Oxygen supplementation in ambulatory patients with heart failure: a randomized proof-of-concept study.

Aims: The aims of this study were to describe the short-term effects of oxygen therapy on the physiological response and symptoms during ambulation in patients with chronic heart failure (HF).

Methods And Results: In this pilot, cross-over, randomized study, subjects with chronic HF underwent two 6-min walk tests (6MWTs) on the same day. They were randomized to either receive oxygen through a portable oxygen concentrator (POC ON) during the first test and no oxygen (POC OFF) during the second test, or vice versa.

Serious Adverse Events: A Replicability and Validation Study of Naranjo Causality Assessment Tool in a Canadian Clinical Setting.

Rationale: Patient safety has become a major concern in healthcare today as 5%-10% of patients experience serious adverse events (SAE) during their hospital stay. The causal assessment of SAE is the responsibility of healthcare professionals (HCP), who use their judgment or a standardize tool. Whether those two methods are replicable to provide similar results remains unclear.

Causality assessment of adverse events by healthcare professionals in an academic hospital setting: a descriptive retrospective study.

Adverse events among drug users are frequent during hospital stay. Causality assessment of adverse events was poorly documented by healthcare professionals in a hospital setting.

Impact of Vanessa's Law on the Reporting of Serious Adverse Events: A Retrospective Study Among Antiplatelet Users in a Tertiary-Care Cardiology Centre.

Background: Antiplatelet drugs, such as clopidogrel, ticagrelor, prasugrel, and acetylsalicylic acid, may be associated with a risk of adverse events (AEs). Vanessa's Law was enacted to strengthen regulations to protect Canadians from drug-related side effects (with mandatory reporting of serious adverse events [SAEs]).

Objective: To determine whether Vanessa's Law has led to an increase in SAE reporting among antiplatelet users.

Underreporting of adverse events to health authorities by healthcare professionals: a red flag-raising descriptive study.

Background: An adverse event (AE) is any undesirable medical manifestation in an individual who has received pharmacological treatment. To be considered serious (SAE), it needs to meet minimally one of the severity criteria by Health Canada. The most recent data (2006) suggested that AEs were underreported (<6%) to health authorities.

Oxygen supplementation and cognitive function in long-COVID.

Background: Patients can experience persistent cognitive complaints and deficits in long-COVID. Inflammation and capillary damage may contribute to symptoms by interfering with tissue oxygenation.

Methods: This was an exploratory pilot crossover study designed to describe the effects of supplemental oxygen (portable oxygen concentrator, POC) on cognitive performance and peripheral and cerebral oxygen saturation at rest and exercise.

Real-Time Use of SGLT2i Verified in Pre-dialysis: The RSVP Cross-sectional Study.

Background: The use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in nephrology practice is increasingly becoming standard of care in patients with diabetes or those with proteinuria.

Objectives: The primary outcome was to identify the proportion of pre-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) G3a, G3b, or G4 prescribed an SGLT2i and describe their characteristics.

Methods: This was a retrospective, multicentric, cross-sectional study of patients with CKD followed at 4 pre-dialysis clinics in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Development and Evaluation of a Height-Based Tobramycin Initial Dosing Nomogram for the Treatment of Adult Cystic Fibrosis Pulmonary Exacerbations.

Tobramycin is widely used to treat pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis. Height has been previously found to be significantly more predictive of tobramycin pharmacokinetics than body weight. This study aimed to develop a height-based initial dosing nomogram and evaluate its performance in peak concentration (Cmax) precision relative to standard and fixed dosing.

Consideration of height-based tobramycin dosing regimens for the treatment of adult cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbations.

Aims: Some population pharmacokinetic models have been developed using height to explain some of the interindividual variability in tobramycin pharmacokinetics in cystic fibrosis patients. However, their predictive performance when extrapolated to other clinical centres is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to externally evaluate the predictability of tobramycin population pharmacokinetic models with an independent dataset and perform simulations using previously recommended height-based dosing regimens.

Effect of Detecting and Isolating Clostridium difficile Carriers at Hospital Admission on the Incidence of C difficile Infections: A Quasi-Experimental Controlled Study.

Importance: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major cause of health care-associated infection worldwide, and new preventive strategies are urgently needed. Current control measures do not target asymptomatic carriers, despite evidence that they can contaminate the hospital environment and health care workers' hands and potentially transmit C difficile to other patients.

Objective: To investigate the effect of detecting and isolating C difficile asymptomatic carriers at hospital admission on the incidence of health care-associated CDI (HA-CDI).

Tuning the properties and functions of 17β-estradiol-polysaccharide conjugates in thin films: impact of sample history.

In addition to its role in the regulation of sex-related processes, 17β-estradiol (E2) participates in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases via nongenomic pathways mediated by estrogen receptors (ER-α) located in the cell membrane. To achieve specific nongenomic activity of E2, we linked E2 (4.4 mol %) to chitosan-phosphorylcholine (CH-PC) (20 mol % PC).

Estradiol inhibits vascular endothelial cells pro-inflammatory activation induced by C-reactive protein.

In addition of being an important inflammatory biomarker and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, much evidence indicates that the C-reactive protein (CRP) contributes to the atherosclerosis development process. This plasmatic protein synthesized by hepatocytes in response to inflammation and tissue injury induces pro-inflammatory molecules' expression by endothelial cells (ECs). Previous studies showed that the 17β-estradiol (E2) has beneficial effects on vascular cells by reducing in vitro pro-inflammatory molecules expressions in EC.

