Perceived barriers to paediatric palliative care in a Palestinian children's hospital.

Background: This study aimed to identify barriers to paediatric palliative care provision at one Palestinian paediatric hospital, elucidate reasons for the barriers, provide recommendations for enhancing care and identify topics for future research in other low-to middle-income countries.

Methods: A mixed-method cross-sectional study, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted, involving 61 healthcare professionals at a paediatric hospital in Palestine. Data collection consisted of 58 participants completing an electronic survey, while three healthcare professionals participated in semi-structured interviews.

The Kidney-Immune-Brain Axis: The Role of Inflammation in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Stroke in Chronic Kidney Disease.

Cardiovascular diseases such as stroke are a major cause of morbidity and mortality for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The underlying mechanisms connecting CKD and cardiovascular disease are yet to be fully elucidated, but inflammation is proposed to play an important role based on genetic association studies, studies of inflammatory biomarkers, and clinical trials of anti-inflammatory drug targets. There are multiple sources of both endogenous and exogenous inflammation in CKD, including increased production and decreased clearance of proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, metabolic acidosis, chronic and recurrent infections, dialysis access, changes in adipose tissue metabolism, and disruptions in intestinal microbiota.

Exploring patient perspectives of barriers and facilitators to participating in hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation in patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer treated with curative intent.

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is increasingly offered to patients who have undergone lung resection for non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) as it can improve exercise tolerance and quality of life. However, designing and implementing such a complex multidisciplinary programme has its challenges.

Objective: This study aims to explore perspectives of patients offered PR services post-lung resection for NSCLC to gain an understanding of the potential barriers and facilitators behind implementing and designing PR programmes.

The maturation state and density of human cartilage microtissues influence their fusion and development into scaled-up grafts.

Functional cartilaginous tissues can potentially be engineered by bringing together numerous microtissues (µTs) and allowing them to fuse and re-organize into larger, structurally organized grafts. The maturation level of individual microtissues is known to influence their capacity to fuse, however its impact on the long-term development of the resulting tissue remains unclear. The first objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the maturation state of human bone-marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hBM-MSCSs) derived microtissues on their fusion capacity and the phenotype of the final engineered tissue.