17-year trends of body mass index, overweight, and obesity among adolescents from 2005 to 2021, including the COVID-19 pandemic: a Korean national representative study

OBJECTIVE

There is a lack of pediatric studies that have analyzed trends in mean body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of obesity and overweight over a period that includes the mid-stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we aimed to investigate trends in BMI, overweight, and obesity among Korean adolescents from 2005 to 2021, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

We used data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS), which is nationally representative of South Korea. The study included middle- and high-school students between the ages of 12 and 18. We examined trends in mean BMI and prevalence of obesity and/or overweight during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared these to those of pre-pandemic trends in each subgroup by gender, grade, and residential region.

RESULTS

Data from 1,111,300 adolescents (mean age: 15.04 years) were analyzed. The estimated weighted mean BMI was 20.48 kg/m2 (95% CI, 20.46-20.51) between 2005 and 2007, and this was 21.61 kg/m2 (95% CI, 21.54-21.68) in 2021. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 13.1% (95% CI, 12.9-13.3%) between 2005 and 2007 and 23.4% (95% CI, 22.8-24.0%) in 2021. The mean BMI and prevalence of obesity and overweight have gradually increased over the past 17 years; however, the extent of change in mean BMI and in the prevalence of obesity and overweight during the pandemic was distinctly less than before. The 17-year trends in the mean BMI, obesity, and overweight exhibited a considerable rise from 2005 to 2021; however, the slope during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) was significantly less prominent than in the pre-pandemic (2005-2019).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings enable us to comprehend long-term trends in the mean BMI of Korean adolescents and further emphasize the need for practical prevention measures against youth obesity and overweight.

Study of the N=32 and N=34 Shell Gap for Ti and V by the First High-Precision Multireflection Time-of-Flight Mass Measurements at BigRIPS-SLOWRI

The atomic masses of ^{55}Sc, ^{56,58}Ti, and ^{56-59}V have been determined using the high-precision multireflection time-of-flight technique. The radioisotopes have been produced at RIKEN's Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF) and delivered to the novel designed gas cell and multireflection system, which has been recently commissioned downstream of the ZeroDegree spectrometer following the BigRIPS separator. For ^{56,58}Ti and ^{56-59}V, the mass uncertainties have been reduced down to the order of 10 keV, shedding new light on the N=34 shell effect in Ti and V isotopes by the first high-precision mass measurements of the critical species ^{58}Ti and ^{59}V. With the new precision achieved, we reveal the nonexistence of the N=34 empirical two-neutron shell gaps for Ti and V, and the enhanced energy gap above the occupied νp_{3/2} orbit is identified as a feature unique to Ca. We perform new Monte Carlo shell model calculations including the νd_{5/2} and νg_{9/2} orbits and compare the results with conventional shell model calculations, which exclude the νg_{9/2} and the νd_{5/2} orbits. The comparison indicates that the shell gap reduction in Ti is related to a partial occupation of the higher orbitals for the outer two valence neutrons at N=34.

COVID-19 vaccination-related exacerbation of seizures in persons with epilepsy

Although vaccines are generally safe in persons with epilepsy (PWE), seizures can be associated with vaccination, including COVID-19. This study assessed the occurrence of COVID-19 vaccination-related seizure exacerbations in PWE. Adult PWE who had received a COVID-19 vaccine were consecutively recruited at a tertiary epilepsy clinic between June 2021 and April 2022. Patient demographics, including epilepsy history, vaccination details, and reported adverse effects were recorded. Seizure exacerbation, defined as occurring within one week of vaccination, was assessed. Five hundred and thirty PWE received the COVID-19 vaccine. 75 % received the Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccine as their initial dose. Most patients (72 %) were taking ≥ 2 antiseizure medications (ASM) and had focal epilepsy (73 %). One-third were 12 months seizure free at their first vaccination. 13 patients (2.5 %) reported a seizure exacerbation following their first vaccination, three of whom required admission. None were seizure-free at baseline. Six of these patients (46 %) had a further exacerbation of seizures with their second vaccine. An additional four patients reported increased seizures only with the second vaccine dose. Seizure exacerbations are infrequently associated with COVID-19 vaccination, mainly in patients with ongoing seizures. The likelihood of COVID-19 infection complications in PWE outweighs the risk of vaccination-related seizure exacerbations.

