The Canadian Experience With Magnetic Esophageal Anastomosis: A Report From the Canadian Consortium for Research in Pediatric Surgery Study (CanCORPS).

Objective: Magnetic anastomosis is an innovative technique for establishing esophageal continuity in infants born with esophageal atresia. Few case series featuring this technology have been published, with even fewer reports on complications. We present the entire Canadian experience with this approach.

Switching to faricimab from the current anti-VEGF therapy: evidence-based expert recommendations.

Dual inhibition of the angiopoietin (Ang)/Tie and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signalling pathways in patients with retinal diseases, such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and diabetic macular oedema (DME), may induce greater vascular stability and contribute to increased treatment efficacy and durability compared with treatments that only target the VEGF pathway. Faricimab, a bispecific intravitreal agent that inhibits both VEGF and Ang-2, is the first injectable ophthalmic drug to achieve treatment intervals of up to 16 weeks in Phase 3 studies for nAMD and DME while exhibiting improvements in visual acuity and retinal thickness. Data from real-world studies have supported the safety, visual and anatomic benefits and durability of faricimab, even in patients who were previously treated with other intravitreal agents.

Acceptability of digital health intervention during pregnancy to inform women about postpartum contraception (DIGICAP): a pilot randomised controlled study.

Background: Pregnancy within a year of childbirth has negative impacts on women and their children's health. We developed a digital health intervention (DHI) to empower women in contraceptive choices postpartum. Our pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to establish the feasibility of a main RCT of the effects of the DHI compared with standard care on long-acting contraception use.

ECLS-SHOCK and DanGer Shock: Implications for optimal temporary mechanical circulatory support use for cardiogenic shock due to acute myocardial infarction.

Despite concerted efforts to rapidly identify patients with cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI-CS) and provide timely revascularization, early mortality remains stubbornly high. While artificially augmenting systemic flow through the use of temporary mechanical circulatory support (tMCS) devices would be expected to reduce the rate of progression to multi-organ dysfunction and thereby enhance survival, reliable evidence for benefit has remained elusive with lingering questions regarding the appropriate selection of both patients and devices, as well as the timing of device implantation relative to other critical interventions. Further complicating matters are the resource-intensive multidisciplinary systems of care that must be brought to bear in this complex patient population.

Endocrinologists' Acceptability and Implementation of Hemoglobin A1c Targets among Adults with Type 1 Diabetes.

Aims: Attainment of the A1C target of ≤7.0% is consistently low among those living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We evaluated endocrinologists' acceptability and implementation of A1C targets.

Differences in sensorimotor integration, cervical sensorimotor control, and cognitive-motor dual tasking costs in chronic non-specific neck pain patients with high vs. low catastrophizing tendencies compared to healthy controls.

Chronic non-specific neck pain (CNSNP) is a common condition and its relationship to the pain catastrophizing construct in terms of sensorimotor functions and dual task performance is not fully understood. We aimed to investigate the differences in sensorimotor integration, cervical sensorimotor control, and cognitive-motor dual tasking abilities between CNSNP patients (> 3 months) with high versus low catastrophizing tendencies and healthy controls. Ninety participants were recruited, 30 asymptomatic controls, and 60 patients with CNSNP; 30 scoring high (> 75th percentile) and 30 scoring low (< 25th percentile) on the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS).

Selective activation of FZD2 and FZD7 reveals non-redundant function during mesoderm differentiation.

During gastrulation, Wnt-β-catenin signaling dictates lineage bifurcation generating different mesoderm cell types. However, the specific role of Wnt receptors in mesoderm specification remains elusive. Using selective Frizzled (FZD) and LRP5/6 antibody-based agonists, we examined FZD receptors' function during directed mesoderm differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

mTor limits autophagy to facilitate cell volume expansion and rapid wound repair in Drosophila embryos.

Embryonic wounds repair rapidly, with no inflammation or scarring. Embryonic wound healing is driven by collective cell movements facilitated by the increase in the volume of the cells adjacent to the wound. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTor) complex 1 (TORC1) is associated with cell growth.

Synthesis and functional screening of novel inhibitors targeting the HDAC6 zinc finger ubiquitin-binding domain.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a promising target for treating neurodegenerative disorders, several cancer types and viral infections. Unique among HDACs, the HDAC6 isoform possesses a zinc finger ubiquitin-binding domain (UBD) crucial for managing misfolded protein aggregates and facilitating viral infection. HDAC6 binds aggregated polyubiquitinated proteins through its UBD, mediating their transport to the aggresome and subsequent removal via autophagy.

Detection of epileptogenic zones in people with epilepsy using optimized EEG-fMRI.

Purpose: Concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been used to assist in the presurgical localization of seizure foci in people with epilepsy. Our study aimed to examine the clinical feasibility of an optimized concurrent EEG-fMRI protocol.

Methods: The optimized protocol employed a fast-fMRI sequence (sampling rate = 10 Hz) with a spare arrangement, which allowed a time window of 1.

Development and Evaluation of a Food Choices Assessment Score (FCAS) Measuring the Healthfulness of Dietary Choices According to 2019 Canada's Food Guide/Canada's Dietary Guidelines, using the Canadian Health Measures Survey Food Frequency Questionnaire.

