Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in the Native American Population.

Native Americans are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease in comparison with other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Previous research has analyzed risk factors, quantified prevalence rates, and examined outcomes of cardiovascular disease in Native Americans, yet few studies have considered the role of societal and psychological factors on the increased burden of cardiovascular disease in Native Americans. Modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including poor nutrition, reduced physical activity, obesity, and increased substance use, are exacerbated in Native American communities due to cultural and historical factors.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Heart Failure Patients with Implantable Pulmonary Artery Pressure Monitors: A Single Centre Irish Experience.

Hospitalisation for acute decompensated heart failure (HF) portends a poor prognosis. Fluid retention manifesting in dyspnoea and oedema are important clinical features of decompensated heart failure and drive hospital admissions. Intracardiac and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) monitoring can help predict heart failure decompensation, as changes in these haemodynamics occur before clinical congestion manifests.

Risk Factors for Coronary Events After Robotic Hybrid Off-Pump Coronary Revascularization.

Objectives: The impact of long-term complications after robotic hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR), including persistent angina, repeat revascularization, and myocardial infarction (MI), remains limited. This study aims to determine the risk factors for coronary events after robotic HCR and their time-varying effects on outcomes.

Methods: We identified all consecutive patients who underwent robotic HCR at our institution.

Physician Perceptions of the Safety and Efficacy of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: Underestimation of Cardiovascular Risk Reduction and Discrepancies with Clinical Evidence.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide/GLP-1 receptor agonists (GIP/GLP-1 RAs) are emerging as effective treatments for obesity and cardiometabolic disease. This study evaluated physician perceptions of the safety and efficacy of semaglutide and tirzepatide through a questionnaire administered to 165 attending physicians specializing in internal or family medicine, with 122 responses received. Physicians reported an average patient weight loss of 9.

Papillary Muscles of the Left Ventricle: Integrating Electrical and Mechanical Dynamics.

Background: Papillary muscles are structures integrated into the mitral valve apparatus, having both electrical and mechanical roles. The importance of the papillary muscles (PM) is mainly related to cardiac arrhythmias and mitral regurgitation. The aim of this review is to offer an overview of the anatomy and physiology of the papillary muscles, along with their involvement in cardiovascular pathologies, including arrhythmia development in various conditions and their contribution to secondary mitral regurgitation.

ECMO in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab-Patient Selection Is Key.

The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has emerged as a rescue intervention for hemodynamically unstable patients and prophylactic intraprocedural hemodynamic support in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. The prompt initiation of ECMO provides immediate hemodynamic support and allows for the completion of bridging and/or life-saving interventions. However, there are no clinical practice guidelines for the use of extracorporeal support in this area.

Contemporary Trends in Pulsed Field Ablation for Cardiac Arrhythmias.

Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a catheter-based procedure that utilizes short high voltage and short-duration electrical field pulses to induce tissue injury. The last decade has yielded significant scientific progress and quickened interest in PFA as an energy modality leading to the emergence of the clinical use of PFA technologies for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. It is generally agreed that more research is needed to improve our biophysical understanding of PFA for clinical cardiac applications as well as its potential as a potential alternative energy source to thermal ablation modalities for the treatment of other arrhythmias.

Muscular Performance and Blood Pressure After Different Pre-Strength Training Strategies in Recreationally Strength-Trained Women: Cross-Over Trial.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the acute effects of different pre-ST strategies on muscular performance and blood pressure (BP) responses in recreationally strength-trained women.

Methods: Twelve overweight women with normal BP were recruited and performed six experimental protocols in a randomized order: (1) control protocol (CC), where BP was assessed without exercises performed; (2) ST; (3) foam rolling warm-up followed by ST (FR + ST); (4) specific warm-up followed by ST (SW + ST); (5) aerobic exercise followed by ST (AE + ST); and (6) stretching exercises followed by ST (SE + ST). ST consisted of three sets at 80% of 10 repetition maximum with a self-suggested rest interval between sets for bench press, back squat, bench press 45°, front squat, lat pull-down, leg press, shoulder press, and leg extension.

