Low birthweight rate differences associated with distinct perinatal staffing mixes at federally funded health centers.

Health centers (sometimes referred to as "federally qualified health centers") can play an important role in addressing perinatal inequities. However, there is limited information on how different staffing models in health centers contribute to perinatal outcomes, including the availability of certified nurse midwives (CNMs). Using 2011-2021 Uniform Data System files, we examined 4 staffing models in 1385 health centers: those with no CNMs or obstetricians-gynecologists (OBs) ("non-CNM/OB"), CNM-only, OB-only, and both CNMs and OBs ("CNM/OB").

Losses and emissions in polypropylene recycling from household packaging waste.

In this study we replicated a typical high-quality post-consumer polypropylene (PP) recycling process to investigate its losses and emissions and study potential improvements. To our knowledge this is the first time that quantitative measurements on all process steps have been performed instead of an accumulated yield and emissions in water. In the process an overall PP yield of 85 wt% based on pure PP input is achieved.

Providers' Experiences Discussing Care for Patients with Kidney Failure Who Forgo KRT: A National Qualitative Study.

Background: Many nephrology providers express difficulty in discussing care options for patients who forgo KRT, which hampers their ability to help patients make decisions about their current and future treatment of kidney disease.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using interviews with a national sample of nephrology providers (i.e.

The shifting lipidomic landscape of blood monocytes and neutrophils during pneumonia.

The lipidome of immune cells during infection has remained unexplored, although evidence of the importance of lipids in the context of immunity is mounting. In this study, we performed untargeted lipidomic analysis of blood monocytes and neutrophils from patients hospitalized for pneumonia and age- and sex-matched noninfectious control volunteers. We annotated 521 and 706 lipids in monocytes and neutrophils, respectively, which were normalized to an extensive set of internal standards per lipid class.

Plastic recycling stripped naked - from circular product to circular industry with recycling cascade.

This perspective combines various expertise to develop and analyse the concept of technology cascade for recycling waste plastics with the goal of displacing as much fossil crude oil as possible. It thereby presents archetype recycling technologies with their strengths and weaknesses. It then combines them in various cascades to process a representative plastic mix, and determines how much (fossil) naphtha could be displaced and at which energy consumption.

Systematic reduction of hyperspectral images for high-throughput plastic characterization.

Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) combines microscopy and spectroscopy to assess the spatial distribution of spectroscopically active compounds in objects, and has diverse applications in food quality control, pharmaceutical processes, and waste sorting. However, due to the large size of HSI datasets, it can be challenging to analyze and store them within a reasonable digital infrastructure, especially in waste sorting where speed and data storage resources are limited. Additionally, as with most spectroscopic data, there is significant redundancy, making pixel and variable selection crucial for retaining chemical information.

Course of fear of falling after hip fracture: findings from a 12-month inception cohort.

Objectives: To examine the course of fear of falling (FoF) up to 1 year after hip fracture, including the effect of prefracture FoF on the course.

Design: Observational cohort study with assessment of FoF at 6, 12 and 52 weeks after hip fracture.

Setting: Haaglanden Medical Centre, the Netherlands.

Geriatric rehabilitation care after hip fracture.

Purpose: After acute hospital admission, patients with a hip fracture are frequently discharged to skilled nursing homes providing geriatric rehabilitation (GR). There are few evidence-based studies regarding specific treatment times and assessments during GR. This study aims to provide a description of care for hip fracture patients during GR in the Netherlands.

Time above threshold plasma concentrations as pharmacokinetic parameter in the comparison of oral and intravenous docetaxel treatment of breast cancer tumors.

Background: Prolonging the time which plasma concentrations of antimitotic drugs, such as the taxanes, exceed cytotoxic threshold levels may be beneficial for their efficacy. Orally administered docetaxel offers an undemanding approach to optimize such time above threshold plasma concentrations (t C>threshold ).

Methods: A nonsystematic literature screen was performed to identify studies reporting in-vitro half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) values for docetaxel.

Health Workforce Challenges Impact the Development of Robust Doula Services for Underserved and Marginalized Populations in the United States.

Evidence of doulas' positive impacts on maternal health outcomes, particularly among underserved populations, supports expanding access. Health workforce-related barriers challenge the development of robust doula services in the United States. We investigated organizations' barriers regarding training, recruitment, and employment of doulas.

Self-perceived functioning and (instrumental) activities of daily living questionnaires after a hip fracture: Do they tell the same story?

Background: (Instrumental) activities of daily living ((I)ADL) questionnaires are often used as a measure of functioning for different purposes. Depending on the purpose, a measurement of functioning that includes subjective patient perspectives can be relevant. However, it is unclear to what extent (I)ADL instruments capture self-perceived functioning.

Friendship during patients' stable and unstable phases of incurable cancer: a qualitative interview study.

Objectives: Little is known about the added value of friendship during the care of intensive cancer disease trajectories. Friends, however, can play an important (caring-)role to increase their friends' (mental) well-being. We explored the experiences and desires of friends while their ill friends were-most of the time-in a stable phase of incurable cancer.

