Variation in lipoprotein(a) response to potent lipid lowering: The role of apolipoprotein (a) isoform size.

Background: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a driver of residual cardiovascular risk. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) decrease Lp(a) with significant heterogeneity in response. We investigated contributors to the heterogeneous response.

The Linda Kizazi study: a comparison of morbidity and mortality from birth to 2 years between children who are HIV-unexposed and HIV-exposed, uninfected in the era of universal antiretroviral therapy.

Background: Historically, children who are HIV-exposed, uninfected (CHEU) have been found to have greater morbidity and mortality than children who are HIV-unexposed, uninfected (CHUU). To assess whether this difference persists in the era of universal antiretroviral therapy (ART), we conducted a cohort study to compare the risk of acute diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections (RTI), malaria, hospitalisation, and all-cause mortality between Kenyan CHEU and CHUU from birth to 2 years.

Methods: From December 2018 to March 2020 at Mathare North Health Centre in Nairobi, we recruited pregnant women living with HIV on ART for ≥6 months and pregnant women without HIV from the same community.

Deep eutectic system enhanced oat protein extraction.

Oats are a rich source of plant-based proteins owing to their nutritional value, diverse functions, and high abundance. However, traditional methods for extracting oat proteins (OPs), such as alkali solution acid precipitation (ASAP), can cause environmental pollution and potentially protein denaturation. In this work, we studied the use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and deep eutectic system (DESys)-based methods for OP extraction.

Auditory Cues and Feedback in the Serial Reaction Time Task: Evidence for Sequence Acquisition and Sensory Transfer.

The present experiment used the Serial Reaction Time Task(SRTT) to investigate if auditory cueing or feedback in the form of spatially compatible tones benefited sequence learning similarly. Fifty-three neurotypical adults (18-35 years; 32 cis-females; 21 cis-males) were randomly assigned to three groups in which they practiced a visual SRTT: Group AC was supplemented with auditory cues; group AF received auditory feedback; group NS performed without sound. Retention and transfer tests (i.

Global trends in the revision of nutrient reference values and formulations for infants and toddlers.

Background And Objectives: Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) play an important role in nutrition labeling and nutrition and health claims based on scientific data. This study, with a global perspective, reviewed recent trends in NRVs for adults and their establishment for infants and toddlers.

Methods And Study Design: We searched for laws and regulations on official government websites for nutrition labeling in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Japan, the Codex Committee, and the European Union.

Insights into the effects of subretinal voretigene neparvovec-rzyl in RPE65-associated Leber congenital amaurosis: an 18-Month report.

Objective: Assess safety and effectiveness of subretinal gene replacement therapy at 18 months post treatment.

Design: Retrospective, longitudinal study conducted at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

Participants: Patients with bi-allelic RPE65 variants, early onset retinal degeneration, and residual viable retina who underwent voretigene neparvovec r-zyl gene replacement therapy.

Altered Pain Perception and Nociceptive Thresholds in Major Depression and Anxiety Disorders: A Meta-Analysis.

Psychiatric conditions can affect the experience of pain. Several reports indicate that Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with an increased pain threshold, while Anxiety Disorders (ADs) may amplify the perception of pain. However, available data on the nociceptive threshold in these psychiatric conditions are controversial.

Coffee Consumption, Additive Use, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes- Results from Three Large Prospective US Cohort Studies.

Background: Consumption of coffee has been consistently associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, it is unknown whether the use of additives may modify the association.

Objective: To study the association between coffee consumption and risk of T2D by considering the addition of sugar, artificial sweeteners, cream or a non-dairy coffee whitener.

Feasibility of a virtual multimodal prehabilitation intervention for patients with cancer undergoing surgery.

Background And Aims: Current prehabilitation programs are often limited by poor recruitment and attrition rates. Remote delivery of prehabilitation may reduce barriers to participation and maximize program retention. We aimed to assess the feasibility (uptake, retention, fidelity), preliminary effectiveness, and acceptability of delivering a technology-supported prehabilitation program remotely to oncologic surgical candidates.

The Roles of Cannabis Potency and Gender in Cannabis Dependence and Anxiety in Recent Cannabis Users with Trauma Exposure Histories.

Over the past 20 years, levels of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in cannabis have significantly increased, while levels of cannabidiol (CBD) have increased much less in comparison. Cannabis with higher THC potency (commonly assessed via THC:CBD ratio) may increase the risk for cannabis dependence and trigger/exacerbate anxiety. However, few studies of cannabis potency effects on cannabis dependence and anxiety have examined gender moderation.

Malignant hematologic oncology referrals to an outpatient palliative care clinic at a tertiary cancer center.

Context: Hematological malignancies represent a heterogeneous group of diseases with variable and often unpredictable illness trajectories. Comparisons between hematological and solid tumor malignancy referrals to an outpatient palliative care clinic have not been explored.

Objectives: This study compared characteristics, referral trends, and time from first palliative care clinic visit to death between patients with hematological and solid tumor malignancies.

Evaluating Variability in Decision-Making Among Spine Surgeons Treating Adult Spine Deformity.

Background Context: Significant variability in the management of Adult Spinal Deformity (ASD) has been observed among spine surgeons worldwide. The variability among Canadian spine surgeons, a country with universal public healthcare, remains unknown.

