Higher Annual Operator Volume Is Associated With Better Reperfusion Rates in Stroke Patients Treated by Mechanical Thrombectomy: The ETIS Registry.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether individual operator characteristics have an impact on reperfusion and procedural complication rates.

Background: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is a Level IA treatment in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. The operator's effect has been found to be an independent predictor for clinical outcome and technical performance in interventional cardiology.

Autologous endothelial progenitor cell therapy improves right ventricular function in a model of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) failure is the main prognostic factor in pulmonary hypertension, and ventricular capillary density (CD) has been reported to be a marker of RV maladaptive remodeling and failure. Our aim was to determine whether right intracoronary endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) infusion can improve RV function and CD in a piglet model of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

Methods: We compared 3 groups: sham (n = 5), CTEPH (n = 6), and CTEPH with EPC infusion (CTEPH+EPC; n = 5).

Neural encoding of sensory and behavioral complexity in the auditory cortex.

Converging evidence now supports the idea that auditory cortex is an important step for the emergence of auditory percepts. Recent studies have extended the list of complex, nonlinear sound features coded by cortical neurons. Moreover, we are beginning to uncover general properties of cortical representations, such as invariance and discreteness, which reflect the structure of auditory perception.

Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Patients Treated by Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Meta-analysis.

Background: We conducted a meta-analysis in nonmetastatic breast cancer patients treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) to assess the clinical validity of circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection as a prognostic marker.

Methods: We collected individual patient data from 21 studies in which CTC detection by CellSearch was performed in early breast cancer patients treated with NCT. The primary end point was overall survival, analyzed according to CTC detection, using Cox regression models stratified by study.

Duality of statin action on lipoprotein subpopulations in the mixed dyslipidemia of metabolic syndrome: Quantity vs quality over time and implication of CETP.

Background: Statins impact the metabolism, concentrations, composition, and function of circulating lipoproteins.

Objective: We evaluated time course relationships between statin-mediated reduction in atherogenic apolipoprotein B (ApoB)-containing particles and dynamic intravascular remodeling of ApoAI-containing lipoprotein subpopulations in the mixed dyslipidemia of metabolic syndrome.

Methods: Insulin-resistant, hypertriglyceridemic, hypercholesterolemic, obese males (n = 12) were treated with pitavastatin (4 mg/d) and response evaluated at 6, 42, and 180 days.

Patient-reported tolerability of adverse events in phase 1 trials.

Background: Phase I experts recommend revisiting dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) definition to include chronic and cumulative toxicities induced by new molecularly targeted therapies. Patient's assessment of late toxicities' tolerability is, however, unknown.

Materials And Methods: A prospective survey on adverse events (AEs) tolerability on 23 National Cancer InstituteCommon Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event, Version 4 (NCI-CTCAE.

The importance of capillary density-stroke work mismatch for right ventricular adaptation to chronic pressure overload.

Objective: Mechanisms of right ventricular (RV) adaptation to chronic pressure overload are not well understood. We hypothesized that a lower capillary density (CD) to stroke work ratio would be associated with more fibrosis and RV maladaptive remodeling.

Methods: We induced RV chronic pressure overload over a 20-week period in 2 piglet models of pulmonary hypertension; that is, a shunt model (n = 5) and a chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension model (n = 5).

Physical limits of flow sensing in the left-right organizer.

Fluid flows generated by motile cilia are guiding the establishment of the left-right asymmetry of the body in the vertebrate left-right organizer. Competing hypotheses have been proposed: the direction of flow is sensed either through mechanosensation, or via the detection of chemical signals transported in the flow. We investigated the physical limits of flow detection to clarify which mechanisms could be reliably used for symmetry breaking.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features as Surrogate Markers of X-Linked Hypophosphatemic Rickets Activity.

Objective: X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets (XLH) is the most common form of inheritable rickets. Rickets treatment is monitored by assessing alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, clinical features, and radiographs. Our objectives were to describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of XLH and to assess correlations with disease activity.

Statin action enriches HDL3 in polyunsaturated phospholipids and plasmalogens and reduces LDL-derived phospholipid hydroperoxides in atherogenic mixed dyslipidemia.

Atherogenic mixed dyslipidemia associates with oxidative stress and defective HDL antioxidative function in metabolic syndrome (MetS). The impact of statin treatment on the capacity of HDL to inactivate LDL-derived, redox-active phospholipid hydroperoxides (PCOOHs) in MetS is indeterminate. Insulin-resistant, hypertriglyceridemic, hypertensive, obese males were treated with pitavastatin (4 mg/day) for 180 days, resulting in marked reduction in plasma TGs (-41%) and LDL-cholesterol (-38%), with minor effects on HDL-cholesterol and apoAI.

Non-invasive Model-Based Assessment of Passive Left-Ventricular Myocardial Stiffness in Healthy Subjects and in Patients with Non-ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Patient-specific modelling has emerged as a tool for studying heart function, demonstrating the potential to provide non-invasive estimates of tissue passive stiffness. However, reliable use of model-derived stiffness requires sufficient model accuracy and unique estimation of model parameters. In this paper we present personalised models of cardiac mechanics, focusing on improving model accuracy, while ensuring unique parametrisation.

Multiphysics and multiscale modelling, data-model fusion and integration of organ physiology in the clinic: ventricular cardiac mechanics.

With heart and cardiovascular diseases continually challenging healthcare systems worldwide, translating basic research on cardiac (patho)physiology into clinical care is essential. Exacerbating this already extensive challenge is the complexity of the heart, relying on its hierarchical structure and function to maintain cardiovascular flow. Computational modelling has been proposed and actively pursued as a tool for accelerating research and translation.

Prognostic and Predictive Effect of TP53 Mutations in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer from Adjuvant Cisplatin-Based Therapy Randomized Trials: A LACE-Bio Pooled Analysis.

Introduction: Tumor protein p53 gene (TP53) mutations are common in stage I through III non-small cell lung cancer, but clinical trials have shown inconsistent results regarding their relationship to the effects of adjuvant therapy. The objective is to clarify their putative prognostic and predictive effects.

Methods: A pooled analysis of TP53 mutations (exons 5-8) was conducted in four randomized trials (the International Adjuvant Lung Cancer Trial, J BRonchus 10, Cancer and Leukemia Group B-9633, and Adjuvant Navelbine International Trialist Association trial) of platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) versus observation (OBS).

Age-related changes in intraventricular kinetic energy: a physiological or pathological adaptation?

Aging has important deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system. We sought to compare intraventricular kinetic energy (KE) in healthy subjects of varying ages with subjects with ventricular dysfunction to understand if changes in energetic momentum may predispose individuals to heart failure. Four-dimensional flow MRI was acquired in 35 healthy subjects (age: 1-67 yr) and 10 patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (age: 28-79 yr).