Optimizing Medical Pretreatment for Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty: Overshoot or Stride Toward Optimal Multimodal Treatment.

In patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) who undergo balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA), pretreatment with PH-targeted medical therapy may be beneficial to improve clinical parameters and pulmonary hemodynamics. This study aims to describe clinical results of PH-targeted therapy prior to BPA. All consecutive patients with CTEPH who underwent BPA treatment were selected from our CTEPH database.

Conservative Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation Screening in Children: Re-Evaluation of Safety.

Introduction: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant vascular disease and screening to detect pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) is important to prevent complications. In adults, transthoracic contrast echocardiogram (TTCE) is used to screen PAVMs. In children, a conservative screening method seems to be sufficient to rule out major PAVMs and prevent them from PAVM-related complications.

Graded Transthoracic Contrast Echocardiography After Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation Embolization: Can Chest CT Be Avoided in Patients With a Low-Grade Shunt?

Background: Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) are direct connections between the pulmonary artery and vein, creating a right-to-left shunt (RLS). Embolization is indicated to prevent complications. Guidelines recommend follow-up chest CT scans to confirm persistent occlusion and embolization of all treatable PAVMs.

Effectiveness of a Just-In-Time Adaptive App to Increase Daily Steps: An RCT.

Introduction: Addressing the public health problem of physical inactivity, this study evaluates SNapp, a just-in-time adaptive app intervention to promote walking through dynamically tailored coaching content. It assesses SNapp's impact on daily steps and how users' perceptions regarding ease of use and usefulness moderated its effectiveness.

Methods: SNapp was evaluated in an RCT from February 2021 to May 2022.

Endocranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of the crocodylian Eosuchus lerichei from the late Paleocene of northwestern Europe and potential adaptations for transoceanic dispersal in gavialoids.

Eosuchus lerichei is a gavialoid crocodylian from late Paleocene marine deposits of northwestern Europe, known from a skull and lower jaws, as well as postcrania. Its sister taxon relationship with the approximately contemporaneous species Eosuchus minor from the east coast of the USA has been explained through transoceanic dispersal, indicating a capability for salt excretion that is absent in extant gavialoids. However, there is currently no anatomical evidence to support marine adaptation in extinct gavialoids.

Inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Evolution of prognosis over 10 years of new emerging therapies.

Therapies for inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) include balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) and PH-specific medical therapy. This study compares survival and its predictors before and after the introduction of BPA. BPA was independently associated with survival; however, there was no difference in overall survival between the two cohorts.

A rare case of a simultaneous post-dissection saccular aneurysm of the ascending aorta and large pulmonary artery aneurysm with secondary embolism: a case report.

Background: Aneurysms of the pulmonary arteries and the ascending aorta are rare, and both bear a high mortality risk if left untreated. In general, these entities are primarily caused by etiologies such as hypertension, pulmonary arterial hypertension, infection or congenital disorders. Treatment requires a rapid diagnostic work-up or even immediate surgical intervention in acute cases.

SNapp, a Tailored Smartphone App Intervention to Promote Walking in Adults of Low Socioeconomic Position: Development and Qualitative Pilot Study.

Background: Adults of low socioeconomic position (SEP) are generally less physically active than those who are more socioeconomically advantaged, which increases their cardiovascular disease incidence risk. Moreover, individuals of low SEP are often less easily reached with physical activity (PA) interventions than individuals of higher SEP. Smartphone apps have been presented as a promising platform for delivering PA interventions to difficult-to-reach individuals of low SEP.

Evolution of Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations: The Role of Contrast Echocardiography.

Background: Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) are direct connections between the pulmonary artery and the pulmonary vein, mostly associated with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). PAVMs can lead to severe neurologic complications such as stroke and brain abscess. The risk of complications decreases after embolization.

Efficacy and Safety of Tacrolimus as Treatment for Bleeding Caused by Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: An Open-Label, Pilot Study.

Haploinsufficiency for Endoglin (ENG) and activin A receptor type II-like I (/ALK1) lead to the formation of weak and abnormal vessels in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). These cause epistaxis (nosebleeds) and/or gastrointestinal blood loss. In vitro in cultured endothelial cells, tacrolimus has been shown to increase ENG and ALK1 expression.

Disclosing Influencer Marketing on YouTube to Children: The Moderating Role of Para-Social Relationship.

Watching online videos is becoming an important part of children's media diets. Children particularly like content that is specifically created for YouTube by YouTube personalities. Because these personalities have a large reach and are considered likeable and credible, they have become social media influencers.

Effects of Disclosing Sponsored Content in Blogs: How the Use of Resistance Strategies Mediates Effects on Persuasion.

This article presents two studies examining the effects of disclosing online native advertising (i.e., sponsored content in blogs) on people's brand attitude and purchase intentions.

Political Microtargeting: Relationship Between Personalized Advertising on Facebook and Voters' Responses.

This study examines the relationship between exposure to political personalized ads on Facebook and voters' responses toward those ads and studies the mediating role of the use of persuasion knowledge in this relationship. Results from an online experiment (N = 122) demonstrate that exposure to a personalized ad from a political party activates persuasion knowledge, which in turn leads to lower intentions to engage in electronic word of mouth, but only for those participants who recall seeing the Sponsored label. We found no effects on source trustworthiness.

This is Advertising! Effects of Disclosing Television Brand Placement on Adolescents.

As heavy media users, adolescents are frequently exposed to embedded advertising formats such as brand placements. Because this may lead to unwitting persuasion, regulations prescribe disclosure of brand placements. This study aimed to increase our understanding of the effects of disclosing television brand placements and disclosure duration on adolescents' persuasion knowledge (i.