On-table Extubation After Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Observational Pilot Study.

Objective: To assess the safety of "on-table" extubation after minimally-invasive heart valve surgery.

Design: A single-center retrospective observational study.

Setting: At a tertiary referral academic hospital.

Development and Validation of a Prediction Score for Low-Cardiac-Output Syndrome After Adult Cardiac Surgery.

Objectives: The authors aimed to develop a simple prediction score to help identify patients at high risk of low-cardiac-output syndrome after adult cardiac surgery.

Design: A single-center, retrospective, observational study.

Setting: At a tertiary hospital.

In vivo mapping of pharmacologically induced functional reorganization onto the human brain's neurotransmitter landscape.

To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain's rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically induced macroscale functional reorganization, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotransmitter receptors and transporters obtained from positron emission tomography, and the regional changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity induced by 10 different mind-altering drugs: propofol, sevoflurane, ketamine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), modafinil, and methylphenidate. Our results reveal a many-to-many mapping between psychoactive drugs' effects on brain function and multiple neurotransmitter systems.

Surgery of the ascending aorta via a right anterior minithoracotomy: initial surgical experience of a single center.

Objectives: Full median sternotomy (FMS) is the common surgical access for patients undergoing replacement of the ascending aorta (AA) with or without aortic valve replacement (AVR). The right anterior mini-thoracotomy (RAMT) approach has been increasingly adopted for AVR. This approach has been shown to decrease blood loss and hospital length of stay (LOS) compared with FMS.

Successful heart transplantation from donation after euthanasia with distant procurement using normothermic regional perfusion and cold storage.

While euthanasia has been legalized in a growing number of countries, organ donation after euthanasia is only performed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Canada. Moreover, the clinical practice of heart donation after euthanasia has never been reported before. We describe the first case of a heart donated after euthanasia, reconditioned with thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion, preserved using cold storage while being transported to a neighboring transplant center, and then successfully transplanted following a procurement warm ischemic time of 17 min.

Cardiac Biomarkers and Prediction of Early Outcome After Heart Valve Surgery: A Prospective Observational Study.

Objectives: Circulating cardiac biomarkers may improve the prediction of long-term outcomes after cardiac surgery. The authors sought to assess if cardiac biomarkers also help better predict short-term morbidity.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Resting-state Network-specific Breakdown of Functional Connectivity during Ketamine Alteration of Consciousness in Volunteers.

Background: Consciousness-altering anesthetic agents disturb connectivity between brain regions composing the resting-state consciousness networks (RSNs). The default mode network (DMn), executive control network, salience network (SALn), auditory network, sensorimotor network (SMn), and visual network sustain mentation. Ketamine modifies consciousness differently from other agents, producing psychedelic dreaming and no apparent interaction with the environment.