Extended p_{3/2} Neutron Orbital and the N=32 Shell Closure in ^{52}Ca

The one-neutron knockout from ^{52}Ca in inverse kinematics onto a proton target was performed at ∼230  MeV/nucleon combined with prompt γ spectroscopy. Exclusive quasifree scattering cross sections to bound states in ^{51}Ca and the momentum distributions corresponding to the removal of 1f_{7/2} and 2p_{3/2} neutrons were measured. The cross sections, interpreted within the distorted-wave impulse approximation reaction framework, are consistent with a shell closure at the neutron number N=32, found as strong as at N=28 and N=34 in Ca isotopes from the same observables. The analysis of the momentum distributions leads to a difference of the root-mean-square radii of the neutron 1f_{7/2} and 2p_{3/2} orbitals of 0.61(23) fm, in agreement with the modified-shell-model prediction of 0.7 fm suggesting that the large root-mean-square radius of the 2p_{3/2} orbital in neutron-rich Ca isotopes is responsible for the unexpected linear increase of the charge radius with the neutron number.

Observation of a Strongly Isospin-Mixed Doublet in ^{26}Si via β-Delayed Two-Proton Decay of ^{26}P

β decay of proton-rich nuclei plays an important role in exploring isospin mixing. The β decay of ^{26}P at the proton drip line is studied using double-sided silicon strip detectors operating in conjunction with high-purity germanium detectors. The T=2 isobaric analog state (IAS) at 13 055 keV and two new high-lying states at 13 380 and 11 912 keV in ^{26}Si are unambiguously identified through β-delayed two-proton emission (β2p). Angular correlations of two protons emitted from ^{26}Si excited states populated by ^{26}P β decay are measured, which suggests that the two protons are emitted mainly sequentially. We report the first observation of a strongly isospin-mixed doublet that deexcites mainly via two-proton decay. The isospin mixing matrix element between the ^{26}Si IAS and the nearby 13 380-keV state is determined to be 130(21) keV, and this result represents the strongest mixing, highest excitation energy, and largest level spacing of a doublet ever observed in β-decay experiments.

Measurements of the associated production of a W boson and a charm quark in proton-proton collisions at s = 8 TeV

Measurements of the associated production of a W boson and a charm ( c ) quark in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are reported. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb - 1 collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm quark jets are selected using distinctive signatures of charm hadron decays. The product of the cross section and branching fraction σ ( pp → W + c + X ) B ( W → ℓ ν ) , where ℓ = e or μ , and the cross section ratio σ ( pp → W + + c ¯ + X ) / σ ( pp → W - + c + X ) are measured in a fiducial volume and differentially as functions of the pseudorapidity and of the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W boson decay. The results are compared with theoretical predictions. The impact of these measurements on the determination of the strange quark distribution is assessed.

Scale-up of the Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers promote Activity in Youth (iPLAY) intervention: a hybrid type 3 implementation-effectiveness trial

BACKGROUND

Whole-of-school programs have demonstrated success in improving student physical activity levels, but few have progressed beyond efficacy testing to implementation at-scale. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the scale-up of the 'Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers promote Activity in Youth' (iPLAY) intervention in primary schools using the RE-AIM framework.

METHODS

We conducted a type 3 hybrid implementation-effectiveness study and collected data between April 2016 and June 2021, in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. RE-AIM was operationalised as: (i) Reach: Number and representativeness of students exposed to iPLAY; (ii) Effectiveness: Impact of iPLAY in a sub-sample of students (n = 5,959); (iii) Adoption: Number and representativeness of schools that received iPLAY; (iv) Implementation: Extent to which the three curricular and three non-curricular components of iPLAY were delivered as intended; (v) Maintenance: Extent to which iPLAY was sustained in schools. We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with teachers (n = 14), leaders (n = 19), and principals (n = 10) from 18 schools (11 from urban and 7 from rural locations) to determine program maintenance.

