Damian

Introduction: Crystalline lens overshooting refers to a situation in which the lens momentarily shifts too much from its typical location immediately after stopping the rotational movement of the eye globe. This movement can be observed using an optical technique called Purkinje imaging. Methods: In this work, an experimental setup was designed to reproduce this effect ex vivo using a fresh porcine eye. The sample was rotated 90° around its centroid using a high-velocity rotation stage, and the Purkinje image sequences were recorded, allowing us to quantify the overshooting effect...

INTRODUCTION: The pupillary light reflex (PLR) is the constriction of the pupil in response to light. The PLR in response to a pulse of light follows a complex waveform that can be characterized by several parameters. It is a sensitive marker of acute neurological deterioration, but is also sensitive to the background illumination in the environment in which it is measured. To detect a pathological change in the PLR, it is therefore necessary to separate the contributions of neuro-ophthalmic factors from ambient illumination...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether computed tomography (CT)-derived psoas major muscle measurements could predict preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) performance and long-term mortality in patients undergoing major colorectal surgery and to compare predictive performance of psoas muscle measurements using 2D approach and 3D approach. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study compliant with STROCSS standards was conducted. Consecutive patients undergoing major colorectal surgery between January 2011 and January 2017 following CPET as part of their preoperative assessment were included...

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can now be cured with well-tolerated direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. However, a potential barrier to HCV elimination is the emergence of resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) that reduce the efficacy of antiviral drugs, but real-world studies assessing the clinical impact of RASs are limited. Here, an analysis of the impact of RASs on retreatment outcomes for different salvage regimens in patients nationally who failed first-line DAA therapy is reported...

The role of self-assessment in workplace-based assessment remains contested. However, anaesthesia trainees need to learn to judge the quality of their own work. Entrustment scales have facilitated a shared understanding of performance standards among supervisors by aligning assessment ratings with everyday clinical supervisory decisions. We hypothesised that if the entrustment scale similarly helped trainees in their self-assessment, there would be substantial agreement between supervisor and trainee ratings...

BACKGROUND: The liver is one of the most injured organs in both blunt and penetrating trauma. The aim of this study was to identify whether the AAST liver injury grade is predictive of need for intervention, risk of complications and mortality in our patient population, and whether this differs between blunt and penetrating-trauma mechanisms. METHODS: Retrospective review of all liver injuries from a single high-volume metropolitan trauma centre in South Africa from December 2012 to January 2022...

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent that can cause serious cardiotoxic side effects, leading to heart failure (HF). Impaired mitochondrial function is thought to be key factor driving progression into HF. We have previously shown in a rat model of DOX-HF that heart failure with reduced ejection fraction correlates with mitochondrial loss and dysfunction. Adenosine monophosphate-dependent kinase (AMPK) is a cellular energy sensor, regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and energy metabolism, including fatty acid oxidation...

PURPOSE: Endometriosis is a common disease with a complex pathomechanism and atypical symptoms, often leading to delayed diagnosis. Currently, the sole method for confirming the presence of the disease is through laparoscopy and histopathological examination of collected tissue. However, this invasive procedure carries potential risk and complications, necessitating the exploration of non-surgical diagnostic methods for endometriosis. This study aims to analyze peritoneal fluid and plasma samples for the expression of cathepsin L and cathepsin S to identify potential biomarkers for non-invasive diagnostic approaches to endometriosis...

The Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 (HIF-1) is essential for cellular adaptation to reduced oxygen levels. It also facilitates the maintenance and re-establishment of skin homeostasis. Among others, it is involved in regulating keratinocyte differentiation. The stability of the oxygen-liable HIF-1α subunit is regulated by various non-canonical oxygen-independent mechanisms, which among others involve Heat Shock Proteins of the A family (HSPA/HSP70). This group of highly homologous chaperones and proteostasis-controlling factors includes HSPA2, a unique member crucial for spermatogenesis and implicated in the regulation of keratinocyte differentiation...

BACKGROUND: Acute illness accounts for the majority of episodes of illness in children under five years of age and is the age group with the highest consultation rate in general practice in the UK. The number of children presenting to emergency care is also steadily increasing, having risen beyond pre-pandemic numbers. Such high, and increasing, rates of consultation have prompted concerns about parents' level of knowledge and confidence in caring for their children when they are ill, and particularly when and how to seek help appropriately...

