Cathepsin-D and outcomes in peripartum cardiomyopathy: Results from IPAC.

Objective: Evaluate the relationship of cathepsin-D (CD) on disease severity and clinical outcomes for women with peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Background: Cathepsin-D is a protease released during oxidative stress that cleaves prolactin (PRL) generating a 16 kDa fragment that is pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM).

Methods: In 99 women with newly diagnosed PPCM enrolled in the Investigation in Pregnancy Associated Cardiomyopathy (IPAC) study, CD levels were assessed by ELISA from serum obtained at study entry.

The Impact of Contemporary Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists on the Onset, Severity, and Conversion to Arthroplasty in Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: The growing popularity of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1-RAs) for weight loss could significantly impact joint preservation and arthroplasty. While this will in part be driven by the association between obesity, osteoarthritis (OA), and total joint arthroplasty (TJA), recent evidence also indicates that GLP-1-RAs may have direct joint-protective, anti-inflammatory effects.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between GLP-1-RA use and the onset and progression of hip and knee OA in an obese population.

Family physicians' perspectives on outcomes, processes, and policies in dementia care.

The rapid rise in numbers of people living with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) poses major challenges to health systems and policy. Although primary care clinicians provide ongoing medical care for 80% of affected individuals, they face persistent barriers to providing high-quality dementia care. We conducted qualitative interviews with family physicians ( = 20) to understand what core outcomes they consider most important and what care processes and systems and policy strategies they propose to achieve them.

Study Design and Baseline Characteristics of ALIGN, a Randomized Controlled Study of Atrasentan in Patients With IgA Nephropathy.

Introduction: Endothelin A (ETA) receptor activation is a driver of proteinuria, kidney inflammation, and fibrosis in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Atrasentan, a selective ETA receptor antagonist, has potential to reduce proteinuria and preserve kidney function in IgAN. ALIGN (NCT04573478) is a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of atrasentan in patients with IgAN at high risk of kidney function loss.

Specific Enrichment of Carrying Microorganisms with Nitrogen Fixation and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction Function Enhances Arsenic Methylation in Plant Rhizosphere Soil.

Plants can recruit microorganisms to enhance soil arsenic (As) removal and nitrogen (N) turnover, but how microbial As methylation in the rhizosphere is affected by N biotransformation is not well understood. Here, we used acetylene reduction assay, gene amplicon, and metagenome sequencing to evaluate the influence of N biotransformation on As methylation in the rhizosphere of , a potential As hyperaccumulator. was grown in mining soils (MS) and artificial As-contaminated soils (AS) over two generations in a controlled pot experiment.

Value-Based Pricing for Drugs With Uncertain Clinical Benefits.

Policymakers can use cost-effectiveness analysis to set value-based prices (VBP) for new pharmaceuticals. However, the uncertainty of investigational drug benefits complicates this pricing strategy. Such complexity stems from decision-makers' risk aversion and the potential change in the estimated value with emerging evidence.

Evaluating historical changes in a mussel bed community in northern California.

Marine foundation species are increasingly impacted by anthropogenic stressors, driving a loss of diversity within these critical habitats. Prior studies suggest that species diversity within mussel beds has declined precipitously in southern California, USA, but it is unclear whether a similar loss has occurred farther north. Here, we resurvey a mussel bed community in northern California first sampled in 1941 to evaluate changes in diversity after 78 years.

Soil erosion susceptibility maps and raster dataset for the hydrological basins of North Africa.

Soil erosion in North Africa modulates agricultural and urban developments as well as the impacts of flash floods. Existing investigations and associated datasets are mainly performed in localized urban areas, often representing a limited part of a watershed. The above compromises the implementation of mitigation measures for this vast area under accentuating extremes and continuous hydroclimatic fluctuations.

Multi-omics architecture of childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction uncovers biological pathways and prenatal determinants.

Childhood obesity poses a significant public health challenge, yet the molecular intricacies underlying its pathobiology remain elusive. Leveraging extensive multi-omics profiling (methylome, miRNome, transcriptome, proteins and metabolites) and a rich phenotypic characterization across two parts of Europe within the population-based Human Early Life Exposome project, we unravel the molecular landscape of childhood obesity and associated metabolic dysfunction. Our integrative analysis uncovers three clusters of children defined by specific multi-omics profiles, one of which characterized not only by higher adiposity but also by a high degree of metabolic complications.

Out-Of-Network Utilization and Plan Selection Among Medicare Advantage Cost Plan Enrollees.

Objective: To understand how Medicare Advantage (MA) networks impact utilization patterns and plan choices, using the 2019 discontinuation of MA 1876 Cost plans as a natural experiment.

Study Setting And Design: We study 1876 Cost plans, MA plans for which out-of-network care is covered through traditional Medicare (TM) and many of which CMS discontinued in 2019. We characterize the proportion of Cost plan enrollees who utilized out-of-network care in 2018 from different types of medical specialties.

When Leaders Don't Walk the Walk: A National Survey of Academic Nurse Leader Perceptions of Staff Burnout.

Aim: This survey explored nurse leaders' impressions of burnout on college/school of nursing (CON/SON) administrative staff and leadership-facilitated strategies used to promote resilience building/mitigate burnout.

Background: Administrative staff are foundational to the success of a university's CON/SON, yet few studies have explored the impact of burnout in this group.

