Low-Titer O-Positive Whole Blood: Lessons From the Battlefield for Civilian Rural Hospitals.

Low-titer O-positive whole blood was used extensively by the military during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies have consistently shown that this therapy is feasible, safe, and effective in the management of hemorrhagic shock in trauma patients, and it is now the standard of care across the US military Joint Trauma System. The military's success in using low-titer O-positive whole blood has renewed the practice in the civilian setting, with recent research confirming its safety and efficacy.

An Overview of Body Size Preference, Perception and Dissatisfaction in Sub-Saharan Africans Living in the United States.

Purpose: Body image affects health practices. With acculturation superimposed on globalization, 21st century body size preferences of African immigrants, one of the fasting growing populations in the United States, are unknown. Therefore, in African immigrants living in America we assessed: 1) body size preference; and 2) body size dissatisfaction.

Determining the 1-hour post-load glucose which identifies diabetes in Africans: Insight from the Africans in America study.

Diagnosing diabetes by shortening the OGTT to 1-h and substituting 1-h post-load glucose (PG) ≥ 209 mg/dL for 2-h PG≥200 mg/dL has been proposed. One-hour PG≥209 mg/dL is from a meta-analysis without any African-descent populations. Our data suggest 1-h PG≥183 mg/dL maybe more optimal for Africans.

Fructosamine is Not a Reliable Test for the Detection of Hyperglycemia: Insight from the Africans in America Study.

Objective: To improve detection of abnormal glucose tolerance (Abnl-GT), attention has moved beyond the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), to non-fasting markers of glycemia, specifically, HbA1c, fructosamine (FA) and glycated albumin (GA). Emerging data suggest that in African descent populations, the combination of HbA1c and GA is superior to the combination of HbA1c and FA. However, the diagnosis of Abnl-GT is usually based on tests which are performed only once.

The Africans in America study demonstrates that subclinical cardiovascular risk differs by etiology of abnormal glucose tolerance.

Abnormal-glucose tolerance (Abnl-GT) is due to an imbalance between β-cell function and insulin resistance (IR) and is a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease (CVD). In sub-Saharan Africa, β-cell failure is emerging as an important cause of Abnl-GT (Abnl-GT-β-cell-failure). Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume and hyperlipidemia are major contributors to CVD risk when Abnl-GT is due to IR (Abnl-GT-IR).

Non-invasive type 2 diabetes risk scores do not identify diabetes when the cause is β-cell failure: The Africans in America study.

Background: Emerging data suggests that in sub-Saharan Africa β-cell-failure in the absence of obesity is a frequent cause of type 2 diabetes (diabetes). Traditional diabetes risk scores assume that obesity-linked insulin resistance is the primary cause of diabetes. Hence, it is unknown whether diabetes risk scores detect undiagnosed diabetes when the cause is β-cell-failure.

Dynamic Features of Chromosomal Instability during Culture of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great potential for regenerative medicine. By reprogramming a patient's own cells, immunological rejection can be avoided during transplantation. For expansion and gene editing, iPSCs are grown in artificial culture for extended times.

Sleep and Economic Status Are Linked to Daily Life Stress in African-Born Blacks Living in America.

To identify determinants of daily life stress in Africans in America, 156 African-born Blacks (Age: 40 ± 10 years (mean ± SD), range 22-65 years) who came to the United States as adults (age ≥ 18 years) were asked about stress, sleep, behavior and socioeconomic status. Daily life stress and sleep quality were assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. High-stress was defined by the threshold of the upper quartile of population distribution of PSS (≥16) and low-stress as PSS < 16.

An Overview of 3-D Printing for Medical Applications.

Purpose: To review the basics of 3-D printing and discuss the future of 3-D printing and its place in medical imaging.

Methods: A literature search was conducted using EBSCO, JSTOR, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Recent publications that provided robust and current information were preferred, but older articles were used, if needed.

Live Fluorescence Imaging of Chromosome Segregation in Cultured Cells.

Live-cell fluorescence microscopy is an effective tool for characterizing aberrant mitotic phenotypes resulting from exposure to chemical inhibitors and after RNA interference-mediated or CRISPR knockout-mediated depletion of protein targets. Live imaging of cultured cells during mitotic progression presents challenges in maintaining optimal health of cells while achieving the temporal and spatial resolution to accomplish the goals of the study. Herein are strategies to monitor and analyze mammalian cell mitosis utilizing either a wide field or a light sheet, inverted, fluorescence microscope.

Africans Who Arrive in the United States before 20 Years of Age Maintain Both Cardiometabolic Health and Cultural Identity: Insight from the Africans in America Study.

The overall consensus is that foreign-born adults who come to America age < 20 y achieve economic success but develop adverse behaviors (smoking and drinking) that lead to worse cardiometabolic health than immigrants who arrive age ≥ 20 y. Whether age of immigration affects the health of African-born Blacks living in America is unknown. Our goals were to examine cultural identity, behavior, and socioeconomic factors and determine if differences exist in the cardiometabolic health of Africans who immigrated to America before and after age 20 y.

