Three-month outcomes after the implantation of two HeartMate 3 devices in total artificial heart configuration.

Background: Total artificial heart (TAH) implantation is a rarely performed procedure. Contrarily, left ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation is rather common in many centers. As transplantation is quantitatively limited cardiac replacement with artificial hearts is a viable alternative in the treatment of severe biventricular heart failure.

The Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS) and Viral Infection in Plants.

The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is crucial in maintaining cellular physiological balance. The UPS performs quality control and degrades proteins that have already fulfilled their regulatory purpose. The UPS is essential for cellular and organic homeostasis, and its functions regulate DNA repair, gene transcription, protein activation, and receptor trafficking.

The Viral Threat in Cotton: How New and Emerging Technologies Accelerate Virus Identification and Virus Resistance Breeding.

Cotton ( spp. L., ) is the world's largest source of natural fibers.

Executive Functioning Predicts Adaptive Functioning and Self-Care Independence in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease.

Objective: This study examined the impact of executive functioning (EF) on adaptive functioning and self-care independence in pre-transition youth with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Methods: Thirty-four youth with SCD (ages 12-18 years) completed a brief neuropsychological battery and their caregivers completed questionnaires assessing adaptive functioning, EF behaviors, and independence in completing self-care tasks, including disease management. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were utilized to investigate if EF predicted significantly more variability in adaptive functioning and self-care independence than what is accounted for by socioeconomic status (SES), disease knowledge, and estimated intellectual functioning.

Hydroxyurea Use Associated with Nonverbal and Executive Skills in Sickle Cell Anemia.

Objective: Hydroxyurea (HU) is used in children with sickle cell disease (SCD) to increase fetal hemoglobin (HF), contributing to a decrease in physical symptoms and potential protection against cerebral microvasculopathy. There has been minimal investigation into the association between HU use and cognition in this population. This study examined the relationship between HU status and cognition in children with SCD.

Genetic structure among morphotypes of the endangered Brazilian palm Mart (Arecaceae).

(Arecaceae) Mart has high ecological and economic importance providing food resources for more than 58 species of birds and 20 species of mammals, including humans. . is the second most exploited nontimber product from Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Laboratory Biomarkers, Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity, and Intellectual Function in Children with Sickle Cell Disease.

Objective: The aim of this preliminary study was to describe putative markers of cerebral vasculopathy and investigate relationships among these markers, demographic factors, and cognitive function in a young sample of neurologically normal children with SCD. . Thirty-eight children with homozygous HbS, aged 4-11 years, were included.

Executive function "drives" differences in simulated driving performance between young adults with and without autism spectrum disorder.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience greater difficulty learning to drive than peers who do not have ASD, but reasons for those differences are unclear. This study examined how diagnostic symptoms of ASD and commonly co-morbid executive dysfunction relate to differences in simulated driving performance between young, inexperienced drivers with and without ASD. Participants included 98 young adults, ages 16-26 years, half of which were diagnosed with ASD.

Gene pool sharing and genetic bottleneck effects in subpopulations of Eschweilera ovata (Cambess.) Mart. ex Miers (Lecythidaceae) in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil.

Forest loss and fragmentation are the main threats to the maintenance of the Atlantic Forest, an important global biodiversity hotspot. Because of the current critical level of deforestation, ecological corridors are needed to facilitate species dispersion and gene flow among fragments. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic variability and gene pool sharing of Eschweilera ovata in five forest remnants in southern Bahia, Brazil using nuclear simple sequence repeat (nSSR) and plastid simple sequence repeat (cpSSR) microsatellite markers.

Comparing the Role of Aberrant Salience and Dissociation in the Relation between Cumulative Traumatic Life Events and Psychotic-Like Experiences in a Multi-Ethnic Sample.

Exposure to traumatic life events (TLE) is a risk factor for psychosis. Yet, a dearth of studies examines factors linking TLE to psychosis, while considering differences in TLE frequency. This study investigated dissociation and aberrant salience as mediators and moderators of the relation between three TLE groups (none, 1-3 TLE and 4+ TLE) and psychotic-like experiences (PLE) in a multi-ethnic sample of 816 emerging adults.

Neuropsychological outcome following thalamic stroke in adolescence: an identical twin comparison.

Medial thalamic stroke in adults commonly results in severe learning and memory impairments and executive dysfunction, particularly during the acute phase. However, there is limited research on the cognitive recovery from thalamic stroke in physically healthy adolescents. This study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by utilizing a monozygotic twin control to investigate the neuropsychological outcomes of bilateral thalamic stroke in adolescence.

Subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by Amesia atrobrunnea in Kuwait.

The recently described genus Amesia encompasses four species but only Amesia atrobrunnea (=Chaetomium atrobrunneum) is known to be pathogenic to humans. Here, we describe a case of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis in Kuwait in an apparently immunocompetent patient diagnosed by direct microscopy of the infected tissue and culture. The identity of A.

Left ventricular assist device therapy: the Kuwait experience.

Background: Heart Failure is an epidemic with a current prevalence of over 5.8 million patients in the USA and almost 23 million patients worldwide, with high associated mortality risks. The severe shortage of donor organs for cardiac transplants and increasing number of heart failure patients has led to the increasing popularity of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy for treatment of end-stage heart failure patients.

Driving Comparisons Between Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development.

