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Abstract Background Setting bone cutting levels for different joint line orientations of the medial and lateral tibia plateaus in individual patients is not clear. We aimed to evaluate the difference between joint line orientation of the medial and lateral tibia plateaus relative to the horizontal line of mechanical axis of tibia as tibial plateau difference (TPD) for an optimal tibial bone cut in medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and determine which factors could influence TPD. We aimed to investigate the effect of preoperative TPD on polyethylene liner size in medial UKA. Methods TPD in the coronal plane were measured in 181 female patients (181 knees). To determine the morphology of proximal tibia according to the severity of osteoarthritis, the patients were classified into three groups based on diagnosis and treatment: 80 who underwent robot-assisted medial UKA, 45 who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and 56 with early-stage osteoarthritis (OA) who had conservative management. Also, we divided the medial UKA group into two groups according to TPD (greater than or less than 5 mm) and compared polyethylene liner sizes. Results No significant difference was observed in TPD (p = 0.662), difference between the medial and lateral femoral condyle levels (p = 0.54), medial proximal tibial angle (p = 0.169), or posterior tibial slope (p = 0.466) among the three groups. Increased TPD was significantly associated with increased mechanical femorotibial angle(mFTA) (p

COVID-19 is one of the most chronic and serious infections of recent years due to its worldwide spread. Determining who was genuinely affected when the disease spreads more widely is challenging. More than 60% of affected individuals report having a dry cough. In many recent studies, diagnostic models were developed using coughing and other breathing sounds. With the development of technology, body sounds are now collected using digital techniques for respiratory and cardiovascular tests. Early research on identifying COVID-19 utilizing speech and diagnosing signs yielded encouraging findings. The gathering of extensive, multi-group, airborne acoustical sound data is used in the developed framework to conduct an efficient assessment to test for COVID-19. An effective classification model is created to assess COVID-19 utilizing deep learning methods. The MIT-Covid-19 dataset is used as the input, and the Weiner filter is used for pre-processing. Following feature extraction done by Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, the classification is performed using the CNN-LSTM approach. The study compared the performance of the developed framework with other techniques such as CNN, GRU, and LSTM. Study results revealed that CNN-LSTM outperformed other existing approaches by 97.7%.

Background: Alignment of the cervical spine is a critical consideration when performing cervical spinal surgery. Aim: The intent of this study was to look at the manner in which cervical spine configuration alters with age in those with no symptoms, and to figure out whether or not a cervical vertebral column configuration is gender related. Methods: One hundred asymptomatic subjects (54 males and 46 females) aged 16–85 years were divided into 4 age groups as follows (Groups A: ≤20; B: 21–40; C: 41–60; and D: ≥60). The following variables were measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images – thoracic inlet angle (TIA), neck tilt (NT), and thoracic 1 slope (T1S) after the included subjects underwent MRI of the cervical region. The Tukey's test was applied for statistical analysis amongst age groups, whereas the t-test was used for gender differences within the same age group. Results: The TIA in Group A was statistically significant versus Groups C and D, as P = 0.007 and P = 0.000, respectively. NT concerning category A was statistically significant versus categories B, C, and D (P < 0.05). TIA was statistically insignificant amongst the groups (P > 0.05). Among each age category, there was insignificant variation in cervical spine alignment across genders (P > 0.05). Conclusion: TIA and NT alterations were associated with the aging process, whereas no cervical spine change was noted in the T1S with age.

