Sjögren\'s disease (SjD) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by a triad of key symptoms affecting almost all patients (salivary and lacrimal dryness, pain and fatigue) and extra-glandular systemic involvement affecting one to two-thirds of patients. Over the past decade, knowledge of the epidemiology, classification criteria, assessment of systemic activity and symptoms presented by patients has grown. In addition, advances in understanding the pathophysiology of SjD have enabled a more targeted therapeutic approach. Current management of SjD is based on EULAR treatment guidelines. But since these recommendations, new drugs targeting specific pathophysiological pathways of the disease, and essentially B lymphocyte activation, have shown efficacy in phase 2 trials. In this review, we will summarize the available evidence on systemic therapies, including: 1. advances in outcome assessment, 2. current evidence on targeted disease-modifying therapies and biologic drugs targeting primarily B lymphocytes, 3. an overview of promising drugs being tested in ongoing trials.
UNASSIGNED: Maladie de Sjögren : de la physiopathologie aux avancées thérapeutiques.
UNASSIGNED: La maladie de Sjögren (SjD) est une maladie auto-immune systémique caractérisée par une triade de symptômes clés affectant presque tous les patients (sécheresse salivaire et lacrymale, douleur et fatigue) et une atteinte systémique extra-glandulaire pouvant toucher un à deux tiers des patients. Au cours de la dernière décennie, les connaissances sur l’épidémiologie, les critères de classification, l’évaluation de l’activité systémique et des symptômes présentés par les patients se sont développés. En outre, les progrès réalisés dans la compréhension de la physiopathologie du SjD ont permis d’adopter une approche thérapeutique plus ciblée. La prise en charge actuelle du SjD s’appuie sur les recommandations thérapeutiques de l’EULAR. Mais depuis ces recommandations, de nouveaux médicaments ciblant des voies physiopathologiques spécifiques de la maladie, et essentiellement l’activation du lymphocyte B, ont montré une efficacité dans des essais de phase 2. Dans cette revue, nous résumerons les données factuelles disponibles sur les traitements systémiques, y compris : 1. les progrès dans l’évaluation des résultats, 2. les preuves actuelles concernant les traitements de fond ciblés et les biomédicaments ciblant essentiellement les lymphocytes B, 3. une vue d’ensemble des médicaments prometteurs testés dans les études en cours.

As one of the best electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction, platinum catalysts are a benchmark for the performance evaluation of new catalysts. However, platinum catalysts reported in the literature show diverse electrocatalytic performances, resulting in the lack of a common reference standard. In this study, we investigated several factors that affect the performance of platinum catalysts by performing experimental measurements and data processing. These factors included the solution resistance, electrolyte temperature, loading quantity, catalyst microstructure, and normalization method of the current density. Finally, we recommended criteria for the performance evaluation of electrocatalysts.

Maintaining homeostasis within the intestinal microbiota is imperative for assessing the health status of hosts, and dysbiosis within the intestinal microbiota is closely associated with canine intestinal diseases. In recent decades, the modulation of canine intestinal health through probiotics and prebiotics has emerged as a prominent area of investigation. Evidence indicates that probiotics and prebiotics play pivotal roles in regulating intestinal health by modulating the intestinal microbiota, fortifying the epithelial barrier, and enhancing intestinal immunity. This review consolidates literature on using probiotics and prebiotics for regulating microbiota homeostasis in canines, thereby furnishing references for prospective studies and formulating evaluation criteria.

