Infective endocarditis affects cardiac valves or devices and has a potentially uncertain prognosis. Little information is available on the epidemiology of this disease in Portugal.
 
  A systematic review of all evidence published in the last 30 years to assess epidemiological data in patients hospitalized with infective endocarditis in Portuguese hospital centers.
 
  Extensive search of all published evidence using Medline, Scopus, general search databases and in addition Portuguese medical journals was performed. All relevant studies in Portuguese or English that reported short- or long-term mortality were included.
 
  Eighteen retrospective cohort studies (15 medical and three surgical series) were included with a total of 1872 patients assessed. The medical series included 1279 patients. Older males with predominant native left heart valve involvement were identified. Staphylococcus and streptococcus were the most frequent reported pathogens. Surgical intervention was performed on average in 29.8% of cases. patient population.
  The indication of Fontan conversion (FC) from atriopulmonary connection (APC) to total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) is unclear. We sought to analyze the mid-term outcome of prophylactic and therapeutic Fontan conversion compared with that of primary TCPC.
 
  Patients with a univentricular heart who underwent cardiac catheterization at >18 years of age between July 2005 and July 2019 were included and divided into three groups symptomatic APC patients who underwent therapeutic FC (t-FC, n=13), asymptomatic APC patients after prophylactic FC (p-FC, n=15), and patients who had primary TCPC procedure (pTCPC, n=24).
 
  The mean last follow up was at the age of 32.0±7.8, 26.8±3.8, and 27.3±7 years (p=0.07) in t-FC, p-FC, and pTCPC, respectively. There was no late death. All of t-FC and 12 (80%) of p-FC cases underwent concomitant arrhythmic surgery. Consequently, five and four patients in t-FC and p-FC groups required pacemaker implantations mostly due to sinus node dysfunction. Thromboembolism was seen in 2 chosen because sinus node dysfunction can frequently occur and FC itself would reduce the risk of arrhythmia.In the last decade, next-generation sequencing (NGS) has rapidly progressed from a research method to a core component of standard-of-care clinical testing. In oncology, tumor sequencing provides a critical tool to detect somatic driver mutations that not only characterize disease but also impact therapeutic decision-making. Here, we review the important role of NGS in the evaluation of hematopoietic neoplasms. We discusstechnical and practical considerations relevant in somatic mutation testing, emphasizing issues unique to blood cancers. Then, we describe how NGS data is being used to facilitate diagnosis, inform prognosis, guide therapy selection, and even monitor disease. This broad overview highlights the transformative impacts NGS data provides throughout the clinical course of patients with hematologic malignancies.Derivation of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) is a technique that could provide access to donor endothelial cells to study donor endothelium/recipient immune cells interactions. The success rate of ECFC colony formation from cryopreserved PBMCs has not been reported. We used biobanked PBMCs and studied the yield of ECFC generation. Endothelial phenotype was confirmed with CD31, CD146, CD309, CD34, CD14 and CD11c staining by flow cytometry and VE-cadherin, von Willebrand factor and Dil-Ac-LDL by fluorescent microscopy. Functionality was tested by endothelial cell tube-based formation assay. The success rate of ECFC generation was 28%. Freezing time was not a predictor of ECFC generation while a shorter time on dialysis and living transplant were significant determinants. These data suggest that it is possible to generate ECFCs from cryopreserved PBMCs, which is a potentially useful option for the longitudinal assessment of alloimmune response in transplantation.
  Since the introduction of direct to consumer orthodontic (DTCO) products in the last decade, these products have been increasing in popularity among orthodontic patients. The purpose of the current article was to assess the populations' perception of DTCOs and to examine various factors that may influence their decision in choosing treatment with DTCO products.
 
  A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in the United States. The 35-question survey was disseminated through Amazon Mechanical Turk (Amazon.com, Inc, Seattle, Wash), and participants were asked questions about their demographics, their perceptions of DTCOs, orthodontists, and factors that may influence their decision should they decide to pursue orthodontic treatment. Pearson's correlations were conducted to assess the association between various factors and the participants' likelihood to choose DTCO products.
 
  A total of 1441 subjects participated in the study. More than 83% of the participants have considered pursuing orthodontnative for seeking orthodontic care. Although participants had concerns about the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, results showed that the pandemic might not significantly affect the preferences. Orthodontists and their constituent organizations may consider more robust awareness and advocacy campaigns to educate the population about orthodontic treatment and the benefits of pursuing treatment with a trained orthodontist.
  Aged human skin is primarily attributable to the loss of collagen. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) acts as an anti-fibrotic factor by suppression of collagen production.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Irinotecan-Hcl-Trihydrate-Campto.html  In aged human skin, HGF is elevated in dermal fibroblasts and thus contributes to dermal aging (thin dermis) by suppression of collagen production.
 
  We aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of age-related elevation of HGF expression.
 
  Collagen fibrils in the aged skin dermis are fragmented and disorganized, which impairs collagen-fibroblast interaction, resulting in reduced fibroblast spreading and size. To explore the connection between reduced dermal fibroblast size and age-related elevation of HGF expression, we manipulate dermal fibroblast size, and cell-size dependent regulation of HGF was investigated by laser capture microdissection, immunostaining, capillary electrophoresis immunoassay, and quantitative RT-PCR.
 
  We found that reduced fibroblast size is responsible for age-related elevation of HGF expression. Further investigation indicated that cell size-dependent upregulation of HGF expression was mediated by impeded YAP/TAZ nuclear translocation and their target gene, CCN2.