The Effect of Acuity Circles on Deceased Donor Transplant and Offer Rates Across Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Scores and Exception Statuses.

Acuity circles (AC), the new liver allocation system, was implemented on February 4, 2020. Difference-in-differences analyses estimated the effect of AC on adjusted deceased donor transplant and offer rates across Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) categories and types of exception statuses. The offer rates were the number of first offers, top 5 offers, and top 10 offers on the match run per person-year.

Effect of Intensive and Standard Clinic-Based Hypertension Management on the Concordance Between Clinic and Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Blood Pressure Variability in SPRINT.

Background Blood pressure ( BP ) varies over time within individual patients and across different BP measurement techniques. The effect of different BP targets on concordance between BP measurements is unknown. The goals of this analysis are to evaluate concordance between (1) clinic and ambulatory BP , (2) clinic visit-to-visit variability and ambulatory BP variability, and (3) first and second ambulatory BP and to evaluate whether different clinic targets affect these relationships.

Inpatient and Outpatient Infection as a Trigger of Cardiovascular Disease: The ARIC Study.

Background Acute infections are known cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) triggers, but little is known regarding how CVD risk varies following inpatient versus outpatient infections. We hypothesized that in- and outpatient infections are associated with CVD risk and that the association is stronger for inpatient infections. Methods and Results Coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke cases were identified and adjudicated in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study).

Sex hormones and brain volumes in a longitudinal study of middle-aged men in the CARDIA study.

Introduction: Several findings suggest that testosterone (T) is neuroprotective and that declining T levels during aging are associated with cognitive and brain pathologies; however, little is known on T and brain health in middle-age. We examined the relationships of total T, bioavailable T, and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels with total and regional gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes in middle-aged men. We also evaluated the association of sex hormone levels with cognitive function.