Examining Healthy Lifestyles as a Mediator of the Association Between Socially Determined Vulnerabilities and Incident Heart Failure.

Background: Increased burden of socially determined vulnerabilities (SDV), which include nonmedical conditions that contribute to patient health, is associated with incident heart failure (HF). Mediators of this association have not been examined. We aimed to determine if a healthy lifestyle mediates the association between SDV and HF.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Scleroderma Skin Questionnaire: A Novel Patient Reported Outcome for Skin Disease in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis.

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Scleroderma Skin Questionnaire (SSQ), a novel patient-reported outcome (PRO) to assess systemic sclerosis (SSc) related skin symptoms.

Methods: The SSQ was administered to 799 adults (mean age 52.7; 82% female) enrolled in the SSc Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry (CONQUER).

The Cumulative Burden of Social Risk Factors and 10-Year Change in Quality of Life.

Background: Social risk factors are linked to adverse health outcomes, but their total impact on long-term quality of life is obscure. We hypothesized that a higher burden of social risk factors is associated with greater decline in quality of life over 10 years.

Methods: We examined associations between social risk factors count and decline >5 points in (i) physical component summary, and (ii) mental component summary scores from the Short Form-12 among Black and White participants in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (n = 14 401).

Short-term Oral Nitrite Administration Decreases Arterial Stiffness in Both Trained and Sedentary Wistar Rats.

Background: Nitric Oxide (NO) plays an important role in blood pressure (BP) regulation, acting directly on peripheral vascular resistance through vasodilation. Physical training (via eNOS/NO) and intake of nitrite have been considered major stimuli to increase NO.

Objective: We examined the effects of oral nitrite administration and aerobic exercise training on BP and arterial stiffness in Wistar rats.

Chronic spontaneous non-aneurysmal aortic rupture treated with endovascular surgery.

Spontaneous non-aneurysmal aortic rupture is rare and is usually attributed to penetrating aortic ulcers, infections, tumor infiltrations, or inflammatory and collagen diseases. Chronic rupture is infrequent but extremely rare in non-aneurysmal aortas, which makes diagnosis difficult because the absence of an aneurysm can mislead the physician to rule out rupture. Here, we describe the case of an 85-year-old male, who was undergoing oncological investigation for weight loss, inappetence, and back pain.