A New Risk Prediction Model for the Assessment of Myocardial Injury in Elderly Patients Undergoing Non-Elective Surgery.

Currently, recommended pre-operative risk assessment models including the revised cardiac risk index (RCRI) are not very effective in predicting postoperative myocardial damage after non-elective surgery, especially for elderly patients. This study aimed to create a new risk prediction model to assess myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) in elderly patients and compare it with the RCRI, a well-known pre-operative risk prediction model. This retrospective study included 370 elderly patients who were over 65 years of age and had non-elective surgery in a tertiary hospital.

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Lyme Carditis-A Case Series and Review of Literature.

Lyme carditis is an uncommon but potentially fatal manifestation of early disseminated Lyme disease. Timely diagnosis poses a clinical challenge due to the highly variable and non-specific symptomatology that can be easily overlooked, as well as the limited availability of specific and non-invasive diagnostic tests for assessing cardiac involvement. While cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is the standard imaging modality for diagnosing various etiologies of cardiomyopathy, its application in Lyme carditis remains understudied.

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Enhancing Virus Filter Performance Through Pretreatment by Membrane Adsorbers.

Virus filtration is used to ensure the high level of virus clearance required in the manufacture of biopharmaceutical products such as monoclonal antibodies. Flux decline during virus filtration can occur due to the formation of reversible aggregates consisting of self-assembled monomeric monoclonal antibody molecules, particularly at high antibody concentrations. While size exclusion chromatography is generally unable to detect these reversible aggregates, dynamic light scattering may be used to determine their presence.

Development of Hollow Fiber Membranes Suitable for Outside-In Filtration of Human Blood Plasma.

Hemodialysis (HD) is a critical treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The effectiveness of conventional dialyzers used there could be compromised during extended use due to limited blood compatibility of synthetic polymeric membranes and sub-optimal dialyzer design. In fact, blood flow in the hollow fiber (HF) membrane could trigger inflammatory responses and thrombus formation, leading to reduced filtration efficiency and limiting therapy duration, a consequence of flowing the patients' blood through the lumen of each fiber while the dialysate passes along the inter-fiber space (IOF, inside-out filtration).

Adult patients with an exacerbation of asthma and a higher risk for pulmonary embolism: a cluster analysis.

Objective: Current literature acknowledges the complexity of exacerbation triggers in patients with asthma. We studied the clinical heterogeneity of patients with asthma exacerbation suspected of having pulmonary embolism using cluster analysis and compared the clusters regarding of the risks for pulmonary embolism.

Methods: In a secondary analysis of a dataset from the University of Florida, USA, individuals who experienced asthma exacerbation between June 2011 and October 2018 were included.

The impact of virtual reality on patient experience during wide-awake surgery: a randomized controlled trial.

This study aimed to establish whether virtual reality can reduce patient anxiety and improve surgical satisfaction during wide-awake local anaesthetic no tourniquet hand procedures. Previously validated questionnaires were used to assess subjective anxiety and patient satisfaction. Objective anxiety was determined using patient blood pressure and heart rate measured four times during the procedure.

Concussion and the Autonomic, Immune, and Endocrine Systems: An Introduction to the Field and a Treatment Framework for Persisting Symptoms.

A significant proportion of patients who sustain a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury endorse persisting, lingering symptoms. The symptoms associated with concussion are nonspecific, and many other medical conditions present with similar symptoms. Medical conditions that overlap symptomatically with concussion include anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and cervical strain injuries.

Health Professionals' Preferences for Next-Generation Sequencing in the Diagnosis of Suspected Genetic Disorders in the Paediatric Population.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can explain how genetics influence morbidity and mortality in children. However, it is unclear whether health providers will perceive and use such treatments. We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to understand Italian health professionals' preferences for NGS to improve the diagnosis of paediatric genetic diseases.

Intraoperative Augmented Reality for Vitreoretinal Surgery Using Edge Computing.

