Publications by authors named "Brooks M"

Background: Programmatic interventions to increase the detection of children with tuberculosis (TB) are rarely evaluated to understand age- and sex-specific completion rates. We applied modified TB screening and treatment cascade frameworks to assess indicators of effective implementation by age and sex of a TB screening program for children (zero to 14 years) in Bangladesh.

Methods: We implemented an intensified screening program for paediatric TB detection in 119 health care facilities (2018-21).

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ASRM develops evidence-based practice guidelines through a rigorous process of identifying clinically significant questions, conducting systematic literature reviews, and evaluating evidence quality. The evidence-based recommendations in ASRM practice guidelines provide reproductive healthcare professionals with standardized, scientifically grounded recommendations to enhance patient care.

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Background: Risk-benefit tradeoffs between restrictive versus liberal red blood cell transfusion strategies may vary across individuals. This exploratory analysis aimed to derive and evaluate individualized treatment effects of defined transfusion strategies in patients with acute MI and anemia with the goal of minimizing adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Methods: This study analyzed 3,447 (98.

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Background: Intrasaccular flow diversion using the woven endobridge device (WEB; MicroVention, Aliso Viejo, CA, USA) for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms has demonstrated large scale safety and efficacy. However, limitations arise from its structural configuration, restricting its application to specific aneurysm sizes and shapes.

Technique Overview: We introduce the CUPCAKE technique, a combination of conventional coiling followed by WEB intrasaccular flow disruption in select cases of atypical aneurysms with technically challenging morphology not typically treatable by WEB alone.

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Background: Intraoperative awareness, without explicit recall, occurs after induction of anaesthesia in approximately 10% of persons under 40 yr of age. Most anaesthetic agents minimally suppress the noradrenergic system. We hypothesised that addition of dexmedetomidine, which suppresses noradrenergic activity, may reduce encephalographic (EEG) arousal in response to tracheal intubation; such an effect would lay the foundation for future studies of dexmedetomidine in reducing intraoperative awareness.

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Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction and anemia. Among patients with anemia and CKD who experience myocardial infarction, it remains uncertain if a liberal red blood cell transfusion threshold strategy (hemoglobin cutoff [Hgb] < 10 g/dL) is superior to a restrictive transfusion threshold (Hgb 7-8 g/dL) strategy.

Methods: Among the 3,504 patients enrolled in the Myocardial Ischemia and Transfusion (MINT) trial with non-missing creatinine, we compared baseline characteristics and 30-day and 6-month outcomes of patients without CKD (N = 1279), CKD with eGFR 30-60 mL/min/1.

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Enhancing patient comprehension of their health is crucial in improving health outcomes. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in distilling medical information into a conversational, legible format can potentially enhance health literacy. This review aims to examine the accuracy, reliability, comprehensiveness and readability of medical patient education materials (PEMs) simplified by AI models.

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Background: Clinical guidelines have concluded that there are insufficient data to provide recommendations for the hemoglobin threshold for the use of red cell transfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and anemia. After the recent publication of the Myocardial Infarction and Transfusion (MINT) trial, we performed an individual patient-level data meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of restrictive versus liberal blood transfusion strategies.

Methods: We conducted searches in major databases.

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Objectives: Prior research indicates that jury duty can be distressing for some jurors. This study examined: (1) the influence of prior trauma characteristics (type, exposure, time since trauma), medical fear and mental health difficulties on stress and emotional responses during a mock trial and 1 week later; and (2) associations between early stress reactions during a trial on subsequent stress and emotional reactivity after exposure to skeletal evidence and 1 week later.

Methods: Mock jurors (n = 180) completed baseline self-report mental health measures, read a summary of a murder case and were then exposed to graphic skeletal evidence.

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We present a novel approach to the Bogoliubov theory of dilute Bose gases, allowing for an elementary derivation of the celebrated Lee-Huang-Yang formula in the Gross-Pitaevskii regime. Furthermore, we identify the low lying excitation spectrum beyond the Gross-Pitaevskii scaling, extending a recent result (Brennecke et al. in Rev Math Phys 34, 2022) to significantly more singular scaling regimes.

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Objective: To assess the impact of clopidogrel or rivaroxaban administration on recurrence of arterial thromboembolism (ATE) in cats that have recovered from cardiogenic ATE.

Methods: This multicenter prospective double-masked protocol enrolled 45 cats that had recovered from cardiogenic ATE and were randomized to receive either clopidogrel (18.75 mg/cat, PO; n = 19) or rivaroxaban (2.

