Reducing antibiotic duration for acute otitis media: clinician, administrator, and parental insights to inform implementation of system-level interventions.

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to understand facilitators and barriers to implementation of interventions to improve guideline-concordant antibiotic duration prescribing for pediatric acute otitis media (AOM).

Design: Clinicians and clinic administrators participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, and parents of children 2 years of age or older with a recent diagnosis of AOM participated in focus groups. The Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM) guided the study.

Randomized Spatial PCA (RASP): a computationally efficient method for dimensionality reduction of high-resolution spatial transcriptomics data.

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) provides critical insights into the complex spatial organization of gene expression in tissues, enabling researchers to unravel the intricate relationship between cellular environments and biological function. Identifying spatial domains within tissues is essential for understanding tissue architecture and the mechanisms underlying various biological processes, including development and disease progression. Here, we present Randomized Spatial PCA (RASP), a novel spatially aware dimensionality reduction method for spatial transcriptomics (ST) data.

Trends in Demographic Characteristics and Risk Factors among Individuals with Syphilis in Colorado from 2011-2020.

Background: Identify opportunities to improve syphilis screening by describing changes in patient characteristics and risk factors among individuals with syphilis and by comparing cases with and without an indication for syphilis screening.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used Colorado public health surveillance data to identify 8,326 syphilis diagnoses from 2011-2020. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and risk factors were compared across 2-year groups and between individuals with and without an indication for screening.

Etiology and Outcomes of Acute Infectious Conjunctivitis in Children.

Objective: To determine the causes of conjunctivitis and whether clinical presentations and outcomes differ by pathogen.

Study Design: This multicenter, case-control study enrolled 390 children (194 cases, 196 controls) whose conjunctival samples were tested for bacterial and viral pathogens. Caregivers completed surveys tracking symptoms, antibiotic use, school attendance, and adverse events.

Leveraging cell type-specificity for gene set analysis of single cell transcriptomics.

Although single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides unprecedented insights into the biology of complex tissues, analyzing such data on a gene-by-gene basis is challenging due to the large number of tested hypotheses and consequent low statistical power and difficult interpretation. These issues are magnified by the increased noise, significant sparsity and multi-modal distributions characteristic of single cell data. One promising approach for addressing these challenges is gene set testing, or pathway analysis.

Transcriptomics of Diphyllatea (CRuMs) from South Pacific crater lakes confirm new cryptic clades.

The Diphyllatea (CRuMs) are heterotrophic protists currently divided into three distinct clades (Diphy I-III). Diphy I are biflagellates in the genus Diphylleia, whereas Diphy II and III represent cryptic clades comprising Collodictyon-type quadriflagellates that were recently distinguished based on rRNA gene phylogenies. Here, we isolated Diphyllatea from freshwater crater lakes on two South Pacific islands and generated high-quality transcriptomes from species representing each clade, including the first transcriptomic data from Diphy III.

Redefining feasibility in clinical trials: Collaborative approaches for improved site selection.

Background: This Site Feasibility Task Force convened to assess the complex and burdensome process of site feasibility in clinical trials. The objective was to create mutual understanding of challenges and provide suggestions for improving collaboration among sponsors, contract research organizations (CROs), and sites.

Methods: The task force was composed of representatives from sponsors, CROs and sites (43 % Sites, 20 % Site Networks, 10 % Small/mid-size sponsors, 10 % Small/mid-size CROs, 10 % Large sponsors, 7 % Large CROs).

New models of health and social care for people in later life: mapping of innovation in services in two regions of the United Kingdom using a mixed method approach.

Background: Innovation for reforming health and social care is high on the policy agenda in the United Kingdom in response to the growing needs of an ageing population. However, information about new innovations of care being implemented is sparse.

Methods: We mapped innovations for people in later life in two regions, North East England and South East Scotland.

CAraCAl: CAMML with the integration of chromatin accessibility.

Background: A vital step in analyzing single-cell data is ascertaining which cell types are present in a dataset, and at what abundance. In many diseases, the proportions of varying cell types can have important implications for health and prognosis. Most approaches for cell type annotation have centered around cell typing for single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and have had promising success.

Secondary household transmission of conjunctivitis in children.

Among surveyed households, the transmission rate of pediatric conjunctivitis was 12%. Rates did not differ when the index child did or did not use an ophthalmic antibiotic (14% vs 11% [P = 0.6]).

