A search for the charged-lepton-flavor-violating process $Z\rightarrow e\mu$ is presented, using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. An excess in the $e\mu$ invariant mass spectrum near the $Z$ boson mass would be a striking signature of new physics. No excess is observed, and an upper limit $B(Z\rightarrow e\mu)<2.62 \times 10^{-7}$ is placed on the branching fraction at 95% confidence level, which is the most stringent limit to date.

Spatial constraints in urban areas very often lead to the application of traffic management measures to meet transport demands. Accordingly, it is very important to identify all potential impacts that could lead to reductions in the street network’s capacity. One such impact is weather conditions. The main motivation of this research is to analyze the impacts of rainfall on one of the most important segments of Belgrade’s street network that represents part of a freeway passing the city center. Our focus is on quantifying the impact of rainfall on speed and capacity. This paper proposes a new approach to analyzing the rainfall impact at the traffic lane level that provides additional possibilities to apply traffic management measures on the traffic lane level instead of at the direction level only. Functional dependences and differences in capacity and speed on traffic lanes were found under the influence of different rainfall intensities. Reductions in free-flow speed depend on the rain category and traffic lanes and vary from 4.5% to 11.58%, while reductions in traffic lane capacity range from 2.46% to 12.97%. We demonstrate the importance of considering the impact of rainfall at the traffic lane level, which could be quality input data for defining appropriate traffic management measures to mitigate the negative impacts.

Background Tumor-related hyperintensities in high b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) are radiologically important in the workup of gliomas. However, the white matter may also appear as hyperintense, which may conflate interpretation. Purpose To investigate whether DWI with spherical b-tensor encoding (STE) can be used to suppress white matter and enhance the conspicuity of glioma hyperintensities unrelated to white matter. Materials and Methods Twenty-five patients with a glioma tumor and at least one pathology-related hyperintensity on DWI underwent conventional MRI at 3 T. The DWI was performed both with linear and spherical tensor encoding (LTE-DWI and STE-DWI). The LTE-DWI here refers to the DWI obtained with conventional diffusion encoding and averaged across diffusion-encoding directions. Retrospectively, the differences in contrast between LTE-DWI and STE-DWI, obtained at a b-value of 2,000 s/mm2, were evaluated by comparing hyperintensities and contralateral normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) both visually and quantitatively in terms of the signal intensity ratio (SIR) and contrast-to-noise ratio efficiency (CNReff). Results The spherical tensor encoding DWI was more effective than LTE-DWI at suppressing signals from white matter and improved conspicuity of pathology-related hyperintensities. The median SIR improved in all cases and on average by 28%. The median (interquartile range) SIR was 1.9 (1.6 – 2.1) for STE and 1.4 (1.3 – 1.7) for LTE, with a significant difference of 0.4 (0.3 –0.5) (p < 10–4, paired U-test). In 40% of the patients, the SIR was above 2 for STE-DWI, but with LTE-DWI, the SIR was below 2 for all patients. The CNReff of STE-DWI was significantly higher than of LTE-DWI: 2.5 (2 – 3.5) vs. 2.3 (1.7 – 3.1), with a significant difference of 0.4 (−0.1 –0.6) (p < 10–3, paired U-test). The STE improved CNReff in 70% of the cases. We illustrate the benefits of STE-DWI in three patients, where STE-DWI may facilitate an improved radiological description of tumor-related hyperintensity, including one case that could have been missed out if only LTE-DWI was inspected. Conclusion The contrast mechanism of high b-value STE-DWI results in a stronger suppression of white matter than conventional LTE-DWI, and may, therefore, be more sensitive and specific for assessment of glioma tumors and DWI-hyperintensities.

Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer originating from melanocytes. Its etiopathogenesis is strongly related to genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Melanomas encountered in clinical practice are predominantly sporadic, whereas hereditary melanomas account for approximately 10% of the cases. Hereditary melanomas mainly develop due to mutations in the cyclin-dependent kinase 2A (CDKN2A) gene, which encodes two tumor suppressor proteins involved in the cell cycle regulation. CDKN2A, along with CDK4, TERT, and POT1 genes, are high-risk genes for melanoma. Among the genes that carry a moderate risk are MC1R and MITF, whose protein products are involved in melanin synthesis. The environment also contributes to the development of melanoma. Patients at risk of melanoma should be offered genetic counseling to discuss genetic testing options and the importance of skin UV protection, avoidance of sun exposure, and regular preventive dermatological examinations. Although cancer screening cannot prevent the development of the disease, it allows for early diagnosis when the survival rate is the highest.

