Drug Overdose Deaths in Mexican-Heritage Arizonans: An Examination of Mortality Rates, Demographics, Drugs Involved, and Place of Death.

Objective: This study examined drug overdose deaths in Mexican-heritage Arizonans, with the goal of informing tailored overdose prevention programs for this community.

Methods: We analyzed death certificate data (from the Arizona Department of Health Services) for drug overdose deaths among Arizona residents from 2018-2022. We compared deaths in US-born and foreign-born Mexican-heritage Arizonans and, as a frame of reference, Non-Hispanic (NH) White Arizonans.

The Personal Glucose Meter as the Measurement Principle in Point-of-Care Applications.

A personal glucose meter (PGM) is a medical device that measures blood glucose levels and can be found worldwide. Owing to their sensitivity, simplicity, portability, and low cost, PGMs stand as one of the most frequently utilized analytical methods. This work reviews the different applied methodologies for detecting analytes other than glucose employing a PGM and how it can be incorporated for point-of-care diagnosis needs.

A review of human factors and infusion pumps: lessons for procurement.

Integrating advanced technologies like medical devices in healthcare is crucial for addressing critical challenges, but patient safety must remain the top priority. In modern clinical settings, medical devices, such as infusion devices used to administer fluids and drugs, carry risks from use errors, requiring a focus on usability and human factors engineering (HFE). Despite the significance of integrating HFE into technology selection processes, it is often overlooked.

Cigarette smoke and biological age induce degenerative heterogeneity in retinal pigment epithelium.

Environmental exposure such as cigarette smoke induces epigenetic changes that can induce degenerative heterogeneity and accelerate aging. In early age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading worldwide cause of blindness among the elderly, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell heterogeneity is a key change. Since smoking is the strongest environmental risk factor for AMD, we hypothesized that cigarette smoke induces degenerative RPE heterogeneity through epigenetic changes that are distinct from aging, and that with aging, the RPE becomes vulnerable to cigarette smoke insult.

Influence of Cellular Aging on Liver Stiffness in HCV Patients Achieving Sustained Viral Response.

Background: Liver stiffness (LS) is not reduced in 10-30% of patients who achieve sustained viral response (SVR) after HCV elimination with direct-acting antivirals (DAA). Our aim was to analyze whether the parameters associated with cellular aging measured at the DAA initiation date are related to LS reduction upon achieving SVR.

Methods: Prospective cohort study (GEHEP-011; clinicaltrials.