Simplified Approach to Managing Newly Diagnosed Patients with Mild-to-Moderate Hypertension in Routine Clinical Practice.

Introduction: The aim of the observational SIMPLE study was to assess real-life effectiveness and safety of a single-pill combination (SPC) of perindopril arginine/amlodipine in a broad range of subjects with newly diagnosed mild-to-moderate hypertension treated in Canadian general practice.

Methods: Treatment-naïve participants aged 18-65 years with mild-to-moderate hypertension, whose physicians decided to initiate the perindopril/amlodipine SPC, were recruited from Canadian clinical practice from October 2017 to February 2019. Participants were followed at 3- (M3) and 6-month (M6) visits after treatment initiation.

Diagnostic and prognostic potential of left atrial strain in cardiovascular disease: a narrative review.

Left atrial strain (LAS) was recently introduced as a parameter that reflects on left atrial function. Consequently, changes in LAS can inform the development of cardiovascular diseases, hence providing a window for non-invasive and cost-effective testing of these diseases and their complications at early stages of development, potentially offering a segway towards preventive interventions. LAS has yet to be implemented into standard practice.

Ultrathin ALD Coatings of Zr and V Oxides on Anodic TiO Nanotube Layers: Comparison of the Osteoblast Cell Growth.

The current study investigates and compares the biological effects of ultrathin conformal coatings of zirconium dioxide (ZrO) and vanadium pentoxide (VO) on osteoblastic MG-63 cells grown on TiO nanotube layers (TNTs). Coatings were achieved by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. TNTs with average tube diameters of 15, 30, and 100 nm were fabricated on Ti substrates (via electrochemical anodization) and were used as primary substrates for the study.

Association between gestational age and severe maternal morbidity in preterm delivery: A nationwide population-based cohort study.

Objective: This study investigates whether early gestational age (GA) at delivery is associated with an increased risk for severe maternal morbidity (SMM) in women with preterm delivery.

Methods: This retrospective national cohort study based on the Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information database included mothers who gave birth between 22 and 37 weeks in metropolitan France in 2019 (in utero deaths and medical terminations of pregnancies were excluded). SMM was defined as a composite criterion consisting of the occurrence of at least one of the following events: death, severe preeclampsia, obstetric surgical complications, severe maternal diseases, and admission to the intensive care unit.

Property Tuning in N-Methylpyrrole Azo-Photoswitches via Modification of the Peripheral Substituents.

Differently substituted pyrrole-azo‑benzene molecular photoswitches were prepared in a straightforward synthetic way. Their fundamental properties were investigated by XRD analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, cyclic voltammetry, UV‑Vis absorption spectroscopy, Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering, and NMR spectroscopy; the experimental results were further corroborated by DFT calculations. Thermal robustness, the HOMO/LUMO levels, and the absorption properties were altered mostly by substituting the N‑methylpyrrole moiety and further fine-tuned by modifying the benzene substituents.

Outliers of Treatment Frequency in Retinal Vein Occlusion: 24-Month Comparative Analysis of Fight Retinal Blindness! Practitioners.

Background: We aimed to describe a 2-year outcome of eyes managed by practitioners benchmarked using a funnel plot by their frequency of treatment using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors for naive retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

Methods: A multicentre, international, observational study of 29 doctors in 12 countries managing 1110 eyes with RVO commencing VEGF inhibitors between 1 January 2012-2022 tracked in the Fight Retinal Blindness! registry.

Results: We identified 3 outlying 'intensive' practitioners (managing 350/1110 eyes [32%]), 22 'typical' practitioners (604/1110, [54%]) and 4 outlying 'relaxed' practitioners (156/1110, [14%]) with respective 24-month outcomes in Branch and Central RVO including the primary outcome, mean adjusted change in visual acuity (VA) in BRVO: +16.

From spastic paraplegia to infantile neurodegenerative disorder: Expanding the phenotypic spectrum associated with biallelic SPAST variants.

Purpose: Heterozygous pathogenic variants in SPAST are known to cause Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia 4 (SPG4), the most common form of HSP, characterized by progressive bilateral lower limbs spasticity with frequent sphincter disorders. However, there are very few descriptions in the literature of patients carrying biallelic variants in SPAST.

