Association between adult-onset hearing loss and dementia biomarkers: A systematic review.

Background And Objective: People with adult-onset hearing loss (AoHL) are at increased dementia risk. In this study, we explore potential aetiological mechanisms by synthesising the evidence on the association between AoHL and neuropathological, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood and imaging biomarkers of dementia.

Methods: We systematically searched electronic databases from inception to 30 April 2024 for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, including quantitative data on the association between AoHL and dementia biomarkers.

Discrete, recurrent, and scalable patterns in non-operant judgement underlie affective picture ratings.

Operant keypress tasks in a reinforcement-reward framework where behavior is shaped by its consequence, show lawful relationships in human preference behavior (i.e., approach/avoidance) and have been analogized to "wanting".

Pooled results from two pivotal randomized controlled clinical trials: ESSENCE-1 and ESSENCE-2 to assess efficacy and safety of a water-free ciclosporin 0.1% formulation for the treatment of dry eye disease.

Purpose: This pooled analysis of two pivotal studies (ESSENCE-1 and ESSENCE-2) evaluated treatment effects of a water-free ciclosporin 0.1% solution in dry eye disease (DED) patients in the overall population and in subgroups according to sex, age, and baseline severity of disease.

Methods: In these randomized, multicenter, double-masked, vehicle-controlled studies patients received ciclosporin 0.

Cardiovascular Events Risk in Office-Masked Nocturnal Hypertension Defined by Home Blood Pressure Monitoring.

Background: Nocturnal home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) may identify people at higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk than expected.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the association between office-masked nocturnal hypertension, defined by HBPM, and CVD risk in a clinical practice-based population.

Methods: Prospective observational study including Japanese high cardiovascular-risk participants.

Perfluorohexyloctane ophthalmic solution for dry eye disease: pooled analysis of two phase 3 clinical trials.

Background: Dry eye disease (DED) is commonly caused by excessive tear film evaporation due to Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). There is a need for DED treatment options that address tear evaporation and benefit patients across a broad range of demographic and disease characteristics. This study evaluated treatment effects of perfluorohexyloctane ophthalmic drop (formerly NOV03) in the pooled dataset from 2 pivotal clinical trials in patients with DED associated with MGD, both in the overall population and in patient subgroups based on sex, age, and baseline severity of eye dryness.

Pharmacologic Treatment of Hypertension in Older Adults.

The authors conducted a review of pharmacologic therapy in older adults with hypertension. They reviewed the evidence supporting their use in older adults, understanding the physiologic changes and potential adverse drug effects associated with aging and antihypertensive medication use, exploring guideline recommendations for antihypertensive use in older adults, and evaluating the associated risks and benefits of specific classes of antihypertensive medications.

Differences in ambulatory versus home blood pressure levels by ethnicity: data from the United Kingdom and Japan.

This study tested the hypothesis that differences in ethnicity impact the level of agreement between ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and home BP (HBP) levels. A retrospective analysis of cross-sectional data from the UK and Japan was performed. Participants underwent office BP, daytime ABP, and HBP measurements.

Twelve hot questions in the management of hypertension in patients aged 80+ years and their answers with the help of the 2023 European Society of Hypertension Guidelines.

Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and highly prevalent in older age, underscoring the importance of its appropriate management. The population is ageing at an increasing rate, with those aged 80+ years being the fastest growing population characterized by high heterogeneity in terms of functionality and autonomy. The prevalence of hypertension rises with increasing age, due to a significant increase in SBP largely as a result of age-related stiffening of the aorta and other large arteries, affecting almost 80% of those aged 80+ years.

Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against hospitalisation, death and infection over time in Aotearoa New Zealand: a retrospective cohort study.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing COVID-19 outcomes when the Omicron variant was predominant in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using routinely available data (8 December 2020-28 February 2023). We evaluated the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of COVID-19 vaccines using the Cox proportional-hazards model, adjusting for covariates.

Tolerability of Current Treatments for Dry Eye Disease: A Review of Approved and Investigational Therapies.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a common, multifactorial ocular disease impacting 5% to 20% of people in Western countries and 45% to 70% in Asian countries. Despite the prevalence of DED and the number of treatment approaches available, signs and symptoms of the disease continue to limit the quality of life for many patients. Standard over-the-counter treatment approaches and behavior/environmental modifications may help some cases but more persistent forms often require pharmacological interventions.

