Objectives/Goals: Aims are to identify the gaps and discrepancies between cancer care teams at Princess Margaret (PM) and primary care providers (PCPs). To ensure the transition from hospital care at PM into the community integrates the expressed needs of PCPs and cancer specialists. To ensure PCPs have the necessary resources to provide high-quality care to patients. Methods/Study Population: Phase 1 is the preparation phase, which consists of searching the literature and conducting contextual inquiry with experts in relevant fields, such as cancer survivorship and primary care. This phase is crucial to the planning of this project as the information gathered will be used to define the problem space and outline the scope of the project. Next (phases 2 and 3) we aim to create and distribute surveys to PCPs to gather data on current protocols and resources. We plan to distribute this survey by emailing PCPs and accessing PCP networks. Upon completion of the survey, we will review the data and assess which areas need further investigation. Then, we will create an interview guide keeping in mind the areas that need to be supplemented and aiming to validate the need. Results/Anticipated Results: A resource that presents guidelines for PCPs to assist in them taking on follow-up care responsibilities for low-risk cancer survivorship patients. These guidelines may include information such as communication pathways between PCPs and the PM Cancer Care team, expected follow-up care measures, and timeframes for follow-up care. The development of this guideline will assist in alleviating the burden on the PM Cancer Centre system as it will facilitate low-risk patients transitioning back to family care. Discussion/Significance of Impact: There is an increasing demand for oncology services post-cancer treatment at the PM Cancer Centre and the current cancer model follow-up care is not sustainable by oncologists alone. There is a need to explore innovative personalized pathways to follow-up care based on an individual’s needs and integrate family doctors.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents a relevant public health problem, with high incidence and mortality in Western countries. CRC can occur as sporadic (65%–75%), common familial (25%), or as a consequence of an inherited predisposition (up to 10%). While unravelling its genetic basis has been a long trip leading to relevant clinical implementation over more than 30 years, other contributing factors remain to be clarified. Among these, micro-organisms have emerged as critical players in the development and progression of the disease, as well as for CRC treatment response. Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) has been associated with CRC development in both pre-clinical models and clinical settings. Fusobacteria are core members of the human oral microbiome, while being less prevalent in the healthy gut, prompting questions about their localization in CRC and its precursor lesions. This review aims to critically discuss the evidence connecting Fn with CRC pathogenesis, its molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes.

We present an agent-based model to study how the network structure of a scientific community could impact the public uptake of science, and how this impact is influenced by scientific uncertainty and affinity bias. For unbiased agents, a highly connected scientific network decreases the probability that the public favors the correct theory. For biased agents, however, a moderately connected scientific network causes the public to favor the correct theory more often. This results from the competition between the scarcity of information (for poorly connected agents) and the spread of misleading information (for highly connected agents). Adding more scientists strengthens both effects.

Laboratory experiments have been often replaced by online experiments in the last decade. This trend has been reinforced when academic and research work based on physical interaction had to be suspended due to restrictions imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19. Therefore, data quality and results from web experiments have become an issue which is currently investigated. Are there significant differences between lab experiments and online findings? We contribute to this debate via an experiment aimed at comparing results from a novel online protocol with traditional laboratory settings, using the same pool of participants. We find that participants in our experiment behave in a similar way across settings and that there are at best weakly significant and quantitatively small differences in behavior observed using our online protocol and physical laboratory setting.

Large language models (LLMs) have significantly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) by excelling in tasks like text generation, machine translation, question answering and sentiment analysis, often rivaling human performance. This paper reviews LLMs’ foundations, advancements and applications, beginning with the transformative transformer architecture, which improved on earlier models like recurrent neural networks and convolutional neural networks through self-attention mechanisms that capture long-range dependencies and contextual relationships. Key innovations such as masked language modeling and causal language modeling underpin leading models like Bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) and the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) series. The paper highlights scaling laws, model size increases and advanced training techniques that have driven LLMs’ growth. It also explores methodologies to enhance their precision and adaptability, including parameter-efficient fine-tuning and prompt engineering. Challenges like high computational demands, biases and hallucinations are addressed, with solutions such as retrieval-augmented generation to improve factual accuracy. By discussing LLMs’ strengths, limitations and transformative potential, this paper provides researchers, practitioners and students with a comprehensive understanding. It underscores the importance of ongoing research to improve efficiency, manage ethical concerns and shape the future of AI and language technologies.

The Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS) is a rapid dietary screener that assesses diet quality. It has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a US population(1) and validated in a UK/Irish population against 4-day food dairies(2). Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) are the most commonly used dietary assessment instrument in large epidemiological studies(3). To reduce the burden of standard dietary assessment methodology, having a valid screener such as the PDQS that can be applied to FFQ data may be especially relevant to public health(4,5). This study aimed to explore how the PDQS applied to EPIC FFQ data compares to the PDQS collected directly to assess diet quality in a population at risk of CVD on the Island of Ireland.

The PAD-Q trial is a six-month, parallel, randomised, controlled, single-blinded intervention study conducted at Queen’s University Belfast and University College Dublin. Volunteers at risk of CVD by being overweight and either having hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and/or smoking, and who had a low PDQS score (≤21) were recruited. PDQS provides a total score ranging 0-42 derived from the sum of intake level scores of 21 healthy and unhealthy food groups. To apply the PDQS to the FFQ data, the FFQ food items were matched to the most appropriate PDQS food group or left uncoded when no appropriate match could be made. Intakes from FFQ were calculated into an estimation of weekly portions to enable calculation of scores according to PDQS categories. Pearson correlation coefficients, ICCs and weighted kappa were used to analyse correlation and agreement between total PDQS scores, and Spearman correlation coefficients for individual PDQS food items. Comparison of scores from individual PDQS groups were analysed via Wilcoxon test, with p-values <0.05 considered statistically significant.

In total, n = 152 participants completed baseline questionnaires. Mean age of participants was 49 years (SD: 12), 70% were female, 29.5% were classified with overweight and 70.5% with obesity. PDQS total score derived from FFQ data (15.0 (SD: 3.7)) was correlated (r = 0.69, p<0.01) with PDQS total score at baseline (15.5 (SD: 4.2)). Similar association was observed via ICC (0.68 (95%CI: 0.58−0.76)). Weighted kappa indicated moderate agreement between measures (0.52 (SE: 05)). In the analysis of individual food group scores, correlation (r) ranged 0.32 - 0.68 (p<0.01). PDQS applied to FFQ demonstrated higher scores for most (9/13) of the healthy PDQS food groups and lower scores for all the unhealthy PDQS food groups (7/7) compared to PDQS data.

Diet quality assessed via PDQS applied to FFQ data was significantly moderately correlated with diet quality assessed via PDQS at baseline in the PAD-Q trial. Results are comparable with dietary questionnaire validation studies. FFQ data higher estimated the intake of both healthy and unhealthy PDQS food groups compared to PDQS data.

Declining labor force participation of older men throughout the 20th century and recent increases in participation have generated substantial interest in understanding the effect of public pensions on retirement. The National Bureau of Economic Research's International Social Security (ISS) Project, a long-term collaboration among researchers in a dozen developed countries, has explored this and related questions. The project employs a harmonized approach to conduct within-country analyses that are combined for meaningful cross-country comparisons. The key lesson is that the choices of policy makers affect the incentive to work at older ages and these incentives have important effects on retirement behavior.

There is an increasing need for valid, rapid diet screening tools. A significant association between the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS) and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been demonstrated in the US but evidence of its use in Europe is lacking. The aim of this study was to amend the PDQS for a UK/Irish population and determine validity and reliability in those at risk of CVD. Participants were recruited via online adverts across the island of Ireland. The PDQS was amended for a UK/Irish population and participants completed PDQS and reference measure (4-day food diary (FD)) on two occasions. PDQS score was calculated directly from PDQS and indirectly from FDs. Validity was determined using Spearman correlation coefficients (SCCs) (r), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and weighted kappa. Reliability was determined using SCCs (r), ICCs, weighted kappa and coefficient of variation.

