Taxonomic intestinal microbiota differences in Lewy body spectrum disease and cohabitant controls.

Background: Microbial dysbiosis has been reported to contribute to development of neurodegenerative diseases, however, there is a need to identify causative/prognostic indicators.

Objectives: To comparatively analyze gut microbiome composition in symptomatic LBD (dementia/mild cognitive impairment), iRBD, and cohabiting controls without LBD or iRBD.

Methods: 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was performed in 38 cases (27 LBD, 11 iRBD) and 39 cohabitant controls.

IGLON5 Frequency in Idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Multicenter Study.

Background And Objectives: Idiopathic/isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) has been strongly linked to neurodegenerative synucleinopathies such as Parkinson disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy. However, there have been increasing reports of RBD as a presenting feature of serious and treatable autoimmune syndromes, particularly IGLON5. This study's objective was to investigate the frequency of autoantibodies in a large cohort of participants with iRBD.

Ethical Considerations for Identifying Individuals in the Prodromal/Early Phase of Parkinson's Disease: A Narrative Review.

The ability to identify individuals in the prodromal phase of Parkinson's disease has improved in recent years, raising the question of whether and how those affected should be informed about the risk of future disease. Several studies investigated prognostic counselling for individuals with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder and have shown that most patients want to receive information about prognosis, but autonomy and individual preferences must be respected. However, there are still many unanswered questions about risk disclosure or early diagnosis of PD, including the impact on personal circumstances, cultural preferences and specific challenges associated with different profiles of prodromal symptoms, genetic testing or biomarker assessments.

The Hippo kinases control inflammatory Hippo signaling and restrict bacterial infection in phagocytes.

Unlabelled: The Hippo kinases MST1 and MST2 initiate a highly conserved signaling cascade called the Hippo pathway that limits organ size and tumor formation in animals. Intriguingly, pathogens hijack this host pathway during infection, but the role of MST1/2 in innate immune cells against pathogens is unclear. In this report, we generated knockout macrophages to investigate the regulatory activities of the Hippo kinases in immunity.

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) 2023 Expert Consensus Document: Recommendation for the care of children with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 and a congenital heart defect.

Objectives: Recommendations for surgical repair of a congenital heart defect in children with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 remain controversial, are subject to biases, and are largely unsupported with limited empirical data. This has created significant distrust and uncertainty among parents and could potentially lead to suboptimal care for patients. A working group, representing several clinical specialties involved with the care of these children, developed recommendations to assist in the decision-making process for congenital heart defect care in this population.

Double-Masked, Vehicle-Controlled, Randomized, Phase II Study of the Ocular Hypotensive Activity and Safety of VVN539 Ophthalmic Solution.

Purpose: To assess safety and ocular hypotensive efficacy of VVN539 ophthalmic solution in a first-in-human study.

Design: Multicenter, double-masked, randomized, vehicle-controlled, dose-response, parallel-comparison study.

Participants: Sixty-eight subjects with ocular hypertension (OHT) or open-angle glaucoma enrolled at 5 private practices.

Validation of the RBD Symptom Severity Scale in the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy Consortium.

Background And Objectives: REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by dream enactment. The International RBD Study Group developed the RBD Symptom Severity Scale (RBDSSS) to assess symptom severity for clinical or research use. We assessed the psychometric and clinimetric properties of the RBDSSS in participants enrolled in the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy (NAPS) Consortium for RBD.

Ensuring leadership at the operational level of a health system in protracted crisis context: a cross-sectional qualitative study covering 8 health districts in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: This study examines how leadership is provided at the operational level of a health system in a protracted crisis context. Despite advances in medical science and technology, health systems in low- and middle-income countries struggle to deliver quality care to all their citizens. The role of leadership in fostering resilience and positive transformation of a health system is established.

Frequency of Orthostatic Hypotension in Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Background And Objectives: Although orthostatic hypotension (OH) can be an early feature of autonomic dysfunction in isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD), no large-scale studies have examined the frequency of OH in iRBD. In this study, we prospectively evaluated the frequency of OH in a large multicenter iRBD cohort.

Methods: Participants 18 years or older with video polysomnogram-confirmed iRBD were enrolled through the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy consortium.

Recommendations for centers performing pediatric heart surgery in the United States.

Care and outcomes for the more than 40,000 patients undergoing pediatric and congenital heart surgery in the United States annually are known to vary widely. While consensus recommendations have been published across numerous fields as one mechanism to promote a high level of care delivery across centers, it has been more than two decades since the last pediatric heart surgery recommendations were published in the United States. More recent guidance is lacking, and collaborative efforts involving the many disciplines engaged in caring for these children have not been undertaken to date.

