Assessment of cardiac and skeletal muscle metabolites using H-MRS and chemical-shift encoded magnetic resonance imaging: Impact of diabetes, RAGE, and DIAPH1.

Diabetes affects metabolism and metabolite concentrations in multiple organs. Previous preclinical studies have shown that receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE, gene symbol Ager) and its cytoplasmic domain binding partner, Diaphanous-1 (DIAPH1), are key mediators of diabetic micro- and macro-vascular complications. In this study, we used H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) and chemical shift encoded (CSE) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to investigate the metabolite and water-fat fraction in the heart and hind limb muscle in a murine model of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and to determine if the metabolite changes in the heart and hind limb are influenced by (a) deletion of Ager or Diaph1 and (b) pharmacological blockade of RAGE-DIAPH1 interaction in mice.

Impact of universal hepatitis B virus (HBV) screening using chemotherapy orders on the HBV reactivation in cancer patients.

Introduction: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation (HBVr) induced by chemotherapy in patients with resolved or chronic infection can lead to severe consequences. Despite recommendations, rates of HBV screening before chemotherapy are low due to poor recognition of risk factors by clinicians. The aim of the study is to assess whether routine HBV screening using universal HBV screening on chemotherapy orders (CO) could reduce HBVr incidence.

From hidden hearing loss to supranormal auditory processing by neurotrophin 3-mediated modulation of inner hair cell synapse density.

Loss of synapses between spiral ganglion neurons and inner hair cells (IHC synaptopathy) leads to an auditory neuropathy called hidden hearing loss (HHL) characterized by normal auditory thresholds but reduced amplitude of sound-evoked auditory potentials. It has been proposed that synaptopathy and HHL result in poor performance in challenging hearing tasks despite a normal audiogram. However, this has only been tested in animals after exposure to noise or ototoxic drugs, which can cause deficits beyond synaptopathy.

Quadriceps muscle quality and quantity following tibial plateau fracture repair.

Purpose: To investigate the qualitative and quantitative changes seen in quadriceps muscles [QM] following tibial plateau fracture and surgery.

Methods: A consecutive series of patients with an isolated tibial plateau fracture presenting to a single academic center were enrolled and prospectively followed. Bilateral knee MRIs were performed preoperatively and 3 and 12 months postoperatively to assess quantity and quality of the quadriceps muscles.

Associations between Racing Thoroughbred Movement Asymmetries and Racing and Training Direction.

Background: Racehorses commonly train and race in one direction, which may result in gait asymmetries. This study quantified gait symmetry in two cohorts of Thoroughbreds differing in their predominant exercising direction; we hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the direction of asymmetry between cohorts.

Methods: 307 Thoroughbreds (156 from Singapore Turf Club (STC)-anticlockwise; 151 from Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)-clockwise) were assessed during a straight-line, in-hand trot on firm ground with inertial sensors on their head and pelvis quantifying differences between the minima, maxima, upward movement amplitudes (MinDiff, MaxDiff, UpDiff), and hip hike (HHD).

Radiomic analysis of the proximal femur in osteoporosis women using 3T MRI.

Introduction: Osteoporosis (OP) results in weak bone and can ultimately lead to fracture. MRI assessment of bone structure and microarchitecture has been proposed as method to assess bone quality and fracture risk . Radiomics provides a framework to analyze the textural information of MR images.

Reversing Synchronized Brain Circuits Using Targeted Auditory-Somatosensory Stimulation to Treat Phantom Percepts: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Animal models have shown altered dorsal cochlear nucleus circuitry in animals that develop tinnitus; however, precise treatment using bisensory (auditory and somatosensory) stimuli can reverse altered neural patterns and lessen tinnitus.

Objective: To confirm and extend the findings of a pilot study, which suggested an increased efficacy of bisensory stimulation, to a clinical trial with a greater duration and greater number of participants.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This double-blind, crossover, single-center randomized clinical trial was conducted from March 2019, with a 3-month follow-up per participant ending in July 2022.

Impacts of Remote Physical Exercises on Functional Status and Mobility among Community-Dwelling Pre-Disabled Seniors during the Covid-19 Lockdown.

Objectives: To assess whether remote physical exercise interventions helped maintain function in daily life, level of physical activities, basic mobility and frailty status in pre-disabled seniors during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Design: This is an interventional study conducted from May 2020 to May 2021.

Setting: Community-dwelling older adults in 2 Canadian cities.

Fracture Toughness: Bridging the Gap Between Hip Fracture and Fracture Risk Assessment.

Purpose Of Review: This review surveys recent literature related to cortical bone fracture mechanics and its application towards understanding bone fragility and hip fractures.

Recent Findings: Current clinical tools for hip fracture risk assessment have been shown to be insensitive in some cases of elevated fracture risk leading to the question of what other factors account for fracture risk. The emergence of cortical bone fracture mechanics has thrown light on other factors at the tissue level that are important to bone fracture resistance and therefore assessment of fracture risk.

Structural investigation of titanium oxide nanowires with unconventional optoelectronic behaviour.

Grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering measurements on aligned titanium oxide nanowires displaying anisotropic optical-electronic properties are carried out. Elemental and thermal analyses provide a chemical composition corresponding to HTiO·HO with ≈ 1 while the crystallographic data indicate a monoclinic cell with a lamellar substructure. Cell parameters are close to those of HTiO notwithstanding a doubling of the lattice in the layer plane.

