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Estimating health utility associated with mental well-being: mapping GHQ-12 responses onto EQ-5D-5L
No full textcitation ID: ckaf161.006 Cost effectiveness of improving HPV vaccine uptake in This contributes to preventable disease burdens and widening health inequities. Within the framework of the RIVER-EU project, interventions were designed to address health system barriers to vaccine access. This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of one of these interventions aimed at improving HPV vaccine uptake among the underserved populations in the Netherlands focusing on the Turkish and Moroccan communities. Methods: A gender-neutral static cohort model considering six HPV-related cancers was developed to simulate the lifetime health and economic impacts of the intervention. Input parameters were sourced from national databases and published literature. Primary outcome measures were cancer cases and deaths averted and the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). Costs were adjusted to 2024 euros using the Dutch consumer price index (CPI), with discount rates of 3% and 1.5% applied on costs and effects respectively. Probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses assessed model and parameter uncertainty. Results: Preliminary results estimated discounted incremental costs and QALYs of e1.04million and 627 QALYs respectively, resulting in an ICER of e1665 per QALY. These early results reflect reductions in HPV-related cancer cases and deaths from increased vaccination. Sensitivity analyses revealed that the model was most influenced by and intervention costs and vaccination coverage. Final results incorporating updated parameters will be presented during the conference. Conclusions: Implementing targeted interventions to improve HPV vaccine uptake in underserved populations has the potential to be cost-effective while advancing health equity. These findings support scaling such strategies to close vaccination gaps and reduce HPV-related disease burdens. Key messages: • Targeted interventions in marginalized communities can be cost-effective. • Improving HPV vaccine uptake in underserved populations promotes health equity. Abstract citation ID: ckaf161.007 Background: Mental well-being measures are common in population surveys but cannot be directly used for utility-based economic evaluations. Existing mapping studies, mostly pre-Covid-19, relied on linear regression, and may not reflect individuals' evolving preferences on quality of life. This study explores methods to estimate health utility associated with mental well-being, by linking EQ-5D-5L and GHQ-12 responses collected in a large population sample. Methods: We used data from 12701 respondents participating in the 46th Wave of the Belgian "Great Corona Study", in March 2022. We compared direct methods (linear and inflated beta regression) that map source responses directly to utility values, with indirect methods that estimate responses for each EQ-5D-5L dimension using non-parametric or ordered logistic regression before generating utilities. Regression models used either individual GHQ-12 items or the total score as the dependent variable, controlling for sociodemo-graphic factors. Model performance was assessed using root mean squared error (RMSE). Results: Greater GHQ-12 distress, at both item and total score levels was linked with greater problems across EQ-5D dimensions and lower utility values. RMSE ranged from 0.142 (linear model with GHQ-12 items) to 0.157 (beta inflated model with GHQ-12 scores), with linear and ordered logistic models performing best, although linear models performed worse than beta when estimating values at the lower end. Despite violated normality assumptions, linear regression yielded the lowest RMSE. Indirect mapping is conceptually more robust, as it aligns closely with the dimensional structure of EQ-5D-5L and minimises variations associated with the use of different value sets. Conclusions: This study provides up-to-date algorithms for mapping mental well-being data to health utility values. The mapping can enable the integration of mental health data for use in QALY-based economic evaluations, where utility data are not available. Key messages: • This study provides updated algorithms for estimating health utility values from mental well-being data, enabling the integration of mental health measures into QALY-based economic evaluations. • Choosing the best mapping method involves balancing predictive performance with conceptual appropriateness and simplicity
Monomyxum ligophori n. sp. in a ParasiteBlitz: monopisthocotylans as myxozoan hosts in South Carolina and monophyly of a cosmopolitan hyperparasitic clade
No full textA ParasiteBlitz event offers a brief, intense opportunity to discover diverse parasite species and to reveal life cycles of heteroxenous parasite taxa. In this study, we describe Monomyxum ligophori n. sp., a hyperparasitic myxozoan (Monomyxidae) proliferating in two dactylogyrid mono-pisthocotylan flatworms (Ligophorus saladensis, Ligophorus mugilinus) infecting mugilid fishes (Mugil cephalus, Mugil curema) on the Atlantic coast of North America. Furthermore, we used DNA barcoding to infer the parasite's complex life cycle, matching its hyperparasitic myxospore stages with actinospore stages infecting the polychaete Streblospio benedicti found in the same locality during the ParasiteBlitz and also reported previously from the same region. Thus we report the first life cycle of a myxozoan that most likely does not require a vertebrate host. Hyperparasitic myxozoans are rare with only five species reported worldwide to infect flat-worms. This