RESULTS

Reach: iPLAY reached ~ 31,000 students from a variety of socio-economic strata (35% of students were in the bottom quartile, almost half in the middle two quartiles, and 20% in the top quartile).

EFFECTIVENESS

We observed small positive intervention effects for enjoyment of PE/sport (0.12 units, 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.20, d = 0.17), perceptions of need support from teachers (0.26 units, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.53, d = 0.40), physical activity participation (0.28 units, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.47, d = 0.14), and subjective well-being (0.82 units, 95% CI: 0.32 to 1.32, d = 0.12) at 24-months. Adoption: 115 schools received iPLAY.

IMPLEMENTATION

Most schools implemented the curricular (59%) and non-curricular (55%) strategies as intended. Maintenance: Based on our qualitative data, changes in teacher practices and school culture resulting from iPLAY were sustained.

CONCLUSIONS

iPLAY had extensive reach and adoption in NSW primary schools. Most of the schools implemented iPLAY as intended and effectiveness data suggest the positive effects observed in our cluster RCT were sustained when the intervention was delivered at-scale.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ACTRN12621001132831.

Formation of robust bound states of interacting microwave photons

Systems of correlated particles appear in many fields of modern science and represent some of the most intractable computational problems in nature. The computational challenge in these systems arises when interactions become comparable to other energy scales, which makes the state of each particle depend on all other particles1. The lack of general solutions for the three-body problem and acceptable theory for strongly correlated electrons shows that our understanding of correlated systems fades when the particle number or the interaction strength increases. One of the hallmarks of interacting systems is the formation of multiparticle bound states2-9. Here we develop a high-fidelity parameterizable fSim gate and implement the periodic quantum circuit of the spin-½ XXZ model in a ring of 24 superconducting qubits. We study the propagation of these excitations and observe their bound nature for up to five photons. We devise a phase-sensitive method for constructing the few-body spectrum of the bound states and extract their pseudo-charge by introducing a synthetic flux. By introducing interactions between the ring and additional qubits, we observe an unexpected resilience of the bound states to integrability breaking. This finding goes against the idea that bound states in non-integrable systems are unstable when their energies overlap with the continuum spectrum. Our work provides experimental evidence for bound states of interacting photons and discovers their stability beyond the integrability limit.

Noise-resilient edge modes on a chain of superconducting qubits

Inherent symmetry of a quantum system may protect its otherwise fragile states. Leveraging such protection requires testing its robustness against uncontrolled environmental interactions. Using 47 superconducting qubits, we implement the one-dimensional kicked Ising model, which exhibits nonlocal Majorana edge modes (MEMs) with ℤ 2 parity symmetry. We find that any multiqubit Pauli operator overlapping with the MEMs exhibits a uniform late-time decay rate comparable to single-qubit relaxation rates, irrespective of its size or composition. This characteristic allows us to accurately reconstruct the exponentially localized spatial profiles of the MEMs. Furthermore, the MEMs are found to be resilient against certain symmetry-breaking noise owing to a prethermalization mechanism. Our work elucidates the complex interplay between noise and symmetry-protected edge modes in a solid-state environment.

Living Lab: Design a digital health intervention for healthy diet of ethnic minority adolescents

 

Eating habits cultivated during adolescence continue through adulthood, and can widen the health gap in adulthood for vulnerable ethnic minority adolescents (EMA). Living Lab is a methodological approach through which stakeholders co-create innovations as citizen scientists in real-life settings. This study aimed to design a digital health intervention (DHI) for enhancing the heathy diet of EMA using the Living Lab approach. The DHI’s content and strategies were derived through literature reviews and focus group interviews. The Living Lab was structured by using 5 principles: real-life setting, user engagement, multi-stakeholder participation, multi-method, and co-creation. It has four activity phases of discovering problems, exploring solutions, solving problems, and disseminating solutions putting more emphasis on the use of digital device and multiple stakeholders such as peers and teachers in co-ideation. DHI participants were grouped into equal proportions of EMA and Korean-ethnic peers. The DHI operates for 2 hours once a week for 4 weeks, with orientation and wrap-up sessions before and after the DHI. Each activity of the co-working process is designed by applying behavior change techniques such as prompts/cues, framing/reframing, and credible sources in a digital educational environment: creating content using Google Jamboard and Padlet, and working on the metaverse platform ZEP. The responses and feedback from the participants are received through an online reflection diary weekly. Usability and acceptability of digital technology are assessed by an online survey on completion of the DHI. The efficacy of DHI is assessed through the change in dietary behavior and food literacy. This study was designed to enable EMA recognize the harmful effects of an unhealthy diet and co-create solutions through dynamic activities in a digital environment. Further, it may serve to change the cultural sensitivity of native peers that influence the health choices of EMA.

