Early outcomes of an enhanced recovery protocol for open repair of ventral hernia.

Background: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are evidence-based quality improvement pathways reported to be associated with improved patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare short-term outcomes for open ventral hernia repair (VHR) before and after implementation of an ERAS protocol.

Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, surgical databases were searched for VHR cases for two years prior and eleven months after protocol implementation for retrospective review.

Temporal Relationship of Onset of Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Introduction of Enteric Feedings and Powdered Milk Fortifier.

Objective: This article evaluates temporal relationships between onset of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants and introduction of enteral feedings or powdered human milk fortifier (HMF).

Study Design: This is a Poisson regression analysis of NEC cases at a single children's hospital between 1999 and 2009, using the self-controlled case series method to estimate adjusted daily event rate ratios (DERR) during postexposure intervals.

Results: Of 139 patients with a clinical diagnosis of NEC, 26 had early disease onset prior to initiation of feeding and were considered to be cases of spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP).

Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias Summit 2016: National research priorities.

Goal 1 of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease is to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer disease and Alzheimer disease-related dementias by 2025. To help inform the research agenda toward achieving this goal, the NIH hosts periodic summits that set and refine relevant research priorities for the subsequent 5 to 10 years. This proceedings article summarizes the 2016 Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias Summit, including discussion of scientific progress, challenges, and opportunities in major areas of dementia research, including mixed-etiology dementias, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal degeneration, vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia, dementia disparities, and dementia nomenclature.

Occurrence of Selected Structural Birth Defects Among Women With Preeclampsia and Other Hypertensive Disorders.

To explore a potential association between preeclampsia and selected birth defects, we examined the prevalence of certain birth defects among women with hypertensive disorders including preeclampsia. We analyzed data from 2,499,536 singleton live births in California from 2007 to 2011, including maternal and infant demographics from birth certificates as well as clinical details from delivery hospitalization records. We examined defect groups that were recognizable at birth (e.

Contribution of dietary intake to relapse rate in early paediatric multiple sclerosis.

Objective: The role of diet in multiple sclerosis (MS) course remains largely unknown. Children with MS have a higher relapse rate compared with MS in adults. Thus, studying the effect of diet on relapse rate in this age group is likely to provide more robust answers.

Agreed Definitions and a Shared Vision for New Standards in Stroke Recovery Research: The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable Taskforce.

The first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable established a game changing set of new standards for stroke recovery research. Common language and definitions were required to develop an agreed framework spanning the four working groups: translation of basic science, biomarkers of stroke recovery, measurement in clinical trials and intervention development and reporting. This paper outlines the working definitions established by our group and an agreed vision for accelerating progress in stroke recovery research.

Residential Agricultural Pesticide Exposures and Risks of Spontaneous Preterm Birth.

Background: Pesticides exposures are aspects of the human exposome that have not been sufficiently studied for their contribution to risk for preterm birth. We investigated risks of spontaneous preterm birth from potential residential exposures to 543 individual chemicals and 69 physicochemical groupings that were applied in the San Joaquin Valley of California during the study period, 1998-2011.

Methods: The study population was derived from birth certificate data linked with Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development maternal and infant hospital discharge data.

Antioxidant Consumption is Associated with Decreased Odds of Congenital Limb Deficiencies.

Background: Approximately 1 in 2000 infants is born with a limb deficiency in the US. Research has shown that women's periconceptional diet and use of vitamin supplements can affect risk of birth defects. We investigated whether maternal consumption of nutritional antioxidants was associated with occurrence of transverse limb deficiency (TLD) and longitudinal limb deficiencies (LLD).

Moving Rehabilitation Research Forward: Developing Consensus Statements for Rehabilitation and Recovery Research.

Stroke recovery is the next frontier in stroke medicine. While growth in rehabilitation and recovery research is exponential, a number of barriers hamper our ability to rapidly progress the field. Standardized terminology is absent in both animal and human research, methods are poorly described, recovery biomarkers are not well defined, and we lack consistent timeframes or measures to examine outcomes.

Enhancing the Alignment of the Preclinical and Clinical Stroke Recovery Research Pipeline: Consensus-Based Core Recommendations From the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable Translational Working Group.

Stroke recovery research involves distinct biological and clinical targets compared to the study of acute stroke. Guidelines are proposed for the pre-clinical modeling of stroke recovery and for the alignment of pre-clinical studies to clinical trials in stroke recovery.

Hydrogels with precisely controlled integrin activation dictate vascular patterning and permeability.

Integrin binding to bioengineered hydrogel scaffolds is essential for tissue regrowth and regeneration, yet not all integrin binding can lead to tissue repair. Here, we show that through engineering hydrogel materials to promote α3/α5β1 integrin binding, we can promote the formation of a space-filling and mature vasculature compared with hydrogel materials that promote αvβ3 integrin binding. In vitro, α3/α5β1 scaffolds promoted endothelial cells to sprout and branch, forming organized extensive networks that eventually reached and anastomosed with neighbouring branches.