study provides more information on the previously discussed host specificity towards monopisthocotylan hosts of these monomyxid myxozoan hyperparasites. Notably, Monomyxum ligophori n. sp. was detected in two out of four gill-infecting parasitic flatworms (being absent in Ligophorus uruguayensis and Metamicrocotyla macracantha) found infecting the same fish individuals during the ParasiteBlitz. Our molecular data and phylogenetic analysis support the previously suggested common origin of Monomyxum species infecting monopistho-cotylan flatworms, and contribute to understanding the life cycle and host interactions of this unique hyperparasitic myxozoan lineage.This work was supported by a DIOS Incentive Fund Project, Hasselt University (M.P.M.V. and N.K., grant number DIOS/OEYLRODE/2022/001, contract number R-12947); the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University (M.P.M.V., grant number BOF20TT06, M.T, grant number 23KP05VHOM and N.K., grant number BOF21PD01); the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (4255-FED-tWIN-G3 program, Prf-2022-049); a DepartmentofCommerceNOAAFederalAward(grantnumberNA22OAR4170114); a Brain Pool programme for outstanding overseas researchers of the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant number 2021H1D3A2A02081767); a Tartar Research Fund, Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University (S.D.A.); and a USFWS award (grant number F22AP01952); infrastructure was funded by EMBRC Belgium– FWO project GOH3817N.
Acknowledgements.
Fellow parasitologists and team members of the ParasiteBlitz namely I. de Buron (College of Charleston), K.M.Hill-Spanik (College of Charleston), S. Georgieva (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), D.M. Díaz-Morales (University of Duisburg-Essen and Centre for Water and Environmental Research, Essen), M.R. Kendrick (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Charleston), W.A. Roumillat (College of Charleston), and G.K.Rothman(CollegeofCharlestonandSouthCarolina DepartmentofNatural Resources, Charleston) are acknowledgedfortheircrucialsupportinretrievaland screening of fish host specimens. The College of Charleston Foundation allowed usage of Stono Preserve. Dr. Matt Rutter (Academic Director of the Stono Preserve Field Station) is thanked for logistical support of the ParasiteBlitz event. Wewouldliketo thank all the people from the College of Charleston involved in the administrative and field support including Dr. Seth Pritchard, Dr. Eric McElroy, Dr. Courtney Murren, Pete Meier, Greg Townsley, Josie Shostak, Reagan Fauser, Maya Mylott, and Haley Anderson. Michelle Taliercio, Graham Wagner, Jordan Parish, Grace Lewis, and Kevin Spanik from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in Charleston helped with collection of fis
Large language models in clinical nutrition: an overview of its applications, capabilities, limitations, and potential future prospects
No full textThe integration of large language models (LLMs) into clinical nutrition marks a transformative advancement, offering promising solutions for enhancing patient care, personalizing dietary recommendations, and supporting evidence-based clinical decision-making. Trained on extensive text corpora and powered by transformer-based architectures, LLMs demonstrate remarkable capabilities in natural language understanding and generation. This review provides an overview of their current and potential applications in clinical nutrition, focusing on key technologies including prompt engineering, fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation, and multimodal integration. These enhancements increase domain relevance, factual accuracy, and contextual responsiveness, enabling LLMs to deliver more reliable outputs in nutrition-related tasks. Recent studies have shown LLMs' utility in dietary planning, nutritional education, obesity management, and malnutrition risk assessment. Despite these advances, challenges remain. Limitations in reasoning, factual accuracy, and domain specificity, along with risks of bias and hallucination, underscore the need for rigorous validation and human oversight. Furthermore, ethical considerations, environmental costs, and infrastructural integration must be addressed before widespread adoption. Future directions include combining LLMs with predictive analytics, integrating them with electronic health records and wearables, and adapting them for multilingual, culturally sensitive dietary guidance. LLMs also hold potential as research and educational tools, assisting in literature synthesis and patient engagement. Their transformative promise depends on cross-disciplinary collaboration, responsible deployment, and clinician training. Ultimately, while LLMs are not a replacement for healthcare professionals, they offer powerful augmentation tools for delivering scalable, personalized, and data-driven nutritional care in an increasingly complex healthcare environment.The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this articl
Towards a True Contemporary: Exploring Material Expressions in Traditional Mud and Modern Concrete Architecture in Al-Zamaliyyah
No full textTraditionele Arabische lokale architectuur bevorderde de gemeenschap, maar modernisering heeft geleid tot een achteruitgang, waardoor de plattelandsbevolking is ontkracht. In Jordanië zijn sinds de jaren dertig modder- en stenen huizen verlaten voor betonnen gebouwen. Al-Zamaliyyah, een dorp in de Jordaanvallei, is een voorbeeld van deze verschuiving — de geïmporteerde woningtypologie voldoet niet aan sociale of klimatologische behoeften, maar bewoners geven er de voorkeur aan vanwege de diepgewortelde perceptie van moderniteit.
