Impact of Climate Change on Cardiovascular Health.

Purpose Of Review: Climate change is profoundly impacting cardiovascular disease through rising temperatures, more extreme weather events, and worsening air pollution. This review analyzes how these factors affect cardiovascular health.

Recent Findings: Extreme heat and cold cause physiological changes, including increasing the risk of blood clots, faster heart rates, and inflammation.

Rates of pulmonary vein reconnection at repeat ablation for recurrent atrial fibrillation and its impact on outcomes among females and males.

Background: Several studies have demonstrated that females have a higher risk of arrhythmia recurrence after pulmonary vein (PV) isolation for atrial fibrillation (AF). There are limited data on sex-based differences in PV reconnection rates at repeat ablation. We aimed to investigate sex-based differences in electrophysiological findings and atrial arrhythmia recurrence after repeat AF ablation METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 161 consecutive patients (32% female, age 65 ± 10 years) who underwent repeat AF ablation after index PV isolation between 2010 and 2022.

Noncirrhotic portal hypertension in primary biliary cholangitis with coexisting CREST syndrome.

Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) is an autoimmune liver disease that is sometimes associated with CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia) syndrome. If left untreated, PBC eventually progresses to liver cirrhosis. We describe an adult patient with CREST-PBC who presented with recurrent variceal bleeding and ultimately required transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) insertion.

Combination cryotherapy and intralesional corticosteroid versus steroid monotherapy in the treatment of keloids.

Background: Keloids are common and have significant negative effects on quality of life. There is a need for more effective treatment approaches for keloids.

Aims: We investigated treatment outcomes of intralesional triamcinolone acetonide (IL TAC) compared with combination IL TAC and cryotherapy, including changes in pruritus, pain, and keloid size.

Surgical ventricular reconstruction for ischemic cardiomyopathy-a systematic review and meta-analysis of 7,685 patients.

Background: Surgical ventricular reconstruction (SVR) has been used to control adverse ventricular remodeling and improve cardiac function in ischemic cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to collect and analyze all available evidence on the utilization and efficacy of SVR.

Methods: An electronic database search was performed to identify all retrospective and prospective studies on SVR for ischemic cardiomyopathy in the English literature from 2000 through 2020.

Rate of Fat Graft Volume Loss After Parotidectomy.

Background: Reconstruction after parotidectomy can include fat grafting, which allows for symmetry, but grafts have demonstrated volume loss over time.

Objectives: To provide quantitative evidence for the rate of volume loss of fat grafts.

Methods: Patients who received parotidectomy with fat graft reconstruction at a single institution from August 2016 to October 2020 were identified.

Impact of great auricular nerve sacrifice on sensory disturbance after parotidectomy.

Purpose: To investigate the association between great auricular nerve (GAN) sacrifice during parotidectomy and postoperative sensory disturbance.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent parotidectomy between November 2016 and May 2020 at a single academic institution were included in this retrospective chart review. Operative notes were reviewed to determine incidence of GAN sacrifice.

Role of plakophilin-2 expression on exercise-related progression of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: a translational study.

Aims: Exercise increases arrhythmia risk and cardiomyopathy progression in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) patients, but the mechanisms remain unknown. We investigated transcriptomic changes caused by endurance training in mice deficient in plakophilin-2 (PKP2cKO), a desmosomal protein important for intercalated disc formation, commonly mutated in ARVC and controls.

Methods And Results: Exercise alone caused transcriptional downregulation of genes coding intercalated disk proteins.

Adding the Cancer Genome Atlas Chromosome Classes to American Joint Committee on Cancer System Offers More Precise Prognostication in Uveal Melanoma.

Purpose: Uveal melanoma (UM) is a rare disease and the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults, with a high risk of metastases. Reliable prognostication systems are based on anatomic features, as in the tumor-node-metastasis staging of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) system, or on genetic information, as in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) system. Prior evidence suggests that combining both systems may be beneficial.

Chromosome 3 and 8q Aberrations in Uveal Melanoma Show Greater Impact on Survival in Patients with Light Iris versus Dark Iris Color.

Purpose: Individuals with gray, blue, or green eyes have a higher chance of developing uveal melanoma (UM) than those with brown eyes. We wondered whether iris pigmentation might be related not only to predisposition to UM but also to its behavior; therefore, we compared the clinical, histopathologic, and genetic characteristics of UM between eyes with different colors.