Key messages

• Digital-based intervention would be an effective way for vulnerable ethnic minority adolescents to engage in healthy diet.

• The Living Lab approach was used as an essential strategy to develop a digital health intervention to improve the healthy diet of ethnic minority adolescents.

Diverse perspectives on social determinants of multicultural adolescents: A focus group study

Background

As Korea transforms into a multicultural society, social vulnerability of the multicultural adolescents (MAs) puts them at risk for poor health and health disparities. However, there is shortage of evidence on social determinants of health (SDH), which refers to the circumstances of people from birth to death, which affects their health outcomes, for MAs. Thus, this study aims to explore the SDH of MAs from diverse stakeholders’ perspectives.

Methods

This qualitative study comprised 17 focus group interviews with 99 participants (MAs, peers, parents, teachers, neighbors, and community leaders), conducted from June to September 2020. The directed content analysis was conducted using the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework with a high rigor level based on the four criteria of Lincoln and Guba’s trustworthiness.

Results

The participants addressed SDH of MAs in five domains: biological (vulnerability and mechanism); behavioral (health behavior, family/school/peer functioning, and policies and laws); physical/built environment (school/community environment); sociocultural environment (MAs'/parental sociodemographic, language proficiency, MAs'/parental acculturation, social network, and response to/interpersonal/local/societal structural discrimination); and health care system (insurance coverage, MAs'/parental health literacy, availability of services, and health care policies). However, limited SDH in biological and physical/built environment domains were identified.

Conclusions

SDH in sociocultural environment domain and interpersonal influence level were the most commonly addressed. Interpersonal discrimination of both MAs and parents were found to be the most important SDH. These findings suggest that future programs to enhance MAs’ health may be targeted toward reducing discrimination and involving their parents.

Key messages

• Sociocultural environment was found to be the most salient SDH domain to affect MAs’ health.

• SDH of MAs are linked to discrimination and their parents’ sociocultural aspects such as acculturation.

Therapeutic Implementation of Oncolytic Viruses for Cancer Immunotherapy: Review of Challenges and Current Clinical Trials

The development of cancer therapeutics has evolved from general targets with radiation and chemotherapy and shifted toward treatments with a more specific mechanism of action such as small molecule kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies against tumor antigens, or checkpoint inhibitors. Recently, oncolytic viruses (OVs) have come to the forefront as a viable option for cancer immunotherapy, especially for "cold" tumors, which are known to inhabit an immunologically suppressive tumor microenvironment. Desired characteristics of viruses are selected through genetic attenuation of uncontrolled virulence, and some genes are replaced with ones that enhance conditional viral replication within tumor cells. Treatment with OVs must overcome various hurdles such as premature viral suppression by the host's immune system and the dense stromal barrier. Currently, clinical studies investigate the efficacy of OVs in conjunction with various anti-cancer therapeutics, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies. Thus, future research should explore how cancer therapeutics work synergistically with certain OVs in order to create more effective combination therapies and improve patient outcomes.

Search for Dark Matter Axions with CAST-CAPP

The CAST-CAPP axion haloscope, operating at CERN inside the CAST dipole magnet, has searched for axions in the 19.74 μeV to 22.47 μeV mass range. The detection concept follows the Sikivie haloscope principle, where Dark Matter axions convert into photons within a resonator immersed in a magnetic field. The CAST-CAPP resonator is an array of four individual rectangular cavities inserted in a strong dipole magnet, phase-matched to maximize the detection sensitivity. Here we report on the data acquired for 4124 h from 2019 to 2021. Each cavity is equipped with a fast frequency tuning mechanism of 10 MHz/ min between 4.774 GHz and 5.434 GHz. In the present work, we exclude axion-photon couplings for virialized galactic axions down to g_aγγ = 8 × 10⁻¹⁴ GeV⁻¹ at the 90% confidence level. The here implemented phase-matching technique also allows for future large-scale upgrades.

