Sex-specific mechanisms in vascular aging: exploring cellular and molecular pathways in the pathogenesis of age-related cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Aging remains the foremost risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, surpassing traditional factors in epidemiological significance. This review elucidates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying vascular aging, with an emphasis on sex differences that influence disease progression and clinical outcomes in older adults. We discuss the convergence of aging processes at the macro- and microvascular levels and their contributions to the pathogenesis of vascular diseases.

Prognostic value of carcinoembryonic antigen in colorectal adenocarcinoma: expanding hypotheses into clinical practice.

Purpose: This study seeks to resolve a fundamental question in oncology: Why do appendiceal and colorectal adenocarcinomas exhibit distinct liver metastasis rates? Building on our prior hypothesis published in the British Journal of Surgery, our institution has investigated potential DNA mutations within the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule (CEACAM5) gene's Pro-Glu-Leu-Pro-Lys (PELPK) motif to evaluate its role as a biomarker for liver metastasis risk.

Methods: Partnering with the Australian Genome Research Facility, the PELPK motif of CEACAM5 was analysed in colorectal and appendiceal adenocarcinomas to detect DNA mutations associated with liver metastasis. Additionally, our institution performed the COPPER trial to assess carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in portal versus peripheral blood in patients with appendiceal adenocarcinoma and a systematic review and meta-analysis of 136 studies on CEA's prognostic significance among patients with colorectal and appendiceal adenocarcinoma.

Impact of Paternal Breastfeeding Interventions on Exclusive Breastfeeding Rates and Attitudes of Fathers Towards Breastfeeding: A Systematic Review.

Purpose Of Review: This systematic review examines the effectiveness of breastfeeding interventions involving fathers, focusing on their impact on exclusive breastfeeding rates and paternal attitudes towards breastfeeding. The study aims to highlight the crucial role of fathers in antenatal breastfeeding promotion programs and their potential to enhance breastfeeding outcomes.

Recent Findings: A systematic review was conducted following the 2020 PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline databases for randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies published after December 2017.

Establishing bio-logging data collections as dynamic archives of animal life on Earth.

Rapid growth in bio-logging-the use of animal-borne electronic tags to document the movements, behaviour, physiology and environments of wildlife-offers opportunities to mitigate biodiversity threats and expand digital natural history archives. Here we present a vision to achieve such benefits by accounting for the heterogeneity inherent to bio-logging data and the concerns of those who collect and use them. First, we can enable data integration through standard vocabularies, transfer protocols and aggregation protocols, and drive their wide adoption.

Enhancing Radiographic Diagnosis: CycleGAN-Based Methods for Reducing Cast Shadow Artifacts in Wrist Radiographs.

We extend existing techniques by using generative adversarial network (GAN) models to reduce the appearance of cast shadows in radiographs across various age groups. We retrospectively collected 11,500 adult and paediatric wrist radiographs, evenly divided between those with and without casts. The test subset consisted of 750 radiographs with cast and 750 without cast.

Nudges for people who think.

The naiveté of the dominant 'cognitive-miser' metaphor of human thinking hampers theoretical progress in understanding how and why subtle behavioural interventions-'nudges'-could work. We propose a reconceptualization that places the balance in agency between, and the alignment of representations held by, people and choice architects as central to determining the prospect of observing behaviour change. We argue that two aspects of representational (mis)alignment are relevant: cognitive (how people construe the factual structure of a decision environment) and motivational (the importance of a choice to an individual).

Training Community Clinicians in Implementing CBT-ERP for Youth with OCD: A Pilot Study in Australian Community Mental Health Services.

This pilot study evaluated the outcomes associated with a training workshop in cognitive-behavioural therapy with exposure and response prevention (ERP) for youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) aimed at improving clinicians' capabilities and motivations. Questionnaires and role-plays were completed by 17 Australian clinicians working across community youth (i.e.

Development of a patient-oriented transfer tool for transition from the intensive care unit to the ward: a mixed methods study.

Purpose: The use of patient/family-centred written summaries to supplement verbal information may be useful to improve knowledge and reduce anxiety related to patient transfer from the intensive care unit (ICU) to a hospital ward. We aimed to identify essential elements to include in an ICU-specific patient-oriented discharge summary tool (PODS-ICU).

Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study.

A risk-based approach can guide safe cell line development and cell banking for scaled-up cultivated meat production.

For commercial viability, cultivated meats require scientifically informed approaches to identify and manage hazards and risks. Here we discuss food safety in the rapidly developing field of cultivated meat as it shifts from lab-based to commercial scales. We focus on what science-informed risk mitigation processes can be implemented from neighbouring fields.

Subfamily evolution analysis using nuclear and chloroplast data from the same reads.

The chloroplast (cp) genome is a widely used tool for exploring plant evolutionary relationships, yet its effectiveness in fully resolving these relationships remains uncertain. Integrating cp genome data with nuclear DNA information offers a more comprehensive view but often requires separate datasets. In response, we employed the same raw read sequencing data to construct cp genome-based trees and nuclear DNA phylogenetic trees using Read2Tree, a cost-efficient method for extracting conserved nuclear gene sequences from raw read data, focusing on the Aurantioideae subfamily, which includes Citrus and its relatives.

