Built Environment and Cardiovascular Diseases - Insights from a Global Review.

Purpose Of Review: This narrative review aims to synthesize global literature on the relationship between cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and components of built environment (green spaces, walkability, food environment, accessibility and availability of recreational and healthcare facilities, and effects of air and noise pollution).

Recent Findings: Increased green space and neighborhood walkability are associated with lower CVD mortality and morbidity; however, benefits have shown differential effects by socioeconomic status (SES). Air pollution is a leading environmental risk factor contributing to CVDs, and it disproportionately impacts low SES populations and women.

A scoping review of children's and parents' attitudes to and awareness of digital food marketing.

Digital food marketing (DFM) of unhealthy foods and beverages (high in saturated fats, sugar and salt) to children and young people influences brand recall, recognition, purchase intentions and attitudes, and increases consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. Understanding children's and parents' awareness of, and attitudes toward, such marketing is crucial for developing health-promoting advocacy and policy solutions. This registered systematic scoping review synthesized literature on children's, young people's and parents' attitudes and awareness of DFM.

Training clinicians to facilitate diabetes group visits.

Introduction: Managing diabetes in community clinics often presents substantial challenges. Diabetes group visits, shared medical appointments involving a clinician, offer a potential solution to these challenges. However, there is a need for training clinicians to effectively lead and facilitate these group visits.

Spatio-temporal transcriptomic analysis reveals distinct nephrotoxicity, DNA damage, and regeneration response after cisplatin.

Nephrotoxicity caused by drug or chemical exposure involves complex mechanisms as well as a temporal integration of injury and repair responses in different nephron segments. Distinct cellular transcriptional programs regulate the time-dependent tissue injury and regeneration responses. Whole kidney transcriptome analysis cannot dissect the complex spatio-temporal injury and regeneration responses in the different nephron segments.

Clinical and ethical perspectives of ovarian stimulation and oocyte cryopreservation in adolescents: 6 years experience from a tertiary centre.

Study Question: What are the clinical and ethical challenges of performing ovarian stimulation and oocyte cryopreservation in adolescents and the barriers to providing treatment?

Summary Answer: Our study shows that, in one of the largest case series to date in this population, post-pubertal adolescents as young as age 13 years can undergo ovarian stimulation and oocyte cryopreservation with a response comparable to adults.

What Is Known Already: Fertility preservation in adolescents has not been well studied, with little data available in the existing literature. Referrals for fertility preservation in adolescents are increasing due to developments in childhood cancer treatments, which have led to a growing population of children at risk of developing premature ovarian insufficiency.

Highlights of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Studies Presented at the 2024 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

Purpose Of Review: Focused review highlighting ten select studies presented at the 2024 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions.

Recent Finding: Included studies assessed effects of intensive blood pressure control in patients with type 2 diabetes (BPROAD); decision support system for physicians to optimize early lipid lowering therapies after acute coronary syndrome (ZODIAC); efficacy and safety of zerlasiran, a short interfering RNA targeting lipoprotein(a) (ALPACAR); efficacy and safety of muvalaplin an oral disrupter of the assembly of lipoprotein(a) particles (KRAKEN); safety and efficacy of obicetrapib in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (BROOKLYN); efficacy and safety of lerodalcibep, a third generation PCSK9 inhibitor in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia subjects (LIBerate-HeFH_OLE); personalized app-based coaching to improve physical activity in patients with HFpEF compared to standard care (MyoMobile); semaglutide to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with a history of coronary artery bypass surgery and overweight or obesity (the SELECT trial); efficacy and safety of plozasiran in adults with genetically or clinically defined familial chylomicronemia syndrome at high risk of acute pancreatitis (PALISADE); and transcriptomic signatures and predictors of evolocumab added to maximum statin therapy based on intra-coronary plaque characteristics (YELLOW III). Research presented at the 2024 AHA Scientific Sessions emphasized innovative strategies in cardiovascular disease prevention and management.

ILSI Europe Systematic Review: The Impact of Digestible and Nondigestible Carbohydrate Consumption for Toddlers (1-4 Years) in Relation to Health Outcomes.

Context: Early dietary habits play a crucial role in shaping long-term health outcomes. Understanding the effects of different carbohydrate types on physiological markers is essential for developing evidence-based nutritional guidelines for toddlers.

Objective: The aim was to systematically evaluate the impact of both digestible and nondigestible carbohydrate intake during early childhood (1-4 years of age) on various health outcomes, including growth patterns, metabolic parameters, and the development of risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Highlights of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Studies Presented at the 2024 European Society of Cardiology Congress.

Purpose Of Review: To summarize selected late-breaking science on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention presented at the 2024 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress.

Recent Findings: Key studies from the 2024 ESC Congress highlight advances in (CVD) management. Apolipoprotein A-1 infusions reduced risk in acute myocardial infarction patients with high LDL cholesterol.

Prebiotics in food and dietary supplements: a roadmap to EU health claims.

Numerous studies have established that prebiotic ingredients in foods and dietary supplements may play a role in supporting human health. Over the three decades that have passed since prebiotics were first defined as a concept, research has revealed a complex universe of prebiotic-induced changes to the human microbiota. There are strong indications of a direct link between these prebiotic-induced changes and specific health benefits.

Moving Beyond Raising Awareness: Addressing Barriers.

Awareness of issues and health concerns can prompt individuals to change their lifestyle behaviors. In fact, awareness is typically one of the first steps towards behavior change. However, awareness alone does not necessarily initiate or sustain behavioral changes.

Drivers and Facilitators of HIV-Related Stigma in Healthcare Settings in Ireland.

