Minimizing for Maximum Benefit: An Illustrative Case-Series of Atrial Only Leadless Pacing.

Leadless pacing technology now includesdedicated atrial helix-fixation leadless pacemakers (LPs), expanding theapplication of leadless devices for patients with sinus node dysfunction andatrioventricular block during sinus rhythm. This first reportedcase-series of atrial LPs describes and discusses the potential use-casescenarios of recently approved helix-fixation atrial LPs. The article highlights important concepts regarding their use, including implantationtechniques, programming, battery conservation, and the low rate of progressionof AV block in patients implanted with AAI(R) pacemakers.

Managing a Mental Disorder With New Technologies: TheLeadless Pacemaker in Reel's Syndrome, a Case Report.

Reel's syndrome (RS) is an unusual cause of pacemaker lead dislodgement. We present the case of a 59-year-old female patient with Down syndrome (DS) implanted with a dual-chamber endovascular pacemaker due to symptomatic sinus node disfunction, reporting several syncopal episodes in last days and showing abnormal electrical parameters at the 2-months follow-up due to RS. The malfunctioning device was removed and an endocardial leadless pacing system was implanted.

The Role of Podocytes in Lupus Pathology.

Purpose Of Review: Kidney injury due to lupus nephritis (LN) is a severe and sometimes life-threatening sequela of systemic lupus erythematosus. Autoimmune injury to podocytes has been increasingly demonstrated to be a key driver of LN-related kidney injury because these cells play key roles in glomerular filtration barrier homeostasis. Irreparable podocyte injury impairs these processes and can lead to proteinuria, which is an indicator of poor prognosis in LN.

Pathological complete response after chemotherapy in initially unresectable distal cholangiocarcinoma.

Surgical resection is the only curative treatment for cholangiocarcinoma, but it is often diagnosed at advanced stages, making surgical resection infeasible. Recently, the concept of conversion surgery has expanded the indications for surgical treatment, thanks to advancements in both perioperative management and chemotherapy. However, it remains unclear which patients benefit most from this treatment strategy.

Late-onset disseminated BCG infection with hepatosplenomegaly after intravesical BCG immunotherapy in a non-immunocompromised patient.

Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy for bladder cancer rarely leads to disseminated BCG infections, most of which occur early after BCG instillations or in immunocompromised patients. We report late-onset disseminated BCG infection after intravesical BCG immunotherapy in a non-immunocompromised patient. A 78-year-old non-immunocompromised man was admitted with fever and hepatosplenomegaly.

Early Improvement in Cardiac Function and Dyssynchrony After Physiological Upgrading in Pacing-Induced Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Interventricular dyssynchrony derived from the classic non-physiological stimulation (n-PS) of the right ventricle (RV) is a known cause of left ventricular dysfunction (LVDys).

Methods: This was a prospective descriptive single-center study. We analyzed patients who develop LVDys with n-PS, and the results after upgrading to conduction system pacing (CSP).

Diagnostic and prognostic potential of left atrial strain in cardiovascular disease: a narrative review.

Left atrial strain (LAS) was recently introduced as a parameter that reflects on left atrial function. Consequently, changes in LAS can inform the development of cardiovascular diseases, hence providing a window for non-invasive and cost-effective testing of these diseases and their complications at early stages of development, potentially offering a segway towards preventive interventions. LAS has yet to be implemented into standard practice.

An Exploratory Analysis of Child Characteristics Predicting Clinical Outcomes in Parent-Led Cognitive Behavioral Teletherapy for Anxiety in Autistic Children.

Parent-led cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficient, promising form of therapy that may be well suited for autistic youth with anxiety disorders. A recent clinical trial found that parent-led CBT - in which parents led their child through a guided CBT workbook with varying degrees of therapist support - was efficacious for reducing anxiety and associated functional impairment. While such findings demonstrate promise for future intervention development and dissemination efforts with this population, more work is needed to elucidate clinical factors that impact response to treatment as well as drop-out.

Sex Differences in Spatiotemporal Consistency and Effective Connectivity of the Precuneus in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been reported to exhibit altered local functional consistency. However, previous studies mainly focused on male samples and explored the temporal consistency in the ASD brain ignoring the spatial consistency. In this study, FOur-dimensional Consistency of local neural Activities (FOCA) analysis was used to investigate the sex differences of local spatiotemporal consistency of spontaneous brain activity in ASD.

Acanthamoeba Infection in a Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipient: Challenges in Diagnosis, Management, and Source Identification.

We report a case of Acanthamoeba infection in an HCT recipient with steroid-refractory GVHD. We highlight the multiple challenges that free-living ameba infections present to the clinician, the clinical laboratory, transplant infectious disease for review, hospital epidemiology if nosocomial transmission is considered, and public health officials, as exposure source identification can be a significant challenge. Transplant physicians should include Acanthamoeba infections in their differential diagnosis of a patient with skin, sinus, lung, and/or brain involvement.

A narrative review of sleep and breast cancer: from epidemiology to mechanisms.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and the most common cancer among women worldwide. It is crucial to identify potentially modifiable risk factors to intervene and prevent breast cancer effectively. Sleep factors have emerged as a potentially novel risk factor for female breast cancer.

