Heated Ultrasound Gel and Patient Satisfaction with Bedside Ultrasound Studies: The HUGS Trial.

Introduction: Our goal was to determine if heated gel for emergency department (ED) bedside ultrasonography improves patient satisfaction compared to room-temperature gel.

Methods: We randomized a convenience sample of ED patients determined by their treating physician to require a bedside ultrasound (US) study to either heated gel (102.0° F) or room-temperature gel (82.

Epiretinal membrane and cystoid macular edema as predictive factors of recurrent proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

Purpose: Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is the most common cause of recurrent retinal detachment (RD). We sought to determine the predictive factors of recurrent PVR formation and the need for additional vitreoretinal surgical intervention after uncomplicated primary RD repair.

Methods: This is a retrospective single-center case-control study of consecutive patients with PVR formation after uncomplicated RD repair.

Factor VIII elevation may contribute to portomesenteric vein thrombosis after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: a multicenter review of 40 patients.

Background: Portomesenteric vein thrombosis (PMVT) has been increasingly reported after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Factor VIII (FVIII) is a plasma sialoglycoprotein that plays an essential role in hemostasis. There is increasing evidence that FVIII elevation constitutes a clinically important risk factor for venous thrombosis.

Robotic-assisted vs. laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: a retrospective comparison of perioperative course and postoperative outcome after 1 year.

Safety is of utmost importance in live donor nephrectomies. In this study, we describe our initial experience with robot-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (RDN) in comparison with the standard laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN). We retrospectively reviewed 95 patients who either underwent RDN or LDN performed by a single surgeon from 2011 to 2016 at a tertiary institution.

Diaphragmatic eventration presenting as a recurrent diaphragmatic hernia.

Diaphragmatic eventration is an uncommon condition, usually discovered incidentally in asymptomatic patients. Even in symptomatic patients, the diagnosis can be challenging and should be considered among the differential diagnoses of diaphragmatic hernia. The correct diagnosis can often only be made in surgery.

Tolerability and safety of the intake of bovine milk oligosaccharides extracted from cheese whey in healthy human adults.

Mechanistic research suggests a unique evolutionary relationship between complex milk oligosaccharides and cognate bifidobacteria enriched in breast-fed infants. Bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) were recently identified as structurally and functionally similar to human milk oligosaccharides. The present single-blind three-way crossover study is the first to determine the safety and tolerability of BMO consumption by healthy human participants ( 12) and its effects on faecal microbiota and microbial metabolism.

DYSFUNCTIONAL AUTONOMIC REGULATION OF THE CHOROID IN CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY.

Purpose: To study the effect of changing perfusion pressures on retinal and choroidal structure in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

Methods: This prospective observational case series included seven healthy volunteers (14 eyes) and seven patients (14 eyes) with CSC. Each patient underwent spectral domain optical coherence tomography with enhanced depth imaging in the upright (sitting) and supine positions.

Small molecule-mediated inhibition of myofibroblast transdifferentiation for the treatment of fibrosis.

Fibrosis, a disease in which excessive amounts of connective tissue accumulate in response to physical damage and/or inflammatory insult, affects nearly every tissue in the body and can progress to a state of organ malfunction and death. A hallmark of fibrotic disease is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix-secreting activated myofibroblasts (MFBs) in place of functional parenchymal cells. As such, the identification of agents that selectively inhibit the transdifferentiation process leading to the formation of MFBs represents an attractive approach for the treatment of diverse fibrosis-related diseases.

Diagnostic accuracy of a novel software technology for detecting pneumothorax in a porcine model.

Introduction: Our objective was to measure the diagnostic accuracy of a novel software technology to detect pneumothorax on Brightness (B) mode and Motion (M) mode ultrasonography.

Methods: Ultrasonography fellowship-trained emergency physicians performed thoracic ultrasonography at baseline and after surgically creating a pneumothorax in eight intubated, spontaneously breathing porcine subjects. Prior to pneumothorax induction, we captured sagittal M-mode still images and B-mode videos of each intercostal space with a linear array transducer at 4cm of depth.

Calcium dysregulation, functional calpainopathy, and endoplasmic reticulum stress in sporadic inclusion body myositis.

Sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common primary myopathy in the elderly, but its pathoetiology is still unclear. Perturbed myocellular calcium (Ca) homeostasis can exacerbate many of the factors proposed to mediate muscle degeneration in IBM, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Ca dysregulation may plausibly be initiated in IBM by immune-mediated membrane damage and/or abnormally accumulating proteins, but no studies to date have investigated Ca regulation in IBM patients.

A maternal high-fat, high-sucrose diet has sex-specific effects on fetal glucocorticoids with little consequence for offspring metabolism and voluntary locomotor activity in mice.

Maternal overnutrition and obesity during pregnancy can have long-term effects on offspring physiology and behaviour. These developmental programming effects may be mediated by fetal exposure to glucocorticoids, which is regulated in part by placental 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) type 1 and 2. We tested whether a maternal high-fat, high-sucrose diet would alter expression of placental 11β-HSD1 and 2, thereby increasing fetal exposure to maternal glucocorticoids, with downstream effects on offspring physiology and behaviour.

Nopal feeding reduces adiposity, intestinal inflammation and shifts the cecal microbiota and metabolism in high-fat fed rats.

