A standardized approach to evaluate effectiveness of aerobic exercise training interventions in cardiovascular disease at the individual level.

Background: Reliable change indices can determine pre-post intervention changes at an individual level that are greater than chance or practice effect. We applied previously developed minimal meaningful change (MMC) scores for oxygen uptake (V̇O) values associated with estimated lactate threshold (θ), respiratory compensation point (RCP), and peak oxygen uptake (V̇O) to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise training in cardiovascular disease patients.

Methods: 303 patients (65 ± 11 yrs.

Quantifying Improvement in V˙ o2peak and Exercise Thresholds in Cardiovascular Disease Using Reliable Change Indices.

Purpose: Improving aerobic fitness through exercise training is recommended for the treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, strong justifications for the criteria of assessing improvement in key parameters of aerobic function including estimated lactate threshold (θ LT ), respiratory compensation point (RCP), and peak oxygen uptake (V˙ o2peak ) at the individual level are not established. We applied reliable change index (RCI) statistics to determine minimal meaningful change (MMC RCI ) cutoffs of θ LT , RCP, and V˙ o2peak for individual patients with CVD.

Obtaining organ-specific radiobiological parameters from clinical data for radiation therapy planning of head and neck cancers.

Different radiation therapy (RT) strategies, e.g. conventional fractionation RT (CFRT), hypofractionation RT (HFRT), stereotactic body RT (SBRT), adaptive RT, and re-irradiation are often used to treat head and neck (HN) cancers.

A general framework to develop a radiomic fingerprint for progression-free survival in cervical cancer.

Purpose: Treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer patients includes chemoradiation followed by brachytherapy. Our aim is to develop a delta radiomics (DRF) model from MRI-based brachytherapy treatment and assess its association with progression free survival (PFS).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis of FIGO stage IB- IV cervical cancer patients between 2012 and 2018 who were treated with definitive chemoradiation followed by MRI-based intracavitary brachytherapy was performed.

Plant-Pathogenic Phylotypes Evolved Divergent Respiratory Strategies and Behaviors To Thrive in Xylem.

Bacterial pathogens in the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) infect the water-transporting xylem vessels of plants, causing bacterial wilt disease. Strains in RSSC phylotypes I and III can reduce nitrate to dinitrogen via complete denitrification. The four-step denitrification pathway enables bacteria to use inorganic nitrogen species as terminal electron acceptors, supporting their growth in oxygen-limited environments such as biofilms or plant xylem.

Bacteriocin Production Correlates with Epidemiological Prevalence of Phylotype I Sequevar 18 Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum in Madagascar.

Bacterial wilt caused by the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is a major threat to vegetable crops in Madagascar. For more effective disease management, surveys were carried out in the main vegetable production areas of the country, leading to the collection of 401 new RSSC isolates. Phylogenetic assignment of the isolates revealed a high prevalence of phylotype I sequevar 18.

Molecular Epidemiology of Phylotype I Strains in the Southwest Indian Ocean Region and Their Relatedness to African Strains.

The increasing requirement for developing tools enabling fine strain traceability responsible for epidemics is tightly linked with the need to understand factors shaping pathogen populations and their environmental interactions. Bacterial wilt caused by the species complex (RSSC) is one of the most important plant diseases in tropical and subtropical regions. Sadly, little, outdated, or no information on its epidemiology is reported in the literature, although alarming outbreaks are regularly reported as disasters.

The relationship between anxiety sensitivity and clinical outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation: A scoping review.

Background: Despite well-established efficacy for patients with a cardiovascular diagnosis or event, exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program participation and completion has remained alarmingly low due to both system-level barriers and patient-level factors. Patient mental health, particularly depression, is now recognized as significantly associated with reduced enrollment, participation, attendance, and completion of a cardiac rehabilitation program. More recently, anxiety sensitivity has emerged as an independent construct, related to but distinct from both depression and anxiety.

Measuring True Change in Individual Patients: Reliable Change Indices of Cardiac Rehabilitation Outcomes, and Implications for Quality Indicators.

Background: Mediated by outcomes such as improved exercise capacity, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) reduces morbidity and mortality. For accuracy, an individual CR patient's change must be measured reliably, an issue not typically considered in practice. Drawing from psychometric theory, we calculated reliable change indices (RCIs), to measure CR patients' apart from that from error and test practice/exposure, in exercise capacity, anxiety, and depression.

Tumor Control Probability Modeling for Radiation Therapy of Keratinocyte Carcinoma.

Summary: Skin cancer patients may be treated definitively using radiation therapy (RT) with electrons, kilovoltage, or megavoltage photons depending on tumor stage and invasiveness. This study modeled tumor control probability (TCP) based on the pooled clinical outcome data of RT for primary basal and cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (BCC and cSCC, respectively). Four TCP models were developed and found to be potentially useful in developing optimal treatment schemes based on recommended ASTRO 2020 Skin Consensus Guidelines for primary, keratinocyte carcinomas ( BCC and cSCC).

Global Citizens - Global Jet Setters? The Relation Between Global Identity, Sufficiency Orientation, Travelling, and a Socio-Ecological Transformation of the Mobility System.

Global crises such as the climate crisis require fast concerted action, but individual and structural barriers prevent a socio-ecological transformation in crucial areas such as the mobility sector. An identification with people all over the world (i.e.

Maximizing Tumor Control and Limiting Complications With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer.

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and stereotactic ablative body radiation therapy is being increasingly used for pancreatic cancer (PCa), particularly in patients with locally advanced and borderline resectable disease. A wide variety of dose fractionation schemes have been reported in the literature. This HyTEC review uses tumor control probability models to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of the various SBRT treatment regimens used in the treatment of patients with localized PCa.

