Maastricht University

Consistent Explainers or Unreliable Narrators: Systematic Differences in Consistency and Sensitivity Across Large Language Models for Group Recommendations

Group Recommender Systems (GRS) face the challenge of combining conflicting individual preferences. While Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into GRS, they may introduce risks regarding output inconsistency or sensitivity to group characteristics. In this pa...

Drug‐Free Remission in Early Peripheral Spondyloarthritis, including Psoriatic Arthritis: 10‐year follow‐up from the CRESPA trial

OBJECTIVES: To provide a descriptive analysis of the 10-year follow-up data from the CRESPA study. Here, patients fulfilling the ASAS peripheral spondyloarthritis (pSpA) classification criteria, with symptom duration ≤12 weeks, were randomized to golimumab 50mg Q4W or placebo. Ou...

Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential Proteomic Risk Score for Predicting Clinical Outcome in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

BACKGROUND: Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is common in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, the proteomic signatures linked to CHIP driver mutations and their prognostic implications in HFpEF remain poorly defined. We aimed to...

Heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction: synergy between cardiac and extracardiac mechanisms and effects of novel therapies

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a systemic disease in which metabolic comorbidities obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and chronic kidney disease (CKD) converge to drive systemic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and myocardial fibrosis. Microvascular...

Lysosomal signaling pathways influence heart rhythm, and regulate atrial function

AIMS: In the heart, endogenous nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) triggers lysosomal calcium (Ca2+) release to augment sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ sequestration, producing larger Ca2+ transients. However, the role of lysosomal Ca2+ signals in pacemaker act...

Corporate Political Ideology and Environmental Strategy: Evidence From US Toxic Releases

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether corporate political ideology shapes firms' environmental strategy and realized environmental performance. Using US political donation data matched to facility‐level toxic releases from the Toxics Release Inventory from 2000 to 2014, we measure...

Horizontal mitochondrial transfer and mitochondrial transplantation in skin: protection against UVR-induced ROS damage and enhancement of cell proliferation and wound healing

Skin homeostasis, protection against ultraviolet radiation (UVR), and wound repair depend on coordinated interactions among melanocytes, keratinocytes, and fibroblasts. Horizontal mitochondrial transfer (HMT) is a naturally occurring form of intercellular communication in which m...

Communicating the uncertainty of individual risk from clinical prediction tools with the PGower similarity measure

Clinical prediction models offer risk estimates for individual patients that are uncertain, even when calibration and performance at the population level are good. We compute Gower’s distance between patients in the training dataset to construct a metric against which new patient...

Development of an implementation strategy for a workplace smoking cessation program with financial incentives using Implementation Mapping

Introduction Workplace group training programs for smoking cessation that incorporate financial incentives are cost-effective but face implementation challenges. This study aimed to systematically develop an evidence-informed implementation strategy for such programs in Dutch com...

Associations between sensory changes and psychological problems after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury: A network analysis

Background Moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI) is frequently accompanied by persistent sensory changes that can substantially impair quality of life. Theory suggests that these changes may not occur in isolation but instead be closely intertwined with psychological...

A structural cardiac pathway mediates the risk of ischemic heart disease from TyG-related indices: A prospective cohort study

The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and its derivatives are surrogate markers of insulin resistance and are closely associated with cardiovascular risk. However, whether and to what extent they are associated with IHD risk through subclinical cardiac remodeling remains unclear....

Early kidney injury occurs in the absence of detectable perirenal adipose tissue remodelling in the Munich Wistar Frömter rat model of chronic kidney disease

Adipose tissue surrounding the kidney, known as perirenal adipose tissue (PRAT), is a metabolically active depot that may influence renal function through inflammatory and fibrotic mediators. In the Munich Wistar Frömter (MWF) rat, a genetic model of spontaneous chronic kidney di...

High rates of transition to immune active disease in a cohort of strictly defined immune tolerant patients with chronic hepatitis B: results from the RADICAL consortium

Background Patients with immune tolerant (IT) chronic hepatitis B (CHB) have high viral loads, minimal inflammation and minimal fibrosis. Nevertheless, the benign nature of this phase and the need for antiviral therapy remain controversial. Objective We explored the natural histo...

Exploring a DNA methylation field effect in renal cell carcinoma and its implications for biomarker research

A field effect, the phenomenon of molecular alterations, such as DNA methylation, in normally appearing tissue surrounding a malignant tumor, has been suggested to be associated with malignant transformation. Nevertheless, normally appearing tissue adjacent to the tumor is freque...

GenAI needs to be banned at law faculties under a precautionary principle

In higher education, including in academic legal education, GenAI dominates discourse. In this fusion and translation of two much-discussed articles published in the Netherlands, the authors argue that academic law schools should ban the use of GenAI for both students and academi...

Diffusion of neuromodulators for temporal credit assignment

Biological learning achieves temporal credit assignment despite sparse and imprecise feedback, often relying on neuromodulatory signals acting over space and time. Here, we introduce a learning mechanism in which error information diffuses locally through the network, similar to...

Did the Tiger Grow Fierce Teeth? An Examination of the Use of Criminal Sanctions for Environmental Pollution in China

ABSTRACT Despite an extensive body of environmental law and policy, China's environmental law has long been dubbed a “paper tiger” owning to persistent enforcement failures. Over the past decade, legislative and judicial reforms have substantially strengthened the criminal enforc...

Sex & Gender Science: integrating the social with the biological

Abstract For decades, researchers have largely studied aspects of sex and gender separately; the former as a basic science and the latter as a social construct with real world consequences, including health inequities. In recent years, as our collective understanding of how the b...

Solvent-Free Mechanochemical Synthesis of Highly Charged Microgels

Abstract Recently, ball milling has emerged as a versatile tool for solvent-free polymer transformations. Here, a mechanochemical strategy is presented for the synthesis of stimuli-responsive microgels under solvent-free conditions. The approach relies on mechanically induced cha...

Correlates of Selective Mutism in Young Children: A Preliminary Investigation of Social Anxiety, Autistic Traits, Extreme Demand Avoidance, and Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Selective mutism (SM) is an infrequent pediatric condition defined by a sustained inability to speak in specific social contexts, despite demonstrating age-appropriate verbal communication in settings perceived as safe or familiar, such as the home environment. This parent-report...