The road to a transcatheter edge-to-edge repair: patient experiences leading up to the procedure and in the early recovery period.

Aims: Mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) is a minimally invasive treatment option for patients with severe symptomatic mitral regurgitation who are at increased risk for cardiac surgery and are receiving optimal medical therapy. Little is known about patients' perspectives on their journey of care, including their experiences leading up to treatment and their early recovery period. The aim of this study was to explore patients' experiences of their journey to TEER and their perspectives on early recovery.

Predictors of perforation during lead extraction: Results of the Canadian Lead ExtrAction Risk (CLEAR) study.

Background: Transvenous lead extraction can have serious adverse events, such as cardiac or vascular perforation. Risk factors have not been well characterized.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with perforation and death, and to characterize lead extraction in a large contemporary population.

"The ABCs of AD": A prospective evaluation of the efficacy of an educational intervention to increase knowledge of autonomic dysreflexia management among emergency health care professionals.

Context/objective: Despite the availability of consensus-based resources, first responders and emergency room (ER) health care professionals (HCPs) have limited knowledge regarding autonomic dysreflexia (AD) recognition and treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of "The ABCs of AD" educational seminar for improving HCPs' short- and long-term knowledge of AD recognition, diagnosis, and management.

Design: Multi-center prospective pre, post, and follow-up questionnaire study.

Massage impairs postexercise muscle blood flow and "lactic acid" removal.

Purpose: This study tested the hypothesis that one of the ways sports massage aids muscle recovery from exercise is by increasing muscle blood flow to improve "lactic acid" removal.

Methods: Twelve subjects performed 2 min of strenuous isometric handgrip (IHG) exercise at 40% maximum voluntary contraction to elevate forearm muscle lactic acid. Forearm blood flow (FBF; Doppler and Echo ultrasound of the brachial artery) and deep venous forearm blood lactate and H+ concentration ([La-], [H+]) were measured every minute for 10 min post-IHG under three conditions: passive (passive rest), active (rhythmic exercise at 10% maximum voluntary contraction), and massage (effleurage and pétrissage).

Cowpox virus exploits the endoplasmic reticulum retention pathway to inhibit MHC class I transport to the cell surface.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules assemble with peptides in the ER lumen and are transported via Golgi to the plasma membrane for recognition by T cells. Inhibiting MHC assembly, transport, and surface expression are common viral strategies of evading immune recognition. Cowpox virus, a clinically relevant orthopoxvirus, downregulates MHC class I expression on infected cells.

A mycobacterial operon essential for virulence in vivo and invasion and intracellular persistence in macrophages.

The ability to invade and grow in macrophages is necessary for Mycobacterium tuberculosis to cause disease. We have found a Mycobacterium marinum locus of two genes that is required for both invasion and intracellular survival in macrophages. The genes were designated iipA (mycobacterial invasion and intracellular persistence) and iipB.

Role of the WASP family proteins for Mycobacterium marinum actin tail formation.

Mycobacterium marinum, a natural pathogen of fish and frogs and an occasional pathogen of humans, is capable of inducing actin tail formation within the cytoplasm of macrophages, leading to actin-based motility and intercellular spread. Actin tail formation by M. marinum is markedly reduced in macrophages deficient in the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP), which still contain the closely related and ubiquitously expressed protein N-WASP (neuronal WASP).