Publications by authors named "Driver J"

Background: Timely recognition of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is essential to identify patients who may be eligible for acute intervention. Protocols to streamline systems-based care, such as "stroke alerts" in the emergency department (ED) can safely reduce time-to-care while enhancing safety. However, clinician adherence to stroke alert criteria is poorly described.

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Neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) remains a significant contributor to calf mortality within the first 3 weeks of life, prompting widespread antibiotic use with associated concerns about antimicrobial resistance and disruption of the calf gut microbiota. Recent research exploring NCD treatments targeting gut microbiota dysbiosis has highlighted probiotic supplementation as a promising and safe strategy for gut homeostasis. However, varying treatment outcomes across studies suggest the need for efficient treatment options.

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Rationale: Older adults make up the majority of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and often carry multiple other comorbidities (multimorbidity) when initiating treatment. The nature and impact of multimorbidity remain largely unknown, given the limitations of standard count-based comorbidity indices in aging patients and their exclusion from clinical trials.

Objective: Our objective is to identify and define multimorbidity patterns in older U.

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Understanding the pulmonary adaptive immune system of pigs is important as respiratory pathogens present a major challenge for swine producers and pigs are increasingly used to model human pulmonary diseases. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) has accelerated the characterization of cellular phenotypes in the pig respiratory tract under both healthy and diseased conditions. However, combining scRNAseq with recovery of paired T cell receptor (TCR) α and β chains as well as B cell receptor (BCR) heavy and light chains to interrogate their repertoires has not to our knowledge been demonstrated for pigs.

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Background: The association between cancer and multiple sclerosis has long been investigated. Several studies and reviews have examined the risk of cancer among patients with multiple sclerosis treated with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) but with conflicting results. This study will aim to investigate the association between DMTs for multiple sclerosis and subsequent cancer risk using research synthesis methods.

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Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are glycolipid-reactive T cells with potent immunoregulatory properties. iNKT cells activated with the marine-sponge-derived glycolipid, α-galactosylceramide (αGC), provide a universal source of T-cell help that has shown considerable promise for a wide array of therapeutic applications. This includes harnessing iNKT-cell-mediated immune responses to adjuvant whole inactivated influenza virus (WIV) vaccines.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists have genetically modified pigs to have a condition called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), which makes them have weak immune systems and shorter lifespans.
  • These SCID pigs are useful for research on how the immune system works and can help study diseases.
  • A new method was tested where the immune systems of SCID piglets were improved by transplanting fetal bone, leading to healthier pigs that lived longer and could grow normally, which is great for future studies.
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  • Frailty is linked to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality among US veterans, highlighting the importance of identifying frailty for better health outcomes.
  • In a study of nearly 190,688 veterans aged 50 and older, frailty was assessed using three different scoring systems, revealing a significant correlation between frailty and higher mortality rates from all causes and CVD.
  • The results suggest that regardless of the method used to measure frailty, it consistently indicates a greater risk for negative health events, indicating a need for more research specifically focusing on younger veterans under 60.
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  • The study investigated differences in IDH-mutant gliomas across different age groups (pediatric, young adult, and older adult) to better understand their clinical and genomic characteristics.
  • Young adult patients experienced shorter progression-free survival (PFS) and time to malignant transformation compared to pediatric and older adult patients, but their overall survival (OS) rates were similar.
  • The results suggest that treatment strategies and outcomes for glioma patients should be tailored based on age, indicating a need for further investigation into age-related factors affecting these tumors.
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Purpose: Stage in multiple myeloma (MM) is an essential measure of disease risk, but its measurement in large databases is often lacking. We aimed to develop and validate a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm to extract oncologists' documentation of stage in the national Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System.

Methods: Using nationwide electronic health record (EHR) and cancer registry data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse, we developed and validated a rule-based NLP algorithm to extract oncologist-determined MM stage.

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Background: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are an ideal setting to implement the Age-Friendly Health System (AFHS) approach, an initiative by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) centered on the 4Ms: what matters, mobility, mentation, and medication. AFHS implementation has not been well studied in SNFs.