ABSTRACT To gain insight into the complex microbiome-gut-brain axis in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), several modalities of biological and clinical data must be combined. We aimed to identify profiles of fecal microbiota and metabolites associated with IBS and to delineate specific phenotypes of IBS that represent potential pathophysiological mechanisms. Fecal metabolites were measured using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy and gut microbiome using shotgun metagenomic sequencing (MGS) in a combined dataset of 142 IBS patients and 120 healthy controls (HCs) with extensive clinical, biological and phenotype information. Data were analyzed using support vector classification and regression and kernel t-SNE. Microbiome and metabolome profiles could distinguish IBS and HC with an area-under-the-receiver-operator-curve of 77.3% and 79.5%, respectively, but this could be improved by combining microbiota and metabolites to 83.6%. No significant differences in predictive ability of the microbiome–metabolome data were observed between the three classical, stool pattern-based, IBS subtypes. However, unsupervised clustering showed distinct subsets of IBS patients based on fecal microbiome–metabolome data. These clusters could be related plasma levels of serotonin and its metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetate, effects of psychological stress on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, onset of IBS after stressful events, medical history of previous abdominal surgery, dietary caloric intake and IBS symptom duration. Furthermore, pathways in metabolic reaction networks were integrated with microbiota data, that reflect the host-microbiome interactions in IBS. The identified microbiome–metabolome signatures for IBS, associated with altered serotonin metabolism and unfavorable stress response related to GI symptoms, support the microbiota-gut-brain link in the pathogenesis of IBS.

Abstract We have consulted existing half-life data available in Nuclear Data Sheets for radionuclides with Z < 89 in the range between 30 and 108 years with emphasis on their uncertainty. Based on this dataset, we have highlighted the lack of reliable data by giving examples for nuclides relevant for astrophysical, environmental and nuclear research. It is shown that half-lives for a substantial number of nuclides require a re-determination since existing data are either based on one single measurement, are contradictory or are associated with uncertainties above 5%.

Many sexting studies conducted in the Western cultures have shown that the percentage is higher in less traditional cultures. However, the generalizability of this phenomenon to non-Western cultures has not been extensively researched. The purpose of this study is to examine and explain cross-cultural differences in sexting behavior among subjects from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. A mixed methods approach was used. The first, qualitative phase included focus groups with two groups of high school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia ( N = 57 ), aged 15 to 19. In the second, quantitative phase, questionnaires were sent to 440 young adults with an average age of 21 years ( SD = 3.8 ). From the interviews with the young people, nonconsensual sexting was perceived as less beneficial. Sexting was viewed as a double standard. The quantitative study revealed gender and country differences in attitudes toward sexting and motives for sexting. Positive attitudes toward sexting were found to predict different forms of sexting motives in both samples. In the sample from Bosnia and Herzegovina, age was found to predict sexting with instrumental motives and body image reinforcement motives. Gender, on the other hand, was found to be predictive of instrumental sexting motives in the Croatian sample and body image reinforcement sexting motives in the Bosnia and Herzegovina sample. This study illustrates the value of cross-cultural approaches combined with mixed methods as a design to study sexting behavior.

