Systems level identification of a matrisome-associated macrophage polarisation state in multi-organ fibrosis.

Tissue fibrosis affects multiple organs and involves a master-regulatory role of macrophages which respond to an initial inflammatory insult common in all forms of fibrosis. The recently unravelled multi-organ heterogeneity of macrophages in healthy and fibrotic human disease suggests that macrophages expressing osteopontin (SPP1) associate with lung and liver fibrosis. However, the conservation of this SPP1 macrophage population across different tissues and its specificity to fibrotic diseases with different etiologies remain unclear.

Vasculitis: When to Consider this Diagnosis?

Vasculitis is a diverse group of disorders involving inflammation of the blood vessels. Approaching the diagnosis of vasculitis can be challenging, given the differing clinical presentation and organ manifestations. Often vasculitis is a diagnosis that is considered too late, given the heterogeneous presentation and various mimics.

Recombinant zoster vaccine coverage in the United States: An analysis of claims-based data.

Recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) is recommended for individuals ≥ 50 years of age for protection against herpes zoster (HZ). This study quantifies RZV coverage and assesses predictors for RZV vaccination using a U.S.

The Clot Thickens: COVID-19-Related ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction in the Setting of Recent Boosters.

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has an array of pathological effects that continue to be discovered. Vaccines against COVID-19 have quickly emerged as our main tool. However, the thrombotic risk of both the virus and the vaccine is yet to be established, let alone together.

Risk Factors for 30-day Hospital Readmissions After Peripheral Vascular Interventions in Peripheral Artery Disease Patients at the US-Mexico Border.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with high rates of readmission following endovascular interventions and contributes to a significant hospital readmission burden. Quality metrics like hospital readmissions affect hospital performance, but must adjust to local trends. Our primary goal was to evaluate risk factors and readmission rates post-percutaneous peripheral intervention in a US-Mexico border city, at a single tertiary university hospital.

Role of Sex in Atherosclerosis: Does Sex Matter?

Purpose Of Review: Atherosclerosis is the largest cause of death in the western world with the role of sex yet to be determined. The purpose of this review is to investigate the role sex may play in the development of atherosclerosis.

Recent Findings: Differences in plaque burden play a role in atherosclerotic outcome.

Cardiac Outpatient Care in a Digital Age: Remote Cardiology Clinic Visits in the Era of COVID-19.

Purpose Of Review: The worldwide pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus disease transformed healthcare in many ways. The impact of the pandemic was also noted in outpatient settings with various clinics adopting telehealth as the new normal. The goal of this paper is to investigate how the pandemic impacted the outpatient cardiology setting, specifically regarding the use of telehealth, and can the lessons learned from the adoption of telehealth in the backdrop of COVID-19 be applied to facilitate the wider and routine use of telemedicine in the outpatient cardiology clinic.

Cardiovascular Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Purpose Of The Review: To review cardiovascular outcomes (CVE) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that evolves over time.

Recent Findings: Inception cohorts now report long-term data, and large population registries add to our knowledge. Mortality and cardiovascular morbidity remain high with a risk ratio of 2-3.

Evaluation of a city-wide school-located influenza vaccination program in Oakland, California with respect to race and ethnicity: A matched cohort study.

Background: Increasing influenza vaccination coverage in school-aged children may substantially reduce community transmission. School-located influenza vaccinations (SLIV) aim to promote vaccinations by increasing accessibility, which may be especially beneficial to race/ethnicity groups that face high barriers to preventative care. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of a city-wide SLIV program by race/ethnicity from 2014 to 2018.

Management of Stent Thrombosis Post-Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Associated Rare Complications.

Stent thrombosis is a devastating complication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Progressive technical advancements from balloon angioplasty to bare-metal stent and drug-eluting stent placement have reduced the incidence of stent thrombosis. Definitive management and preventive methods are still negligible.

DUBStepR is a scalable correlation-based feature selection method for accurately clustering single-cell data.

Feature selection (marker gene selection) is widely believed to improve clustering accuracy, and is thus a key component of single cell clustering pipelines. Existing feature selection methods perform inconsistently across datasets, occasionally even resulting in poorer clustering accuracy than without feature selection. Moreover, existing methods ignore information contained in gene-gene correlations.

City-wide school-located influenza vaccination: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: We measured the effectiveness of a city-wide school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) program implemented in over 102 elementary schools in Oakland, California.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) members of all ages residing in either the intervention or a multivariate-matched comparison site from September 2011 - August 2017. Outcomes included medically attended acute respiratory illness (MAARI), influenza hospitalization, and Oseltamivir prescriptions.

Slither Into the Heart: Salmonella Endocarditis Following Rattlesnake Meat Ingestion.

Salmonellae foodborne infections are a well described and documented entity, however cardiac complications of Salmonellae foodborne infections including infective endocarditis (IE) are rare. Here we present a case of infective endocarditis as a result of bacteremia caused by multiple species of . The patient initially presented with chest pain, fever and altered mental status.

Antithrombotic / Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease and After Acute Coronary Syndrome.

The major physiopathological mechanism underlying Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) is atherosclerotic plaque rupture with resultant coronary thrombosis, posing a big burden in health care systems. Dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) can improve CV outcome with a prolonged regimen, albeit at the cost of increased bleeding rates. We performed a narrative literature review on the topic, in which we explored databases through April 15th, 2020, with no restrictions on language.

Evaluation of a city-wide school-located influenza vaccination program in Oakland, California, with respect to vaccination coverage, school absences, and laboratory-confirmed influenza: A matched cohort study.

Background: It is estimated that vaccinating 50%-70% of school-aged children for influenza can produce population-wide indirect effects. We evaluated a city-wide school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) intervention that aimed to increase influenza vaccination coverage. The intervention was implemented in ≥95 preschools and elementary schools in northern California from 2014 to 2018.