Analysis and prediction of condylar resorption following orthognathic surgery.

Condylar resorption is a feared complication of orthognathic surgery. This study investigated condylar resorption in a cohort of 200 patients This allowed for a powerful update on incidence and risk factors. 9.

Machine learning based prediction model for bile leak following hepatectomy for liver cancer.

Objective: We sought to develop a machine learning (ML) preoperative model to predict bile leak following hepatectomy for primary and secondary liver cancer.

Methods: An eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model was developed to predict post-hepatectomy bile leak using data from the ACS-NSQIP database. The model was externally validated using data from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) multi-institutional databases.

Synaptoneurolipidomics: lipidomics in the study of synaptic function.

The brain is an exceptionally lipid-rich organ with a very complex lipid composition. Lipids are central in several neuronal processes, including membrane formation and fusion, myelin packing, and lipid-mediated signal transmission. Lipid diversity is associated with the evolution of higher cognitive abilities in primates, is affected by neuronal activity, and is instrumental for synaptic plasticity, illustrating that lipids are not static components of synaptic membranes.

Motor-sparing regional anaesthesia for total knee arthroplasty: a narrative and systematic literature review.

Total knee arthroplasty is a life-changing surgical procedure that is associated with a high incidence of severe postoperative pain. Key to enhancing recovery after surgery is effective analgesia and early mobilisation. Innovations in motor-sparing regional anaesthesia techniques that have improved recovery include targeted surgical local infiltration analgesia, adductor canal blockade, genicular nerve blocks, and the infiltration between the popliteal artery and posterior capsule of the knee (iPACK) block.

Early noninvasive ventilation in general wards for acute respiratory failure: an international, multicentre, open-label, randomised trial.

Background: The impact of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) managed outside the intensive care unit in patients with early acute respiratory failure remains unclear. We aimed to determine whether adding early NIV prevents the progression to severe respiratory failure.

Methods: In this multinational, randomised, open-label controlled trial, adults with mild acute respiratory failure (arterial oxygen partial pressure/fraction of inspiratory oxygen [Pao/FiO] ratio ≥200) were enrolled across 11 hospitals in Italy, Greece, and Kazakhstan.

Preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate to predict cardiac events in major noncardiac surgery: a secondary analysis of two large international studies.

Background: Optimised use of kidney function information might improve cardiac risk prediction in noncardiac surgery.

Methods: In 35,815 patients from the VISION cohort study and 9219 patients from the POISE-2 trial who were ≥45 yr old and underwent nonurgent inpatient noncardiac surgery, we examined (by age and sex) the association between continuous nonlinear preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and the composite of myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery, nonfatal cardiac arrest, or death owing to a cardiac cause within 30 days after surgery. We estimated contributions of predictive information, C-statistic, and net benefit from eGFR and other common patient and surgical characteristics to large multivariable models.

Behavioral and sociodemographic correlates of sleep duration among children in Samoa.

Objectives: To describe sleep duration, adherence to sleep recommendations, and behavioral and sociodemographic correlates of sleep among Samoan children.

Methods: In a longitudinal cohort study of Samoan children aged 2-9years (n = 481; 50% female), primary caregivers reported usual number of hours of nighttime sleep during 2015, 2017/2018, and 2019/2020 data collection waves. Associations between behavioral and sociodemographic characteristics and sleep duration were assessed using generalized linear and mixed effect regressions.

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

This is the first in a series of five papers that detail the role and substantial impact that external quality assessment (EQA) and their providers' services play in ensuring diagnostic (IVD) performance quality. The aim is to give readers and users of EQA services an insight into the processes in EQA, explain to them what happens before EQA samples are delivered and after examination results are submitted to the provider, how they are assessed, what benefits participants can expect, but also who are stakeholders other than participants and what significance do EQA data and assessment results have for them. This first paper presents the history of EQA, insights into legal, financing and ethical matters, information technology used in EQA, structure and lifecycle of EQA programs, frequency and intensity of challenges, and unique requirements of extra-examination and educational EQA programs.

Injury risk factors and their priority for mitigation in women's netball: a systematic review and Delphi consensus.

This study aimed to establish consensus on injury risk factors in netball via a combined systematic review and Delphi method approach. A systematic search of databases (PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus and CINAHL) was conducted from inception until June 2023. Twenty-four risk factors were extracted from 17 studies and combined with a three-round Delphi approach to achieve consensus.

Episodic headaches and cognitive decline: uncovering neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease in a young patient.

A male in his 20s presented with episodic headache and subsequently developed episodic unilateral weakness, dysphasia and encephalopathy. These paroxysmal episodes persisted over time with the development of background cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms. MRI surveillance demonstrated progressive T2 hyperintensity with focal cortical oedema correlating to symptoms observed during clinical episodes.

DPPX antibody-mediated disease mimicking Wernicke's encephalopathy.

Anti-dipeptidyl-peptidase-like protein 6 antibody-mediated disease is a rare autoimmune encephalitis typically presenting with diarrhoea and/or weight loss, central nervous system hyperexcitability and cognitive dysfunction. We present a case of a young woman with 10 days of diplopia and unsteadiness in the context of dysthymia and significant weight loss over 2 months. Initial examination demonstrated mixed dysconjugate nystagmus and ataxic gait.