Activity

Purpose We aimed to perform a systematic literature search on the latest evidence of the role of statin in reducing diabetic retinopathy and its need for intervention. Methods A comprehensive search on cohort studies/clinical trials that assess statins and diabetic retinopathy up until August 2019 was performed. The outcome measured was the incidence of diabetic retinopathy and its need for intervention. Results There were 558.177 patients from six studies. Statin was associated with a lower incidence of diabetic retinopathy (hazard ratio 0.68 (0.55, 0.84), p less then 0.001; I2 95%). For the subtypes of diabetic retinopathy, statin lowers the incidence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (hazard ratio 0.69 (0.51, 0.93), p = 0.01; I2 90%), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (hazard ratio 0.80 (0.66, 0.96), p = 0.02; I2 93%), and diabetic macular edema (hazard ratio 0.56 (0.39, 0.80), p = 0.002; I2 82%). Statin was associated with a reduced need for retinal laser treatment with a hazard ratio of 0.70 (0.64, 0.76) (p less then 0.001; I2 0%), intravitreal injection with a hazard ratio of 0.82 (0.79, 0.85) (p less then 0.001; I2 0%), and vitrectomy with a hazard ratio of 0.64 (0.48, 0.85) (p less then 0.001; I2 75%). Overall, statin was associated with a reduced need for intervention for diabetic retinopathy with a hazard ratio of 0.72 (0.64, 0.80) (p less then 0.001; I2 73%). The regression-based Egger’s test showed statistically significant small-study effects for non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.011) outcomes. Conclusion Statin was associated with a decreased risk of diabetic retinopathy and its subtypes. Statin also reduced the need for intervention with retinal laser treatment, intravitreal injection, and vitrectomy.Rationale Obesity is associated with an increased risk of pulmonary hypertension (PH), however regional adipose tissue deposition is heterogeneous with distinct cardiovascular phenotypes. Objective To determine the association of body mass index (BMI), thoracic visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue areas (VAT and SAT, respectively) with PH in patients with advanced lung disease referred for lung transplantation. Methods We studied patients undergoing evaluation for lung transplantation at 3 centers from the Lung Transplant Body Composition Study. PH was defined as mean pulmonary artery pressure > 20 mmHg and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) ≥ 3 Wood units. VAT and SAT were measured on chest computed tomography and normalized to height squared. Gamcemetinib solubility dmso Results 137 (34%) of 399 patients included in our study had PH. Doubling of thoracic VAT was associated with significantly lower PVR (β -0.24, 95%CI -0.46, -0.02, p = 0.04), higher PAWP (β 0.79, 95% CI 0.32, 1.26, p = 0.001), and decreased risk of PH (RR 0.86 95%CI 0.74-0.99, p = 0.04) after multivariate adjustment. Vaspin levels were higher in patients without PH (median 101.8 vs 92.0 pg/mL, p less then 0.001), but did not mediate the association between VAT and the risk of PH. SAT and BMI were not independently associated with risk of PH. Conclusions Lower thoracic VAT was associated with a higher risk of PH in patients with advanced lung disease undergoing evaluation for lung transplantation. The role of adipokines in the pulmonary vascular disease remains to be evaluated.Rationale There is uncertainty on the optimal first-line therapy for symptomatic COPD. Long-acting beta-2-receptor agonists (LABAs) and long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) have long been mainstays of treatment, though it is still not clear if dual therapy with LABA/LAMA is superior to monotherapy for symptomatic COPD. Objectives To clarify the evidence landscape, we conducted a systematic review to answer the following question In patients with COPD who complain of dyspnea and/or exercise intolerance, is LABA/LAMA combination therapy more effective and equally safe compared to LABA or LAMA monotherapy? Methods A search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases was conducted by a medical librarian for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) enrolling patients with COPD who complain of dyspnea and/or exercise intolerance, that compare LABA/LAMA combination therapy to LABA or LAMA monotherapy. A systematic approach was used to screen, abstract, and critically appraise the emerging study evidence.erior to either LABA or LAMA monotherapy based on the reduced risk of exacerbations and hospitalizations.Two coupled nanolasers exhibit a mode switching transition, theoretically described by mode beating limit cycle oscillations. Their decay rate is vanishingly small in the thermodynamic limit, i.e., when the spontaneous emission noise tends to zero. We provide experimental statistical evidence of mesoscopic limit cycles (∼10^3 intracavity photons). Specifically, we show that the order parameter quantifying the limit cycle amplitude can be reconstructed from the mode intensity statistics. We observe a maximum of the averaged amplitude at the mode switching, accounting for limit cycle oscillations. We finally relate this maximum to a dip of mode cross-correlations, reaching a minimum of g_ij^(2)=2/3, which we show to be a mesoscopic limit. Coupled nanolasers are thus an appealing test bed for the investigation of spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry in the presence of strong quantum fluctuations.Searches for pseudoscalar axionlike-particles (ALPs) typically rely on their decay in beam dumps or their conversion into photons in haloscopes and helioscopes. We point out a new experimental direction for ALP probes via their production by the intense gamma ray flux available from megawatt-scale nuclear reactors at neutrino experiments through Primakoff-like or Compton-like channels. Low-threshold detectors in close proximity to the core will have visibility to ALP decays and inverse Primakoff and Compton scattering, providing sensitivity to the ALP-photon and ALP-electron couplings. We find that the sensitivity to these couplings at the ongoing MINER and various other reactor based neutrino experiments, e.g., CONNIE, CONUS, ν-cleus, etc., exceeds existing limits set by laboratory experiments and, for the ALP-electron coupling, we forecast the world’s best laboratory-based constraints over a large portion of the sub-MeV ALP mass range.