The Perceived Impact of Global Surgery Engagement on Career Advancement among US Medical Students.

Introduction: There is growing interest among medical institutions to formalize global surgery training. Understanding medical students' perceptions of how global surgery engagement can enhance career advancement is essential for providing appropriate guidance and support for individuals with aspirations in academic global surgery.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey study of US-based medical students from 38 participating schools was performed.

Parkinson's Disease Mild Cognitive Impairment with MRI evidence of Cholinergic Nucleus 4 Degeneration: A New Subtype?

Subtyping Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) could improve clinical trial design and personalized treatments. Cholinergic nucleus 4 (Ch4) volume has been linked to cognitive impairment severity and future decline in PD. This study investigates whether PD-MCI patients with MRI evidence of Ch4 degeneration have distinct clinical profiles and cognitive trajectories.

20 Years of triple-valve surgery in the UK: demographic and outcome trends.

Objectives: To describe evolving demographic trends and early outcomes in patients undergoing triple-valve surgery in the UK between 2000 and 2019.

Methods: We planned a retrospective analysis of national registry data including patients undergoing triple-valve surgery for all aetiologies of disease. We excluded patients in a critical preoperative state and those with missing admission dates.

Delineating the Antiapoptotic Property of Apigenin as an Antitumor Agent: A Computational and In Vitro Study on HeLa Cells.

Apigenin, a flavonoid, is reported to have multiple health benefits including cancer prevention; this study evaluates the drug likeliness and Swiss ADME properties of apigenin. Apoptosis, which is a key hallmark of cancer, is associated with the deregulation of the balance between proapoptotic proteins and antiapoptotic proteins such as BCL-2,BCL-xl, BFL-1, BCL-w, BRAG-16, and MCL-1. The docking studies of apigenin with the mentioned proteins was performed to identify the interactions between the ligand and proteins, which suggested that apigenin was able to bind to most of the proteins similar to the inhibitory molecules of its native structure.

Incidence and outcomes of surgical pulmonary embolectomy in the UK.

Background: Surgical pulmonary embolectomy is rarely used for the treatment of massive acute pulmonary embolism. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and outcomes of this operation by undertaking a retrospective analysis of a large national registry in the UK.

Methods: All acute pulmonary embolectomies performed between 1996 and 2018 were captured in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Outcomes Research central database.

Extracellular matrix stiffness controls cardiac fibroblast proliferation via the nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factor.

The proliferative expansion of cardiac fibroblasts (CF) contributes towards cardiac fibrosis, which results in myocardial stiffening, cardiac dysfunction, and heart failure. CF sense and respond to increased stiffness of their local extracellular matrix, modulating their phenotype towards increased collagen synthesis and higher proliferation, leading potentially to a vicious circle of positive feedback. Here we describe a novel mechanism that mediates increased CF proliferation in response to a pathologically stiff Exteracellular matrix (ECM).

Sex-Based Differences in Early Outcomes Following Mitral Valve Surgery for Degenerative Disease.

Objectives: To determine whether sex-based differences exist following surgery for degenerative mitral valve disease.

Methods: Using a national database, we analysed data on mitral valve surgery for degenerative disease (n = 22,658) between January 2000 and March 2019 in the UK. We split the cohort into men (n = 14,681) and women (n = 7977) and compared background characteristics, intraoperative variables and early postoperative outcomes.

Ceramide sensing by human SPT-ORMDL complex for establishing sphingolipid homeostasis.

The ORM/ORMDL family proteins function as regulatory subunits of the serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) complex, which is the initiating and rate-limiting enzyme in sphingolipid biosynthesis. This complex is tightly regulated by cellular sphingolipid levels, but the sphingolipid sensing mechanism is unknown. Here we show that purified human SPT-ORMDL complexes are inhibited by the central sphingolipid metabolite ceramide.

Mitral repair versus replacement: 20-year outcome trends in the UK (2000-2019).

Objectives: Using a large national database, we sought to describe outcome trends in mitral valve surgery between 2000 and 2019.

Methods: The study cohort was split into mitral valve repair (MVr) or replacement, including all patients regardless of concomitant procedures. Patients were grouped by four-year admission periods into groups (A to E).

Comparison of machine learning techniques in prediction of mortality following cardiac surgery: analysis of over 220 000 patients from a large national database.

Objectives: To perform a systematic comparison of in-hospital mortality risk prediction post-cardiac surgery, between the predominant scoring system-European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) II, logistic regression (LR) retrained on the same variables and alternative machine learning techniques (ML)-random forest (RF), neural networks (NN), XGBoost and weighted support vector machine.

Methods: Retrospective analyses of prospectively routinely collected data on adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery in the UK from January 2012 to March 2019. Data were temporally split 70:30 into training and validation subsets.

A review and meta-analysis of conventional sternotomy versus minimally invasive mitral valve surgery for degenerative mitral valve disease focused on the last decade of evidence.

Objectives: Early meta-analyses comparing minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) with conventional sternotomy (CS) have determined the safety of MIMVS. We performed this review and meta-analysis based on studies from 2014 onwards to examine the differences in outcomes between MIMVS and CS. Specifically, some outcomes of interest included renal failure, new onset atrial fibrillation, mortality, stroke, reoperation for bleeding, blood transfusion and pulmonary infection.

