Hydrochlorothiazide and Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Kidney Stones: A Post-Hoc Analysis of the NOSTONE Trial.

Background: Low bone mass and fractures are common among kidney stone formers, yet it remains unclear whether thiazides can help preserve bone mass. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) doses compared to a placebo on bone mineral density (BMD) over a three-year period.

Methods: This post-hoc analysis was conducted on data from the NOSTONE trial, a multicenter, randomized, controlled study.

Engineered pulmonary artery tissues for measuring contractility, drug testing and disease modelling.

Background And Purpose: Vasoreactivity of pulmonary arteries regulates blood flow through the lungs. Excessive constriction of these vessels contributes to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a progressive and incurable condition, resulting in right heart failure. The search for new and improved drug treatments is hampered by laboratory models that do not reproduce the vasoactive behaviour of healthy and diseased human arteries.

EzSkiROS: enhancing robot skill composition with embedded DSL for early error detection.

When developing general-purpose robot software components, we often lack complete knowledge of the specific contexts in which they will be executed. This limits our ability to make predictions, including our ability to detect program bugs statically. Since running a robot is an expensive task, finding errors at runtime can prolong the debugging loop or even cause safety hazards.

ECM Modifications Driven by Age and Metabolic Stress Directly Promote Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Osteogenic Processes.

Background: The ECM (extracellular matrix) provides the microenvironmental niche sensed by resident vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Aging and disease are associated with dramatic changes in ECM composition and properties; however, their impact on VSMC phenotype remains poorly studied.

Methods: Here, we describe a novel in vitro model system that utilizes endogenous ECM to study how modifications associated with age and metabolic disease impact VSMC phenotype.

Methods for Diagnosing Proteinuria-When to Use Which Test and Why: A Review.

Proteinuria plays a central role in the diagnosis of kidney disease and has a high prognostic value. The test methods used differ considerably regarding their impact on test accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Therefore, knowledge of the methodology is crucial for the interpretation of the results.

Cervical Artery Tortuosity Is Associated With Dissection Occurrence and Late Recurrence: A Nested Case-Control Study.

Background: The pathogenesis of spontaneous cervical artery dissection remains unclear, and no established predictors of recurrence exist. Our goal was to investigate the potential association between cervical artery tortuosity, a characteristic of patients with connective tissue disorder, and spontaneous cervical artery dissection.

Methods: The ReSect study (Risk Factors for Recurrent Cervical Artery Dissection) is an observational study that invited all spontaneous cervical artery dissection patients treated at the Innsbruck University Hospital between 1996 and 2018 for clinical and radiological follow-up.

Ultrasonographic adrenal gland changes in dogs with Cushing's syndrome with a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test result consistent with partial suppression or escape pattern.

Background: Cushing's syndrome (CS) in dogs is mainly caused by pituitary-dependent (PDH) or adrenal-dependent (ADH) hypercortisolism. Result of the low-dose-dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST) with partial suppression (PSP) or escape pattern (EP) are indicative of PDH. No data concerning the ultrasonographic characteristics of the adrenal glands from dogs with these patterns exists.

Association of Lipoprotein(a) With Changes in Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients Treated With Alirocumab.

Background: Elevated Lp(a) (lipoprotein[a]) is a risk marker for atherosclerotic disease, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We examined the association of Lp(a) with changes in coronary atherosclerosis following intensive lipid-lowering therapy.

Methods: In the PACMAN-AMI trial (Effects of the PCSK9 Antibody Alirocumab on Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction), 300 patients with acute myocardial infarction were randomized to receive biweekly alirocumab 150 mg or placebo in addition to high-intensity statins.

Comparison of Standing Side Bending Using Biplanar Stereography and Fulcrum Bending for Flexibility Assessment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

: The surgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is influenced by factors such as skeletal maturity, curve magnitude, progression, and spinal flexibility. The assessment of spinal flexibility is crucial for surgical planning; supine bending radiographs are commonly used but there is no consensus on the optimal technique. Fulcrum bending radiographs (FBRs) have shown better prediction of post-surgery correction compared to supine bending radiographs.

Cellular and extracellular proteomic profiling of paradoxical low-flow low-gradient aortic stenosis myocardium.

