Usefulness of the Columbia score for predicting outcomes in patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy. Analysis of the Galician registry of cardiac amyloidosis.

Aims: To evaluate the predictive value of the Columbia score in patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM).

Methods: Observational study based in a prospective, multi-centre registry of patients with ATTR-CM recruited between January-2018 and December-2023 in 7 Spanish hospitals. The Baseline Columbia score was correlated by means of multivariable Cox's regression with study endpoints all-cause death and all-cause death or heart failure (HF) hospitalisation.

Acquisition of Fc-afucosylation of PfEMP1-specific IgG is age-dependent and associated with clinical protection against malaria.

Protective immunity to malaria depends on acquisition of parasite-specific antibodies, with Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) being one of the most important target antigens. The effector functions of PfEMP1-specific IgG include inhibition of infected erythrocyte (IE) sequestration and opsonization of IEs for cell-mediated destruction. IgG glycosylation modulates antibody functionality, with increased affinity to FcγRIIIa for IgG lacking fucose in the Fc region (Fc-afucosylation).

Evaluation of Evolux™ Intraocular Lenses in Cataract Surgery: Clinical Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction.

This study aimed to evaluate the initial clinical outcomes of and patient satisfaction with the newly introduced extended monofocal Evolux™ intraocular lens following cataract surgery. A retrospective study was conducted, involving 18 patients (36 eyes) who received Evolux™ lenses bilaterally. The inclusion criteria comprised individuals over 40 years old with no active eye diseases, excluding cataracts, and no postoperative complications.

Peripheral Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Neuropathies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objective: The main objective of this review is to demonstrate the use of Peripheral Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (PENS), together with its most up-to-date protocols, for the treatment of neuropathies.

Design: We conducted a systematic search for randomised clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of PENS on pain intensity, sleep quality, oral analgesic intake and depression in patients with neuropathic pain.

Data Sources: The search was performed in Pubmed, PEDro and Cochrane databases.

Infants' Knowledge of Individual Words: Investigating Links Between Parent Report and Looking Time.

Assessing early vocabulary development commonly involves parent report methods and behavioral tasks like looking-while-listening. While both yield reliable aggregate scores, findings are mixed regarding their reliability in measuring infants' knowledge of individual words. Using archival data from 126 monolingual and bilingual 14-31-month-olds, we further examined links across these methods at the word level, while controlling for potentially confounding child-level factors.

Fc-Afucosylation of VAR2CSA-Specific Immunoglobulin G and Clinical Immunity to Placental Plasmodium falciparum Malaria.

Background: Acquired immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria is mainly mediated by immunoglobulin G (IgG) targeting erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1). These adhesins mediate infected erythrocyte (IE) sequestration, protecting IEs from splenic destruction. PfEMP1-specific IgG is therefore thought to protect mainly by inhibiting IE sequestration.

Biomarker of Anopheles exposure in Ghanaian children with haemoglobin S and C.

Heterozygous carriers of haemoglobin S and C (HbAS and HbAC) have a reduced risk of severe malaria but are not protected from Plasmodium falciparum infection, suggesting that the protection involves acquired immunity. During a blood meal, female Anopheles mosquitoes inject saliva that can elicit a host antibody response, which can serve as a proxy for exposure to Plasmodium infection. Previous studies have shown that the peptide gSG6-P1 of An.

The CrowdGleason dataset: Learning the Gleason grade from crowds and experts.

Background: Currently, prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis relies on the human analysis of prostate biopsy Whole Slide Images (WSIs) using the Gleason score. Since this process is error-prone and time-consuming, recent advances in machine learning have promoted the use of automated systems to assist pathologists. Unfortunately, labeled datasets for training and validation are scarce due to the need for expert pathologists to provide ground-truth labels.

Nonlinear and multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of radon time series in a volcanic touristic cave.

Radioactive radon gas poses significant threats to human health. Understanding the complexities of radon distribution and the dynamic relationship with atmospheric parameters will help in mitigating its impact. In this study, Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) and chaos analysis were used to examine the fractal structure in radon gas at La Cueva del Viento, Tenerife, between January 2021 and December 2022.

Plasma membrane repair defect in Alzheimer's disease neurons is driven by the reduced dysferlin expression.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, and a defect in neuronal plasma membrane repair could exacerbate neurotoxicity, neuronal death, and disease progression. In this study, application of AD patient cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and recombinant human Aβ to otherwise healthy neurons induces defective neuronal plasma membrane repair in vitro and ex vivo. We identified Aβ as the biochemical component in patient CSF leading to compromised repair capacity and depleting Aβ rescued repair capacity.

Prevalence of Unwanted Loneliness and Associated Factors in People over 65 Years of Age in a Health Area of the Region of Murcia, Spain: HELPeN Project.

Population aging poses many challenges to public health, highlighting loneliness and social isolation as severe problems that affect the physical and mental health of older adults. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these became aggravated. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of loneliness and its relationship with social isolation, depression, cognitive deterioration, sleep quality, and the level of physical mobility and functioning of older adults in Health Area 3 of the Region of Murcia.

[Telephone surveys for the study of catastrophic costs due to tuberculosis in Colombia: a novel toolPesquisas telefônicas para um estudo de custos catastróficos da tuberculose na Colômbia: uma ferramenta inovadora].