Methods: A 112-bed VA SNF implemented a facility-wide AFHS initiative including the following: (1) participating in a national IHI Age-Friendly Action Community; (2) establishing an AFHS workgroup centered on the 4Ms; (3) identifying meaningful clinical tools and frameworks for capturing each M; and (4) developing sustainment methods.

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This study evaluated the association between the proportion of Brahman genetics and productivity of Brahman-Angus cows at weaning using a 31-yr dataset containing 6,312 cows and 5,405 pregnancies. Cows were contemporaneously reared and enrolled in yearly breeding seasons under subtropical conditions of North-Central Florida. They were evenly distributed in six-breed groups (G) according to the proportion of Brahman genetics: G0% to 19%, G21% to 34%, G38% (Brangus), G41% to 59%, G63% to 78%, and G81% to 100%.

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CO mineralization products are often heralded as having outstanding potentials to reduce CO-eq. emissions. However, these claims are generally undermined by incomplete consideration of the life cycle climate change impacts, material properties, supply and demand constraints, and economic viability of CO mineralization products.

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Influenza vaccines administered as intramuscularly injected inactivated viruses or intranasally administered live-attenuated viruses usually provide short-term protection against influenza infections. Biodegradable particles that provide sustained release of the antigen has been studied as an approach to extend vaccine protection. Here, we investigate sustained release of ultraviolet killed influenza A virus (A/PR/8/34(H1N1)) (kPR8) loaded into poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles.

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Vaccines against influenza and many other infectious diseases require multiple boosters in addition to the primary dose to improve efficacy, but this approach is not ideal for compliance. The multiple doses could potentially be replaced by sustained or pulsatile release of antigens encapsulated in degradable microparticles (MPs). The efficacy of a vaccine is improved by adding an adjuvant, which can be co-delivered from the particles to enhance immunogenicity.

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Background: Metritis is a prevalent uterine disease that affects the welfare, fertility, and survival of dairy cows. The uterine microbiome from cows that develop metritis and those that remain healthy do not differ from calving until 2 days postpartum, after which there is a dysbiosis of the uterine microbiome characterized by a shift towards opportunistic pathogens such as Fusobacteriota and Bacteroidota. Whether these opportunistic pathogens proliferate and overtake the uterine commensals could be determined by the type of substrates present in the uterus.

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Tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) is the pesticidal active ingredient found in some flea and tick collars for dogs and cats. Recent studies sponsored by The Hartz Mountain Corporation, confirm the safety of TCVP as an active ingredient in pet collars. Based upon data from these new studies and results previously relied upon by the U.

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As the population grows, the incidence of dementia will increase. A common occurrence in people with dementia is behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). BPSD can include apathy, aggression, resistance to care, and agitation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Frailty is an important marker used to assess risk and predict negative health outcomes in older adults, helping tailor medical care for vulnerable populations, like those with diabetes.
  • Implementing frailty screening in clinical settings faces challenges, but electronic frailty indices (eFIs) derived from electronic health records provide a promising solution for efficient and large-scale screening.
  • This paper reviews initial experiences from three organizations (UK's NHS, US Department of Veterans Affairs, and Atrium Health-Wake Forest Baptist) using eFIs, highlighting their implementation strategies and suggesting future research directions.
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Objectives: Evaluate insomnia symptoms and environmental disruptors at admission and discharge in a subacute rehabilitation care setting.

Methods: Veterans (age ≥50) admitted to a Veterans Health Administration (VA) Hospital subacute rehabilitation between March and August 2022 completed baseline ( = 46) and follow up ( = 33) assessments with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Sleep Need Questionnaire (SNQ), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and an assessment of environmental sleep disruptors. Veterans were offered sleep resources after admission evaluations and outpatient referrals after discharge evaluations.

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  • A study analyzed the effects of statin use on older Veterans (≥65 years) over an 8-year period, focusing on frailty as a potential modifier of outcomes related to mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).
  • Among the 710,313 Veterans studied, statin users, both frail and non-frail, showed significantly lower rates of all-cause mortality and MACE compared to non-users, with a notable effect for both groups.
  • The results indicated that frailty did not significantly alter the benefits associated with statin use, leading researchers to suggest further confirmation through randomized clinical trials.
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