Excess Mortality and its Determinants During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 21 Countries: An Ecological Study from the C-MOR Project, 2020 and 2021.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed health systems, resulting in a surge in excess deaths. This study clustered countries based on excess mortality to understand their response to the pandemic and the influence of various factors on excess mortality within each cluster.

Materials And Methods: This ecological study is part of the COVID-19 MORtality (C-MOR) Consortium.

Mortality of working-age physicians compared to other high-skilled occupations in Austria from 1998 to 2020.

Objectives: Physicians have been shown to have lower mortality compared to the general population, particularly regarding lifestyle-associated causes of death. Prior literature is divided on whether this is due to higher socioeconomic position (SEP), healthier lifestyle, or other specific occupational characteristics. This study analyzed the mortality of Austrian physicians compared to the general population and other (health) professionals with a similar SEP, and investigated patterns of lifestyle-associated mortality among physicians.

Magnitude and determinants of excess total, age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality in 24 countries worldwide during 2020 and 2021: results on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from the C-MOR project.

Introduction: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality, we estimated excess all-cause mortality in 24 countries for 2020 and 2021, overall and stratified by sex and age.

Methods: Total, age-specific and sex-specific weekly all-cause mortality was collected for 2015-2021 and excess mortality for 2020 and 2021 was calculated by comparing weekly 2020 and 2021 age-standardised mortality rates against expected mortality, estimated based on historical data (2015-2019), accounting for seasonality, and long-term and short-term trends. Age-specific weekly excess mortality was similarly calculated using crude mortality rates.

Sleep apnoea and incident malignancy in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been linked to malignancy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between sleep apnoea and incidence of malignancy in patients with T2D.

Methods: The DIACORE (DIAbetes COhoRtE) study is a prospective, population-based cohort study in T2D patients.

A Rare Case of Vascular Proliferation in the Mandible of a Juvenile Horse.

A fast growing, circumscribed, unilateral swelling of the right mandible of a juvenile horse was observed. Within few weeks, the continuously growing mass reached dimensions ranging from 7 to 10 cm in diameter and resulted in loss of the first deciduous premolar of the affected side. The animal was euthanized due to lesion progression.

Histological characterization and biochemical analysis of paraspinal muscles in neuromuscularly healthy subjects.

Introduction: There are no generally accepted histopathological reference values in paraspinal skeletal muscle biopsies.

Methods: We examined multifidii muscle biopsies from 20 neuromuscularly healthy subjects using routine histological stains and biochemical analyses of respiratory chain enzymes.

Results: Staining showed incomplete myopathic features, such as increased variability in fiber size, type 1 hypertrophy, rounded fiber shape, endomysial fibrosis, and replacement by adipose tissue.

Dopamine D(3) receptors and salt-dependent hypertension.

Alterations in the dopaminergic system may contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. Dopamine D(3) receptors have been shown to be involved in the regulation of sodium balance and hemodynamics in rodents. For determining the role of D(3) receptors in salt-dependent hypertension, clearance experiments were performed in anesthetized salt-sensitive (DS) and salt-resistant (DR) Dahl rats that were fed a standard diet with either normal (0.