Cardiac Rehabilitation Component Attendance and Impact of Intervening Clinical Events, as Well as Disease Severity and Risk Factor Burden.

Purpose: To examine: (1) the rate of clinical events precluding cardiac rehabilitation (CR) continuation, (2) CR attendance by component in those without events, and (3) the association between disease severity (eg, tobacco use, diabetes, and depression) and component attendance (eg, exercise, diet, stress management, and tobacco cessation).

Methods: Retrospective analysis of electronic records of the CR program in London, Ontario, from 1999 to 2017. Patients in the supervised program are offered exercise sessions 2 times/wk with a minimum of 48 prescribed sessions tailored to patient need.

Contrasting genetic diversity and structure among Malagasy Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum phylotype I populations inferred from an optimized Multilocus Variable Number of Tandem Repeat Analysis scheme.

The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC), composed of three species and four phylotypes, are globally distributed soil-borne bacteria with a very broad host range. In 2009, a devastating potato bacterial wilt outbreak was declared in the central highlands of Madagascar, which reduced the production of vegetable crops including potato, eggplant, tomato and pepper. A molecular epidemiology study of Malagasy RSSC strains carried out between 2013 and 2017 identified R.

A Pilot Study of Cardiac MRI in Breast Cancer Survivors After Cardiotoxic Chemotherapy and Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy.

Purpose/objectives: Node-positive breast cancer patients often receive chemotherapy and regional nodal irradiation. The cardiotoxic effects of these treatments, however, may offset some of the survival benefit. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is an emerging modality to assess cardiac injury.

One Patient, Three Variants, Four Episodes of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

• TCM is an increasingly recognized clinical entity. • Variants include apical, midventricular, basal, and focal. • The authors present a unique case in which one patient developed three variants.

A preferred patient decubitus positioning for magnetic resonance image guided online adaptive radiation therapy of pancreatic cancer.

Background And Purpose: In radiotherapy (RT) for pancreatic cancer, the dose to adjacent organs-at-risk (OAR) often limits the delivery of curative dose. This work aimed to find a body decubitus position that would lead to increased separation between the duodenum and pancreatic head.

Materials And Methods: Abdominal magnetic resonance images (MRI) of 11 healthy volunteers were acquired using a 1.

Aerobic Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Best Practices in Care After Stroke: AEROBICS 2019 Update.

Most stroke survivors have very low levels of cardiovascular fitness, which limits mobility and leads to further physical deconditioning, increased sedentary behavior, and heightened risk of recurrent stroke. Although clinical guidelines recommend that aerobic exercise be a part of routine stroke rehabilitation, clinical uptake has been suboptimal. In 2013, an international group of stroke rehabilitation experts developed a user-friendly set of recommendations to guide screening and prescription-the Aerobic Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Best Practices in Care after Stroke (AEROBICS 2013).

Spontaneous mutations in a regulatory gene induce phenotypic heterogeneity and adaptation of Ralstonia solanacearum to changing environments.

An evolution experiment with the bacterial plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum revealed that several adaptive mutations conferring enhanced fitness in plants arose in the efpR gene encoding a regulator of virulence and metabolic functions. In this study, we found that an efpR mutant systematically displays colonies with two morphotypes: the type S ('smooth', similar to the wild type) and the type EV ('efpR variant'). We demonstrated that the efpH gene, a homologue of efpR, plays a key role in the control of phenotypic heterogeneity, the ΔefpR-ΔefpH double mutant being stably locked into the EV type.

Can causal explanations about endothelial pathophysiology benefit patient education? A cluster randomized controlled trial in cardiac rehabilitation.

Objective: To examine whether explaining causal links among endothelial pathophysiology, cardiac risk factors, symptoms and health behaviors (termed causal information) enhances patients' depth of knowledge about cardiovascular disease self-management and their perceptions of the cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention (CRSP) program.

Methods: Newly referred CRSP patients (N = 94) were cluster randomized to usual care (control; UC) or usual care with causal information (intervention; UC + CI). Depth of knowledge (factual vs.

Importance of Completing Hybrid Cardiac Rehabilitation for Long-Term Outcomes: A Real-World Evaluation.

Community-based hybrid cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs offer a viable alternative to conventional centre-based CR, however their long-term benefits are unknown. We conducted a secondary analysis of the CR Participation Study conducted in London, Ontario, between 2003 and 2006. CR eligible patients hospitalized for a major cardiac event, who resided within 60 min, were referred to a hybrid CR program; 381 of 544 (64%) referred patients initiated CR; an additional 1,498 CR eligible patients were not referred due to distance.

Exercise for stroke prevention.

We review evidence concerning exercise for stroke prevention. Plausible biological reasons suggest that exercise would be important in preventing stroke. While definitive randomised controlled trials evaluating the impact of physical activity (PA) and exercise on preventing stroke and mortality are lacking, observational studies, small randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses have provided evidence that PA and exercise favourably modify stroke risk factors, including hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption and tobacco use.

Molecular Epidemiology of Bacterial Wilt in the Madagascar Highlands Caused by Andean (Phylotype IIB-1) and African (Phylotype III) Brown Rot Strains of the Species Complex.

The species complex (RSSC) is a highly diverse cluster of bacterial strains found worldwide, many of which are destructive and cause bacterial wilt (BW) in a wide range of host plants. In 2009, potato production in Madagascar was dramatically affected by several BW epidemics. Controlling this disease is critical for Malagasy potato producers.

Sequevar Diversity and Virulence of Phylotype I on Mayotte Island (Indian Ocean).

The genetic and phenotypic diversity of the species complex, which causes bacterial wilt to Solanacae, was assessed in 140 strains sampled from the main vegetable production areas of the Mayotte island. Only phylotype I strains were identified in the five surveyed areas. The strains were distributed into the following 4 sequevars: I-31 (85.