Preact to lower the risk of falling by customized rehabilitation across Europe: the feasibility study protocol of the PRECISE project in Italy.

Introduction: Falls are a major worldwide health problem in older people. Several physical rehabilitation programs with home-based technologies, such as the online DigiRehab platform, have been successfully delivered. The PRECISE project combines personalized training delivered through the application with an artificial intelligence-based predictive model (AI-DSS platform) for fall risk assessment.

One step closer to myocardial physiology: From PV loop analysis to state-of-the-art myocardial imaging.

Recent advances in cardiac imaging have revitalized the assessment of fundamental physiological concepts. In the field of cardiac physiology, invasive measurements with pressure-volume (PV) loops have served as the gold standard methodology for the characterization of left ventricular (LV) function. From PV loop data, fundamental aspects of LV chamber function are derived such as work, efficiency, stiffness and contractility.

Clinical and Genetic Investigations of 109 Index Patients With Dilated Cardiomyopathy and 445 of Their Relatives.

Background: It was the aim to investigate the frequency and genetic basis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) among relatives of index patients with unexplained heart failure at a tertiary referral center.

Methods: Clinical investigations were performed in 109 DCM index patients and 445 of their relatives. All index patients underwent genetic investigations of 76 disease-associated DCM genes.

Quantifying left ventricular function in heart failure: What makes a clinically valuable parameter?

In heart failure (HF) management, noninvasive quantification of left ventricular (LV) function is rapidly evolving. Deformation parameters, such as strain, continue to challenge the central role of ejection fraction (EF) in diagnosis and prognostication of LV dysfunction in HF. The increasing recognition and use of deformation parameters motivates a conceptual discussion about what makes a parameter clinically valuable.

Pathogenic RBM20-Variants Are Associated With a Severe Disease Expression in Male Patients With Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Background As pathogenic variants in the gene for RBM20 appear with a frequency of 6% among Danish patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), it was the aim to investigate the associated disease expression in affected families. Methods and Results Clinical investigations were routinely performed in DCM index-patients and their relatives. In addition, ≥76 recognized and likely DCM-genes were investigated.

Cognitive Change during the Life Course and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Late Middle-Aged Men.

Cognitive skills are known to decline through the lifespan with large individual differences. The molecular mechanisms for this decline are incompletely understood. Although leukocyte telomere length provides an index of cellular age that predicts the incidence of age-related diseases, it is unclear whether there is an association between cognitive decline and leukocyte telomere length.

Telomere shortening and telomerase activity in ischaemic cardiomyopathy patients - Potential markers of ventricular arrhythmia.

Background: Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) reduce mortality in patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy at high risk of ventricular arrhythmias (VA). However, the current indication for ICD prescription needs improvement. Telomere and telomerase in leucocytes have been shown to associate with biological ageing and pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases.

Heterogenous mismatch-repair status in colorectal cancer.

Background: Immunohistochemical staining for mismatch repair proteins is efficient and widely used to identify mismatch repair defective tumors. The tumors typically show uniform and widespread loss of MMR protein staining. We identified and characterized colorectal cancers with alternative, heterogenous mismatch repair protein staining in order to delineate expression patterns and underlying mechanisms.

The relationship between ultra-short telomeres, aging of articular cartilage and the development of human hip osteoarthritis.

Introduction: Ultra-short telomeres caused by stress-induced telomere shortening are suggested to induce chondrocyte senescence in human osteoarthritic knees. Here we have further investigated the role of ultra-short telomeres in the development of osteoarthritis (OA) and in aging of articular cartilage in human hips.

Materials And Methods: Cartilage was obtained from four different distances of the central weight-bearing area in human femoral heads (14 OA and 9 non-OA).

Telomere dynamics in human mesenchymal stem cells after exposure to acute oxidative stress.

A gradual shortening of telomeres due to replication can be measured using the standard telomere restriction fragments (TRF) assay and other methods by measuring the mean length of all the telomeres in a cell. In contrast, stress-induced telomere shortening, which is believed to be just as important for causing cellular senescence, cannot be measured properly using these methods. Stress-induced telomere shortening caused by, e.

Reforming the acute phase of the inpatient journey.

The medical admissions unit (MAU) of the Royal Free Hospital, London, should receive all acute accident and emergency (A&E) medical admissions. The unit aims to discharge 60% of patients and to transfer the remainder to a base ward within 48 hours of admission. This study tracked the patient journey from admission to A&E through the MAU during two parallel weeks, one year apart.