Could it have been predicted? A retrospective analysis of the last year of life for people who died whilst in an intermediate care centre.

Objectives: Intermediate care centres (ICCs) exist in the UK to bridge between acute hospital and home for those with rehabilitation needs. A national study shows 25% of ICC in-patients died within a year of admission. High quality end-of-life care includes early conversations with a person and their loved ones about what matters to them; timely identification of those who are likely to be nearing the end of their life is key.

Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials.

Natural ecosystems offer efficient pathways for carbon sequestration, serving as a resilient approach to remove CO from the atmosphere with minimal environmental impact. However, the control of living systems outside of their native environments is often challenging. Here, we engineered a photosynthetic living material for dual CO sequestration by immobilizing photosynthetic microorganisms within a printable polymeric network.

IL11 is elevated in systemic sclerosis and IL11-dependent ERK signalling underlies TGFβ-mediated activation of dermal fibroblasts.

Objectives: Interleukin 11 (IL11) is highly upregulated in skin and lung fibroblasts from patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Here we tested whether IL11 is mechanistically linked with activation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) from patients with SSc or controls.

Methods: We measured serum IL11 levels in volunteers and patients with early diffuse SSc and manipulated IL11 signalling in HDFs using gain- and loss-of-function approaches that we combined with molecular and cellular phenotyping.

Rationale and design of the randomized prospective ATLAS study: Avoid Transvenous Leads in Appropriate Subjects.

Background: The defibrillator lead is the weakest part of the transvenous (TV) implantable cardioverter defibrillation (ICD) system and a frequent cause of morbidity. Lead dislodgement, cardiac perforation, insertion-related trauma including pneumothorax and vascular injury, are common early complications of TV-ICD implantation. Venous occlusion, tricuspid valve dysfunction, lead fracture and lead insulation failure are additional, later complications.

Diagnostic accuracy and yield of screening tests for atrial fibrillation in the family practice setting: a multicentre cohort study.

Background: Detection of undiagnosed or undertreated ("actionable") atrial fibrillation could increase the use of appropriate oral anticoagulant therapy and reduce the risk of stroke. We sought to compare newer screening technologies with a pulse-check for the detection of atrial fibrillation and to determine whether the detection of actionable atrial fibrillation increases the use of oral anticoagulant agents.

Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study involved 22 primary care clinics.