Stroke-heart syndrome and early mortality in patients with acute ischaemic stroke using hierarchical cluster analysis: An individual patient data pooled analysis from the VISTA database.

Background: The patient clinical phenotypes at particularly high risk for early cardiac complications after a recent acute ischaemic stroke (AIS), that is, stroke-heart syndrome (SHS), remain poorly defined. We utilised hierarchical cluster analysis to identify specific phenotypic profiles associated with this risk.

Methods: We gathered data on patients with AIS from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive, a global repository of clinical trial data.

Extracellular vesicles from human cardiac stromal cells up-regulate cardiomyocyte protective responses to hypoxia.

Background: Cell therapy can protect cardiomyocytes from hypoxia, primarily via paracrine secretions, including extracellular vesicles (EVs). Since EVs fulfil specific biological functions based on their cellular origin, we hypothesised that EVs from human cardiac stromal cells (CMSCLCs) obtained from coronary artery bypass surgery may have cardioprotective properties.

Objectives: This study characterises CMSCLC EVs (C_EVs), miRNA cargo, cardioprotective efficacy and transcriptomic modulation of hypoxic human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs).

Associations between central and brachial blood pressure in patients with hypertension and aortovascular disease: Implications for clinical practice.

Central blood pressure (CBP) measurements, compared to brachial blood pressure (bBP), offer a superior predictive accuracy for aortovascular disease outcomes. This emphasises the distinctiveness of central hemodynamic metrics such as CBP, measuring the pressure directly exerted from the cardiac muscle to the major arteries, and provides a more direct assessment of cardiovascular workload than bBP, which measures the pressure against peripheral artery walls. This review synthesises findings evaluating the correlation between CBP and key aortovascular disease markers.

Carbon Footprint of Fluorinated Gases Used in Endothelial Keratoplasty.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the direct impact on carbon emissions attributed to the use of fluorinated gases in endothelial keratoplasty (EK) procedures using gas tamponade and to evaluate the respective carbon footprint of different gas delivery systems used in EK procedures.

Methods: In this retrospective, single-center environmental impact study, all corneal procedures using fluorinated gases between January 2021 and January 2024 at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital were reviewed and included. The CO2 equivalent emissions were calculated based on the mass of each fluorinated gas used, following the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Effect of the Mediterranean diet on incidence of heart failure in European countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common cardiovascular disorders, and its prevalence is increased due to age, genetics, and lifestyle factors. Emerging evidence suggests that the Mediterranean Diet (Med Diet) is linked to lower all-cause mortality in patients with increased cardiovascular disease risk, such as those with HF.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies into the relationship between the Med Diet on HF risk.

Modulation of diabetes-related retinal pathophysiology by PTX3.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of diabetes characterized by vascular pathology and neuroinflammation. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a soluble pattern recognition molecule that functions at the crossroads between innate immunity, inflammation, and tissue remodeling. DR is known to involve inflammatory pathways, although the potential relevance of PTX3 has not been explored.

Functional anatomy of the wing muscles of the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) using dissection and diceCT.

Bats are unique among mammals for evolving powered flight. However, very little data are available on the muscle properties and architecture of bat flight muscles. Diffusible iodine contrast-enhanced computed tomography (diceCT) is an established tool for 3D visualisation of anatomy and is becoming a more readily accessible and widely used technique.

Minimum intervention oral care: staging and grading dental carious lesions in clinical practice.

Developmental staging of carious lesions is pivotal for appropriate ethical clinical decision-making in contemporary caries management. Accurate assessment of lesion extent/severity (staging) and activity (grading) allows practitioners to provide the most appropriate preventive advice and suitable interventions, enabling the implementation of evidence-based, person-focused, prevention-based, team-delivered and susceptibility-related phased minimum intervention oral care. Minimally invasive dentistry remains an important operative interventive option for cavitated lesions, but intervening at the right stage ensures patients are not started on an irreversible, destructive restorative cycle unnecessarily.

