Heart Failure Treatment in Underserved Populations: A Comprehensive Analysis of Sacubitril/Valsartan and Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitor (SGLT2i) Prescription Trends at a Safety Net Hospital

1 month 1 week ago
Khalid Sawalha
Background Sacubitril/valsartan and sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are emerging classes of medications that have become key components of guideline-directed medical therapy for patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction and New York Heart Association class II, III, or IV symptoms. Both sacubitril/valsartan and SGLT2is have demonstrated the ability to improve morbidity and mortality in HF patients. This analysis evaluates current prescribing trends of...

Bored Rotten: Interactions Between the Coffee Berry Borer and Coffee Fruit Rot

1 month 1 week ago
Paul Bayman
The coffee berry borer (CBB) is the most destructive pest of coffee worldwide, with damages exceeding $500 M a year and affecting the livelihood of 25 million farmers. Coffee fruit rot (CFR) is described as an anthracnose disease; it can cause up to 80% loss of the crop on susceptible cultivars when conditions favor it. These two serious threats to coffee production have been studied separately, but a link between them was not shown until recently. Several recent studies show that CBB damage is...

Delphi Panel for the Development of Diagnostic Criteria for Metastatic Cutaneous Crohn Disease: A Consensus Statement

1 month 1 week ago
Joseph Ebriani
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: A panel of experts reached consensus on the diagnostic criteria for MCD described in this study. These criteria include major and minor clinical criteria, along with histopathological criteria for the diagnosis of genital and oral MCD. This consensus is a crucial step in the diagnosis of and future treatment development for MCD, a rare and clinically understudied condition.

Explosives Analysis Using Thin-Layer Chromatography-Quantum Cascade Laser Spectroscopy

1 month 1 week ago
John R Castro-Suarez
A new hyphenated technique using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) to separate analytes in mixtures, coupled with mid-infrared (MIR) laser spectroscopy for identification and quantification, is presented. The method, which provides a means for rapid screening of analytes that is practical, low-cost, fast, robust, and reproducible, was tested using nitroaromatic and aliphatic nitro high explosives (HEs) as target analytes. HEs are anthropogenic contaminants containing an -NO(2) group. For...

Solvent-Free Process for Preparing Metal-Organic Framework Composites Based on Carbon-Based Quantum Dots and Their Derivatives as Drug Delivery Systems for Andrographolide

1 month 2 weeks ago
Wenndy Pantoja-Romero
Andrographolide (ADG) was conjugated with MIL-53(Al), ZIF-8, carbon-based quantum dots (CBQDs) and doped carbon-based quantum dots (D-CBQDs) using high-pressure (0.3 GPa) contact. This solvent-free approach is environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and time-saving, resulting in ADG-MOFs-CBQDs/D-CBQDs with physical properties comparable to those produced by traditional liquid phase encapsulation. The resulting nanocomposites were characterized using SEM, XRD, TGA, FT-IR, and ¹H NMR. The...

Pediatric Kidney Care in Northern Central America: A Survey of Pediatric Nephrologists

1 month 2 weeks ago
Randall Lou-Meda
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health problem worldwide. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua are among the top six countries of the continent with high mortality and years of life lost attributable to CKD. The magnitude of the gap in delivering pediatric kidney care in northern Central America has never been systematically documented, hindering the possibility of planning prevention and effective management. A survey was sent to the directors of pediatric kidney care...

PEBL, a component-based Chinese medicine, reduces virus-induced acute lung injury by targeting FXR to decrease ACE2 levels

1 month 2 weeks ago
Liling Yang
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence that PEBL offers protective effects against ALI induced by acute respiratory viruses. PEBL prevents FXR from binding to ACE2 by inhibiting FXR transcription, which reduces macrophage infiltration, cytokine storm formation, and inflammatory injury, thereby ameliorating viral ALI. These findings underscore the potential of PEBL as a candidate for further exploration in the treatment of viral ALI.