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Determining the brain perfusion is an important task for diagnosis of vascular diseases such as occlusions and intracerebral haemorrhage. Even after successful diagnosis, there is a high risk of restenosis or rebleeding such that patients need intense attention in the days after treatment. Within this work, we present a diagnostic tomographic imager that allows access to brain perfusion quantitatively in short intervals. The device is based on the magnetic particle imaging technology and is designed for human scale. It is highly sensitive and allows the detection of an iron concentration of 263 pmol Fe  ml −1 , which is one of the lowest iron concentrations imaged by MPI so far. The imager is self-shielded and can be used in unshielded environments such as intensive care units. In combination with the low technical requirements this opens up a variety of medical applications and would allow monitoring of stroke on intensive care units. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) has been applied to various pre-clinical settings, including detection of ischemic stroke in mice. Translation of MPI to a clinical setting has been obstacled by the lack of a device with sufficient bore size and, at the same time, reasonable technical requirements. Here the authors present a human-sized MPI device with low technical requirements designed for detection of brain ischemia.

Radio interferometry invariably suffers from an incomplete coverage of the spatial Fourier space, which leads to imaging artifacts. The current state-of-the-art technique is to create an image by Fourier-transforming the incomplete visibility data and to clean the systematic effects originating from incomplete data in Fourier space. Previously, we have shown how super-resolution methods based on convolutional neural networks can reconstruct sparse visibility data. Our previous work has suffered from a low realism of the training data. The aim of this work is to build a whole simulation chain for realistic radio sources that then leads to a vastly improved neural net for the reconstruction of missing visibilities. This method offers considerable improvements in terms of speed, automatization and reproducibility over the standard techniques. Here we generate large amounts of training data by creating images of radio galaxies with a generative adversarial network (GAN) that has been trained on radio survey data. Then, we applied the Radio Interferometer Measurement Equation (RIME) in order to simulate the measurement process of a radio interferometer. We show that our neural network can reconstruct faithfully images of realistic radio galaxies. The reconstructed images agree well with the original images in terms of the source area, integrated flux density, peak flux density, and the multi-scale structural similarity index. Finally, we show how the neural net can be adapted to estimate the uncertainties in the imaging process.

Determining the brain perfusion is an important task for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases such as occlusions and intracerebral haemorrhage. Even after successful diagnosis and treatment, there is a high risk of restenosis or rebleeding such that patients need intense and frequent attention in the days after treatment. Within this work, we will present a diagnostic tomographic imager that allows access to brain perfusion information quantitatively in short intervals. The imager is the first functional magnetic particle imaging device for brain imaging on a human-scale. It is highly sensitive and allows the detection of an iron concentration of 14.7 ng /ml (263 pmol), which is the lowest iron concentration imaged by MPI so far. The imager is self-shielded and can be used in unshielded environments such as intensive care units. In combination with the low technical requirements this opens up a whole variety of possible medical applications and would allow monitoring possibilities on the stroke and intensive care units.

Ivacaftor, a potentiator of CFTR, was studied in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who had mutations that reduced the function of the CFTR protein. Ivacaftor significantly improved FEV 1 and reduced pulmonary exacerbations; it holds promise in the treatment of selected patients with CF. Cystic fibrosis, the most common lethal genetic disease in whites, affects approximately 70,000 people worldwide. 1 – 3 There is no cure for this disease, and the progressive lung disease associated with it is the leading cause of death. Current treatments for cystic fibrosis target the secondary effects of dysfunction of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. The CFTR protein is an epithelial ion channel contributing to the regulation of absorption and secretion of salt and water in various tissues, including the lung, sweat glands, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract. 4 , 5 Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in CFTR that affect . . .