Thyroid Medication Use and Birth Defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

Background: Thyroid disorders are common among reproductive-aged women, with hypothyroidism affecting 2 to 3% of pregnancies, and hyperthyroidism affecting an additional 0.1 to 1%. We examined associations between thyroid medications and individual birth defects using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS).

Enhancing the alignment of the preclinical and clinical stroke recovery research pipeline: Consensus-based core recommendations from the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable translational working group.

Stroke recovery research involves distinct biological and clinical targets compared to the study of acute stroke. Guidelines are proposed for the pre-clinical modeling of stroke recovery and for the alignment of pre-clinical studies to clinical trials in stroke recovery.

Agreed definitions and a shared vision for new standards in stroke recovery research: The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable taskforce.

The first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable established a game changing set of new standards for stroke recovery research. Common language and definitions were required to develop an agreed framework spanning the four working groups: translation of basic science, biomarkers of stroke recovery, measurement in clinical trials and intervention development and reporting. This paper outlines the working definitions established by our group and an agreed vision for accelerating progress in stroke recovery research.

Injection of Microporous Annealing Particle (MAP) Hydrogels in the Stroke Cavity Reduces Gliosis and Inflammation and Promotes NPC Migration to the Lesion.

With the number of deaths due to stroke decreasing, more individuals are forced to live with crippling disability resulting from the stroke. To date, no therapeutics exist after the first 4.5 h after the stroke onset, aside from rest and physical therapy.

Maternal Smoking, Alcohol, and Caffeine Exposures and Risk of Hypospadias.

Background: We examined the association of hypospadias risk with maternal smoking and consumption of alcohol and caffeine.

Methods: We analyzed data from mothers of 2437 moderate/severe cases and 5472 nonmalformed controls born from 1997 to 2011 who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). Exposures were assessed by maternal telephone interviews.

Dietary factors and pediatric multiple sclerosis: A case-control study.

Background: The role of diet in multiple sclerosis (MS) is largely uncharacterized, particularly as it pertains to pediatric-onset disease.

Objective: To determine the association between dietary factors and MS in children.

Methods: Pediatric MS patients and controls were recruited from 16 US centers (MS or clinically isolated syndrome onset before age 18, <4 years from symptom onset and at least 2 silent lesions on magnetic resonance imaging).

Maternal Exposure to Nitrogen Dioxide, Intake of Methyl Nutrients, and Congenital Heart Defects in Offspring.

Nutrients that regulate methylation processes may modify susceptibility to the effects of air pollutants. Data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (United States, 1997-2006) were used to estimate associations between maternal exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), dietary intake of methyl nutrients, and the odds of congenital heart defects in offspring. NO2 concentrations, a marker of traffic-related air pollution, averaged across postconception weeks 2-8, were assigned to 6,160 nondiabetic mothers of cases and controls using inverse distance-squared weighting of air monitors within 50 km of maternal residences.

Maternal Stressors and Social Support and Risks of Delivering Babies With Gastroschisis or Hypospadias.

We examined the association of maternal stressful life events and social support with risks of gastroschisis and hypospadias, using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a population-based case-control study of US births taking place in 2006-2011. We examined maternal self-reports of 7 life events and 3 sources of social support during the periconceptional period among mothers of 593 gastroschisis cases, 1,142 male hypospadias cases, and 4,399 nonmalformed controls. Responses to the questions on stressful life events were summed to form an index (higher is worse), as were responses to questions on social support (higher is better).

Blood is Thicker Than Water: Geography and the Dispersal of Family Characteristics Across the Globe.

This article introduces a new dataset of historical family characteristics based on ethnographic literature. The novelty of the dataset lies in the fact that it is constructed at the level of the ethnic group. To test the possibilities of the dataset, we construct a measure of family constraints on women's agency from it and explore its correlation to a number of geographical factors.

Maternal prepregnancy body mass index and risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

BackgroundWe examined the relationship between women's prepregnancy BMI and development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in their preterm offspring, hypothesizing that obesity-associated inflammation may increase risk.MethodsWe studied infants born in California between 2007 and 2011, using linked data from California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative neonatal intensive care units, hospital discharge, and vital statistics. We included infants with birthweight <1,500 g or gestational age at birth of 22-29 weeks.

Air pollution, neighborhood acculturation factors, and neural tube defects among Hispanic women in California.

Background: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are one of the most common types of birth defects. Environmental pollutants and acculturation have been associated with NTDs independently. The potential effect modification of acculturation in the relationship between ambient air pollution and risks of NTDs is not well understood.

An Investigation of Connections between Birth Defects and Cancers Arising in Adolescence and Very Young Adulthood.

This study investigated the relationship between birth defects and cancer in adolescents and very young adults using California's population-based registries. Although overall cancer risk was elevated among individuals with chromosomal birth defects, this was not observed in those with nonchromosomal birth defects, as was demonstrated previously in younger children.