Global, regional, and national burden of primary liver cancer attributable to metabolic risks: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2021.

Background: The global burden of metabolic diseases is increasing, but estimates of their impact on primary liver cancer are uncertain. We aimed to assess the global burden of primary liver cancer attributable to metabolic risk factors, including high body mass index (BMI) and high fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels, between 1990 and 2021.

Methods: The total number and age-standardized rates of deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from primary liver cancer attributable to each metabolic risk factor were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2021.

The use of patient-generated health data in the management of low anterior resection syndrome: a qualitative study.

Background: The cornerstone of low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) treatment is self-management, which requires patient engagement. Colorectal surgeons and nurses may use patient-generated health data (PGHD) to help guide patients in their use of self-management strategies for LARS. However, the perspectives of LARS experts on the use of PGHD remain largely unexplored.

Amblyopic binocular imbalance quantified by the dichoptic contrast ordering test and dichoptic letters test.

In amblyopia, abnormal binocular interactions lead to an overwhelming dominance of one eye. One mechanism implied in this imbalance is the suppression between the inputs from the two eyes. This interocular suppression involves two components: an overlay suppression and a surround suppression.

Deciphering the effect of UM171 on human hematopoietic progenitor cell fate through clonal analysis.

Ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) requires the maintenance of a stemness state while cells are proliferating. This can be achieved via exposure to UM171 which leads to the degradation of chromatin modifiers and prevents the loss of key epigenetic marks. However, the chromatin landscape varies across populations within the hematopoietic system and the effect of UM171 on self-renewal and differentiation potential of different hematopoietic progenitor cells is less characterized.

Sexual dimorphism in pathogenic variant-harbouring individuals.

Background: Individuals harbouring pathogenic variants are at risk for aneurysms/dissections throughout the arterial tree. Based on prior reports of sex differences in thoracic aortic aneurysm/dissection, we investigated the sexual dimorphism for vascular events in variant-harbouring patients.

Methods: We analysed two large pedigrees comprising 84 individuals segregating pathogenic missense variants affecting the same p.

Delayed Postoperative Radiotherapy in Head & Neck Cancers-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of delayed postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) on overall survival (OS) in patients with head and neck cancers (HNC).

Data Sources: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted by searching MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases.

Review Methods: Studies assessing the impact of delayed PORT in adult HNC patients were included.

The role of ctDNA from liquid biopsy in predicting survival outcomes in HPV-negative head and neck cancer: A meta-analysis.

The incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) is on the rise, making it a significant clinical challenge. Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related and HPV-negative HNC exhibit distinct etiopathogenesis and prognoses, requiring targeted approaches for effective management. Conventional tissue biopsies are essential for confirming the diagnosis and locating solid tumors.

A Five-Year Prospective, Randomized, Open-Label Study of Standard-Dose Versus Low-Dose Prolonged-Release Tacrolimus With or Without Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor or Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker Post Kidney Transplantation.

Introduction: Novel approaches to improve long-term outcomes in kidney transplant recipients are required. Here, we present the 5-year data from a multicenter, prospective, Phase 3b trial evaluating treatment outcomes with standard (STD) or low (LOW) dose prolonged-release tacrolimus (TAC) combined with ACEi/ARB or other antihypertensive therapy (OAHT) in Canadian kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: Adult de novo kidney transplant recipients were randomized 2 × 2 to STD or LOW dose TAC and ACEi/ARB or OAHT.

Biophysics and electrophysiology of pulsed field ablation in normal and infarcted porcine cardiac ventricular tissue.

Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) is a new ablation method being rapidly adopted for treatment of atrial fibrillation, which shows advantages in safety and efficiency over radiofrequency and cryo-ablation. In this study, we used an in vivo swine model (10 healthy and 5 with chronic myocardial infarct) for ventricular PFA, collecting intracardiac electrograms, electro-anatomical maps, native T1-weighted and late gadolinium enhancement MRI, gross pathology, and histology. We used 1000-1500 V pulses, with 1-16 pulse trains to vary PFA dose.

Comparison of the analgesic dose of intravenous ketamine versus ketorolac in patients with chest trauma: A randomized double-blind clinical trial.

Background: Pain management is a critical part of treatment in patients with chest trauma. Opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been the most commonly used medications. However, their side effects have drawn attention to other medications.

Assessing Dental Implant Success: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Primary Versus Secondary Implantation in Free Bone Flap Reconstruction for Malignant Tumors.

Background: Dental implantation of bone reconstructions in oncologic situations improves patients' orofacial function and quality of life. There are currently no recommendations on the timing of implantation.

Methods: This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to compare primary and secondary dental implantation of free bone flaps in reconstructions for malignant tumors of the oral cavity.

Enhancing meniscal repair with tough adhesive puncture sealing (TAPS) suture: A proof-of-concept study on bovine cadaveric knees.

Purpose: The objective was to use cyclic tensile loading to compare the gap formation at suture site of three different suture materials to repair bovine radial meniscal tears: (1) polyglactin sutures, (2) tough adhesive puncture sealing (TAPS) sutures and (3) ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) sutures.

Methods: Twelve ex vivo bovine knees were dissected to retrieve the menisci. Complete radial tears were performed on 24 menisci, which were then separated into three groups and repaired using either pristine 2-0 polyglactin sutures, TAPS sutures (2-0 polyglactin sutures coated with adhesive chitosan/alginate hydrogels) or 2-0 UHMWPE sutures with a single stitch.