Transdiagnostic depression severity and its relationship to global and prefrontal-amygdala structural properties in people with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

While some studies have used a transdiagnostic approach to relate depression to metabolic or functional brain alterations, the structural substrate of depression across clinical diagnostic categories is underexplored. In a cross-sectional study of 52 patients with major depressive disorder and 51 with post-traumatic stress disorder, drug-naïve, and spanning mild to severe depression severity, we examined transdiagnostic depressive correlates with regional gray matter volume and the topological properties of gray matter-based networks. Locally, transdiagnostic depression severity correlated positively with gray matter volume in the right middle frontal gyrus and negatively with nodal topological properties of gray matter-based networks in the right amygdala.

Relationship between systolic blood pressure and renal function on clinical outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation: a report from the prospective AF-GEN-UK Registry.

Background: Blood pressure (BP) extremes and renal (dys)function contribute to poor outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Using data from the prospective AF-GEN-UK study, we investigated the effect of systolic BP and interaction with renal function for prognostication.

Methods: Baseline systolic BP (SBP) values were recorded for 1580 patients (mean [SD] age 71 [11] years, 60% male) and categorized as follows: 120-129 mmHg ( n  = 289, reference group) <110 mmHg ( n  = 165), 110-119 mmHg, ( n  = 254), 130-139 mmHg ( n  = 321), 140-159 mmHg ( n  = 385) and ≥160 mmHg ( n  = 166).

Neural correlates of harm avoidance: a multimodal meta-analysis of brain structural and resting-state functional neuroimaging studies.

Harm avoidance (HA) is a Cloninger personality trait that describes behavioural inhibition to avoid aversive stimuli. It serves as a predisposing factor that contributes to the development of mental disorders such as anxiety and major depressive disorder. Neuroimaging research has identified some brain anatomical and functional correlates of HA, but reported findings are inconsistent.

Diabetes mellitus and adverse clinical events in patients with atrial fibrillation: A report from the GLORIA-AF registry phase III.

Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are both associated with adverse clinical events, but the associations have not been fully elucidated, particularly with concomitant insulin use. This study aimed to analyse the associations between adverse events and DM, as well as adverse events and sole insulin use.

Materials And Methods: Our analysis included individuals with AF from the prospective Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Anti-Thrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (GLORIA-AF) registry with 3-year follow-up.

Orphan and paediatric medical devices in Europe: recommendations to support their availability for on-label and off-label clinical indications.

Introduction: The Medical Device Regulation (EU)745/2017, increased the regulatory requirements and thus the time and the cost associated with marketing medical devices. For a majority of medical device manufacturers, this has lead to reconsiderations of their product portfolio. The risk of important or essential devices being withdrawn is particularly relevant for pediatric patients and other rare disease patients where limited numbers of devices can be sold and hence the investment needed may not be recovered.

Prioritisation of early pregnancy risk factors for stillbirth: An international multistakeholder modified e-Delphi consensus study.

Objective: To identify and prioritise early pregnancy risk factors for stillbirth to inform prognostic factor and model research.

Study Design: We used a modified e-Delphi method and consultation meeting to achieve consensus. Risk factors for early, late and stillbirth at any gestation identified from an umbrella review of risk factors for stillbirth were entered into a two-stage online Delphi survey with an international group of stakeholders made up of healthcare professionals and researchers.

Fasting triglyceride concentrations are associated with markers of lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis in healthy, non-obese dogs in lean and overweight condition.

Serum triglyceride concentrations increase in dogs with obesity, which is typically assessed by body condition score (BCS), however little is known about changes that take place in non-obese dogs in overweight condition. Further, the associations of triglyceride levels with other markers of energy homeostasis are poorly characterised in healthy animals. The present study aimed to evaluate associations between both BCS and triglyceride concentrations with other markers of lipid and glucose metabolism in healthy, non-obese dogs, as well as to assess whether these markers change significantly in non-obese dogs with overweight as compared to their lean counterparts.