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a Food Choices Assessment Score (FCAS) measuring alignment with 2019 Canada's Food Guide (CFG) and Canada's Dietary Guidelines (CDG) using a non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data. Cross-sectional data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) (2016 to 2019), including 6,459 participants (≥19 years) and a non-quantitative FFQ (~100 food items) were used. Content and construct validity and assessing reliability were used to evaluate the FCAS, including a comparison of mean FCAS among Canadian subgroups, calculating the FCAS for high quality diet menus, investigating the consistency of the FCAS with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), as a healthy diet linked with lower cardiometabolic risks, and estimating Cronbach's alpha for reliability.

Psilocybin-assisted massed cognitive processing therapy for chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: Protocol for an open-label pilot feasibility trial.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 3.9% of the general population. While massed cognitive processing therapy (CPT) has demonstrated efficacy in treating chronic PTSD, a substantial proportion of patients still continue to meet PTSD criteria after treatment, highlighting the need for novel therapeutic approaches.

Home intravenous diuretic administration for heart failure management: A scoping review.

Background: Heart failure (HF) significantly impacts healthcare systems due to high rates of hospital bed utilization and readmission rates. Chronic HF often leads to frequent hospitalizations due to recurrent exacerbations and a decline in patient health status. Intravenous (IV) diuretic administration is essential for treating worsening HF.

Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.

Survival analysis is critical in many fields, particularly in healthcare where it can guide medical decisions. Conventional survival analysis methods like Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models to generate survival curves indicating probability of survival v. time have limitations, especially for long-term prediction, due to assumptions that all instances follow a general population-level survival curve.

Assessing the capture of sociodemographic information in electronic medical records to inform clinical decision making.

There is a growing need to document sociodemographic factors in electronic medical records to produce representative cohorts for medical research and to perform focused research for potentially vulnerable populations. The objective of this work was to assess the content of family physicians' electronic medical records and characterize the quality of the documentation of sociodemographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were reported for each sociodemographic characteristic.

Amniotic fluid stem cell extracellular vesicles as a novel fetal therapy for pulmonary hypoplasia: a review on mechanisms and translational potential.

Disruption of developmental processes affecting the fetal lung leads to pulmonary hypoplasia. Pulmonary hypoplasia results from several conditions including congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and oligohydramnios. Both entities have high morbidity and mortality, and no effective therapy that fully restores normal lung development.

Protocol for cell image-based spatiotemporal proteomics in budding yeast.

The eukaryotic cell division cycle is a highly conserved process, featuring fluctuations in protein localization and abundance required for key cell cycle transitions. Here, we present a protocol for the spatiotemporal analysis of the proteome during the budding yeast cell division cycle using live-cell imaging. We describe steps for strain construction, cell cultivation, microscopy, and image analysis.

Single cell approaches define neural stem cell niches and identify microglial ligands that can enhance precursor-mediated oligodendrogenesis.

Here, we used single cell RNA sequencing and single cell spatial transcriptomics to characterize the forebrain neural stem cell (NSC) niche under homeostatic and injury conditions. We defined the dorsal and lateral ventricular-subventricular zones (V-SVZs) as two distinct neighborhoods and showed that, after white matter injury, NSCs are activated to make oligodendrocytes dorsally for remyelination. This activation is coincident with an increase in transcriptionally distinct microglia in the dorsal V-SVZ niche.

Effectiveness of behavioural and psychological interventions for managing obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis framed using minimal important difference estimates based on GRADE guidance to inform a clinical practice guideline.

Objective: Conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of behavioural and psychological interventions for managing paediatric obesity.

Methods: Eligible studies, published between 1985 and 2022, included 0 to 18 year olds with outcomes reported ≥3 months post-baseline, including patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), cardiometabolic and anthropometric outcomes, and adverse events (AEs). We pooled data using a random effects model and assessed certainty of evidence (CoE) related to minimally important difference estimates for outcomes using GRADE.

Maralixibat Reduces Serum Bile Acids and Improves Cholestatic Pruritus in Adolescents With Alagille Syndrome.

Background: Alagille syndrome (ALGS) is a multisystem cholestatic disorder. Maralixibat is approved for the treatment of cholestatic pruritus in ALGS with limited data in adults.

Methods: Participants were included if they received ≥ 2 doses of maralixibat at age ≥ 16 years in one of the three previously published maralixibat ALGS clinical trials.

Reduction of elevated Gli3 does not alter the progression of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.

Polycystic kidney diseases (PKD) are genetic disorders which disrupt kidney architecture and function. Autosomal recessive PKD (ARPKD) is a rare form of PKD, caused by mutations in PKHD1, and clinically more severe than the more common autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD). Prior studies have implicated Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in ADPKD, with increased levels of Hh components in experimental ADPKD and reduced cystogenesis following pharmacological Hh inhibition.

Development of Functional and Hydrolytically Stable Vinyl Monomers as Methacrylate Dental Resin Restorative Alternatives.

Dental resin-based restorative (RBR) materials represent the most ubiquitous biomaterials utilized globally. Methacrylate (MA)-ester based monomers - present in RBRs since the 1960s - experience significantly elevated rates of failure compared to previously used silver/amalgam fillings attributed to their hydrolysis reported in both simulated and in vivo environments. There is currently no alternative RBR chemistry that matches the functional and clinical workflow considerations of MA-RBRs while addressing their limited-service lives.