Therapeutic strategies targeting mechanisms of macrophages in diabetic heart disease.

Diabetic heart disease (DHD) is a serious complication in patients with diabetes. Despite numerous studies on the pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic targets of DHD, effective means of prevention and treatment are still lacking. The pathogenic mechanisms of DHD include cardiac inflammation, insulin resistance, myocardial fibrosis, and oxidative stress.

Mitral annular disjunction in idiopathic ventricular fibrillation patients: just a bystander or a potential cause?

Aims: Previously, we demonstrated that inferolateral mitral annular disjunction (MAD) is more prevalent in patients with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF) than in healthy controls. In the present study, we advanced the insights into the prevalence and ventricular arrhythmogenicity by inferolateral MAD in an even larger IVF cohort.

Methods And Results: This retrospective multi-centre study included 185 IVF patients [median age 39 (27, 52) years, 40% female].

The incidence and impact of atrial fibrillation on hospitalized Coronavirus disease-2019 patients.

Background: Since 2019, Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has raised unprecedented global health crisis. The incidence and impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) on patients with COVID-19 remain unclearly defined.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using ICD-10 codes to identify patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 with or without AF in National Inpatient Sample Database 2020.

Food-derived peptides as novel therapeutic strategies for NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases: a systematic review.

NLRP3 (NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3), a member of the nucleotide-binding domain (NOD) and leucine-rich repeat sequence (LRR) protein (NLR) family, plays an essential role in the inflammation initiation and inflammatory mediator secretion, and thus is also associated with many disease progressions. Food-derived bioactive peptides (FDBP) exhibit excellent anti-inflammatory activity in both and models. They are encrypted in plant, meat, and milk proteins and can be released under enzymatic hydrolysis or fermentation conditions, thereby hindering the progression of hyperuricemia, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic liver disease, neurological disorders, lung injury and periodontitis by inactivating the NLRP3.

Incidence and Impact of Acute Pericarditis in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19.

Background Acute pericarditis (AP) is considered a cardiovascular complication in patients with COVID-19. We aimed to ass-ess the incidence, associated complications, and clinical impact of AP on hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods and Results In this retrospective cohort study, () codes were used to identify patients with COVID-19 with or without AP in the National Inpatient Sample 2020 database.

Polysaccharides-based nanocarriers enhance the anti-inflammatory effect of curcumin.

Curcumin (CUR) has been discovered to have many biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxygenation, anti-human immunodeficiency virus, anti-microbial and exhibits a good effect on the prevention and treatment of many diseases. However, the limited properties of CUR, including the poor solubility, bioavailability and instability caused by enzymes, light, metal irons, and oxygen, have compelled researchers to turn their attention to drug carrier application to overcome these drawbacks. Encapsulation may provide potential protective effects to the embedding materials and/or have a synergistic effect with them.

Insights into monkeypox pathophysiology, global prevalence, clinical manifestation and treatments.

On 23rd July 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the ongoing monkeypox outbreak as a public medical crisis. Monkeypox virus (MPV), the etiological agent of monkeypox, is a zoonotic, linear, double-stranded DNA virus. In 1970, the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported the first case of MPV infection.

Therapeutic angiogenesis and tissue revascularization in ischemic vascular disease.

Ischemic vascular disease is a major healthcare problem. The keys to treatment lie in vascular regeneration and restoration of perfusion. However, current treatments cannot satisfy the need for vascular regeneration to restore blood circulation.

Copper homeostasis and copper-induced cell death in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and therapeutic strategies.

Copper is a vital mineral, and an optimal amount of copper is required to support normal physiologic processes in various systems, including the cardiovascular system. Over the past few decades, copper-induced cell death, named cuproptosis, has become increasingly recognized as an important process mediating the pathogenesis and progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including atherosclerosis, stroke, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and heart failure. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of cuproptosis in CVD may be useful for improving CVD management.

Non-coding RNAs in necroptosis, pyroptosis, and ferroptosis in cardiovascular diseases.