The OGTT is highly reproducible in Africans for the diagnosis of diabetes: Implications for treatment and protocol design.

Whether an OGTT reproducibly detects either type 2 diabetes (T2D) or prediabetes in Africans in unknown. Therefore, 131 Africans had two OGTT. Diagnostic reproducibility for T2D was excellent (κ = 0.

Thrombin Hemostatic Matrix Reduces Heterotopic Ossification in Acetabular Fractures Fixed Through the Kocher-Langenbeck Approach.

Objective: To determine whether an injectable thrombin product [thrombin hemostatic matrix (THM)] at closure of a Kocher-Langenbeck approach reduces the risk of heterotopic ossification (HO) formation after an acetabular fracture.

Design: Case control.

Setting: Two Level 1 trauma centers.

Improved Detection of Abnormal Glucose Tolerance in Africans: The Value of Combining Hemoglobin A With Glycated Albumin.

Objective: In African-born Blacks living in America, we determined by BMI category ) prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance (Abnl-GT) and ) diagnostic value and reproducibility of hemoglobin A (HbA), fructosamine, and glycated albumin (GA).

Research Design And Methods: Participants ( = 416; male, 66%; BMI 27.7 ± 4.

Stress Measured by Allostatic Load Varies by Reason for Immigration, Age at Immigration, and Number of Children: The Africans in America Study.

Stress leads to physiologic dysfunction and cardiometabolic disease. Allostatic load score (ALS) measures stress-induced cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory biomarkers. We estimated the odds of high ALS by reason for and age at immigration, duration of American residence, number of children, and socioeconomic status in 193 African immigrants (male: 65%, age 41 ± 10 y (mean ± Standard Deviation (SD)), range 22-65 y).

Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is projected to become a staple in breast imaging. It is considered ideal for younger women and women with dense breasts whose mammography findings typically are inconclusive because of large amounts of fibroglandular tissue. Because of its high resolution and ability to incorporate intravenous contrast media, MR also is useful for differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions.

Identifying Africans with undiagnosed diabetes: Fasting plasma glucose is similar to the hemoglobin A1C updated Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities diabetes prediction equation.

Aims: Seventy percent of Africans living with diabetes are undiagnosed. Identifying who should be referred for testing is critical. Therefore we evaluated the ability of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) diabetes prediction equation with A1C added (ARIC + A1C) to identify diabetes in 451 African-born blacks living in America (66% male; age 38 ± 10y (mean ± SD); BMI 27.

Metabolic characteristics of Africans with normal glucose tolerance and elevated 1-hour glucose: insight from the Africans in America study.

Introduction: Risk of insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, diabetes and cardiac death is increased in Asians and Europeans with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and 1-hour glucose ≥8.6 mmol/L. As African descent populations often have insulin resistance but a normal lipid profile, the implications for Africans with NGT and glucose ≥8.

A1C Underperforms as a Diagnostic Test in Africans Even in the Absence of Nutritional Deficiencies, Anemia and Hemoglobinopathies: Insight From the Africans in America Study.

To improve detection of undiagnosed diabetes in Africa, there is movement to replace the OGTT with A1C. The performance of A1C in the absence of hemoglobin-related micronutrient deficiencies, anemia and heterozygous hemoglobinopathies is unknown. Therefore, we determined in 441 African-born blacks living in America [male: 65% (281/441), age: 38 ± 10 y (mean ± SD), BMI: 27.

Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography and Calcium Scoring.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and describes many heart and vessel disorders. One of these disorders, coronary artery disease (CAD), occurs because of narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. Computed tomography (CT) is used to diagnose CAD because it displays coronary artery stenosis and calcified plaques in the coronary arteries.

Genetic Influences on the Amount of Cell Death in the Neural Tube of BXD Mice Exposed to Acute Ethanol at Midgestation.

Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) have a strong genetic component although the genes that underlie this are only beginning to be elucidated. In the present study, one of the most common phenotypes of FASD, cell death within the early developing neural tube, was examined across a genetic reference population in a reverse genetics paradigm with the goal of identifying genetic loci that could influence ethanol (EtOH)-induced apoptosis in the early developing neural tube.

Methods: BXD recombinant inbred mice as well as the parental strains were used to evaluate genetic differences in EtOH-induced cell death after exposure on embryonic day 9.

Exercise During Pregnancy: Obstetricians' Beliefs and Recommendations Compared to American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' 2015 Guidelines.

Purpose Obesity and excessive weight gain during pregnancy is a growing problem, conferring severe health risks for both mother and fetus. Exercise can help combat this epidemic. However, many pregnant women are not meeting the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG's) 2015 guidelines for exercise during pregnancy.