Design strategies and biomedical applications of organic NIR-IIb fluorophores.

The introduction of fluorescence imaging (FLI) in near-infrared II sub-channels (NIR-IIb, 1500-1700 nm) has revolutionized the ability to explore complex patho-physiological settings . Despite the transformative potentials, the development of organic NIR IIb dyes encounters considerable difficulties, and only a limited number of such fluorophores have been developed so far. This review systematically introduces design strategies of organic NIR-IIb fluorophores classified by molecular scaffolds, mainly including cyanine dyes and D-A-D small molecule dyes.

Treatment Strategies to Control Blood Pressure in People With Hypertension in Tanzania and Lesotho: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Hypertension is the primary cardiovascular risk factor in Africa. Recently revised World Health Organization guidelines recommend starting antihypertensive dual therapy; clinical efficacy and tolerability of low-dose triple combination remain unclear.

Objectives: To compare the effect of 3 treatment strategies on blood pressure control among persons with untreated hypertension in Africa.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Pediatric Counseling on Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Weight: A Secondary Analysis of the BP-CATCH Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Pediatric obesity and hypertension are highly correlated. To mitigate both conditions, provision of counseling on nutrition, lifestyle, and weight to children with high blood pressure (BP) measurements is recommended.

Objective: To examine racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of nutrition, lifestyle, and weight counseling among patients with high BP at pediatric primary care visits stratified by patients' weight status.

Mental Health Disparities by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the All of Us Research Program.

Importance: Limited research explores mental health disparities between individuals in sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations and cisgender heterosexual (non-SGM) populations using national-level data.

Objective: To explore mental health disparities between SGM and non-SGM populations across sexual orientation, sex assigned at birth, and gender identity within the All of Us Research Program.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used survey data and linked electronic health records of eligible All of Us Research Program participants from May 31, 2017, to June 30, 2022.

Performance of spondyloarthritis-specific health utilities based on ASAS Health Index: an ancillary analysis from ASAS-HI validation study.

Objectives: To compare the utility values of Spondyloarthritis (SpA)-specific ASAS Health Index (U-ASAS-HI) to generic utilities and to understand the contribution of health outcomes, personal- and country-level factors to the U-ASAS-HI.

Methods: Ancillary analysis of the ASAS-HI international validation study. SpA patients who completed the ASAS-HI, 5-level EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D-5L) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires were selected, and utilities calculated.

Quantitative Analysis of Mitochondria-Associated Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane (MAM) Stabilization in a Neural Model of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

A method to quantitate the stabilization of Mitochondria-Associated endoplasmic reticulum Membranes (MAMs) in a 3-dimensional (3D) neural model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is presented here. To begin, fresh human neuro progenitor ReN cells expressing β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) containing familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) or naïve ReN cells are grown in thin (1:100) Matrigel-coated tissue culture plates. After the cells reach confluency, these are electroporated with expression plasmids encoding red fluorescence protein (RFP)-conjugated mitochondria-binding sequence of AKAP1(34-63) (Mito-RFP) that detects mitochondria or constitutive MAM stabilizers MAM 1X or MAM 9X that stabilize tight (6 nm ± 1 nm gap width) or loose (24 nm ± 3 nm gap width) MAMs, respectively.

Proximity Ligation Assay to Study Oncogene-Derived Transcription-Replication Conflicts.

Both DNA replication and RNA transcription utilize genomic DNA as their template, necessitating spatial and temporal separation of these processes. Conflicts between the replication and transcription machinery, termed transcription-replication conflicts (TRCs), pose a considerable risk to genome stability, a critical factor in cancer development. While several factors regulating these collisions have been identified, pinpointing primary causes remains difficult due to limited tools for direct visualization and clear interpretation.

Isolation of Human BAMBIhighMFGE8high Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells.

Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (UC-MSCs) present low immunogenicity and potent immunomodulatory effects for treating various diseases. Human UC-MSCs are a heterogeneous population consisting of three main subpopulations with different cell shapes, proliferation rates, differentiation abilities, and immune regulatory functions. Previously, BAMBIMFGE8 UC-MSCs, the first subgroup successfully isolated from UC-MSCs were found to fail to alleviate lupus nephritis.

Assessing the role of education level on climate change belief, concern and action: a multinational survey of healthcare professionals in nephrology.

Background: Climate change poses a significant risk to kidney health, and countries with lower national wealth are more vulnerable. Yet, citizens from lower-income countries demonstrate less concern for climate change than those from higher-income countries. Education is a key covariate.

Revolutionising Osseous Biopsy: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Era of Personalised Medicine.

In a rapidly evolving healthcare environment, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming diagnostic techniques and personalised medicine. This is also seen in osseous biopsies. AI applications in radiomics, histopathology, predictive modelling, biopsy navigation, and interdisciplinary communication are reshaping how bone biopsies are conducted and interpreted.

Association Between Preterm Birth and Fulfillment of Desired Permanent Contraception.

Objectives: In cases of preterm delivery, the Medicaid sterilization policy mandates a signed consent form at least 72 h before surgery for permanent contraception, which is less than the 30 day minimum waiting period for term births. This study evaluated the association between preterm birth and fulfillment of planned permanent contraception.

