Factors associated with nonword repetition skills in 4-to 6-year-old deaf and hard-of-hearing and typically hearing children.

Children identified as deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) exhibit an increased risk of speech and language difficulties. Nonword repetition (NWR) is a potential tool for identifying language difficulties in children with limited experience with the target language. In this study, we explored associations between auditory, linguistic, demographic and cognitive factors and NWR performance in DHH children and their typically hearing (TH) peers.

Increased levels of a subset of angiogenesis-related plasma proteins in essential thrombocythemia.

Background: Increased local angiogenesis is important for the growth and dissemination of cancer. The myeloproliferative neoplasm essential thrombocythemia (ET) is known to involve increased bone marrow angiogenesis. Blood levels of several angiogenesis-related proteins are increased in different types of cancer.

Spoken Language Skills in Children With Bilateral Hearing Aids or Bilateral Cochlear Implants at the Age of Three Years.

Objectives: Early hearing aid (HA) fitting and cochlear implants (CIs) aim to reduce the effects of hearing loss (HL) on spoken language development. The goals of this study were (1) to examine spoken language skills of children with bilateral HAs and children with bilateral CIs; (2) to compare their language skills to the age-norms of peers with normal hearing (NH); and (3) to investigate factors associated with spoken language outcomes.

Design: Spoken language results of 56 Finnish children with HL were obtained from a nationwide prospective multicenter study.

Intravascular ultrasound assessment of minimum lumen area and intimal hyperplasia in in-stent restenosis after drug-eluting or bare-metal stent implantation. The Nordic Intravascular Ultrasound Study (NIVUS).

Introduction: Drug-eluting stents (DES) reduce the risk of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention. The aim of the study was to evaluate, by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), the minimum lumen area site in the stented segment and the distribution of intimal hyperplasia in patients presenting with a DES or bare-metal stent (BMS) in-stent restenosis.

Methods: The "Nordic Intravascular Ultrasound Study (NIVUS)" study was conducted in Nordic and Baltic countries as a prospective multicenter registry.

Coronary bifurcation lesions treated with simple or complex stenting: 5-year survival from patient-level pooled analysis of the Nordic Bifurcation Study and the British Bifurcation Coronary Study.

Aims: Randomized trials of coronary bifurcation stenting have shown better outcomes from a simple (provisional) strategy rather than a complex (planned two-stent) strategy in terms of short-term efficacy and safety. Here, we report the 5-year all-cause mortality based on pooled patient-level data from two large bifurcation coronary stenting trials with similar methodology: the Nordic Bifurcation Study (NORDIC I) and the British Bifurcation Coronary Study: old, new, and evolving strategies (BBC ONE).

Methods And Results: Both multicentre randomized trials compared simple (provisional T-stenting) vs.

Performance of bleeding risk-prediction scores in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

The hypertension, abnormal renal/liver function, stroke, bleeding history or predisposition, labile international normalized ratio, elderly, and drugs/alcohol (HAS-BLED); anticoagulation and risk factors in atrial fibrillation (ATRIA); modified Outpatient Bleeding Risk Index (mOBRI); and reduction of atherothrombosis for continued health (REACH) schemes are validated bleeding risk-prediction tools, but their predictive performance in patients with AF receiving multiple antithrombotic drugs after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is unknown. We sought to compare the predictive performance of bleeding risk-estimation tools in a cohort of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing PCI. Management of patients with AF undergoing coronary artery stenting is a multicenter European prospective registry enrolling patients with AF undergoing PCI.

One-year outcome of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing coronary artery stenting: an analysis of the AFCAS registry.

Background: Most evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of the antithrombotic regimens for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stent (PCI-S) derives from small, single-center, retrospective datasets. To obtain further data on this issue, we carried out the prospective, multicenter, observational Management of patients with Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting (AFCAS) registry (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT00596570).