Methods: Targeted Sanger sequencing, panel sequencing and exome sequencing were used to identify the genetic causes in 9 patients from 6 unrelated families with symptoms of HSP or infantile neurodegenerative disorder.

Feasibility and safety of ultra-low volume ventilation (≤ 3 ml/kg) combined with extra corporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCOR) in acute respiratory failure patients.

Background: Ultra-protective ventilation is the combination of low airway pressures and tidal volume (Vt) combined with extra corporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCOR). A recent large study showed no benefit of ultra-protective ventilation compared to standard ventilation in ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) patients. However, the reduction in Vt failed to achieve the objective of less than or equal to 3 ml/kg predicted body weight (PBW).

CD57 EMRA CD8 T cells in cancer patients over 70: associations with prior chemotherapy and response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.

Background: Immune ageing complicates cancer treatment in older individuals. While immunotherapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway can reinvigorate T cells, these cells tend to become senescent with age. This study investigates different CD8 T cell subsets usually associated with senescence, in cancer patients over 70 years old who are undergoing anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy, and examines the relationship between these senescent cells and prior chemotherapy exposure.

Multiplexed amplicon sequencing reveals the heterogeneous spatial distribution of pyrethroid resistance mutations in Aedes albopictus mosquito populations in southern France.

Background: The risk of mosquito-borne disease transmission is increasing in temperate climates with the colonization and proliferation of the Asian tiger mosquito vector Aedes albopictus and the rapid mass transport of passengers returning from tropical regions where viruses are endemic. The prevention of major Aedes-borne viruses heavily relies on the use of insecticides for vector control, mainly pyrethroids. In Europe, only deltamethrin is authorized.

Perioperative Changes in Serum Transaminases Levels Predicts Long-Term Survival Following Liver Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: We sought to define whether and how hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) as manifested by perioperative aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) levels impact long-term outcomes after curative-intent resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients And Methods: Intrasplenic injection of HCC cells was used to establish a murine model of HCC recurrence with versus without I/R injury. Patients who underwent curative resection for HCC were identified from a multi-institutional derivative cohort (DC) and separate external validation (VC) cohort.

Exploring the significance of different amendments to improve phytoremediation efficiency: focus on soil ecosystem services.

Phytoremediation is recognized as an environmentally, economically and socially efficient phytotechnology for the reclamation of polluted soils. To improve its efficiency, several strategies can be used including the optimization of agronomic practices, selection of high-performance plant species but also the application of amendments. Despite evidences of the benefits provided by different types of amendments on pollution control through several phytoremediation pathways, their contribution to other soil ecosystem functions supporting different ecosystem services remains sparsely documented.

From cells to recapture rates: responses and recovery of a wild fish after an experimental exposure to a widely used herbicide.

Freshwater environments are biodiversity hotspots under multiple pressures, including pesticide exposure. S-metolachlor, a widely used herbicide, can induce genotoxic, cytotoxic and physiological effects in captive fish, but we have a limited understanding of the effects of exposure to S-metolachlor in free-living vertebrates. We carried out an original field experiment using integrative approaches across biological levels and temporal scales.

Ecological and anthropogenic effects on the genomic diversity of lemurs in Madagascar.

Ecological variation and anthropogenic landscape modification have had key roles in the diversification and extinction of mammals in Madagascar. Lemurs represent a radiation with more than 100 species, constituting roughly one-fifth of the primate order. Almost all species of lemurs are threatened with extinction, but little is known about their genetic diversity and demographic history.

A ganglioside-based immune checkpoint enables senescent cells to evade immunosurveillance during aging.

Although senescent cells can be eliminated by the immune system, they tend to accumulate with age in various tissues. Here we show that senescent cells can evade immune clearance by natural killer (NK) cells by upregulating the expression of the disialylated ganglioside GD3 at their surface. The increased level of GD3 expression on senescent cells that naturally occurs upon aging in liver, lung, kidney or bones leads to a strong suppression of NK-cell-mediated immunosurveillance.

Exploring the role of the MUC1 mucin in human oral lubrication by tribological in vitro studies.

In the context of the oral cavity, an organic layer known as the mucosal pellicle (MP) adheres to the surface of the oral epithelium, playing a pivotal role in lubricating and safeguarding oral tissues. The formation of the MP is driven by interactions between a transmembrane mucin known as MUC1, located on the oral epithelium, and salivary secreted mucin, namely MUC5B and MUC7. This study aimed to investigate the function of MUC1 and the influence of its structure on MP lubrication properties.

