Comparison of Combined Motor Control Training and Isolated Extensor Strengthening Versus General Exercise on Lumbar Paraspinal Muscle Health and Associations With Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Study DesignProspective Randomized Controlled Trial.ObjectivesTo investigate the effect of combined motor control and isolated lumbar strengthening exercise (MC + ILEX) vs general exercise (GE) on upper lumbar paraspinal muscle volume and composition, strength and patient outcomes in individuals with chronic low back pain (LBP).Methods50 participants with nonspecific chronic LBP were randomly allocated (1:1) to each group (MC + ILEX or GE) and underwent a 12-week supervised intervention program 2 times per week.

Identifying the Unmet Healthcare Needs of Kidney Transplant Recipients Who Experience Graft Loss: Learning From Patients' Experience.

Background: Kidney transplant recipients with graft loss (KTR-GL) are an increasing group of patients whose care needs are largely unmet. The lack of patient perspectives is a key research gap. We conducted an in-depth exploration of the experiences of KTR-GL to identify their healthcare needs.

When the wild things are: Defining mammalian diel activity and plasticity.

Circadian rhythms are a mechanism by which species adapt to environmental variability and fundamental to understanding species behavior. However, we lack data and a standardized framework to accurately assess and compare temporal activity for species during rapid ecological change. Through a global network representing 38 countries, we leveraged 8.

Spatiotemporal land use dynamics filter life history strategies to shape urban spontaneous plant assemblages.

Spontaneous plants, such as weeds, are a key component of urban flora that can provide significant ecological benefits like nutrient cycling and soil pollutant removal. Our ability to fully harness these species in urban restoration efforts is hindered, however, due to a lack of understanding of their functional ecology under urban stressors. Here, we analyzed the effects of spatiotemporal urban land dynamics on the functional diversity of spontaneous plants from three life history strategies: colonization, establishment, and nutrient acquisition.

I Wish I Had Known That! Impactful Guidance and Perspectives for a Fulfilling Career in Toxicology.

Have you ever reflected on your career or other experiences and thought, if I knew 10 or 20 years ago, what I know now, it would have enabled me to do this or that better-or I would have had a different attitude or perhaps even taken a different path? This article presents the proceedings from the symposium entitled "I Wish I Had Known That! Impactful Guidance and Perspectives for a Fulfilling Career in Toxicology" held at the 2023 annual meeting of the American College of Toxicology. In this session, toxicology professionals reflected on the highlights of their careers, the most impactful advice/mentoring they received or wish they had received, and the characteristics that have been key components of their success. This session consisted of didactic talks from a diverse panel representing various career stages and backgrounds, followed by a panel discussion and the opportunity for the audience to ask questions.

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in adults with lower respiratory tract involvement: a retrospective study of the OrphaLung and GETIF networks.

Background: Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a rare respiratory disease primarily caused by chronic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection of serotypes 6 and 11. It manifests in childhood (juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (JoRRP)) and adulthood (adult-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (AoRRP)), leading to progressive obstruction by papillomas in the upper airway and occasionally in the lower respiratory tract (LRT), including the lungs, with a potential for malignant transformation. This study aimed to delineate the characteristics of JoRRP and AoRRP with LRT involvement in adulthood.

MPRAGE: A novel approach to generate T1w images from multi-contrast gradient echo images for brain segmentation.

Purpose: Brain segmentation and multi-parameter mapping (MPM) are important steps in neurodegenerative disease characterization. However, acquiring both a high-resolution T1w sequence like MPRAGE (standard input to brain segmentation) and an MPM in the same neuroimaging protocol increases scan time and patient discomfort, making it difficult to combine both in clinical examinations.

Methods: A novel approach to synthesize T1w images from MPM images, named MPRAGE, is proposed and compared to the standard technique used to produce synthetic MPRAGE images (synMPRAGE).

3D-printed radiopaque episcleral plaques with radioactive collimating cavities for enhanced dose delivery in brachytherapy.

Purpose: Episcleral plaque brachytherapy (EPBT) is a well-established treatment. However, the lateral dose to healthy tissues, such as the sclera, retina, and optic nerve is often problematic and results in side effects. This study proposes an innovative approach based on the 3D-printing of radiopaque polymer plaques featuring cylindrical radioactive cavities (CRC) with a potential collimating effect on radiation delivery to tumors.

Administering the Lidcombe Program to children who stutter with concomitant disorders: Insights from an exploratory retrospective chart review study.

Purpose: Children who stutter (CWS) in clinical settings may present with concomitant disorders (CDs), which can complexify the delivery of the Lidcombe Program (LP). However, there is limited evidence on how CDs influence treatment outcomes in CWS, leaving clinicians with little guidance regarding best practices with these children. This exploratory study, conducted in partnership with a rehabilitation center's clinical team, aims to understand which CDs and suspected CDs speech-language pathologists document when treating CWS with the LP and their relationship to treatment characteristics and outcomes.

