Going beyond summed stress scores: Correlating global and territorial coronary flow reserve by single photon emission tomography with routine myocardial perfusion imaging.

A Background: Technological advancement in the recent years has enabled the application of single photon emission tomography (SPECT) to evaluate myocardial blood flow (MBF). This method offers increased sensitivity in the assessment of coronary health, quantifiable through non-invasive imaging beyond the more conventional methods such as with myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).

B Aims: To correlate MBF, derived by dynamic SPECT, both global and by coronary territories to the summed stress scores (SSS) on conventional MPI.

Sociodemographic and clinical factors, visit expectations and driving factors for emergency department attendance for uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infection.

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) account for substantial non-urgent ED attendances. Hence, we explored the reasons for such attendances using a mixed-methods approach.

Methods: We interviewed adult patients with URTI who visited the second busiest adult ED in Singapore from June 2016 to November 2018 on their expectations and reasons for attendance.

Personal protective equipment-related occupational dermatoses during COVID-19 among health care workers: A worldwide systematic review.

Background: Occupational dermatoses caused by personal protective equipment (PPE) in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are emerging occupational health challenges that must be promptly and effectively addressed to ease burden on our health care workers.

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to determine common PPE-related dermatoses, affected body sites, and implicated occupational contactants. We further proposed solutions to mitigate this problem.

Exacerbation of cardiovascular ageing by diabetes mellitus and its associations with acyl-carnitines.

Objective: To demonstrate differences in cardiovascular structure and function between diabetic and non-diabetic older adults. To investigate associations between acyl-carnitines and cardiovascular function as indexed by imaging measurements.

Methods: A community-based cohort of older adults without cardiovascular disease underwent current cardiovascular imaging and metabolomics acyl-carnitines profiling based on current and archived sera obtained fifteen years prior to examination.

Amino acid differences between diabetic older adults and non-diabetic older adults and their associations with cardiovascular function.

Background: Ageing and insulin resistant states such as diabetes mellitus frequently coexist and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease development among older adults. Here we investigate metabolic differences in amino acid profiles between ageing and diabetes mellitus, and their associations with cardiovascular function.

Methods: In a group of community older adults we performed echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging as well as cross sectional and longitudinal metabolomics profiling based on current and archived sera obtained fifteen years prior to examination.

Associations between Skeletal Muscle and Myocardium in Aging: A Syndrome of "Cardio-Sarcopenia"?

Objectives: The link between skeletal muscle and heart disease remains intriguing. It is unknown how skeletal muscle may be associated with aspects of myocardial structure and function, particularly in the presence of aging-related sarcopenia. We hypothesize that among aging adults with sarcopenia, alterations in myocardial structure and/or function may exist, resulting in a syndrome of "cardio-sarcopenia.

Galectin-3 as a candidate upstream biomarker for quantifying risks of myocardial ageing.

Aims: Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure and is also influenced by ageing. This study aims to determine the extent to which Gal-3 levels estimate odds of myocardial dysfunction in ageing cohorts, 'upstream' prior to clinical disease.

Methods And Results: Four hundred seventy-five asymptomatic subjects underwent simultaneous assessments of cardiovascular structure and function, with measurements of circulating Gal-3.

Surgical management of invasive fungal infections in adult leukemia patients: experience from a large tertiary center in Southeast-Asia.

Objectives: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in acute leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Surgical interventions may be necessary to improve the survival outcomes of these patients. The aim of this study is to report a single-center experience using surgical intervention as adjunctive treatment for IFI in adult leukemia patients.

N-Terminal pro C-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NTproCNP) and myocardial function in ageing.

Ageing-related alterations in cardiovascular structure and function are commonly associated with chronic inflammation. A potential blood-based biomarker indicative of a chronic inflammatory state is N-Terminal Pro C-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NTproCNP). We aim to investigate associations between NTproCNP and ageing-related impairments in cardiovascular function.

Metabolomic correlates of aerobic capacity among elderly adults.

Background: Aerobic capacity is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, and it declines with advancing age.

Hypothesis: Since physical activity alters body metabolism, metabolism markers will likely differ between subjects with high vs low aerobic capacities.

Methods: Community-based participants without physician-diagnosed heart disease, stroke or cancer underwent same-day multimodal assessment of cardiovascular function (by echocardiography and magnetic resonance feature tracking of left atrium) and aerobic capacity by peak oxygen uptake (VO ) metrics.

Value of soluble Urokinase plasminogen activator receptor over age as a biomarker of impaired myocardial relaxation.

Background: SuPAR is a biomarker that reflects the level of immune activation. As inflammation plays an important role in the ageing process of the cardiovascular system, we hypothesized that suPAR might be a useful predictive biomarker of the ageing heart.

Methods: We performed conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography and measured plasma suPAR levels.

Metabolomic profile of arterial stiffness in aged adults.

Background: Increasing arterial stiffness is an important contributor to declining cardiovascular health in ageing. Changes in whole-body fuel metabolism could be related to alterations in arterial stiffness in ageing adults.

Methods: Targeted high-performance liquid and gas chromatography mass spectrometry were used to measure 84 circulating metabolites in a group of community elderly adults ( n = 141, 58% men; mean age = 70.

Correlation and variation-based method for identifying reference genes from large datasets.

Background: Reference genes are assumed to be stably expressed under most circumstances. Previous studies have shown that identification of potential reference genes using common algorithms, such as NormFinder, geNorm, and BestKeeper, are not suitable for microarray-sized datasets. The aim of this study was to evaluate existing methods and develop methods for identifying reference genes from microarray datasets.

Transcriptome Analysis of Spermophilus lateralis and Spermophilus tridecemlineatus Liver Does Not Suggest the Presence of Spermophilus-Liver-Specific Reference Genes.

The expressions of reference genes used in gene expression studies are assumed to be stable under most circumstances. However, studies had demonstrated that genes assumed to be stably expressed in a species are not necessarily stably expressed in other organisms. This study aims to evaluate the likelihood of genus-specific reference genes for liver using comparable microarray datasets from Spermophilus lateralis and Spermophilus tridecemlineatus.

Glucan Biosynthesis Protein G Is a Suitable Reference Gene in Escherichia coli K-12.

The expressions of reference genes used in gene expression studies are assumed to be stable under most circumstances. However, a number of studies had demonstrated that such genes were found to vary under experimental conditions. In addition, genes that are stably expressed in an organ may not be stably expressed in other organs or other organisms, suggesting the need to identify reference genes for each organ and organism.