Uncontrolled Cholesterol in Individuals with Severe Hypercholesterolemia in a Health Evaluation Program in Brazil.

Background: Individuals with severe hypercholesterolemia (SH) are considered at high atherosclerosis risk and should be intensively treated with lipid-lowering drugs aiming for an LDL-C reduction of≥50% and a goal of <70 mg/dL.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate cholesterol control in individuals with SH (LDL-C ≥ 190 mg/dL or 160-189 mg/dL using lipid-lowering drugs) followed in a health evaluation program.

Methods: 55,000 individuals were evaluated, of which 2,214 (4%) had SH, and 1,016 (45.

Three-dimensional tissue engineered skeletal muscle modelling facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by sporadic misexpression of the transcription factor double homeobox 4 (DUX4) in skeletal muscles. So far, monolayer cultures and animal models have been used to study the FSHD disease mechanism and for FSHD therapy development, but these models do not fully recapitulate the disease and there is a lack of knowledge on how DUX4 misexpression leads to skeletal muscle dysfunction. To overcome these barriers, we have developed a three-dimensional tissue engineered skeletal muscle (3D-TESM) model by generating genetically matched myogenic progenitors (MPs) from human induced pluripotent stem cells of three mosaic FSHD patients.

Relationship between Sleep Bruxism Determined by Non-Instrumental and Instrumental Approaches and Psychometric Variables.

Sleep bruxism (SB) can be determined with different diagnostic procedures. The relationship between psychometric variables and SB varies depending on the diagnostic method. The aim of the study was to compare the association between SB and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL; measured by the Oral Health Impact Profile, OHIP), anxiety (measured by the State-Trait anxiety inventory, STAI), and stress (single scale variable) depending on the diagnostic method in the same sample.

The Association Between Stuttering Burden and Psychosocial Aspects of Life in Adults.

Purpose: Stuttering is a speech condition that can have a major impact on a person's quality of life. This descriptive study aimed to identify subgroups of people who stutter (PWS) based on stuttering burden and to investigate differences between these subgroups on psychosocial aspects of life.

Method: The study included 618 adult participants who stutter.

Erasmus clinical model of the onset and development of stuttering 2.0.

A clinical, evidence-based model to inform clients and their parents about the nature of stuttering is indispensable for the field. In this paper, we propose the Erasmus Clinical Model of Stuttering 2.0 for children who stutter and their parents, and adult clients.

Benefits and limitations of isokinetic force assessments in swimmer's shoulders: A systematic review.

Objective: To indicate the benefits and limitations of the isokinetic test results for the performance of the main shoulder joint movements in swimmers, considering the different competitive levels, swimming techniques, race distances, and sex.

Methods: Search on the PubMed, CENTRAL, Medline, LILACS, and SCOPUS databases for the oldest records up to October 2022. Risk of bias, methodological quality, and level of evidence were evaluated based on the NHLBI checklist.

A blueprint for health technology assessment capacity building: lessons learned from Malta.

Objectives: The development and strengthening of health technology assessment (HTA) capacity on the individual and organizational level and the wider environment is relevant for cooperation on HTAs. Based on the Maltese case, we provide a blueprint for building HTA capacity.

Methods: A set of activities were developed based on Pichler et al.

Applying a cost-based pricing model for innovative cancer treatments subject to indication expansion: A case study for pembrolizumab and daratumumab.

Background: Expanding the indication of already approved immuno-oncology drugs presents treatment opportunities for patients but also strains healthcare systems. Cost-based pricing models are discussed as a possibility for cost containment. This study focuses on two drugs, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and daratumumab (Darzalex), to explore the potential effect of indication broadening on the estimated price when using the cost-based pricing (CBP) model proposed by Uyl-de Groot and Löwenberg (2018).

Association between Psychological Distress and Possible, Probable, and Definite Sleep Bruxism-A Comparison of Approved Diagnostic Procedures.

(1) Background: The relationship between sleep bruxism (SB) and psychological distress has been investigated in numerous studies and is heterogeneous. Different diagnostic procedures have been applied to determine SB. The aim of this study was to directly compare the association between psychological distress and SB diagnosed by different accepted methods.

What is the optimal assessment of speech? A multicentre, international evaluation of speech assessment in 2500 patients with a cleft.

