Nationwide trends of balloon pulmonary angioplasty and pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (2012-2019).

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a sequela of a pulmonary embolus that occurs in approximately 1%-3% of patients. Pulmonary thromboendoarterectomy (PTE) can be a curative procedure, but balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) has emerged as an option for poor surgical candidates. We used the National Inpatient Sample to query patients who underwent PTE or BPA between 2012 and 2019 with CTEPH.

Pre-hospital antiplatelet medication use on COVID-19 disease severity.

Objective: To evaluate the association between pre-hospitalization antiplatelet medication use and COVID-19 disease severity.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Inpatient units at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Pulse Wave Imaging in Carotid Artery Stenosis Human Patients in Vivo.

Carotid stenosis involves narrowing of the lumen in the carotid artery potentially leading to a stroke, which is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Several recent investigations have found that plaque structure and composition may represent a more direct biomarker of plaque rupture risk compared with the degree of stenosis. In this study, pulse wave imaging was applied in 111 (n = 11, N = 13 plaques) patients diagnosed with moderate (>50%) to severe (>80%) carotid artery stenosis to investigate the feasibility of characterizing plaque properties based on the pulse wave-induced arterial wall dynamics captured by pulse wave imaging.

Noninvasive Evaluation of Varying Pulse Pressures Using Brachial Sphymomanometry, Applanation Tonometry, and Pulse Wave Ultrasound Manometry.

The routine assessment and monitoring of hypertension may benefit from the evaluation of arterial pulse pressure (PP) at more central locations (e.g. the aorta) rather solely at the brachial artery.

Using Operational Analysis to Improve Access to Pulmonary Function Testing.

Background. Timely pulmonary function testing is crucial to improving diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases. Perceptions of poor access at an academic pulmonary function laboratory prompted analysis of system demand and capacity to identify factors contributing to poor access.

Use of ward closure to control outbreaks among hospitalized patients in acute care settings: a systematic review.

Background: Though often used to control outbreaks, the efficacy of ward closure is unclear. This systematic review sought to identify studies defining and describing ward closure in outbreak control and to determine impact of ward closure as an intervention on outbreak containment.

Methods: We searched these databases with no language restrictions: MEDLINE, 1946 to 7 July 2014; EMBASE, 1974 to 7 July 2014; CINAHL, 1937 to 8 July 2014; and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2005 to May 2014.