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate areas of variability in the peri-operative optimization and surgical management of ASD among Canadian spine surgeons.

Investigating the metabolic load of monoclonal antibody production conveyed to an inducible CHO cell line using a Transfer-Rate Online Monitoring system.

Shake flasks are a foundational tool in early process development by allowing high throughput exploration of the design space. However, lack of online data at this scale can hamper rapid decision making. Oxygen transfer rate (OTR) monitoring has been readily applied as an online process characterization tool at the benchtop bioreactor scale.

The microenvironment of secondary lymphedema. The key to finding effective treatments?

Lymphedema is characterized by the swelling of extremities due to the accumulation of interstitial fluids. It is a painful and devastating disease that increases the risk of infections and destroys patients' quality of life. Secondary lymphedema is caused by damage to the lymphatic system due to infections, obesity, surgery, and cancer treatments.

Intestine-specific disruption of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase extends longevity.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive oxygen containing molecules that are generated by normal metabolism. While ROS can cause damage to the building blocks that make up cells, these molecules can also act as intracellular signals that promote longevity. The levels of ROS within the cell can be regulated by antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), which converts superoxide to hydrogen peroxide.

Low-dose aspirin versus placebo in postpartum venous thromboembolism: a multi-national, pilot, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Despite the morbidity and mortality of venous thromboembolism, there is little evidence to guide postpartum thromboprophylaxis in patients at moderate risk. We aimed to assess the feasibility of conducting a double-blind, randomised trial of aspirin versus placebo in postpartum individuals with two or more venous thromboembolism risk factors, mild-to-moderate thrombophilia, or both.

Methods: The pilot PARTUM trial, a multi-national, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, was conducted in seven centres across Canada, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

A discriminative multi-modal adaptation neural network model for video action recognition.

Research on video-based understanding and learning has attracted widespread interest and has been adopted in various real applications, such as e-healthcare, action recognition, affective computing, to name a few. Amongst them, video-based action recognition is one of the most representative examples. With the advancement of multi-sensory technology, action recognition using multi-modal data has recently drawn wide attention.

The relationship between the supination resistance test, lower limb biomechanics and the effects of foot orthoses on foot and ankle biomechanics in individuals with posterior tibialis tendon dysfunction during gait.

Background: Posterior tibialis tendon dysfunction (PTTD) is a debilitating condition that leads to biomechanical changes, for which foot orthoses are often prescribed to attenuate. There is a need to improve the ability to predict these biomechanical alterations, determine the biomechanical effectiveness of foot orthoses, and anticipate their effects on individuals with PTTD during gait.

Research Question: Is the supination resistance test (SRT) reliable, and capable of predicting foot and ankle biomechanics, as well as the biomechanical effects of foot orthoses in individuals with PTTD during gait?

Methods: Twenty-one individuals with PTTD participated with supination resistance measured over two sessions.

Association of Fontan Pathophysiology With Plasma Bile Acids.

Background: Patients with Fontan circulation are frail and experience multisystem dysfunction including impaired exercise capacity, low resting and exercise-augmented cardiac output, and progressive liver fibrosis. However, common underlying biochemical abnormalities or disease-specific biomarkers have not been well-described.

Objectives: We wish to investigate Fontan and their matched healthy subjects using a nontargeted, followed by targeted metabolomic analysis.

Patterns of socioeconomic marginalization and non-fatal overdose among people who use drugs: A gender-stratified repeated measures latent class analysis.

Background: While marked gender-based differences in drug-related risk and harm between men women who use drugs have been characterized to some extent, the complex relationship between gendered socioeconomic conditions, overdose risk, and drug use patterns and behaviours remains underexplored.

Methods: We conducted gender-stratified repeated measures latent class analyses (RMLCA) with data from two ongoing cohorts of people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada to identify discrete subgroups based on socioeconomic exposures. Multivariable generalized estimating equations models weighted by the respective posterior membership probabilities were applied to estimate the associations between socioeconomic class membership and non-fatal overdose.

Fad diets for non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients: Can "the miracle diet" be a threat?

In the pursuit of an effortless "miracle cure", there has been a significant increase in the proliferation of fad diets. These diets generally exclude a food group or macronutrients and may also restrict energy intake; they become popular quickly but often lack substantial scientific evidence to support their efficacy and safety. They only show short-term results rather than promoting a lifestyle change.

Vanadium recovery from oil sands petcoke fly ash: A comprehensive techno-economic assessment.

Bitumen-derived petcoke contains significant quantities of vanadium, recoverable from the fly ash formed during combustion. Despite efforts to process vanadium recovery from petcoke, detailed cost information, critical for stakeholders and decision-makers, remains absent in the public domain. To address this gap, we developed data-intensive techno-economic models specifically for vanadium recovery from petcoke fly ash.

Elucidating the impact of low DO on enhanced biological phosphorus removal under aerobic and anoxic conditions at full-scale.

Research on low dissolved oxygen (DO) enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) at full-scale remains limited, a knowledge gap this study aims to fill by investigating EBPR performance and microbial community shifts at a Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) transitioning to low DO conditions. Average DO concentrations decreased from 2.62 mg O/L in 2019 to 0.