Cryo-Pneumatic Compression Results in a Significant Decrease in Opioid Consumption After Shoulder Surgery: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The management of pain after shoulder surgery typically includes the use of cryotherapy and the prescription of opioid analgesics. Much focus has been placed lately on the opioid epidemic, which in part is fueled by excessive prescription of opioid medication. Previous studies have found a combination of cryotherapy and compression effective at reducing analgesic consumption and increasing recovery in patients undergoing knee and spine surgery; however, efficacy in patients undergoing shoulder surgery has not been evaluated.

Mucociliary clearance is impaired in small airways of cystic fibrosis pigs.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder characterized by recurrent airway infections, inflammation, impaired mucociliary clearance, and progressive decline in lung function. The disease may start in the small airways; however, this is difficult to prove due to the limited accessibility of the small airways with the current single-photon mucociliary clearance assay. Here, we developed a dynamic positron emission tomography assay with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Mucociliary Clearance is Impaired in Small Airways of Cystic Fibrosis Pigs.

Rationale: Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder characterized by recurrent airway infections, inflammation, and progressive decline in lung function. Autopsy and spirometry data suggest that cystic fibrosis may start in the small airways which, due to the fractal nature of the airways, account for most of the airway tree surface area. However, they are not easily accessible for testing.

SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccine dose significantly extends humoral immune response half-life beyond the primary series.

SARS-CoV-2 lipid nanoparticle mRNA vaccines continue to be administered as the predominant prophylactic measure to reduce COVID-19 disease pathogenesis. Quantifying the kinetics of the secondary immune response from subsequent doses beyond the primary series and understanding how dose-dependent immune waning kinetics vary as a function of age, sex, and various comorbidities remains an important question. We study anti-spike IgG waning kinetics in 152 individuals who received an mRNA-based primary series (first two doses) and a subset of 137 individuals who then received an mRNA-based booster dose.

Canadian Covid-19 pandemic public health mitigation measures at the province level.

The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted governments across the world to enforce a range of public health interventions. We introduce the Covid-19 Policy Response Canadian tracker (CPRCT) database that tracks and records implemented public health measures in every province and territory in Canada. The implementations are recorded on a four-level ordinal scale (0-3) for three domains, (Schools, Work, and Other), capturing differences in degree of response.

Transgenic ferret models define pulmonary ionocyte diversity and function.

Speciation leads to adaptive changes in organ cellular physiology and creates challenges for studying rare cell-type functions that diverge between humans and mice. Rare cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-rich pulmonary ionocytes exist throughout the cartilaginous airways of humans, but limited presence and divergent biology in the proximal trachea of mice has prevented the use of traditional transgenic models to elucidate ionocyte functions in the airway. Here we describe the creation and use of conditional genetic ferret models to dissect pulmonary ionocyte biology and function by enabling ionocyte lineage tracing (FOXI1-Cre::ROSA-TG), ionocyte ablation (FOXI1-KO) and ionocyte-specific deletion of CFTR (FOXI1-Cre::CFTR).

Multiple cohort study of hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 in-host infection dynamics: Parameter estimates, identifiability, sensitivity and the eclipse phase profile.

Within-host SARS-CoV-2 modelling studies have been published throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These studies contain highly variable numbers of individuals and capture varying timescales of pathogen dynamics; some studies capture the time of disease onset, the peak viral load and subsequent heterogeneity in clearance dynamics across individuals, while others capture late-time post-peak dynamics. In this study, we curate multiple previously published SARS-CoV-2 viral load data sets, fit these data with a consistent modelling approach, and estimate the variability of in-host parameters including the basic reproduction number, R, as well as the best-fit eclipse phase profile.

A mathematical model of protein subunits COVID-19 vaccines.

We consider a general mathematical model for protein subunit vaccine with a focus on the MF59-adjuvanted spike glycoprotein-clamp vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, and use the model to study immunological outcomes in the humoral and cell-mediated arms of the immune response from vaccination. The mathematical model is fit to vaccine clinical trial data. We elucidate the role of Interferon-γ and Interleukin-4 in stimulating the immune response of the host.

Long-term durability of immune responses to the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines based on dosage, age and sex.

The lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-formulated mRNA vaccines BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 are a widely adopted multi vaccination public health strategy to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical trial data has described the immunogenicity of the vaccine, albeit within a limited study time frame. Here, we use a within-host mathematical model for LNP-formulated mRNA vaccines, informed by available clinical trial data from 2020 to September 2021, to project a longer term understanding of immunity as a function of vaccine type, dosage amount, age, and sex.

Modeling waning and boosting of COVID-19 in Canada with vaccination.

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has caused devastating health and economic impacts around the globe since its appearance in late 2019. The advent of effective vaccines leads to open questions on how best to vaccinate the population. To address such questions, we developed a model of COVID-19 infection by age that includes the waning and boosting of immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in the context of infection and vaccination.

