Improving Breast Cancer Outcomes for Indigenous Women in Australia.

In Australia, the incidence rate of breast cancer is lower in Indigenous* women than non-Indigenous women; however, the mortality rate is higher, with Indigenous women 1.2 times more likely to die from the disease. This paper provides practical and achievable solutions to improve health outcomes for Indigenous women with breast cancer in Australia.

Co-designing policy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: a protocol.

Objectives and importance of study: In the public service context, co-design is novel and ever-expanding. Co-design brings together decision-makers and people impacted by a problem to unpack the problem and design solutions together. Government agencies are increasingly adopting co-design to understand and meet the unique needs of priority populations.

Development of supramolecular anticoagulants with on-demand reversibility.

Drugs are administered at a dosing schedule set by their therapeutic index, and termination of action is achieved by clearance and metabolism of the drug. In some cases, such as anticoagulant drugs or immunotherapeutics, it is important to be able to quickly reverse the drug's action. Here, we report a general strategy to achieve on-demand reversibility by designing a supramolecular drug (a noncovalent assembly of two cooperatively interacting drug fragments held together by transient hybridization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA)) that can be reversed with a PNA antidote that outcompetes the hybridization between the fragments.

Matrix metallopeptidase 9 contributes to the beginning of plaque and is a potential biomarker for the early identification of atherosclerosis in asymptomatic patients with diabetes.

Aims: To determine the roles of matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP9) on human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMCs) , early beginning of atherosclerosis in diabetic mice, and drug naïve patients with diabetes.

Methods: Active human MMP9 (act-hMMP9) was added to HCASMCs and the expressions of MCP-1, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1 were measured. Act-hMMP9 (n=16) or placebo (n=15) was administered to diabetic KK.

Treatment with RNase alleviates brain injury but not neuroinflammation in neonatal hypoxia/ischemia.

There is a need for new treatments to reduce brain injuries derived from neonatal hypoxia/ischemia. The only viable option used in the clinic today in infants born at term is therapeutic hypothermia, which has a limited efficacy. Treatments with exogenous RNase have shown great promise in a range of different adult animal models including stroke, ischemia/reperfusion injury, or experimental heart transplantation, often by conferring vascular protective and anti-inflammatory effects.

Association of an impaired GH-IGF-I axis with cardiac wasting in patients with advanced cancer.

Background: Growth hormone (GH) resistance is characterized by high GH levels but low levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and growth hormone binding protein (GHBP) and, for patients with chronic disease, is associated with the development of cachexia.

Objectives: We investigated whether GH resistance is associated with changes in left ventricular (LV) mass (cardiac wasting) in patients with cancer.

Methods: We measured plasma IGF-I, GH, and GHBP in 159 women and 148 men with cancer (83% stage III/IV).

The Effect of Community-Based Exercise on Health Outcomes for Indigenous Peoples with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review.

Indigenous peoples globally experience a high burden of type 2 diabetes in comparison to non-Indigenous peoples. While community-based exercise interventions designed for type 2 diabetes (T2D) management have garnered success in non-Indigenous populations, they likely require adjustments to meet the needs of Indigenous people. This systematic review aims to determine if health outcomes in Indigenous peoples with T2D could be improved by community-based exercise programmes and the features of those programmes that best meet their needs.

Association of Pulmonary Artery Pressures With Mortality in Adults With Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction.

Background: The independent effect of pulmonary hypertension (PHT) severity on mortality in those with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is not well known.

Objectives: The authors aimed to examine the prognostic impact of increasingly elevated pulmonary pressures in a large clinical cohort of adults with reduced LVEF.

Methods: The authors analyzed data from the National Echocardiography Database of Australia, a large clinical registry linking routine echocardiographic investigations to mortality.

Physician perceptions, attitudes, and strategies towards implementing guideline-directed medical therapy in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. A survey of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC and the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice.

Aims: Recent guidelines recommend four core drug classes (renin-angiotensin system inhibitor/angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor [RASi/ARNi], beta-blocker, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist [MRA], and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor [SGLT2i]) for the pharmacological management of heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We assessed physicians' perceived (i) comfort with implementing the recent HFrEF guideline recommendations; (ii) status of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) implementation; (iii) use of different GDMT sequencing strategies; and (iv) barriers and strategies for achieving implementation.

Methods And Results: A 26-question survey was disseminated via bulletin, e-mail and social channels directed to physicians with an interest in HF.

Aortic flow is abnormal in HFpEF.

Aims: Turbulent aortic flow makes the cardiovascular system less effective. It remains unknown if patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) have disturbed aortic flow. This study sought to investigate advanced markers of aortic flow disturbances in HFpEF.

Characteristics of pulmonary artery strain assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and associations with metabolomic pathways in human ageing.

Background: Pulmonary artery (PA) strain is associated with structural and functional alterations of the vessel and is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events. The relationship of PA strain to metabolomics in participants without cardiovascular disease is unknown.

Methods: In the current study, community-based older adults, without known cardiovascular disease, underwent simultaneous cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, clinical examination, and serum sampling.

Harmony of Protein Tags and Chimeric Molecules Empowers Targeted Protein Ubiquitination and Beyond.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are crucial mechanisms that underlie the intricacies of biological systems and disease mechanisms. This review focuses on the latest advancements in the design of heterobifunctional small molecules that hijack PTM machineries for target-specific modifications in living systems. A key innovation in this field is the development of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs), which promote the ubiquitination of target proteins for proteasomal degradation.

REDV-Functionalized Recombinant Spider Silk for Next-Generation Coronary Artery Stent Coatings: Hemocompatible, Drug-Eluting, and Endothelial Cell-Specific Materials.

Coronary artery stents are life-saving devices, and millions of these devices are implanted annually to treat coronary heart disease. The current gold standard in treatment is drug-eluting stents, which are coated with a biodegradable polymer layer that elutes antiproliferative drugs to prevent restenosis due to neointimal hyperplasia. Stenting is commonly paired with systemic antiplatelet therapy to prevent stent thrombosis.

Current Practices and Attitudes of Cardiac Nurses Regarding Cognitive Screening in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: Cognitive impairment (CI) is common in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) but is often undetected and may affect recovery and secondary prevention uptake. Nurses play a crucial role providing care for patients with ACS and promoting secondary prevention.

Aim: This study aimed to explore current nursing practices and barriers regarding CI screening in patients with ACS.

Financial Aid in Children, Adolescents and Young Adult's Cancer Care: A Scoping Review.

The financial burden resulting from cancers on families is higher when it arises in young people compared with older adults. Previous research has provided insight into the financial toxicities associated with childhood cancer, but less is known about the efficacy of financial aid systems in reducing the financial burden on families. We conducted a scoping review to identify the determinants of success and failure of financial aid.

New-onset hypertension as a contributing factor to the incidence of atrial fibrillation in the elderly.

Hypertension and atrial fibrillation are closely related. However, hypertension is already prevalent in young adults, but atrial fibrillation usually occurs in the elderly. In the present analysis, we investigated incident atrial fibrillation in relation to new-onset hypertension in an elderly Chinese population.

Integrating Phenotypic and Chemoproteomic Approaches to Identify Covalent Targets of Dietary Electrophiles in Platelets.

A large variety of dietary phytochemicals has been shown to improve thrombosis and stroke outcomes in preclinical studies. Many of these compounds feature electrophilic functionalities that potentially undergo covalent addition to the sulfhydryl side chain of cysteine residues within proteins. However, the impact of such covalent modifications on the platelet activity and function remains unclear.