Nopal is a cactus plant widely consumed in Mexico that has been used in traditional medicine to aid in the treatment of type-2 diabetes. We previously showed that chronic consumption of dehydrated nopal ameliorated hepatic steatosis in obese (fa/fa) rats; however, description of the effects on other tissues is sparse. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of nopal cladode consumption on intestinal physiology, microbial community structure, adipose tissue, and serum biochemistry in diet-induced obese rats.

Efficacy of the Intravitreal Sustained-Release Dexamethasone Implant for Diabetic Macular Edema Refractory to Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Therapy: Meta-Analysis and Clinical Implications.

Background And Objective: To assess the effect on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and efficacy of the intravitreal sustained-release 0.7 mg dexamethasone implant (Ozurdex; Allergan, Irvine, CA) in patients with recalcitrant diabetic macular edema (DME).

Patients And Methods: Meta-analysis utilizing the MOOSE framework and a random effects model.

Pre-treatment predictors of dropout from prolonged exposure therapy in patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid substance use disorders.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) are commonly co-occurring disorders associated with more adverse consequences than PTSD alone. Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is one of the most efficacious treatments for PTSD. However, among individuals with PTSD-SUD, 35-62% of individuals drop out of trauma-focused exposure treatments.

SNP variants associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) correlate with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II expression.

Large consortia efforts and genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have linked a number of genetic variants within the 6p21 chromosomal region to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Complementing these efforts, we genotyped previously reported SNPs in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (rs6457327) and class II (rs9271100, rs2647012 and rs10484561) regions in a total of 1,145 subjects (567 NHL cases and 578 healthy controls) from two major ethnic groups in Malaysia, the Malays and the Chinese. We identified a NHL-associated (P = 0.

Five-Port Combined Limbal and Pars Plana Vitrectomy for Infectious Endophthalmitis.

Pars plana vitrectomy for acute infectious endophthalmitis can be challenging due to severe inflammation in the anterior chamber creating significant media opacity. We describe a surgical technique combining limbal based vitrectomy and pars plana vitrectomy to manage acute infectious endophthalmitis. Limbal based vitrectomy facilitates removal of anterior chamber fibrin and inflammatory membranes for safe and optimal posterior pars plana vitrectomy.

Deer tick masquerading as pigmented conjunctival lesion.

Purpose: Conjunctival adherence of a tick is an uncommon event with few reports previously cited in the literature. We report a unique case of tick penetration, specifically a black-legged deer tick (), into the conjunctiva.

Observations: This patient experienced a 3-week history of unilateral mild ocular pain, decreased vision, and pigmented lesion of her right eye.

Granulovacuolar Degeneration in Hippocampus of Neurodegenerative Diseases: Quantitative Study.

. Granulovacuolar degeneration (GVD) is one of the pathological features long associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging. .

OCULAR HYPERTENSION AFTER INTRAVITREAL DEXAMETHASONE (OZURDEX) SUSTAINED-RELEASE IMPLANT.

Purpose: To evaluate ocular hypertension (OHT) after Ozurdex injection to determine the incidence of OHT, therapy for OHT, and any associative factors such as diagnosis, underlying glaucoma and therapy, or sequential Ozurdex injection(s).

Methods: Retrospective consecutive case series with patients receiving one or more intravitreal Ozurdex implantations at a tertiary care academic center. Ocular hypertension was defined as a single measurement of ≥30 mmHg or an increase of ≥10 mmHg from baseline.

Do Concepts of Depression Predict Treatment Pathways? A Closer Look at Explanatory Models Among Clinical and Nonclinical Samples in Uganda.

Objective: Explanatory models (EMs) are a collection of beliefs about a disorder that can help us understand help-seeking and treatment pathways in diverse contexts. In 2 related studies, we explore EMs about depression held among both clinical and nonclinical samples in Uganda. To explore the potential of EMs to predict help seeking, we assessed the relationship between 2 main aspects of the EM: problem conceptualization and treatment.

NAD+ repletion improves muscle function in muscular dystrophy and counters global PARylation.

Neuromuscular diseases are often caused by inherited mutations that lead to progressive skeletal muscle weakness and degeneration. In diverse populations of normal healthy mice, we observed correlations between the abundance of mRNA transcripts related to mitochondrial biogenesis, the dystrophin-sarcoglycan complex, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) synthesis, consistent with a potential role for the essential cofactor NAD in protecting muscle from metabolic and structural degeneration. Furthermore, the skeletal muscle transcriptomes of patients with Duchene's muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other muscle diseases were enriched for various poly[adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP)-ribose] polymerases (PARPs) and for nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), enzymes that are major consumers of NAD and are involved in pleiotropic events, including inflammation.

Investigating the extremes of the continuum of paracrine functions in CD34-/CD31+ CACs across diverse populations.

Unlabelled: Paracrine function of circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) is thought to contribute to vascular maintenance. We previously identified S100A8 and S100A9 secreted from physically inactive individuals' CD34/CD31 CACs as negative regulators of capillary-like network formation. The purpose of this study was to investigate further the extremes of the continuum of CAC paracrine actions using two distinctly different groups representing "healthy" and "impaired" CAC function.

Sex and Gender Medical Education Summit: a roadmap for curricular innovation.

The Sex and Gender Medical Education Summit: a roadmap for curricular innovation was a collaborative initiative of the American Medical Women's Association, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health, Mayo Clinic, and Society for Women's Health Research (www.sgbmeducationsummit.