Revisiting the recombinant history of HIV-1 group M with dynamic network community detection.

The prevailing abundance of full-length HIV type 1 (HIV-1) genome sequences provides an opportunity to revisit the standard model of HIV-1 group M (HIV-1/M) diversity that clusters genomes into largely nonrecombinant subtypes, which is not consistent with recent evidence of deep recombinant histories for simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and other HIV-1 groups. Here we develop an unsupervised nonparametric clustering approach, which does not rely on predefined nonrecombinant genomes, by adapting a community detection method developed for dynamic social network analysis. We show that this method (dynamic stochastic block model [DSBM]) attains a significantly lower mean error rate in detecting recombinant breakpoints in simulated data (quasibinomial generalized linear model (GLM), P<8×10−8), compared to other reference-free recombination detection programs (genetic algorithm for recombination detection [GARD], recombination detection program 4 [RDP4], and RDP5).

Current benchtop protocols are not appropriate for the evaluation of distraction-based growing rods: a literature review to justify a new protocol and its development.

Purpose: Although distraction-based growing rods (GR) are the gold standard for the treatment of early onset scoliosis, they suffer from high failure rates. We have (1) performed a literature search to understand the deficiencies of the current protocols, (2) in vitro evaluation of GRs using our proposed protocol and performed a finite element (FE) model validation, and (3) identified key features which should be considered in mechanical testing setups.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched for articles published on (a) in vivo animal, in vitro cadaveric, and biomechanical studies analyzing the use of GRs as well as (b) failure mechanisms and risk factors for GRs.

COVID-19 Seroprevalence in Canada Modelling Waning and Boosting COVID-19 Immunity in Canada a Canadian Immunization Research Network Study.

COVID-19 seroprevalence changes over time, with infection, vaccination, and waning immunity. Seroprevalence estimates are needed to determine when increased COVID-19 vaccination coverage is needed, and when booster doses should be considered, to reduce the spread and disease severity of COVID-19 infection. We use an age-structured model including infection, vaccination and waning immunity to estimate the distribution of immunity to COVID-19 in the Canadian population.

Goods, causes and intentions: problems with applying the doctrine of double effect to palliative sedation.

Background: Palliative sedation and analgesia are employed in patients with refractory and intractable symptoms at the end of life to reduce their suffering by lowering their level of consciousness. The doctrine of double effect, a philosophical principle that justifies doing a "good action" with a potentially "bad effect," is frequently employed to provide an ethical justification for this practice.

Main Text: We argue that palliative sedation and analgesia do not fulfill the conditions required to apply the doctrine of double effect, and therefore its use in this domain is inappropriate.

Exposure to Static Magnetic and Electric Fields Treats Type 2 Diabetes.

Aberrant redox signaling underlies the pathophysiology of many chronic metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methodologies aimed at rebalancing systemic redox homeostasis have had limited success. A noninvasive, sustained approach would enable the long-term control of redox signaling for the treatment of T2D.

Clinically relevant finite element technique based protocol to evaluate growing rods for early onset scoliosis correction.

Objective: The emergence of distraction-based growing rods has provided the means to reduce the progression of spinal deformity in early onset scoliosis (EOS). The current protocols for evaluating spinal implants (ie, ASTM-F1717 and ISO-12189) were developed for fusion/dynamic devices. These protocols do not feature long unsupported rod lengths subjected to distraction.

Prospective Analysis of the Impact of 68Ga-DOTATOC Positron Emission Tomography-Computerized Axial Tomography on Management of Pancreatic and Small Bowel Neuroendocrine Tumors.

Objectives: A prospective clinical trial evaluated the effect of Ga-DOTATOC positron emission tomography-computerized axial tomography (PET-CT) on change in management of patients with lung, pancreatic, and small bowel neuroendocrine tumors. The primary eligibility criterion was a histologically proven tumor with positive somatostatin receptor subtype 2A immunohistochemistry. The primary and secondary end points were change in patient management and safety.

Fifty Years of Radiopharmaceuticals.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the SNMMI Technologist Section in 1970, the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council board of directors is pleased to contribute to this celebratory supplement of the with a perspective highlighting major developments in the radiopharmaceutical sciences that have occurred in the last 50 years.

Measuring quality of life in ALS/MND: validation of the WHOQOL-BREF.

The World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) is a generic QOL measure with four domains covering Physical, Psychological, Social and Environment. Providing the opportunity to contrast QoL with other conditions, or with population norms, the current study had three aims: 1) can the established domains of the WHOQOL-BREF be validated within a large ALS/MND population; 2) can a total score be validated and 3) can they provide interval level measurement? Data were obtained from the Trajectories of Outcomes in Neurological Conditions study. Internal construct validity was determined by fit of the data to the Rasch measurement model.