Accumulating evidence has proved that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play a critical role in the genetic programming and gene regulation of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality are rising and have become a primary public health issue that requires immediate resolution through effective intervention. Numerous studies have revealed that new types of cell death, such as pyroptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis, play critical cellular roles in CVD progression.

Ferroptosis and ferritinophagy in diabetes complications.

Background: With long-term metabolic malfunction, diabetes can cause serious damage to whole-body tissue and organs, resulting in a variety of complications. Therefore, it is particularly important to further explore the pathogenesis of diabetes complications and develop drugs for prevention and treatment. In recent years, different from apoptosis and necrosis, ferroptosis has been recognized as a new regulatory mode of cell death and involves the regulation of nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4)-mediated ferritinophagy.

Exosomes Regulate NLRP3 Inflammasome in Diseases.

Emerging evidence has suggested the unique and critical role of exosomes as signal molecules vector in various diseases. Numerous researchers have been trying to identify how these exosomes function in immune progression, as this could promote their use as biomarkers for the disease process and potential promising diagnostic tools. NOD-like receptor (NLR) family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), a tripartite protein, contains three functional domains a central nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain (NACHT), an N-terminal pyrin domain (PYD), and a leucine-rich repeat domain (LRR).

Short-term Mortality Outcomes of HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis in Antiretroviral Therapy-Naïve and -Experienced Patients in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: An increasing proportion of patients with HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis have received antiretroviral therapy (ART) before presentation. There is some evidence suggesting an increased 2-week mortality in those receiving ART for <14 days compared with those on ART for >14 days. However, presentation and outcomes for cryptococcal meningitis patients who have recently initiated ART, and those with virologic failure and/or nonadherence, are not well described.

The association of breastfeeding self-efficacy with breastfeeding duration and exclusivity: longitudinal assessment of the predictive validity of the Greek version of the BSES-SF tool.

Introduction: While breastfeeding self-efficacy (BSES) is an important modifiable determinant of breastfeeding, a structured assessment is not standard practice in Cyprus. We assessed the Greek version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES-SF), including its predictive validity in terms of Breastfeeding (BF) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) up to the sixth month.

Methods: A methodological study with longitudinal design among 586 mother-infant dyads, as part of the "BrEaST Start in Life" project.

Learning from the past and expecting the future in Parkinsonism: Dopaminergic influence on predictions about the timing of future events.

The prolonged reaction times seen in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been linked to a dopaminergic-dependent deficit in using prior information to prepare responses, but also have been explained by an altered temporal processing. However, an underlying cognitive mechanism linking dopamine, temporal processing and response preparation remains elusive. To address this, we studied PD patients, with or without medication, and age-matched healthy individuals using a variable foreperiod task requiring speeded responses to a visual stimulus occurring at variable onset-times, with block-wise changes in the temporal predictability of visual stimuli.

Investigation into the metric properties of the workplace social capital questionnaire and its association with self-rated health and psychological distress amongst Greek-Cypriot registered nurses: cross-sectional descriptive study.

Background: Social capital can been described as an individual or a collective attribute, with structural and cognitive components, and a bonding, bridging and linking typology. While extensively studied in the community, studies in occupational settings are sparse by comparison. Furthermore, there is no uniformity in its measurement.

Extracellular vesicles at the cross-line between basic science and clinical needs.

MiRNAs are small noncoding RNAs vital for protein regulation and gene expression. Since their discovery in the early nineties, many of their intracellular roles have been characterized. However, it is only recently that EVs loaded with miRNAs and other molecular types have started to be appreciated for their substantial involvement in cell-to-cell communication and signaling in physiological and pathological processes.

Shared genetic variants between serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and wheezing in a cohort of children from Cyprus.

Background: In a cohort of children in Cyprus, we recently reported low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) to be associated with asthma. We examined whether genetic polymorphisms that were previously linked individually to asthma, obesity, or HDL-C are associated with both asthma and HDL-C levels in the Cyprus cohort.

Methods: We assessed genotypes frequencies in current-wheezers (n = 190) and non-asthmatic controls (n = 671) and HDL-C levels across several genotypes.