Clinical outcome after crush versus culotte stenting of coronary artery bifurcation lesions: the Nordic Stent Technique Study 36-month follow-up results.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare long-term follow-up results of crush versus culotte stent techniques in coronary bifurcation lesions.

Background: The randomized Nordic Stent Technique Study showed similar 6-month clinical and 8-month angiographic results with the crush and culotte stent techniques of de novo coronary artery bifurcation lesions using sirolimus-eluting stents. Here, we report the 36-month efficacy and safety of the Nordic Stent Technique Study.

The management of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation: in-hospital-data from the Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting study.

Current recommendations on the management of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stent (PCI-S) essentially derive from small, single-center, retrospective datasets. To obtain larger and better quality data, we carried out the prospective, multicenter Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting (AFCAS) study. Therefore, consecutive patients with history of or ongoing AF undergoing PCI-S were enrolled, and occurrence of adverse ischemic and bleeding events recorded during 12 months follow-up.

Long-term results after simple versus complex stenting of coronary artery bifurcation lesions: Nordic Bifurcation Study 5-year follow-up results.

Objectives: This study sought to report the 5-year follow-up results of the Nordic Bifurcation Study.

Background: Randomized clinical trials with short-term follow-up have indicated that coronary bifurcation lesions may be optimally treated using the optional side branch stenting strategy.

Methods: A total of 413 patients with a coronary bifurcation lesion were randomly assigned to a simple stenting strategy of main vessel (MV) and optional stenting of side branch (SB) or to a complex stenting strategy, namely, stenting of both MV and SB.

Intravascular ultrasound assessed incomplete stent apposition and stent fracture in stent thrombosis after bare metal versus drug-eluting stent treatment the Nordic Intravascular Ultrasound Study (NIVUS).

Background: This prospective multicenter registry used intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in patients with definite stent thrombosis (ST) to compare rates of incomplete stent apposition (ISA), stent fracture and stent expansion in patients treated with drug-eluting (DES) versus bare metal (BMS) stents. ST is a rare, but potential life threatening event after coronary stent implantation. The etiology seems to be multifactorial.

Adaptor protein complex 2-mediated, clathrin-dependent endocytosis, and related gene activities, are a prominent feature during maturation stage amelogenesis.

Molecular events defining enamel matrix removal during amelogenesis are poorly understood. Early reports have suggested that adaptor proteins (AP) participate in ameloblast-mediated endocytosis. Enamel formation involves the secretory and maturation stages, with an increase in resorptive function during the latter.

Comparison of additional versus no additional heparin during therapeutic oral anticoagulation in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Uninterrupted oral anticoagulation (OAC) therapy can be the preferred strategy in patients with atrial fibrillation at moderate to high risk of thromboembolism undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). To evaluate the need for additional heparins in addition to therapeutic peri-PCI OAC, we assessed bleeding complications and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in 414 consecutive patients undergoing PCI during therapeutic (international normalized ratio 2 to 3.5) periprocedural OAC.

Heparin bridging vs. uninterrupted oral anticoagulation in patients with Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting. Results from the AFCAS registry.

Background: The anti-thrombotic strategy during coronary stenting is challenging in patients on long-term oral anticoagulation (OAC) because of atrial fibrillation (AF). Uninterrupted OAC (UAC) is increasingly used, but bridging therapy (BT) is still in common use.

Methods And Results: Management of patients with Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting (AFCAS) is a prospective multicenter European registry that recruited 963 patients with AF undergoing coronary stenting.

Association of PLA2G4A with myocardial infarction is modulated by dietary PUFAs.

Background: Leukotrienes are proinflammatory molecules derived from dietary PUFAs and have been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). We previously reported that an A→G variant (rs12746200) of the cytosolic phospholipase A2 group IVA gene (PLA2G4A), which encodes the enzyme that liberates PUFAs from cellular membranes for leukotriene synthesis, decreases the risk of CVD.

Objective: We sought to replicate these initial observations with a more clinically relevant phenotype, such as myocardial infarction (MI), and to determine whether dietary PUFAs mediate this association.

