Publications by authors named "Blaser C"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess disparities in COVID-19 mortality linked to neighborhood vulnerability, highlighting areas for public health interventions.
  • Vulnerable neighborhoods accounted for over 60% of COVID-19 deaths, with biological susceptibility and indoor exposure being significant risks.
  • The findings suggest that public health strategies should specifically target the most impacted domains of vulnerability to effectively reduce mortality rates.
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Introduction: Identifying and monitoring adverse events following vaccination contributed to the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns. In March 2021, international reports emerged of an adverse event following vaccination with adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccines (ChAdOx1-S [recombinant] and Ad26.COV2.

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Introduction: Cycling increased in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the impact on cycling injuries is not known. We examined the effect of lockdowns on cycling injury hospitalizations.

Methods: We identified hospitalizations for cycling injuries in Quebec, Canada, between April 2006 and March 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined whether child maltreatment hospitalizations were misclassified as unintentional injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on children aged 0-4 in Quebec, Canada, from April 2006 to March 2021.
  • - Results showed a decrease in maltreatment hospitalizations from 16.3 to 13.2 per 100,000 during the first lockdown, while specific unintentional injuries, like falls involving another person, increased significantly.
  • - The findings suggest that cases of child maltreatment may have been overlooked or misclassified during the pandemic, indicating a need for better assessment of children admitted for unintentional injuries to ensure the detection of possible maltreatment.
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The purpose of this follow-up proof-of-concept study was to determine the efficacy of a revised calculus disruption solution in facilitating the removal of both supragingival and subgingival calculus in-vivo, as measured by time, difficulty, and pressure required to remove supragingival and subgingival calculus. Patients from a dental school in Minnesota were recruited to participate in a randomized, split-mouth, cross sectional proof-of-concept study comparing time, difficulty and pressure used with hand instrumentation alone compared to the use of a calculus disruption solution and hand instrumentation. Quadrants were randomized to either treatment or control group.

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Identification of food intake biomarkers (FIBs) for fermented foods could help improve their dietary assessment and clarify their associations with cardiometabolic health. We aimed to identify novel FIBs for fermented foods in the plasma and urine metabolomes of 246 free-living Dutch adults using nontargeted LC-MS and GC-MS. Furthermore, associations between identified metabolites and several cardiometabolic risk factors were explored.

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A simple, rapid, sensitive and robust gas chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of free volatile carboxylic acids (FVCA) in cheese and bacterial cultures. The target analytes were extracted and converted directly from the aqueous phase to their ethyl esters using headspace. The lower detection limits for the volatile carboxylic acids in the cheese samples were less than 0.

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Background: Whereas the dietary intake of industrial trans fatty acids (iTFA) has been specifically associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, understanding the impact of dietary fats on human health remains challenging owing to their complex composition and individual effects of their lipid components on metabolism. The aim of this study is to profile the composition of blood, measured by the fatty acid (FAs) profile and untargeted metabolome of serum and the transcriptome of blood cells, in order to identify molecular signatures that discriminate dietary fat intakes.

Methods: In a parallel study, the molecular effects of consuming dairy fat containing ruminant TFA (rTFA) or margarine containing iTFA were investigated.

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Background: Canadian and international data suggest the risk of myocarditis and/or pericarditis is elevated during the week after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, particularly in younger age groups, in males, and after second doses.

Objectives: This article examines whether there is a product-specific difference in the risk for myocarditis and/or pericarditis between the two mRNA vaccines administered in Canada: BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna Spikevax).

Materials And Methods: Reporting rates of myocarditis and/or pericarditis were calculated from reports received by the Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance System from December 2020-March 2022.

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The identification and validation of biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) is a promising approach to develop more objective and complementary tools to the traditional dietary assessment methods. Concerning dairy, their evaluation in terms of intake is not simple, given the variety of existing foods, making it difficult to establish the association between specific dairy products consumption and the effects on human health, which is also dependent on the study population. Here, we aimed at identifying BFI of both milk (M) and yogurt (Y) in 14 healthy young (20-35 years) and 14 older (65-80 years).

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Article Synopsis
  • Catheter insertion sites are typically covered with transparent film dressings that protect against contaminants and allow for site observation, while new high moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) dressings are marketed as superior due to their ability to reduce moisture and infection risk.
  • Different methods exist for measuring MVTR; this study utilized two standard testing methods (upright and inverted) to compare seven commercially available IV dressings’ effectiveness.
  • Results revealed a wide range of MVTR values depending on the testing method used, indicating significant differences in how dressings perform under various conditions, with the upright method being recommended for assessing IV dressings due to better reflecting their real-world use.
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Although the composition of the human blood metabolome is influenced both by the health status of the organism and its dietary behavior, the interaction between these two factors has been poorly characterized. This study makes use of a previously published randomized controlled crossover acute intervention to investigate whether the blood metabolome of 15 healthy normal weight (NW) and 17 obese (OB) men having ingested three doses (500, 1000, 1500 kcal) of a high-fat (HF) meal can be used to identify metabolites differentiating these two groups. Among the 1024 features showing a postprandial response, measured between 0 h and 6 h, in the NW group, 135 were dose-dependent.