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Background: People living with HIV experience traumatic incidents at higher rates than the general population; and research has documented significant association between trauma exposure and the development of mental disorders. Mental health problems have a a negative impact on anti-retroviral treatment adherence. All of these psychosocial concerns play a role in potentially increasing HIV transmission to sexual partners resulting in increased incidence rates.

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Although conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) such as the Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle (TASER) provide a less lethal means for subduing persons than firearms or stun guns, they have the potential to cause adverse injury. This report discusses the intracranial penetration of a TASER dart.

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A four-dimensional phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging sequence with respiratory-controlled adaptive k-space reordering (ReCAR-4DPC) offers potential benefits of improved scan efficiency and motion robustness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of flow measurement using this technique and to compare hemodynamic metrics obtained to two-dimensional phase contrast MRI (2DPC)-derived metrics of the thoracic aorta. ReCAR-4DPC was performed with identical scan parameters in 15 healthy volunteers (6M,9F, mean [range] 37 [23-47] years) and 11 patients with thoracic aortic dissection (6M,5F, 56 [31-81] years) and acquisition time was recorded.

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Globally, care experiences of the growing population of contraceptive users are not well-understood. We leverage a large client dataset (n = 71,602) from three countries (Burkina Faso, Pakistan, and Tanzania) to characterize contraceptive services sought (visit objective and method preference), assess whether these visit objectives were met and for whom, and explore if visit objective fulfillment was associated with care quality. Most people in all three countries said they were seeking to continue their current method or adopt a method for the first time.

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Four clinics implemented an intervention to increase TB household contact identification and evaluation in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa. We applied a care cascade framework to assess gaps in evaluation and treatment initiation from April 2021 to June 2023. We identified 1,698 contacts of 287 individuals with TB.

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This paper examines the frequency of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and factors associated with mental health counseling utilization among adult refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia. Participants (n = 286) were recruited using venue-based random sampling from three health clinics in 2018. Framed by Andersen's model of health care utilization, we used a multilevel logistic regression and hypothesized that predisposing factors (female, older age, not married, higher education, lived longer in Malaysia, registered refugee), greater enabling factors (easy access to healthcare, larger household income, not needing interpreter, health literacy, larger household), and greater need factors (higher PTSD symptoms) would be associated with counseling attendance.

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Tweezers based on optical, electric, magnetic, and acoustic fields have shown great potential for contactless object manipulation. However, current tweezers designed for manipulating millimeter-sized objects such as droplets, particles, and small animals, exhibit limitations in translation resolution, range, and path complexity. Here, we introduce a novel acoustic vortex tweezers system, which leverages a unique airborne acoustic vortex end effector integrated with a three degree-of-freedom (DoF) linear motion stage, for enabling contactless, multi-mode, programmable manipulation of millimeter-sized objects.

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Background: A significant portion of youth sustain a concussion every year, with around 30% experiencing persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS). Research has shown exercising just below the exertion level that provokes symptoms can lead to more rapid recovery. However, youth often struggle to adhere to exercise recommendations following concussion.

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Background And Objectives: Isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) carries increased risk of neurodegenerative parkinsonian disorder or dementia (NPD) but is difficult to accurately screen for in the community. Health care data offer the opportunity to identify large numbers of iRBD cases among outpatients. We aimed to determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of an RBD (ICD) code for actual iRBD based on manual review of the electronic health record (EHR), examine risk of NPD diagnosis, and explore whether a statistical model developed using selected EHR data can identify individuals with the RBD ICD code who have high probability for actual iRBD.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on developing a smartphone-web app aimed at supporting DWI offenders and their concerned family members (CFMs) during and after the use of ignition interlock devices (IIDs).
  • Key findings from interviews and focus groups revealed that both DWI offenders and CFMs face challenges such as a lack of information, financial strain, and the importance of supportive communication, leading to the creation of four app modules.
  • Usability testing showed that the app was user-friendly and met the needs of its target audience, highlighting the need for further research to assess its effectiveness.
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Article Synopsis
  • * A new CAR called MC9999 was developed to target both tumor and immunosuppressive cells effectively, demonstrating consistent antitumor effects in models of breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
  • * MC9999 CAR T cells have shown the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and specifically kill immunosuppressive cells within GBM tumors, highlighting their potential as a foundation for improved CAR
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