Outcomes of Patients with a Mechanical Heart Valve and Poor Anticoagulation Control on Warfarin.

Background:  Patients with a mechanical heart valve (MHV) require oral anticoagulation. Poor anticoagulation control is thought to be associated with adverse outcomes, but data are limited.

Objective:  To assess the risks of clinical outcomes in patients with a MHV and poor anticoagulation control on warfarin.

A clinical perspective on ectopic Cushing's syndrome.

Cushing's syndrome (CS) refers to the clinical features of prolonged pathological glucocorticoid excess. About 10-20% of individuals with CS have ectopic CS (ECS), that is, an adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-producing tumour outside the pituitary gland. ACTH-secreting neuroendocrine neoplasia (NENs) can arise from many organs, although bronchial NEN, small cell lung cancer (SCLC), pancreatic NEN, thymic NEN, medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), and pheochromocytoma are the most common.

Lung Carcinoids: A Comprehensive Review for Clinicians.

Lung carcinoids are neuroendocrine tumors, categorized as typical or atypical carcinoids based on their histological appearance. While most of these tumors are slow-growing neoplasms, they still possess malignant potential. Many patients are diagnosed incidentally on chest X-rays or CT scans.

STAT3 Deficiency Alters the Macrophage Activation Pattern and Enhances Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 Expression during Staphylococcal Pneumonia.

Staphylococcus aureus is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in pulmonary infections. Patients with autosomal-dominant hyper-IgE syndrome due to STAT3 deficiency are particularly susceptible to acquiring staphylococcal pneumonia associated with lung tissue destruction. Because macrophages are involved in both pathogen defense and inflammation, we investigated the impact of murine myeloid STAT3 deficiency on the macrophage phenotype in vitro and on pathogen clearance and inflammation during murine staphylococcal pneumonia.

Alleviation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by transferring low RelB expression tolerogenic dendritic cells.

Aims: Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a widely used mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Rather than inducing immune response, tolerogenic dendritic cells (tDCs) have the ability to induce immune tolerance. In previous studies, we induced tDCs by 1,25-(OH)D and 1,25-(OH)D DCs significantly alleviated EAE symptoms.

Association between expectations and clinical outcomes in online face-to-face therapy - an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: Online treatments are increasing in number and are currently available for a wide range of clinical problems. To date little is known about the role of treatment expectations and other placebo-like mechanisms in online settings compared to traditional face-to-face treatment. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed individual participant data from randomized clinical trials that compared online and face-to-face psychological interventions.

International expert recommendations on image acquisition for in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy of cutaneous tumors.

Background: No international recommendations exist for a minimum imaging requirement per lesion using reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM). This may be beneficial given the increasing use of remote RCM interpretation internationally.

Objective: To develop international expert recommendations for image acquisition using tissue-coupled RCM for diagnosis of cutaneous tumors.

Detection of receptor tyrosine kinase-orphan receptor-2 using an electrochemical immunosensor modified with electrospun nanofibers comprising polyvinylpyrrolidone, soy, and gold nanoparticles.

An electrochemical immunosensing platform was developed for the detection of receptor tyrosine kinase-orphan receptor-2 (ROR2) at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with the electrospun nanofiber containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), soy, and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). The PVP/soy/AuNP nanofiber exhibited good electrochemical behavior due to synergistic effects between PVP, soy, and AuNPs. The PVP/soy in the modified film provided good mechanical strength, high porosity, flexible structures, and high specific surface area.

The plaque hypothesis: understanding mechanisms of plaque progression and destabilization, and implications for clinical management.

Purpose Of Review: Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) typically arise from nonflow-limiting coronary artery disease and not from flow-limiting obstructions that cause ischemia. This review elaborates the current understanding of the mechanism(s) for plaque development, progression, and destabilization and how identification of these high-risk features can optimally inform clinical management.

Recent Findings: Advanced invasive and noninvasive coronary imaging and computational postprocessing enhance an understanding of pathobiologic/pathophysiologic features of coronary artery plaques prone to destabilization and MACE.

Novel Insights in the Genomics of Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma: A Role for Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibition?

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) stands as a rare but extraordinarily lethal tumor, marked by its limited treatment options [...

Preabortion ultrasound - a patient perspective.

Purpose: To explore women's perception of the need for an ultrasound scan before medical abortion provided by telemedicine services.

Methods: We have analysed women's requests for medical abortion through the website www.womenonweb.

Tracking reactive astrogliosis in autosomal dominant and sporadic Alzheimer's disease with multi-modal PET and plasma GFAP.

Background: Plasma assays for the detection of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes are receiving ever increasing interest. The concentration of plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been suggested as a potential marker of astrocytes or recently, amyloid-β burden, although this hypothesis remains unproven. We compared plasma GFAP levels with the astrocyte tracer C-Deuterium-L-Deprenyl (C-DED) in a multi-modal PET design in participants with sporadic and Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer's disease.

Local and Systemic Immunity During Five Vaccinations Against SARS-CoV-2 in Zanubrutinib-Treated Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Background: Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are vulnerable to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and are at risk of inferior response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination, especially if treated with the first-generation Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) ibrutinib. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the third-generation BTKi, zanubrutinib, on systemic and mucosal response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Methods: Nine patients with CLL with ongoing zanubrutinib therapy were included and donated blood and saliva during SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, before vaccine doses 3 and 5 and 2 - 3 weeks after doses 3, 4, and 5.

Mucins 3A and 3B Are Expressed in the Epithelium of Human Large Airway.

Aberrant mucus secretion is a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Expression of the membrane-tethered mucins 3A and 3B (MUC3A, MUC3B) in human lung is largely unknown. In this observational cross-sectional study, we recruited subjects 45-65 years old from the general population of Stockholm, Sweden, during the years 2007-2011.

GWAS of random glucose in 476,326 individuals provide insights into diabetes pathophysiology, complications and treatment stratification.

Conventional measurements of fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels investigated in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) cannot capture the effects of DNA variability on 'around the clock' glucoregulatory processes. Here we show that GWAS meta-analysis of glucose measurements under nonstandardized conditions (random glucose (RG)) in 476,326 individuals of diverse ancestries and without diabetes enables locus discovery and innovative pathophysiological observations. We discovered 120 RG loci represented by 150 distinct signals, including 13 with sex-dimorphic effects, two cross-ancestry and seven rare frequency signals.

Extended genetic analysis and tumor characteristics in over 4600 women with suspected hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Background: Genetic screening for pathogenic variants (PVs) in cancer predisposition genes can affect treatment strategies, risk prediction and preventive measures for patients and families. For decades, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) has been attributed to PVs in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, and more recently other rare alleles have been firmly established as associated with a high or moderate increased risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. Here, we assess the genetic variation and tumor characteristics in a large cohort of women with suspected HBOC in a clinical oncogenetic setting.

Effects of Capsular Polysaccharide amount on Pneumococcal-Host interactions.

Among the many oral streptococci, Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) stands out for the capacity of encapsulated strains to cause invasive infection. Spread beyond upper airways, however, is a biological dead end for the organism, raising the question of the benefits of expending energy to coat its surface in a thick layer of capsular polysaccharide (CPS). In this study, we compare mutants of two serotypes expressing different amounts of CPS and test these in murine models of colonization, invasion infection and transmission.

Adrenal and periadrenal schwannoma: histological, molecular and clinical characterization of an institutional case series.

Purpose: Adrenal schwannoma (AS) and periadrenal schwannoma (PAS) are exceedingly rare Schwann cell tumors that develop from the adrenal medulla and periadrenal peripheral nerves respectively. The underlying genetic events are elusive.

Methods: We searched our institutional database for AS/PAS cases and reviewed the histology and clinical outcome.

The effects of high plasma levels of Aβ on mononuclear macrophage in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.

More and more evidences are proving that microglia play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the plasma Aβ levels significantly increased 15 years before the onset of dominantly inherited AD. However, the effects of high plasma levels of Aβ on mononuclear macrophage, the peripheral counterparts of microglia, remain unclear. In the present study, we used APP/PS1 transgenic (Tg) mice and a parabiotic model of wild type (Wt) mice and Tg mice (Parabiotic Wt-Tg, Pa (Wt-Tg)) to investigate the effects of high plasma levels of Aβ on peripheral mononuclear macrophage.