Making Video Games More Inclusive for People Living With Motor Neuron Disease: Scoping Review.

Background: Evidence suggests that individuals with motor neuron disease (MND), a terminal illness, find enjoyment and social connection through video games. However, MND-related barriers can make gaming challenging, exacerbating feelings of boredom, stress, isolation, and loss of control over daily life.

Objective: We scoped the evidence to describe relevant research and practice regarding what may help reduce difficulties for people with MND when playing video games.

Frequency-to-Place Mismatch and Cochlear Implant Outcomes by Electrode Type.

Importance: Speech recognition outcomes with a cochlear implant (CI) are highly variable. One factor suggested to correlate with CI-aided speech recognition is frequency-to-place mismatch, or the discrepancy between the natural tonotopic organization of the cochlea and the electric frequency allocation of the CI electrodes within the patient's cochlea.

Objective: To evaluate the association between frequency-to-place mismatch and speech recognition outcomes in a large cohort of postlingually deafened adult CI users, while controlling for various clinical factors known to be associated with those outcomes.

Absolute cardiovascular risk assessment using 'real world' clinic blood pressures compared to standardized unobserved and ambulatory methods: an observational study.

Clinic blood pressure (BP) is recommended for absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. However, in 'real-world' settings, clinic BP measurement is unstandardised and less reliable compared to more rigorous methods but the impact for absolute CVD risk assessment is unknown. This study aimed to determine the difference in absolute CVD risk assessment using real-world clinic BP compared to standardised BP methods.

Intergenerational coping: Examining how caregiver and child coping relate to resilience in bereaved children.

The death of a loved one can have harmful effects on children's mental health, yet some bereaved children exhibit resilience. Various caregiver and child coping strategies, including active and avoidant coping, may affect the psychosocial functioning of bereaved children. The current study recruited 78 bereaved children aged 8-17 and one of their caregivers to explore: 1) how caregivers' coping strategies affect their child's coping strategies and resilience, and 2) associations between children's coping and their resilience.

A critical evaluation of "leakage" at the cochlear blood-stria-barrier and its functional significance.

The blood-labyrinth-barrier (BLB) is a semipermeable boundary between the vasculature and three separate fluid spaces of the inner ear, the perilymph, the endolymph and the intrastrial space. An important component of the BLB is the blood-stria-barrier, which shepherds the passage of ions and metabolites from strial capillaries into the intrastrial space. Some investigators have reported increased "leakage" from these capillaries following certain experimental interventions, or in the presence of inflammation or genetic variants.

Use of Imaging-guided Decongestion for Reducing Heart Failure Readmission and Death in High-risk Patients: A Multi-site Randomized Trial of a Nurse-led Strategy at the Point of Care.

Background: Nurse-led disease management programs (DMPs) decrease readmission after acute decompensated heart failure (HF). We sought whether readmissions could be further reduced by lung ultrasound (LUS)-guided decongestion before discharge and during DMP.

Methods And Results: Of 290 patients hospitalized with acute decompensated HF, 122 at high risk for readmission or mortality were randomized to receive usual care (UC) (n = 64) or UC plus intervention (DMP-Plus) (n = 58), comprising LUS-guided management before discharge and during at-home follow-up.

Impact of Left Heart Disease Risk Factors on Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Therapy.

Background: Current guidelines recommend initial monotherapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with cardiopulmonary comorbidities, despite limited available evidence to guide management.

Research Question: Do left heart disease (LHD) risk factors have an impact on treatment response and influence applicability of risk assessment in a real-world cohort of patients with PAH?

Study Design And Methods: The Ambrisentan and Tadalafil in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (AMBITION) trial criteria was used to define the phenotype of patients with PAH with risk factors for LHD. Treatment strategy, functional outcome, long-term survival, and risk discrimination were compared with a reference PAH cohort using the Pulmonary Hypertension Society of Australia and New Zealand Registry.

Cardiovascular and health cost impacts of cuff blood pressure underestimation and overestimation of invasive aortic systolic blood pressure.