Inflammatory gene variants in the Tsimane, an indigenous Bolivian population with a high infectious load.

The Tsimane of lowland Bolivia are an indigenous forager-farmer population living under conditions resembling pre-industrial European populations, with high infectious morbidity, high infection and inflammation, and shortened life expectancy. Analysis of 917 persons ages 5 to 60+ showed that allele frequencies of 9 SNPs examined in the apolipoprotein E (apoE), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) genes differed from some European, African, and north Asian-derived populations. The apoE2 allele was absent, whereas four SNPs related to CRP and IL-6 were monomorphic: CRP (rs1800947, rs3093061, and rs3093062) and IL-6 (rs1800795).

ALOX5 gene variants affect eicosanoid production and response to fish oil supplementation.

The objective of this study was to determine whether 5-lipoxygenase (ALOX5) gene variants associated with cardiovascular disease affect eicosanoid production by monocytes. The study was a randomized, double-masked, parallel intervention trial with fish oil (5.0 g of fish oil daily, containing 2.

Genetic contribution of the leukotriene pathway to coronary artery disease.

We evaluated the genetic contribution of the leukotriene (LT) pathway to risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in 4,512 Caucasian and African American subjects ascertained through elective cardiac evaluation. Of the three previously associated variants, the shorter "3" and "4" alleles of a promoter repeat polymorphism in ALOX5 increased risk of CAD in African Americans (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.

Long-term safety of drug-eluting stents in patients on warfarin treatment.

Background: The safety of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients on long-term warfarin treatment has been questioned due to high risk of bleeding complications during prolonged triple (aspirin, clopidogrel, and warfarin) antithrombotic therapy.

Methods: We analysed the long-term outcome of 415 consecutive warfarin-treated patients who underwent DES (n = 191) or bare-metal (n = 224) stenting in six hospitals.

Results: The mean duration of triple therapy was longer (4.

Randomized comparison of final kissing balloon dilatation versus no final kissing balloon dilatation in patients with coronary bifurcation lesions treated with main vessel stenting: the Nordic-Baltic Bifurcation Study III.

Background: It is unknown whether the preferred 1-stent bifurcation stenting approach with stenting of the main vessel (MV) and optional side branch stenting using drug-eluting stents should be finalized by a kissing balloon dilatation (FKBD). Therefore, we compared strategies of MV stenting with and without FKBD.

Methods And Results: We randomized 477 patients with a bifurcation lesion to FKBD (n=238) or no FKBD (n=239) after MV stenting.

Increased hepatic fat in overweight Hispanic youth influenced by interaction between genetic variation in PNPLA3 and high dietary carbohydrate and sugar consumption.

Background: Recently, a genetic variant (rs738409; C→G) of the PNPLA3 gene was identified to be associated with increased hepatic fat deposition, and the effect was more pronounced in Hispanics. Animal models have also shown that PNPLA3 expression can be regulated by dietary carbohydrate.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether the influence of PNPLA3 genotype on hepatic fat is modulated by dietary factors in Hispanic children.

Effects of PNPLA3 on liver fat and metabolic profile in Hispanic children and adolescents.

Objective: A genome-wide study of adults identified a variant of PNPLA3 (rs738409) associated with ∼twofold higher liver fat. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of PNPLA3 genotype on liver fat and other related metabolic outcomes in obese Hispanic children and adolescents.

Research Design And Methods: Three hundred and twenty-seven Hispanics aged 8-18 years were genotyped for rs738409.

Usefulness of outpatient bleeding risk index to predict bleeding complications in patients with long-term oral anticoagulation undergoing coronary stenting.

Long-term oral anticoagulation (OAC) prevents recurrent thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and stroke, but it also increases bleeding risk. An outpatient bleeding risk index (OBRI) may help to identify patients at high risk of bleeding complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of OBRI in patients with OAC undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).