Publications by authors named "Berman A"

Introduction: Gallbladder specimens from cholecystectomy procedures are a common specimen evaluated by military pathologists. These are often removed for inflammatory causes. Previous studies show that the incidence of gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is around 3%.

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Introduction: Excessive alcohol use is a major public health concern, for which internet interventions have shown to be effective. Group-average effects may however mask substantial inter-individual variations in changes; identifying predictors of this variation remains an important research question. Biological sex is associated with pharmacokinetic differences in alcohol tolerance, which is reflected in many national guidelines recommending sex-specific thresholds for excessive drinking.

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Background: Addressing the effects of non-compliance with health-related recommendations in pandemics is needed for informed decision-making. This longitudinal study investigated the effects of non-compliance on mental health and academic self-efficacy among university students in Sweden.

Methods: Baseline assessments were conducted in May 2020, with follow-ups after 5 and 10 months.

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Background: Home hospitalization is a care modality growing in popularity worldwide. Telemedicine-driven hospital-at-home (HAH) services could replace traditional hospital departments for selected patients. Chest x-rays typically serve as a key diagnostic tool in such cases.

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Introduction Our pilot Emergency Department Discharge Center (EDDC) facilitates post-discharge appointments, and screens for social determinants of health (SDoH) with a long, paper-based tool. No criteria guide which patients to refer to EDDC for appointment-making. Patients screening positive for SDoH are texted or emailed a list of community-based organizations (CBOs) to contact; the screening tool doesn't assess patients' interest or ability to contact CBOs.

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Plastic pollution has emerged as a growing environmental concern, affecting even the most remote regions of the planet as the Antarctic continent, endangering its ecosystem and contributing to climate change. In this context, a continuous atmospheric microplastics monitoring study was conducted at Carlini Argentine Antarctic Station located in the southwest of 25 de Mayo (King George) Island (South Shetlands). Passive samplers were installed at three locations throughout the station, chosen based on the intensity of human activity and proved to be effective in collecting atmospheric particles over a one-year study period.

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  • The study explores the experiences of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth who have had cancer, revealing a lack of information in this area.
  • Researchers reviewed records of 2790 pediatric gender clinic patients and identified 14 TGD individuals with a history of cancer, assessing various aspects of their care and communication.
  • Key findings highlight that many TGD youth faced challenges regarding the disclosure of their gender identity, proper use of names and pronouns by oncology teams, and the need for better collaboration between gender health and oncology services.
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  • DPAGT1-CDG is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the DPAGT1 gene, leading to issues in the body's glycosylation processes and currently lacking effective treatments.
  • A study used a fruit fly model with eye defects to screen over 1,500 FDA-approved drugs, resulting in the identification of 42 candidates that improved the eye phenotype.
  • Among these, targeting the dopamine D2 receptor showed promise, indicating a link between dopamine signaling and N-glycosylation, while other drug categories, like acetylcholine drugs and COX inhibitors, may also offer new therapeutic possibilities for DPAGT1-CDG.
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Soft sensors that can perceive multiaxial forces, such as normal and shear, are of interest for dexterous robotic manipulation and monitoring of human performance. Typical planar fabrication techniques have substantial design constraints that often prohibit the creation of functionally compelling and complex architectures. Moreover, they often require multiple-step operations for production.

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Purpose: Echo planar time-resolved imaging (EPTI) is a new imaging approach that addresses the limitations of EPI by providing high-resolution, distortion- and T/  blurring-free imaging for functional MRI (fMRI). However, as in all multishot sequences, intershot phase variations induced by physiological processes can introduce temporal instabilities to the reconstructed time-series data. This study aims to reduce these instabilities in multishot EPTI.

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  • The study focuses on introducing and evaluating a new internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) program for gambling disorder in Sweden, comparing it to traditional face-to-face treatments.
  • After two years, the study found significant improvements in symptoms among iCBT patients, along with high satisfaction ratings, suggesting it is an effective treatment alternative.
  • Both iCBT and face-to-face treatment showed similar outcomes in terms of patient engagement and care needs post-treatment, indicating that digital therapy can be a viable option in addiction care.
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Background: Prompt diagnosis of bacteremia in the emergency department (ED) is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, the average time to first clinical laboratory finding range from 1 to 3 days. Alongside a myriad of scoring systems for occult bacteremia prediction, efforts for applying artificial intelligence (AI) in this realm are still preliminary.

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  • * A case of a 60-year-old woman is presented who developed E. rhusiopathiae bacteremia after injuring her leg in a sewer, with no clear animal contact, suggesting sewage as the source.
  • * She improved after being treated with intravenous penicillin, but due to her circumstances, she was switched to an oral antibiotic, linezolid, which was successful, highlighting the bacteria's resistance to vancomycin and limited alternatives for treatment.
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TOR (target of rapamycin), a ubiquitous protein kinase central to cellular homeostasis maintenance, fundamentally regulates ribosome biogenesis in part by its target La-related protein 1 (LARP1). Among other target transcripts, LARP1 specifically binds TOP (terminal oligopyrimidine) mRNAs encoding all 80 ribosomal proteins in a TOR-dependent manner through its C-terminal region containing the DM15 module. Though the functional implications of the LARP1 interaction with target mRNAs is controversial, it is clear that the TOP-LARP1-TOR axis is critical to cellular health in humans.

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Oral artemisinin has antiparasitic activity and may help improve treatment success rates in dogs infected with Babesia gibsoni. However, these artemisinin products are unapproved and unregulated botanical supplements. They have not been evaluated for safety and efficacy or for strength, purity, or quality compared with a reference standard.

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Purpose: Immune gene expression signatures are emerging as potential biomarkers for immunotherapy (IO). VIGex is a 12-gene expression classifier developed in both nCounter (Nanostring) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) assays and analytically validated across laboratories. VIGex classifies tumor samples into hot, intermediate-cold (I-Cold), and cold subgroups.

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The researchers investigated stigma against psychotherapy, Jewish culture, Rabbinical influence, and religiosity as perceived barriers by Jewish persons in the United States when initiating psychotherapy (n = 94). Researchers discovered stigma as a barrier (p = 0.015).

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  • Diabetes mellitus (DM) and elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] are both significant predictors of coronary artery disease (CAD) outcomes, but their combined effects are not well understood.
  • A study analyzing data from over 6,200 patients found that those with either condition had higher rates of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction (MI), especially those with elevated Lp(a).
  • Elevated Lp(a) was shown to be an independent risk factor for CAD outcomes, increasing risk for patients with or without DM.
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There is a growing interest in the production of bioinks that on the one hand, are biocompatible and, on the other hand, have mechanical properties that allow for the production of stable constructs that can survive for a long time after transplantation. While the selection of the right material is crucial for bioprinting, there is another equally important issue that is currently being extensively researched-the incorporation of the vascular system into the fabricated scaffolds. Therefore, in the following manuscript, we present the results of research on bioink with unique physico-chemical and biological properties.

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Background: Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is a robust predictor of coronary heart disease outcomes, with targeted therapies currently under investigation. We aimed to evaluate the association of high Lp(a) with standard modifiable risk factors (SMuRFs) for incident first acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: This retrospective study used the Mass General Brigham Lp(a) Registry, which included patients aged ≥18 years with an Lp(a) measurement between 2000 and 2019.

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