Sexual wellness clinic collaborative initiative with a large urban emergency department: sexual health outcomes and linkage to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Introduction: Despite escalating rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States (US), there has been progressive divestment of sexual health services leading to the reliance on emergency departments (EDs) for sexual healthcare, particularly among vulnerable populations. The Sexual Wellness Clinic (SWC), a novel care delivery model operating in collaboration with the ED, offers comprehensive sexual health services.

Objectives: This study aims to analyze the demographics, STI positivity, and HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among patients accessing the SWC.

Cardiac remodelling in patients with atrial fibrillation and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) can cause left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) remodelling, which is linked to atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can reverse LA and LV remodelling in patients with OSA and paroxysmal AF (PAF) has yet to be studied. We assessed the impact of CPAP treatment on LA and LV size and function in patients with OSA and PAF before and after catheter ablation.

PBP4 is required for serum-induced cell wall thickening and antibiotic tolerance in .

The bacterial pathogen responds to the host environment by synthesizing a thick peptidoglycan cell wall, which protects the bacterium from membrane-targeting antimicrobials and the immune response. However, the proteins required for this response were previously unknown. Here, we demonstrate by three independent approaches that the penicillin-binding protein PBP4 is crucial for serum-induced cell wall thickening.

Lipoteichoic acid biosynthesis by is controlled by the MspA protein.

produces a plethora of virulence factors critical to its ability to establish an infection and cause disease. We have previously characterized a small membrane protein, MspA, which has pleiotropic effects on virulence and contributes to pathogenicity . Here we report that inactivation triggers overaccumulation of the essential cell wall component, lipoteichoic acid (LTA), which, in turn, decreases autolytic activity and leads to increased cell size due to a delay in cell separation.

BMI variability and cardiovascular outcomes within clinical trial and real-world environments in type 2 diabetes: an IMI2 SOPHIA study.

Background: BMI variability has been associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with type 2 diabetes, however comparison between clinical studies and real-world observational evidence has been lacking. Furthermore, it is not known whether BMI variability has an effect independent of HbA1c variability.

Methods: We investigated the association between BMI variability and 3P-MACE risk in the Harmony Outcomes trial (n = 9198), and further analysed placebo arms of REWIND (n = 4440) and EMPA-REG OUTCOME (n = 2333) trials, followed by real-world data from the Tayside Bioresource (n = 6980) using Cox regression modelling.