Factors influencing communication issues during hospital discharge for older adults in 11 high-income countries: a secondary analysis of the 2021 International Health Policy Survey.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hospital discharge communication problems with older adults, compare them across countries and determine factors associated with those problems.

Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data.

Setting: 2021 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy (IHP) Survey of Older Adults conducted across 11 high-income countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Emotional Stress in Cardiac and Vascular Diseases.

Introduction/objective: Emotional, mental, or psychological distress, defined as increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or stress, is common in patients with chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD).

Methods: Literature was reviewed regarding data from studies and meta-analyses examining the impact of emotional stress on the occurrence and outcome of several CVDs (coronary disease, heart failure, hypertension, arrhythmias, stroke). These influences' pathophysiology and clinical spectrum are detailed, tabulated, and pictorially illustrated.

Atrial Fibrillation-Related Bradycardia and/or Bradycardia-Related Atrial Fibrillation: When and How to Intervene.

Introduction/objective: Atrial fibrillation (AF) could present with slow ventricular-response; bradycardia could facilitate the emergence of AF. The conviction that one "does not succumb" from bradycardia as an escape rhythm will emerge unless one sustains a fatal injury following syncope is in stark difference with ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VA), which may promptly cause cardiac arrest. However, this is not always the case, as a life-threatening situation may emerge during the bradycardic episode, i.

Detection rate for ESR1 mutations is higher in circulating-tumor-cell-derived genomic DNA than in paired plasma cell-free DNA samples as revealed by ddPCR.

Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis to track estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) mutations is highly beneficial for the identification of tumor molecular dynamics and the improvement of personalized treatments for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Plasma-cfDNA is, up to now, the most frequent liquid biopsy analyte used to evaluate ESR1 mutational status. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration and molecular characterization analysis provides important clinical information in patients with MBC.

Impact of number of passes and futile reperfusion in basilar artery occlusion acute ischaemic stroke.

Introduction: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is the standard of care in anterior circulation large vessel occlusion. A vital modifiable factor is successful reperfusion. While multiple passes improve the rates of successful reperfusion, previous studies have reported progressively diminishing returns.

Efficacy of small-diameter core decompression with platelet-rich plasma in early osteonecrosis of the femoral head: a retrospective study.

Background: Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a challenging condition, primarily affecting young and middle-aged individuals, which results in hip dysfunction and, ultimately, femoral head collapse. However, the comparative effectiveness of joint-preserving procedures, particularly in the early stages of ONFH (ARCO stage I or II), remains inconclusive. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a novel technique called small-diameter core decompression (CD) combined with platelet-rich plasma (PRP), for the treatment of early-stage ONFH.

Unraveling the hormonal approaches for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and its complementary interventions.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune, chronic, systemic inflammatory disease that causes redness, swelling, stiffness, and joint pain. It is a long-lasting disease that can have a widespread impact on the body, often affecting the hands, feet, and wrists. The immune cells, such as dendritic cells, T cells, B cells, macrophages, and neutrophils, play a significant role in bone degradation and inflammation.

Ultra-Processed Foods and Childhood Obesity: Current evidence and perspectives.

Purpose Of The Review: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) represent foods that have undergone substantial industrial processing, such as the addition of preservatives and various other ingredients, thereby making them more tasty, appealing and easy to consume. UPFs are often rich in sugars, saturated fats and salt, while they are low in essential nutrients.The aim of this review is to examine the relationship between the widespread consumption of UPFs and the development of obesity among children and adolescents.

Building a growing genomic repository for maternal and fetal health through the PING Consortium.

Background: Prenatally transmitted viruses can cause severe damage to the developing brain. There is unexplained variability in prenatal brain injury and postnatal neurodevelopmental outcomes, suggesting disease modifiers. Of note, prenatal Zika infection can cause a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, including congenital Zika syndrome.

Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA).

This is the first in a series of five papers that detail the role and substantial impact that external quality assessment (EQA) and their providers' services play in ensuring diagnostic (IVD) performance quality. The aim is to give readers and users of EQA services an insight into the processes in EQA, explain to them what happens before EQA samples are delivered and after examination results are submitted to the provider, how they are assessed, what benefits participants can expect, but also who are stakeholders other than participants and what significance do EQA data and assessment results have for them. This first paper presents the history of EQA, insights into legal, financing and ethical matters, information technology used in EQA, structure and lifecycle of EQA programs, frequency and intensity of challenges, and unique requirements of extra-examination and educational EQA programs.

Disentangling Sources of Momentum Fluctuations in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb Collisions with the ATLAS Detector.

High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.

The effects of dietary protein on physical performance and body composition in middle age and older people having type II diabetes mellitus: a randomized pilot study.

Purpose: Protein supplementation has been proposed as an effective dietary strategy for maintaining or increasing skeletal muscle mass and improving physical performance in middle-aged and older adults. Diabetes mellitus exacerbates muscle mass loss, leading to many older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) experiencing sarcopenia, and vice versa. Our objective was to assess the impact of increased dietary protein intake on muscle mass, strength, physical performance, and the progression of T2DM in middle-aged and older adults diagnosed with this condition.

The posterior petroclinoid fold and petroclival ligament ossification patterns.