Under conditions of extreme acidity, the lysine-specific permease, LysP, not only mediates the import of L-lysine it also interacts with the transcriptional regulator, CadC, to activate expression of the cadAB operon. This operon encodes the lysine decarboxylase, CadA, which converts lysine to cadaverine while consuming a cytoplasmic proton, and the antiporter, CadB, which exports protonated cadaverine in exchange for extracellular lysine. Together, these processes contribute to cytoplasmic pH homeostasis and support bacterial acid resistance - a mechanism essential for the survival of pathogenic bacteria in acidic host environments. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of LysP from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an inward-occluded conformation (3.2–5.3 Å resolution), bound to L-lysine and a nanobody. L-Lysine is coordinated by hydrophobic contacts, cation–π interactions, and by hydrogen bonding mostly with polar uncharged residues. Reconstitution of LysP into proteoliposomes confirms specific L-lysine transport, which is competitively inhibited by L-4-thialysine. These findings provide a structural framework for understanding selective lysine recognition and inhibition, with implications for antibacterial drug design. Pseudomonas aeruginosa survives extreme acidity by importing lysine through the LysP transporter to regulate acid-resistance genes. Here, authors reveal the cryo-EM structure of LysP and show how specific hydrogen bonds enable lysine recognition.

Abstract Background Midwifery workforce planning is essential to ensure equitable access to maternal care but differs widely across countries. Because a dedicated planning tool is lacking, Germany currently does not perform demand-oriented planning for midwifery services. In contrast, New Zealand facilitates planning through centralized data collection and national coordination. This study investigates how planning approaches affect the distribution and accessibility of maternal health care in Germany and New Zealand. Methods Midwifery workforce and population data from Germany and New Zealand were analyzed using a German physician-based demand planning tool adapted for midwifery services. GIS mapping visualized workforce-to-population ratios, spatial accessibility, and socioeconomic disparities in service distribution. Regional care patterns were compared across both systems. Results Application of the adapted physician-based tool in Germany revealed substantial care gaps in rural and peripheral regions, reflecting the absence of a midwifery-specific planning framework. In contrast, assessment in New Zealand showed a more balanced distribution of midwifery services, including remote areas. Centralized workforce monitoring and register-based planning appear to support more equitable access and responsive resource allocation. Conclusions Germany's lack of a dedicated workforce planning system contributes to regional and social inequities in care provision, particularly affecting women with low socioeconomic status. In contrast, New Zealand's structured approach, including centralized monitoring and targeted planning, supports a more balanced distribution across income groups. Adopting such elements may help improve service equity. This study underlines the relevance of tailored planning systems for maternal health and informs policy development. Key messages • Germany’s lack of midwifery planning leads to inequitable access for rural and low-income groups. • New Zealand’s structured system enables more balanced midwifery service provision.

Aims Patients with heart failure (HF) have impaired quality of life (QoL). The randomized controlled trial PHARM‐CHF investigated whether an interdisciplinary intervention consisting of regular contacts with the community pharmacy and weekly dosing aids improves medication adherence in patients with HF. It is unknown how an intervention involving frequent structured pharmacy visits affects QoL. Our aim was to explore adherence to the intervention and effects on QoL. Methods and results Among 237 patients, n = 110 were randomized to pharmacy care and n = 127 to usual care. The pharmacy care group received a medication review followed by (bi‐)weekly dose dispensing and counselling. The median follow‐up was 2.0 years [inter‐quartile range (IQR) 1.2–2.7]. Median interval between pharmacy visits was 8.4 days (IQR 8.0–10.3) and the visits lasted in median 14 min (IQR 10–15). Median adherence to the intervention was 96% (IQR 84–100). QoL at 365 days was predefined as a main secondary and at 730 days as another secondary endpoint in PHARM‐CHF. QoL was measured by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire; and for 111 patients (n = 47 in the pharmacy care group and n = 64 in the usual care group), data were available at baseline, and after 365 and 730 days (mean age 74 years; 41% female). Improvement in QoL was numerically higher in the pharmacy care group after 365 days and was significantly better after 730 days (difference in total scores −7.7 points [−14.5 to −1.0]; P = 0.026) compared to the usual care group. In all subgroups examined, this treatment effect was preserved. Improvements in the physical and emotional dimensions were numerically higher in the pharmacy care group after 365 days and were significantly better after 730 days: −4.0 points [−6.9 to −1.2]; P = 0.006, and −1.9 points [−3.7 to −0.1]; P = 0.039, respectively. Conclusions A pharmacy‐based interdisciplinary intervention was well received by the patients and suggests clinically important improvements in QoL.