Cardiovascular disease essential medicines listing by countries: changes over time and association with health outcomes.

Background: Since national essential medicine lists guide the procurement of medicines for populations in many countries, and cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, including cardiovascular medicines on these lists can significantly impact healthcare outcomes.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, national essential medicines' lists from 158 countries were analysed on whether or not they included medicines to treat ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and hypertensive heart disease. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the association between countries' coverage scores and amenable mortality.

Symptomatic Cervical Carotid Artery Stenosis: Evolving Paradigms in Risk Stratification and Intervention.

Symptomatic carotid disease, characterized by atherosclerotic or non-atherosclerotic internal carotid artery disease with ipsilateral stroke symptoms, represents a critical condition in stroke neurology. This "hot carotid" state carries a high risk of stroke recurrence, with almost one-fourth of the patients experiencing recurrent ischemic events within 2 weeks of initial presentation. The global prevalence of significant carotid stenosis (conventionally defined as ≥50% narrowing) is estimated at around 1.

Association between frailty index and mortality in depressed patients: results from NHANES 2005-2018.

This study investigated the relationship between the frailty index and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with depression. We recruited 2,669 participants with depression from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 to 2018 and quantified their frailty status using a 53-item frailty index. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Child- and Proxy-reported Differences in Patient-reported Outcome and Experience Measures in Pediatric Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Purpose: Pediatric health outcomes are often assessed using proxy reports, which may not fully capture children's experiences. Children with surgical conditions face unique, changing healthcare journeys, making accurate representation challenging. This review compares child-reported health status and treatment experiences from Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) with parent reports.

Pediatric Surgical Outreach: An Underutilized Resource for Increasing Children's Surgical Capacity in Canada.

Background: Wait times for children's hospital-based surgical services are at unprecedented levels. Opportunities to increase most children's hospital-based service capacity are sparse, and community-based services are a potential patient-centered alternative. The aim of this study was to understand the current state of pediatric surgical outreach in Canada as an option to address these challenges.

Exposure to Group B Streptococcus-induced chorioamnionitis alters the proteome of placental extracellular vesicles.

Introduction: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an opportunistic pathogen that can induce chorioamnionitis (CA), increasing the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in the offspring. The placenta facilitates maternal-fetal communication through the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which may carry inflammatory molecules such as interleukin (IL)-1. Although the role of EVs in immune modulation is well established, their specific characterization in the context of GBS-induced CA has not yet been investigated.

Normal variations of myocardial T1, T2 and T2* values at 1.5 T cardiac MRI in sex-matched healthy volunteers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the normal variations of myocardial T1, T2, and T2* relaxation times on cardiac MRI obtained at 1.5 T in healthy, sex-balanced volunteers aged between 18 and 69 years.

Material And Methods: A total of 172 healthy volunteers were recruited prospectively.

Liberal/Individualized Versus Materialist/Structuralist Approaches to Addressing Social and Health Inequalities: Education and Income as Social Determinants of Health.

While consensus exists that the sources of health inequalities are social inequalities brought on by the experience of qualitatively different living and working conditions, means of addressing these conditions continue to be the subject of dispute. Whether to emphasis education or income as asocial determinant of health is one such example of differing views on the sources of these inequalities and the means of addressing them. These different emphases are often justified through the narrow examination of the magnitude of statistical relationships between educational attainment and income with health outcomes.

Sleep and circadian rhythms after traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health concern and is one of the major causes of death and chronic disability in young individuals. Sleep-wake disturbances are among the most persistent and debilitating consequences of TBI and are reported by 50%-70% of TBI patients regardless of TBI severity. Excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, hypersomnia, and insomnia are the most common sleep disturbances in TBI patients.

Sex-specific effects on the heart from combined exposure to simulated galactic cosmic radiation and hindlimb unloading.

Future long duration space missions will expose astronauts to higher doses of galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) than those experienced on the international space station. Recent studies have demonstrated astronauts may be at risk for cardiovascular complications due to increased radiation exposure and fluid shift from microgravity. However, there is a lack of direct evidence on how the cardiovascular system is affected by GCR and microgravity since no astronauts have been exposed to exploratory mission relevant GCR doses.

Poor agreement among asthma specialists on the choice and timing of initiation of a biologic treatment for severe asthma patients.

Background: As the number of monoclonal antibodies available for severe asthma is growing, specialists currently choose without clear guidelines. Despite increasing knowledge on treatment response to these monoclonal antibodies, making the optimal choice for each individual patient remains a challenge. However, evidence of this daily challenge is lacking.

Acidic and alkaline deep eutectic solvents pretreatment of Macadamia nutshells for production of cellulose nanofibrils and lignin nanoparticles.

This study explored a facile method for converting macadamia nutshells into bio-based nanomaterials, including cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and lignin nanoparticles (LNPs), through deep eutectic solvent (DES) pretreatment coupled with a nanofabrication strategy. Comparisons of the physicochemical, morphological, and structural properties of the CNF and LNPs produced through acidic choline chloride/oxalic acid dihydrate (ACDES) and alkaline KCO/glycerol DES (ALDES) pretreatments were conducted using SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, GPC and 2D NMR. The CNFs obtained from ACDES pretreatment (ACCNFs) exhibited uniform and long filament-like structures with shorter whisker-like nanocrystals.

Pain and Physical Function are common core domains across 40 core outcome sets of musculoskeletal conditions: A systematic review.

Objective: To determine common domains across existing musculoskeletal COSs. Secondary aims were to assess the development quality of existing musculoskeletal COSs and whether development quality and patient participation was associated with domain selection.

Study Design And Setting: A systematic review of musculoskeletal COSs.

A collagen-based laboratory model to mimic sex-specific features of calcific aortic valve disease.

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) shows in the deposition of calcium phosphates in the collagen-rich layer of the valve leaflets. This stiffens the leaflets and eventually leads to heart failure. Recent research suggests that CAVD follows sex-specific pathways: at the same severity of the disease, women tend to have fewer and less crystalline calcifications, and the phases of their calcifications are decidedly different than those of men; namely, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) - one of the mineral phases in CAVD - occurs almost exclusively in females.

Aerial urination suggests undescribed sensory modality and social function in river dolphins.

Scent marking through urine spraying is known to aid mate selection, territory marking and chemical communication in terrestrial, but not in aquatic mammals. We quantify an unusual aerial urination behaviour in botos (Inia geoffrensis) and discuss its potential functions. Between 2014 and 2018, we conducted land-based behavioural surveys on wild botos in central Brazil, recording the sequence, duration and social context of aerial urination.

Baseline and outcome stereoacuity of children with anisometropic amblyopia undergoing dichoptic amblyopia treatment.

Background: One rationale for dichoptic amblyopia therapy is that it may promote recovery of binocular function. Yet data on binocular outcomes in anisometropic amblyopia following dichoptic therapy are sparse. We report factors associated with pre- and post-treatment binocular function in anisometropic amblyopia, and examine binocular function in children who recover normal visual acuity compared to those with residual amblyopia.