Temporal trends in lipoprotein(a) testing among United States veterans from 2014 to 2023.

Objective: Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is a causal, genetically-inherited risk amplifier for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Practice guidelines increasingly recommend broad Lp(a) screening among various populations to optimize preventive care. Corresponding changes in testing rates and population-level detection of elevated Lp(a) in recent years has not been well described.

Classification of Premature Ventricular Contractions in Athletes During Routine Preparticipation Exams.

Background: Large-scale data on incidental premature ventricular contraction (PVC) prevalence and morphologies have been lacking, leaving many providers without guidance on further cardiac testing for patients with incidental PVCs on ECG. Athletes offer an intriguing cohort to understand the clinical significance, prevalence, and common morphologies of incidental PVCs because they often undergo ECG screening during preparticipation exams.

Methods: Digital ECGs were obtained from 10 728 screened athletes aged 14 to 35 years during mass screenings in schools and professional sports teams between 2014 and 2021.

Inequities in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) disease (ASCVD) prevention encompasses interventions across the lifecourse: from primordial to primary and secondary prevention. Primordial prevention begins in childhood and involves the promotion of ideal CV health (CVH) via optimizing physical activity, body mass index, blood glucose levels, total cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and sleep while minimizing tobacco use. Primary and secondary prevention of ASCVD thereafter centers around mitigating ASCVD risk factors via medical therapy and lifestyle interventions.

Porous Polymer Structures with Tunable Mechanical Properties Using a Water Emulsion Ink.

Recently, the manufacturing of porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with engineered porosity has gained considerable interest due to its tunable material properties and diverse applications. An innovative approach to control the porosity of PDMS is to use transient liquid phase water to improve its mechanical properties, which has been explored in this work. Adjusting the ratios of deionized water to the PDMS precursor during blending and subsequent curing processes allows for controlled porosity, yielding water emulsion foam with tailored properties.

3D Printed Integrated Sensors: From Fabrication to Applications-A Review.

The integration of 3D printed sensors into hosting structures has become a growing area of research due to simplified assembly procedures, reduced system complexity, and lower fabrication cost. Embedding 3D printed sensors into structures or bonding the sensors on surfaces are the two techniques for the integration of sensors. This review extensively discusses the fabrication of sensors through different additive manufacturing techniques.

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography in Children: Nine Years' Experience at Santa Fe Foundation in Bogota, Colombia.

Introduction: Experience in the use of diagnostic and/or therapy of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in children is limited. This is due to the underdiagnosis of pancreaticobiliary disease in the pediatric population and specialist personnel in this procedure.

Objective: To determine the safety and success rate of ERCP in children at Hospital Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá between January 2007 and June 2015.

Substrate stiffness impacts early biofilm formation by modulating twitching motility.

Surface-associated lifestyles dominate in the bacterial world. Large multicellular assemblies, called biofilms, are essential to the survival of bacteria in harsh environments and are closely linked to antibiotic resistance in pathogenic strains. Biofilms stem from the surface colonization of a wide variety of substrates encountered by bacteria, from living tissues to inert materials.

Direct Ink-Write Printing of Ceramic Clay with an Embedded Wireless Temperature and Relative Humidity Sensor.

This research presents a simple method to additively manufacture Cone 5 porcelain clay ceramics by using the direct ink-write (DIW) printing technique. DIW has allowed the application of extruding highly viscous ceramic materials with relatively high-quality and good mechanical properties, which additionally allows a freedom of design and the capability of manufacturing complex geometrical shapes. Clay particles were mixed with deionized (DI) water at different ratios, where the most suitable composition for 3D printing was observed at a 1:5 w/c ratio (16.

Evaluation of the association between circulating IL-1β and other inflammatory cytokines and incident atrial fibrillation in a cohort of postmenopausal women.

Background: Inflammatory cytokines play a role in atrial fibrillation (AF). Interleukin (IL)-1β, which is targeted in the treatment of ischemic heart disease, has not been well-studied in relation to AF.

Methods: Postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative were included.

Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) in young athletes.

There is a growing body of literature focusing on the morphology, management, and outcomes of PVCs in athletes. This review summarizes this literature and establishes recommendations on management, treatment, and indications for specialist referral in this patient population. The sports medicine physician's responses and recommendation should be made in conjunction with the athletes wishes.

Racial, ethnic, and sex disparities in atrial fibrillation management: rate and rhythm control.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects around 6 million Americans. AF management involves pharmacologic therapy and/or interventional procedures to control rate and rhythm, as well as anticoagulation for stroke prevention. Different populations may respond differently to distinct management strategies.

Unique Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Hispanic Individuals.

Purpose Of Review: This review summarizes contemporary data on unique cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Hispanic individuals in the USA, and how addressing these factors is important in addressing health equity.

Recent Findings: Recent studies have shown high rates of traditional CVD risk factors in Hispanic individuals such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and emerging CVD risk factors like hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, psychological stress, and occupational exposures. However, most studies fail to consider the significant heterogeneity in risk factor burden and outcomes in atherosclerotic CVD by Hispanic subgroup.

Statin Use in Older Adults for Primary Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Across a Spectrum of Cardiovascular Risk.

Background: There remains uncertainty regarding optimal primary atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) prevention practices for older adults.

Objective: To assess statin treatment patterns and incident ASCVD among older patients for primary prevention across the spectrum of ASCVD risk.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of participants without ASCVD aged 65-79 years.

Chaplain-Physician Interactions From the Chaplain's Perspective: A Mixed Method Analysis.

Background: The value of healthcare chaplains to patient care is increasingly recognized. However, physicians' understandings of the role of pastoral care have been reported to be poor, which have raised concerns about the quality of chaplain-physician interactions and their impact on patient care. These interactions, particularly from the perspective of the chaplain, have not been extensively investigated.

Correction to: Identifying and treating maternal mental health difficulties in Afghanistan: A feasibility study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Disparities in Cardiovascular Care and Outcomes for Women From Racial/Ethnic Minority Backgrounds.

Purpose Of Review: Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in cardiovascular care are well-documented. This review aims to highlight the disparities and impact on a group particularly vulnerable to disparities, women from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds.

Recent Findings: Women from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds remain underrepresented in major cardiovascular trials, limiting the generalizability of cardiovascular research to this population.

Benchmarking Critical Care Well-Being: Before and After the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Objectives: Examine well-being, measured as burnout and professional fulfillment, across critical care healthcare professionals, ICUs, and hospitals within a health system; examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Design: To complement a longitudinal survey administered to medical critical care physicians at the end of an ICU rotation, which began in May 2018, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among critical care professionals across four hospitals in December 2018 to January 2019. We report the results of the cross-sectional survey and, to examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the longitudinal survey results from July 2019 to May 2020.