Method: Cross-sectional survey distributed to associate dean and business officer attendees of the 2022 American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Business Officers of Nursing Schools meeting (summer 2022) (n = 64).

Downstaging of hepatocellular carcinoma before liver transplantation: Results from a national multi-center prospective cohort study.

Background Aims: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) meeting UNOS-downstaging (DS) criteria have excellent post-liver transplantation (LT) outcomes. Studies on HCC beyond UNOS-DS criteria ("All-comers" (AC)) have been limited by small sample size and short follow-up time, prompting this analysis.

Approach Results: 326 patients meeting UNOS-DS and 190 meeting AC criteria from 9 LT centers across 5 UNOS regions were enrolled from 2015 to 2023 and prospectively followed.

Proteins and pathways involved in inflammation are longitudinally associated with total body bone mineral density among primarily hispanic overweight/obese adolescents and young adults.

Bone mineral density (BMD), an important marker of bone health, is regulated by a complex interaction of proteins. Plasma proteomic analyses can contribute to identification of proteins associated with changes in BMD. This may be especially informative in stages of bone accrual and peak BMD achievement (i.

The Role and Implications of Epidermal Dysfunction in the Pathogenesis of Inflammaging.

Inflammaging has long been linked to the pathogenesis of various aging-associated disorders, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. Yet, the origins of inflammaging remain unclear. Although inflammatory dermatoses such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis predispose to the development of certain aging-associated disorders, suggesting a pathogenic role of cutaneous inflammation in these disorders, the great majority of aged humans do not have inflammatory dermatoses.

Donor/Acceptor Ligands Based on an -Terphenyl Motif to Achieve Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence in Zn(II) Complexes.

The photophysical properties of six new luminescent tetrahedral Zn(II) complexes are presented that survey two electronic donor moieties (phenolate and carbazolate) and three electronic acceptors (pyridine, pyrimidine, and pyrazine). A unique ligand based on an -terphenyl motif forms an eight-membered chelate, which enhances through-space charge-transfer (CT) interactions by limiting through-bond conjugation between the donor and acceptor. A single isomeric product was obtained in yields up to 90%.

Optimizing automated photo identification for population assessments.

Several legal acts mandate that management agencies regularly assess biological populations. For species with distinct markings, these assessments can be conducted noninvasively via capture-recapture and photographic identification (photo-ID), which involves processing considerable quantities of photographic data. To ease this burden, agencies increasingly rely on automated identification (ID) algorithms.

Real-World Incidence of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase alterations in Hispanics with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer at a Large Academic Institution in Los Angeles.

Race and ethnicity affect the distribution of molecular alterations seen in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) alterations are known to occur in 4-5% of the population, data specific to the Hispanic population remains limited. This study describes the real-world incidence of ALK alterations in Hispanic patients with NSCLC treated at a large academic institution in Los Angeles, California, USA to further elucidate the underlying factors that shape differences in mutational profiles.

Why wasn't mirabegron chosen for the first year of the CMS negotiation program?

Importance: The most used overactive bladder (OAB) medications are anticholinergics, which professional societies recommend avoiding in older patients given dementia risk. Cost prevents patients from switching to preferred beta-3 agonists. Mirabegron was the only beta-3 agonist eligible for the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) 2023 Drug Negotiation Program (DNP).

Clinical criteria for limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy.

Limbic predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC) is highly prevalent in late life and a common co-pathology with Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change (ADNC). LATE-NC is a slowly progressive, amnestic clinical syndrome. Alternatively, when present with ADNC, LATE-NC is associated with a more rapid course.

Protocol for a multi-domain scoping review to identify measures of decision-making ability in an ageing population.

Introduction: Deficits in decision-making (DM) can lead to adverse outcomes across multiple domains such as financial management and medical care. By hindering such DM abilities, cognitive impairment (CI) often affects quality of life. Routine screening for CI, however, does not include systematic and comprehensive assessment of DM ability.

Protocol for a multisite randomised controlled trial assessing the effect of the Telehealth for Early Developmental Intervention in babies born very preterm (TEDI-Prem) programme on neurodevelopmental outcomes and parent well-being.

Introduction: Infants born very preterm (VPT, <32 weeks' gestation) are at increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairments including motor, cognitive and behavioural delay. Parents of infants born VPT also have poorer mental health outcomes compared with parents of infants born at term.We have developed an intervention programme called TEDI-Prem (Telehealth for Early Developmental Intervention in babies born very preterm) based on previous research.

Predictive equation derived from 6,497 doubly labelled water measurements enables the detection of erroneous self-reported energy intake.

Nutritional epidemiology aims to link dietary exposures to chronic disease, but the instruments for evaluating dietary intake are inaccurate. One way to identify unreliable data and the sources of errors is to compare estimated intakes with the total energy expenditure (TEE). In this study, we used the International Atomic Energy Agency Doubly Labeled Water Database to derive a predictive equation for TEE using 6,497 measures of TEE in individuals aged 4 to 96 years.

Soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 polymorphisms associated with severe-spectrum hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Background: sFLT-1 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of HDP. We aimed to examine the role of maternal and fetal polymorphisms in risk of HDP and severe-spectrum disease.

Methods: Cases of HDP (143) and controls (169) from mother-baby dyads were recruited at the Los Angeles County Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH).