Longitudinal health-related quality of life in people with thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Background: Surgical intervention for thoracic aortic aneurysms is high risk. Understanding changes in health-related quality of life before and after endovascular stent grafting and open surgical repair can aid treatment decision-making.

Methods: The Effective Treatments for Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms ('ETTAA') study (ISRCTN04044627) was a longitudinal, observational study.

Inequalities for women diagnosed with distal arch and descending thoracic aortic aneurysms: results from the Effective Treatments for Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms (ETTAA) cohort study.

Background: Women with thoracic aortic aneurysms within the arch or descending thoracic aorta have poorer survival than men. Sex differences in relative thoracic aortic aneurysm size may account for some of the discrepancy. The aim of this study was to explore whether basing clinical management on aneurysm size index (maximum aneurysm diameter/body surface area) rather than aneurysm size can restore equality of survival by sex.

Evidence of Strong Orbital-Selective Spin-Orbital-Phonon Coupling in CrVO_{4}.

Coupling of orbital degree of freedom with a spin exchange, i.e., Kugel-Khomskii-type interaction (KK), governs a host of material properties, including colossal magnetoresistance, enhanced magnetoelectric response, and photoinduced high-temperature magnetism.

Costs of endovascular and open repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Background: Repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms with either endovascular repair (TEVAR) or open surgical repair (OSR) represents major surgery, is costly and associated with significant complications. The aim of this study was to establish accurate costs of delivering TEVAR and OSR in a cohort of UK NHS patients suitable for open and endovascular treatment for the whole treatment pathway from admission and to discharge and 12-month follow-up.

Methods: A prospective study of UK NHS patients from 30 NHS vascular/cardiothoracic units in England aged ≥18, with distal arch/descending thoracic aortic aneurysms (CTAA) was undertaken.

Effect of Oleylamine on the Surface Chemistry, Morphology, Electronic Structure, and Magnetic Properties of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles.

The influence of oleylamine (OLA) concentration on the crystallography, morphology, surface chemistry, chemical bonding, and magnetic properties of solvothermal synthesized CoFeO (CFO) nanoparticles (NPs) has been thoroughly investigated. Varying OLA concentration (0.01-0.

The Role of Tranexamic Acid in the Prevention and Management of Blood Loss in Total Joint Arthroplasty.

 To collect data on the role played by tranexamic acid in the prevention and management of blood loss in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty.  In the present prospective, comparative study, 30 patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were randomly allocated into 1 of 2 groups with 15 patients each. Tranexamic acid was administered by intravenous and topical routes in the study group, but it was not administered in the control group.

Association of Collagen, Elastin, Glycosaminoglycans, and Macrophages With Tissue Ultimate Material Strength and Stretch in Human Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms: A Uniaxial Tension Study.

Fiber structures and pathological features, e.g., inflammation and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) deposition, are the primary determinants of aortic mechanical properties which are associated with the development of an aneurysm.

Endovascular stent grafting and open surgical replacement for chronic thoracic aortic aneurysms: a systematic review and prospective cohort study.

Background: The management of chronic thoracic aortic aneurysms includes conservative management, watchful waiting, endovascular stent grafting and open surgical replacement. The Effective Treatments for Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms (ETTAA) study investigates timing and intervention choice.

Objective: To describe pre- and post-intervention management of and outcomes for chronic thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Aneurysm growth, survival, and quality of life in untreated thoracic aortic aneurysms: the effective treatments for thoracic aortic aneurysms study.

Aims: To observe, describe, and evaluate management and timing of intervention for patients with untreated thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Methods And Results: Prospective study of UK National Health Service (NHS) patients aged ≥18 years, with new/existing arch or descending thoracic aortic aneurysms of ≥4 cm diameter, followed up until death, intervention, withdrawal, or July 2019. Outcomes were aneurysm growth, survival, quality of life (using the EQ-5D-5L utility index), and hospital admissions.

