is a fungal pathogen that can cause lethal disease in immunocompromised patients. Immunocompetent host immune responses, such as formation of pulmonary granulomas, control the infection and prevent disseminated disease. Little is known about the immunological conditions establishing the latent infection granuloma in the lungs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs), like functional dyspepsia (FD), are prevalent and challenging conditions. In other gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, individuals from underserved areas (UAs) have difficulty accessing care. Little is known about UA FD patient perspectives of their care, especially in those with limited English proficiency (LEP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: is a fungal pathogen that can cause lethal disease in immunocompromised patients. Immunocompetent host immune responses, such as formation of pulmonary granulomas, control the infection and prevent disseminated disease. Little is known about the immunological conditions establishing the latent infection granuloma in the lungs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies across various pathogens highlight the importance of pathogen genetic differences in disease manifestation. In the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, sequence type (ST) associates with patient outcome. We performed a meta-analysis of four genomic studies and identified overlapping gene regions associated with virulence, suggesting the importance of these gene regions in cryptococcal disease in diverse clinical isolates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInnate immunity is the first line of defense against infections and the only known available strategy for invertebrates. Crustaceans, being mostly aquatic invertebrates, are constantly exposed to potential pathogens in the surrounding water. Their immune system abolishes most microbes that enter and are recognized as a threat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGold nanostructures (AuNSs) were used to fabricate surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. These AuNSs were produced using the solid-state dewetting method from thin films. The fragmentation process was studied at 300 °C, with durations of thermal treatment of 1, 3, 6, and 12 h.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore how Sesame Workshop resources are perceived by Latino families with economic hardship and to highlight approaches for early heart healthy routine promotion.
Methods: We performed a purposive sampling of Latina mothers (n = 40) with young children experiencing economic hardship. Using an interview guide informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, we recorded Spanish and English semistructured interviews, which were translated and transcribed verbatim.
Biologic therapies play a critical role in modern medical practice but also present challenges for payers, patients, and other stakeholders because of their high cost. Biosimilars can mitigate the cost pressures of reference biologic therapy because they are typically priced at least 25% lower, providing a means to administer cutting-edge biologic therapy while also managing cost of care. In fact, the US health care system has saved an estimated $23.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Voxelotor can increase hemoglobin levels in patients living with sickle cell disease (SCD). A clinician who is monitoring voxelotor response may want to know whole-blood voxelotor concentration, but this cannot be measured in most clinical settings. However, voxelotor has been demonstrated to cause "peak splitting" in common methods of hemoglobin measurement such as capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFundamental data analysis assists in the evaluation of critical questions to discern essential facts and elicit formerly invisible evidence. In this article, we provide clarity into a subtle phenomenon observed in cancer incidences throughout the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the cancer incidence data from the American Cancer Society [1].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn 83-year-old man with symptomatic severe aortic valve stenosis with severe ventricular dysfunction underwent valvuloplasty with a 25-mm NuCLEUS-X balloon (B. Braun Interventional Systems) and percutaneous coronary intervention of the left main and circumflex arteries (left anterior descending artery presented a chronic total occlusion without viability of this territory) before being referred for transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeta-analytic methods were used to examine global and domain-specific (i.e., academic, social, behavioral) self-esteem in children and adolescents with and without ADHD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisease outbreaks in crustacean aquaculture caused by opportunistic and obligate pathogens cause severe economic losses to the industry. Antibiotics are frequently used as prophylactic treatments worldwide, although its overuse and misuse has led to microbial resistance, which has driven the search for novel molecules with immunostimulant and antibacterial activities. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) and double-stranded (ds)RNAs constitute promising immunostimulants in the fight against infectious diseases in aquaculture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The confirmation of malignant pleural effusions (MPE) requires an invasive procedure. Diagnosis can be difficult and may require repeated thoracentesis or biopsies. Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) can characterize the extent of malignant involvement in areas of increased uptake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: To assist in addressing medical readiness challenges, the DOD has established various Centers of Excellence to focus efforts to protect, treat, train, and educate service members concerning risks and potential injuries. Using the hearing health domain as a pilot, this effort used DOD methods to evaluate all facets of successful health behavior change (HBC) practices within a military environment and developed a framework and pathway for HBC.
Methods: The DOD uses the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) to ensure new DOD capabilities are identified and fielded in a manner that is interoperable, resilient, and supportables.
Background: Although hospitals have been the traditional setting for interventional and rehabilitative care, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) can offer a high-quality and less costly alternative than hospitals. Unfortunately, the financial health of SNFs is often a matter of concern. To partially address these issues, SNF leaders have increased engagement in a number of affiliations to assist in improving quality and reducing operational costs, including Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), and participation in Bundled Payment for Care Improvement (BPCI) programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPerfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are often referred to as legacy perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Human exposure to PFAS leads to severe negative health impacts including cancers, infertility, and dysfunction in the kidneys. Steady-state absorbance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) methods were used to study the interactions between PFOA and Hb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHospital equity officers have become critical leaders in the effort to address the determinants of health care disparities, including structural racism. In this mixed-methods study, we surveyed a national sample of equity officers and interviewed a subset of respondents to provide additional perspective. About one-half of survey respondents reported at least some obstacles to achieving their health equity objectives, including racist beliefs among people working in their hospitals and health care systems, policies that perpetuate racism, and a lack of staff diversity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a large, eukaryotic ion channel superfamily that control diverse physiological functions, and therefore are attractive drug targets. More than 210 structures from more than 20 different TRP channels have been determined, and all are tetramers. Despite this wealth of structures, many aspects concerning TRPV channels remain poorly understood, including the pore-dilation phenomenon, whereby prolonged activation leads to increased conductance, permeability to large ions and loss of rectification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic diseases affect a disproportionate number of United States (US) veterans, causing significant long-term health issues and affecting entitlement spending. This longitudinal study examined the health status of US veterans as compared to non-veterans pre- and post-COVID-19, utilizing the annual Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BRFSS) survey data. Age-adjusted descriptive point estimates were generated independently for 2003 through 2021, while complex weighted panel data were generated from 2011 and onward.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe United States healthcare industry has witnessed a number of hospitals declare bankruptcy. This has a meaningful impact on local communities with vast implications on access, cost, and quality of care available. In our research, we seek to determine what contemporary structural and operational factors influence a bankruptcy outcome, and craft predictive models to guide healthcare leaders on how to best avoid bankruptcy in the future.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe the trend in incidence, mortality and Disability Adjusted Life Years of oral cancer in Latin America according to sex between 2000 and 2020.
Methods: This ecological study extracted oral cancer information from 20 Latin American countries from the GBD-2020 database. Oral cancer burden was described by age-standardized rate (ASR) of incidence, mortality, and DALYs.
In 2020, there was a 20% increase in excess deaths in the USA due to COVID infections but also to changes in the healthcare system due to the pandemic. We hypothesized that people living with sickle cell disease (SCD) may be vulnerable to these changes as SCD can lead to rapid decompensation. We examined all deaths of people with SCD at our center in 2020.
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