Background: The skull base ligaments have been extensively studied in the literature due to their clinical and surgical significance. The posterior petroclinoid fold (PPCNF) and petroclival ligament (PCVL) are two adjacent structures that have barely been studied and are frequently confused. The present study uses an innovative classification system to investigate the PPCNF and PCVL ossification patterns.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Numerous studies have highlighted the role of oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease (AD) development. Yet, the alignment of systemic and central oxidative stress biomarkers is unclear across diverse populations in the AD continuum. This study aims to assess protein damage levels in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the AD continuum.

Similar Hepatitis B virus reactivation risk for patients with inflammatory arthritis or connective tissue diseases: a multicenter retrospective study.

Introduction: Hepatitis B reactivation and administration of prophylactic antiviral treatment are considered in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRD) undergoing immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory treatment. Data are more robust for rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving bDMARDs but are limited for other AIIRD and drug categories.

Methods: Adult patients with AIIRD (inflammatory arthritis [IA] or connective tissue diseases [CTD]) and documented chronic or resolved HBV infection (defined as serum HBsAg positivity or anti-HBcAb positivity in the case of HBsAg non-detection respectively), followed-up in six rheumatology centers in Greece and Italy, were included.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Inflammatory cells play a key role in the pathophysiology of AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. Glycans are known to mediate inflammatory cell activation and migration yet very little is understood about the expression of glycans, glycoproteins, and other glycoconjugates at the CP which serves as a gateway for peripheral immune cells into the brain. In a familial AD mouse model, we observed increased expression of Siglec-F-recognized glycans on CP epithelial cells.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: The Apolipoprotein-E (APOE) ε4 gene variant is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's Disease, but is not entirely predictive. Emerging evidence suggests environmental factors contribute to disease etiology, with epidemiological studies associating pesticide exposure with lower cognitive scores. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), a pesticide used extensively in the US until 1972, persists in trace amounts due to its long half-life, bioaccumulation, and existing dumpsites.

Clinical Manifestations.

Background: Cognitive deficits may occur in about 60% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and executive functions, working memory and new-learning are commonly impaired. Nevertheless, there is limited research regarding decisional capacity in MS. Financial and treatment-decision capacity are complex activities of daily living.

Clinical Manifestations.

Background: Cognitive complaints (CC) refer to a reported experience of cognitive decline and are recognized as a potential precursor to future functional decline and progression to dementia. Identifying individuals with CC may be a valuable opportunity for preventive measures, early detection, and intervention strategies to address dementia risk. However, the characteristics of CC and its associated risk of progression to dementia are highly heterogeneous, influenced significantly by CC identification methods, recruitment approaches, and attrition in longitudinal cohort studies.

Effects of Sympathetic Denervation in Metabolism Regulation: A Novel Approach for the Treatment of MASLD?

Although metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), previously termed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, has become the most common chronic liver disorder, its complex pathophysiology has not been fully elucidated up to date. A correlation between elevated sympathetic activation and MASLD has been highlighted in recent preclinical and clinical studies. Furthermore, increased sympathetic activity has been associated with the main mechanisms involved in MASLD, such as lipid accumulation in the liver, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysregulation, while it has been also correlated with the progression of MASLD, leading to liver fibrosis.

Unsupervised machine learning analysis to identify patterns of ICU medication use for fluid overload prediction.

Background: Fluid overload (FO) in the intensive care unit (ICU) is common, serious, and may be preventable. Intravenous medications (including administered volume) are a primary cause for FO but are challenging to evaluate as a FO predictor given the high frequency and time-dependency of their use and other factors affecting FO. We sought to employ unsupervised machine learning methods to uncover medication administration patterns correlating with FO.

Viruses and psychiatric disorders: We have not crossed the borderline from hypothesis to proof yet (Review).

Most psychiatric disorders are heterogeneous and are attributed to the synergistic action of a multitude of factors. It is generally accepted that psychiatric disorders are the outcome of interactions between genetic predisposition and environmental perturbations, which involve psychosocial stress, or alterations in the physiological state of the organism. A number of hypotheses have been presented on such environmental influences that may include direct insults such as injury, malnutrition and hostile living conditions, or indirect sequelae following infection from viruses such as influenza, arboviruses, enteroviruses and several herpesviruses, or the differential expression of human endogenous retroviruses.

Speechreading ability is related to phonological awareness and reading comprehension in adults with hearing impairment in China.

We investigated whether phonological awareness mediated the relationship between speechreading and reading comprehension in Chinese adults with hearing impairment (HI) and normal hearing (NH). Speechreading, phonological awareness, and reading comprehension tests were administered to 154 young adults with HI and 97 young adults with NH in China. Results revealed significant correlations between speechreading, phonological awareness, and reading comprehension in adults with HI, but not those with NH.

Revisiting the Defeatist Performance Belief Scale in Adults With Schizophrenia and Youth at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis: A Comprehensive Psychometric Analysis.

Background And Hypothesis: In accordance with the Cognitive Model of Negative Symptoms, defeatist performance beliefs (DPBs) are an important psychosocial mechanism of negative symptoms in schizophrenia-spectrum groups. DPBs are also mediators of negative symptom improvement in clinical trials. Despite the clinical significance of DPBs and their inclusion as a mechanism of change measure in clinical trials, the psychometric properties of the DPB scale have not been examined in any schizophrenia-spectrum group.