Case control study of access to medications during COVID-19 and longitudinal impact on health outcomes for primary care patients managing multiple chronic conditions.

Background: During coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), people managing multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) experienced barriers to obtaining needed medications. The purposes of this paper are to (i) determine risk factors for difficulty obtaining medications during COVID-19, (ii) document reasons for the difficulty, and (iii) evaluate the impact on later physical and mental health outcomes.

Method: In a randomized controlled trial conducted in 2016-2021, 1969 adult primary care patients were surveyed about physical and mental health both before and during COVID-19.

Dacryoscintillography in Patients With Symptomatic, but Patent, Lacrimal Drainage Systems.

Purpose: To relate dacryoscintillographic features to presenting symptoms and signs for watery-eyed patients with patent drainage systems.

Methods: Retrospective case note and imaging review for patients with watering eye(s) and clinical evidence of impaired tear drainage who underwent dacryoscintillography (DSG). Three DSG features were graded, along with 4 symptoms, 7 signs, and the degree of fluid reflux and nasal fluid passage on gentle syringing.

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2-confirmed hospitalisation in the eastern part of the WHO European Region (2022-2023): a test-negative case-control study from the EuroSAVE network.

Background: Understanding COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) in preventing severe disease is critical to inform vaccine policy. We used the test-negative design to estimate VE against SARS-CoV-2-confirmed hospitalisation in adults ≥18 years in the eastern WHO European Region.

Methods: We included patients hospitalised for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) at sentinel surveillance sites in Albania, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Serbia, and in Kosovo.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of geomorphology, landuse, and storm surge inundation of FDMN settled in Bhasan Char island using geo-spatial techniques.

Bhasan Char has undergone noteworthy transformations in its geographical characteristics since its emergence in 2003. Driven by sediment transported by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system, the island has gradually transitioned from a stretched-out configuration to a more rounded shape primarily due to continuous accretion, while erosion has been minimal since 2012. Currently, the island is being prepared to accommodate over 1 million Forcefully Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) refugees.

Pilot and feasibility study of dietary composition with elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor concentrations in people with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Nutritional support for people with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) after the implementation of novel drug therapies is shifting from managing malnutrition through a high-fat, high-calorie diet to managing emerging incidences of obesity in this population. Additionally, dietary recommendations prescribed with elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI) recommend taking this drug with a fat-containing meal, which is variably interpreted by patients. This pilot and feasibility study was conducted to assess dietary fat intake and body composition on ETI plasma concentrations.

Measurement of breast artery calcification using an artificial intelligence detection model and its association with major adverse cardiovascular events.

Breast artery calcification (BAC) obtained from standard mammographic images is currently under evaluation to stratify risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in women. Measuring BAC using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, we aimed to determine the relationship between BAC and coronary artery calcification (CAC) severity with Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE). This retrospective study included women who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) within one year of mammography.

Can criminology sway the public? How empirical findings about deterrence affect public punishment preferences.

Background Setting: Punitive approaches to deter offending remain popular despite limited evidence of their effectiveness. This study investigated what effect presenting empirical criminological findings about the effectiveness of deterrence to a general public has on their punishment preferences. It builds on earlier research showing that such presentation reduces the public's inclination towards strict punishment.

Patterns of Failure After Definitive Trimodality Therapy for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Background: Real-world outcomes, especially patterns of failure, are limited for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) treated with trimodality therapy (TMT). We aim to evaluate patterns of failure after TMT for MIBC in a typical heterogeneous population.

Methods: In the national Veterans Affairs database, patients with urothelial histology, MIBC (T2-4a/N0-3/M0) who underwent definitive intent TMT between 2000-2018.

Targeted Ganglionated Plexi Ablation With Nanoformulated Calcium Suppresses Postoperative AF Via Vagosympatholytic and Anti-Inflammatory Effects.

Background: The mechanisms underlying postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) remain unclear.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that targeted chemical ganglionated plexi (GP) modulation of all major left atrial-pulmonary vein GP using novel nanoformulated calcium chloride (nCaCl) can reverse postoperative neuroelectrical remodeling by suppressing vagosympathetic nerve activity and the localized inflammatory process, both critical substrates of POAF.

Methods: In a novel canine model of POAF with serial thoracopericardiotomies, sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), vagal nerve activity (VNA) and GP nerve activity (GPNA) were recorded; spontaneous and in vivo AF vulnerability were assessed; and atrial and circulating inflammatory markers and norepinephrine (NE) were measured to determine the neuroelectrical remodeling that promotes POAF and its subsequent modulation with nCaCl GP treatment (n = 6) vs saline sham controls (n = 6).

New Diagnoses of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of a Large United States Commercial Insurance Database.

Background/objective: Little is known about the rates of rheumatic disease diagnosis among children during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the impact of the pandemic on the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in the United States.

Methods: We performed a historical cohort study using US commercial insurance data (2016-2021) to identify children aged <18 years without prior JIA diagnosis or treatment in the prior ≥12 months.

The Well-being Coaching Program: An Innovative Approach to Support and Empower Healthcare Workers.

Healthcare workers globally grapple with escalating stress and burnout. This article explores the Well-being Coaching Program (WBCP), designed to boost healthcare worker well-being. The WBCP focuses on Self-leadership using the Compassion, Presence, and Recovery framework.

Presentation of Orbital Metastases.

Purpose: To compare clinical characteristics of patients with and without a known systemic malignancy at the time of diagnosis of orbital metastases.

