The Role of Gut Microbiota in Hypertension Management - A Review by Alicja Kot, Marta Wojtczak, Natalia Myśliwiec, Adrian Różycki, Michał Pniak, Paweł Miklis, Maciej Mawlichanów, Aleksandra Ciesielska, Aleksandra Sieradzka, Krzysztof Szerej

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension affects approximately 1.13 billion people worldwide, contributing significantly to global morbidity and mortality. …”
Get full text

Development of a novel predictive model for a successful stone removal after flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy based on ipsilateral renal function: a single-centre, retrospective... by Hong Li, Liang Zhou, Xi Jin, Yucheng Ma, Zhongyu Jian, Liyuan Xiang, Deyi Luo, Kun-Jie Wang

“…Objectives The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of preoperative ipsilateral renal function on the success of kidney stone removal with flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy and to develop a predictive model based on the results.Design Retrospective cohort study.Setting Data from the 2001–2012 period were collected from the electronic records of West China Hospital, Sichuan University.Participants 576 patients who underwent flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy were included in the study.Primary outcome Stone-free rate (SFR) after the procedures.Results In patients with suspected impaired kidney function, the overall SFR was 70.1%. …”
Get full text

Comparison of fracture risk calculators in elderly fallers: a hospital-based cross-sectional study by Sophia von Widekind, Georgi Todorov, Susan Brook, Nicole Quah Qin Xian, Bernard Freudenthal, Alexander N Comninos

“…In this study, we compare these risk calculators in a high-risk cohort of elderly patients admitted to hospital with falls.Design Hospital-based cross-sectional study.Setting Secondary care, London, UK.Participants Data from 120 consecutive elderly patients who had falls presenting to a single hospital over 4 months were collected. 10-year major and hip fracture risks were calculated using FRAX, QFracture and Garvan. 1-year major and hip fracture risks from QFracture were assessed against prospective incidence of fracture.Results Median 10-year major fracture risk was: FRAX 19.5%, QFracture 26.0%, Garvan 32.5%. …”
Get full text

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Native Americans in northern California regarding ticks and tick-borne diseases by Patricia Torres, Elizabeth F. Pienaar, Michelle A. Ritchie, Mourad W. Gabriel, Michael J. Yabsley

“…We conducted semi-structured interviews with participants, who represented various tribes, at a cultural gathering. …”
Get full text

Active case detection and treatment of malaria in pregnancy using LAMP technology (LAMPREG): a pragmatic randomised diagnostic outcomes trial—study protocol by Mekonnen Teferi, Claire Kamaliddin, Hiwot Tilahun, Rediet Fikru Gebresenbet, Zelalem Mekonnen Bekele, Banchamlak Tegegne, Delenasaw Yewhalaw, Abebe Genetu Bayih, Dylan R Pillai, Filmona Mekuria, Getaneh Alemu, Beka Raya, Omar Abdullah, Taye Teka, James Cheaveau, Ruth Legese, Hiwot Asmerom, Ermias Hundito, Ebrahim Nursefa, Samuel Ayele

“…The study results will be shared with the institutions and stakeholders such as the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics, WHO’s Multilateral initiative on Malaria - Tropical Diseases Research (TDR-MIM), Roll Back Malaria and the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium. …”
Get full text

Analysis of Metabolic Risk Factors for Microcirculation Disorders Post-Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Predictive Model Construction: A Study on Patients with Unstable Angin... by Kangming Li, Shuang Liu, Jing Wang, Zhen Liu, Chunmei Qi

“…Methods: A single-center retrospective study design was used, which included 553 patients with UA who underwent PCI. The angiographic microcirculatory resistance (AMR) index was calculated based on coronary angiography data. …”
Get full text

Efficacy of rituximab as second-line therapy for autoimmune encephalitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis by Lin-ming Zhang, Xuan-lin Xing, Bing-ran Zhang, Qiu-juan Zhang, Yan-lin Zhu, Shu-ji Gao, Ming-wei Liu

“…This study systematically evaluated and meta-analyzed the efficacy of rituximab in AE patients who either failed or exhibited inadequate responses to first-line treatments, aiming to refine and optimize therapeutic strategies for AE. …”
Get full text

Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Marfan Syndrome and Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome by N. Inayet, J. O. Hayat, A. Kaul, M. Tome, A. Child, A. Poullis

“…Questionnaires were also completed by patients who are members of Marfan Association UK. The same questionnaires were also completed by age- and gender-matched controls attending fracture clinic without existing diagnoses of MS or hEDS. …”
Get full text

Concomitant abdominal organ transplantation alongside lung transplantation: An ISHLT transplant database analysis by Renita Wilson, BS, J. Asher Jenkins, MD, Juan Maria Farina, MD, Blake Langlais, MS, Bashar Aqel, MD, Ashraf Omar, MD, Jonathan D’Cunha, MD, PhD, Pedro Reck dos Santos, MD, PhD

“…Background: Concomitant abdominal organ transplant of the liver, kidney, and/or pancreas with lung transplant (Con-AbLTx) may be considered for appropriate patients who present with end-stage disease of multiple organ systems. …”
Get full text

Older Fallers’ Comprehensive Neuromuscular and Kinematic Alterations in Reactive Balance Control: Indicators of Balance Decline or Compensation? A Pilot Study by Ringo Tang-Long Zhu, Timmi Tim Mei Hung, Freddy Man Hin Lam, Jun-Zhe Li, Yu-Yan Luo, Jingting Sun, Shujun Wang, Christina Zong-Hao Ma

“…<b>Methods</b>: This pilot observational study recruited six community-dwelling older fallers (≥1 fall in past one year) and six older non-fallers, who received unpredictable translational balance perturbations in randomized directions and intensities during standing. …”
Get full text

Radiomics-based biomarker for PD-1 status and prognosis analysis in patients with HCC by Gulizaina Hapaer, Feng Che, Qing Xu, Qian Li, Ailin Liang, Zhou Wang, Jituome Ziluo, Xin Zhang, Yi Wei, Yuan Yuan, Bin Song, Bin Song

“…PurposeTo investigate the impact of preoperative contrast-enhanced CT-based radiomics model on PD-1 prediction in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.MethodsThe study included 105 HCC patients (training cohort: 72; validation cohort: 33) who underwent preoperative contrast-enhanced CT and received systemic sorafenib treatment after surgery. …”
Get full text

Support Needs of Patients with Cushing’s Disease and Cushing’s Syndrome: Results of a Survey Conducted in Germany and the USA by Ilonka Kreitschmann-Andermahr, Sonja Siegel, Christa Gammel, Karen Campbell, Leslie Edwin, Agnieszka Grzywotz, Victoria Kuhna, Maria Koltowska-Häggström, Oliver Müller, Michael Buchfelder, Bernadette Kleist

“…US patients were more interested in support groups (p=0.035) and in courses on illness coping (p=0.008) than the German patients, who stated to prefer brochures (p=0.001). 89.3% of US patients would attend internet-based programs compared to 75.4% of German patients (p=0.040). …”
Get full text

Radical Surgery of Only the Anterior Elements of the Spine at the Posterior Element Fusion Level due to Metastatic Thyroid Cancer by Ryuto Tsuchiya, Kazuki Fujimoto, Kazuhide Inage, Sumihisa Orita, Yasuhiro Shiga, Hiroto Kamoda, Kazuyo Yamauchi, Miyako Suzuki, Jun Sato, Koki Abe, Hirohito Kanamoto, Masahiro Inoue, Hideyuki Kinoshita, Masaki Norimoto, Tomotaka Umimura, Masao Koda, Takeo Furuya, Junichi Nakamura, Kazuhisa Takahashi, Seiji Ohtori

“…We encountered a case of spinal metastasis involving three anterior vertebral bodies at the posterior element fusion level and successfully achieved adequate stability by radical surgery involving only the anterior elements. A 67-year-old woman who had numbness and muscle weakness in the lower limbs caused by metastatic spinal tumor at the posterior element fusion level of L1–L3 vertebrae was treated with radical surgery of only the anterior element to gain stability. …”
Get full text

qPRF: A system to accelerate population receptive field modeling by Sebastian Waz, Yalin Wang, Zhong-Lin Lu