Design: We determined iris color in a large cohort of patients enucleated for UM.

Glioblastoma with deep supratentorial extension is associated with a worse overall survival.

Glioblastoma (GBM) with deep-supratentorial extension (DSE) involving the thalamus, basal ganglia and corpus collosum, poses significant challenges for clinical management. In this study, we present our outcomes in patients who underwent resection of supratentorial GBM with associated involvement of deep brain structures. We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent resection of GBM at our institution between 2012 and 2018.

Reduced Recovery Times with Total Intravenous Anesthesia in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Objectives/hypothesis: There is currently no standard of care in terms of anesthesia modality for patients receiving upper airway surgery with comorbid obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Although both total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) and volatile gas anesthesia are commonly utilized in ambulatory otolaryngology surgery, it is currently unclear if there are any advantages with one modality over the other. We hypothesize that patients receiving upper airway surgery with comorbid OSA will have quicker recovery times with TIVA.

Pleiotropic Phenotypes Associated With PKP2 Variants.

Plakophilin-2 (PKP2) is a component of the desmosome complex and known for its role in cell-cell adhesion. Recently, alterations in the gene have been associated with different inherited cardiac conditions including Arrythmogenic Cardiomyopathy (ACM or ARVC), Brugada syndrome (BrS), and idiopathic ventricular fibrillation to name the most relevant. However, the assessment of pathogenicity regarding the genetic variations associated with is still a challenging task: the gene has a positive Residual Variation Intolerance Score and the potential deleterious role of several of its variants has been disputed.

Blockade of the Adenosine 2A Receptor Mitigates the Cardiomyopathy Induced by Loss of Plakophilin-2 Expression.

Mutations in plakophilin-2 (PKP2) are the most common cause of familial Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, a disease characterized by ventricular arrhythmias, sudden death, and progressive fibrofatty cardiomyopathy. The relation between loss of PKP2 expression and structural cardiomyopathy remains under study, though paracrine activation of pro-fibrotic intracellular signaling cascades is a likely event. Previous studies have indicated that ATP release into the intracellular space, and activation of adenosine receptors, can regulate fibrosis in various tissues.

Plakophilin-2 is required for transcription of genes that control calcium cycling and cardiac rhythm.

Plakophilin-2 (PKP2) is a component of the desmosome and known for its role in cell-cell adhesion. Mutations in human PKP2 associate with a life-threatening arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, often of right ventricular predominance. Here, we use a range of state-of-the-art methods and a cardiomyocyte-specific, tamoxifen-activated, PKP2 knockout mouse to demonstrate that in addition to its role in cell adhesion, PKP2 is necessary to maintain transcription of genes that control intracellular calcium cycling.

Modulation of Heart Rate by Acute or Chronic Aerobic Exercise. Potential Effects on Blood Pressure Control.

It was initially assumed that heart rate and arterial blood pressure were modulated by normal respiration and muscle contraction. The arterial baroreflex, an inverse relationship between blood pressure and heart rate, was later reported. Nonetheless, it was then assumed that those responses involved vagal modulation.

[IVF in sterility related to ovarian dystrophy].

Sterility related to ovarian dystrophy is currently treated by means of standard inductors of ovulation such as Clomid and HMG. In case of failure, patients are recommended in vitro fertilization. In our study of 30 cases of ovarian dystrophy, 9 pregnancies occurred after in vitro fertilization.

Flow cytometric DNA analysis in the diagnosis of lung tumors. A comparison with conventional methods.

The efficiency of flow cytometric (FCM) DNA analysis in the diagnosis of lung carcinoma was compared with that of conventional cytologic techniques on bronchial brushing and fine needle aspiration samples from 461 patients. The main advantage of FCM was the rapid delivery of results. Unfortunately, this was offset by a poor sensitivity in the detection of bronchial tumors.

Isolation of osteoclasts from Pagetic bone tissue: morphometry and cytochemistry on isolated cells.

Giant osteoclasts and other cells were isolated from Pagetic bone tissue using 0.5 mM ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid on bone samples from 8 patients with Paget's disease. The cell suspension contained osteoclasts and osteoblasts as well as some mononuclear cells such as monocytes.