Enhancing cardiac hemodynamic and pulsatility in heart failure via deep reinforcement learning: An in-silico and in-vitro validation study of percutaneous ventricular assist devices.

Background And Objective: Percutaneous ventricular assist devices (pVADs) are critical for bridging heart failure (HF) patients to recovery or transplantation, yet existing control strategies-constant speed control and preprogrammed pulsatile control-lack adaptability to dynamic physiological variations, leading to reduced pulsatility and hemodynamic mismatch. This study proposes a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based adaptive control framework to optimize pVAD performance. The goal is to restore physiological pulsatile hemodynamics while autonomously adjusting to different HF conditions, heart rate fluctuations, and intra-cycle ejection phase variability.

Dynamic cytokine monitoring enhances CAP severity scores in elderly patients: a prospective pilot study.

Current severity scoring systems (PSI and CURB-65) have limitations in risk stratification for elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Given the complex immune responses in elderly populations, dynamic biomarker monitoring may provide additional prognostic value. This study evaluates whether integrating early cytokine dynamics with traditional severity scores improves mortality prediction in elderly CAP patients.

The Epileptiogenic Modified Therapy: Regulating the Dynamic of Microglia via ROS-Responsive Cascade Nano-Formulation.

Pharmacological treatment of epilepsy presents several challenges, particularly the ineffectiveness of antiseizure medicines (ASMs) in modifying disease. In fact, the removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and preconditioning with tolerable dose of nitric oxide (NO) can activate neuroprotective mechanisms during latency and enhance tolerance to oxidative stress during seizures. To address this, a ROS-responsive cascade Nano-formulation (RRCN) is developed, which will transform ROS into NO.

Urinary interferon-γ-induced protein-10/creatinine ratio as a predictor of severe paediatric infections: A prospective pilot study.

Aim: This prospective pilot study evaluated urinary interferon-γ-induced protein-10 (IP-10)/creatinine and tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)/creatinine ratios as non-invasive biomarkers for distinguishing bacterial from viral infections and assessing disease severity in febrile children.

Methods: The study involved 85 febrile children and 29 healthy controls, measuring urinary IP-10/creatinine and TRAIL/creatinine ratios to determine their diagnostic utility.

Results: Both ratios were significantly elevated in infected patients compared to controls.

Paper-Based procalcitonin and Interleukin-6 test strip with Spectrum-Based optical reader for enterovirus severity differentiation in children.

Infectious diseases significantly impact global health, necessitating prompt diagnosis to mitigate life-threatening sepsis risk. Identifying patients at risk of severe neurological complications from enterovirus infections is challenging due to nonspecific initial presentations. Point-of-care testing (POCT) has emerged as a transformative tool, with low-cost lateral-flow colorimetric assays showing promise in deployable POCT devices.

Case report: Cytokine and miRNA profiling in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is an imperative pediatric inflammatory condition closely linked to COVID-19, which garners substantial attention since the onset of the pandemic. Like Kawasaki illness, this condition is characterized by an overactive immune response, leading to symptoms including pyrexia, cardiac and renal complications. To elucidate the pathogenesis of MIS-C and identify potential biomarkers, we conducted an extensive examination of specific cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, IL-6R, IL-10, and TNF-α) and microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles at various intervals (ranging from 3 to 20 days) in the peripheral blood sample of a severely affected MIS-C patient.

Corrigendum: Efficacy of a paper-based interleukin-6 test strip combined with a spectrum-based optical reader for sequential monitoring and early recognition of respiratory failure in elderly pneumonia-a pilot study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.

An in silico analysis of unsteady flow structures in a microaxial blood pump under a pulsating rotation speed.

Background And Objective: Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are generally designed to perform continuous flow. However, it has been proven that continuous flow, which is not a physiological hemodynamic state, may cause severe complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, pulmonary hypertension, and ventricular suction. For these reasons, many pulsating blood pump control strategies have been proposed and have the potential for application in percutaneous ventricular assist devices (pVADs) or microaxial blood pumps.

Cell-scale hemolysis evaluation of intervenient ventricular assist device based on dissipative particle dynamics.

Most of the existing hemolysis mechanism studies are carried out on the macro flow scale. They assume that the erythrocyte membranes with different loads will suffer the same damage, which obviously has limitations. Thus, exploring the hemolysis mechanism through the macroscopic flow field information is a tough challenge.