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The gut microbiota adapts to age-related changes in host physiology but is also affected by environmental stimuli, like diet. As a source of both pre- and probiotics, dairy and fermented foods modulate the gut microbiota composition, which makes them interesting food groups to use for the investigation of interactions between diet and ageing. Here we present the effects of excluding dairy products and limiting fermented food consumption for 19 days on gut microbiota composition and circulating metabolites of 28 healthy, young (YA) and older (OA) adult men.

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Studies examining associations between self-reported dairy intake and health are inconclusive, but biomarkers hold promise for elucidating such relationships by offering objective measures of dietary intake. Previous human intervention studies identified several biomarkers for dairy foods in blood and urine using non-targeted metabolomics. We evaluated the robustness of these biomarkers in a free-living cohort in the Netherlands using both single- and multi-marker approaches.

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One of the varied tasks of the Large Animal Rescue Service Switzerland and Liechtenstein (GTRD CH/FL)® is the recovery of animals from manure and cesspools. The aim of the present retrospective study was the evaluation of the rescue protocols of the GTRD CH/FL from such operations and the documentation of a rescue procedure. In the past 25 years, a total of 176 animals have been rescued from manure and cesspools.

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Numerous bacteria are responsible for hydrolysis of proteins during cheese ripening. The raw milk flora is a major source of bacterial variety, starter cultures are needed for successful acidification of the cheese and proteolytic strains like Lactobacillus helveticus, are added for flavor improvement or acceleration of ripening processes. To study the impact of higher bacterial diversity in cheese on protein hydrolysis during simulated human digestion, Raclette-type cheeses were produced from raw or heat treated milk, with or without proteolytic L.

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Purpose And Objectives: Embedding healthy eating and physical activity best practices in early care and education settings is important for instilling healthy behaviors early in life. A collaborative partnership between Nemours Children's Health System and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was created to implement the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives Project (ECELC) in childcare settings in 10 states. We measured improvement at the program level by the self-reported number of best practices implemented related to healthy eating and physical activity.

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Previous studies on socioeconomic position (SEP) and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) have produced contradictory results. Most measured SEP only once during the individuals' life span. The aim of the study was to identify life course models that describe best the relationship between SEP measured during childhood/adolescence, early- and late-adulthood, and risk of PCa overall as well as according to tumor aggressiveness at diagnosis.

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Purpose And Objectives: The National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives Project (ECELC) aims to improve best practices in early care and education (ECE) programs in topic areas of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment in Child Care (NAP SACC). Technical assistance is a component of the ECELC, yet its effect on outcomes is unclear. Beyond dose and duration of technical assistance, limited research exists on characteristics of technical assistance that contribute to outcomes.

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Objective: The present study aimed to examine the correlates of fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) separately among parents and their adolescents.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys.

Setting: Online survey.

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From the Field is a semi-regular column that explores what it means to be a local health professional on the front lines of an emergency. National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) members share their stories of preparing for and responding to disasters, epidemics, and other major health issues. Through exploring the analysis of the challenges faced and the solutions developed, readers can learn how these public health champions keep their communities safe even in extreme situations.

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The National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives (ECELC) project aims to facilitate best practices in nutrition, physical activity, screen time, and breastfeeding support and infant feeding among early care and education (ECE) programs across multiple states. The project uses a train-the-trainer approach with 5, in-person learning-collaborative sessions, technical assistance, and action planning. We describe the longitudinal practice-based evaluation of the project and assess whether ECE programs evaluated (n = 104) sustained changes in policies and practices 1 year after completing the project.

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The energy deposition of ions in dense plasmas is a key process in inertial confinement fusion that determines the α-particle heating expected to trigger a burn wave in the hydrogen pellet and resulting in high thermonuclear gain. However, measurements of ion stopping in plasmas are scarce and mostly restricted to high ion velocities where theory agrees with the data. Here, we report experimental data at low projectile velocities near the Bragg peak, where the stopping force reaches its maximum.

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Objective: The National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives (ECELC) Project aims to promote healthy physical activity and nutrition environments, policies and practices in early care and education (ECE) programmes across multiple states. The present pilot study sought to assess changes to the physical activity and nutrition practices in a sub-sample of ECE programmes participating in the ECELC using the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO). Additionally, it sought to compare results with the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC).

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Importance: Growing consensus suggests that frailty-associated risks should inform shared surgical decision making. However, it is not clear how best to screen for frailty in preoperative surgical populations.

Objective: To develop and validate the Risk Analysis Index (RAI), a 14-item instrument used to measure surgical frailty.

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