Knee4Life: Empowering Knee Recovery After Total Knee Replacement Through Digital Health Protocol.

Pain and knee stiffness are common problems following total knee replacement surgery, with 10-20% of patients reporting dissatisfaction following their procedure. A remote assessment of knee stiffness could improve outcomes through continuous monitoring, facilitating timely intervention. Using machine learning algorithms, computer vision can extract joint angles from video footage, offering a method to monitor knee range of motion in patients' homes.

The Relation Between Hospital Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Volume and Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair Outcomes: A Study Using the National Readmissions Database.

Volume-outcome relations exist for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), but how the volume of one impacts the outcomes of the other has not been studied. We, therefore, examined the association between TAVR volume and TEER outcomes using patients who underwent TEER in the Nationwide Readmissions Database from 2016 to 2018. For each year, hospitals were categorized into quartiles (first = lowest volume, fourth = highest volume) by TAVR volume.

Social contact and the perceived impact of social distancing on health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic among community dwelling older adults taking part in the OPAL cohort study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and reduced social contact may have affected older adults' health.

Objectives: To evaluate the perceived impact of social distancing on older adults' health and explore the association between social contact and health outcomes.

Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the OPAL cohort study.

Dupilumab as Add-on Therapy for Management of Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria.

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is characterized by pruritus, urticaria and associated with substantial patient burden. Emerging clinical trial data suggest dupilumab, an anti-IL-4Rα biologic indicated for several Type-2 inflammatory diseases, may have clinical utility for CSU. Here we present real world clinical data evaluating dupilumab as add-on therapy for CSU.

The Impact of Frailty on Outcomes of Proximal Aortic Aneurysm Surgery: A Nationwide Analysis.

(1) Background: This study examines frailty's impact on proximal aortic surgery outcomes. (2) Methods: All patients with a thoracic aortic aneurysm who underwent aortic root, ascending aorta, or arch surgery from the 2016-2017 National Inpatient Sample were included. Frailty was defined by the Adjusted Clinical Groups Frailty Indicator.

Impact of reintervention after index aortic valve replacement on the risk of subsequent mortality.

Objectives: The use of bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement (AVR) is inherently associated with a risk of structural valve degeneration (SVD) and the need for aortic valve (AV) reintervention. We sought to evaluate whether AV reintervention, in the form of repeat surgical AVR (SAVR) or valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic valve replacement (ViV-TAVR), negatively affects patients' subsequent long-term survival after index SAVR.

Methods: We identified patients who had undergone bioprosthetic SAVR from 2002 to 2017 at our institution.

All-cause procedural readmissions following transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Objective: With expanding eligibility criteria, transcatheter aortic valve replacement is being performed on patients with longer life expectancy, and subsequent procedures after index transcatheter aortic valve replacement are inevitable. This study examines the incidence and outcomes of patients undergoing subsequent procedural readmissions after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Methods: All patients who underwent index transcatheter aortic valve replacement and were discharged alive from January 2012 to December 2019 at a single institution were evaluated.

Evolving Concept of Aortic Valve Replacement in Asymptomatic Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis.

Background: Surgical treatment of asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) has been gaining attention ever since the results of the Early Surgery Versus Conventional Treatment in Very Severe Aortic Stenosis (RECOVERY) and Aortic Valve replacement versus conservative treatment in Asymptomatic seveRe aortic stenosis (AVATAR) trials showed survival benefits with early surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). This study analyzed the long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes of SAVR in asymptomatic severe AS.

Methods: Between 2002 and 2020, 272 patients with asymptomatic severe AS and a left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50% underwent SAVR with or without concomitant aortic surgery and met the study criteria.

Minimally invasive, surgical, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement: A network meta-analysis.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has evolved as an alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). In addition to full-sternotomy (FS), recent reports have shown successful minimally-invasive SAVR approaches, including mini-sternotomy (MS) and mini-thoracotomy (MT). This network-meta-analysis (NMA) seeks to provide an outcomes comparison based on these different modalities (MS, MT, TAVR) compared with FS as a reference arm for the management of aortic valve disease.

Comparison of Postdischarge Outcomes Between Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement and Reoperative Surgical Mitral Valve Replacement.