Financial Instability of Federal Navigator Program Challenges Organizations to Help Uninsured Enroll in Health Insurance Coverage.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal Health Insurance Navigator Program aims to reduce the rate of uninsured in the United States. Under this program, navigators help people obtain insurance coverage through federally facilitated Marketplaces. However, the program's financial instability and substantial budget cuts created a severe shortage of navigator assistance for the uninsured and underserved.

Novel insights in antimicrobial and immunomodulatory mechanisms of action of PepBiotics CR-163 and CR-172.

Objectives: Our group recently developed a new group of antimicrobial peptides termed PepBiotics, of which peptides CR-163 and CR-172 showed optimized antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus without inducing antimicrobial resistance. In this study, the antibacterial mechanism of action and the immunomodulatory activity of these two PepBiotics was explored.

Methods: RAW264.

Development of a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model for various oral paclitaxel formulations co-administered with ritonavir and thrombospondin-1 based on data from early phase clinical studies.

Purpose: Orally administered paclitaxel offers increased patient convenience while providing a method to prolong exposure without long continuous, or repeated, intravenous infusions. The oral bioavailability of paclitaxel is improved through co-administration with ritonavir and application of a suitable pharmaceutical formulation, which addresses the dissolution-limited absorption of paclitaxel. We aimed to characterize the pharmacokinetics of different paclitaxel formulations, co-administered with ritonavir, and to investigate a pharmacodynamic relationship between low-dose metronomic (LDM) treatment with oral paclitaxel and the anti-angiogenic marker thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1).

"This work that we're doing is bigger than ourselves": A qualitative study with community-based birth doulas in the United States.

Context: Community-based birth doulas support pregnant women, transgender men, and gender non-binary individuals during the perinatal period and provide essential services and expertise that address health inequities, often taking on additional roles to fill systemic gaps in perinatal care in the United States (US). Despite the benefits that community-based birth doulas provide, there is little research exploring the work-related conditions and stressors community-based doulas experience. To address this gap, we examined the work experiences, related stressors, and stress management strategies of individual community-based birth doulas.

Implications of Cross-System Use Among US Veterans With Advanced Kidney Disease in the Era of the MISSION Act: A Qualitative Study of Health Care Records.

Importance: Since 2014, when Congress passed the Veterans Access Choice and Accountability (Choice) Act (replaced in 2018 with the more comprehensive Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks [MISSION] Act), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been paying for US veterans to receive increasing amounts of care in the private sector (non-VA care or VA community care). However, little is known about the implications of these legislative changes for the VA system.

Objective: To describe the implications for the VA system of recent increases in VA-financed non-VA care.

HEPES-buffering of bicarbonate-containing culture medium perturbs lysosomal glucocerebrosidase activity.

Glucocerebrosidase (GCase), encoded by the GBA gene, degrades the ubiquitous glycosphingolipid glucosylceramide. Inherited GCase deficiency causes Gaucher disease (GD). In addition, carriers of an abnormal GBA allele are at increased risk for Parkinson's disease.

Addressing Systemic Racism in Birth Doula Services to Reduce Health Inequities in the United States.

Birth doulas support pregnant people during the perinatal period. Evidence of doulas' positive impacts on pregnancy and birth outcomes, particularly among underserved populations, supports expanding access. However, health workforce-related barriers challenge the development of robust doula services in the United States.

Initiation of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) for cardiogenic shock during out of hours versus working hours is not associated with increased mortality.

Background: Initiation of veno-arterial (VA) Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (ECMO) is associated with severe complications. It is unknown whether these adverse consequences occur more often after initiations during out of hours service compared to working hours.

Methods: All patients receiving VA-ECMO for cardiogenic shock between 2009 and 2020 were categorized into a working hours group (between 8 am and 5 pm on weekdays) and an out of hours service group (between 5 pm and 8 am, or between Friday 5 pm and Monday 8 am).

Lack of Consistent Investment in Federal Insurance Navigator Program Undermines Navigators' Equity Work in Vulnerable Communities.

Context: Navigators in the federal Insurance Navigator Program ("Navigator Program"), who are employed by organizations in states with Federally Facilitated Marketplaces, provide enrollment assistance, outreach, and education to individuals who are eligible for health insurance coverage. Such work is central to public health efforts to address inequities but continues to be poorly understood and undervalued. More information is needed to understand the components of navigators' equity work and how decreases in program funding have affected their service provision.

The influence of docetaxel schedule on treatment tolerability and efficacy in patients with metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Administration of single-agent docetaxel in a weekly schedule may offer similar efficacy, with a more favorable toxicity profile, compared to a three-weekly schedule in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Methods: The original search of Medline, Embase, and Scopus was performed in September 2018 and references were updated with additional searches up to January 2021. Two reviewers independently screened the identified literature based on a predefined set of criteria.

PepBiotics, novel cathelicidin-inspired antimicrobials to fight pulmonary bacterial infections.

Background: Antimicrobial peptides are considered potential alternatives to antibiotics. Here we describe the antibacterial properties of a family of novel cathelicidin-related (CR-) peptides, which we named PepBiotics, against bacteria typically present in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.

Methods: Broth dilution assays were used to determine antibacterial activity of PepBiotics under physiological conditions, as well as development of bacterial resistance against these peptides.