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This series focuses on aspects of prescribing for neonates, children and young people, from A–Z. Aspects of pharmacokinetics will be considered, alongside legal considerations, consent and medications in schools

IntroductionTelomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is a catalytic subunit of telomerase that maintains genome stability by maintaining telomere length (TL). The massive proliferation of donor cells in the recipient’s body for engraftment results in accelerated telomere shortening. Genetic variability within the TERT gene affects telomerase activity, and was shown to influence of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) outcome. In the present study, we aimed to analyse the effect of recipient and donor TL and TERT single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on the occurrence of post-HSCT complications.MethodsOur study included 120 recipient-donor pairs. TERT promoter (TERTp) SNP (rs2853669) SNP variant was detected with the use of the LightSNiP typing assay employing real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications. Telomere length measurements were performed using qPCR test kits (ScienCell’s Absolute Human Telomere Length Quantification qPCR Assay Kit [AHTLQ], Carlsbad, CA, USA).ResultsThe presence of TERTp rs2853669 T allele in the recipient was associated with a higher risk for acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGvHD) manifestation (p = 0.046) and a significantly shorter aGvHD-free survival (p = 0.041). The latter association was further confirmed in a Cox proportional hazards model (p = 0.043). However, no statistically significant association between telomere length and post-transplant complications was observed. Furthermore, we found that shorter TL characterized donors of patients with late complete chimerism at 180 day after HSCT (p = 0.011).ConclusionOur results suggest that recipient allele TERTp rs2853669 T is a marker of unfavourable outcome in the context of aGvHD. Shorter TL in donors could be associated with later achievement of complete chimerism.

In this study we have identified and evaluated literature related to refurbishment, renovation, retrofit and/or repair in the construction sector. We present a bibliometric evaluation along with a systematic critical review to identify materials used in upgrading buildings. We located 47 such publications. We found that more studies focus on renovation than those that address refurbishment, retrofit or repair, with respective counts of 19, 17, 12 and 10. The number of publications has fluctuated over the past few years. In some years, such as 2015, 2018 and 2023, an increasing number of studies were published, while there was a decline in 2015 to 2017 and 2020. Notwithstanding this, spikes in publication numbers occurred multiple times. Furthermore, the citation trend was generally upwards, suggesting that research in this field has gained increasing academic attention and influence over time. The originality of this study reveals the uncertainty of researchers in selecting cost evaluation methods when upgrading buildings. The trend suggests that further innovation and clarification is needed to enhance cost assessment methodologies. Evaluation of system boundaries revealed that most studies do not consider the end-of-life stage when evaluating different materials to upgrade buildings. To achieve an optimum building upgrade solution, single-objective optimization such as evaluating cost or LCA is insufficient, and multi-objective assessment methods need to be considered. Further research is needed to determine which upgrading strategies can effectively influence costs in optimization energy strategies.

Exercise is a powerful tool for disease prevention and rehabilitation. Commercially available virtual reality (VR) devices and apps offer an immersive platform to gamify exercise and potentially enhance physiological and psychological benefits. However, no work has compared immersive exercise to closely matched 2D screen-based equivalents with the same visual and auditory stimuli. This study aims to compare the acute effects of an exercise session using a commercial immersive VR workout to the same stimuli and workout presented on a screen. 17 healthy participants (male = 7, female = 10; aged 24.18±4.56 years), completed a 12-minute guided VR boxing exercise session in FitXR™ and a screen-based equivalent. Physiological responses were recorded continuously using a heart rate monitor and telemetricmetabolic cart system. Psychological and perceptual responses were measured using their ratings of perceived exertion, the physical activity enjoyment scale, and the physical activity affect scale. In the immersive VR participants chose to engage in more intense exercise (%VO2max; p = 0.044), showed higher levels of all enjoyment subscales (p<0.05) and reported higher positive affect (p = 0.003) and lower negative affect (p = 0.045) following exercise compared to the screen-based equivalent. However, the design here could not determine which elements of immersive VR contributed to the positive effects. Immersive VR may offer a more efficient alternative to other forms of screen based and exergaming workouts and could be offered as a gateway into exercise.

Musculoskeletal disorders are a significant global health concern, affecting over 1.71 billion individuals worldwide, with a considerable impact on quality of life and economic burden due to healthcare costs and productivity losses. In the United Kingdom, approximately one-third of the population suffers from musculoskeletal disorders, underscoring the need for effective diagnostic and management strategies. Musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging emerges as a preferred diagnostic modality, offering a balance between technical capabilities and cost-effectiveness, owing to its non-invasive nature, portability and lack of radiation exposure. However, the operator-dependent nature of musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging necessitates specialised training for medical and healthcare professionals. The integration of musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging into traditional clinical examinations, known as ultrasound imaging–assisted clinical examination (UIACE), enhances traditional diagnostic processes by providing immediate visual feedback, facilitating a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of musculoskeletal conditions. This approach not only refines diagnosis in cases with ambiguous symptoms or overlapping signs but also significantly improves patient reassurance and management strategies. In addition, incorporating musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging into medical education through ultrasound imaging–assisted clinical examination offers students a dynamic, interactive learning experience, fostering a deeper understanding of clinical anatomy and examination skills. By advocating for its systematic inclusion in the undergraduate medical curriculum, the study highlights the potential to enhance the competence and confidence of future professionals in utilising ultrasound imaging, ultimately improving patient outcomes in musculoskeletal care.

Rural female work participation is an indicator of development and its change or sectoral distribution signifies the structural change of society as well as economy.Bankura District is not an exception.Work participation has increased over the time but recently huge number of marginal workers is found due to insufficient capacity of adjustment of female work force in agrarian rural economy.Female work participation is always high in the backward caste society due to economic compulsion.Mass enrollment of females in educational institution and higher age at marriage causes the recent declining trend in work participation rate.According to the nature of rural transformation participation of females in non-agricultural sectors has increased significantly and micro regional characteristics and block level follow the similar causal relationship.

Migrating services in an edge-cloud environment poses unique challenges, including heterogeneous environments, potential failures, and uneven resource distribution. This paper studies and evaluates reactive and predictive migration approaches to support live migration in case of edge cloud computing failures. Telemetry information related to edge cloud computing has been considered to trigger migration, whereas deadlock prevention algorithm has been used to determine and select the target device to migrate services. The paper evaluates these strategies by comparing resource utilization, assessing differences between predictive and reactive migration and handling multiple migrations for tenants hosting several applications. Experimental results have shown that predictive migration can reduce the downtime of the hosted services. Additionally, the total migration cost can be increased for both scenarios where the containers can be migrated to different edge devices due to lack of available resources.

Through the use of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, grinding process of a single crystal copper with two scratch configurations (i) near spacing (NS) between adjacent scratches, and (ii) far spacing (FS) between adjacent scratches were simulated and compared to the control samplei.e.,a single scratch (SS). FS configuration revealed the highest material removal, whereas NS configuration showed that the material removal is affected by various types of defects in the sub-surface which include FCC intrinsic stacking fault, a coherent twin boundary next to an intrinsic stacking fault and two adjacent intrinsic stacking faults. The formation of a Stair-rod 1/6 〈110〉 due to the reaction between two Shockley partial dislocations 1/6 〈112〉 was seen as a distinct feature of the NS configuration which forms the onset of hardening.

Amy Noakes looks at the surrogacy process in the UK and the legal rights of parents and surrogates