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions (DHIs) have the potential to enable public end users, such as citizens and patients, to manage and improve their health. Although the number of available DHIs is increasing, examples of successfully established DHIs in public health systems are limited. To counteract the nonuse of DHIs, they should be comprehensively evaluated while integrating end users. Unfortunately, there is a wide variability and heterogeneity according to the approaches of evaluation, which creates a methodological challenge.
OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the current established processes for evaluating DHIs, including methods, indicators, and end-user involvement. The review is not limited to a specific medical field or type of DHI but offers a holistic overview.
METHODS: This scoping review was conducted following the JBI methodology for scoping reviews based on the framework by Arksey & O\'Malley and complies with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. Three scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct) were searched in April 2023. English and German studies between 2008 and 2023 were considered when evaluating DHIs that explicitly address public end users. The process of study selection was carried out by several researchers to avoid reviewer bias.
RESULTS: The search strategy identified 9618 publications, of which 160 were included. Among these included articles, 200 evaluations were derived and analyzed. The results showed that there is neither a consensus on the methods to evaluate DHIs nor a commonly agreed definition or usage of the evaluated indicators, which results in a broad variety of evaluation practices. This aligns with observations of the existing literature. It was found that there is a lack of references to existing frameworks for the evaluation of DHIs. The majority of the included studies referred to user-centered approaches and involved end users in the evaluation process. As assistance for people developing and evaluating DHIs and as a basis for thinking about appropriate ways to evaluate DHIs, a results matrix was created where the findings were combined per DHI cluster. Additionally, general recommendations for the evaluators of DHIs were formulated.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this scoping review offer a holistic overview of the variety and heterogeneity according to the approaches of evaluation of DHIs for public end users. Evaluators of these DHIs should be encouraged to reference established frameworks or measurements for justification. This would ease the transferability of the results among similar evaluation studies within the digital health sector, thereby enhancing the coherence and comparability of research in this area.

UNASSIGNED: We sought to create a system to evaluate the physical fitness of outstanding Chinese male boxers that included an evaluation index, fitness level criteria, and modeling. This system was then used to assess athletes\' physical fitness and development.
UNASSIGNED: Documentation, expert interviews, questionnaires, measurements, and statistical analyses were used in this study.
UNASSIGNED: The physical fitness evaluation system included the following three components: (1) body shape indexes (n = 4) including the backhand upper arm circumference differential, finger span height, Cottrell index, and pelvic width/shoulder width × 100; (2) body function indexes (n = 4) including relative maximum anaerobic power, relative maximal oxygen uptake, and creatine kinase and testosterone concentrations; and (3) athletic quality indexes (n = 9) including the speed strength index, the backhand straight punch strength, 3-min cumulative punching force, backhand straight punch reaction time, backhand straight punch speed, 30-m sprint, 9-min double shake jump rope, 1-min double shake jump rope, and sitting forward bend tests. A five-point grading system to evaluate physical fitness was established and an evaluation model was proposed.
UNASSIGNED: The reference values were determined to be objective and effective using a back substitution process. Individual and differential assessments reflected the athletes\' level of physical fitness. The critical values were established under the best and worst conditions and the optimal values were found to be valid and effective.

Previous research on cyclists\' route evaluations and preferences already identified influencing factors and relevant evaluation criteria, but studies mostly focused on selected aspects like safety or comfort. This study examined the evaluation of routes more comprehensively considering five evaluation criteria, and further aims to compare the evaluation with the preference of routes. For this, we used the experimental approach of a bicycle simulator.
Our participants cycled route segments that varied in certain route characteristics. Each segment was rated in total and on five criteria generated in a previous study, namely Mental Comfort, Interaction, Environment, Ease of Use, and Physical Comfort. At the end, all route segments were ranked according to their quality.
Results showed that separated paths were rated the best, while busy footpaths and uphill segments were rated the worst. Interestingly, interacting with pedestrians was described to be more attention-demanding but not as mentally uncomfortable as interacting with motor traffic. The evaluation and preference of routes mostly went hand in hand but differed for the footpath, which was ranked better than it was rated. Results further indicated that gradient has such a strong impact on the physical comfort of a route that it even influenced the overall evaluation.
Our findings suggest that the evaluation and preference of routes is influenced by the degree of separation, traffic volume, the type of the road user that the cyclists may need to interact with, but most importantly, it is influenced by the interaction of these three aspects.
The five criteria we used can reliably assess the evaluation and preference of routes. They help to differentiate the reason for negative evaluation of routes. This differentiation is crucial to improve cycling routes, as different causes for dissatisfaction among cyclists require different consequences.