Objective: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reluctant to pursue driving because of concerns about their ability to drive safely. This study aimed to assess differences in simulated driving performance in young adults with ASD and typical development, examining relationships between driving performance and the level of experience (none, driver's permit, licensed) across increasingly difficult driving environments.

Method: Participants included 50 English-speaking young adults (16-26 years old) with ASD matched for sex, age, and licensure with 50 typically-developing (TD) peers.

Family Functioning, Medical Self-Management, and Health Outcomes Among School-Aged Children With Sickle Cell Disease: A Mediation Model.

Background: Informed by the Pediatric Self-Management Model, the present study tested relationships between parent and family functioning, sickle cell disease (SCD) self-management, and health outcomes for children with SCD.

Method: 83 children with SCD and a parent completed baseline data as part of a larger investigation of a family-based, problem-solving intervention for children with SCD (M age = 8.47).

The Kennedy Krieger Independence Scales-Sickle Cell Disease: Executive components of transition readiness.

Purpose/objective: Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at an increased risk for executive dysfunction and simultaneously have increased self-management needs compared to typical adolescents. This unique combination may contribute, in part, to difficulties during transition to young adulthood. Current measures assessing adaptive skills do not assess the executive components (e.

Lessons Learned From a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Family-Based Intervention to Promote School Functioning for School-Age Children With Sickle Cell Disease.

Objective: Tested a family-based group problem-solving intervention, "Families Taking Control," (FTC) to improve school functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQL) for children with sickle cell disease.

Method: Children and caregivers completed questionnaires assessing HRQL and school functioning and children completed performance-based measures of IQ and achievement at baseline and 6 months later. Families were randomized to the intervention (FTC, n = 42) or delayed intervention control (DIC, n = 41) group.

Deep sternal wound infection after coronary artery bypass: How to manage?

Mediastinitis is a devastating sternal wound complication. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence, risk factors, mortality, and different treatment modalities of mediastinitis after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. From January 2007 to May 2010, 1424 patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting were studied retrospectively; 1398 (group 1) had no mediastinitis, and 26 (group 2) developed mediastinitis.

Hypoxia and inflammation in children with sickle cell disease: implications for hippocampal functioning and episodic memory.

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) suffer from systemic processes (e.g., chronic anemia, recurrent hypoxic-ischemic events, chronic inflammation) that have been associated with neurocognitive impairment in a range of clinical populations, but which have been largely understudied in relation to specific domains of cognitive functioning in children with SCD.

Psychosocial and pharmacological management of pain in pediatric sickle cell disease.

For children with sickle cell disease (SCD), pain is associated with significant current and future morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, few evidence-based guidelines exist for the management of pain episodes in children with SCD. To inform empirically based treatment strategies for pain management in pediatric SCD, this review integrates and evaluates the extant literature on psychosocial and pharmacological approaches to the management of pain.

Long-distance dispersal in a fire- and livestock-protected savanna.

Savannas are highly diverse and dynamic environments that can shift to forest formations due to protection policies. Long-distance dispersal may shape the genetic structure of these new closed forest formations. We analyzed eight microsatellite loci using a single-time approach to understand contemporary pollen and effective seed dispersal of the tropical tree, Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.

Edge effects enhance selfing and seed harvesting efforts in the insect-pollinated Neotropical tree Copaifera langsdorffii (Fabaceae).

Edge effects may affect the mating system of tropical tree species and reduce the genetic diversity and variance effective size of collected seeds at the boundaries of forest fragments because of a reduction in the density of reproductive trees, neighbour size and changes in the behaviour of pollinators. Here, edge effects on the genetic diversity, mating system and pollen pool of the insect-pollinated Neotropical tree Copaifera langsdorffii were investigated using eight microsatellite loci. Open-pollinated seeds were collected from 17 seed trees within continuous savannah woodland (SW) and were compared with seeds from 11 seed trees at the edge of the savannah remnant.

Predictors of Academic Achievement for School Age Children with Sickle Cell Disease.

Background: Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at risk for neurocognitive impairment and poor academic achievement, although there is limited research on factors predicting academic achievement in this population. This study explores the relative contribution to academic achievement of a comprehensive set of factors, such as environmental (socioeconomic status), disease-related (stroke, transfusion therapy, adherence), and psychosocial variables (child behavior, child quality of life (QoL)), controlling for intellectual functioning (IQ).

Methods: Eighty-two children with SCD completed measures assessing IQ and academic achievement, while parents completed questionnaires assessing adherence, child behavior, and child quality of life.

The Kennedy Krieger Independence Scales-Spina Bifida Version: a measure of executive components of self-management.

Purpose/objective: Successful implementation of functional self-care skills depends upon adequate executive functioning; however, many scales assessing adaptive skills do not address the inherent executive burden of these tasks. This omission is especially relevant for individuals with spina bifida, for whom medical self-care tasks impose a significant burden requiring initiation and prospective memory. The Kennedy Krieger Independence Scales-Spina Bifida Version (KKIS-SB) is a caregiver-reported measure designed to address this gap; it assesses skills for managing both typical and spina bifida-related daily self-care demands, with a focus on the timely and independent initiation of adaptive skills.

Microsatellite markers for Plathymenia reticulata (Leguminosae)1.

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers were developed and characterized to investigate genetic diversity and gene flow and to help in conservation efforts for the endangered timber species Plathymenia reticulata. •

Methods And Results: Eleven microsatellite loci were characterized using 60 adult trees of two populations of P. reticulata from the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil.