior and to identify factors associated with a change in PA over time...

The Psychiatric Consultation Service at Massachusetts General Hospital sees medical and surgical inpatients with comorbid psychiatric symptoms and conditions. During their twice-weekly rounds, Dr Stern and other members of the Consultation Service discuss diagnosis and management of hospitalized patients with complex medical or surgical problems who also demonstrate psychiatric symptoms or conditions. These discussions have given rise to rounds reports that will prove useful for clinicians practicing at the interface of medicine and psychiatry...

The Membranome database provides comprehensive structural information on single-pass (i.e., bitopic) membrane proteins from six evolutionarily distant organisms, including protein-protein interactions, complexes, mutations, experimental structures, and models of transmembrane α-helical dimers. We present a new version of this database, Membranome 3.0, which was significantly updated by revising the set of 5,758 bitopic proteins and incorporating models generated by AlphaFold 2 in the database. The AlphaFold models were parsed into structural domains located at the different membrane sides, modified to exclude low-confidence unstructured terminal regions and signal sequences, validated through comparison with available experimental structures, and positioned with respect to membrane boundaries...

The well-established pattern of forest thinning during succession predicts an increase in mean tree biomass with decreasing tree density. The forest thinning pattern is commonly assumed to be driven solely by tree-tree competition. The presence of non-tree competitors could alter thinning trajectories, thus altering the rate of forest succession and carbon uptake. We used a large-scale liana removal experiment over 7 years in a 60- to 70-year-old Panamanian forest to test the hypothesis that lianas reduce the rate of forest thinning during succession...

Compelling evidence suggests distinct correlated electron behavior may exist only in clean 2D materials such as 1T-TaS2 . Unfortunately, experiment and theory suggest that extrinsic disorder in free standing 2D layers disrupts correlation-driven quantum behavior. Here we demonstrate a route to realizing fragile 2D quantum states through endotaxial polytype engineering of van der Waals materials. The true isolation of 2D charge density waves (CDWs) between metallic layers stabilizes commensurate long-range order and lifts the coupling between neighboring CDW layers to restore mirror symmetries via interlayer CDW twinning...

Locomotor speed is a basic input used to calculate one’s position, but where this signal comes from is unclear. We identified neurons in the supramammillary nucleus (SuM) of the rodent hypothalamus that were highly correlated with future locomotor speed and reliably drove locomotion when activated. Robust locomotion control was specifically identified in Tac1 (substance P)–expressing (SuMTac1+ ) neurons, the activation of which selectively controlled the activity of speed-modulated hippocampal neurons. By contrast, Tac1 -deficient (SuMTac1− ) cells weakly regulated locomotion but potently controlled the spike timing of hippocampal neurons and were sufficient to entrain local network oscillations...

INTRODUCTION: Though telephone counseling is a modality commonly used to promote health behavior change, including tobacco cessation, specific counselor and participant behaviors that indicate engagement and therapeutic alliance remain poorly characterized in the literature. We sought to explore smokers' and counselors' engagement and rapport-building behaviors in telephone counseling for smoking cessation and patterns of these behaviors by smokers' psychiatric symptoms. METHODS: The study team transcribed, audio-recorded tobacco cessation counseling calls for the presence of engagement and rapport-building behaviors among recently hospitalized participants enrolled in a smoking cessation randomized controlled trial (RCT)...

Lianas are a key growth form in tropical forests. Their lack of self-supporting tissues and their vertical position on top of the canopy make them strong competitors of resources. A few pioneer studies have shown that liana optical traits differ on average from those of colocated trees. Those trait discrepancies were hypothesized to be responsible for the competitive advantage of lianas over trees. Yet, in the absence of reliable modeling tools, it is impossible to unravel their impact on the forest energy balance, light competition and on the liana success in Neotropical forests...

INTRODUCTION: Combining measures of key core domains (especially pain and function) into a composite endpoint that requires each patient to meet a threshold of improvement for each domain provides information on multiple aspects of osteoarthritis within individual patients. This pooled analysis of two phase 3 studies (NCT02697773, NCT02709486) explored single and composite endpoints for assessing within-patient improvement in knee or hip osteoarthritis symptoms following subcutaneous administration of tanezumab or placebo...

The conformational analysis of a 2,4-bis(4-dialkylamino-2-amido)phenyl squaraine dye revealed the presence of two rotational isomers at room temperature. Combination of spectroscopic and computational techniques showed that the rotational barrier is influenced by hydrogen bonds between the amido substituents and the oxygen atoms at the quadratic core. Even small amounts of trifluoroacetic acid interfered with the intramolecular hydrogen bond formation and accelerated the interconversion of the conformers.