Study Design: This was a secondary analysis of a multi-center retrospective cohort study of 3013 patients with a postpartum contraceptive plan of permanent contraception.

Impact of impaired renal function on kinetics of high-sensitive cardiac troponin following cardiac surgery.

Background: Impaired renal function can increase cardiac troponin levels due to reduced elimination, potentially affecting its diagnostic utility. Limited data exist on high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) kinetics after cardiac surgery relative to renal function. This study evaluates how impaired renal function influences hs-cTnI kinetics following cardiac surgery, distinguishing between patients with and without postoperative myocardial infarction (PMI).

The ImageGuideEcho Registry: Using Data Science to Understand and Improve Echocardiography.

Purpose Of Review: To provide a contemporary update on the American Society of Echocardiography's ImageGuideEcho Registry and present a case study of an individual institution's experience with enrollment.

Recent Findings: Technical innovation in clinical echocardiography has expanded the impact of echocardiography in cardiovascular care and provides new opportunities to leverage clinical data to inform quality improvement initiatives and research. The ImageGuideEcho Registry is the first echocardiography-specific imaging registry in the United States and provides a data infrastructure for quality improvement and multicenter research.

Characterization of the host specificity of the SH3 cell wall binding domain of the staphylococcal phage 88 endolysin.

Bacteriophages produce endolysins at the end of the lytic cycle, which are crucial for lysing the host cells and releasing virion progeny. This lytic feature allows endolysins to act as effective antimicrobial alternatives when applied exogenously. Staphylococcal endolysins typically possess a modular structure with one or two enzymatically active N-terminal domains (EADs) and a C-terminal cell wall binding domain (CBD).

The Impact of Physical Therapy Postprofessional Education Programs on Productivity in a Large Academic Medical Center.

Introduction: Emerging evidence shows positive impact of postprofessional physical therapy education (residency and fellowship) specific to participants; however, outcomes on organizational impact are largely unknown. The purpose of this project was to describe the impact residency and fellowship training has on financial metrics. A secondary purpose of this case study was to describe trends associated with higher productivity.

Perioperative Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Orthopedic Trauma: A Practical Review.

Background: Orthopedic trauma patients are at high risk for venous thromboembolic (VTE) complications. Despite this, VTE prophylaxis is often held peri-operatively out of concern for increased bleeding and associated complications. This review's purpose is to examine guidelines and studies on withholding prophylactic anticoagulation peri-operatively.

Investigating Cardiac Amyloidosis: A Primer for Clinicians.

Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is an infiltrative disease that results from the deposition of amyloid fibrils in the myocardium, resulting in restrictive cardiomyopathy. The amyloid fibrils are predominantly derived from two parent proteins, immunoglobulin light chain (AL) and transthyretin (ATTR), and ATTR is further classified into hereditary (ATTRv) and wild-type (ATTRwt) based on the presence or absence, respectively, of a mutation in the transthyretin gene. Once thought to be a rare entity, CA is increasingly recognized as a significant cause of heart failure due to improved clinical awareness and better diagnostic imaging.

Cardiac MRI Evaluation of Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is an exciting noninvasive imaging modality with increasing utilization in the field of cardiovascular medicine. In conjunction with echocardiogram, computed tomography, and invasive therapies, CMR has provided exceptional capability to further evaluate complex clinical cardiac conditions. CMR provides both anatomical and physiological information of a variety of tissue types, without the need for ionizing radiation.

Diagnostic Feasibility of Cardiac PET CT in the Evaluation of Inflammatory, Infectious, and Malignant Heart Disease.

Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a power- ful imaging tool with diverse applications in the detection and diagnosis of various cardiac conditions, including inflammatory, infectious, and neoplastic processes. Using the radiotracer 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), cardiac PET enables the identification of cardiac involvement in diseases such as sarcoidosis and severe infections affecting the heart tissue. Additionally, 18F-FDG PET is valuable in the evaluation of cardiac masses, helping to assess their metabolic activity and potential malignancy.

Diagnostic Feasibility and Accuracy of Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in the Evaluation of Ischemic Heart Disease.

Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) can be used for the assessment of myocardial perfusion. Compared to other cardiac imaging techniques, notably Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT), cardiac PET offers superior image resolution, higher accuracy, quantitative measures of myocardial perfusion, lower radiation exposure, and shorter image acquisition time. However, PET tends to be costlier and less widely available than SPECT due to the specialized equipment needed for generating the necessary radiotracers.

Advances in Coronary CT Angiography: Applications and Implications for Coronary Artery Disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, necessitating advancements in diagnostic techniques. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has emerged as a pivotal non-invasive tool for evaluating coronary artery anatomy and detecting atherosclerotic plaque burden with high spatial resolution. This review explores the evolution of CCTA, highlighting its technological advancements, clinical applications, and challenges.

Which Test is Best for Pain in the Chest?

Chest pain is one of the most common chief complaints seen in both the emergency department (ED) and primary care settings.1,2 It is estimated that 20-40% of the general population will suffer from chest pain at some point throughout their lives.3 Interestingly although obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) prevalence has declined, chest pain as a presenting symptom has become increasingly common over the last decade.