Rural Residence Associated with Receipt of Recommended Post-Discharge COPD Care among a Cohort of U.S. Veterans.

Rationale: Individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in rural areas experience inequitable access to care.

Objective: To assess whether rural residence is associated with receipt of recommended post-discharge COPD care.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study of all U.

The Impact of Changing Race-Specific Equations for Lung Function Tests among Veterans with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

The American Thoracic Society recommended a single reference equation for spirometry, but the impact on patients is not known. To estimate the effect of changing to a single reference equation among veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A cross-sectional study was conducted including veterans aged ⩾40 to ⩽89 years with COPD and spirometry results from 21 facilities between 2010 and 2019.

Sleep Testing and Mortality in a Propensity-matched Cohort of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Many advocate the application of propensity-matching methods to real-world data to answer key questions around obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) management. One such question is whether identifying undiagnosed OSA impacts mortality in high-risk populations, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Assess the association of sleep testing with mortality among patients with COPD and a high likelihood of undiagnosed OSA.

Directional Atherectomy of the Common Femoral Artery: Complications and Outcomes.

Background: The use of directional atherectomy (DA) with or without drug-coated balloon (DCB) may be considered for the management of common femoral artery (CFA) occlusive disease because of its minimally invasive nature with early mobilization, reduced incision complications, and infection rates. However, it has recognized complications, which may be related to the learning curve. We present our initial experience using DA and suggest changes that may, based on our practice, improve outcomes.

Impact of supplemental training programs on improving medical students' confidence in providing diabetes self-management education and support.

Background/purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of supplemental diabetes-related training modalities and volunteer activities in increasing first-year medical students' knowledge/comfort in providing diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) to patients.

Methods: A group of medical students developed supplemental diabetes-related training/volunteer programs. The training modalities included an optional 7-session interprofessionally taught Diabetes Enrichment Elective and a 3-hour endocrinologist-led training session intended to prepare students for involvement in an inpatient DSMES volunteer program.

A student-implemented elective to improve medical student confidence in providing diabetes self-management support.

Background: The purpose of this study was to develop a preclerkship elective and assess its effectiveness in supplementing medical students' education.

Methods: A group of medical students under the guidance of two faculty advisors developed an elective consisting of six sessions covering a variety of practical aspects of diabetes care/education taught by an interprofessional team. Following the course completion, a survey was emailed to the enrollees who attended at least one session.

Red fluorescent protein-aequorin fusions as improved bioluminescent Ca2+ reporters in single cells and mice.

Bioluminescence recording of Ca(2+) signals with the photoprotein aequorin does not require radiative energy input and can be measured with a low background and good temporal resolution. Shifting aequorin emission to longer wavelengths occurs naturally in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria by bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) to the green fluorescent protein (GFP). This process has been reproduced in the molecular fusions GFP-aequorin and monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP)-aequorin, but the latter showed limited transfer efficiency.

Wide-Field Multi-Parameter FLIM: long-term minimal invasive observation of proteins in living cells.

Time-domain Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) is a remarkable tool to monitor the dynamics of fluorophore-tagged protein domains inside living cells. We propose a Wide-Field Multi-Parameter FLIM method (WFMP-FLIM) aimed to monitor continuously living cells under minimum light intensity at a given illumination energy dose. A powerful data analysis technique applied to the WFMP-FLIM data sets allows to optimize the estimation accuracy of physical parameters at very low fluorescence signal levels approaching the lower bound theoretical limit.

Imaging local estrogen production in single living cells with recombinant fluorescent indicators.

Estrogens are steroid hormones with many systemic effects in addition to development and maintenance of the female reproductive system, and ligands of estrogen receptors are of clinical importance because of their use as oral contraceptive, hormone replacement and antitumoral therapy. In addition, tumoral tissues have been found to express aromatase and other steroidogenic enzymes synthesizing estradiol. To aid in the understanding of these processes, we have developed assays to image the local production of estrogens in isolated living mammalian cells.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based assay for characterization of hepatitis C virus NS3-4A protease activity in live cells.

The NS3/4A protease from hepatitis C virus (HCV) plays a key role in viral replication. We report a system for monitoring the activity of this enzyme in single living mammalian cells. We constructed a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probe that consists of an enhanced cyan fluorescent protein-citrine fusion, with a cleavage site for HCV NS3/4A protease embedded within the linker between them.

Imaging FRET standards by steady-state fluorescence and lifetime methods.

Imaging fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between molecules labeled with fluorescent proteins is emerging as a powerful tool to study changes in ions, ligands, and molecular interactions in their physiological cellular environment. Different methods use either steady-state fluorescence properties or lifetime to quantify the FRET rate. In addition, some provide the absolute FRET efficiency whereas others are simply a relative index very much influenced by the actual settings and instrumentation used, which makes the interpretation of a given FRET rate very difficult.