To test the applicability of the quality of life concept (QoL) in evaluations of financial assistance programs to sovereigns, we apply the OECD well-being framework to the programs in a euro area country, and find that the multidimensional framework promises policy-relevant findings, capable of informing other approaches for evaluating program relevance and effectiveness. The framework\'s headline indicators nevertheless, needed to be complemented with additional indicators owing to data challenges. The well-being dimensions demonstrate that our primary country case and other assisted euro area countries struggled to protect some vulnerable groups before and during the crisis years, although many QoL indicators depict improvement once program completion approached. In many cases, gender, age and education level related differences were apparent, and should be better considered in future crisis programs. The framework also facilitates considering governance elements with our enhancements. It offers good grounds for deepening the understanding of stakeholders\' perception of reform benefits or shortcomings, thus of program ownership. By using the OECD framework we explore some interpretative limits of QoL in evaluation, and underscore that a full program evaluation would require careful integration in primary case data. Further research and data set improvements would enhance this approach\'s utility.

The traditional point of view regarding dairy cattle selection has been challenged by recent genomic studies indicating that livestock productivity prediction can be redefined based on the evaluation of genomic and phenotypic data. Several studies that included different genomic-derived traits only indicated that interactions among them or even with conventional phenotypic evaluation criteria require further elucidation. Unfortunately, certain genomic and phenotypic-derived traits have been shown to be secondary factors influencing dairy production. Thus, these factors, as well as evaluation criteria, need to be defined. Owing to the variety of genomic and phenotypic udder-derived traits which may affect the modern dairy cow functionality and conformation, a definition of currently important traits in the broad sense is indicated. This is essential for cattle productivity and dairy sustainability. The main objective of the present review is to elucidate the possible relationships among genomic and phenotypic udder evaluation characteristics to define the most relevant traits related to selection for function and conformation in dairy cattle. This review aims to examine the potential impact of various udder-related evaluation criteria on dairy cattle productivity and explore how to mitigate the adverse effects of compromised udder conformation and functionality. Specifically, we will consider the implications for udder health, welfare, longevity, and production-derived traits. Subsequently, we will address several concerns covering the application of genomic and phenotypic evaluation criteria with emphasis on udder-related traits in dairy cattle selection as well as its evolution from origins to the present and future prospects.

Prostatitis is a common urological condition that affects almost half of all men at some point in their life. The prostate gland has a dense nerve supply that contributes to the production of fluid to nourish sperm and the mechanism to switch between urination and ejaculation. Prostatitis can cause frequent urination, pelvic pain, and even infertility. Long-term prostatitis increases the risk of prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia. Chronic non-bacterial prostatitis presents a complex pathogenesis, which has challenged medical research. Experimental studies of prostatitis require appropriate preclinical models. This review aimed to summarize and compare preclinical models of prostatitis based on their methods, success rate, evaluation, and range of application. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of prostatitis and advance basic research.

Permanent hypoparathyroidism is a postoperative complication of thyroid and parathyroid surgery and can be cured by cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation (CPAT). However, due to the lack of unified and standardized guidelines, the limited ability of the parathyroid tissue itself to withstand cryopreservation, and some yet-to-be-defined processes or technologies, the success rate of cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation varies between institutions; it is low for some institutions and high for others. Due to the sparsity of data, views vary on which factors most influence the success rate of cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation. In this review, we analyzed the following probable influencing factors: ischemic period before cryopreservation; processes of cryopreservation and thawing, including freezing medium; freezing and thawing methods; duration of cryopreservation; examination of the graft before transplantation; graft site; mass of transplanted tissue fragments; blood calcium level; and the evaluation criteria for cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation success. Although the effects of these factors are debatable, we hypothesized that examining them in the above-given order to determine whether they affect the success rate of cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation could be beneficial to maximizing the success rate. Our findings led us to conclude that cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation operations should be standardized. Standardized guidelines for cryopreserved parathyroid autotransplantation that include such factors as ischemic period time, freezing and thawing methods, and recipient status should be established based on a comprehensive analysis of these factors.