Novel anatomical variations of the internal thoracic artery: implications for coronary artery bypass grafting surgery and autologous breast reconstruction.

The unique structure and location of the internal thoracic artery make it an ideal conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting surgery and autologous breast reconstruction. Variants with different characteristics have the potential to impact surgical success. This report presents a female body donor with a novel bilateral variation of the internal thoracic artery.

An Enigmatic Wild Passerine Mortality Event in the Eastern United States.

The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations.

The Rise of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Glia Models of Neuroinflammation.

Neuroinflammation is a blanket term that describes the body's complex inflammatory response in the central nervous system (CNS). It encompasses a phenotype shift to a proinflammatory state, the release of cytokines, the recruitment of peripheral immune cells, and a wide variety of other processes. Neuroinflammation has been implicated in nearly every major CNS disease ranging from Alzheimer's disease to brain cancer.

Serious Bacterial Infections and Hepatitis C Virus Among People Who Inject Drugs: A Syndemic or Intertwined Epidemics?

Limited research has examined the possible synergistic interrelationships between serious bacterial infections (SBIs) of the heart (i.e., endocarditis), bone, spine, brain, or joints (e.

Daily oscillation of the excitation/inhibition ratio is disrupted in two mouse models of autism.

Alterations to the excitation/inhibition (E/I) ratio are postulated to underlie behavioral phenotypes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients and mouse models. However, in wild type mice the E/I ratio is not constant, but instead oscillates across the 24-h day. Therefore, we tested whether E/I regulation, rather than the overall E/I ratio, is disrupted in two ASD-related mouse lines: KO and BTBR, models of syndromic and idiopathic ASD, respectively.

Alkaline urine is associated with increased risk of calcium phosphate nephrolithiasis in medically complex children receiving enteral nutrition.

Introduction: Calcium phosphate stones are commonly found in medically complex children (MCC) receiving enteral feeds. The objective of this study is to investigate the etiology for calcium phosphate stones in this patient population.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study of gastrostomy fed, MCC who presented to a high-volume Pediatric Stone Center from 2015 to 2019.

Fluorescence Analysis of Quinine in Commercial Tonic Waters.

Quinine is known for treating malaria, muscle cramps, and, more recently, has been used as an additive in tonic water due to its bitter taste. However, it was shown that excessive consumption of quinine can have severe side effects on health. In this work, we utilized fluorescence spectroscopy to measure the concentration of quinine in commercial tonic water samples.

A method for facile production of variable lymphocyte receptors using SHuffle Escherichia coli.

Variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs) are the antigen receptors of jawless vertebrates such as lamprey. VLRs are of growing biotechnological interest for their ability to bind certain antigenic targets with higher affinity than traditional immunoglobulins. However, VLRs are disulfide-bonded proteins that are often challenging to produce requiring genetic modifications, fusion partners, non-scalable host cell lines or inclusion body formation and refolding.

Interest in Injectable and Oral PrEP for HIV Prevention Among Women and Men Who Inject Drugs.

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Women who inject are a particularly vulnerable group. Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is effective, but access and uptake has been limited.

High-grade liver injury: outcomes with a trauma surgery-liver surgery collaborative approach.

Background: Operative mortality for high-grade liver injury (HGLI) remains 42% to 66%, with near-universal mortality after retrohepatic caval injury. The objective of this study was to evaluate mortality and complications of operative and nonoperative management (OM and NOM) of HGLI at our institution, characterized by a trauma surgery-liver surgery collaborative approach to trauma care.

Methods: This was an observational cohort study of adult patients (age ≥16) with HGLI (The American Association for Surgery of Trauma (AAST) grades IV and V) admitted to an urban level I trauma center from January 2010 to November 2021.

Impact of mask wearing time on fluid consumption and physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To examine the associations between mask-wearing on fluid consumption and physical activity behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: 137 college students (female, 72.5%; age, 26 ± 9 y) completed a survey detailing their fluid intake, physical activity behaviors, and time spent wearing a mask throughout the day during the previous month in the Fall 2020 academic semester.

Corrigendum: Combining Charlson comorbidity and VACS indices improves prognostic accuracy for all-cause mortality for patients with and without HIV in the Veterans Health Administration.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.

Chronic calcified subdural hematoma masquerading as hemorrhagic extra-axial mass: A case report and brief review of the literature.

Calcified chronic subdural hematoma (CCSDH) is a rare condition characterized by the accumulation of calcified blood between the dura mater and arachnoid membrane, typically following remote trauma. These lesions often present as space-occupying, extra-axial masses over the cerebral convexity and can mimic extra-axial tumors, such as calcified meningiomas. A 73-year-old male with a history of prostate cancer, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia presented with vision changes and mild papilledema.

