Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists in Patients With Durable Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Background: GLP-1 RAs improve cardiometabolic outcomes in obese, diabetic, and heart failure patients. Data on the safety and efficacy of GLP-1 RA in advanced heart failure with durable LVAD is limited.

Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy of GLP-1 RA in durable LVAD patients.

A randomized controlled, trial on effects of mobile phone text messaging in combination with motivational interviewing versus standard infant feeding counselling on breastfeeding and child health outcomes, among women living with HIV.

Background: Despite efforts to promote optimal breastfeeding practices, the practice of exclusive breastfeeding is low in South Africa. We conducted a trial to determine whether text messaging plus motivational interviewing prolonged exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life and improved child health outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a randomized parallel group-controlled trial between July 2022 and May 2024, at a secondary-level healthcare facility.

Update to the PRISMA guidelines for network meta-analyses and scoping reviews and development of guidelines for rapid reviews: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to develop a list of items for potential inclusion in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines for network meta-analysis (NMA), scoping reviews (ScRs), and rapid reviews (RRs).

Introduction: The PRISMA extensions for NMA and ScRs were published in 2015 and 2018. However, since then, their methodologies and innovations, including automation, have evolved.

Proposed resources required for a comprehensive program for CCT CHD imaging.

Background: Cardiac Computed Tomography (CCT) is increasingly used for evaluation of congenital heart disease (CHD) in patients of all ages. Pediatric and adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) surgical programs require high quality CCT imaging as part of the multimodality imaging support expected of comprehensive care centers. Despite these expectations, there are no benchmarks or defined programmatic elements specific to the performance of CCT in patients with CHD.

Long-Term Survival Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery.

Background: Management guidelines for stable three-vessel coronary artery disease have become a subject of debate. We aim to provide a benchmark for the survival of patients with normal ejection fraction, stable three-vessel disease, and elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Methods: Data from consecutive patients with normal ejection fraction undergoing elective primary isolated CABG for triple-vessel disease in a diverse 11-center surgical network between 2008 and 2020 were analyzed.

Prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, reduced hippocampal subfield volumes, and word reading.

Reading difficulties and exposure to air pollution are both disproportionately high among youth living in economically disadvantaged contexts. Critically, variance in reading skills in youth living in higher socioeconomic status (SES) contexts largely derives from genetic factors, whereas environmental factors explain more of the variance in reading skills among youth living in lower SES contexts. Although reading research has focused closely on the psychosocial environment, little focus has been paid to the effects of the chemical environment.

Presentation, management and outcomes of ruptured intracranial aneurysms in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Approximately two percent of the world's population are affected by intracranial aneurysms (IAs). This study aimed to evaluate literature regarding presentation, treatment and outcomes of ruptured IAs in Africa.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature using PubMed/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Proceedings of the 2024 Santa Fe Bone Symposium: Update on the Management of Osteoporosis and Rare Bone Diseases.

The 24 Annual Santa Fe Bone Symposium (SFBS) was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, on August 2-3, 2024. This was a "hybrid" meeting, with in-person and real-time remote participants representing a broad range of geographical locations and medical disciplines. The focus was on new developments in the care of patients with osteoporosis, other metabolic bone diseases, and inherited skeletal disorders.

Immunotherapy-Resistant Neuropathic Pain and Fatigue Predict Quality-of-Life in Contactin-Associated Protein-Like 2 Antibody Disease.

The long-term clinical outcomes and associated prognostic factors in contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2)-antibody diseases are unknown. A total of 75 participants with CASPR2 antibodies were longitudinally assessed for disability, quality-of-life, and chronic pain. Although most symptoms improved within 6 months of treatment, neuropathic pain and fatigue were the most immunotherapy refractory, and persisted for up to 6 years.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Mapping of the Human Epicardium.

Epicardial catheter ablation is necessary to address ventricular tachycardia targets located far from the endocardium, but epicardial adipose tissue and coronary blood vessels can complicate ablation. We demonstrate that catheter-based near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can identify these obstacles to guide ablation. Eighteen human ventricles were mapped ex vivo using NIRS catheters with optical source-detector separations (SDSs) of 0.

Management of Vascular Complications from Button Battery Ingestions.

Purpose: To propose a gastrointestinal bleeding management algorithm that incorporates an endoscopic and imaging scoring system and specifies management of vascular complication from button battery ingestion.

Recent Findings: Button batteries (BB) are found in many electronic devices and ingestions are associated with serious complications especially in cases of unwitnessed ingestions, prolonged impaction, and in children less than 5 years of age. Gastrointestinal bleeding from BB related vascular injury is rare but often rapidly fatal, with a mortality rate as high as 81%.

Inflammatory biomarkers profiles and cognition among older adults.