Rapid evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma by detecting plasma exosomes with time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatographic test strips.

Time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatographic test strips (TRFIS) was developed for the rapid detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-specific plasma exosomes (hExos) by targeting the hExo-surface membrane protein glypican-3 (GPC3). The GPC3-TRFIS could directly detect plasma exosomes without the isolation and purification process, and the whole immunoassay could be completed within 15 min. The visual detection limit of GPC3-TRFIS was 3.

p62 Binding to Protein Kinase C Regulates HIV-1 gp120 V3 Loop Induced Microglial Inflammation.

The main pathogenic mechanism of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) is neuronal apoptosis induced by inflammatory mediators, in which microglial inflammation plays a crucial role. However, the exact pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Previous studies have shown that the HIV-1 gp120 V3 loop can trigger inflammation in CHME-5 microglia.

Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in China, 2014-2021.

Introduction: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an opportunistic pathogen associated with various nosocomial infections and is known for its intrinsic multidrug resistance. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the epidemiology and resistance patterns of S. maltophilia in China from 2014 to 2021.

Impact of adipocytes on ultrasound evaluation of parathyroid adenomas.

Purpose: Parathyroid lipoadenomas are difficult to recognize preoperatively; hence, they may remain undetected. Difficulty in recognition is thought to be due to the adipocytes present in the tumor. This study aimed to clarify the impact of adipocytes as a component of parathyroid adenomas on ultrasound evaluation.

Establishing age-group specific reference intervals of human salivary proteome and its preliminary application for epilepsy diagnosis.

Salivary proteins serve multifaceted roles in maintaining oral health and hold significant potential for diagnosing and monitoring diseases due to the non-invasive nature of saliva sampling. However, the clinical utility of current saliva biomarker studies is limited by the lack of reference intervals (RIs) to correctly interpret the testing result. Here, we developed a rapid and robust saliva proteome profiling workflow, obtaining coverage of >1,200 proteins from a 50-µL unstimulated salivary flow with 30 min gradients.

International web-based survey of patients with non-hydrocephalic symptomatic pineal cysts.

Objectives: To report the results of an international patient-reported survey that adds to the growing body of evidence surrounding the role of surgery in the management of a subset of patients with non-hydrocephalic symptomatic pineal cyst.

Design: An international web-based survey of health outcomes in patients with nhSPC.

Subjects: All survey participants who self-reported a diagnosis of symptomatic pineal cyst without hydrocephalus after radiological imaging.

Trends in the surgical management of proximal humerus fractures over the last 20 years from Australian registry databases.

Background: Proximal humerus fractures (PHF) are common with approximately 30% requiring surgical intervention. This ranges from open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) to shoulder arthroplasty (including hemiarthroplasty, total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA), reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA)). The aim of this study was to assess trends in operative interventions for PHF in an Australian population.

The Effectiveness and Safety of the Short-Course Therapy in Liver Transplant Recipients With Uncomplicated Gram-Negative Bacteremia: A Retrospective Study.

Introduction: The appropriate duration of therapy for uncomplicated gram-negative bloodstream infection (GN-BSI) in liver transplant (LTx) recipients remains unknown. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a short-course antimicrobial therapy.

Methods: This retrospective study was performed in a single LTx center in Japan.

Assessing patient satisfaction with hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis care and associated factors in Iran.

Purpose: With the increasing demand for dialysis, there is a growing emphasis on patient-centered care. This study investigated patients' satisfaction levels with peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD) care in Iran.

Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted among 346 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) covered by the Iran Health Insurance Organization who received dialysis services from October to December 2022 across the country.

Medical malpractice related to urology: an analysis of court decisions in Turkey.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the lawsuits filed against urologists in Turkey, to reveal the results of these lawsuits and the sub-branch of urology they are related to, to discuss the possible reasons for the lawsuits and what can be done to prevent them.

Materials And Methods: The case outcomes obtained using the keyword "Urology" from the publicly accessible official website of the Presidency of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Turkey between 2018 and 2024 were analyzed by two expert urologists.

Results: Of the 215 cases reviewed, the outcomes of 25 cases that met our inclusion criteria were analyzed.

Latent Tuberculosis Infection Amongst Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients: The Impact of Routine Pretransplant Review by a Transplant Infectious Diseases Physician.

Background: Identifying patients with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is challenging. This is particularly true amongst immunocompromised hosts, in whom the diagnostic accuracy of available tests is limited. The authors evaluated the impact of routine pretransplant review by a transplant infectious diseases (TID) physician on LTBI screening in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (alloHSCT) recipients.

Novel Perspectives Focused on the Relationship Between Herpesvirus Encephalitis and Anti-GFAP-Antibody-Positive Astrocytopathy.

Virus encephalitis (VE), recognized as one of the common kinds of central nervous system (CNS) diseases after virus infection, has a surprising correlation with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) when autoimmune antibodies emerge in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or serum. Herpes simplex virus and Epstein-Barr virus are the most critical agents worldwide. By molecular mimicry, herpes viruses can invade the brain directly or indirectly.