Cerebellar granule cells (GrCs) are usually regarded as a uniform cell type that collectively expands the coding space of the cerebellum by integrating diverse combinations of mossy fiber inputs. Accordingly, stable molecularly or physiologically defined GrC subtypes within a single cerebellar region have not been reported. The only known cellular property that distinguishes otherwise homogeneous GrCs is the correspondence between GrC birth timing and the depth of the molecular layer to which their axons project...

Biological activity is often highly concentrated on surfaces, across the scales from molecular motors and ciliary arrays to sessile and motile organisms. These 'active carpets' locally inject energy into their surrounding fluid. Whereas Fick's laws of diffusion are established near equilibrium, it is unclear how to solve non-equilibrium transport driven by such boundary-actuated fluctuations. Here, we derive the enhanced diffusivity of molecules or passive particles as a function of distance from an active carpet...

Discrete block co-oligomers (BCOs) assemble into highly ordered nanostructures, which adopt a variety of morphologies depending on their environment. Here, we present a series of discrete oligodimethylsiloxane-oligoproline ( o DMS- o Pro) BCOs with varying oligomer lengths and proline end-groups, and study the nanostructures formed in both bulk and solution. The conjugation of oligoprolines to apolar siloxanes permits a study of the aggregation behavior of oligoproline moieties in a variety of solvents, including a highly apolar solvent like methylcyclohexane...

Machine learning has greatly facilitated the analysis of medical data, while the internal operations usually remain intransparent. To better comprehend these opaque procedures, a convolutional neural network for optical coherence tomography image segmentation was enhanced with a Traceable Relevance Explainability (T-REX) technique. The proposed application was based on three components: ground truth generation by multiple graders, calculation of Hamming distances among graders and the machine learning algorithm, as well as a smart data visualization ('neural recording')...

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Observational studies assessing direct oral anticoagulant (DOACs) dosage in atrial fibrillation (AF) reported that a lower proportion of patients received high-dose DOACs compared to those in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Effectiveness and safety of high-dose DOACs relative to apixaban in a real-world AF population need to be addressed. The aim is to assess comparative effectiveness and safety of high-dose rivaroxaban relative to apixaban. DESIGN: We conducted a cohort study...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the long-term safety and 16-week efficacy of subcutaneous tanezumab in patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: This was a phase III randomized, double-blind, active treatment-controlled (using nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs [NSAIDs] as the active treatment control) safety trial of tanezumab (56-week treatment/24-week posttreatment follow-up) in adults who were receiving stable-dose NSAID therapy at the time of screening and who had Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain and physical function scores of ≥5; patient global assessment (PtGA) of OA of fair, poor, or very poor; history of inadequate pain relief with standard analgesics; and no history or radiographic evidence of prespecified bone/joint conditions beyond OA...

Despite their low contribution to forest carbon stocks, lianas (woody vines) play an important role in the carbon dynamics of tropical forests. As structural parasites, they hinder tree survival, growth and fecundity; hence, they negatively impact net ecosystem productivity and long-term carbon sequestration.Competition (for water and light) drives various forest processes and depends on the local abundance of resources over time. However, evaluating the relative role of resource availability on the interactions between lianas and trees from empirical observations is particularly challenging...

BACKGROUND: HCC as the 6th most common tumor entity with the fourth highest mortality and an increasing prevalence especially due to today's lifestyle acquires a high attention in the clinical setting. Beside CECT and CEMRI, CEUS depicts a dynamic, low-risk and radiation free imaging method that finds its use mainly in screening and active surveillance programs. PURPOSE: The aim of the retrospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of CEUS in correlation to pathologic findings...

The main objective of the study was to analyze deviations in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements caused by the displacement of circular optic disc optical coherence tomography scans. High-density radial scans of the optic nerve heads of cynomolgus monkeys were acquired. The retinal nerve fiber layer was manually segmented, and a surface plot of the discrete coordinates was generated. From this plot, the RNFL thicknesses were calculated and compared between accurately centered and intentionally displaced circle scans...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to investigate differences in the frequency and types of engagement in sports before, during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stay-at-home order in Tyrol, Austria. STUDY DESIGN: A representative population survey was conducted. METHODS: A sample of Tyroleans (N = 511) was questioned by a market research institute via an online questionnaire or telephone survey. RESULTS: During the stay-at-home order, participants engaged less in sports than before and after the restrictions...