People living with HIV who experience stigma in healthcare settings are at increased risk for engaging in health avoidance behaviours, suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and viral non-suppression. HIV-related stigma erodes trust between patients and healthcare providers, thereby undermining both individual and public health. This study aimed to identify predictors of stigmatising attitudes, stigma practices, and fear of occupational transmission among healthcare workers in the Republic of Ireland.

Group-Based Interventions in Lifestyle Medicine.

Group-based interventions in health care have demonstrated a positive influence on patient outcomes by strengthening patient-healthcare professional relationships and providing an avenue for patient empowerment through shared experiences and belongingness. Groups have been shown to enhance social and psychological support, improve self-management behaviors, and encourage peer-support. However group settings also present challenges, such as discomforts in sharing within a group context and managing diverse group dynamics.

Health, Salud, : Individualizing Behavioral Needs in a Multicultural World.

Diversity within the United States continues to increase, making it imperative that health care providers understand the impact of cultural background on health behaviors and perceptions. These practices promote trusting patient-provider relationships, improve outcomes, and increase patient satisfaction. In this article, we discuss the 3 largest ethnic or racial minority groups in the United States, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians, and the intersection of culture and health care through the lens of these distinct communities.

Going from Primary to Primordial Prevention: Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Purpose Of Review: While primary prevention strategies target individuals who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease, there is rising interest towards primordial prevention that focuses on preventing the development of risk factors upstream of disease detection. Therefore, we review the advantages of primordial prevention interventions on minimizing future cardiovascular events.

Recent Findings: Primordial prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease involves behavioral, genetic, and environmental strategies, starting from fetal/infant health and continuing throughout childhood and young adulthood.

Urinary MicroRNA biomarkers of nephrotoxicity in Macaca fascicularis.

Drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI) refers to kidney damage resulting from the administration of medications. The aim of this project was to identify reliable urinary microRNA (miRNAs) biomarkers that can be used as potential predictors of DIKI before disease diagnosis. This study quantified a panel of six miRNAs (miRs-210-3p, 423-5p, 143-3p, 130b-3p, 486-5p, 193a-3p) across multiple time points using urinary samples from a previous investigation evaluating effects of a nephrotoxicant in cynomolgus monkeys.

The HepHIV 2023 Madrid conference: A call to action for political leadership in reaching the sustainable development goals on earlier testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.

Introduction And Objectives: The HepHIV 2023 Conference, held in Madrid in November 2023, highlighted how Europe is not on track to meet the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals and Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) targets. This article presents the outcomes of the conference, which focus on ways to improve testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and other sexually transmitted infections. HIV-related stigma and discrimination, a major barrier to progress, was a key concept of the conference and on the agenda of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

A community health worker led diabetes self-management education program: Reducing patient and system burden.

Aims: Conduct a secondary analysis of the TIME (Telehealth-supported, Integrated Community Health Workers (CHWs), Medication access, diabetes Education) made simple trial (SIMPLE) to evaluate healthcare utilization and explore variables that may have influenced HbA1c.

Methods: Participants (N = 134 [67/group]) were low-income, uninsured Hispanics with or at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus. We included in-person and telehealth clinician visits, other visits, missed visits, orders placed, and guideline-adherence (e.

Highlights of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Studies Presented at the 2024 American College of Cardiology Conference.

Purpose Of Review: To summarize selected late-breaking science on cardiovascular (CV) disease prevention presented at the 2024 Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference.

Recent Findings: The LIBerate-HR trial showed the efficacy and safety of lerodalcibep, a subcutaneous injection that prevents binding of Pro-Protein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin (PCSK) 9 to low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptors resulting in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering in patients at very high risk or high risk of atherosclerotic CV disease (ASCVD). The AEGIS-II randomized patients with type 1 myocardial infarction (MI) with multivessel coronary artery disease and additional CV risk factors and found no benefit in major adverse CV events (MACE) with CSL112, an apolipoprotein A1 infusion shown to increase cholesterol efflux capacity.

Vaccines against extraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC): progress and challenges.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a principal global health crisis projected to cause 10 million deaths annually worldwide by 2050. While the Gram-negative bacteria is commonly found as a commensal microbe in the human gut, some strains are dangerously pathogenic, contributing to the highest AMR-associated mortality. Strains of that can translocate from the gastrointestinal tract to distal sites, called extraintestinal (ExPEC), are particularly problematic and predominantly afflict women, the elderly, and immunocompromised populations.

Progress toward a vaccine for extraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC) II: efficacy of a toxin-autotransporter dual antigen approach.

Extraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC) is a leading cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality, the top cause of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections, and the most frequent cause of life-threatening sepsis and urinary tract infections (UTI) in adults. The development of an effective and universal vaccine is complicated by this pathogen's pan-genome, its ability to mix and match virulence factors and AMR genes via horizontal gene transfer, an inability to decipher commensal from pathogens, and its intimate association and co-evolution with mammals. Using a pan virulome analysis of >20,000 sequenced strains, we identified the secreted cytolysin α-hemolysin (HlyA) as a high priority target for vaccine exploration studies.

Effect of prebiotic oligosaccharides on bowel habit and the gut microbiota in children with functional constipation (Inside study): study protocol for a randomised, placebo-controlled, multi-centre trial.

Background: Functional constipation (FC) in children is a common gastrointestinal disorder with a worldwide-pooled prevalence of 9.5%. Complaints include infrequent bowel movements, painful defecation due to hard and/or large stools, faecal incontinence, and abdominal pain.

The Use of Reframing: Increasing the Importance of Lifestyle Medicine.

Lifestyle behavior modification is an essential component to prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases worldwide. For the last 40 years, studies have recognized that there is suboptimal training of physicians in lifestyle medicine and its implementation in clinical settings. The lack of nutrition and exercise counseling occurring in the medical office does not reflect the high level of evidence supporting its use.