Aims: Patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS), low transvalvular flow (LF) and low gradient (LG) with normal ejection fraction (EF)-are referred to as paradoxical LF-LG AS (PLF-LG). PLF-LG patients develop more advanced heart failure symptoms and have a worse prognosis than patients with normal EF and high-gradient AS (NEF-HG). Despite its clinical relevance, the mechanisms underlying PLF-LG are still poorly understood.

Outcomes of a Short-Duration, Large-Scale Canine Rabies Vaccination Campaign in Central Cambodia.

Background: WHO and WOAH advocate for annual high-coverage canine rabies vaccination campaigns as the most sustainable approach to eliminate the risk of dog rabies transmission to humans. It is estimated that Cambodia has one of the highest human rabies deaths per capita of any country (5.8 human deaths per 100,000 people), highlighting the urgent need to implement an effective canine rabies vaccination program.

A common gene signature of the right ventricle in failing rat and human hearts.

The molecular mechanisms of progressive right heart failure are incompletely understood. In this study, we systematically examined transcriptomic changes occurring over months in isolated cardiomyocytes or whole heart tissues from failing right and left ventricles in rat models of pulmonary artery banding (PAB) or aortic banding (AOB). Detailed bioinformatics analyses resulted in the identification of gene signature, protein and transcription factor networks specific to ventricles and compensated or decompensated disease states.

Differential effects of physiological agonists on the proteome of platelet-derived extracellular vesicles.

Arterial thrombosis contributes to some of the most frequent causes of mortality globally, such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Platelets are essential mediators of physiological haemostasis and pathological thrombosis. Platelet activation is controlled by a multitude of signalling pathways.

Characteristics of the Basel Postpartum Hypertension Cohort (Basel-PPHT Cohort): An Interim Analysis.

Postpartum hypertension (PPHT) is hypertension that persists or develops after delivery and is a frequent cause of readmission, affecting 10% of pregnancies. This interim analysis aims to describe the cohort and to determine the feasibility and acceptance of a home-based telemonitoring management strategy (HBTMS) in PPHT patients. Enrollment at the University Hospital Basel began during the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Prediction of the Hamstring Graft Size for ACL Reconstruction Using Different Axial Layers in Preoperative MRI.

Background: In ACL reconstruction, it is desirable to assess preoperatively whether a sufficient graft diameter can be achieved with the planned tendon graft. The present study investigated the effect of the location of the cross-sectional area (CSA) measurement of the hamstring tendons in preoperative MRI on the correlation of the CSA with the intraoperative graft diameter. In addition, we analyzed whether the measurement results of examiners with different skill levels were comparable.

Comparison of the stage-dependent mitochondrial changes in response to pressure overload between the diseased right and left ventricle in the rat.

The right ventricle (RV) differs developmentally, anatomically and functionally from the left ventricle (LV). Therefore, characteristics of LV adaptation to chronic pressure overload cannot easily be extrapolated to the RV. Mitochondrial abnormalities are considered a crucial contributor in heart failure (HF), but have never been compared directly between RV and LV tissues and cardiomyocytes.

Oxidative DNA damage promotes vascular aging associated with changes in extracellular matrix-regulating proteins.

Aims: Vascular aging is characterized by vessel stiffening, with increased deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including collagens. Oxidative DNA damage occurs in vascular aging, but how it regulates ECM proteins and vascular stiffening is unknown. We sought to determine the relationship between oxidative DNA damage and ECM regulatory proteins in vascular aging.

Amplification Is Frequent in Solid Tumors and Predicts Enfortumab Vedotin Response in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer.

Purpose: The anti-NECTIN4 antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin (EV) is approved for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). However, durable benefit is only achieved in a small, yet uncharacterized patient subset. is located on chromosome 1q23.

Cytotoxic response of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of head and neck cancer slice cultures under mitochondrial dysfunction.

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are highly heterogeneous tumors. In the harsh tumor microenvironment (TME), metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial dysfunction may lead to immunosuppressive phenotypes. Aerobic glycolysis is needed for the activation of cytotoxic T-cells and the absence of glucose may hamper the full effector functions of cytotoxic T-cells.

Dual-Task Assessments for Predicting Future Falls in Neurologic Conditions: A Systematic Review.

This review investigated the ability of dual-task tests to predict falls in people with neurological disorders. Databases were searched to identify prospective cohort studies that analyzed dual-task testing and falls in people with neurological disorders. Reviewers screened studies for eligibility and extracted key information like participant characteristics, intervention details, outcome measures, and significant outcomes.