Prediction of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Czech Adults: Normative Values and Association with Cardiometabolic Health.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a strong independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. However, there is no recent information about the impact of CRF on cardiometabolic risk specifically in Central and Eastern Europe, which are characterized by different biological and social determinants of health. In this cross-sectional study normative CRF values were proposed and the association between CRF and cardiometabolic outcomes was evaluated in an adult Czechian population. In 2054 participants (54.6% females), median age 48 (IQR 19 years), the CRF was predicted from a non-exercise equation. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regressions were carried out to determine the associations. Higher CRF quartiles were associated with lower prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes (T2D) and dyslipidemia. Comparing subjects within the lowest CRF, we see that those within the highest CRF had decreased chances of hypertension (odds ratio (OR) = 0.36; 95% CI: 0.22-0.60); T2D (OR = 0.16; 0.05-0.47), low HDL-c (OR = 0.32; 0.17-0.60), high low-density lipoprotein (OR = 0.33; 0.21-0.53), high triglycerides (OR = 0.13; 0.07-0.81), and high cholesterol (OR = 0.44; 0.29-0.69). There was an inverse association between CRF and cardiometabolic outcomes, supporting the adoption of a non-exercise method to estimate CRF of the Czech population. Therefore, more accurate cardiometabolic studies can be performed incorporating the valuable CRF metric.

Disorder-Driven Multifractality Transition in Weyl Nodal Loops.

The effect of short-range disorder in nodal line semimetals is studied by numerically exact means. For arbitrary small disorder, a novel semimetallic phase is unveiled for which the momentum-space amplitude of the ground-state wave function is concentrated around the nodal line and follows a multifractal distribution. At a critical disorder strength, a semimetal to compressible metal transition occurs, coinciding with a multi- to single-fractality transition. The universality class of this critical point is characterized by the correlation length and dynamical exponents. At considerably higher disorder, an Anderson metal-insulator transition takes place. Our results show that the nature of the semimetallic phase in nonclean samples is fundamentally different from a clean nodal semimetal.

Fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis due to free-living amoebae in two boys in two different hospitals in Lima, Perú.

Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused by free-living amoebae is a rare condition that is difficult to diagnose and hard to treat, generally being fatal. Anti-amoebic treatment is often delayed because clinical signs and symptoms may hide the probable causing agent misleading the appropriate diagnostic test. There are four genera of free-living amoeba associated with human infection, Naegleria, Acanthamoeba sp., Balamuthia and Sappinia. Two boys were admitted with diagnosis of acute encephalitis. The history of having been in contact with swimming pools and rivers, supports the suspicion of an infection due to free-living amoebae. In both cases a brain biopsy was done, the histology confirmed granulomatous amoebic encephalitis with the presence of amoebic trophozoites.

Endovascular Management of a Giant High-Flow Lower Limb Arteriovenous Malformation.

PURPOSE: High-flow arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) may pose a challenge for endovascular treatment due to high-flow rates. Incomplete treatment, recurrence, or even worsening can occur if a proper management is not performed. We report a case successfully treated with endovascular therapy. CASE REPORT: A 37-year-old male was referred to our hospital with a soft tumor in the left thigh, limb asymmetry and associated pain. Doppler ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging showed an extensive high-flow AVM with a venous aneurysm of 40 mm diameter. Diagnostic angiography identified multiple feeding vessels from the profunda femoris and superficial femoral arteries. Two endovascular interventions were performed within 1 month, combining afferent vessel embolization and percutaneous thrombin injection into the nidus, to exclude the AVM. Two-year imaging follow-up revealed thrombosis of the malformation. The patient remained asymptomatic with normal thigh diameter. No complications were documented in any of the sessions. CONCLUSION: Endovascular therapy could be a safe and effective option for AVM as long as it includes not only feeding vessels embolization but also complete occlusion of the nidus.

Chern band insulators in a magnetic field.

The effect of a magnetic field on a two-dimensional Chern band insulator is discussed. It is shown that, unlike the trivial insulator, an anomalous Hall insulator with Chern number C becomes a metal when a magnetic field is applied at constant particle density, for any C > 0. For a time-reversal invariant topological insulator with a spin Chern resolved number, C↑ = −C↓ = C, the magnetic field induces a spin polarized spin Hall insulator. We consider also the effect of a superlattice potential and extend previous results for the quantization of the Hall conductance of filled Hofstadter bands to this problem.