Magnetic field expulsion in optically driven YBaCuO.

Coherent optical driving in quantum solids is emerging as a research frontier, with many reports of interesting non-equilibrium quantum phases and transient photo-induced functional phenomena such as ferroelectricity, magnetism and superconductivity. In high-temperature cuprate superconductors, coherent driving of certain phonon modes has resulted in a transient state with superconducting-like optical properties, observed far above their transition temperature T and throughout the pseudogap phase. However, questions remain on the microscopic nature of this transient state and how to distinguish it from a non-superconducting state with enhanced carrier mobility.

Determinants of 1-year mortality after acute myocardial infarction in patients with and without diabetes.

The gap in excess mortality between patients with and without diabetes has not decreased over time. The aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with diabetes and without diabetes in a contemporary population. A retrospective analysis of a cohort of 266 patients with a diagnosis of AMI during 2022 was carried out.

Association of body mass index and blood pressure variability with 10-year mortality and renal disease progression in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Variability in biological parameters may be associated with adverse outcomes. The aim of the study was to determine whether variability in body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure is associated with all-cause, cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality or with renal disease progression in subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The diabetes database was accessed, and all the information on patient visits (consultations) carried out in the study period (1 January 2008-31 December 2019) was extracted and linked to the laboratory database and the mortality register.

Anthropometric and Biochemical Correlations of Insulin Resistance in a Middle-Aged Maltese Caucasian Population.

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, and with increased all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. A number of surrogate markers are used in clinical practice to diagnose IR. The aim of this study was to investigate the discriminatory power of a number of routinely available anthropometric and biochemical variables in predicting IR and to determine their optimal cutoffs.

Association between a polygenic lipodystrophy genetic risk score and diabetes risk in the high prevalence Maltese population.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is genetically heterogenous, driven by beta cell dysfunction and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance drives the development of cardiometabolic complications and is typically associated with obesity. A group of common variants at eleven loci are associated with insulin resistance and risk of both type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease.

Phenotyping obesity: A focus on metabolically healthy obesity and metabolically unhealthy normal weight.

Over the past 4 decades, research has shown that having a normal body weight does not automatically imply preserved metabolic health and a considerable number of lean individuals harbour metabolic abnormalities typically associated with obesity. Conversely, excess adiposity does not always equate with an abnormal metabolic profile. In fact, evidence exists for the presence of a metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUHNW) and a metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype.

Metabolic Health and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: Association of Different Definitions in Women.

The concept of metabolic health and the metabolic syndrome is to identify subjects at a higher cardiovascular risk. However, many definitions are currently in use, and it is uncertain which is the best in identifying at-risk subjects. We performed a cross-sectional study whereby women were invited to participate and were assessed for several anthropometric and biochemical parameters.

Sleep measures and cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess whether poor sleep is independently associated with cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in subjects with T2DM aged between 40 and 80 years. Sleep assessment was achieved by actigraphy and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score.

Investigating Adiposity-Related Metabolic Health Phenotypes in Patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Obesity and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are related through meta-inflammation and are both associated with increased cardiometabolic risk. Notwithstanding, cardiometabolic pathology is not uniform in obesity and a subset of individuals with excess adiposity exhibit a healthy metabolic profile. Whilst the incidence of cardiometabolic endpoints and transitions across different adiposity-related body composition phenotypes within several populations and across different ethnicities have been investigated, data regarding metabolic health (MetH) and body composition phenotypes in individuals with HS are lacking.

Time trajectories of key cardiometabolic parameters and of cardiovascular risk in subjects with diabetes in a real world setting.

Background And Aims: Diabetes is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA), lipid parameters and blood pressure are known risk factors for adverse outcome. The aim of the study was to explore the time trajectories of these key parameters and of the associated cardiovascular risk.

Long COVID Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes various cardiovascular complications. However, it is unknown if there are cardiovascular sequelae in the medium and long-term. The aim of this study was dual.

Association between biopsychosocial factors and self-reported COVID-19 clinical complications in a Brazilian city.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the existence of an association between the biopsychosocial profile of people affected and the number of self-reported clinical complications from COVID-19 in a Brazilian city.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional (baseline) study, nested in a cohort study, carried out with 217 confirmed cases of COVID-19, interviewed from January to October 2021, during home visits, in a city in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A structured questionnaire with the KoboToolbox resource was used.