: Augmented reality (AR) may allow vitreoretinal surgeons to leverage microscope-integrated digital imaging systems to analyze and highlight key retinal anatomic features in real time, possibly improving safety and precision during surgery. By employing convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for retina vessel segmentation, a retinal coordinate system can be created that allows pre-operative images of capillary non-perfusion or retinal breaks to be digitally aligned and overlayed upon the surgical field in real time. Such technology may be useful in assuring thorough laser treatment of capillary non-perfusion or in using pre-operative optical coherence tomography (OCT) to guide macular surgery when microscope-integrated OCT (MIOCT) is not available.

The Representational Challenge of Integration and Interoperability in Transformed Health Ecosystems.

: Health and social care systems around the globe are currently undergoing a transformation towards personalized, preventive, predictive, participative precision medicine (5PM), considering the individual health status, conditions, genetic and genomic dispositions, etc., in personal, social, occupational, environmental, and behavioral contexts. This transformation is strongly supported by technologies such as micro- and nanotechnologies, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, edge computing, etc.

A Case of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Mutually Exclusive and Mutations.

Historically, and mutations were believed to be mutually exclusive. However, over the past few years, there have been emerging case reports showing the co-existence of both mutations in a single case. The majority of these co-occurring alterations were detected in samples collected from patients with resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment, indicating a potential functional role in driving resistance to therapy.

Acidic Microenvironment Enhances Cisplatin Resistance in Bladder Cancer via Bcl-2 and XIAP.

Cisplatin (CDDP) remains a key drug for patients with advanced bladder cancer (BC), despite the emergence of new therapeutic agents; thus, the identification of factors contributing to CDDP treatment resistance is crucial. As acidity of the tumor microenvironment has been reported to be associated with treatment resistance and poor prognosis across various cancer types, our objectives in this study were to investigate the effects of an acidic environment on BC cells and elucidate the mechanisms behind CDDP resistance. Our findings show that BC cells cultured under acidic conditions developed cisplatin resistance as acidity increased.

Advanced In Vitro Models for Preclinical Drug Safety: Recent Progress and Prospects.

The majority of drugs are typically orally administered. The journey from drug discovery to approval is often long and expensive, involving multiple stages. A major challenge in the drug development process is drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a condition that affects the liver, the organ responsible for metabolizing most drugs.

Tacrolimus- and Mycophenolate-Mediated Toxicity: Clinical Considerations and Options in Management of Post-Transplant Patients.

Tacrolimus and mycophenolate are important immunosuppressive agents used to prevent organ rejection in post-transplant patients. While highly effective, their use is associated with significant toxicity, requiring careful management. Tacrolimus, a calcineurin inhibitor, is linked to nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity, metabolic disturbances such as diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular complications such as hypertension and arrhythmias.

Aptamer-Conjugated Multi-Quantum Dot-Embedded Silica Nanoparticles for Lateral Flow Immunoassay.

Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) are widely used for their low cost, simplicity, and rapid results; however, enhancing their reliability requires the meticulous selection of ligands and nanoparticles (NPs). SiO@QD@SiO (QD) nanoparticles, which consist of quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a silica (SiO) core and surrounded by an outer SiO shell, exhibit significantly higher fluorescence intensity (FI) compared to single QDs. In this study, we prepared QD@PEG@Aptamer, an aptamer conjugated with QD using succinimidyl-[(N-maleimidopropionamido)-hexaethyleneglycol]ester, which is 130 times brighter than single QDs, for detecting carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 through LFIA.

Next-Generation Potentiometric Sensors: A Review of Flexible and Wearable Technologies.

In recent years, the field of wearable sensors has undergone significant evolution, emerging as a pivotal topic of research due to the capacity of such sensors to gather physiological data during various human activities. Transitioning from basic fitness trackers, these sensors are continuously being improved, with the ultimate objective to make compact, sophisticated, highly integrated, and adaptable multi-functional devices that seamlessly connect to clothing or the body, and continuously monitor bodily signals without impeding the wearer's comfort or well-being. Potentiometric sensors, leveraging a range of different solid contact materials, have emerged as a preferred choice for wearable chemical or biological sensors.