Publications by authors named "Erwin C"

Introduction: In stable children with penetrating abdominal trauma, literature regarding the use of laparoscopy (LAP) remains limited. Given increasing evidence in favor of LAP for selective adult trauma patients, we reviewed contemporary practices and outcomes in pediatric trauma patients.

Methods: The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Trauma Quality Programs data was utilized to identify children (<18 years) from 2016 to 2021 with a penetrating abdominal injury who underwent surgery within 24 h of admission.

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Background: In this study, we compared outcomes between intracranial pressure monitoring (ICP) only versus ventriculostomy (VT) using a nationwide database of pediatric trauma patients.

Methods: Pediatric patients (<18 years) with severe blunt TBI who underwent ICP monitoring with or without VT were identified from the 2017-2021 ACS Trauma Quality Programs. We excluded patients who experienced death or craniotomy/craniectomy within 48 h.

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Purpose: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the association of baseline MRI Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) score with biopsy reclassification in a multicenter active surveillance (AS) cohort.

Materials And Methods: We identified men in the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative registry (46 hospital-based/academic/private practice urology groups) with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) low-risk and favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer who underwent MRI within 6 months before or after initial biopsy and enrolled in AS from June 2016 to January 2021. The primary objective was to determine the association of baseline MRI PI-RADS score (≥4 lesion) with reclassification to high-grade prostate cancer (≥grade group 3) on surveillance biopsy.

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Background: Conflicting evidence exists evaluating associations between cannabis (THC) and post-traumatic DVT.

Methods: Retrospective analysis (2014-2023) of patients ≥15yrs from two Level I trauma centers with robust VTE surveillance and prophylaxis protocols. Multivariable hierarchical regression assessed the association between THC and DVT risk.

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Epigenetic research has brought several important technological achievements, including identifying epigenetic clocks and signatures, and developing epigenetic editing. The potential military applications of such technologies we discuss are stratifying soldiers' health, exposure to trauma using epigenetic testing, information about biological clocks, confirming child soldiers' minor status using epigenetic clocks, and inducing epigenetic modifications in soldiers. These uses could become a reality.

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Goal: Board diversity is increasingly important for hospitals and healthcare systems, with national attention focused on eliminating health disparities and improving health equity. Yet, it remains a challenge despite concerted efforts by leading professional associations (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • * It analyzes claims data from over 2.4 million Medicare beneficiaries from 2017 to 2019, finding that MA enrollees had 9.2% fewer low-value services compared to TM enrollees in 2019.
  • * The research aims to understand how different aspects of insurance design within MA, such as network and product design, affect the delivery of low-value care, highlighting the importance of these elements in healthcare management.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions have different health care usage and outcomes, and while this is well understood in Traditional Medicare (TM), less is known about Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries.
  • - This study compares health care utilization between MA and TM beneficiaries with complex care needs, focusing on various cohorts like frail elderly and those with major chronic conditions using claims data from 2017 to 2018.
  • - Results showed that a significant portion of the study population (over 1.8 million beneficiaries) was enrolled in MA, highlighting differences in hospitalization rates and emergency visits between the two groups.
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The time period before, during and after pregnancy represents a unique opportunity for interventions to cultivate sustained healthy lifestyle behaviors to improve the metabolic health of mothers and their offspring. However, the success of a lifestyle intervention is dependent on uptake and continued compliance. To identify enablers and barriers towards engagement with a lifestyle intervention, thematic analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with overweight or obese women in the preconception, pregnancy or postpartum periods was undertaken, using the integrated-Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework as a guide to systematically chart factors influencing adoption of a novel lifestyle intervention.

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Adhering to a Mediterranean diet (MD) is associated with reduced CVD risk. This study aimed to explore methods of increasing MD adoption in a non-Mediterranean population at high risk of CVD, including assessing the feasibility of a developed peer support intervention. The Trial to Encourage Adoption and Maintenance of a MEditerranean Diet was a 12-month pilot parallel group RCT involving individuals aged ≥ 40 year, with low MD adherence, who were overweight, and had an estimated CVD risk ≥ 20 % over ten years.

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In many countries, problem gambling is a significant public health concern. Gambling addiction has been linked to poor health, psychological distress, financial difficulties, and strained interpersonal relationships. In New Zealand, problem gambling is estimated to affect over 10% of the population.

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Background: Appendicitis is one of the most common surgically treated diseases in the world. CT scans are often over-utilized and ordered before a surgeon has evaluated the patient. Our aim was to develop a tool using machine learning (ML) algorithms that would help determine if there would be benefit in obtaining a CT scan prior to surgeon consultation.

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Background: Effective management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) requires large-scale testing to identify and isolate infectious carriers. Self-administered buccal swab and saliva collection are convenient, painless, and safe alternatives to the current healthcare worker (HCW)-collected nasopharyngeal swab (NPS).

Methods: A cross-sectional single-centre study was conducted on 42 participants who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 via an NPS within the past 7 days.

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Objective: To determine the optimal surgical strategy for performing tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients.

Background: Many ventilated COVID-19 patients require prolonged ventilation. We do not know if tracheostomy will improve their care.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a host of ethical challenges, but key among these has been the possibility that health care systems might need to ration scarce critical care resources. Rationing policies for pandemics differ by institution, health system, and applicable law. Most seem to agree that a patient's ability to benefit from treatment and to survive are first-order considerations.

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Adoption of a Mediterranean diet (MD) reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, interventions to achieve dietary behaviour change are typically resource intensive. Peer support offers a potentially low-cost approach to encourage dietary change.

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Objective: To investigate associations between sleep duration and health-related measures, and factors associated with short sleep, in adolescents in an East Asian society with strong emphasis on academic achievement.

Methods: Adolescents aged 13-19 years (n = 2346) from eight schools in Singapore (five local, three international) took part in a cross-sectional survey of sleep habits, school life, and health. Self-rated health, overweight (International Obesity Task Force Criteria), and depression symptoms were compared in adolescents with short (<7 h), moderately short (7 to <8 h), or an appropriate amount of sleep (8-10 h) on school nights.

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Background: Mediterranean diet (MD) interventions are demonstrated to significantly reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk but are typically resource intensive and delivered by health professionals. There is considerable interest to develop interventions that target sustained dietary behaviour change and that are feasible to scale-up for wider public health benefit. The aim of this paper is to describe the process used to develop a peer support intervention to encourage dietary behaviour change towards a MD in non-Mediterranean adults at high CVD risk.

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Background: Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) reduces necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). However, its high cost virtually prohibits clinical use. To reduce cost, soybean expressing human EGF was developed.

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Background: Epidemiological and randomised controlled trial evidence demonstrates that adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) can reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, methods used to support dietary change have been intensive and expensive. Peer support has been suggested as a possible cost-effective method to encourage adherence to a MD in at risk populations, although development of such a programme has not been explored.

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This study reviews and synthesizes empirical research literature focusing on the relationship between boards of directors and organizational effectiveness of U.S. hospitals.

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Intestinal tuft cells are one of 4 secretory cell linages in the small intestine and the source of IL-25, a critical initiator of the type 2 immune response to parasite infection. When Raptor, a critical scaffold protein for mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), was acutely deleted in intestinal epithelium via Tamoxifen injection in Tritrichomonas muris (Tm) infected mice, tuft cells, IL-25 in epithelium and IL-13 in the mesenchyme were significantly reduced, but Tm burden was not affected. When Tm infected mice were treated with rapamycin, DCLK1 and IL-25 expression in enterocytes and IL-13 expression in mesenchyme were diminished.

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