Predicting health crises from early warning signs in patient medical records.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused unprecedented worldwide changes in healthcare delivery. While containment and mitigation approaches have been intensified, the progressive increase in the number of cases has overwhelmed health systems globally, highlighting the need for anticipation and prediction to be the basis of an efficient response system. This study demonstrates the role of population health metrics as early warning signs of future health crises.

Evaluation of the Aggregated Time Savings in Adopting Fast Brain MRI Techniques for Outpatient Brain MRI.

Introduction: Clinical validation studies have demonstrated the ability of accelerated MRI sequences to decrease acquisition time and motion artifact while preserving image quality. The operational benefits, however, have been less explored. Here, we report our initial clinical experience in implementing fast MRI techniques for outpatient brain imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turf Toe, Traumatic Hallux Valgus, and Hallux Rigidus -What Can I Do After an Metatarsophalangeal Fusion?

Turf toe injuries should be recognized and treated early to prevent long-term disability. The accurate clinical assessment and radiological evaluation of appropriate cases is important. Both conservative and surgical treatments play a major role in getting athletes back to their preinjury level.

Medicaid payer status is linked to increased rates of complications after treatment of proximal humerus fractures.

Background: Low socioeconomic status and Medicaid insurance as a primary payer have been associated with major disparities in resource utilization and risk-adjusted outcomes for patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty. With the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act in 2014, examination of these disparities has become increasingly relevant for the treatment of proximal humerus fracture (PHF).

Methods: The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was used to identify patients who were treated for PHF from 2002 to 2012.

Crack-heroin speedball injection and its implications for vein care: qualitative study.

Background: We report on an exploratory qualitative study investigating drug injectors' narratives of vein damage and groin (femoral vein) injection associated with the injection of crack-heroin speedball.

Methods: We undertook 44 in-depth qualitative interviews among injectors of crack-heroin speedball in Bristol and London, England, in 2006.

Findings: The data suggest an emerging culture of crack-based speedball injection.

VCCEP pilot: progress on evaluating children's risks and data needs.

The Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) is designed to provide information to the public on children's potential health risks associated with chemical exposures. The key question of the VCCEP is whether the potential hazards, exposures, and risks to children have been adequately characterized, and, if not, what additional data are necessary. To answer this question, manufacturers or importers of 23 chemicals were asked by the U.

Complex determinants in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope gp120 mediate CXCR4-dependent infection of macrophages.

Host cell range, or tropism, combined with coreceptor usage defines viral phenotypes as macrophage tropic using CCR5 (M-R5), T-cell-line tropic using CXCR4 (T-X4), or dually lymphocyte and macrophage tropic using CXCR4 alone or in combination with CCR5 (D-X4 or D-R5X4). Although envelope gp120 V3 is necessary and sufficient for M-R5 and T-X4 phenotypes, the clarity of V3 as a dominant phenotypic determinant diminishes in the case of dualtropic viruses. We evaluated D-X4 phenotype, pathogenesis, and emergence of D-X4 viruses in vivo and mapped genetic determinants in gp120 that mediate use of CXCR4 on macrophages ex vivo.

Increased replication of non-syncytium-inducing HIV type 1 isolates in monocyte-derived macrophages is linked to advanced disease in infected children.

Non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) strains of HIV-1 prevail among most infected children, including pediatric patients who develop advanced disease, severe immune suppression, and die. A study was designed to address the hypothesis that genotypic and/or phenotypic markers can distinguish NSI viruses isolated during early infection from NSI viruses found in advanced disease. Primary HIV-1 isolates, which were obtained from 43 children, adolescents, and adults who displayed a cross-section of clinical disease and immune suppression but were untreated by protease inhibitor antiretroviral therapy, were characterized for replication phenotype in different cell types.