Perceptions of Obesity Among Healthcare Professionals and Policy Makers in 2023: Results of the Global OPEN Survey.

Objective: Obesity is a disease with severe health impacts on individuals and economic impacts on society, yet healthcare practitioners (HCPs) and policy makers often fail to address it. This survey was conducted to examine current global obesity care and perceptions influencing care delivery among HCPs and healthcare decision makers (HC DMs).

Methods: A survey with a cross-sectional design was conducted among 1200 HCPs (primary care providers, endocrinologists, cardiologists, and nurses) and 414 HC DMs from eight countries across five continents.

A miR-activated hydrogel for the delivery of a pro-chondrogenic microRNA-221 inhibitor as a minimally invasive therapeutic approach for articular cartilage repair.

Articular cartilage has limited capacity for repair (or for regeneration) under pathological conditions, given its non-vascularized connective tissue structure and low cellular density. Our group has successfully developed an injectable hydrogel for cartilage repair, composed of collagen type I (Col I), collagen type II (Col II), and methacrylated-hyaluronic acid (MeHA), capable of supporting chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) towards articular cartilage-like phenotypes. Recent studies have demonstrated that silencing may be an effective approach in promoting improved MSC chondrogenesis.

Fatal Tension Gastrothorax: Two Case Reports.

Tension gastrothorax is a rare and potentially fatal complication of a diaphragmatic hernia, in which a massively dilated, intrathoracic stomach compresses the lungs and mediastinum, causing cardiorespiratory compromise, in a mechanism akin to tension pneumothorax. Although it is very rare, tension gastrothorax has been reported in the literature; however, such reports are almost exclusively restricted to its clinical presentation and treatment in emergency departments. To the best of our knowledge, no adult autopsy case reports of tension gastrothorax have been reported in the literature.