Recommendations for Centers Performing Pediatric Heart Surgery in the United States.

Care and outcomes for the more than 40,000 patients undergoing pediatric and congenital heart surgery in the United States annually are known to vary widely. While consensus recommendations have been published across numerous fields as one mechanism to promote a high level of care delivery across centers, it has been more than two decades since the last pediatric heart surgery recommendations were published in the United States. More recent guidance is lacking, and collaborative efforts involving the many disciplines engaged in caring for these children have not been undertaken to date.

Recommendations for Centers Performing Pediatric Heart Surgery in the United States.

Care and outcomes for the more than 40,000 patients undergoing pediatric and congenital heart surgery in the United States annually are known to vary widely. While consensus recommendations have been published across numerous fields as one mechanism to promote a high level of care delivery across centers, it has been more than two decades since the last pediatric heart surgery recommendations were published in the United States. More recent guidance is lacking, and collaborative efforts involving the many disciplines engaged in caring for these children have not been undertaken to date.

The Academic Impact of Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society (CHSS) Studies.

Purpose: We reviewed all 64 articles ever published by The Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society (CHSS) Data Center to estimate the academic impact of these peer-reviewed articles.

Materials And Methods: The Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society has performed research based on 12 Diagnostic Inception Cohorts. The first cohort (Transposition) began enrolling patients on January 1, 1985.

The End of the X-waiver: Excitement, Apprehension, and Opportunity.

With the passage of the MAT act (Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment) and the MATE Act (Medication Training and Expansion), the Drug Enforcement Agency "X-waiver" program governing the office-based prescription of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder has been immediately eliminated. The move was championed by vocal organizations with a rightful concern about buprenorphine access but was opposed by most physicians. Nonetheless, buprenorphine can now be prescribed like any schedule 3 medication.

Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

The (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries.

Automated sleep classification with chronic neural implants in freely behaving canines.

Long-term intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) in freely behaving animals provides valuable electrophysiological information and when correlated with animal behavior is useful for investigating brain function.Here we develop and validate an automated iEEG-based sleep-wake classifier for canines using expert sleep labels derived from simultaneous video, accelerometry, scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and iEEG monitoring. The video, scalp EEG, and accelerometry recordings were manually scored by a board-certified sleep expert into sleep-wake state categories: awake, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, and three non-REM sleep categories (NREM1, 2, 3).

Survival After Single-Stage Repair of Truncus Arteriosus and Associated Defects.

Background: The goal of this study was to describe in-hospital and long-term mortality after single-stage repair of truncus arteriosus communis (TAC) and explore factors associated with these outcomes.

Methods: This was a cohort study of consecutive patients undergoing single-stage TAC repair between 1982 and 2011 reported to the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium registry. In-hospital mortality was obtained for the entire cohort from registry records.

Hybrid palliation versus nonhybrid management for a multi-institutional cohort of infants with critical left heart obstruction.

Objective: To compare patient characteristics and overall survival for infants with critical left heart obstruction after hybrid palliation (bilateral pulmonary artery banding with or without ductal stenting) versus nonhybrid management (eg, Norwood, primary transplantation, biventricular repair, or transcatheter/surgical aortic valvotomy).

Methods: From 2005 to 2019, 1045 infants in the Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society critical left heart obstruction cohort underwent interventions across 28 institutions. Using a balancing score propensity analysis, 214 infants who underwent hybrid palliation and 831 infants who underwent nonhybrid management were proportionately matched regarding variables significantly associated with mortality and variables noted to significantly differ between groups.

Therapeutic blocking of VEGF binding to neuropilin-2 diminishes PD-L1 expression to activate antitumor immunity in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancers are largely unresponsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), and there is strong evidence that programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression itself must be inhibited to activate antitumor immunity. Here, we report that neuropilin-2 (NRP2), which functions as a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor on tumor cells, is an attractive target to activate antitumor immunity in prostate cancer because VEGF-NRP2 signaling sustains PD-L1 expression. depletion increased T cell activation in vitro.

Procedure-Specific Center Volume and Mortality After Infantile Congenital Heart Surgery.

Background: Regionalization of congenital heart surgery (CHS) has been proposed to improve postsurgical outcomes by increasing experience in the care of high-risk patients. We sought to determine whether procedure-specific center volume was associated with mortality after infantile CHS up to 3 years post-procedure.

Methods: We analyzed data from 12,263 infants in the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium undergoing CHS between 1982 and 2003 at 46 centers within the United States.