Outcomes of malignancy in adults with congenital heart disease: a single center experience.

Background: Malignancy is known to be a major cause of death in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). However, data regarding cardiovascular and cancer-related outcomes in ACHD are lacking.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study comprising patients with ACHD and malignancy.

Systems-Level Opportunities in the Management of Primary Hyperparathyroidism: An Informatics-based Assessment.

Context: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), a leading cause of hypercalcemia and secondary osteoporosis, is underdiagnosed.

Objective: This work aims to establish a foundation for an electronic medical record-based intervention that would prompt serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) assessment in patients with persistent hypercalcemia and identify care gaps in their management.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary academic health system of outpatients with persistent hypercalcemia, who were categorized as having classic or normohormonal PHPT.

Management of Biliary Stricture in Pediatric Liver Transplantation Patients: Long-Term Outcomes.

Postoperative biliary complications have been reported to occur in 10% to 33% of pediatric liver transplantation (LT) recipients. Percutaneous intervention has become the primary treatment method for these complications; however, the efficacy and outcomes of these patients have not been well studied. Institutional pediatric LT from 1998 to 2019 were retrospectively reviewed to determine the patients referred for percutaneous treatment of post-LT biliary strictures.

Maternal and Fetal Outcomes in Women with Brain Arteriovenous Malformation Rupture during Pregnancy.

Background: Sporadic brain arteriovenous malformations (BAVM) are a major cause of hemorrhagic stroke in younger persons. Prior studies have reported contradictory results regarding the risk of hemorrhage during pregnancy, and there are no standard guidelines for the management of pregnant women who present with BAVM rupture. The purpose of this study is to describe maternal and fetal outcomes and treatment strategies in patients with BAVM hemorrhage during pregnancy.

Normocalcaemic primary hyperparathyroidism: An update on diagnostic and management challenges.

Normocalcaemic primary hyperparathyroidism is a condition that can present with intermittent hypercalcemia or may evolve into hypercalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism. This milder biochemical entity remains incompletely understood because of a lack of long-term health outcomes regarding both medical and surgical approaches to its management. Medical therapies have shown some efficacy.

Rising Incidence and Incidence-Based Mortality of Thyroid Cancer in California, 2000-2017.

Context: The increased incidence of thyroid cancer globally over the past several decades is principally attributed to small, indolent papillary thyroid cancers. A possible concomitant increase in thyroid cancer-specific mortality remains debated.

Objective: The changes in thyroid cancer incidence and incidence-based mortality were assessed using a large population-based cohort over an 18-year period.

The C-terminal fibrinogen-like domain of angiopoietin-like 4 stimulates adipose tissue lipolysis and promotes energy expenditure.

Angptl4 (Angiopoietin-like 4) is a circulating protein secreted by white and brown adipose tissues and the liver. Structurally, Angptl4 contains an N-terminal coiled-coil domain (CCD) connected to a C-terminal fibrinogen-like domain (FLD) via a cleavable linker, and both full-length Angptl4 and its individual domains circulate in the bloodstream. Angptl4 inhibits extracellular lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and stimulates the lipolysis of triacylglycerol stored by adipocytes in the white adipose tissue (WAT).

Emergency room resource utilization by patients with low-back pain.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with admission to the hospital through the emergency room (ER) for patients with a primary diagnosis of low-back pain (LBP). The authors further evaluated the impact of ER admission and patient characteristics on mortality, discharge disposition, and hospital length of stay. METHODS The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with LBP discharged from hospitals according to the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) between 1998 and 2007.

A crossmodal role for audition in taste perception.

Our sense of taste can be influenced by our other senses, with several groups having explored the effects of olfactory, visual, or tactile stimulation on what we perceive as taste. Research into multisensory, or crossmodal perception has rarely linked our sense of taste with that of audition. In our study, 48 participants in a crossover experiment sampled multiple concentrations of solutions of 5 prototypic tastants, during conditions with or without broad spectrum auditory stimulation, simulating that of airline cabin noise.

Correlation of calcification on excised aortic valves by micro-computed tomography with severity of aortic stenosis.

Background And Aim Of The Study: The quantification of incidentally found aortic valve calcification on computed tomography (CT) is not performed routinely, as data relating to the accuracy of aortic valve calcium for estimating the severity of aortic stenosis (AS) is neither consistent nor validated. As aortic valve calcium quantification by CT is confounded by wall and coronary ostial calcification, as well as motion artifact, the ex-vivo micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) of stenotic aortic valves allows a precise measurement of the amounts of calcium present. The study aim, using excised aortic valves from patients with confirmed AS, was to determine if the amount of calcium on micro-CT correlated with the severity of AS.

Operative risks and survival in veterans with severe aortic stenosis: surgery versus medical therapy.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valves were developed as an alternative to surgery for the one third to two thirds of patients with severe aortic stenosis who do not undergo aortic valve replacement. In this study, we examined reasons for medical management of aortic stenosis in relation to operative risks and outcomes for veterans with and without valve replacement.

Methods: The echocardiography database was screened from 2000 to 2007 for severe aortic stenosis.