Limited data are available comparing the postdischarge perioperative outcomes of isolated valve-in-valve transcatheter mitral valve replacement (VIV-TMVR) versus surgical reoperative mitral valve replacement (re-SMVR) on a nationwide scale. The objective of this study was to perform a robust head-to-head assessment of contemporary postdischarge outcomes between isolated VIV-TMVR and re-SMVR using a large national multicenter longitudinal database. Adult patients aged ≥18 years with failed/degenerated bioprosthetic mitral valves who underwent either isolated VIV-TMVR or re-SMVR were identified in the 2015 to 2019 Nationwide Readmissions Database.

Observed versus expected morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing mitral valve repair.

Objectives: Mitral valve repair (MVP) is the gold standard treatment for degenerative mitral regurgitation. With the expansion of transcatheter technologies, this study compares the outcome of MVP in low-risk and non-low-risk patients to serve as a benchmark.

Methods: This retrospective, single-institution study examined all patients who underwent MVP for primary mitral regurgitation from 2005 to 2018.

Aortic root management in acute type A aortic dissection: A nationwide analysis.

Objective: Acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) is a life-threatening condition and surgical repair often includes aortic valve replacement (AVR). Aortic valve repair (AVr) is increasingly being reported with favorable outcomes from single-center experiences. This study examined national trends and outcomes of AVr in patients with ATAAD.

The Value of the Information That Can Be Generated: Optimizing Study Design to Enable the Study of Treatments Addressing an Unmet Need for Rare Pathogens.

In traditional phase 3 trials confirming safety and efficacy of new treatments relative to a comparator, a 1-sided type I error rate of 2.5% is traditionally used and typically leads to minimum sizes of 300-600 subjects per study. However, for rare pathogens, it may be necessary to work with data from as few as 50-100 subjects.

Outcomes of Mitral Valve Repair Among High- and Low-Volume Surgeons Within a High-Volume Institution.

Background: Volume-outcome relationships have been described for mitral valve repair at the institution and surgeon level. We aimed to assess whether this relationship is mitigated at high-volume (HV) mitral repair centers between HV and low-volume (LV) surgeons.

Methods: All mitral repair cases at an HV mitral center (mean, 192 annual repairs) from 1992 to 2018 were considered.

A Functional Analysis of the Purine Salvage Pathway in Acetobacter fabarum.

species are a major component of the gut microbiome of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a widely used model organism. While a range of studies have illuminated impacts of on their hosts, less is known about how association with the host impacts bacteria. A previous study identified that a purine salvage locus was commonly found in associated with .

National outcomes following benign cardiac tumor resection: A critical sex-based disparity.

Background: Treatment of benign primary cardiac tumors involves surgical resection, but reported outcomes from multi-institutional or national databases are scarce. This study examines contemporary national outcomes following surgical resection of benign primary atrial and ventricular tumors.

Methods: The 2016-2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database was queried for all patients ≥18 years with a primary diagnosis of benign neoplasm of the heart who underwent resection of the atria, ventricles, or atrial/ventricular septum.

Contemporary socioeconomic-based disparities in cardiac surgery: Are we closing the disparities gap?

Objective: Female sex and lower income residence location are associated with worse health care outcomes. In this study we analyzed the national, contemporary status of socioeconomic disparities in cardiac surgery.

Methods: Adult patients within the Nationwide Readmissions Database who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), mitral valve (MV) replacement, MV repair, or ascending aorta surgery from 2016 to 2018 were included.

Incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of reintervention after mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair.

Objective: The use of transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) is growing substantially, and reintervention after TEER by way of repeat TEER or mitral valve surgery (MVS) is increasing as a result. In this nationally representative study we examined the incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of reintervention after index TEER.

Methods: Between July 2013 and November 2017, we reviewed 11,396 patients who underwent index TEER using Medicare beneficiary data.

Transcriptomic profiles of neoantigen-reactive T cells in human gastrointestinal cancers.

Tumor-infiltrating neoantigen-reactive T cells can mediate regression of metastatic gastrointestinal cancers yet remain poorly characterized. We performed immunological screening against personalized neoantigens in combination with single-cell RNA sequencing on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from bile duct and pancreatic cancer patients to characterize the transcriptomic landscape of neoantigen-reactive T cells. We found that most neoantigen-reactive CD8 T cells displayed an exhausted state with significant CXCL13 and GZMA co-expression compared with non-neoantigen-reactive bystander cells.

Marital Status and Sex-Based Differences in Outcomes After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

Studies have shown improved outcomes among married patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery; however, this has not been well studied in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVi). We examined the impact of marital status and patient sex on outcomes after TAVi. Patients who underwent TAVi from January 2015 to June 2018 were reviewed and stratified into 3 groups: single, married, and widowed.