Abstract Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) occurs in a number of cancer predisposition syndromes, but the genetic architecture of susceptibility to RCC is not well defined. We investigated the frequency of pathogenic and likely pathogenic (P/LP) germline variants in cancer susceptibility genes (CSGs) within a large series of unselected RCC participants. Whole-genome sequencing data on 1336 RCC participants and 5834 controls recruited to the UK 100 000 Genomes Project, a nationwide multicentre study, was analyzed to identify rare P/LP short variants (single nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions ranging from 1 to 50 base pairs) and structural variants in 121 CSGs. Among 1336 RCC participants [mean: 61.3 years (±12 SD), range: 13–88 years; 64% male], 85 participants [6.4%; 95% CI (5.1, 7.8)] had one or more P/LP germline variant in a wider range of CSGs than previously recognized. A further 64 intragenic variants in CSGs previously associated with RCC were classified as a variant of uncertain significance (VUS) (24 ‘hot VUSs’) and were considered to be of potential clinical relevance as further evaluation might results in their reclassification. Most patients with P variants in well-established CSGs known to predispose to renal cell carcinoma (RCC-CSGs) were aged <50 years. Burden test analysis for filtered variants in CSGs demonstrated a significant excess of CHEK2 variants in European RCC participants compared with the healthy European controls (P = 0.0019). Approximately, 6% of the patients with RCC unselected for family history have a germline variant requiring additional follow-up analysis. To improve diagnostic yield, we suggest expanding the panel of RCC-CSGs tested to include CHEK2 and all SDHx subunits and raising the eligibility criteria for age-based testing.

Choledochal cysts (CCs) are rare congenital anomalies in the form of cystic dilatation of any part of the biliary tree, and they rarely reach the size over 10 cm. We present a case of a 51-year-old female with a one-year history of abdominal pain and palpable mass in the epigastrium and right upper abdomen. Diagnosis of giant CC was made using magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. Intraoperatively, a large CC without gallbladder (no previous cholecystectomy was performed) was found under the liver pushing the surrounding structures, extending into the intrapancreatic portion of bile ducts and leading to the destruction of the backside of the pancreas head. Complete excision of CC and biliopancreatic reconstruction was achieved by Roux-en-Y pancreaticojejunostomy and hepaticojejunostomy. This case report describes an extremely rare association between an atypical giant choledochal cyst and gallbladder agenesis.

Decision-making represents a very popular field with many developed approaches. However, still exists the need for the creation of novel integrated models such as well is the case in this paper. The novel integrated Improved Fuzzy Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (IMF SWARA) method, Fuzzy Dombi weighted geometric averaging (FDWGA) operator and PESTEL (P-Political, E-Economic, S-Social, T-Technological, E-Environmental, L-Legal) model has been developed. Five decision-makers (DMs) have evaluated six main elements of the PESTEL analysis and 30 elements more (five for each group). In total, we have created 35 models based on the developed model. Results of PESTEL analysis based on IMF SWARA method and FDWGA shows that legal and economic factors represent the most significant parameters, while last placed belong environmental group. Also, the usefulness of the developed integrated model has been demonstrated.

Uvod: Zdravstveni djelatnici su rizična skupina za HIV-infekciju i imaju ključnu ulogu u prevenciji HIV-a. Cilj: Procijeniti znanje i stavove i korelaciju znanja i stavova zdravstvenih djelatnika o HIV-infekciji. Ispitanici i metode. Ispitanici su zdravstveni djelatnici zaposleni u Domovima zdravlja: Bugojno, Donji i Gornji Vakuf. Upitnik je samostalno izrađen. Stavovi su ispitivani na osnovi modificirane Likertove ljestvice. Procjena znanja i stavova napravljena je tako da više od 50% točnih odgovora ukazuje na dobro znanje i pozitivan stav. Za testiranje statističke značajnosti korišten je χ² test (p <0.05). Za određivanje korelacije varijabli znanje i stavovi korišteni su Pearsonov i Spearmanov koeficijent korelacije. Rezultati: U istraživanju je sudjelovao 81 zdravstveni djelatnik – 57 (70%) žena i 24 (30%) muškarca. Najveći broj ispitanika bile su medicinske sestre (57%), prosječne dobi 36 godina života i 13 godina radnoga staža. Većina ispitanika pokazali su relativno dobro znanje o HIV-infekciji (73%) i pozitivne stavove prema HIV-pozitivnim osobama (80%). Koeficijent korelacije za zbirne vrijednosti znanja i stavova iznosio je 0,336, sa statističkim značajem 0,002. Zaključak: Da bi se poboljšala praksa, smanjila stigma i diskriminacija HIV-pozitivnih osoba u zdravstvenim ustanovama, potrebno je provoditi kontinuiranu edukaciju svih zaposlenika.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2021.688078.].