A highly sensitive 3base™ assay for detecting Streptococcus pyogenes in saliva during controlled human pharyngitis.

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus; GAS) is a Gram-positive bacterium responsible for substantial human mortality and morbidity. Conventional diagnosis of GAS pharyngitis relies on throat swab culture, a low-throughput, slow, and relatively invasive 'gold standard'. While molecular approaches are becoming increasingly utilized, the potential of saliva as a diagnostic fluid for GAS infection remains largely unexplored.

Cost-Effectiveness of Pediatric Conjunctivitis Management and Return to Childcare and School Strategies: A Comparative Study.

Background: Infectious conjunctivitis affects 1 in 8 children annually, resulting in high ophthalmic antibiotic prescribing and absenteeism from childcare and school. We aimed to quantify the cost-effectiveness and annual savings of 3 evidence-based approaches to conjunctivitis management and return to childcare and school compared to usual care.

Methods: Using a decision analytic model from a societal perspective over a 1-year time horizon, we conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of 3 management strategies for children aged 6 months to 17 years with non-severe conjunctivitis compared to usual care in the United States.

The Effect of Ophthalmic Antibiotics on Clinical Outcomes and Transmissibility of Conjunctivitis Associated with Haemophilus influenzae versus Other Pathogens: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Transmission rates among children with conjunctivitis were low and antibiotic use was not associated with reduced transmission. Policies recommending exclusion from daycare and school for conjunctivitis should be scrutinized as they may not reduce transmission and may increase unnecessary antibiotic use.

A generalized eigenvector centrality for multilayer networks with inter-layer constraints on adjacent node importance.

We present a novel approach for computing a variant of eigenvector centrality for multilayer networks with inter-layer constraints on node importance. Specifically, we consider a multilayer network defined by multiple edge-weighted, potentially directed, graphs over the same set of nodes with each graph representing one layer of the network and no inter-layer edges. As in the standard eigenvector centrality construction, the importance of each node in a given layer is based on the weighted sum of the importance of adjacent nodes in that same layer.

Identifying tumor type and cell type-specific gene expression alterations in pediatric central nervous system tumors.

Central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the leading cause of pediatric cancer death, and these patients have an increased risk for developing secondary neoplasms. Due to the low prevalence of pediatric CNS tumors, major advances in targeted therapies have been lagging compared to other adult tumors. We collect single nuclei RNA-seq data from 84,700 nuclei of 35 pediatric CNS tumors and three non-tumoral pediatric brain tissues and characterize tumor heterogeneity and transcriptomic alterations.

Reconstruction Set Test (RESET): A computationally efficient method for single sample gene set testing based on randomized reduced rank reconstruction error.

We have developed a new, and analytically novel, single sample gene set testing method called Reconstruction Set Test (RESET). RESET quantifies gene set importance based on the ability of set genes to reconstruct values for all measured genes. RESET is realized using a computationally efficient randomized reduced rank reconstruction algorithm (available via the RESET R package on CRAN) that can effectively detect patterns of differential abundance and differential correlation for self-contained and competitive scenarios.

Amplitudes at Strong Coupling as Hyper-Kähler Scalars.

Alday and Maldacena conjectured an equivalence between string amplitudes in AdS_{5}×S^{5} and null polygonal Wilson loops in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. At strong coupling this identifies SYM amplitudes with areas of minimal surfaces in anti-de Sitter space. For minimal surfaces in AdS_{3}, we find that the nontrivial part of these amplitudes, the remainder function, satisfies an integrable system of nonlinear differential equations, and we give its Lax form.

[Not Available].

This review provides an overview of home-based respiratory support modalities for patients with chronic lung diseases. It discusses the increasing use of long-term high-flow nasal cannula (LT-HFNC) and long-term non-invasive ventilation (LT-NIV) and their potential to enhance patient quality of life. This review addresses various types of respiratory failure and their respective treatments, emphasising the significance of monitoring and telemedicine in home care.

Clinical Outcomes Associated with Amoxicillin Treatment for Acute Otitis Media in Children.

Background: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most common reason children are prescribed antibiotics. Bacteria that produce beta-lactamase are an increasingly frequent cause of AOM and may be resistant to amoxicillin, the currently recommended treatment for AOM. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of children treated with amoxicillin for AOM and assessed whether outcomes vary by infecting pathogen or beta-lactamase production.