Data about the beating heart (BH) technique for isolated tricuspid valve (TV) surgery compared to the arrested heart (AH) technique are sparse. Sabutoclax mw We compared the outcomes of isolated TV surgery between BH and AH technique.

We performed an observational analysis of our database of isolated TV surgery. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether surgery was performed without (BH group) or with (AH group) aortic cross-clamping and cardioplegic arrest. The primary endpoint was survival to hospital discharge. Risk factors for in-hospital mortality were searched with multivariate analyses. We undertook further comparisons after propensity-score matching.

From January 2007 to December 2017, we performed 82 isolated TV surgery (BH group, n = 47, 57.3%; AH group, n = 35, 42.7%). The mean age was 59.1 years, 56.1% were female. BH group patients were older (61.8 vs. 55.4 years; p = .035), had greater impaired renal function (glomerular filtration rate, 61.1 vs. 74.6 ml/min; p = .012), were more frequently operated for secondary TR (61.7 vs. 31.4%; p = .008), underwent more frequently a reoperation (53.2 vs. 28.6%; p = .042) and exhibited a higher surgical risk (EuroSCORE II, 3.92 vs. 2.50%; p = .013). In-hospital mortality was not different between both groups, either considering unmatched (BH = 10.6 vs. AH = 5.7%; OR = 1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.36-10.77) or matched populations (BH = 10.6 vs. AH = 6.4%; OR = 1.89, 95% CI = 0.36-9.97). Age was the only predictor of in-hospital mortality.

The BH technique showed comparable outcomes to the AH technique for isolated TV surgery despite a higher risk profile.

The BH technique showed comparable outcomes to the AH technique for isolated TV surgery despite a higher risk profile.Having the means to share research data openly is essential to modern science. For human research, a key aspect in this endeavor is obtaining consent from participants, not just to take part in a study, which is a basic ethical principle, but also to share their data with the scientific community. To ensure that the participants’ privacy is respected, national and/or supranational regulations and laws are in place. It is, however, not always clear to researchers what the implications of those are, nor how to comply with them. The Open Brain Consent (https//open-brain-consent.readthedocs.io) is an international initiative that aims to provide researchers in the brain imaging community with information about data sharing options and tools. We present here a short history of this project and its latest developments, and share pointers to consent forms, including a template consent form that is compliant with the EU general data protection regulation. We also share pointers to an associated data user agreement that is not only useful in the EU context, but also for any researchers dealing with personal (clinical) data elsewhere.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating and disabling neuropsychiatric disorder, whose neurobiological basis remains unclear. Although traditional static resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) studies have found aberrant functional connectivity (FC) in OCD, alterations in whole-brain FC and topological properties in the context of brain dynamics remain relatively unexplored. The rfMRI data of 29 patients with OCD and 40 healthy controls were analyzed using group independent component analysis to obtain independent components (ICs) and a sliding-window approach to generate dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) matrices. dFC patterns were clustered into three reoccurring states, and state transition metrics were obtained. Then, graph-theory methods were applied to dFC matrices to calculate the variability of network topological organization. The occurrence of a state (State 1) with the highest modularity index and lowest mean FC between networks was increased significantly in OCD, and the fractional time in brain State 1 was positively correlated with anxiety level in patients. State 1 was characterized by having positive connections within default mode (DMN) and salience networks (SAN), and negative coupling between the two networks. Additionally, ICs belonging to DMN and SAN showed lower temporal variability of nodal degree centrality and efficiency in patients, which was related to longer illness duration and higher current obsession ratings. Our results provide evidence of clinically relevant aberrant dynamic brain activity in OCD. Increased functional segregation among networks and impaired functional flexibility in connections among brain regions in DMN and SAN may play important roles in the neuropathology of OCD.Recurrent autoimmune hepatitis (rAIH) occurs in patients who undergo liver transplantation (LT) for AIH and de novo AIH (dAIH) is seen in patients who are transplanted for etiologies other than AIH. Whether these are distinct diseases with a similar phenotype remains understudied. The aim of this study was to identify clinical and immunologic factors affecting outcome in patients with dAIH and rAIH. A retrospective review of 387 LT patients from 1997 to 2014 was carried out, and they were followed until 2018. Patients with rAIH or dAIH were identified based on the pre-transplant diagnosis of AIH (or not) and characteristic histology. Liver biopsies were stained with H&E, B-cell marker CD20, and plasma cell marker CD138. Out of 387 patients, 31 were transplanted for AIH, and 8/31 developed rAIH. Of the remaining 356 patients, eight developed dAIH. Compared to the dAIH group, rAIH occurred in older patients, had an earlier onset in the allograft, and had higher IgG and serum ALT levels. It was most commonly seen in African American (AA) patients (87%). rAIH patients had significantly higher CD20 and CD138 positivity in liver biopsies. In addition, they had increased rejection episodes prior to the onset of recurrence, increased graft loss, and mortality. rAIH is a more aggressive disease, and has a preponderance of B cells and plasma cells in the liver tissue as compared to dAIH. The concurrent association with increased graft loss and patient mortality in rAIH warrants further investigations into B cell-targeted therapies.