Met het architectuurkader van Hassan Fathy als een uitdrukking van tijd, plaats en collectieve kennis, analyseert dit proefschrift hoe de gebouwde omgeving van Al-Zamaliyyah de mislukte overgang naar "echte tijdgenootschap" weerspiegelt. Door middel van literatuuronderzoek, etnografische interviews en architectonische analyse onderzoekt het waarom de lokale bevolking ondanks de nadelen voor moderne huisvesting kiest en hoe dit inzicht een sociaal en ecologisch duurzaam huisvestingsmodel kan informeren.
Door traditionele en moderne typologieën te evalueren, verzamelt de studie belangrijke architectonische kenmerken voor hedendaagse behoeften, stelt adaptief hergebruik voor via aemulatio en combineert traditionele en moderne elementen om sociale, ecologische en culturele waarden op het platteland van Jordanië met elkaar te verzoenen
Cytoskeletal control in adult microglia is essential to restore neurodevelopmental synaptic and cognitive deficits
No full textSynaptic dysfunction is a hallmark of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), often linked to genes involved in cytoskeletal regulation. While the role of these genes has been extensively studied in neurons, microglial functions such as phagocytosis are also dependent on cytoskeletal dynamics. We demonstrate that disturbance of actin cytoskeletal regulation in microglia, modeled by genetically impairing the scaffold protein Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1), which integrates actin-binding proteins, causes a shift in actin regulatory balance favoring filopodial versus lamellipodial actin organization. The resulting microglia-specific dysregulation of actin dynamics leads to excessive uptake of synaptic proteins. Genetically engineered DISC1-deficient mice show diminished hippocampal excitatory transmission and associated spatial memory deficits. Reintroducing wild-type microglia-like cells via bone marrow transplantation in adult DISC1-deficient mice restores the synaptic function of neurons and rescues cognitive performance. These findings reveal a pivotal role for microglial actin cytoskeletal remodeling in preserving synaptic integrity and cognitive health. Targeting microglial cytoskeletal dynamics may effectively address cognitive impairments associated with NDDs, even in adulthood.Acknowledgments:
We thank M. Jans, Y. Geuens, d. Koenen, J. Mathijs, and W. Roosen for themaintenance of the mouse colonies at BiOMed; R. Beenaerts, P. Bex, and M. P. tulleners for thetechnical assistance with genotyping, cell culture maintenance, and qPcR; and S. Smoldersfor initiating the diSc1 research line in our laboratory and for the foundational contributionsduring the early stages of this work. We thank h. e. de vries (Amsterdam UMc) for providingthe lentiviral lifeAct plasmid.
Funding:
this work was funded by the Fonds WetenschappelijkOnderzoek (FWO) grants 11e2423n, v420921n, G042121n, G0h3716n, 11A2920n, G080121n,G0G1216, G0A0513, and G0A8l24n; the Bijzonder Onderzoeks Fonds (BOF) BOF21dOc21,BOF21KP06, BOF21GP06, and BOF20KP11; the Bijzonder Onderzoeks Fonds (BOF) AdMiRe(21GP17BOF); the national institute of Mental health grants Mh- 094268, Mh-105660, andMh129480; Odysseus grant G0G1216FWO; the Methusalem Fund Uhasselt BOF22M02-5427G2BOF; and BAeF
Placental gene expression of the AMPK signaling pathway in association with gestational exposure to ambient air pollution
No full textObjective: Prenatal ambient air pollution exposure is able to reach the fetus by crossing the placenta, a highly
metabolically active organ. The adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway is
a crucial regulator of the placental cellular metabolism, necessary for normal placental and fetal development.