Pharmacotherapeutic Interventions in People Living With HIV Undergoing Solid Organ Transplantation: A Scoping Review.

Unlabelled: The pharmacotherapeutic management of people living with HIV (PLWHIV) undergoing solid organ transplantation (SOT) is clinically challenging, mainly due to the frequent occurrence of complex drug-drug interactions. Although various strategies have been proposed to improve treatment outcomes in these patients, several uncertainties remain, and consensus practice guidelines are just beginning to emerge. The main objective of this scoping review was to map the extent of the literature on the pharmacotherapeutic interventions performed by healthcare professionals for PLWHIV undergoing SOT.

A real-world experience of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a tertiary referral centre of Montréal: Unexpected low prevalence and low mortality.

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and liver transplant (LT) recipients remains a concern. The aim of this study was to report the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection among patients at the tertiary health care centre (CHUM) during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Methods: This real-world, retrospective cohort included all patients admitted to our liver unit and/or seen as an outpatient with CLD with or without cirrhosis and/or LT recipients who tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The impact of fall-related loading rate on the formation of micro-damage in human cortical bone fracture.

The quest for better predictive tools as well as new preventative and therapeutic measures for bone fragility and fracture has highlighted the need for greater mechanistic understanding of the bone fracture process. Cortical bone, the major load bearing part of the bone, employs different toughening mechanisms to either inhibit or slow down crack growth which leads to fracture. Among these toughening mechanisms, is the formation of a micro-damage process zone (MDPZ) around the region of the propagating crack.

Osteoporosis Imaging.

Osteoporosis is the most common disease affecting bones worldwide. Dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the current reference standard for assessing bone health and, combined with other clinical parameters, provides a good estimation of fracture risk. DXA-based Trabecular Bone Score (TBS) can provide complementary indirect information about bone microarchitecture, which also deteriorates osteoporosis.

Fatty Acid Composition of Proximal Femur Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue in Subjects With Systemic Lupus Erythematous Using 3 T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, inflammatory disease with common musculoskeletal manifestations, notably reductions in bone quality. Bone marrow adipose tissue composition and quantity has been previously linked to bone quality and may play a role in SLE pathophysiology but has not been thoroughly studied.

Purpose: To use magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to investigate bone marrow adipose tissue quantity and composition in proximal femur subregions of untreated SLE patients compared to controls and treated patients.

Retrospective evaluation of cystoscopic-guided laser ablation of intramural ectopic ureters in female dogs.

Background: Cytoscopic-guided laser ablation (CLA) is a technique that can be used to correct intramural ectopic ureters (EUs) in dogs.

Hypothesis/objectives: To describe clinicopathologic, imaging, and cystoscopic findings in dogs undergoing CLA for intramural EU correction, and whether any of these findings are associated with continence outcomes.

Animals: Thirty-one client-owned dogs undergoing CLA between 2009 and 2019.

Impact attenuation provided by older adult protective headwear products during simulated fall-related head impacts.

Introduction: While protective headwear products (PHP) are designed to protect older adults from fall-related head injuries, there are limited data on their protective capacity. This study's goal was to assess the impact attenuation provided by commercially available PHP during simulated head impacts.

Methods: A drop tower and Hybrid III headform measured the decrease in peak linear acceleration ( ) provided by 12 PHP for front- and back-of-head impacts at low (clinically relevant: 3.

Feasibility and Acceptability of Remote Physical Exercise Programs to Prevent Mobility Loss in Pre-Disabled Older Adults during Isolation Periods Such as the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of remote physical exercise (PE) to prevent mobility loss among pre-disabled older adults during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Participants followed a 12-week PE remote program in Zoom© supervised groups (Web-Ex group, n=11) or phone-supervised individual booklet-based home-program (Booklet group, n=33). The total rate of adherence was 82.

Evaluation of amplitude- and frequency-based techniques for attenuating inertia-based movement artifact during surface translation perturbations.

Background: Surface translations are a method of perturbing an individual's balance to evoke balance control responses. However, the force plates used to measure kinetic responses often contain artifacts due to inertial properties coupled with the dynamics of surface translation perturbations. Techniques to attenuate these movement artifacts are not well established within the literature.

Noise Exposure Alters Glutamatergic and GABAergic Synaptic Connectivity in the Hippocampus and Its Relevance to Tinnitus.

Accumulating evidence implicates a role for brain structures outside the ascending auditory pathway in tinnitus, the phantom perception of sound. In addition to other factors such as age-dependent hearing loss, high-level sound exposure is a prominent cause of tinnitus. Here, we examined how noise exposure altered the distribution of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs in the guinea pig hippocampus and determined whether these changes were associated with tinnitus.

The impact of a progressive sit-stand rotation exposure duration on low back posture, muscle activation, and pain development.

This study evaluated early and frequent seated breaks from standing work to reduce low back pain (LBP) in known pain developers (PD). Twenty-four participants, classified as either PD or non-PD during a separate 2-hour standing session, performed 124 minutes of standing work with seated breaks at a 3:1 stand-sit ratio with increasing durations from 3:1 minute to 48:16 minutes. Back pain and spine posture measures showed no differences between PD and non-PD.