Circulating Autoantibodies in Adults with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis: New Insights from a Single-Center, Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is a common autoimmune thyroid disorder characterized by elevated anti-thyroid peroxidase (A-TPO) antibodies. HT frequently coexists with other autoimmune conditions, which are marked by organ-specific and non-organ-specific autoantibodies, reflecting a deregulated immune response. However, the burden and clinical significance of these circulating autoantibodies in adult patients with HT remains unclear.

Hypoxia in Human Obesity: New Insights from Inflammation towards Insulin Resistance-A Narrative Review.

Insulin resistance (IR), marked by reduced cellular responsiveness to insulin, and obesity, defined by the excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, are two intertwined conditions that significantly contribute to the global burden of cardiometabolic diseases. Adipose tissue, beyond merely storing triglycerides, acts as an active producer of biomolecules. In obesity, as adipose tissue undergoes hypertrophy, it becomes dysfunctional, altering the release of adipocyte-derived factors, known as adipokines.

Air Quality Perceptions, Awareness, and Associated Behaviors Among U.S. Adults With and Without Heart Disease.

Introduction: Exposure to ambient air pollution can worsen cardiovascular disease and increase the risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular disease mortality. Strategies to reduce air pollution exposure can therefore help prevent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study was conducted to assess the awareness among U.

Electric vehicles and health: A scoping review.

Background: The health impacts of the rapid transition to the use of electric vehicles are largely unexplored. We completed a scoping review to assess the state of the evidence on use of battery electric and hybrid electric vehicles and health.

Methods: We conducted a literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, CINAHL, Scopus, and Environmental Science Collection databases for articles published January 1990 to January 2024.

Medicaid Expansion and Health Care Use Among Adults With Asthma and Low Incomes: The Adult Asthma Call-Back Survey.

Objectives: Asthma disproportionately affects Black people and people with low incomes, but Medicaid expansion (hereinafter, expansion) data on these populations are limited. We investigated health care use among adults with asthma, before and after expansion, and examined whether asthma-related health care use after expansion varied by demographic characteristics.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 2011-2013 and 2015-2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Adult Asthma Call-Back Survey on participants aged 18-64 years with current asthma and low incomes in 23 US states.

Coexistence of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Post-Operative Monitoring of Anti-Thyroglobulin Antibodies and Assessment of Treatment Response.

Introduction: Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is frequently found in conjunction with autoimmune thyroid disorders, particularly Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). This study investigates the impact of coexisting HT on the persistence of an indeterminate response to therapy due to positive anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (AbTg), measured via competitive immunoassay, in a consecutive patient series from Calabria, Southern Italy.

Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study analyzed 259 consecutive DTC patients managed at the Endocrinology Unit of Renato Dulbecco Hospital (Catanzaro, Italy) up to 2023.

Incidental thyroid carcinoma in an endemic goiter area in Italy: histopathological features and predictors of a common finding.

Purpose: The occurrence and histopathological features of incidental thyroid carcinoma (ITC) vary considerably among populations from different geographical regions. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and histopathological characteristics of ITC in patients who underwent thyroid surgery for apparently benign thyroid diseases in an endemic goiter area in Italy.

Methods: A total of 649 consecutive patients (531 females and 118 males; mean age, 52.

Clinical performance of a multiparametric MRI-based post concussive syndrome index.

Introduction: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) has revealed measurable changes in the brains of patients with persistent post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Because of inconsistent results in univariate DTI metrics among patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), there is currently no single objective and reliable MRI index for clinical decision-making in patients with PCS.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of a newly developed PCS Index (PCSI) derived from machine learning of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to classify and differentiate subjects with mTBI and PCS history from those without a history of mTBI.

Metformin in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: To Use or Not to Use, That Is the Question.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). GDM occurs when maternal insulin resistance develops and/or progresses during gestation, and it is not compensated by a rise in maternal insulin secretion. If not properly managed, this condition can cause serious short-term and long-term problems for both mother and child.

Ambient Air Quality and Fatal Asthma Exacerbations among Children in North Carolina.

Background: Little is known about the role of air quality in fatal asthma exacerbations among children.

Methods: We collected information about 80 deaths that occurred in North Carolina from 2001 through 2016, among children aged 5-17 years, with asthma identified as the primary cause of death. We linked information about each death with county-level estimates of particulate matter ≤2.

Asthma-Associated Emergency Department Visits During the Canadian Wildfire Smoke Episodes - United States, April- August 2023.

