NHLBI

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a significant health crisis, marked by high mortality rates on a global scale, with mortality from the disease being notably concentrated among the elderly due to various factors. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the biological and non-biological factors associated with COVID-19 mortality rates among the elderly worldwide. METHODS: The following databases will be consulted: PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science and ScienceDirect...

PURPOSE: Immunoglobulin replacement therapy is a standard treatment for patients with antibody production deficiencies, which is of interest in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This systematic review, registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021281118), assessed the current literature regarding immunoglobulin replacement therapy on COPD clinical outcomes in patients with low immunoglobulin G (IgG) serum concentrations. METHODS: Literature searches conducted from inception to August 23, 2021, in databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL...

To evaluate the efficacy of physical therapy (PT) to alleviate symptomatic thoracic radiculopathy (TR) without the use of invasive procedures. Database search was conducted by an experienced medical librarian from inception until January 27, 2023, in EBSCO CINAHL with Full Text, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. Inclusion criteria included studies that involved adult patients (age≥18) who had a magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed TR and underwent a structured, supervised PT program of any length...

BACKGROUND: Coronary microvascular dysfunction is prevalent in women with signs and symptoms of ischemia but no obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and is associated with an adverse prognosis. Elevated pericardial fat volume predicts adverse cardiac events, but mechanistic pathways of the association are not well understood. METHODS: 118 women enrolled in the NHLBI-sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation-Coronary Vascular Dysfunction study with suspected coronary microvascular dysfunction but no obstructive CAD underwent adenosine stress 1...

Background: The United States has high and increasing rates of maternal morbidity and mortality, large proportions of which are related to cardiovascular health (CVH). Methods: We searched for National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported research as well as that of two other Agencies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for fiscal years (FY) 2016-2021. Grants included maternal health conditions or exposures across all pregnancy stages, but excluded grants that focused entirely on birth, neonatal, infant/childhood outcomes...

While many disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), a large proportion of genome-wide association study (GWAS) variants are of unknown function. Alternative polyadenylation (APA) plays an important role in posttranscriptional regulation by allowing genes to shorten or extend 3' untranslated regions (UTRs). We hypothesized that genetic variants that affect APA in lung tissue may lend insight into the function of respiratory associated GWAS loci...

BACKGROUND: Family-Centered Care (FCC) is an approach to healthcare planning, delivery and evaluation, based on beneficial partnerships between health professionals, patients and families. FCC may be particularly relevant for families with children with intellectual disability (ID), given their needs of continuum care. OBJECTIVE: To identify which components of the FCC are practiced and which health outcomes are considered effective in families with children with ID...

Objective : to evaluate the effect of prenatal care (PC) on perinatal outcomes of pregnant women with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods : systematic review developed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines and conducted through the population, intervention, control, and outcomes (PICO) strategy. Clinical trials and observational studies were selected, with adult pregnant women, single-fetus pregnancy, diagnosis of DM, or gestational DM and who had received PC and/or nutritional therapy (NT)...

BACKGROUND: A significant update was made to both the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in 2019 and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) asthma guidelines in 2020 for mild asthma. These groups no longer recommend short-acting beta-agonists (SABA) as monotherapy for mild (GINA) or mild-persistent (NHLBI) asthma. With the lag that can occur between guideline or evidence updates and changes in practice, this study sought to evaluate whether guideline adoption had occurred...

While animal model studies have extensively defined the mechanisms controlling cell diversity in the developing mammalian lung, there exists a significant knowledge gap with regards to late-stage human lung development. The NHLBI Molecular Atlas of Lung Development Program (LungMAP) seeks to fill this gap by creating a structural, cellular and molecular atlas of the human and mouse lung. Transcriptomic profiling at the single-cell level created a cellular atlas of newborn human lungs. Frozen single-cell isolates obtained from two newborn human lungs from the LungMAP Human Tissue Core Biorepository, were captured, and library preparation was completed on the Chromium 10X system...

High blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and disease progression in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Evidence on the effects of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) is limited. This review aimed to determine the effect of HBPM on systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in patients with CKD. We searched medical literature databases for eligible studies presenting pre- and post-data for interventions utilizing HBPM. Study quality was assessed using the NHLBI tools for quality assessment...

Atherosclerosis is a chronic, progressive cardiovascular disease characterized by cholesterol deposition within blood vessel walls. Recent literature has suggested that the NLRP3 [NOD (nucleotide oligomerization domain)-, LRR (leucine-rich repeat)-, and PYD (pyrin domain)-containing protein 3] inflammasome is a key mediator in the development, progression, and destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques. This review aims to evaluate the current literature on the role of NLRP3 in human atherosclerosis. This systematic review was registered on the PROSPERO database (ID = CRD42022340039) and involved the search of a total of 8 databases...

Food insecurity is highly prevalent and linked to poorer diet and worse metabolic outcomes. Food insecurity can be stressful, and could elicit chronic psychological and physiological stress. In this study, we tested whether stress could be used to identify those at highest risk for worse diet and metabolic measures from food insecurity. Specifically, we hypothesized that cortisol (a physiological marker of stress) and perceived psychological stress would amplify the link between food insecurity and hyperpalatable food intake as well as metabolic measures...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with long-term impairments in brain and muscle function that significantly impact the quality of life of those who survive the acute illness. The mechanisms underlying these impairments are not yet well understood, and evidence-based interventions to minimize the burden on patients remain unproven. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health assembled a workshop in April 2023 to review the state of the science regarding ARDS-associated brain and muscle dysfunction, to identify gaps in current knowledge, and to determine priorities for future investigation...

Pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) is a major complication after total laryngectomy, with significant morbidity and mortality. Whether mechanical stapler closure of the pharynx reduces fistula rates compared to hand-sewn techniques remains unclear. We conducted an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify this question. Five databases were systematically searched from inception through November 2023 for studies comparing stapler versus suture closure for fistula outcomes after laryngectomy. Odds ratios (OR) were pooled using random-effects models and fixed-effects models...

BACKGROUND: Lung function trajectories (LFTs) have been shown to be an important measure of long-term health in asthma. While there is a growing body of metabolomic studies on asthma status and other phenotypes, there are no prospective studies of the relationship between metabolomics and LFTs or their genomic determinants. METHODS: We utilized ordinal logistic regression to identify plasma metabolite principal components associated with four previously-published LFTs in children from the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) (n = 660)...

OBJECTIVE: To indicate the benefits and limitations of the isokinetic test results for the performance of the main shoulder joint movements in swimmers, considering the different competitive levels, swimming techniques, race distances, and sex. METHODS: Search on the PubMed, CENTRAL, Medline, LILACS, and SCOPUS databases for the oldest records up to October 2022. Risk of bias, methodological quality, and level of evidence were evaluated based on the NHLBI checklist...

BACKGROUND: Medication non-adherence is a significant contributor to healthcare inefficiency, resulting in poor medication management, impaired patient outcomes and ineffective symptom control. This review summarises interventions targeting medication adherence for adults with mental-physical multimorbidity, in primary healthcare settings. METHODS: A systematic review of literature was conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL were searched for relevant studies...

BACKGROUND: The histopathologic features of psoriasis are well-documented, but recent studies have highlighted atypical features, such as eosinophils, in clinically confirmed cases. METHODS: A systematic review exploring eosinophils in psoriasis was performed. A novel quality assessment tool (SQAT-Path) we designed for cross-sectional pathology studies was employed. RESULTS: Five studies (N = 218) were identified. The pooled prevalence of dermal eosinophils in psoriasis was 46% (95% confidence interval, 0...

INTRODUCTION: To date, no systematic review or meta-analysis has critically evaluated the relevance of using optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) in diagnosis of vestibular disorders. To assess the role of OKAN in diagnosis of vestibular disorders, the OKAN time constant (TC) between patients with vestibular disorders and healthy participants will be compared. METHODS: Automated search strategies were carried out in the Embase, Medline PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases from inception to December 2023...