Reduced leukocyte mitochondrial copy number in metabolic syndrome and metabolically healthy obesity.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the associations between peripheral blood leukocyte mitochondrial copy number, metabolic syndrome, and adiposity-related body composition phenotypes in a high prevalence population.

Methods: A single center cross-sectional study was conducted, consisting of 521 middle-aged subjects of Maltese-Caucasian ethnicity. Participants were stratified according to the presence of metabolic syndrome and different metabolic health definitions based on NCEP-ATP III criteria.

Prevalence rates of metabolic health and body size phenotypes by different criteria and association with insulin resistance in a Maltese Caucasian population.

Introduction: Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are known to be associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A metabolically unhealthy phenotype is frequently used as a surrogate marker for insulin resistance. The aims of the current study were to compare the prevalence of the body size phenotypes using different definitions of metabolic health and to investigate which one of them is most strongly associated with insulin resistance in men and women.

Predictors of subclinical atherosclerosis and microalbuminuria in middle-aged women: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is of increasing concern in women. The aim was to assess the role of clinical and anthropometric measures in the development of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Methods: A cross-sectional study in 203 Europid females to determine the prevalence of abnormal carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and associated clinical parameters.

Prenatal and early life factors and type 1 diabetes.

Background: The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is increasing worldwide, suggesting that unknown environmental factors are becoming increasingly important in its pathogenesis.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the possible role of a number of prenatal and perinatal factors in the aetiology of type 1 diabetes.

Methods: Mothers of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (cases) and mothers of children born on the same day and of the same sex as type 1 diabetes patients (controls) were interviewed on a number of prenatal and perinatal factors of interest.

Does optimal HbA1c in diabetes differ according to drug treatment? An evaluation of national electronic database in Malta.

Background And Aims: A J-shaped relationship between HbA and mortality has been reported in subjects with type 2 diabetes. The postulated mechanism linking low HbA with increased mortality is increased hypoglycaemia risk. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the relationship between low HbA to mortality in patients on therapies with different hypoglycaemia risk.

Sex differences in cardiometabolic abnormalities in a middle-aged Maltese population.

Objectives: There are sex differences in distribution of fat and in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. We therefore sought to explore sex differences in the prevalence of adiposity-metabolic health phenotypes, in anthropometric and cardio-metabolic parameters, and in the relationship between body mass index (BMI) categories and metabolic health.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study carried out between January 2018 and June 2019, of a nationally representative sample of the Maltese Caucasian population aged 41 ± 5 years.

Phase Diagram for Light-Induced Superconductivity in κ-(ET)_{2}-X.

Resonant optical excitation of certain molecular vibrations in κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu[N(CN)_{2}]Br has been shown to induce transient superconductinglike optical properties at temperatures far above equilibrium T_{c}. Here, we report experiments across the bandwidth-tuned phase diagram of this class of materials, and study the Mott insulator κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu[N(CN)_{2}]Cl and the metallic compound κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu(NCS)_{2}. We find nonequilibrium photoinduced superconductivity only in κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu[N(CN)_{2}]Br, indicating that the proximity to the Mott insulating phase and possibly the presence of preexisting superconducting fluctuations are prerequisites for this effect.

Characterisation of body size phenotypes in a middle-aged Maltese population.

Obesity is increasingly recognised as being a heterogeneous disease. Some obese individuals may present a metabolically healthy profile (metabolically healthy obese (MHO)), while some normal weight individuals exhibit an adverse cardiometabolic phenotype (metabolically unhealthy normal weight individuals (MUHNW)). The objectives of the present study were to examine the prevalence and associated characteristics of the different body composition phenotypes within a Maltese cohort.

Adrenal insufficiency in HIV/AIDS: a review.

Introduction: Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is one of the most common potentially life-threatening endocrine complications in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Areas Covered: In this review, the authors explore the definitions of relative AI, primary AI, secondary AI and peripheral glucocorticoid resistance in PLHIV. It also focuses on the pathophysiology, etiology, diagnosis and management of this endocrinopathy in PLHIV.