Novel Therapies to Reduce Rehospitalization Risk in Worsening Heart Failure: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Background: Worsening heart failure (WHF) challenges health care with frequent rehospitalizations and reduced quality of life for patients. Despite therapeutic advances, high rehospitalization risks highlight the urgent need for new treatments.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of initiating novel therapies during hospitalization or vulnerable phase for WHF patients to reduce rehospitalization risks and determine the optimal treatment sequence.

Causes of Death Following Coronary Revascularization in Patients with Diabetes.

Background: In patients with diabetes and multivessel coronary artery disease, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been associated with higher long-term cardiovascular mortality compared to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), but the specific causes of death are not well known. We aimed to determine the causes of death among patients with diabetes and multivessel disease undergoing coronary revascularization with PCI versus CABG.

Methods: We analyzed the centrally adjudicated causes of death of 1,900 participants in the FREEDOM trial.

Polyploid superficial uroepithelial bladder barrier cells express features of cellular senescence across the lifespan and are insensitive to senolytics.

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) increases with aging. Ensuing symptoms including incontinence greatly impact quality of life, isolation, depression, and nursing home admission. The aging bladder is hypothesized to be central to this decline, however, it remains difficult to pinpoint a singular strong driver of aging-related bladder dysfunction.

Age-stratified assessment of orthodontic tooth movement outcomes with clear aligners.

Objective: This study compared the achieved tooth movement to that predicted in the preliminary simulated digital treatment plan between adults and teenagers.

Materials And Methods: Records of 60 patients (30 adults; mean age: 36.6 ± 11.

Comparative assessment of the clinical outcomes of clear aligners compared to fixed appliance in class II malocclusion.

Objective: This study compared clinical outcomes between aligners and fixed appliances in class II adolescent patients.

Materials And Methods: Records of 31 aligners and 35 fixed class II patients, aged 13.5 ± 1.

Heparin Dose Intensity and Organ Support-Free Days in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19.

Background: Clinical trials suggest that therapeutic-dose heparin may prevent critical illness and vascular complications due to COVID-19, but knowledge gaps exist regarding the efficacy of therapeutic heparin including its comparative effect relative to intermediate-dose anticoagulation.

Objectives: The authors performed 2 complementary secondary analyses of a completed randomized clinical trial: 1) a prespecified per-protocol analysis; and 2) an exploratory dose-based analysis to compare the effect of therapeutic-dose heparin with low- and intermediate-dose heparin.

Methods: Patients who received initial anticoagulation dosed consistently with randomization were included.

Medical calculators derived synthetic cohorts: a novel method for generating synthetic patient data.

This study shows that we can use synthetic cohorts created from medical risk calculators to gain insights into how risk estimations, clinical reasoning, data-driven subgrouping, and the confidence in risk calculator scores are connected. When prediction variables aren't evenly distributed in these synthetic cohorts, they can be used to group similar cases together, revealing new insights about how cohorts behave. We also found that the confidence in predictions made by these calculators can vary depending on patient characteristics.

Retrospective evaluation of the success rate and factors associated with the stability of alveolar ridge orthodontic miniscrews: Pilot study.

Background: An uncommon location for placing miniscrews, used to provide anchorage control in various tooth movements, is the alveolar ridge. This study aimed to provide an evaluation of the success rate of alveolar ridge miniscrews and examine variables that might impact their success.

Methods: Charts for 295 patients who had miniscrews were screened.

Prevalence of likely retro-odontoid pseudotumor in patients receiving dental CBCT examinations.

Objectives: We calculated the prevalence of unsuspected retro-odontoid pseudotumor (ROP) as detected in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) examinations. Additionally, we examined patient age, sex, and presence and severity of cervical osteoarthritis (OA) as potential risk factors for ROP.

Study Design: We retrospectively analyzed de-identified CBCT scans of 455 patients from the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine.

Federal Nutrition Assistance for Young Children: Underutilized and Unequally Accessed.