“…To assess the quality of qPRF solutions, we compared our Strategy 1 solutions to those provided by Benson et al. (2018) who performed a similar four-parameter fit. Both hemispheres of the 181 subjects in the HCP dataset (a total of 10,753,572 vertices, each with a unique BOLD time series of 1800 frames) were analyzed by qPRF in 12.82 h on an ordinary CPU. …”
Get full text

Adrenal Incidentalomas: Should We Operate on Small Tumors in the Era of Laparoscopy? by Michał Pędziwiatr, Michał Natkaniec, Mikhail Kisialeuski, Piotr Major, Maciej Matłok, Damian Kołodziej, Anna Zub-Pokrowiecka, Piotr Budzyński, Andrzej Budzyński

“…Our aim was the estimation of the incidence of malignancy and analysis of treatment outcomes in patients with incidentaloma smaller than 4 cm in comparison to bigger lesions. 132 patients who underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy for nonsecreting tumors were divided into two groups: group 1 (55 pts., size < = 40 mm) and group 2 (77 pts., size > 40 mm). …”
Get full text

Enhancing Digital Identity and Access Control in Event Management Systems Using Sui Blockchain by Suthir Sriram, P. R. Tharaniesh, Priyanka Saraf, Nivethitha Vijayaraj, Thangavel Murugan

“…This makes the platform to be open to a wider market especially to those who are organizing small scale events. Due to decentralizing the event management process the platform reduces all possible risks that can occur in condition of centralized systems like for example single points of failure and also creates higher transparency of ticket sales and distribution. …”
Get full text

Prevalence and Economic Impact of Acute Respiratory Failure in the Prehospital Emergency Medical Service of the Madrid Community: Retrospective Cohort Study by Ana María Cintora-Sanz, Cristina Horrillo-García, Víctor Quesada-Cubo, Ana María Pérez-Alonso, Alicia Gutiérrez-Misis

“…The anonymized medical records of patients treated with medical ALS, who received any of the following medical diagnoses, were extracted: ARF not related to chronic respiratory disease, ARF in chronic respiratory failure, exacerbations of COPD, APE, CHF, and bronchospasm (not from asthma or COPD). …”
Get full text

The impact of the objective state and self-esteem of health on academic performance in senior students of medical and humanitarian specialties, taking into account various environm... by V. V. Kuznetsov, K. V. Kosilov

“…The sample size was 410 students (207 (50.6%) female, 203 (49.4%) male, average age 21.5 (1.2) years), who at the time of the study were studying in 4–6 courses. …”
Get full text

Work loss in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with abatacept, rituximab, tocilizumab or TNF inhibitors: a nationwide direct drug-to-drug comparison by Ulf Lindström, Johan Askling, Katerina Chatzidionysiou, Lotta Ljung, Lars Klareskog, Martin Neovius, Nils Feltelius, Eva Baecklund, Christopher Sjöwall, Helena Forsblad-d’Elia, Carl Turesson, Elisabet Lindqvist, Thomas Frisell, Alf Kastbom, Helena Forsblad-d'Elia, Jonas Söderling, Ann Knight, Gerd-Marie Alenius, Gustaf Magnus Bruze

“…Objective To compare work loss after starting tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi), rituximab, abatacept or tocilizumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods We used data from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register to identify patients aged 19-62 years who were treated with TNFi (n=15 093), rituximab (n=2123), abatacept (n=1877) or tocilizumab (n=1720) between 2007 and 2020. …”
Get full text

Challenges of Engineering Skillsets Essential for Driving Circularity of Smart Cities by Benjamin Neale, Sakdirat Kaewunruen, Dan Li, Ayfer Donmez Cavdar, Rand Askar, Tatjana Tambovceva, Diana Bajare

“…We conducted a qualitative analysis based on expert interviews of 21 participants who have experience in the circular economy. This information will benefit the industry by informing businesses and councils about the key skillsets and capabilities to look out for when employing people to implement any aspect of circular practices in a smart city setting, with an emphasis on enhancing efficiency, achieving deliverables, and thinking systemically to address complex challenges they may face during the implementation. …”
Get full text