Chronic antigen stimulation is thought to generate dysfunctional CD8 T cells. Here, we identify a CD8 T cell subset in the bone marrow tumor microenvironment that, despite an apparent terminally exhausted phenotype (TPHEX ), expressed granzymes, perforin, and IFN-γ. Concurrent gene expression and DNA accessibility revealed that genes encoding these functional proteins correlated with BATF expression and motif accessibility. IFN-γ+ TPHEX effectively killed myeloma with comparable efficacy to transitory effectors, and disease progression correlated with numerical deficits in IFN-γ+ TPHEX ...

Cassava productivity is constrained by low soil nitrogen, which is predominant in most cassava-growing regions in the tropics and subtropical agroecology. Improving the low nitrogen tolerance of cassava has become an important breeding objective. The current study aimed to develop cassava varieties with improved nitrogen use efficiency by identifying genomic regions and candidate genes linked to nitrogen use efficiency in cassava. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed using the Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool (GAPIT)...

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) medications are widely prescribed. We sought to assess how pre-admission use of these medications might impact the response to angiotensin-II treatment during vasodilatory shock. METHODS: In a post-hoc subgroup analysis of the randomized, placebo-controlled, Angiotensin Therapy for High Output Shock (ATHOS-3) trial, we compared patients with chronic angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) use, and patients with angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) use, to patients without exposure to either ACEi or ARB...

Pesticide contamination poses a significant threat to non-target wildlife, including amphibians, many of which are already highly threatened. This study aims to assess the extent of pesticide exposure in dead frogs collected during a mass mortality event across eastern New South Wales, Australia between July 2021 and March 2022. Liver tissue from 77 individual frogs of six species were analysed for >600 legacy and contemporary pesticides, including rodenticides. More than a third (36 %) of the liver samples contained at least one pesticide, including brodifacoum, dieldrin, DDE, heptachlor/heptachlor epoxide, fipronil sulfone, and 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA)...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe infections in infants, immunocompromised or elderly individuals resulting in annual epidemics of respiratory disease. Currently, limited clinical surveillance and the lack of predictable seasonal dynamics limits the public health response. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has recently been used globally as a key metric in determining prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the community but its application to other respiratory viruses is limited. In this study, we present an integrated genomic WBE approach, applying RT-qPCR and partial G-gene sequencing to track RSV levels and variants in the community...

Human herpesvirus-6B (HHV-6B) reactivation and disease are increasingly reported after CAR-T-cell therapy (CARTx). HHV-6 reactivation in the CAR-T-cell product was recently reported, raising questions about product and patient management. Due to overlapping manifestations with immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, diagnosing HHV-6B encephalitis is challenging. We provide two lines of evidence assessing the incidence and outcomes of HHV-6B after CARTx. First, in a prospective study with weekly HHV-6B testing for up to 12 weeks post-infusion, HHV-6B reactivation occurred in eight of 89 participants; three had chromosomally integrated HHV-6 and were excluded, resulting in a cumulative incidence of HHV-6B reactivation of 6% (95% confidence interval (CI), 2...

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The complex anatomy of the aortic root is of great importance for many surgical and transcatheter cardiac procedures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive morphological description of the nondiseased aortic root. We morphometrically examined 200 autopsied human adult hearts (22.0% females, 47.9 ± 17.7 years). A meticulous macroscopic analysis of aortic root anatomy was performed. The largest cross-section area of the aortic root was observed in coaptation center plane (653...

Intramedullary lesions of the spinal cord are relatively uncommon but can present with debilitating symptoms.1 These lesions are managed surgically if persistently symptomatic or after conservative treatment has failed.2 The patient consented to the procedure and the publication of their image. Here, the authors present the case of an intramedullary cavernous malformation and demonstrate the use of multiple preoperative and intraoperative adjuncts to characterize the lesion, confirm location, and allow for real-time evaluation of lesion removal during surgery...

PURPOSE: Existing resources that characterise the essentiality status of genes are based on either proliferation assessment in human cell lines, viability evaluation in mouse knockouts, or constraint metrics derived from human population sequencing studies. Several repositories document phenotypic annotations for rare disorders, however there is a lack of comprehensive reporting on lethal phenotypes. METHODS: We queried Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man for terms related to lethality and classified all Mendelian genes according to the earliest age of death recorded for the associated disorders, from prenatal death to no reports of premature death...