Identifying Frailty Using Point-of-Care Ultrasonography: Image Acquisition and Assessment.

Frailty is a significant predictor of a range of adverse outcomes in surgical patients, including increased mechanical ventilation time, longer hospital stays, unplanned readmissions, stroke, delirium, and death. However, accessible tools for screening in clinical settings are limited. Computed tomography of the psoas muscle is the current standard imaging device for measuring frailty, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and exposes the patient to ionizing radiation.

Genetic Architecture and Clinical Outcomes of Combined Lipid Disturbances.

Background: Dyslipoproteinemia often involves simultaneous derangements of multiple lipid traits. We aimed to evaluate the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of combined lipid disturbances in a general population-based cohort.

Methods: Among UK Biobank participants without prevalent coronary artery disease, we used blood lipid and apolipoprotein B concentrations to ascribe individuals into 1 of 6 reproducible and mutually exclusive dyslipoproteinemia subtypes.

Effect of poly-L-lactic acid and polydioxanone biostimulators on type I and III collagen biosynthesis.

Objective: Safe, effective, and biocompatible minimally invasive procedures with the potential to stimulate collagen production have been made to recover dermal thickness and skin quality. The main of this animal model experiment was to observe the effect of poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) and polydioxanone (PDO) biostimulators in collagen I and III after hypodermal injection.

Methodology: Sixteen adult female rats (Wistar) were randomized into four groups and had dorsal treatment with: G1: hypodermic subcision (HS) only; G2: HS and PLLA hypodermic injection (HI), G3: HS and PDO HI; G4: Control, with no treatment.

Polygenic Scores and Preclinical Cardiovascular Disease in Individuals With HIV: Insights From the REPRIEVE Trial.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death among the 38.4 million people with HIV globally. The extent to which cardiovascular polygenic risk scores (PRSs) derived in non-HIV populations generalize to people with HIV is not well understood.

Risk factors for clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential in people with HIV: a report from the REPRIEVE trial.

Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), the clonal expansion of myeloid cells with leukemogenic mutations, results in increased coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. CHIP is more prevalent among people with HIV (PWH), but the risk factors are unknown. CHIP was identified among PWH in REPRIEVE (Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV) using whole-exome sequencing.

Genome-wide discovery for diabetes-dependent triglycerides-associated loci.

Purpose: We aimed to discover loci associated with triglyceride (TG) levels in the context of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 424,120 genotyped participants of the UK Biobank (UKB) with T2D status and TG levels.

Methods: We stratified the cohort based on T2D status and conducted association analyses of TG levels for genetic variants with minor allele count (MAC) at least 20 in each stratum.

Genome-wide pleiotropy analysis of coronary artery disease and pneumonia identifies shared immune pathways.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of death despite scientific advances. Elucidating shared CAD/pneumonia pathways may reveal novel insights regarding CAD pathways. We performed genome-wide pleiotropy analyses of CAD and pneumonia, examined the causal effects of the expression of genes near independently replicated SNPs and interacting genes with CAD and pneumonia, and tested interactions between disruptive coding mutations of each pleiotropic gene and smoking status on CAD and pneumonia risks.

Repeat Measures of Lipoprotein(a) Molar Concentration and Cardiovascular Risk.

Background: When indicated, guidelines recommend measurement of lipoprotein(a) for cardiovascular risk assessment. However, temporal variability in lipoprotein(a) is not well understood, and it is unclear if repeat testing may help refine risk prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Objectives: The authors examined the stability of repeat lipoprotein(a) measurements and the association between instability in lipoprotein(a) molar concentration with incident CAD.

Transient developmental exposure to tributyltin reduces optomotor responses in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio).

This study determined the effects of transient developmental exposure to tributyltin (TBT), a well-known anti-estrogenic environmental endocrine disrupting compound, on visual system development of larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish were exposed to either 0.2 μg/L or 20 μg/L TBT for 24 h when they were aged 24 h postfertilization (hpf), 72 hpf, or 7 days (d)pf.

Use of Ultrasound Urodynamics to Identify Differences in Bladder Shape Between Individuals With and Without Overactive Bladder.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify differences in bladder shape changes between individuals with overactive bladder (OAB) and unaffected individuals during ultrasound urodynamics.

Methods: A prospective urodynamic study was performed with concurrent transabdominal ultrasound (ultrasound urodynamics) on individuals with and without OAB based on validated International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - OAB survey scores. Three-dimensional ultrasound images were acquired at 1-minute increments during filling and used to measure bladder diameters in the height, width, and depth orientations.

Comparison of 2D and 3D ultrasound methods to measure serial bladder volumes during filling: Steps toward development of non-invasive ultrasound urodynamics.

Objectives: Non-invasive methods to objectively characterize overactive bladder (OAB) and other forms of voiding dysfunction using real-time ultrasound are currently under development but require accurate and precise serial measurements of bladder volumes during filling. This study's objective was to determine the most accurate and precise ultrasound-based method of quantifying serial bladder volumes during urodynamics (UD).

Methods: Twelve female participants with OAB completed an extended UD procedure with the addition of serial bladder ultrasound images captured once per minute.

Quantification of bladder wall biomechanics during urodynamics: A methodologic investigation using ultrasound.

Overactive bladder is often characterized by biomechanical changes in the bladder wall, but there is no established method to measure these changes in vivo. The goal of this study was to develop a novel method to determine detrusor wall biomechanical parameters during urodynamics through the incorporation of transabdominal ultrasound imaging. Individuals with overactive bladder (OAB) underwent ultrasound imaging during filling.