Blood Eosinophil Count in Asthma Is Associated With Increased Abdominal Aortic Diameter and Increased Vascular Stiffness.

Background: Asthma is associated with atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). However, the underlying pathomechanisms remain elusive. Blood eosinophil count (BEC) is implicated in both eosinophilic asthma and arterial wall inflammation.

Sheer drop ahead: reviewing sarcopenia outcomes in elderly patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

The global prevalence of obesity among elderly patients continues to rise. Despite the availability of new antiobesity medications, bariatric surgery remains an effective treatment option for carefully selected candidates. However, it is not risk-free, especially in a vulnerable population, predisposing to falls, fractures and sarcopenia.

Impact of an early educational protocol on the oral language of children born preterm exhibiting phonological fragility: a multicenter randomized clinical trial.

Unlabelled: We conducted a six-center, prospective, randomized, open-label trial to assess whether an early standardized educational protocol provided from 42 to 48 months of age improved the progression of oral language and phonological development in children born preterm. A total of 552 children with phonological fragility were included in this study. The children were randomized to receive the educational protocol (guided arm,  = 87) or not (non-guided arm,  = 78).

Deep mutationally scanned (DMS) CHIKV E3/E2 virus library maps viral amino acid preferences and predicts viral escape mutants of neutralizing CHIKV antibodies.

As outbreaks of chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne alphavirus, continue to present public health challenges, additional research is needed to generate protective and safe vaccines and effective therapeutics. Prior research has established a role for antibodies in mediating protection against CHIKV infection, and the early appearance of CHIKV-specific IgG or IgG neutralizing antibodies protects against progression to chronic CHIKV disease in humans. However, the importance of epitope specificity for these protective antibodies and how skewed responses contribute to development of acute and chronic CHIKV-associated joint disease remains poorly understood.