Objective: Hypertension management is directed by cuff blood pressure (BP), but this may be inaccurate, potentially influencing cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and health costs. This study aimed to determine the impact on CVD events and related costs of the differences between cuff and invasive SBP.

Methods: Microsimulations based on Markov modelling over one year were used to determine the differences in the number of CVD events (myocardial infarction or coronary death, stroke, atrial fibrillation or heart failure) predicted by Framingham risk and total CVD health costs based on cuff SBP compared with invasive (aortic) SBP.

Accuracy of cuff blood pressure and systolic blood pressure amplification.

Automated cuff measured blood pressure (BP) is the global standard used for diagnosing hypertension, but there are concerns regarding the accuracy of the method. Individual variability in systolic BP (SBP) amplification from central (aorta) to peripheral (brachial) arteries could be related to the accuracy of cuff BP, but this has never been determined and was the aim of this study. Automated cuff BP and invasive brachial BP were recorded in 795 participants (74% male, aged 64 ± 11 years) receiving coronary angiography at five independent research sites (using seven different automated cuff BP devices).

Asymmetric Hearing Loss in Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients: Results and Recommendations From a Multisite Prospective Clinical Trial.

Objective: A multisite clinical trial was conducted to obtain cochlear implant (CI) efficacy data in adults with asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) and establish an evidence-based framework for clinical decision-making regarding CI candidacy, counseling, and assessment tools. Study hypotheses were threefold: (1) 6-month postimplant performance in the poor ear (PE) with a CI will be significantly better than preimplant performance with a hearing aid (HA), (2) 6-month postimplant performance with a CI and HA (bimodal) will be significantly better than preimplant performance with bilateral HAs (Bil HAs), and (3) 6-month postimplant bimodal performance will be significantly better than aided, better ear (BE) performance.

Design: Forty adults with AHL from four, metropolitan CI centers participated.

Integration of fundamental frequency and voice-onset-time to voicing categorization: Listeners with normal hearing and bimodal hearing configurations.

This study investigates the integration of word-initial fundamental frequency (F0) and voice-onset-time (VOT) in stop voicing categorization for adult listeners with normal hearing (NH) and unilateral cochlear implant (CI) recipients utilizing a bimodal hearing configuration [CI + contralateral hearing aid (HA)]. Categorization was assessed for ten adults with NH and ten adult bimodal listeners, using synthesized consonant stimuli interpolating between /ba/ and /pa/ exemplars with five-step VOT and F0 conditions. All participants demonstrated the expected categorization pattern by reporting /ba/ for shorter VOTs and /pa/ for longer VOTs, with NH listeners showing more use of VOT as a voicing cue than CI listeners in general.

Predictors of Short-Term Changes in Quality of Life after Cochlear Implantation.

Objective: This study aimed 1) to measure the effect of cochlear implantation on health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) using the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL) questionnaire and 2) to determine audiologic, demographic, and non-CI/hearing-related QOL factors influencing the CIQOL.

Study Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Acute Vasoreactivity Testing and Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A Call for Increased Testing.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has a progressive, unremitting clinical course. Vasoreactivity testing (VdT) during right heart catheterisation (RHC) identifies a subgroup with excellent long-term response to calcium channel blockade (CCB). Reporting on these patients is limited.

Cytokinetic Abscission Regulation in Neural Stem Cells and Tissue Development.

Purpose Of Review: How stem cells balance proliferation with differentiation, giving rise to specific daughter cells during development to build an embryo or tissue, remains an open question. Here, we discuss recent evidence that cytokinetic abscission regulation in stem cells, particularly neural stem cells (NSCs), is part of the answer. Abscission is a multi-step process mediated by the midbody, a microtubule-based structure formed in the intercellular bridge between daughter cells after mitosis.

Comparison between cuff-based and invasive systolic blood pressure amplification.