Haloscopes aim at detecting axions by converting them into photons using high-quality resonant cavities, where the cavity resonance should be tuned with the unknown axion mass. Here, the authors improve exclusion limits using four phase-matched resonant cavities and a fast frequency scanning technique.

Clinical outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention and rotational atherectomy using second generation drug eluting stents: a Korean multicentre analysis

Background

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of different second generation drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients with calcified coronary lesions who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention using rotational atherectomy.

Methods

This study was based on a multicentre registry which enrolled patients with calcified coronary artery disease who received RA during between January 2010 and October 2019 from 9 tertiary centres in Korea. The primary outcome was target-vessel failure (TVF), defined as the compositae of cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction (MI), and target-vessel revascularisation (TVR). The secondary outcomes were all-cause death, cardiac death, target vessel MI, TVR, cardiovascular accident, stent thrombosis, and total bleeding.

Results

540 patients who underwent PCI after RA were enrolled and followed up for a median period of 16.1 months. From this registry, 439 patients who were treated using second generation DES were selected for further analysis. They were divided into four groups based on the characteristics of the stents used during the procedure. [Group I cobalt-chromium sirolimus eluting stent (CoCr-SES): Ultimaster 48 & Orsiro 30, Group II platinum-chromium everolimus eluting stent (PtCr-EES): Synergy 93 & Promus 70, Group III cobalt-chromium everolimus eluting stent (CoCr-EES): Xience 105, Group IV zotarolimus eluting stent (ZES): Resolute 93] There was no inter-group difference in procedural success rates, and the primary outcome of TVF showed no difference across the four groups (I: 10.3%, II: 13.5%, III: 13.3%, IV: 15.1%, log-rank p=0.922). Even after multivariate Cox regression analysis, there was no significant difference in TVF, or the secondary outcomes of all-cause death, cardiac death, target vessel MI, TVR, cardiovascular accident, stent thrombosis, and total bleeding.

Conclusions

There was no difference in procedural success rates and clinical outcomes between four different types of second-generation DES (CoCr-SES, PtCr-EES, CoCr-EES, ZES) in patients who underwent PCI using RA.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.

Differential impact of coronary revascularization on long-term clinical outcome according to coronary flow characteristics: analysis of the international ILIAS registry

Backgrounds

Coronary pressure indices such as fractional flow reserve (FFR) are standard in guiding elective revascularization. However, considering additional coronary flow parameters could further individualize and optimize the decision on revascularization, especially in terms of the impact on prognosis. We aimed to investigate the potentially differential prognostic associations of elective PCI according to coronary flow properties represented by coronary flow reserve (CFR), coronary flow capacity (CFC) and baseline CFC (bCFC).

Methods

From the Inclusive invasive physiological assessment in angina syndromes (ILIAS) registry composed of 16 hospitals globally from 7 countries, patients with obstructive coronary artery disease who underwent invasive coronary physiological assessment were included (N=2370 vessels). We assessed effect measure modifications of the association of PCI and 5-year target vessel failure (TVF) according to CFR, CFC and bCFC either assessed by Doppler-technique or thermodilution-method in three models: conditional logistic regression, marginal structural model, and COX proportional hazard model. Reduced CFR, CFC and bCFC were defined as CFR<2.1, CFR<2.1 with hyperemic average peak flow velocity (APV)<33.8 cm/s, and CFR<2.1 with baseline APV>17.0 cm/s in Doppler-technique, respectively (Figure 1), and the corresponding percentiles in thermodilution-methods. All models were adjusted for FFR, the interaction between PCI and FFR, and other confounders.