Reprint of: Evaluation of physicians prescribing of COVID-19 guideline-directed outpatient treatments in a primary care walk-in clinic.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory virus that has afflicted millions of individuals in the United States. A few medications have been determined to be beneficial for outpatient treatment. The medications in use against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in the outpatient setting during the study period are nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, remdesivir, molnupiravir, and bebtelovimab.

Effect of antihypertensive deprescribing on hospitalisation and mortality: long-term follow-up of the OPTiMISE randomised controlled trial.

Background: Deprescribing of antihypertensive medications is recommended for some older patients with low blood pressure and frailty. The OPTiMISE trial showed that this deprescribing can be achieved with no differences in blood pressure control at 3 months compared with usual care. We aimed to examine effects of deprescribing on longer-term hospitalisation and mortality.

Cholecystitis and Cardiomyopathy in an Immunocompetent Patient With Cytomegalovirus Infection: A Case Report.

In this case report, we present a 53-year-old immunocompetent male exhibiting cholecystitis and cardiomyopathy related to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The initial presentation pointed toward cholecystitis, including epigastric pain, chronic dysgeusia, dyspepsia, and cholelithiasis on ultrasound. A cholecystectomy was performed, and tissue analysis showed subacute cholecystitis.

Who's most at risk? A person-centered approach to understanding the long-term relationship between early social media use and later depression across adolescence.

Introduction: Person-centered analyses examined the relationship between social media use and depression over an 8-year period. The purpose was to examine the varying ways early social media use was associated with the development of depressive symptoms with a hypothesis that social media would not have a uniform association with depressive symptoms across adolescents.

Methods: Participants included 488 adolescents (52% female), living in the United States, who were surveyed once a year for 8 years (beginning in 2010 when the average age for participants was 13.

Operating Room Waste Generated From Corneal and Conjunctival Surgeries.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to bring awareness to the surgical waste generated from corneal and conjunctival surgeries and to compare those findings with the waste generated from cataract surgeries.

Methods: This was an observational prospective pilot cohort study at a tertiary corneal/anterior segment private practice. All waste related to cataract, cornea, and conjunctival surgical procedures (including anesthesia waste and corneal tissue storage) was weighed.

The clinical utility and diagnostic implementation of human subject cell transdifferentiation followed by RNA sequencing.

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has recently been used in translational research settings to facilitate diagnoses of Mendelian disorders. A significant obstacle for clinical laboratories in adopting RNA-seq is the low or absent expression of a significant number of disease-associated genes/transcripts in clinically accessible samples. As this is especially problematic in neurological diseases, we developed a clinical diagnostic approach that enhanced the detection and evaluation of tissue-specific genes/transcripts through fibroblast-to-neuron cell transdifferentiation.

The association between restricted activity and patient outcomes in older adults: systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Background: Restricted activity is a potential early marker of declining health in older adults. Previous studies of this association with patient outcomes have been inconclusive. This review aimed to evaluate the extent to which restricted activity is associated with decline in health.

'Legacy publication of a 2009 validation of the Riester Big Ben Square Desk aneroid device for blood pressure measurement according to the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol for validation of blood pressure measuring devices in adults (2002)'.

Objective: To report a validation of the Riester Big Ben Square Desk Aneroid Sphygmomanometer according to the international protocol developed by the Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring of the European Society of Hypertension 2002 (ESH-IP 2002) in the interest of transparency. This legacy publication is intended to assure users that the device satisfied the requirements in place at that time.

Methods: Performance of the device was assessed by participants' age, sex, arm circumference and entry SBP/DBP.

The diagnostic accuracy of cardiac ultrasound for acute myocardial ischemia in the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Chest pain is responsible for millions of visits to the emergency department (ED) annually. Cardiac ultrasound can detect ischemic changes, but varying accuracy estimates have been reported in previous studies. We synthetized the available evidence to yield more precise estimates of the accuracy of cardiac ultrasound for acute myocardial ischemia in patients with chest pain in the ED and to assess the effect of different clinical characteristics on test accuracy.

Efficacy of a new water-free topical cyclosporine 0.1% solution for optimizing the ocular surface in patients with dry eye and cataract.

This is a pooled analysis from 2 phase III clinical trials investigating a water-free topical cyclosporine 0.1% for the treatment of moderate to severe dry eye. The analyses included 1162 patients: 35% with cataract, 20% with pseudophakia, and 45% without cataract.