Cutting Edge: Retinoic Acid Promotes Brain-homing of CD8+ T Cells during Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection.

The most common congenital viral infection is CMV, which leads to numerous neurologic disabilities. Using a mouse model of congenital CMV, we previously determined that Ag-specific CD8+ T cells traffic to the brain in a CCR9-dependent manner. The mechanism by which these CD8+ T cells acquire a CCR9-dependent "brain-tropic" phenotype remains unclear.

Ethnicity and Observed Oxygen Saturations, Fraction of Inspired Oxygen, and Clinical Outcomes: A Post-Hoc Analysis of the Oxy-PICU Trial of Conservative Oxygenation.

Objectives: A conservative oxygenation strategy, targeting peripheral oxygen saturations (Sp o2 ) between 88% and 92% in mechanically ventilated children in PICU, was associated with a shorter duration of organ support and greater survival compared with Sp o2 greater than 94% in our recent Oxy-PICU trial. Sp o2 monitors may overestimate arterial oxygen saturation (Sa o2 ) in patients with higher levels of skin pigmentation compared with those with less skin pigmentation. We investigated if ethnicity was associated with changes in distributions of Sp o2 and F io2 and outcome.

Evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a conservative approach to oxygen therapy for invasively ventilated adults in intensive care: Protocol for the UK-ROX trial.

Background: In the United Kingdom, around 184,000 adults are admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) each year with over 30% receiving mechanical ventilation. Oxygen is the commonest therapeutic intervention provided to these patients but it is unclear how much oxygen should be administered for the best clinical outcomes.

Methods: The UK-ROX trial will evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of conservative oxygen therapy (the minimum oxygen concentration required to maintain an oxygen saturation of 90% ± 2%) versus usual oxygen therapy in critically ill adults receiving supplemental oxygen when invasively mechanically ventilated in ICUs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Blockchain-Based Dynamic Consent and its Applications for Patient-Centric Research and Health Information Sharing: Protocol for an Integrative Review.

Background: Blockchain has been proposed as a critical technology to facilitate more patient-centric research and health information sharing. For instance, it can be applied to coordinate and document dynamic informed consent, a procedure that allows individuals to continuously review and renew their consent to the collection, use, or sharing of their private health information. Such has been suggested to facilitate ethical, compliant longitudinal research, and patient engagement.

The role of platelet-rich plasma in androgenetic alopecia: A systematic review.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA), also referred to as male or female pattern hair loss, is the commonest cause of chronic hair loss and affects up to 80% of men by the age of 70. Despite a high prevalence, there are few approved therapies, which show minimal efficacy.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to evaluate the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PrP) in the treatment of AGA in male patients.

Barriers to the employability of people with disabilities in the South African public service.

Background: South African public sector efforts to employ people with disabilities (PWDs) in the post-apartheid have been less successful, resulting in a poor transformation record during the past 27 years (1994-2021) due to the failure to integrate PWDs into mainstream employment in government departments.

Objective: The objective of this article is to identify and highlight some of the barriers to the employability of PWDs in the South African public service.

Method: The research was framed as a case study within the transformative research paradigm.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Highest Cited Rhytidectomy Literature.

In this bibliometric analysis, we investigated the top 100 most cited articles on rhytidectomy, a prevalent cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States of America. Using data from Web of Science spanning from 1900 to 2021, we found these papers collectively cited 7737 times, with individual citation counts ranging from 277 to 37 (mean 77). Notably, the majority of these papers (58 out of 100) were categorized as Level of Evidence 5, indicating a prevalence of expert opinions, anatomical studies, and narrative reviews.

An international RAND/UCLA expert panel to determine the optimal diagnosis and management of burn inhalation injury.

Background: Burn inhalation injury (BII) is a major cause of burn-related mortality and morbidity. Despite published practice guidelines, no consensus exists for the best strategies regarding diagnosis and management of BII. A modified DELPHI study using the RAND/UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Appropriateness Method (RAM) systematically analysed the opinions of an expert panel.

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy and Safety of Tranexamic Acid in Facelift Surgery.

Tranexamic acid (TXA) has become widely utilized in different specialities including facelift surgery. The aim of this review was to robustly evaluate the quality of available evidence on the efficacy and safety of TXA use in facelift surgery. We searched the MEDLINE (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD), Embase (Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands), CINAHL (EBSCO Information Services, Ipswich, MA), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; Wiley, Hoboken, NJ), Google Scholar (Alphabet Inc.

Comparing Combination Triamcinolone Acetonide and 5-Fluorouracil with Monotherapy Triamcinolone Acetonide or 5-Fluorouracil in the Treatment of Hypertrophic Scars: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Keloids and hypertrophic scars cause physical and psychosocial problems. A combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and triamcinolone acetonide (TAC) may enhance the treatment of pathologic scars, although the evidence base is limited. The authors compared the efficacy and complication rates of combination intralesional TAC and 5-FU with those of monotherapy intralesional TAC or 5-FU for the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars.

Health Datasets as Assets: Blockchain-Based Valuation and Transaction Methods.

There is increasing recognition about health-oriented datasets that could be regarded as intangible assets: distinct assets with future economic benefits but without physical properties. While health-oriented datasets - particularly health records - are ascribed monetary value on the black market, there are few established methods for assessing the value for legitimate research and business purposes. The emergence of blockchain has created new commercial opportunities for transferring assets without intermediaries.

Long-term (180-Day) Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 in the REMAP-CAP Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The longer-term effects of therapies for the treatment of critically ill patients with COVID-19 are unknown.

Objective: To determine the effect of multiple interventions for critically ill adults with COVID-19 on longer-term outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prespecified secondary analysis of an ongoing adaptive platform trial (REMAP-CAP) testing interventions within multiple therapeutic domains in which 4869 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 were enrolled between March 9, 2020, and June 22, 2021, from 197 sites in 14 countries.

Cutting Edge: CCR9 Promotes CD8+ T Cell Recruitment to the Brain during Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection.

CD8+ T lymphocytes infiltrate the brain during congenital CMV infection and promote viral clearance. However, the mechanisms by which CD8+ T cells are recruited to the brain remain unclear. Using a mouse model of congenital CMV, we found a gut-homing chemokine receptor (CCR9) was preferentially expressed in CD8+ T cells localized in the brain postinfection.

The impact of prenatal alcohol and/or tobacco exposure on brain structure in a large sample of children from a South African birth cohort.

Background: Neuroimaging studies have emphasized the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on brain development, traditionally in heavily exposed participants. However, less is known about how naturally occurring community patterns of PAE (including light to moderate exposure) affect brain development, particularly in consideration of commonly occurring concurrent impacts of prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE).

Methods: Three hundred thirty-two children (ages 8 to 12) living in South Africa's Cape Flats townships underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging.

An Idealized Clinicogenomic Registry to Engage Underrepresented Populations Using Innovative Technology.

Current best practices in tumor registries provide a glimpse into a limited time frame over the natural history of disease, usually a narrow window around diagnosis and biopsy. This creates challenges meeting public health and healthcare reimbursement policies that increasingly require robust documentation of long-term clinical trajectories, quality of life, and health economics outcomes. These challenges are amplified for underrepresented minority (URM) and other disadvantaged populations, who tend to view the institution of clinical research with skepticism.

Antibody-Recruitment as a Therapeutic Strategy: A Brief History and Recent Advances.

Antibodies are a significant and growing sector within the global pharmaceutical industry. The popularity of antibodies as therapeutics derives from - at least in part - evolvable affinity for virtually any disease-relevant cell surface receptor, as well as unique immunotherapeutic mechanisms of action, including neutralization, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). While advances in the large-scale expression and purification of therapeutic antibodies have been made, these remain costly and laborious tasks.

Evidence-Based Blepharoplasty: An Analysis of Highly Cited Research Papers.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to appraise the methodological quality of the highest impact blepharoplasty research and to describe prevalent research themes.

Methods: The 100 most highly cited research papers relevant to blepharoplasty were obtained from Web of Science, with no journal or date limitations applied. Data extraction included the study design, main research topic and specialty, outcome measures, and citation count.

The 100 Most-Cited Articles in Liposuction: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Background: Liposuction is one of the most common cosmetic surgical procedures performed worldwide. Despite previous citation analyses in plastic surgery, the most-cited works in liposuction have not yet been qualitatively or quantitatively appraised. We hypothesized that use of validated outcome measures and levels of evidence would be low among these articles.

The prevalence of mental health problems in sub-Saharan adolescents: A systematic review.

Background And Purpose: Most research regarding child and adolescent mental health prevention and promotion in low-and middle-income countries is undertaken in high-income countries. This systematic review set out to synthesise findings from epidemiological studies, published between 2008 and 2020, documenting the prevalence of mental health problems in adolescents from across sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: A systematic search of multiple databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus) and Google Scholar was conducted guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewer's manual for systematic reviews of observational epidemiological studies.

Novel microbial-electrochemical filter with a computer-feedback pH control strategy for upgrading biogas into biomethane.

A novel microbial-electrochemical filter was designed and operated based on a combined microbial electrolysis cell and bio-trickling filter principles with the aim to maximize gas-liquid mass-transfer efficiency and minimize costs associated with bubbling biogas through liquid-filled reactor. CO/biogas feed to the MEF was done via a computer-feedback pH control strategy, linking CO feed directly to the OH production. As a result current efficiency was constant at around 100% throughout the period of experiments.

The convergence of species composition along the drawdown zone of the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir, China: implications for restoration.

Many rivers across the globe are regulated by dams, resulting in a strong alteration of the plant community composition of the drawdown zone. But, how these changes happen along the drawdown zone is less understood. In this study, a multivariate analysis was used to explore plant composition and similarity along the drawdown zone of the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir (TGDR), China.

The 100 Most-cited Articles in Abdominoplasty: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Unlabelled: Abdominoplasty is one of the most common aesthetic procedures performed globally. Research in this field is evolving, with recent emphasis on evidence-based surgery optimizing informed consent. This bibliometric analysis aimed to characterize emerging research trends and to assess the methodological quality of the highest impact abdominoplasty research.