Results

The mean age of the population was 63.3 years and there were 1322 (73.6%) males. Median FFR was 0.85 and PCI was performed in 600 (25.3%) vessels. Reduced CFR, CFC, and abnormal bCFC were defined in 988 (41.7%), 542 (22.9%), and 600 (25.3%) vessels, respectively. There were little overlaps in vessels with reduced CFC and abnormal bCFC. In univariate analyses, vessels with reduced CFC had worse outcomes compared with those with normal CFC if deferred (13.4% vs. 6.6%), whereas reduced CFC was associated with better prognosis if treated by PCI (9.5% vs. 11.3%). Significant effect measure modifications were observed by CFC either in odds ratio (P=0.0018), additive (P=0.029), and hazard ratio scale (P=0.0002) (Figure 2). Vessels with reduced CFC had, compared with those with normal CFC, higher adjusted absolute risk of 5-year TVF by 5.9 [0.1, 12] percent if deferred, but lower risk by 1.8 [−1.7, 5.3] percent if treated by PCI. CFR and bCFC were not significant effect modifiers in any scales. Similar associations were observed in per-patient analyses, whereas the findings were less robust.

Conclusions

We observed a beneficial impact of PCI on absolute risk of 5-year clinical outcomes in vessels with reduced CFC, and a detrimental effect in those with normal CFC. CFR and bCFC were not robust effect modifiers of PCI. Therefore, CFC, combined with FFR, could be potentially used to optimize the patient selection for elective PCI treatment.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.

Bentracimab demonstrates reversal of antiplatelet effects of ticagrelor: impact of hematocrit and generic versions of ticagrelor in vitro

 

Recent clinical studies demonstrated bentracimab provides immediate and sustained reversal of ticagrelor's antiplatelet effects in patients undergoing surgical procedures or with bleeding. Ticagrelor reversal was assessed by VerifyNow PRUTest (VN) and other platelet function testing assays in Phase I-III studies. As decreases in hematocrit (hct) may impact the VN result, it remains to be demonstrated whether this assay can detect platelet function restoration by bentracimab in bleeding patients with low hct. Additionally, bentracimab utility against generic ticagrelors is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of decreased hct and generic forms of ticagrelor on platelet function and subsequent reversal by bentracimab, as measured by light transmission aggregometry (LTA) and VN. The hct level in blood samples collected from healthy volunteers (n=10) was sequentially lowered to 32, 30, 25, 22.5, 20 or 15% by addition of autologous platelet-rich plasma to whole blood with matching platelet counts. Prepared samples were treated with nothing, vehicle, or ticagrelor (3.0 μg/mL) followed by treatment with bentracimab (1.2 mg/mL). In a separate study, blood collected from healthy volunteers (n=10) was treated with nothing, vehicle, ticagrelor or generic ticagrelors (3.0 and 5.6 μg/mL; mean and peak plasma levels in the Phase 1 trial) prior to addition of bentracimab (0, 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 mg/mL; below the reported minimum to peak plasma level) to demonstrate a dose response. Reversal was assessed by either ADP-mediated LTA or VN or both assays. Results show a decrease in hct to <30% significantly increased the PRU in untreated samples (p<0.05). Ticagrelor treatment significantly decreased the PRU in all hct groups (p<0.0001). When normalized to each donor's baseline PRU values, bentracimab reversed the ticagrelor effects within 10-min, restoring the PRU value to 54–73% for all hct groups. PRU values were further restored to 85–93% of baseline PRU after 1-hr treatment. The PRU inhibition for both 10-min and 1-hr treatments were not significantly different across the hct groups, except for the 10-min treatment in the 15% hct group vs. unadjusted hct group (p<0.05), suggesting equivalent reversal by bentracimab across the hct range. In the second study, treatment with generic ticagrelor demonstrated significant platelet inhibition and was comparable to standard ticagrelor. Bentracimab (>0.6 mg/mL) immediately restored platelet function after ticagrelor treatment to 80–100% of baseline using the VN test. LTA data demonstrated similar results to VN, but as expected, reversal was less robust with 5.6 μg/mL ticagrelor + 0.6 mg/mL bentracimab combination (mean 55% of baseline values). Collectively, these data suggest the VN test can effectively measure the antiplatelet effects of ticagrelor and subsequent reversal, even at low hct, and bentracimab is also capable of reversing the antiplatelet effects of generic forms of ticagrelor.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: Private company. Main funding source(s): PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc