Injectable ionic hydrogel conductors: Advancing material design to transform cardiac pacing.

Direct pacing of the mid myocardium where re-entry originates can be used to prevent ventricular arrhythmias and circumvent the need for painful defibrillation or cardiac ablation. However, there are no pacing electrodes small enough to navigate the coronary veins that cross these culprit scar regions. To address this need, we have developed an injectable ionically conductive hydrogel electrode that can fill the epicardial coronary veins and transform them into flexible electrodes.

Aging-induced changes in lymphatic muscle cell transcriptomes are associated with reduced pumping of peripheral collecting lymphatic vessels in mice.

Lymphatic muscle cells (LMCs) within the wall of collecting lymphatic vessels exhibit tonic and autonomous phasic contractions, which drive active lymph transport to maintain tissue-fluid homeostasis and support immune surveillance. Damage to LMCs disrupts lymphatic function and is related to various diseases. Despite their importance, knowledge of the gene transcriptional signatures in LMCs and how they relate to lymphatic function in normal and disease contexts is largely missing.

The association between dietary intake of branched-chain amino acids and the odds of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease among overweight and obese children and adolescents.

Objectives: Dietary supplementation with branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), including leucine, isoleucine, and valine, has shown potential benefits for the metabolic profile. However, emerging population-based studies suggest that BCAAs may mediate pathways related to cardiometabolic risk factors, possibly due to their involvement in the dysregulation of insulin metabolic pathways. This study aimed to investigate the association between BCAAs intake and the odds of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.

Noninvasive therapeutic ultrasound to increase perfusion in chronic limb-threatening ischemia: An early feasibility study.

Background: Preclinical studies have demonstrated that therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) increases perfusion in peripheral artery disease (PAD). This pilot study assessed the safety and effectiveness of a noninvasive TUS device in patients with advanced PAD.

Methods: A phased array of TUS transducers was fabricated on a wearable sleeve, designed to sonicate the posterior and anterior tibial arteries (and their collaterals) at the calf level.

Robust Magnetoelectric Backscatter Communication System for Bioelectronic Implants.

Wireless communication technologies for bioelectronic implants enable remote monitoring for diagnosis and adaptive therapeutic intervention without the constraints of wired connections. However, wireless data uplink from millimeter-scale devices deep in the body struggles to achieve low power consumption while maintaining large misalignment tolerances. Here, we report a passive wireless backscatter communication system based on magnetoelectric transducers that consumes less than 0.

A review of computational optimization of bone scaffold architecture: methods, challenges, and perspectives.

The design and optimization of bone scaffolds are critical for the success of bone tissue engineering (BTE) applications. This review paper provides a comprehensive analysis of computational optimization methods for bone scaffold architecture, focusing on the balance between mechanical stability, biological compatibility, and manufacturability. Finite element method (FEM), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and various optimization algorithms are discussed for their roles in simulating and refining scaffold designs.

Associations between the Volume of Bilateral Inferior Turbinates with Ipsilateral and Contralateral Sinus Mucosal Lining Thicknesses in Various Ages and Sexes: a CBCT Study of 302 Individuals.

Introduction: Rhinosinusitis is an important prevalent and bothersome problem relevant to dental specialties like maxillofacial surgery, pathology and radiology. Two main contributing factors to this problem are the inferior turbinate and sinus membrane. Except one flawed and incomplete preliminary study, no study has examined the potential link between the thickness of sinus mucosal lining and the volume of the inferior turbinate.

The LAVA Study: A Prospective, Multicenter, Single-Arm Study of a Liquid Embolic System for Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Hemorrhage.

Purpose: To present the results of the Liquid Embolization of Arterial Hemorrhages in Peripheral Vasculature (LAVA) study evaluating safety and effectiveness of Lava Liquid Embolic System, an ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), for peripheral arterial hemorrhage (PAH).

Materials And Methods: LAVA was a pivotal, prospective, multicenter, single-group, centrally adjudicated study of adults with active PAH. Patients received EVOH at 1 of 2 viscosities, administered by experienced physicians.

The VIVID trial 12-month outcomes of the venous stent for the iliofemoral vein using the Duo venous stent system.

Objective: There are varying anatomical and mechanical demands of stent placement in the iliofemoral venous segment; the Duo Venous Stent System is designed to address these issues. The purpose of the VIVID (Venous stent for the Iliofemoral Vein Investigational clinical trial using the Duo Venous Stent System) study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of the Duo Venous Stent System for the treatment of patients with nonmalignant iliofemoral venous obstructive disease.

Methods: This was an international, prospective, multicenter, single-arm study that enrolled patients with symptomatic nonthrombotic (NT), post-thrombotic (PTS), or acute deep vein thrombotic (aDVT) iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction.

Effects of metformin and curcumin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A factorial clinical trial.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women, associated with dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and hormonal imbalances. Metformin and curcumin have shown promise in improving these metabolic and hormonal parameters individually, but their combined effects in PCOS remain unclear.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 12-week factorial trial involving 200 women with PCOS.

Bone-targeted ultrasound-responsive nanobubbles for siRNA delivery to treat osteoporosis in mice.

This project aimed to study the efficacy of a bone-targeted ultrasound-responsive nanobubble (NB) platform to deliver gene-silencing cathepsin K (CTSK) siRNA into the bone for osteoporosis treatment using in vitro and in vivo studies. To this end, characterization of CTSK siRNA loaded NB functionalized with alendronate (NB-CTSK siRNA-AL) was performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, and a release profile was obtained through fluorescent spectroscopy. In vitro studies were conducted by culturing NB-CTSK siRNA-AL with osteoclasts to evaluate siRNA uptake, CTSK expression, and the expression of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP).

Validation of a Biopsychosocial Distress Screening Tool, SupportScreen, in a Brazilian Cancer Center.

Objective: Biopsychosocial distress is a common yet often underestimated complication in cancer care. We sought to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of SupportScreen distress assessment tool in Brazil.

Methods: A cancer cohort study was conducted at a public hospital in Brazil.

A theoretical framework for predicting the heterogeneous stiffness map of brain white matter tissue.

Finding the stiffness map of biological tissues is of great importance in evaluating their healthy or pathological conditions. However, due to the heterogeneity and anisotropy of biological fibrous tissues, this task presents challenges and significant uncertainty when characterized only by single-mode loading experiments. In this study, we propose a new theoretical framework to map the stiffness landscape of fibrous tissues, specifically focusing on brain white matter tissue.

Comparison of Dynamic and Static Compliance in Two Ventilation Methods with Tidal Volume of 6 and 10 ml/kg: Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Pulmonary compliance is an important lung factor and is affected by tidal volume. In this study, static and dynamic compliance with tidal volumes of 6 and 10 ml/kg have been evaluated in patients undergoing abdominal cancer surgery.

Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 50 patients who were candidate for abdominal cancer surgery.

A novel method for 12-lead ECG reconstruction.

This paper presents a novel approach to synthesize a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) from any three independent ECG leads using a patient-specific encoder-decoder convolutional neural network. The objective is to decrease the number of recording locations required to obtain the same information as a 12-lead ECG, thereby enhancing patients' comfort during the recording process. We evaluate the proposed algorithm on a dataset comprising fifteen patients, as well as a randomly selected cohort of patients from the PTB diagnostic database.

A graph-based cardiac arrhythmia classification methodology using one-lead ECG recordings.

In this study, we present a novel graph-based methodology for an accurate classification of cardiac arrhythmia diseases using a single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). The proposed approach employs the visibility graph technique to generate graphs from time signals. Subsequently, informative features are extracted from each graph and then fed into classifiers to match the input ECG signal with the appropriate target arrhythmia class.

Enhancing boundary detection of radiofrequency ablation lesions through photoacoustic mapping.

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is the most common type of heart arrhythmia, typically treated with radiofrequency catheter ablation to isolate the heart from abnormal electrical signals. Monitoring the formation of ablation-induced lesions is crucial for preventing recurrences and complications arising from excessive or insufficient ablation. Existing imaging modalities lack real-time feedback, and their intraoperative usage is in its early stages.

Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Preprocessing Techniques for Detecting, Predicting, and Monitoring Stress and Stress-Related Mental Disorders: Scoping Review.

Background: Mental stress and its consequent mental health disorders (MDs) constitute a significant public health issue. With the advent of machine learning (ML), there is potential to harness computational techniques for better understanding and addressing mental stress and MDs. This comprehensive review seeks to elucidate the current ML methodologies used in this domain to pave the way for enhanced detection, prediction, and analysis of mental stress and its subsequent MDs.

Protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual-reality-based behavioral intervention in enhancing sensory responses to real-world warning.

Habituation to signals that warn of a potential danger in high-risk work environments is a critical causal factor of workplace accidents. Such habituation is hard to measure in a real-world setting, and no existing intervention can effectively curb it. Here, we present a protocol to enhance workers' sensory responses to frequently encountered warnings at workplaces using a virtual-reality-based behavioral intervention.