Case report: Distinct neurologic manifestation and cytokine profile of a child with COVID-19-associated acute fulminant encephalitis.

The neurologic manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may range from mild symptoms such as headache or confusion to profound encephalopathy with variable outcomes and sequelae. Here, we reported a case of fatal COVID-19-associated encephalitis with acute fulminant cerebral edema, presenting first with visual hallucination and then a rapid progression into comatose status in a few hours. Serial brain computed tomography depicted cerebral edematous changes from bilateral ventral temporal lobe to the whole brain leading to brain herniation.

Full-scale numerical simulation of hemodynamics based on left ventricular assist device.

Ventricular assist devices have been widely used and accepted to treat patients with end-stage heart failure. The role of VAD is to improve circulatory dysfunction or temporarily maintain the circulatory status of patients. In order to be closer to the medical practice, a multi-Domain model of the left ventricular coupled axial flow artificial heart was considered to study the effect of its hemodynamics on the aorta.

Efficacy of a paper-based interleukin-6 test strip combined with a spectrum-based optical reader for sequential monitoring and early recognition of respiratory failure in elderly pneumonia-a pilot study.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is lethal in elderly individuals who are more vulnerable to respiratory failure and require more emergency ventilation support than younger individuals. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a crucial role and has predictive value in CAP; high serum IL-6 concentrations in adults are associated with high respiratory failure and mortality rates. Early detection of IL-6 concentrations can facilitate the timely stratification of patients at risk of acute respiratory failure.

Microglia-mediated inflammatory destruction of neuro-cardiovascular dysfunction after stroke.

Stroke, a serious systemic inflammatory disease, features neurological deficits and cardiovascular dysfunction. Neuroinflammation is characterized by the activation of microglia after stroke, which disrupts the cardiovascular-related neural network and the blood-brain barrier. Neural networks activate the autonomic nervous system to regulate the cardiac and blood vessels.

Preoperative MRI for postoperative seizure prediction: a radiomics study of dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor and a systematic review.

Objective: In this systematic review the authors aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and superiority of radiomics in detecting tiny epilepsy lesions and to conduct original research in the use of radiomics for preliminary prediction of postoperative seizures in patients with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET).

Methods: The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched from the earliest record, January 1, 2018, to December 29, 2021, for reports of the detection of epilepsy using radiomics, and the resulting articles were carefully checked according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The authors then conducted original research by evaluating MR images in 18 patients, who were then separated into two groups, the epilepsy recurrence group (ERG) and the epilepsy nonrecurrence group.

Biomarkers during COVID-19: Mechanisms of Change and Implications for Patient Outcomes.

As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 19) pandemic spreads worldwide, the massive numbers of COVID-19 patients have created a considerable healthcare burden for every country. The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection is broad, ranging from asymptomatic to mild, moderate, severe, and critical. Most COVID-19 patients present with no or mild symptoms, but nearly one-fifth of all patients develop severe or life-threatening complications.

Irrigating digestate to improve cadmium phytoremediation potential of Pennisetum hybridum.

The bioavailability of heavy metal and growth of hyperaccumulator are key factors controlling the phytoextraction of heavy metal from soil. In this study, the efficacy and potential microbial mechanisms of digestate application in enhancing Cd extraction from soil by Pennisetum hybridum were investigated. The results showed that digestate application significantly promoted the height, tiller number, and biomass yield of Pennisetum hybridum.

Enrichment of waste sewage sludge for enhancing methane production from cellulose.

Low ability of waste sewage sludge to degrade cellulose is observed due to its less cellulolytic bacteria content. The enrichment of sewage sludge in the absence or presence of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was conducted to improve anaerobic digestion (AD) of cellulose in this study. Compared to initial sewage sludge (IS), enriched sludge without CMC addition (ES) displayed 69.

Urinalysis Using a Diaper-Based Testing Device.

Urinary tract infections (UTI), one of the most common bacterial infections, annually affect 150 million people worldwide. Infants and the elderly are likely to have missed or delayed diagnosis of UTI due to difficulty clearly describing their symptoms. A rapid screening method for UTI is a critical and urgent need for these populations.