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Objectives: Whether tinnitus is associated with pre-existing hypertension remains uncertain. This study explored the association between tinnitus and pre-existing hypertension. Methods: We obtained data on a retrospective cohort of 542 884 cases ≥18 years old with a first-time tinnitus diagnosis from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. We used propensity-score matching to select 542 884 matched controls and performed multiple logistic regression analyses to estimate the adjusted odds of prior hypertension among patients with tinnitus versus controls. Results: Bivariate analysis showed no significant difference in the prevalence of prior hypertension between the tinnitus and no-tinnitus groups (35.58% vs 35.5%, P =.617). Univariable logistic regression analysis confirmed the bivariate analysis finding, unadjusted odds of prior hypertension among the tinnitus group relative to controls, 1.002, 95% CI: 0.994-1.010, P =.617). After adjusting for age, sex, monthly income, geographic location and urbanization level, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hearing loss, obesity, anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, alcohol abuse, nicotine dependence, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder and idiopathic intracranial hypertension, the odds of prior hypertension were similar among the tinnitus and no-tinnitus groups (OR = 1.006, 95% CI: 0.997-1.016, P =.178). Conclusions: Our population-based study found no evidence for an association between tinnitus and pre-existing hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a systematic review of a diagnostic performance, summarizing performance metrics is crucial. There are various summary models in the literature, and hence model selection becomes inevitable. However, most existing large-sample-based model selection approaches may not fit in a meta-analysis of diagnostic studies, typically having a rather small sample size. Researchers need to effectively determine the final model for further inference, which motivates this article to investigate existing methods and to suggest a more robust method for this need. We considered models covering several widely-used methods for bivariate summary of sensitivity and specificity. Simulation studies were conducted based on different number of studies and different population sensitivity and specificity. Then final models were selected using several existing criteria, and we compared the summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curves to the theoretical ROC curve given the generating model. Even though parametric likelihood-based criteria are often applied in practice for their asymptotic property, they fail to consistently choose appropriate models under the limited number of studies. When the number of studies is as small as 10 or 5, our suggestion is best in different scenarios. An example for summary ROC curves for chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) used in COVID-19 diagnosis is also illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study aims to explore whether the COVID‐19 pandemic altered patient conditions and surgery outcomes by studying 213 pressure injury (PI) patients who underwent surgery during 2016 to 2019 (pre‐COVID) and 2020 to 2021 (COVID) in Taiwan. We extracted patient demographics, surgical and blood test records, preoperative vital signs, and flap surgery outcomes. In total, 464 surgeries were performed, including 308 pre‐COVID and 156 COVID. During the COVID period, there were more patients presenting with dementia, and it had significantly more patients with >12 000 white blood cells/μL (24.03% vs 15.59%, P = 0.029), higher C‐reactive protein levels (7.13 ± 6.36 vs 5.58 ± 5.09 mg/dL, P = 0.014), pulse rates (86.67 ± 14.76 vs 81.26 ± 13.66 beats/min, P < 0.001), and respiratory rates (17.87 ± 1.98 vs 17.31 ± 2.39 breaths/min, P = 0.009) but lower haemoglobin levels (9.75 ± 2.02 vs 10.43 ± 1.67 mg/dL, P < 0.001) preoperatively. There were no between‐group differences in flap surgery outcomes but had fewer flap surgeries during COVID‐19. Thus, PI patient condition was generally poor during the COVID‐19 pandemic because of reduced access to medical treatment; this problem may be resolved through holistic care during a future pandemic or pandemic‐like situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims Atherosclerosis preferentially develops in arterial branches and curvatures where vascular endothelium is exposed to disturbed flow. In this study, the effects of disturbed flow on the regulation of vascular endothelial phosphoproteins and their contribution to therapeutic application in atherogenesis were elucidated. Methods Porcine models, large-scale phosphoproteomics, transgenic mice, and clinical specimens were used to discover novel site-specific phosphorylation alterations induced by disturbed flow in endothelial cells (ECs). Results A large-scale phosphoproteomics analysis of native endothelium from disturbed (athero-susceptible) vs. pulsatile flow (athero-resistant) regions of porcine aortas led to the identification of a novel atherosclerosis-related phosphoprotein vinculin (VCL) with disturbed flow-induced phosphorylation at serine 721 (VCLS721p). The induction of VCLS721p was mediated by G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2)S29p and resulted in an inactive form of VCL with a closed conformation, leading to the VE-cadherin/catenin complex disruption to enhance endothelial permeability and atherogenesis. The generation of novel apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice overexpressing S721-non-phosphorylatable VCL mutant in ECs confirmed the critical role of VCLS721p in promoting atherosclerosis. The administration of a GRK2 inhibitor to ApoE−/− mice suppressed plaque formation by inhibiting endothelial VCLS721p. Studies on clinical specimens from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) revealed that endothelial VCLS721p is a critical clinicopathological biomarker for atherosclerosis progression and that serum VCLS721p level is a promising biomarker for CAD diagnosis. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that endothelial VCLS721p is a valuable hemodynamic-based target for clinical assessment and treatment of vascular disorders resulting from atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]