‘Data were available for n = 115 (Month 0) and n = 108 (Month 3) participants for validity and n = 110 for reliability assessment (PDQS completed at both timepoints)’. PDQS score from PDQS was significantly correlated with PDQS score from FDs at months 0 (r = 0.59, P < 0.01) and 3 (r = 0.65, P < 0.01), with similar associations observed via ICCs. Weighted kappa indicated moderate agreement. PDQS score at month 0 was significantly correlated with PDQS score at month 3 (r = 0.78, P < 0.01), with similar associations observed via ICCs. Weighted kappa indicated moderate agreement. Results indicate that the amended PDQS is a valid and reliable tool to determine diet quality in a UK/Irish population at risk of CVD.

Background: Pineal region tumors are a heterogenous group of pathologies often symptomatic due to occlusive hydrocephalus leading to elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). High ICP may not always be associated with clinical signs. A non-invasive technique for assessment of ICP is measuring the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD). The goal of this study was to determine the utility of preoperative and postoperative ONSD measurements for assessment of elevated ICP in children with pineal region tumors. Methods: Retrospective data analysis was performed in patients operated for pineal region tumors at our tertiary care center between 2003 and 2022. Preoperative and postoperative MRI scans were reviewed. Clinical data and ONSD at multiple time points were analyzed and correlated. Results: Thirty-four patients with forty operative cases met the inclusion criteria. Hydrocephalus was seen in 80% of patients preoperatively (n=32/40). Presence of hydrocephalus was associated with significantly elevated ONSD preoperatively (p=0.006) and postoperatively (p=0.017). There was significant decrease in ONSD immediately postoperatively (p<0.001), at 3 months (p<0.001) and 12 months (p<0.001). In patients without hydrocephalus, no significant changes in ONSD were observed (p=0.369). Conclusions: ONSD is a useful adjunct for the identification of high ICP preoperatively and evaluation of treatment response postoperatively in patients presenting with pineal region tumors.

Sour foods, such as citrus fruits, some berries and fermented foods provide a range of nutrients and benefits important to mental health [1]. When sourness is perceived as unpleasant, intake of these foods may be reduced affecting mental health. Early research has shown changes to sour taste perception in depression and stress however, changes in anxiety have not been studied [4-8]. To address this gap and build on the knowledge base, a survey was conducted in which participants (n = 424) rated recalled intensity and liking of sour index foods and completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) to measure these states. Variations in sour taste and mood have been demonstrated between females and males, hence the data were explored for sex-differences. Standard least squares regression (post hoc Tukey’s HSD) compared means between groups, and nominal logistic regression assessed differences in distributions between categories. Recalled sour intensity was 16-19.2% higher in those with scores indicative of mild depression than in those with normal scores in the total sample (p range 0.03-0.04), and 17.9-21.3% higher in females (p values were 0.03). There were no differences in sour taste intensity between the intergroup means for anxiety or stress and no associations between sour liking and any of the mood states. The results suggest that the sourness of index foods increases in depression. Further research to elucidate the biological processes and possible taste-related genetic influences that may be occurring would be beneficial. With this knowledge it may be possible to screen for mood conditions by measuring changes to sour taste that appear alongside other signs and symptoms, create more tailored dietary interventions and develop additional therapeutics.

Here we describe a new species of the genus Saccocoelioides found parasitizing Astyanax dissimilis Garavello & Sampaio, Psalidodon bifasciatus (Garavello and Sampaio) and Bryconamericus ikaa Casciotta, Almirón & Azpelicueta from the Iguazu National Park, Misiones province, Argentina. Saccocoelioides miguelmontesi n. sp. was studied based on morphological and molecular (28S rDNA and COI mtDNA sequences) data. The COI mtDNA tree indicated that the specimens collected from the three fish hosts are conspecific, with an intragroup p-distance of 0%. The new species shows an intermediate morphological configuration between the diminutive and robust forms described for Saccocoelioides by Curran (2018). Although, in the 28S rDNA tree, it is placed in a well-supported clade with the two robust species analysed (S. elongatus and S. magnus; p-distance of 1 and 2%, respectively), it differs from the robust group by the range of body size, mature egg size, oral and ventral sucker size, sucker ratio, oral sucker to pharynx ratio, and post-cecal or post-testis/body length percentage. Our results led us to redefine the robust group as having eggs shorter or equal in length to the pharynx. Saccocoelioides miguelmontesi n. sp. the 10th species reported from Argentina and the 7th species within the robust group.