Methods: Retrospective case note and imaging review for patients with orbital metastases presenting between 1980 and 2022. Patients were classified as having known malignancy at orbital presentation (group I) or without known malignancy (group II).

Clinical Characteristics of Patients With Symptomatic Nasolacrimal Duct Stenosis.

Purpose: To characterize symptoms and signs for patients with tearing eye(s) and ipsilateral nasolacrimal duct stenosis (NLDS), as defined by delayed fluorescein disappearance test and ocular reflux of saline during gentle irrigation of a patent drainage system.

Methods: Retrospective case-note review of a consistent grading of 4 symptoms and 7 signs, together with estimates of the degree of fluid reflux and nasal fluid passage on gentle saline syringing. Characteristics, including gender differences, were compared for unilateral or bilateral symptoms.

Etiology and correlates of alcohol misuse in early midlife.

Background: Early midlife individuals (ages 30-40) experience demographic shifts that may influence the remainder of adult life. Although new or persistent alcohol misuse is common during this period, early midlife is understudied in alcohol use literature. We examined the heritability of alcohol misuse; the associations between alcohol misuse and sociodemographic factors, physical health, and well-being; and whether these associations were robust in cotwin comparisons.

Bleximenib, the novel menin-KMT2A inhibitor JNJ-75276617, impairs long-term proliferation and immune evasion in acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains challenging to treat, which in part relates to genetic heterogeneity of the disease, to the protective tumor microenvironment driving resistance to therapy, and also to immune evasion characteristics of leukemic cells. Targeting epigenetic programs in AML provides an attractive opportunity to impair long-term proliferation and induce differentiation. The novel inhibitor JNJ- 75276617 (bleximenib) targets the menin-KMT2A interaction and provides preclinical efficacy in AML (Kwon et al1).

Reliability of high-quantity human brain organoids for modeling microcephaly, glioma invasion and drug screening.

Brain organoids offer unprecedented insights into brain development and disease modeling and hold promise for drug screening. Significant hindrances, however, are morphological and cellular heterogeneity, inter-organoid size differences, cellular stress, and poor reproducibility. Here, we describe a method that reproducibly generates thousands of organoids across multiple hiPSC lines.

Surveillance of Human Adenovirus Types and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Reporting - United States, 2017-2023.

Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) are typically associated with mild respiratory illnesses, although severe disease and outbreaks in congregate settings occur. The National Adenovirus Type Reporting System (NATRS) is a passive, laboratory-based surveillance system that monitors trends in circulation of HAdV types in the United States. This report summarizes the distribution of HAdV types reported to NATRS during 2017-2023.

From Isolation to Social (and Psychedelic) Integration: A Sociology of Collective Effervescence and Therapeutic Community in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy.

There is a disparity between contemporary scientific investigations into psychedelic phenomena and their 20-century counterparts, notably the lack of examination of psychedelic experiences within group settings. Whereas early research studies from the 1950s to the 1970s explored communal settings in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), today's resurgence of scholarship in the field primarily considers individualised, often clinical, settings. Consequently, there is an absence of empirical research and theoretical innovation on collective psychedelic contexts, for example, how social connectedness occurs relationally and what its impacts are.

Molecular and metabolomic characterization of hiPSC-derived cardiac fibroblasts transitioning to myofibroblasts.

Background: Mechanical stress and pathological signaling trigger the activation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, which impacts extracellular matrix composition, disrupts normal wound healing, and can generate deleterious fibrosis. Myocardial fibrosis independently promotes cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest, and contributes to the severity of heart failure. Fibrosis can also alter cell-to-cell communication and increase myocardial stiffness which eventually may lead to lusitropic and inotropic cardiac dysfunction.

Graying arts access: crafting creative online programming to promote older adults' artistic engagement in and beyond pandemic time.

Introduction: Declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, the COVID-19 virus and attendant patchwork of local, regional, and national government-initiated public health responses to it unexpectedly opened possibilities for greater access to culture for disabled and chronically ill people in ways that were unimagined in pre-pandemic times. During the "emergency" period of the pandemic, the fields of critical disability studies and aging studies independently demonstrated the importance and value of shifting to digital technologies for disabled people and older adults respectively; however, to date, little scholarship has considered the value of digital technologies for older adults aging with and into disabilities beyond pandemic time.

Methods: Informed by the theoretical insights of scholarship exploring critical access and the aging-disability nexus, this paper draws from empirical data collected during Phase 2 of Direct[Message]: Digital Access to Artistic Engagement, a collaborative, community-based, arts-informed research project based in Southwestern Ontario (Canada).

Academic and Community Hospitals differ in stroke subtype classification and cardiac monitoring: the DiVERT multi-center cohort study.

Background: Cardiac monitoring strategies to detect occult atrial fibrillation (AF) post-stroke differ among healthcare institutions. This may be related to discrepancies in stroke subtype classification/adjudication, and/or consultation of cardiology specialists at Community Hospitals (CoH) and Academic Centers (AcC). Identifying the degree of heterogeneity may encourage development of guideline-directed monitoring protocols, result in higher AF detection rates and treatments, and fewer strokes.

Ngā Māuiui Kai: creating Indigenous Māori terms for eating disorders in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Background: Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) report higher rates of eating disorders than non-Māori, but access treatment at lower rates. Diagnostic terms lacking in cultural relevance likely contribute to Māori exclusion in eating disorder spaces. Developing terms in te reo Māori (the Māori language) presents an opportunity to challenge eating disorder stereotypes and increase cultural safety in the eating disorder workforce.