Evaluating small extracellular vesicle-based vaccination across heterologous strains isolated from wastewater.

infections pose significant public health challenges worldwide. The diversity of strains, particularly those isolated from environmental and clinical sources, necessitates innovative approaches to prevention and treatment. Previous research has shown that small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) produced by macrophages during Typhimurium infection can induce robust immune responses when used as a vaccine, offering complete protection in systemic infection models.

Meta-analysis of Molteno glaucoma implants and Ahmed glaucoma valves: insights into efficacy and safety for complex glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally and for decades, Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma implants, operating on different mechanisms, have been used to treat complicated glaucoma with varying success.

Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of the Molteno glaucoma implant (MGI) versus the Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) in patients with complicated glaucoma.

Methods: We comprehensively searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Science Direct) from inception till July 2023 and studies comparing patients with MGI and those with AGV in patients with complicated glaucoma.

Enhancing detection of labor violations in the agricultural sector: A multilevel generalized linear regression model of H-2A violation counts.

Agricultural workers are essential to the supply chain for our daily food, and yet, many face harmful work conditions, including garnished wages, and other labor violations. Workers on H-2A visas are particularly vulnerable due to the precarity of their immigration status being tied to their employer. Although worksite inspections are one mechanism to detect such violations, many labor violations affecting agricultural workers go undetected due to limited inspection resources.

Safety and efficacy of antithrombotics in outpatients with symptomatic COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global health emergency, with well over six hundred million infections and over six million deaths to date. Besides other ramifications, it is also associated with inflammation and an augmented risk of thromboembolic complications. Despite this, the risks and benefits of antithrombotic drugs in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 have not been well-established and remain controversial.

Beyond biventricular pacing: Exploring the advantages of his-bundle pacing and left bundle branch pacing in heart failure-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: This meta-analysis compares His-Purkinje system pacing (HPSP), a novel cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) technique that targets the intrinsic conduction system of the heart, with conventional biventricular pacing (BiVP) in heart failure (HF) patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and dyssynchrony.

Methods: We searched multiple databases up to May 2023 and identified 18 studies (five randomized controlled trials and 13 observational studies) involving 1291 patients. The outcome measures were QRS duration, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) improvement, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) change, HF hospitalization, and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class improvement.

Effectiveness of virtual reality in managing pain and anxiety in adults during periprocedural period: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Patients undergoing medical procedures often experience pain and anxiety. These periprocedural outcomes can be overcome by providing a distraction using virtual reality (VR), decreasing their perception. VR has proved effective in reducing pediatric pain and anxiety; however, limited studies have confirmed its effectiveness in adults.

G protein-coupled receptor-mediated membrane targeting of PLCγ2 is essential for neutrophil chemotaxis.

The current dogma is that chemoattractants G protein-coupled receptors activate β phospholipase C while receptor tyrosine kinases activate γ phospholipase C. Here, we show that chemoattractant/G protein-coupled receptor-mediated membrane recruitment of γ2 phospholipase C constitutes G protein-coupled receptor-mediated phospholipase C signaling and is essential for neutrophil polarization and migration during chemotaxis. In response to a chemoattractant stimulation, cells lacking γ2 phospholipase C (plcg2kd) displayed altered dynamics of diacylglycerol production and calcium response, increased Ras/PI3K/Akt activation, elevated GSK3 phosphorylation and cofilin activation, impaired dynamics of actin polymerization, and, consequently, defects in cell polarization and migration during chemotaxis.

The floods of 2022: Economic and health crisis hits Pakistan.

Pakistan is currently going through the worst-ever recorded flood crisis. The 2022 floods have created unprecedented destruction, especially in the coastal regions of the country. Almost one-third of Pakistan has drowned, merely as a consequence of climate change which is impacting many countries around the globe, with the South Asian countries at the greatest risk due to their proximity to the equator.

Optimizing evaluation in pediatric and young adult patients with Marfan syndrome: Novel longitudinal metrics to track growth of aortic structures.

Objective: Surveillance metrics in pediatric and young adult Marfan syndrome (pMFS) are challenging. We evaluated the utility of aortic root cross-sectional area/height index (CSA/Ht) on echocardiogram among pMFS patients as a risk stratification and surgical triage metric.

Methods: Genotype or phenotype positive pMFS patients aged 25 years or younger seen at our center from 2001 to 2020 were identified.

Hybrid Transcarotid Exclusion of Postoperative Ascending Aortic Dissection in an Infant.

Aortic dissection is very rare in pediatric patients, and associated risk factors include congenital heart disease, previous cardiac surgery, and vasculopathies. Acute postoperative aortic dissection in pediatric patients can be life-threatening. We performed a novel hybrid transcarotid covered stent exclusion of a postoperative ascending aortic dissection in an infant.

Sex disparities in the current era of pediatric heart transplantation in the United States.

Background: While sex-related differences in transplant outcomes have been well characterized amongst adults, there are no sex-specific pediatric heart transplant studies over the last decade and none evaluating waitlist outcomes. In a contemporary cohort of children undergoing heart transplantation in the United States, this analysis was performed to determine if there were sex disparities in waitlist and/or post-transplant outcomes.