The importance of the brain-heart interaction has been increasingly recognized as a critical physiological axis that is altered in disease. In this review, we explore the intricate relationship between the central nervous system and cardiovascular health, focusing particularly on immunological mechanisms that influence the course of both neurological and cardiovascular diseases. While previous studies have established a key role of the autonomic nervous system in linking brain and the heart, more recent studies have expanded our understanding of the multifaceted inter-organ interactions. As such, circulating mediators include immune cells of the adaptive and innate immune system and their secreted immunogenic factors have come into the focus as mediators along this bidirectional communication. Hence, in this review we briefly discuss the contribution of the autonomic nervous system and then focus on innate and adaptive immune mechanisms along the heart-to-brain and brain-to-heart axes, illustrating how cardiovascular diseases affect cognitive functions and how brain pathologies lead to cardiac complications., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Dirofilaria immitis is the causative agent for one of the major parasitic infections in dogs. It is currently not possible to reliably diagnose the infection before the development of fertile adult female worms and the presence of microfilariae which takes six to 7 months. However, at this point adult worms already reside in the pulmonary arteries and can cause significant damage. Novel in vivo models may facilitate the development of new diagnostic tools and improve treatment options for both the early and late stages of D. immitis infections. In this paper, we aimed to increase the capabilities of recently published mouse models in which severely immune-deficient mice were shown to be susceptible to D. immitis. Our data shows that D. immitis may grow into fully developed mature male and female worms in C57BL/6 Rag2/Il-2rγ -/- mice with comparable growth rates to the natural canine host. The adult worms of D. immitis were shown to migrate into body cavities as well as the heart in this model. However, the presence of adult worms inside the heart of infected mice led to the development of caval syndrome in 36% of infected mice after five to 6 months. Overall, the current study complements recently published efforts to establish a D. immitis mouse model by extending the development of D. immitis into mature adult stages and will facilitate further preclinical research., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The New World screwworm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax, is widely distributed across South America. This parasitic insect is a significant cause of primary myiasis in animals, including dogs. There is an urgent need for a rapid and efficient treatment to improve the recovery of affected animals. In the present study we evaluated the potential of lotilaner for the treatment of myiasis caused by C. hominivorax larvae in naturally infested dogs. Lotilaner belongs to the isoxazoline class of chemical compounds and is marketed as Credelio™ for use against ticks and fleas in dogs and cats., Methods: Eleven dogs with naturally acquired myiasis were enrolled in this study based on the severity of lesions and the number of identified larvae. All animals received a single oral administration of lotilaner at a minimum dose of 20.5 mg/kg body weight. After treatment, the number of expelled larvae, live or dead, was determined at 2, 6 and 24 h, and the larval expulsion rate, larvicidal effect and overall efficacy were calculated. After 24 h, the remaining larvae were removed, counted and identified. The lesions were cleaned, and palliative treatment was administered when necessary, according to the animal's health status., Results: All larvae were identified as C. hominivorax. The larval expulsion rate was 80.5% and 93.0% at 2 and 6 h post-treatment, respectively. Lotilaner showed an overall efficacy of 100% at 24 h post-treatment., Conclusions: Lotilaner demonstrated a rapid onset of action and a high efficacy against C. hominivorax. We therefore recommend lotilaner for the effective treatment of myiasis in dogs., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: In recent years, in addition to cervical length measurement, a new ultrasonographic parameter has been defined as uterocervical angle (UCA), which can be used in the prediction of preterm labor. In this study,we evaluated the place of uterocervical angle in predicting the latent phase duration in postterm pregnancies., Material and Methods: This prospective study consists of 90 pregnant women aged between 18 to 40 years who were hospitalized with a diagnose of late term pregnancy. Pregnant women with a latent phase duration of 1200 minutes or less were defined as Group 1. Patients with latent phase duration over 1200 minutes were defined as Group 2. All patients' age, BMI, smoke, cervical length measurements, uterocervical angle, latent and active phase of labor durations, length of the third stage and delivery types were compared., Results: The UCA median value of group 1 was 120 (94-147), and group 2 was 99 (94-105) (p < 0.001). CL medians of Groups 1 and 2 were 29 (17-43) and 28 (27-41) respectively (p: 0.871). UCA (AUC: 0.917, p < 0.0001) significantly predicted prolonged latent phase duration. Optimal cut off value was obtained at the value of 105 degree (100% sensitivity, 75% specificity) for UCA. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that duration of labor was significantly higher in a group with low UCA (p: 0.013)., Conclusions: UCA can be a successful tool that can be used to predict duration of labor in cases of postterm pregnancies with medical induction.

Dirofilaria immitis is a parasitic nematode and causes dirofilariosis, a potentially fatal pulmonary infection which primarily infects canids. Dirofilariosis infections are controlled via prophylactic macrocyclic lactone (ML) regimens. Recent evidence has confirmed the development of ML-resistant isolates in the USA, which are genetically distinct from wildtype populations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with ML-resistant phenotypes were clinically validated in USA populations. In this study, 3 USA laboratory-maintained isolates (Berkeley, Georgia II, and WildCat) and 11 randomly selected European clinical samples from 7 hosts were analyzed. The samples tested were fresh microfilaria (mf) in blood or adult worms preserved in ethanol. The samples underwent MiSeq sequencing of the top 9 SNP associated with ML resistance. The results provide the first genotypic analysis of the three USA laboratory-maintained isolates and any European samples. The European clinical samples show no genomic evidence of ML resistance based on the 9 SNP. The early adoption of genotyping of clinical D. immitis samples could provide an early indication of the potential development of ML resistance and aid to distinguish clinical cases of heartworm infection due to ML resistance from those due to a lack compliance with the recommended treatments, as has been seen in North America.

Natural plant compounds, such as betaine, are described to have nematocidal properties. Betaine also acts as a neurotransmitter in the free-living model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans , where it is required for normal motility. Worm motility is mediated by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), including subunits from the nematode-specific DEG-3 group. Not all types of nAChRs in this group are associated with motility, and one of these is the DEG-3/DES-2 channel from C. elegans , which is involved in nociception and possibly chemotaxis. Interestingly, the activity of DEG-3/DES-2 channel from the parasitic nematode of ruminants, Haemonchus contortus , is modulated by monepantel and its sulfone metabolite, which belong to the amino-acetonitrile derivative anthelmintic drug class. Here, our aim was to advance the pharmacological knowledge of the DEG-3/DES-2 channel from C. elegans by functionally expressing the DEG-3/DES-2 channel in Xenopus laevis oocytes and using two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology. We found that the DEG-3/DES-2 channel was more sensitive to betaine than ACh and choline, but insensitive to monepantel and monepantel sulfone when used as direct agonists and as allosteric modulators in co-application with betaine. These findings provide important insight into the pharmacology of DEG-3/DES-2 from C. elegans and highlight the pharmacological differences between non-parasitic and parasitic nematode species.