Social Determinants of Health and 30-Day Readmission After Acute Myocardial Infarction in the REGARDS Study.

Background: Social determinants of health (SDOH) may influence 30-day readmission or emergency department (ED) use following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospitalizations. Understanding this relationship will promote the development of interventions and policies to reduce readmissions.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to test associations between SDOH and readmission after AMI.

Association Between Caregiver Strain and Self-Care Among Caregivers With Hypertension: Findings From the REGARDS Study.

Background: Self-care for adults with hypertension includes adherence to lifestyle behaviors and medication. For unpaid caregivers with hypertension, the burden of family caregiving may adversely impact self-care. We examined the association between caregiver strain and hypertension self-care among caregivers with hypertension.

Sustainability pathways for perovskite photovoltaics.

Solar energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation globally. As deployment increases, photovoltaic (PV) panels need to be produced sustainably. Therefore, the resource utilization rate and the rate at which those resources become available in the environment must be in equilibrium while maintaining the well-being of people and nature.

Reliability and minimal detectable difference of pressure pain thresholds in a pain-free population.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability and minimal detectable difference (MDD) of pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) in pain-free participants with two examiners over two consecutive days in a cross-sectional study design. Examiners used a standardized method to measure and locate a specific testing site over tibialis anterior for PPT testing with a hand-held algometer. The mean of each examiner's three PPT measurements was used to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient, inter-rater reliability, and intra-rater reliability.

Racial Disparities in Access to High-Volume Mitral Valve Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair Centers.

Background: Severe mitral regurgitation is a progressive disease associated with high morbidity and mortality, and frequent readmissions for heart failure. Surgical mitral valve repair or replacement has been the gold-standard treatment; however, advances in transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) have provided alternatives for high-risk surgical patients. There are no data on racial disparities in access to high-volume TEER centers.

Sex- and Race-Related Differences in Characteristics and Outcomes of Hospitalizations for Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Background: Sex and race have emerged as important contributors to the phenotypic heterogeneity of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, there remains a need to identify important sex- and race-related differences in characteristics and outcomes using a nationally representative cohort.

Methods And Results: Data were obtained from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-Nationwide Inpatient Sample files between 2008 and 2012.

Sex differences in nonobstructive coronary artery disease: Recent insights and substantial knowledge gaps.

The existence of sex differences in the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis, and management of coronary artery disease (CAD) has been a subject of growing inquiry for the past several decades. The prevailing paradigm is that the prevalence of anatomically obstructive disease of the epicardial coronary arteries is less common in women than similarly aged men, while nonobstructive and microvascular ischemic disease is more prevalent in women. Although both "patterns" of coronary atherosclerosis are associated with angina and cardiovascular events, the dominant diagnostic and therapeutic tools used in cardiology have focused on the male-predominant pattern of anatomically obstructive epicardial CAD.

Echocardiographic Linear Dimensions for Assessment of Right Ventricular Chamber Volume as Demonstrated by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance.

Background: Echocardiography-derived linear dimensions offer straightforward indices of right ventricular (RV) structure but have not been systematically compared with RV volumes on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Methods: Echocardiography and CMR were interpreted among patients with coronary artery disease imaged via prospective (90%) and retrospective (10%) registries. For echocardiography, American Society of Echocardiography-recommended RV dimensions were measured in apical four-chamber (basal RV width, mid RV width, and RV length), parasternal long-axis (proximal RV outflow tract [RVOT]), and short-axis (distal RVOT) views.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Young Urban Women.

Background: Although young women are presumed to have low cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality, the mortality benefits secondary to ischemic heart disease have plateaued among young women, <50 years.

Materials And Methods: Women, 18-49 years (n = 595) among all participants (n = 1,045) in the Columbia University Heart Health in Action Study, were assessed for CVD risk burden, that is, presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, current tobacco use, hyperlipidemia, physical inactivity, and/or obesity. Anthropometrics (height, weight, waist circumference, and body mass index [BMI]); demographics; socioeconomic status, CVD risk factors, body size perception; knowledge and awareness of CV disease; and attitudes toward lifestyle perception were determined.

The Relationship Among Neuromuscular Impairments, Chronic Back Pain, and Mobility in Older Adults.

Background: For older adults with mobility problems, one focus of rehabilitation is treating the underlying neuromuscular impairment(s) that lead to functional decline and disability. Knowing which neuromuscular impairments contribute to basic mobility tasks among older adults with back pain will fill an important knowledge gap and is a critical step towards developing mechanistically based rehabilitative interventions.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship of neuromuscular impairments with performance of mobility tasks among older adults with and without back pain.

Size misperception among overweight and obese families.

Background: Perception of body size is a key factor driving health behavior. Mothers directly influence children's nutritional and exercise behaviors. Mothers of ethnic minority groups and lower socioeconomic status are less likely to correctly identify young children as overweight or obese.

Cardiovascular disease knowledge and weight perception among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women.

Background: While knowledge of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has improved, it remains low among minority women, thereby contributing to disparities and posing health challenges. Moreover, substantial numbers of women do not recognize that excess weight imposes CVD risk and increases morbidity and decreases survival. In order to test the hypothesis that CVD knowledge is reduced among overweight and obese women, CVD knowledge and weight perception was compared among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) women.

Central hypersensitivity in chronic hemiplegic shoulder pain.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the association of hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) with central hypersensitivity through pressure-pain thresholds (PPTs) in healthy, distant tissues.

Design: This study is a cross-sectional study. A total of 40 patients (n = 20, HSP; n = 20, stroke without HSP) were enrolled in this study.

Central hypersensitivity in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the presence of primary and secondary hyperalgesia among subjects with chronic subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) compared with pain-free controls.

Design: Cross-sectional design.

Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation clinic, urban, academic medical center.

Relationship between cardiovascular disease knowledge and race/ethnicity, education, and weight status.

Background: Inadequate cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge has been cited to account for the imperfect decline in CVD among women over the last 2 decades.

Hypothesis: Due to concerns that at-risk women might not know the leading cause of death or symptoms of a heart attack, our goal was to assess the relationship between CVD knowledge race/ethnicity, education, and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Using a structured questionnaire, CVD knowledge, socio-demographics, risk factors, and BMI were evaluated in 681 women.

Effects of motexafin gadolinium on DNA damage and X-ray-induced DNA damage repair, as assessed by the Comet assay.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of motexafin gadolinium (MGd) on the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione (GSH), and DNA damage in EMT6 mouse mammary carcinoma cells. The ability of MGd to alter radiosensitivity and to inhibit DNA damage repair after X-ray irradiation was also evaluated.

Methods And Materials: Reactive oxygen species and GSH levels were assessed by 2,7-dichlorofluorescein fluorescence flow cytometry and the Tietze method, respectively.