Implementing health communication tools at scale: mobile audio messaging and paper-based job aids for front-line workers providing community health education to mothers in Bihar, India.

Introduction: As part of an investment by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the Government of Bihar to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition (RMNCHN) statewide, BBC Media Action implemented multiple communication tools to support front-line worker (FLW) outreach. We analyse the impacts of a package of mHealth audio messaging and paper-based job aids used by FLWs during government-sponsored village health, sanitation and nutrition days (VHSNDs) on knowledge and practices of childbearing women across the RMNCHN continuum of care.

Methods: Data from two surveys collected between July and September 2016 were analysed using logistic regression to compare health-related knowledge and behaviours between women who had been exposed at VHSNDs to the mHealth GupShup Potli (GSP) audio recordings or interpersonal communication (IPC) tools versus those who were unexposed.

Learning Gaussian-Bernoulli RBMs Using Difference of Convex Functions Optimization.

The Gaussian-Bernoulli restricted Boltzmann machine (GB-RBM) is a useful generative model that captures meaningful features from the given n -dimensional continuous data. The difficulties associated with learning GB-RBM are reported extensively in earlier studies. They indicate that the training of the GB-RBM using the current standard algorithms, namely contrastive divergence (CD) and persistent contrastive divergence (PCD), needs a carefully chosen small learning rate to avoid divergence which, in turn, results in slow learning.

On Robustness of Neural Architecture Search Under Label Noise.

Neural architecture search (NAS), which aims at automatically seeking proper neural architectures given a specific task, has attracted extensive attention recently in supervised learning applications. In most real-world situations, the class labels provided in the training data would be noisy due to many reasons, such as subjective judgments, inadequate information, and random human errors. Existing work has demonstrated the adverse effects of label noise on the learning of weights of neural networks.

Systematic review of endovascular stent grafting versus open surgical repair for the elective treatment of arch/descending thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Objective: To review comparisons of the effectiveness of endovascular stent grafting (ESG) against open surgical repair (OSR) for treatment of chronic arch or descending thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA).

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, WHO International Clinical Trials Routine data collection, current controlled trials, clinical trials and the NIHR portfolio were searched from January 1994 to March 2020.

Eligibility Criteria For Selective Studies: All identified studies that compared ESG and OSR, including randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised and non-RCTs, comparative cohort studies and case-control studies matched on main outcomes were sought.

Impact of mHealth interventions for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition at scale: BBC Media Action and the program in Bihar, India.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) tools have potential for improving the reach and quality of health information and services through community health workers in low- and middle-income countries. This study evaluates the impact of an mHealth tool implemented at scale as part of the statewide reproductive,maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition (RMNCHN) program in Bihar, India.

Methods: Three survey-based data sets were analysed to compare the health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours amongst childbearing women exposed to the Mobile and Dr.

Improving primary health care delivery in Bihar, India: Learning from piloting and statewide scale-up of .

In 2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) partnered with the Government of Bihar (GoB), India to launch the program to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition (RMNCHN) outcomes. The program sought to address supply- and demand-side barriers to the adoption, coverage, quality, equity and health impact of select RMNCHN interventions. Approaches included strengthening frontline worker service delivery; social and behavior change communications; layering of health, nutrition and sanitation into women's self-help groups (SHGs); and quality improvement in maternal and newborn care at primary health care facilities.

Eco-Friendly Synthesis, Crystal Chemistry, and Magnetic Properties of Manganese-Substituted CoFeO Nanoparticles.

The authors report on the effect of manganese (Mn) substitution on the crystal chemistry, morphology, particle size distribution characteristics, chemical bonding, structure, and magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite (CoFeO) nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by a simple, cost-effective, and eco-friendly one-pot aqueous hydrothermal method. Crystal structure analyses indicate that the Mn(II)-substituted cobalt ferrites, Co Mn FeO (CMFO, = 0.0-0.

