The Association between All-cause Mortality and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults: A U-Shaped Curve.

Rationale And Objectives: The relationship between Sleep Apnea (SA) and mortality remains a topic of debate. We explored the relationship between the severity of SA and mortality and the effect of age on this association.

Methods: Using a Veterans' database, we extracted the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) from physician interpretation of sleep studies, by developing a Natural Language Processing (NLP) pipeline (with 944 manually annotated notes) which achieved more than 85% accuracy.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex at the epigenetic crossroads of acetylation and lactylation.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) is remarkable for its size and structure as well as for its physiological and pathological importance. Its canonical location is in the mitochondrial matrix, where it primes the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle by decarboxylating glycolytically-derived pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Less well appreciated is its role in helping to shape the epigenetic landscape, from early development throughout mammalian life by its ability to "moonlight" in the nucleus, with major repercussions for human healthspan and lifespan.

Spatial Transcriptomics Resolve an Emphysema-specific Lymphoid Follicle B Cell Signature in COPD.

Rationale: Within chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema is characterized by a significant yet partially understood B cell immune component.

Objective: To characterize the transcriptomic signatures from lymphoid follicles (LFs) in ever-smokers without COPD and COPD patients with varying degrees of emphysema.

Methods: Lung sections from 40 COPD patients and ever-smokers were used for LF proteomic and transcriptomic spatial profiling.

Use of hypertonic glucose (10%) in the prevention of postoperative adhesions in rats.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of hypertonic glucose (10%), alone or in combination with the corticoid dexamethasone, to prevent peritoneal adhesion following hysterectomy in rats.

Methods: Forty-two adult rats underwent hysterectomy with peritoneal lavage: G1 - glucose (10%); G2 - glucose (10%) and dexamethasone 3 mg·kg-1; and G3 - physiological saline (PS) 0.9%.

Association of serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level with arterial stiffness and coronary artery calcification in middle-aged and older adults: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Emerging evidence suggests that serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level is elevated in type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which are closely related with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to determine whether serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level is related to atherosclerosis as measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (PWV) and coronary calcium score (CCS).

Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 1732 Korean adults aged at least 45 years who underwent a health examination program.

Definitive radiation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein tumor thrombus.

Background: The purpose of this study is to review the results of radiation therapy (RT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal venous tumor thrombus (PVTT) in a Western patient population.

Methods: Thirty-four patients with HCC PVTT treated from 2007 to 2014 with RT were identified. Biologically effective dose (BED) was calculated for each patient, and greater than the median dose delivered (75 Gray (Gy)) was evaluated as a potential prognostic factor.

A longitudinal interprofessional simulation curriculum for critical care teams: Exploring successes and challenges.

Interprofessional care teams are the backbone of intensive care units (ICUs) where severity of illness is high and care requires varied skills and experience. Despite this care model, longitudinal educational programmes for such workplace teams rarely include all professions. In this article, we report findings on the initial assessment and evaluation of an ongoing, longitudinal simulation-based curriculum for interprofessional workplace critical care teams.

Postoperative changes of liver enzymes can distinguish between biliary stricture and graft rejection after living donor liver transplantation: A longitudinal study.

There is no known useful clinical parameter that can specifically predict a biliary stricture and differentiate it from other related complications after living donor liver transplantations (LDLT). The aims of this study were to determine whether the changes of liver enzymes can predict postoperative biliary stricture apart from other complications. We reviewed the medical records of 203 patients who underwent LDLT with duct to duct anastomosis from 2008 to 2010.

Different patterns in mental rotation of facial expressions in complex regional pain syndrome patients.

Although facial pain expressions are considered to be the most visible pain behaviors, it is known that the association between pain intensity and facial pain expression is weak for chronic pain. The authors hypothesized that the facial pain expressiveness was altered in chronic pain and investigated it with a mental rotation task using various facial expression, which seems to be associated with actual facial movements. As a task stimulus, 4 types of facial expression stimuli consisted of upper (tightening of eye and furrowed brows) and lower (raising upper lip) pain-specific facial expressions, and upper (eyeball deviation) and lower (tongue protrusion) facial movements not using facial muscles were used.

Outcomes of intrathecal baclofen therapy in patients with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injury.

Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) has been known to reduce spasticity which did not respond to oral medications and botulinum toxin treatment. However, few results have been reported comparing the effects of ITB therapy in patients with cerebral palsy (CP) and acquired brain injury. This study aimed to investigate beneficial and adverse effects of ITB bolus injection and pump therapy in patients with CP and to compare outcomes to patients with acquired brain injury such as traumatic brain injury and hypoxic brain injury.

Clinicopathological features of choledocholithiasis patients with high aminotransferase levels without cholangitis: Prospective comparative study.

Common bile duct (CBD) stones are generally associated with greater elevations of alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels than aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels. However, some patients with CBD stones show markedly increased aminotransferase levels, sometimes leading to the misdiagnosis of liver disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic features of patients with CBD stones and high aminotransferase levels.

Single versus double balloon enteroscopy for small bowel diagnostics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) and single balloon enteroscopy (SBE) are 2 types of commonly used balloon-assisted enteroscopic techniques for "deep enteroscopy." Although there are several randomized controlled trials assessing the superiority of DBE compared with SBE, the results from individual randomized controlled trials seem conflicting. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of DBE compared with SBE.

Perceived injustice predicts stress and pain in adults with sickle cell disease.

Research evidence shows that perceived injustice is a context-based unfair treatment that has negative influence on health outcomes. We examined the contribution of patients' perceived injustice regarding interactions with health care providers to stress and pain in adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). This study was a cross-sectional correlational pilot study.

Oxygen-related chemoreceptor drive to breathe during H₂S infusion.

This study addresses the following question: Could the acute depression in breathing produced by hyperoxia, a reflection of the tonic drive to breathe from the arterial chemoreceptors, be accounted for by a background level of endogenous H2S? To address this question, we produced a stable but moderate increase in breathing (24±11%) via continuous infusion of low levels of H2S, in 10 spontaneously breathing urethane-sedated rats. We found that acute exposure to 100% O2 (20 tests) decreased minute ventilation (V˙(I)) from 301±51 to 210±43 ml/min within 15s in control conditions, but no additional significant drop in V˙(I) was observed during H2S induced hyperpnea. In addition, no decrease in the estimated concentrations of gaseous H2S in the arterial blood was observed during the hyperoxic tests.

Risk and clinical characteristics of lymphoma in Korean patients with inflammatory bowel diseases: a multicenter study.

Background And Aims: Studies of lymphoma risk in Western inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients show conflicting results; however, none have examined the lymphoma risk and clinical characteristics of Asian IBD patients.

Methods: Patients with lymphoma were identified in an IBD database from 3 tertiary referral centers in Seoul, Korea. The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of lymphoma was estimated using data from the Korea Central Cancer Registry of the National Cancer Center.

Musculoskeletal manifestations in inflammatory bowel disease: a revisit in search of immunopathophysiological mechanisms.

Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic inflammatory disorders of multiple organ systems, primarily involving the gut, with chronic relapsing and remitting course. Musculoskeletal involvement is the most common extraintestinal manifestation. Distinct cell-mediated and humoral immunopathophysiological mechanisms have been identified underlying gut and joint inflammation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis.