Long-term cerebrovascular outcomes of patients undergoing percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure in observational studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is recommended for patients who experience a cryptogenic stroke attributable to PFO. Although few randomized control trials (RCTs) have captured long-term effectiveness of PFO closure, observational data has been abundant. This is the first systematic review of observational studies determining incidence of long-term adverse outcomes in adults who underwent transcatheter PFO closure, with comparisons to findings from RCTs.

Misinformation and Readability of Social Media Content on Pediatric Ankyloglossia and Other Oral Ties.

Importance: Diagnosis of pediatric ankyloglossia and other oral ties is increasing in part due to social media, leading to more frenotomies and excess medicalization of often normal anatomy.

Objective: To assess the accuracy and readability of social media content on pediatric ankyloglossia and other oral ties.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cross-sectional study, the top 200 posts on an image-based social media platform tagged with #tonguetie, #liptie, or #buccaltie were collected using a de novo account on March 27, 2023.

Augmented Reality-Based Finger Joint Range of Motion Measurement: Assessment of Reliability and Concurrent Validity.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the reliability and concurrent validity of finger joint range of motion (ROM) measurement using augmented reality (AR)-based hand tracking in a sample of healthy hands. Additionally, the study aimed to determine which camera view of the hand provided ROM measurements with the highest concurrent validity at each joint.

Methods: A web application developed for smart devices using Google's MediaPipe Hands framework converted AR-generated hand landmark coordinates from camera feed into ROM angle measurements in real time for all joints.

It's late, but not too late to transform health systems: a global digital citizen science observatory for local solutions to global problems.

A key challenge in monitoring, managing, and mitigating global health crises is the need to coordinate clinical decision-making with systems outside of healthcare. In the 21st century, human engagement with Internet-connected ubiquitous devices generates an enormous amount of big data, which can be used to address complex, intersectoral problems via participatory epidemiology and mHealth approaches that can be operationalized with digital citizen science. These big data - which traditionally exist outside of health systems - are underutilized even though their usage can have significant implications for prediction and prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Imperative for a health-centred focus on climate change in radiology.

Climate change negatively impacts individual and population-level health through multiple pathways, including poor air quality, extreme heat and changes in infectious disease. These health effects will lead to higher health system and medical imaging utilisation. At the same time, the delivery of radiology services generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

Kidney stone disease: Practice patterns among urologists in Canada.

Introduction: Despite kidney stone disease (KSD) guidelines, high-quality evidence for KSD management in Canada is lacking. We aimed to assess Canadian urologists' practice patterns, preferences, and barriers in managing KSD.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to Canadian urologists via the Canadian Urological Association (CUA), Quebec Urological Association (QUA), and Canadian Endourology Group (CEG), as well as directly to urology departments nationwide.

Complications and blood loss after invasive treatments for small renal masses: A systematic review.

Introduction: This systematic review and meta-analysis provides estimates of major complications and blood loss for open partial nephrectomy, conventional laparoscopic partial nephrectomy, and robot-assisted partial nephrectomy. Additionally, it outlines the incidence of major complications associated with percutaneous thermal ablation in patients with small renal masses.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from inception to the end of July 2023.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of radiofrequency renal denervation for uncontrolled hypertension in Canada.

Aims: Catheter-based radiofrequency renal denervation (RF RDN) is an interventional treatment for uncontrolled hypertension. This analysis explored the therapy's lifetime cost-effectiveness in a Canadian healthcare setting.

Materials And Methods: A decision-analytic Markov model was used to project health events, costs, and quality-adjusted life years over a lifetime horizon.

Revealing administrative staff roles in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of family physicians' perspectives.

Background: Administrative staff in primary care undertake numerous tasks to support patient care delivery. Although their roles are often overlooked, administrative staff are essential to the coordination and operations of primary care clinics. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced additional clinical and administrative tasks, including transitioning to virtual appointments and triaging patients for urgency, changing typical workflows.

Corrigendum to "Differential efficacy of medical therapies for ulcerative colitis according to disease extent: patient-level analysis from multiple randomized controlled trials" volume 72, 102621.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.

Taking risk to heart: An evaluation of cardiometabolic risk and screening guideline adherence in outpatients with spinal cord injury.

Objectives: To evaluate cardiometabolic disease (CMD) in outpatients with spinal cord injury/disease (SCI/D). The study aims were to (1) estimate the prevalence of CMD risk factors in a cohort of Canadian adults with SCI/D; (2) assess whether the frequency of CMD screening aligns with evidence-based guidelines; and (3) gain a preliminary understanding of the barriers to CMD screening and/or treatment within a rehabilitation program setting.

Design: Quality improvement initiative involving chart review extracting the presence of and frequency of screening for four CMD risk factors (obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus).

Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Adaptations Following Aerobic Exercise Training Programs: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The influence of aerobic exercise training on cardiovascular adaptations in healthy males versus females is unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarized sex-based differences in cardiac adaptations following aerobic exercise training interventions in healthy adults.

Methods: Five electronic databases were searched from inception to June 2024.

Interventions to reduce burnout in emergency medicine: a national inventory of the Canadian experience to support global implementation of wellness initiatives.

Burnout in healthcare workers is a global issue, with Emergency Medicine (EM) particularly impacted. Many countries have tried implementing wellness initiatives to reduce burnout and improve wellness. This paper summarizes interventions implemented in Canada to-date with the aim of supporting the design of wellness interventions in EDs globally.

Interprofessional team-based primary care practice and preventive cancer screening: evidence from Family Health Teams in Ontario, Canada.

Health care reforms introduced interprofessional team-based primary care to optimize access to health care and preventive services. In this context, preventive cancer screening represents an important measure as it is essential for the early detection of cancer and treatment. We investigated the effects of Family Health Teams (FHTs), an interprofessional team-based primary care practice setting, on cancer screening rates in Ontario, Canada.

Randomized Trials Using Provincial Health Numbers for Group Assignment.

Purpose: Using data from Ontario, Canada, this report shows how provincial government-assigned health card numbers can be used for individual-level randomization in large pragmatic trials. We describe how health card numbers are assigned and analyze the distribution of health card digits in a trial setting. We then provide an example of how they can be used for randomization and discuss the methodological and practical considerations of the approach.

Peripheral inflammatory and metabolic markers as potential biomarkers in treatment-resistant schizophrenia: Insights from a Qatari Cohort.

Schizophrenia presents significant diagnostic and treatment challenges, particularly in distinguishing between treatment-resistant (TRS) and non-treatment-resistant schizophrenia (NTRS). This cross-sectional study analyzed routine laboratory parameters as potential biomarkers to differentiate TRS, NTRS, and healthy individuals within a Qatari cohort. The study included 31 TRS and 38 NTRS patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, alongside 30 control subjects from the Qatar Biobank.

Sleep: The silent hero in cardiometabolic health.

The essential role of sleep in overall health is increasingly recognized, yet it remains underemphasized in both clinical and public health contexts. Despite extensive research linking poor sleep health to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cognitive decline, sleep health is not routinely assessed or integrated into standard care practices. Sleep problems, including insomnia, sleep apnea, and poor sleep quality, are prevalent globally, affecting over 30 % of the population and contributing to significant public health burdens like cardiometabolic disease, mental health disorders and multimorbidity.

Examining the impact of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder on ketamine's real-world effectiveness in treatment-resistant depression.

Depression with comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with more severe symptoms and a reduced response to traditional treatments. Although ketamine shows promise as a rapid-acting antidepressant for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), its effectiveness in patients with comorbid PTSD remains underexplored. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective analysis of 134 patients from the Canadian Rapid Treatment Center of Excellence to compare the effectiveness of four ketamine infusions (0.

Proportional modes to hasten weaning.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to examine the current state of the evidence, including several recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses, to determine if proportional modes of ventilation have the potential to hasten weaning from mechanical ventilation for adult critically ill patients, compared to pressure support ventilation (PSV), the current standard of care during the recovery and weaning phases of mechanical ventilation.

Recent Findings: Proportional assist ventilation (PAV) and neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) are two commercially available proportional modes that have been studied in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Although several feasibility studies were not powered to detect differences in clinical outcomes, emerging evidence suggests that both PAV and NAVA may reduce duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, and hospital mortality compared to PSV, as shown in some small, primarily single-centre studies.

A scoping review of statistical methods to investigate colocalization between genetic associations and microRNA expression in osteoarthritis.

Background: Genetic colocalization analysis is a statistical method that evaluates whether two traits (e.g., osteoarthritis [OA] risk and microRNA [miRNA] expression levels) share the same or distinct genetic association signals in a locus typically identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Extreme LDL-C concentration is associated with increased cardiovascular disease in women with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a rare genetic disease of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) metabolism. Despite the devastating effect of this disease on atherosclerotic cardiovascular health, the disease phenotype and severity are more heterogeneous than previously thought. The predictors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in HoFH patients have never been systematically studied.

Direct modulation of CRH nerve terminal function by noradrenaline and corticosterone.

Nerve terminals are the final point of regulation before neurosecretion. As such, neuromodulators acting on nerve terminals can exert significant influence on neural signalling. Hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons send axonal projections to the median eminence where CRH is secreted to stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Predicting cancer content in tiles of lung squamous cell carcinoma tumours with validation against pathologist labels.

Background: A growing body of research is using deep learning to explore the relationship between treatment biomarkers for lung cancer patients and cancer tissue morphology on digitized whole slide images (WSIs) of tumour resections. However, these WSIs typically contain non-cancer tissue, introducing noise during model training. As digital pathology models typically start with splitting WSIs into tiles, we propose a model that can be used to exclude non-cancer tiles from the WSIs of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) tumours.