Carboxyl ester lipase hybrid 1 (CEL-HYB1) haplotypes confer varying risk for chronic pancreatitis.

The CEL-HYB1 hybrid allele of the carboxyl ester lipase (CEL) gene and its pseudogene (CELP) has been associated with chronic pancreatitis (CP). Recent work indicated that amino acid positions 488 and 548 in CEL-HYB1 determined pathogenicity. Haplotype Thr488-Ile548 was associated with CP while haplotypes Thr488-Thr548 and Ile488-Thr548 were benign.

Comparative evaluation of feature reduction methods for drug response prediction.

Personalized medicine aims to tailor medical treatments to individual patients, and predicting drug responses from molecular profiles using machine learning is crucial for this goal. However, the high dimensionality of the molecular profiles compared to the limited number of samples presents significant challenges. Knowledge-based feature selection methods are particularly suitable for drug response prediction, as they leverage biological insights to reduce dimensionality and improve model interpretability.

Expression of Yes-associated protein in endothelial cells of human corneas before and after storage in organ culture.

The cornea, the anterior meniscus-shaped transparent and refractive structure of the eyeball, is the first mechanical barrier of the eye. Its functionality heavily relies on the health of its endothelium, its most posterior layer. The treatment of corneal endothelial cells (CECs) deficiency is allogeneic corneal graft using stored donor corneas.

SHIVA-CMB: a deep-learning-based robust cerebral microbleed segmentation tool trained on multi-source T2*GRE- and susceptibility-weighted MRI.

Cerebral microbleeds (CMB) represent a feature of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), a prominent vascular contributor to age-related cognitive decline, dementia, and stroke. They are visible as spherical hypointense signals on T2*- or susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences. An increasing number of automated CMB detection methods being proposed are based on supervised deep learning (DL).

Interruption of the visual cycle in a novel animal model induces progressive vision loss resembling Stargardts Disease.

Mutations in the gene ABCA4 coding for photoreceptor-specific ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 4, are responsible for Stargardts Disease type 1 (STGD1), the most common form of inherited macular degeneration. STGD1 typically declares early in life and leads to severe visual handicap. Abca4 gene-deletion mouse models of STGD1 accumulate lipofuscin, a hallmark of the disease, but unlike the human disease show no or only moderate structural changes and no functional decline.

Generation and characterization of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated XPC gene knockout in human skin cells.

Xeroderma pigmentosum group C (XPC) is a versatile protein crucial for sensing DNA damage in the global genome nucleotide excision repair (GG-NER) pathway. This pathway is vital for mammalian cells, acting as their essential approach for repairing DNA lesions stemming from interactions with environmental factors, such as exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. Loss-of-function mutations in the XPC gene confer a photosensitive phenotype in XP-C patients, resulting in the accumulation of unrepaired UV-induced DNA damage.

Performance, meat quality and blood parameters in four strains of organic broilers differ according to range use.

Chicken meat production in organic systems involves free-range access where animals can express foraging and locomotor behaviours. These behaviours may promote outdoor feed intake, but at the same time energy expenditure when exploring the outdoor area. More generally, the relationship of range use with metabolism, welfare including health, growth performance and meat quality needs to be better understood.

Genetic epidemiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Cyprus: a population-based study.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating, uniformly lethal degenerative disease of motor neurons, presenting with relentlessly progressive muscle atrophy and weakness. More than fifty genes carrying causative or disease-modifying variants have been identified since the 1990s, when the first ALS-associated variant in the gene SOD1 was discovered. The most commonly mutated ALS genes in the European populations include the C9orf72, SOD1, TARDBP and FUS.

Remote disruption of intestinal homeostasis by Mycobacterium abscessus is detrimental to Drosophila survival.

Mycobacterium abscessus (Mabs), an intracellular and opportunistic pathogen, is considered the most pathogenic fast-growing mycobacterium, and causes severe pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. While bacterial factors contributing to its pathogenicity are well studied, the host factors and responses that worsen Mabs infection are not fully understood. Here, we report that Mabs systemic infection alters Drosophila melanogaster intestinal homeostasis.