Consensus statement on aortic valve replacement via an anterior right minithoracotomy in the UK healthcare setting.

The wide uptake of anterior right thoracotomy (ART) as an approach for aortic valve replacement (AVR) has been limited despite initial reports of its use in 1993. Compared with median sternotomy, and even ministernotomy, ART is considered to be less traumatic to the chest wall and to help facilitate quicker patient recovery. In this statement, a consensus agreement is outlined that describes the potential benefits of the ART AVR.

Early mortality and neurologic outcomes following mitral valve surgery in the very elderly.

Objectives: Valve repair is the gold standard for treatment of degenerative mitral valve disease. As the population ages, patients undergoing valve degeneration and therefore considered for mitral valve surgery will naturally be getting older. We sought to evaluate whether mitral repair retained a survival advantage over replacement in patients ≥80 years old.

Surgical outcomes and optimal approach to treatment of aortic valve endocarditis with aortic root abscess - systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Data on the postoperative outcomes for patients with infective endocarditis complicated by an aortic root abscess is sparse due to the condition's low incidence and high mortality rates. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate existing data on the impact of aortic root abscesses on the postoperative outcomes and to inform optimal surgical approach.

Methods: The online databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane library were searched from 1990 to 2022 for studies comparing cohorts of surgically managed infective endocarditis patients with and without an aortic root abscess.

Lagovirus Non-structural Protein p23: A Putative Viroporin That Interacts With Heat Shock Proteins and Uses a Disulfide Bond for Dimerization.

The exact function(s) of the lagovirus non-structural protein p23 is unknown as robust cell culture systems for the (RHDV) and other lagoviruses have not been established. Instead, a range of and models have been used to study p23, revealing that p23 oligomerizes, accumulates in the cytoplasm, and possesses a conserved C-terminal region with two amphipathic helices. Furthermore, the positional homologs of p23 in other caliciviruses have been shown to possess viroporin activity.

Surgical outcomes and optimal approach to treatment of aortic valve endocarditis with aortic root abscess.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of aortic root abscess (ARA) on the postoperative outcomes of surgically managed infective endocarditis (IE) and to inform optimal surgical approach.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2020, 143 consecutive patients who underwent surgical management for aortic-valve IE were included in a retrospective cohort study. Multivariable and propensity-weighted analyses were used to adjust for demographic imbalances between those without (n = 93; NARA) and with an ARA (n = 50).

Providing care to children from low and middle-income countries with complex surgical problems: An 18 year review.

Purpose: The burden of surgical disease in children from low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is becoming more recognized as significant and undertreated.  We recently reviewed our health system's experience with providing quaternary-level surgical care to children from LMICs through a partnership with World Pediatric Project (WPP), a not-for-profit organization.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all WPP-sponsored patients who received surgical care at our children's hospital from LMICs in the Caribbean and Central America from July 2000 to August 2018.

The interleukin-1 receptor type I promotes the development of aging-associated cardiomyopathy in mice.

Background: Aging is associated with metabolic and structural changes causing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in aging-related inflammation.

Objective: We sought to determine whether IL-1 mediates aging-related changes in the heart, as seen in HFpEF.

Software system to predict the infection in COVID-19 patients using deep learning and web of things.

Since the end of 2019, computed tomography (CT) images have been used as an important substitute for the time-consuming Reverse Transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test; a new coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease has been detected and has quickly spread through many countries across the world. Medical imaging such as computed tomography provides great potential due to growing skepticism toward the sensitivity of RT-PCR as a screening tool. For this purpose, automated image segmentation is highly desired for a clinical decision aid and disease monitoring.

Propensity matched analysis of minimally invasive versus conventional isolated aortic valve replacement.

Objective: To analyse the early and mid-term outcome of patients undergoing conventional aortic valve replacement (AVR) versus minimally invasive via hemi-sternotomy aortic valve replacement (MIAVR).

Methods: A single centre retrospective study involving 653 patients who underwent isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) either via conventional AVR ( = 516) or MIAVR ( = 137) between August 2015 and March 2020. Using pre-operative characteristics, patients were propensity matched (PM) to produce 114 matched pairs.

Current Perspectives on Contemporary Rheumatic Mitral Valve Repair.

The surgical management of rheumatic mitral valve disease remains a challenge for cardiac surgeons. Durability of mitral valve repair (MVr) is likely compromised not simply due to high technical demand, but surgeon reluctance, despite boasting copious advantages over MV replacement. This comprehensive review aims to evoke a deeper understanding of MVr concepts necessary to abate these limitations and shift mindset towards a more holistic approach to repair.

Sex-specific effects of psychedelics on prepulse inhibition of startle in 129S6/SvEv mice.

Background: Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle is a sensorimotor gating phenomenon perturbed in a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions. Psychedelics disrupt PPI in rats and humans, but their effects and involvement of the serotonin 5-HT receptor (5-HTR) in mice remain unexplored.

Methods: We tested the effect of the psychedelic 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI) (0.