Objectives: Speech problems in patients with a cleft palate are often complex and multifactorial. Finding the optimal way of monitoring these problems is challenging. The International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) has developed a set of standardised outcome measures at specific ages for patients with a cleft lip and/or palate, including measures of speech assessment.

Self-Reported Stuttering Severity Is Accurate: Informing Methods for Large-Scale Data Collection in Stuttering.

Purpose: To our knowledge, there are no data examining the agreement between self-reported and clinician-rated stuttering severity. In the era of big data, self-reported ratings have great potential utility for large-scale data collection, where cost and time preclude in-depth assessment by a clinician. Equally, there is increasing emphasis on the need to recognize an individual's experience of their own condition.

Do Not Cut Off Your Tail: A Mega-Analysis of Responses to Auditory Perturbation Experiments.

Purpose: The practice of removing "following" responses from speech perturbation analyses is increasingly common, despite no clear evidence as to whether these responses represent a unique response type. This study aimed to determine if the distribution of responses to auditory perturbation paradigms represents a bimodal distribution, consisting of two distinct response types, or a unimodal distribution.

Method: This mega-analysis pooled data from 22 previous studies to examine the distribution and magnitude of responses to auditory perturbations across four tasks: adaptive pitch, adaptive formant, reflexive pitch, and reflexive formant.

Towards a scientific community consensus on designating Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems from imagery.

Management of deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations/Arrangements (RFMO/As) requires identification of areas with Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Currently, fisheries data, including trawl and longline bycatch data, are used by many RFMO/As to inform the identification of VMEs. However, the collection of such data creates impacts and there is a need to collect non-invasive data for VME identification and monitoring purposes.

Effectiveness of Stuttering Modification Treatment in School-Age Children Who Stutter: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Purpose: This study investigated the effectiveness of the stuttering modification intervention Kinder Dürfen Stottern (KIDS) in school-age children who stutter.

Method: Seventy-three children who stutter were included in this multicenter, two-group parallel, randomized, wait-list controlled trial with a follow-up of 12 months. Children aged 7-11 years were recruited from 34 centers for speech therapy and randomized to either the immediate-treatment group or the 3 months delayed-treatment group.

The Fifth Croatia Stuttering Symposium: Part III. Mental health and early stuttering.

Purpose: The Fifth Croatia Stuttering Symposium of 2022 continued the Fourth Croatia Stuttering Symposium 2019 theme of the connection between research and clinical practice. At the 2022 Symposium, there were 145 delegates from 21 countries. This paper documents the contents of the third of three Symposium modules.

A SWOT analysis of the complex interdependencies of the Maltese reimbursement processes.

Background: The processes that operationalize the evaluation framework for new medicines are implemented to reach the system objectives of public health, financial sustainability, and equitability. However, when the activities and procedures of these processes are misaligned, the objectives of the system may be at risk.

Objectives: To evaluate the supporting processes for introducing new medicines in public healthcare services in Malta.

Folate, folic acid, and chemotherapy-induced toxicities: A systematic literature review.

Folate metabolism is a target for various chemotherapeutic drugs. Folate and its synthetic variant folic acid are B-vitamins. To what extent these vitamins impact treatment tolerance in patients with cancer remains unclear.

P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy versus dual antiplatelet therapy in patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing coronary stenting: rationale and design of the NEOMINDSET Trial.

Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is currently the standard of care after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Recent studies suggest that reducing DAPT to 1-3 months followed by an aspirin-free single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) strategy with a potent P2Y inhibitor is safe and associated with less bleeding. However, to date, no randomised trial has tested the impact of initiating SAPT immediately after PCI, particularly in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

[An exceptional venous pattern in a patient with cancer].

A 71-year-old female was treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel for an endometrial carcinosarcoma. The patient demonstrated an unusual type 1 allergic reaction on carboplatin, which started with an erythematous urticarial venous pattern proximal from the venous catheter with carboplatin.

Effects on general pain perception and dental pulp sensibility in probable sleep bruxism subjects by experimentally induced pain in a pilot study.

In this pilot study, the general pain perception and the dental pulp sensibility of probable sleep bruxism (SB) subjects were compared with that of non-SB subjects. The cold pressor test (CPT), electric pulp test (EPT), and thermal pulp test with CO snow were executed by one trained dentist (blind to SB diagnosis). A one-factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with SB diagnosis as independent variable and standardized measures regarding pain perception and evaluation was performed.