Methods: Retrospective review of Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database from December 16, 2011 to February 28, 2019 to compare male and female children after listing and after transplant.

Ras inhibitor CAPRI enables neutrophil-like cells to chemotax through a higher-concentration range of gradients.

Neutrophils sense and migrate through an enormous range of chemoattractant gradients through adaptation. Here, we reveal that in human neutrophils, calcium-promoted Ras inactivator (CAPRI) locally controls the GPCR-stimulated Ras adaptation. Human neutrophils lacking CAPRI ( ) exhibit chemoattractant-induced, nonadaptive Ras activation; significantly increased phosphorylation of AKT, GSK-3α/3β, and cofilin; and excessive actin polymerization.

Life saved and a lesson learned-anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from pulmonary artery in pregnancy.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from pulmonary artery constitutes 0.5% of all CHD (Boutsikou M, Shore D, Li W, et al, Int J Cardiol 261: 49-53, 2018). Fifteen percent survive into adulthood undiagnosed and 90% present with sudden death (Yau JM, Singh R, Halpern EJ, Fischman D, Clin Cardiol 34: 204-210, 2011; Alexi-Meskishvili V, Berger F, Weng Y, Lange PE, Hetzer R, J Card Surg 10: 309-315, 1995).

Risk Perception and Willingness to Work Among Doctors and Medical Students of Karachi, Pakistan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey.

Purpose: During the timeline of twenty years, several epidemics and pandemics have occurred. Yet, a consistent feature of these public health crises is the surge in the demand for healthcare services exceeds the availability.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in the month of June and July 2020 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Membrane Targeting of C2GAP1 Enables to Sense Chemoattractant Gradient at a Higher Concentration Range.

Chemotaxis, which is G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated directional cell migration, plays pivotal roles in diverse human diseases, including recruitment of leukocytes to inflammation sites and metastasis of cancer. It is still not fully understood how eukaryotes sense and chemotax in response to chemoattractants with an enormous concentration range. A genetically traceable model organism, , is the best-studied organism for GPCR-mediated chemotaxis.

The effects of the dopamine D2/3 agonist quinpirole on incentive value and palatability-based choice in a rodent model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Rationale: Palatability and incentive value influence animal food choice. Dopamine D2/3 receptor signaling may mediate the effects of palatability and incentive value on choice. Dopamine signaling is disrupted in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist in the Current Era of Pediatric Heart Transplantation.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that children in the United States who were of racial and ethnic minorities have inferior waitlist and post-heart transplant (HT) outcomes. Whether these disparities still exist in the contemporary era of increased ventricular assist device use remains unknown.

Methods: All children (age <18 years) in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database listed for HT from December 2011 to February 2019 were included and were separated into 5 races/ethnicities: Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Other.

Visualizing Key Signaling Components of Macropinocytosis and Phagocytosis Using Confocal Microscopy in the Model Organism Dictyostelium discoideum.

Macropinocytosis and phagocytosis are the processes by which eukaryotic cells use their plasma membrane to engulf liquid or a large particle and give rise to an internal compartment called the macropinosomes or phagosome, respectively. Dictyostelium discoideum provides a powerful system to understand the molecular mechanism of these two fundamental cellular processes that impact human health and disease. Recent developments in fluorescence microscopy allow direct visualization of intracellular signaling events with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Outcomes of treatment pathways in 240 patients with congenitally corrected transposition of great arteries.

Objective: Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) encompasses a diverse morphologic cohort, for which multiple treatment pathways exist. Understanding surgical outcomes among various pathways and their determinants are challenged by limited sample size and follow-up, and heterogeneity. We sought to investigate these questions with a large cohort of ccTGA patients presenting at different ages and representing the full therapeutic spectrum.

Unusual coronary artery arrangement in D-transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect.

A term female with prenatally diagnosed D-Transposition of the great arteries, large membranous ventricular septal defect with inlet extension, moderate secundum atrial septal defect, and large patent ductus arteriosus (Fig 1) was born by scheduled caesarean section. Transthoracic echocardiogram confirmed the anatomy with both coronary arteries arising from a single sinus with separate ostia. The right coronary artery arose from right posterior facing sinus (Fig 2).

Robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty demonstrates decreased postoperative pain and opioid usage compared to conventional total knee arthroplasty.

Aims: Robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RA-TKA) has been introduced to provide accurate bone cuts and help achieve the target knee alignment, along with symmetric gap balancing. The purpose of this study was to determine if any early clinical benefits could be realized following TKA using robotic-assisted technology.

Methods: In all, 140 consecutive patients undergoing RA-TKA and 127 consecutive patients undergoing conventional TKA with minimum six-week follow-up were reviewed.

Selective Coronary Artery Angiography in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Coronary artery disease in palliated hypoplastic left heart syndrome is uncommon. Myocardial infarction from a coronary thrombus, serving as a substrate for ventricular arrhythmia in Fontan physiology, is under-reported despite known hypercoagulopathic state. Traditional risk factors for coronary artery occlusion include intracardiac thrombi, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.