Introduction: The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) improves nutrition and reduces food insecurity among young children by helping cover the food costs for child care providers and families. This nationwide study evaluated the extent and predictors of the CACFP's utilization among licensed child care centers to identify opportunities for expanding CACFP nutrition support.

Methods: Administrative data from the CACFP and child care licensing agencies in 47 states and District of Columbia were compiled and geocoded for 93,227 licensed child care centers.

Dealing With Nonproportional Hazards in Coronary Revascularisation Studies.

The Cox proportional hazards model is one of the most popular statistical tools to model time to event outcomes without the need for specifying the hazards or survival time distributions. The Cox model requires that the ratio of the hazards of the occurrence of the outcome for any 2 individuals remains constant during the entire follow-up. Studies comparing coronary revascularisation strategies, however, might be prone to violations of proportionality by the crossing of the hazard functions over time.

Association between Residential Exposure to Air Pollution and Incident Coronary Heart Disease Is Not Mediated by Leukocyte Telomere Length: A UK Biobank Study.

Higher air pollution exposure and shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) are both associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), and share plausible mechanisms, including inflammation. LTL may serve as a biomarker of air pollution exposure and may be intervened with to reduce the risk of CHD. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to test the mediation effect of LTL in the relationship between air pollution exposure and incident CHD.

Association of Beta-Blocker Therapy With Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Stable Ischemic Heart Disease.

Background: Previous studies have failed to show a cardioprotective benefit of beta-blockers in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

Objectives: This study sought to determine the association between beta-blockers and cardiovascular events in patients with stable CAD using a new user design.

Methods: All patients aged >66 years undergoing elective coronary angiography in Ontario, Canada, from 2009 to 2019 with diagnosed obstructive CAD were included.

Randomized Trial of Anticoagulation Strategies for Noncritically Ill Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Background: Prior studies of therapeutic-dose anticoagulation in patients with COVID-19 have reported conflicting results.

Objectives: We sought to determine the safety and effectiveness of therapeutic-dose anticoagulation in noncritically ill patients with COVID-19.

Methods: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 not requiring intensive care unit treatment were randomized to prophylactic-dose enoxaparin, therapeutic-dose enoxaparin, or therapeutic-dose apixaban.

Association of Race and Ethnicity With Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: Appropriate selection of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) for coronary angiography is dependent on the pretest probability of obstructive CAD; however, little is known about the potential differences in CAD by race and ethnic groups.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of race and ethnicity with coronary obstruction in stable CAD.

Methods: We evaluated first coronary angiography for CAD evaluation between 2012 and 2019 in Ontario, Canada.

Predicting left main stenosis in stable ischemic heart disease using logistic regression and boosted trees.

Background: The ISCHEMIA trial showed similar cardiovascular outcomes of an initial conservative strategy as compared with invasive management in patients with stable ischemic heart disease without left main stenosis. We aim to assess the feasibility of predicting significant left main stenosis using extensive clinical, laboratory and non-invasive tests data.

Methods: All adult patients who had stress testing prior to undergoing an elective coronary angiography for stable ischemic heart disease in Ontario, Canada, between April 2010 and March 2019, were included.

Coronary atherosclerotic burden assessed by SYNTAX scores and outcomes in surgical, percutaneous or medical strategies: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Coronary atherosclerotic burden and SYNTAX Score (SS) are predictors of cardiovascular events.

Objectives: To investigate the value of SYNTAX scores (SS, SYNTAX Score II (SSII) and residual SYNTAX Score (rSS)) for predicting cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Survival and failure rate of lower lingual bonded retainers: A retrospective cohort evaluation.

Objective: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the survival rates for lower lingual retainers (LLRs) and to establish a correlation between patients' treatment-related factors (age, sex, malocclusion, appliance used for treatment, teeth bonded, retention protocols) to the survival of LLRs.

Materials And Methods: A total of 765 subjects [474 females and 291 males: mean age = 24.29 ± 10.