The study of catastrophic costs incurred by people affected by tuberculosis (TB), conducted in Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic, provided the opportunity to implement telephone surveys for data collection. This constitutes a methodological innovation regarding the standards established by the World Health Organization (WHO) which, for this type of study, usually rely on face-to-face surveys of patients attending health facilities. The study design, objectives, and methodology were adapted from the WHO publication .

Vapor Pressure and Evaporation Studies of Saline Solutions on Natural and Synthetic Fabrics for Industrial Water Treatment.

In the present paper, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis of vapor pressures of both saturated and unsaturated solutions, alongside a study of evaporation using synthetic and natural fabrics for industrial applications in brackish water treatment under zero liquid discharge (ZLD) philosophy. By determining the vapor pressures of saturated solutions, we obtained results consistent with those of other researchers, extending the range of tested temperatures from 1 to 50 °C and successfully fitting the parameters of an Antoine-type equation. Similarly, positive results were achieved for unsaturated solutions, where various parameters of different equations accounting for the salt concentration were estimated, simplifying the fitting procedure.

Temporal assessment of Gross alpha emissions from the petroleum industry in Tenerife, Canary Islands (2001-2022).

A ca. 76% decrease in gross alpha activity levels, measured in surface aerosols collected in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain), has been explained in the present study in connection with the reduction of activities, and eventual closure, of an oil refinery in the city. Gross Alpha in surface aerosols, collected at weekly intervals over a period of 22 years (2001-2022), was used for the analysis.

Identification of a pathogenic mutation in in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background And Objective: Between 5% and 10% of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases have a family history of the disease, 30% of which do not have an identifiable underlying genetic cause after a comprehensive study of the known ALS-related genes. Based on a significantly increased incidence of ALS in a small geographical region from Spain, the aim of this work was to identify novel ALS-related genes in ALS cases with negative genetic testing.

Methods: We detected an increased incidence of both sporadic and, especially, familial ALS cases in a small region from Spain compared with available demographic and epidemiological data.

Relevance of the Adjuvant Effect between Cellular Homeostasis and Resistance to Antibiotics in Gram-Negative Bacteria with Pathogenic Capacity: A Study of .

Antibiotic resistance has become a global issue. The most significant risk is the acquisition of these mechanisms by pathogenic bacteria, which can have a severe clinical impact and pose a public health risk. This problem assumes that bacterial fitness is a constant phenomenon and should be approached from an evolutionary perspective to develop the most appropriate and effective strategies to contain the emergence of strains with pathogenic potential.

Time series analysis of a 22-year record of Be, Pb and gross alpha activities in the Canary Islands (Spain) using Principal Component and Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analyses.

The long-term variability of a 22-year dataset of Be, Pb and gross alpha concentrations in surface aerosols collected in the Canary Islands has been analysed in this study. These "time series" were collected on a weekly basis. Various analytical techniques, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), K-means clustering, correlation analyses, and back-trajectory were used to determine the variability of the data and assess the statistical importance of the source of the air masses reaching the study area.

Femtosecond-Assisted Mushroom Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe our technique for performing femtosecond laser (FSL)-assisted mushroom configuration in deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK).

Methods: We describe our surgical technique for a mushroom-configuration DALK using a femtosecond laser (FSL) both to prepare the graft and to perform a precut of the recipient cornea, as well as the steps for the dissection of the recipient cornea and for donor cornea implantation. Moreover, we show the parameters of energy and spot separation and the external and internal diameters as well as the thickness of the external and internal keratotomy.

Experimental Study of a Sequential Membrane Process of Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration for Efficient Polyphenol Extraction from Wine Lees.

The wine industry is a sector of great importance in the Spanish economy, contributing substantial annual revenues. However, one challenge facing the industry is the amount of waste generated, reaching millions of tons annually. These residues consist of organic matter of industrial interest, such as polyphenols.

[Advance care planning in nursing homes: scoping review].

Advance care planning is a deliberative process that aims to help patients define goals and preferences for future care and treatment at a times when they have limited decision-making capacity. This study aims to analyze models of advance care planning in elderly individuals living in nursing homes. We reviewed papers published in Cochrane, PubMed and Embase.

Approach to the care process by nurse case managers in a breast unit.

Objective: Breast units led by nurse case managers are being implemented to provide comprehensive care in the detection and treatment of breast cancer. However, their implementation is heterogeneous and the results of the care process with this professional have not been studied. The aim of the study is to describe the management in time and the approach of the process by a nurse case manager in the breast unit of women with suspected breast cancer pathology, derived from the breast cancer screening program.

Incidence and causes of hospitalization in patients with transthyretin (ATTR-CA) and light chain (AL-CA) cardiac amyloidosis.

Introduction And Objetives: Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is a disorder associated with high number of hospital admissions. Given the scarce information available, we propose an analysis of the incidence and causes of hospitalization in this disease.

Material And Methods: One hundred and forty-three patients [128 by transthyretin (ATTR-CA) and 15 by light chains (AL-CA)] included in Registro de Amiloidosis Cardiaca de Galicia (AMIGAL) were evaluated, including all hospitalizations.

Flexible genomic island conservation across freshwater and marine Methylophilaceae.

The evolutionary trajectory of Methylophilaceae includes habitat transitions from freshwater sediments to freshwater and marine pelagial that resulted in genome reduction (genome-streamlining) of the pelagic taxa. However, the extent of genetic similarities in the genomic structure and microdiversity of the two genome-streamlined pelagic lineages (freshwater "Ca. Methylopumilus" and the marine OM43 lineage) has so far never been compared.