Musculoskeletal, Pulmonary, and Cardiovascular COVID-19 Sequelae in the Context of Firefighter Occupational Health: A Narrative Review.

For most individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, the acute illness resolves completely. However, for millions of people, symptoms or sequelae from COVID-19 recur or persist for months to years after infection. Post-COVID-19 sequelae are wide-ranging, often affecting the musculoskeletal, pulmonary, and cardiovascular systems.

Toll-like receptor 4 deletion partially protects mice from high fat diet-induced arterial stiffness despite perturbation to the gut microbiota.

The present study aimed to determine the effects of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) deletion on high fat diet-induced aortic stiffness and gut microbiota alterations. We hypothesized that a high fat diet would result in perturbation of the gut microbiota in both control and TLR4 knockout mice (TLR4), but that the absence of TLR4 signaling would protect mice from downstream vascular consequences of the high fat diet. Male control mice (CON, n=12) and TLR4 mice (KO, n=12) were fed either a standard low-fat diet (SD) or a high fat diet (HFD) (60% kcals from fat) for 6 months, after which time measurements of aortic stiffness (via pulse wave velocity [aPWV]) and gut microbiota composition (16S rRNA sequencing) were determined.

Subclinical Cardiac Dysfunction is Associated with Reduced Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Firefighters.

Background: Past studies have documented the ability of cardiopulmonary exercise testing to detect cardiac dysfunction in symptomatic patients with coronary artery disease. Firefighters are at high risk for work-related cardiac events. This observational study investigated the association of subclinical cardiac dysfunction detected by cardiopulmonary exercise testing with modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors in asymptomatic firefighters.

Ingroup Bias in Healthcare Contexts: Israeli-Jewish Perceptions of Arab and Jewish Doctors.

The influence of group membership on perceptions of outgroup members has been extensively studied in various contexts. This research has indicated a strong tendency for ingroup bias - preferring the ingroup over the outgroup. We seek to further expand on the growing literature regarding the effects of group membership within healthcare contexts.

Decreased Pulmonary Function Over 5 Years in US Firefighters.

Objective: To examine changes in pulmonary function over a 5-year period in US firefighters.

Methods: Spirometry values from occupational medical examinations separated by 5 years (2009 to 2016) were examined from 662 career firefighters in Virginia. Predicted values and expected 5-year changes in one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC were estimated using reference equations generated from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) data.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Changes Over 5 Years Among Male and Female US Firefighters.

Objective: To examine changes in measures of cardiovascular health in male and female firefighters over 5 years.

Methods: Anthropometrics and biomarkers of cardiovascular health from two occupational medical exams separated by 5 years (2009 to 2016) were examined from a cohort of US career firefighters in Virginia (males, n = 603; females, n = 69). Changes over time were tested using paired t-tests and McNemar's tests.

Intra-dialytic hypotension: Identifying patients most at risk.

Background: Intra-dialytic hypotension (IDH) remains a frequent but serious complication of haemodialysis.

Methods: We performed a retrospective observational analysis of our prevalent dialysis population extracting data from an online database.

Results: Four hundred and thirty-two patients underwent 21 consecutive outpatient dialysis sessions during the study period: Of the 9,072 dialysis sessions studied, 438 were complicated by episodes of IDH (4.