Identifying the Views and Needs of Family Physicians on Providing Care to Living Kidney Donors: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Optimizing the long-term care and follow-up of living kidney donors (LKDs) has been challenging, and prior LKDs have reported suboptimal healthcare experiences. Long-term care of LKDs is largely undertaken by primary care practitioners such as family physicians (FPs). We conducted a cross-sectional survey of Canadian FPs (n = 151).

Exploring the well-being of professional female musicians: a self-determination theory perspective.

Background: This study investigated the well-being of 16 professional female musicians through the lens of Self-Determination Theory, focusing on the satisfaction of their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as well as the unique challenges they encounter in their careers.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results And Discussion: Three broad themes and 10 sub-themes emerged from the interviews.

The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).

Background: There is an increasing prevalence of multiple conditions (multimorbidity) and multiple medications (polypharmacy) across many populations. Previous literature has focused on the prevalence and impact of these health states separately, but there is a need to better understand their co-occurrence.

Methods And Findings: This study reported on multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in two national datasets: the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).

New evidence for baroreflex and respiratory chemoreflex-mediated cerebral sympathetic activation in humans.

The brain is highly innervated by sympathetic nerve fibers; however, their physiological purpose is poorly understood. We hypothesized that unilateral cerebral norepinephrine (NE) spillover, an index of cerebral sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), would be elevated when engaging the baroreflex [via lower-body negative pressure (LBNP; -20 and -40 Torr)] and respiratory chemoreflexes [via carbon dioxide (CO) administration (+8 Torr)], independently and in combination. Twelve young and healthy participants (five females) underwent simultaneous blood sampling from the right radial artery and internal jugular vein.

Low dose contrast enhancement of biodegradable low-density stents by an approach balancing radiopaque coatings and beam filtration.

Biodegradable cardiovascular stents made of thin, low atomic number metals (e.g. Zn, Mg, Fe) are now approved for clinical use.

Low Back Pain During and After Spaceflight: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.

Space flights can produce physiological changes in the spine, leading to the development of acute and chronic pain in passengers. However, there is a lack of comprehensive literature exploring physiological spine changes and acute and chronic pain in space passengers (astronauts and animals). The first aim of this study was to identify the physiological changes experienced by passengers (humans and animals) after space flight.

The Immediate Effect of a Single Treatment of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation with the StimaWELL 120MTRS System on Multifidus Stiffness in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain.

Background/objectives: Individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP) have altered lumbar multifidus stiffness properties compared to healthy controls. Although neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) application to the multifidus might affect stiffness, this has never been investigated. The aims of this study were to examine the effect of a single NMES treatment on multifidus stiffness and pain intensity in CLBP patients.

MuscleMap: An Open-Source, Community-Supported Consortium for Whole-Body Quantitative MRI of Muscle.

Disorders affecting the neurological and musculoskeletal systems represent international health priorities. A significant impediment to progress in trials of new therapies is the absence of responsive, objective, and valid outcome measures sensitive to early disease changes. A key finding in individuals with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disorders is the compositional changes to muscles, evinced by the expression of fatty infiltrates.

Publication-driven consistency in food web structures: Implications for comparative ecology.

Large collections of freely available food webs are commonly reused by researchers to infer how biological or environmental factors influence the structure of ecological communities. Although reusing food webs expands sample sizes for community analysis, this practice also has significant drawbacks. As food webs are meticulously crafted by researchers for their own specific research endeavors and resulting publications (i.

Electroacupuncture Reduces Heart Rate and Perceived Exertion During a Bike Test: A Preliminary Analysis.

Background: Preliminary research suggests that acupuncture can improve cardiovascular function. The purpose of our study was to determine if electroacupuncture can improve performance and post-exercise recovery.

Methods: Thirty-two healthy people participated in this study (14 men and 18 women, aged 23.

Losing Much More Than a Transplant: A Qualitative Study of Kidney Transplant Recipients' Experiences of Graft Failure.

Introduction: Kidney transplant recipients with graft failure are a growing cohort of patients who experience high morbidity and mortality. Limited evidence guides their care delivery and patient perspective to improve care processes is lacking. We conducted an in-depth exploration of how individuals experience graft failure, and the specific research question was: "What impact does the loss of an allograft have on their lives?"

Methods: We adopted an interpretive descriptive methodological design.

Bringing a Systems Approach to Living Donor Kidney Transplantation.

Introduction: Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is the best treatment option for patients with kidney failure. Efforts to increase LDKT have focused on microlevel interventions and the need for systems thinking has been highlighted. We aimed to identify and compare health system-level attributes and processes that are facilitators and barriers to LDKT.

An Environmental Scan of Canadian Kidney Transplant Programs for the Management of Patients With Graft Failure: A Research Letter.

Background: Kidney transplant recipients with graft failure (KTR-GF) and those with a failing graft are an increasingly prevalent group of patients. Their clinical management is complex, and outcomes are worse than transplant naïve patients on dialysis. In 2023, the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) organization reported findings from a controversies conference and identified several clinical practice priorities for KTR-GF.