Inflammation plays a major role in cognitive aging. Most studies on peripheral inflammation and cognitive aging focused on selected major inflammatory biomarkers. However, inflammatory markers are regulated and influenced by each other, and it is therefore important to consider a more comprehensive panel of markers to better capture diverse immune pathways and characterize the overall inflammatory profile of individuals.

Optimizing mRNA translation efficiency through rational 5'UTR and 3'UTR combinatorial design.

Advances in molecular medicine and biotechnology have demonstrated messenger RNA (mRNA)-based therapies to be a promising therapeutic modality for infectious diseases, genetic disorders, and cancers. However, key challenges persist, including low translation efficiency and short half-life of exogenous mRNA. The untranslated regions (UTRs) influence important parameters like mRNA stability and translation efficiency.

Hospital Boarding Creates Critical Shortcomings in Disaster Preparedness.

Hospital patient boarding in emergency departments has reached unprecedented crisis levels over the past 4 years. Boarding and crowding has been demonstrated by prior literature to have adverse effects on patient care as well as increased associated costs. Importantly, the increase in hospital patient boarding has created critical shortcomings in disaster preparedness by limiting the capacity of emergency departments to respond to mass casualty incidents due to space and staffing constraints.

The role of the hippocampus in working memory and word reading: Novel neural correlates of reading among youth living in the context of economic disadvantage.

A left-lateralized cortical reading circuit underlies successful reading and fails to engage in individuals with reading problems. Studies identifying this circuit included youth from economically advantaged backgrounds and focused on cortical, not subcortical, structures. However, among youth with low scores on reading tests who are living in the context of economic disadvantage, this brain network is actively engaged during reading, despite persistent reading problems.

Synovial sarcoma: A radiologic case report.

Synovial sarcoma is a common but aggressive subset of sarcomatous tumors that often arises adjacent to the large joints of extremities. We present a case of a 33-year-old male with no medical history and an initial complaint of right leg pain. On further radiological and pathological investigation, he was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in the medial soft tissues of his thigh.

Choroid plexus-targeted viral gene therapy for alpha-mannosidosis, a prototypical neurometabolic lysosomal storage disease.

The choroid plexuses (CP) are highly vascularized structures that project into the ventricles of the vertebrate brain. The polarized epithelia of the CP produce cerebrospinal fluid by transporting water and ions into the ventricles from the blood and normally secrete a large number of proteins. We assessed the feasibility of selective CP transduction with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy vectors for treatment of lysosomal storage disease (LSD), a broad category of neurometabolic illness associated with significant burdens to affected patients and their families.

Intranasally administrated fusion-inhibitory lipopeptides block SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and enable long-term protective immunity.

We have assessed antiviral activity and induction of protective immunity of fusion-inhibitory lipopeptides derived from the C-terminal heptad-repeat domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein in transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 (K18-hACE2). The lipopeptides block SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell lines and lung-derived organotypic cultures. Intranasal administration in mice allows the maintenance of homeostatic transcriptomic immune profile in lungs, prevents body-weight loss, decreases viral load and shedding, and protects mice from death caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Scleroderma Skin Questionnaire: A Novel Patient Reported Outcome for Skin Disease in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis.

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Scleroderma Skin Questionnaire (SSQ), a novel patient-reported outcome (PRO) to assess systemic sclerosis (SSc) related skin symptoms.

Methods: The SSQ was administered to 799 adults (mean age 52.7; 82% female) enrolled in the SSc Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry (CONQUER).

A Novel Preoperative Scoring System to Accurately Predict Cord-Level Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Data Loss During Spinal Deformity Surgery: A Machine-Learning Approach.

Background: An accurate knowledge of a patient's risk of cord-level intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) data loss is important for an informed decision-making process prior to deformity correction, but no prediction tool currently exists.

Methods: A total of 1,106 patients with spinal deformity and 205 perioperative variables were included. A stepwise machine-learning (ML) approach using random forest (RF) analysis and multivariable logistic regression was performed.

The Golgi complex governs natural killer cell lytic granule positioning to promote directionality in cytotoxicity.

Cytotoxic immune cells mediate precise attacks against diseased cells to maintain organismal health. Their operational unit of killing and host defense is lytic granules (LGs), which are specialized lysosomal-related organelles. Precision in cytotoxicity is achieved by converging the many LGs to the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) and polarizing these to the diseased cell for secretion.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease associated optic neuropathy in an adolescent.

Purpose: We present a case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease (KFD) associated with bilateral optic neuropathy progressing to vision loss.

Observations: A 17-year-old male was referred for bilateral optic nerve pallor. Eight years prior, he was diagnosed with KFD after workup for lymphadenopathy and treated with prednisolone acutely followed by long-term Plaquenil.