During April 30-August 4, 2023, smoke originating from wildfires in Canada affected most of the contiguous United States. CDC used National Syndromic Surveillance Program data to assess numbers and percentages of asthma-associated emergency department (ED) visits on days with wildfire smoke, compared with days without wildfire smoke. Wildfire smoke days were defined as days when concentrations of particulate matter (particles generally ≤2.

From Euglycemia to Recent Onset of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Proof-of-Concept Study on Circulating microRNA Profiling Reveals Distinct, and Early microRNA Signatures.

Background and aim-Alterations in circulating microRNA (miRNA) expression patterns are thought to be involved in the early stages of prediabetes, as well as in the progression to overt type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and its vascular complications. However, most research findings are conflicting, in part due to differences in miRNA extraction and normalization methods, and in part due to differences in the study populations and their selection. This cross-sectional study seeks to find new potentially useful biomarkers to predict and/or diagnose T2D by investigating the differential expression patterns of circulating miRNAs in the serum of patients with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and new-onset T2D, with respect to euglycemic controls, using a high-throughput 384-well array and real-time PCR.

Social Vulnerability in US Communities Affected by Wildfire Smoke, 2011 to 2021.

To describe demographic and social characteristics of US communities exposed to wildfire smoke. Using satellite-collected data on wildfire smoke with the locations of population centers in the coterminous United States, we identified communities potentially exposed to light-, medium-, and heavy-density smoke plumes for each day from 2011 to 2021. We linked days of exposure to smoke in each category of smoke plume density with 2010 US Census data and community characteristics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index to describe the co-occurrence of smoke exposure and social disadvantage.

The Impact of Climate Change on Asthma and Allergic-Immunologic Disease.

Purpose Of Review: This review discusses climate change-related impacts on asthma and allergic-immunologic disease, relevant US public health efforts, and healthcare professional resources.

Recent Findings: Climate change can impact people with asthma and allergic-immunologic disease through various pathways, including increased exposure to asthma triggers (e.g.

A small circulating miRNAs signature predicts mortality and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Background: Chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients exhibit severe morpho-functional cardiac alterations, putting them at a high risk of death and adverse cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. Despite the fact that an unbalanced expression of various microRNAs (miRNAs) has been related to pathological cardiac remodeling and worse CV outcomes, scarce evidence exists on their role in this setting.

Methods: We evaluated circulating levels of a selected miRNAs panel (30a-5p, 23a-3p, 451a and let7d-5p) in 74 chronic HD patients together with a thorough clinical and echocardiography assessment.

Changes in asthma emergency department visits in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: A better understanding of the impacts of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on emergency department (ED) visits for asthma is needed to improve asthma control.

Methods: Using data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP), we assessed changes in average weekly asthma ED visits in the United States in 3 surveillance periods: 1) March 15, 2020-January 2, 2021; 2) January 3, 2021-January 1, 2022; and 3) January 2-March 5, 2022, relative to pre-pandemic comparison periods between December 30, 2018 and December 28, 2019. For each surveillance period, we assessed changes in asthma ED visits by age group and sex.

Public health applications of historical smoke forecasts: An evaluation of archived BlueSky data for the coterminous United States, 2015-2018.

Background: Wildfires are increasing in magnitude, frequency, and severity. Populations in the wildland-urban interface and in downwind communities are at increased risk of exposure to elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM) and other harmful components of wildfire smoke. We conducted this analysis to evaluate the use of modeled predictions of wildfire smoke to create county-level measures of smoke exposure for public health research and surveillance.

The anticancer effects of Metformin in the male germ tumor SEM-1 cell line are mediated by HMGA1.

Introduction: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are the most common type of cancer in young men. These tumors usually originate from the testis, but they can occasionally develop from extragonadal sites probably due to primordial germ cells (PGCs) migration errors. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is usually effective for male GCTs, but the risk of toxicity is high and new therapeutic strategies are needed.

Wildfire smoke and symptoms affecting mental health among adults in the U.S. state of Oregon.

The physical and mental health impacts of wildfires are wide-ranging. We assessed associations between exposure to wildfire smoke and self-reported symptoms affecting mental health among adults living in Oregon. We linked by interview date and county of residence survey responses from 5807 adults who responded to the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System's depression and anxiety module with smoke plume density, a proxy for wildfires and wildfire smoke exposure.

Delayed onset catatonia after COVID-19.

COVID-19 has many complications that are associated with this infection. Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common and can present with symptoms documented both during acute COVID-19 infection and developing after the resolution of respiratory symptoms. Patients have presented with a variety of symptoms such as anosmia, seizures, cognitive and attention deficits, new or progression of existing anxiety, depression, psychosis, and rarely catatonia.