Impact of Total Body Surface Area Burn Injuries on Clinical Outcomes and Comorbidities in Elderly Patients Aged Over 65.

Introduction: Burn injuries are associated with high mortality and morbidity, especially in the elderly population. Although burns are preventable, they account for the fourth most common cause of trauma worldwide. The majority of the mortality associated with burn victims is also seen in the elderly age group.

The 2022 ADEA Climate Study in U.S. and Canadian Dental Schools and Allied Dental Programs: Methodological Considerations.

Objectives: From January 2020 to the end of August 2020, preliminary research gathered data about the need for and the feasibility of an ADEA-led joint Climate Study of dental schools and allied dental programs in the United States and Canada. Informed by these findings, the first ever ADEA-led joint Climate Study took place in 2022. The objectives of this manuscript were to describe the timeline of this climate study and provide information about its methodology, specifically about (a) who participated in this research, (b) what was assessed, (c) how the study was conducted, and (d) how the results were communicated.

Canopy complexity drives positive effects of tree diversity on productivity in two tree diversity experiments.

Forest canopy complexity (i.e., the three-dimensional structure of the canopy) is often associated with increased species diversity as well as high primary productivity across natural forests.

Blockade of AR improved brain perfusion and cognitive function in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older, particularly women. Along with AD's main hallmarks (formation of β-amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles), there are vascular alterations that occurs in AD pathology.

Regulation of erm(T) MLS phenotype expression in the emergent emm92 type group A Streptococcus.

In the last decade, invasive group A Streptococcus (iGAS) infections have doubled in the US, with equivalent increases in MLS (macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B)-resistance. The emm92-type isolates carrying the erm(T) gene have been associated with an alarming emergence of iGAS infections in people who inject drugs or experience homelessness. Our goal was to elucidate the mechanisms behind inducible (iMLS) and constitutive (cMLS) resistance in emm92 isolates.

Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset-with data collected between 2020 and 2022 -to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions.

Sex Differences in Long COVID.

Importance: A substantial number of individuals worldwide experience long COVID, or post-COVID condition. Other postviral and autoimmune conditions have a female predominance, but whether the same is true for long COVID, especially within different subgroups, is uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate sex differences in the risk of developing long COVID among adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Pregnancy and Postpartum Effects of Electronic Cigarettes on Maternal Health and Vascular Function in the Fourth Trimester.

Pregnancy is a vulnerable time with significant cardiovascular changes that can lead to adverse outcomes, which can extend into the postpartum window. Exposure to emissions from electronic cigarettes (Ecig), commonly known as "vaping," has an adverse impact on cardiovascular function during pregnancy and post-natal life of offspring, but the postpartum effects on maternal health are poorly understood. We used a Sprague Dawley rat model, where pregnant dams are exposed to Ecigs between gestational day (GD)2-GD21 to examine postpartum consequences.

Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis: Current and Emerging Therapies.

Purpose Of Review: In this article, we describe current and newer TTR stabilizers, TTR silencers which include small interfering RNA agents (siRNA), antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and TTR depleters, which investigates the use of monoclonal antibodies to remove amyloid fibril deposits for patients with advanced disease.

Recent Findings: Once thought to be a rare and fatal condition, increased recognition, improved non-invasive diagnostic tools, and the explosive development of novel therapies, has transformed the landscape of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). Advances in cardiac imaging with respect to echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and radionuclide bone scintigraphy has increased the diagnosis of ATTR-CM over the last twenty years.

In Utero Nano-Titanium Dioxide Exposure Results in Sexually Dimorphic Weight Gain and Cardiovascular Function in Offspring.

Engineered nanomaterials (ENM) are capable of crossing the placental barrier and accumulating in fetal tissue. Specifically, the ENM nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO), has been shown to accumulate in placental and fetal tissue, resulting in decreased birthweight in pups. Additionally, nano-TiO is an established cardiac toxicant and regulator of glucose homeostasis, and exposure in utero may lead to serious maladaptive responses in cardiac development and overall metabolism.

Profiles of negative and positive risk-taking behavior among Asian and non-Asian American emerging adults.

Risk-taking includes both negative and positive risky behaviors, but little is known about how negative and positive risk-taking occur simultaneously. This study examined negative and positive risk-taking profiles of Asian American and Non-Asian American emerging adults (N = 401; M = 20.68; 68.