Revising EU pharmaceutical legislation: will it foster drug repurposing?

Repurposing off-patent drugs can be a potential source of low-cost treatments for patients with unmet medical needs. Here, we review the proposed new European Union (EU) pharmaceutical legislation in which two articles address drug repurposing. We find certain barriers hindering the adoption of these new incentives by academic and not-for-profit stakeholders, including lack of knowledge on regulatory aspects, pharmacovigilance, and restrictions in data protection.

Electronically Controlled Dual-Wavelength Switchable SRS Fiber Amplifier in the NIR-II Region for Multispectral Photoacoustic Microscopy.

Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is a high-resolution and non-invasive imaging modality that provides optical absorption contrast. By employing dual- or multiple-wavelength excitation, PAM extends its capabilities to offer valuable spectroscopic information. To achieve efficient multispectral PAM imaging, an essential requirement is a light source characterized by a high repetition rate and switching rate, a ≈microjoule pulse energy, and a ≈nanosecond pulse duration.

High-Risk Embolic Sources on Cardiac Computed Tomography in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Cardiac computed tomography (CT) is increasingly used to search for cardioembolic sources of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We assessed the association between high-risk cardioembolic sources on cardiac CT and AIS.

Methods: We performed a case-control study using data from a prospective cohort including consecutive adult patients with suspected stroke who underwent cardiac CT acquired during the initial stroke imaging protocol between 2018 and 2020.

Absolute depth-resolved optic axis measurement with catheter-based polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography.

Imaging depth-resolved birefringence and optic axis orientation with polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) unveils details of tissue structure and organization that can be of high pathophysiologic, mechanistic, and diagnostic value. For catheter-based PS-OCT, the dynamic rotation of the fiber optic probe, in addition to the polarization effects of the system components, complicates the reliable and robust reconstruction of the sample's optic axis orientation. Addressing this issue, we present a new method for the reconstruction of absolute depth-resolved optic axis orientation in catheter-based PS-OCT by using the intrinsic retardance of the protecting catheter sheath as a stable guide star signal.

Validation of machine learning-based risk stratification scores for patients with acute coronary syndrome treated with percutaneous coronary intervention.

Aims: This study aimed to validate the machine learning-based Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) 3.0 score and PRAISE (Prediction of Adverse Events following an Acute Coronary Syndrome) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for predicting mortality.

Methods And Results: Data of consecutive patients with ACS treated with PCI in a tertiary centre in the Netherlands between 2014 and 2021 were used for external validation.