Bayesian Inference-Based Estimation of Normal Aortic, Aneurysmal and Atherosclerotic Tissue Mechanical Properties: From Material Testing, Modeling and Histology.

Objective: Mechanical properties of healthy, aneurysmal, and atherosclerotic arterial tissues are essential for assessing the risk of lesion development and rupture. Strain energy density function (SEDF) has been widely used to describe these properties, where material constants of the SEDF are traditionally determined using the ordinary least square (OLS) method. However, the material constants derived using OLS are usually dependent on initial guesses.

The Use of Biophysical Flow Models in the Surgical Management of Patients Affected by Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.

Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) results from progressive thrombotic occlusion of the pulmonary arteries. It is treated by surgical removal of the occlusion, with success rates depending on the degree of microvascular remodeling. Surgical eligibility is influenced by the contributions of both the thrombus occlusion and microvasculature remodeling to the overall vascular resistance.

Cataract surgery outcome in patients with non-glaucomatous pseudoexfoliation.

To study the outcome of cataract surgery in eyes with pseudoexfoliation without signs of glaucoma. This prospective study was done over nine months on patients with pseudoexfoliation undergoing small incision cataract surgery. Only patients with normal intraocular pressure (Central Corneal Thickness Corrected), normal cup disc ratio and open angles were included.

Pressure and Temperature Dependent Structural Studies on Hollandite Type Ferrotitanate and Crystal Structure of a High Pressure Phase.

The structural stability and phase transition behavior of tetragonal (I4/m) hollandite type KFeTiO have been investigated by in situ high pressure X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation and a diamond anvil cell as well as by variable temperature powder neutron and X-ray diffraction. The tetragonal phase is found to be stable in a wider range of temperatures, while it reversibly transforms to a monoclinic (I2/m) structure at a moderate pressure, viz. 3.

Anomalous lattice behavior of vanadium pentaoxide (VO): X-ray diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering and ab initio lattice dynamics.

We present structural and dynamical studies of layered vanadium pentaoxide (VO). The temperature dependent X-ray diffraction measurements reveal highly anisotropic and anomalous thermal expansion from 12 K to 853 K. The results do not show any evidence of structural phase transition or decomposition of α-VO, contrary to the previous transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) experiments.

Giant Rashba effect at the topological surface of PrGe revealing antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Rashba spin-orbit splitting in the magnetic materials opens up a new perspective in the field of spintronics. Here, we report a giant Rashba spin-orbit splitting on the PrGe [010] surface in the paramagnetic phase with Rashba coefficient α  = 5 eVÅ. We find that α can be tuned in this system as a function of temperature at different magnetic phases.

Temperature dependent structural, vibrational and magnetic properties of KGd(PO).

Herein we report the evolution of the crystal structure of KGd(PO) in the temperature range from 20 K to 1073 K, as observed from variable temperature X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic studies. KGd(PO) has an open tunnel containing a three dimensional structure built by [Gd(PO)] ions which in turn are formed of PO tetrahedra and GdO (n = 8 and 9) polyhedra. The empty tunnels in the structure are occupied by K ions and maintain charge neutrality in the lattice.

Splenomegaly in the returning traveller: a diagnostic workup.

Isolated splenomegaly is an unusual condition encompassing a broad range of diagnoses. We report a case of a 38-year-old Asian man who presented with insidious abdominal discomfort and night sweats following recent travel to India. Massive splenomegaly was the only prominent feature on clinical examination and on subsequent imaging.

Structural Stability and Anharmonicity of PrTiO: Raman Spectroscopic and XRD Studies.

Herein we report results of pressure- and temperature-dependent Raman scattering studies on PrTiO. Pressure-dependent studies performed up to 23 GPa suggest a reversible phase transition above 15 GPa with subtle changes. Temperature-dependent investigations performed in the range of 77-1073 K showed anomalous temperature dependence of some of the Raman modes.