Patient-reported outcomes and subsequent management in atrial fibrillation clinical practice: Results from the Utah mEVAL AF program.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) significantly reduces health-related quality of life (HRQoL), previously measured in clinical trials using patient-reported outcomes (PROs). We examined AF PROs in clinical practice and their association with subsequent clinical management.

Methods: The Utah My Evaluation (mEVAL) program collects the Toronto AF Symptom Severity Scale (AFSS) in AF outpatients at the University of Utah.

Social Media Influence Does Not Reflect Scholarly or Clinical Activity in Real Life.

Background: Social media has become a major source of communication in medicine. We aimed to understand the relationship between physicians' social media influence and their scholarly and clinical activity.

Methods: We identified attending US electrophysiologists on Twitter.

Accuracy of Patient Identification of Electrocardiogram-Verified Atrial Arrhythmias.

This cross-sectional study describes the sensitivity and specificity of patient self-assessment for atrial arrhythmia compared with 12-lead electrocardiogram and describes the association of patient perception of arrhythmia with symptom burden.

IDPQuantify: combining precursor intensity with spectral counts for protein and peptide quantification.

Differentiating and quantifying protein differences in complex samples produces significant challenges in sensitivity and specificity. Label-free quantification can draw from two different information sources: precursor intensities and spectral counts. Intensities are accurate for calculating protein relative abundance, but values are often missing due to peptides that are identified sporadically.

Regiochemical functionalization of a nanoscale cage-like structure: robust core-shell nanostructures crafted as vessels for selective uptake and release of small and large guests.

As synthetic methods evolve toward the preparation of increasingly complex nanostructured materials inspired from biological nano-objects, the ability to tailor the three-dimensional architecture and the placement of functional groups at well-defined positions within those frameworks is advancing. In this report, we demonstrate the ability to functionalize selectively internal and external sites (regiochemically) within polymer nanocages, to advance their development as synthetic analogs of viral capsids. Nanocages, possessing carbonyl groups on their internal surfaces and acrylic acid residues throughout their structure were prepared and functionalized, through either Schiff-base chemistry, to attach covalently phosphatidylethanolamine-based lipids within the nanocage, or carbodiimide-mediated coupling, to attach covalently the lipids throughout the shell.

Fabrication of hybrid nanocapsules by calcium phosphate mineralization of shell cross-linked polymer micelles and nanocages.

Self-assembled shell cross-linked poly(acrylic acid-b-isoprene) (PAA78-b-PI97) micelles or cross-linked PAA nanocages in aqueous solution were used as templates for the preparation of novel polymer-inorganic nanocapsules. The hybrid nanostructures were typically 50-70 nm in diameter and consisted of spherical polymer nanoparticles or nanocages enclosed within a continuous 10-20 nm thick surface layer of amorphous calcium phosphate. Nucleation of calcium phosphate specifically in association with the polymer nanoparticles was facilitated by low supersaturation levels and by sequestration of Ca2+ ions within the carboxylate-rich PAA domains prior to addition of HPO4(2-).

An assessment of the effects of shell cross-linked nanoparticle size, core composition, and surface PEGylation on in vivo biodistribution.

Amphiphilic core-shell nanoparticles have drawn considerable interest in biomedical applications. The precise control over their physicochemical parameters and the ability to attach various ligands within specific domains suggest shell cross-linked (SCK) nanoparticles may be used as multi-/polyvalent scaffolds for drug delivery. In this study, the biodistribution of four SCKs, differing in size, core composition, and surface PEGylation, was evaluated.

64Cu-labeled folate-conjugated shell cross-linked nanoparticles for tumor imaging and radiotherapy: synthesis, radiolabeling, and biologic evaluation.

Unlabelled: Long-circulating nanoparticles functionalized with ligands for receptors overexpressed by tumor cells have promising applications for active and passive tumor targeting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 64Cu-radiolabeled folate-conjugated shell cross-linked nanoparticles (SCKs) as candidate agents to shuttle radionuclides and drugs into tumors overexpressing the folate receptor (FR).

Methods: SCKs were obtained by cross-linking the shell of micelles obtained from amphiphilic diblock copolymers.

PNA-directed solution- and surface-assembly of shell crosslinked (SCK) nanoparticle conjugates.

The conjugation of complementary peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequences to well defined shell crosslinked (SCK) nanoparticles is reported as a mechanism by which to direct their self assembly into higher order structures selective and tunable binding interactions. Base-pairing-driven aggregation of the SCK's occurred for mixtures of SCK's that presented complementary sequences in aqueous sodium chloride solutions and upon mica substrates. The assembly processes were monitored by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy as a function of salt concentration, and by UV-vis spectroscopy as a function of salt concentration and temperature.

Folic acid-conjugated nanostructured materials designed for cancer cell targeting.

Shell cross-linked nanoparticles (SCKs) constitute a unique class of materials with amphiphilic core-shell morphology; SCKs are characterised by their structural integrity and available functionality to attach receptor-recognising or receptor-specific ligands on the shell surface and, therefore, hold great potential in drug delivery applications; in an attempt to develop novel, cancer cell specific delivery vehicles, folate receptor targeted SCKs have been prepared.