PreVISE: an efficient virtual reality system for SEEG surgical planning.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurring seizures that can cause a wide range of symptoms. Stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) is a diagnostic procedure where multiple electrodes are stereotactically implanted within predefined brain regions to identify the seizure onset zone, which needs to be surgically removed or disconnected to achieve remission of focal epilepsy. This procedure is complex and challenging due to two main reasons.

Prediction of Acute Kidney Injury After Cardiac Surgery With Combined Arterial and Venous Intrarenal Doppler.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs in up to 50% of cardiac surgical patients and is often hemodynamically mediated. Point-of-care ultrasound is a non-invasive tool that has the potential to characterize intrarenal hemodynamics and predict the risk of AKI.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the predictive characteristics of intrarenal arterial and venous Doppler markers for postoperative AKI in cardiac surgical patients.

Canadian Highly Sensitized Patient Program Report: A 1000 Kidney Transplants Story.

Purpose: Highly sensitized patients (HSPs) with kidney failure have limited access to kidney transplantation and poorer post-transplant outcomes. Prioritizing HSPs in kidney allocation systems and expanding the pool of deceased donors available to them has helped to reduce their wait times for transplant and enhanced post-transplant outcomes. The Canadian HSP Program was established by Canadian Blood Services in collaboration with provincial organ donation and transplantation programs throughout the country to increase transplant opportunities for transplant candidates needing very specific matches from deceased kidney donors.

Polygenic score distribution differences across European ancestry populations: implications for breast cancer risk prediction.

Background: The 313-variant polygenic risk score (PRS) provides a promising tool for clinical breast cancer risk prediction. However, evaluation of the PRS across different European populations which could influence risk estimation has not been performed.

Methods: We explored the distribution of PRS across European populations using genotype data from 94,072 females without breast cancer diagnosis, of European-ancestry from 21 countries participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 223,316 females without breast cancer diagnosis from the UK Biobank.

- a large-scale dataset of 3D medical shapes for computer vision.

Objectives: The shape is commonly used to describe the objects. State-of-the-art algorithms in medical imaging are predominantly diverging from computer vision, where voxel grids, meshes, point clouds, and implicit surface models are used. This is seen from the growing popularity of ShapeNet (51,300 models) and Princeton ModelNet (127,915 models).

Towards a histological diagnosis of childhood small vessel CNS vasculitis.

Background: Primary small vessel CNS vasculitis (sv-cPACNS) is a challenging inflammatory brain disease in children. Brain biopsy is mandatory to confirm the diagnosis. This study aims to develop and validate a histological scoring tool for diagnosing small vessel CNS vasculitis.

Multi-Energy Evaluation of Image Quality in Spectral CT Pulmonary Angiography Using Different Strength Deep Learning Spectral Reconstructions.

Rationale And Objectives: To evaluate and compare image quality of different energy levels of virtual monochromatic images (VMIs) using standard versus strong deep learning spectral reconstruction (DLSR) on dual-energy CT pulmonary angiogram (DECT-PA).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 70 patients who underwent DECT-PA (15 PE present; 55 PE absent) scans. VMIs were reconstructed at different energy levels ranging from 35 to 200 keV using standard and strong levels with deep learning spectral reconstruction.

Molecular profiles of blood from numerous species that differ in sensitivity to acute inflammation.

Vertebrates differ over 100,000-fold in responses to pro-inflammatory agonists such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), complicating use of animal models to study human sepsis or inflammatory disorders. We compared transcriptomes of resting and LPS-exposed blood from six LPS-sensitive species (rabbit, pig, sheep, cow, chimpanzee, human) and four LPS-resilient species (mice, rats, baboon, rhesus), as well as plasma proteomes and lipidomes. Unexpectedly, at baseline, sensitive species already had enhanced expression of LPS-responsive genes relative to resilient species.

Emergency department utilization patterns for pediatric urinary stone patients in the United States.

Background: The prevalence of pediatric urolithiasis has increased rapidly, leading to more emergency department (ED) visits across the United States.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine emergency care practices for children and adolescents with urinary stones and characteristics associated with management.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of the 2021 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to identify pediatric patients (≤21 years) presenting to an ED in the United States with a primary diagnosis of urinary stone disease.

Impact of Endocrine Disruptors on the Genitourinary Tract.

Over the last decades, the human species has seen an increase in the incidence of pathologies linked to the genitourinary tract. Observations in animals have allowed us to link these increases, at least in part, to changes in the environment and, in particular, to an increasing presence of endocrine disruptors. These can be physical agents, such as light or heat; natural products, such as phytoestrogens; or chemicals produced by humans.

Contemporary Review of Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery: Current Considerations and Innovations.

Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) has become a well-established alternative to traditional median sternotomy at high-volume surgical centers. Advancements in surgical instruments have led to further refinement of MIMVS. However, MIMVS remains limited to select patients in select settings.

Innovative Polymeric Biomaterials for Intraocular Lenses in Cataract Surgery.

Intraocular lenses (IOLs) play a pivotal role in restoring vision following cataract surgery. The evolution of polymeric biomaterials has been central to addressing challenges such as biocompatibility, optical clarity, mechanical stability, and resistance to opacification. This review explores essential requirements for IOL biomaterials, emphasizing their ability to mitigate complications like posterior capsule opacification (PCO) and dysphotopsias while maintaining long-term durability and visual quality.