Despite robust cholesterol lowering, cardiovascular disease risk remains increased in patients with diabetes mellitus. Consistent with this, diabetes mellitus impairs atherosclerosis regression after cholesterol lowering in humans and mice. In mice, this is attributed in part to hyperglycemia-induced monocytosis, which increases monocyte entry into plaques despite cholesterol lowering. In addit...

The purpose of this study was to systematically investigate the reporting of selection criteria and outcome measures, and to examine definitions of complications used in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation studies (V-A ECMO).Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane central register were searched for V-A ECMO studies from January 2005 to July 2017. Studies with ≤99 patients or without patie...

Case series suggest that human T-cell leukaemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is associated with kidney disease; however, little is known about the impact of proviral load (PVL). The present study was commenced to determine whether higher HTLV-1 PVL is associated with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) in Indigenous Australians. A case-control study was conducted in Alice Springs Hospital (ASH), 1 July 20...

Despite improved understanding of heart failure (HF) and advances in medical treatments, its prevalence continues to rise, and the role of implantable devices continues to evolve. While cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an accepted form of treatment for many suffering from HF, there is an ever-evolving body of evidence examining novel indications, optimization of lead placement and dev...

The aim of this study was to compare the expression of serum microRNAs (miRNAs) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) (athletes [SCI-A] and sedentary [SCI-S]) and able-bodied (AB) individuals, and investigate the relationship of miRNAs with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and serum oxidized LDL-cholesterol (oxLDL) among SCI subjects. Seventeen SCI-S, 23 SCI-A, and 22 AB males were ...

Assessment of demographic and clinical factors influencing the decision of statin discontinuation in the elderly population admitted to subacute geriatric unit. The aim of this study is to assess the clinical factors impacting the decision-making process of statin discontinuation in the elderly.We retrospectively assessed changes in statin discontinuation and prescription among patients (≥60 ye...

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of acute subanesthetic dosages of xenon inhalation to cause erythropoiesis and determine the effect of chronic xenon dosing on hematological parameters and athletic performance. To assess the acute effects, seven subjects breathed three subanesthetic concentrations of xenon: 30% fraction of inspired xenon (Fi) for 20 min, 50% Fi for 5 min, and 70% Fi for ...

Prediction of disease risk is an essential part of preventative medicine, often guiding clinical management. Risk prediction typically includes risk factors such as age, sex, family history of disease and lifestyle (e.g. smoking status); however, in recent years, there has been increasing interest to include genomic information into risk models. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) aggregate the effects...

The aim was to investigate the potential association between hearing impairment and incident depressive symptoms.Using a prospective community-based cohort study in France (the Paris Prospective Study III), participants aged 50-75 years were recruited between 2008 and 2012 and thereafter followed up every 2 years up to 2018. Hearing impairment, measured at study recruitment by audiometry testin...

Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) provide continuous mechanical circulatory support during in- and out-of-hospital care. However, limitations of the external wearable components influence patient quality of life. There is insufficient understanding of the issues with such components that combines a holistic viewpoint from both human factors and user (including patient and caregiver) experience ...

The use of antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine has coincided with a rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food-borne pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Faecal contamination from the main reservoir hosts (livestock, especially poultry) is the principal route of human infection but little is known about the spread of AMR among source and sink populations. I...

Prolonged sitting is now recognized as an emergent work health and safety issue. To address the need for a scalable sitting-reduction intervention for workplaces, the BeUpstanding™ Champion Toolkit was developed. This free, online toolkit uses a 'train-the-champion' approach, providing a step-by-step guide and resources to workplace champions to assist them in raising awareness and building a s...

Blood pressure is tightly controlled by the central nervous system, particularly the brainstem. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mean blood pressure (MBP), muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) and resting regional brain activity in healthy human subjects. Pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling and functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain were perf...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a chronic disease affecting reproductive function and whole-body metabolism. Although the etiology is unclear, emerging evidence indicates that the epigenetics may be a contributing factor.To determine the role of global and genome-wide epigenetic modifications in specific immune cells in PCOS compared with controls and whether these could be related to clini...

: In quadrupeds, the arterial baroreflex has dominance in the reflex homeostatic responses, which protect against haemorrhage. In humans, it is the low pressure cardiopulmonary reflex, which protects against the analogous cardiovascular challenge of gravity-dependent venous pooling with standing. To preserve orthostatic cardiovascular homeostasis with the emergence of bipedalism in humans the l...

This study aimed to determine the association of stage B heart failure (SBHF) and its constituent left ventricular (LV) abnormalities with trajectory of exercise capacity over time, and assess whether this association is modified by reversion of these LV abnormalities to normal.The LV abnormalities of SBHF may coincide with a reduction in exercise capacity that precedes the overt exercise intol...

Meals consumed out of synchronisation with normal circadian rhythms are associated with metabolic dysregulation. Changes in macronutrient composition of meals can improve metabolic responses during the day. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether macronutrient manipulation of meals alters postprandial glucose and lipid responses and the expression of circadian genes during the night.In a ran...