Objective: Accurate measurement of central blood pressure (BP) using upper arm cuff-based methods is associated with several factors, including determining the level of systolic BP (SBP) amplification. This study aimed to determine the agreement between cuff-based and invasively measured SBP amplification.

Methods: Patients undergoing coronary angiography had invasive SBP amplification (brachial SBP - central SBP) measured simultaneously with cuff-based SBP amplification using a commercially available central BP device (device 1: Sphygmocor Xcel; n = 171, 70% men, 60 ± 10 years) and a now superseded model of a central BP device (device 2: Uscom BP+; n = 52, 83% men, 62 ± 10 years).

Sex Differences in Blood Pressure and Potential Implications for Cardiovascular Risk Management.

Background: Accurate blood pressure (BP) measurement is critical for optimal cardiovascular risk management. Age-related trajectories for cuff-measured BP accelerate faster in women compared with men, but whether cuff BP represents the intraarterial (invasive) aortic BP is unknown. This study aimed to determine the sex differences between cuff BP, invasive aortic BP, and the difference between the 2 measurements.

Context-dependent reversal of odorant preference is driven by inversion of the response in a single sensory neuron type.

The valence and salience of individual odorants are modulated by an animal's innate preferences, learned associations, and internal state, as well as by the context of odorant presentation. The mechanisms underlying context-dependent flexibility in odor valence are not fully understood. Here, we show that the behavioral response of Caenorhabditis elegans to bacterially produced medium-chain alcohols switches from attraction to avoidance when presented in the background of a subset of additional attractive chemicals.

Prefrontal cortex supports speech perception in listeners with cochlear implants.

Cochlear implants are neuroprosthetic devices that can restore hearing in people with severe to profound hearing loss by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve. Because of physical limitations on the precision of this stimulation, the acoustic information delivered by a cochlear implant does not convey the same level of acoustic detail as that conveyed by normal hearing. As a result, speech understanding in listeners with cochlear implants is typically poorer and more effortful than in listeners with normal hearing.

Breastfeeding practices in an Australian tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study.

Background: The World Health Organization recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed until six months of age. The Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) was developed for protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding. The BFHI global criteria guides hospital practice for supporting infant feeding and reducing disparities in breastfeeding outcomes.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension in Australia and New Zealand: An analysis of the PHSANZ registry.

Background And Objective: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a serious condition occurring in 2%-4% of patients after acute pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is a potential cure for technically operable disease. The epidemiology and long-term outcomes of CTEPH have not been previously described in Australia and New Zealand.

Cep55: abscission boss or assistant?

Abscission is the second stage of cytokinesis. Cep55, a coiled-coil protein, is thought to recruit endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) to the midbody to complete abscission. However, recent studies of Cep55-knockout mice reveal that most cells can complete abscission without Cep55.

Synchronized Automatic Gain Control in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Recipients Yields Significant Benefit in Static and Dynamic Listening Conditions.

Individuals with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) rely mostly on interaural level difference (ILD) cues to localize stationary sounds in the horizontal plane. Independent automatic gain control (AGC) in each device can distort this cue, resulting in poorer localization of stationary sound sources. However, little is known about how BiCI listeners perceive sound in motion.

Loss of Coiled-Coil Protein Cep55 Impairs Neural Stem Cell Abscission and Results in p53-Dependent Apoptosis in Developing Cortex.

To build the brain, embryonic neural stem cells (NSCs) tightly regulate their cell divisions, undergoing a polarized form of cytokinesis that is poorly understood. Cytokinetic abscission is mediated by the midbody to sever the daughter cells at the apical membrane. In cell lines, the coiled-coil protein was reported to be required for abscission.

Identifying Isolated Systolic Hypertension From Upper-Arm Cuff Blood Pressure Compared With Invasive Measurements.

Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) is the most common form of hypertension and is highly prevalent in older people. We recently showed differences between upper-arm cuff and invasive blood pressure (BP) become greater with increasing age, which could influence correct identification of ISH. This study sought to determine the difference between identification of ISH by cuff BP compared with invasive BP.