Pre-COVID-19 Social Determinants of Health Among Mexican Migrants in Los Angeles and New York City and Their Increased Vulnerability to Unfavorable Health Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - COVID-19 has disproportionally affected underrepresented minorities (URM) and low-income immigrants in the United States. The aim of the study is to...     

Position paper on stress cardiac MRI in chronic coronary syndrome: Endorsed by the Société Française de Radiologie (SFR) the Société Française d’Imagerie CardioVasculaire (SFICV) and the Société Française de Cardiologie (SFC)

This position paper was intended to update the former consensus between the French Societies of Radiology and Cardiology about the use of stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in chronic coronary syndrome published in 2009. The Delphi method was used to build the present consensus. This expert panel consensus includes recommendations for indications, procedure with patient preparation, stress inducing drugs, acquisition protocol, interpretation and risk stratification by stress MRI.     

Magnetic resonance elastography with guided pressure waves

Magnetic resonance elastography aims to non-invasively and remotely characterize the mechanical properties of living tissues. To quantitatively and regionally map the shear viscoelastic moduli in vivo, the technique must achieve proper mechanical excitation throughout the targeted tissues. Although it is straightforward, ante manibus, in close organs such as the liver or the breast, which practitioners clinically palpate already, it is somewhat fortunately highly challenging to trick the natural protective barriers of remote organs such as the brain. So far, mechanical waves have been induced in the latter by shaking the surrounding cranial bones. Here, the skull was circumvented by guiding pressure waves inside the subject's buccal cavity so mechanical waves could propagate from within through the brainstem up to the brain. Repeatable, reproducible and robust displacement fields were recorded in phantoms and in vivo by magnetic resonance elastography with guided pressure waves such that quantitative mechanical outcomes were extracted in the human brain.     

Visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in adolescents with critical congenital heart disease

Objective: To determine whether visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in a large sample of adolescents with critical congenital heart disease (CHD). Local (part-oriented) style was hypothesized to increase risk for internalizing (but not externalizing) forms of psychopathology.

Method: Participants included 278 adolescents with critical CHD (dextro-transposition of the great arteries?=?134, tetralogy of Fallot?=?58, single-ventricle cardiac anatomy requiring the Fontan procedure?=?86). Visual-spatial processing style was indexed using Copy Style Ratings from the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure-Developmental Scoring System. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children–Present & Lifetime Version was used to determine presence/absence of diagnosable DSM-IV psychiatric disorder(s). Processing style and psychopathology were assessed concurrently.

Results: Thirty-three percent of the sample had a part-oriented processing style. In multivariable binary logistic regression models, part-orientation was associated with more than twice the odds of having an anxiety disorder (lifetime: OR?=?2.2, p?=?.02, 95% CI?=?1.1–4.1; current: OR?=?2.7, p?=?.03, 95% CI?=?1.1–6.5) but was not associated with an increased risk for ADHD, disruptive behavior, or mood disorders (ps?>?.05).

Conclusions: Adolescents with critical CHD who approach complex visual-spatial materials in a local, part-oriented fashion are more likely to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder than those who approach complexity more holistically. Part-orientation may make it more difficult for individuals to judge the relative importance of isolated details and engage in more adaptive perspective-taking.     

Improving Prenatal Diagnosis of Coarctation of the Aorta

Background

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the association between fetal echocardiographic measurements and the need for intervention (primary coarctation repair, staged coarctation repair, or catheter intervention) in prenatally diagnosed coarctation of the aorta.

Detection of recombinant and endogenous mouse melatonin receptors by monoclonal antibodies targeting the C‐terminal domain

Melatonin receptors play important roles in the regulation of circadian and seasonal rhythms, sleep, retinal functions, the immune system, depression, and type 2 diabetes development. Melatonin receptors are approved drug targets for insomnia, non‐24‐hour sleep‐wake disorders, and major depressive disorders. In mammals, two melatonin receptors (MTRs) exist, MT₁ and MT₂, belonging to the G protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily. Similar to most other GPCRs, reliable antibodies recognizing melatonin receptors proved to be difficult to obtain. Here, we describe the development of the first monoclonal antibodies (mABs) for mouse MT₁ and MT₂. Purified antibodies were extensively characterized for specific reactivity with mouse, rat, and human MT₁ and MT₂ by Western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and proximity ligation assay. Several mABs were specific for either mouse MT₁ or MT₂. None of the mABs cross‐reacted with rat MTRs, and some were able to react with human MTRs. The specificity of the selected mABs was validated by immunofluorescence microscopy in three established locations (retina, suprachiasmatic nuclei, pituitary gland) for MTR expression in mice using MTR‐KO mice as control. MT₂ expression was not detected in mouse insulinoma MIN6 cells or pancreatic beta‐cells. Collectively, we report the first monoclonal antibodies recognizing recombinant and native mouse melatonin receptors that will be valuable tools for future studies.     

Disparity between recent graduates’ and experienced surgeons' assessment of time to operative independence

Background

In cardiothoracic surgery, little data exist on the transition to operative independence. We aimed to compare current perceptions of operative autonomy of junior cardiothoracic surgeons and senior colleagues who oversee transitional years.