Key fatty acid combinations define vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and viability.

High plasma concentrations of free fatty acids (FFA) and insulin are common features in atherosclerotic patients with type 2 diabetes. FFA, according to their nature, can have various effects on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). These cells play important roles throughout atherosclerosis pathogenesis, from plaque development to plaque instability.

Vascular smooth muscle cell alterations triggered by mice adipocytes: role of high-fat diet.

Aim: Inherent mechanisms leading to vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) alterations in obesitylinked type 2 diabetes (T2D) situation remain to be clarified. This study evaluates the impact of supernatant of adipocytes extracted from mice fed high-fat-diets (HFD) on the proliferation and apoptosis of VSMC.

Methods: Adipocytes were extracted from visceral white fat pads of male and female C57Bl6 mice showing different stages of metabolic alterations after 20 weeks of vegetal or animal HFD feeding.

Nature of fatty acids in high fat diets differentially delineates obesity-linked metabolic syndrome components in male and female C57BL/6J mice.

Background: Adverse effects of high-fat diets (HFD) on metabolic homeostasis are linked to adipose tissue dysfunction. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of the HFD nature on adipose tissue activity, metabolic disturbances and glucose homeostasis alterations in male mice compared with female mice.

Methods: C57BL/6J mice were fed either a chow diet or HFD including vegetal (VD) or animal (AD) fat.

A phosphorylcholine-modified chitosan polymer as an endothelial progenitor cell supporting matrix.

The aim of the present study was to develop a new biopolymer to increase endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) survival and amplification. As a cell culture platform, bone marrow-derived cells (BMDC) were used to investigate the biocompatibility of chitosan-phosphorylcholine (CH-PC). On CH-PC, BMDC were found in colonies with a mortality rate similar to that of fibronectin (FN), the control matrix.

Group V secreted phospholipase A2 contributes to LPS-induced leukocyte recruitment.

Secreted phospholipases A(2) (sPLA(2)s) are well known for their contribution in the biosynthesis of inflammatory eicosanoids. These enzymes also participate in the inflammatory process by regulating chemokine production and protein expression of adhesion molecules. The majority of sPLA(2) isoforms are up-regulated by proinflammatory stimuli such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which predominantly increases the expression of group V sPLA(2) (sPLA(2)-V).

Biophysical studies of the interactions between the phage varphiKZ gp144 lytic transglycosylase and model membranes.

The use of naturally occurring lytic bacteriophage proteins as specific antibacterial agents is a promising way to treat bacterial infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The opportunity to develop bacterial resistance to these agents is minimized by their broad mechanism of action on bacterial membranes and peptidoglycan integrity. In the present study, we have investigated lipid interactions of the gp144 lytic transglycosylase from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage varphiKZ.

Estrogen-induced gene expression in bone marrow c-kit+ stem cells and stromal cells: identification of specific biological processes involved in the functional organization of the stem cell niche.

The recent interest in the role of bone marrow (BM)-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and the benefits of estrogen on cardiovascular health brought us to evaluate if estrogen could affect cardiac repair more broadly by regulating biological processes involved in the functional organization of the BM stem cell (SC) niche. To assess such possibility, we evaluated gene expression profiles of BM c-kit+ SCs and CD44+ stromal cells (StroCs) after exposure to a physiological concentration of 17beta-estradiol (17betaE). Data analysis showed that 17betaE altered the expression (>1.

Menstrual cycle influences endothelial progenitor cell regulation: a link to gender differences in vascular protection?

Background: The potential role of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the beneficial effects of estrogen on women's cardiovascular health is of great interest. We thus evaluated if menstrual cycle influences circulating levels of EPC subpopulations in normally menstruating women and if this could underline gender differences.

Methods And Results: Ten women and ten men were recruited for this study.

Local delivery of 17-beta-estradiol modulates collagen content in coronary porcine arteries after PTCA and stent implantation.

Background: Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and stent implantation are associated with intimal hyperplasia and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation, resulting in restenosis. We showed that local delivery of 17-beta-estradiol (17betaE) reduced restenosis following PTCA and stent implantation by 47 and 23%, respectively. Because estrogens decreased type I and type III collagen synthesis in vitro, we hypothesized that local delivery of 17betaE may influence intimal hyperplasia formation by modulating ECM expression.

In situ conformation of spider silk proteins in the intact major ampullate gland and in solution.

To understand the spinning process of dragline silk by spiders, the protein conformation before spinning has to be determined. Raman confocal spectromicroscopy has been used to study the conformation of the proteins in situ in the intact abdominal major ampullate gland of Nephila clavipes and Araneus diadematus spiders. The spectra obtained are typical of natively unfolded proteins and are very similar to that of a mixture of recombinant silk proteins.

Peptidoglycan lytic activity of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage phiKZ gp144 lytic transglycosylase.

The gp144 endolysin gene from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage phiKZ was cloned and studies of gp144 expression into Escherichia coli showed host cell lysis. The gp144 protein was purified directly from the culture supernatant and from the bacterial cell pellet and showed in vitro antibacterial lytic activity against P. aeruginosa bacteria and degraded purified peptidoglycan of Gram-negative bacteria.

Stent implantation in coronary porcine arteries is associated with early activation of TNFalpha and TNFalpha receptor II expression.

Inflammation present in restenosis after angioplasty is associated with production of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNFalpha). However, limited data exist on the possible increase in TNFalpha and TNFalpha receptor expression induced during the chronic phase after stenting. To this end, swine underwent balloon denudation (PTCA) and stent implantation in coronary arteries.