This study investigates the association between in utero exposure to BC, NO2, and PM2.5, and differences in
placental gene expression of the AMPK signaling pathway at birth.
Material and methods: Transcription data from 182 placentas of the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort were obtained
through microarray analysis. Exposure levels were estimated using a spatio-temporal model for the mothers’
residential address during pregnancy. The associations between transcription levels of 76 genes, clustered by the
cascades of the AMPK signaling pathway, and the air pollution exposures during different time windows of
pregnancy were analyzed using a mixed-effects model adjusting for potential confounders.
Results: Higher prenatal levels of BC, NO2, and PM2.5 were associated with downregulated gene expression of the
central AMPK gene cluster and multiple upstream and downstream cascades of the AMPK signaling pathway. In a
multi-pollutant model, the observed patterns of downregulation remained, supporting the robustness of the
associations when considering co-exposure to different air pollutants.
Conclusion: This study provides new insights into the possible adverse effects of ambient air pollution exposure on
placental development, affecting the placental metabolism at the transcript level. Whether reduced placental
AMPK signaling may play a role in air pollution-induced birth outcomes and their long-term consequences needs
to be further addressed.The ENVIRONAGE birth cohort is supported by the Methusalem Fund of the Flemish Government, the Flemish Scientific Fund (FWO, Grant No. N1518119 and No. G082317N). DSM and RA are postdoctoral fellows funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Grant No. 12X9623N, 1296523N). JLM is financed by the Special Research Fund partnership between the UHasselt (Diepenbeek, Belgium) and the UNamur (Namur, Belgium) (BOF21DOCNA03). FDC was a Research
Associate of the FNRS, Belgium.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the participating women and neonates, as well as the staff of the maternity ward, midwives, and the staff of the clinical laboratory of East-Limburg Hospital in Genk. Fig. 1 was created in BioRender (2025), https://BioRender.com/9h8ox6r
The Then About As Until
No full text"The Then About As Until" engages with themes of rewriting and linguistic experimentation, focusing on processes of deconstruction and dislocation. The exhibition features works by David Claerbout, Helga Davis, Peter Downsbrough, Nicoletta Grillo, and the members of the Auguste Orts collective (Herman Asselberghs, Anouk De Clercq, and Manon de Boer). Through installations, videos, and performances, the selected works interrogate the linguistic frameworks that shape our perception of reality. In this expanded context, language becomes a site of collective invention, redefining the very conditions of what can be thought, communicated, and shared as social and existential experience
Investigating XC-functionals towards describing experimentally relevant excited-state properties of NIR-BODIPY derivatives
No full textThe predictive and analytical power of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) has been instrumental in the design and mechanistic understanding of numerous organic chromophores. Yet, the widely popular boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dye class suffers from notorious TD-DFT accuracy issues, undermining the serviceability of the technique. Highly correlated wave function approaches are much better at reproducing photophysical properties but become computationally unviable when making the push towards larger near-infrared (NIR) active structures. In an effort to find the protocol most capable of helping experimentalists design and analyze novel NIR BODIPYs, we have benchmarked 11 global or range-separated hybrid exchange-correlation functionals (XCFs) with different amounts of Hartree-Fock exchange. By relating both transition energies and oscillator strengths, first through a set of resolution-of-the-identity second-order coupled cluster (riCC2) calculations and then directly to experimental data, it is revealed that M06-2X and M06-HF behave most consistently for singlet and triplet excitations. To optimize accuracy across states, we recommend a hybrid approach where singlets are obtained through full TD-DFT and triplets are treated using the Tamm-Dancoff approximation.This work has been realized through the support of the University of Namur and the Special Research Fund of Hasselt University (BOF20DOCNA01). W. Maes thanks the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO Vlaanderen) for financial support (projects G0D1521N and W000620N). B. Champagne thanks the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO Vlaanderen) for financial support (projects G0D1521N). The calculations were performed on the computers of the Consortium des E´quipements de Calcul Intensif (CE´CI, https://www.ceci-hpc.be) and particularly those of the Technological Platform of High-Performance Computing, for which the authors gratefully acknowledge the
financial support of the FNRS-FRFC, of the Walloon Region, and of the University of Namur (Conventions No. U.G006.15, U.G018.19, U.G011.22, RW1610468, RW/GEQ2016, RW1117545, and RW2110213)
